Laments of a Heaven-Bringer 2 - (Original Otome Scenario, Dio!MC)
It's been about two weeks since Dio Brando had wound up in a new world, and his perception of things had somewhat... adapted.
The use of 'change' felt wrong considering that his attitude towards things had not been altered by much - beyond a renewed hatred towards the richer clases. While the fantastic realm he had been pulled into involved magic to some extent - some for gods and demons - the presence of nobility persisted in a darker declination.
Rights that were 'expected' within British London were not upheld - the basic minimum was almost shunned by those of high bloodlines as 'weakness' and 'peasant-loving'. The middle class existed in a limited and very restricted form. Merchants could still do much with their money, but some roles were purposely selected by the monarchy to not validate the 'New Blood money' too much.
Hence why Dio wasn't planning to become a noble - not when the road to such right was sealed away by the national politics. And that's also why he had been working hard on setting up a base in what had turned his new 'home'.
Seneda was a small town within the Kingdom of Cavasia, an absolute monarchy that was ruled by the King and Queen living in the capital, Marestil. It was influential due to its forests providing the capital with the kind of wood needed to sustain the firesides during the Winters, the proximity giving it a sort of 'preferential' treatment in the manner of taxes.
It was also devoid of adventurers since the area lacked any form of dungeon that could be explored, and most of the monsters around were harmless at best and 'low-level' at worst. The entire concept of 'Adventuring' felt so abstract compared to what Dio had in mind. Then again, his view was of times of the past within his world.
This was a completely new world. And one that he had the right mindset to ultimately take over with the due amount of time.
Dio's first step was to do a few chores around Seneda. Tasks that not many were keen to do, but that someone in need of money such as himself was in a hurry to get done fast. More basements to clear out from rats, but also cleaning up attics with spiders.
To say that Dio was baffled by the amount of money he got after a solid month of doing chores would be an understatement. As he retreated within his room at the inn, the boy had the equivalent of 104 Silver coins and 12 Bronze coins. Within simple math, 100 Bronze coins counted as 1 Silver coin, and 100 Silver coins counted as 1 Gold coin.
The book that the boy had been saving up to claim was available to 1 Gold coin, so he had enough Silver to make up for the price. He finally visited the Book Shop for the fifth day of being in Seneda, the place instantly showing off an attitude of 'mysterious' that further sold him to the idea this may be the right place.
While he had to endure the 'cheek-pinching' of the old hag behind the counter and then a quick exam to see if he had the magical potential to buy anything tied to the matter, Dio retreated from the shop with the awareness he had 'average potential' and the book about basic magical theory.
The hag had made a comment about the book being usually glossed over by teachers and students as it was 'unimportant gibberish', but she admitted that 'the young customer had a good eye if he picked it to learn magic'.
It took him a full day of browsing the book to realize what the woman meant: the concept. Magic was conceptual in nature, but the tales and the displays he heard and saw at the pub showed him how moronically simple the people were when using magic.
The basic understanding is that Magic is something 'wild' that has to be tamed into some form of 'spells'. The words projected a specific magic that was bound by willpower and incantation. Yet, that was the issue: it was forced.
The process itself, as described by such a basic book, suggested that magic could be weaved without demanding such a limitation. And while it sounded absurd to believe the simplicity enticed by the theoretical book, he decided to test it out through the simple concept of conjuration. Water was simple, and yet Dio was unsure on how long the conjuration would last. He saved the liquid away, and he waited four days.
It was still there.
It tasted like water, and the quantity he had produced through magic was hardly enough to dent his reserves.
More experiments ensued and the water was indeed a new object that wouldn't vanish from the world. And Dio realized, as he was doing this sort of tinkering, that this also constituted as training. The more he honed his magical skills, the easier it would be for him to use his will to shape magic within a more 'fitting' form.
Still, selling water would not do.
He needed to find something a bit more acceptable. Making money would not work since the book admitted that 'money could be verified if conjured', and clean water was not as uncommon as it was back home within Seneda.
The more Dio pondered over this, the more a most dastardly idea came to his attention. He had passed from the market a few times, feeding on the sweet apples that were sold there and... what if he was to monopolize on such a simple resource?
Fruits were common, but it wasn't an expensive sort of product. Yet, there was such a presence of various vendors, that it made sense that one could just arrive and establish dominance over others. It wasn't the sort of business people tended to put lot of attention into.
Dio thus tried to think of the sweet and delicious apples, and he conjured a few. The taste was overall similar to the original, and they were a sustenance of food that could be either used for him to eat or to sell. Conjuration magic felt like the best thing possible, but a quick look into the topic within the book raised a few questions.
Conjuration magic was a rare element within this world as... only those with a strong affinity for one of the two main elements, Holy and Dark, could use this sort of powerful ability. And Dio... had a feeling he wasn't that 'Holy'.
It wasn't too shocking he may have an affinity for something 'bad', but he knew better than to judge this detail as a dangerous piece of information. Power is power, it's only a matter of who used it and what this individual did with it.
And right now, Dio was planning to do a lot of apples and... let time pass as he reaped from what he was about to sow.
Two months have gone by, but Dio's hard working had yielded far more than he had originally planned.
His General Shop had been a sudden success that expanded rapidly thanks to some careful thinking and tinkering around magic and new spells. What started with just some apples evolved as soon as he managed to sell all of what he had been able to conjure on a daily basis turned into something more complex.
From a small stand, he was now owning a building that was guarded, manned, and maintained by the second complex magic he was able to learn of through another book he found at the shop: golems. The constructs of clay, metal, wood, and other material that could be conceived with specific functions dictated by the will of their creator.
The ultimate automats, the perfect workers and... it didn't take too long for his activity to cause a lot of suspicions. Dio had been so focused in making money, that he had slightly forgotten how people could have gotten suspicious of his success, and drew some rumors on how he was succeeding in the act.
Until they remained as mere rumors, that was fine, but there was no way that his competitors would keep their mouth shut and try to rat him out to the city guards. And it was within that troublesome instance that Dio looked for solutions in his magic books.
And he found something that ultimately worked to his advantage: a familiar - a demonic familiar.
Dio had not been given the means to verify if he was truly gifted in Dark magic, but he decided to follow the steps needed to summon a familiar nonetheless and hope it would be the kind of demon that was powerful enough to bewitch the troublemakers without being too difficult to manage.
The end result of his effort was... Mozol.
An incubus. A few years older than Dio - his skin was a dark puple, his hair was dark-blue, and his eyes were blue with black sclera. All in all, an interesting pick as he was instantly intrigued by his summoner's answers.
"Who are you?"
"Dio Brando."
"What do you seek?"
"I want to take over the world."
Delight flashed within Mozol's grin. "That's ambitious. And... you look the part. What do you need?"
Dio gave the order, and Mozol happily complied as he used his demonic spells upon the other merchants to make them think Dio had something tangible to prove his legitimacy. The mental suggestion latched best as night came and the targets were asleep.
Mozol safely secured his first mission, but Dio's worry that the incubus would claim a sacrifice was ultimately vanquished when Mozol required just one thing from him. And it was awkward.
"Hmm~," Sitting on one of the couches of his new home, Dio was frowning over the sight of his familiar resting his head on his lap and... letting him caress his horns. "Thank you, master~."
In a strange turn of events, Mozol was not truly an 'aggressive Incubus', and he had a hold over his urges when it came to sex. Alas, he still required some 'intimate' support at times such as lap pillows, headpats and other perplexing requests.
He decided against lamenting such a bizarre development, accepting that the price was utterly favorable for someone like him as it avoided the trouble of finding women to feed to the demon boy.
With the rumors put to silence, his growing business could continue to expand, and so was his library of books about magic and other important details of this world such as religions, history, and important figures.
And while things were doing well... those could get better. Especially once he was done taking over Sedena.
AN
Genuinely contemplating if Dio should dom traps or not in this story. I mean, it's Dio so... that wouldn't be that shocking, right?