[Snippet] Surviving in a World of Magic and Superheroes (Worm/Fate): Chapter 20

The car ride home was quiet.

While Frederick basically did everything he set out to do, he couldn't help but still feel the knot in his chest.

As a Magus, Frederick had no qualms about hypnotizing people to keep up with certain rules and laws of their side of the world.

As a person… Frederick felt like the worst kind of person for doing so to his cousin.

Frankly, he just saw no other way.

Greg was… Greg.

He knew even if Greg did his absolute best, he might slip up and say or do something that would draw a target to his back.

A bigger target.

There was already a target on his back due to his relation with Frederick.

However, that could be minimalized if Greg and his family acted completely oblivious to everything ‘magic’ when people asked.

To his fellow Magi, if they tried to investigate, it would look like a family line that was utterly contemptible, removed systematically from any Magus affairs. Most magi wouldn’t even want to waste any time on mundane people if that was the case.

It’s not that Frederick was trying to rely on that notion, but it helped.

And he couldn’t just keep being passive.

It had been barely a week—not even—since the Winslow thing, and it felt like everything was still bubbling below the surface, ready to erupt at a moment’s notice.

So anything helps right now.

The Bounded Field was strengthened with the help of Ciel, and he trusted her on that front.

At the very least there, he trusted that Ciel’s pride wouldn’t let her do it half-assed when she said she would do it.

And the Mystic Codes they’re wearing now should protect them in the worst case.

Speaking of being proactive, dealing with some of the ‘threats’ in the city would be a good step in the right direction as well.

Coil already tried to kill him, so he was a dead man walking.

And admittedly, Frederick recognized the threat that Coil’s powers presented. Normally, Frederick was a bit disdainful towards parahumans. Was it fair to compare Magecraft to Superpowers?

No, and he knew it.

But years of growing up in a Magus family just had ingrained mannerisms and thoughts about certain things.

His parents were…nice.

Even by normal standards, his parents were pleasant, and they were compassionate; they didn’t look down on normal people or such.

But even they gave superpowers a sideeye.

However, that isn’t to say that superpowers weren’t dangerous.

Coil was, as mentioned, a perfect example of that. To be able to unprecedentedly act without reservations within a ‘false’ timeline that is supposedly a near-perfect simulation…

It’s honestly frightening.

You can torture someone for information in one timeline, collapse it, and then in the other, know all their secrets and go about your day normally.

Still, it needed to be handled delicately.

The last thing he wanted right now was to give the PRT ammunition.

Regardless, he should still keep tabs on his extending family. It wouldn’t hurt to visit more and to spend holidays with them and such.

Though, he didn’t know why his aunt and uncle were looking at him weirdly when he left.

They pulled into the private garage some distance from the house as they continued to do.

Having to sneak in from the back was still something they were doing, as annoying as it was.

But Frederick let out a breath of relief once he finally got back home. His home was basically a fortress, and it felt like all the problems of the world were left at the door when he was safe behind its walls.

“Thanks for the help." Frederick spoke up, directing it towards Ciel as they entered the house. 

“Yeah, it was easy.” Ciel dismissed it. She may have said something sharper in a normal situation, but she noticed the look on his face and kept it back for now.

“As a reward, why don’t I make you your favorite meal?” He offered.

Ciel raised an eyebrow. “My favorite meal? How—" She stopped herself and let out an annoyed sigh. “Of course you know what my favorite food is.”

She didn’t forget how he seemingly knew about a lot of things he shouldn’t.

She hadn’t gotten a straight answer so far, but that didn't mean she was buying into his bullshit.

Despite this, her excitement was hard to hide. “Curry?” She asked, doing her best to keep her tone from showing overeagerness.

Frederick nodded. “I should have the stuff to make some Indian-style curry."

While in this life, Frederick couldn't claim to be an amazing cook, in his past life, he recalled that he had some experience with the craft.

When he was eighteen, he got a job as a busboy at a restaurant, and a couple years later, he even got into the kitchen and was taught a thing or two.

He was by no means a chef, but he knew his way around a kitchen.

And there was an Indian restaurant near his apartment that he considered one of his favorites. Unfortunately, it was a rare treat because he didn’t have the money to splurge on takeout very often.

It meant that he got fairly good at copying their menu with cheaper ingredients at home.

“What is ‘curry’?” Lancer asked.

Ciel’s eyes went wide and opened her mouth before Frederick even had a chance to make a noise. “Do you live under a rock!?”

It took a moment and a flat look from Lancer and Frederick both before Ciel realized the inconsistency. “Right, Servant, different time period.” Ciel looked away. “Curry is one of humanity's greatest achievements. Entire cultures spent centuries perfecting it. You can make it spicy, sweet, savory, mild, thick, or thin; with chicken, beef, lamb, vegetables, or seafood—there are probably more variations of curry than there are countries on the planet. Curry is what happens when humanity decides to stop making mistakes for an afternoon. It's warm, it's filling, it smells incredible, and somehow there are hundreds of different versions, and almost all of them are good. You can spend years eating different curries and still find new ones. It’s like someone took all the best parts of what makes food taste good, added in all the best spices in the world, and God came down and blessed it and named it curry.”

By the time she was finished, her arms were waving about and she was nearly out of breath.

Frederick and Lancer stared at her blankly.

Frederick knew she was a fan of curry, but reading about it and actually seeing her enthusiasm were two entirely different matters.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“I would like to try this 'curry,' please," Lancer spoke.

“Coming right up.” Frederick walked into the kitchen.

@***@

Ciel poked at her curry.

She smelled it, pushed at the meat to test its tenderness, and even tasted the sauce on its own.

“Not bad.” She gave it a sign of approval before taking her first proper bite, and she immediately fell into bliss. “Could be spicier though.”

“It’s Lancer’s first time; I didn’t want to make it too spicy.” Frederick responded, absentmindedly eating, as opposed to Ciel, who was savoring each bite.

That just earned a grunt from her.

Either way, Ciel enjoyed it.

Frederick wouldn’t say it was the best he ever made, but it was fairly competent, if he did say so himself.

“I like it.” Lancer joined in. “It has a lot of different flavors.”

She was talking about the spices in general.

In her era, they didn’t have much more than salt or whatever herbs someone could find in the wilds.

“I’m glad you both enjoy it.” He said evenly. Frederick only got about halfway through his before he pushed it to the side. “You can finish mine off if you want. If not, just put the dishes into the sink; I’ll deal with them later.”

Ciel made a noise of confirmation, her mouth full.

He got up and walked to the library, Lancer’s eyes trailing behind him.

“Yehw Wern Serm?” Ciel, with her mouth half full, pulled Frederick’s plate to her.

“I am content," Lancer politely rejected.

Ciels shrugged.

More for her.

It’s not that Lancer would usually miss out on an opportunity to…experience different foods thoroughly, but her mind was on something else.

She was not oblivious to Frederick’s change in mood.

She didn’t know what happened between him and his cousin when they spoke privately. But she also didn’t ask because she felt it was inappropriate.

“Lewd girl.”

"Don't call me 'hat,'" Ciel swallowed. “Seriously, why am I called ‘lewd girl'?"

Lancer ignored her complaint. “How does one comfort another person?”

Ciel paused mid-bite to look up at Lancer. “Are you for real right now?”

“Pardon?” Lancer blinked in confusion. “I assure you, I speak with truthfulness.”

Ciel slowly put her spoon down. “You’re asking me how to…comfort him?”

Lancer simply nodded in response to her question.

With a sigh, Ciel rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Why do you think I would know how to make him feel better? I don’t know him; I’ve been here all of a few days. He’s obviously depressed about something that happened at his family’s house. From what he said, they aren’t part of our world, so it probably has something to do with that. You know most magi don’t interact with normal people or build relationships with them not out of disdain but because they just live in two completely different worlds. I could guess it’s kind of shitty to try and balance two sides like that.”

Ciel found herself surprised that she was even speaking this much.

But having a plate of curry in front of her did lower her guard slightly and make her even just a tiniest bit less standoffish towards the residents here.

Lancer was quiet for a moment in deep thought.

She still didn’t know what to say or do to help.

Seeing Lancer’s expression, Ciel rolled her eyes. “God, if you want to cheer him up, just go flash your tits at him or something.”

Lancer blinked. “That would work?”

“How sheltered were you? He’s a boy.” Ciel snorted.

She didn’t give it any more thought and went back to her meal and didn’t even bat an eye when Lancer got up.

Ciel was in fact being sarcastic, but that was lost on Lancer.

Lancer walked towards the library.

To her, the French Girl’s words make some sense. She remembered how her master had sometimes gotten lost staring at her chest mid-spar.

And of course, the times her own knights talked about women’s bosoms.

She didn’t understand it, but the French girl said it was something to do with being male.

She didn’t knock as she entered, as she had been given permission.

“Oh, Lancer.” Frederick perked up from the table he was sitting at; he was fiddling with his Mystic Code, trying to get it working. “Is there something you need?”

“Nay, I have come to alleviate your dispirited mood.”

Before Frederick could ask what she meant by that, he watched as she grabbed her sweater by the hem and, in one swift motion, pulled it, along with her bra, up over her head completely and held them at the side.

Lancer’s exceedingly large breasts bounced freely in front of him.

“I am to understand that seeing my breasts will rectify your mood.” Lancer stated with the same emotionless tone and expression that she did with everything.

Frederick had dropped his tools rather quickly.

Words failed to escape past his lips.

If there was a world record for length of time gone without blinking, Frederick was fairly sure he would have beaten it at this point.

“Have your spirits been lifted, Master?” Lancer asked after what felt like several minutes.

“Yes?” He answered without even realizing what he was responding to.

“Wonderful.” Lancer was very pleased with herself. “If you require seeing my breasts again, please tell me.”

She expertly put her clothes back on and proceeded to walk out of the room as if nothing of importance had happened.

Frederick wondered once again if she was doing this on purpose.

Actually, he was now wondering if that happened at all and he didn’t just imagine it.

“What just happened…?” He couldn’t help but ask himself.

One thing was for sure, though; this memory would be burned into his brain for the rest of his life without a doubt.

The sound of a knock snapped him back to reality. He looked up to see Ciel standing in the doorway, looking slightly hesitant to take another step forward.

Not only that, but it was as if she were doing her best to not look around.

“Come in.” He gave her the go-ahead.

It wasn’t quite a workshop in the normal sense, but it was his family’s library. And while the most important and valuable things were behind layers of protections and restrictions, it was still the legacy of the Verde Family.

It was, perhaps, an acknowledgement of her on his part to allow her inside here.

She did ‘protect’ him earlier today. Someone tried to assassinate him, and she did her duty properly.

And she had been…agreeable, despite their sniping at each other.

She did take some glances around but politely kept her gaze focused on him.

“Welcome to the Verde Family Library, I suppose.” He introduced her to the ‘room’ she was now in. “Most people would kill to get access to this place.”

It was partly a joke.

Ciel snorted because it was actually true. “Yeah, and now you have the entire world breathing down your neck. Imagine if the normies got inside here?”

“Did you just call them normies?” Frederick looked at her incredulously. “How much time do you spend online?”

“Shut up," Ciel huffed, crossing her arms. “What else do you think I do in downtime or even on missions when I’m waiting? It’s not like I can bring a book or something with me.”

He gave that a brief moment of consideration.

Most things on the supernatural side of the world hadn’t caught up with technology yet. Her taking out her phone to mess around on the internet while on a mission wouldn’t really be strange.

“What do you need?” He finally asked because she clearly came to him for something.

“I was going to say that I needed to go to the store to get proper clothes because it’s been getting put off. And I will go completely naked before I put on that maid uniform.” She scowled. “But I seriously need to hit a store for some stuff.”

Frederick gave a casual wave of dismissal. “Do you need money?”

“Holy shit, you’re offering?” She perked up.

“I’m richer than you can imagine; why would I honestly care?” He shot back.

Ciel scrunched her nose. “You know, it’s unattractive when a man flaunts his wealth like that.”

“Well, in that case, I’m sure you can manage on your own then.” He deadpanned.

“I already stole your credit card.”

“You fucking what?”

“You left it out on the counter.” Ciel shrugged.

He let out a long sigh. “That was for Lancer. But I guess it doesn’t really make a difference.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’ll get a second one made because you should probably have one too if you’re working for me.”

"You're a lot less of an asshole than I initially thought," she said quietly.

“Thanks.” He said dryly. “That was the best compliment I’ve ever been given.”

She ignored his sarcasm and had looked at the thing on the table for a long moment. “Need help?”

“Pardon?” Frederick blinked.

“Your thing.” She pointed at it. “Do you need help?”

"...Why?"

“Because I’m in a good mood. Do you want fucking help or not? I’m way more talented and experienced than you, so I actually know what I’m doing.” She put her hands on her hips.

“What about shopping?” He stopped what he was doing to look at her.

“I can put it off until tomorrow.” She didn’t wait for a confirmation before she sat at the table with him. “I could see the astromancy markings from the door.”

Frederick let out a small sigh but gave in. “Fine, here’s what I’ve been working on. It’s a mystic code that corresponds to the twelve Greek zodiac signs. It’s a shortcut for a pre-installed set of twelve spells essentially.”

She unceremoniously took it to give it an inspection. “You only have two set up for now. Sagittarius and Cancer?”

Frederick nodded. “One offense, one defense. Sagittarius will be offering to and requesting from Chiron to borrow his bow for battle. Cancer will be a powerful bounded field deployed around me, like a shell.”

“You want to connect with Greek cosmology?" She raised an eyebrow.

“I technically have Greek blood in my veins, so it’s doable.” He didn’t explain it in depth, but she took it at face value. “Besides, the Greek Foundation persists into the modern day; it’s not impossible to tap into it.”

Ciel grunted, acknowledging his words. “You know this won’t be anything more than a prototype, right? Like, I could help you get this up and running by the morning if we work all night, but it’s going to need several iterations before it’s something passable.”

“I’m aware. I just want something for protection or to start on. I’m not expecting it to stay working after its first use. But if it does its job, it’s good enough.” He didn’t have absurd expectations just yet.

“Do you have the Spell Structures made up already?”

“I’ll write them down for you.”

Ciel looked thoughtful for a moment. “Fine, I guess I didn’t want to sleep tonight anyway. Alright, we can skip a lot of annoying steps if we use certain materials to craft it.”

“Make me a list; I’m sure I have the stuff around here somewhere I can find.”

Ciel stretched her arms. “And I’m going to need some damn coffee.”

Frederick let out a sigh. “I’ll go make a pot.”

@***@

A/N

Ciel is slowly starting to get comfortable with them, and she helps Frederick start on her Mystic Code to get things up and running.

At the very least, if he starts taking out threats in the city, he should have his own protection as well beyond Lancer or Ciel.