Wandering Agent

Machinist of Mana Chapter 101 Unhappy Housekeeper

“Young lord I've held my piece, for a long time, but there are limits,” Mrs. Rider began.

“Excuse me?” I asked, a bit taken aback by her tone. Earlier I'd been angry and she knew it, and got out of my way, but now I was in a different mood, and she knew well she could get away with saying whatever was bothering her.

“No, no I won't. For quite some time I've seen how you favor that girl, seen how you look at her when you think others aren't watching, but tonight is beyond...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 100 Between Siblings

“Please, sit,” I said to Kaylee as I closed and locked the door, no reason to risk someone else overhearing us.

“Um... sir, I really don't.” I gave her a look, and she sat.

Sitting in the presence of your employer was considered inconceivably rude for someone like a maid or member of staff. There were exceptions, jobs that needed to be done sitting down, but for the most part they stood when we were around, a measure of politeness I think.

“You can also drop the po...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 99 Confrontation

“I will have an answer,” I said, voice hard as steel and cold as ice.

“Sir, please calm down, really it's fine, everything is fine.” Mrs. Rider had never seen me angry, truly angry before. As a point of fact, few people had, irritated, sure, unhappy, all the time, even a bit mad, yes, that happened, but the cold fury working its way through my veins now was something rare.

“Then you can answer me.”

“Your f-father was working his way through the finances and fou...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 173 Preparing

For the first time in a long time I was getting to do some proper forging myself. I loved it, the heat, the way the metal bent, the cherry red it could turn under the flame. It wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but as a side hobby is was magnificent. It was also very physical, something working with computers, magical or otherwise, really wasn't.

Most of what I was doing now was being formed magically, large parts of the frame for my first airship being pulled in and set before me....

Machinist of Mana Chapter 98 Joy and Tears

There was at least one advantage to my new schedule, and that was flexibility. Most of the time when we were at school, we were at school, with only our rest days to take off. However with personal training being the bulk of what I was doing I could finish up early in the afternoon before one of our off days and, well, go home. Perhaps in my first or second year I'd not have been allowed to do such a thing, but now... nobody seemed to mind.

And that was how I found myself heading back t...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 172 Bets Against the Future

After my display the other elders left me to my devices, which was good. Perhaps here and there they were voicing their irritation behind closed doors, but none were bringing it to me, and that was excellent too, because I wasn't in the mood to deal with them. I had other far more important things to do.

“Would you like more tea?” asked my daughter, poffering forward the tiny kettle she had, it did actually contain tea too, not just pretend, it was however a cold blend, not a piping...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 97 Gratification

It was at least gratifying to see when Lucas began his resistance training. I'd had to go through mountains of it, but his first few days he was spent. I even got to reenact his little talk with me that first day I'd missed dinner.

“Are you going to be alright?” I asked him as he lay on his bed, seemingly unable to rise.

“Eventually, but everything hurts.”

“Yes, I'm quite familiar with it,” I pointed out.

“How did you get past this?”

“Same way y...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 96 Testing My Resistance

I was a little anxious about fighting the little old lady that was Professor Ruian, but that changed in the first second of the battle. Around me the sands of the arena exploded in a wave, thrown back by whatever spell she'd hit them with. Even I felt the power slam into me, tossing me back a few feet like a hard wind in a storm.

However I stood through the assault, blinking the dust out of my eyes as I tried to dodge any follow-up attacks. I could tell that even though I'd been effecte...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 95 Slow Starts

If I was making progress, I certainly wasn't seeing it. Every day seemed the same, with more tests, more meditations, and more shocks from that damnable rod of Sir Kendrick's. No matter how hard I tried or how long I practiced I never seemed to be able to block out the attack completely, always feeling it race across my skin with each tap.

He did at least introduce some small changes in the exercise though. Some days I was given short exercises to do while he poked me here and there thr...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 94 Exhaustion Among Friends

I made it back to my dorm that evening somehow more tied than I'd been if I'd gone to regular class. A few of the boys looked at me and seeming to feel my mood didn't bother me as I fell into bed.

While I wasn't having to go through the mental exercise, or even most of the physical ones that didn't mean that I didn't have to put forth effort. Despite the knights assurances that eventually resistance would become second nature it wasn't now. Maintaining the pressure was a constant expend...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 93 Magical Resistance

I woke up, looking at the ceiling and knowing that the day would be magnificent. My mornings would be much the same of course, with wake up and breakfast first thing. Of course my waking wasn't the hectic assembly it had been in my first year, with our food being disturbed and work thrown off, no, it was as normal as a first day of school could ever be.

Older students looked tired, blinking and rubbing eyes, one or two asking friends to borrow materials they'd forgotten at home. Though ...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 171 Meeting

As I ascended the final steps to our council hall several of my fellows stood forward to meet me. Most notable of these was Shorin, an old friend, and while not always an ally on the council someone who at least always heard what I had to say. I smiled to him as my entourage broke off, unable to go where I was going next, no, for this I would stand alone.

“Good luck boss,” Chien said as he moved to the side.

A majority of these here were elders themselves, though there were a ...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 92 New Schedule

All things had to come to an end, and my winter vacation was no different. Before I knew it the time had come to pack my things and return to school, and the stress and time crunch that always seemed to follow me there. I hated that, even if I liked the place, it was just too much, even if I was being excluded from a few things as my years progressed I certainly wasn't getting any more time.

Several of the staff waited as I boarded the carriage that would take me back to what was more a...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 91 Aunties' Party

Rowenna's aunt lived on the outer part of the more expensive districts of the city. Perhaps the man she'd married wasn't a titled noble, or he was lower on the totem pole than most I'd dealt with, or maybe she just liked it there. The area was closer to shopping and the roads leading out, so if she preferred to spend her time away from Exion rather than in it this would be a pretty good spot.

Her house also didn't disappoint, not as grand as some of the mansions I'd seen, but really qui...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 170 Parade

The morning of my announcement my family helped me dress. Most of it was the girls doing my hair and making sure all the jewelry was on right, but they fussed a lot, trying to make sure that everything fit perfectly. After all, there were few times when one made an announcement as big as this.

“Stay still,” Isha griped as she put my hair in a braid that would best show off the one white strand.

“Yeah, stay still daddy,” her little twin echoed.

“All right, all right...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 90 Games Girls Play

It took a couple of weeks but someone eventually did invite me to another party. Now, the issues wasn't that I was some kind of social pariah, quite the opposite, it was that nobody was having any gatherings at all. Since the last large one had ended in the owner of the venue and a couple of the guests dead that was quite the wet blanket on the seasonal soirees.

Then again it was carte blanche for the gossip mill, who were in full swing. I wasn't even in on that particular group as well...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 169 Announcement Plans

“I'm glad you're taking this so seriously,” I said to my smiling assistant.

“As are you,” he scoffed, and I had to laugh.

“Fair, but things will change.”

“For the better.”

“I agree, but we still need to be prepared,” I informed him, trying to impress that others would now react to both of us differently.

“I prepared years ago, didn't you?” he answered flippantly.

“What?”

“Mind waiting here for a bit?” Chien asked.

Machinist of Mana Chapter 89 Trinkets

“Hello World”

Yes, that old archmage and the insane goblin weren't the only ones of us. She'd known, I'd known on some level, but there it was. It was confirmation that I was now seeing for myself too, a clear message to those of us who came after. Sadly it didn't tell me everything, there were still so many questions.

Why? Why had we been pulled into this world. Why had we been chosen, if chosen we were? Was there some greater meaning to all of this? I didn't know, nor did I ...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 88 Targets and Advancements

Ignus may have come to get me, but he was now distracted and I saw a good time to make my own escape. So I left the two investigators to themselves and their deepening discussion and slipped out. I was heading back into the building proper, to see who was where and how they were.

In the main hall several people I recognized were sitting. This was primarily both sets of my grandparents, Rowenna, Lucas (Who I'd only seen at the beginning of the night.) along with Simon and Priscilla.

Machinist of Mana Chapter 87 Investigators

I learned a few things over the next several hours.

Firstly, that though according to history books the various Orders had declined in power a bit from their peak that did not mean that they were weak. Two priests letting it slip that there was a 'Death Priest' on the loose meant that there was now a lot of scrutiny. I wasn't sure what that would mean, but both Priscilla and her companion wanted a full breakdown from me on what I knew.

Secondly, it looked like Ignus and his people...

Elevation of Mana Chapter 168 Wake Up

I was fast asleep when the blow came, so hard to the stomach that I shot awake, the air knocked out of me.

“OOF!” I grunted as I was thrust into consciousness.

“Wake up daddy!” came the call from my stomach, high pitched and pleading.

“Adia, daddy needs to sleep,” I grumbled, trying to rub my eyes.

“NOOOO, the sun's up!” she pried, squirming up beside me in the bed.

“All right, if the sun's up,” I chuckled.

I'd only gone to bed a couple ...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 86 Trounced

“What are you doing here?” the goblin girl asked, goggles flashing in the low light.

I didn't bother trying to talk, instead drawing the pistol I'd taken to carrying on me at all times. I'd heard her words, I'd heard the explosion. Someone was almost certainly dead, and this wasn't the time for talking.

She was quick too, her hand flashing upwards a beat after my own. It wasn't superhuman speed like I had, just good reactions. As my finger squeezed the trigger a blue glow surr...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 85 Masquerade

The night of the party finally arrived and I strolled into the ballroom, slipping on my mask. The piece I'd made for this was a fanciful bit, white with feathers sticking out in all directions. Beside me Rowenna did the same, hers a pink version that matched perfectly with her dress.

“The guests are arriving,” she observed as she looked out a window.

“Yes, shall we go and greet them?”

We moved from the window and around the room, both sets of my grandparents were her...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 84 Meeting Priscilla

“Hello there my friend,” Simon said cheerfully as I joined him at the small room in his home we'd agreed to have this meeting at. While his face smiled his eyes held a hint of irritation.

“So you're this Percival I've been hearing about. I heard you assisted my Simon with those lovely little flowers he gave me,” a high voice added from a corner behind me.

I turned to see what could only be Priscilla, Simon's girlfriend. She was taller than I'd expected, and lithe like a tr...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 83 Party Planning

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” I said to the vendor, a tallish wispy man named Pino who ran the only ballroom I would be able to rent on such short notice.

“Not at all young man, you're quite the fellow to know,” he said with a smile.

“Sir?”

“Oh come now Lord Percival, I've heard of your heroics, even if some of them aren't truly public knowledge. The way you saved that girl from those goblins, the beast you slew in defense ...

Delays

My sincere apologies for the chapter delays. Unfortunately I set off on a trip for Christmas and am currently being bounced around airports without end. I will be back and posting just as soon as I can.

Machinist of Mana Chapter 83 Grandmother's Demand

“Alright Percival, the time has come to host an event,” my grandmother told me one afternoon. She was making an awful habit of interrupting my personal words on an almost daily basis.

“You're hosting something?” I asked.

“No, you are.”

I was stunned, flabbergasted, and honestly a bit taken aback. “Grandmother, I live alone, and I know absolutely nothing about hosting any such thing. Normally isn't that something whole families do?”

“It is, normally yo...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 82 Sewer Sights

Greta slid through the sewers, she hated coming out here so much. It wasn't like the surface, where there was fresh air and the bright open sky, and it wasn't home either. Father at least kept the den well cleaned, some of the less intelligent of her kin might have made messes, but he made sure they cleaned them up. The sewers though were filled with filth.

As she moved her glasses slid through lenses, moved and flipped by a flight expenditure of her will. Each was special, each suited ...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 81 Desires of Life

“It actually works, like properly?” the girl sitting across from me asked over the table.

“Indeed, we had a demonstration for some of the more technically minded men from The Royal Society just earlier today. Perhaps my project isn't impossible for them to have considered, but they're all quite surprised,” I answered. “You'd think that with all the papers my grandfather had published they would've expected this.”

The girl's father, some lower end noble laughed from a c...

Machinist of Mana Chapter 80 Grounded

Faster and faster I moved, the wind reaching a peak until I felt it. The sensation of the wheels leaving the ground was magnificent, the bumps changing into small changes in the wind as I began to climb, away from the dirt and into the sky. It wasn't fast, not like the insane speed jets from Earth could have done it, but just a few dozen feet.

“PERCIVAL GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!” The sky roared as my grandfather stopped yelling and began to cast spells....