Daily Life with Three Systems: Chapter 19

Virgo sits two teacups on the table, then a bowl of snacks in front of Koneko who is still glaring at the horned woman suspiciously. 

Seilah has been fairly quiet, seeming to think deeply on her situation. 

"This note you received... from a god... was it? Did it tell you anything about me?" The demon ponders. 

"Nope, just what to say in order to 'not die instantly'. Here you can read it if you want." 

I hand over the sticky note causing her eyes to flick over it briefly before she simply sits it aside and takes a reserved drink of tea. 

"I am Seilah, the ninety eighth book of Zeref. Originally created, much like the others, as a way to try and put an end to my master's cursed existence... of course... I, like the others, failed in this mission. My Macro curse isn't suited to end lives... at least not the life of an immortal like Zeref." 

"After that, I was left to my own devices... I started collecting as many books as I could. I enjoyed reading. Eventually... perhaps one hundred years ago I was visited by another Etherious... Kyoka." Her lips turn downwards. "After that... I join her in her guild, The Dark Guild Tartaros. Formed from other demons from the books of Zeref." 

"I can see now that perhaps I was... influenced." Her purple eyes narrow slightly. "And that has left me feeling... irritable. So. Please explain this... familiar thing to me and I will decide how to proceed." 

"A familiar contract is a fairly simple thing. We are bound together. You can draw upon my magic, I can summon you to my side whenever. In addition, your strength will now grow as my own does. A very slight and subtle increase, but it does add up." I begin. 

"What will I be expected to do?" The woman frowns. "Surely. This isn't just for free." 

"What a familiar does for the contractor typically depends on the contractor, but I would hope that you would help me understanding the nature of cursed energy and hopefully figuring out how to make use of it myself." 

She glares for a long moment. "I do not appreciate being bound like some simple animal." 

"Oh no. A familiar contract works on even dragons." I shake my head. 

"E-Even dragons?!" She seems genuinely caught off guard. "I have heard of familiar magic before... a magic to command and control animals... to even grant them higher intellect... but- it- it NEVER worked on dragons." 

"This is a partnership..." I speak slowly. "And the familiar magic of this world may not work on dragons... but what of magic from another world?" 

"A-Another world?! What do you mean?!" The woman demands. 

"Allow me to introduce myself once more. My name is Andrew Graves. A Devil. But more relevant I suppose... would be reincarnate. I woke up in this world a little over... two years ago I think it was. Since then, I have studied magic tirelessly and I can proudly say that I have grown... quite strong." 

"For you see, I had a few... advantages that a normal person wouldn't. Firstly, I had the ability to speak with and trade with those outside of this universe, by far the most potent of my abilities, next, an ability to get 'requests' from above. Completing said requests resulting in me being quite handsomely rewarded. Thirdly? The ability to purchase items from other worlds. Regretfully that one has more or less been neglected and the items I can purchase aren't that good or useful." 

Seilah seems to think that over for a moment. 

"So. Through access to me... you may pursue other options to try and kill your creator." I start. "Ones you could never even imagine. I apologize for using a familiar contract on you without your explicit consent, however... can you truly say you would have sat around and listened to what I had to say and agreed had I not cleared your head?" 

"..." 

"That is... fair..." She relents, continuing to drink the tea Virgo provided. 

Her eyes stray to the maid. "You. Celestial spirit. I may dislike your kind but I suppose... our situations are quite similar. Are you pleased with your master?" 

"Oh yes." Virgo replies almost instantly. "He has been the best one I have had in... perhaps two hundred years? He defeated my last one quite handily and even now he works tirelessly to complete a request of mine." 

"He works... so long... so hard..." There's a warm smile on the pink haired maid's face. "Takes up so much of his time. Just to do some simple thing that I asked him. Taking time that he could be doing a multitude of other things. I deeply respect him, and while I am... mildly displeased about him gaining an interest in the Etherious. That alone isn't enough to shake my faith in him. We celestial spirits have worked with Zeref once in the past." 

Seilah seems to consider Virgo's words. "I see." 

A small sigh leaves her lips a moment later. "Very well. I will admit. I am in your debt. I will work with you. You not being human is... acceptable. Not that I truly have anything against humans... I just refuse to work for one. But a devil? Hm... I can work with that." 

"I will assist you in your research of magic... in exchange I wish for your assistance. Your ability to peer across dimensions. I want your help in searching for something that may kill my creator so he may finally rest." 

"Very well." I nod once. "It will more than likely come up at some point. I seek to understand EVERYTHING about magic. Even if I don't want to use it." 

"I will be your familiar, then." The etherious decides. 

"And what happens when we meet your previous allies?" I ask slowly. 

"They will die by my hands. Through methods they can hardly conceive..." The corner of her mouth turns upwards as a she gives me a light-hearted smile. "So, I suppose it will be as a result of you." 

"The only regret I have at this very moment... would be that my Library is on Plutogrim, our mobile fortress."  

"Ah, yeah. That sucks." I note. "You probably have books that are hundreds of years old." 

"I do." 

"Do you think that they know you've defected yet?" 

"I am... unsure..." She admits, tilting her head slightly. 

She shifts her clothing, lifting the skirt of her japanese-style clothing. 

She doesn't wear underwear. So all I'm really thinking right now is 'nice' even as Koneko's glare intensifies. She seems to gaze at her stomach as she lifts the cloth higher. "My Tartaros brand is gone. That is what we used to monitor those in the guild and capture their essence for revival as needed. They are likely aware something... isn't right. They more than likely assume I am dead than any defection... of course I have no doubt that should they see me they would put two and two together. However, as loathsome and treacherous as they are I do believe that my library is in good hands. It was one of our greatest assets." 

"I will lay low and allow them to keep it... for now... however as a pursuer of knowledge like myself, I have no doubt that you desire to pry my collection from their hands just as much as I do." 

"Correct." I smile. "I'm practically salivating at hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge! Now. I was copying some of my books. I believe that I'll return to doing that... uh... Virgo, here's ten thousand jewel, you know the drill, basically anything, no green beans, peas, black olives... well... actually beans in general are kind of a no-go." 

"I'm aware, master." 

"You can keep the change to buy whatever you want." I continue. 

"And, once more, I will return to you what I don't use!" The pink haired maid smiles brightly. 

"Haah." I sigh. "Isn't there anything you want? Books? Maybe... I don't know... fancy feather dusters? Don't you have a hobby of some sort?" 

"Making your life better is my hobby, master!" She beams. 

I rub my forehead with a small sigh. "Alright. Alright. You'd better tell me if you need or want something. That's an order. I refuse to neglect you even if you are my summon." 

"Yes yes! I'm off! I'll be back to cook dinner shortly! Oh! And Miss Koneko is here! I'll be sure to grab enough for seconds... maybe even thirds and fourths..." She seems to realize something. "Wait... uh... master?" 

"Oh right. Right." I nod twice and pull more jewel bills from my wallet. "Here. An extra ten thousand. That should cover Koneko-sized groceries." 

"Mn." The white haired girl grunts. 

"Yes it will!" Virgo agrees. "Thank you!" 

She summons a basket from the celestial spirit world and skips off. 

[Split] 

"Here you are. A copy of a book on otherworldly human magic. Elemental magic, but it is just the basics." I nod once as I pluck the leatherbound book from the top of the strange printer magic item.  

"Why would I wish to learn human magic?" The woman frowns. 

"Oh, according to Rias, through calculations you can pretty much do anything with it. Barriers. Teleportation. Massive magical attacks. Sealings. I haven't really touched it yet because I'm not the best at math and I've got more interesting things to study. Probably more reliable things as well because I'd imagine it'd be quite hard to do high-difficulty algebra while someone's trying to punch you in the face. It was made by a half devil, Merlin, the son of Lucifer who... is pretty much the Zeref of that world as he created the entire devil race... his other son is a total fucking nutcase though. Like, straight up pour scalding water on kittens while laughing maniacally levels of crazy. If I ever go back- unlikely because Rias' world kind of sucks even though sacred gears are kind of cool- one of my first actions would be putting that man down like a dog so he doesn't bother me later." 

Seilah flicks through the book slowly, a faint frown on her lips as she seems to absorb the material. 

"..." 

"I just kind of realized that there isn't exactly a place for you to stay... you can stay here... I guess. I'll get you a bed... if you need one... do Etherious sleep? Eat? Need to breathe?" 

"Yes, Yes and Yes." She supplies while continuing to read. "And... I do appreciate it." 

Her eyes slowly stray to the window. "Three people are approaching... the same race as you. Are they allies?" 

"Red hair? Pink hair? And Blonde?" 

"Yes." The woman simply nods once. 

"That'd be Rias, Natsuki and Valerie. Rias is technically my boss but she doesn't really ask a lot of me. I saved her from an arranged marriage and in exchange she turned me into a devil. She was out taking Natsuki on her first job." 

Seilah blinks turning towards me. "She... turned you into a devil? Tartaros was in the midst of researching something similar... but all of our test subjects died..." 

"She used something called 'Evil Pieces', an item developed by one of the four leaders of her race. Basically they're... chess pieces. With each chess piece giving a bonus while also converting the person in question to a devil. Rooks- like Koneko- get strength, Knights get speed, Bishops- which I am- get enhanced magic, and a queen piece gets all three. Pawns can promote into any of the other pieces once they reach what she designates 'enemy territory'." 

"I see." The woman blinks. 

"The thing with evil pieces, is that the more powerful something is, the more pieces it will take. Say for instance... back in her world there was these like... god-killing weapons humans- and half humans- were sometimes born with. Merely by housing said items... the humans in question would be worth around... seven pawns to a devil of her strength. I took both of her bishops, one of which being a mutated bishop... which means instead of a normal bishop's value of roughly three pawns, it was worth anywhere from four pawns to maybe even more than ten pawns." 

"That is... curious... do you believe she'll allow me to take a look at her pieces? If she has any remaining ones?" The etherious slowly asks. 

"Maybe? The Satan who made them probably put some pretty nasty surprises in it for anyone poking around the pieces, though." I shrug. "And he was a capital G Genius. Like. He made this spell which pretty much allowed him to... program the universe around him from what I understand. Then there's the fact that he was a 'Super Devil'. To put that into perspective, Ultimate Class devil- which can destroy entire islands effortlessly- in comparison are basically b-tier loser mages, those who can barely wield magic in the first place. With him being an 'S-Class' wizard."  

"I will take that into account." She goes back to reading. 

I step out of the room as I can hear the front door open, stepping out into the room below and nearly bumping into Rias as she marches across the room. 

"You got a new room!" She grins brightly. 

"I did. A study." I nod once. "Lets me copy books too." 

"Mn... Demon..." Koneko grumbles from nearby. 

"I also got a familiar..." I agree. 

Rias blinks twice. "Hah?" 

"An etherious." 

"..." 

"..." 

She sharply inhales then exhales. "Alright. May I meet them?"  

"Sure. But she's still a little... unused to her new situation so I'd like it if you were to be a little... ah... soft in your usual shenanigans." 

"What do you mean by that?!" The girl pouts. 

"Oh, you know, the 'It's wonderful that my cute little bishop has found a familiar. Especially one of such strength!'. She doesn't seem to be a people person... kind of like Koneko but with a mild murderous impulse." 

"..." 

"He's got you there, Rias." Natsuki calls out from the kitchen. "You do call us your 'adorable servants' quite a lot." 

"We could put it on a 'Rias mannerisms bingo card'." I nod sagely. "Alongside nudity and being a weeaboo." 

"Hm. Hm." Koneko nods twice. 

"Okay." Rias pouts. "I won't be overbearing. I still want to meet her." 

We go up the stairs, Seilah is sat by the window reading. 

"Seilah-" the woman in question looks up. "This is Rias Gremory, heiress of the clan Gremory." 

"Mh. I'm Seilah. The Ninty-eighth book of Zeref." The horned woman announces, seemingly peering through Rias as she tries to get a read on her. 

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Rias smiles. "I am happy you are now with us." 

"Mhm. It's... better than I was previously... at least. A new chapter of my story. A sequel which I didn't know was needed." The woman notes. 

Rias looks around the room briefly, taking in the sights. "I will leave you to your reading, then." 

With that we go back downstairs. 

"She's strong." Rias observes as we reach the bottom. "From her general feel I'd say she'd be in the high-end of 'high class' devils." 

"I apparently got a quite impressive Etherious as a companion." I agree. "She was one of the top leaders of the Tartaros Dark Guild. Of course, it appears that someone else in that guild was using some form of mental magic on her to make her more agreeable with their plans. When in actuality she is kind of like me in the way that she just wants to collect books and be left alone." 

"I see..." Rias mutters. "Oh well! She's family now!" 

[Split] 

"What are you working on?" A tall woman looms behind me, her yellow horns casting strange shadows on the wall before me. 

"I'm trying to figure out a way to locate Golden celestial spirit keys." I answer as I continue to mess around with the code of my archive window. 

"My current spell only locks onto the celestial energy when they are summoned." I frown. "That's been somewhat of an issue for me. Finding unique items and items more powerful than me are quite an issue for my divination." 

"The dice rolling method is utterly inaccurate. But-" I stop speaking. "Perhaps if I... huh..." 

My eyes narrow slightly as I quickly save my progress in my current spell under a new 'save file'. 

"What if..." 

I open a new window, copy-pasting my basic map spell. The data is already copied over so I have quite a few locations filled out. Magnolia is complete, as are quite a few branching lines radiating out from Magnolia like a spider's web, some of the lines shooting off into nearby countries but most merely stopping within Fiore's borders. 

"What is it?" 

"Oh, my apologies. I just had an idea. The downsides of it would be the sheer magical drain I would likely face using it... buuuuuut..." There's a small glint in my eye as I change the code of my (Hopefully) new spell. "You see, with divination I typically roll a few dice, then more or less calculate the location of what I'm looking for based on longitude and latitude. Then I'd personally mark it on my archive map... in the past this has been incredibly inaccurate for finding unique objects such as celestial spirit keys above a certain level of strength. However. My new idea is... that instead of doing it myself, what if I make a line of code that marks it for me... however. What if I do it several- no dozens of times and more or less try and see if I can view the markings and can triangulate what I'm looking for. " 

"And if it doesn't work?" Seilah asks. 

"Well... not much will change, then." I reply with a small shrug. "But if it works? Heh. All the difference." 

"Let's see here... intent... intent is a big part of Divination." I mutter under my breath.  

My fingers are a blur as I tap away at the archive screen. 

"Then I need a macro to automatically mark the map with a little dot... and a method to clear them away when needed. Preferably the markers from this spell alone just in case I start adding other markers." 

My fingers drum on the table for a moment as I quietly consider how to write this code. 

I'll... probably be here for a while. 

[Split] 

I rub my eyes. It's quite late. Seilah sits in the windowsill behind me, back resting against the wall, book in her hand. 

I think that one's on teleportation, actually. 

Rias offered her the gale force reading glasses, and her response was 'while those are incredibly impressive, I believe I will study these books at my own speed. I am in no hurry. I will live to see human civilization advance, shatter, then turn to ash as it always does. Why should I hurry in something that I enjoy? The world will wait'. 

Fairly mystical and wordy... but whatever I don't really mind. 

I've been working on this fucking divination spell for what feels like years... 

But it's only been like eight days... which is impressive. Normally with this magic I kind of just fuck around. Tweak a little something here, make a little edit there just to see how the spell might change. But this? 

I have been building the same idea. Reaching for a singular goal. 

Creating an algorithm to roll dice was a genuine pain in the ass- mainly because I had to make sure they counted as 'bone dice'. 

On that note I have a slider that can make the dice simulate as anything from oak wood to Crimtaine. Basically anything I had on hand. Useful for when I eventually get into some more advanced divination spells. 

Actually... wait, didn't I have a bar of gold laying around in my requip space? I'd imagine that might narrow the scope of my search somewhat for my celestial spirit detection. 

Wait. No. It was silver. 

Meh. That should still help me search for some of the rarer silver keys. According to Virgo the more powerful ones like Lupus, Leo Minor, and Ursa Minor only have one key. 

Wait. I still have assloads of gold from Everlue.  'oh well. Let see how this works with simple bone first.' 

From a few of my simulations, the change of material causes the divination's cost to change. 

Wood is far cheaper but god forbid you manage to claw an accurate answer out of it. 

I'd imagine silver or gold might be a little cheaper, hell maybe I should try and get some DRAGON bones. There's dozens of dead dragons under the capital, right? 

Oh damn, actually... that's a treasure trove. I'd imagine dragon bones are incredible magical reagents. 

"Seilah?" I ask suddenly. 

"Yes, Graves?" The woman comments.

"Do you know of any uses for dragon bones?" 

She is silent for a moment.  

"Durable." She admits after a moment. "My Macro curse could likely mildly manipulate some. However I wouldn't expect much finesse from them." 

"Are there any alchemical uses?" 

"Hm..." The woman hums. "Probably. Not that I know of any. Why?" 

"I know the location of the Dragon King Festival." 

"Oh. That predates me by a few centuries. Interesting." She mutters. "I wouldn't say no to a dragon puppet. However it would be exhausting to manipulate. Even for I." 

"I'll keep it in mind for the future if we ever need a large, clumsy unintelligent but nigh unbreakable and powerful minion to do our bidding. I doubt it'd be much help against your previous allies." 

"Too Slow." Seilah comments idly causing me to nod once. 

"Haah." I sigh. "Alright let's try this... where is Aquarius... simulate... five sets of rolls." 

The sound of rolling dice echoes out from the screen. 

Northern Fiore. East Fiore. Middle of the ocean. Mountain Range annnnd a little bit south of that first mountain range. 

There goes about a percent of my magical energy. 

"Hm... let's try fifty sets." 

Clattering dice echoes out. More and more and more and more. 

Dots quickly insert themselves in the map. 

By the time I reach fifty I can see that the dots have more or less grouped in the north of Magnolia. 

"Open: Gate of the maiden." Virgo's key appears in my hands and I offer it a little swing. 

"Yes master?" 

"Is there anything of note within this general area, Virgo?" 

"Hm?" The spirit tilts her head slightly before her eyes suddenly glint. 

"Huuuh... well... off the top of my head, there's Oak Town... then Oshibana town beyond that. Towards the east would be a small village based around the... Heartfilia mansion... the heart of the Heartfilia Konzern, an expansive organization that runs things ranging from railways to smaller ventures like restaurants. Of course this has NOTHING to do with celestial spirit keys. Nor the time-off I'll be needing in a couple of years. Nothing at all." 

"Hm. Well. That sucks. I thought that I'd finally had a breakthrough. Oh well, I certainly won't be writing them a letter or anything. Nor paying them a personal visit to ensure they understand the gravity of their situation." 

Virgo has a pleased smile. 

"Now. Since I've got that more or less solve with a good four years to spare. Virgo. Can you give me an overview of the black keys? I don't know if I'll be able to track them down, but surely there's more than the Snake Chamer, right?" 

"There are five black celestial spirit keys!" She supplies with a pleased smile. " Cetus the Sea Monster, Ophiuchus the Snake Charmer, Andromedia the Chained Maiden, Cassiopeia The Queen and Cepheus The King." 

"Only five?" I ask.  

"Yes. Only five remain." The woman confirms. "Cassiopia really appreciated that pipe organ of yours and has spoken about wanting to form a contract with you. The issue is that her key fell into the sea about a hundred years ago." 

"Where?" I blink twice. 

"Her summoner was traveling from southern Guilitina to the Alvarez Empire. She recalls it being about five days into their trip, the ship was sunk by a passing sea monter."  

I take that information in. "I see... I'll try and find her." 

I'll ask about broken keys another day, then. 

"Wait. This could be important. What are black keys made of?" I question. 

"Gold and Onyx typically. Though sometimes they have accents of other gemstones." 

"Thank you Virgo." I nod once, going back to my archive screen. 

"I live to serve, master!" She smiles brightly.