I, unfortunately, had to go back to that ridiculous store to purchase some materials. They way they treated me really grated on my nerves, and I couldn't actually get angry because they were nothing but polite.
Realistically, I knew they couldn't possibly know my feelings, but my annoyance still simmered under the surface. It's not like I would take it out on people only doing their jobs…..but it just made me not want to be there and perhaps that shone through my expressions.
Well, it wasn't entirely bad…..I did find something interesting and got it on an impulse.
I did make a promise to myself to learn stage magic, I figured it could be a little hobby of mine….but I seemed to put the cart before the horse.
"I shall name you – Sir Wigglesbottom fluffytail Octavius Benedict III." I held a rabbit up to the sky as it scrunched its little nose cutely. "Or just Sir Wiggles for short."
Because it wiggled its little butt at me when I first saw it.
Did I mention this thing was intelligent?
[Really?]
"Fuck you, it's a good name."
[What happened to the other two?]
"We don't speak of them."
I sat Sir Wiggles down next to me and he was content to stay by my side. I asked him previously if he wanted to come with me, I promised to take care of all his needs and find him a worthy mate, so he seemed to accept.
From what the salesperson told me, his mother was a Jackrabbit, which was obvious by the small little antlers growing on his head. But apparently on his father's side, he is a very – very distant relation to Tepoztecatl.
[I can't believe you made him your familiar.]
"I can't believe you even question something like that at this point."
[Touché.]
It's not like I 'need' a familiar….and I can't help that I fell in love with the little guy the moment I saw him. Frankly, I'm a cat person, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate other little animals.
I took out a head of lettuce that I still had from Skyrim and peeled off a few pieces to place down infront of him.
"Alright, just don't go too far out, I'm setting up some magic stuff I don't want you to get hurt or anything." I rubbed its little head with my finger.
I think it nodded at me, and the 'link' I had with him due to making him my familiar kind of gave the impression he understood.
I just nodded and moved to the spots I marked yesterday.
Surprisingly, it wasn't hard to turn something into a familiar. If it didn't have enough sapience, then it couldn't resist you at all, if it was intelligent enough, it simply had to agree and boom, new familiar. Hell, the magical formulas were known practically world-wide.
[You know what? I hope you make him the most powerful rabbit that ever lived.]
I paused. "Ddraig…..that is one of the greatest ideas you've ever had." I resolved to teach him magic in the future…..after I learned how to pull him out of my hat.
Is it considered cheating if I use actual magical to pull him out?
Taking out a large steel pillar, I hefted it up and slammed it into the marked location, making sure it was nice and steady.
Making sure it was all perfect, I did the same to the other four points around my house to set up the first boundary layer.
I would start off by drawing Runes on each pillar to reinforce several concepts around my home. Both to protect it from the outside and inside.
Should I include a geass that forcibly latches onto anyone I invite inside? A contract that is accepted when an invitation is extended, and they agree to cross my threshold.
Guest rites.
It was a common notion across many civilizations, even if it usually goes by other names.
A curious thought, I could probably force people to act within certain bounds if they are invited inside….on the flip side I would also be bound by such limitations. But then again, I wouldn't exactly start a battle with anyone I willingly invited inside.
Well, I should probably focused on external defenses right, hell, I don't even have any furniture yet.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted, as I felt space near me vibrate and bend in certain ways that indicated someone manipulating it.
My head snapped to the side as I saw a young man pop over, the vibrations along the world were very hard to miss. There was no teleportation circle, no blatant magical phenomena as he appeared.
He wore what looked like a school uniform with a cliché wizard's robe over it. Honestly, he appeared rather mundane, like if you told any random kid he was a wizard, that was how he would pretty much dress.
"Hello." He greeted me, with a surprisingly amount of openness.
I raised an eyebrow. "Greetings."
"I'm Georg Faust." He said simply.
I blinked for a moment, searching my memories. "Named after the historical one?"
"Yup, I'm his descendant." He seemed rather happy to say that little tidbit.
Well, I can't exactly fault him for having pride in his origin. I mean, I named myself Schweinorg…..but even still, I don't go around calling myself Zelretch.
I remembered…..some things about this kid, some kind of magical prodigy, and he had a Sacred Gear….one I couldn't quite recall off the top of my head. It's not like I have a perfect memory, and I had quite a few things shoved in my head from my 'awakening'.
"What can I do for you, Georg?" I stood up, giving him my full attention.
"Well….." He paused for a moment. "Sorry, I'm not really good at this, usually it's someone else doing this part." He scratched the back of his head. "I kind of wanted to invite you to join the faction I'm in?" He seemed unsure of himself, yet he still had a strange amount of confidence in the way he stood there.
"Pardon?" I was a bit confused here.
"Well, I'm a part of the 'Hero Faction' we're basically descendants of heroes or reincarnations. Or just 'humans' that want to protect humanity from the supernatural." He explained.
"Okay…..some issues with that. I'm not a 'hero' or whatever, and I'm only half human." Hero Faction? I seemed to recall them now…not something I gave much thought until this moment.
"Well, you're still half." He said with a smile. "We care more about like-minded people. And from what I could find out, you aren't part of the devil faction and even suffered at their hands."
"Suffered?" I repeated the word. "What exactly do you know about me, I'm not really famous."
"Actually –" He pushed up his glasses. " –You got rather popular recently. Your father is one of the strongest in the world, do you think being his son isn't going to draw attention? We're not the only ones that were gathering information on you…"
Well, fuck. Who is spreading information on me? Hell, who could possibly even know where I'm— "That fucking golden store is selling info on me?"
George chuckled. "You didn't know? They literally sell anything; information is a commodity."
"Bastards even had the gall to call me a 'esteemed customer' to my face and do this behind my back." I scowled. "And I think there is some misinformation there – 'suffered at their hands'? A bit edgy there, don't you think? I was neglected and controlled, I wasn't exactly tortured or beaten."
As much as I dislike them, I'm not going to go around saying stupid nonsense like he's spouting.
He seemed a bit surprised at my words, I couldn't help but laugh. "Did you think all it would take is pushing some of my buttons and I would hop on your 'hero' train for some 'revenge' against my birth father?" I looked at him incredulously. "Kid, I'm well aware of my own issues that came with my upbringing, but that doesn't mean I'm frothing at the mouth to get 'even'."
He frowned, hearing my words. "Well, that usually works for some people." He said awkwardly. "Would you still consider it? There aren't many magicians in our faction, and I would love to have someone to talk magic with." He sighed. "I'm tired of those other idiots too concerned with how hard they can punch."
Okay, I sympathize with him slightly there. "I'll pass, I'm busy with my own stuff right now."
"We have a lot of resources, magical grimoires, rare materials....girls?" He looked a bit shy as he said that last part.
"Are you...pimping out your faction members to me….?"
"...boys?"
"I'm considering smacking you."
"....Sorry I have a habit of sticking my foot in my mouth when I get nervous." He admitted with an awkward smile and red cheeks.
"Yeah, definitely giving this a hard pass." I'm not going to touch that dumpster fire with a hundred-foot pole.
"Well....no one can't say I didn't try." He slumped his shoulders. "Sorry, but, boss said he needs you for some future plans regardless." He regained his composure, and a strange mist began to swirl around his body. "I would have rather you worked with us willingly, but that's not a necessity."
"Hoh…..are you going to fight me?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"I would rather just grab you and bring you back to the boss." He smiled. As the mist exploded out.
The world around my changed, rewritten by this kid's ability. I realized now what I was dealing with, the information coming to the forefront of my mind. "Dimension Lost." I said evenly.
"Oh, you know it? I thought you hadn't been in the supernatural world that long." His voiced echoed out around me, even if his form disappeared. "But, that's one of the reasons we wanted you, I guess."
The space around me had been changed from the normal flow of the world, a new dimension forcibly created overtop the existing one. It was like a bastardized version of a reality marble, except instead of projecting one's inner world, its this false one.
Granted, it's nowhere near the level of a true Reality Marble, merely the feeling I first got when it appeared.
A small smiled curled up on my lips. "Playing with space infront of me, you're a thousand years too early." I withdrew Mirage from my ring and pulled on the Kaleidoscope.
The multitude of colors burst out, the iridescent light cascaded in every direction, pushing against the barriers of this 'dimension' that Georg had created.
There were many – many ways I could have gone about breaking this space, but I chose the most straight forward one.
"W-what are you doing!?" I heard his panicked cries ring out from the surroundings as my Magic began to usurp over his own dominion.
"I guess a Longinus only amounts to this much." I smirked as I reached out my hand, the colors scaled up the 'walls' of this reality, consuming it entirely and then I clenched my fingers.
It shattered.
Cracks rang out, reality shifted back to normal as everything was realigned I was once again in the outside world, staring down at the now shaking kid.
"Y-you…..how? How did you break through my Dimension Lost!?" He looked at my fearfully. Yeah, these kids rely super heavily on their sacred gears, must be a real kick in the balls to see it nosold like I just did.
I ignored his question, and continued walking towards him. "You know, I was content to end things where they were, but then you had to go and attack me." I shook my head.
He almost fell to the ground as he turned around and began to run, several spell circles created in his wake with magical spells launching towards me.
I frowned, my sword batting away most of them.
"Cao Cao" Georg shouted, mist shooting out of his hand towards the distance and a rip in the fabric of space opening up, connecting to another point.
I felt something tingle on the back of my neck, a danger sense I had developed in the time with Scathach attempting to take my life if I was careless.
A spear burst out of that little hole, the portal that connected to who-knows-where. Something shot right for me at a speed that was impressive. It didn't escape my notice, the feeling I got wasn't from the intense speed, no, it was from the presence of what was coming for me.
Death.
I felt death from this thing, it was antithetical to my existence.
Something ingrained so deep into my very being.
I brought up Mirage to block, my hand on the flat of my blade as the tip of a spear collided with it. I put my full strength behind my weapon, feet digging into the ground and I felt myself get pushed back before finally stopping.
I looked up, Georg was gone and I saw a face in the distance, the one who attacked me and his spear, extended several hundred feet as it retracted back into the portal.
My eyes narrowed as we shared one last look and I mouthed a few words to him. His eyes widened and I couldn't help but smile as he retreated with his companion.
I let out a breath. I wasn't tired, nor was I even hurt in the slightest, but I was exhausted because I kept getting involved in all this crap that I didn't want to.
Mirage returned to my ring and I looked down at the ground.
"He managed to push me back a couple steps." It was impressive. "Ddraig, was that what I think it was?"
[The True Longinus.] He replied.
"Well, things are going to get more complicated, aren't they?" Is it too much for me to just get some fucking time to relax? "Assholes destroyed part of my lawn." I muttered, looking at where I was standing previously.
***
Oh boy, someone done fucked up. Well, Hero faction is known for clutching the idiot ball and absolutely refusing to let it go. And MC looks like a nice target for people who are antagonistic towards the devil faction. Well, MC saw a new shiny, and his hands a little itchy. On the bright side, MC got a familiar! So the name came about because i was talking over with someone about it, and it somehow devolved into us just continuously making it longer and more grandiose so I was like 'fuck it' we're doing that.
On a side note, I was thinking about setting up a discord, is that something people would be interesting in?
Anyways, to finish this off, if you want to read 5 chapters ahead or just support me, visit my pat.reon.com/Astoryforone