"Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière."
As Professor Colbert called her name, the protagonist of this world stepped forward, lifting her head with pride.
Louise was the third daughter of the Duke of Vallière, one of the most prestigious noble families in Tristain. In terms of noble rank, there were few in the entire kingdom who could surpass her.
On top of that, she was childhood friends with Princess Henrietta, the sole heir to the Tristain throne, making her status even more significant behind the scenes.
Even within Tristain Academy of Magic, Louise was a well-known figure.
However, it wasn't her noble status that made her famous. At the Magic Academy, every student was of noble birth, and theoretically, they were all equals.
Louise's reputation stemmed from her abysmal magical abilities.
Every single spell she cast ended in failure—or more often, an explosion.
Because she never succeeded in casting any magic and seemingly had no magical affinity, she was mockingly referred to as "Louise the Zero."
However, as the heroine of this world, Louise was not an ordinary magician.
In reality, she was a wielder of the Void, an ancient and powerful magical element.
But since almost no one knew the Void even existed, everyone wrongly assumed she had no affinity at all.
Despite this, no one ever questioned whether she could be a magician.
After all, those without magical aptitude wouldn't even possess mana or experience magical reactions when chanting spells.
Louise, however, had a high amount of mana, and her spells always triggered magical surges—even if they ended in explosions.
Meanwhile, the students gossiped among themselves.
"I wonder what kind of familiar Louise will summon this time."
"Do you think she'll fail? I mean, the summoning ritual is supposed to be almost impossible to mess up."
"Who knows? It's Louise the Zero we're talking about."
"Maybe it'll just explode like always."
Hearing these whispers, Louise clenched her fists, determination flashing in her eyes.
She had boasted to her childhood rival just the day before, declaring,
"I am absolutely confident in my Summoning Ritual! I will summon a familiar more divine, more beautiful, and more powerful than any of yours!"
But in truth, that was just bravado—Louise was terrified that she would fail.
Still, the teasing wasn't entirely mean-spirited. Most of the students had known each other for years, and their insults were more like casual ribbing than genuine malice.
Though some families were bitter enemies, most noble students maintained a friendly rivalry at school.
On a real battlefield, they would fight together as comrades.
And in this world, a familiar was a magician's most important companion.
With equal mana levels, a magician with a familiar was twice as strong as one without.
Some familiars were even as strong as their masters.
However, a familiar could never surpass its magician.
That was because familiars used their master's mana—meaning their power was limited by their master's own magical reserves.
The Summoning Begins
Taking a deep breath, Louise raised her wand and chanted,
"My servant who exists somewhere in the universe!"
Her words instantly confused the surrounding students.
"…What kind of incantation is that?"
"Is that even a real spell?"
"Emmm… at least it's creative."
Louise ignored them, continuing,
"Divine, beautiful, and powerful familiar! By my will, heed my call and appear before me!"
Then she swung her wand forward.
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted in front of her, sending a thick cloud of black smoke billowing across the field.
Silence. Then…
"…Of course."
"I saw that coming."
"Wait… can someone actually fail a summoning?"
"Are you alright, Montmorency?"
A student turned to his crush, only to see her staring at the clearing in shock.
"…What's wrong?"
Following her gaze, he looked toward the summoning site.
Slowly, the entire class fell silent as they focused on what lay before Louise.
There, resting gently on the ground, was a black-and-blue egg.
"…An egg?"
"Is that… an unhatched familiar?"
"Of course Louise the Zero would summon a familiar that starts at zero."
"With an egg that small, I doubt whatever hatches will be very strong."
"Well… at least she succeeded, right?"
"Yeah, let's congratulate her for improving."
Though confused, the students clapped to encourage Louise.
For the first time ever, she had succeeded.
Louise's Thoughts
"Phew."
On the outside, Louise kept a calm expression.
On the inside, she was relieved beyond words.
Even though she had summoned an egg, that was still better than failure or summoning something useless.
"At least I can still hope for something amazing to hatch…"
Holding the warm egg close, she gently cradled it.
Honestly, even if she had summoned a pig, she wouldn't have abandoned it.
In the original story, Louise had summoned Hiraga Saito, a commoner.
Within the Magic Academy, commoners were nothing special.
But in the world of familiars, a commoner was worse than a pig.
Despite her initial disappointment, she never abandoned Saito—she protected him and got angry whenever he was humiliated.
If one word described Louise, it was "tsundere"—a character archetype that had been immensely popular in Japan over a decade ago.
"Looks like I'll have to hatch it myself. Does this mean… I'm a mother now?"
Blushing at the thought, she quickly suppressed her emotions.
"Alright, Louise, proceed with the Contract Ritual."
Professor Colbert observed the mystical runes appearing on the egg's shell.
As an expert in ancient magic, he instantly recognized that the contract script was not modern.
The language resembled the runes of Brimir, dating thousands of years back.
Whatever this familiar was, it was no ordinary creature.
Louise, unaware of this, gently kissed the egg—sealing the contract.
Meanwhile, in the City…
Dak, realizing his egg had disappeared, immediately questioned his system.
However, after receiving a negative response, he quickly deduced what had happened.
1. Before summoning the egg, it was in his System Inventory.
2. After summoning, it vanished.
3. The system denied responsibility.
That meant… the egg had been successfully summoned.
But the moment it left his inventory, some unknown force had teleported it elsewhere.
Using his abilities, Dak tried to track it down.
Observation Haki → No results. Viridian Power → No response. Earth Power → Nothing unusual. Aura Sense → Lingering spatial disturbance detected. Psychic Power → Faint traces of scattered energy.
"Got it."
Locking onto the energy signature, Dak grinned.
He now had a general idea of where his egg had gone.
(End of Chapter)
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