Chapter 1

Edmund stumbled to the captain's cabin as another explosion rocked the ship. All around him crew members were rushing about, most were manning the cannon's. Edmund entered the captain's cabin and found the Captain sitting with his feet up on the desk surrounded by trinkets and treasures. He was fiddling with a miniature ship inside of a glass bottle.

"Ahh, Edmund my boy." The captain said as he adjusted the sails on the small ship "How's your day been?"

Edmund was over three times the Captain's age and did not like being referred to as 'boy'. Before he could make his objections known the ship was rocked by another blast. Edmund stumbled along with half the captain's collectibles. The captain simply held the ship-in-a-bottle with one hand and tinkered with the other.

"Captain!" Edmund said regaining his posture "The regulars are gaining on us, we need a plan!"

"Plan's are boring." the captain said as he nudged the sail in just the right place "I like to improvise."

"Sir the lives of the entire crew are at stake here!"

The captain simply slid the bottle off the side of his desk. It crashed on the floor spilling broken bits of ship everywhere. Edmund watched as the captain stood, grabbed a bottle of ale, and walked past him out onto the deck.

The captain calmly walked across the deck as the crew rushed to put out several fires and carry the wounded lower into the ship out of the line of fire. The captain took sevral swigs of ale as Edmund rushed to catch up. The captain stood at the front of his ship and took another swig.

"How many are following?" the captain said when he finished

"An entire fleet ranging from thirty to fifty" Edmund said catching his breath

"So we have a large Regular fleet rapidly approaching with half the cannons out of commission and no escape plan" the captain turned back to Edmund with a cocky grin "Goddamn I love a challenge"

"How do you plan on getting out of this one sir?" Edmund asked

"Oh come on!" The captain said spreading his arms wide "If you ignore the bad things you'd see that we have the Swyven, our client is still in one piece, and we've had way less casualties than I expected."

"And on the other side of things we're all about to die" Edmund said with a sense hopelessness

"Captain!"

Edmund and the captain turned to see private Williams looking through a telescope.

"There seems to be a large green floating circle directly ahead of us" Williams said

"Give me that!" the captain said before tearing the telescope from his grasp and looking through it. Sure enough there was a swirling green vortex hovering completely out of place, and the ship was set directly on course for it. The captain thought it looked similar to those mystical portals that he'd read about as a child.

He gave a happy sigh before tossing the telescope back to Williams and pointing to the crewman who was currently piloting the ship.

"Set course for the portal" the captain yelled "we're going in!"

"Are you mad?!" Edmund cried

"On multiple accounts I've been labeled as such yes" the captain replied

"We don't know if it's some kind of trap or-or just some optical illusion" Edmund argued

"Eddy my friend" the captain said as he looked off into the sunset "sometimes you just have to take risks in life."

Edmund grabbed the captain by the collar "You're risking the lives of everyone on this ship" Edmund said desperately "could you really live with yourself if you let this go wrong!?"

"Well if it goes wrong I won't exactly be 'living' eddy my boy" the captain said before bursting out in laughter

Edmund sighed in defeat as they approached the portal. Suddenly the trapdoor leading to the depths of the ship burst open, half the crew's attention was drawn to the small animal that scurried out.

Edmund's eyes went wide "The Swyven!" he yelled "Stop it"

Several members of the crew began chasing the creature around the deck as they begun rapidly approaching the portal.

A large figure charged from below deck carrying a small cage "Gauldfre!" the captain yelled "Catch that thing before it does something drastic!"

The portal began pulling the ship faster and faster, as the front of the ship was swallowed by it Gauldfre dashed around the deck with immense speed as he tried to corner the Swyven. The captain couldn't help but close his eyes as he passed through the portal.

The first thing that he registered was the smoke, they were now sailing through a large cloud of smoke.

"hey what do you know" the captain said with a grin "we're not dead after all!"

He placed his fists on his hips as Edmund coughed up a storm beside him.

"Yes it would appear so" Edmund said with another fit of coughing.

"Just goes to show you what risk-"the Swyven darted past the captain cutting off the rest of his sentence. With a degree of horror the crew watched it charge off the side of the ship, and right into the arms of a seventeen year-old girl.

Louise had been wondering what would happen for the past week. It would be her big day, when she'd prove them all wrong and that she could cast a spell properly. When the explosion tore into existence it was like a needle had pierced her bubble of enthusiasm. As all of her peers coughed and hacked her hopes and dreams slowly leaked from her bubble. That all changed when the cat leaped into her arms. It was a feeling unlike any other for her, she'd actually done it. As the cat squirmed about in her arms Louise held it closer in fear that it would cease to exist taking her proof of magic with it.

As the smoke cloud receded the class saw the so-called 'Zero' holding on to the animal and were instantly struck with stunned silence.

It was Kirche von Zerbst who broke the silence "I knew it!" she said "I knew you'd never be able to summon a dragon which you bragged about yesterday!"

Her words of course ushered laughs from her classmates but she didn't care, they were half-hearted laughs at best. Louise knew that from this point on they'd never be able to call her a Zero again. She may not be as good at magic as them, but she could complete a spell. She'd just proven her right to nobility.

"Ms. Valliere" her teacher Professor Colbert said "If you'd please finish the summoning rite."

Louise could only turn and nod, Colbert seemed happy for her and with good reason as well. Louise began the chant while looking over her familiar Now that the smoke had cleared a bit Louise could see it more clearly. It wasn't just a simple old cat that was for sure, it's pupils were blue and it's fur was purple with orange highlights, it's ears were also much longer than a cat's. As Louise chanted she didn't notice the heavy footsteps coming from the slowly receding cloud of smoke. Her classmates, however, did.

The students all grew cautious as a large silhouette could be seen within the smoke cloud. Colbert grew defensive and prepared a spell as the figure grew closer and closer to Ms. Valliere. Louise had no sooner finished the spell and kissed her familiar when she felt it pulled away from her. She looked up in surprise as the smoke cleared revealing a giant holding her familiar as it squirmed in his grasp.

Louise stumbled back, where did that thing come from?! The giant wore faded light-brown trousers and a torn vest of the same color. Though it's sudden appearance had shocked all of the spectators it wore one of the warmest smiles that any of them had seen. Besides the smile, the Giant's head was shiny smooth and it's eyes were closed as if he were dreaming. It also had immensely tanned skin.

Colbert inched his way closer to Louise trying to put himself in between the two of them. The giant turned his head to contemplate the familiar wriggling back in his grasp before gently raising his other hand which held a small cage. As the giant gently settled her familiar into the cage Louise was snapped out of her stupor.

"HEY!" she yelled to the giant as she struggled to get up "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY FAMILIAR?!"

The giant didn't react at all as it slowly began walking back into the rapidly dissipating smoke cloud.

"Professor Colbert!" Louise yelled to her teacher "That Thing is taking my familiar!"

"Your familiar?" A new voice yelled a voice from above. As the cloud dissipated they all were shocked to see a Massive airship pulling itself out of a green portal in front of a nearby tower. Once the smoke cloud cleared they could see two small floating ships hovering a few yards behind the giant. There were about a dozen rugged looking men and women aboard each. On one there was a man dressed in a sailing coat and large captain's hat. He had beige pants and brown hair sticking out from the rims of his hat. He also seemed to be in his mid-twenties.

"I think you mean my pay out" the man said.

His ship lowered itself to the ground and he and two other men got out. One dressed in a stewards outfit with greying hair, the other looked like a regular cabin boy. The cabin boy instantly got on his knees and, to everyone's surprise, the man in the hat stood on him. With great struggle the cabin boy crawled towards Colbert and Louise while the captain stood proudly on his back.

Colbert's mind raced, this wasn't good in the slightest. The way these people dressed and acted, they were obviously pirates. With those ships and there numbers they'd be able to do significant damage before being stopped. His only consolidation was that they didn't seem hostile yet. Where had they come from? That green portal, could Louise have summoned them with her familiar? It would be deemed almost ridiculous if not for the fact that they seemed to be after it.

The cabin boy stopped several feet away from them and the man who could only be their captain stepped off. He stood with one hand on the hilt of his sword and a cocky smile plastered all over his face. Louise looked at him with contempt, Colbert looked at him with caution.

The Captain looked at them for a while before asking "Does anybody here have a map?"

Neither Louise nor her teacher had expected it.

Colbert shook off the confusion "What?" he asked

"A map, you know it's usually a bunch of pictures on paper that represent where places are" Said the Captain "I'm not completely familiar with this territory."

"FORGET THE MAP!" Louise yelled before walking up to the Captain trying to look as intimidating as possible "WHAT DO YOU AND YOUR GOONS THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY FAMILIAR?!"

"Yeah first of all, when you scream it's like listening to a cat sexually assault a dog" the Captain said shocking Louise into silence "Secondly I don't like pink haired kindergarteners getting in my face like untrained dogs."

"H-HOW DARE-"

"And to answer your question, one-with-bigmouth, that creature belongs to me and I don't like others trying to take my stuff"

Before Louise could blow up again Colbert nudged her out of the way in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Excuse me sir, but the creature in your possession was summoned by Ms. Valliere here and by the will of Brimir it is destined to serve as her familiar."

"That's impossible!" the steward said as he made his way over. "There's no possible way that it could of been summoned"

"Yeah because she can't use Magic!" One of the students piped up sending them into another round of laughter.

"Quiet down" Colbert yelled to them, knowing that this wasn't the time for petty mockeries. He turned to the old steward "What do you mean it's impossible"

"Because mages w-" The captain clamped a hand tightly over his mouth

"Wait a minute" Captain said with a questioning smile "Let me guess, you guys are all mages?"

"Yeah everyone but Louise the Zero!" yelled another classmate firing off another series of laughs

"Shut up!" Louise yelled back at them "I can use magic, I summoned a familiar!"

"Yeah and a boat full of commoners!"

"Children please!" Colbert yelled

"That's impossible" the steward said drawing attention to himself "All of your kind we-"

The steward was cut off by a sudden bout of laughter from the captain who clutched his sides in humorous agony.

"I-I see" he said between laughs "In that case, Gauldfre."

The giant turned it's head towards the Captain, though with his eyes closed it was hard to tell if he was actually giving his attention.

"Let the little girl have her kitty" The captain said

"Are you CRAZY?!" the steward yelled "WE WENT THROUGH HELL TO GET THAT THING!"

"Yeah but getting pulled into another universe seems to have nullified our contract with the client." The captain said before nodding to the giant, now known to be Gauldfre.

Gauldfre wordlessly sat the cage on the ground and opened the cage door. The familiar darted out, but before it could get far the Captain grabbed it by the scruff of it's neck and held it out for all to see.

"THIS, IS THE MYTHICAL SWYVEN!" yelled the Captain still grinning "AS YOU ARE NOBLES I FIND IT ONLY FAIR TO WARN YOU THAT THIS CREATURE COULD BE YOUR ULTIMATE DOWNFALL!"

The students, of course thought it the ravings of a mad commoner, but Colbert knew better. These people knew something dangerous, something that could be a danger to his students.

"Let me tell you right now that I enjoy bragging" the Captain said to Louise who looked at him in confusion, he tossed the Swyven into her arms before continuing "I expect hefty pay, appropriate treatments from you and any others you intend to associate with us, and a harem of young girls to follow me around proving to my crew that I am the dominant Alpha."

"Wha-?" Louise said before once again yelling at him "HOW DARE A COMMONER SUCH AS YOURSELF REQUEST SUCH THINGS FROM SOMEONE OF MY STATUS!"

"Sorry kid but you don't really have a choice in the matter" the Captain said as he gestured towards him and his crew

"Why not?!" Louise asked

"Sir" said Colbert "I'm going to have to ask you to stop making claims toward my student and for you all to gather your vessels and leave the school grounds immediately."

The Captain's grin turned into a smirk as he turned to see his crew who were looking at him with mixtures of worry, confusion, and expectance. The Captain turned back to Colbert and Louise before shrugging and removing his left glove. Colbert's eyes instantly widened as he recognized the runes on the back of his hand. It took Louise a while, but after looking at her familiar she let out a shocked squeak.

They both had the exact same runes.

"Judging from your expressions I'm sure you know where I'm going with this" said the Captain before turning back to the crew "Gloves off people."

The crewmen looked at each other before slowly removing their gloves, most reacted with shock finding the runes scarred into their hands as well. Gauldfre simply stared at the runes with his unchanging expression of non-caring happiness. The steward looked at his runes with both angered confusion and wonder.

"Captain, how could this have happened?" the steward asked, still recovering from shock

"Simple, obviously the mage-in-training summoned us here as well" said the Captain "and by claiming the Swyven she also claimed everything else she brought through"

"You're taking this surprisingly well" the Steward said flatly

"Don't you see Edmund" the captain said before pulling out some dark glasses "VACATION!"

The crew looked at each other as their Captain began listing a list of vacation plans.

"Cruising along the ocean without getting shot at. Cruising along the skies without getting shot at."the Captain laughed again "Walking into a bar without getting shot at and enjoying the company of the ladies.

"And all will come out of the savings of our generous new master" he said pointing a thumb towards Louise.

"NOW HOLD ON!" Louise yelled "Even if I did summon you guys, I will NOT pay for a bunch of worthless commoners to go partying."

"ok then we'll be leaving to go pillage some stuff" the Captain said sounding sure of himself before turning to leave

"Sir" the steward named Edmund grabbed the Captain by the shoulder and whispered something to him. Immediately the Captain spun around.

"Ok new plan!" He said before turning "Edmund, Gauldfre and Private Williams will keep the pink haired poodle from getting herself killed and I shall go inform the rest of the crew."

"Wha-" Louise managed to get out before the Captain spun on his heels and ran back to his ship. It floated up to the other one, which was still floating in place. The two ships then took off for the airship.

"GAULDFRE, EDMUND!" the Captain yelled down "DON'T DESTROY THE PLACE!"

The Giant, Edmund and the cabin boy now known as Williams turned to look at Louise.

The students began whispering about paid pirates and painted cats, obviously not convinced Louise summoned anything at all.

"Professor Colbert!" Louise cried turning to her teacher "You're not going to just let these commoners follow me around are you!?"

"I'm sorry Louise but they've been marked as your familiars" Colbert said as he took a closer look at the runes on the 'Swyven' "They've got every right to be concerned about your safety"

"But I've never heard of summoning humans before!" she replied

"I'm sorry but your going to have to find a way for it to work." Colbert said

"Yeah maybe she can get used to the commoners, she is one after all!" a blonde girl with weird curly hair yelled starting up the swarm of laughter once more.

"My dear Montmorency" said the blonde boy next to her "Give the Zero a break, she seems to be embarrassed enough."

"SHUT UP!" Louise cried "I'M NOT A ZERO!"

Colbert's eyes narrowed, these runes seemed strange. He hadn't seen ones like these before. He'd have to look this up when he has the time. And he'd have to talk with that captain about the large war-ship floating around a school full of children.

"The springtime Summoning is complete, please make way to your dorms so the next class may proceed." Colbert said and slowly the other students began to fly off towards their rooms, most giggling at Louise's expense.

Once everyone but Louise had left Edmund decided to speak "Shouldn't we be going as well Master." he said stretching the last word.

"Listen up" Louise said as she turned to them "if you guys want to follow me then your going to have to follow my orers and do exactly as I say!"

"Where is your room located?" he asked ignoring her previous words.

"Are you listening to me?!"

"Not at all."

Louise fumed, the commoners weren't seeing her as their better. She'd have to fix that soon, but first she'd have to get them out of sight, She didn't want people thinking she couldn't control them, they were her Familiars after all!

Louise pointed to the female dorms, specifically her room "There" she said

Edmund looked at Gauldfre and nodded, the giant walked over and picked up Louise.

"Wha-What do you think you're doing?!" she struggled a bit as the giant placed her on his shoulders and began walking towards the female dorms "I can walk fine on my own!"

Edmund put on a look of shock "But master, shouldn't the lowly servants keep their dear master from overexerting herself?" he said

Louise didn't know if walking counted as over-exertion, the dorms weren't even that far away, but she did like how her familiars were beginning to learn their places.

...

"Everyone!" the captain said "If I could please have your attention!"

He was standing on an elevated platform overlooking the mess hall where several hundred crewmates were eating, at the sound of his voice they all turned to look at him.

"As you may know, we aren't in Milgrash anymore." he said "We have been summoned to another universe which from the looks of it , is about thirteen years in the past compared to our timeline."

The crew began whispering to one another.

"Now you may have noticed the strange marks on your hands" he received many nods and some even checked their hands "Those are the Familiar Runes, we were summoned to be Familiars to a young Mage."

One of the crew stood "BULLSHIT WE WERE!" he yelled as a chorus of angered voices started up.

"People people, calm yourselves" the Captain said gesturing for them to compose themselves "I have no intention of letting them turn us into a bunch of slaves. But this does mean that there's a high chance of us not being able to go home to our own universe, so we must learn as much as we can about this new world."

The crew slowly calmed down as they looked to their Captain.

"I'm going to have several groups of you guys infiltrate the local villages to gather intelligence on the state of this world's politics, blend in with crowd and try to stay as anonymous as possible." the Captain made sure to talk loudly for the ones in back "Several more groups will go search for a place to colonize and make into a base of operations."

The crew nodded to each other as they began to acknowledge how profitable this could be.

"Report to your Cabin masters for briefing and supplies, we're going to make a LOT of money off this place."

That caused the crew to whoop and holler, practically smelling the money.

"One more thing" the Captain said as they grew quiet "In this universe the war hasn't happened, so that means there are many mages around."

That stunned the crew into silence.

"If you encounter mages, flatter their egos." said the Captain "If they try to stop you from completing your missions you know what to do."

Silent nods as the crew thought of the years to come.

...

"I expected it to be a bit bigger" private Williams said as he looked around Louise's room.

"Get used to it Private" Edmund said as he dragged a chair over to the window and stared out.

Louise was trying to calm herself, familiars or not these guys were making themselves at home without even a word of thanks! She suddenly realized the absence of one and she turned to see the Giant standing outside her doorway. she realized quickly that he was simply to big to fit into the tiny doorway. In the end he relented to just sitting against the wall directly opposite to her door, and he still had that sublime smile on his face. Louise closed her door before turning to the other commoners. Edmund was staring out the window ever so quietly. His expression frozen as he took in the environment. Private Williams was nervously whistling a tune quite horribly.

Louise sighed, was this really what she had to put up with. Why couldn't she have simply summoned the cat only? Right now the cat was napping on Louise's bed, she'd have to teach it to use the bed of hay next to it. Louise's attention was drawn back to the commoners, Edmund hadn't moved an inch and Williams was looking around while patting his hands together behind his back. They could at least make themselves useful.

"Familiars!" Louise yelled to them, Edmund stood still as a statue as his eyes looked back at her with indifference while Williams patted himself down trying to look presentable "Take my laundry outside and wash it."

With this Louise gathered a pile of laundry and tossed it at Williams who struggled not to drop any of it, Williams instantly looked to Edmund for assistance.

"You heard her private." Edmund said returning his gaze out the window. Williams sighed before making his way towards the door.

"Hold up!" Louise said before removing and tossing her current articles of clothing onto the pile. Williams tried to keep most of his face buried in the pile of clothes while his face turned deep red. When she was done he quickly stumbled outside.

"And you!" she said pointing at Edmund as she stood shamelessly in the buff "Wake me up early for breakfast!"

Edmund merely sighed "Nobles and their shameless ways." he thought as Louise searched for her nightgown.

Outside Gauldfre instantly took notice of Williams' plight and quickly took the bundle of clothing from him.

"Thank you very much sir!" Williams said as he relaxed his arms "I don't think I could've made it all the way."

Williams gestured for Gauldfre to follow and together they made their way down the tower.

"Dear Katie, I'd love to sample one of your soufflés sometime."

Gauldfre and Williams came across two students who from the looks of things seemed very distracted. One of them was that blonde boy Williams remembered from earlier, he seemed to be 'wooing' the brown haired girl. Among seeing Gauldfre Katie's eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth while backing away. The blonde boy quickly turned, among seeing them he relaxed and grew a cocky smile.

"No worries sweet Katie, it's just the Zero's Familiars" he said "They couldn't hurt a fly."

"Are you sure Lord Guiche?" Katie asked still tossing fearful glances toward the giant

As Guiche calmed Katie down with more pretty-boy exaggerations Williams scooted over to Gauldfre "Hey, let's beat it before they want us to kneel or something." he whispered. Gauldfre nodded and they continued on their way.

...

"Hey," the Captain said as he stared at the figure sitting across from him "Clockwork...How you doing buddy?"

Clockwork was dressed in a long brown coat that was buttoned all the way up to his nose. He wore large brownish colored goggles, and a large Top hat with several gears built into it. There were large clumps of filthy hair sticking out in-between his goggles and his hat.

"I FEEL WONDERFUL CAPTAIN" Clockwork said in a variety of different voices, Clockwork had some sort of voice thinger-ma-jig on him that allowed him to record and save words people are saying. Usually when he's not mimicking someone Clockwork would speak in an eerie jumble of different voices. In all his time the Captain didn't know what Clockwork's real voice sounded like.

Clockwork continues "HOW gOEs THEMISSION?"

The Captain took a look around him, this room looked like an interrogation chamber, it worried him that Clockwork was actually living in this place "Well we seem to have run into trouble." the Captain said humorously "We've been sucked into an alternate universe and marked as familiars for a young mage."

The Captain didn't dare say the rest, he wanted to keep the client in the highest of spirits after all. Clockwork folded his arms on the table, he was wearing light metal gloves.

"I SEE..." Clockwork went silent for a bit "Is the Swyven still in our custody?"

"Yes actually" the Captain said as he leaned back "It's currently in the Mage's possession but I've got guys with her. These fools don't even know what it can do, I doubt they'd try to hide or destroy it."

"GOOD..." Clockwork said with a sigh of relief "...CAPTAIN, I'D LIKE A MINUTE TO MYSELF"

"Of course buddy." the Captain said before walking over to the door and opening it, he looked back "and remember, getting sucked into another world could be very difficult for a person. If you ever need to talk about something or just need a friend, I hope you'll come to me for assistance okay champ?"

Clockwork just sighed, "Yes Captain"

And with that, the Captain exited the bare room. The captain sighed, it'll take a lot of hard work to create a lucrative set up in this universe. He regained his cocky posture and skipped playfully to the stairwell. He planned to play with the little one a bit before retiring to his bed chambers for the night.

...

When Siesta had seen the boy's pitiful excuse for laundry cleaning she knew she had to help. She quickly walked over to him and greeted him with a smile "Hello there, do you need any help?" She asked.

"Oh that would be much appreciated miss, thank you." he said and she quickly taught and demonstrated how to properly clean the clothes as the boy watched. After the lesson, Siesta was relieved to find that the boy was now washing the clothes without straining the fabric.

"Thanks again for taking the time to help me out again lady, to tell you the truth my pal had gone to look for help not long before you showed up" the boy sighed "Neither of us were really confident in our cleaning abilities."

"Oh I'm happy to help," Siesta said with a smile before asking "You wouldn't happen to be one of Miss Valliere's familiars would you?"

"Is it that obvious?" the boy asked curiously

"No, but this is Miss Valliere's clothing isn't it?" Siesta asked, not many girls here had undergarments this size.

"Well you caught me," the boy said "is it really a big deal?"

Despite the fact the that she had summoned an entire warship fully armed and manned, no it wasn't that big of a deal. The entire staff had been talking about the airship that had been circling the academy. Rumors had spread ranging from a noble flaunting their military support to the academy coming under assault by plunderers. Before Siesta could mention this to the boy she suddenly became aware of the presence behind her, the boy noticed them as well and smiled at them.

"Oh, Gauldfre you're back." the boy said before looking back at Siesta "This is that friend I was telling you about."

True to her polite nature Siesta quickly turned to greet Gauldfre, only to come face to face with a giant. She'd heard that a giant was among them, but she really had been doubting them till coming face to lower chest with one. After the initial shock ran out Siesta allowed her gaze to travel up the chiseled features up to the smiling face that looked down upon her. Siesta let loose a squeaking sound reminiscent of a mouse cornered by cats, this was her first actual confrontation with a giant in real life. She had honestly never expected to see one in real life, the only place she heard of them were books and...

That thought suddenly brought her thought process to a screaming halt. As the scenes from some of her more 'personal' books came to mind all of a sudden, Gauldfre's smile looked a lot less warm and welcoming and a lot more lustful and hungry. He began rubbing his hands suggestively as he gazed down upon the cowering maid. Her imagination fueled her fear of what the large muscular giant could do to her, she'd be practically defenseless against one with his strength.

As Siesta's mind rapidly short-circuited Private Williams finished wringing out the clothes and carried them over to Gauldfre who, once again, handled the load with ease.

"So mine name's Williams by the way," Williams said walking to Gauldfre's side "Do you know where we should go to dry these out."

...

Edmund fought the urge to hold Louise's sleeping form out a window until she woke up. That would have been so entertaining, but the Captain specifically said to keep the girl from dying. Edmund briefly pondered the possibility of Louise surviving a fall like that. He squashed the thought, he knew that probability wasn't a reliable benefactor at most times, that led to short-sighted thinking. He digressed, he'd have to wake her up in a more non-lethal way. So he pulled her, along with most of her sheets, right out of bed. Louise landed on the floor and scrambled out of her sheets in a mixture of sleep-haze and shock.

"WHO?! WHA-!? WHO ARE YOU?!" Louise asked in fright as her eyes fell upon Edmund

"Nobles and their despicable short-term memory" Edmund muttered as he walked to the window and pulled out a cigar, lit it, and promptly inhaled.

"What'd you do that for?!" Louise grumbled as she rubbed sleep from her eyes

"Did you not want me to wake you up early?" Edmund asked with another puff of his cigar "

"Could you not have done it more gently?" Louise asked as she picked herself from the ground

"No" Edmund said bluntly before gesturing to the dresser "Williams and Gauldfre dropped off your clothes"

"Drop-off?" Louise asked "Where are they now?"

"Sleeping outside" Edmund said fixing his collar

Outside? Louise briefly pondered this before realizing that there simply wasn't enough room for them. Gauldfre alone couldn't even get in, him plus they other two would make it annoying for her. Commoners were renown for their loud sleeping. Louise sighed and looked at Edmund, had he stayed up all night?

"What is that?" She asked pointing to the cigar, curios about how fire emanated from the commoner's paper trinket.

Edmund was about to tell how stupid she sounded but remembered, this was about thirteen years in the past compared to their timeline.

"Do you know about smoking pipes?" Edmund asked with a puff, Louise nodded "This is what commoners use as a substitute"

Louise sighed, just commoners and their cheap knock-offs of pricey items.

"Servant!" she said pointing to her dresser "Fetch me my clothes."

Edmund had absolutely no logical reason to comply to the mage's orders. His assignment was to keep her alive while not destroying the academy. None of that mentioned being a maidservant to bratty nobles. Edmund's only response was a puff from his cigar.

"Hey didn't you hear me!?" Louise yelled "Get my clothes!"

Another puff.

Louise scowled " You will get my clothes right now commoner!" she yelled "Or else you won't be eating today"

Puff. Puff. Puff.

"Stupid dog!" she yelled as she proceeded to dress herself. Now she was going to be late all because of her stupid familiar!

She walked to the door and turned to see Edmund getting up to follow her. She sighed, commoners really were useless.

...

Williams yawned.

"Gauldfre?" he asked sleepily "you awake?"

He didn't expect an answer, he sat up off the grass to see Gauldfre sitting in a meditative position with a bird chirping in one hand and a rabbit sleeping in the other.

"Good morning big guy" Williams said as he stood and stretched

Gauldfre nodded to both of the animals and they took off.

"God nature does wonders for my state of mind" Williams said as he massaged his temple when suddenly a thought had struck "Hey Gauldfre, why'd that maid react so weirdly to you yesterday?"

After seeing Gauldfre, Siesta had acted in a daze. She showed them where to dry the laundry and had left in a zombie-like state. They then dropped off the clothes and decided to sleep outside.

Gauldfre simply shrugged.

"Well" Williams said putting both hands on his hips "Guess we gotta go find that pink-haired girl, Louise right?"

Gauldfre nodded, and together they began searching for Louise.

...

"You should be grateful" Louise stated "Not many commoners get to enter a place as refined as this"

They were currently making their way to Louise's seat in the dining hall. Edmund ignored her comment, he was trying to make sure he soaked up as much 'useful' information. But in a place as superficial as this, that wasn't easy. Louise found her seat and glanced at Edmund who, reluctantly, pulled out her chair for her like a gentleman. He expected her to return the favor some day. He stood to the side of her chair and began looking around for 'potential' threats.

"Ahem" said Louise before nodding to the floor "Aren't you going to eat?"

Edmund glanced down to find a pitiful piece of bread on a plate resting next to her chair like an animal's.

"Oh Hell No" Edmund bit his lip till he tasted blood. How many of these plates could he bash over her head till she lost consciousness?

"Unnecessary" he said bluntly ignoring the mounting need to tear people apart. No, he needed to wait until using fear. Now wasn't proper. He needed to make an entrance, but he just didn't know how long he could take this.

Louise 'harrumphed', he wasn't her problem. She looked down at the meal and saw the cat eating it. She briefly wondered how it got there before reaching down to pet it.

"What classes do we attend afterwards master?" Edmund asked

Louise briefly wondered why he needed to know that, then she realized why not. It was obvious a commoner like him would love to know about a noble's wonderful life "Today second years don't have classes" She said as she nuzzled the cat some more "We have today off so we can get to know our familiars better."

"I see" Edmund replied coldly "shall we go then?"

"You don't make suggestions to me servant!" Louise said as she returned to her meal "Wait till I'm finished"

...

"I have no idea where we are buddy" Williams said as he looked around for any familiar landmarks, he'd always had the slowest of memories.

Somehow he and Gauldfre had stumbled into a café-like area in their search for the female dorms, to say that Williams should've let Gauldfre lead would be an understatement. All around them students were lounging around with their familiars while servants hurried to and fro taking and delivering orders. It was at that moment Williams realized how hungry he was. As he wondered how many hours he could go without food Gauldfre scanned the crowds.

Then he noticed Siesta.

He tapped Williams on the shoulder and pointed to her.

"Great idea Gauldfre!" Williams said "I'm sure she could give us directions!"

...

"It's not mine" Guiche said dismissively "Now go fetch my order."

He shooed her away and, confused, Siesta went to get a tray. She had seen Lord Guiche drop the vial, she was sure of it! But he acted like he'd never seen it before. She didn't even make if seven feet when-

"Hey!" yelled another girl, who she remembered to be Montmorency, as she approached with mounting rage "What're you doing with that!"

Siesta froze as Montmorency swiped the bottle from her "This is my perfume!" She growled "Where did you get this servant?!"

Siesta stuttered "I-I saw Lord G-Guiche drop it b-but he didn't take it when I returned it."

Montmorency growled once again and dragged Siesta back over to Guiche's table.

"Guiche!" Montmorency yelled "What's this talk of you letting this servant carry MY perfume which I specifically gave to you!?"

Guiche blanched before striking an injured pose "My sweet Montmorency! I have been victimized by this thief!" he said pointing toward a frantic Siesta "She meens to steal from me and turn us against each other!"

From the looks she was getting from Montmorency, Siesta could tell she was going to be in BIG trouble. Both of the nobles turned to her, but before they could begin demanding that she be fired...

...Williams was there.

He just slid right between them.

"Hey Siesta, great to see you again!" Williams said completely ignoring the furious nobles behind him "Yeah I was hoping you could give me directions-"

"Commoner, show some respect!"

Williams turned to a fuming Guiche who waved his rose at him.

"We were having an important discussion revolving around this maid's thievery" he said "Now leave!"

Siesta was scared, the entire situation had blown completely out of proportion. She didn't want someone else to get involved here. Williams blinked twice before raising a finger to point at Guiche.

"Aren't you that guy who was with that brown-haired girl yesterday?" Williams asked

"Don't change the subject common-!"

"What's he talking about Guiche?"

All of Guiche's flamboyance drained out of him. He turned back to Montmorency.

"My dear Montmorency the fragrance!" he said desperately "the commoner knows not what he says!"

Williams plucked the rose from Guiche's hand and put his foot on a chair in a mock resemblance to Guiche's earlier actions.

"Oh dear Katie" he said in perfect resemblance "I'd love to sample one of your soufflés sometime."

Before Guiche could defend himself, Montmorency grabbed him by the collar "So the rumors about you and the first-year are true!" she said as she shook him furiously

Siesta felt herself being pulled back from the rather explosive drama unfolding before her. What was Williams thinking, did he have a death wish!?

"Lies! All lies!" Guiche said as he desperately tried to diffuse the situation

"Really? I thought it was pretty accurate." Williams said before looking past Guiche "what did you think Katie?"

It felt like his very soul was being ripped from him as he slowly turned to see the tear-stained face of Katie standing behind him.

...

When they stepped outside, the first thing Edmund noticed was the crowd gathering. Without words Louise went to see what was going on and Edmund, being the loyal servant he was, followed her. Once they made their way to the inner ring of the crowd Edmund saw a blonde boy desperately trying to calm two girls down. He noticed Gauldfre standing back holding a maid back, he also noticed Williams giggling to himself and quickly marched over.

"What happened?" Edmund asked

"Oh man," Williams said between laughs "you're not going believe this."

"Try me"

"Ok so Guiche over there was dating two girls at once right. So I busted him and now he's about to get torn apart!"

"You what?!" Edmund wasn't particularly angry, in fact he could use this to his advantage. It was the fact that the Private thought he could do something like this without HIS permission first. Before he could demean Williams for his lack of forethought Edmund heard the resounding smacking sound as both of the girls slapped Guiche across the face.

"YOU TWO-TIMING JERK!" they yelled in synchronization before marching off

"Katie! Montmorency!" Guiche cried "Wait I can explain!"

The crowd laughed on and on at Guiche's humiliation, finally he turned on Private Williams.

"Commoner!" he yelled "It's obvious you have no respect for your superiors!"

That instantly killed Williams humor, he looked around in confusion for a bit looking for the source of Guiche's anger.

"You're anger is misplaced child" Edmund said simply

"How dare a commoner such as yourself talk down to me!" Guiche said before turning back to Williams "I can not allow this fop to make two lovely maidens cry!"

"I do believe you should try begging for forgiveness from the women you wronged" Edmund said "Then maybe you could begin to salvage what's left of your debilitated pride"

The crowd laughed it up as Guiche grew more furious.

"You dare defend this peasant!" Guiche said with another gesture of his rose "I challenge you to a duel!"

"I have no time for pathetic children" Edmund said as he walked away

"Running away are you?" Guiche said with a smirk "Worthless Commoner"

Edmund's mind went blank at the word 'Worthless'.

"Worthless commoners deserve to be burned!"

"No please! It hurts! It hurts!"

"I think the commoner's going to cry!

"Please!"

"He is! He is crying! How pathetic!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Edmund's eyes slowly spotted the Zeppelin, good... it was in a reasonable distance.

"I accept" he said without turning around

Guiche smirked and said "I shall wait for you at the Vestri Court"

And with that Guiche walked off towards the court.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Louise cried when she reached Edmund "He'll tear you apart!"

"I'm going to hurt him." Edmund said without looking back

"He's a mage! He'll kill you!" Louise yelled before grabbing Edmund by the coat "Come on! If you apologize maybe he'll let you off the hook!"

When she pulled, however, Edmund didn't budge. In fact he seemed to be made of stone.

"Gauldfre." Edmund said "Where is the Vestri Court?"

Hesitantly Gauldfre pointed in the direction of the court, he'd explored a 'lot' of the exterior after Williams went to sleep.

"What're you doing!?" Louise said, she couldn't see how an old commoner was planning to fight a mage and was planning to force Edmund to apologize, but stopped when Edmund turned around. He didn't look regretful or scared, in fact he was smiling.

It was a sickeningly hungry smile that disturbed Louise to her very core. That wasn't the face of a man about to die...

...that was the face of a man about to kill.

...

The door to the headmaster's office flew open as an exasperated Colbert rushed in. He carried a book and marched directly to Headmaster Osmond's desk.

"Headmaster Osmond!" Colbert said "We have a serious issue here!"

Osmond felt a little sad at the sudden need for his attention. He and his mouse familiar, Monsignor, was busy conducting a reconnaissance mission to determine what colored panties Miss Longueville was wearing. Honestly, how would that woman ever expect to get a man if she never wears anything enjoyable?

"What seems to be the problem Mister Colbert?" Osmond asked seriously

"It's Miss Valliere's familiars!"

"Oh yes, the ones with the war airship" Osmond sighed, he'd been getting complaints about that all day and night. He had to admit he was surprised that the proclaimed 'Zero' could summon humans, let alone a whole ship's worth "remind me to talk with their captain about that."

"That's not it sir!" Colbert opened the book and placed it on Osmond's desk "These are the runes those familiars bear."

Osmond looked at the book's title which read 'Familiars of Brimir', he raised an eyebrow.

"Miss Longueville" Osmond said "Please step outside for a moment"

His secretary looked at him with a quizzical expression before shrugging to leave.

Suddenly the door flew open again, a panting teacher had to catch his breath before saying:

"Lord Guiche is about to duel one of Valliere's familiars!"

...

"I compliment you for not running away" Guiche said pointing his rose at Edmund "I will however offer you one last chance to beg for forgiveness"

Louise felt like she was going to be sick. There was a large crowd gathered, and they were all here to watch one of her familiars get beaten within an inch of his life. They were most likely going to laugh at her afterwards. She looked at Gauldfre and Williams who were a way's off. Gauldfre had his regular expression with his arms crossed, Williams actually looked giddy. Louise was shocked by this behavior, did they not care about their friend?

"You talk to much" Edmund said removing his gloves and stuffing them into his coat pocket "Get on with it child"

Guiche faltered a bit before regaining his stride and swung his rose through the air, a single pedal fell majestically to the ground and formed a beautifully detailed bronze Valkyrie.

"My runic name is Guiche the bronze, therefore this bronze golem shall be your opponent." Guiche laughed victoriously "Any last words commoner?"

"Yes" Edmund said as he brought out new gloves, these had blue veins running along them " So far I have been appalled by the arrogance you nobles seem to have no limit to. Your comfort-laced lives have spoiled your minds and turned them into idiotic chunks of self-righteousness. And to think you guys feel like you have the right to blame all your discomforts on the servants who so diligently put up with your ridiculous desires speaks volumes of the sheer amount of arrogance you must have accumulated."

The crowd was angry, very angry. This commoner had insulted them all, he had no right! Many hoped that Guiche might 'accidently' disable the commoner.

"And now" Edmund said pointing "I'm going to take out over twenty-four hours worth of rage on you."

Edmund squeezed his other hand and the veins begin to pulse blue.

...

Deep in the bowels of the zeppelin, a blue light flickered on. It was soon followed by several more.

"PRIMARY MISSION UPDATED"

...

"It seems you need to be put in your place!" Guiche said cheered on by his classmates. With a wave of his rose the Valkyrie charged at Edmund, Louise almost couldn't watch.

The Valkyrie didn't make it half-way to him before the knight fell from the sky. The Valkyrie was flattened by the sheer force he came down with.

The knight stood at full height, his armor was made of a shiny dark metal. There was a glass covering on his helmet that had blue light pulsing behind it. In one hand he had a black case with a handle on it, in the other he held a metal object with three protrusions. He was holding it by one of the protrusions.

"What?!" Said Guiche, voicing the shock of the now-silent crowd "What is that?!"

"Oh this?" Edmund asked as the knight walked over and handed him the case "Just a mech I built, quite handy it is, most of you simple-minded fools would try to label it as a golem."

"But you're just a commoner!" Guiche yelled

"Wrong!" Edmund yelled with glee "I'm the smartest fucking commoner you'll ever meet!"

And with a snap of his fingers Edmund's mech dashed towards Guiche at high speed. Guiche knew he didn't have enough time to summon a golem, so he quickly summoned a sword and swung it at the mech. The sword broke on it's shoulder, Guiche had just enough time to realize how screwed he was before the Mech delivered a savage blow to his gut. Guiche keeled over, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Your Valkyrie was powered by magic" Edmund said as he pressed a button on the case, several stands extended from the bottom of the case and Edmund promptly placed it on the ground. Due to the stands, the case now stood at about waist level "My Mech's fueled by refined Will, so obviously it moves faster."

The mech grabbed Guiche by the scruff of his collar and dragged him over to Edmund who opened the case and retrieved a small metal object similar to the mech's.

"Your Valkyrie had a high composition of copper," Edmund said as he took out another cigar and lit it "Compared to my mech, it was little more than tin."

The mech held Guiche in the air. Edmund inhaled deeply.

"Now, you were saying something about me just being a commoner?" Edmund said with a sadistic smile

"I-I yield" Guiche said hanging his head in shame

Edmund chuckled "Yeah that's cute, kid."

And in front of all those onlookers, he raised the metal object and brutally bashed Guiche in the face with it. The stunned crowd watched in confusion and terror as Guiche spat out some blood before looking at Edmund. The mech wrapped both arms Under Guiche's armpits restraining him

"I said I yield!" he said, his words were met with another severe bash across the face.

"Do I look like a bitch?!" Edmund yelled

"What!?"

"I said DO I LOOK LIKE A BITCH!?"

"no!"

"Then why'd you try to beat me like one?"

That stunned Guiche.

"I-I this isn't part of the rules!" Guiche cried "I yielded! Release me!"

"Shut up you noble dog!" Edmund said with another brutal bash to the face. The now terrified crowd watched in horror as Guiche coughed out several pieces of broken teeth.

"this isn't part of the rules." Guiche said as his eyes lolled around

"I don't give two shits!" Edmund said with another smile "Do you know what this is?"

He waved the metal object around.

"This is a Boxman repeater." Edmund stated "One shot from this has enough force to pull half the contents of your skull out the back of your head."

"That's enough!"

Edmund turned to look at Louise, who was visibly shaking. This whole situation was surreal, Edmund was supposed to have been beaten and bruised. Nobles weren't supposed to be beaten by commoners and commoners surely weren't supposed to have control over golems. Now Edmund was the one viciously beating Guiche, and the onlookers were terrified.

"You've won already!" she said "Please stop!"

"Louise I never said I wanted to win" Edmund said while he stroked the Repeater " I said from the beginning that I only wanted to expel the pent up rage that you left me with."

"What?!" Louise said "That doesn't give you an excuse for-"

"Sit the fuck down, child" Edmund said "The only reason I haven't reduced you to a goddamn grease stain by now is because the Captain said to keep you out of trouble."

Louise froze, if what Edmund was saying was true, could it have been possible that Edmund spent the whole night thinking up ways to kill her?

"Unfortunately the same thing can't be said for bronze boy over here." Edmund said before turning back to Guiche.

"Thought you were going to make an example of me eh?" Edmund said leveling the repeater with Guiche's chin "Thought you were going to beat me into submission did you?"

Everybody knew he was speaking the truth but most just couldn't find a reason to justify his actions.

"Stop, You can't do this!" Montmorency cried stepping out of the circle, many were surprised that she would defend her cheating boyfriend

"Well frankly I don't care." Edmund said raising his hand to strike Guiche once more

"I said stop!" Montmorency yelled before raising her wand. Before she could get off a good spell, however, a spinning blade came out of nowhere and sliced her wand clean in half before burying itself in the ground.

Now the attention was on Montmorency who looked at the remaining stub of her wand in terror. Everyone turned in the direction the blade had come from and saw another one of Edmund's mechs marching toward her. Montmorency flinched as the mech passed by her. It reached down and pulled the blade out of the ground before looking expectantly toward Edmund.

"I suggest you don't try anything girl" He said " Next time you try that with me, I'm going to GOUGE OUT YOUR EYES, AND SKULL FUCK YOU!"

Montmorency backed away in fear of the man's words, Edmund turned back to Guiche.

"How would that make you feel pretty-boy?" he asked "bet you wouldn't give a damn."

"I suggest nobody else try anything" He yelled to the crowd "You'll find my mechs a tad bit more resilient than your measly golems."

Everyone looked to see a mech climb down the side of a nearby building and another fall from the sky. Edmund smiled and grabbed the object from the mech holding Guiche.

"A demonstration is necessary!" He said waving it in the air,

One of the Mech's walked to the middle of the court and stood stock still as Edmund leveled the object with it.

Edmund pulled the trigger and, in front of everyone there, opened fire on the mech.

Multiple rounds pinged off the mech's armor and tore large chunks out of the wall behind it. One stray round caught the mech in it's glass covering. The round shattered the glass revealing the complex circuitry within.

Once the firing stopped Edmund lowered the weapon. The mech's armor didn't have a scratch on it, besides the glass covering. What was the most shocking was the decimated wall behind it. The academy was renown for it's magically reinforced defenses. The fact that a single commoner could be able to damage it was unheard of. And the sheer speed at which he fired those barrier-breaking rounds was unthinkable.

"Now who wants to guess what this could do to one of your bodies" Edmund said before reloading it.

He picked Guiche's rose off the ground and held it to his cigar, the rose quickly caught aflame

Edmund held the burning rose "Plastic" he said "How did I know"

He walked over to Guiche and tore open his shirt.

"What are you doing!?" Guiche asked with dread

"You nobles are pigs" Edmund said before shaking the rose until only the heated stem remained "I'm going to make sure you never forget that"

"No wait! Don't" Guiche cried as Edmund brought the stem closer to his flesh

A split-second before the stem could sear his skin, a tendril of water came from the sky and caught him by the hand. Edmund had just enough time to look confused before the tendril pulled him into the air. The students looked up to see a transport ship hovering overhead, they hadn't noticed it with the public torture about to commence. The tendril pulled Edmund towards the ship and hung him in front of a severely angered Captain.

"Edmund" the Captain said "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Edmund's bloodlust was wiped clean instantly "Oh, just having a little rough-housing with the kids you know?"

"He was about to kill that kid!" Williams said while laughing "It was awesome!"

"Edmund, for god sakes!" the Captain said "This couldn't look worse!"

The Captain gestured around "Nearly killing a noble. Gathering massive amounts of unwanted attention. And the worse part is that it looks like Williams hasn't been hurt all day!"

"Sir I can-"

"No Edmund!" the Captain said with a raised hand "Release blondie over there."

With a sigh of defeat Edmund waved his hand and the Mech released Guiche to the ground.

The Captain then looked around at the dozens of horrified students surrounding the Vestri Court.

"Uhh..." he said looking around "Is there any chance you all could forget this event ever happened?"

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This chapter is a Pilot for this story, your reviews will determine if I continue it so...

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