A/N: Deals still on, 500.
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The Holy Grail War.
A concept I was somewhat familiar with, even with my barely surface-level knowledge when about this world. A 'war' between heroes of legend, summoned into the present at the behest of seven magi to fight and bleed. The victor's reward, a wish from a supposedly omnipotent wish-granting device called the Holy Grail.
That was the sort of reward that spurred the 'servants', legendary tyrants, kings, gods, monsters, and slaughterers, into action. The sort of the reward that made them wage the kind of war the world had long forgotten about.
Sounded cool as hell. I definitely wanted to participate.
But, the familiarity I held with this world now made an omnipotent wish-granting device sound like a load of bull. No level of mystery could accomplish that in this day and age. That was the simple truth. I wasn't expecting much aside from some new spells to tinker with when I came to help the Professor, but it was more than worth it now.
I wanted a servant of my own. A couple, ideally. Maybe some famous wizard, or a dictator.
Atrum, despite his new amiable conduct, wasn't all that open to sharing any information with me either. He just gave me a nasty scowl and spit on the ground, clearly intent on just leading the way to the Twin Towers of the Iselma Family.
"That ritual should have faded by now." He muttered, glancing at the sky. "There's nothing to maintain it anymore."
A rainmaking ritual that let him, now me, control one of nature's fiercest elements.
"Maybe it's just natural rain now." I whistled, eyes averted like a man that totally wasn't responsible for it.
He stared at me idly. "You can feel the mana in the air..."
Oh yeah, there was that.
I just shrugged. "Can't help you there, man. It's min-...your ritual."
"You were just about to say mine, weren't you?"
I whistled harder.
"Dunno."
"Why must you Clock Tower magi be so infuriating?" He grumbled with clenched fists and picked up the pace, stomping through the fresh mud.
Lightning struck two steps ahead... of him. He let out a yelp and jumped back in a way that certainly did not suit a noble from a well-established family.
"Hah, I was merely startled." He stopped and stared at me again.
"Hey man, I never said you just screamed like a little girl."
"I did not-"
I smiled like an idiot. To confront me, meant to acknowledge that it indeed happened. He grumbled before giving up the matter entirely.
"Aw, no fun~"
He got fed up sooner than expected. And, because he couldn't do something about it, the rest of the walk was silent.
When we left the forest, the Twin Towers came into view in their complete glory. Two massive towers, one of ivory, one of gold, leaning towards each other in parallel but not quite touching as they pointed at distant skies. Even the outer walls were ornately patterned with precious metals made to look like closed flowers at the floor, and thorny stalks up above.
"First Adra, now this. They really do like to look special. Hm Hm, I totally support it."
"This is nothing." Atrum huffed, "You should see one of mine."
Even the double doors leading in were needlessly tall, as though they were specifically designed to make you feel small and insignificant when entering. The main lobby was laid with sparkling white tiles, gold chandeliers hung from the maroon ceiling and puppets played soft classic music all along the balconies.
I wondered what Luviagelita's mansions and castles looked like, since she'd been insistent that the Iselma Family was nowhere NEAR the Edelfelts when it came to wealth. She probably ate from golden plates... wait no, she was the type to eat a hamburger over a fine meal.
She... was just such a fine woman. If I somehow fumbled that, I was positive future me would find a way to mail me a nuke or something. Or, would it be his fault since...
I shook my head, pushing away the intrusive thoughts.
The concerned parties awaited us at the bottom of the grand stairway leading into the tower. Inorai Valualeta Atroholm, dressed in a long green dress like usual, just with the addition of a folding fan. The Professor with Gray attached to him like usual. His weirdo sister, Reines. Finally, Byron Valualeta Iselma, the Lord of this land.
There were also a couple of people I was unfamiliar with.
A terribly beautiful fair-skinned woman in a sleeveless, purple flower dress with silver hair that flowed down to her back, her eyes were hidden behind a thin see-through gown laden with flowers but even from what I could see, she was insanely beautiful. The sort of beauty that was almost unsettling, and creeped me out to the point where I wasn't even able to look at her for long. A silver-haired maid stood behind her, eyes lowered respectfully.
The woman raised her head curiously, and offered a polite nod.
"This is my daughter, the Princess of Silver, Estella." Byron introduced her to me after glaring at Atrum for a fraction of a second. "It was her sister that Lady Reines is accused of murdering. Atop that, we also found her with the corpse of Regina, my other daughter's maid. The last person to see them together."
"Like I said, I stand to gain nothing from..." Reines quickly piped down.
But, it was too late.
"Oh? A family aligned with the Barthomeloi stands to gain nothing from crippling us?" Byron shot back calmly. "I'm afraid no one here is so easily misled, Lady."
I put a hand to my chin and pursed my lips.
"Professor, this is a fantastic world, you know? Get caught up in a conflict with some legend where you almost end up dying. Why is it always murder mysteries?"
The Professor put his already lit cigar to his mouth, "I would like to know that as well. But, the evidence raised against Reines is only circumstantial, backed only by convenient conjecture from biased viewpoints. First and foremost, I don't think my sister has the ability for something like this."
Reines gave him an indignant stare but otherwise kept shut, knowing not to speak out.
Inorai nodded in greeting, I nodded back. Then, the old magus smiled mischievously. She definitely had something to do with the whole situation and she was making sure I knew that.
"It feels like I'm in some mystery flick. Quite exciting, if I do say."
As always, her words were amiable and gentle, and yet, EVERYONE was on guard against her. She was one of the Twelve Lords. A proper one, unlike my professor. Someone who ruled a place like the Clock Tower couldn't possibly be just a 'nice old lady'.
"Stop playing around. I want my relic back."
"Buddy..." I put a hand on his shoulder. "Shut up, you can throw your tantrum after we're done here."
He grumbled again.
"I'm gonna fold you like an omelette."
After a moment of awkward silence, he spoke through grit teeth, clenched fists and all that, "...I will remember this."
I turned back to the gathered people with a clap.
"Now, before anything else, I really want to meet that Grand."
At that, all of them showed varying levels of confusion, almost as if they'd forgotten that said Grand was even among them to begin with... or were only now noticing their absence. Even the Professor seemed genuinely troubled by the realisation.
Grand... A Magus sitting above even Brand, the rank which the Twelve Lords were at. I imagined that came with a lot of privileges. They were supposed to be the apex of all magi in any era, and I sincerely doubted such things as rules even applied to them.
I wanted to meet such a person from the bottom of my heart. A person who had attained those heights I sought myself through magecraft. Such a 'programmer' would surely have the most perfect 'code'. And, a code that wasn't shitty was always worthwhile.
"Oh, an admirer of mine? This is rare."
A curious whisper from beside my ear.
When I turned, I found a pale woman standing a couple steps away from me, with red hair tied in a simple pony and equally red eyes framed by a pair of round glasses like my own. She wore a small white dress that barely even reached her knees and was unzipped, giving ample view of her cleavage.
She smiled gracefully with a tilt of her head.
"Oh. You're an interesting one. Mystic Eyes. Powerful ones. And those glasses..."
The next second, my aviators were in her hands.
"This is one of my designs. Oh?" She opened them up and stared through, right at Inorai, "This is the kid you bought them for?"
I didn't know what she'd done, but it was troubling to even move or breathe. I looked around haphazardly, and my gaze landed on a script inscribed on my arm.
'Mannaz'
A rune. A rune that let her manipulate my body.
Unlike more elaborate magecrafts, Runes were tied to their meanings in effects, this made them a lot more rigid, but also a lot more devastating depending on the caster's interpretation. And the interpretation of a Grand was cause for some concern.
Oh well.
I flushed it with chaos, and the rune faded away. This made the Grand magus raise a brow. I took the time to scan her, as Infinity formed around me. Despite her station, now that I'd laid eyes on her AND activated my defenses, pulling something like that again wasn't going to be easy.
With my affinity for the Imaginary Numbers, creating near-infinite pockets within the barrier was rudimentary, and functionally the same as dividing the space due to the lack of space-time in the Imaginary Numbers Space. Atop that, each time I used Infinity, the next cast became easier, more efficient.
"You... deciphered it? Not just that, you even flooded it at the seams... That level of control deserves recognition." She tossed my Mystic Eye Killers back at me and put a hand against her hips. Instead of putting them back on, I pocketed them. "That's an impressive barrier. Reminds me of one of my classmates."
She wrote the same rune in the air. This time, it did nothing.
You know... maybe... maybe Caren was right to call me a Honey Badger.
I grinned.
"So... Are you gonna keep yapping or actually do something? Cause for a Grand, you're behaving an awful lot like some that got abandoned by daddy and now blames the world for it."
Her smile widened considerably.
"Oof, hit the nail on the head there, boy." Inorai giggled into her palm.
"Don't giggle like a high schooler, teacher. It looks creepy." The Grand frowned before turning back to me. "You're provoking me? To what end?"
Oh my fucking God, she was acting like she didn't just clown on me and completely disregard my personal space to sate her own curiosity. Who the hell pulled someone's glasses off, and froze their whole bodily function, and not expect to get punched in the fucking mouth for it by even the kindest person.
And, I was the farthest thing from being the kindest person, I was the pettiest bitch to live and breathe so help me God. Yeah, I often did the same, but I never even pretended that the other person wasn't justified in kicking my shit in for it... or at least trying to.
Very well, a fight was my ideal learning environment, where I was able to force the other person to pull out all the stops, then steal those very stops from right under them.
I put on a nasty grin, and jabbed a finger through the air.
"No, you did that yourself when you worked up the courage to step outside your room with a face not even your father could bring himself to love. What else? You got outdone by your kid sibling?"
Inorai's face dropped just a bit at that. A sudden chill descended upon the lobby, as if I'd just said something that warranted an immediate death sentence.
"Touko, he doesn't know-"
At that point, the Grand removed her own glasses, and tossed them aside.
"Simmer down, upstart. There's some things that you just don't say, and I'm going to kill you for saying them." The now named Grand, Touko, cracked her knuckles. "These politicians might tolerate you... but I don't gain or lose anything from it. So, yeah, blame yourself. I'm going to enjoy this. A lot. Thanks for giving me an excuse."
I realised then... that this was exactly what she wanted right from the start. She was instigating. For the exact same reasons, she wanted to study me.
Inorai snapped. "Touko Aozaki, as your teacher, I am telling you to let it go."
"No, I don't think I will."
Atrum, as egotistic as he was, hastily left my side, joining the Professor and Byron even though he'd been in conflict with them not a few moments ago.
"Then, Henry, apologise if you want to live."
"Nah… I'd win."
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Hope you enjoyed.
You can find 7 GIRTHY chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap