Louie the Rune Soldier 0 (novel)

Louie the Rune Soldier 0
Author	Ryo Mizuno
Illustrations	Mamoru Yokota
Japanese title	魔法戦士リウイ０
Romanized title	mahō senshi riui 0
Publication information
Original release	20 March 2003
Chapters	Girls Meet Girls The Priestess of the War God The Lady Mercenary Cat's Eyes Quest For The Hero
Pages	276
ISBN-13	978-4829115008
Novels
Next →	Louie the Rune Soldier 1

Louie the Rune Soldier 0 is a light novel written by Ryo Mizuno and illustrated by Mamoru Yokota. It was released as part of the first series of Louie the Rune Soldier novels, and serves as a prequel. The story follows the three adventuring girls Melissa, Merrill and Genie before they met Louie.

Synopsis

Story 1: Girls Meet Girls
　While in Phan, the capital city of Orphan, Genie spots a young brunette steal money from a blond priestess. Genie gives chase to the thief, catches up with her and retrieves the purse. She returns the purse to the blond priestess, who introduces herself as Melissa. When Genie informs Melissa what happened, Melissa more or less explains she has been letting the thief steal her purse from a couple of times in succession.

　Elsewhere, the thief, Merrill, learns from Samus that Melissa had once caught and captured a fellow thief who spilled the beans on her, saying that Merrill is trying to steal money to pay back a debt. Merrill feels humiliated and goes after Melissa.

　Meanwhile, Melissa has asked Genie to become her travelling companion and Genie accepts. At that moment Merrill arrives and she wants to fight Melissa. Melissa accepts her request for a duel, but once it starts Merrill doesn't move and Melissa slowly approaches her and lays her hand on her shoulder, then proclaims victory. Merrill then becomes part of the team.

Story 2: The Priestess of the War God
　The second story delves more into Melissa's past, her first meeting with Conrad and her decision to leave her family behind and start adventuring.

　In the kingdom of Ramliearth Prince Flarehorn and his cousin Auzarl Radcliffe DeSard are fighting over the succession of the throne since the king's death. DeSard is defeated and killed in battle. Before he dies he sees Elystia and Melissa in his mind.

　A knight called Daniel reports this to Melissa. With Flarehorn victorious, this marks the first time that someone with magic skills would ascend the Ramliearth throne. Suddenly several mage knights of Ramliearth arrive at Melissa's mansion and want to investigate the house to look for any traitors. Melissa and the mage knight argue about this for a while until one mage knight steps forward and calls out his colleague for his behaviour towards Melissa. The mage knight is Conrad. Then, Daniel allows the mage knights to investigate the area.

　Among the mage knights was Conrad, and he immediately took a liking to Melissa. So much that when he got home, he asked his father to arrange a marriage with her. Melissa's father, Ankar Diplo, accepts the marriage proposal and has his daughter send to the Merceria mansion, but Melissa isn't happy with his decision and wonders if her father uses her for political reasons. Diplo did not side with Flarehorn in the recent war.

　After spending some time at the mansion, Conrad suggests he and Melissa play a game in the garden, where there are bushes placed in the shape of a maze. Melissa gets to go in first, Conrad follows later. If he catches her before she reaches the exit, he wins. Conrad, however, doesn't give Melissa as much starting time as he initially suggested and manages to catch her before she reaches the exit. Suddenly, five former men of Viscount Auzarl appear. Melissa believes this to be the moment where Conrad can prove to her he as what she seeks, a valiant hero. Though Conrad does take out most of the men with magic, one of the men is able to strike Conrad, who begins to scream when he sees blood. Melissa then simply deals with the man by kicking his leg, which causes him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

　Because of these events, Melissa has come to understand her father's motives. He wanted to become family of the Mercerias to protect the young king and sent Melissa to control Conrad, the heir. Melissa does not want to accept such a fate, but wonders if this makes her selfish. She calls out to Myrii, the god of war, who answers. Not much later, Melissa rides off to Orphan to find a true hero to serve.

Characters appearing

Story 1

• Genie
• Melissa
• Merrill
• Samus

Story 2

• Auzarl Radcliffe DeSard
• L’Estany
• Melissa
• Daniel
• Conrad
• Marquis Merceria
• Ankar Diplo

Gallery

Artwork from the novel.

Merrill and Melissa Melissa with Daniel Merrill, Genie and Melissa Chapter 1 illustration with Merrill Merrill vs Genie Merrill Chapter 2 illustration with Melissa Melissa and a Mage Knight Melissa and Conrad Melissa, Conrad and an assailant Chapter 3 illustration with Genie Chapter 4 illustration with Merrill Merrill, Samus and the Master Merrill and Samus Merrill Smurf and the Infinity Seekers Merrill and some Infinity Seekers Chapter 5 illustration with Merrill Merrill