Chapter 28

Junichiro rubbed his stomach as he yawned while following a nameless mage into a well appointed dining room that contained Mephisto. He'd slept pretty well last night, though before he did, he'd had an idea he thought was brilliant.

He'd had Avalon as a cage around his heart so that getting to it and taking it away from him would be an extremely difficult feat. However, there was a drawback to that, he couldn't use Avalon's offensive power, such as Ruler. To use Ruler required 'cutting' whatever he wished to rule. Given Excalibur Ruler was considered the most powerful fragment of Excalibur, it was a waste to not be able to use Avalon's version.

So, before bed last night, Junichiro used Mimic to once again change Avalon's shape to something else. Now Avalon was a collection of strands that ran through his entire body like a second nervous system. It reached every limb, every finger tip, every toe. Even the fingertips of his prosthetic arm.

Now, he was never unarmed. He could call on Mimic to have the strands near his palms come out and transform into swords without affecting the rest of his body. Mimic didn't really care too much about how big he made Avalon, within reason. Magic was reality warping like that.

With this change he could even have thin blades extend from the tips of his fingers and use them to slice things he wanted to control with Ruler. It really gave him a much better edge than simply letting it wrap around his heart. It also made him feel more secure about his health and safety. He could still be captured and held in a prison, for now, but he hoped to soon have a way to negate that possibility.

Mehpisto watched as Junichiro sat in the chair opposite him and was immediately presented a full English Breakfast. Junichiro smiled brightly and dug into his meal, though he fully intended to ignore the beans.

The pair ate in silence for a bit before Mephisto broke it, "I hope you found the accomodations acceptable."

Junichiro nodded while swallowing his mouthful of food before speaking, "It was comfortable. I hope you don't take it as a remark on your hospitality when I say, I plan to leave today. I'm still on vacation and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the world."

Just after Junichiro finished speaking, the cellphone in his pocket let out a chime. He addressed Mephisto, "Pardon me."

Pulling it out he was surprised to find a message from a shipping company he liked to use, "Ah, dammit."

"Problem?"

Junichiro glanced at Mephisto and shrugged his shoulders, "Not so much a problem as a delivery company actually delivering something early."

That got an eyebrow rise out of Mephisto. Seeing no issue with it, Junichiro explained, "I bought a high power industrial CO2 laser. You know, the kind that can engrave serial numbers into diamonds so small you need a microscope to see them?"

Mephisto nodded in understanding. Those serial numbers had annoyed him when humans first began using them. Like many ancient beings, he had massive amounts of treasure stashed away and a lot of that treasure was in jewels. Any of them that had been cut were a pain in the ass to turn into human currency once they started marking all their jewels.

"Well, it's arriving tomorrow afternoon. It wasn't due for another month and I have no idea how the hell they got it to me so fast."

Though he said that, part of him suspected Azazel had found out about him buying the laser and did something to expedite the shipping process. He didn't know whether he should be annoyed or grateful. At the moment, he was both.

"I see. Perhaps in the future, once you've joined a peerage perhaps, we could have another discussion. I would really like to talk to you in depth about your views on magic."

Junichiro nodded in acceptance. He didn't mind talking about magic, it just wasn't really his forte or where his interests really lay. The magic he focused on was what he liked to think of as 'Tool Magic' that is, spells and such that helped him make the next item he wanted to make. Sure, he had plenty of wands, scrolls, and other items that could cast offensive spells, but that wasn't his main focus really. It's probably why those items were spells that were so... cliché.

After finishing breakfast with Mephisto, Junichiro and Mittelt were led back out of the Grauzauberer base. Once back in the air and on their way, Mittelt turned to address Junichiro, "Where are we going now?"

Junichiro looked at his Loot Compass and thought for a bit. He had ways to teleport now so he could get home in seconds, there was no rush to fly back to Japan, "First, France because I've never seen the Eiffel Tower in person. Then? I haven't a clue."

He wouldn't be setting the Loot Compass for any specific treasure, rather he'd set it for the nearest treasure that he'd never heard of. He thought it might be nice to find something different or unique. Perhaps it would give him some inspiration. Or, if it was useless, he'd just trade it for something useful. He wanted to do this because he knew that once he got home and had access to the laser, he wouldn't be leaving again anytime soon.

Honestly, he was certain that was the reason the laser had come in early. If he was right, Azazel had gotten it delivered early as a way to call him back and keep him in Japan where he could easily be watched. Azazel probably didn't like him being out in the wider world, especially not after his run in with Mephisto and being discovered as 'The Artificer.' He knew Mittelt would have informed Azazel of that little tidbit.

Junichiro let out a small sigh. They'd only been in the air for a few minutes and there was already silence between himself and Mittelt. Sadly, it wasn't the comfortable silence of people used to being around each other, it was awkward and annoying. He supposed it should be expected. He also couldn't help wondering if his relationship with Mittelt would last much longer. He... didn't want it to end. Even if she was the only option, one taken because he had no other real choice...

Breaking up sucked no matter how old you were mentally. Add in goddamn rampant hormones and it was so much worse.

Junichiro pulled out one of his cigarettes and lit it. After a deep drag and exhale, he couldn't stop himself from muttering, "Fuck."

They flew for a while, crossing the English Channel and flying directly into the heart of France. It was just so nice to not have to deal with customs, flight plans, layovers, or any of the other bullshit that came with using mass transit. Not only that but he got to sit in a seat enchanted for comfort! Even First Class couldn't compare with his method of travel.

After landing a short walk from the Eiffel Tower, Junichiro turned to Mittelt, "Want to join me?"

Mittelt shook her head, "No, I think I'll head into the trunk and relax while you enjoy yourself. I watched it get built and was one of the first to ascend it."

Junichiro just nodded and left the vehicle and Mittelt behind. Once he was a good distance away, he sighed and shook his head, "Well, I suppose for my first relationship, it wasn't so bad." He chuckled to himself, "At least it wasn't as drama filled as a high school romance would be!"

He paused as that thought crossed his mind. He sighed again and shook his head, "If I do end up dating Rias, that's going to be one hell of a drama filled relationship."

He knew he wasn't so good with people, or much more than making things with his skills even, but he wasn't stupid and he could learn. He hadn't changed his mind about becoming a Devil, and likely never would, but he did know that he needed to keep his expectations with Rias in check. He didn't know if she would actually be like he expected or not. Worse, the longer he lived this new life, the more fuzzy his memories of the series became. They weren't all that great to begin with either.

Junichiro shook off those thoughts. He'd figure out what to do when the time came. If he had to, he'd find a way to steal an Evil Piece and try to discover how they worked. He didn't know if he could since they took the brilliant mind of Ajuka Beelzebub to create and probably had protections built into them. He protected his products, why wouldn't someone significantly smarter than him do the same thing?

His eye practically sparkled as he beheld the Eiffel Tower in all its glory with his own eyes for the first time. It was amazing. Not so much the tower itself, but what seeing it represented. Much like Big Ben did. It represented the drastic difference between his current life and what he could remember of his first life.

Details were fleeting, but he knew he hadn't lived to the age of fifty. He'd worked his entire adult life, never married, hell he hardly dated, and died a pointless death. Hell, he'd never traveled more than a few hundred miles from his home town. He'd gone so far as to die in the very hospital he'd been born in. How sad was that?

But now? Now here he was, looking up at the Eiffel Tower, thousands of kilometers from where he'd been born in this life. He'd gotten here in a vehicle he'd modified himself. He could do all these amazing things, had all this power and knowledge, it was an entirely different world, life, and reality. Seeing these great landmarks just brought it all home to him and made him grateful for what he had.

…

Still, he wanted more. Seeing these places, finding powerful treasures, all of it just drove him to find more. To do better. To be better.

He tightened his hands into fists as a smile curled his lips and his eyes practically glowed with determination. One way or another, he would become a Devil soon. As soon as he did his personal strength would grow in leaps and bounds. He was planning, preparing, and soon it would all come together.

The world would be his oyster.

Junichiro returned to his ATV and immediately took off. He had the Loot Compass guide him toward the nearest treasure that he didn't know anything about. He wanted a surprise. He'd already gathered two supremely powerful treasures, scales from Albion, tons of gold, and even materials from dead Angels, Fallen, and Devils. He just wanted one last little adventure before he got back to work.

He drove the ATV slightly southwest for quite a while, he was pretty certain they'd crossed the border into Spain at this point. He could see a large city near the ocean in the distance but the compass wasn't pointing directly toward it. Before he reached the city, the compass needle suddenly spun and reversed direction.

The ATV was slowed and driven in a closing circle to get as close to the marked treasure as possible. As the circle got tighter, Junichiro drove the ATV lower to get a view of the area. It was a small cleared area in the middle of a forest. Within the clearing he could see an old mound of stones, probably an ancient building that had succumb to time.

As he landed, the compass pointed directly to the ruins. While he examined them, Mittelt came out of the trunk and looked around. She frowned a bit as she looked at the ruins, they seemed a little familiar. Maybe.

Junichiro approached the ruins while retrieving a wand. With a wave of the wand, the large carved stones of the ruin began to lift into the air and move out of the way. Telekinesis was such an enormously useful tool! It had to be one of his favorite spells in the world. So many uses for it.

Once the large stones were moved out of the way, the pair could see an ancient staircase leading down into the earth. Mittlet's frown grew as they approached it. This place was really giving her a feeling of deja-vu. It wasn't until they came to the bottom of the stairs and saw a large ornate door with a roaring lion's head on it.

Mittelt grabbed Junichiro's arm and stopped him in place, "We shouldn't be here."

When he turned to face her, the question clear on his face, Mittelt continued, "This is the final resting place of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, you'd know him better as El Cid, the hero of Spain." She pointed to the stone relief of the lion head, "That was the symbol on his shield, a magical shield. He fought on the side of the Angels and they swore to protect his tomb. If you open that door, they will come and they will not be happy. This isn't some lost and forgotten tomb you can raid freely."

Junichiro frowned as he looked at the door to the tomb, "Are you certain?"

Mittelt nodded, "I am. It's been a while and I nearly forgot, but Azazel briefed us on it almost a thousand years ago when he died. El Cid's body, armor, weapon, and shield are all entombed here. Though only his shield was enchanted. The lion head on it would roar weakening his enemies and bolstering his allies. It's power is really only effective in large scale battles."

She looked at him with concern, "Stealing it would upset the Angels, especially since its only useful in war. They might see it as a declaration of war, even."

Junichiro sighed and turned around to walk away. Mittelt seemed very certain and he had no reason to doubt her. If she was right and he broke into the tomb only to piss off the Angels, that would be pretty bad. He didn't want to be on bad terms with them.

Even more importantly, he didn't want to be on bad terms with the church. He had no idea what that corrupt organization would do to him if he pissed them off. Some of their members might be decent folks, but he knew there were far too many corrupt individuals doing some seriously shady shit in the organization.

Of course, anyone familiar with the Kokobiel incident would have a negative opinion of the church. Letting a child murderer go free while still using the research he conducted for their benefit? The church just lets the evil people they produce go free and makes it someone else problem instead of dealing with it themselves.

The condescending 'holier than thou' attitude of their few decent members doesn't help either.

Honestly, no one in the entire Abrahamic faction is a 'good guy,' not even the angels themselves.

Junichiro let out a sigh and just turned around to talk away, "Damn."

The pair returned to the ATV and took their seats. Junichiro flipped open a switch cover and flicked the switch beneath. The ATV was surrounded in a transparent sphere that could only be seen because it warped their sight of anything outside the bubble. The world outside swirled in a bright kaleidoscope of colors for a second before uniformity returned.

When the bubble faded, Mittlet looked around in surprise, "We're home?"

Junichiro nodded and climbed out of the ATV, "Yeah. I've got a delivery arriving early tomorrow morning at my warehouse that I need to be there for." He gave her a bland look, "Gee, It was ever so much a surprise when I got a notification that it was arriving a whole month early."

Mittelt winced at the mixture of sarcasm and accusation coming toward her. While she honestly hadn't been aware of what Azazel would do, she knew he would do something the moment he found out about Mephisto. Junichiro was clearly upset at his vacation being cut short and she wasn't sure what she could say to help the situation.

Junichiro spun on his heel and made his way into the house. It was evening in Japan and despite the day being so short, Junichiro was already tired and just wanted to get some sleep. Ending his exploration at a tomb he couldn't even take a peek into was just the cherry on top of the disappointment cake.

The delivery of the industrial laser to his warehouse wasn't much of an issue for Junichiro. Thanks to some simple magic tools, the delivery guys didn't even notice his age. It was a nice experience.

Once everything was delivered, Junichiro got to work setting the machine and its support hardware up. This included a computer system he'd previously purchased and already set up. The goal of this whole thing was to make the smallest, most precise, rune engraver on the planet. He'd already been working on programming the software for the machine, one rune at a time.

There were still several hurdles he would need to overcome, but when it was all finished he would be able to whip up rune schemes and have the laser carve them into items for him. Just imagining being able to rapidly program the system to carve out hundreds, or even thousands, of runes while using an insignificant amount of surface area excited him greatly.

He'd be carving runes so small they couldn't be seen by the naked human eye. So tiny it took something with a fair amount of magnification to even see them.

His grin wouldn't go away as he worked to set everything up.

Two months, that's how long it took him to get his new high tech laser engraving setup to even function. Getting the laser setup and working hadn't been much trouble. Telekinesis let him act like a bunch of people working together and lift weights he couldn't handle alone. It even let him skip using things like screwdrivers during the assembly process.

Programming the necessary steps to produce individual runes wasn't hard either. It just took a lot of time to program each rune individually as he had to program each individual stroke of the rune to be done in a specific way. He couldn't go the most efficient route like the machine would want. If the runes weren't drawn in such a strict manner, they simply wouldn't work.

While the programming took time, it wasn't the most time consuming. No, that honor belonged to the runes he had to carve into the laser himself and the enchantments he had to layer onto the machine. The CO2 laser was a powerful machine, to be sure. However, it couldn't scratch the surface of even Mana Steel as it came from the factory. Dealing with magical materials took a spark of magic. A mundane blacksmith couldn't ever forge something out of Mana Steel.

The same went for the laser. Without a touch of magic, it wouldn't even scratch the hard magical materials he wanted it to engrave things into. Taking the machine apart, adding magic to it, and putting it back together took far more time than he had expected. However, he knew the final result would be well worth the hassle.

He booted up the computer and loaded in the programmed pathway he wanted the laser to cut into the item sitting in its bay. He was starting with something small, a ring. A special ring that he was carving several hundred runes into, then would be enchanting further. He wanted to see if he could make a ring so powerful it would make Sauron tremble in jealousy.

He pushed the final button and watched as the laser sprang to life. It was going to be interesting to see if his invested time and money would be worth it. He couldn't wait!

AN

And this will be the last chapter that's only 3-4k words long. From chapter 29 on the chapter length will jump to approx 10k. I say approx because chapter 33, the latest on pat-reon slash thomasdarkrose is only 9.5k words long. I'm a disappointment to myself for that one.

Okay, not really. But chapters 29-33 total around 50k words so I'm pretty happy with that. You know, considering that this chapter only puts the total story length at 100k words. So... yeah 5 chapters are basically equivalent to half of what's been published on here so far. That's actually a little trippy.

Look forward to the next chapter!