Daybreak:Volume 1 Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - A Peaceful Day

With his top button on, Pascal put the medal around his neck and pinned it into place, then flipped down his collars. Adjusting it carefully, he made sure the gleaming black Knight's Cross outlined in white gold was perfectly centered. Staring back at the dresser mirror, he examined the dashing grin that looked back at himself before giving it a nod of approval.

He spun his heels around in their leather boots before walking around the bed.

Today was the first time that Pascal saw Kaede's sleeping face. Even inside the warm dormitory keep, the small girl snuggled into the thick comforter with only her head exposed. Turned to the side, her canary-white hair scattered across her gentle sleeping face, peaceful except for the dark outlines under her eyes.

Another stab of guilt sunk into his chest, but Pascal steeled himself and shook her through the bedcovers.

There was no response, so he did it again.

"Come on, wake up already," he called after the fifth time, finally eliciting a response:

"Uhhhhnnnnn?"

"I said wake up."

Two small hands emerged from the bedcovers to rub her eyes.

"Talk about a heavy sleeper..."

"C-couldn't give me a few more minutes?" Kaede yawned as her thin arms stretched out, her eyes still closed. "I couldn't sleep till like three-something..."

"Sleep earlier then. I have already given you leeway today. You need to wake up at the same time as everyone else when I go campaigning."

Her rose-quartz eyes finally opened, highlighting the shadows below them as her cherry lips formed a scowl.

Pascal slowly waved his hand over her while he whispered the Refreshen spell. Her countenance instantly grew less pale, the bags under her eyes disappearing while a healthy tinge of pink returned to her cheeks.

Maybe he overdid it a little. Kaede looked like she was sporting an disgruntled blush.

Kind of cute, actually, Pascal smiled.

"Better. Now, dress up and remember your research tasks today. Get up earlier tomorrow if you want breakfast -- I cannot wait any longer; morning practice in fifteen. Anyhow, I will see you at lunch."

With that, Pascal went straight out the door.

----- * * * -----

"...What's that commoner girl doing here? This is a prestigious library!"

"Orders from the Runelord, who else? Must have gotten her special treatment..."

"...She's still blushing? Has she no shame?"

Kaede swore that the familiars' whole 'eyes and ears' concept made her senses more keen than necessary. She couldn't even concentrate with all the whispering that reached her ears.

It was a Monday morning, but a few dozen people occupied the library nonetheless. They all looked like senior students if not research assistants working on a project. Most of these mages completely ignored her, but just a few gossiping mouths were more than enough to irritate.

"Hey, familiar girl," a tall lady with long, golden-blond curls slammed her palms into the desk. "Tell you master to keep you on a shorter leash. You're an eyesore here by yourself. This is a nobles' academic sanctuary, not a whorehouse!"

Kaede flipped another page.

"Are you listening, you ignorant commoner!?"

Kaede finally tilted her head and looked upwards with half-open eyes that barely cared:

"Pascal says you're a blithering idiot and that I should ignore you. I think I agree."

The noblewoman looked like her face was about to spontaneously combust and explode.

Kaede went back to reading, or trying to...

"Listen here you little bitch, I don't care if your master reserved this desk. You get the hell out of here or I'm going to give you the whipping you deserve, do I make myself clear?"

"Ah, that is Lisel von Straussen." Pascal's voice popped into her head. "Talk about pot calling kettle black, that tramp of a golddigger has the brain capacity to attack you when she can barely scrub two cells together for a passing grade?"

"You're not helping, Pascal; and could you knock before tapping in like this?"

"Tell her that--"

"Look, they may be afraid to challenge the Runelord to a duel, but if I keep it up after dropping your name and them still not relenting, they're going to challenge me."

"So give them the beatdown you showed me. They will not even see it coming." Pascal sounded oddly proud.

What, just like you did? Kaede amused herself before sending back:

"Precisely. Most of them probably believe I'm just a pushover familiar girl who surprised you with a punch that got over-exaggerated or something -- Ariadne does have a grudge against you after all. I'd prefer it if they kept thinking that way.

"Not bad at all. Pascal's reply rang with approval, and Kaede wondered if he was really being impulsive, or if he was just testing her.

Sighing, Kaede stood up from her chair, piled her book plus three others into a small stack, and left without a word.

Whatever, not like I can concentrate in here anyway.

Without someone she was friendly with -- or at least getting friendly with -- Kaede didn't exactly feel comfortable around new people or places. With her books in hand, she headed back to the dormitories, ignoring the noblewoman's departing screech.

She felt the disdain of the librarian's glance as she walked past.

Yeah yeah, I'm just a commoner, foreigner at that. Get used to it, you prissy nobles.

Kaede rather missed having Pascal's you're-all-idiots attitude shield them from the rest of the world. Sure, his downcast eyes were annoying. But a roomful of nobles hitching their arrogant noses at her made that seem a paradise by comparison.

----- * * * -----

After another lunch in the dining hall with Pascal, Kaede returned to his room to continue her research. She found three interesting examples in history already, and each time Pascal tapped her senses directly to read in. The convenience was undeniable, but it was also annoying, not to mention bizarre to turn pages for a pair of eyes that served as someone else's camera.

Still, thrice was enough. By the third time, she finally told Pascal to ask first before reaching through her eyes and ears.

His reply was a defensive "all right, I promise!"

In the meantime, two other thoughts kept bouncing back to the fore of her mind:

Conclusion #1: Fantasy realms needed a magical version of the Internet, not to mention magical Google and Wikipedia. They could probably skip Magebook though. Information processing and networking spells couldn't be that hard when Pascal managed to tap into her own biological sensory network this easily.

Conclusion #2: She was rapidly becoming a shut-in, emerging only to retrieve food, books, plus fresh air, and conversing with barely more than one person per day. This was worrisome.

• Knock, knock*

The door then opened without waiting for a response. A petite young maid with short brown hair, the same who often served Pascal in the dining hall, backed into the room with a large bucket of supplies.

She almost dropped it when she turned around.

"Sorry, Miss, the third years are normally at classes at this time. I did not actually expect anyone here."

Sitting on the bed in an orchid-pink dress, Kaede put down her book and returned a welcoming smile.

"Don't worry about it. My name is Kaede, what's yours?"

"Marina," she bowed. "I'm one of the two maids responsible for the third year students, Miss Kaede."

"Just Kaede is fine, not like I'm one of those noblemen."

"Ah, I've heard... that you were summoned from afar... as a familiar."

"That's right." Kaede tried not to make the maid Marina any more nervous, but all she managed to keep up was a wry smile. "Do you normally only clean when nobody is here?"

"Yes!" Marina nodded bit too eagerly. "The nobles do not appreciate seeing us common servants, so we try to be discrete whenever possible."

Thinking back to her dining hall experiences, Kaede remembered that Pascal never even acknowledged, let alone thanked, the servants who brought his food. Nor, for that matter, did most other nobles she saw, except...

"Ariadne seemed friendly with you all though."

Marina's lips finally curled upwards with a hint of joy.

"Miss von Zimmer-Manteuffel is one of the few nobles who do greet us with friendliness." Then, sighing: "unfortunately, she's a very rare minority."

"Stupid nobles with their raised oversized noses and squinty downcast eyes need to learn some respect," Kaede lashed out at opulent room she stayed in. Her gaze then returned to find Marina grinning back in silent and total agreement.

"I also heard you gave Mister... I mean Sir von Moltewitz a beating? Did your master punish you?"

Kaede's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs for a second. I swear, how do nobles keep secrets from these servants?

"Yeah, a surprise kick to the crotch and he couldn't even defend himself, imagine that," Kaede lied with a totally unapologetic grin. "And not really, Pascal actually respected me more since then. We can't just take things lying down or these nobles will just get used to seeing us as useless; have to push back some whenever appropriate!"

For a brief second, Kaede thought Marina's eyes glittered in amazement. Within minutes, they were chatting like friends, gained through the power of complaining.

Marina had to return to her maid work soon after, and Kaede found herself deeply amused by what seemed to be a magical vacuum cleaner powered by ether-storing crystals. Not being a mage, Marina couldn't actually turn the appliance on or off, only manipulate its intake controls.

The same cleaner also had an enchanted nozzle for cleaning chamber pots.

Whatever modern thoughts Kaede had on the subject, being a medieval maid, at least, was not a job that Kaede envied at all.

----- * * * -----

"So... where's my bed?" Kaede didn't even bother taking her eyes off her book.

"In Phantasia," Pascal grumbled before climbing into bed, snuggling just close enough without touching her. "Sheesh my legs are sore; that Reynald is unnaturally good at dueling... you think someone stupid and gullible enough to fall for every propaganda piece wouldn't be a spellsword genius."

"His holiness is fair," she replied, her casual eyes still reading. "While he giveth with one noodly appendage, his other taketh away."

Pascal just stared at her for a few seconds, then waved the light off:

"Your world is crazy."

Sighing, Kaede pulled down the bookmark string and laid it on her bedside table.

One day he'll learn to ask first, but clearly not tonight.

...Like that, another day passed in the new world for Kaede. The rest of the week went by the same way, except after Friday's chat, Kaede was sure she could now consider Marina a few friend, therefore averting or at least delaying her 'shut-in' crisis.

----- * * * -----

"You still haven't managed it?" The new chief groundskeeper snarled, a yeoman -- commoner of the first class -- mage hired only two weeks ago to fill a vacancy left when his predecessor died of an accident.

"I'm sorry," Marina trembled, her eyes nailed to his feet. "Kaede... his familiar girl is in his room all day. It's hard to do it without being noticed."

"You have one more week. If we miss the deadline and our master is punished by the Emperor, it will be on your hands girl, and that squad in town won't be happy to hear about it," he warned before departing from the shadowy alcove that he cornered her in.

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