VII

Cheating

『S-Day +16』

『Imperial Palace』

It was early in the morning as we walked the halls of the palace. Saya was guiding me to the princess' chambers. I was already starting to memorize the path as we passed each dimly lit lamp and identical stone column.

We were greeted by the same servant and I was led into the bedroom. The princess was seated in the same seat as she was yesterday.

“Before we begin I want to make something clear. Saya will no longer be supplying you with information nor will Illyria and Cassia be acting as your spies. Privacy is a given right in our world.”

*sigh* “It is not as if they were sent to spy on all of you. Monitoring all of the summoned to ensure our safety was necessary. Those that are summoned gain power that potentially rivals the great diviners of this world. We could not afford to to let you move unchecked. It is not as if you are in chains.”

“Prisoners without chains remain prisoners. I am not interested in looking over my shoulder in fear because I earned the ire of someone in power. If your people are uninterested in returning the ones that were kidnapped to this world, I will do it myself.”

“And how will you do that?”

“Through any means necessary.”

“… I understand how you feel. The other summoned wish to return to their world as well, but my father has already made the order to reform the Third Legion and wishes for the summoned to be incorporated within. Father is even willing to allow you to become Optio or even a Centurion if you wish.”

“Refused. I'm not here to play soldier and die for your wars.”

“It may be best to start your lessons. The topic is starting to get heated.”

Fine, whatever.

“Yes, you're right. Tell me about 「Sentiomancy」.”

「Sentiomancy」 is the magic of being able to read one's intent. Hostilities, lies, affection. One whom has mastered the magic can be a powerful negotiator. The fact that the Princess of the Empire is such a diviner allows her to manipulate any negotiations and squabbles to her favor.

I was unable to learn such a magic in a single day.

☘ ☘ ☘

『Imperial Palace – Summoned Quarters』

*knock knock*

“Naoki? Hey man, I didn’t expect to see you here. Did you need something because training is gonna be soon.”

“It won't take long, can I come in?”

“Yeah yeah, come in.”

After training with the princess, I was guided to the summoned quarters where the others reside. My reason was simple, procure technologies to aid in my plans. After two weeks in this world, most of the electronics should be in an unusable state. I met with Vince.

“Can you leave your servant outside? I want to talk privately. Saya, you stay out here too.”

“Um, sure.”

“Yes master.”

I walked into Vince's room and was surprised at how large it was. It was a scaled down version of the princess' villa-esque chambers, but it was still much larger than the high servant's quarters.

“This place reminds me of my apartment back on earth.”

“Shit man, it was that big? I was staying in the dorms. Tiny. Where are you staying now? Zoe keeps trying to find where you're staying. She's got the hots for you.”

“Nearby, I’d rather not have Zoe find out.”

“Haha yeah, total man-eater. So, about why you're here?”

“I heard you have a drone. Can I have it?”

“Dude, I can't just give it to you. How about a trade, can I have your servant?”

“No, what if I buy it?”

“… one-hundred gold.”

“Hahaha, ten gold.”

“We already heard that you got paid after you beat the shit out of that combat instructor guy. So… hundred.”

“Do you have a Fivepro?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Okay, throw that in along with any SD cards and I’ll pay up.”

“Hell yeah, you got a deal!”

Is a hundred gold a lot?

I handed over the pouch of coins and put away the drone and controller along with the camera and SD cards into a small leather bag I brought along. The drone was a medium size meant for camera usage and can stay airborne up to around half an hour and can transmit up to two kilometers. After he was done I made a request of him.

“Vince, if you talk the others into selling some of their unwanted electronics or other stuff to you I’ll buy it. For a fair price of course. Five gold for electronics and a few silver for the miscellaneous ones.”

“Earth stuff?”

“Yeah, nothing that's been used. I don't need, like, used panties or anything weird.”

“Pretty sure if you ask, Zoe will give you hers for free.”

“...”

“Kidding man, kidding. Anyways it's almost time for practice. You gonna join?”

“Nah, I don’t really want a repeat of what happened. Oh right, I’ll be around the palace for the next few days or so, so if you need to contact me just send your servant to meet with the princess' servant. Don't tell Zoe.”

“The princess? You hooking up with her?”

“Nope, she's helping me with something. I should go, I need to visit the blacksmith.”

“Yeah, laters man.”

“Later.”

Saya and I were heading to the craft-smiths location, but were stopped by… someone.

“Hey Naoki~. What are you doing here? Were you looking for me? That makes me happy~.”

Fuck...

She moved forward putting her arms around my neck bringing her face close to mine. *chu* I turned my head away letting her kiss my cheek.

“Aww why? Judging from where your hands are you don't mind this. How about we go into my room and have some fun.”

Oh god dammit.

“Sorry, who are you?”

“Wow, how mean. You have no problem groping my cute little butt, but you pretend to not know my name? I’m usually the dominant, but for you, I suppose I can try being a sub.”

“I'm actually busy and I’m not going to cheat on Alicia.”

“Come on, she doesn't have to know. We can make it a quickie. I’ll let you cum inside me. Here, give me your hand. Feel that? This is how wet you make me.”

She is soaking...

She tried to pull me towards her room, but I would not budge.

“What's wrong? Come on, even if we don't have sex you can come in and rest. You look exhausted… or stressed, it's kinda hard to tell with you.”

“Of course I’m exhausted, I’ve been busy trying to figure out ways to go home and find ways to find ways to return home. I’m tired, I want this done with.”

“Return… home? Why? This place is paradise for us. We are free. Free to do what we want or who we want. Free from the burdens of our families and their expectations. And the people here worship us. I love to be worshiped. Babe, how could you want anything else.”

“This world has nothing I want. Once I return to earth I will finally get my own freedom.”

“What does that mean?”

“Master, you will be late for the appointed meeting.” Saya interrupted us. I nudged Zoe away.

“Like I said, I’m busy. And I’m not interested.” I turned and walked away with Saya following behind leaving Zoe standing alone.

“Why the fuck not?! Your sushi roll says otherwise! Ugh!”

“…Zoe, why the fuck are you yelling so early in the morning? It's annoying.”

“Fucking Naoki gave me blue balls Em...”

“He was here?”

“You just missed him…”

“You're not in love with him are you? You got this lovesick maiden shit going on and it's weird.”

“Dude, he managed to hook up with Alicia the Ice Queen. The girl that refuses to be around guys. Any guy that can get her must be amazing. Plus… he was so hard when I pressed up against him. It was a nice size. I want it inside me so bad Em!”

“Uh-huh, let's go get breakfast.”

“Wait Em, I need to cum bad. Eat me out please.”

“Fine, but hurry up. I’m hungry and not for that.”

☘ ☘ ☘

“God dammit, Saya is there anywhere we can be alone… privately?”

“Yes master, please follow this one.”

Saya led me to a side room that resembled a linen closet, a large walk in linen closet with windows for some reason. The walls had shelving that held folded and bolts of cloth. I looked down at Saya who was already on her knees and undid my zipper.

“Unf god damn...”

☘ ☘ ☘

『Palace Smithy』

It was the second time I had met with the armorsmith and leatherworker. Yesterday was just a meet and greet with a bunch of 'Oh we are the best in the Empire' and 'Not even those upstarts at Esquiline can match our skill' so nothing about designs had been done. The leather had been tanned and was ready to use. For the shell it would need to be cut by the workers into workable parts.

I decided to go with a lamellar style scaled armor. Pieces of wood were cut and holes were drilled to be used as a template. Multiple scales were made and twine was used to bind it. It took a few tries to get the looping of the twine to be right. Then my measurements were taken to give them an idea of how many scales would be needed. The ridge of the shell was curved and had small spikes protruding from it. That would be cut and used as shoulder guards.

The leather was to be used as the under armor as well as the bindings for the scales and other armor pieces. The mask and helmet would be using leather and shell. Iron would be added to the helmet for more protection.

The craftsmen assured me it would take one month to finish as they would utilize extra workers to have it finished. With this settled I went to visit a swordsmith.

A quick lunch was had before visiting the swordsmith. Saya had prepared it while I was with the armor and leather workers. My reason for visiting the swordsmith was simple, I wanted to see what kind of tools they were using. Since I was already accustomed to wielding a katana I would need to figure out how to make one using the local tools.

The forge looked like any modern non-mechanized forge. A hearth with bellows connected, an anvil next to a tub of water for quenching, hammers, chisels, tongs and other types of tools needed to manipulate the metal. The only mechanized part of the forge was the bellows connected to a waterwheel. I had the smith let me observe his process.

This was good enough. We went back home and I had to talk with Alicia about what had happened earlier. Fun.

☘ ☘ ☘

『High Servant's Quarters』

Alicia greeted us as we walked in the apartment. After depositing my loot into the office I took Alicia to talk about what had happened.

“Excuse me? What do you mean you finger fucked Zoe?”

“I didn't penetrate and she had surprised me. I’m sor- oof...” She grabbed me by my shirt and dragged me into the bathroom. Stripping off my clothes and vigorously washing me.

“We need to purify your body. She has desecrated it.”

After the thorough cleaning we sat in the bathtub with her leaning on me.

“I know you won't cheat on us so easily, but I already told you Zoe would try to seduce you. She is manipulative and will sleep with anyone she can. She's dangerous to be around… I’ll tell you why I hate her so much.

“You already know how innocent Veronica is. She was raised in a strict household and was forbidden from dating. Her older sister had gotten pregnant and was kicked out, that made her parents crackdown on Veronica. Anyway, she figured that they wouldn't find out she had a boyfriend if they kept it at school so she started dating this guy that she really liked. She wouldn't do anything with him besides holding hands and hugging. She still never had her first kiss yet. So of course he wasn't satisfied with not being able to fool around.”

“Then that's when Zoe comes in?”

“She has a fetish for stealing peoples boyfriend or girlfriend. She loves going to parties and have the guy walk into a room only to find Zoe on her back with his girlfriend's head between her legs and vice versa. But in this case Veronica got a note to meet up at a gym storage room. When she got there she saw her boyfriend laying on his back with Zoe riding him and Emily sitting on his face.

“I wanted to beat the shit out of her, out of all three of them, but Zoe's dad is on the board committee. If I did anything Veronica would get punished. She even threatened that she would let Veronica's parents know that she had been fucking around. So we did nothing. Onii-chan, stay away from her. Now that we have magic she might try to use some kind of mind control to take you away from me.”

The night ended with an uncomfortable tenseness.

☘ ☘ ☘

『S-day +17』

『Private Chambers of Minervina』

“Any word on the 「Animancer」?”

“Yes, there was one found and is being transported here. However, there may be a problem that you may not like.”

“What is it?”

“The child does not understand his magic making it difficult to teach it to others.”

“The fact that he has it is enough. I can figure something out.”

“Then, back to our lessons.”

The lessons continued, but I was still unsure if I had learned the magic or not. I still had a problem understanding how it works. Even though the general idea was simple enough I had trouble with it. Maybe she is just a terrible teacher.

The servant at the door made no mention of any messages for me so Saya and I went straight home.

☘ ☘ ☘

『High Servant's Quarters』

We were in the next door apartment thinking of how to lay out the chickpea production. I took the sack of wheat and had Saya coarsely mill a small portion of it while I roasted and cracked the remainder. The shallow box was placed atop the dining table. I had made sure it was watertight by testing it and checking for leaks. When I was satisfied I drained the water and used air magic to dry it.

The roasted wheat was set aside while the milled wheat was mixed with water and honey then left outside on the balcony. I wanted the natural yeast, as well as the captured wild yeast in the air, to start blooming. In a large cauldron I mixed the chickpeas and water which I left to a boil. I emptied out anything that was left in the barrel and took it outside. The servant kid helped me carry it down the stairs.

Once outside I used 《Flame Thrower》 and deeply charred the interior, being careful not to fully ignite it. Water was used to douse the embers. Once it was back upstairs I checked on the cauldron. It still needed some time to cook.

“Saya, what was the barrel made out of?”

“Oakoo wood. It is believed to have been created by the past summoned using a nature magic. The tree itself grows at an abnormal rate being able to harvest within five to six months.

“Because of its growth rate it has overtaken many areas and cut off access to three outer fortresses. Many of the outer cities harvest as much of the oakoo as possible, but because of numerous threats are only able to focus on small areas.”

“Ah right, that forest you mentioned before.”

After a few hours the chickpeas were done. I scooped them out into the box and mixed the wheat in. The yeast already present on the wheat as well as the yeast from the air had started to multiply. The honey had acted as a starter food to have the yeast multiply. This was mixed into the wheat/chickpea mixture.

The mixture would need to ferment for a few days so we left it as is with instructions to the servant kid to mix it every few hours and once before nightfall.

A couple more test batches and if this works I have insurance for Alicia and Veronica.

With that settled I went to visit Veronica for another mana potion. She was busy doing potion research in my office. Her apartment would have given her much more room to set up her equipment. When I asked her about it she said that it was simply easier for the both of us to work on potions and she can keep the potions nearby.

“Plus I only go to my apartment to sleep, shower and change clothes.”

“So by the way, I never learned what your magecraft was.”

“Huh, what are you talking about? I told you last week when we started the potion stuff.”

Uh…

“Right, so what was it again?”

“Dude… okay fine tell you what, make me some french fries and I’ll tell you what my magic thingy is.”

“That seems unnecessary.”

“I'm hungry and craving some fries. So yeah.”

“… I’ll see what I can do.”

“Wait, really? I thought there weren't any potatoes here.”

Just like there was tamarind and other India-origin foods and spices in this world, there was also taro. I remember eating taro in stews and hot pots and hearing about how it can be mashed and fried, but I never had that. This was a good chance to test it.

The first thing I need was my peeling knife. I kept some of my knives with me since I had intended to do the cooking during the camp. The taro was cleaned and peeled, french cut then soaked in a bowl of water.

Olive oil was poured into a pot and heat. Unfortunately olive oil was a poor oil to use for frying, especially without a thermometer since the smoke point is low and we are unable to control the temperature here.

“Ah, I have an idea. Saya can go you pick up some pork back or pork fat or even suet or is it too late in the day?”

“This one can procure some from the palace kitchen.”

“Palace huh? Okay.”

“Master, what is 'suet'?”

“It's the fat that can be found near the kidneys of some animals. It's hard and white.”

Saya left as I was testing the oil. I kept removing and adding wood to try and control the temperature and keep it from smoking. A few test taros were dried and placed in the oil. Once it started to brown I took it out and let it cool.

“Oh shit that's right, I can take out my Grimoire now.”

My Grimoire materialized floating in front of me. Opening it I saw that I had five-hundred eighty-two skill points available. This was gained mostly from the skills and a few spells I had unlocked. Recipes became more organized as I unlocked similar dishes. 「Sandwich」became its own category, of which, I had unlocked twenty recipes. The same went with soups, biscuits, gravies, and other things.

Soap making and the precursor refining as well as the newly unlocked chickpea sauce manufacturing netted me numerous skill points.

My stats have not changed since I last checked it, but I did confirm that I had learned 「Viseremancy」. I looked around and saw that 「Auramancy」 was grayed out and the progress bar showed [18%]. When I tried adding a skill point it nothing happened. Most likely need to have it learned first to unlock then I can increase its level.

Whatever, I’ll figure it out later.

「Magecraft: Viseremancy | Category: Domination | Information: Observant Mage – User is able to learn skills and spells through visual stimulation.」

The last time I check the Grimoire I was only focused on changing the settings to disable the 〈Dings〉 notifications neglecting the other options since I was too busy celebrating. I found out that attributes would not increase on its own, not anymore at least. What happens is that when the【Grimoire Magic System】becomes active it forcibly prevents attribute increases by converting it to a skill point.

The fried taro had cooled down enough to eat. When I tried one it was starchy in the center, it needed to be cooked more. I dropped the pieces back into the hot oil and let it cook. Before I went back to browsing the Grimoire I went to grab a pencil to test something.

[Motherlode]

Nothing happened. I thought I saw a pop up, but I got distracted from the popping sound of the oil. When I looked back there was nothing.

[player.additem f 500] [player.additem 0000000f 500]

The words disappeared with nothing happening. One more try.

↑↑↓↓←→←→ Ⓑ Ⓐ

Again nothing happened, but the oil started smoking so I threw my pencil onto the Grimoire and rushed to remove the taro fries before it burned. It was slightly burned, but it was just a small test batch. NBD.

Hm? Where did my pencil go?

I checked around and couldn't find my pencil, but it was not important as I still had more in my binder. Ignoring that and while the fries were cooling I went back to checking the Grimoire. I wanted to upgrade some spells and soap making skills, but unlock the shop was my priority with skill points right now.

Ah, I should check the taro fries.

I started to eat the taro fries, it was really good, but it needed salt. As I reached for some salt a piece of fry had dropped from my mouth.

“Oops.”

The piece of fried taro fell onto the Grimoire and something odd happened. The taro melted. Just melted. It just *blurped* right there liquifying and disappearing into the Grimoire.

“Whoa, that was… different.”

A prompt soon appeared and disappeared.

〈Copied: Fried French Cut Taro +5 Skill Points〉

What?

“Holy fucking shit…”

This was so freaking cool. I tried dropping a raw taro fry. Then other things around me.

〈Copied: Raw French Cut Taro +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: Raw Taro Corm +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: Olive Oil +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: Wooden Spoon +5 Skill Points〉

Veronica walked in as I was looking for more things to drop in.

“Holy shit no way, you actually made french fries?! Oh man, these are really good, but these aren't potatoes right? Needs a little salt though. Hey Naoki, you okay?”

“Veronica, holy shit Veronica. Look at this.”

I took a cup and placed it on the Grimoire.

〈Copied: Wooden Cup +5 Skill Points〉

“What the fuck?! How?!”

“We need to tell Alicia about this. Start copying other things. We need the skill points to unlock some of the other menus. We need the 「Grimoire Shop」.”

“Ye-yeah, we need more plants from the Apothecary, we're almost out.”

I went straight to the bedroom and into my rucksack. I also took some coins from the chest. The coin and a gold bar were copied. Paper, graphing paper, lined paper, index card, eraser, and a pen were copied, but when I tried a pencil I received a different prompt.

〈Error: Item Data Present in System〉

Copied items won't be recopied avoiding any exploits to farm extra skill points.

Guess that answers where my pencil went.

I dug into my rucksack and pulled out three bullets. One FMJ, one jacketed hollow point and one soft point. Each were copied, but I was curious of something. It took a bit of work with my multi-tool, but I managed to disassemble one of the FMJ rounds.

〈Copied: 9mm Full Metal Jacket Round +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: 9mm Jacketed Hollow Point Round +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: 9mm Soft Point Round +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: 9mm Full Metal Jacket Bullet +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: Granulated Nitrocellulose/Graphene Powder +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: 9x19mm Brass Casing +5 Skill Points〉

〈Copied: Small Pistol Primer +5 Skill Points〉

So cool.

Veronica walked in with her Grimoire and a bunch of medicinal plants. She joined me on the bed and started separating the plants for me and Alicia to copy while I gave her a bunch of my own items, except the bullets as I only had so many of them. I took some things from my med kit that had multiples of an item as well as my medication.

“Hey, about that thing if I make you french fries.”

“Oh right, 「Celeromancy」, I can make a small time dilation field around an object to speed things up because obviously my would-have-been future of chemical engineering meant I can make a 'time warp'. It's what I’ve been using when I make potions, but it uses up a ton of mana.”

“How fast can you speed things up?”

“Um… a few minutes, but i managed to get it up from seconds so yeah, I’m pretty badass.”

“Teach it to me?”

“Sure, make more fries. Oh and I want that custard that you made last time. So good.”

““Master, this one has returned””

As we talked both Saya and Cassia announced at the same time their arrival. We both greeted them and I got up from the bed taking my Grimoire with me.

“Ah right, I left the stove on. Saya go ahead into the kitchen and clear a space.”

“Cassia, could you wait for me in the study? I’m going to clean up here.”

As I was leaving the room I turned around and watched Veronica as she continued laying down while putting away some of the things from my rucksack. I did not notice it before, but she was wearing booty shorts. She has a cute butt.

“Naoki, are you perving out on my butt?”

“...No.”

“Lies.”

“You have a cute butt.”

She wiggled her hips.

“Yeah, I know.”

I recalled my Grimoire out of view from our servants and walked into the kitchen. Saya had already cleared the prep area and moved the raw taro to the side. I took the pot of hot olive oil out of the fire and got to work on the pork. She had brought back the backfat and pork belly. The pork belly can be made into bacon if I cure it in salt then smoke it. That and the suet was put into the ice box.

The backfat was cut into cubes and placed into a pot. The pot was placed on the fire and render the lard. While that was rendering I took another pot and a clean cloth to filter out the solids and set it aside.

Since Veronica wanted custard I took milk, honey, eggs and some spices. Clove and nutmeg were ground into a very fine powder and mixed with the liquid ingredients. The mixture was poured into a small pot and placed in the heated oven.

When the lard was rendered I had Saya hold the cloth over the extra pot while I poured the contents over it. The cloth was squeezed to extract the last bit of lard and emptied back into the first pot. The new pot of lard was put over the fire to heat up so I can cook the remaining taro fires.

I wonder where Alicia is. She's missing out on all this fun.

☘ ☘ ☘

『Summoned Quarters – Early Afternoon』

Alicia spent the morning watching her classmates during their combat practice. Then again during their magic practice. She had kept her distance to avoid being noticed and used her camera with a telescopic lens attachment to watch them. Illyria kept her company and watched for anyone that would cause them trouble, but her hiding spot Alicia had scouted beforehand kept them difficult to notice.

She only had one target she focused on: Zoe Summers – The NTR Queen. The only person Alicia could consider her enemy. Her hatred for Zoe reemerged after physical contact was made with Naoki.

When the students finished training they had left to the dining area of the summoned quarters for lunch. Alicia waited for an opportunity to get Zoe alone. As they began to disperse, Zoe headed to her room alone while the others went elsewhere. Alicia moved. She instructed Illyria to stay back and wait for her.

Noticing that she was being followed, Zoe turned around and met Alicia knowing already why she was here.

“Hey Ali~, how's our, I mean, your boyfriend doing?”

“...”

“Oh, how scary~, where did you get that sword babe? Are you going to 'stick it' in me? Too bad.”

As Alicia approached Zoe, she had materialized a sword using her magic spell 《Summon Sword》. Before she had gotten close enough to attack, belts appeared from the floor wrapping around her legs and arms.

“You're not the only one who figure out her magic. This is mine, tying people up and using them as I please. Em loves it, now maybe I can have some fun with you. We've always wanted to have a taste of your asian pussy.”

“I've warned you before to stay away from Naoki. Do you really think I would let what happen pass? Especially after what you did to Veronica?!”

“Ali, give it up, I want him, you want him. Let's just share. I’ll even stop sleeping with other guys. Come one, let's share his cum. I really want to suck his cum out of your pussy. What the fuck?!”

Angered by her words, Alicia summoned more blades cutting away the bindings on her legs and arms. Each of the newly summoned blade hung in the air pointing at Zoe. 《Summon Dagger》 was used to summon each of the new shorter blades. Zoe, seeing this, began to back away, but was stopped by Alicia causing the blade to be thrown preventing her from moving.

“Stop, Ali, wait...”

Alicia stepped closer and closer towards Zoe. Zoe attempted to use her magic to stop Alicia from taking another step forward, but was preempted and her bindings were cut away.

*slash*

“Ah fuck! Ali stop!”

Alicia's daggers slashed at Zoe's legs causing her to fall backwards.

*stab*

As Zoe sat on the cold stone floor Alicia stabbed her sword into her shoulder.

“Guh, wait...”

*twist*

“AHH!”

Alicia twisted the blade breaking Zoe's clavicle.

“Last warning and I am being extremely generous here. Stay away from my husband. Stay away from my best friend. Stay away from our servants. Stay away from me. Stay the FUCK AWAY FROM US!

“Or next time I will kill you. I will stab this sword into that filthy cunt of yours then slit your throat. This time daddy won't protect you.”

“Fuck you...”

Alicia smiled.

☘ ☘ ☘

『High Servant's Quarters - Evening』

“Ugh, I’m exhausted. Onii-chan I’m home. I smell something frying.”

“Oh Alicia, welcome home. You missed out on the fun. Here, try this.”

“French fries? Ooh it tastes so good. What else did you make?”

“Lots. Let's eat.”

Just like last time Alicia and Veronica went to their apartment after dinner while leaving both their servants with me. I am not going to have sex with them… maybe I will play with their breasts a little.

Just a little bit.

☘ ☘ ☘

『S-Day +18』

『Summoned Quarters』

The training session with the princess went the same as yesterday. When I left I ran into Vince's servant who had me follow her to his room.

“Hey man, I got your things.”

He brought a bag to me to which I opened. In it was various items from smart phones and cameras to binoculars and radio transceivers.

Score.

I passed him a bag of gold.

“How much is this?”

“Thousand. You never saw me here right?”

“Yeah, right. Where did you get this much gold?”

“… Arbitrage?”

“What, did you sell the drone?”

“No, I sold soap I made.”

“You can make soap? Holy shit, I can see how you got so much gold then.”

“Yeah, learned it when I was a kid. What's that over there?”

On the table was paper with different lettering written. Some were patterned, some weren't.

“Sweet right? The other day I learned my magic thing was 「Runomancy」so I’ve been practicing.”

Holy shit, double score.

“Were you able to make it work?”

“Hell yeah, check this out.”

He took a sheet of paper with writing on it and held it in front of me. He whispered something and tried to bend the paper.

“Here, try bending this.”

When I tried to bend it it felt stiff. As if I was trying to bend cardboard. I looked at the letters on the paper. French?

“That's pretty cool, how does it work.”

“It's actually really easy, kinda. Just write down what you want to happen and chant a magic spell thing and 'bam!' it works.”

“Is this french?”

“Yup, despite being Japanese I was born and raised in Canada, near Quebec so I ended up learning french. Did you get your magic appraised?”

“Appraised?”

“I think the magic teacher guy said something about orichalcum and an 「Appraisal Stone」. You should get appraised if you haven't, magic is fucking awesome. I think you might be like Riley who got 「Ignimancy」they call it that instead of 「Pyromancy」for some reason.”

「Appraisal Stone」needs an orichalcum plate to work. Triple score.

“That… thanks. Here, I need to get going.”

“More gold? Thanks man, but what for?”

“Hm? For teaching me how this works. Later.”

“Yeah, later. I am so rich!”

☘ ☘ ☘

『High Servant's Quarters』

I got to work. I knew what to do. I wanted to confirm it, something that made me curious.

Veronica was in the office when I came to drop off my loot.

“Hey Naoki.”

“Yo. Help me with something?”

Afterward we went into my bedroom carrying leather bags and locking the door. The servants were ordered not to disturb us. Probably gave them the wrong idea.

My rucksack was moved out of the way to reveal the treasure chest. We started to fill the bags. Thousands upon thousands of gold coins were moved. The five remaining gold bars moved. After emptying the chest I took my multi-tool and got to work.

I carefully examined every bit of the chest. Learning every little detail. It was such a finely crafted item. Veronica was taking pictures with her phone and I set up my phone to take a video as I worked. It was so light, like lifting up a cardboard box.

I started to take it apart being careful not to break any pieces so I can put it back together. 「Float Stone」 and 「Mana Stone」 filled the interior of the chest. Cloth was layered between the wood and the stones to protect it. There was no orichalcum, it was all in direct contact and held together with some kind of glue. The stones were patterned to surround 「Float Stones」around a 「Mana Stone」.

Detailed photos were taken. Then I put it back together dropping in the bags of coins.

“Now to begin my experiment. Thanks Veronica.”

My binder was full of school supplies. I took that as well as a tube of superglue from my medkit. Veronica and I went in to the office. While she would go back to doing potion research I would begin rune and 「Magic Stone」research.

I started by trying to mimic what Vince had showed me earlier to learn 「Runomancy」. What was written on the paper I did not know, I could recognize the french wording, but not what it read. I just wrote whatever in english.

[Strengthen this sheet of paper.]

Mana was then fed into the paper. When I tested the paper it bent easily. Fail. I erased the words and tried another way.

[Strengthen – Paper – Unbending]

Mana was fed again and again it failed. Since I did not know what was chanted I tried making a new mantra.

“Fortify. Strengthen. Reinforce.”

It worked.

“You did it?”

“I did it.”

Pop ups from my Grimoire showed up.

「《Mantra: Fortify. Strengthen. Reinforce.》Learned」

「Runomancy Discovered」

「Quest Complete:【Learn Runomancy】 | Information: Ability to enchant any item. A most useful endeavor. | Rewards: Runomancy Spells: 《Enchant Object Level:1》,《Re-enchant Object Level:1》,《Disenchant Object Level:1》」

「《Enchant Object》Learned」

「《Re-enchant Object》Learned」

「《Disenchant Object》Learned」

《Enchant Object》was probably what Vince had used while 《Mantra: Fortify. Strengthen. Reinforce.》was more of a bypass. 《Re-enchant Object》refreshes enchantments on an object and 《Disenchant Object》removes it.

A new quest did not appear, but that was not important right now. I moved on to the next step. Eight 「Distortion Stones」placed around a 「Mana Stone」was glued to an enchanted paper. As soon as each 「Distortion Stone」made contact to the 「Mana Stone」it started to create a distortion field that obscured my vision. Because there were eight of it the effect was amplified.

I tried wrapping the stones with the rest of the paper and placed it into one of the leather bags. The distortions disappeared and was contained within the bag. Looking into the bag I could see that the distortions were still active. I tried putting other items inside to see if I was successful, but I was not.

I tried again with a different enchantment.

I tried again with a different pattern.

I tried again with a different stone.

「Distortion Stone」+「Mana Stone」+「Charge Stone」. Failed.

「Distortion Stone」+「Mana Stone」+「Silent Stone」. Failed.

「Distortion Stone」+「Mana Stone」+「Float Stone」. Failed.

「Distortion Stone」+「Mana Stone」+「Anchor Stone」. Failed…

“Hm?”

That was different. The way it reacted. 「Anchor Stones」increases weight of something, when it interacts with a distortion field it focuses the field towards the stone. When I tested it in the bag nothing had happened, but I was close.

「Distortion Stone」+「Mana Stone」+「Anchor Stone」+「Charge Stone」.

It reacted.