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-Cafe
3rd POV*
Lawrence and Shiki finally arrived at the cafe where they saw a red haired woman with glasses waiting while drinking coffee. Lawrence naturally know her so he got closer to her table. "Hello, Aozaki Touko right? I'm Lawrence Ranvil and this is my girl Ryougi Shiki" he introduced themselves gaining an elbow from Shiki.
Touko stared at the two with visible surprise on her eyes. "I'm surprise, to think that the heiress of Ryougi family already has a lover" she commented smiling at them. Shiki's lips twitched in annoyance but she didn't refute her. It is a hassle correcting misunderstanding.
"Please take a seat" Touko gestured the two to sit down which they did. "Now, I know you are curious about the business transaction that I mentioned but first.. can I ask a question?" Lawrence began talking staring at Touko.
Touko nod her head in acceptance, she is ready for the talk. "Is there any items in the moonlight world that can instantly heal or replenish a magus's mana?" Lawrence asked seriously because the worth of his item will be based on her answer.
So he waited. "There are a lot of mystic codes like that everywhere. If I search a little bit then I could find it anywhere in black market" Touko answered already starting to get the gist of their item. She know that there is no such item outside yet she spoke as if there are a lot of them.
This is so that she can degraded the worth of their item forcing them to sell it at her with lower price. Touko maintained a calm smile all the time showing no faults on her words. "Is that so?" Lawrence entered his thoughts before nodding his head. He opened the chest he brought and took a mango on it.
He laid it on the table letting Touko has a quick look on it. She already sensed that it is different from normal mango and probablt imbued with something. "I call it Mana Mango, what it does is replenish the mana of any person who eat it" Lawrence said gesturing to try it.
Touko was taken aback by his bold gesture, she realized that this is his way of saying that he has a lot of those and losing one wouldn't matter. This made Touko excited because the profit will be enormous. Touko carefully took the mango and stared at it for a while. She was convinced that there weren't any poison on it so she placed it on her mouth taking a small bite.
Small blue lights entered her body as she started observing her body and to her shock, the mana that was half from before instantly got full. She also feel quite energetic as if her energy has also been replenished. Touko was baffled by such magical item. She swore that it could change the way of the world if it was released.
She got serious and stared at Lawrence. "Mr Ranvil, shall we talk about contract? I'll become your proxy on selling this while I take a portion of the sellings" Touko immediately got to the point. If she did manage to sell it then she won't have any problem with her manequins.
Lawrence closed his eyes before saying, "15%" he declared. "Then I would be happy to give you 15% of the incom-" she was about to agree when Lawrence stopped her. "15% for you" he said pointing at her. Touko's mind stopped for a second trying to comprehend what he was saying.
Selling something revolutionary comes with a cost. He/she will be in constant chase with greedy magus who wish to own the items itself. It is equivalent to being a criminal while your face is known by the world.
"Surely you're joking. I will be risking my life in doing this transaction. Magus are no joke as they will really do the extreme just to get what they wanted" Touko tried to reason telling him the consequences of doing it. "I initially thought of handing the 50% of it to you but when I did the first test, you immediately fail" Lawrence shook his head in disappointment.
Touko searched her mind until she finally found the reason. "I see, you were aware of the worth of this mango in the first place right? You were just asking that as a formality and to test whether I'll be trustworhy" Touko analyzed the situation while cursing her recklesness.
She didn't took the other person seriously which led to this. "How about it? Will you still accept the 15%? I can ask others if you don't want and stop talking about consequences or things like that. As if you have no way to sell items without your name being connected to it. That was good Touko" Lawrence said.
Shiki on the side was amused by the situation. She first wanted to warn Lawrence thinking he was already trick but she didn't expect that he was already taking advantage of it. Now she is becoming even more curious about this random guy who suddenly appeared on her life.
Touko took a deep breathe before accepting it. Just like what Lawrence said, she has nothing to lose and she can constantly gain money without doing anything about it. "Happy cooperation" Touko and Lawrence shook hands.
"Here's my number, call me if something happens" Lawrence gave Touko his number as they left the cafe leaving Touko alone. "Sigh, to think I would act like that infront of a kid. Am I getting rusty?" Touko shook her head questioning her validity.
Shiki and Lawrence are walking back home. "And here I thought you would fall for that deception of hers" Shiki commented not even looking at him. She just wanted to show her thoughts. "Haha, am I that vulnerable to you? I managed to live within the Moonlit World for many years now. I can atleast differentiate fakes from real"
Lawrence seemed amused by her comment, "I guess.." Shiki just hummed. They reached the house where they saw Fujino standing there waiting for them. "Welcome back" she greeted them lowering her head a little. "Yo, we're back Asagami. Be ready as I will start my experiment after I change"
Fujino was surprised by his words but nonetheless still accepted it. She swore to help him with his research so she will accept whatever he will do to her. Fujino blushed while thinking about some rather spicy things on her mind.
Shiki noticed it but she just shrugged not really expecting a little girl to be liked by Lawrence. Lawrence returned as they went to the bamboo forest near Ryougi Family mansion. It was starting to get dark which is perfect so that no one will he able to see what they are doing.
They arrived at the place as Lawrence immediately placed a Bounded Field. He has talent in magecraft before but the only problem is he has no necessary mana to cast those spells. Now that his mana reserves are larger than normal magus, he can easily create a Bounded Field like this.
"Please stand in the middle, I wish to inspect you more clearer" Lawrence said as he began his experiments. He studies the workings of her ability which came from her origin. He analyzed each changings from the surroundings to how she casted it and what happened after it was done.
Lawrence kept writing datas ignoring everything in the surroundings, he wrote what kind if energy she was using, how long can she use it, how her body function during the process, does her eyes takes toll when she use it, or her brain being overloaded from overuse. He wrote everything.
And when the data was finally finished, he began arranging it while also comprehending. He also observed the origin of Fujino so that he can understand things better. After 2 hours of constant experimenting. Lawrence was finally finished.
Fujino was also exhausted so he handed her a mango that did its job to replenish her energy. Lawrence is happy with the data he gathered, it should be enough for him to recreate the spell if he just consider his 3 orbs on the matter.
"Fuuh, thank god its done" Lawrence took a breathe while Shiki wiped the sweat on his forehead. Her movement was too smooth that Lawrence didn't even noticed it. "This is enough, let's return" Lawrence said and was about to go when Shiki held his wrist.
He stared at her before closing his eyes. "Asagami please return home first. I have something to talk with Shiki" he instructed Fujino to go as he faced Shiki. When the two saw Fujino already left, they then started talking. "He wants to talk with you" Shiki said.
Lawrence nodded his head as he watch Shiki changing persona. The delicate movements of a lady was erased changed by an aggressive and male like movement. "SHIKI" Lawrence called out.
SHIKI stared at Lawrence for a few second and released a grin. "Although I hate you, I still like you" she said grinning. Lawrence raised an eyebrow as he chuckled. "I knew you do" he said. "So? What do you want?" Lawrence asked turning serious.
He placed his gaze at her. SHIKI stared at the beautiful moon hanging in the sky with a smile on her face. "I.. wish for her to be happy. Grant it for me Lawrence" she said melancholic. "Fuuh, that is quite a hard request you are asking. You're cruel" he said massaging his forehead.
"Haha, I might be. This is my punishment to you for making me hate you" SHIKI said patting his shoulders. "This would disrupt some of my plans.. but if you wish for it.." Lawrence bit his lower lip. His determination faltered for a bit.
"With my plan, I can help both of you. Why proceed with this way? Its not only me who will be hurt you know?" Lawrence wanted to ask first because he just can't bear doing it without any proper reason. "I know your plan might have a higher chance of success but that happiness.. it is for short term. You know that right?" SHIKI wasn't faze by his question.
Lawrence was greatly disturbed. He reached a decision as he took an item that he received days ago. He initially doesn't want to use it and prepare it when Holy Grail War starts but he has no choice. Lawrence took a Vanguard, Basher and the recipe.
He gathered the three forming a single equipment that immediately turned conceptual. It became a bonified Noble Phantasm surpassing the uses of other noble phantasm. SHIKI gave Lawrence a smile that made his chest ache. "Goodbye SHIKI" he said plunging the Abyssal Blade to her.
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(A/N: Don't try comprehending this chapter, it will surely bring you headache. Only those who watched the anime and really understand the story can know what this chapter means)