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Chapter 28
🕑 Added 2025-07-07 16:06:38 +0000 UTCThe main lobby was... muddling, cluttered with statues of unrecognisable angels thrown in with no particular care for placement. From Cherubs, Thrones, to Seraphim, to even Cupid with the little arrows, there were statues of everything that could even remotely be related to the word 'angel'. They were strewn about all around us, watching, waiting.
You couldn't even avoid them by looking down because the marble was so clean it reflected their twisted visages fully. There was a spiral staircase just to our side, leading up to a second floor balcony with polished golden railings looking down on the whole lobby.
And... we weren't alone there either.
Waver stood a few steps ahead of us, a lit cigar in his mouth, conversing animatedly with a shriveled up fossil of man in a sleek, steel wheelchair. He had a balding scalp with long, grey, side hair neatly swept down to his neck and wore a black suit. A creepy, beady eyed kid in shorts and a blue vest stood behind him, clenching the handles of his wheelchair.
There was even someone unexpectedly familiar standing near one of the pillars.
Heine Istari. The Knight. A little girl barely older than Ellie clutched the cuffs of his white suit. Her shiny blonde hair, clear blue eyes and 'white' frilly dress told me she was probably that sister he mentioned. He was standing between her and a shinto priest looking youth, white flowing monk robes and all... I knew at first glance he was a crazy motherfucker because he also wore an eyepatch... like a certain magus that had forced her familiarity upon me.
He raised his head and his one eye twitched to Luviagelita. The next moment, he was standing in front of us, locked hands hidden under droopy sleeves. He tilted his head curiously.
"Might I know your name, fine lady? Coincidentally, mine's Tokitou Jiroubou Seigen. You can call me Seigen, only you." He spoke in heavily accented english, a toothy grin plastered on his face.
Unfortunately for him, his movement technique was a derivative of some magecraft. Expecting something like this, I'd made sure to lower my Mystic Eye Killers just enough before entering.
I put a hand to my chin.
"A near-instantaneous movement spell... No, a levitation and movement spell."
That was a fine addition to my arsenal. Wasteful and unrefined as his technique was, the speed alone far exceeded anything I currently knew. I could also refine it and cut out excess... later.
"Oh? Are you familiar with it? I will admit I did not expect as such from a magus with how... you see us monks as backwards. But well, I don't care for you. You're neither a pretty boy, nor a fine lady! Now that I look at her, this woman is also too old. Those boobs will sag anyw-"
I glanced at Luviagelita. Contrary to my expectations, it seemed her incredible tolerance for bullshit only extended to me. She raised a hand and the magic crest on her arm came to life with a proper roar, releasing an oppressive air that made the Japanese dude stumble back, visibly startled.
That spell... it was a Gandr shot.
"Wait! Wait! I'm sorry! I'll apologise!" He brought his hands together and did a perfect bow. "Please forgive me for my insolence!"
His words fell on deaf ears. A purplish bolt shot past his ear, singing some of his hair.
"Let that be a warning for the next time insulting one such as I crosses your idiot brain, you barbarian."
"Damn!" I coughed. "You gonna take that, lil bro? Now me personally, I wouldn't let that slide."
Luviagelita lightly shoved her elbow into my ribs. "You're supposed to react adversely when someone acts towards myself in such a manner."
That was true... but then again, why did she think I hadn't reacted?
"Oh ye of such little faith."
I scratched the back of my head and idly pointed a finger at the ground. Precisely, at the spell formation hover a few centimeters above the ground. "One more step, and Seigen over yonder would have experienced around 500 volts. He'd feel like Susanoo himself bitch slapped him across the fucking face."
"Woah. Why is everyone here so keen on brutally injuring each other at a moment's notice?!" Jiroubou protested, stumbling back further. "L-Let's all be friends, yeah?"
At those words, a slow, raspy laugh proliferated the lobby. I realised instantly it was coming from that weird looking fossil in a wheelchair. Luviagelita glared at the man with a hostile familiarity, I just looked between them, confused.
"You sure have some gall for saying that after attacking Heine over there..." The blotted, sickly skin stretched thin over his skull molded into a malformed grin as he brought a hand to hairless, wrinkled chin. "I suppose I will agree in this one case. This filthy mongrel deserves every insult."
It appeared they'd already had a conflict before we even entered the premises. I supposed it was only par for the course when such eccentric magi were gathered in one place.
Luviagelita tossed a lock of hair aside, "Orlocke, you old bag of bones. It's truly nothing short of a miracle that you still draw breath. Maybe leave magecraft for a career in grave-keeping with that face."
Holy... what was this insane shade all of a sudden? An excited grin crept across my face, one I made no effort to hide. There was no need to. Magi truly were amusing.
"Funny you mention grave-keeping, Edelfelt gnat!" The old man spat with an unsettling chuckle. "If it means I get to slap you upstart runts from robbing them, maybe I will. You corpse fisher. Have you come to stake a claim on my old friend's legacy?"
"Don't project your own failing mental capacities upon me, you moldy fossil. Your failing crest makes it paramount you acquire Ashborn's restoration techniques. I merely wish to grant that knowledge the honor of being among the lowest ranked treasure in my collection."
"Thief."
Luviagelita stared at me, expectation in her eyes.
"That's some wild ass shit to say for a paraplegic within punting distance. You think I won't hit a cripple?" I craned my neck, "Cause I will."
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Orlocke bit back, betraying his apparent weakness. Behind him, Waver desperately shook his head and made an X with arms, probably trying to stop me from messing with someone way above my league.
Truly, I envied his reasonable mind.
Instead of taking the professor's totally valid advice, I channelled the lessons I'd learnt by ghosting Krishna. Immediately, the words came to mind.
"No... but your sudden deflection to a lack of maternal presence in an unrelated conversation hints to a critical shortage of such a thing in your own life..." I looked him up and down, scanning him from head to toe. "Which explains why your ego is so fragile as to be hurt by the words of someone that's like a baby compared to your advanced age."
With not a single rude word, I had called him a motherless old fuck with self-esteem issues. Truly, Krishna was the true treasure of the Department of Modern Magecraft. There was no changing my mind on this anymore.
Orlocke gave me a befuddled look. Luviagelita did the same... Even Jiroubou.
"...Did I go too far?"
Quietly, I stepped to the side and wandered off to join Heine... I could still feel their stupefied gazes on my back with each step. They were shamelessly ignored. When I neared, Heine's sister let out a small whimper and hid behind her older brother.
The girl looked like doll, with pale skin and bright navy eyes like her brother's
"You were right. She's adorable."
Heine nodded in satisfaction before holding a hand out in greeting. "It's pleasant to see a familiar face. Rosalind, you don't need to be scared of him."
I gave it a firm shake. "Yeah, I also have one just like you back home. Your brother helped me out a while back so I wouldn't even think of harming you."
Like that, the number of people in this incident I absolutely could not touch became four. The Lord El-Melloi II. Luviagelita Edelfelt. The Istari siblings. Beyond a doubt, the hostility mulling in the air would explode, it was as if this place was designed to bring it out.
Slowly, the young girl nervously peeked out from behind her brother, both curious and cautious. With a gentle nudge from Heine, she stepped out of his shadow, tugging at her white dress as she gave me a bow, the sort you'd expect in a medieval society.
"Pleasure to meet ya. I can see why your brother adores you enough to do what he did."
"L-Likewise." She answered embarrassedly.
By then, the open hostility between Luviagelita and Orlocke ceased. They were still glaring at each other, but from separate corners of the lobby this time. Waver stood with Grey. And Jiroubou slowly wandered to us, an annoyed expression on his face.
"So he gets to flirt with her but you try to kill me when I do?"
I mechanically turned to look at him, failing to believe the absolutely vile shit that my ears seemed to have caught.
"...Flirt?" My smile froze. "You... flirted?"
...I had a sister that age too. That was the first thought to cross my mind.
Heine acted faster than I did, he tapped the pin on his neck. A marble sword shot from the wall next to us, aimed right at his head. Jiroubou easily dodged it by leaning off to the side, hands still locked together. What he could not dodge was the absolutely demonic hook I planted on his face after using his own technique to appear next to him. His eyepatch made sure he didn't even see it coming.
The japanese youth properly flew, tumbling into a wall as the servants in the way hurriedly moved aside to avoid becoming collateral damage.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! I-I... think my jaw is cracked." He miserably rubbed his bruised face. "You... I hope you don't expect me to take that lying down, yeah?!"
I felt zero remorse for my actions.
"Pedophile, die. Eat shit and die a horrible death."
"Have you heard of something called... you know, a joke?!"
He clenched his fist and the next I saw of him, he was standing upside down on the ceiling right above me, arms crossed. Luviagelita moved a hand to her chest.
Before the situation could devolve any further however, a woman's voice, graceful but harsh, cut into the tense, sticky air hanging about the lobby.
"Let us not stray from our purpose in coming here with trivialities and emotional dalliances."
Now, her, I did recognise. It was hard to forget someone that looked that eccentric. I'd seen her floating about the Policies Department before. Dragging that excessively long jet black hair behind her everywhere, it was longer than her own body for fuck's sake. Then there was the overly bright and colorful long-sleeved kimono, decorated with flowers.
I didn't know her name though. But, in her own way, she was far more unsettling than the openly sinister seeming Orlocke in that she seemed perfect in all ways, smiling cordially, polite and gentle of speaking, with a sort of beauty that didn't quite seem 'natural'.
"Tsk... So your lot are here too." Orlocke was the first to express his dissatisfaction, quickly followed by Luviagelita.
"Apostate."
"Call me what you will. But I have no interest in what you all seek. I am here solely to make certain that Lord Geryon Ashborn's will is enacted fairly, and fully."
"Who are you fooling with that?" Luviagelita spat, arms crossed under her chest. "If the will wasn't in place, your department would have torn this place to the ground under one claim or the other."
No one really held any affinity for the Department of Policies within the Clock Tower despite their powe-... no, it was because of their power that they were so despised. In a world where everyone was obsessed with their own research, their 'path' to the root. These so-called 'apostates' chose to openly abandon that goal, instead taking up the mantle of lawmakers and enforcers. To ensure that the ebb and flow of their world wasn't disturbed.
Naturally, magi, who would discard everything for their goal, would hate such people who applied to them rules, and enforced lines that were not to be crossed.
The woman ignored their protests and fixed the black glasses framing her eyes with a dainty, pale finger.
"For those of you unfamiliar with me, I am Hishiri Adashino. I represent the interests of the Department of Policy. Hereby, I declare the complete contents of Lord Geryon Ashborn's will."
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Comment ya thoughts on the chapter.
Comments
Bleap
Hopefully
Bob Smith
Great stuff as always🙏
Potato
Will he get his own true magic
