by D. S. Craig
D.S. Craig
Reincarnated as a Familiar Volume 3
First published by Ranobe Press 2021
Copyright © 2021 by D.S. Craig
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
D.S. Craig asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
D.S. Craig has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
First edition
Illustration by Yura's arts
Editing by Greythorne Edits
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Contents
Acknowledgement
The Story Until Now
Prologue
Lesti’s Challenge
Sparring Match
Gardens and Letters
Malkael’s Magic
A Lonely Nightmare
Rose
Fever and Progress
Getting Closer
Rose’s Situation
Gathering Info
Secret Summons
Requesting Assistance
Finding a Spy
Bets and Tours
Elliot’s Party
Aurelia’s Battle
Battling Assassins
Rose’s Resolve
Decisive Battle
Reunited
Epilogue
Newsletter & Social Media
Artist Information
Acknowledgement
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, it’s how important a good support network is. This third volume of Reincarnated as a Familiar met quite a few challenges, personal and craft related, during production. It’s only thanks to my friends and family, who supported me along the way, that I was able to keep going and get it finished. Thank you all for always being there for me.
The Story Until Now
My name is Astria, and I’m an Astral Cat. I actually used to be a human, a grade school teacher, in fact. However, one day, I died in an accident and found myself surrounded by darkness. I thought that would be the end of me, but suddenly, some strange voice started talking to me.
The next thing I know, I’m in a completely different world, with magic and everything. Even more unbelievable is that I was stuck in the body of a cat! A young red-headed girl called Lesti broke the school rules and summoned me as her familiar. In fact, she almost got kicked out of school. Thankfully, it turned out that I was pretty special, and they let her stay.
It took me a while to adjust to this new world, but every day was exciting. I slowly got to know more about Lesti and my new powers. Skell, a massive black dragon that lives in the caves under the school, trained me. Lesti and I even managed to discover a new way to use magic circles to learn instruction-based magic more quickly.
But not everything went smoothly. A jealous classmate of Lesti’s kidnaped me. Of course, she rescued me, but in the struggle, a malformed summoning circle was activated, and an archdemon named Thel’al showed up. We fought hard and nearly defeated him, but my power ran out at the crucial moment, and he escaped.
After that, Lesti passed her practical exam with flying colors, earning herself the second seat in her entire year. With her ranking shooting up, she moved into the first class, where she met Aurelia.
Lesti quickly became friends with the girl, and we quickly found ourselves dragged into her problems. Not only was Aurelia secretly raising an elemental hound named Fang out in the city, but she was part of a smuggling operation too. However, that wasn’t her choice.
It turned out that Aurelia was actually the head of the Mori clan’s daughter. She was being used as a political prisoner by Lord Dawster, who was behind the smuggling ring. Even worse, his smuggling ring had been infiltrated by Thel’al’s agents.
After discovering this, we laid out a plan to crush the smuggling ring and save Aurelia, but our opponents struck before we could. A man named Ulrich brought all the gathered beasts to attack the school. He also enslaved Fang, transforming him into a massive monster.
Lesti, Aurelia, and I managed to barely rescue Fang and turn him back to normal, thanks to a little intervention from whoever had sent me to this world. However, we couldn’t save the other magical beasts that had been enslaved. The headmistress was forced to put them all down to protect the school, and Ulrich got away.
It wasn’t the victory we wanted, but it wasn’t a complete loss either. We managed to save Fang and free Aurelia from Lord Dawster’s grip. We also managed to help Fang become Aurelia’s familiar. I’m sure more challenges are awaiting us, but now that we’ve got some new friends by our side, I’m confident we can overcome them!
Prologue
A young girl stood before two sturdy wooden doors, staring at them as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. The excessively large hallways of the manor only helped fuel her feeling of isolation. She wanted to run away, but her feet wouldn’t move. Deep down, she knew she would have to face them eventually. That hardly made her feel any better.
Finally, after standing there for some time, she summoned her courage and knocked on the door.
From inside, a man’s voice called out to her. “Come in.”
By the tone of his voice, she could tell he was already irritated, which didn’t bode well for her. That realization caused her to tense up, but she didn’t hesitate. Doing so would only raise his anger. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open and stepped into the large office.
Directly in front of her, a man wearing noble clothing sat behind a desk reading through several documents. For a long while, he ignored her existence and continued reading. While he did that, she scanned the room for the other presence that always accompanied the man, but it was nowhere to be found. The girl let out a sigh of relief, then straightened and said, “You called for me, my lord?”
Hearing her voice, he crumpled the paper in his hands, tossing it into the fireplace behind him with a sneer before glaring at her. “So, you’ve finally arrived. Has your time at the academy made you forget your manners already?”
The girl quickly but fluidly reached down and tugged gently on her skirt as she curtsied. “My apologies, my lord. I came as soon as I received your message. However, being unfamiliar with the city as I am, I struggled to find the location. Please forgive my tardiness.”
“That’s better. Very well, I’ll forgive your rudeness this time.” Despite his words, the irritated look on the man’s face didn’t relax at all. “Well, let’s get down to business, then. I haven’t got all day. Have you managed to make any progress in using that ability of yours?”
The girl’s heart sank at his question. There was no way she would be able to produce results so quickly. She hadn’t even been enrolled at the academy for a year. Between orientation, tests, and the chaos that happened in the fall and winter, she barely had any time to focus on the task the man had given her. Still, she knew it was pointless to make excuses.
Lowering her h
ead, she curtsied once more. “I’m sorry, my lord. I still haven’t managed to make any progress as of yet. However, I do have some ideas that I’m going to try now that spring has arrived. I plan to start a gard—”
“I don’t care how you get it done, girl!” The man slammed his hands on the desk, cutting her off. “Just get it done!”
“Yes, my lord. I will not disappoint you.”
“I know you won’t.” The man’s reply was filled with confidence, carrying a dark edge that only the girl would understand. He stared at her for a brief moment, the disdain clear on his face. However, his look soon morphed into something more akin to concern—or more accurately, fear. “At any rate, I’ve heard that there have been a number of disturbances at the academy as of late. You haven’t been getting yourself involved in anything risky, have you?”
His question brought memories of a particular night in the fall racing back to her. It still felt like a complete dream, that insane battle between the tiny Astral Cat, her master, and the archdemon that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was all too much to believe, but she had seen it with her own eyes.
The Astral Cat’s master had already been relatively famous at the academy. But since then, she had become a rather hot topic amongst the first-year students. Not only had she fought toe-to-toe with an archdemon, but she had taken second place in the fall practical test. From that day forward, she had gone out of her way to avoid meeting the girl. Attention was the last thing that she needed right now.
“No, my lord. If anything, the chaotic events of the last several months have helped to draw attention away from me.”
“I see.” At her words, the man’s irritation seemed to finally lessen somewhat. “That’s good to hear at least. Plus, there’s the bonus of that Gambriel brat getting knocked off his high horse.” The man smiled, seeming to relish the woes of the former second-ranked student that the Astral Cat’s master had displaced. “Speaking of which, he hasn’t approached you at all, has he?”
The girl shook her head. “No. Master Elliot continues to keep his distance. I haven’t had any contact with him outside of greetings in passing.”
“Very good. Let’s hope it stays that way then.” With that, the man reached over and picked up another piece of parchment off the desk, beginning to read it. “I have no further questions. You’re dismissed.”
“Yes, my lord.” Seeing her chance to escape, the girl quickly curtsied and spun on her heel, heading for the door.
Just as she reached for the handle, the man called out from behind her. “Oh, yes. Rose, one last thing.”
“My lord?” The girl turned and looked back at him, her hand still partially outstretched.
The man didn’t look up from his paper, but his dark tone said everything it needed to. “My patience is not infinite. You’ll need to produce results soon. Otherwise…” He didn’t bother to finish his sentence. He didn’t need to. She already knew what would happen if she failed.
Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves, she squeezed out the best reply she could. “Yes. I promise that I will succeed.” Then, without waiting for a response she pulled open the door, fleeing the manor as quickly as she could.
Lesti’s Challenge
Fang and I stared each other down. Each of us stood on desks on opposite sides of the classroom we were in. Lesti and Aurelia were the only other people in the room, but neither even looked at us. A quiet, calm sort of tension filled the air as we each threw ourselves into the tasks we were assigned.
Nearly a month had passed since we had performed the bonding ritual and turned Fang into Aurelia’s familiar. She now sported a purple crest in the shape of a howling wolf on the back of her hand, similar to the silver one that Lesti had. With the ritual completed, the headmistress gave Aurelia her permission to keep him on campus.
The whole incident had caused quite an uproar, from my understanding. Not only had another student gained their familiar early, but it was a close friend of Lesti’s. Many of the noble families complained about favoritism. However, with time, the complaints had faded into the background. Some of the students looked at Aurelia and Lesti with disdain and whispered rumors behind their backs, but the girls ignored them. They had more pressing matters on their minds.
Our failure to save the magical beasts that Thel’al had enslaved had left a significant impression on the pair. With everything else settled, they had immediately gotten back honing their skills. In fact, I was worried they might be going a little overboard at times. If they had their way, almost every waking minute they weren’t in class would be spent training. On several occasions, I stepped in and forced them to take a break, lest they burn out.
Lesti had been studying the magical runes inscribed on the collars and anklets Fang had been wearing, not to mention any other examples the headmistress would let her get her hands on. Of course, she wasn’t working with the genuine articles. Due to how dangerous they were, they had been left in the care of Frederick, and he had transcribed the runes onto parchment for her.
With those in hand, she had been working her way through deciphering the runes at a breakneck pace. Apparently, she only had a handful left. Still, there was something strange about the structure of the spells that she didn’t understand. This was especially true in the case of the runes that had been on Fang’s collar and anklets. The crazy effects of those spells were so complex that Lesti couldn’t wrap her head around how it all worked together, even though she now understood the individual runes.
On the other hand, Aurelia continued with the training that I had given her back before the attack, manipulating her own magical energy. Unfortunately, she hadn’t made nearly as much progress as Lesti had in her studies, but at the very least, she was now able to vaguely sense her own magical energy. When she wasn’t working on that, she was training with Fang to build up their combat synergy. It was honestly a sight to behold. The pair were so in sync that it would be easy to believe they were of one mind.
As for Fang and I, we had been sparring regularly to train our own combat skills. The pup had grown faster and stronger as time had passed, and with all the training we had been doing had finally gotten past his clumsy puppy stage. He had become a force to be reckoned with, striking at his opponents using a surprising amount of agility and coordination. The reason I was focusing on him so hard right now was that we were in the middle of a training session. I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off him for a second.
Showing his youthful vigor, the pup decided to make the first move, dashing toward me with a sudden burst of speed. I was ready for his attack; as soon as he moved to jump across the gap between the desks, I struck. Lunging with all my strength, I slammed into the pup mid-air and wrapped my front legs around his neck, and we both fell to the ground.
Once we had landed, he let a small surprised yelp as I dug my back paws into his soft belly and bit him right on the neck. Of course, I hadn’t extended my claws or bitten down enough to injure him, but I took his yelp as a sign of surrender and released him. Standing up and shaking off, he walked over and laid down by Aurelia to review our session.
Aurelia looked down at him with a soft smile as he laid next to her, pouting. “Of course you’re gonna lose if you rush in. You have to be smarter than that.”
Fang’s only response was a soft growl, but it caused Aurelia to giggle. Unlike me, Fang wasn’t considered a high level familiar, so the only person he could speak to telepathically was Aurelia. Still, I had a good idea of how he thought after spending so much time with him and could guess what he was saying.
“I’m not going to let you win, Fang.” I shot him a stern glare as I cleaned myself. “That would defeat the purpose of the training and cause you to let your guard down when it really counted.”
The only response I got was him turning his gaze away from me as if I didn’t exist with a snort. What are you, some sort of defiant teenager? He had been acting like that a lot more lately. It probably had something to do with him tra
nsitioning out of his puppy phase, but man, was it annoying.
Ignoring him, I turned and headed over to Lesti to check on how her research was going. She sat at one of the desks near the front of the classroom staring at a large piece of parchment while scribbling notes. Her focus was so intense I wasn’t sure I should interrupt her, but as soon as I approached, she looked up at me and sat her pen down.
“Are you done bullying Fang?”
“It’s not bullying! It’s training!” I swatted at her in mock anger.
“Rarf!”
“Oh, don’t give me that! You know I’m doing my best to be gentle.” I glared at Fang quickly before turning my attention back to Lesti. “And you, stop encouraging him like that!”
“Haha. Sorry. It’s just way too much fun to see you get all flustered.” Seeing her bright smile, it was hard to stay mad at her. Once she was done teasing me, her face lit up with excitement. “Anyway, listen to this. I think I’m close to making a breakthrough!”
“Really? That’s great!”
“Yeah! Remember those runes that I couldn’t figure out the purpose for? Well, it turns out they’re a form of joining clause,” she started explaining her findings excitedly as I did my best to follow along. “You see, I think the spells that we’re dealing with here aren’t single spells at all. Instead, I believe they are a series of simpler spells that are joined together by these other runes with different conditions and outcomes!”
Tilting my head to the side, I tried my best to come up with an example to make sure I understood the concept. “So, you could combine spells like my Power Cat and Speed Boost into a single spell?”
Lesti nodded, eyes still lighting up with excitement. “That’s absolutely right! Although it is perhaps the most simple example. A more complex example would be to break down a spell into its components and then enhance it. Take Aqua Sphere, for example. If you break it down into its components, it will look something like this.”
