Fate\/World Novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Chapter 65

Weeks passed. I returned to my lessons at Norwich and neared the end of my studies at Mystile under the Trambelio Family. Moreso because the lecturers finally got fed up with

stealing and improving their formulae for basic fundantal magecraft. When they realised their offers for apprenticeship and adoption were hitting a wall instead of actually doing sothing, they threw a hissy fit and ’graduated’ ... which was just a politically safe way of telling

to fuck off.

Other than that, nothing of any real note happened. I doted on my sister and my mother, went on a little unhealthy number of dates with Luviagelita that often ended in exercise of so kind, and spent so ti exploring London with my classmates. I even managed to get Gray to accompany

to a new cake shop that opened on Slur.

The usual, so to say.

Yet, beyond a doubt, life at the Clock Tower had changed. For better or for worse, I still had no idea even now. The grand truth continued to elude , and I wasn’t particularly interested in actively pursuing it either. Politics were so terribly boring unless I was putting soone in their place.

My clash with Touko however, was undeniable. I had, for all intents and purposes, made a Grand back off through a clash of mystery.

That earned attention, whether that attention was given willingly or ripped by force.

It started with hushed whispers and wayward glances among the student body. Then, their gazes no longer t mine. Even the other Norwich students subtly avoided . On more than one occasion, I saw my fellow students and magi changing directions the mont they realised their path would lead them near . Other tis, it was conversations that stopped the second my presence beca apparent.

Honestly, as William, I was more than used to this sort of ostracization by my peers. Their loss, that was my sole reaction. Still, the fact that Svin and Flat, or the other permanent students of the El-lloi Classroom remained unchanged made

happier than it should have.

Then, there was Yvette, who made a proper show of gathering every letter from noble houses in my mail and burning it in a massive pile twice every week. Once, I managed to read them before she found them, and her actions beca almost adorable.

Among those letters were... offers. Marriage offers. Adoption offers. Research grant offers. Sponsorships. Offers that ca with carefully veiled but stupidly audacious threats of political sabotage or outright assasination and grievous bodily harm.

The Bartholoi (Aristocrats) offered adoption and marriage.

The Trambelio (Democrats) offered elevation and sponsorships.

Both made their threats.

Sohow, I’d falsely hoped just how spiteful and petty a person I was. The mont threats ca into the equation, any chance of an offer being accepted were tossed out the window and shot in the bloody corpse. They failed to realise that THEY were the ones being honoured by , not I by them.

The most annoying change ca in the form of an offer from Policies... but I’d made a point of leaving these thoughts at the door when I ca ho.

So, with a sigh, I emptied my mind and sipped my tea, propped up on a hardy sun lounger in the yard. Yes, yard. After so begging and rigorous argunt, I managed to convince my mother to move into a small, separate, suburban ho a block away from Norwich. I told her I took a loan through work... even though the money ca from my pockets.

A neat, little two storey house laid with brown bricks, complete with a slanted roof and barred windows. It had three bedrooms on the upper floor, a neat little dining room and kitchen on the first and a walled backyard. Sort of like Harry Potter’s childhood ho.

For , it was nothing.

For my mother, who’d spent most of her adult life going from shitty rental to shitty rental with two kids to look after, it was the sort of thing that made her break down crying. I’d never be able to forget that sight. I definitely didn’t cry a little, not at all.

"You know, you spoil her too much."

I looked at the adorable child sleeping on my lap, head resting against my chest, "She deserves everything."

My mother sat down beside , right on the raised patio. She smiled, and I noticed that her wrinkles were fewer than last ti.

"Don’t co crying when she starts getting distant in a few years."

"...That won’t happen." I eyed her suspiciously.

"Mhm. Coincidentally, what happens when she gets a boyfriend?"

The answer ca faster than she was expecting by how she suddenly shivered.

"Murder. No, Total annihilation." I sipped my tea. "There’s no one worthy."

She fixed

with a chiding gaze.

"... I... just murder, then?"

"Henry Smith."

"...Okay, I cripple them permanently."

She didn’t answer.

"Two bones?... One? Background check?"

Suddenly, Mama Smith giggled. She held her forehead and kept giggling.

"I don’t get what’s so funny. I’m totally serious here. Murder. Murder, it is."

With a huff, I sipped my tea again.

She was underestimating my resolve, dammit. I was definitely going to traumatise whoever even laid eyes on my little sister. If not, then I had to give up the right to call myself a proper older brother.

Watching her wipe away tears, I earnestly considered telling her the truth. But that thought was gone as soon as it ca. I’d long made my decision in that regard. Even knowing the truth was dangerous in this fantastic place. There was no need for that conversation.

"So mam... how’s life?"

My mother raised a brow. "That’s new. I thought you’d forgotten all about

over that girl."

...We see each other every day. That was what I wanted to say, yet, right now, I knew better.

"You really should et her."

"Anyway..."

No luck, huh?

For so blasted reason, my mother was terribly apprehensive about Luvia. She avoided eting her and all my efforts at making her do so ended in failure for one reason or the other. Her being an actual noble seed to put my mother off.

I sighed, and listened.

"I’ve been getting back into painting now that, hm, well, I have more ti."

...

"Don’t look at

like that. I was pretty good back in the day. There’s just sothing about painting... It’s like making a new world on the canvas."

"That sounds pretty cool."

"Hm, it is. Ah, Ellie’s been helping . Though I’m afraid she usually just ends up spilling everything or taking a stumble. But, hm, that’s lovely too. I have all the ti in the world."

"You deserve it." I nodded, sipping my tea.

Mama Smith laughed and shook her head. "Alright, it’s ti for you to head out. Give

my daughter back."

"No, she’s my baby sister first."

Though I said that, I carefully handed the sleeping child over. I fixed my blazer, and checked my pants for my wallet, keys and phone before bidding them farewell. Well, only my mother, Ellie was still fast asleep.

When I left the front door, I briefly lowered my aviators.

With our proximity to Norwich and the Clock Tower, it wasn’t strange at all that so of the other houses belonged to practitioners of magick. As such, my bounded field went unnoticed among a litany of others.

It worked on the sa principle as my Infinity along with an alarm system, a self-nding Bounded Field like most of the higher-class ones. The only issue ca with supplying it with mana, but Reines helped

acquire a cheap mana battery that needed

to refill it almost daily but worked well enough for my purposes.

The second anyone even tried anything, I would be alerted and be on their ass like that one Spiderman and Shocker scene.

"All good."

Sohow, winter had already arrived. When it was raining cold water that ca straight from Satan’s nether regions, the chill winds were there to remind you what ti of year it was. I took to wearing two layers of clothes, a cotton sweater and a blazer on top of my shirt, but even then, the air seeped into my bones and felt like soone was dragging a sharp knife across my beautiful skin.

Breathing out a cloud of air, I wrapped my beige muffler around my neck and put on my gloves as I stepped down the porch. Outside, a black sedan awaited .

I raised a curious brow.

That was a first.

Od began coursing through my body.

"Wait! Hal! Stop! Stop! Itsa !"

"Mario?"

"No, Yvette! Your concub-"

She ducked under a handful of snow.

"Ice cube play needs to be done in a safe environnt, seriously, I’ll freeze my pretty boobs off if you do this. You don’t want that, do you~?"

...

"What pretty boobs? Where?" I snorted as I made my way over to her. "I think you’re safe."

She made a show of shaking her head from side to side. "How an! How an! Or..." She winked slyly, "maybe you want to help

massage them for growth~?"

"Oh, a hundred percent. But, I’m taken. Sorry, not sorry."

"Geh!" She leaned on the car’s hood... the freezing hood, "I keep telling you soone from her family shouldn’t have any issues with concubines! Why do you hate eee so~?!"

...Hm.

That was an interesting thought.

"So... what do you want so early?"

"Nuthin~ I just wanted to drive you. Recently, I feel you’ve been giving

the cold shoulder. I an! We haven’t even gone on one date since that ti we almost died to a daemon!"

She sniffled exaggeratedly. Her crocodile tears failed against my deep-seated shalessness. Once she noticed, she resorted to her feminine wiles.

"I’ll forgive you for a kiss...?"

Unfortunately, the lunatic goth lolita had none.

I entered the front seat, and after a sigh, she finally got in to drive.

That was when she chose to say sothing actually important.

"You know, you haven’t asked

about my Lord once."

I cast a glance her way.

That was true.

Where the other two factions tried both the carrot and the stick to get

to join after finally recognising that my talent matched my ego, the Neutral Faction made no effort to contact

whatsoever. I was yet to et even a single representative... other than Yvette of course, who freely admitted to being a spy under no pressure or interrogation.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to recall the na of the leader of the Neutral Faction, "luastea... right?"

"Correct~! Karmaglyph luastea Deluc. Lord of Kischur and Astea."

Not one but two departnts? Neither Lord Trambelio or Lord Bartholoi directly held two. Maybe this Neutral Lord deserved so respect after all. Who was I kidding? Of course he did. He was one of the Twelve Lords.

"Kischur is Mineralogy. Astea is Archaeology. Kischur used to belong to the El-lloi, I think Reines still holds a grudge!" Yvette humd with the radio, bobbing her head up and down and side to side as she drove like bloody Harely Quinn. "But mmm, don’t misunderstand. I think you realise fealties to the Twelve Lords aren’t as defining as we like to think they are."

That much was true.

At the Iselma Towers, Inorai’s objective was to cripple her own subordinates. An objective I’d unwittingly completed for her by destroying their workshops and their land. That had set them back a couple of generations according to my Professor.

Yet, there was no grudge to be held. Against soone like , they simply could not afford one.

"Anyway! Forget that boring stuff! When are we attempting double-suicide next? You have to take ! As your lover, it’s my right!"

...

...

I sighed.

"Maybe I should have just walked."

-

Hope you enjoyed.

You can find 7 chonky Chapters ahead at patre0n/Bleap. They’ll be 10 by next Sunday.

Need two more, fr.