Chereads / It Started With Devils & Artefacts / Chapter 46 - Gene Altered Maids (Not Edited)

Chapter 46 - Gene Altered Maids (Not Edited)

Quinella sighed. Marcus is on loose. She knew better than anyone to let him without any sorta supervision.

Well, supervision is the wrong word for this. Since one can't supervise someone who can easily overpower the supervisor. That's why distraction is a much better word.

If the silver-haired assistant was there she could have used herself as a distraction and made sure he came back after replacing the Holographic deflectors.

However, that didn't happen. She is around 3 thousand kilometres away supervising the upgrades for the Vampire Nation…

'Well, at least he will be busy for a considerable amount of time.' Quinella thought to herself as she played with her long hair.

The assistant just finished checking the report Aurora filed for her.

'He has his ship, then the car upgrades, followed by girls genetic alterations he is planning. This should be enough time for me to return and make sure he doesn't do anything too reckless.' The beauty sighed to herself. Being away from him after coming to life is quite big punishment. From her calculations, this is the prize she has to pay for her haste…

'Well, whatever!' She huffed before looking back at the map of Balkan countries.

"The first upgrades to the villages are almost done," Carmilla said to the fellow silver head as she entered the bridge of Confiscator.

"I see… how is the list menu for the stores?" The Assistant asked the Vampire Queen.

"It went through several changes. Even now we having some debates about the prices and how many items one could get."

A sigh escaped from the Ex-A.I. when she heard that.

'This is why Absolutism is the best form of government. Debates… debates are only for beings who have nothing else to do and just talk.' The beauty thought to herself with a frown.

"I see. You can tell them that if they can't decide I will do it myself." Quinella said straight to the point.

"I know. We are still some time away from the deadline. I am thinking to let them feel that they are part of it." The Queen of Vampires said with a knowing look.

The Assistant thought for a moment. She instantly understood what the vampire woman meant.

Another form of control. Let them have an illusion that they are part of something bigger.

"Fine. Let them know that they have a deadline on which they have to decide." Quinella said sharply.

"I will."

"Good. The Diamond Core Hearts soon will be coming online so do mention that they should not try to teleport in areas not meant for teleportation." The beauty said with a slight sadistic tone. Just Imagining splashing them into a wall, and flying back several kilometres makes her smile.

"Don't worry they will know. Is there anything else I should know? I still have my duties as Queen of Vampires." The other silver-haired beauty said to Quinella.

"Nothing you should worry about. You can return to your duties. I still have my things to attend to." The Assistant motioned for her to leave.

The Queen simply nodded at her and turned around and left. Making the silver head assistant frown, seeing that her bait didn't work. Quinella is annoyed that her methods of making the Vampire Queen mad are not working at all!

While Carmilla with satisfaction smiled as she sensed the frown on the younger silver head. The recently created beauty is far too expressive and inexperienced. Sure the Vampire Queen can't hold a candle to Assistant's capacities as being but she has experience in spades.

Once the Vampire beauty was gone Quinella turned around and a bunch of Holographic screens appeared around her.

She didn't leave the Confiscator and is not planning to. For things like sightseeing she only likes it when she is with Marcus. Alone it's not worth it.

'Hmm… their DNA is a strange mix of human and supernatural. Very specific supernatural powers and weaknesses. If I was clueless with this I would say someone just pulled out a pen and decided their powers and weakness on a whim.' The silver head thought as she crossed her hands.

Honestly, she is bored. She already planned out the whole upgrade schedule. And could easily return to the base. But, she is the overseer. Internally she decided that she will never going to sign up for such a mission ever.

It's a punishment. And yes, she doesn't need math to know that it's something akin to a personally tailored for her as punishment.

Her Master and Creator know her better than anyone and simply knows what is something she would dislike. And thus he used against her.

While she can easily run things and wouldn't mind doing it. That's with key factor that Marcus should be next to her. Her design is like that. She is his assistant and exist to do what he doesn't like doing.

*Sigh*

~~~~~~Marcus~~~~~~

*Sound of Predator Clicking*

"Hmm?" A message?

I pulled out my phone and checked the screen there is an icon of mail.

Someone just messaged me…

"What was that?" Atalanta asked me as she was on my lap. She even slightly jumped hearing the Predator clicking sound which I use for my message tone.

"Someone just messaged me. The only people who have this number are only the girls and… oh…" I realised that I gave the phones to a couple of Gods.

Quickly opening the message a saw that it was from the phone I gave to Ares…

'Yo! I just wanna say that the council decided that you can marry my sis if you want.' 

My eyes widened to an absurd level when I read the line.

"Master?" The lion girl saw my reaction. As curious as she is. The beauty decided to read the message herself.

"Hmmm? Who is this person talking about?" She asked with some unease, this can be bad for her in some ways…

"Ares… talking about Athena…" As I said that I tried to process what I just read.

"You marrying Athena?" Atalanta said with wide eyes as well. She wants to understand this just as much as I want. How on Earth did this stuff lead to this? Zeus accepted this? How? With what kind of threats? I didn't threaten him!

"WHAT!? HOW DID THINGS COME TO THIS?" Artemis appeared from somewhere as she was now standing in front of me with a panicked look.

"I am not Olympian God! How the hell do I know what happened in the meeting!?" I said with a baffled tone.

She is the Goddess here! Use your Godly powers!

"No-no-no! I am supposed to be your wife!!!" The silver head said with a panicked look. I could only raise my eyebrow hearing that.

"Heh? Truly now?" I said with an amused tone, making her pale quite a bit before getting hold of herself.

"Of course! Unlike Athena, I am here much longer and know you better than her!" She said that quite seriously.

While she is here longer… Athena knows me better than this silver head in front of me.

"Is it now? Then if you know me better than her why are you panicking?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

For a second she stiffed. That moment she had knowing look.

"If you know me better than her then you wouldn't be panicking. Honestly, Atalanta partially understood me." I said with a shrug. My words made the lion girl on my lap slightly annoyed.

"I am. Athena clicks very well with you. But then again Quinella does as well. And she is not your wife or fiance."

I nodded at her words.

"Indeed. That's why I won't be marrying Athena. Not anytime soon." I clarified to her.

"So you don't decline the offer but you don't agree either! However, knowing my family they will want some assurance. So, most likely… they would want to make her your Fiance?" 

"That, I don't mind. Honestly, it sounds amazing having a Goddess as a fiance." I said with a thoughtful look.

Artemis's eyes once again widened. Some panic appeared there.

"B-But I can be your Fiance!" She said that hurriedly.

"Not really. I don't see you as future wife material." I shrugged while saying that. This is perfectly true. While Artemis is hot and demands attention to be ravaged, she is not wife's material to me.

"..."

Atalanta could barely control and not start laughing when she saw the reaction of Artemis.

"B-But...why? I am just as Goddess as Athena!"

"Goddess is just a bonus. First and at most for me, the wife should be something which should fit with me like a glove. Something Athena fits quite a bit. We only needed a couple of chess games to understand each other. While you, my beautiful maid Goddess still struggle.

It's fundamentally things related to personality. Everything else is just bonus points." I explained to her while stroking the hair of the lion girl sitting on my lap.

"I see…"

"Goddess you do know that our Master doesn't care about religion or cultural things. So, he most likely won't going to mind taking multiple wives." Atalanta said from my lap with a very assured tone.

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. I thought for a bit. While I technically should be a Christian… I haven't been in church in decades…

"Well, aren't you reading too much into my character?" I asked her with a curious tone.

"I am wrong? You believe in the ability to build yourself out of everything." The lion girl said with an obvious tone.

Now that she mentioned it… yeah, the first thing which comes to mind when I encounter obstruction of any kind is to create or build over it.

"...True… and true on the part about the whole multiple wife thing as well." 

The blonde huntress had a smug look.

"And what if the girls don't want that," Artemis said with a frown on her face. From the looks of it, she still doesn't understand.

"Then I will create the ones which will like it," I said simply and Atalanta nodded at my words.

"..."

Her eyes slightly widened as she finally understood. For a Goddess, she is quite slow…

"I see…now I understand…" She nodded while taking back a few steps.

"I need to return to my duties Master. I will see you later." She then turned around and walked away leaving me and Atalanta alone.

"She will have a hard time accepting this. She has alot of pride as a Goddess of Hunt and Moon." The lion girl said to me, with a sigh.

"And how does that mean anything to me? She is the one who wants to become my wife while I am satisfied with having her as a maid." I said with an eye roll. This was after all the deal which we agreed upon and the contract was sealed.

"...True…"

For now, I decided to write back to Ares.

Quickly writing a response back…

'Marry? I am not even thirty yet!' Reading it one more time I send it to him before returning to laze around with the very huggable kitten.

~~~

Somehow I was able to make it happen. I got myself a Goddess as fiance and the Olympians didn't push some sort of crazy marriage thing.

The only thing I could think of is that Ares told them of my fighting prowess and they are most likely afraid of Confiscator.

Well, it doest matter. I got Athena as my future wife which is kind of cool. No human before married a proper Goddess… to my knowledge…

"So...um...why we are here?" Jeanne asked me as she with the rest of the maids were with me in the genetic wing.

"I am going to put you two into the bio-chambers for alterations," I explained plainly.

"For real? You going to do it for free!?"  The blonde said with disbelief.

"Yeah. You are very vulnerable at the moment. Think of this as a precaution." I said quite seriously.

For a second she was confused before getting flustered, and slightly annoyed…

"Besides, after getting all that extra information on souls both of you are quite interesting in that regard."

"We are?" Le Fay asked him.

"Indeed. Simply put your souls don't quite match with the bodies. So, in a sense that inconsistency is halting your progress in strength." I explained to them.

"I see… because I am Joan of Arc spirit holder and Le Fay is someway related to Morgana?" Jeanne said with some realisation.

"Indeed in some way. Most likely that you are the reincarnation of Joan and Le Fay could be the reincarnation of Morgan or Morgana." 

"We... could? Do you think that their souls went through some sort of circle? Like Buddhism? I thought those who believe in Biblical religion go to heaven and that's it…" Le Fay was sort of confused here.

"Indeed normally. That would be the case with regulars but Sacred Gears go through a circle. Some of them are more unique than others, like Jeanne's gear is special as it was the very same gear wielded by one of the Saints.

While I no doubt that the original Joan of Arc is in Heaven as we speak. The Gear has her spirit or will of hers… while you? I have no idea what kind of magic Morgana or Morgan did to herself which most likely impacted her whole descendants line." 

"So it's not normal reincarnation you speak in…" Le Fay said with a thoughtful look.

"Who knows. We can discuss this once I have more data." 

~~~

I looked at the bio-chambers with the rest of the maids. I was expecting that Serafall or Latia will be here or Grayfia but the girls are busy. Honestly, I never expected my single move will give them so much work.

Well, in my blond girlfriend's case it was the mundane business to take care of. Not much time is left until my company opens its doors.

So, she is busy… however the rest… like the trio of my huntresses they are all here with me. Observing Artemis is especially interesting after that conversation we had.

While there was no true changes there is still that look on her face. Something akin to internal battle. Is it about her pride? This is quite interesting because I thought I already dealt with it when I defeated her in our duel.

But, then again… she is a Goddess and a Female… even studying genetics in detail and biology I still lack a crucial understanding of their species.

Even when I created Quinella her behaviour still had some anomalies.

Well, one day for sure I will grasp it.

As I was thinking about the mysteries of life, the genetic alteration to match their soul was underway.

Fascinating enough, Aurora patched up some of the issues they had with their souls…

It was more like cleansing of some sort, like 'polishing' and taking off the rust.

'Well, well… what do we have here…' I looked at the reading I got from Le Fay…

Her soul age… is way above what it should be!

Hmm, so she is… the Morgan Le Fay… instead of dying she simply made it so that she would go from generation to generation in her bloodline.

This explains her talent in magic sorta? If my memory Is right she contracted Fenrir and some sort of Golem from Dimension Gap?

Well, her talent is impressive which turns out is not genetic but soul since she is Morgan…

While Jeanne… her overall magic signature went up. And has some tint of Holy?

'Interesting… her connection with Blade Blacksmith should be much stronger now…'  I thought curiously while watching this on the screen.

~~~~~~Le Fay~~~~~~

The blonde witch was seeing Imagines, locations and was feeling like a passenger watching some of these events which she is trying to understand.

"But Father I am the eldest! Just because he is a man it doesn't mean he has the right to be the King!" Le Fay realised that these words came from her mouth! She sounded much more cold and… slightly older? In her twenties? It didn't make sense to her...

"He is born with an affinity towards holy energy, he will unite the lands with the Holy Sword." She heard a male voice saying it to her.

His words only make her much more angrier and even furious.

"My magic is more than enough to do it!" She snapped back at the man.

"You know more than enough that people frown upon usage of magic in open. You will be branded as a witch!" 

She got angrier even more…

"And holy energy is not? What bias is this? You can make miracles happen regardless!" She snapped back again.

"ENOUGH! We discussed this before! The succession will remain as it is Morgan!" 

Le Fay felt an enormous amount of anger wash her over, followed by hate.

'These… memories… they are my ancestors!? How? Is it as Master said? I am the reincarnation of Morgan? Did this session somehow reawaken those memories?' The blonde witch thought to herself.

'How dare he! I am a far better choice to be the Queen! My magic is far superior to some pathetic ability to wield some silly toy made by a foreign God!'  Once again Le Fay was plagued by an angry voice that sounded very much like her.

'I will get what I want one way or another!'

*Gasp*

Le Fay's eyes snapped open, some cold sweat went down her forehead. She could hear the familiar yet same time not familiar voice of Aurora. It's like she know this voice yet same time she is hearing it for the first time.

It was strange.

[First out of three genetic altering sessions is over]

The girl slowly got into a sitting position in her specifically prepared medical bed. She immediately noticed a slight increase in her height. It wasn't by much but it was there enough for her to notice the difference. Another thing was her hair…

It got longer and slightly more paler than before…

Most importantly she was slightly confused with herself.

"Le Fay are you alright?" She heard her… Master's voice which made her have a weird feeling… like she doesn't like calling him master anymore…

No… she wants to call him by his name… and study him… and learn all his secrets… and do other things… which makes her blush hard… just imagining it…

'What the hell is this? Where are these ideas coming from!? Control yourself! I am like an ant in front of his power!' Le Fay reasoned. She was horrified by these weird ambitions popping in her head!

It's like she is not afraid anymore and that she doesn't mind being risky with her situation!

Thinking for a bit she realised that difference between Jeanne and her is that the holder of the Saint spirit is bolder than her.

Which she could change. Honestly, the blonde witch knows she can be more useful.

Once again Le Fay put her hand on her face, she realised that she has more … arrogance now…

"Y-Yes I am fine!" The blonde witch quickly got on her feet and walked out of the bio-chamber. She immediately saw Jeanne who came out before her.

She could see some changes in this girl too. Her aura is slightly different. Less tomboyish… and more friendly? Saintly of some sort? Part of Le Fay finds it… annoying and even repulsive for some reason.

As a Witch… she finds the whole Saint thing… distasteful…

~~~

'Those… are... Saber-faces? I am the one who is resurrecting the Saber face thing? While not fully there I can see some of the traits of Saber-face…

However… this means that Le Fay is slowly turning into Morgan. Her magic signature has gotten slightly colder. There is a high chance she is re-awakening some sort of connection with the long-deceased witch.' Marcus thought to himself as he observed the blonde witch. He could see right in her eyes that the majority of the naivete the girl had was gone. There was a polar shift of some sort. 

Either she got some sort of memories or experiences of the long-dead witch or there is some sort of other thing…

"You sure? You look quite pale." Marcus asked the girl in front of him.

"Umm… I am fine. I think I need some time to rest. I can assume we are excused from any sort of work?" The girl asked him with quite a serious tone.

"Indeed. Don't worry, you gonna get paid. I suppose you can treat this as sick leave." He said with a thoughtful look.

"Oh, this is quite nice! I heard barely anyone likes paying sick leave!" Jeanne said with quite an ecstatic tone. Her voice was slightly different as well as her behaviour. She didn't have that… tomboyish attitude instead it was more like an honourable worker who just got raise in her salary.

"Yeah. However, it's different for me since it's a point-based thing. Which I can add or remove on a whim." Marcus said simply as he looked at the pair of girls.

"I see… makes sense. However, I would like to return to my quarters. May I excuse myself?" Le Fay said quite formally, earning several weird looks from the maids, while Marcus looked neutrally at her.

"Of course go rest for now." The teen motioned to her that's she can leave.

The blonde witch nodded and started to walk towards the living quarters. One could see that even the way she walks is much more elegant like...royalty.

Once Le Fay was out of the view everyone looked at Marcus.

"Is it just me but is Fay-chan much more different?" Jeanne said with a frown.

"It's her soul. It's quite an old one… I guess that she is holding Morgan's soul." As he said that he turned towards where Le Fay walked over.

"Activate surveillance protocol on her Aurora." The teen said as he looked at the retreating figure.

Internally he was...quite intrigued by this development… Le Fay was a great catch, but if it turns out that she is THE Morgan Le Fay? The weight of this catch is magnified many times over.

His curiosity has been peaked quite a bit. Same with the girl next to him. He simply could feel a certain warm energy radiating from her. It's like Jeanne awakened some sort of Saint related power.

Not only that he could see some similarities between this Jeanne and the Jeanne he knows from certain franchises his world is mixed with… honestly… it feels like this world is a cross over setup by a being who reincarnated Marcus into this place.

This means once the alternation is done she will look like THAT Jeanne. This is interesting on its own… because he will see that Jeanne in maid uniform… daily…

"So...you saying she is now Morgan or… Le Fay is turning into Morgan?" Very confused Hippolyta asked him.

"Honestly. I have no idea. I don't have enough data at the moment. All I know is that the Soul itself was polished, adjusted, and reinvigorated to fit with the body.

There is a high possibility that Morgan all those years ago used some questionable magic to revive herself in future. But it didn't work, now, however, with all these alterations to fit soul with body and augment her reawakened something in her." He explained one of his theories to them.

"Should we watch over her more closely? In case she does something? Morgan or Morgana doesn't have the best history." Atalanta said quite seriously as she looked with a frown where Le Fay walked away.

"Don't worry she is under tight surveillance." Marcus waved her concerns off. She is his pet, not some guard…

"If you say so…" The lion girl just shrugged at him. If he doesn't care then she should not care too.

"Anyway, Jeanne for now go and relax. No Entertainment Dome when sessions are happening. Instead, watch some television or play some games."

Jeanne's eyes widened to a comical level when she heard that!

"W-What!? But why!? Isn't It illusion based? It doesn't affect the body!!!" She said that with a devastated tone.

"Are you arguing with me, sweetheart?" He asked that with raised eyebrow.

"N-N-No… I won't going to visit that place then…" She said that with a hollow tone. The Blonde maid looked like someone just killed her whole family and her dog was not spared either right in front of her eyes.

Honestly, Marcus was quite baffled that she was this taken in by the entertainment system. He might went too far in the system's creation. Humanity might not be ready for such a huge step forward. With the boundaries of reality blurring this much, some might not be able to handle it… especially the faint-hearted.

Well… he is an inventor, not a psychologist...he cares about pushing the limits of his tech not checking if humans can handle it or not…

That is why he altered his genes… so that he could use his inventions without worries. 

He can leave those pesky problems with other 'experts'...

"Good. Be a good girl and you will be able to use it again." 

She quickly nodded hearing that, now he can see that she wants to just leave this place and brood somewhere else.

"I will don't worry." The blonde maid said with a serious tone.

Marcus simply nodded at her. Then looked at the rest of his maids.

"Girl you can all return to your duties. There is nothing else planned for today."

Artemis and Hippolyta nodded at him then they turned around and left, Jeanne followed suit after them. She was much more broody than the pair.

After they left only the lion girl remained who simply stood there. Her tail went from one side to another. She had quite a coy smile on her face.

"I could see how you looked at the pair. Jeanne now looks more similar to that farm girl who lead the French troops and the other girl started to look like the dark witch herself." The lion girl said with a knowing look. She took a few steps and now she was in his personal space.

"They slowly becoming much more valuable pieces of your collection?~~~" The blonde said with a smug smile.

"...Aren't you reading too much into me? I thought such a thing will even make you angry?" He said with quite a curious look.

"I would… my old self… before you turned me into this...would be angry… but now… I don't truly care… most likely my...feline side affecting me… or you did something to me?" She said all that with an uncertain tone.

"Well, I didn't do anything, only straightened out your DNA. I guess that your feline side cares more about comforts, increasing your selfish side to some extent." Marcus said that with a thoughtful look.

Atalanta simply nodded without care she just leaned forward and used his body as a source of heat.

She closed her eyes and started to enjoy the heat of his body. Simply put the blonde truly enjoys this comfort. While it annoys her that Marcus calls her his pet… that annoyance isn't strong enough to overcome other things she gets!

Honestly...she should be baffled that he tamed her through some materialistic things! If it was her older self she would be appealed by what she saw and would want to beat up this...domesticated cat version of her!

In the end, she simply decided that its Marcus' fault alone and it's him who has to take care of her…

End of story! This is what he wanted and this is what he is going to get!

Seeing that Atalanta doesn't want to move anymore Marcus just pulled her up into princess carry and used his psionic powers to float to the closest seat.

Once these he got comfortable. It was time to check out the reading he got from the pair after the alterations were done.

Just energy readings are enough to tell what is going on with them, to some extent.

Jeanne's body and soul has been readjusted to the spirit of Joan of Arc which is the residue in the Blade Blacksmith Sacred Gear.

Now that the girl's body and Soul starting to closely resemble the original Saint the girl's attitude slightly changed as she most likely got influenced by the holy energy she started emitting.

'I wonder if she even realizes that she has some sort of power over holy energy? Like to make small scale miracles. As that is what the Saints are all about.' 

Apart from the miracles, the more obvious thing is that her natural magic reserves has increased. Which is the regular package Marcus gives. But, it would seem all this increased holy energy capacity.

'Simply put… I increased the 'fuel tank' size so now natural reserve size is much bigger… I do wonder what angels will think that a human has quite a large amount of natural Holy Energy in it a body?' Marcus smirked as he was reading the report on Jeanne's energy.

He then looked at the other interesting reading, and that is Le Fay. The girl's magic reading has changed quite a bit. One could say that magic is a representation of its person. That can be felt in humans especially since they are neutral with magic in a sense.

However, with Le Fay's reading, it went cold. Not only that but the whole alteration procedure was like he is polishing and fixing an old artefact and bringing it to its perfect condition.

'If this is true then I am bringing back the dark witch herself back from the dead. I do wonder what kind of shitty magic did she used to escape death and become a soul which goes from one body to another. It would seem it's not even safe as her consciousness most likely didn't even surface for a long time.'

"Master… your smile… it's creepy…" 

"Hmm? Sorry about that, just thinking about some things…"