Chapter 41: Clear Heart..?

“There are some pesky ones.”

After “kidnapping” Filvis, I made a smooth escape from their familia home. However, it is merely the beginning. There could be adventurers who could see through this illusory domain.

Hence, some measures have to be done.

“Queastum ad astra.” (Reach to the stars.)

The electromagnetic field was twisted by the spell. The gravitational pull lost its influence. It is all up to me to maneuver mid-air—which I did.

I had the time to examine Filvis’ state. She could really be mistaken as a monster if people see her now. However, she wasn’t like this in the past. There should be something that could be done to conceal this.

‘That damn Dionysus…’

Other than that damn dragon and volcano curse, there’s a new entry to my hit list. Luckily, Dionysus is far closer than those two. He might be Enyo, but he’s not that strong individually. If I unravel his schemes and play it right, I could take revenge.

Soon, I arrived at our familia home.

There weren’t any people here as usual—except for Hephaestus-sama. She greeted me right when I entered.

“From what I’m seeing, you succeeded?”

“Well… I did.”

I briefly told her about this “kidnapping” plan. I confessed what I knew about the future. That included the matter with Dionysus.

“She is a creature?” She asked.

“That’s right. It’s… It’s how I looked in the future.”

“...I see.”

She went silent after seeing Filvis. Her thoughts are difficult to guess when she’s this serious.

“What are you planning to do with her?”

“She needs to rest. I will figure out the rest later with my magic.”

Among the spell systems I know, there are a few that involves healing and anti-corruption. I’ll see to it if something works.

“If I have my stuff back there…”

*****

{Tch..!}

“You can sneeze..?”

The bewildered Suimei looked at the holographic diva.

{It was added in the patch version 3.9. Goshujin-sama said “it was to make you human”.}

“Miku. How long are you with him?”

Currently, the Yakagi duo is in the Akasaka household. After many deliberations, Kazamitsu decided to tell Nobu’s parents about everything. As a parent, he know how worried he would be to find out their son’s disappearance.

{Since the beginning. My main purpose is to assist goshujin-sama in his experiments and operate the satellite codenamed “Arbiter”.}

“Even Arbiter is related too?!” Seiji muttered. “How much is that kid hiding from us…”

“It is a choice made for your safety, Seiji-san. Nobu made sure to not expose you to the supernatural side to avoid danger.”

“It’s just…” Seiji sighed.

“Fu…”

Akasaka Eri opened her eyes after a deep breath. She was done processing everything.

“From what I can surmise, there is a hidden supernatural side and Nobu is a part of it, correct?”

“Yes.” Kazamitsu responded.

“Now, he is missing and went to another world just like the books Seiji are reading?”

“That’s right.”

“When will he return?”

Eri went straight to the point. Her professional side calmed her down, unlike Seiji who lost his composure.

“It is unknown. However, we are already making progress on locating him.”

Miku propped up a series of numbers to back him up.

{Half of the overall processing power are currently used to deduce goshujin-sama’s coordinates.}

From the traces that Kazamitsu got, Miku did not need to start from scratch. Her progress rate immediately shot up to 2.54%. With the usable supercomputers, she could do such a tremendous task—something even Great Scholars didn’t do yet.

“When will you complete it?” Seiji asked.

{The completion rate is estimated to be completed in less than ten years.}

“Ten years?!”

Seiji knows about Nobu being a prodigy. He is someone who became a doctorate at twelve years old. Even so, he could not imagine his son surviving that long in unknown land.

His inability to help his son made him sink further.

“Is there a way to complete it faster?”

Fortunately, Eri kept her composure in this moment. She could cry later, but not now—not when she needs to sort this situation out.

{Yes. If my processing power increases, it could be reduced.}

“List all the owned compounds in Japan. Build every single supercomputers on each of them.”

{Diagnosing current authority… Passed.}

{Affirmative. A project will be started.}

At this moment, the three went silent at Eri’s composure. Even Kazamitsu was surprised by Eri’s charisma and ability to acept everything easily.

“Thank you for informing us, Kazamitsu-san.”

Her golden pupils glinted with strong determination.

“No problem. I will also help with the search.”

The couple doesn’t know much about Kazamitsu, but he is a magician who stood at the peak. His networks are extremely vast, to the point he could pitch in several magician organization’s help. He could contact the “Akashic Seer”, too.

“Father… Will Nobu be alright?” Suimei asked.

“If it’s him… He will be.”

That was the answer needed by him to calm down. Eri and Seiji heard it, which gave them more hope.

“Not to mention his extensive knowledge, just that power is enough to guarantee his survival.”

Kazamitsu recalled Nobu’s power that pulled him out of death. He also has his magic system which he playfully dubbed “Akasaka System”. It bypasses many problems that modern magic theory has.

“Let’s trust him.”

…

At the same time as their discussion, Miku called another helper.

Ring-!

“Hm? Who is it…”

A blindfolded man answered his phone call.

“Hello?”

“Greetings.”

“Oh, that jou-chan! Don’t tell me that kid’s pushing me to work again.”

“It is not like that this time.”

In the past, Nobu “contacted” him overseas. In exchange for some things, he would give his research findings on cursed energy. Those findings could easily progress the Sorcerer Society by a few decades.

The man easily memorized and deduced them, but he kept his promise. However, one of those things was not on the place he buried it—which led to him promising Nobu that he’ll find it.

“Phew. What was it, then?”

“Goshujin-sama went missing.”

“Missing? And you couldn’t find him?”

An interest was sparked on the man. He knows Nobu’s capabilities. He even found him when that mission was supposed to be confidential.

“He’s not in this world.”

“Hoh… That sounds like trouble. If you’re asking for my help, there’s not much I can do. I don’t know much about magic.”

In the first place, the man is not a magician but—

“Your eyes might see something, Satoru-san.”

—the strongest Jujutsushi in the world.

*****

Nothing worked.

Unlike the nature of curses, Filvis-san’s condition is different. Due to the spirit core, her body considers the branches as a part of her body. It does not perceive them as external factors.

“Do I need to wait until my next chance?”

“...saka-san.”

“..!”

I did not notice Filvis-san waking up.

“Uhm…”

Silence permeated between us.

“Why did you—?”

“Remember our agreement?”

“Agreement..? Ah, is it the one where we would meet a day later?”

“That’s right. You didn’t show up after a week. I couldn’t even visit you on your home.”

“So you broke on my room?”

“I did what I need to.” I shrugged. “When I saw your dark room, I thought you’re about to do the unspeakable. That’s why I rushed in.”

She remained silent upon hearing it.

“Why… Why would you go that far for me? I-I’m just a monster… a person who let herself be corrupted while her comrades died.”

Filvis-san possesses a survivor’s guilt along with her apprehension to her monstrous self. It is what I surmised from those future memories.

“Like I’ve said, you’re not a monster. You’re far more beautiful than those who hide their monstrosity.”

There are several beautiful women in my world that are evil. The members of those [Greed of Ten] as well as the likes of Valletta Grede belong to that group.

I would rather have Filvis-san on my side than those fuckers.

“Also, I did not have much chances to act like a hero, you know? I have to see you’re doing well after I saved you on the dungeon.”

“..!”

She hung her head down. I couldn’t see her expression until I heard a chortle of laughter.

“You really are different… Akasaka-san.”

For the first time, I saw her smile. It is very charming. Suddenly—

‘That’s…’

—it formed a contrast with her future self. She was always covered in gloom back then.

I prefer her bright self more.

Click-!

Hephaestus-sama entered the room. Filvis-san looked a bit uncomfortable with her entry.

“There’s no need to worry. Nobu-kun told me about this. You are free to live here.”

“Thank you… Hephaestus-sama.”

She bowed her head to further show her gratitude.

“Now we’re here, how about you join our familia temporarily?”

“Join… your familia?”

I followed up Hephaestus-sama’s statement.

“But—!”

“You’re wondering about Dionysus’ blessing?” Hephaestus-sama asked. “You don’t have to worry. You don’t have his falna on you.”

“Wh…at..?”

When an adventurer dies, their connection with their god gets severed. It is as if their falna is locked. However, creatures could get resurrected. This circumvents the said rule.

Then again, creatures lose the ability to gather excelia. Even if they regain their falna, it only unseals their skills, developmental abilities, and magic. In my case, everything showed up as Lv.000 and I000 in all five attributes.

“I could give you my falna right now.”

“...”

In the end, Filvis-san accepted it. Hephaestus-sama saw the status I had back then. That included the [Monstrum Union] skill—the bug on her status.

“Magic?”

She managed to acquire a new magic.

“It could create a clone of yourself. The downside is your status being halved.”

“Huh..?!”

Whe she ended up trying to use it, an unexpected change occurred.

“Ah?”

“Ah?!”

“What…”

Firstly, Filvis-san’s “monster” characteristics receded. She returned back to her previous appearance. Secondly, another “Filvis-san” appeared on the bed. She has the exact same looks as her—but without her clothes.

Bam-!

““Akasaka-san!””

“Nobu-kun!”

I fell on my chair backwards. Still, it did not prevent those vivid images. Her pale white skin, plump thi—No..!

“The Bodhisattva of Compassion, when he meditated deeply, saw the five saw the emptiness of all five skandhas…”

“Are you alright?!”

The naked Filvis-san tried to approach me. I saw a portion of her body again when I tried to stand up. I swiftly closed my eyes.

“All things are by nature void, they are not created nor destroyed…”

“...me clothes first!”

The other Filvis-san reprimanded the naked Filvis-san. While they quarreled, I felt Hephaestus-sama grabbing my hand and leading me outside.

“No peeking, alright?”

“Yes.”

My Heart Sutra was interrupted by her words.

“I will grab a change of clothes for her.”

Due to this event, I remembered another memory. Lady Artemis’ slender b—

“All the buddhas of past and present; Buddhas of future time; Using this prajna wisdom…”

I could not stop chanting.

*****

Two days had passed since the Dionysus Familia incident.

Seeing how we weren’t even suspected, I could say that my clean-up had been successful. Dionysus couldn’t find something that would point to me.

Clang-!

Clang-!

The power behind each strike numbed my hand. With all the faints scattered in my attacks, Wallenstein-san began grasping the essence of my techniques.

From her hapless attacks, she could now see her “purpose” clearer. Against humans, a single debilitating strike is enough.

‘There..!’

Sou-!

I barely avoided a sword strike. In turn, I gained a chance for a counterattack.

Sou-!

Screech-!

The tip of my blade reached her breastplate. It marked the end of our spar.

“Hah… Hah… It’s still… too soon… fighting with you…”

However, my body liked it much. The reflexes ingrained in my body could showcase themselves once more. The constant tension I felt in my world was gone, simply because I could fight like this.

“How did you do it?”

Every day, I could at least land a hit that evaded her senses. The multi-layered faints and unpredictable behavior allowed me to do so—even if her senses are insane.

“You should always think outside the box. I knew you would consider the double and triple faint, but it could also be a simple attack.”

After getting accustomed by my trickiness, Wallenstein-san began “overthinking”. It works with her split-second senses, but it won’t do with enemies of similar level.

“Hm…”

I could see her troubled look. I sympathized since I went through the exact same thing in the past.

‘How does this make sense?’

‘Swordsmanship has its limits, its range.’

‘All qualified swordsmen strike outside their range? What in the world—?’

‘If any of these faints could be real, what should I do?!’

From all my experiences and the guidance I received, I found my answer:

Bam-!

She deftly dodged the invisible bullet. She wore a “confused” expression but I proceeded to my weapon case.

I took out my gun and pointed it at her.

“..!”

Her body instantly tensed up. I couldn’t see it from her face, but her body language said so.

I lowered my gun.

“Why did you react like that?”

“It’s dangerous.”

She is right. Valletta sacrificed an arm to block a direct hit from these bullets. It shows how level five are vulnerable to this handgun.

“How did you know?”

“That…”

She couldn’t answer immediately.

“...because I felt it.”

“Precisely. I prefer to call that ‘sixth sense’.”

If there’s one thing I fully inherited from my future selves, it is this. It is so sharp that I could prolong my life in front of that dragon. Then again, my body couldn’t catch up. It is only now did its brilliance shone.

“It should answer your dilemma.”

“Huh—?”

Good luck, Wallenstein-san.

“Let’s go, Lili. I still have something to talk with you.”

“Y-yes!”

*****

‘That sharpness…’

Aiz is bewildered. How could she get hit by a level two adventurer? Despite the magic he uses to strengthen his body, a level four shouldn’t be able to react to a level five properly.

Nevertheless, Nobu did it. The culmination of his seven iterations’ worth of combat experiences against monstrous beings allowed him to do so. In the eyes of Aiz, it was nothing short of impossible.

“Is this his secret to his strength..?”

At first, she wanted to meet her “kindred”. She wanted to know more about the person whose hatred to dragons is the same as her. But then, it changed into her interest to his strength—his secret, to be exact.

Aiz wanted to learn from him. It is why she kept sparring every day.

“Sixth sense…”

Nobu left without giving a concrete answer. It forced Aiz to think of it herself.

“Captain’s thumb..?”

That “feeling” is similar to her captain’s intuition. For Finn, danger is converted into his thumb aching.

“Is it like that? Sixth sense?”

Aiz felt she was closer to the answer. Immediately, she went back to Twilight Manor. She climbed over the walls and headed to Finn’s office.

“Sixth sense? Where did you hear this?”

“Akasaka Nobu.”

“Tenkou? I see…”

Finn began explaining it.

“Loki-sama used to describe my thumb as such. It goes something along the lines of ‘prematurely detecting danger and potential harm upon myself’.”

“Did you use it for battles?”

“Of course.”

“What about swift clashes?”

Aiz’s excitement peaked. Her captain’s answer will determine whether it is the one she seeks.

“No. By the time I felt it, a second would’ve passed. It will be a fatal gap in a fight.”

Finn’s intuition worked on pre-battle scenarios. He could sense if something’s not right—or when their opponents prepared something else that will turn the tides.

If one could utilize such power during swift clashes, they would become stronger.

“That’s it.”

Just as her childish inner self jumped in delight, she realized another dilemma.

‘How do I get it?’

Aiz came to a conclusion: battles.

“Aiz?”

In this day, Finn felt a potential headache brewing.