Chapter Text
Tristain Academy of Magic, Kingdom of Tristain, Halkegenia
An round of applause resounded throughout the large courtyard at yet another successful ceremony, the slightly rotund teenager in a pristine uniform moving to stand alongside his classmates with his new familiar, a gorgeous brown owl.
Louise François de la Vallière clapped alongside them despite the turmoil of emotions brewing within her.
This was her last chance to prove herself, no more second chances. The Springtime Familiar Spirit Summoning had been devised by the Founder Brimir himself, intended to work for any mage no matter their affinity. Surely she would be able to as well!
She had to succeed, if only to finally rub it in Kirche's face, she would summon something spectacular, something unbelievable, something so very powerful, it would dwarf anything else summoned before! Hopefully literally!
“Louise de la Vallière.” She heard her teacher, Professor Colbert, call her name for the summoning.
Quickly she stepped up, ready to rise for the challenge as always. No matter how much she would fail, she would not dare to think of breaking. The Rule of Steel forbade it.
She grabbed the offered chalk, and went about drawing the summoning circle, completely perfect and accepting no substitutes.
Louise then took her spot before the circle and in front of her classmates. This was the moment. Her future hinged on this one moment.
“My name is Louise Fransçois le Blanc de la Vallière!” She started, pointing her wand towards the summoning circle. The one she had spent all semester break studying to get just right for this moment.
“Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth… my familiar!”
This was the moment. Her life would turn around and the power she so longingly desired since she could remember!
…
And nothing had happened.
Panic surged through Louise. This was not happening, this must have been a nightmare. She had prepared months in advance, she couldn’t be a failure.
“Louise, I-“ Professor Colbert started but Louise cut him off. She wouldn’t be a Zero!
“My name is Louise Fransçois le Blanc de la Vallière!” She stated again, somehow more fervently than before, precisely moving through the motions she had poured over for months.
“Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth… my familiar!”
Louise thrust her wand out to the summoning circle again but once again to no avail. Nothing happened.
Professor Colbert looked on sadly, “I'm truly sorry Louise but I'm afraid that-
“Please Professor. Just one more chance. That’s all I need, please.”
Professor Colbert gave her a hardened stare, undoubtedly trying to resist but the sight of Louise begging, something she had never once resorted to in the two years she had been enrolled gave him pause
In the end, his sympathies won out, “Fine but this is your last chance.” Angry murmuring rose through the students at what they saw at blatant favouritism but were quickly silenced by the professor sending the hardened stare their way.
Louise scoured her memories, knowing she had seen something long ago. This was her last chance, she couldn’t afford to play it safe anymore.
And a memory did surface. One from days long past, when life seemed so simple. Where the prospect of magic seemed within- no. It was within reach. She knew this had to work. It had to.
“My servant that exists within this vast universe!” She declared with certainty as she had nothing left to lose.
“My divine, beautiful, powerful familiar!” She continued, unaware of the energy she was emanating, power she had dreamed of since she could even think.
“I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart!” She didn’t notice her classmates taking a simultaneous step back, finally seeing a glimpse of the girl buried underneath the angry bravado they had grown so used to.
“Answer my guidance, and appear!” Louise finished and for a split moment, Louise feared that she would fail for the last time, that she would be fated to a life of listless comfort, a stain on the Valière name and forgotten to the annals of time.
That split moment of doubt was shattered by the familiar sound of an explosion.
KRA-BOOM!!!!
The powerful explosions knocked the few that hadn’t been prepared off their feet as cloud of dust further disoriented the audience.
Louise held her breath, both to not inhale dust and because of the unknown. Did she summon anything or did she ensure her last failure was one to be remembered?
The sound of rattling wood and a young woman's muffled screams echoed across the now silent crowd of mages and a handful of servants. As Professor Colbert cast a basic wind spell to clear the air, everyone gasped in shock at the scene.
A young woman, most likely a noble, given the sheer white skirt with gold trim, was stuck, trapped up to her waist in a chest. A very alive chest with a maw of large pointed teeth that appeared to be in the middle of devouring the panicked woman!
”It's so dark! Dark and scary!” the woman screamed from within the chest. Louise noted that the woman was speaking Germania. Quickly, Professor Colbert cast a fireball that had seemed to put down the rabid box and a nearby maid with unusual black hair went to help the woman out.
The woman finally freed from the maw of the chest with a squelchy, wet pop. as she shook her head of the saliva coating her once lustrous silver hair and previously immaculate clothing, all but confirming her status as a noble, Louise took note of the strange and old book she was holding.
The woman stopped shaking her head and looked at her surroundings and Louise’s blood froze, as did everyone else watching. She didn’t catch what had been said if anything had been said at all, too busy realizing the danger they were all in.
When the woman stopped shaking her head, Louise had gotten a clear look at the woman’s appearance. A small, youthful face, almost like a child’s had it not been for the eyes. Almond shaped eyes, the colour of the most magnificent shade of green expressed great wisdom far beyond what her face implied.
It might have fooled any of them that they were looking at a great and renowned mage, one any of them would be glad to learn from had it not been for one crucial fact.
Her large, pointed ears.
Someone then screamed and Louise wasn’t sure if it had been herself.
—
Tabitha's instincts took over at the sight of the elf. She and Professor Colbert readied themselves at the disoriented elf, their staffs held taught. Although the older man had a look of doubt, it quickly dissipated, realizing that he needed as much help as he could get to quell the dangerous beast before them.
The beast’s cold emerald eyes looked around before noticing the murmuring and frightened crowd of students. Realization dawned upon the two staff wielding mages, the beast was looking for a suitable hostage.
Suddenly Guiche screamed in understandable terror. The elf having wrongly presumed something worse was behind her turned to look and the two combat mages took their opportunity.
Tabitha mounted Sylphid who took to the skies. Immediately after, Professor Colbert sent a wave of flames that the elf sidestepped but was met with a torrent of pointed icicles from Tabitha atop Sylphid.
The elf countered with the utterance of “Bargland,” and the ground raised both in front and behind, blocking both the incoming icicles and Colbert's fireball.
The earth fell and the elf appeared completely nonplussed, somehow having cleared herself of the chest monsters saliva and obtained a staff, an ornate yet simple red and gold piece with a large polished ruby encased in gold at its head.
Tabitha grimaced, now that the elf had her magical foci, she was considerably more dangerous. Tabitha hoped that she and Colbert could stall long enough for the rest of the faculty to arrive.
The elf slightly furrowed her eyebrows before settling back to neutrality, having come to a decision. Tabitha prepared to cast another barrage of icicles when suddenly-
“Waldgose.”
A small tornado appeared, evidently having been cast by the beast. It wasn’t deadly but it did force Sylphid to land.
By the time she and her familiar touchched the dirt, the elf and her Professor were circling each other, both casting small spells, the latter tense, ready to spring and the former terrifyingly calm, completely unreadable.
—
Jean Colbert felt a bead of sweat dripping down his face as he witnessed the elf conjure a tornado with a single spell, something thought impossible.
While it was possible to create a tornado with one spell, the Duchess, Karin de la Vallière, didn’t receive the moniker of “The Heavy Wind” for nothing after all, a tornado of this magnitude with a single spell was still a fearsome power.
Slowly Jean moved behind the elf but the elf noticed him regardless and the two began circling each other. Slowly but surely, Colbert began sending dot class spells, attempting to sus out her habits. A jet of water was frozen, a small fireball blocked by earth, an air blast countered with one of her own.
Eventually Tabitha joined back in the fight, no matter how much Jean wanted to tell her to let him deal with the problem, he knew he needed her help fending the elf off from the students. Tabitha was employed by the Gallian Royal Family as a Chevalier for a reason after all.
With the blue haired girl, the battle quickly picked back up, spells being cast more frequently and with increasing intensity. The three combatants ducked and weaved with expert ease, and casting spells just as fast. Bouts of lightning, flaming pillars and winds with a razor bite were tossed between them with frightening commonality.
It all came to a head when a sudden explosion erupted between them and Hean noticed that while many of his students fled to warn the staff of the danger they were all in, a few remained to either watch or in Louise's case, actively participate.
The blood drained from Jean's face when the elf noticed her, obviously fascination adorning her face, the most notable emotion he had seen from the elf since they began their fight.
The elf moved to approach Louise and before he could intervene, the elf cast another spell without looking.
“Bargland.”
The earth then swallowed himself, Tabitha and her dragon, leaving then unable to move, helpless to watch as the beast sealed his students fate.
—
Louise felt nothing but regret and dread thrum through her very bones. She had learned the beasts patterns. She noticed how it couldn’t sense a spell being cast as itself was casting. She hoped to disorient the elf, allowing Professor Colbert and Tabitha to finish her off.
What had happened is that she had doomed herself. That demon commanded the earth itself, swallowing her classmate and teacher, leaving only herself and her foolishly noble classmates the only ones standing before certain death.
Louise then quickly cast yet another fireball, or rather tried to, as always she had failed, resulting in yet another fireball. Still she’d take whatever she could and it had met Louise’s target.
When the smoke cleared, Louise’s blood froze, the elf had produced a barrier of hexagonal panels of light had appeared, effortlessly deflecting the attack. It would have been beautiful had it not protected the beast.
Louise could do nothing but stand there frozen as the elf approached. When it had gotten within arms reach of her louise managed to shut her eyes bracing for the inevitable. She hoped her end would be quick and painless and waited.
…
Nothing had happened. Louise waited longer, perhaps the threat of death had prolonged her sense of time.
…
What. Louise opened her eyes, being greeted by a pair of those beautiful emeralds she had seen not even a few minutes earlier, the elf having done nothing but look at her.
“How fascinating…” the elf murmured.
Louise could do nothing as the elf stared her down in apparent wonder.
—
Six years after the Demon Kings defeat
Frieren silently cast a light spell, the debris having been cleared away by her levitation spells.
She hoped that this grimoire would be worth the trouble, let alone the half dozen mimics she’d searched. That wasn’t even counting the dozens of already long looted chests she’d stumbled upon.
Soon she found an untouched room, it was large, the ceiling being easily four times her height and roof having caved in from nature’s wrath, creating a natural skylight. One that beautifully illuminated the red chest within.
With a happy skip, Frieren moved to claim her reward-
”Pentagon of the five elemental powers!”
And jerked back at the sudden words. It was faint but undoubtedly a young girls voice, that she knew but the language was one she was not familiar with. A strange alien dialect, one Frieren would enjoy learning, after she got her grimoire.
Undeterred, Frieren marched towards the chest, confident of the prize within her reach.
As Frieren opened the chest, two things happened. The first thing was the ancient tome Frieren had scoured the dungeon for, sitting within the interior of the chest, her prize. The second thing was-
“Ah it’s so dark and scary!”
The most predictable thing imaginable. Frieren thrashed around, determined to get out of yet another mimic trap. As she struggled, the voice returned, just a little louder.
”… bring forth my familiar!”
Frieren paused in her struggle, noticing the desperate plea in her tone. This pause didn’t last long as she went back to flailing against the monster chest.
It took a moment longer for the voice to return, this time clear and audible and accompanied by the familiar feeling of a spell being cast.
”My servant that exists in this vast universe!”
This spell and the magic however, did not feel at all familiar to the elven mage who once again paused at the declaration and again, went back to flailing for an escape.
”My divine, beautiful, powerful familiar!”
Frieren didn’t bother to pause at the continuing declaration, this voice was just being annoying.
”I wish and assert from the bottom of my heart!”
Frieren continued to ignore the words, already considering what spell to use on this troublesome chest.
”Answer my guidance, and appear!”
Frieren then felt her foot catch on something. Was this mysterious voice finally going to help her? If so, she had some very choice words for the voice. Why would it take so long?!
And suddenly Frieren felt a surge of magic and a sense of odd weightlessness overtook her, a feeling not felt since she learned the flight spell.
She felt herself and the mimic crashing into dirt and after some disorientation passed, Frieren felt them.
Other mages.
Or more specifically, the mana signatures of mages. She was certain they weren’t demons either. Regardless, Frieren took the most logical and calculated course of action.
She quickly started flailing again, “It’s so dark! Dark and scary!” She yelled, wondering why they hadn’t noticed her yet.
Soon after, she felt one of the more powerful magical signatures cast a spell, something that felt like Waldgose. Probably to clear a cloud of dust, that would explain why they didn’t notice her.
The mage then cast another spell, presumably a fire spell of some kind, and Frieren felt the mimic go limp. She then felt someone pulling her out of the mimic and Frueren quickly grabbed the grimoire she had nearly forgotten about in all the chaos.
Frieren, finally freed then shook her head back and forth, something she didn’t need to do ever since she found those Goddess blessed spells to make her clothes clean, spotless and smelling of lavender and one to dry her hair and have it smelling of tulips.
Regardless, she was finally out and she took a good look at the sight before her. A once pristine courtyard, the scorched earth she was in the only scar. A courtyard in what appeared to be a large castle, possibly a school of mages if the last thing she noticed was any indication. A large group of frightened children in matching uniforms and capes fastened with a golden clasp, most of whom were accompanied by an animal of a sort, some mundane, some magical and some she had never seen before.
The odd one out and closest to Frieren was a short, trembling pink haired girl. Feeling like she should do something, Frieren went to speak but a person in the crowd, a blonde haired boy shrieked in terror.
Frieren was completely startled, was there something she missed? Frieren turned to assure them but felt a sudden surge of mana.
Frieren turned her head and was met with a balding and bespectacled man who had just sent torrent of flames coming her way.
CHAPTER 1 END