Chapter Fifty-one: Vacation and New Friends
Monday.
11:26 P.M.
England.
Westminster.
The door slid apart with a mechanical hiss, now displaying the room inside.
As usual, their current director,
Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott sat behind his desk.
His elbow propped and his fingers resting lightly against his temple.
Occupying his other hand was a tablet with contents on it which he read.
With disinterest.
Upon their entrance, he didn't even so much as glance at them.
Instead, what was plastered on his face was an unsettling smile.
"Interesting. The circle of knowledge has expanded. And it's still expanding."
He finally raised his head to regard them.
"Is this because of our dear X?"
Ellen and Maya halted several steps from the desk.
However—
The Nordic blonde female furrowed her brows.
She shot a confused stare at the man sitting behind the desk in front of her.
"Ike?"
While she possessed a little technical knowledge.
Ultimately, she was a combat specialist.
What she understood best was results and not the process.
Something about his words… she didn't understand.
But the woman next to her, however, understood perfectly.
Maya folded her hands behind her, her gaze straight at him with a confirmation of her own.
"Precisely."
Westcott's smile deepened a fraction.
"Are you implying that he surpasses even my dear Ellen?"
Ellen froze.
Her lips twitched, shooting Maya a deathly glare as she heard those words.
She was the strongest Wizard.
How dare—
"This may be impertinent of me to say, but while Lady Ellen is effectively efficient and does possess the ability to match…"
"X, however, is on a whole other level. If I didn't know better, I could pass him off as a Spirit."
Facing the unnerving stares from both, enough to cause discomfort.
Maya didn't back down.
Instead, she wore an expression of calmness.
"Indeed. I've watched the footages over and over again, but I find myself interested in the little stunt he pulled."
"What interests me is not his output, but the method. He is manipulating a fundamental force of the world itself."
Westcott's fingers tapped once against the desk.
He completely understood the logic.
Like Maya had said, he was a cut above even Ellen herself if that were the case.
Somehow, that mysterious person had found a way to bypass the natural limits of a Wizard.
Despite its using the CR Unit mechanism, it was undoubtable.
This mysterious person had taken the concept of a Wizard a step forward.
Of course, he wasn't sour.
If anything, he was overjoyed. He felt an unprecedented surprise and joy.
While it was a stretch to say he was related to spirits, it wasn't inherently that far of a stretch.
But with what he has seen for now:
"Were X to do what I speculate he's doing, then there's no surprise he'd be above Ellen."
"Ike."
Ellen completely lost it.
What did he mean?
What was he talking about? What was it that X had that she didn't?
And why did they naturally assume that he was automatically stronger?
She didn't understand.
However, he didn't look at her.
That was worse than disagreement.
"Wizards and Spirits alike find themselves disadvantaged. A natural counter, perhaps."
"How, then, do you propose we stop him?"
Tapping his finger against the desk, Westcott mulled it over.
With a scrutinizing gaze, he then glanced back at Maya.
Ellen seemed to want to say something.
But he ignored her.
She already looked like she would throw a tantrum at any given moment.
However, to his words—
Maya confidently took a step forward.
"It's easy. I'll teach you how to deal with him."
Westcott's grin widened further, leaning towards the table.
"Pray tell."
12:08 A.M.
England.
Westminster.
On the other hand,
The said person being talked about…
…was currently strolling the streets of London.
To be specific, the streets of Westminster.
Relatively close to where the Clock Tower stood.
People went about, mostly in suits, and a few others who looked distinct.
Students?
They looked to be, however when he thought about it…
It wasn't really like Japan where they had fixed uniforms.
Put simply, it was a busy crowd at the crossroad he found himself at.
Despite living in Japan only for a month, he quickly adapted to the scenery.
But here… still marveled him.
For a moment,
Morgan paused, raising his head to look at the tower.
Clock Tower.
It wasn't exactly a bad name for an organization, and technically, it could work.
His naming sense aside.
"Now… how do I get to a store."
Of course, he knew how.
He had maps installed on his device and Beta could lead him to one.
While he might have bad cooking skills, his sense of direction wasn't screwed.
The problem was simply that he was sightseeing so much he forgot his goal.
It happens at times, doesn't it.
«Negative»
"Hm? Did someone say something?"
Morgan glanced at the device in his hands; it said nothing more.
Good.
Beep~!
The light turned green, prompting passengers to cross the walkway.
While the others did, Morgan waited behind.
Rather, something caught his eyes.
From the left, approaching the sidewalk was a female duo.
The first was a female, relatively tall; Morgan estimated her to be as tall, or a bit taller than him.
Her demeanor was that of a cold beauty, with black hair, black eyes, a white shirt and jeans.
With her, however,
She pushed a wheelchair where a girl sat on it.
Ginger hair, wearing a shirt with a shawl that covered her neck and parts of her arms.
Accompanying that was a long skirt that reached the ankle of her feet.
Never mind her beauty.
That wasn't what he was focused on, and Kurumi was more beautiful anyways.
But that wasn't the issue.
'...Wizards?'
Compared to everyone else, they had a certain wavelength to them that stood out.
It wasn't as though every other person around didn't have one.
Morgan didn't know how to explain it.
Just like how Spirits are identifiable with Realizers and analytical systems.
Or by other Spirits through sensing another's Reiryoku.
Morgan could now somehow identify a Wizard.
And it was definitely through waves and vibrations.
"Oh? What's it? Someone looks troubled."
Just as he broke himself out of his thoughts, they'd already reached his front.
The light once again turned red, prompting another wave of crowds to stop.
"Ahh, I'm new around these parts so I'm trying to find my way around."
Morgan smiled saying that, looking at the girl on the wheelchair, then to the icy-looking girl.
"A guest? That's nice, I hope you find your stay here good."
"Thank you."
After that, both sides fell silent again, waiting for the lights to turn green.
Just then, he felt a stare at him, exactly from the icy-looking black-haired girl.
Morgan tilted his head to the side as he locked eyes with her.
"Excuse me?"
"Mm?"
Saying that, the girl on the wheelchair raised her head slightly.
"N–no, you look very familiar to someone I know. The resemblance was uncanny."
Both Morgan and the girl sitting on the wheelchair raised their eyebrows at the words.
However, as they did, it only prompted her to shake her head.
"Is that so…?"
Morgan could only force those words out before attempting to look away when finally—
"Please wait. If it's not a problem, may we accompany you? We can show you around."
What an odd sense of déjà vu.
Morgan thought.
Ahh right, those words brought back memories.
His lips curved into an O shape for a moment, staring at the duo.
Was it related to when the black-haired girl said something about looking familiar?
'...oh, ah.'
"Alright. I'm in your care."
Morgan smiled.
While the black-haired girl didn't reciprocate, the ginger-haired female did.
Just like her friend had mentioned.
He looked familiar.
She had also felt a familiar air around him which was why she struck a convo first.
Now, to actually think she would want to verify it.
"Cecile, should we—"
"Mhm. Since we're on break, we might as well hang around, Leonora."
"A—alright."
The light soon turned green as they walked past the crossroads to the other side.
As they did, the girl motioned her head towards Morgan.
"Speaking of which, I didn't quite catch your name."
"Ah, right, my name's Morgan, and yours?"
"Cecile O'Brien. Just call me Cecile. And that cold-looking girl is Leonora Sears."
"Pleasure to meet you two."
He gave Cecile a smile, then the Leonora girl a smile, who simply nodded without so much of a word.
Regardless, he didn't mind.
Since they were offering to give him a tour around, he simply followed behind.
And just past the crosswalk, a few meters straight down, Morgan finally stopped at the store he was looking for.
"...a bakery."
"Oh, that's an unusual pick."
Cecile stared straight at him, but Morgan smiled it off with a small laugh.
"Don't mind me, it's a personal preference of mine to do things like this."
Giving that vague answer, he immediately strode inside, and in no time exited it.
In his hands were two small bags.
Stretching his hand, he handed the first bag with two loaves inside to Leonora.
"Here, just treat it as a token of thanks for the trouble."
"I didn't expect to come across such a gentleman today."
"No, don't think much of it."