Natsuki and I sit on a large towel at the beach, waves gently lap over the sands as we bask in the sun.
"This is nice." I smile.
"Mhmmm." The girl who's leaning her head on my shoulder hums.
Natsuki and I took a quick trip over to Hargeon. While the beach there may not be as large as Akane Beach's, it has a more... subdued... vibe to it.
It's quiet.
Peaceful.
Just Natsuki and I... and others just like us enjoying the fairly warm early spring day.
We've been out here for about an hour now, just enjoying each other's company.
It's a nice change of pace from what we normally do... as in... me bending her over the kitchen counter and hoping and praying that Erza or anyone else doesn't show up.
Far too many times I've been cockblocked by the little redhead, be it with Rias, Koneko, Natsuki or even Virgo. While annoying, I just can't seem to stay mad at the brats. I'll live for a... long time... I should enjoy the moments while they're still around.
A slightly melancholic smile appears on my lips as I gaze down into the sand.
I should make memories while I can...
I allow my eyes to drift shut for a moment.
"Well well. What do we have here?" A voice calls out. "Looks like two fairy tail flies are stinking up the beach!"
I tilt my head back slightly and peer up at a group of five up on the street just behind us. It's elevated about five feet from where we are via a large stone brick wall.
"You're being annoying. Can you lot go bother someone else? I don't feel like kicking your ass."
"Pfft- what? You've got to act all macho in front of your girl?" The lead man laughs. "Jeez. I genuinely don't see what's so special about two scrawny little weaklings... though I guess she's got a pretty nice ass. Hey. Bitch. Why don't you leave this loser and have fun with a REAL man."
I can feel Natsuki's hand clench tightly around my own.
My eyes briefly scan them. Looking for identifying guild marks-
That's... not phantom lord...
Where exactly have I seen that mark before.
"Wait..." I mutter. "You're not Phantom Lord? Pfft. For a second there I actually thought you were worth my time. What guild are you even from? Clearly not a very famous one if I can't tell who your guild mark belongs to at a single glance."
That just pisses them off.
"OI OI!" One of the followers snarl. "The hell you mean by that!?!"
"What I mean is that you're from a nothing guild full of absolute morons who pick fights without thinking of the consequences and think that five people are enough people to stop me from coming up there and smacking you in the mouth."
"But. Don't say that I'm not a nice guy... I'm giving you five one final chance to grab your shit and wander along the way you were going. Hell. Stand there and gawk for all I care. Just stop being a bother."
"Oh? And if we don't?" The lead annoyance asks.
"I'd whole heartedly suggest that you do... for your sake."
"How about I wipe that smug ass expression off your face instead!"
Natsuki stands up abruptly, her arms stretching above her head for a moment. A groan leaving her lips. "Alright. That's enough."
"Wh- Shit- Sand B-" the lead man raises his hand, eyes widening in alarm.
Huh. He's not the worst mage I've seen if he could tell what is about to happen. It won't save him, though.
Natsuki eats a dollop of frosting and blurs forwards.
"Wh-" one of the other men gasp, not able to keep up with her sudden movement. "Where did she-"
*CRACK*
Natsuki had stopped just in front of the first guy, clearing twenty feet in little more than an instant, a sole punch snaps his head to the side, his nose is broken, the sand spell he was about to cast sputters out as the next man tries to raise his hands but she steps into his guard and slams a punch into his stomach that folds him like a lawn chair, lifting him completely off the ground and knocking him back into another and sending both sprawling to the floor.
The third begins to turn, raising a staff, but Natsuki disarms him with a simple upward swing from one of her arms, the staff flipping out of his hand and into the air as she chops down with that same hand, striking him in the collarbone and dislocating his shoulder.
Her other hand comes forwards, knuckles crashing into his sternum. I can tell she held back with that punch. She probably could have snapped his sternum in half like a particularly crunchy cracker yet I think he's only got hairline fractures.
She turns to the final guy and grabs him by the shirt, pulling him forwards.
She slaps him. "STOP."
She backhands him. "BEING."
She slaps him. "A."
Backhand. "FUCKING."
She lets go of his shirt and does one final slap that carries him off his feet and to the floor. "BOTHER!"
All of that was done in just over ten seconds.
Hell, the longest part of it would have been the slapping. That alone took about six seconds as her power boost wore off.
She dusts off her hands, lets out a small 'hmph' and turns back to me, hopping back down to the beach. "Let's move down the beach a little. Those five are an eyesore... plus their groaning is going to get old fast."
"Your wish is my command." I shrug with a small smile.
With a wave of my hand, I go to create a veil-creature that is nothing more that a flat sheet with dozens of hair-thin legs on the bottom to carry the towel to another part of the beach without moving but I pause.
'h-huh? That's... not right...
My magic... costs almost nothing?
Like... genuinely almost nothing.
A fraction away from zero. The faintest taste of magic.
The La Croix of magical drain.
That.
Is not supposed to be that way.
I haven't tested my veil make since I got that strange blacksmith power.
Oh shit.
Uhhhhh...
Worry about that later! Date time must continue!
[Split]
"Alright... this makes no fucking sense..." I whisper under my breath.
It's late. My date with Natsuki finished without anymore surprises. Those five eventually picked themselves up and limped away without so much as looking for us. I also remembered where I saw that guild mark. Eisenwald! They're not a dark guild yet. That's neat.
Anyways, I've basically retired to my study for the day. Virgo's downstairs making dinner- I didn't ask what she was cooking but she knows all of my favorites by heart now. I genuinely couldn't have asked for a better maid-slash-lover-slash... spirit?
WOW the rest of the guild is going to have a STRUGGLE trying to figure out our relationship dynamics when they find out I'm fucking all of them.
Harems... aren't exactly the norm in Fiore.
Anyways, I'm just sat at home trying to figure out what exactly changed with my magic while reading whatever comments the others had on my fight with the two etherious.
I quietly form a rotating ball of Solar Veil thread that curls twists in my hand. Just a massive ball of yarn.
Whatever I got with that weird gravity-slash-blacksmith soul thing has... basically made all of my maker magic have almost zero magic cost.
Iron, Tin, all of the cloth magics, shadow, even Solar Veil- though notably that still has a little cost.
But I mean... it's still probably only five or ten percent of what it was in comparison to the rest of the maker magic's one percent.
Like it said. Barely any magical drain at all. There's more with dynamic maker magic, but there's still some with static. Once more a mere fraction of the dynamic... which is once more a fraction of something mildly notable such as Solar Veil.
It's almost like... I... only have to pay the upkeep... to keep them summoned
"..."
Huh...
Is that...
"Let's try something. Iron Make: Sword." An elaborate curved arming sword appears in my grasp.
There's a little twinge of magic lost... then nothing...
"Holy shit..." I whisper.
"Well now~" a grin crosses my lips.
Instead of the normal 'temporary-make' almost all maker mages use...
I just used permanent-make.
Something that'd normally only be useful for making a spare iron bar here or there... made an entire sword for about a tenth of what even my NORMAL maker magic was before I got this weird soul thing.
"I can supply more magic to make something stronger..." I murmur. "What happens now?"
I conjure thread, pouring more and more magic into it. The shadows of the thread darken, the orange-ish string grows more and more vibrant.
I dump over half of my magic into the string then conjure an archive window. "Scan."
Ah. So it's not all-powerful it appears. This string is only around five times as durable as a normal one despite a near ten-thousand times multiplier to magical consumption. Diminishing returns strikes again, sadly.
Ah well. The ability to make permanent maker magic items for cheaper is already a godsend. Maybe I should start learning diamond-maker magic? Or start on learning how to metal-make those terraria metals?
I look to the chat group yet again.
Focalors: "Ah, I see you were playing the all-powerful precognitive. Not a bad performance, although I wouldn't allow you anywhere near any of my productions as anything more than a background character. 5/10."
Ruby: "That was so COOL Andy! You beat them up good!"
Frieren: "Mn. You could have ended that sooner. You should have."
Le Fay: "Huh. The power to explode things with a touch and shadows?"
Nenio: "Fascinating! The demons of this world seem to be almost completely humanoid! that was quite an impressive battle! I feel as if I have learned a lot! As long as I don't forget!"
Nenio: "Though this does create some interesting questions for the explosive demon. To survive his own blasts point-blank. He must have a shockingly high resistance or near immunity to fire. Or perhaps his sheer durability allows him to resist the blows? Is it possible for him to create a powerful enough explosion to damage himself?"
Mechromancer: "WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE WINGS?!"
Albus Dumbledore: "Ah. The magic of your world seems far more destructive than my own. There are some destructive charms, perhaps, such as Bombarda the exploding charm and Diffindo the severing charm, but... not much can rival the sheer destruction that the demon's 'dark orb' had the potential to display."
Andrew: "Well, to be fair, there's quite a few magical superweapons just laying around in this world. Most of the demon books of zeref count, the Three Great Fairy Spells of my guild certainly count, as does the Abyss break spell and the Magical Convergent Cannons."
Andrew: "And, to answer your question, Nenio, one of the moves he did in my vision of the future was blowing himself up. The blast was powerful enough to break through several ecriture barriers (Which is borderline unbreakable), severely scorch my back, likely have leveled the entire town despite the distance we were fighting at, and would have still injured the girl I had been trying to protect with my body despite the fact she had a portion of the strength of an S-Class demon added to her own."
Nenio: "Interesting! So this demon had a complete lack of survival instinct? How curious! Even the most basic animals do not hurt themselves like that! Could the demon's intelectual development be lower than that of animals?"
Andrew: "My familiar is another Etherious. She said that the guild in which she was in (After being mentally manipulated with magic) was trying to perfect a sort of 'resurrection' method. It's likely in a usable state, even if imperfect, and seeing that some random child managed to casually contain a demon who's power- slightly- outshined his own likely caused him to just say 'fuck it. I need to kill that girl or she becomes a threat to the entirety of Tartaros' and I was likely just caught in the blast range."
Ruby: "Uh, Andy you keep mentioning this Zeref guy... but who is he?"
Andrew: "Well, to cut a fairly long story short, uh, he tried to revive his brother once, the god of life and death didn't like that so they cursed him with the 'Curse of Contradiction' in which if he values and respects life, he kills it uncontrollably around himself and if he doesn't, nothing happens. It also makes him immortal. So the past 400 years or so has been him steadily escalating to try and find a way to kill himself. That's why he created the Etherious, the 'Demon Books of Zeref' (Yes, their true forms are ACTUALLY books, I don't know how exactly they gained a humanoid appearance, but they exist now for some reason.) and that's about it. My main issue with the guy is that he doesn't pick up after himself and makes it EVERYONE'S problem. I mean, sure. You want to die. I get it. I would too. But you left out 'Sentient Murder Flute 9000' that kills all who hear its song and now have entire (Dozens, even) cults of followers doing tons of atrocious shit to try and 'appease' you."
The chat after that devolved into some idle chatter here and there, some questions, sure, but then I went on my date and more or less left it on 'unread'.
Eris: "I'm glad you managed to help little Mirajane and her siblings! That was a kind thing to do... plus with the powers of those two demons she's surely going to be able to support them!"
"..."
"..."
I rub my forehead, closing my eyes briefly as I inhale and exhale. 'Let's see here... I should be able to do... this...'
"Detect..." I call out blandly only to pause as I can feel a general warmth of 'observation' over towards the upper corner of the room. I slowly swivel the chair, glaring up at the corner. "Really? Don't you have literally ANYTHING better to do? God stuff? Divine paperwork? Answering prayers? Making sure your followers don't sacrifice virgins on mass?"
The warmth abruptly dissipates.
"..."
I turn to the chat.
Andrew: "So. Anything to say for yourself?"
Ruby: "Huh?"
Eris: "Eheh Sorry!"
Andrew: "You're such a pervert, Eris."
Eris: "I'M NOT A PERVERT!"
Andrew: "Well, you spy on me in my own home and also when I go on dates, so I'd say that you are."
Eris: "NO! I didn't watch your date! I stopped watching when I realized you were going on a date!"
Ruby: "Wait... she was watching you... AGAIN?! You can't do that! People deserve privacy!"
Andrew: "Anyways, I'm back now, anyone have any questions while I'm here?"
Ruby: "OH! OH! ANDY I MET A WIZARD A WHILE BACK!"
Andrew: "A wizard? In your world?"
Ruby: "YEAH! AND! AND HE WAN'TS TO MEET WITH YOU! He wants to negotiate you returning magic to the whole world!"
Andrew: "Alright, I should be free tomorrow. Check and see if he's free then."
Ruby: "YEAAAH!!"
The chat briefly lulls... so I think Ruby has gone off to pester whoever she can to see if she can get into contact with 'the wizard'.
I can feel the warmth appear behind me yet again.
"I'm still casting the spell, by the way."
The warmth disappears.
Man... it's kind of wild that I can detect gods watching me like that... or at least gods of Eris' rank watching me.
It feels like I'm breaking the fourth wall.
Kind of fun.
Andrew: "Hey, Albus, I'm kind of curious. You teach at a magic school, right? What sort of classes do you have there? Magic here can't really be 'taught' as each person typically has their own unique spin to it. You can really only categorize it at 'Caster' and 'Holder', but I guess you could also slap on a few descriptors such as 'Lost', 'Light' and 'Dark'."
It takes a few minutes before he responds.
Albus Dumbledore: "Oh! An interesting question. Here at Hogwarts, we have seven core classes and numerous other Electives, and Extra-curricular classes. Firstly, there's Astronomy, the stars can be used for rituals and can effect certain spells so it is an important medium to learn. Next would be Charms, which is a wide range of different spells concerned with giving a target, be it an object or an individual, new and unexpected properties and/or making the target perform certain actions. Most spells fall under 'Charms' and is a very important skillset to learn for any aspiring witch or wizard."
Albus Dumbledore: "Next? Defense against the dark arts. Self explanatory. A class teaching how to deal with certain monsters like vampires, werewolves, and counter curses and hexes. After that? Herbology. Teaching how to care for and prepare magical plants and fungi. A class which goes hand and hand with the fourth class, Potions. Which is... well... you are aware of what a potion is, correct?"
Andrew: "I am. I haven't found a book on it yet but 'Potion Magic' should absolutely exist in this world."
Albus Dumbledore: "Ah! I see! In which case the next class will be History of Magic, also self-explanitory, and finally Transfiguration, the act of turning one object into another."
Andrew: "Like Alchemy?"
Albus Dumbledore: "Oh, Alchemy is an elective for sixth and seventh years but it does have some overlapping qualities with both Potions and Transfiguration. As a result, before being accepted they must have at least an E within both of these subjects on their O.W.L. test."
Before I can even type of a response to that the man answers my forming question.
Albus Dumbledore: "Oh, and E stands for 'Exceeds Expectations" and is the second of our three passing grades of 'Outstanding' 'Exceeds Expectations' and 'Acceptable'. The inverse, the failing grades are P, D, and T. 'Poor', 'Dreadful', and 'Troll'. The O.W.L., also known as the 'Ordinary Wizard Level' is a test that fifth years in Hogwarts take to determine if a student had mastered magic to a 'standard' level, as the name implies."
Andrew: "You have students who didn't know magic exists, right? And also students that come from magical families?"
Albus Dumbledore: "We do indeed, yes."
Andrew: "Do you have a forced elective for all new mages to explain the nuances of magical culture? Such as magical contracts or other assorted changes which their lack of experience could cause unneeded friction? Like a class to go over magical laws that could be inadvertently broken and magical taboos they might not be aware of?"
Albus Dumbledore: "Ah. Well. In a similar vein we do have the Muggle Studies elective. In which we explore more of the nonmagical world."
Andrew: "But wouldn't that be... basically more than useless for your students who came from said nonmagical world? Don't get me wrong. It's a good class for people who have been so involved in the magical world since birth. They need to know that normal people don't have flying brooms or the ability to spew fire from their fingers. But I feel that a class for the newly-introduced-to-magic mages would be VASTLY more important. Like 'Don't ask to see a wizard's library. It's horribly offensive'. Or 'this is a spell to detect potions in food' or even 'don't step into mushroom circles or the fey will steal your teeth'."
Andrew: "I just feel that the mundane 'you need to wait until the light turns green to cross the street' and 'Don't turn people who offend you into newts' has a lot less of dire consequences than 'this magical creature looks like a harmless house cat, but it actually eats souls'.
Albus Dumbledore: "I will take this suggestion under consideration."
Andrew: "Hey, happy to help."
"Anywaaaaays." I hum, rising to my feet and stretching, I allow the orb of condensed solar veil to fade completely as I begin to trudge down the stairs.
"Oh! It's almost finished, Master!" The pink haired woman beams. "I made curry and rice!"
"Oh! Nice." I don't think I've ever had curry before.
I take a seat at the table, fingers drumming on the oak for a moment before a thought strikes me.
"So, Virgo." I begin quietly. "A while back, you said something that really peaked my interests... it would have ruined the mood if I had followed up on it right then and there sooo I kind of just moved on and kind of forgot about it."
"Oh?"
"It was... ah... after the poker game?" I smile weakly, scratching the side of my head.
There's a faint rush of color to her cheeks that is mirrored on my own.
"Oh? What was it."
"You said the phrase, 'The Virgo before me.' And, well, that sounds... weird... and I'm curious as to what you meant by that."
"Oh!" The pinkette impishly grins. "That! Yes. You should be made aware that celestial spirits can't necessarily... die... well, they can, but we don't... stay dead... exactly..."
"Okay?" I murmur.
She tends to the stove as she continues to speak. "Celestial Spirits can only really die if they are forced to remain in this world for years at a time or if they exhaust every single last iota of magic that makes up their very being... and when that happens... our celestial spirit key tarnishes... however if the key remains unbroken, it will eventually regain its luster as a new spirit rises to take our place."
"Think of it... as Reincarnation... but not quite. They share the title of the spirit. The Virgo before me was still 'Virgo the Maiden', however, I am not her. I am a completely new celestial spirit who has taken the mantle of 'Virgo the Maiden'. Inheriting her powers over the earth, but not her memories, nor her personality, her style of earth magic, and a without a majority of her appearance."
"A majority?" I echo.
She smiles warmly, glancing over. "Well, I AM 'the maiden', Master. I am one of the few golden celestial spirits that never changes gender. Some of the others may be female one iteration and male the next. Taurus is the male equivalent as 'The Bull', Gemini is kind of similar to us, being two celestial spirits in which one is always male and the other female. Same with Pisces. However, 'maiden' is a word that is quite varied in what it can be represented as. A princess, a virgin-"
I nearly choke on my spit.
"Or, in my case, I am the Maid-in." Her smile grows, be it from dropping a pun on me or from her teasing me I'm unsure.
"..."
"is there... ah... issues with the maiden not being a maiden anymore?" I ask slowly. "I know I should have probably asked like... a long time ago."
"Nope!" She beams only to pause.
"Well..." She tilts her head. "Maybe if I was embodying the 'Virgin' aspect of 'The Maiden' instead of being a maid."
"People also call the first of something 'The Maiden'... like 'The Maiden Voyage', were you the first gold celestial spirit to be made?"
"The first Celestial Spirit key... in general... if the celestial spirit king is to be believed." she begins to gather the plates as she seems to be satisfied with the food. "Also. Thanks for reminding me. That 'Maiden Voyage' representation made one of the previous Virgo's a pirate. The king said she was quite memorable. Her 'Earth Magic' amounted to just shooting compact balls of earth at people like cannonballs."
A small sigh leaves her lips. "But... most spirits don't really talk about the previous incarnations... I can understand it... to have a friend die and someone new show up... looking eerily similar in some ways, but uncannily different overall... to have them take their place... I'd imagine it hurts... considerably..."
"Enough about such depressive things!" The womans beams. "I'll quickly go and alert the others!"
"I can do it." I cut in as I rise to my feet.
"It is a maid's duty to serve, Master." The woman pouts.
"But you do so much already, Virgo. Besides. I don't want to get lazy. I already sit around and theorize about magic a lot. I wouldn't want to get f- Eris. I still have that spell cast." My eyes abruptly snap to the corner of the room."
Seeing that it vanishes I look to Virgo, offering the woman a warm smile. "I wouldn't want to get fat, right?"