Renewal

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Yves was able to read a few sentences in her book before the peasant finally responded to what she had said. When he did, she froze, as if paralyzed with shock. She recovered a few seconds later, gritting her teeth, and unwrapped the ribbon from her wrist, gently placing it back along the spine of the book, marking the page she was on. She rose from her chair and walked over to the bed a few seconds thereafter, ensuring to stay out of her familiar's reach. As she walked to the bed, with a completely blank expression, she pulled out the wand from its holster and pointed it at him. "Metsu" With that single word and a sharp swipe to her right, all of the cold and numb areas on his body immediately reverted to their previous state as magic energy fled from the peasant's body.

Immediately after this, she turned and walked away, placing the wand back into its holster on her right shoulder. Once she reached the table once again, she slumped down in the chair, opened her book, and started wrapping the ribbon around her wrist once more. "I don't quite understand what delusion you are under by thinking that I have any obligation to earn your obedience, but I will not allow it to continue." She then placed the book back up to her face, ignoring the sounds of her familiar's pain, and continued, "If you are going to place a condition on your obedience, then I shall remove it at any cost. You are my familiar, and I will accept nothing short of perfect submission from you. Is that understood?" At her last question, she offered him a potent glare of malice and lowered her voice dangerously.

After offering him enough time to say precisely one word, she continued, "It also appears that you have another misunderstanding. All masters take good care of their familiars. A familiar should always have a feeling of thanks towards its master. Anything less is recalcitrant." She sighed after saying this, then looked him over for a second before she muttered, "you really have no grasp of your situation here, do you?" After saying this, she took a few moments to analyze him a bit more with her eyes, her expression slowly changing from malice to pity. She then straightened up once more, adopting a more stern expression, and pulled her wand out from its holster reciting the same incantation she spoke earlier, "Nien, Vols, Ultha" whilst sitting in her chair. After this, she made a quick swirl of her wand and the peasant's injuries cooled and numbed once again. She continued to stare at him with her wand in one hand and her book in the other for a few seconds, as if waiting for something to happen. When she finally stopped waiting, she casually put her wand away and continued to read her book.
 
He always thought that being nice to someone would always work out, no matter how many times people would read between the lines. While he intentionally put some meaning into his words, he didn't think she would catch up this quickly -- and thinking back on it now, it would be slightly obvious that he was trying to push his own agenda. He saw her frozen, shocked -- and noticing the malicious intent with her gnashing her teeth lightly, he didn't know how she would react. He eyed her nervously as she neared the foot of the bed, as his eyes tried to scan her figure, trying to see what she was trying to do. Soon, she pulled out her wand, and he braced himself for what she was about to do. He felt the calm, cool feeling almost evaporate -- like ice lifted from a bruise, and he felt sore. Accidentally, he tried to lift his arm, which was badly bruised by Guiche's golems manhandling him earlier, in which the pain jolted his nerves, causing him to wince.

"Ah... nn..." He felt difficulty when breathing, due to the multiple bruises and broken bones in his ribs. Without the spell, he felt weak, and the pain was disheartening more than excruciating. He had no idea as to why she would react this way, even as to go so far to try and put him in pain -- even for a little bit. With the pain not letting up even as he breathes, he eventually feels his tears welling up, spilling down to his cheeks, as warm tears started rolling down his face. It was pathetic of him, sure -- but he's never been put in this much pain. Even with the pain distracting him from listening to Yves, it was the only way of understanding as to why she found this a reasonable course of action. It was regarding him having free will, or any form of free will. He understood that the social stigma of being labelled a mere 'peasant', or a 'familiar', even if said being has sentience and can communicate, as long as it has a master it must always obey, he could see as to why she would push for that. But still, he wanted to get rid of the short term pain he was experiencing, as every breath becomes more and more painful to bear. "...I... I understand, M-Mistress..." He struggled on the words, as his breathing was heavily affected by the extreme pain. Whether he breathes in through the mouth or nose, the affected part always reacts -- and while it was discomforting, he wasn't strong enough to deal with the pain.

Oh, how the nobles would enjoy seeing this. The loud-mouthed ruffian peasant familiar, reduced to a crying heap due to little Miss Yves taking away his painkillers. For someone that just survived and lived a duel against a noble, without a weapon -- he's better off shooting himself in the head instead of facing anyone off without his 'enhanced abilities'. He had Yves to thank, of course -- but he couldn't help but realize that she brought him in here, all of a sudden, without warning. He didn't choose to be her familiar. It wasn't fair. It wasn't.

He always dreamed of living in a fantasy world, and he recalls that even if he lived in that world as a peasant, he would choose to fight for his rights -- instead of live every day of his tedious and repetitive lifestyle to get the same result, every single day, working without end to buy distractions and the things he needs to survive. It was depressing, and without his wife to give him the happiness he needs, he got immersed in fantasy, with worlds far beyond the realm of imagination. Now, that he's living in it -- he realizes that he's not even a piece in the chess game, but a small insignificant speck.

But he noticed Yves taking that small hint of pity on him -- which was clear on her face for a split second, as she returned the spell, the soothing feeling a welcome relief, as he sighs heavily, taking in as much air as possible. He knew that he couldn't change the mindset of an entire nation, and that this goal is as impossible as it could ever be. But he could at least get Yves to respect him, as much as he still respects her.

"I'm... sorry, Mistress. I'll... take what you said and apply it." He felt pathetic after saying those words. He wanted to fight for some form of equality between social classes, but even proving that a nobleman could be defeated by a mere peasant isn't enough for them, nor would it be for her. "T-Thank you... for... reverting the spell..."

He felt sad, depressed. He grabbed the pillow, and buried his face in it, his tears flowing a bit more as he tried to get a grip.
 
Yves continued to read her book for a few minutes in silence, peeking over at her familiar every now and then just long enough to confirm that he was still moving. At some point, she unwrapped the ribbon from her wrist and tucked it back in place between the pages of her book which she was currently on, and rose from her chair. She walked over to the letter which was written on her desk and checked to see if the ink was dry. After confirming that it was, she wrapped it up into a tidy roll and pulled a stamp and a small circle of wax out of her dresser. She pulled out her wand and spoke a single-syllable word under her breath, then a tiny flame started to dance in front of the tip of her wand. She held the wax circle over the flame for a few seconds, keeping her fingers hidden from the flame around its edges, then dropped the wand and pressed the wax against the letter. She held inside of the loop as she pressed the seal against the soft wax, and waited for it to cool for a half minute or so.

Once the wax was cooled, she quickly put away the seal and picked up her wand from the floor. Seeing that the flame was still glowing at the tip of the wand, she quickly flicked the wand to the side, dismissing the spell, and looked over the letter to be certain that it was properly constructed. Satisfied that she had completed her art successfully, she left the room and searched for a servant. It took her a minute or two of walking about before finding one, but once she did, she gave him instructions about what to do with the letter and sent him on his way.

Once she returned to the room, she locked the doors again and got comfortable next to the table, once again taking up her hobby of reading. She continued to read for the next several hours. At some point before the sun set, she rose from her chair, declaring, "when next you see me, I shall have your food ready." She then left the room in haste.

------

About an hour or so later, she returned to the room holding a bowl of soup and two buns of bread. She appeared rather annoyed as she walked through the door, mumbling something under her breath as she did so. Upon seeing her familiar, she stopped mumbling and walked over to him. "Your food," she commented, placing them next to him on the bed. Shortly thereafter, she left his side to walk back over to the door, which she then closed and locked before returning to his side. She helped him sit up, glaring at him when she noticed his posture but otherwise remaining silent. She then picked up the bowl of soup and offered it to him. She spoke no words, but instead watched him, waiting for him to grab it.

When she finally realized that he was too injured to work the utensil on his own, she sighed and placed it back onto the bed. She then helped him lie back down, walked over to the door with an expression resembling disappointment, and disappeared into the hallway beyond. A minute later, she returned with Siesta following closely behind. As the servant girl walked up to Hayato's bedside, she briefly bowed and stated, "I am here to assist you with your food." Over the next several minutes, Yves calmly started to read her book as Siesta helped Hayato consume his soup and bread. Once he was done with his meal, Yves declared, "Your service is appreciated, Siesta. Now be on your way." Siesta bowed first to Yves, then offered a brief wave to Hayato before leaving. Yves rose to close and lock the door behind Siesta, then walked back over to the table in the middle of the room and continued to read.

Yves stopped reading a few seconds after resuming in order to look over at the peasant. As she looked over the bedsheets, she grumbled a few words under her breath before looking back to her book.

-----

For the rest of the night, Yves continued reading, although she dimmed the crystal lantern in the middle of the room to an almost negligible amount of light. Every few minutes, she would look over to look over the peasant in her bed to ensure that he was still breathing. Fortunately, he continued breathing the entire night without issue, therefore Yves was able to finish her book and move on to the next one in the pile, placing her completed book under the table on a slightly shorter stack of books.

By the time the sun rose, Yves placed the ribbon in her book once again, rose, and left the room without a word. She returned about an hour later with another servant in tow, and once again had a servant feed bread and soup to her familiar. The exchange was an almost exact copy of the previous night, except for the change in caretaker. Once the servant was gone, Yves commented, "the potion should get here today. Don't die until it gets here." With that said, she resumed the silent process of scanning through her book.
 
He was more or less distraught by the events that occurred recently. He thought that speaking his mind would get her to lighten up a bit, but even if he knew she might change for the better, he still remembered the events of the past hour. She could do so much worse, and this was the beginning. Hatred for her did not spark, but mostly sadness. Fear. Anxiety. These events formulated a deterioration of his emotional state as of the moment. His position changed a bit, laying flat down as he struggled to wipe his tears with his arms, slowly but surely -- trying not to injure his wrist and his arm even more. While his arms were bruised to a significant degree, his chest was more affected -- as his ribs were broken.

He had all the time in the world to think about his life up to this point. Was this really worth it? Did he want to live out a life where a fragile man like himself is enslaved to a woman who's prerogative is to ensure that her familiar follows her instructions, to be completely loyal and submissive? This was like taking his wife with him on this otherworldly realm. In some ways, he sees his wife in her. He always stays, even though he's well aware of the abuses and her habit of spending all his money for herself -- yet he chooses to stay, because he loves her. Here though, he cannot leave. He can't just go up to Yves and tell her that 'he's done', she'll probably cast another spell, and probably end up leaving him in worse shape than what Guiche did.

Thinking about it now, he was trapped here. He couldn't do anything, since he was injured. His mind was in turmoil, as he felt that nobody here could be trusted, not even Yves. Yves broke this trust by threatening him. The weak-willed Hayato becomes even more weak-willed, and he continues to think and wonder why he's in this universe to begin with. Why, out of all the things, people, creatures chosen, why was he the one to be chosen as someone's familiar? He couldn't imagine being a slave to anyone else, but so far -- he had a very skewered perception of Yves.

He looks back at her with fear in his eyes, as she walked out to get her his food. She would probably levitate whatever food she might get and force it down his throat -- even though she merely 'disabled' the spell that allows for pain relief, he tries to think a bit more positively. She offered to get him his food. Probably she pitied him, but other than that -- he was still emotionally drained from her actions.

------

He saw her face, annoyance written on it. He felt the same sense of dread, and paled as he looked at her. While she did bring her his food, she didn't seem to enjoy the notion very much. He couldn't find the words to speak, nor did he even have the strength to raise his arm after an extended period of laying down. With her helping him up, he couldn't help but notice her gaze -- misinterpreting it or rather interpreting her glare as annoyance. He eventually sat up on the bed, and watched her offer the bowl of soup to him. He was frozen, even though he knew he could muster the strength to eat, he couldn't. He couldn't will himself to eat the food. It might seem irrational, and he tried to raise his arms -- but his injuries have made it near impossible to work the utensils on his own.

Her expressions turned sour, resembling disappointment as he closed his eyes, breathing deeply and trying his best to try and relax. The events of earlier really did a number on him. A place where he couldn't trust anyone, and where he couldn't even talk to someone normally, or have his 21st century morals in -- it scared him. It scared him more than anything else. He didn't think this through, where fantasy worlds fall short of. They lack the morals he was accustomed to, to the lack of social classes to generally respecting people not because of their stature, but because of their actions -- what they did, what they felt. He was thinking so much on this, he didn't notice that Yves was back, and with Siesta trailing behind.

He breathed deeply and gave a small smile. Siesta, yes -- the servant girl. He knew that at least he could relate to the so-called 'peasantry'. They are generally good people, and he knew that Siesta had a good heart. Even if this was an order from Yves, he knew she could do this if she knew he was bedridden. He felt some form of relief when she helped him eat, and his spirits were a bit lifted.

Soon, after eating, he couldn't help but thank Siesta. "Thank you, Siesta..." He smiled, waving her goodbye as she left.

But, after the day was about to end, he decided to sleep after a short while, seeing as he couldn't do anything. He laid his head against the pillow, and eventually fell asleep, trying not to think about it so much. Then, the next day, he noticed that she grabbed another servant to help him eat. He appreciated her trying to help, but he still had some emotional problems to deal with, the memory of what happened yesterday still fresh in his mind. He was at least glad the potion was coming, but he wanted to address something. "Did you think that... what you did yesterday was absolutely necessary?"
 
Yves was surprised to find that her peasant familiar decided to speak a few seconds after her comment. As she suspected, his voice was shallow and his breaths short, indicating his injury. It was hard to listen to him while reading, so she marked the last word she could remember with her thumb and looked over to analyze him. Once the peasant finished speaking, she took a few seconds to think carefully about how to word her response. Her eyes remained focused on the book which her right hand was currently placed within to mark her place. Once an awkward second or two had passed, she nodded to herself, as if affirming something, then looked over at him with a serious expression and began, "You're quite the thinker, aren't you?"

She stopped after saying this, giving him enough time to respond, then continued, "I understand that you are unaware that asking a question such as that directly challenges my authority and competence as your master. Knowing this, I will temporarily overlook your impudence." She paused after saying this, then sighed and relaxed her expression a bit, appearing more earnest as she continued to speak. "You have already blatantly disregarded my repeated orders, and have repugnantly refused to listen to reason after I explained why you should follow them. Not only has this proven that you are not capable of caring for yourself, it has also proven that your intelligence and self-awareness is inferior even to that of a peasant." She paused after saying this, as if reluctant to continue, "as my life-long familiar, I care greatly for your well-being. Therefore, I absolutely cannot allow you to continue to act in such a careless and self-destructive manner." As she said this, her voice gently rose in volume and her face contorted slightly, expressing something between curiosity and confusion.

"If torture is necessary to get you to see reason, then so be it. I dislike the notion of punishing you as much as you dislike it yourself, but you have offered me no other choice." After finishing this explanation, she concluded by saying, "Therefore, yes, it was absolutely necessary." A tinge of doubt traced the back of her mind as she spoke, but she refused to allow her peasant familiar see it. I suppose that only time will tell whether I was right or not. Once she was done speaking, she allowed him time to reciprocate, then continued to read her book.
 
Hayato tried to observe Yves a bit more, looking over to her face, which was busy trying to observe his own actions as well. He simply maintained eye contact over the course of time, and with her shifting her gaze from the book she was reading, up until she pressed her thumb over the page. Soon, he looked over to her eyes, and with her suddenly nodding -- as if she was having a mental conversation and deciding that was the best thing to say to him, she decided to go ahead and straight up whack him with something he perceived as an insult, with him instantly assuming and believing she was being sarcastic. "I'm not the one allowing your 'familiar' to suffer in pain." He replied with some scorn in his voice.

With her continuation, she followed up with something that caused him to almost immediately interrupt her while she was in the middle of the conversation. "You don't even know where I came from. I didn't choose to be your familiar. I came from a time where horses are nonexistent and useless, replaced by horseless carriages, where the bow and arrow is replaced by weapons such as what I use, and where the peasantry and nobility are terrible concepts from centuries ago." But, she managed to continue -- as he tried to push the fact that he didn't want to become anyone's magical slave. "Oh, I see. You care. You care so much that you would give me a potion to heal all my wounds, yet put back the pain if I so much as to suggest that I would only follow your orders if you be nice to me. My only sole purpose is to live out your goals and ideals." He did a very, very sarcastic tone of voice as he said these words, pointing out the irony of what she was telling him. "Please, punish me for having a resemblance of free will and sentience, because I'm not some mindless flying dragon or some sort of wisp you could... ugh." Talking so much took the wind out of him, so he gave up on the conversation, and shook his head almost spitefully, his eyes locked onto hers. He wasn't being very rational right now, and he probably wanted to vent out what he was thinking outward towards her. He sighed and breathed heavily, listening to her comment that she wanted the best for him, and that she couldn't allow him to act in a self-destructive way. This was probably hinting about the whole Guiche ordeal, which he agreed on -- but he would refuse to acknowledge that to her.

He wanted to open her eyes, to let her see that torturing him and giving him absolutely no free will, yet having this power that wielding any weapon, he managed to defeat the first nobleman as a peasant in -- ever. He glared at her, grunting. "I don't think you needed to do that. I didn't threaten you with physical violence, not once. Try being in my place, and imagine it. Being shackled to someone you barely know, who starts ordering you around. How would that make you feel?" He says, finishing his question as he waited for her to react.
 
[Start of my last post, changed due to your character's actions]

Yves was surprised to find that her peasant familiar decided to speak a few seconds after her comment. As she suspected, his voice was shallow and his breaths short, indicating his injury. It was hard to listen to him while reading, so she marked the last word she could remember with her thumb and looked over to analyze him. Once the peasant finished speaking, she took a few seconds to think carefully about how to word her response. Her eyes remained focused on the book which her right hand was currently placed within to mark her place. Once an awkward second or two had passed, she nodded to herself, as if affirming something, then looked over at him with a serious expression and began, "You're quite the thinker, aren't you?"

She stopped after saying this and listened to his comment. She ignored the fact that he spoke once again, then continued, "I understand that you are unaware that speaking in such a manner and saying such things directly challenges my authority and competence as your master. Knowing this, I will temporarily overlook your impudence." She paused after saying this listening to the words of her peasant as he panted them out. She then sighed and relaxed her expression a bit. Instead of responding to his words, she continued ignoring him and prepared herself to speak once more, taking on a more earnest expression in an attempt to respond to his own speech. "I care not for your anarchist drivel. You have already blatantly disregarded my repeated orders, and have repugnantly refused to listen to reason after I explained why you should follow them. Not only has this proven that you are not capable of caring for yourself, it has also proven that your intelligence and self-awareness is inferior even to that of a peasant."

She paused after saying this, as if reluctant to continue, "as my life-long familiar, I care greatly for your well-being. Therefore, I absolutely cannot allow you to continue to act in such a careless and self-destructive manner." As she said this, her voice gently rose in volume and her face contorted slightly, expressing something between curiosity and confusion. Once her peasant familiar started to respond, she continued to grow more confused. After he stopped talking, having asked her to punish him for some reason, she used her free hand to massage her temples for a few seconds as she calmed herself, murmuring, "The fact that you behave in his manner despite understanding your situation makes it even worse. You're not only ignoring your position, but refusing it."

"If torture is necessary to get you to accept your position, then so be it. I dislike the notion of punishing you as much as you dislike it yourself, but you have offered me no other choice. Not only are you an ignorant and rebelious peasant, but you think you can get away with doing whatever you want, too. Thinking that way won't only get yourself killed, it'll get me killed too." After finishing this explanation, she slammed her hand onto the table and passionately exclaimed, "Not only were my previous actions absolutely necessary, it seems that more is necessary as well!" Her expression was unwaveringly serious as she spoke. She would not allow her eyes to leave his own for an instant, as she wanted to ensure that he had no room to doubt her words. When he began to speak, she began listening with the mindset that he would finally understand his situation.

What she heard in his response fueled her emotions even further. She remained seated, but straightened herself out and directed herself straight towards her familiar. As she responded, her tone was sharp and poignant, but retained the same passion as her previous words. "You have been blessed with a fate that most peasants can only dream of, and all you can think about is how miserable you are?! How conceited and repulsive can a single creature be!?" She seemed to ask this last question rhetorically, as she looked away from him as she said it, unable to look at his face. She finally took the ribbon off of her wrist and placed it into the book to mark her place, then rose from her chair and placed it down onto the table. With her back still turned to the peasant on her bed, she softly declared, "you asked me to imagine life in your position...how impudent...your life is so elementary that it'd make me sick."

With this said, Yves left her room for a half hour, returning with a solemn expression as she once again slouched into the chair in the middle of the room. Despite it still being morning, she appeared relieved to rest in the chair and to open her book. She continued to look over at her peasant every few minutes, still checking to ensure that he was still alive as she looked him over before returning to her reading.
 
Hayato knew that if he tried to butt heads with Yves, he'd end up going the complete opposite as to what he wanted to achieve with trying to express his emotions. He might as well stop trying to argue with her, and instead go a different route instead. He wasn't used to trying to find different ways to face his problems, but he might as well start trying now. "Mistress Yves... I'm sorry. I understand how you're much more intelligent than me, and that acting rebellious like this... isn't healthy. I submit." He concedes defeat -- at least for now. He wanted to see how she would react to him suddenly giving up on his quest, but he was considering it. Yves was always a bit better when she didn't chew him out like this. Their society is different to his, so he should at least try to respect that her culture is radically opposed to giving familiars and peasants free will. But, comparing this to his life, it wasn't all that different. He lived a rigorously boring life, and now at least it would get interesting. Realizing this, he remains docile.

Spending the entire day, he decided to rest, and give Yves the cold shoulder once more. It was just him trying to actually please the one he called 'mistress'. He did not dare ruin the solemnity of the surroundings, and simply laid still, enjoying the rest he was given as he waits for the potion, hoping that would work as magically as the spells she cast. Questions dotted his mind as to why they needed potions, but he decided to keep his mind clear, trying not to think too deeply. If he grows bored enough, he might just pop out of this dream and come back, an alarm blaring at his ears, begging for him to wake up so he could work. He sighed to himself, breathing softly as he blinked a few times, contemplating a bit -- although rather emptily.
 
The third day since Yves summoned her familiar passed by quickly after the conversation she had with her familiar in the morning. She spent most of the day reading and peeking over at her sleeping familiar to ensure that he was still breathing. Lunch came and passed much like the last two meals had, this time with Siesta once again. She was a bit concerned about Hayato's condition, but once Yves told her about a health potion being on its way, Siesta's concerns seemed to momentarily fade. She left with another wave, and then it was back to talkless reading. There were plenty of noises from outside, such as the wind and birds, and the room was close enough to the courtyard that a few conversations could still be picked up. Yves managed to tune them all out since they were far enough away to be only barely distinguishable from the other noises of the ambiance.

At some point in the afternoon, an hour or two after lunch, without warning or impetus, Yves marked her page with the ribbon around her wrist, placed the book on the table, and walked over to the door. She opened it with slight hesitation to find a servant on the other side of the door who was carrying an elegant and small box. Yves accepted the box from the servant with a word of acknowledgement, then closed and locked the door and walked over to the table. She placed the elegant box onto the table and, using her wand, she started muttering an incantation under her breath and pointing at the box. She continued to do this for a few seconds, then started to blush and say the incantation louder. "Blan Mar Tonne.....Blan Mar Tonne!...." she blushed even harder as she placed her wand on the table and started looking over the box.

After a minute or so, she placed the box back onto the table and walked over to her dresser. She then searched through one of the drawers, and pulled out a knife-like letter opener. She walked back over to the box shortly after this and slammed the letter opener into the gap between the lid and the base of the box. Then she picked up her wand and, pointing it at the letter opener, declared, "Blan Mar tonne!" Immediately, the knife came to life, spinning violently along its center of balance, appearing like little more than a floating dish. This action caused the top of the box to be flung over to the door at lightning speed and embed itself into the door. The knife continued hovering for a few seconds before hitting the side of the base of the box and then shooting out the window, flying right past both Yves and her familiar with a whooshing sound. She blushed even harder after this, staring at the lid as it remained embedded in the door. With the base of the box uncovered, but now split nearly in half, its cotton contents were now visible. "Well,....it worked...so I guess it's fine...."

A few seconds later, still blushing slightly, she put her wand back into its holster and analyzed the contents of the box. After a few seconds, she started rummaging around through the small container, then heard a clink sound and started to rummage more carefully. After finding something of importance in the box, she carefully withdrew it and analyzed it. It was a tiny, blue crystal with a green core. She continued analyzing it for a few second before finally coming to a realization. She then turned around, finally looking over at her familiar, and saying, "It appears that the potion has arrived. Are you ready?" After saying this, she took the crystal and walked over to the side of his bed.

Once she got there, she cleared her throat and said, "You have complained about pain over the past few hours. Well,..." she paused for a few seconds, looking a bit nervous as she tried to think of what to say. "Sometimes, the process of healing is more painful than the damage you took in the first place. I'm not saying that by taking this you're going to feel like you're getting beat up again, that's probably not true, but..." She looked over his chest once again and frowned. "This is probably going to move a lot of stuff around...like your bones, muscles, and blood...and there's nothing I can do about that...so..." she shrugged at this point still slightly nervous, and said, "...just, prepare to be uncomfortable...you know...until you're better..." After saying this, she helped him swallow it whole by offering him a small vial of water that came with the potion(after another few seconds of searching through the cotton of the box). Once he ate the crystal, she commented, "it'll take an hour or so for the crystal part to melt, so I'd suggest going to sleep in the mean time."

She had an expression which acknowledged guilt as she said this, but skittered back over to the safety of her book moments after giving him her advice. She peeked over at him a bit more frequently than usual after this, then it was back to normalcy.
 
The morning went by uneventfully. Time passed by at it's normal rate, as he continued to think. It was all he could do, as he was afraid he might offend Yves if he asked for a book to read. But he then came to the realization that while he might be able to speak so that he can understand what they were saying, it might not work on books. He might just act like a complete fool trying to read a book in a language he could never comprehend. While he did remember the first hours, he couldn't distinguish what language they were speaking in -- so their written language might be a little bit more complex. Still, he couldn't really do anything about it at this point. With lunch approaching, he became a bit more active with Siesta helping him eat again, though they only exchanged a few words -- insignificant small talk on his part, but lunch only took less than a few minutes before he finished his food. He waved Siesta a goodbye, before seeing Yves do the same old routine. Read through a book -- look over him, and continue reading in almost exact intervals. Maybe she did harbor some sort of concern for him.

Afternoon arrived, and Yves suddenly stood up, marking the page from her book with the ribbon she keeps around her wrist, and goes over to the door. Coming back with a rather fancy looking box, he only assumed that it was the potion she was waiting for. He just observed her trying to use some sort of magic spell -- and failing, repeatedly going over the words she had to say. While he isn't a big fan of the Harry Potter series, this scene would be one that would fit right in. He felt amused seeing her trying her damnedest to make this spell work, her face glowing red as she raises her voice while repeating those same three words. He could help but giggle lightly as she searched her drawers, finding a letter opener and immediately shoving the object into the gap between the lid and the base of the box.

She continued to recite this little three word spell, pointing it at the letter opener, observing how the spell would work. If she had to shove something in between, why couldn't she just force the box open? He decided not to vocalize that question, as he was prepared to laugh at another failure coming from Yves. Oddly, the spell worked -- but it spun fast, working in the same way as a helicopter's rotor blades would. But actions would have consequences, and physics immediately went into play -- as the box's lid would break off, flying to the door and with intense force, would be embedded in the wooden door -- while the letter opener immediately left the room, shooting out of the window and possibly hitting someone below. "I..." As much as he wanted to express how surprised and how shocked he was, he decided to remain silent.

He didn't really observe her, but what she was trying to find inside the container she struggled to open up. After a few minutes of searching, she pulled out a strange looking crystal -- one that he hasn't seen before. It looked like it was a sapphire, but it had a green core -- and it resembled a sapphire with an emerald core embedded within it. His eyes never seemed to leave it, as the strange gem grasped his attention rather well -- as he tried to figure out what this gem was for. Then, Yves spoke up -- saying that the 'potion has arrived'. He instantly made the connection, and looked at the crystal. Well, it was a magic universe -- if gems were used as medicine, he wouldn't be surprised.

Then, her next choice of words were ones of nervousness as she tried to explain what was going to happen next. He couldn't help but be in fear yet again of the pain. He tried not moving, as he knew that this was so that he could be healed, not because he was being punished. The other reason why he was brought to tears, was because Hayato felt betrayed by Yves. Now, he smiled, as he took the crystal in his mouth and swallowed it with the vial of water provided, as he simply laid still -- the effects not instant, but he knew it would be there soon.

"Mistress Yves, thank you."
 
The rest of the day passed by slowly, with Yves leaving every now and then to get food and to bring a servant back to feed her peasant familiar. When nighttime rolled around, Yves gradually started to look over at her familiar less frequently. When morning came around, she made a quick comment about how he was groaning less before leaving for food again. The 4th day since her familiar's arrival passed by just as slowly as the day before, and as the sun set on the fifth day, Yves was finally starting to reach her limit. She numbly unraveled the ribbon from around her wrist and set it between the pages of her book, which she was nearly done with. She then placed the book on the table and rose shakily from her chair.

She shot a glare over to her familiar, as if angry at him, but she calmed down after seeing that he was sleeping. She walked over to him and looked over his body for a few seconds, checking his chest and neck and arms. He was almost back to normal. He still had a few barely-noticeable bruise marks and scratches, but his breathing wasn't labored and his expression was pleasant for once. She nodded after looking over him for a few more seconds, then walked back over to the table. She sat down and stared at the wall for a few seconds, then reached for her book. But, as she opened it, she blinked. As she blinked, she felt an amazingly good sensation near her temples, so she did it again. She continued to do this a few more times, then her torso flopped down onto the table as she fell unconscious.

-----

When Yves woke up, she noticed Siesta taking to her peasant familiar, both of whom were seated on her bed. Still trying to look as if she was sleeping, she briefly thought out how she'd wake up, then she put her plan into action. She groggily sat upright and stretched for a few seconds, then purposefully looked their way and wiped the salt out of her eyes. "I like your dedication, peasant....but I suppose that you're here because I missed breakfast?" Siesta quickly rose after Yves started speaking, bowing to her sightly from her waist in response to her initial comment. Once Yves posed her question, she hastily responded by saying, "y-yes ma'am, uhh, I-I'll bring you a meal immediately!" But Yves held out her hand before Siesta could move anywhere and said, "Not necessary. Carry on as you were."

As Siesta sat back down on the bed, Yves looked over at Hayato and noticed that he was eating his food regularly again. She narrowed her eyes to examine his movements more keenly, but he seemed perfectly fine. She sighed after realizing this, then rose, still dressed in her nightgown from last night, and walked over to the corner of the room closest to the door. In that corner, a 2' diameter basket overflowing with laundry was located. She grabbed this basket and dragged it over to the bedside, saying, "once you're finished eating you have laundry to catch up with." She then sat back down on the table and continued reading in her nightgown. "And since you're all better, you can escort me to my classes today."
 
Hayato always enjoyed Siesta's visits. He seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for the peasant girl, always feeling at ease and peaceful when she comes around during breakfast, lunch and what have you. Hayato couldn't help but talk about his conditions and how he feels being a human familiar with some magical gimmick. While it might be higher than any peasant could ever hope to achieve, it was woefully dreadful to imagine being this woman's personal slave. Being forced to do everything -- her laundry, changing her clothes -- while this was extremely close to the way his wife treated him, he didn't want to spend his time in a fantasy world where he was basically doing the same thing. But maybe this was how he had to face reality. Maybe this was just a bad nightmare. While things have been vividly real for him, he still held on to that dreary thought.

Yves woke up from her slumber -- which was sleeping on that chair, somewhat passed out from sleep deprivation. One thing that Yves had that his wife didn't, was that she actually cared. She actually sacrificed a few things to actually keep him alive like this -- while his wife might have just straight up wouldn't have cared at all. He sighed and felt some empathy over what she did. Despite the events of back then, he knew that if she was injured to the point where she would be forced to be a bedridden patient, he would do the same. Noticing Yves nearly scared Siesta off, he simply glared over to Yves -- but then she ordered her to stay, as he grabbed the bowl of soup, using the wooden spoon to take smaller sips of the meal presented to him. It was nothing special, just some standard potato soup, and bread baked to perfection, or at least, that's what he thinks he's eating. Might as well be just leftovers. It was better than a microwave meal, that's for sure.

He noticed Yves bringing a large basket of laundry, placing it over to the bedside as he finally realized that he was already 'good', so he was back to his usual routine now. Sighing heavily, he finished his meal and sat up -- trying to ease himself out of grogginess and stood up, hoisting the basket as he stepped outside without a word, bringing the basket as he walks towards the courtyard, where several other peasants were busy cleaning the clothes of their noble masters. He spotted a conveniently water filled bucket, some soap and a washboard. He immediately went to work, placing the laundry beside him as he crouched down, dousing the clothes in water -- scrubbing them with soap and so on. He was taking a bit of time however, the modern technologies of washing machines making him really not used to hand-washing clothes, proceeding with some difficulty in the task.
 
Yves continued to read her book until both her familiar and the servant left her room, then she marked the page she was on with her ribbon and rose. She looked around in her wardrobe for a fresh uniform, found the last one, and sloppily dressed herself in it. She took around ten minutes to ensure that her appearance was up to the standards of scrutiny which her colleagues would put her through, then shoved an inkwell, a pen, and a few sheets of neatly folded paper into a purse-like bag which she kept under her cape. After checking to ensure she had anything, she sighed, rubbed her temples, and prepared herself for day 5 of life with her familiar.

Yves walked through the door with a sort of expectation for misfortune that was worsened by her tiredness. She locked the door with a spell from her wand, then walked through the elaborate winding halls of the tower to reach the ground floor. She greeted a few classmates on the way down, but they responded with sneers and comments about her relation with her familiar. She calmly retorted with phrases resembling veiled insults and continued on her way without further inciting argument, but the flame of anger welling up in her heart continued to grow as she continued on the route to her class.

After exiting the tower, she looked around and saw her familiar washing clothes. Her eyes narrowed once she noticed this, having estimated that at least thirty minutes had already passed by since he left. Since he was distracted with the laundry, he didn't seem to notice her approach, so she cleared her throat as she stood ten feet behind him and in a foul tone, she asked, "How much longer are you going to spend fooling around with the laundry instead of escorting me to my class?" After saying this, she looked down at the pile of clothes that he had already cleaned in comparison to the remaining clothes and narrowed her eyes once again. "You really are useless." She sighed and started walking away. "When you get all the laundry hung up, come right to my class. It's in the earthen tower, just ask the other peasants and they'll tell you the way. Understand?" With this said, Yves walked away.

-----

Class didn't begin until a few minutes after Yves's familiar walked into the room. She motioned for him to join her by sitting in the seat next to her. In the few minutes before class started, Yves was staring at the blank sheet of parchment in front of her with a pen in hand, as if reading invisible words on the paper. A few students walked up to her and made snide comments, but she more-or-less ignored them with unsatisfying and dull responses to encourage them to leave her alone. Immediately after class started, as denoted by bell tones from the main tower, a slightly fat, female teacher walked up to the podium at the front of the room and began speaking, causing Yves to begin writing on the parchment. "Fire, water, earth, and air together create a different, stronger effect by combining multiple elements together. Furthermore, a mage's level is determined by how many elements he or she can combine. Can anyone here tell me what those levels are?"

"Yes ma'am, I can!" said Montmorancy, who was seated behind Louise.

"Go ahead," the teacher commented, awaiting the student's answer.

"Two elements combine to form a line, three elements combine to form a triangle, and four elements combine to form a square." She announced, more than a hint of pride in her tone.

"Well done!" The teacher declared, pausing for a moment as she grabbed something inside a compartment of the podium in front of her. "Unless I am mistaken, most of you can only deal with one element at a time. Is that correct?"

At this point, the red-haired, buxsome lady stood up and mockingly announced, "Excuse me Mrs. Chevreuse, I hate to say this, honestly I do, but there is one student among us who cannot even differentiate between the four elements, let alone cast them on their own. A student who has never successfully cast a spell with only one element." Yves put her pen down, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes as the red-haired girl explained this, gritting her teeth a little as she felt the eyes of pretty much everyone in the room.

Just as Yves's face started to flush red, the teacher cleared her throat loudly, causing the students to look back over at her, and she declared, "In any case, you should all aim to control more elements...."

The teacher's rambling continued on for a few minutes as she continued to provide a review of the system of magic. Yves focused on producing beautiful notes which appeared more like a series of diagrams with large, perfectly formatted blocks of text to explain concepts and key points which the teacher spoke of. The rest of the students appeared bored out of their mind until class ended. When the class finally ended, denoted by a loud series of bell tones from the main tower, the teacher dismissed the students. Yves asked a student to cast a spell on her notes, and the student begrudgingly relented, drying off the ink on her paper with a single word and a motion from his wand. Yves then put all of her materials into her purse and silently walked out of the class, motioning for her familiar to follow closely behind her.

Yves was "escorted" by her familiar to two other classes before lunch, then spent the rest of the day reading, going to dinner, and then reading some more. Since she was annoyed by how he talked so much, she waved him off and told him to "either stop talking so that I can read in peace, or go look for something to do." Her last order of the day was for him to help her change into her nightgown, after which she went to sleep.

The next morning Yves pointed to a different outfit than the usual school uniform, a plain white dress with blue fleece sleeves. After breakfast, Yves took a different route instead of going back to the tower, saying, "we're going to town today." She walked over to a building which was set right next to the large gateway connected to the road leading away from the university and knocked on the door. A peasant exited and politely asked her how he could help. She responded by saying, "I need a riding horse with a two-person saddle." The peasant then nodded and walked back into the building. She emerged from another door with a large, white horse, outfitted with all sorts of leather pieces and designed with a white and red, shield-shaped banner hanging from the sides.

Yves lept onto the horse with relative ease, keeping both legs to one side of the horse, and motioned for the peasant to join her by reaching out her hand. Once the peasant was in place, she adjusted her place on the saddle a bit more, then started the horse along the road by whipping the reigns a few times. Once the horse was at a swift pace, she commented, "It's a 3 hour ride. Get comfortable." She then pulled out a book from her purse and began reading, peeking up at the road ahead every now and then to ensure that they were still headed in the right direction.

-----

Once the two were able to see the town, Yves put her book back into her purse and started to slow down the horse by pulling on the reigns. "Don't wander far from me. The streets are crowded because it's Hallows day."

-----

The first building outside the town was the stables, so Yves paid the stablehand a coin and told him to take good care of her horse until her return. She then wandered into the town, looking around as she went. She blatantly ignored the many stalls and passers by who called out to get her attention, instead mumbling things like, "I think it was right next to Vehimont's Elixir Shop..." and, "just take a left over here, and..."

Before long, Yves stopped in front of a plain-looking building with an iron-banded wooden door. "Oh, here it is" she commented, pausing for a few seconds as she examined the building's exterior. Once she was satisfied that it wasn't below her standards, she walked into the building and was greeted by a singular elder man standing behind a counter. "Welcome! Feel free to browse, I have the widest selection of swords in town!" Yves nodded and immediately began searching through barrels of weapons. The shopkeeper started rambling after watching her for a few seconds, possibly to encourage her to spend money: "Lately it's become a fad, even among royalty. to equip their servants with weapons."

Yves picked up a rapier-like weapon with a thick, rounded blade and a sharp point, then commented, "I saw you wielding something much larger than this the other day..." She then looked over at the shop keep and declared, "I want a sword that is a lot bigger and thicker than this one." She then showed him the weapon and he frowned. "Excuse me miss, but I believe that the sword you are holding is the correct size for this individual."

Yves frowned and violently slammed the sword back into it's place in the barrel, causing a few of the swords to clatter around. "I assume you heard me, yes?" she growled. The shopkeeper immediately stepped back with a bit of freight in his eyes, and exclaimed, "Yes! Right away!" He then disappeared into the back of the shop. As Yves was waiting, she commented, "You only seem useful when you're holding a sword, so I thought it'd be best to get you one."

When the shopkeeper walked back out from the back of the shop, he was holding a huge, wide sword encrusted in gold and jewels. Everything from the blade to the pommel was decorated exquisitely. He smiled eagerly as he offered the sword to Hayato, exclaiming, "This is the best item we have in our store!" The weapon glittered in the sunlight shining through the windows, it's edge keen and its point sharp.

Yves was watching her familiar as he examined the weapon, and listened to the shopkeeper boasting about the lineage of the sword: "It was forged in the finest ancient tradition by the renowned alchemist, mage, and swordsmith Lord Shvert du Germania. It slices steel ever so easily-" Yves interrupted at this point with a critical tone. "How much is it worth?" The shopkeeper held out three fingers on his left hand and declared, "Three thousand new gold coins."

Yves's mouth gaped in awe at his words. As she was recovering from her shock, she mumbled, "That's enough to buy a nice house, a garden and a forest." The shopkeeper reasoned that "that sword is comparable to a castle. It's a good deal if one estate will do." Yves sighed, depressed, and commented, "But...I only have a hundred new gold with me right now..."

The shopkeeper looked surprised after hearing this and, turning away from them, raised his hands up in a shrug and said, "Even a decent claymore costs around 200." Yves felt a bit desperate, so she asked, "Isn't there something I could buy for just a hundred?" The shopkeeper then scratched his chin, still looking away from them, and turned around after a few seconds of thought. "Just a hundred, huh?....Well, I do have something..."

The shopkeeper then walked over to a barrel over in the corner of the room and pulled out a weapon reminiscent of a training sword. It was made entirely of a rust-red metal, from the bottom of its hilt to the tip of its blade. It had an odd piece of metal attached to the top of the handle guard, and the handle guard itself was fairly small and unprotective. The blade appeared to have been riveted into place several times at odd places, and the edge was only edge-like in appearance with little to no sharp places.

The shopkeeper commented, "I suppose it's a bit old, but if you clean it up a bit, I'm sure you could get some good use out of it." Yves frowned and said, "I don't care what kind of business you're running here. Junk like that is only worth 60 new gold coins to me." The shopkeeper frowned and said, "Well I'm not willing to sell it for any less than 80." Yves then narrowed her eyes toward the shopkeeper. I don't know the first thing about swords, but I bet he's still ripping me off. She shrugged after weighing his proposition with the opportunity cost of rejecting it. "Considering how I'm low on time, I'll take you up on your offer. But if that sword turns out as crappy as it looks, you better watch your back." She then pulled out a sack of coins from her purse and walked up to the counter.

The storekeeper walked back behind the counter and helped her count out the coins. Once they both re-counted them, he pulled out a sheath from behind the counter and offered it to Hayato. "This is the sheath for the sword. If it's too small to go around your chest, you can hang it from your waist." Once Yves started storming out of the building, the shopkeeper grinned and called out, "Thank you for the business!" Yves grumbled, "I'm sure you are..." in response.

-----

After the sword-shop, Yves walked around town for awhile, visiting multiple book stores. She ended up asking her familiar to carry around ten of them, holding one for herself. All of the books had one distinct commonality: there was some sort of "ice" or "crystal" picture or icon on all of them. After buying the last two books, she commented that she was out of money, and that they'd have to go back soon or they'd miss dinner. So, with that, she went back to the stables, got her horse, and rode back to the university with her familiar.

-----

Once they got back, she had him carry her books back to her room, then got comfortable on the chair in the middle of the room and continued reading where she left off, once again telling her familiar to "go and practice with your sword or whatever - as long as you're not distracting me from reading."
 
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Hayato knew he had a few problems with Yves, which seemed to be normal behaviour between a noble and a peasant. As much as he felt uncomfortable with changing her clothes for her, and doing such menial tasks without the comfort of technology -- there wasn't much that he could do about it. The thought of escaping, running away and such crossed his mind, but he decided against it. Besides, where would he go? Would he even find a place where this idiotic social class system is non-existent? Eventually, he decided not to dwell on these thoughts any longer, as he was close to finishing up the laundry, placing the basket aside as he hung the clothes on the clothesline in the courtyard, letting them dry. He did a few stretches, feeling his arms strain, and wiped his hands, which were dripping with soapy water, on his pants. Looking down and observing how soiled his slacks were after having to hand wash Yves' clothes – naturally he got water all over his pants due to his inexperience with hand washing clothes. While his discomfort could be easily removed with a simple bath, but without knowledge as to where 'peasants' would take said baths, he questioned one of the nearby peasants, discovering that a peasant bath consists of heated up water, placing it in a shoddily constructed wooden tub, and sitting in it until one feels clean. The fact that the peasant didn't speak of soap or anything else made Hayato remember what era he was living in. With this, he decided that a bath wasn't that necessary – the discomfort would probably make him feel even worse.

He did feel that much discomfort at his soaked suit, but all that talk about bathing and wet clothes made him remember about his phone. While he wasn't wading in water, he knew how fragile smartphones could get. Fishing it out of his left pocket, he observes that it was somewhat damp and the screen was smashed and cracked beyond belief. Remembering the fight he had with Guiche and his Golems, he wiped it against his collar – which was one of the few places which wasn't damp with sweat and water, and he pressed the unlock button. The screen barely lit up, and within the cracks, he couldn't tell if his phone was operational or not. While his phone was rendered useless, he didn't really think of it as a loss as his phone couldn't tell the time accurately in this realm. But, as he checked his broken phone, he realized that he was stuck on this world without clothing of his own. While he didn't want to rely on Yves for anything, he knew that there probably wasn't any other way he could get another set of clothes without the coin to spend it on. He decided to try and locate Yves – remembering that he was in the Earthen Tower. Spending a few moments of time asking another peasant for where the Earthen Tower was, he kindly assisted Hayato to where he needed to go, and he went off his way. Luckily, he saw a glimpse of Yves entering the room. When Yves motioned for him to sit beside her, he sat in the seat next to her. Without much to do, he decided to listen to whoever was supposed to be teaching this class. He felt a pang of remorse for Yves when several students passed her by and with their snide remarks, he wanted to go ahead and defend her – but he knew that causing a scene here would draw more attention to her, as he went against that.

Hayato observed the teacher walking in – a somewhat pudgy looking woman walking up to the podium and immediately started speaking, which caused Yves to promptly take down notes. He simply placed his hands on top of the table, listening in on her discussion. While Yves was paying full attention, he felt bored merely listening to the teacher – but he had some form of attention on the teacher. Noticing that a certain comment from a certain red-haired lady caused Yves to react by stopping her note-taking, he tried not to get involved. But he did see that most of the students, even those in front turned to look at Yves. Catching a peek at Yves' own face, he noticed that she was rather embarrassed. Apparently, even childish bullying occurs in magical realms such as this.

He found the situation rather distasteful, how these so-called nobles could cast a shadow on their fellow noble. He felt the negative vibes from Yves, and wondered how she would react. Despite of the way she treated him, he felt that no man or woman deserves to be treated this badly by her fellow classmates.

As class ended, and with Yves motioning for Hayato to follow suit, he did so obediently. That was the least he could do, as well as do the nightly routine – helping her change and all. He was so unfazed by this now, he really didn't care anymore. It felt more like a chore, instead of something he would 'enjoy' doing.

He somehow wanted to break the ice, and on several occasions wanted to strike a bit of small talk, asking her about general information, how long she has been a student here. Eventually, she told him to stop talking – apparently annoyed at how talkative he may be, and in her annoyance, she tells him to go do something else with his time.

He sat next to his 'haystack' bed, grabbing his handgun from his coat pocket – checking the extent of the damage. His gun was clearly cracked, and with fear of internal damage, he sighed as he looked at the scratched and damaged slide of his firearm. He could always check the extent of the damage inside, but due to the visual damage – he fears that the gun's delicate parts might fall off when he removes the slide by hand, and therefore he may lose a vital component. Weighing in the risk and the reward, he decided to return his gun inside his inner coat pocket.

It was going to be hard to live without some sort of freedom. He knows what Yves would do if he ever wronged her. She wasn't afraid to punish him – but he knew that she had a heart. She had humanity.

With that, he decided to drift off to sleep, plopping down on the haystack. Night passes quickly, as his sleep was uninterrupted.
________________________________________________

Morning came. He helped her into a relatively different uniform from yesterday, but he didn't want to point that out. Walking with her, he didn't really notice how they were going on a different route, as he yawned lightly. He was still dead tired at this point, and as she asked for a steed -- he couldn't help but notice that this was leading outside of the University. Finally, he could see the outside. He was almost sick of the University due to the fact that people like her exist in that place. But he really couldn't just go around saying that -- now could he? His wife treated him exactly the same, probably even worse since he was actually working. In here he's just -- doing menial chores, possibly just helping her change. It really wasn't difficult work -- probably a bit less easy due to the technological differences, but at least he didn't have to work.
She definitely knew where she was going. Once their feet touched the ground and their legs in motion, she followed a rather linear path, as she was somewhat mumbling things, something along the lines of a shop of sorts. It seems like she did want to go someplace specific, but she would at least keep quiet while doing so. It was odd, but if that helps her remember, he really can't judge.

Once Yves located the store she was headed to, she opened the iron-banded door and he followed suit, as he noted the interior of the store. It was the typical scene he would see in a fantasy movie or a video game -- a weapon store of sorts. With the shopkeeper having a couple of barrels next to the wooden table and around the shop itself containing around an assortment of swords, axes, halberds, even a few spears in them per barrel. It looked more like a bazaar or something like a 'bargain sword shop' than anything. It probably isn't, considering that Yves may very well have a large budget that he didn't know about. As Yves started conversing with the shopkeeper, he merely listened in, as she examined a sword, and then she started requesting a much larger one, the shopkeeper hesitated, trying to make her decide otherwise -- then with an intimidating slam of the sword back into the barrel, the shopkeeper scurried back inside, looking for a suitable sword. He couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction.

"Hey. I'm useful with the gun too." Hayato simply reacted to her comment, as he waited for the shopkeeper to return. He noticed how wonderful the sword was, how beautiful it looked.
But the price -- despite him not knowing about the currency and the value of a single gold coin, but he knew that a single gold coin must have a heavy weight, since three-thousand gold coins is apparently enough to buy land. He decides that the amount might be a bit too much, as he places his hands in his pockets, not willing to argue with Yves.

Yves demanded a cheaper sword, around the one-hundred gold coin range. Then, he brings in a very, very shitty sword. He sighs heavily and closes his eyes, looking at how it would more accurately resemble a prison shank. The sword was far from well made, as it had an odd piece of metal attached to the top of the handle guard, and the handle guard itself was fairly small and unprotective. The blade appeared to have been riveted into place several times at odd places, and the edge was only edge-like in appearance with little to no sharp places.
Yves was eventually forced to shell out for the sword, and grabbing the sheath, he found that it was too small to go around his chest. He hung it around his waist, before sheathing the rather terribly crafted sword. While it might provide more protection than a stick, he knew that this was only a very small step up from a blunt stick.

"Yves… I have something to ask of you. Can I… get some new clothes? I cannot operate properly if my clothes are soaked and five days old." He says, sounding nervous at the beginning, then becoming rather blunt and to the point.
________________________________________________

The day passed without much of him doing anything, but he had to carry around ten books, using both hands to hold this stack without having it topple over. Riding back to the University was probably the hardest thing he has ever done so far, balancing the sizeable stack of books. He knows that now has a higher appreciation to the person who invented automobiles, that's for sure.

He knew that Yves was going to do the same thing – to tell him to go do some sword practicing or 'something' so that he wouldn't annoy her so incessantly. He stood and went out of the door, closing it behind him as he proceeded to head down to the courtyard.

He literally had zero knowledge of sword-fighting, or even using his rune. Unsheathing the blade almost nervously, he realized that he had absolutely no skill in this. He tried sheathing it and unsheathing it smoothly, repeating this process until he was confident that he wouldn't cut himself with his own blade. Then, he tried to follow up by imagining what any fictional character would do. Imagining a 'target' in front of him, he tried stabbing forward swiftly -- which just ended in him looking like an idiot. He resembled at least some stance, but with him focusing on his arm movement, he looked rather lame just practicing his sword.

He knew full well his hand movements, his eyes and his footwork were not in sync, and he tried his best to change. But without anyone providing criticism to help him out, he would continue to carry out attacks that didn't make sense. It was clumsy, he didn't have any stance -- but he was at least 'practicing' in a way. His sword resembled his fighting ability -- completely pathetic.

He still kept his eyes open, and after unleashing a volley of attacks at his imaginary target, he would look around to see if there were people around. If he saw some strange figure behaving oddly in the courtyard with a terrible looking sword, he would cringe looking at whoever was acting like a complete fool in the courtyard.

Eventually, he was getting too paranoid of someone spotting him -- and it was somewhat to maintain a good standing with Yves. If another one of her classmates saw Yves' familiar playing around with his sword like a child, it'd provide ammunition to insult her with. He still continued to slash a few times, but being careful not to hit any university property -- or else it'd be more than embarrassment he'd have to deal with.
 
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The first building outside the town was the stables, so Yves paid the stablehand a coin and told him to take good care of her horse until her return. She then wandered into the town, looking around as she went. She blatantly ignored the many stalls and passers by who called out to get her attention, instead mumbling things like, "I think it was right next to Vehimont's Elixir Shop..." and, "just take a left over here, and..."

Before long, Yves stopped in front of a plain-looking building with an iron-banded wooden door. "Oh, here it is" she commented, pausing for a few seconds as she examined the building's exterior. Once she was satisfied that it wasn't below her standards, she walked into the building and was greeted by a singular elder man standing behind a counter. "Welcome! Feel free to browse, I have the widest selection of swords in town!" Yves nodded and immediately began searching through barrels of weapons. The shopkeeper started rambling after watching her for a few seconds, possibly to encourage her to spend money: "Lately it's become a fad, even among royalty. to equip their servants with weapons."

Yves picked up a rapier-like weapon with a thick, rounded blade and a sharp point, then commented, "I saw you wielding something much larger than this the other day..." She then looked over at the shop keep and declared, "I want a sword that is a lot bigger and thicker than this one." She then showed him the weapon and he frowned. "Excuse me miss, but I believe that the sword you are holding is the correct size for this individual."

Yves frowned and violently slammed the sword back into it's place in the barrel, causing a few of the swords to clatter around. "I assume you heard me, yes?" she growled. The shopkeeper immediately stepped back with a bit of freight in his eyes, and exclaimed, "Yes! Right away!" He then disappeared into the back of the shop. As Yves was waiting, she commented, "You only seem useful when you're holding a sword, so I thought it'd be best to get you one." After his response about his gun, she looked over at him with an amused frown and retorted, "You mean that broken thing that Guiche stomped on? It sure didn't help you much last time."

When the shopkeeper walked back out from the back of the shop, he was holding a huge, wide sword encrusted in gold and jewels. Everything from the blade to the pommel was decorated exquisitely. He smiled eagerly as he offered the sword to Hayato, exclaiming, "This is the best item we have in our store!" The weapon glittered in the sunlight shining through the windows, it's edge keen and its point sharp.

Yves was watching her familiar as he examined the weapon, and listened to the shopkeeper boasting about the lineage of the sword: "It was forged in the finest ancient tradition by the renowned alchemist, mage, and swordsmith Lord Shvert du Germania. It slices steel ever so easily-" Yves interrupted at this point with a critical tone. "How much is it worth?" The shopkeeper held out three fingers on his left hand and declared, "Three thousand new gold coins."

Yves's mouth gaped in awe at his words. As she was recovering from her shock, she mumbled, "That's enough to buy a nice house, a garden and a forest." The shopkeeper reasoned that "that sword is comparable to a castle. It's a good deal if one estate will do." Yves sighed, depressed, and commented, "But...I only have a hundred new gold with me right now..."

The shopkeeper looked surprised after hearing this and, turning away from them, raised his hands up in a shrug and said, "Even a decent claymore costs around 200." Yves felt a bit desperate, so she asked, "Isn't there something I could buy for just a hundred?" The shopkeeper then scratched his chin, still looking away from them, and turned around after a few seconds of thought. "Just a hundred, huh?....Well, I do have something..."

The shopkeeper then walked over to a barrel over in the corner of the room and pulled out a weapon reminiscent of a training sword. It was made entirely of a rust-red metal, from the bottom of its hilt to the tip of its blade. It had an odd piece of metal attached to the top of the handle guard, and the handle guard itself was fairly small and unprotective. The blade appeared to have been riveted into place several times at odd places, and the edge was only edge-like in appearance with little to no sharp places.

The shopkeeper commented, "I suppose it's a bit old, but if you clean it up a bit, I'm sure you could get some good use out of it." Yves frowned and said, "I don't care what kind of business you're running here. Junk like that is only worth 60 new gold coins to me." The shopkeeper frowned and said, "Well I'm not willing to sell it for any less than 80." Yves then narrowed her eyes toward the shopkeeper. I don't know the first thing about swords, but I bet he's still ripping me off. She shrugged after weighing his proposition with the opportunity cost of rejecting it. "Considering how I'm low on time, I'll take you up on your offer. But if that sword turns out as crappy as it looks, you better watch your back." She then pulled out a sack of coins from her purse and walked up to the counter.

The storekeeper walked back behind the counter and helped her count out the coins. Once they both re-counted them, he pulled out a sheath from behind the counter and offered it to Hayato. "This is the sheath for the sword. If it's too small to go around your chest, you can hang it from your waist." Once Yves started storming out of the building, the shopkeeper grinned and called out, "Thank you for the business!" Yves grumbled, "I'm sure you are..." in response.

After Hayato started speaking, Yves found a gap in the crowd of people and waited there to listen to the peasant. In response to his comment, she frowned, eyeing him up and down. Not only were his clothes torn from his fight, they were covered in the hay from his bedding, dirt from the ground, and grime from the soap he used to wash her clothes. She barely held back a blush as she realized that she had forgotten about one of his basic needs, but firmly retained her frown and and impassionately declared, "Fine. I guess you're incapable of managing one pair, as I'd expect." She turned around at this point, continuing to walk toward a certain destination, "I'll get you a few simple garbs with whatever I have left after I buy my books."

-----

After the sword-shop, Yves walked around town for awhile, visiting multiple book stores. She ended up asking her familiar to carry around five of them, holding one for herself. All of the books had one distinct commonality: there was some sort of "ice" or "crystal" picture or icon on all of them. After buying the last two books, she led him over to a few clothes stalls, buying him 2 sets of clothes. Each set including a pair of shoes, a pair of wool stockings, a pair of long, beige woolen trousers, a white shirt with long sleeves and a long, v-shaped neck which was tied shut with leather strings, a brown, vest-like leather mantles and one sturdy leather belt of a similar type to the one affixed to the sheath of his new sword. She mumbled something about how far a single gold piece went for peasants nowadays as she made her way back to the stables. Before getting on her horse, she commented, "If you manage to keep those clean and undamaged until next week, I might reward you with better clothes." With that, she rode back to the university with her familiar.

-----

Once they got back, she had him carry her books back to her room, then got comfortable on the chair in the middle of the room and continued reading where she left off, once again telling her familiar to "go and practice with your sword or whatever - as long as you're not distracting me from reading."

-----

A few minutes after the peasant moved into one of the areas of the courtyard where people weren't gathered as thickly, a large, red salamander with a burning tail quickly darted out of some nearby bushes and rushed up to him. When it reached him, it headbutted the back of his waist as a surprise attack, then flopped down on top of him. Once he was immobilized, the salamander slithered down his back, bit the back of his shirt, and lifted him up by it as it rose to its back legs, carrying him and making a non-threatening, throaty gargling sound. It then worked its way back through the bushes and sneakily carried the peasant over to the earthen tower, walking in through a back entranceway. The creature seemed to be trying to be sneaky, taking the familiar through less-used passageways and effectively reaching the residence rooms in less than a minute after first finding the familiar.

It turned into a familiar residence hall, the same hallway that Yves's room was in, but it opened a different door, walking into a dark room with a bunch of candles set up throughout. The room had many red draperies throughout, including curtains for the bed and windows, a rug, an overhang for the dresser, and even what appeared to be a fur hanging from a coat rack. After a few seconds of silence, the salamander dropped the familiar onto the ground and waited behind him, looking over at the coat rack. The coat rack then turned, revealing that it was not, in fact, a coat rack, but was merely the red-haired buxome girl, wreathed in a rather large fur coat. She dropped the fur coat behind her as she turned, revealing a very showy set of purple lingerie about her body, and she warbled, "welcome to my very private suite, Hayato Mizuho...or was it Muzuho Hayato?"

She posed this question with a finger placed over her mouth, reaching her other hand around the back of her neck as she puffed out her chest. "I know I'm doing something I shouldn't, but you see...my codename is fever -- I tend to burn up like a flaming torch." As she said this, she adopted another gesture to accentuate her curves, pausing to see his reaction before adding, "I'm a woman in love. And the person I love is you." She paused her, blushing with a hand against her cheek as she bashfully added, "Love always comes so suddenly, does it not?"

She then dropped to her knees, supporting the weight of her chest with her arms as she leaned in toward him, murmuring, "You looked so handsome when you defeated Guiche in that duel." Here she started gradually leaning in closer and closer, saying, "When I saw it all happen, Kirche the Fever became...Kirche the Passion." At this, she caressed his left hand with both of hers, closed her eyes, and leaned in toward him, as if to kiss him.

But, before she was able to reach his face, a voice from the window shouted, "Kirche!" When she heard this, she stopped, opened her eyes, and turned to see who it was, seemingly unphased. "Styx, you startled me!" she commented, watching as he floated immediately outside of the windowsill. "I came here because you didn't show up at the pre-arranged time we set" She once again adopted her bashful look and calmly asked, "sorry, but could you come back in two hours?" to which he loudly responded, "that wasn't our deal!" As he was speaking, the flame from one of the candles shot over to him, smacking him in the face, and he disappeared from the windowsill, most likely falling down.

"Never mind him, right now the one I love most is...-" She closed her eyes and leaned in towards him once again, but another voice shouted from the window as she was about to kiss him. "Kirche! I demand to know who that man is!" The buxsome lady turned to look at the man in the windowsill, utterly unsurprised by his presence and seemingly not annoyed either. She simply raised the wand in her right hand and one of the flames of the candles shot into his face as he was saying: "Tonight I wanted you to burn up with me-" In his surprise, he continued to squeal, "eeeeeee!" as he fell down.

Once again, Kirche looked back over at Hayato, saying, "In any case, the night is short, and I don't want to waste even a single moment that we have." As she leaned in to kiss him this time, she kept her eyes open, because as she did so, multiple voices were heard shouting from the windowsill. "Kirche!" they all shouted, "what are you doing?! You said you didn't have any lovers besides me!" Kirche turned to face them, a slightly uncomfortable look on her face, and she responded, "Monakin, Ajax and Gimley, come back in six hours, okay?" She had a painfully fake smile on her face as she said this, but they responded by saying, in unison, "That's morning already!"

Shortly thereafter, Kirche turned to look at the large, red salamander creature which was still a foot or two behind Hayato, and said, "Oh fla~aame!" The creature then stood up on its hind two legs and shot out a large pillar of flame towards the people in her window. They then vanished, potentially falling back toward the courtyard below as Kirche turned back towards the peasant and the salamander lay back down. Kirche stared into Hayato's eyes for a few seconds, then playfully pounced onto him and, pinning him down, declared, "I love you, Hayato. Just let your worries go - I'm a lot more than that icy Mess could ever be." The venom of her words flowed out as smoothly as honey, her voice laced with a sort of seductive tone as she leaned in for a kiss.

A few seconds after Kirche's passionate kiss, the door to her room swung open.

In the doorway stood Yves. She wore only her nightgown.

"Oh..." Kirche commented, peeling herself away from Hayato in order to sit up.

Yves' eyes narrowed after a few seconds as she observed the situation, then she walked in, becoming more unbalanced as she continued along. She stopped a few feet in front of Kirche, blushing furiously, and shouted, "Kirche!"

"I'm busy right now, Blanchette." Kirche commented, hugging Hayato's arm against her breasts as she spoke, then leaning her head against his as she finished her sentence.

Yves didn't seem satisfied with this response. She clenched her fists together as she continued looking at her and blushing more, then squealed, "Zerbst,...why are you trying to seduce my familiar?!" Yves tried saying why a few times, but nothing came out of her mouth after the first two attempts. She blushed harder before she was able to finish her sentence, slowly approaching a bright pink complexion. The salamander behind her, which was hiding behind a table, casually watched as the exchange continued, either amused or unsure of what to do.

She dropped her attachment to Hayato at this point and shrugged, adopting a smug expression as she responded, "I suppose it can't be helped. Love and Fire are the destinies of the von Zerbst family. I only wish to burn in flames of love." She emphasized these words while looking at Hayato, smiling bashfully as she did.

Yves took a moment to swallow her heart, then shakily pointed to the ground next to her, staring her familiar in the eye, and commanded, "Come here."

Kirche lunged a foot or so toward Yves, expressing urgency in her face and voice, and argued, "You just wait a second. He may be your familiar, but he's also a proper human with needs and feelings and desires! It's unreasonable to get in the way of romance!" As she said this, she turned toward Hayato, then hugged him tightly with her cleavage pressed against his shoulder.

At this point, Yves was at a loss for words, so she stared at her familiar and tried to calm down enough to speak again.
 
Hayato eventually fell into the whole routine - stab, slash, thrust forward, stab, slash, thrust forward - he really seemed like he was somewhat learning. His movements were still sloppy, so was his footwork, but it was better than him aimlessly slashing like a complete idiot. He enjoyed the motions he was doing, it felt like he was actually getting into swordplay. He started moving faster and faster, but this time he closed his eyes - feeling his body move on it's own, as if it was instinct. While he felt like he was experiencing the seventh stage of ascendancy or nirvana, it all suddenly broke into pieces as he felt an unknown force suddenly push him down. The bespectacled man flopped down, and while he thankfully didn't smash his face into the floor, he was rather dazed - and the fact that something extremely large and heavy was pinning him down, he could do little. While he could start slashing or attacking, he couldn't reach the unknown assailant even if he tried - and besides, he couldn't even muster the strength needed to make this piece of crap sword do anything. Hearing the throaty, but somewhat amusing gurgle, he knew that if he tried to do anything stupid, whatever this thing might be might just kill him. Surrendering, he simply let this 'thing' carry him off.

He was almost certain that this was probably Yves trying to get her familiar to come back as he recognized this as the hall where Yves' room was - but he wasn't being brought to Yves' room at all. In fact, they seemed to pass places he didn't know existed - or was even passable. In any case, he knew that he was in a pickle now. The only thing he has is his sword, and his gun. He did feel the pull of tiredness, but his fear of what's next to come almost overlapped his sleepiness. As they walked into the door, he noticed the abundance of candles lighting the path leading up to the main room. The room had many red draperies throughout, including curtains for the bed and windows, a rug, an overhang for the dresser, and even what appeared to be a fur hanging from a coat rack. After a few seconds of silence, the salamander dropped Hayato onto the ground, and he simply laid there, fearful of what his captors might do, weapon in hand. He wasn't looking for a fight, but he knew he wasn't just knocked out and delivered here just for a cup of tea and biscuits. Hayato's eyes started looking around, and then his eyes looked over at the coat rack. The coat rack then turned, revealing that it was not, in fact, a coat rack, but was merely the red-haired buxom girl, wreathed in a rather large fur coat. She dropped the fur coat behind her as she turned, revealing a very showy set of purple lingerie about her body, but Hayato - for the most part - was relatively 'surprised' but not overly. Sure he blushed a bit, but he had to deal with Yves asking him to change her every time, and something like this barely made him flinch. He was looking for answers, and he was determined to find them.

He knew that straight away, this lady was trying to seduce him. It was odd, they barely talked to each other - yet this woman continues on, showing off her body as if she was on the catwalk of a fashion show, sashaying her hips and puffing out her chest. Hayato was still relatively still, merely observing her, immediately placing his hands to his sides as his gaze was mostly directed to her own eyes, and not on her voluptuous body. She was much more - endowed than Yves, and the entire gesture of her 'in love with him' made his confidence increase a bit - but ultimately he realized that she was at odds with Yves, and this was probably her way of trying to 'get back' at her. Though, he didn't know the full extent of her hatred for Yves, he didn't have time to say a single word, as she then started talking even more. He literally had zero reason to return her feelings. Almost as if reacting to her kneeling down so suddenly, he was about to stand up, but eventually looked like he was crouching down. He thought about this long and hard, and eventually decided to play this out a little bit. Besides, it's as if she thought he was a complete idiot. With her suddenly closing in to kiss him, he was frozen - and by the close proximity of a rather beautiful girl suddenly coming on to him, he couldn't help but blush.

Then, a male voice echoed from the windowsill, angered as to why she didn't show up when they were planning to meet. Great. It's as if Guiche turned into a woman and started dating every single man in this campus. He now had reason to believe that Yves is probably the most sane noble among these dynamic douches. He simply listened and observed the exchange, as the number of men increased, until eventually she ordered her familiar to intimidate them all with a giant pillar of flame.

Then, she carried out what she was planning to do. As he was pinned down, with nowhere else to go, he blushed heavily and closed his eyes, as their lips met. He could barely object, as they eventually kissed passionately - or at least one of them was doing all the work, while the other was just laying in shock and confusion.

The door swung open, and as Kirche sat up, he turned his gaze over to the door and he saw Yves standing there. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not. Then, Kirche stuck close, her body pressing up against his arm as his face was still burning red. He couldn't help but continue to observe, seeing how she was somewhat pissed off and embarrassed at the same time, her face growing a bright pink. With this, they both started to somewhat 'argue' over him, with Kirche trying to justify her actions, and Yves, almost at the breaking point, ordered him to come back.

Then, something struck him. 'He may be your familiar, but he's also a proper human with needs and feelings and desires!' If what she said was true, he knew he could most likely bargain for a bit more 'freedom' than Yves would. So far all she did was say that she loved him, while Yves is trying to command him yet again. He wanted to take back his thoughts about Yves being sane, he looks towards Yves, shaking his head. He finally had the chance to speak. "Yves. You treat me like dirt. You order me around, I have to change your own clothes. And now you want me to come back, like an obedient little dog? No. Not anymore." He said, a slight bit of repressed anger in his words, but what he said was clear as day.

"I don't have feelings for you Kir-... Kirch-... Kirche. We just started talking, and your little harem of men isn't really my cup of tea. But I'm fairly certain I'd probably have a better time with you than with Yves." He said, as he stands firm, waiting for Yves' reaction.

It seems like he immediately took the first interpretation of Kirche's words, and thought that she wasn't just setting him up. But it couldn't hurt to try. After all, he really didn't have much value in this world, aside from having this rune that activates 'when it feels like it'.
 
As she watched her familiar talk back to her, her head grew hotter and hotter. She was already starting to feel light-headed from her mixed emotions, but his words dug into her head like knives. She wobbled a little after he finished his comment to her and closed her eyes. She quickly grabbed the table next to her for support and grabbed her forehead with her other hand. It's okay, Yves, it's okay. Just calm yourself down. Getting worked up over this is futile. She managed to calm herself down at least enough to talk again as her familiar spoke to Kirche.

Almost immediately after he stopped talking, before Kirche had the chance to comment on her appearance, Yves spoke up, a bit shakily. "F-Fine." She growled a little after this, once again swallowing her heart, then declared, "B-But, you realize that...when morning comes...you'll be skewered alive by at least ten angry noblemen...If you stay with her." Kirche looked as if she was about to speak up, but Yves then shouted again, steeling her voice as she spoke. "I'll say it again. Come here!" She slammed her foot into the ground as she finished her statement, glaring at him. Her face was still a hot pink color, although it wasn't as flushed as it had been moments earlier. The inkling of a tear worked its way into the corner of her eye as she stared at him, and a second went by without a single sound from either Yves or Kirche.

But, immediately after this moment passed, something came to Kirche's mind, so she rose and, once again caressing Hayato seductively, murmured, "Hold on, darling. I have something else to show you." She then walked over to her bed, reached under it, and pulled out the large, gold and jewel-encrusted blade from the sword shop, complete with an elegantly crafted sheath. She presented this to Hayato, begging, "please, be a dear and stay with me for awhile." She then caressed his arm with her hand for a second, staring into his eyes as she cooed, "I promise that you won't regret it."

As he examined the sword, Yves marched over to her, growling, "What's the meaning of all this, Zerbst?"

Kirche responded by shrugging, assuming an innocent expression as she replied, "I just found a sword befitting Hayato, so I got it for him as a present."

Yves glared at her, leaning against a wardrobe on the opposite side of the room from the bed, "Then you were following us? How pathetic."

Kirche's expression changed to smugness as she glared back. "You're pathetic. You couldn't even arrange to buy him this cheap sword." Yves glared back harder, but wasn't able to respond -- once again, her face was starting to redden. Kirche took this opportunity to change her poise to look down on Yves, "I heard that this sword was a masterpiece from Germania. Only the best swords and women come from there. There's no way a Tristain woman like yourself could hope to compete."

As Kirche was talking, Yves managed to calm down enough to pose a response. She puffed up her chest as much as she could and, once again steeling herself, retorted, "Then I bet the reason you came to study here in Tristain was because you flirted with so many men in Germania that they got tired of you and kicked you out."

At this, they both drew and leveled their wands at one another in a quick and sudden motion, Yves drawing hers from her holster on her arm and Kirche from a holster behind her back. "That was quite the mouthful," Kirche commented, staring at Yves with a knowing smile. However, only a second after they drew their wands, a powerful gust of wind shot into the room from the courtyard, smacking both of their hands and causing them to drop their wands. However, neither of them seemed to notice or care about this, as they simply continued to stare at one another with their hands at their sides.

After a moment, they both turned to Hayato, seemingly with the same idea, and Kirche proposed, "I think we should just let Hayato decide who's right here." Yves leaned in towards him with a glare and growled, "That's right, we're fighting over your sword, after all." However, as he was deciding, they started to glare at one another once again. Eventually, they backed away from Hayato, forgetting their proposition, and stared one another down again.

Kirche was the first to talk. "This is as good a chance as any to tell you: I hate you. More than that: I hate everything about you."

Yves immediately responded with a smug face, still a bit red, "Then we have something in common. I detest you."

After a few seconds pause, Yves's fist started shaking and they both leaned in towards one another, glaring with intense malice. They both shouted, "A duel!" and started reaching for their wands immediately. However, before they could reach them, another voice shouted out from Hayato's direction: "Hey! Shut up, you stupid women!"

Both Yves and Kirche immediately directed their anger at Hayato after this. While the voice wasn't the same as Hayato's, the fact that it came from his general direction was enough to draw their feral rage. However, as they closed in, they realized that it was the sword that was talking, as it began to speak once again: "I was taking a nice nap and you woke me up!" After a brief pause, both Yves and Kirche stopped, too shocked at the talking sword to comment. "I'm surprised! You have an awful silly face for someone who's a user!...Yeah, no wonder I had to wake up."

As the sword talked, the odd metal piece immediately above the hand guard moved up and down, clicking each time it went back into place. Kirche saw this and, almost unintentionally, she asked, "Isn't that an intelligent sword, one with its own wisdom?" She let this comment stand for a second, then turned to Yves and, once again with a smug face, she commented, "You sure know how to pick strange stuff to buy."

Yves's face was starting to turn from bright pink to pale at this point. She explained the current situation by mumbling, "I had no idea it was like this when I bought it. I'm going to return that creepy thing as soon as I can." Meanwhile, the sword shouted, "Wait! What year is it, and where the hell are we? Damnit, I want some answers!"
 
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This was not what he wanted to do tonight. Yves finding him here was probably the cherry on top. The way she really, really tried to convince him, and her reaction to all of this - her face clearly showing embarrassment and such. This was the same man that thought of people bullying her to be 'disgusting', and here he was, her only familiar, leaving him for some woman he only saw a few times around the university and during that little fight with Guiche. Of course, he knew that he needed to stand by his decisions - but before he could steel himself to get a word out, the two started bickering - engaging in a heated verbal argument.

Then, Kirche - still with her seductive movements, sauntered over to her bed and pulled out a rather glamorous sword. It was the gold and jewel-encrusted blade from the sword shop, complete with an elegantly crafted sheath. Still, she continued with the 'seduction' routine, as he scoffed. "The sword's a nice touch, but I'm not going to be a good lover for you. Nor do I want to." He says. It's not like he cares that he's away from his wife - somehow he felt like he didn't want to deal with a woman who had more men than Hayato had girlfriends in his lifetime. He breathed deeply, examining the sword well. It surely was the blade, without a doubt. He felt somewhat surprised, but he felt like this would benefit him more if he stayed with someone that truly had the riches to buy such a thing.

The argument heated up into a full blown war, as they started to point out certain things, such as how Kirche was following them and bought this 'cheap sword', which caused Yves' face to redden in even more embarrassment, but then Yves came back with her own witty remark. Then, they whipped out their wands, leveling them at one another - as if this was some sort of Mexican standoff. But, a strange gust of wind that almost knocked him to his feet, as he merely stumbled, but the force of the gust of wind knocked both their wands - which only made them continue their verbal sparring.

Of course, they wanted to make him decide who he should stick with. His morals say to stick with Yves, but logically, if he already developed some sort of hatred for what Yves' actions in the past, he could go with Kirche and teach her a lesson. He didn't notice that their verbal sparring lessened, and turned into a full on stare-down, as their eyes locked into each other like a fighter plane on missile lock.

But then, something odd happened. A weird voice, with an even weirder echo in his voice just straight up put the smack-down on the two ladies, telling them to shut up. Hayato was clamoring for a way to explain that it wasn't him, as he backed away, placing his palms out as he attempted to stop them. "It wasn't me! S-Stop!" Then, he soon realized that the one talking was the sword, as he unsheathed the rusty looking thing, as he felt it hum with some sort of odd aura as it spoke.

He could barely make note of what the two girls were saying, as he focused his attention to the sword, looking at it as if he was looking at a person. "A place called... Tristain? It's an academy and these girls are fighting over me for some reason. I don't... know... anything else." He says, his voice stuttering at a few words, as he was somewhat nervous at gaining the ire of both of the powerful mages in front of him. He really wanted to stay alive right now - or at least come out of this situation without having to take another crappy potion again.
 
After Hayato responded to the sword, it cheerfully announced, "In that case, it looks like we have a lot in common, brother!" At the same time, Yves and Kirche sighed and stood up. No longer having a reason to be angry at Hayato, they backed a foot or so away from him and glared at each other for a few seconds. Their respective glares weren't nearly as energetic as they were earlier, and they were silent as the sword spoke. After a second, Yves looked back over at her familiar with a dispassionate expression and commented, "we aren't getting anywhere. It's late. Just decide already so I can go back to sleep."

Kirche nodded after hearing this from Yves. She, however, wore a more innocent and seductive expression as she warbled, "Yes, Hayato...just decide..." Yves growled at her for a second after hearing this, but then focused her attention back on her familiar. The sword spoke before either of them could. "Ah, is that your name then, stranger? Hayato, huh? What a weird name. Never heard anything like it in my life." Both of the girls glared at the sword as he spoke, annoyed that he was changing the subject. "Well, since they introduced you, I suppose I might as well introduce myself, being the magic, intelligent sword that I am."

Yves and Kirche rolled their eyes, then focused back on Hayato with more focused expressions. The sword continued, "My name is Sir Derflinger! Nice ta' meetcha!" Immediately after it finished speaking, both girls returned his earlier comment, shouting, "Just shut up already!" Despite its earlier behavior, the sword complied and remained quiet. Kirche then repeated herself in a slightly less seductive tone, saying, "please go ahead, Hayato...choose..."
 
Hayato was mostly determined to go with Kirche. Not only did she seem much more docile and less 'ordering around', she did seem to be more emotionally stable than Yves. At least, that's what he thinks. He didn't know the extent of Kirche's overly flirtatious attitude, but he wasn't looking for a lover. He was only looking for a way to get away from Yves. He didn't really respect her, and with her punishment - despite all that he did for her, he knew that she brought him to this terrible world - where he's stuck in the lowest class, not because of choice - because he wasn't born in the correct lineage.

He wanted to get away. With her, at least she was 'madly in love' with him, or whatever. He knew it was probably something she would forget soon, but as he was replying to the sword's questions. "Well, I've never seen a talking sword, so we're both weird." He was comfortable with this sword. It sounded like a mentor-type he would hear in typical fantasy movies. But as they told the sword to shush up, he was brought to the final question, as to who he would pick.

Hayato looked at Yves, long and hard. He gazed at her and felt somewhat sad, but he knew what she was willing to do. "You would do anything to keep me your 'loyal servant'. I want to be free. So... I'm going with Kirche." Hayato stands straight, not even turning his head to look at Kirche, but keeping his stare at Yves. "I'm tired of being your 'pet'."
 
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