Return of the Fallen Volume 5 Chapter 86
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch86
Glacious threw open his front door and made his way to his workroom. This is the place where Tilly stayed most of the time. She opted out of a room and instead stayed within this large room to indulge herself in research and study. She would spend hours and days reading over ancient schematics and blueprints, trying to find out how to create a Magic core so she could create her own golem.
Glacious came to a large desk which had many papers, tools, and other materials spread loosely all over. There were dozens of prototypes. Each one smaller in nature compared to the fist-size Magic cores but each one was a clear imitation of what Tilly thought was an imitation of said magic cores.
Glacious picked up one such core that caught his eye.
He eyed the orb meticulously and could see thousands of flaws, yet within those flaws were specks of genius. Glacious couldn’t help but shake his head seeing this.
(This old bat, she must have snapped. This magic core she tried to make is full of holes and false logic. There are places where her brilliance shines through but she was nowhere close to making a breakthrough. Is this why she lost it and actually dared to steal from me?)
Glacious crushed the false core in his hand, shattering it and reducing it to dust. Wiping his hands of the filth, he made his way to the dining area before his eyes began to glow with a dim purple glow. The very next moment, everyone within his tiny world was forcefully teleported in front of him.
No one had time to be stunned as Glacious went ahead and told them what had just transpired. Once he told them the news of Tilly’s theft, their expressions changed again to something more complicated.
Glacious was upfront in everything he said.
“Tilly has stolen from me. You all should know, I intended to kill her the very moment I found this out but Nunully talked with me briefly and she concluded that that might upset you all seeing as how you all are friends. Kazuki if everyone is upset with me, I don’t care but you and I have an arrangement. I don’t wish to have a falling out with you. So you tell me personally. Will you have a problem if I kill Tilly?”
…
…
Kazuki was silent for a while. This made both Asuna and Nunully feel uneasy.
“Kazuki, you can’t seriously be considering this, can you?”
“Asuna’s right, you not saying anything at all will give us all the wrong impression. Kazuki you wouldn’t actually wish to see Tilly dead, would you?”
Kazuki wasn’t quite sure how to answer Asuna and Nunully. His thoughts were complex. On the one hand, Tilly was a friend ad she had even supplied Kazuki with some of the important ingredients and materials he needed to succeed in recreating his Mage core. At the same time, Tilly was incredibly selfish in the way she went about doing things. She was treated as a guest and was only allowed to stay here this long because she knew Kazuki and the others.
Her theft made everyone look bad. Kazuki and the others trusted Tilly so Glacious allowed her to stay. With her betrayal, was this not a blow to Glacious’s trust in the others as well. Not only that, she didn’t just take some trinket. She didn’t steal something worth a few gold Zeni. No, she took a Magic core from an advanced golem. A technology that could cause war across the continent. Something that could potentially cause the deaths of billions and she just took it.
Kazuki wondered what he would do if Tilly had stolen something so valuable from him. Could he simply overlook it? Stealing from a friend in the first place is a slap in the face. That isn’t something a friend would do. At the same time, Kazuki couldn’t just let her be killed like a rat in the street. Kazuki was conflicted. He knew Glacious had every right to kill Tilly but the memories he shared with Tilly whenever they would drink and laugh late into the night. For it to be thrown away just like that…
“Senior…I don’t wish for you to kill her.”
Glacious looked at Kazuki coldly. Kazuki could feel the air change and hurriedly added.
“I don’t want you to kill her but at the same time, she must be handled. A compromise instead. Imprisonment. Let me go out of here and I will personally retrieve both your Magic core as well as Tilly. I’ll bring both her and your property back. Afterward, you can imprison her here until her dying day. That doesn’t mean you can mistreat her but at the same time, she will have to remain here until her natural end comes.”
Asuna got pissed and dismissed Kazuki as if he was a lunatic.
“Kazuki you can’t be serious! You wouldn’t even be able to use magic properly if Tilly didn’t get you the materials you needed to reforge your Mage core and now your gonna just let her be imprisoned?”
“What would you have me do Asuna? She didn’t take some little trinket, she took a magic core. Do you know what that means? It’s the equivalent of someone stealing the designs for a ballistic missile. If that magic core falls into the wrong hands, the destruction it would cause is something on a global scale. Tilly has something that dangerous in her possession and she is blinded by her obsession. She’s not in the right state of mind, otherwise, she’d have never stolen it in the first place. If we simply take the Magic core back from Tilly who was already willing to steal from Glacious, imagine if we simply leave her out in the world. You’ve seen how clever she is. She’s done it once, there’s no telling what could happen. She can no longer be trusted. She should be killed but I don’t want that. Let her be imprisoned in this tiny world, give her no resources or magic items ever again, and cut her access from tools and the workshop. Let her retire peacefully here, out of sight out of mind for her remainder. This is the best way.”
Asuna still didn’t like it but she couldn’t come up with another way.
“Senior, as you heard, I still don’t wish for her to die. Will you let me go out and bring her back here permanently?”
Glacious gave a small nod and added.
“For you Kazuki I will not kill her. That is if she is willing to turn over what’s mine without resistance, otherwise, I can guarantee nothing. Not only that, to be sure there are no problems, I will personally step outside with you.”
Kazuki swallowed hard. If Tilly put up a fight, then only death awaited her. Kazuki nodded.
“First though you must let me speak with her. If you just open a palm and threaten to take her life she may recoil. Let me talk to her and ease her tension. If I just talk to her first, things should be resolved easily. Senior, what do you say?”
Glacious sighed.
*Haaa*
“Fine, I will give you the chance. If there’s nothing else, let us move as soon as possible. The longer we wait, the higher the chance things could go wrong. With enough time, who knows how far she would flee.”
Asuna and Nunully eyed one another and the two stepped forward at the same time.
“I and Asuna will be joining you. If two strong men show up in front of a frail old woman you’ll intimidate her and you may encounter the opposite reaction to what you want.”
Kazuki stared at Nunully with a weird look.
“Tilly. frail! She is anything but that. If anything, I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly tried to fight Glacious or even challenge him to a drinking contest for the Magic core.”
Nunully and Asuna weren’t backing down though.
“Fine fine I get it. There’s no real reason you can’t go, right Senior?”
“It is as you say young Kazuki. It matters not who goes, what matters is time.”
Sam stepped forward.
“Asuna I will join you.”
Sam saw Asuna as a little sister and always had her back no matter what. Kimi hooked her arm around Sam.
“And I’m with you.”
Shin waved the tail end of his cloak trying to be cool.
“I have to come as well. I just got an upgrade and I need to test it out.”
Shin was referring to the 4th stage. Kazuki understood that thought process. He as well was now overflowing with strength and with his limit being expanded, the strength he could use…He himself wondered what he could now do.
Asuna, Kimi, and Sam all felt a little annoyed by this though. Only Kazuki and Shin had passed the illusions and had entered the 4th stage. They all felt a fire inside burning. They wanted to renter the room. They wanted to increase their will, connect their mind and body, and finally become a 4th stage Mage.
At the same time, they were incredibly curious and wondered what exactly Kazuki and Shin were now capable of.
Mei as well at this time tried to join in on the fun but before she got too excited, Tsura knocked her on the head.
“Don’t even think about it, young lady. Have you forgotten that you will no longer leave my side? Not until you grow up and can handle things on your own. If I’m not going, then neither are you.”
Mei felt personally attacked.
“But…but mama, Mr wolf is going outside. I’m much more mature than him.”
No one argued that point or defended Etora. They themselves weren’t sure which of the two was more mature than the other. Tsura though didn’t give a crap about any of that.
“No, and that’s the end of it, young lady. If you argue anymore then you’ll go to bed hungry tonight, got it, Mei Mei?”
“Ah…Um……”
Mei lowered her head in dejection. She knew though that her mom was serious. If she really pushed it, she would get no dinner. That was something she wasn’t willing to fight against and so she fell quiet.
Glacious was tired of all the useless babble and both of his eyes began to glow with a purple light. He grabbed at the empty air in front of him and tore open a crack in space as big as a door. Afterward, everyone except Mei, Tsura, and Lamia stepped through.
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“So you’ve finally decided to show up. This makes things much easier Kazuki.”
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