- Silas -
It had been a month since the attack on the Restaurant.
A few things had changed since then.
First, Lavinia decided to leave the place she was working at previously and started working here.
In fact, she went there today to meet some Va-kun person who is like a little brother to her as well as formally resign from the organisation.
Second, after a month-long investigation, there were no more supernatural people in this area.
As for the details, we would only know that when Lavinia returned with the latest information.
Third was that our assessment for Jujutsu Sorcery was decided and was set two months later. This was done because many students were scheduled to be promoted and there was a shortage of examiners for everyone.
I need to get some sort of in with the Supernatural world to know more. Until now, the only things I knew were the things I had learned from Tobio's friends and Lavinia….which was quite basic.
My world had all the mythicals creatures I had heard about in stories, literally every pantheon ever. The Supernatural beings numbered in millions….even billions in total although most of them live in different dimensions connected to this world.
For example, the Underworld was real.
Not a surprise considering I was a devil and all.
But that was not all.
The Underworld was not exactly hell although there were apparently several different hells in this world all watched over by the respective pantheons. The Underworld was instead a place where different races, predominantly Devils and Fallen Angels lived.
The Devil side was ruled by four Devil Kings, Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus and had an entire government of their own.
The Fallen Angel side on the other hand were angels who had fallen from grace. They looked like Angels but with black wings and one could guess their strength from the number of wings they had. The higher the number of wings, the stronger they are.
They are ruled by an organisation called the Grigori.
The Angels led by their Father, Devils and the Fallen Angels fought in a three way war called the Great War and they have been in a state of cold war since then….that said, their relationship is….complicated.
It was one of the reasons I kept my identity a secret from everyone as they could target me if they knew there was a devil in this area.
Lavinia was working with the Magician Organisation called the Grauzaberer under Mephisto Pheles, the same one from the stories and she was sent to work with the people of Grigori against a common enemy of sorts.
The Wizards of Oz were originally magicians of Grauzaberer who separated from them and created another magician organisation of their own.
Their terrorist activities led both the sides to cooperate and hunt them together.
We didn't get to see their full power as Ainz and Zeref took care of them quite early but apparently that woman was quite strong. She could have easily burned down the whole town and yet she was nothing compared to the actual monsters out there.
It all sounded like the plot of some manga or light novel to be honest but hey….I was a devil….what else could I say?
"You know, you will have to encounter them one day. From what Lavinia said, Devils apparently live for thousands of years and none have died from ageing yet. The chances of you not encountering anyone from the Supernatural side….is nigh impossible." Rimuru said.
"Hmm, the best you can do is train and prepare." Ainz added. "We need to schedule the training trip soon. What about your schedules? Can't you find one week in between?" He asked.
"I will be free starting next week." Rimuru said.
"Oh, by the way, how did your date go?" I asked, looking at the guy.
I was pretty sure I saw a blush on his face. "That….yeah, it was good."
"Eh….just that? Give us the details man."
"Nothing much. We just went on a long drive. Shizuka-san is a very good driver. Then we had dinner. The year-end vacations are coming to an end soon so she will have to prepare for the new students starting next week."
"What about you Saitama?" I asked the last guy who had been quiet from the start.
"Ughh, I need to study."
"Huh?"
"There is also a theory exam for the Hero Association entrance. It determines my rank too. I need to study for it for the exam in three months. Bang-san provided me with the books for them. You guys can go ahead with the trip."
He looked like he had sucked a lemon.
I patted his shoulder. "Are you sure? We can always go when all of us are free."
"Nah. You need this more now. I think you three should go first. I will join next time."
"Saitama is not wrong, Silas. You need to get some real combat training. You should free some time in your schedule and come with us. We will be hunting in the Jura Forest. There are plenty of dangerous monsters there. We could get some serious training done there."
"Hmm. I will. Sakura could stay with Lavinia at Zeref's place and continue their studies. And August did tell me that I would need to learn my new magic in combat so hunting in the wild could help."
"Great! Then the three of us can go on our hunting trip next week."
"Sure."
"Alright. I will take care of things on my side too." Ainz nodded.
"It's decided then. Now…." Rimuru turned towards me. "What's the deal with you and the new girl?"
All three of them suddenly turned towards me and looked at me intently. The light in Ainz's eyes turning brighter at the sudden topic.
"Huh!"
"Oh come on. Don't give me that act. You two are acting all chummy with each other. What's the deal? Are you cheating on Sakura-chan?" Rimuru asked and Ainz nodded.
"The hell are you talking about? There is nothing of that sort going on between Sakura and me. As for Lavinia….it's….well, it's complicated."
"Complicated?"
I let out a sigh and explained the situation.
"Lucky bastard!"
"Screw you."
Saitama just stared at me without any comment and then looked back at his console.
"Oi you two. Aren't you going out with Shizuka-san? And don't you have an army of Maids and Guardians fawning over you? Why are you suddenly getting pissed at me?"
"Huh? What does that have to do anything? This is our right. You got a new girlfriend and your old girlfriend doesn't mind. Isn't that a harem? You are becoming one of those harem protagonist bastards. Obviously we will be jealou….pissed."
"Right." Ainz nodded.
"It's not like that. At least I don't think it's like that….maybe. Honestly, even I am confused with the mixed signals."
"Eh, I don't think the signals could be any clearer. Those two girls like you….lucky bastard."
"Obviously. Even my own extensive experience tells me the same." Ainz nodded sagely.
"What experience? Where did you even get the experience from?"
"Obviously from Manga, Novels and Visual Novels." He answered unabashed. "This situation is a classic harem novel plot. There is absolutely no doubt."
….
….
….
….
It's useless arguing about this with these guys.
My rescue arrived in the form of a new customer.
He was a young man of average height with spiky black hair and grey eyes. He was wearing a track suit of sorts. Maybe he was out for a run.
"Huh, was there a Restaurant here yesterday?" He spoke to himself looking around.
I got up and went to the kitchen while Tohru took his order.
"An order of Chicken Ramen and Salad." Sakura gave me the order and I got down to work.
The new guy was talking to the people of the Restaurant in the meantime.
From what I could hear, the guy's name was Ikki Kurogane and he was a student of the Hagun Academy in Tokyo.
Yeah, no idea what place that was so he was obviously from a different world. Another version of Japan.
The guy was talking to the Martial Arts masters when I took the orders out and he looked at me.
"Shop owner, are you really from a different world? Can this place really connect between different worlds?"
"Depends. If we are not from the same world, then yes I am from a different world. Why don't you tell me something about your world so that I can take a guess. Oh, start with your name. My name is Silas Evans, by the way."
"My name is Ikki Kurogane. I am from Hagun Academy for Mage-Knights in Tokyo. Nice to meet you, Mr. Silas."
"Hmm. Yes, we are not from the same world, Ikki. First, this shop is in Kyoto and second, I haven't heard of any Hagun Academy or Mage-Knights in my world."
"What? Kyoto? Really?" The boy asked surprised.
"Do you know of the Parallel World Theory? We are from two different worlds with similar places."
"Parallel Worlds huh. That's an interesting way to look at it." Kisuke-san came up and said. "Quite possible too, seeing that there are so many similarities between several of our worlds." he then looked at Ikki and spoke. "So, can you tell me something about your world?
"Ah, yes." He then went on to explain about his world, Blazers, Devices, Mage-Knights and the bullshit surrounding the world.
"This Mage Knight Academy thing sounds a bit like Cid-kun's Dark Knight Academy, right." I said as we looked at Cid-kun who was suddenly caught off guard at my comment.
"In structure, yes but we don't have anything like devices. There are artefacts though but they are extremely rare and I cannot imagine every student in the Academy owning one personally." He said.
"Ah, Devices are not exactly something we can buy. They are weapons which a Blazer can manifest from their souls, the crystallisation of Magic Power which can be used in battle. It varies between user to user and can be anything from Holy Swords, Demonic Swords, Bows, Knives or even different types of tools." Ikki explained.
"Manifestation of souls, you say." Kisuke-san asked and I could see the mad scientist look in his eyes. "You said you were a student of the Mage Knight Academy. If so then you must be a Blazer too, right? If I am not being too invasive, can we see your device?"
"Ah….I don't see why not." He held his hand in front of him and made a motion of drawing a sword and shouted. "Come forth, Intetsu."
A flash of light appeared from his hand and transformed into a black sword, a raven black Katana with a rectangular tsuba.
"That's so cool!" Rimuru said as he looked at the sword.
Even Cid looked at the sword in interest.
Kisuke-san looked up and down at the katana with interest. "How interesting. It is indeed very similar to a Zanpakutō and yet it's different. It's more of something between a Fullbring and a Zanpakutō." He then suddenly looked at Ikki. "Does it have some kind of special ability unique to itself or some upgraded form? Sorry if I am being too intrusive. It's just that I haven't seen something so interesting in a long time. My name is Kisuke Urahara, just a humble candy shop owner."
Ah, he was totally in his scientist mode.
"How did you….well, yes. Every Device has a unique ability of its own. They are ranked from A to F with F being the lowest and A being the highest. As for another form, the Device is the manifestation of the user's souls, their ideals and convictions. In very rare cases, it is possible that the Device can change its shape when the user undergoes an extreme change in beliefs and spirit but such cases are only read about in books. I have personally never seen or heard of anyone being able to do so with my own eyes."
"I see. Conviction based hmm. That's new. Understandable and yet different. By the way, what is the ability of your Device?" Kisuke-san asked.
"My Intetsu can raise my physical stats by two times." He said.
"That's amazing. If I had double my physical stats, I could totally beat your rank, old man." Atomic Samurai said to Bang-san.
"Hohohoho I think I still have some life in my old bones to hold my own." Bang-san laughed and then looked at Ikki. "You don't seem to be happy, Ikki-kun. Are you perhaps dissatisfied with your device's ability?"
Ikki shook his head. "My ability….it's not that special among other blazers. My Intetsu is Ranked F."
"Eh? F Rank? Surely that can't be true. Doubling someone's physical abilities is broken, ya know." Atomic Samurai asked , surprised.
"Normal Blazers can reinforce their bodies five to six times using just their Magic Power. Intetsu's ability….it's considered almost useless. I don't have enough Magic Power either so I can't use it in conjugation with reinforcement either."
"But you can increase your power by training, can't you?"
"No." He shook his head. "Blazers cannot increase the amount of magic power they are born with. They are limited by their souls."
….
A period of silence descended over the place but he continued.
"But I will overcome it. I will become a Mage Knight and prove them wrong."
"Wow." Rimuru whispered by my side.
"Talk about a shounen protagonist speech." Ainz whispered back.
"He even matches the weak to strong archetype." Cid-kun said, joining in the conversation.
"Yeah. Even got that pretty boy look." I added, making all three of them look at me. "What?"
"Like you are one to talk, you damn harem protagonist." Rimuru said.
"Damn straight." Ainz confirmed.
"You guys are not going to let it go are you?" I shook my head.
"No way. At least not for a month….no two months because of two girls." Ainz added.
"Hah….make that three months. There is Tohru-chan too. Who knows what this guy is planning." Rimuru said.
"...." I ignored them. They would calm down in a while.