บท 1: A Girl Named Louise
[A/N: Few things to say before this gets started. First, not sure every chapter will be this long. I do like doing longer chapters but they come with their own problems. We'll see what happens but I think most chapters will be about half this length. Second, I still haven't decided how I want them to refer to each other. Normally I'd use Japanese honorifics for anime fics, but with the MC not being from japan, it just feels weird since they are canonically supposed to be speaking something like bastardized French. I'll be trying out a few things so I apologize for the inconsistency in the early chapters while trying to see what works best. Next, don't expect a lot of action heavy moments. There will be some since the plot must happen but in the early chapters things will be pretty tame. Maybe once the war kicks off there will be more action? I started this story with the intention to go more in depth with magic itself so expect more magic lessons and explanations for stuff like that. Not sure how heavy I'll go into the politics since it's not my specialty.
Now, biggest thing to get out of the way. I'll be going with the Light Novel version of Louise and the other characters. While I did love the anime when I watched it, after reading the novels, you realize how much the anime completely butchered not only the plot but the characters as well. Louise is not as violent and unreasonable in the novels, Kirche isn't the biggest slut on campus, etc. Saito, though I doubt he'll ever show up here, was not the innocent victim the anime made him out to be. Dude was a jerk and generally the one that provoked the violent reactions he got out of Louise. Zero is almost his complete opposite, so Louise really won't have too many reasons to fly off the handle, though she's still capable of doing so. Outside of that, there will be some AU and character changes obviously, especially with their history and how magic is done, but those will slowly be revealed over time.]
-_-_-_-
2nd Year Classroom, Tristan Academy for Magic, Tristan, Halkaginia
"Everyone, congratulations on becoming second year students! My name is Mrs. Chevreuse, and I'm a new teacher here at Tristain Magic Academy." A brown haired plump woman in her early to mid 40's introduced herself to her new class.
"My element is earth and my runic name is "Red Earth". For the remainder of the year, you may simply refer to me as Professor Chevreuse. As you might suspect I'll be giving lectures on earth magic this year, so I hope you're all prepared?" The professor finished her introduction calmly as was her nature. She hoped to ease the students into the course instead of placing too much pressure on them right at the beginning.
She had to withhold a sigh as she noticed the lack of focus from many of the students. A blue haired girl with glasses blatantly ignoring her while reading a book. Another boy, blonde and heavy set, dozing off.
In fact, most of the boys simply ogled a rather voluptuous dark skinned red headed young woman, likely from Germania, who was simply preening from the attention. Humph, a few decades ago she would have been able to easily hold the attention of these young men enough to get them to pay attention to her lecture.
Of course she simply held her complaints in and decided to move on with the lecture. A part of it was due to her steadfast nature, but a major concern was due to many of the students being nobles like herself and the children of people she could not hope to offend, even if the school rules dictated they all be treated equally regardless of their titles. This was her first year teaching at the school, so she wasn't sure how well that detail was enforced. For now she decided to err on the side of caution. It wouldn't be too late to light a fire under their rumps later in the year.
Besides, a capable teacher should have no problem drawing the attention of their students, one way or another. And since she definitely qualified as a capable teacher, else she wouldn't have been given the job, she knew exactly how to do so.
"Now, can anyone tell me what the four basic elements are?"
"Ah, yes madam." A charming looking blonde haired boy raised a…rose? Standing and folding his arm in front of him in a half bow he answered brimming with confidence.
"Fire, water, earth, and wind. And what a coincidence, my element is earth, just like yours Missus. My runic name is "The Bronze". Guiche de Gramont, pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Gramont." The boy was obviously a playboy and a natural flirt, like many noblemen before him. At least unlike many of them he was clearly a gentleman instead of one of those that just expected a woman to jump into his bed by his word alone. She could understand why many of the young women in the class were just as enamored with him as the boys were with the Germanian. Still, she had to admit, the attention felt nice, even if she could see right through him.
"Earth is an important magical element, since it governs the creation of all things. To help you all understand that, I'll start out by having you all master alchemy." She carefully chose her words to imply more than they might cover this year to gain their interest. Mastering Alchemy was much easier said than done, especially since it was a field that continued to be innovated on to this day.
Taking out three little stone pebbles from her cloak, she placed them on her desk for them all to see. Reaching back to grab her wand, she ceased unnecessary thoughts and pointed her wand at the stones and chanted one of the most basic earth spells she knew.
[Lel In Yan]
The stones shook and were briefly enveloped in a bright golden light barely lasting a second or two, leaving behind three clearly metallic pieces in their place. This was a testament to her mastery of the spell, as it usually took less experienced casters half a minute to complete the spell unless they had the proper mental image.
*Whoaa~* As expected, that simple little display was enough to get their full focus. Looks like her first year is going to go smoothly.
"Is that gold?" The Germanian girl, who's name she would need to learn soon if her hunch was correct, stood and asked aloud.
"No, it's brass." And with that admission, suddenly half the class, including the girl, lost interest…typical. No matter, she had a plan for that too.
"Now, let's have someone give it a try." She said replacing the stone with a few new ones. Immediately, she could feel the excitement in the room increase once more. Well it's to be expected, for a magic school, they don't actually get to practice with it too much their first year.
Specifically they don't get to practice with elemental magic their first year. With the majority of it usually being spent learning non-elemental spells like Levitation. Most of the elemental spells they already knew came from their families and private studies.
Most of the lessons in this class were theoretical the first few months and wouldn't have them practice their spells as things could get a bit hectic before they had the proper knowledge and discipline. So she thought it best to show that she rewarded good behavior by letting them "skip to the fun parts" so to speak.
Looking around for a "volunteer", she singled out A lovely little pink haired and eyed little girl, the only student that seemed to be earnestly taking notes, in the back.
"You, up there taking notes in the back. What's your name?" She noticed the surprise on the girl's face and the audible discontent from many of the students after she called her out. It seemed a bit exaggerated to her but children will be children.
"Louise." The girl answered politely if not slightly confused. Well she is rather small (in a lot of areas) so maybe she just wasn't used to being called on for anything after being skipped over?
A shame really, she seemed like such a nice girl. Yes, she would do nicely. What's the worst that could happen? Who knows, maybe Miss Louise would become her favorite student.
-_-_-
Louise Francoise 'le Blanc' de La Valliere, youngest daughter of the Duke de La Valliere, sat in her seat bored, as the teacher at the front of the classroom gave a lecture about a basic application of Earth-based magic - Alchemic transmutation of pebbles into brass.
'How boring.' Louise thought tiredly. 'I know the theory of this spell inside and out. Basic transmutation is supposed to be easy enough to start with for everyone else. But for me…'
Louise sighed internally while grabbing her quill to jot down notes on what she observed from the spell. Even if she was confident in her knowledge, she would take all the help she could get. As she was quietly taking notes, the new Earth teacher, Professor Chevreuse she called herself, called out to her.
"Excuse me, you there, the girl at the back taking notes. What's your name?"
"Louise." She said before setting her quill down, standing to formally introduce herself. "Louise de La Valliere"
"Would you kindly come down and try to cast the spell I just performed." She asked with a calm smile.
Louise on the surface was calm, on the inside however, she was extremely nervous.
'Why do I have to do this!? Didn't the faculty warn her what happens when I use magic? Is she trying to use me as a bad example or something!?'
While Louise was mulling over her thoughts, the rest of the class got more agitated by the second. Just as she was about to kindly inform the obviously new instructor on the risks involved without proper preparation, "Um...Professor.." Malicorne de Grandpré, a stout boy with blonde hair hesitantly called out, making the professor look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, I suggest you don't pick her." He offers with the rest of the class nodding along, much to her irritation. They didn't have to make it sound like the end of the world. Still it's not like she couldn't understand where they were coming from.
Just as she was about to take a step back and allow the class to educate the ignorant professor, a certain tall, big breasted redhead stood up drawing everyone's attention to her cleavage just straining her shirt as they jiggled all over the place. Of course out of everyone in the class, SHE just had to add to the fire.
"It's dangerous. I would rather do it myself than have Louise do it!" The girl, Kirche Von Zerbst, protested stridently.
Louise's eyebrow was now twitching rapidly in pace with her growing anger. Had it been anyone else, the pinkette would have let it pass, but Von Zerbst was the ONE person that she absolutely could not abide criticism from, as it had been the busty redhead who had given her the thrice-accused moniker that she oh-oh despised.
"What's so dangerous about alchemy?" The professor scoffed none to amused by the overexaggerated (at least in her opinion) interruptions.
"It's not alchemy that's dangerous, it's letting HER perform magic that's dangerous"
It was one thing to step back on her own for the betterment of the class. It was another thing entirely to have her good name insulted by her arch nemesis while insinuating she could do better. Her pride wouldn't allow it! Consequences be damned!
"I'll do it! In fact, please allow me to do it, ma'am!" Louise nearly shouted to get over the mumbling of the class and proceeded to walk towards the teacher's desk after getting her permission.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Tabitha, the blue haired girl with glasses, and the only student with a shorter stature than herself, calmly stand up and walk out of the classroom without anyone else paying her any attention.
Louise couldn't blame the girl, they all knew how this would end, still it wouldn't hurt to show just a tiny bit of faith would it?
Actually, on second thought, yes it might.
Speaking of second thoughts, by the time she got to the desk and drew her wand, Louise was having plenty of them. It was only by Von Zerbst's last plea for her to "stop messing around" that she decided to follow through, if only to spite her.
Who knows, maybe this time would be different. She wasn't lying when she said she knew this spell inside and out. Now having seen a successful casting of the spell not even a few minutes ago, she was confident enough to give it another try.
So after quieting the redheaded distraction Louise listened to the instructions from the professor. Who was standing much closer than she probably should be.
"Now, all you have to do is strongly imagine the metal that you want to create. The spell itself does most of the leg work, you just need to know what you want." Professor C commented, looking completely confident in her decision.
Louise just nodded her head with a serious expression and pointed her wand at the stones to cast the spell.
[Lel In Yan]
With the words of power spoken, the entire class watched with bated breath as the stones began to glow all the colors of the rainbow. It was much grander looking than the brief glow from their teacher.
Louise on the other hand remained stony faced as a brief thought flashed across her mind.
'Yeah, This was a reeeeeaally bad idea.'
Not long after her thought, an explosion of noise and black smoke erupted from the classroom, shaking the entire school in the process, prompting everyone in the academy to think a single sentence in unison as they rolled their eyes.
'Louise the Zero strikes again!'
Standing tall in the aftermath of the explosion, her clothes more than slightly singed in a few places, but otherwise completely unharmed, Louise felt the need to comment to preserve what little pride she had left.
"Hm? I guess my spell was a little off today."
Of course her classmates weren't too happy about that admission. At least the professor was too unconscious to comment on it.
-_-_-
Room of Louise de la Valliere, Tristan Academy for Magic
Louise buried her head on her pillow mulling over the aftermath of her most recent explosive failure. Tears were definitely not clouding her eyes or anything!
Not that it would matter if they were, no one would dare visit 'The Zero' after class time just in case a stray explosion rocketed the area around them. It didn't matter much to her either way. She didn't need boys visiting her room at all hours of the day like that vixen Kirche.
Louise wiped her tears away angrily and thought back to the aftermath of her 'latest magical mishap' as the headmaster put it.
Thankfully the headmaster was more than understanding of her plight. She had not been blamed for it happening, as Miss Chevreuse had been told not to choose her for any magical demonstrations due to the spectacular failures that had happened in the past.
Said Professor was also perfectly fine after a brief visit to the infirmary to get some burn cream. She even suggested that she would personally help tutor Louise after class until she could get the spell right.
Louise was appreciative of the sentiment, but it wouldn't be the first time one of the teachers wanted to claim the glory that came from teaching the unteachable. Louise was fairly confident the only reason she tried is the headmaster had likely offered some kind of bonus for doing so. Which would be annoying if she had to admit, effective but annoying.
After Old Osmond, the headmaster of the Academy, had once again cautioned her not to use magic around others like some kind of mishandled musket, until she didn't blow things up with each spell, she had encountered Kirche. Obviously waiting on her alongside her two friends, Tabitha, a Gallian noble that never had much to say, and Montmorency Margarita 'La Fere' de Montmorency.
The other two aside, Louise actually liked Tabitha at least a little bit. The red glasses wearing girl was one of the few girls Louise's age that had a smaller bust than she did. Most importantly she was the only student in her year that didn't refer to her with that insufferable nickname. Whether that be because she didn't agree with the teasing or she simply didn't care, it hardly mattered to Louise. The girl was tolerable to be around which was more than she could say about anyone else in the school.
How she ended up such close friends with Kirche who could be said to be her exact opposite, Louise would never understand.
Montmorency had long blond hair styled into ringlets. She was an expert when it came to potions, so much so her runic name, 'The Fragrance' allied to it. Montmorency also had a long-term boyfriend, but from what Louise heard, he cheated on her almost religiously. She often wondered if the blond haired girl was a sadist as she almost seemed ecstatic whenever she beat her boyfriend up after she discovered his latest girl on the side.
"Yet another trip to detention, Zero?" Kirche had asked archly. She had been on Louise's case from day one because of the rivalry between their families. Things had gotten worse after Louise had shown her magical aptitude or rather, her lack thereof.
Louise had, rather calmly, rebuffed the accusation and informed the redhead of the headmaster's ruling on the subject, which had prompted both Kirche and Montmorency to erupt into gales of laughter, followed by more teasing and mocking.
Things had really come to head when Kirche wondered aloud "I wonder what kind of Familiar you'll summon tomorrow. Or if you'll even be able to summon one at all!"
That had been the last straw.
Louise had once again lost her temper and declared that the spell [Summon Servant] was the ONE spell that she had absolute confidence in. In a fit of childish pique, she had further declared that her familiar would far outstrip anything that Kirche or Montmorency could summon. She declared it would be the most beautiful, talented, and powerful familiar that any of them had ever seen, right before storming off. Unwilling to hear any rebuttals.
'Of all the things to say, just why did I have to say all that!?' Louise thought morosely. 'If things go as they usually do tomorrow, Kirche and Montmorency will never let me live it down!' That wasn't even to mention it making it impossible to remain at the academy.
Her family was none too enthused with her dragging their name through the mud for the last year. Well they didn't say it that bluntly but she could read between the lines of the letter. If she failed to summon a familiar or shape up her spells, she would be forced back home to be wedded off to her fiancé. Jean-Jacques Francis, the Viscount of Wardes.
Louise really didn't know how to feel about the man. On the one hand he was very kind to her growing up despite being ten years older than her. She practically idolized the man and definitely thought there were worse people to be married to.
But at the same time, the man made her feel very strange. Louise didn't think she should be as interested in him as she actually was. She would have suspected foul play but that was preposterous. Forget the fact that the man served the crown directly as the captain of the griffin knights alongside her mother, the captain of the manticore knights.
Louise doubted she would ever find someone as trustworthy to marry than he was. No, the problem didn't lie with him. The problem was one of her own and one she vowed to take with her to the grave less she sully her family name even further.
Louise didn't like men.
It wasn't anything too outrageous really. There were plenty of homosexual couples, commoners and nobility alike and Louise being only the third daughter of a noble family would allow her to get away without siring an heir if there weren't already potions that 'assisted' female homosexual couples with the task.
Public perception wasn't the problem. It was her family that would cause an issue. Specifically her mother, Karin and eldest sister, Éléonore. For whatever reason her mother was very verbally against homosexual couples, specifically in the case of women. She didn't seem to hold as strong of an opinion when it concerned men.
Her sister on the other hand was a stickler for Noble customs and simply abhorred the idea that two people wouldn't naturally be able to bear an heir. Her own engagement being annulled by her betrothed did not help with her outlook.
The only person in her family she knew would accept her for who she was, likely because she already had an idea about her preferences, was Louise's second eldest sister, Cattleya.
Louise was not ashamed to say she cared about her sister the most in their family. She was always so supportive and caring, even though she was born with an incurable illness that caused her body to remain weak.
Her father wasn't even worth mentioning, really. Although she loved him dearly and she knew he loved her as well, he was always…distant with the rest of the family. Louise got the impression he loved them more out of obligation than actual affection.
A sad realization but hardly a surprising one. That was just the way nobles were.
In any case, it was Louise's distaste of men that caused her to be slightly weary of Viscount Wards. Whenever she was in his presence it was like she turned into a blushing maid waiting for her master to make her his mistress for the night. Quite frankly it made her sick.
She had briefly considered that she was just attracted to both men and women but after spending a year at the academy and having been propositioned a few times by those assuming she was desperate for any kind of affection, she very quickly disabused that notion.
Still, she trusted Viscount Wards, so she just assumed that perhaps it was her positive impression of the man that made her receptive to the idea of marrying him despite every bone in her body telling her otherwise.
Either way it wasn't the most important thing to consider at the moment. Tomorrow's summoning was far more important and would dictate how she spent the rest of her life.
Biting her lip, she stood and walked over to her bookcase, which was crammed with various treatises on magical theory and its application from various countries, although a fair number of them were from Tristain. Running her finger across the spines of the books, Louise smiled crookedly. She had bought all of these in an effort to cast a spell without it blowing up on her.
As of yet, it hadn't worked, but she was convinced that the last few explosions had gotten somewhat smaller. Progress was small, but palpable.
Finding the volume she sought, Louise slid the book from the shelf and sat at her desk. Paging through it, she found the page she was looking for. The summoning spell: Summon Servant.
All second years are required to summon a Familiar in order to advance to the next stage in their training. In addition, the type of Familiar summoned usually confirmed the Summoner's primary elemental affinity and thus the element they should focus on learning first.
For those, like Louise, who had no clue as to her primary magic affinity, the Summon Servant spell would confirm it beyond all doubt.
Louise had memorized the spell weeks ago and she was surprised at how simple it was, considering what the spell did. 'Summon Servant' reached across the world and brought forth the one being that was the most suited for the Mage performing the summoning, and bound them together for life.
"Right then." Louise muttered as she bent over the spell book intently. She would not accept failure, not this time. She would study the spell down to its basic framework and in all its forms. Each of the four countries of Halkaginia had their own variant of the summon spell, but the change in wording was mostly superficial and didn't affect the basic spell structure to any serious degree.
Instead, the variants seemed to act like a signal, designed to draw the being that was being summoned to the country of the spell's origin. Louse would have to use the Tristan standard version, but she resonated that there was no harm in comparing all four versions.
Just in case.
She would not remain a failure, no matter the cost.
Then maybe, just maybe, she could prove herself to her Mother...her Father, big sisters, the Princess, Everyone…and most importantly she would prove to herself…
"That I'm not a failure. That I'm not a Zero!" With that thought, Louise continued studying into the night. Unaware of when sleep finally took hold of her consciousness.
-_-_-
Vestri Courtyard, Tristan Academy for Magic, Halkaginia
A crowd of second year students stood with their wands out and awaited their turn to perform the summoning spell. Approximately half of their number had already summoned their Familiars.
Guiche, Montmorency's boyfriend, had summoned an Earth mole he proudly named Verdandi. It was quite suited for him, because his primary element was earth. He really did his runic name justice.
Kirche, to Louise's irritation, had summoned a Fire Salamander she named Flame. Again it was suited for her; because of her runic name "The Ardent" and her primary affinity being Fire magic.
Montmorency had summoned a frog. Yes, an orange frog she called Robin. Her primary affinity was water, so again; it made sense.
Tabitha had scored the jackpot in Louise's opinion; by summoning a blue wind dragon she called Silpheed. Or at least that's the story she told everyone, but Louise knew different. In preparation for the ritual she had spent countless hours researching the various mythical bestiary from all of the countries she had access to and Silpheed did not match the description of any wind dragon Louise had seen before.
In fact there was one dragon that seemed to fit Silpheed's description that Louise knew of and if she were right, she completely understood why Tabitha decided to keep it a secret. Tabitha was skilled in three elements: Wind, Water and Ice, a combination element of the previous two. The ritual obviously sought a being that complemented all three affinities the girl possessed so that it would summon a legendary Rhyme dragon wasn't too surprising.
What was surprising however is the fact that they were thought to be extinct, or at the very least endangered to the point of extinction. If word got out about her dragon's true nature she could imagine several worst case scenarios befalling the quiet glasses wearing girl. So Louise would keep her mouth shut about it, if only because Tabitha had never teased her like the rest of their class.
"Now then." Professor Jean Colbert, the Professor in charge of teaching fire, spoke as he stood from examining Kirche's Salamander. "Has everyone summoned their Familiar?"
The busty redhead smirked mischievously as she said "Louise still hasn't!"
All at once, all eyes turned towards her with several students not so subtly backing away to get to a safer distance. Louise stood firm under their attention but she had to admit her nerves were getting to her.
"What's the matter Louise? Didn't you promise to show us the most amazing familiar ever?" Kirche teased quietly next to her, something Louise vaguely recognized as her attempting to both tease her but also not draw more attention to their little argument than was necessary.
Kirche was insufferable and Louise would swear to the founder that she hated the girl. But Louise had also known Kirche for years, and she knew the girl never actually intended for things to become as bad as they did with the school. The ostracization the rest of the school showered her with was entirely her own fault.
Louise had even heard Kirche defending her honor several times when she thought Louise wasn't around. Their rivalry was bitter but ultimately it wasn't malicious. In fact, Louise knew, deep down, there was no one else in the school that believed in her more than Kirche did.
Kirche was constantly egging her on when Louise was at her lowest and almost ready to give up. She expertly used Louise's inability to back down from a challenge to drive her forward. That didn't mean she wasn't the most annoying person on the planet though. And Louise would never admit to being thankful for the small pushes forward when her convictions wavered.
Just like now.
"Humph, just you wait. My familiar will blow that overgrown candle starter of yours out of this world!"
Her pride overshadowing her nerves, Louise stepped up to the clearing the other students had made around the pre-drawn summoning circle. She ignored their snide remarks as she attempted to put all her focus onto the spell.
Last night she had memorized the spell as it was written, front and back. Louise was never one to shy away from a risk but she had to admit that she didn't exactly have the best track record with her spells. So instead of adding her own flare to it like others, she would stick to the books completely. Raising her wand she began to recite the incantation for the spell.
"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental power, Heed my summoning... and bring forth...my familiar!!"
Louise chanted with a wave of her wand…only for nothing to happen…nothing at all.
"At…at least it didn't explode?" Louise wasn't sure who said it but the murmuring from the rest of the students went unheard in her ears. Their pitying and mocking glances didn't enter her eyes.
She…had failed, again. Before at least the spells exploded showing that SOMETHING was happening. But now…nothing at all? It couldn't be!?
"I'm sorry Miss Vallière but I'm afraid you-" Professor Colbert started, only to be interrupted by Louise herself.
"WAIT! Just one more! Let me try one more time, Professor Colbert!?" Louise requested her voice full of desperation.
"Unfortunately Miss Vallière, the ritual is very sacred and can-"
"Can't you give her one more shot professor? I'm sure that was just a warmup, right?" Just as it seemed like the balding man would deny her request, it was surprisingly Kirche to be the first one to back her up, followed by a few more unexpected requests from the likes of Guiche, Montmorency and a few others. Even Tabitha nodded her head once the professor's gaze passed over her.
Louise was honestly touched. She had assumed everyone in her class hated her until now for always causing them trouble. Having even one person on her side asking her to cast another spell wasn't something she ever saw coming.
She could tell that even the professor hadn't seen the situation coming as he looked equally both surprised and pleased by his students.
"Very well, Miss Vallière. You may try again. You performed the basic incantation perfectly but many mages add their own individual flare to the spell. It also helps to include one's runic name" He relented after leaving a bit of advice, stepping back to the edge of the student wall that had formed. His last comment unfortunately drew snickers from the rest of the class and an embarrassed blush from Louise's face.
"Well, don't keep us waiting, Zero~" Kirche playfully jabbed, earning her an indignant glare from the pinkette.
Louise huffed and ignored the annoying woman while silently thanking those who spoke up in her heart for the second chance.
Raising her wand, Louise decided to speak from the heart. It was her last chance and she wasn't the type to keep trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Even when all of her spells exploded on her, she would constantly try new and different ways to get them to work. Even if she had zero success so far.
She also begrudgingly decided to use that insufferable nickname and hope for the best.
And so, Louise casted the modified spell she had formulated in a single moment of desperation.
[My servant, who lives somewhere in the universe!
Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit!
Here I desire and plead from my heart!
Answer to my guidance, for my name is Zero!]
This time the summoning circle successfully began to glow underneath her. Everyone could feel the power welling up from the spell, leaving them all wondering what sort of creature would be summoned. For a moment, they all simply forgot who it was that cast the spell…
*BOOM*
Of course they were reminded not even a few seconds later when an explosion of heat and smoke covered the area knocking only those closest to the ground, leaving everyone else in a coughing fit, as usual.
"Wow, that one was the most destructive so far."
"Hey, Zero! Are you trying to kill us!?"
"Did she summon anything?"
"An explosion is what she summoned!"
"Well, if she managed to summon a familiar, it's probably dead from the explosion."
As the students groaned while picking themselves up, Guiche being the gentleman he was, went to help his fiancée rise while checking on her condition.
"Are you alright, Montmorency? Hmm, what's wrong?"
She didn't answer him, instead pointing in the direction her gaze was locked onto. There stood the lone figure of Louise who seemed to be the only one standing unaffected by her latest explosion. That wasn't what surprised her though. Instead it was the kneeling figure she could barely make out as the thick smoke began to clear.
"A-A Human?"
There, kneeling at the foot of Louise appeared to be a human. A completely nude human at that! A female by the looks of it. She was quite petite. Maybe only slightly larger than Louise herself? A teenage girl no doubt. She had purple eyes and long silvered hair that also shimmered with a purplish hue in the light. No one could deny that she could be considered quite beautiful. No, beautiful didn't quite describe how immaculate the girl looked. If not for the fact that she had little in the way of assets, almost everyone present would undoubtedly call her perfect.
"H-How scandalous! She couldn't be a commoner no matter how you look at it, right?"
"Y-Yeah, but summoning a mage would be…Is she even human in the first place?"
"Looks like Valliere got the beautiful part of the chant right? Maybe she was someone's favorite mistress?"
"You damn, perverts! Can't you have some decency and turn the other way!"
"Guiche, you seem to be staring at her for an awfully long time…"
"Geh, Montmorency! I was just stunned is all. There's no way a mere commoner could outshine...yada yada yada!"
While the class went about discussing theories on where the girl came from, Louise was simply baffled and continued to stare at the girl with a crimson tint on her face.
'T-This is the sacred, beautiful, and strong familiar I wished for…?' She questioned in a daze.
She hadn't failed…but she wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or not…
"Who are you?" Deciding to bite the bullet, Louise questioned the silver haired girl who had been curiously eyeing her surroundings since she appeared. She also took off her cloak and wrapped it around the girl to help preserve whatever dignity she might have left.
"Me?" The girl questioned while pointing at herself.
Louise only nodded while trying to keep as straight a face as possible and not look at the beautiful pale skin only barely hidden by her cloak. The blank face she got in return for her efforts only made Louise's bad feeling increase by the second.
"I don't remember. My true name has been lost since long ago, so you may simply call me, Zero"
It was at that moment that Louise decided that maybe she should have given up the first time.
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