"That is—?"
"Yes. It's exactly the magicka I used on the tenth floor." I replied as I started drawing [Alice Wonderland]'s magicka circle with Edatsu. I am not in a hurry so I didn't opt for my wands with cast assist.
"Magicka? Not magic?"
"Oh, that." I noticed. "Yes, it's magicka."
"What's the difference..?"
"Nuances. But it's not that big. Magic is what I prefer to call the mystical laws. Magicka is the method to manipulate them."
It is one of the few things I taught Lady Riveria, Lili, Filvis, and Ein. They don't have the distinctions between these two words—a result of the age of gods.
While their magic is strong, it is severely undeveloped. They focused more on falna and what it could do rather than it. Even Altena, the supposedly center of magic, didn't do this.
At least, they only whined when Lady Riveria and Lefiya-san did what they couldn't.
"Oh…"
I talked with Aiz-san as I prepared the spell. It didn't take long before we were inside a blank white room.
"Aiz-san hadn't seen it before, but it is an illusion that affects reality. You would feel tired the more you move in this space."
"Illusion…"
"If you'd like, you can use it to recall your memories."
She fell to a brief silence. Her complexion turned sorrowful. It… It's like reminding a bad memory you couldn't forget.
Just like me.
"Sirius. I want to do it." Aiz-san said with determination. Her eyes became complex as all sorts of emotions gathered to her.
I didn't expect it'll become a huge deal for her.
"Alright. Lend me your hand."
I reached out my hand which she held. It is soft and smooth despite wielding a sword for six years straight. It shows the wonders of falna.
Click.
The magic circle appeared on the white floor. It didn't take long before I passed an authority to her.
Immediately, the white room changed into an open grassland. A limitless clear blue sky replaced the enclosed ceiling from before.
Swoosh-!
Winds swept all over my body. It felt extremely fresh—even better than the current Gekai without all sorts of pollution.
"That paradise…"
I recalled the place I dreamt of when I was eight. I treated it as a simple dream at that time, but my experiences begged to differ.
It should be a different world. I haven't forgotten the man with exact same appearance as mine. He should be my subconscious—a version of myself like before. However, he feels different.
I tried to meet him many times to no avail.
"Everyone…"
Much to my surprise, I saw tears on Aiz-san's face when I turned around. She is blankly looking to somewhere. In that place, there were unfamiliar people.
"Ah."
One of them is a small girl. She has a long golden hair. She ran to a woman who looked similar to her.
The three conversed from afar. I heard them through the spell itself.
"—find a hero for yourself."
"That's right. What a good girl…"
The former was said by the man while the latter was spoken by the woman. Aiz-san fell asleep after the woman's continuous head pats.
It didn't take long before the memory crumbled. Everything was reverted to the default white room.
"Can I use it again..?" She asked while wiping her tears.
"Sure."
*****
A thousand years.
That was a long time period to all mortals in Gekai. Their enhanced lifespan might've allowed them to live longer, but the continuous crises whittled down their numbers.
Heroes are created in times of need. It is natural to face dangers beyond their level and still continue to fight. They have people to protect—it is as simple as that.
Nobody shirked away from it. It is one of the most brilliant qualities of Gekai.
Nevertheless, their lives were sacrificed.
Aiz's family suffered the same fate way back in the past.
Her parents—Albert Waldstein and Aria—along with their comrades died while fighting the Black Dragon.
Its black miasma sought to claim lives in its radius. It melts one's body all the whilst they faced a disastrous dragon—as if fighting the final boss under dozens of status debuffs.
Under that circumstance, Albert managed to take one of its eyes. What the history books didn't mention, however, is that they had a child.
A thousand years later, Aiz Wallenstein would be discovered by Loki Familia. Since then, she turned into Orario's greatest rookie that sped through level five in six years.
The said girl reminisced what she saw inside a miraculous spell.
Aiz didn't expect to see her family again. She nearly fell to a delusion if not for Nobu's timely reminder.
"I can't bring back the past… Neither could this spell do. Aiz-san should remember that."
"Sirius… is right."
"Aiz!"
Tiona arrived into the empty yard. After their talk last night, she gave Aiz the chance to resolve the complex feelings within her. Riveria didn't meet with Nobu as the latter considered her recent arrival to Orario. They worked hard for a few days in the port city, hence he deemed it best to let her rest—thus forming this opportunity.
"How did it go?"
"Mn… It's fine."
Tiona noticed Aiz's reddish eyes. She thought something had gone wrong.
"You cried..?"
"...Yes. But it's for a different matter." Aiz replied. "Sirius is officially my friend."
"..."
Tiona was speechless for a moment.
"...I see."
She expected Aiz to be involved in something serious when she wanted to be with Nobu alone. Aiz was bothered after asking about his date from last night.
Turns out…
*****
'A blonde Bocchi-chan…'
I don't know what to say.
It's as if fate itself was twisted for this deja vu to happen. The vibe, wordings, looks…
Aiz-san was the same as Bocchi-chan when told her she is my friend!
…
"Can you be my friend?"
"Ah?"
I was caught off guard by this sudden question.
"I see… You—"
"Wait a minute. Aiz-san. You… You want me to be your friend?" I asked. "Aren't we already, though?"
"..?"
She cutely blinked her eyes.
I swear I could see Bocchi-chan's shadow in her.
"So… There's no need to ask about it. You are already my friend a long ago."
"I see…"
Her smile is a mixture of embarrassment and delight. It is different from Bocchi-chan's reaction—a cute but creepy smile.
…
I blinked thrice before my sight turned into an augmented reality. Several holograms floated within my vision. These are the progress reports of coordinate deduction, a local archive, a call for my weapons, and so on.
I used it during my meeting with Ouranos-sama.
"Miku. Open the conversation you had with Bocchi-chan."
{Understood.}
A chat log from LINE appeared in one of the windows. I continued reading from where I left it out.
=====
GuitarHero: You're going to another country?
GuitarHero: Will you finally perform overseas?! You're fulfilling all my dreams one by one!
Shichi: Well… It is what it is. Don't worry, I know you could perform in the Yokohama Arena one day. Maybe you'll reach Tokyo Dome.
GuitarHero: I don't know… You performed there already while wearing that black helmet, nonetheless!
GuitarHero: Wait. I got an idea just now! If I wear a mango box…
Shichi: You're already contradicting yourself.
Shichi: .-.
Shichi: People won't recognize you.
GuitarHero: But..!
GuitarHero: I already funked my performance once!
Shichi: Ah, yeah. That's why you're switching schools. Sorry for reopening your wound.
Shichi: Though I have a copy of it.
GuitarHero: ?!?!
=====
After the final text, she went offline.
'Those fun times…'
Perhaps influenced by me, Bocchi-chan started learning guitar around two years ago. She used her dad's limited edition Gibson to practice.
She absolutely shreds it, I daresay. Her talents lie in the guitar.
However, she had a problem: people.
When in front of a crowd, she couldn't perform properly. It goes from being off tune to blacking out entirely. If she wore that mango box… or hid in a cardboard, she might've performed better.
I closed these windows after a while.
"Open the analytics for the error."
{Opening…}
This time, a huge chunk of computer code appeared in my sight. Miku's usage of magicka lay in these 'activation programs'. It is the equivalent of 'activation circles' in a spell. Its only downside is requiring my 'mind' to confirm the process.
If I am not there, Miku will be limited to technology.
Anyways…
A few days back, I had an inspiration to use my [Hacker] developmental ability through this. Instead of roughly translating the Latin chant to blocks of binary codes, I plan to employ the ternary system as well as begin the usage of programming languages.
I couldn't do it before due to my lack of mind, but the suit supplements everything.
If using traditional numerology gives 110% compatibility to my combat suit, using programming languages—basically the suit's specialty—could give at least 150% compatibility.
Moreover, it is also considered as 'numerology' due to the ternary system. I would be simply modernizing a well-founded magic system from the past.
"It's not complete…"
{The spare equipment couldn't record the accidental phenomena, goshujin-sama.}
"It's fine. You've worked hard for a year."
Soon, I arrived at the northeast store. I greeted the staff responsible for the front desk before I went inside the forge. Several machines from the supplies are present in the form of boxes. They aren't affected by the temperature since I had temperature resistance in mind when I created my things.
"Artemis and Hephaestus-sama need more self-defense weapons…"
*****
Bang-!
Bang-!
Bang-!
The trunk of a tree was pierced with bullet holes one after another.
"These are good ones, Nobu-kun! I mean it! Those muskets couldn't even compare to it!"
"Yeah. Benelli M4 is a semi-automatic shotgun. It packs a punch compared to the semi-auto shots of an M4A1."
I settled some things in the forge before arriving with the new batch of weapons. This time, it is something out of my world—guns. I brought over two crates filled with guns and ammunitions. With the automatic reloading machine, making bullets are not that hard. The new metals and compounds only needed small adjustments which Miku completed with ease.
Everything's been convenient since those supplies dropped.
"It's a practical weapon!"
Artemis Familia's healer turned out to be a gun fanatic…
"See what I told you?' Rethusa-san crossed her arms as she faced my direction. "Did you forget about Nana collecting muskets?"
"I didn't. It's just… Well, at least she's happy."
Nana-san hugged the Benelli M4 (unloaded, of course) with unprecedented joy. She was excited when she tested the semi-automatic rifles but it peaked with the shotguns.
Of course, I taught everyone in this courtyard proper gun safety before proceeding. It'll be a dumb move to let them use guns without safety procedures.
Guns existed in Gekai prior to my arrival, though they are still up to the muskets. They haven't invented breechloading yet they have electric guitars.
Weird.
Then again, it is a place where gods descended. I might have a wrong impression when I thought they were modern enough.
(A/N: Mc overheard the term 'robots' in the previous chapters.)
If their 'robots' are simply advanced golems or homunculi, they might be behind us… rather, me.
I didn't dwell on this confusing dilemma and focused on the matter at hand.
"This is very convenient..! I could definitely use this in battle!" Nana-san said. "Nobu-kun, do you have more of these so-called shotguns?"
"Yes. Nana-san has to talk to Rethusa-san, though."
I passed the ball to another player.
"Rethusa…"
Nana-san's image as a calm doctor fell apart. She's more suited to be a doctor in a certain mecha anime. They say they are healers before pulling out a classic Glock on their desk's cabinet.
"These are guns… Is it really fine to pay installments for these?"
Lante-san examined the M9 in her hand.
"Totally. I'm not lacking valis right now…"
"...Yeah."
Suddenly, she made a look of realization. I traced her looks and ended up seeing Artemis.
Our eyes met. We tried our best to act normally in front of her familia but…
Everyone's sights landed on me. More than a dozen girls sent knowing glances—that included Rethusa-san!
Why did it become famous..?
I swear, these people don't have anything to do.
'...Huh.'
I thought of an idea. If I bring the forms of entertainment into my world…
'There goes another source of money.'
"A-ahem."
Artemis let out a 'fake' cough before her composure nearly collapsed.
"Rethusa will take care of the weapons Or—Nobu brought."
Lante-san let out a smug smile as she overheard Artemis' mistake. The latter clearly noticed it as her ears turned red.
In this manner, we settled the things that had to be settled. What I didn't expect, however, is that they would leave me alone with Artemis.
They're preparing for lunch, or so they've said…
"I'm sorry for this mess."
"N-no… It's not your fault." She replied before continuing, "My familia poked me around with this matter since a long ago."
"That's why they acted like that…"
Turns out, the entire Artemis Familia is actually a bunch of shippers.
The rumor is still vague as of now. It simply went with 'Sirius is going out with a girl!'
Only Hephaestus-sama knew the entire truth. It is also why it was vague when I was asked by the girls at the familia home. I can't deny it since it IS the truth.
Although, no matter how vague the 'rumor' is, everyone on Artemis Familia knew about us. One we speak out clearly…
I could already imagine the face my goddess would make.