4 Chapter 4: "My name is..."

"Eh?" Was all that Louise could say, she didn't understand what was happening, who was the guy in front of her, maybe he was a third-grader walking across the yard when she caused the explosion, but she was sure she didn't see anyone around, then maybe he was…?

At that moment she heard a forced cough that got her out of her thoughts, seeing who had done the sound she realized that was the same who was in front of her, then she only managed to say. "Eh? Wh-What?"

"Sorry, it seems that you didn't understand my previous question, so I will repeat it in a different way, you are who has summoned me?" He said this time in a tone a little louder but without yelling.

She blinked one, two, three, and four times, he ... was her familiar? Was that even possible in the first place? A human as a familiar? But that's what he said, isn't it? At that moment she heard the murmurs of her classmates from behind her.

"H-Hey, the zero has just summoned a human as her familiar?"

"I've never heard that something like that happened before"

"Is a commoner?"

"I don't think so, look at his clothes, it looks like a uniform, he even has a blazon on his left shoulder"

And when she heard that, her eyes immediately went to the boy's shoulder and could see it, a shield with 3 large spikes that stood out upwards as if they were a crown and two small spikes on each side.

Then she saw the sword on his waist and felt her legs tremble, it was a beautiful sword in a white sheath with gold patterns, no commoner could even dream of having such a beautifully crafted weapon, in the name of the founder, what had she done?

"It can't be, she summoned a noble?!" And to demonstrate that she had not been the only one who had reached that conclusion the voice of one of her classmates was heard loud.

At that moment the teacher in charge of the class stepped forward, he tried to speak with a calm tone but if anyone looked at him carefully would notice the drops of sweat that fell on his forehead

"Excuse me for interfering but ... can I know who you are?"

Then Louise saw how the boy turned his gaze towards the teacher and was silent for a few seconds, but at the end with a firm look, he said. "My name is Reese, Reese Van Astrea, and I have been called to this place by a summoning ritual"

And that statement confirmed the assumption of everyone around there, all the students including Louise had a puzzled expression, and while teacher Colbert could barely control his expression, it was also obvious that he was surprised.

For a few seconds, nobody dared to emit any sound, that was until the boy who introduced himself spoke again. "Excuse me, is there something wrong?" This was enough at least to break the trance of both Louise and the teacher, who covered his mouth with a fist and coughed to hide his lack of response.

"There is no problem, but please let me confirm your words, do you say that you were brought here by the invocation of Miss Valliere?" He asked, pointing with his hand to the girl causing Reese's attention to come back to her.

"I heard an invocation call a moment ago, after that a light surrounded me and I ended in this place". He said, then he knelt on one knee in front of the girl. "Tell me, you are who called me?" He asked with a soft tone.

Louise tried to say something but the surprise still didn't leave her, that prevented the words from leaving her mouth, so after several attempts, she only could move her head up and down answering and waiting for the boy's wrath due to such insolence, a noble forced to be a familiar?

If she was in his place, she would make a scandal in addition to demanding compensation.

"I see, if things are like this then let's complete the ritual"

"Eh?!" It was what everyone present exclaimed, each and every one of them had heard the exchange of words and no one believed what the boy said, a noble who agreed to become a familiar?

"You... you're saying that you agree to become the familiar of Miss Valliere?" Asked the teacher with an insecure tone as if what he witnessed was something extremely rare.

"Isn't that the reason I was summoned?" He answered the question with another one.

And it's not like he was wrong, in fact, that was the case, only it didn't occur to anyone that a human and even more, a noble would accept to be tied with the familiar contract.

"If that's the case, then Miss Valliere please continue and end the ritual". Said the teacher and then backtracked leaving Louise with the boy.

Louise was nervous, and although she had avoided the worst scenario in which the noble she had summoned would accuse her of kidnapping him and trying to enslave him, she had not yet fully recovered from the shock, and now she simply had to get on with the ritual?

This was bad, she had to calm down, taking a couple of deep breaths she continued with the ceremony although with a slight tremor in her voice.

"M-My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, pentagon of the 5 elemental powers, grant me your blessing and turn this creature in my familiar". She said touching lightly the red hair with the tip of her wand while he continued leaning on a knee looking directly at her.

At that moment she blushed, not only because of the look he was giving her but also because she knew what the next and last step was to make the relation master and familiar completely official.

She was a girl after all, and this would be her first kiss, and although the boy was quite handsome giving your first kiss to someone you did not know was embarrassing, to say the least, it was in that moment of doubt that she heard him speak again cutting off her thoughts.

"I, Reese Van Astrea, who have heard your call, I will be your familiar, I do not know how much help my modest strength will be, but I will respond appropriately and from today I will be your sword and shield"

Louise was surprised, she wasn't exactly an expert but at least she had been present at a couple of events where either someone was honored by raising their title of nobility or at an oath where a knight pledged their allegiance.

And what the boy said sounded relatively similar to both situations, but it was a fact that she did not expect the boy to respond to her incantation with a kind of oath.

Leaving that aside she returned to focus on the completion of the ritual, closing her eyes she brought her face closer to the redhead, and when her lips touched him, she felt him startle slightly for a short moment before calming down and accepting her.

When they parted, she could see a slight red powder on his cheeks, was he blushing? because of her? This thought made her blush even more.

"I apologize for the startle". He said with a soft tone and then slightly averted his gaze from her. "But it was just a bit sudden for me, and also ... that was my first kiss". He said with a slightly embarrassed tone that made her blushed even more and looked down unable to look at his face.

And to break the uncomfortable silence Louise saw how a light appeared on the back of the young man's hand, slightly attenuated by the black glove he was wearing.

She saw what looked like steam coming out of his body and how he made an almost imperceptible gesture of pain only to calm down a few seconds later.

At that moment the professor Colbert approached again. "Excuse me, but would you allow me to look at your runes to confirm that the family bonding ritual has ended successfully?"

Reese nodded and removed the black glove to show the back of his left hand that had runes printed, when professor Colvert saw them he slightly opened his eyes with an expression almost as surprised as before, but after a few seconds, he returned to normality and said.

"I must say that the runes of your familiar are really particular Miss Valliere, although taking into account how ... peculiar was this convocation, I think it should not surprise me so much". He finished and then turned around and spoke out loud.

"Very well, everyone did a good job, with the invocation of Miss Valliere finished the class is over, you are all free to return to your rooms". He said and then the students started to turn around to leave, some of them taking an occasional glance at the last pair that had formed.

"Excuse me but do you have a more private place where we can talk? I suppose you have some questions for me and I would also like to have some information about the situation". Reese asked making Louise startle a little.

"Ah? W-well, yes, my room is in the tower". She said and then started walking while the red-haired boy followed her.

#######

"Well, I think that went relatively well". I thought to myself as I walked right behind Louise to her room.

"It seems that in the end those acting classes really saved me, thanks for forcing me to go Mom, and Dad, in the end, you won the bet, well, it seems I owe you a dinner at a KFC, I'll make sure to do my part when I get home"

To be honest, I was a little scared when that man asked me who I was, especially because of the murmurs from the other students saying things like if I was a noble or not.

For a moment I thought about saying that my name was Reinhard, but in the end, I discarded it, I wasn't him, I could have his body, but it definitely wasn't he.

So in the end I decided to use a mix, I would keep my name, but at least while I was here I would carry the last name of his family, after all the last name Astrea It was more in line with all this theme of the medieval magical world.

And another important thing that I discovered was that it had Reinhard's blessings! After all, since I arrived I had used 5 of that blessings.

First was when I had the big cloud of dust surrounding me, I heard a voice in my head that said [Blessing of Mist], a blessing that kept my view from being blocked or obstructed by things like fog, dust, smoke, and steam was a great help.

The second time was when I looked at Louise directly and another blessing was activated [Judgment] showed me that Louise had the blessing [Void].

Then when I spoke and saw Louise acting uneasily [Mind Reading] made me vaguely understand that she was nervous, although I didn't understand why, but surely it was due to the fact that she had invoked a human.

Later, When Louise gave me … ehem… when she sealed the pact and I felt my body begin to heat up the [Fire Avoidance] which reduces in 80% the damage by fire was activated and I felt that the heat was reduced considerably until it was only a minor nuisance.

And in the end, the [Magic Resistance] was also activated and somehow I knew that a negative effect had been eliminated, that was definitely something that I needed to think about later.

Now, regarding the contract, I wasn´t going to lie, Louise was beautiful, that was something that anyone with a half brain could notice, the anime portrayal hadn't really done the girl justice.

But while I was somewhat glad that my first kiss was with a pretty girl, there was also the fact that she was a 'stranger' to me so that was … well, a little uncomfortable to say the least, and on top of that, there was also the fact that my first kiss was taken by a loli.

The worst of all was 2 things, the first was that I had forgotten the whole kiss thing to seal the contract, and the second was that the action took me completely by surprise.

At that moment I was thinking if I had passed a little with the 'oath' that I gave in response to her incantation, I swear that paraphrasing what Reinhard said when he saved Subaru from those 3 thieves in the capital sounded great in my head, but hearing it from my own mouth was a bit embarrassing.

I really hoped I hadn't sounded ridiculous when I said it, but shouldn't the blessings keep something like that from happening to me? I mean, I had the [First Attack Immunity], that wouldn't always prevent me from receiving got the first attack?

Well, could a kiss be considered an attack in the first place? Maybe if he came with bad intentions? Something like spitting acid at me while doing it?

Anyway, did those kinds of blessings only work when I was going to take damage? Or maybe they were only activated during battle?

I really didn't know, but there would be no point complaining so much about getting a kiss, especially if it had been given to me by a pretty girl, even if she was an explosive loli.

At least Louise had no chuunibyou tendencies and would start shouting things about dark ancestral powers that slept inside her, although as far as I knew she certainly had an ancestral power that rested inside her.

But it seemed that the time I had to think about these things was over, after all, Louise had stopped in front of a door and had pulled out a key to open it, now, I was curious about the kinds of questions she would ask me.

#######

After Reese and Louise entered the room and sat across from each other at a circular table, a silence filled the room, Louise really had a lot of questions to ask but was still a little nervous, so starting a conversation was difficult for her, and when Reese saw this he decided to speak first.

"Okay, now that we're here I'd like to ask a few questions, but I don't think it's good for one of us to bombard the other with questions, so I'd like to make a suggestion"

"A suggestion?" Louise answered somewhat confused.

"Yes, it is quite simple actually, we will both take turns asking a question, you can ask me a question and after I answer it, it will be my turn to ask one and when you answer it, it will be your turn again and we can continue until we are satisfied, what do you think?" Reese asked.

To Louise, this seemed like a good idea because despite its simplicity it was an effective way to resolve equitable way doubt that both might have.

At that moment Louise realized that since the boy in front of her was summoned he was the only one of the two who had spoken and presented ideas appropriately, if they were going to be master and familiar then she would have to learn to deal with him.

So while she closed her eyes she took a long inhalation to calm herself, and at the moment that she expelled all the air that was in her lungs she opened her eyes and looked at Reese directly.

"I'm sorry for behaving in such an inappropriate way, when I performed the summon ritual and you appeared I felt too nervous for having invoked a human but that will not happen again in the future, so I will introduce myself appropriately this time, my name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, third daughter of the Duke de la Valliere"

When Louise's presentation ended the room was silent for a few seconds until at last something was heard, a light laugh, Reese's laugh, and when Louise heard it, all the courage she gathered seemed to start to fall apart.

Was she wrong somewhere in her presentation? Why was he laughing at her? So when she was about to ask for an explanation, Reese spoke in a slightly amused tone.

"Excuse me, I'm not laughing at you, it's just that I thought that somehow I had done something that bothered you when we were on the patio and that's why you didn't talk to me, I didn't realize it was because of your nerves, sorry for not noticing it before". He apologized lowering his head slightly for a second.

"And since this is our first formal presentation, I will respond to your greeting, my name is Reese Van Astrea and I'm what could be called a magic knight"

"Magic knight?"

"Yes, you must have some here, right? Considering the fact that this place seems to be some kind of magic academy"

"Yes, the kingdom has different knight corps and the vast majority of members use magic"

"I see"

Then the questions went from one side to the other until after a while Reese asked the question he had in mind to direct the conversation where he wanted.

"Well, now I would like to know what country we are in"

"At this moment we are in the kingdom of Tristain"

"I understand, so the name of this country is Tristain". Reese said in a somewhat low tone but taking care that it was enough so that Louise could hear him.

"Ah? Don't you know Tristain? Where are you from?"

"Well, that would be a bit difficult to explain, although I will try to do my best, however, I would like to ask you something before, do you know where the creatures that the mages summon as familiar come from?"

"Eh?" Louise was somewhat confused by the question, the boy claiming to be a magic knight, which was basically a noble who had joined the militia, why would a noble ask such an obvious question?

But even with the doubts, Louise answered. "The familiars come from anywhere in the world, the ritual chooses the one that has the most affinity with the summoner and is at least a little compatible with the incantation the mage has chosen"

"Very well, and what would you think if I told you that in certain cases, extremely special, the summon doesn't come from this world?" Reese replied.

"Eh? And where else is the summon could to come from?" Louise said with a raised eyebrow.

"Where I come from, from another world". Reese blurted out as if it were something obvious.

"I see, from a... What?! From another world?!" Asked Louise exalted.

"As I said, it is somewhat complicated to explain, but I will try to do it". Reese said before taking a deep breath.

"At the moment that I was summoned the information came to my head, information that told me what was happening, and among other things, I also understood that the place I was going it wasn't my home, that's why I did not feel disoriented and I knew to answer the man who asked me who I was, or you have never asked yourself why the other familiars never seem confused when they are summoned and are more docile than they should even before the contract was sealed?" Reese asked while looking at Louise who for her part had a still surprised expression.

"I see that you still have doubts if what I say is true or not, is there any way to convince you that I'm not lying?" Reese added making Louise look at him with narrowed eyes trying to catch some sign that the boy was lying.

"Do you have anything to prove that you are from a different world?"

"Well, how about this?" Reese answered taking a small object from his pocket and putting it between both. "You shouldn't have something like this here, right?" He said as Louise took the object in her hands and brought it closer to her face trying to find out what it was.

The object was rectangular, it wasn't heavy, was black and much smaller than any book she had seen, it was slightly longer than her hand and the thickness was almost the same as that of her fingers.

"What is this?" She asked after looking at it for about 10 seconds without recognizing that it was.

"Where I come from, we call it a cell phone, it is a device that is used for different things, including communicating with people who are far away, listening to music, taking what you should know such as portraits or paintings and some others things"

"Can this thing do all that?" Louise asked with some skepticism.

"Yes, let me show you". Reese said extending his hand for Louise to return the phone, when he had it once again he moved his chair until he was next to the pink-haired girl so that she could see what he will do with the phone.

"Look, when I press the button that is on the right side this happens". He explained pointing to the small button that Louise didn´t see when she observed the object, and when he pressed it, the screen that was previously dark lit up showing the image of two people with their backs turned.

They both had similar outfits in both color and design, the tallest figure was clearly masculine, his hairstyle was one of the strangest that Louise ever saw, it seemed to defy gravity by showing 7 strands growing upwards, the 3 smallest went to the left and the 4 largest to the right.

All the muscles seemed had been worked with great dedication but they were not massive, he wore dark blue pants, and covering his entire trunk was a greenish-yellow sleeveless armor with thin black stripes, he also had shoulder pads protruding to the sides and a pair of entrances that protected his thighs, his arms were bare except for the long navy blue wristbands that covered a good part of his forearms and where he had to finish his spine hung what appeared to be a tail.

His right arm hugged the shoulder of the shorter figure, she wore a pant and armor similar to that of the man, however, she did not have shoulder pads that protruded and below her waist, the armor took the form of a skirt leaving a small hole through which a tail equal to that of the man fell, they were both looking at a starry sky, or more precisely at the brightest star in the sky that was right above them.

"What is that?" Louise asked as she looked at the image.

"This? It's what I told you, in my world, this is called image or photography, but I think that here the appropriate term would be painting"

"They ... have a tail?" She asked, focusing on the strange appendix.

"Ah ... well, it's the image of a ... tale where I come from, if you want I can tell you the story later". Reese replied and then ran his finger over the image causing it to change to a lake at night while It reflected the moon, moving to the corners of the phone were other small images, among them Reese moved his finger to that of a camera and then looked at Louise.

"Could you stand up there?" The young man asked while pointing to a part of the room where there was nothing.

"Why?"

"I'm going to show you how this is used to take a painting, just stand there or do any pose of your choice and make sure you remember it well". The boy replied when Louise got up from her seat to stand in front of him with her arms crossed.

"Is that okay?" She asked when she saw him smile. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing". He answered covering his mouth with one hand. "It's just that pose is a bit popular where I come from, so I didn't expect to see it here too, at least not so soon"

'Well that and that I did not expect to see one of the classic poses of a tsundere, it really is funny to see someone doing one without even knowing the meaning of the term'. Reese thought when he pointed the camera of the device at the girl and pressed the button capture by letting a slight click sound.

"Well, that's it, you can come to see it"

"Eh? You're done? And where are the paintings, the brushes, and the canvas?" Asked the girl as she walked towards her seat once more.

"Where I come from, people don't use that kind of stuff anymore, well, unless you're a professional artist"

"professional artist?"

"Yes, someone who works making paintings and exposing them to the public". The boy replied showing the newly taken photo.

"Is…. Incredible". Louise said unable to take her eyes off the image. "Why there would be people who work painting if you can just use this and have all kinds of paintings?"

"Well, that's because a photo can only capture things that already exist, if you wanted to create a new painting then a phone would not be of use to you, besides people usually appreciate the effort painters put into making their works, or at least majority do it"

"I see"

"Now the next thing, the music". Replied the boy as I've touched the screen again making this time a list appears. "I guess there are minstrels and bards here, right?"

"You mean commoners who sing about the legends and myths of different heroes and creatures in exchange for money or food?" Louise asked when she noticed a slight contraction in Reese's expression when she said commoners, although it disappeared a second after she noticed it.

"Yes, they, where I come from, in addition to the normal songs there is something similar to the music they make, only that most of them are only melodies, without singing or with choirs in some cases, these melodies are called soundtracks and there are some that are very popular reaching the point that they transcend their country of origin and are heard in other distant countries, personally, this melody is one of my favorites". He said when his finger met the screen.

Spider-man 2002 Main Theme

The beginning was soft, like a whisper, almost imperceptible, like a thin thread that anyone would lose sight of if not pay enough attention, and suddenly more sounds began to come together, it was like if that thin thread were to divide into two and then into four, branching out into more and more parts as it kept going as if it were forming something, something big.

Louise couldn't remember hearing anything like it before, then the melody gave a change, it was as if there was something out of place, an obstacle or a confrontation perhaps? So that later the sound would return to the one before, but with more and more emotion, this time with voices supporting the instruments while the feeling of emotion that it transmitted continued to grow, and once again the feeling changed, with a sad tone that lasted a few seconds, only for it to start climbing once more, going higher and higher, until the final notes came, sounding like a warm farewell.

The room was silent once more for a few seconds until Reese's voice broke that silence.

"And? What do you think?" The boy asked giving a slightly mocking smile.

"I … I never heard anything like that". Louise said. "It was …"

"Amazing?" Reese finished her sentence. "Yes, it's one of my favorite melodies from one of my favorite stories"

"What kind of magic does that use this to function?" Asked the girl.

"It does not use magic at all". The redhead replied. "It is science". He added earning a strange look from Louise. "As I said, it is difficult to explain but let me put it this way, here you consider magic as energy?"

Louise put a hand on her chin thinking, certainly, during her first year in the academy she had been told in class that to perform a spell she had to use her willpower, and when she failed to do any spell, she locked herself in the library investigating everything she could about willpower and how to use it correctly.

And while everything she investigated did not help her do her spells, she remembered that several books referred to willpower as the energy of the magic, so in a way magic was energy too, right? With that in mind, she explained everything to Reese, who after listening to her nodded slowly.

"I see, then magic works with an energy called willpower huh? We could say that it's the energy that your bodies channel to use your spells, isn't it?" He asked once more, and Louise answered affirmatively.

"Well, what is used in my world is similar only in a certain way since although it is energy, this is created by the humanity outside their body, imagine a blacksmith but instead of forging weapons or tools, he forges energy, that energy, is called electricity, and that has been the axis of people in my world to create and operate things like this, anyone who studies and accumulates enough knowledge can understand how these types of devices work, magic is not necessary to manufacture it, do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" Reese finished.

"I think in a way I do". Louise replied as she tried to fully understand what the red-haired boy was saying.

"So? You believe me now?"

Louise was unsure, yes, what Reese had shown so far has been impressive, but the existence of another world? That far exceeded the impressive.

"Well, if you still have doubts I think I still have one more thing I can show". He said calling Louise's attention. "If I demonstrated magical abilities that do not exist in this world, would that be enough?"

"What? If you could do that, then why not show it from the start?"

"Nothing in particular, I just thought that if I said it all of a sudden maybe you would deny the truth and wouldn't believe me, that and I think that doing something so shocking before we spoke calmly would have been counterproductive, after all, If you see a guy you have never spoken to and know nothing about, doing things that shouldn't be possible, I think it would be normal to be a little scared, don't you think? That is why I used simpler things first, if we count the things I already taught you, now you must be at least a little predisposed to believe my words more easily, right?"

Louise understood the point Reese had made, so she nodded and then said. "So? What is this magic that you will do that is not possible to do in this world?"

"Before that, I would like to ask, what kind of magic do you use here? I would like to know before doing anything"

"We have the 4 elemental magics, fire, water, earth, and air, in addition to what is derived from those magics, such as the transmutation that is part of the branch of the earth, there are also the combinations of elements with which you can create things like ice or lightning"

"Um, is that all? If I remember correctly the incantation that you made when you finished the contract, did you say something about a pentagon of the 5 elements, if so, why are there only the 4 primary elements?"

"Well, the fifth element is the void, it is a lost element that nobody is able to use, the only one in history that could do it was the founder Brimir"

"I see, from what I know there were also the 4 elemental magics but as far as I understood the spells that could be done depended on the type of element that the person had, being able to create things like ice, but there were 2 other elements additional, the shadow or the yin and the light or the yang"

"The shadow and the light? How do those elements work?"

"Well, I really don't know much about those elements, but I remember that the shadow element is mainly used for debuffs, although it also has other uses"

"Debuffs? What is that?"

"Oh, of course, obviously here you do not know the meaning of that word, to put it simply, debuffs are negative although not fatal effects, things like blocking the opponent's senses, slowing down all their movements, making them lose energy faster, make them feel sick and similar things". Reese said with a hand on his chin.

"And the light magic is what would be called buffs, its effects are the opposite of shadow magic, increasing the speed of a partner, enhancing an attack, although I also heard from people who used it for things like casting light rays or creating swords or something like that, with that you have it, right?" He ask while looking at Louise only to realize that she was writing notes in a small notebook.

"Hahaha, I doubt that is necessary, after all as you said yourself, in this world, they only use the 4 primary elements"

"It doesn't matter, it is interesting information since until today no one knew the existence of another world, but now I am hearing about magic that no one knows, the most similar thing here would be the void". She said as finished writing.

"Then you will use one of those unknown elements?" She asked looking directly at Reese.

Hearing the question the boy just laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you see, due to ... certain circumstances I'm completely unable to use any of the 4 elemental magic or the one of light and shadow"

"What?!" Louise asked with her eyes open. "Then how are you supposed you will prove that you are from another world? You said you were a magic knight, right? How can you be a MAGIC knight if you can't use magic at all?" Louise asked slightly disturbed.

"Calm down, firstly I never said I would use magic, I said magical abilities, and secondly let's say I'm just a bit special, believe me, I can definitely do something better than throw some fireballs or a couple of ice spears". Reese replied while in his mind appeared the scene of Reinhard launching a huge beam of energy against Elsa with just the movement of a common sword that he found on the ground.

"So what it is? If you can do something as impressive as you say then I want to see it". Louise said.

"Well, that would be a bit complicated at the moment". Reese replied looking out the window, he and Louise had talked for a considerable time, and outside you could already see the star-filled sky.

"First, I would need a weapon like a sword or a spear and even if I had one right now, what I would do would be very eye-catching, it would probably cause scandal, so I would suggest we continue this conversation tomorrow"

'Although it is not as if I was planning to go and launch a giant energy beam anyway, even if I could, it would draw people's attention too much, be it day or night'. Reese thought before speaking again.

"For my part, I think enough things have happened during today, so I think going to sleep wouldn't be a bad idea". And at that moment the realization hit both Reese and Louise, and a single question has formed both minds.

'Where am I supposed to sleep?'

'Where's Reese supposed to sleep?'