The Steep Path Ahead [Familiar of Zero AU]
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
- Pronouns
- she/her
I'm not sure they care so much about capturing Siesta anymore, they stopped her by shooting her with an arrow! And actually killing her as they threatened would definitely ruin any chance of getting paid by Mott. They may be in full revenge mode after suffering two embarrassing defeats.
- Location
- The Old Dominion
Reasonable is not the same as honorable and in general I can't say how Louise and Saito dealt with them in the past was dishonorable esepically given the situations.
I'd say that Louise and Saito were fairly dishonorable, but I would also call their actions reasonable and justified.
I think it's still because of the emotion thing and probably personal development of the runes.
They attacked the mercenaries after deliberately leading them to believe that they wouldn't intervene. Slitting their throats would have been more dishonorable (and a lot of nastier things), but that doesn't change that they weren't exactly paragons of honor then. They get moral bonus points for what they did though.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Honor was traditionally a construct valued by the elite (nobility/Knights), not the lower classes. Louise's suspicion was reasonable in that the mercenaries had done nothing to prove their trustworthiness, had previously injured her partner, and had reason to be angry after being defeated the first time.
But really, the mercenaries lose all honor-related high ground because their objective has always been to kidnap a girl for Mott's sexual satisfaction.
But really, the mercenaries lose all honor-related high ground because their objective has always been to kidnap a girl for Mott's sexual satisfaction.
- Location
- The Old Dominion
Also early modern and medival concepts of honor are rather different than modern conceptions of honor. A lot of it was tied up rather in what one did after a battle than during it, deceiving the enemy was alright but not killing them after they surrendered, slaying people in a church was a no no as was killing priests. Also things like burning down the enemy fields was alright but not harming unarmed women and children.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Thirty-Nine
"Can't I just throw the wand your way?" Louise tried to reason with the man, who still held Siesta by the hair.
"No," the man replied. His name was Roberts, wasn't it? At least, that was Saito's thought as he kept his back against the trunk of the tree, taking deep breaths to keep calm. "I want to hear it snap, and I want it thrown my way in two separate pieces. If I don't get it, then to hell with Count Mott's wishes. I'll kill this girl if it's the last thing I do."
Louise hesitated, staring from behind her cover at Saito, who in turn looked at her with a wide-eyed look. Louise closed her eyes, and then pulled her wand out of her swordwand, clutching it tightly for a brief second.
There was the sound of something snapping in half, and then two pieces of broken wood flew in the air and landed roughly by Roberts' feet.
"That's a twig girl!" Roberts snarled, "Seems like you don't really care about your friends then!"
"Louis!" Saito snarled, locking eyes with her.
"T-The wand-the wand's all I have-" Louise stammered, "It's all I have that proves I'm a mage, that I'm worthy of something, please-don't make me snap it."
"Enough dallying," Roberts growled, yanking Siesta back by the hair and cutting driving the knife up against the girl's cheek, drawing a long line as a thin dribble of blood went down along the blade. "Maybe I'll give her whiskers like those of a cat! Let's make a tally of the amount of times you manage to piss me off before I decide enough is enough."
He nodded to the two holding Marteau up against the wood. "Rough him up. I'm sure when they hear a grown-up man weep to stop, they'll understand."
The first blow did not make Marteau cry out, and neither did the second.
By the fourth however, tiny grunts began to emerge from the man's lips together with specks of blood.
"Enough!" Saito snapped, emerging from his cover and rushing towards Louise, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her aggressively out, wrestling the wand off her hand. "There!" he threw it on the ground and crunched on it with his left foot, throwing down his sword and shield at the same time. "We're unarmed now!"
"Good," Roberts said with a nod. "Now step closer," he added. "Hands where I can see them," he narrowed his eyes, gesturing with his head to one of the archers. The man neared warily, and after taking a large turn around the two gave a curt nod to his leader. "They're unarmed as far as I can see."
"Remove the mask!" Roberts barked, "Slowly now, boy!"
Louise hesitated, her fingers moving down from the air towards the clasps that kept it tied around her face. She gripped it, and then slowly pulled it loose to reveal her face.
"That's better boy," Roberts said with a snort. "Pretty face-afraid of nicking it? Maybe the Count might like some-" and then Louise's hair broke out next, coming down behind her. "Oh-" the man's eyes widened. "Oh shit."
Saito held his breath as the man stared at Louise for a brief moment, before starting to laugh loudly. "Oh gods! That's why you hid your face! Man! Your luck sucks hard! Pink hair on a boy's face-seriously!" Roberts howled from laughter. "What kind of man goes around with that hair color? Dye it or something, for Brimir's sake!"
He nodded at the man closest to them. "Now tie their wrists tightly. I swear if they manage to knock us out once more, I will come for you next, Rudolf!"
The man known as Rudolf snorted, and as Saito found his hands tied behind his back, he hissed from the pain of the coarse rope used. Louise didn't fare any better, but at least she didn't fight them. Soon, all four of them were tied up near the horses.
Roberts looked at his men, and then cracked his knuckles with a smirk. "Well then! The Count did say we could rough you up before delivery," he grabbed Louise's chin and pulled it up. "So-now we are going to take turns caving your faces in. This is purely personal," he added. "Next time, when you say you surrender, then you better mean it."
"You...You won't kill us?" Saito asked.
"No," Roberts said. "You made us look like fools, but we were commoners against a mage, so that's to be expected. Still-you didn't kill any of us, so there's no reason to kill two kids who still believe in fairy tales about the knight Ivaldi or shit like that," he looked at Gaston, who had finished spitting on the palms of his hands and rubbing them together. "We are going to get even, and you are going to meet the count because he wants to meet you, and you'd better have a honeyed tongue because he might just order us to kill you and throw your bodies in a ditch if he's not pleased," the man stood back up straight. "So, personally, I'd start with the pretty face."
Louise took a deep breath.
"Are you sure he's not a girl though? The Count might want her if she's-"
"If she's a girl, she's flatter than the plains of Gallia," Roberts answered in turn with a shrug. "Have you looked at him? Sure, as a girl maybe the hair's nice, but that chest? Only a boy could have a chest like that."
Louise took another deep breath, and sparks of electricity began to sail across her hair, which started to pulse and shine lightly.
"And with the way he's doing that glare of his, it's not even that much of a pretty face-I say start by cutting his hair a bit. Cover it in horse dung, the usual humiliation routine-"
A tiny sphere of white, brilliant light simply appeared in the middle of the mercenaries discussing how to go about roughing up the prisoners. It flickered to life, and it ignited with the intensity of a thousand suns.
"Just...Just die, kay?" Louise said sweetly as the flash of light blinded everyone. When the sense of his surroundings returned to Saito's poor eyes, he realized there was no longer a campfire.
There weren't any horses either. There also wasn't a good chunk of the forest.
There was simply a crater.
A crater in which six mercenaries were peacefully snoring away without a single shred of clothing on, and as Louise stood up, the rope somewhat incinerated, she neared the mercenaries with her right boot raised.
Saito and Marteau averted their eyes in sympathy as pain rained down under the form of a steeled boot, while Siesta had simply fainted.
"Your...friend...really likes his hair," Marteau whispered with a broken lip and a swollen eye.
"Yeah," Saito muttered, carefully massaging his wrists now that the rope had been vaporized into sheer nothingness.
"And he's really powerful," Marteau added. "There's...there's only one other mage who can use magic without a wand, you know?" he looked warily at Louise. "I-I have to ask if he's-you know, maybe a bastard."
"We're still discussing it," Saito said with an awkward nod.
Louise turned back to Saito and walked off to where she had left her mask. Putting it back on, she gathered her hair back inside her cowl and then nodded to herself. "Now," Louise said, "We can leave. The maid comes with us too, I guess."
Marteau stood awkwardly up, and as he grabbed hold of Siesta and pulled her on his shoulder, he began to walk behind Louise.
Five steps later, and Louise fell flat down on the ground, her energies spent. Well, she would have, had Saito not caught her.
Thus, as Marteau and Saito walked away each with a girl on their shoulders, leaving behind six naked men who would wake up to excruciating pain, the young Japanese boy couldn't help but lift his left fist towards Marteau.
Marteau, simply, neared his own fist to bump Saito's.
An explosion would have made everything a hundred percent cooler.
But Saito took his victories wherever he could find them.
Just like Louise's kicks into his back for having dared to break her wand did not waste time in coming.
"Can't I just throw the wand your way?" Louise tried to reason with the man, who still held Siesta by the hair.
"No," the man replied. His name was Roberts, wasn't it? At least, that was Saito's thought as he kept his back against the trunk of the tree, taking deep breaths to keep calm. "I want to hear it snap, and I want it thrown my way in two separate pieces. If I don't get it, then to hell with Count Mott's wishes. I'll kill this girl if it's the last thing I do."
Louise hesitated, staring from behind her cover at Saito, who in turn looked at her with a wide-eyed look. Louise closed her eyes, and then pulled her wand out of her swordwand, clutching it tightly for a brief second.
There was the sound of something snapping in half, and then two pieces of broken wood flew in the air and landed roughly by Roberts' feet.
"That's a twig girl!" Roberts snarled, "Seems like you don't really care about your friends then!"
"Louis!" Saito snarled, locking eyes with her.
"T-The wand-the wand's all I have-" Louise stammered, "It's all I have that proves I'm a mage, that I'm worthy of something, please-don't make me snap it."
"Enough dallying," Roberts growled, yanking Siesta back by the hair and cutting driving the knife up against the girl's cheek, drawing a long line as a thin dribble of blood went down along the blade. "Maybe I'll give her whiskers like those of a cat! Let's make a tally of the amount of times you manage to piss me off before I decide enough is enough."
He nodded to the two holding Marteau up against the wood. "Rough him up. I'm sure when they hear a grown-up man weep to stop, they'll understand."
The first blow did not make Marteau cry out, and neither did the second.
By the fourth however, tiny grunts began to emerge from the man's lips together with specks of blood.
"Enough!" Saito snapped, emerging from his cover and rushing towards Louise, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her aggressively out, wrestling the wand off her hand. "There!" he threw it on the ground and crunched on it with his left foot, throwing down his sword and shield at the same time. "We're unarmed now!"
"Good," Roberts said with a nod. "Now step closer," he added. "Hands where I can see them," he narrowed his eyes, gesturing with his head to one of the archers. The man neared warily, and after taking a large turn around the two gave a curt nod to his leader. "They're unarmed as far as I can see."
"Remove the mask!" Roberts barked, "Slowly now, boy!"
Louise hesitated, her fingers moving down from the air towards the clasps that kept it tied around her face. She gripped it, and then slowly pulled it loose to reveal her face.
"That's better boy," Roberts said with a snort. "Pretty face-afraid of nicking it? Maybe the Count might like some-" and then Louise's hair broke out next, coming down behind her. "Oh-" the man's eyes widened. "Oh shit."
Saito held his breath as the man stared at Louise for a brief moment, before starting to laugh loudly. "Oh gods! That's why you hid your face! Man! Your luck sucks hard! Pink hair on a boy's face-seriously!" Roberts howled from laughter. "What kind of man goes around with that hair color? Dye it or something, for Brimir's sake!"
He nodded at the man closest to them. "Now tie their wrists tightly. I swear if they manage to knock us out once more, I will come for you next, Rudolf!"
The man known as Rudolf snorted, and as Saito found his hands tied behind his back, he hissed from the pain of the coarse rope used. Louise didn't fare any better, but at least she didn't fight them. Soon, all four of them were tied up near the horses.
Roberts looked at his men, and then cracked his knuckles with a smirk. "Well then! The Count did say we could rough you up before delivery," he grabbed Louise's chin and pulled it up. "So-now we are going to take turns caving your faces in. This is purely personal," he added. "Next time, when you say you surrender, then you better mean it."
"You...You won't kill us?" Saito asked.
"No," Roberts said. "You made us look like fools, but we were commoners against a mage, so that's to be expected. Still-you didn't kill any of us, so there's no reason to kill two kids who still believe in fairy tales about the knight Ivaldi or shit like that," he looked at Gaston, who had finished spitting on the palms of his hands and rubbing them together. "We are going to get even, and you are going to meet the count because he wants to meet you, and you'd better have a honeyed tongue because he might just order us to kill you and throw your bodies in a ditch if he's not pleased," the man stood back up straight. "So, personally, I'd start with the pretty face."
Louise took a deep breath.
"Are you sure he's not a girl though? The Count might want her if she's-"
"If she's a girl, she's flatter than the plains of Gallia," Roberts answered in turn with a shrug. "Have you looked at him? Sure, as a girl maybe the hair's nice, but that chest? Only a boy could have a chest like that."
Louise took another deep breath, and sparks of electricity began to sail across her hair, which started to pulse and shine lightly.
"And with the way he's doing that glare of his, it's not even that much of a pretty face-I say start by cutting his hair a bit. Cover it in horse dung, the usual humiliation routine-"
A tiny sphere of white, brilliant light simply appeared in the middle of the mercenaries discussing how to go about roughing up the prisoners. It flickered to life, and it ignited with the intensity of a thousand suns.
"Just...Just die, kay?" Louise said sweetly as the flash of light blinded everyone. When the sense of his surroundings returned to Saito's poor eyes, he realized there was no longer a campfire.
There weren't any horses either. There also wasn't a good chunk of the forest.
There was simply a crater.
A crater in which six mercenaries were peacefully snoring away without a single shred of clothing on, and as Louise stood up, the rope somewhat incinerated, she neared the mercenaries with her right boot raised.
Saito and Marteau averted their eyes in sympathy as pain rained down under the form of a steeled boot, while Siesta had simply fainted.
"Your...friend...really likes his hair," Marteau whispered with a broken lip and a swollen eye.
"Yeah," Saito muttered, carefully massaging his wrists now that the rope had been vaporized into sheer nothingness.
"And he's really powerful," Marteau added. "There's...there's only one other mage who can use magic without a wand, you know?" he looked warily at Louise. "I-I have to ask if he's-you know, maybe a bastard."
"We're still discussing it," Saito said with an awkward nod.
Louise turned back to Saito and walked off to where she had left her mask. Putting it back on, she gathered her hair back inside her cowl and then nodded to herself. "Now," Louise said, "We can leave. The maid comes with us too, I guess."
Marteau stood awkwardly up, and as he grabbed hold of Siesta and pulled her on his shoulder, he began to walk behind Louise.
Five steps later, and Louise fell flat down on the ground, her energies spent. Well, she would have, had Saito not caught her.
Thus, as Marteau and Saito walked away each with a girl on their shoulders, leaving behind six naked men who would wake up to excruciating pain, the young Japanese boy couldn't help but lift his left fist towards Marteau.
Marteau, simply, neared his own fist to bump Saito's.
An explosion would have made everything a hundred percent cooler.
But Saito took his victories wherever he could find them.
Just like Louise's kicks into his back for having dared to break her wand did not waste time in coming.
- Location
- The Old Dominion
Well they had that coming....
Pink hair and managed to cast a spell without a wand... Wonder how long until rumors start going around given there is only one other mage who's managed to cast a spell without a wand... Of course assuming the mercenaries don't put two and two together and decide to one not mention it and two find someplace safer to work.
Pink hair and managed to cast a spell without a wand... Wonder how long until rumors start going around given there is only one other mage who's managed to cast a spell without a wand... Of course assuming the mercenaries don't put two and two together and decide to one not mention it and two find someplace safer to work.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Wandless magic will confirm the relation in most people's eyes.
Saito really needs to think about long-term consequences... Siesta and Marteau will be hurt if Louise doesn't break her wand, but how is surrendering to obvious sadists going to improve the situation? They would have been better off retreating from the bait. The only reason this worked out is because pink hair.
And how was he planning to continue adventuring without Louise's magic backing him up? Charlotte prbably has a spare wand, hope she's okay adding more debt to their tab.
Saito really needs to think about long-term consequences... Siesta and Marteau will be hurt if Louise doesn't break her wand, but how is surrendering to obvious sadists going to improve the situation? They would have been better off retreating from the bait. The only reason this worked out is because pink hair.
And how was he planning to continue adventuring without Louise's magic backing him up? Charlotte prbably has a spare wand, hope she's okay adding more debt to their tab.
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- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Saito- not bright. Took a level in stupid. Thought he saw an idiot ball, but it was a regular ball. Fucked it anyway. Once lost a battle of wits with a particularly dull stone. What we're saying is, the boy ain't bright. 
The mercenaries would have added, "don't move an inch" to their ultimatum if they had tried to run. And I imagine that the future of their being adventurers took second place to the innocent girl being held captive right now.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/They
Like most of your other works, this is pretty good.
Whilst I would compliment you on making Louise likable, but to be honest, that's not that hard. I've read dozens of fanfics with a likable Lousie by this point. Much more impressive is making Saito likable, which is far more rare/
Whilst I would compliment you on making Louise likable, but to be honest, that's not that hard. I've read dozens of fanfics with a likable Lousie by this point. Much more impressive is making Saito likable, which is far more rare/
Instead of being a hyper-violent bitchy tsundere, she's somewhat less bitchy & violent, but now a militant prude.
In Saito defense he is not a trained soldier, nor an experienced adventurer. He saw his friend be hurt/life threatened and did the only thing he thought would save her. Guardsmen conscript do not have "And They Shall Know No Fear", they have leadership 5 they will break and run if you let them.
I doubt many of us here are trained soldiers. Saito was being dumb, not unprofessional.
It's like saying "oh, but the guy wasn't a cop" about a person who willingly got in the trunk of someone's car (protip: if that happens to you, you'd be better off running or using lethal force, because you won't come back alive if you play along. Yes, even if the person is armed.).
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Let's be honest guys, he probably saved Siesta's life. The odds of the mercs not killing her if Louise kept disobeying them aren't pretty. Or at least start taking chunks out of her.
Edit: Seriously, he may not have made the optimal decision, but would it have been better to watch Siesta get hurt/killed?
Edit 2: Marteau too.
Edit: Seriously, he may not have made the optimal decision, but would it have been better to watch Siesta get hurt/killed?
Edit 2: Marteau too.
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Yes? The other choice was being at the complete mercy of the mercenaries who could have just killed them all. Don't assume the people Saito was dealing with were rational beings.
- Location
- The Old Dominion
As I recall in the novels until he tried to force himself on her in her sleep because he decided she was playing hard to get most of the interactions between the two were not super violent if you exclude the beginning with him getting knocked out twice by Lousie. Once for trying to put his hands down her blouse looking for a hidden microphone and the second time him asking her to knock him out because he thought the whole thing was a dream.
It was more tick for tack with Saito doing something then Louise responding sometimes violently but sometimes with a nonviolent punishment that would be completely ineffective. At least in the novels, I never read the manga or the anime so maybe she was different in those.
Actually the mercenaries struck me as quite rational, if somewhat amoral. They were even amiable, at least before Louise and Saito beat them the first time. The mercs had no reason to want to kill Siesta and Marteau except for leverage, and if the need for the leverage was removed then it was likely that they would be released (as they were).
Edit: Okay, they weren't actually released, but they weren't being hurt any further either.
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I don't think you get it. People are not logic-based automatons. People have killed for less or even just for the fun of it.
Your perspective is skewed as a reader. Your life wasn't on the line, and strangers seeming that way does not mean they are. Plus, serial killers tend to have charming personalities.