Ren's sides ached profusely, it was his first time on a horse, after all. "My sides hurt..." Ren moaned, walking slowly.

Louise glanced at Ren and frowned. "You're useless. You haven't even been on a horse before? Commoners are just..."

"And you're annoying. We've been on that thing for three straight hours!"

"Well... we can't walk our way here now can we?"

Despite the pain, Ren curiously looked around. White cobblestone roads... feels like a theme park here. Compared to the Academy, there were far more people in common garb here. On the street side were vendors selling fruit and meat.

Ren's love for exotic places momentarily rose. But this was a weird world. There were people briskly walking and people frantically running. Males and females of all ages walked the streets. This bore no difference with Ren's world, though the streets were a bit narrower.

"A little bit tight here..."

"Tight? This is a really wide street as it is."

"Just this?" Not even 5 meters wide. With this many people walking around, every step felt cramped.

"Bourdonné Street, Tristain's widest avenue. The palace is straight ahead." Louise pointed.

"Can we go to the palace, then?"

"What business do we have visiting Her Majesty The Queen?"

"I want to ask her to increase my portion of food."

Louise laughed, which made Ren feel a sense of pride.

The streets were filled with shops. Ren, full of curiosity, could not take his eyes off them. When he looked at one weird-shaped frog in a jar on a trader's mat, Louise pulled him by the ear. "Hey, don't walk around corners. There are lots of thieves and pickpockets here. You are looking after my wallet in your jacket, right?"

Louise said wallets are for servants to carry, and mercilessly gave that duty to Ren. The wallet was heavily filled with gold coins.

"I am... I am... very carefully, too. How can anyone steal something that heavy?"

"With magic, that can be done in a second."

But there was nobody around that looked like a mage. Ren learned how to discern between commoners and mages in the Academy. Mages always had capes on, and they looked really arrogant when they walk. According to Louise, that was a noble's walking stance.

"Aren't they all commoners?"

"Of course. Nobles only take up 10% of the population, and there's no way they will walk in slums like these."

"Why would nobles steal?"

"All nobles are mages, but not all mages are nobles. If for whatever reason a noble is disowned from their family, left the family name on his or her own accord, dropped status to be a mercenary or a criminal... Hey! Are you listening?"

Ren wasn't. He was too fascinated by the street signs.

"What does that bottle-shaped sign say?"

"Brewery."

"And what does that sign with a big cross say?"

"It's a recruiting center for guards."

Ren stopped at every meaningful sign, and Louise had to pull him away by his wrist every time.

"Okay, okay, I understand, you don't have to be in a hurry like that. Where's the blacksmith's shop?"

"Over here. They don't just sell swords though."

Louise walked into an even narrower road. A revolting stench, coming from piles of trash and other dirty things on the ground, soon hit their noses.

"It's really dirty here."

"I told you nobles don't come here that often."

At the fourth intersection, Louise stopped and looked around.

"Should be near Peyman's Potion Shop... I remember it's around here somewhere..."

She saw a bronze sign and happily cried, "Ah! Found it!"

A sword-shaped sign dangled under it. It looked like this was the arms dealer's shop. Louise and Ren walked up the stone stops, opened the door, and entered the shop.

Despite the bright daylight outside, the shop was a bit dark inside. A gas lamp flickered. The walls and shelves were filled with unorganized weapons. A detailed suit of armor decorated the room. A man in his fifties smoking a pipe eyed Louise suspiciously. That is, until he saw the pentagram on her golden button. He removed his pipe and said, "My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

"I'll be your customer."

"Oh... that's rather weird... a noble buying a sword! Quite strange."

"Why is that?"

"Well... priests wave sacred staffs, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that the rule?"

"Oh, I'm not the one using it. My familiar is."

"Ahh... a familiar that can use a sword, huh?" The shopkeeper spoke in a lively voice, and looked at Ren. "I believe that would be this gentleman over there?"

Louise nodded. By this time, Ren had already been pulled in by the shop's vast collection of swords, periodically making cries of "whoa!" and "this one's awesome!".

Louise ignored Ren, and continued, "I'm not very knowledgeable about swords, so please show me anything that is reasonable."

The shopkeeper jubilantly walked into his warehouse, silently rambling, "Oh, this is too great... I can raise the prices so high with this..." shortly afterwards, he returned with a longsword of about a mail in length. It was a very exquisitely decorated sword. It looked like one could swing it with just one hand. There was even a hand guard on the short handle.

The shopkeeper said as though he just thought of something, "Speaking of which, it seems that nobles like to let their servants bear swords lately. The last time any of them came to pick one from me, they picked this type."

I see... a shiny, glittering sword. Very well-suited for a noble. Thought Louise.

"Is that the trend?" Louise asked. The shopkeeper naturally nodded.

"That's right. It seems that there's an increase of thievery on Tristain's city streets lately..."

"Thievery?"

"Yes. Some mage thief that calls himself something like 'Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt,' and I heard he stole a lot of treasures from the nobles. Those nobles are getting really rattled, so they're arming their servants with swords."

Louise had no interest in thieves and focused on the sword instead. It looked like something that would break in an instant. Ren wielded a sword that was a lot bigger last time.

"I'd prefer something bigger and broader."

"My lady, please forgive my bluntness – swords and people have compatibilities, just like men and women. As I look at it, this sword fits my noble lady's familiar very well."

"Didn't I say I want something bigger and broader?" said Louise, impatiently lowering her head. The shopkeeper went inside again, remembering to silently mumble, "Oh, the laymen..." After a while, he returned, one hand rubbing the new specimen with an oily rag.

"What about this one?" It was a splendid broadsword of around a mail and a half in length. The handle was made for two-handed wielding and was lavishly decorated with jewels. A mirror-like blade reflected light with an irresistible glow. Anyone could look at it and say it was a very sharp and broad blade. "This is the best thing I have. Rather than say it's for nobles, it's more like something nobles wish they can wear on their waists, but that's something reserved for very strong men. If not, wearing it on the back isn't half bad."

Ren walked closer, his eyes staring at the sword. "Isn't it too shiny? It almost look like a decoration..." Ren instantly dismissed it due to how many jewels were on it. It was a magnificent sword in appearance, but Ren knew deep down it wasn't suited for battle. I guess we'll keep looking... Louise thought, seeing Ren's dissatisfaction.

"Do you have anything else?" she asked.

At that moment, a deep, male voice came from a messy pile of swords, "Don't expect this old coot to give ya anything good."

Louise and Ren looked towards the sound. The shopkeeper held his hands to his head.

"What did you say?" The shopkeeper did not take that insult kindly, but there's not a single being in that sound's direction to be angry at. It was just a pile of swords.

Ren slowly approached the sound. "What... there's nobody here!"

"Are your eyes there just for decoration?"

Ren looked behind him. What? It's actually a sword that's saying it. It came from a rusty, damaged sword. "A talking sword!" Ren exclaimed.

The shopkeeper suddenly yelled angrily, "Derf! Do not say such impolite things to my customers! It's already enough that you do it to me!"

"Derf?" Ren carefully inspected the sword. It was the same length as that huge broadsword, though its blade was slightly less broad. It was a thin longsword, although its surface was coated with rust, and one cannot say it was well made to any degree.

"Customer? A customer that can't wield a sword? You've got to be kidding me."

"Could it be... that this is a sentient sword?" asked Louise.

"That's right, lady. It's a sentient, magical, intelligent sword. I wonder what kind of mage could make a sword speak... but it's got a rotten tongue, always arguing with my customers. Hey, Derf! Keep up the insolence and I'll ask this noble here to melt you!"

"Sounds good to me! I'd like to see you try it! I'm kinda tired of this world. I'd love to be melted down!"

"Fine! Then I'll melt you down!" The shopkeeper approached. But Ren stopped him.

"That's just so wasteful... isn't a speaking sword rather important?" Ren stared at it. "You're called Derf, right?"

"Wrong! It's Derflinger! Remember that!"

"Just like a person, it even has a real name." Ren muttered.

"My name is Ren Tennyson. Nice to meet you."

The sword fell silent, and it seemed to closely observe Ren. After a while, it silently spoke. "So you came... are you a user?"

"A user?"

"Hmm... you don't even know your true powers, huh? What... oh well! Buy me, my friend!"

"All right. I'll buy you," said Ren. The sword went silent again.

"Louise, I'll take this."

Louise reluctantly said, "Oh... you want this thing? You can't pick anything prettier that doesn't talk?"

"You don't like this one? I think a speaking sword's pretty cool."

"See... that's why I don't like it." Louise complained. But she didn't have enough for anything else, so she asked the shopkeeper, "how much for this one?"

"Eh... 100 will do."

"Isn't that a bit cheap?"

"For that one? I'll let you take it for cheap." He waved his hand dismissively.

Ren took out Louise's wallet from his jacket pocket, and poured its contents onto the counter. One by one, gold coins dropped onto the wooden surface. After careful counting, the shopkeeper finally nodded. "Thank you for your business!" the shopkeeper said as he sheathed the sword and gave it to Ren. "If it gets noisy, just shove it back in the scabbard, and it'll shut up."

Ren nodded, and received Derflinger.

* * *

Louise and Kirche glared at each other in anger, while Ren, on his straw bed, nonchalantly studied the sword Kirche had just presented to him. Tabitha nonchalantly read on Louise's bed.

Louise had her arms on her waist. "What is the meaning of this, Zerbst?" She glared at her rival.

Kirche watched Ren's 'admiration', "I told you, I got what Ren wanted, so I came here to give it to him."

"Ah, that's a shame. I already got my familiar a weapon. Right, Ren?"

"Yeah, this gold sword is just not my style."

Louise smiled triumphantly.

"See, Zerbst? Seems your 'gift' is unwanted here."

"Even so, I refuse to give up, Vallière!" Kirche retorted.

Louise glared at Kirche.

"Can't you see you make my familiar uncomfortable!?" 

Ren just nonchalantly waves. "Sup." He spoke before Louise continued. 

"I think it's time you make your leave."

"You have guts, Vallière..." Kirche's face darkened.

"What? I'm just telling the truth." Added Louise victoriously.

They simultaneously brandished their wands.

Tabitha flicked her staff even faster than the two, blowing their wands away in a gust.

"Indoors," she simply announced.

Probably meaning it's dangerous to fight in here.

Louise angrily muttered, "And who is this? She has been sitting on my bed since-"

"She's my friend," countered Kirche.

"And why is your friend in my room?"

Kirche stared. "Is that a problem?"

"Hmmph."

Ren tried to talk with Tabitha, but she never replied, only quietly reading her book, as if conversations were really inconvenient.

Meanwhile, Louise and Kirche still glared at each other.

Kirche looked away, "Well... let's have Ren decide."

"Me? Decide?" Ren immediately felt distressed for being singled out. Granted he already chose, but being the center of attention isn't something he's too big on.

"Right. This is about your choice of swords." Louise also looked at him.

He looked at Louise, who glared at him. Louise may be a selfish, self-centered, ungrateful girl, but she did take care of me when I was out for days... and she is the type of girl I find attractive...

"Well? Which is it?" Kirche and Louise both stared at him.

"Uh, well... obviously the one Louise got me." Ren tilted his head confused why they even asked him something they already know.

"Hey." Kirche turned to Louise.

"What?"

"Guess it's time to get this over with."

"Hmm... you're right."

"I really hate you, you know?"

"Same to you."

"We think quite alike." Kirche smiled and raised a brow.

Louise, too, defiantly stuck her chin up.

"Let's duel!" They shouted in unison.

"Geez... you don't have to..." Ren was shocked. The two glared at each other as if they did not hear him.

"But of course, we have to do this with magic!" Kirche triumphantly declared.

Louise bit her lower lip, and nodded. "Fine. Location?"

"Really? Are you sure, Louise the Zero? Are you really sure you want to fight me in a magical duel?" Kirche goaded.

Louise lowered her head. Am I sure? Of course... not. But it was a challenge from a Zerbst, so she had to take it. "Of course! I will not lose to you!"

Meanwhile, standing on the walls of the central academy tower, Fouquet felt footsteps. He jumped off towards the ground, and just as Fouquet reached it, he whispered "Spell of Levitation", landing like a feather, absorbing his momentum. Fouquet then disappeared into the courtyard bushes.

Entering the courtyard were Louise, Kirche, Tabitha, and Ren.

"All right, let's begin." Kirche announced.

"Are you guys really going to duel?" Ren anxiously asked.

"Yes, we are." Louise confidently answered.

"Isn't it a bit... dangerous? Let's just stop here and let it go, shall we?"

"That's true, so whoever gets injured is the idiot," said Kirche.

"Uh-huh." Louise nodded.

Tabitha approached Kirche, and whispered something in her ear. Then she pointed at Ren.

"Hmm... now that's a good idea!" Kirche grinned.

Then, Kirche whispered something to Louise.

"Ah... not bad." Louise nodded.

And they both looked at Ren. He suddenly had a bad feeling about it.

* * *

"Hey... are you guys serious?" begged Ren, but nobody cared.

He was hung in midair by a rope from the main tower. Why... Didn't I already make a decision? On the ground which looked so far, far away, he could see the silhouettes of Kirche and Louise. Despite it being the middle of the night, the two moons made for clear vision. He could even see Tabitha on her wind dragon. It held two swords in its mouth.

The two moons shone warmly on Ren.

Kirche and Louise looked upon him, dangling and flopping around in midair.

Kirche rolled up her fists. "Here's how we do it... the first to cut off the rope and let Ren down wins. Then the winner's sword goes to Ren. Sounds good?"

"Got it." Louise nodded, her face blank.

"No limits on type of spells used. You can go first... my treat."

"All right."

"Okay... good luck."

Louise brandished her wand. In the air, Tabitha began to shake the rope, wobbling Ren left and right. Spells like "fireball" have high accuracy rates, and as long as the target doesn't move i can hit it. However, Louise had more than that to worry about – she had to make the spell work in the first place.

Louise thought hard. What would work? Wind? Fire? Water and earth are both out... they don't have many spells that can cut ropes. Fire spells work the best here...and here Louise remembered that that is exactly what Kirche is good at.

Kirche's fireballs will cut that rope easily. I can't fail this one.

She picked fireballs anyway. Aiming a small one at the target, she recited the short spell. If she failed, Ren would get Kirche's sword, and to someone esteemed like Louise, this would be completely unacceptable. She finished reciting, and with her utmost concentration, flicked her wand. If it worked, a fireball would come out of the tip.

But nothing came out of the wand. The next moment, the wall behind Ren exploded. The shock wave shook Ren even harder. "What the hell?! Are you trying to kill me?!" Ren's angry yell drifted down towards them.

The rope remained intact. If she thought she could use the shock wave to break the rope, she wasn't thinking. A large crack appeared on the wall.

Kirche collapsed in laughter. "ZERO! ZERO LOUISE! You broke the wall instead of the rope! Now that's talent!"

Louise looked down.

"Really, I've got to ask you... what the heck did you do to make it blow up like that?! Oh god... my sides hurt..."

Louise frustratingly held her fists and knelt to the ground.

"Next is my turn." Kirche aimed at the rope like a hunter would his prey. Tabitha was shaking the rope, so it was tough aiming. Despite that, Kirche kept a brisk, easy smile. Chanting a short spell, Kirche waved her wand born out from habit, fire spells were her specialty after all.

From her wand appeared a melon-sized fireball, which flew towards Ren striking the rope, and burned it loose in an instant. Ren started to fall to the ground, but Tabitha waved her staff from the rooftop, casting a Spell of Levitation on him, causing him to slowly land on the ground.

"I win, Vallière!" Kirche announced in earnest.

Louise sat down, pulling on the grass with her hands in despair.

Meanwhile, Fouquet watched them from the bushes. The thief saw the crack on the walls from Louise's blast. What kind of magic is that? She asked for a fireball spell, but nothing came out of her wand, and the wall blew up. I've never heard of a spell that can make things explode like this. Fouquet shook his head. More importantly, I can't let go of this chance. Fouquet started chanting a long spell, waving his wand at the ground. When finished, a mild smile formed on his face. Following Fouquet's voice, a bulge formed on the ground. Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt was showing his talent.

"What a shame, Vallière!" Kirche laughed.

Her battle lost, Louise reluctantly and gloomily slacked her shoulders. Ren watched her, a complicated emotion on his face. "...why don't you uh... untie me first?" He managed a low tone. He couldn't move with the rope wrapped around him in layers.

Kirche smiled, "Oh, why of course, I'll be glad to!"

Right then, Kirche felt something behind her. She turned around. She couldn't believe her eyes. "What... what the heck is this?!" Her jaw dropped. What she saw was a huge earth golem moving towards them.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!" Kirche ran away screaming.

Ren yelled behind her, "Hey! Hey! Don't go! Don't leave me here!" He was in a panic. After all, he had never seen such an enormous golem, and it was heading towards him. "Wh...what the hell is this?! It's huge!" Ren wanted to run, but the ropes had him tight on the ground.

Louise recovered her senses and ran towards him.

"You... why are you tied up like this?!"

"Isn't that your idea?!"

Above them, the golem raised its foot.

Ren lost hope. "Louise, get out of there!" He yelled.

"Dammit... this rope..." Louise tried in vain to untie the knots.

The golem's foot descended. Ren closed his eyes.

In that instant, Tabitha's wind dragon veered from the skies grabbing the two with its talons and pulled them out from under the foot with only inches to spare, before it came down crushing everything under it in a heartbeat.

Hanging under the wind dragon, Ren and Louise watched the golem. Ren shakily asked, "Wh-wh-what...the hell is that?"

"I'm not sure... but it's one gigantic earth golem! Somebody must have summoned that!"

"Something that big?!"

"...whoever summoned this must be at least a triangle level mage."

Ren bit his lip, and thought of Louise, who tried to untie him despite her danger. "That aside... why didn't you run?"

"No respectable master would desert her familiar like that." She answered frankly.

Ren watched her quietly. For some reason, he found her quite attractive... just now.

Fouquet, standing on the golem's shoulder, smiled and paid no attention to the wind dragon or Kirche escaping. A dark cape covered him from head to toe so they could not make out his face. Fouquet transformed the golem fist to a metallic composition, and ordered it to punch the wall. A dull thump sounded as the metallic fist hit in the wall, collapsing it. Under the dark cape, Fouquet smirked.

The golem transported Fouquet in with its hand, and the thief entered through the hole and into the treasure vault. It stored valuables of every kind, but Fouquet had only one target.

The Staff of Destruction.

A row of staffs of many sorts hung on the wall, but one came to Fouquet as completely unlike a staff. It was a mail long, and made with a sort of metal that he had never seen before. He looked at the metal plate right under it, reading, "Staff of Destruction, do not remove." His smile grew to a grin.

Fouquet picked up the Staff of Destruction, and was shocked by its lightness. Just what is this thing made of? He had no time to ponder and ran back onto the golem's shoulder.

Fouquet burned a message onto the wall before leaving: "I have the Staff of Destruction. – Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt."

With its caped summoner sitting on its shoulder, the golem leaped over the Academy walls, landed with a huge thud, and moved toward the grasslands and beyond.

Above the golem, the wind dragon circled around. Tabitha, sitting on the wind dragon, waved her staff for a Spell of Levitation, moving Ren and Louise onto the dragon's back. She waved again. The air around Ren resonated into slicing waves, shredding the binding rope into pieces.

"Thank you," he said to Tabitha in gratitude.

Her face remained blank, only nodding in acceptance.

Ren watched the gigantic earth golem, and asked Louise, "That mage... broke the wall. But what for?"

"The treasure vault." Tabitha answered.

"He was holding something when it came out of that hole."

"It was a thief. But... that was quite bold."

They watched as the giant golem suddenly crumbled in mid-run, into a large mound of dirt.

They descended to the ground.

Brightly illuminated by the moons, there was nothing else besides the mountain of dirt. Just like that, the summoning mage had disappeared into the night.