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"That's a relief. You scared the hell out of me just now. Remember to treat me to dinner tomorrow to make up for my wounded heart!!" Hearing her words, Aoko heaved a sigh of relief, squeezed the pillow in her arms, and complained good-naturedly.
"...Aoko. Are you sure you want to read these two books?" Alice hesitated for a moment, then said, her expression serious.
"Of course I want to read it if it's not cursed. This book is so attractive to me, it must be something good!" Aoko said nonchalantly.
Aoko, the spiritual successor to Gian's 'what's good is mine' philosophy, wouldn't let a good thing slip away.
"Speaking of which, why are you so nervous? Is there something wrong with the contents of this book?" Aoko asked, a look of surprise on her face as she looked at the serious Alice.
"By borrowing these two books, you'll owe that True Magic User a debt you can never repay. Hmm, even offering yourself wouldn't be enough," Alice said, her expression impassive, her tone filled with a serious gravity.
"Huh?" Aoko blinked, staring blankly at Alice.
"This grimoire? Is it that precious? There are a ton of them in the study!" Aoko said, a look of bewilderment on her face as she looked at the book in Alice's hands.
"One is by Shiva, one of the three great gods of India, the god of destruction. The other is likely a secret text of the Arthurian royal family of Britain. The secret techniques of a god and the ultimate techniques of King Arthur... unless you use your family's magic to pay off the debt, you'll never be able to repay this favor," Alice said, her tone flat.
"Gulp!" Aoko swallowed hard, her heart filled with panic.
Damn it, she'd already read a part of it. It was because the techniques were so suited to her tastes that she'd kept thinking of possessing the two books.
The young woman was completely unaware that it was because Haru knew she possessed an 'Origin' similar to destruction that he had specifically extracted these two deduced books from his memory.
"It seems you've already read it," Alice said, glancing at Aoko's face. Two years of living together had honed her ability to read Aoko's mind through her expressions. A single glance was enough to guess most of her thoughts.
"Ahahaha~" Aoko scratched the back of her head, her face a mask of embarrassment. After a long moment, she took a deep breath, clasped her hands together, and bowed deeply to Alice.
"Keep it a secret for me!"
A delicate eyebrow arched. Alice squinted, looking at Aoko's sincere face, and sighed.
In her view, what was the point of keeping it a secret? Not only did Haru already know, but once Aoko felt a sense of guilt and indebtedness to Haru for reading these books, she wouldn't be far from falling.
From a magus's perspective, it would be better to be direct, to exchange the body Haru most desired for this precious knowledge. At least that way, her heart would remain free.
"Aoko, you're really half-baked," Alice said with a sigh, standing up and leaving the room.
After the door closed.
"I know, I know everything," Aoko said, hugging her pillow and collapsing onto the bed, her expression complicated.
In the end, she was just a half-baked True Magic User. In her past sixteen years of normal life, chastity was exceptionally important to a young woman.
————
Creak!
Alice, holding a fairy tale book, slowly pushed open the living room door and returned to the artificial ley line.
Seeing Haru, who was still in a state of contemplation on the sofa, she silently walked to his side and slowly sat down.
The soft rustle of turning pages slowly filled the air.
————
"Phew~~~ That should be it for now." Haru let out a long sigh, leaned back, and rested against the sofa.
He now had a basic understanding of time manipulation. But the bigger progress was on the issue of power consumption. The rest would have to be settled at the Root.
However, Haru remembered that the Aozaki family's Blue had many overlapping parts with the First Magic, time. If he could obtain the Fifth Magic, it would be of great benefit to his research.
But the old Aozaki magus was still hiding in the timeline, and Aoko hadn't awakened yet, so she couldn't use her magic at all.
Even if he obtained the energy within the current Aoko's body, without the training, the magic wouldn't be able to inscribe the training memory into the energy. And using his cheat egg to deduce it would only yield the miscellaneous skills Aoko already knew, like her magic bullets.
Whether he waited for the old magus to return to reality, or for Aoko, he'd have to wait for some time.
Haru leaned back against the sofa, his thoughts drifting.
As he relaxed, the parchment on the tea table, which had been tormented for several hours, finally got its wish and dissolved into a faint, fluorescent light, slowly dissipating into the atmosphere.
"Finished?" a cold, questioning voice sounded in his ear.
Hearing the voice, Haru turned his head, his calm gaze falling on Alice beside him. His pupils constricted slightly.
"Ah, I'm done," Haru said, his expression a little strange.
Alice, who had been separated from him by the distance of two adults, was now sitting only two fists away, quietly flipping through a book. This naturally filled him with confusion.
What had happened while he was studying magic? How long had he been studying?
"Sorry, I got distracted."
Haru subconsciously glanced at the antique clock on the right side of the living room, saw the time, and realized he'd been ignoring Alice for three hours. His face froze for a moment, and he said, his tone apologetic.
"It's fine," Alice said, slowly closing the fairy tale book, her expression calm.
The young woman's slightly childish face was still a mask of impassivity, which, coupled with the book in her hands, gave her a strange, bookish air, like a literary girl, untouched by the world.
"There's something I wanted to ask. The contract we signed yesterday didn't specify a date for the return of my familiars," Alice said, her tone still as calm as a still well.
But a flicker of displeasure crossed her delicate face, and she turned her head slightly to the right, leaving Haru with only her perfect, unadorned profile.
Haru blinked. Was it his imagination? He seemed to see a pouting little wife.
"Ahem." Haru cleared his throat twice and, with a soft snap of his fingers, two test tubes materialized before Alice.
They were specially modified magical containers, holding the Oil of the Moon and the Rose Hound.
"For your good attitude on your first day of work, I'll let you hold on to your payment for now," Haru said, his lips curving into a faint smile.
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