(Author's Note)
Hey guys! It's me again!
So first things first, sorry about the wait. I was stuck in a spot of writer's block trying to figure out the best way to move to the next big point while also having to juggle the mess of a schedule that college has thrown at me. The good news, unlike the month and a quarter it took for this to come out, the next chapter should be out much sooner. The bad news, is that I'm now moving into the last month of the school term, so finals and such might take up some of said time.
Also, once we get past the next target, I want to try speeding up the story's pacing. As much as I like doing day by day chapters like I sort have ended up doing to this point, at some point it's going to lead to issues of writer's block that might slow the updates down further, so we'll see how things feel when I get to that. If I can, I'd like for each chapter to take place over a week instead of the day by day, but it depends on how it turns out when I write said chapters like that.
Anyways, now that we're finished with that, let's get on with the Reviews!
To narutolover69777777: I don't know if I'll be including anything from Engage. If I do, it'll likely be some of the characters as Personas. I don't own the game myself, so there's a lot of aspects that I'm too unfamiliar with to consider adding into the story.
To Redpika: I don't remember if I established the Persona Limit he has access to or not, so unless I have and I'm about to contradict myself, he would likely still be able to hold as many as back in Tokyo.
To Jlargent: Know what, that's a fair point you make. I don't know if I'd put it in a "Box" lesson, but it'd definitely feel like one Ren would do during one of the "Free" periods.
Alright, I think that's all the main questions I have to answer! And thanks to everyone else who left a review! They really help with my motivation and they're just great to read over. If you have time, or just questions in general, please leave a review. I try to respond to all of the ones I really can, so yeah.
Okay, on with the story!
"Shit!" The curse flew out of Ren's mouth with a hiss as the teen shook his left hand, a small cut slicing open on his index finger as a result of his current project. "This is so much more difficult than it needs to be…"
The teen let out a huff as he reached over to the nearby first aid kit he had fashioned together, pulling out some light supplies as he applied a makeshift bandage to his finger. "If I can just get this done, everything will be finished downstairs…" Ren muttered to himself, looking down at the contraption lying on his desk.
"I know we have a bit of free time before you have to teach the Golden Deer your class, but I wasn't expecting us to spend all of it working on this pet project of yours." Morgana said from his position on the bed. "You do realize that you won't be done with just that either, right?"
"I was honestly hoping I'd be able to get Lavenza to throw me another bone, but you're probably right about that." The teen replied with a sigh, turning to look at the curled up cat. "I still need to figure out how to give power to this as well. I don't do that, it won't be much of a record player."
The thief glanced back down at the unfinished record player on his desk. It was less one solid piece and more multiple different pieces that would need to be assembled together once everything else was good to go. Bits of wood and metal had been carved and bent in order to get the right dimensions down, while some of the earlier Metaverse supplies had been repurposed for some of the finer details. The finer mechanisms that actually made it function, like the spindle and horn, were set to the side with the other finished pieces.
"Aside from assembly, it's really just making sure the internal wiring functions, and that… this is gonna work as an amplifier for it." The teen said, holding up the object in question lightly.
Upon first glance, it was nothing more than a mish mash of various junk and materials gained during their treks through the Metaverse. The jumbled mess contained bits of aluminum sheets, some reworked tin clasps, thick parchment to cover more specific areas, a fair bit of iron sand and even some red phosphorus.
It was confusing, and to an extent the thief was winging it in regards to some of the basics, but he was confident that it wasn't going to blow up or catch fire on him. His only real concern was that it was going to work as an amplifier.
He placed the makeshift amp down on the table, glancing over the parts and working out in his head what was left to go over. "...If we had a way of making batteries, it shouldn't take too much power for it to work. And if we really need electricity fast, we could probably have Claude charge one up with a Zio spell." The teen said aloud, crossing his arms.
"Or it would blow up the record player." Morgana replied.
"Or that, yes." Ren nodded with a nervous chuckle. "Alright, let me just assemble all this, and worry about getting power to it later. We can also worry about actual records then as well."
"Finally!" Morgana said, stretching slowly as he got up from the bed. "So if I'm right, I think we have roughly… 3 hours before we need to go to the Golden Deer house?"
"...Well, might as well see if we can get some hours in with the Café, right?" Ren asked, stepping up from the chair.
The two thieves made their way downstairs, arriving at the ground floor of the Leblanc Nouveau. Morgana jumped up onto one of the tables as Ren moved towards the front door. "Hm…" The thief paused, glancing over towards the counter with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"What's up, Ren?" Morgana asked.
"...Our Personas are weaker than back home because they aren't compatible with the collective unconscious of this world, right?" Ren asked, walking up to the counter.
"Yeah…"
"Well… I may have a possible solution." The teen said after a moment, running up the stairs towards his room before quickly rushing down with a bag in hand moments later. "These might do the trick!"
"I'm not following." Morgana noted, raising an eyebrow as Ren dug through his bag. "Mind filling me in?"
"Do you remember when we were first studying for our exams, the ones before summer?" Ren asked, turning to look at the cat.
"Of course I do, I couldn't keep you to a decent sleep schedule during those times if I tried." Morgana said with a snort.
"Right. But you'll also remember that when our English exams were brought up, Makoto decided that she'd try and find something that'd keep us motivated in learning the language." Ren continued, pulling out a book from the bag. "While the idea didn't really work with Ryuji, and Ann was already fluent, it did help me out a LOT with getting the language down. Not to say I didn't really know English before, but I wouldn't be at this level if it wasn't for that."
"Oh…! I get it! That's pretty smart, partner!" Morgana said with a smirk. "And since it's in english, we won't have to worry about any translating!"
"Yep. So as long as this gets enough traction that people go out of their way to read it, then there's a good chance Arsene might become compatible with this world's collective unconscious." The thief finished with a smirk, looking down at the title of the book in his hands.
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar
"...Hm, maybe I should ask Anna if she would be able to get this copied. Maybe sent to a publisher in Fódlan so we could make some more cash off the sales if it is well received…" Ren asked aloud.
"It could work, but it may be a bit before we see any changes with Arsene." Morgana noted.
"We're early enough in with the Metaverse that Arsene can still hold his own weight. I think we have time to do this." Ren said with a shrug. The thief slipped the book back into his bag with a nod, quickly zipping the messenger bag back up before pausing as he glanced out the front window. "Wait a moment, isn't that…"
"Hm? What's up?" Morgana asked, watching as Ren moved towards the front door of the café.
The thief quickly glanced at the time on his phone, eyebrow raising as he glanced back out the window. "It's 11:15 right now, so why is she here?" He asked aloud, before opening the door, poking his head out as he spoke up. "Morning!"
"Wha-!?" A mop of purple hair shook violently as the girl it belonged to jumped slightly at Ren's voice. "S-s-sensei? I-I was just- W-what are you doing here?"
"I uh… Live here, Bernadetta." Ren said after a moment, raising an eyebrow lightly. "And Byleth is teaching history right now, so I have this period off."
"O-oh, right, t-that's right." Bernadetta nodded, nodding as she turned around to walk away from the conversation.
"Speaking of." Ren continued, cutting her movement off as she froze in place. "...Do you want anything to drink? The Café is open right now."
"Um…" Bernadetta slowly turned back to face her teacher, a nervous smile on her face. "I wouldn't want to impose?"
"Again, the shop's open." Ren repeated, before giving a wry smile to the girl. "Of course, if you'd rather not I'm sure Byleth would appreciate you going back to class."
"A d-drink would be nice!"
"Is the drink to your liking?" Ren asked, looking over at Bernadetta as the girl drank from the mug. "I'm more familiar with coffee, but I've been trying to branch out my options."
"It's good." Bernadetta said, cradling the mug of hot chocolate close.
"Good to hear. I haven't had much practice with that method of preparing it, but it's the best option really available to me for a setting like this, so…" Ren shrugged, trailing off.
Bernadetta nodded, allowing the volume of the café to go silent. She squirmed lightly in her seat before sighing. "Oh, just tell Bernie that she's in trouble already. That's what she's here for, right?" The girl said, curling in on herself.
"I made you a cup of hot chocolate, and your first thought is that I'm mad at you?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What? No, that's not-! I mean-!" Bernadetta's eyes shot open, waving the hand that wasn't holding the cup of liquid up in a placating manner.
"Bernadetta, breath." Ren said, holding his hands up lightly. "You're not in trouble."
'At least right now…' The teen thought to himself. 'I don't exactly know if there's a penalty for missing attendance…'
"I'm not?" The girl blinked, looking up at the teen in confusion.
"Nope." Ren said, popping the p as he shrugged. "I mean, I won't lie that I'm curious as to why you're not in class, but it's not like I haven't also missed my fair share of classes before."
Bernadetta nodded at that, albeit with a look of confusion on her face as she took another sip of her drink. "...Do you want to talk about it?" Ren asked after a moment.
"...I just… Couldn't do it." The purple haired girl said after a moment, eyes narrowing slightly as she looked down at the liquid in her cup.
Ren glanced over at Morgana out of the corner of his eye. The cat huffed out a sigh, but smiled as he walked up next to Bernadetta.
"O-oh." The girl blinked, holding her hand out as she pet the cat, some of the anxious tension in her shoulders fading.
Ren smiled, placing his hands in his pocket. "Feeling any better?"
Bernadetta rubbed Morgana's head a second longer before nodding, retracting her hand as she took another sip of her drink. "Oh… it's so stupid…!" The girl said after a moment, grimacing. "I just… ran."
"Ran?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She's just… terrifying." Bernadetta said, shivering. "I know she doesn't mean to be, but I just… I can't tell what she's thinking and whenever she looks at me I just… panic."
"Wait, did she run out of her class today!?" Morgana asked with raised eyebrows.
"...I'm surprised she didn't come try and find you." Ren said after a moment.
"Huh?" Bernadetta raised her head, looking at the thief.
"Byleth isn't great with people." Ren said with a shrug. "Don't get me wrong, that's just the general feeling she gives off. That doesn't mean she doesn't care, or that she's actually scary. If you ran off, she's probably trying to figure out why and work out a solution."
"That said, her trying to follow after you to try and help likely would have the opposite effect. So if I had to guess, one of the others probably told her to wait while you calmed down." Ren continued with a shrug.
Bernadetta slowly nodded, gripping the cup in her hands lightly.
Ren breathed out, pursing his lips as he glanced lightly to the side. 'Could really use a Hermit Persona right now…' He thought to himself idly before shaking his head. "Can I ask you a question, Bernadetta?"
"H-huh? Um, y-yes?" Bernadetta blinked, looking up at the thief with slightly wide eyes.
"I should preface that if you'd rather not answer, that's fine." Ren began, before leaning back slightly. "Why did you join the officer's academy?"
"Um-!" Bernadetta swallowed, lowering her head to look at her hot chocolate.
"I'm not trying to interrogate you. I'm not fond of that kind of thing." Ren said with a sigh. "But this... Doesn't seem like somewhere you'd be if you could help it."
Bernadetta glanced to the side, uncertainty visible on her face. "I-"
"Sensei!" The front door swung open wide, cutting off the purple haired girl quickly as Lysithea leaned up against the door as she breathed in deeply. "I need your- Uh…"
"Well, that's some timing…" Morgana muttered idly, getting another pet from Bernadetta as a response.
"Lysithea? Is something wrong?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe?" Lysithea replied, looking sheepish.
"...Bernadetta, if you want, stick around here and finish your drink. Morgana can keep you company as well. When you finish, leave the mug on the counter, I can clean it later." Ren said, getting a slow nod from the girl as he moved around the counter and made way over to Lysithea. "Alright, what's the problem?"
"Not here. The training grounds." The girl said, grabbing his arm as she dragged the thief off.
"Woah, wait!" Ren said in reply, barely getting the door to swing closed as the two left Bernadetta and Morgana alone in the cafe.
"Okay, so mind explaining what's got you… like this?" Ren asked, motioning to the pacing girl before him.
Lysithea grimaced for a moment as she paced a little more before the thief. She eventually let out a groan as she turned to face him. "I need to transfer into your house."
"...I'm sorry?" Ren blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you ask to transfer into my house? Is that even a thing? And why exactly?"
"In order?" Lysithea asked, before taking in a deep breath as words quickly spewed out of her mouth. "Yes, Yes, and becauseImayhaveaccidentallyfoundouthowtocastmypersonamagicandIpanicked and-"
"Lysithea." Ren cut the girl off, snapping her out of her tangent. "Okay, so maybe you should just explain why. Preferably at a speed I can understand?"
"Okay. Well, I was in History today with Professor Manuela, and I was thinking about earlier in Mementos and about how it felt to call upon Nyx, and the next thing I knew there was a tiny fireball floating in my hand." Lysithea said, earning a blank look from Ren as the information was let out. "No one saw, and I asked to be excused before coming to get you because I don't know what to do about this!"
"Okay… Okay, this is fine. It's more than salvageable right now." Ren said, more to himself than the girl, as he walked over to the girl. "Okay, show me."
"I'm… sorry?" Lysithea blinked, staring up at Ren confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"What do you think I mean? You were the one who brought us here." Ren said with a shrug, before glancing to the side as he flung his right arm out and snapped at an empty space at the center of the area. "Eiha!"
The curse magic burst to life and exploded out, getting a light gasp from Lysithea as she looked over at the blast.
"Okay, now you try." Ren said, looking back at the girl.
"Right." Lysithea said, shaking her head as she walked in front of the thief, posture a bit more stiff as she held out her arm. "Eiha!"
The girl snapped, the sound echoing lightly as nothing happened. "What? Why didn't it work?"
"Well, for one, you're copying me." Ren said, getting the girl's attention. "We all have our own perception of what a rebel is. You've seen mine, and you've seen yours. They aren't the same. So while we may be able to do the same kind of magic, trying to imitate me is not going to work."
"Then how do I do this?" Lysithea asked.
"...You were thinking about Nyx, when you accidentally cast before." Ren said, getting a nod from the girl. "What specifically?"
"...The feeling." Lysithea said after a moment, turning away from the thief as she looked down at her hands. "I was thinking back to what I felt when I was fighting and summoning her."
"There's a working theory I have." Ren said after a moment. "If Faith and Reason are used to power someone's magic in the traditional ways here, then it's your strength of will that lets you use ours."
"Strength of will…?"
"You need to channel that will, an Ideal or goal tends to help. The stronger your feelings for that, the stronger you can push yourself and by extension, your will." The teen continued, placing his hands in his pockets. "Try again. Take as much time as you need."
Lysithea let out a breath as she closed her eyes. The white haired girl inhaled as she opened her eyes, before narrowing them into a glare as she threw her left arm out with a flourish. "Eiha!" She shouted, the energy bursting to life in her palm before leaping off of it as it exploded in the middle of the arena.
"There we go!" Ren said with a smile, clapping for the girl. "How do you feel?"
"Better. Much better." Lysithea said with a nod. "Thank you, Sensei."
"It's no problem." Ren said with a smile.
"Actually, I just realized. Do you always do this when you cast?" Lysithea asked, turning to look at the thief.
"I believe so." Ren said, nodding slowly. "Why?"
"Because I don't believe I said anything or did a flourish when I casted during class." Lysithea noted. "If that's true, couldn't we cast these silently and without notice?"
"...Possibly?" Ren said, a smile forming on his face. "It's not something I think I could do now, but definitely seems plausible."
"In that case, I suppose we know what we will work towards once I've transferred into your house." Lysithea said with a smile.
"I suppose we do." Ren replied, mirroring the smile with one of his own.
It was to the sound of rattling chains that the thief's vision darkened, the familiar blue card of the moon Arcana floating down in front of him before it quickly being restrained in chains.
The card seemed to vibrate in place, before a flash of white exploded out from it, the chains snapping out as the card seemed to shine just a bit brighter.
[Confidant Lock Broken!]
[Rank Rewards Unlocked]
{RANK UP!}
[Your Moon Arcana has increased to Rank 2!]
[You will now earn a Stat increase in a randomly chosen stat from Arcana Boost when fusing a Persona of the Moon Arcana!]
[Baton Pass Unlocked]
[Magic Adept Unlocked]
[At the start of battle, Lysithea has a 10% chance of figuring out a Shadow's weakness]
Ren's vision cleared up moments later, the smile on the teen's face growing for a moment, before falling slightly as a thought occurred to him. "Yeah, so I should note, I have no idea how I'm supposed to do that." Ren said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Like, do I need to meet with someone, or…?"
"It's just some paperwork I need to fill out. Once I do, I give it to my Professor and then I'll get transferred over." Lysithea explained. "You will have to sign the forms as well before I submit them, however."
"Huh. Well, that makes it easier, I suppose." Ren said with a raised eyebrow. "I assume I'll see it during today's class?"
"If I can get it all together, yes." Lysithea said with a nod. "Speaking of, it would be best if I did so now."
"True. I should get back to my Café as well. I think it would be a good idea to actually have it open for once during a lunch break." Ren replied with a shrug, getting a light laugh from the girl.
"I suppose so. In that case, I will see you in a few hours." The white haired girl replied as she walked out of the training grounds."
"...I should check back up on Bernadetta." Ren idly thought to himself, before narrowing his eyes. "Wait… Would I have time to fuse a Hermit Persona first? Is she even still at the café?"
The answer to both of those questions, Ren had come to realize, had been no. By the time he returned and opened the front door, the interior had been devoid of people.
Morgana had been similarly gone at that time, so assuming his friend was simply taking in the sights of Garreg Mach, he got to work opening the café for the few hours he had free before class.
That was where he was now, two fresh pots of coffee and curry sitting ready for whoever would come into the café during that time.
And perhaps not too surprising to the teen, his shop was empty.
"Hm… I really need to get that record player working." The thief muttered to himself, taking in the silent ambiance of the shop. "It's just missing something without it."
It was the sudden chime of the bell that snapped Ren back out from his inner thoughts, turning towards the front door with a smile. "Welcome." He said, taking note of what was essentially his first customer. "Ah, well look who it is."
"What, surprised to see me?" Anna asked, idly flipping her ponytail as she walked over to one of the barstools. "I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see all my hard work pay off."
"Heh, fair enough." Ren replied with a smirk. "So, what can I get for you?"
"Hm… I think I'll give the house blend a try." Anna said with a nod. "That, and the rest of the Leblanc Combo."
"Coming right up." Ren said with a smile, walking over to one of the cupboards as he pulled out a plate and a mug, putting them aside as he began pouring out coffee into the cup. "So, how's business? Presumably better than mine right now?"
"That's not a high bar, you know." Anna replied with a wry smirk. "But yes. I have a few business ventures that are finally showing fruit, though I can't talk about any of them. Business confidentiality, as I'm sure you're aware."
"Of course." Ren nodded. "I've no intention of becoming a hypocrite."
The teen placed the pot of coffee back down as he handed the cup over to Anna. "Curry will be a moment." He said, walking over to the pot where it was left to keep warm. He scooped out some rice from another pot, before scooping out the curry propper, plating the food to a practiced perfection before placing it down in front of the merchant with utensils ready. "And here you go."
"Thank you for the meal." Anna said, the Japanese slipping out of her mouth with a knowing wink as she began to eat.
Ren smirked, leaning back as he watched the first of many presumed customers enjoy his hard work. "So, while I have you here, I wanted to ask about another possible business venture."
Anna swallowed, looking up at the teen with interest displayed all over her face. "Well, you certainly know how to get someone interested."
"In my possession are books, from back home. Books that I think if properly distributed here, would make an excellent amount of money." Ren said, walking over to his bag as he pulled out one such book. "Not all of them are in English, and even if they were, we'd have to retranscribe them probably so it wouldn't look like we're stealing off of another book entirely."
"And you're coming to me because you think I'd know someone who could get those published." Anna replied. It wasn't a question, but that was pretty clear from the get go of this side of the conversation.
"Well, I asked you specifically because you have connections, and you know how to strike a deal with them that is in your favor. I can't do it personally, since I'm a foreigner, but you can. Plus, it would let me have it out here for people to read without drawing confused looks or attention for my having such a thing." Ren said with a shrug. "Here, take a look. Just, don't get any food on it."
Anna gave him a look at the last comment, but there was no real heat in it as the merchant quickly started to read the first few pages of the book. The teen glanced back outside, keeping watch on if another customer would stop by during the lunch break.
The sound of the book closing with a light slam brought his attention back to the red haired girl. She handed the book back to the teen and placed a hand on her chin, thinking deeply for a moment, before her eyes snapped open as she locked eyes with the thief. "Ren Amamiya." She began, her eyes almost shining like the gold she was no doubt envisioning at the moment. "I would like to propose a deal."
Ren smirked. "That being?"
"40/60 split, in my favor. I think we can agree there's a large amount of work I'll have to do so we can get this kind of operation up and running, so it seems only far." Anna said, quickly engaging business mode with a metaphorical flick of a switch.
"40/60? I like the numbers, but due to the fact that it's not just the one book and would later entail many more that I'd have to translate page by page, possibly including information for context that the author may assume the reader already has, then it's not as skewed to your side as one would think. Why not 60/40 my way?" Ren asked, easily feeling the negotiation mask slip into place as the two stared the other down, both smiling wide.
"A fair point, but I think it is more of an even split in this case rather than one side doing more." Anna said after a moment, before nodding. "In such a scenario, and because I like you, how about we split it half and half?"
"50/50? That sounds like a deal to me." Ren said, extending a hand to the merchant.
"Then it's settled!" Anna replied, smiling as the two shook hands.
Time slowed once more, the sound of chains rattling in his peripheral as the Merchant Tarot card slowly appeared before him. Chains snapped, as the familiar feeling of a strengthening bond rushed through the thief.
{Rank Up!}
[Your Merchant Arcana has increased to Rank 2!]
[You will now earn a Stat increase in a randomly chosen stat from Arcana Boost when fusing a Persona of the Merchant Arcana!]
[Good Fiction Unlocked!]
[At the start of every month, you can collect your split of the profits from your side venture from Anna!]
Time resumed to its normal flow as the arcana card vanished from his sight. Ren smiled, pulling his hand away before glancing down at the plate in front of Anna. "Are you going to finish that?" He asked, smiling lightly at the merchant.
"Hm? Oh, I almost forgot about this!" Anna said, quickly shoveling the rest of the food down, leaving a clean plate before her. "Wait…"
Ren smirked, eyeing what was technically an almost clean plate, as the Merchant looked down at the bright red 50/50 that was displayed proudly on the dish before her. "Well, I'll be damned. You are one cocky dastard, aren't you?" Anna said, an almost feral grin on her face as she looked up at the teen.
"I've learned from the best." Ren replied with a shrug. "Now, since you ordered the combo, that all comes to-"
Ren let out a sigh, stretching lightly as he walked out of the Golden Deer classroom. 'Well, they took to The Box about as well as the others did.' The teen thought to himself idly as he came to a stop in the courtyard just outside the classrooms. 'Though if I'm being honest with myself? I wasn't concerned about them not taking to the lessons…'
He glanced over at the doors to the Blue Lions classroom, humming lightly to himself as he did so. 'It's them I'm worried about.' He finished the thought with another sigh.
"Nothing I can do until tomorrow." Ren muttered to himself, turning around as he made his way towards the monastery. "On the other hand…"
'I'm finding myself here a lot more than I expected to.' Ren thought to himself, glancing down the bookshelf in front of him. 'Now if I could only find what I'm looking for…'
The teen sighed as he pulled out another book on Crests, flipping it open as he skimmed through the pages. 'If it's as big a part of the world's cognition as it seems, why can't I find anything on it?'
That Crest. The one he now had. The fake, but not really anymore, Crest he first absorbed. The one plastered at the center of the first of many Mementos doors.
And none of the books he had looked through showed anything.
The teen sighed, closing the book silently as he slipped it back into the shelf. 'If only my third eye worked for this kind of thing. It'd make this so much easier…'
"Why not check elsewhere, Trickster." The voice of Angel broke through his thoughts. "You're not going to get anywhere by banging your head against the wall."
'Maybe I will. This place seems old enough to have a secret room.' Ren thought back to his Persona, shaking his head as he turned to look at the library. It wasn't busy, there was only him, one of the students from the Blue Lions (Ashe, he thinks), and the librarian in charge.
"Ooh, a secret room sounds fun!" Sprite chimes in, the smile on her face carrying over through her voice.
"Secret room? Yes. Bashing his head into a wall to find it? Not so much." Succubus chimed in. "Besides, that third eye of his likely would have found such a thing by now."
"Perhaps the answer you're looking for is elsewhere." Panser noted. "Still here in the library, but not here with the Crests."
'Where would I even start?' Ren asked, glancing up.
"Well, if there's something big and hidden that no one wants to find~" Succubus began, earning a light groan of annoyance from Angel in response. "Then why not check where it would've been known? Or more accurately…"
Ren glanced over to the side, towards a corner of the library he knew was for the history section. "When it may have been more known." Succubus said, finishing her statement with a laugh.
'Well, it's certainly something to work off of.' Ren replied mentally, walking down towards one of the shelves. 'Only one problem there.'
"What's that?" Sprite asked.
The thief merely glanced down at the various bookshelves dedicated to Fódlan's history with a huff. 'Where the hell do I even start?'
"Ah… I suppose this may still take us a while." Angel replied.
Panser sighed. "You don't say…"
'One way or another… I have some searching to do.' Ren said, nodding to himself as he looked up at the bookshelf.
"Really? Nothing at all?" Sprite asked for what may have been the seventh time.
'Nothing.' Ren thought with a sigh, closing the book shut as he slid it back into the shelf. 'I understand they'd be biased, but there's just so much of this dedicated to the church that either it's buried very deep, or there's nothing here that'd tell us anything.'
"I don't see why we couldn't just ask for help with this." Angel said with a sigh.
"Because it would be weird and likely concerning if a foreigner suddenly started asking about a Crest that either no ones knows about-" Panser began.
"Which is not the case due to its appearance in Mementos." Angel cut in.
"Right, or it's something taboo that will really have people sounding the alarms." Panser finished.
"So either way, he's screwed if he asks for help." Succubus added on.
'Yep.' Ren thought with a sigh before slamming his head into the bookshelf. The shelf shook and then something smacked into the floor with a light thud.
"...Trickster."
'Yes, Angel?'
"I'm fairly certain a book fell off the shelf."
'Probably.' Ren nodded, a tired look on his face. 'And I want it on the record, that if this is the book we've been looking for all this time, I'm going to be… Annoyed, but relieved. I'm not fully sure.'
"Annoived?" Sprite chimed in.
"Do not, ever, say that again." Panser spoke up.
'Guys, please.' Ren thought with a sigh, reaching down to pick up the book.
The book was old. The cover was starting to yellow and a few of the edges had peeled open. The book felt sturdy enough regardless, surprisingly so after it fell off the shelf.
'The War of Heroes?' Ren blinked at the title. 'It's come up a few times, but only in reference so far in the other books we looked through.'
"Maybe this one will be able to give us a lead then?" Panser replied.
'Maybe…' Ren nodded, quickly flipping through the pages. He suddenly came to a stop as a small sketch of the crest in question flashed on the page. He quickly shut the book with wide eyes. '...Well, I certainly feel something.'
"Hey, look at it this way, slamming your head against things is a workable strategy now!" Sprite chimed in.
"It's really not…" Angel replied with a sigh.
'Either way…' Ren glanced over his shoulder carefully, making sure no eyes were on him before he slipped the book into his bag. 'Let's go. Less questions if I take it back to Leblanc with me.'
"Speaking of questions, what do you think Morgana is doing right now?" Panser asked.
'Hopefully nothing bad.' Ren thought with a sigh.
"Okay… So I can explain."
"Morgana, why is there a battery on my desk? Scratch that." The teen paused, squinting at the thing on his desk. "Why is there a battery hooked up to the spare stun gun, on my desk?"
"...It's charging?" Morgana replied slowly.
"...Okay. You know what, I'm not gonna ask." Ren nodded, walking up to the desk as he unplugged the stun gun from the battery. He glanced over at said battery, mildly surprised by how much it doesn't look like an accident of science like some of his other designs had recently been. "I really want to ask how you made this, but it's been a long day and I don't think I particularly want to know right now."
"That's fair." Morgana replied.
"Alright, so assuming this works, we just need to wire everything up, assemble it, and get some records to play on it." Ren listed off, before he placed his hand to his chin in thought. "Only problem is where we're going to get those…"
"So about that." Morgana said after a moment, earning a surprised glance from Ren. "Don't give me that look, I had no part of that. I had my hands full with the battery."
The cat motioned towards the thief's bed, specifically the cardboard box sitting atop it. Ren blinked, slowly getting up as he walked towards it. "...Who?"
"Who do you think?" Morgana asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Lavenza, got it." The teen replied with a smile, ripping the tabs of tape holding the box shut. He slowly flipped the top open, reaching in to pull out the single record within. "...So, I suppose all we actually have to do is wire this thing, get the horn, spindle, and internal mechanisms in working order, and then assemble it all."
"Before that, where were you? I was expecting you to come back almost immediately after classes ended." Morgana asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Was looking for answers." Ren said, reaching into his bag as he pulled out the book he had borrowed from the library. "Haven't had a chance to read through it yet, but I skimmed it and found a sketch of that Crest I have."
"The one neither Claude or Lavenza recognized?" Morgana asked.
"Yeah. Might be worth looking through when we get the chance." Ren said with a nod, placing the book down on the bed as he moved over towards his desk. "I'd do it now, but unfortunately, I have to read up on tomorrow's lesson plan."
"Why? Aren't you just going over the box with the Blue Lions?"
"Yes. That said, I also have class before that with the Black Eagles in the morning." Ren noted with a shrug, pulling out a stack of paper from a drawer next to the desk.
"Oh right, math." Morgana replied with a nod. "Well, this should be easy for you then!"
"Depends on what we're working with though." Ren replied, flipping over the top page of the stack before pausing as he skimmed the material. "...Okay, yeah, easy it is. This is basically just a review for me. Albeit without some of the more… complicated aspects."
"Well, that's a relief." Morgana said before stretching. "Alright then, I'll leave you to this. Let me know when you're finished and we'll take a look at that book."
"Sounds like a plan…" Ren replied, already flipping over the next page.
"What the hell…?" The words tumbled out of the thief's mouth, eyes wide as he read through the pages on the book in front of him. Sitting next to it was a notebook opened up with various notes scribbled down. Sacred Weapons, Heroes' Relics, Ten Elites, Four Saints… Various terms the thief thought would be good to keep in mind in case they came up in conversation.
The last note that was written down had been done practically robotically, as the thief merely read the opening paragraph of the page before him. "Nemesis?" Morgana recited the words that Ren had written down, glancing back over to the page the teen was reading over.
"Seriously, what kind of name even IS that?" Ren asked aloud, eyes narrowed as he read the page aloud. "Nemesis was tasked with a quest by the goddess to defend Fódlan from wicked gods, and to do so he was granted the Sword of the Creator. His victory in this task earned him his moniker of the King of Liberation?"
"It's not done though, see?" Morgana said, motioning to the next paragraph. "However, due to the sword and the power he was granted by the goddess, he eventually was corrupted by it."
"Another thing on the list then…" Ren muttered, scribbling down a note for the Sword of the Creator underneath the Heroes' Relics note.
"Wait, what!?" Morgana exclaimed, getting a confused look from the teen next to him. "It says here once his corruption reached a peak, he became the king of all of Northern Fódlan!"
Ren grimaced, a tight disgust building in his throat as he narrowed his eyes. "The King of Liberation decided to make himself an actual King? That title just felt like an oxymoron before and now it's clearly hypocritical." The thief said, shaking his head. He glanced back down at the page and nodded reading the last paragraph. "I'm not surprised things ended the way they did."
"Saint Seiros herself did him in?" Morgana blinked, looking at the book. "Considering everything we know, I think it's no surprise he would've been a great target."
"No argument here…" Ren paused, eyes narrowing slightly. "...Due to the sword and the power he was granted…"
"Ren?"
"The wording of that. It wasn't just the weapon that did this to him." Ren said, glancing over at Morgana. "This says that he was granted a sword to defeat the evil gods, but that's it. This mention of his other power just comes out of nowhere."
"What are you thinking?" Morgana asked.
"That either there's something we're missing, or we haven't turned enough pages over yet." The thief replied, flipping the page over as he spoke. The two Phantom Thieves froze, staring at the large drawing on the page. The depiction of the very thing they had been looking for.
The Crest of Flames
"...The Crest of Flames is the crest of Nemesis." Ren read aloud. "It is a lost Crest, with the only known inheritor being Nemesis himself. With his death, the Crest was lost to time."
"...Shit." Morgana said bluntly.
"Yeah… Shit." Ren parroted, eyes narrowing.
"So that Crest you have… is a Crest lost to time?" Morgana asked, blinking at the teen in light shock. "Wait, do we have to worry about you getting corrupted?"
"I… Don't know. I think if we did, Igor or Lavenza would have informed us about the possibility…" Ren said, placing a hand on his chin in thought. "Plus, there's also the fact that I have a Persona. By your own logic, someone who has a Persona doesn't have a shadow, and that also means that we shouldn't be able to form a palace, right?"
"That… Sounds right, but things are still wildly different here than back in Tokyo." Morgana replied, eyes narrowing in concern. "I think we should at least confirm with one of them before we make assumptions though…"
"We will, but no real time to do it tonight." Ren nodded with a shrug. "...I should talk with Hanneman again when I get the chance."
"And risk him finding out about this?" Morgana asked. "About the fact you've been able to steal and house MULTIPLE Crests?"
"Not about that. Either way, we NEED to learn more about Crests. He's a scholar of Crests, right? There's not really a better choice to go to for this." Ren explained, crossing his arms. "Plus, we need to also find time to talk with Manuela before we tackle the Jail again. She's a physician, and if we could get her to assist us with the creation of medicines for our ventures, it'd lighten the load on your reserves."
Morgana huffed, but relented with a nod. "I can't say I like it, and I don't for various reasons, but you also make a ridiculously fair argument." The cat said. "Anyways, I think we've had enough reading for now. Come on, you have to be up early tomorrow for class. We should go to bed."
"Yeah, Bed sounds good right about now…" Ren replied with a nod, closing the book shut before pausing as he glanced back at Morgana. "You know, a thought occurred to me."
"Hm? What of?"
"The fake Crest Stone that gave me this power." Ren began, crossing his arms. "The book that we found with the box containing it seemed old, like, ridiculously old. Older than this thing." The thief motioned to the book before them, a pensive look on his face.
Ren leaned to the side, reaching for a side drawer of the desk as he slid it open. He grabbed a nearby paperclip he had resting on his desk and folded it out, quickly maneuvering it underneath the drawer and slipping it into the small opening on the bottom. He pushed up, opening the false bottom of the drawer to reveal the small box that had contained the crest stone, and the book that had accompanied it. The thief picked the box out, scrutinizing it as he rotated it in front of him.
"...It's not wood." Ren said, tapping his knuckle against the side of it. "It looks close to it, but wood likely wouldn't hold up for as long as that book would indicate. Especially under the conditions we found it in."
"What do you think then?" Morgana asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It… feels almost like bone." Ren said after a moment, the feeling was similar to the various bone structures that had emerged in Tokyo during Mementos' fusion with reality. "And actually, doesn't the texturing of it remind you of that door in Mementos?"
The cat leaned closer to look at the box, before he nodded slowly. "You're right, it does."
Ren let out a breath as he placed the box back into the hidden compartment before sliding the drawer back into the desk. "Great, that's another thing that can stew without answers for a while."
"Alright, enough distractions. Bed, now!"
"Hai, hai…!"