The Protagonist System

47 You Look Familiar (Familiar Of Zero)

I woke up on my back and it wasn't comfortable, thanks to my backpack. I didn't move, however. I knew I was about to get slammed with however many years of memories and prepared myself. I felt the proverbial whack on my forehead as 16 years of memories growing up in Japan went through my brain and gave me the essential information I needed before it settled in the corner with the others.

While I was learning about the life of Saito Hiraga, I could also hear other people talking.

“Is that... a human?” A feminine voice asked.

“Look how he's dressed. He looks like a peasant.” A male voice said.

“Yeah, a peasant. There's no doubt about it.”

A voice close to me spoke as well. “That's supposed to be... divine... and beautiful... and wise and powerful?”

“This is exactly what I would expect from someone that boasted like you did.” A haughty female voice said. “To think that you actually summoned up a peasant!”

A round of laughter came from a bunch of people.

“I just made a small mistake, that's all!” The voice next to me said.

“Louise the Zero! Always living up to expectations!” A younger male voice said and they all laughed.

Louise the Zero? I thought and I suddenly knew where I was.

It was the story of The Familiar of Zero, a normal human who was summoned by a second year schoolgirl to a world of magic. The thought of a magic school brought another to mind. I held in my smile as I thought of the perfect way to counter the laughter. It was what the headmaster there did to calm everyone.

I opened my eyes and cast amplify on my throat. “SIIIIIILENCE!”

The laughter immediately stopped as several girlish screams came from the students around me. I slowly stood up and discovered I was still five foot eight and my hair was still down to my shoulders, only it was black now and my eyes were blue.

“Do my off-duty casual clothes offend the tender sensibilities of you rich morons?” I asked and saw a lot of angry faces. It was almost reassuring to know that my Despised trait was working so well and my choice of words had changed them from making fun of my summoner to hating me instead. The downside of that was my 5 foot tall summoner also looked angry.

“Mister Colbert!” Louise gasped.

“Yes, Miss La Vallière?” The balding man with the staff responded.

“Can I try the summoning spell again?” Louise asked.

Mister Colbert shook his head. “I can't allow that.”

“But, why?” Louise gasped.

“The summoning ritual is sacred and affects a mage's entire life. Trying a second time would be a blasphemy against the ritual itself.” The balding man had a determined look on his face. “Whether you like it or not, this boy has been chosen as your familiar and nothing can change that.”

I wouldn't bet on that. I thought and started to look over the party options.

Louise sighed. “Mister Colbert, I've never heard of using a peasant boy as a familiar before!”

A few of the students laughed until I glared at them and they shut up.

“I am afraid that there are no exceptions, peasant boy or not. Please continue with the ritual.” Mister Colbert ordered.

“What? With this?” Louise asked and tried to poke me with her wand.

I snatched it from her hand before she could and held it above her head.

“Hey!” Louise gasped and tried to jump to grab it back.

I didn't stop anyone from laughing this time.

“Finish the ritual or I will be forced to summarily expel you from this institution.” Mister Colbert ordered and a few people made disparaging comments towards Louise.

Louise sighed. “I guess I have no choice.”

I do. I thought and chose to add her to my party. The other members were greyed out, as was Hestia's name under wife / goddess. Familiar pacts, familiar... aha! Here we are. I'll go 500 more Karma points into debt for that.

“Go for it, Louise!” Some random girl shouted.

Louise glared at whomever it was for a second and stepped close to me. “You should be thankful for this. Normally, someone of noble birth never does anything like this for a peasant boy.” She said and motioned for me to kneel.

I did so and she held her hand out for her wand. I handed it to her handle first and she nodded.

“My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière.” She said and pointed her wand at my forehead and I felt her initiate the finalization ritual. “Oh, Pentagon that rules the five powers, bless this individual and make him my...”

“...partner.” I interrupted and kissed her before she could correct me. I felt the magic settle and the back of my hand tingled. I also did something else and went another 100 Karma points into debt to change Louise's magic affinity to Fire. That pesky void magic was more trouble than it was worth.

“Very well, the contract has been completed and the bond has been made.” Mister Colbert said and stepped close to us.

I didn't break the kiss, though. I wanted to give Louise the thrill of her life and made out with her in front of everyone. The thing was, I wasn't into it. I knew I had certain responsibilities, like not bedding every pretty girl that expressed an interest in me, especially here in this world. Being involved meant something completely different than where I had been.

“What... what is that peasant doing?” The tall redhead asked as she blushed.

“I think he's using his tongue.” The short blue-haired girl that wore glasses answered.

“No!” “That's disgusting!” “I wanna try that!” “Ewww!” Most of the students said at the same time.

“I believe that is enough.” Mister Colbert said with a stern voice.

I broke the kiss and stood. “I figured it would be the only kiss she will ever willingly get from me, so I didn't want to disappoint her.”

All of the girls looked at Louise's flushed face and dreamy smile.

“She's not disappointed.” The blue-haired girl said and a few of the other girls nodded.

I glanced around at all of their faces and it seemed that even though most of them still despised me, a few were giving me interested looks. “What happens now?”

“As her familiar, Louise is responsible for you.” Mister Colbert said.

“Partner.” I corrected.

The man squinted his eyes at me and pointed at my hand. “You have a familiar mark.”

I grinned at him and pointed at Louise's hand. “So does she.”

Gasps came from everyone and they started talking about her screwing up. Louise blushed hard.

I cast the spell on my throat again. “SIIIIILENCE!”

Screams and yells rang out from the students again.

“Stop doing that!” Someone shouted at me.

“Stop acting a bunch of clucking hens ready to cluck at the very next thing to get your attention!” I shouted back and they all quieted. “That's better. You would think the nobility here had never taught their children any actual manners with the way you're acting.”

That made a lot of them gasp again and a few of them looked ashamed.

“You're just a stupid peasant familiar!” A blond ponce said. “You have no right to talk down to us!”

I walked over to stand five feet away from him and saw that he was of a similar height. “I think you are mistaken about something.” I said and held a hand out towards Louise.

Before Louise could do more than ask me what I wanted, her wand flew out of her hand and into mine.

I easily caught it and turned towards the wall that was farthest away from the gathered students as I perpetuated a falsehood that I needed a wand to do this. “Fireball!”

To everyone's shock, especially Mister Colbert's, a fireball a foot wide shot out of the end of the wand and flew across the fifty feet of distance. It blew up two trees, a freestanding hedge bush, and lit the stone wall on fire until the magic dissipated a few seconds later. It had only cost 10 magic points, thanks to using a linked magical focus.

I moved the wand towards the blond and he screamed like a little girl, dropped his rose, and ran. I chuckled under my breath at the coward and bent down to pick up the flower to present it to Louise, and realized it was also a wand.

My chuckling continued until I walked back over to Louise and handed both wands to her. The shocked look on Louise's face, and her open mouth, made me almost laugh out loud.

“Ahem. Yes, well... that is an... interesting development.” Mister Colbert said and adjusted his glasses. “Miss La Vallière, please take your familiar...”

“Partner.” I corrected again. “I can use magic, after all.”

Mister Colbert's eye twitched. “Take him to your living quarters. I need to discuss this with the headmaster.” He said and rushed off to do just that. Or to get a drink. Or both. He looked kind of upset and in a hurry, so it was hard to tell.

“There must be some mistake! There's no way you can be Louise the Zero's familiar!” The tall redhead with caramel skin and a large chest exclaimed.

I was tempted to do the silence trick to get everyone's attention, snorted, and did so. “SIIIILENCE!”

Everyone winced and a few screamed and yelled. That reaction was worth 5 magic points each time.

“My magical partner was powerful enough to reach across dimensions to call to me, another magic user, and here I am.” I said and put a hand on her shoulder in support. “Now that she has me as a stabilizing agent, her magic will settle down.”

“WHAT?” “I don't believe it!” “That can't be!” “Can I have a kiss now or later?”

They all stopped their responses and looked at the girl with reddish-purple colored hair. She cuddled her bunny familiar and blushed.

“As long as it won't result in a betrothal contract or a promise of intent.” I told her.

Her face went even redder. “Um... it might. It depends on if you really are a noble.”

“It doesn't matter if I'm from this world or not? As long as I can do magic, I probably count as a noble?” I asked and she nodded. “Then I apologize. The kiss I shared with my partner is the only one I am permitted to give. My wife would be very upset if I tried to marry someone else.”

Gasps and shocked sounds came from everyone.

“But... but... you are only...” Louise started to say.

“I'm 16 and married when I was 14.” I said, not lying at all, even if it had only happened half an hour ago. The weird part would be if I still counted as Bell Cranel with my altered appearance and becoming Saito Hiraga on another world. According to my party screen, both wife and goddess were greyed out and didn't apply, despite me still having the blessings I received.

There were a lot of sad faces at my words. It almost made me laugh that being despised didn't stop some of the girls from wanting me. Was it the bad boy image or proving I could do magic?

Louise let out a sigh and took my hand from her shoulder and held it. “We need to follow the professor's orders and go to my assigned rooms.”

I looked down at her face. “Does that mean I don't get to perform the summoning ritual?”

Everyone's muttering stopped again and they stared at me.

“Nobles get to cast the spell, right? Don't I count?” I asked, teasingly. I knew I needed to catch up on a year of schooling before being allowed to perform the ritual. It was going to be weird doing so much studying when all I did on the last world was make things, fight, and picked up girls in the dungeon. It sure was fun, though.

Louise looked at a loss for words, so I shrugged and motioned towards the surrounding buildings. She nodded and led the way through the crowd of students and out of the large courtyard.

“Wait!” The tall redhead shouted and Louise stopped walking. “If you're really a noble, prove it.”

“I thought I just did.” I responded.

“Even the lowest of nobles without families can cast magic. What is your elemental affinity?” She asked and held up her wand and a small flame came from the end. “Mine is fire.”

I gave her a raised eyebrow. “Is that all?”

More gasps came from the others and she blushed.

“I am a triangle mage, you uncooth barbarian!” The redhead growled and the small flame tripled in size as she added power to it.

I had to think about what that meant. I knew there were four primary elements, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, with a lost branch of Void. The magic users on this world also had a power ranking system of either combining elements or stacking the same element to make more powerful spells.

Of the four ranks, there were first, line, triangle, and square. The lost void would make them a fifth rank, or a Pentagram Mage. I just had to decide what rank I wanted to fake having. Should I show off or should I stay more anonymous like the original Saito did?

“All fire, I assume? You can stack fire three times?” I asked as a delaying tactic.

“All of my family are fire mages.” She said, proudly. “My name is Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst and I am a noble from Germania.”

Now I had another decision. That was two people that introduced themselves with ridiculously long names. Should I copy that to make myself sound more impressive? I'm sure Saito Hiraga would not sound even remotely noble-like.

“My name...” Without lying, since I've been these people. “...is Saito Bell Issei Hyoudou Cranel Hiraga and I'm not from this world.” I said and everyone kept staring at me. “Miss La Vallière? May I borrow your wand again?”

Louise handed it to me without a word.

“Thank you.” I said and held it up. “I have affinities with both water and fire.” I said and a flame appeared above the wand as well as a large bubble of water. “I can also stack each of them.”

Everyone gasped as both the fire and water quadrupled in size.

“Combining won't work well, since they are opposing forces... in their current state.” I said and they gasped again as the water formed into a five foot long icicle and the fire changed to bright blue and swirled around it. I whipped the wand and my creation to point at the same spot on the wall that I had blasted with a fireball and fired.

*WHA-BOOM!*

When the smoke cleared, the magically reinforced wall had a foot wide hole through it and burned with bright blue flames attached to ice shards. Not one single person moved or spoke.

“Miss La Vallière, thank you for the loan. I should commission having more wands made if you don't have any spares.” I said and handed hers back to her. “Miss La Vallière? Are you okay?”

Louise didn't say anything and just pointed a very shaky hand at the ruined wall.

“Oh! Yes, you're right. I shouldn't leave it like that.” I said and took the wand back and walked over to the wall and waved at the fire. It stopped and I ended that and the ice spell, then I slowly started waving the wand over the damaged hole as I cast the repair spell.

Having a wand to reduce the magic cost was awesome and the hole filled in and then all the resulting cracks disappeared. I walked back over to Louise, whom looked absolutely stunned, and gave her the wand back. I took her hand and walked towards the building she wanted to enter before. We left complete silence behind us as we went to her rooms.