After bidding farewell to my Professor, I settled into a leisurely pace as I made my way through Norwich proper. Only, there was nothing interesting to see. My peers avoided me like a plague the moment they noticed me, and I'd grown accustomed to the bizarre way in which one side seemed like a medieval recreation, all slanted and decrepit and the other was proper modern architecture, those marvels of architecture that really just amounted to big blocks made of brick.
Somehow, through the years, we had lost taste where it should have grown even more intricate and grand.
Even the weather was boring that day, just a dull grey sky painted by white clouds, and a cold, biting wind that failed to affect me through my jacket. Nobunaga walked beside me, looking as though she'd bolt off randomlyy at any moment. It took a lot of promises to stop her from stealing someone's car just to take a look at it.
The more technology she saw, the more excited she became.
"Bah, I hope my people haven't lost their imagination like this." She sighed into her hand, "What a boring city. How stuffy, how despairing. This inspires no wonder at all! It is just brick-"
I breathed hot air into my hands, "Crazy talk for someone whose nation had the Sun dropped on them twice and then started making gooner bait."
"Oh? What does that mean?!" Her eyes shimmered excitedly, "Are you telling me man has learned to harness the beating Sun? I take my words back. Such glorious innovation-… They surely weaponized it, yes?"
I only nodded, glancing at a passer-by.
"First thing they did with it."
"Of course! Of course! And it must have been during some great war? After all, rarely is man pushed to those heights in times of peace."
Huh.
That was alarmingly accurate. On second thought, maybe it wasn't. Nobunaga was one of her nation's most famous warmongers, someone who united the warring states by force, and had anecdotes that'd make any sane man do a double take.
"I am right, it seems! Ah, but that's only natural! Tell me more."
I held up a hand before fishing my phone out of my pocket, "You can read yourself-"
"But reading is terribly boring! ...Hmmm, but maybe it will be worth it for this."
She reached out hesitantly, but in the end, the phone started ringing just before she actually touched it. An unknown number. I accepted the call without much thought and put the phone to my ear.
"Ah no-"
I shushed the Demon King with a finger. She grumbled in protest.
"Hello, Henry. You haven't forgotten about me, have you?"
Touko Aozaki's voice came through, slow and a tad bit sultry. You never really knew with that nutjob. As proven before, she was nice one moment, then screaming bloody murder and throwing ancient spells just for not talking right the next.
"Nah. But if you wanna ask me out again, my answer's the same as before~"
"I never asked you out to begin with, runt."
"I distinctly recall you giving me your number."
"Because you asked for it-"
"No, that never happened. You tried to take advantage of my age like a true predator but I was too smart."
I heard a snort. "I have a spell for replaying memories."
"Did you know the mind can alter memories if you delude yourself hard enough? That's probably what happened. You're at that age after all~"
I had to be truly careful. Half the Clock Tower wanted to jump my bones, the other half wanted to rip them from my body… or maybe all of them wanted to do both? Well, I wasn't particularly worried about what they wanted.
"Bold words for someone who admires me so greatly they followed right in my footsteps." She laughed. "But all the same, congratulations, you've done something truly Grand-like. By that, I mean the incident with the Rail Zeppelin. A shame I've done it before you or it'd carry more impact. Now, what do you plan to do about those bells?"
I narrowed my eyes. She was talking about the incessant bell that hadn't stopped ringing for half an hour now. A bell I was yet to even see. The sound was reverberating through the city and no one was even bothered by it.
"What about them?" I asked curiously.
"You don't know? Well… hm… I'll let you find out yourself. You know, maybe I'll even throw in my lot with the Enforcers for a favour or two. I'm quite sure it'll be fun."
Leaving me with that, she cut the call. The moment she did, Nobunaga nudged me with her elbow, nodding her head at a distant building in a not-so-discrete way.
"There's someone watching us from there. Third floor." She tilted her head, casting a wayward glance, "A good few. Master, is there something you're not telling me?"
I followed her gaze, lowering my aviators a moment.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Most of the magus in this city want me dead."
"That's…" Nobunaga paused. "That's awesome! That is how you use this word, right?"
"Awesome, indeed."
Seeing as they were content to watch me from the darkness with their hands on questionable parts of their body and their breathing haggard, I decided to… do nothing. We just walked home. By then, the toll of the bell had stopped.
Still, there came the second interesting part of the day.
Outside the humble Smith residence, a small but proper perimeter had been erected. It felt like I'd walked into an action flick set. Three jet black SUVs were lined up outside in front of the walkway, filled with tall, burly men in sleek suits, earpieces and all. A couple stood on the edges, and one mumbled something into his earpiece the second he saw me.
My first thought was someone had, in their infinite wisdom decided, that getting their teeth kicked in by me was a decent idea. That was not the case unfortunately. But I was happy still. The blue number plates had 'EDELFELT' engraved on them in gold.
It was my wifey.
A man opened the door of the frontmost car and Luviagelita stepped out, in a navy strapless dress that fell just to her ankles, slit over one leg to reveal black stockings. In true princess fashion, she also had a white fur collar draped over her shoulders. Weirdly, her hair wasn't in drills for once. It fell straight down her back, with only tiny curls at the end.
With not a care for appearances, she stepped up to me and wrapped her arms around my back, resting her head on my shoulder. Her body felt nice and warm. I'd missed the sensation more than I realized. After a good second, she backed away, and cupped my cheeks in her hands.
Nobunaga grinned sheepishly, whistling.
"I'm glad to see you well."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
She took a long look at my smile. Then,
"You don't… You don't know?"
I craned my neck, pursing my lips. I expected the surveillance… no nevermind, I had an idea as to what had happened. Luviagelita would never come to my home without me. She was deathly afraid of my mother's disapproval. The fact that she had, right after Heartless had outed my abilities, could only mean one thing.
"It went through." I sighed.
"The bells. That was the Carillon Observatory. A Sealing Designation was handed out this morning. By now, every magus in London, no, the country, knows beyond a doubt." She bit her lips, crossing her arms under her breasts. I leered unapologetically. "N…Not right now Henry. Be serious!"
"How can I when you're here…"
She glared at me through tinted cheeks. "The Enforcers will be here any second. I regret that I must meet your mother in such circumstances but… we need to move them out of here. To Finland. I've readied my private jet, and a military escort… Even then-"
At her excessive worry, I kind of regretted how easy I was about it all even now. It felt like I had failed her in some way. She trusted my abilities, but was worried for my mental health. That was so…
I put a hand on her cheek. "Luvia, they'll never even get to my family, or you. They've given me an excuse to do what I've been thinking about for a while."
"They will come to me regardless, I won't give them an inch."
They really wouldn't.
This was the last straw. All the reasoning I needed to-
"Nobu, take care of anyone that comes our way."
"Only if you tell me the story that led to this." The Demon King declared with a raised fist and a snicker.
Luvia gripped my hand, and walked to the front door. Nervously, she straightened out the edges on her dress even though there were none and fixed her hair before finally knocking on the door politely.
"You weren't this nervous even when you confessed-"
"S-Shut it!"
Admittedly, I was a bit worried too. My mother had been against Luviagelita from day one solely because of her background… I only hoped she wasn't too Spartan in the way she'd handle this situation. Mama Smith held nothing back when it came to her children.
When the door opened, my mother's reaction wasn't one I expected. She looked at Luvia, then at me… then looked at a certain someone sitting in the living room watching TV while downing some pudding. Caren… I also turned to Luvia.
"M…Miss Smith. I would like to… um… invite you to spend Christmas… at my estate. S-So that we might get to know-…"
"I don't-"
I discarded what little shame I had left at this point to give my mother the puppy dog eyes. As adorable as I was, there really was no way she wouldn't give in. Mama Smith gave me a hard stare, then sighed aloud.
"Alright, fine. But if you hurt my son in any way…"
"Ma'am, I-I couldn't think of it."
…Why were the women in my life having the talk the dad gave the daughter's boyfriend?
"And what about that child?" She stepped aside, nodding her head at a deadpanning Caren.
"He told me of her, and what he did the same day… Really, Henry can be a bit stupid at times."
"That's true."
"Ma'am, don't call your son an idiot." I protested impotently.
Both of them stared at me with pity… Why?
"But I had their little tryst annulled the same day, at his own request. It was barely worth considering." Luviagelita tossed her hair with a huff before shaking her head from side to side.
At that, my mother glared at her for some reason. I still didn't know what exactly she had against people with crazy money, and all the institutional power that money often bought. Luviagelita withered under her gaze, losing all her confidence again.
"O-Only because he asked."
"Alright, I'll call Ellie. Make yourself at home."
"If you could hurry, my jet-"
My mother pushed down another hard glare.
"T…Take your time, mother-"
I whistled. Luviagelita cut herself off with both hands, as grew red up to her ears.
It didn't take the Smiths all that long to pack up, mostly because Luviagelita assured she'd readied everything they could possibly need at her home beforehand. I spent the little time they did take hiding from my sister's little angry eyes, and offering apologies she kept rejecting with her smol arms crossed.
Soon, I stood beside a calm Caren as my mother and sister took their seats in one of the SUVs. With a shrug, she started walking to join them but I held her in place with a hand on the shoulder.
"Wait a moment there, you goblin. You and I are headed somewhere else." I grinned.
She stopped easily, sighing, "…Is this about the Sealing Designation?"
"Yep."
"They're not really headed for a vacation, are they?"
"Nope."
They were headed to a fortress belonging to one of the richest magus lineages in the current age.
After getting them seated, Luviagelita made her way back to my side. "You'll be heading to Fuyuki… yes?"
I nodded.
"Take care. I…I'll miss you."
"I'll probably miss you more." I tilted my head. "Never thought I'd actually care as much about another person as I do my whims. No… maybe even more."
The Edelfelt Princess smiled and pressed her lips to mine for a single moment. "Thank you for your trust... I shall do my best."
"You won't have to do anything at all."
"Mm."
When they were gone, I ran a hand through my hair and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply.
"Nobu, it's time to do something really interesting."
"Oh?" The Archer-class servant appeared beside me with a hand on her chin and a rifle on her shoulder. "Are we sending a message?"
"The Church. The Mage's Association."
"Oh please Lord, allow this idiot husband of mine to finally grow up. Grant him wisdom befitting his age, so that he may not say things a twelve year old would."
"Can it, you delusional foul-mouthed gremlin." I shoved her with a snort. She moaned. I shivered. "Which way's the Church Mark's at? He's your handler, right?"
"…I don't know what-"
"While it's not much yet. I've had enough of people getting close to my family already."
It was particularly damning because it restricted my curiosity to this country, and even this city, when I could be out looking for skinwalkers or literal gods. It was time to permanently solve that little issue.
"He's not my handler. I'm not reporting to anyone." She lowered her head. "Please believe me. I wouldn't-"
-
Hope you enjoyed.
I'm a bit sick. I hope that didn't detract from the quality. Be sure to point it out if it did.