The Protagonist System

“You can back out of this now and save yourself some embarrassment.” Guiche said, arrogantly.

“That's funny, because I was not going to offer you the same option.” I responded and grinned at Montmorency's gasp.

“I don't have to ask if you can settle this another way.” The headmaster said and motioned for everyone to step back. “You will have twenty seconds to prepare your spells before I call you to start.”

Louise hopped up to kiss my cheek, let my hand go, and walked with the two teachers over to the gathering crowd.

Guiche looked happy as he started chanting. I just stood there with my hand on my sword hilt.

“Why is he just standing there?” “Why isn't he chanting?” “He's going to kill him.”

All talking stopped and they all turned to look at the guard who had spoken.

“He's in a ready-to-draw stance. Depending on his speed, he could run the mage through before he can swish his wand.” The guard explained.

All eyes went back to me.

“I promised Louise that I wouldn't kill him. I'm just going to teach him a lesson.” I said.

“Begin!” The headmaster exclaimed.

I was across the distance in a split second and my mythril sword sheared half of the blond ponce's hair off of his left side. I stopped five feet behind him with my sword held in a guard position and I knelt on one knee. No one had seen me move, not even the guard that was specifically looking at me.

A rose petal on the end of the wand dropped off and fell to the ground as Guiche's spell completed. It was a Valkyrie Summoning spell and a brass warrior rose up out of the ground briefly surrounded by light. Surprisingly, it had a blue-green tint color and not the dull gold of regular brass. It also carried a huge spear.

“Winner, Mister Hiraga.” The headmaster said.

I stood and walked over to Guiche. “As the winner of the honor duel, I am allowed to ask a boon of you.”

Guiche sighed and ducked his head. “What is it that you want?” He asked and his eyes went to his on-again and off-again girlfriend Montmorency.

“Is the spell you used a family secret or just something earth mages use in combat?” I asked and examined the Valkyrie. It was feminine shaped with heavy armor, huge pauldrons on the shoulders, and a solid mouth covering. It also had feathers in the helmet and wore a white cloth skirt for modesty.

“It is a mid-tier earth magic spell that few mages use because of the long casting time.” The headmaster said.

“Thank you, headmaster.” I said and looked at Guiche. “Do they always come out looking like this?”

Guiche nodded. “I've been casting this variant for years and my chant is down to fifteen seconds to start the chain.”

“Chain?” I asked and he smiled.

Guiche swiped his wand again and another petal fell. It hit the ground and another Valkyrie summons appeared. He swiped it four more times and used all the petals on his wand to create a whole squad of Valkyries. They were all identical.

“I'm not stupid enough to ask where the cloth skirts and helmet feathers come from.” I said and a lot of the students laughed, as did the teachers. They would have responded with 'magic'. “Why the mittens for hands, though?”

“Dexterous fingers are not required to handle punching or the spear. It is a waste of magic to try and form them properly.” The headmaster said.

“Hmm.” I thought and looked at the others. “How long do they last?”

“Usually until the mage dismisses them or they run out of magic to control them.” Professor Chevreuse answered this time.

“Then they return to the earth?” I asked and she, the headmaster, and Guiche nodded. “Can anyone learn the spell?”

“No, only earth mages can perform it.” The headmaster said.

I stepped over to Guiche and put a hand on his shoulder to temporarily add him to my party. I used the specific healing spell for a person and he sucked in a sharp breath and his wand regrew the petals instantly.

“Please cast it again and complete the boon I ask.”

Guiche beamed a smile at me for only requesting such a simple thing and not his contract to Montmorency. He did the chant again and waved his wand to disperse the rose petals and summoned another squad of Valkyries.

I healed him again and he practically glowed. “Thank you. I think I got it.”

Guiche nodded and turned to hold his arms open for his girlfriend. She squealed with happiness and leapt into his arms.

Maybe now he'll appreciate what he has and will stop chasing skirts. I thought as I walked over to the closest Valkyrie and took out my wand. I didn't need to, I just wanted to keep up the pretense. I started altering her to make her more practical.

I changed her mitten hands into actual hands with fingers and a thumb, then I reduced the oversized pauldrons on her shoulders to a normal size to allow a lot more freedom of movement. I pulled the skirts up from ankle length to thigh length, too. They were too easy to trample on, tear, or trip yourself on at the previous length.

The next thing I changed was her face. I formed the covered mouthpiece into an actual mouth and gave her a dainty nose, then fixed her eyes to look more normal and not slits like a cat. Her two pointy circular breasts were oddly shaped and looked weird, so I fixed that and made it look like a solid breastplate. I added a hinged mouth covering and eye protection for when she needed them, too.

Everyone around me was silent as I worked, which was fine by me. Talking is sometimes distracting. I kept working, changing little things here and there, adding better armor plates in key areas, and then fixed the weak joints at the waist and hips. This Valkyrie was not going down easily. The last thing I changed was her color to match what real brass looked like and shaded different parts to make them stand out.

“I think that's got it.” I said and stepped back from her to admire my work.

On a whim, I put a hand on her shoulder and checked the party system. I was surprised to find the option to save her details as a summoned construct. She only cost 10 Karma points to register for myself and 300 to update the spell for everyone.

“Brave warrior, would you like to keep this visage for yourself and all of your sisters, forevermore?” I asked her.

To everyone's shock but mine, she nodded, as did all the other Valkyries.

“Then let it be done!” I said and raised my wand into the air and went a little bit more deeper into debt. The spell chant wording to do it popped up in front of me and I read it off perfectly, thanks to my maxed languages skill.

The other Valkyries shimmered as if they were being dispelled, then their bodies morphed and changed into the new versions. As one, they turned to face me with a smile and a salute, then all of them glowed and dropped back down into the ground. They had chosen to end their summons themselves and that was definitely unexpected by everyone, myself included.

“What... what... what did you just do?” Professor Chevreuse asked me, clearly shocked.

“Dear lady, go ahead and summon a Valkyrie to find out.” I said and motioned to the grass beside me.

Chevreuse only did the short chant to summon a single Valkyrie and everyone was stunned to see that it was the new version and not the one that everyone had used for decades.

“I must try it!” Guiche exclaimed and did his full chant, then used all six of his petals and summoned the full squad of Valkyries. All of them looked identical to the one Chevreuse summoned, golden hued and everything. They also had small smiles on their faces.

I healed him again and he gave me a quick hug, as did Montmorency. In moments, the new summons were surrounded by students and teachers alike to inspect them and to be admired. The small smiles the Valkyries had became normal smiles at the positive attention.

I wasn't the only one that heard Guiche's and Montmorency's whispered words about no one looking down on Guiche for wasting his time with his previously bland-looking summons.

I caught his arm as he passed by and whispered in his ear that they were much stronger and faster now. He should practice keeping one or two around as personal guards for as long as he could and not tell anyone that he was continuously casting it. The look of joy on his face for the idea was worth enduring the magic sparkles and the pose he did as a thank you.

Montmorency also seemed pleased that I had helped him after our conflict and she apologized for her own behavior in defending him. I forgave her and warned her that defending him was honorable, as long as she didn't dishonor herself while doing it, because she was too much of a lady to disparage herself or lower her station so much. She blushed and nodded.

Just as everyone was done complimenting the new Valkyrie Summons, I felt a disturbance within my detection range. The ground rumbled slightly and I knew what was going on.

“We're under attack! Everyone, take cover! Guards! Protect the princess!” I shouted and quickly ran around the academy's central tower and saw a rock golem grow to about 60 feet tall and nearly match the height of the tower. Now I just had to decide if I wanted to be cheesy with my lines or not.

“Oh, it's you. The summoned mage. I've heard a lot about you.” A cloaked woman said from the thing's shoulder.

“That's funny, because I have heard everything about you, Madam Secretary.” I responded.

“Wh-what d-did y-you call me?” She asked, clearly stunned.

“Would you prefer I call you Miss Longueville? Or Forquet?” I asked and drew my sword. “How about Lady Gotha?”

The woman gasped and yanked down her hood to show me a crazy face. “How do you know that name?!?”

“I have a better question.” I said and charged my blade with fire. It was engulfed in bright blue flame. “What happens when you super-heat dirt and rock?”

I heard gasps behind me when I disappeared and reappeared beside the giant rock golem's ankle and had slashed across the front of it. I dashed again to cut at the front of the other ankle, then dashed back to where I was before and saw the huge crowd of students, teachers, and the princess herself that was surrounded by guards.

My warning didn't warn them away at all. I thought with a shake of my head and looked back at the giant earth golem as I deactivated and sheathed my sword.

I had been tempted to try a dispel on the golem, except the damn thing was huge and might crush half of the building if it fell on top of it. Instead, I angled my cuts specifically to let it tilt and fall the other way. Two very loud snaps sounded and echoed off the tower walls as the damaged ankles shattered.

“AHHHH!” The green haired woman screamed as the giant rock golem tilted just as I planned and fell backwards.

“Excuse me for a moment.” I said to my audience and quickly ran around the falling golem to the right spot. I waited for a split second and then leapt up. I caught the potential thief in a princess carry and soared through the air as the golem's body crashed into the ground. I landed on the thing's chest and then ran over to the edge and jumped down.

The shocked looks on everyone's faces was worth showing off. Just for fun, I cast the truth spell on the woman in my arms.

“Miss Longueville? What were you doing?” Osmand the headmaster asked.

“I was getting my revenge on you, you old pervert!” She exclaimed and shook her fist at him. “If I'd known how much of a degenerate you were, I never would have accepted this job from the Reconquista!”

A complete hush fell on everyone and they all stared at her. She blushed and closed her mouth, clearly afraid to say anything else.

“Headmaster, let me introduce you to the earth mage and famous thief, Forquet.” I said and everyone gasped or screamed, even the guys. That was a pretty funny reaction and I had a difficult time not laughing.

“Please hand her over to us.” One of the guards said.

“Of course.” I said and cast the truth spell on him. “Tell me where your loyalties lie.”

“I was placed here to ensure the goals of the Reconquista were fulfilled.” The guard said and everyone gasped and screamed again.

“What else did you do?” I asked as the other guards drew their swords on him.

“I poisoned the king to ensure the princess ascended to the throne and is easily led by the nose by her advisor, who is also a member of the Reconquista.”

One of the other guards looked frantic and lifted his sword to strike down the traitor. I didn't know a traitor to what, though. I pushed him backward with a small fireball to the chest and he flew off of his feet to land with a groan on his back.

“Killing him before he can confess officially is stupid, unless you are covering up for him.” I said into the silence. “Your highness, I suggest a round of truth spells for everyone in your life and then having them make a magical vow of loyalty to you and the crown.”

The princess looked scared and then straightened her back to look at me with confidence. “Mage Hiraga, I accept your offer to assist me in cleaning up my kingdom.”

I opened my mouth to refuse and felt Louise kick my shin.

“Ow ow ow ow ow!” Louise muttered and jumped around on one foot.

I activated my area effect healing and everyone sucked in sharp breaths, especially the woman in my arms, so I whispered in her ear. “Please don't resist or try to escape. I can help you if you let me.”

“Why?” She whispered back.

“Because I can.” I whispered.

Foquet looked into my eyes and I let her see I was sincere. She put her hands together and held them out to the closest guard. He put magic cuffs on her and the others put them on the traitor guard and the one that tried to kill him.

“Let's retire to my office to sort this all out.” The headmaster said and the students dispersed as he led us there.

An hour later, both Foquet and the traitor guard confessed their crimes officially and the traitor was beheaded. Foquet was too valuable to dispose of like that, thanks to me convincing the princess that she needed someone trustworthy to guard her. Everyone in the room stared at me.

“Foquet started her criminal career to get revenge on the corrupted nobles that murdered her family. Who better to have at your side to help you ferret out the other corrupted nobles in your kingdom?” I asked her.

Princess Henrietta couldn't refute my words. “If she will pledge to me as my personal guard and swear to keep me alive and to clean up the kingdom, I will pardon her for her previous acts of thievery and terrorism.”

Foquet looked shocked. Her eyes went to me, to the princess, and back to me.

“The Reconquista wanted her as queen. As her personal guard, you will be right there at the top and above everyone else, even the high class nobles. What will you do with that kind of power?” I asked.

The shock slowly faded from her face and she smiled. “I think you are the only person I have ever met that kept their promise to help me.”

Princess Henrietta looked sad at that and hid it before anyone but me saw it. “We will work on the wording of the vow and you will be sworn into my service as soon as possible.”