Flashback: A Geas Scroll, the Terms of the Contract

[Issunboushi]

// Five Years Ago - Einzbern Castle, Outer Forest; Outskirts, Fuyuki//

Siiiiiiiip.

Satoshi Inoue held the elegant china teacup with both hands cupped gently but securely around the wide body of the glass. He had just taken his third sip of Earl Gray flavored tea, and the heated liquid substance did wonders for his body as his esophagus seemed to fill with a comfortable warmth. The hospitable scene of Satoshi sipping tea from one of the Einzbern's teacups was a far sight from another scene in the castle only an hour prior. Over the past two hours or so, Satoshi had narrowly avoided death at least twice and possibly up to three times. An innocent hike in the woods on the outskirts of Fuyuki had quickly turned into a deadly chase when the teenaged boy stumbled upon a bizarre, lion-like creature with a green lizard tail.

Satoshi had then utilized his experience and physical fitness - both owed to his time on the Homurahara Gakuen track and soccer team - to escape the ravenous chimera. Against all odds, the mundane human called "Satoshi Inoue" had stumbled upon a mysterious and secretly enchanted clearing. There, he had found sanctuary from the chimera and its companions, for they would not step into the courtyard of the castle. Satoshi had been left with no choice but to venture inside, especially after the chimeras made it clear they were prepared to pace the parameter of the castle courtyard. So, Satoshi had entered the castle, only to be attacked by an armored knight.

Rather, his attacker had not been a knight at all. At least, not anymore; the suit of armor which made every effort to eliminate the intruding high-school boy was empty. Satoshi found this out after landing a lucky strike with the knight's own battleaxe, and as a result he had managed to cleave one of the suit's arms into a state of disability. However, the suit of armor disarmed Satoshi and proceeded to give chase to the boy. Even exhausted after a two mile run through the snowy woods, Satoshi had still been fast enough to outpace the knight. Then, Satoshi met a young girl in a blue and white dress...the girl spoke about playing with him, and called off the suit of armor.

Just when Satoshi had felt safe, however, another human had emerged from the shadows: his classmate, Marielle Einzbern. She gave a verbal command and the knight responded, returning and engaging Satoshi in a brutal but short fight to the finish. Miraculously, Satoshi managed to stab a sigil inscribed within the suit of armor, and in doing so he effectively slew the watchdog knight. Then, the young woman introduced herself as a magus, and accused him of being one as well. Another near-death conflict erupted, and Satoshi survived by the skin of his teeth, barely avoiding a fatal attack. In the end, though, a human could not beat a magus easily, and Satoshi found his life in her hands. That was when he learned two things: Marielle Einzbern was definitely a magus...and she was also a bully. She essentially blackmailed him into agreeing to become her apprentice.

"What do you think Satoshi? Wanna become a magician?" She had asked, leaving him little (if any) choice in the matter. So, Satoshi Inoue had agreed to acknowledge her as his instructor of magic and the new, supernatural world he had been dragged into by a stray chimera and a suit of armor. In doing so, Satoshi had taken his first step down the long and hard road of becoming a magus. It was only lucky for him that the genius who forced herself upon him as his teacher was prepared for an incompetent like him, and that he possessed considerable - though dormant - magic circuits. And, eventually, she would help him open them. But it seemed that there were other matters to attend to, as Marielle had invited him into the kitchen and sat him upon a barstool whilst he sipped his tea.

Einzbern-san, Satoshi stated after several seconds of deafening silence, unable to either contain his curiosity or refer to her as "sensei" so quickly after she had bullied him into this submissive position. "You mentioned going over the details of our agreement? What do you intend, then, by making me your student? I have no experience in magic, and am grateful you've agreed to be my teacher, but I can't pay you...I'm fairly sure you have more money than I've ever dreamed of having. So, you'll be teaching me for free, if we go through with this." He stated, demonstrating his mundane understanding of how magicians worked...magi embraced equivalent exchange, and to provide completely free services was out of the question for such an established magus.

And Satoshi Inoue would soon find that out.