Atrum held my gaze for a bit, then relaxed back into his sofa with a laugh as one of his 'women' placed a bottle of wine and two glasses on the table between us. We were both silent as she filled them and only once she was done, did Atrum speak again.
"Fine. Then we will meet as foes. To test my mettle against yours, and to triumph with what I have, is not a situation Atrum Galliasta will ever be opposed to." He made his declaration calmly, with none of the willful childishness most of the Clock Tower attributed to him.
I cocked my head, "Why reach out in the first place then?"
"Because I am not as great a fool as all of you want to believe." He whirled his glass in the air, "No, I've let those beliefs spread solely because they give me an advantage."
That was… a surprising answer. He wanted everyone to think he was a massive pain in the behind with no regard for tradition, that he was an idiot ruled by his desires. He was exactly that too. I knew he was. But it seemed now that he was also smart enough to know how to take advantage of that perception.
"People will believe what they want. And I will do what I want with that belief, whenever I want. Then, when they're left without anything at all, they will despair over having been outdone by a fool." He took a gulp, "I reached out because facing you directly isn't wise at all. But, this does not mean I won't do it if it's necessary."
Atrum was… a boisterous idiot, I realized. He thought he had his ego in check. He did not. Anyone could see it past the first three words of anything that came out of his mouth. He believed in himself a little too much when there was little to back up that faith.
And… from what I'd heard of his lineage, there really was no world in which we were getting along even momentarily.
So, I turned to eye his servant. "You, servant."
The robed woman raised her head but said nothing.
"If you ever decide to murk him, maybe gimme a call, yeah? I'm always up for getting to know a legend. No matter which one you turn out to be. Since mine is… uh…"
I had an actual dictator and tyrant on a video game spree in my living room. There was little that could top that. If she somehow managed it, I'd be happier still.
She gave me a long look… but her face was hidden so I got nothing.
It was inevitably going to happen. Nobunaga had made me realise that these heroic spirits summoned as servants retained their individuality almost completely. They had their lines too. If she was a hero, or even a half-decent person, she was going to end up crashing out at some point. Just hearing Atrum talk was annoying.
"You come into my home, and desire what is mine?" Atrum raised a brow.
I glanced at him.
He continued, "You declared yourself my enemy. Why do you think I'll even let you walk out of here?"
"You trying that would be the best thing you've done since we've met… but you won't, will you?" I smiled, raising two fingers, "Because you know you'll die~"
He grit his teeth and his face tightened. Yet, as I assumed, he tried nothing. It was the same with Miss Touko's indiscretions at his expense, he knew he had no choice but to take it like a good boy if he wanted a chance at payback for 'insults' to his honor.
"I have a servant."
"I think you and I both know that's going to change nothing."
"How presumptuous! Caster!"
So… it was Caster. Now I just had to get her to hit me up. A purely wizard-type legend would be incredible. Code from ancient times, the sort of magecraft that all magi clung to even now. And, a person that could wield it freely right before me. All the possibilities had me giddy.
I stood patiently for her to attack me. Again, nothing. She stared at her Master.
"I don't have any mana, master. You've willfully kept my reserves low."
Though she said those words in a plain voice, I couldn't help but catch a tinge of mischief. There was even a ghost of a smile tugging at the edge of her purple lips. She was enjoying seeing Atrum so annoyed and helpless to do anything against someone who denied him in his own home, his own kingdom.
"You useless bi-"
Anger flashed through his eyes. One of his escorts squealed as he roughly shoved her aside to rise to his feet and raised a fist towards the servant… the servant. Incredible. Maybe he'd have had better chances doing that to me… even Caster seemed stumped by his rashness.
"You, Henry, leave my home now. You've upset me. Caster, I'll deal with you later." He bit out.
Ha ha.
I snorted, turning to leave, "Yeah, so Caster, my door's always open."
The servant actually nodded back, which only infuriated Atrum further… but, any situation where a young master got pissed off was good enough for me. As I strolled into the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor, I realized I never gave her my address.
"Oh well." I shrugged. "She probably has a spell for it."
Even modern magus had a multitude of spells for finding people.
With nothing really left to do for the day, I decided to head home.
The city of Fuyuki was decidedly not all that different compared to what I was used to, or maybe it was just the equally nasty cold weather that made me think that way. Much like London, there was a wide river bisecting this city in half, and a massive steel bridge painted red that joined them together, except the river's name was Mion instead of Thames.
The city was arguably divided up in the same way, since the Mion River bisected the city into the Miyama and Shinto districts like the Thames divided North and South London. Similarly, Miyama was the oldest part of the city, now dominated by the upper classes, while Shinto was a relatively younger district marked by modern infrastructure like those chunky, blockish and tall buildings I held no appreciation for and apartment buildings and all that.
The only real difference I noticed walking back was in the people. They really tended to keep their heads down and mind their own business as they went about. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I knew it. They knew it. But, instead of gawking or even staring, they just shyly glanced at me from time to time, as if afraid of being noticed.
In London, I'd have been called fag by the same thrice just taking a walk down the street.
…What had I even done?
In the end, I just chalked it up to a cultural difference and moved on, buying a couple of totally healthy snacks from a convenience store along the way. And yes, I did indeed walk the whole way back. I was interested in seeing the city even if there wasn't much to see yet.
"I'm probably going to die just waiting for the war to begin…" I sighed, pushing open the gates to my estate. "Or maybe there's something interesting in the forests around this city."
Unlike London, Fuyuki was a sprawling city surrounded by wilderness. A few miles out from the city center, the population grew sparse before abruptly being surrounded by mountains and deep forests. Rin was even kind enough to warn me about wandering there alone when she guided me to Atrum's hotel.
Rin Tohsaka… hmm… Tohsaka.
I pursed my lips, staring up at the refurbished Edelfelt mansion I was staying at.
On my way to Fuyuki, my lovely lady had given me a single instruction before handing over two whole mansions in the city that belonged to her family… because of course she owned entire mansions in a random city I'd never even heard of before, half the world away.
Anyway, the instruction was a terribly strange one. I was to interact with the overseer of the city as I pleased and really rub what I had in their face.
Since the Second Owner was the Tohsaka Family… That overseer was likely Rin.
For what reason Luvia possibly wanted me to mess with Rin, I had no idea. She'd just laughed that rich laugh of hers when I asked, and called it an old family grudge. That was the extent of it. Honestly, I was probably just going to end up asking Rin myself.
Why was me just 'interacting' with her, a way to keep that grudge going?
With another shrug, I entered my home.
That was a mistake.
The moment I stepped inside, a volley of corks came flying for my head. I leaned back to avoid them just in time for an egg to fall from the ceiling and hit me square in the forehead. When I closed my eyes, something snapped around my leg. Suddenly, I couldn't feel the floor under me anymore.
I was hanging upside down.
"Gahahaha! How was that, Henry?!"
My servant stood in the empty corridor, beside a small table that had a number of vintage wine bottles freely spilling onto the floor.
So that was where the corks were from… She'd just wasted priceless wine all for a prank.
As I swerved from side to side upside-down, I crossed my arms and held a hand under my chin. "Well, I'll give you points for originality, but I could've just used Limitless to block it."
"But that would be breaking the rules." She tilted her head, crossing her arms the same way, "We set up a rule saying no supernatural means after I shot you in the face that one time-"
Oi, that made it sound like I was the one that lost the exchange.
"Then I locked you out in the snow."
"Servants don't feel the cold, my idiot master!" She raised her head proudly.
"Yeah, that was why I used my command seal to make it so you did. I'll do it again."
I wiped the egg off my aviators.
"You…" Nobunaga took a step back, "You don't have any more command seals."
I grinned.
She stared at my hand, "You don't! I won't… I won't be threatened this way. I am the Demon King of the Sixth Heav-"
"By my command seal…"
The so-called 'Demon King' yelled and bolted off down the corridor, disappearing into one of the many rooms. Once I was certain she was gone, I turned to stare at the white-haired demon sitting in the stairway beside me.
"You can cut me down now."
Instead of helping me, Caren simply smiled and put a hand against her stomach. Then, she slowly trailed down to her-
"Nope!"
I cut the rope myself and ran down the corridor.
What the hell was wrong with that girl?
-
Hope you enjoyed.
Please, do comment so I know whether I did it well or not.