"Did I scare you?"

The students all stared at Miss Collins.

"Don't worry it is just the first day of class. We will use most of today getting to know each other, and I will explain the coursework in my two classes. All of you are taking my first period Magic Theory, and Familiar Theory both rank A classes. They are mandatory for the school and are back to back in this classroom."

"Third period is Magic History rank A with Dr. Bradsmith. I ask that you treat Dr. Bradsmith with respect. He is a non-magician but is a leading expert in his field of study and is an incredibly intelligent man. Causing trouble for him will not be tolerated."

Miss Collins glares at the class. I guess students in the past must have made fun of the non-magician teacher at a magic academy. I don't see a problem with it. If he can teach us despite not being a magician, doesn't that speak volumes of his capabilities?

"By the way, Linda why is your familiar seated next to you?"

"He is interested in studying."

The students all laughed. Hey, she was telling the truth.

"Well, it is alright but let's not have any of the larger sized familiars in the rows please."

None of the students ordered their familiars to come over. Maybe they will for the next period Familiar Theory? The other familiars might not have a talent for magic like me. Or maybe they just do not care about teaching their familiars. No wonder familiars are looked down on if you don't teach them they aren't going to learn. Miss Collins continued her lecture.

"In this class, we will be learning about magic theory. Despite my two classes being theoretical, they will have practical aspects of the course. I ask that you bring your familiars to class daily for this reason. There will not be any hands-on training today though so if you did not bring your familiars do not panic."

"Shall we jump right into it then? Since I like to combine my classes a little shall we talk about the magic theory behind familiars?"

A student in the crowd raised his hand.

"Yes, Joe?"

"Miss Collins isn't the magic theory of familiars going to be thoroughly discussed in the second period?"

"You caught me. My major in university was Familiar Theory, and I happen to love working with familiars. Oh well, we will discuss it later then."

Miss Collins seems a little disappointed. I guess Familiar Theory is a more specialized field of study but is a subcategory of magic theory. If that is the case though why is Familiar Theory a core class along with Magic Theory?

"Some of you may wonder why Familiar Theory is a core class along with Magic History and Magic theory."

Spot on Miss Collins.

"This would be because of how famous familiars are and how little we actually know about them."

Another student raised his hand. Don't ask it. Miss Collins is definitely luring us all into talking about familiars instead of magic. I can't point it out though.

"Yes, Bob."

Are these really the names of nobles?

"Why are familiars so popular?"

Dammit, Bob. Miss Collins gives a wicked smile. She is definitely the type who when she gets on her favorite subject won't talk about anything else. Maybe she paid Bob off. The other students are groaning now.

"Familiars are popular because they are numerous and are perfectly obedient servants. They have any number of uses but are difficult to train. Some say difficult. I say fun."

Miss Collins, your character has completely broken down. Please fix yourself and get on track. Not that I am not interested, but you should be setting an example you know?

"Familiars have existed for two thousand years now. Archmagician Dio, the second archmagician to appear in recorded history created the Familiar Summoning technique and the Familiar Contract. While they are just F-rank magics, they are so wonderfully complex, and the two magics are so perfectly intertwined. No other magic in the world even remotely compares to it."

Miss Collins, you are completely gushing. You will never fix your image now. You did so well establishing it to. I guess she just couldn't hold the poker face in front of her students though. Even I lasted a few days come on.

"Familiars begin as weak entities, but because of their immortality, they continue to serve their master's from generation to generation. They are continually trained and grow stronger over time as well. Some familiars are over a thousand years old like the King's Van, Vaan, and Ven. They are the most famous familiars in the kingdom and arguably the strongest combatants in the world. The reason why the country is so secure is due in large part to the contribution of such fantastic familiars."

Wow. So familiars actually have a high social standing huh?

"That being said it is often a shame that they are treated as though they are nothing. It is true that training them is a difficult and trying task often with little results, but if you think about how important they are towards the future, I wish people would take better care of them."

So we have a low social standing after all. Another student raised his hand. It's the Bob again. I take more careful note of him. Bob describes him perfectly. He has a bubbly black Afro with pink polka dots on his white skin. Is he two meters tall? Despite that instead of appearing intimidating he seems like a cheerful fellow.

"Yes, Bob."

"Why are familiars such an important part of society?"

Unexpectedly, it seems Miss Collins found a mutual fan in Bob for familiars. Or maybe he is brown nosing.

"Familiars can be training to do any number of tasks. Combat, copying books, cooking food, dressing the master, etc. Like I said the uses of familiars are infinite. Also when a familiar is trained for a task, they always perform it to the best of their capabilities. In other words perfectly. Although the process of teaching them to do something is often time-consuming. It is the only downfall towards the use of familiars. Other than that though they can do just about anything including teaching other familiars tasks that they have learned although it is exceedingly complicated to get them to do that. Often familiars will train alongside their master or a secondary master."

"What is a secondary master?"

This time Bob called out without raising his hand, but Miss Collins did not mind it.

"Most of you are probably familiar with secondary masters. No pun intended. Secondary masters are designated by the master of a familiar through absolute commands, and the secondary master will usually train the familiar in place of the master or use them as they see fit. In other words, familiars will follow the commands of secondary masters the same as they would follow the absolute commands of their primary master. The primary master is given precedence though because they have use of the real absolute commands. Also, secondary masters are not protected by the contract, so they do not usually train familiars in combat."

"I suppose I have come to this point without actually telling you how familiars are passed generation to generation."

The students eagerly sat forward in their seats. It seems like the most important topic is finally at hand.

"Familiars who are given names will not commit suicide for one day after losing their contract. It is the same for when they are summoned. Familiars automatically die when they do not have a master for a day. A familiar that is given a name though can be re-contracted. Some of you may wonder why it is all familiars are not given names, and I will be sure to adequately explain that in the future. For now, though familiars have a day to be re-contracted with. They can be re-contracted to anyone who knows the familiar's name. Because of that strict laws are made about the contracting of familiars and the family name is often attached to familiars. Sometimes familiars can be passed to other families at those times the familiar can be renamed. Giving a familiar a name without a surname is a practice sometimes done by commoners who wish to pass along their powers at all costs. Of course, this is both illegal, and the contract will not allow it to a certain extent. We will be discussing the contract in detail in class. Most of it is probably things you have already been taught by your families. Needless to say, there are significant reasons why familiars are so strictly regulated by the contract and by the kingdom's laws. I hope that none of you will try to tamper with the contract or familiar summoning in the future otherwise you will probably die."

"On that happy note class is over, so let's take a fifteen-minute break."