27 Chapter 6 Part 3, Back to School

"It's easy to say..." seeing how late it was, Shirou prepared to cook dinner, "do you think owning a reality marble will help me?"

She nodded, "Oh yeah, if what I saw when we signed the contract is true, then your reality marble will be your best weapon."

That stopped the boy, "Contract? What contract?"

"Oh well, you were half dead when I took you out of town, so I had to create a contract between us to keep you alive."

"I don't remember signing any contracts!"

The girl started to whistle, "Well, you know, if someone moves your hand while you're unconscious, it also counts, you know..."

This caused a nervous tic in the boy, "Altrouge, what does the contract imply?"

She smiled, "You'll find out with time..."

The boy sighed, he knew there was no way he could make her change her mind. Without being able to do anything else, Shirou served dinner and decided to try to continue the conversation.

"When we talked in the cave, you told me about the Aristoteles, the box, and the star."

She nodded, "Wow, this is extraordinarily good. Maybe I won't need to suck blood for a bit..."

"You're welcome," Shirou replied, accepting the compliment while continuing the conversation, "I've come to understand that Aristotles and the Types are the same things, haven't they?"

She nodded again, "There are eight Aristotles in all. One of them is already on Earth."

"ORT."

"So is, this is an advantage."

He looked at her confused, "What do you mean?"

"If all the Ultimate Ones attacked us at the same time, then there would be no way to win, but the fact that the ORT arrived much earlier means that they will not attack together."

"Still, simply facing just one Ultimate One is a near-impossible challenge. They are monsters with the ability to destroy all civilizations of other worlds. Maybe they can even destroy worlds themselves."

"Yeah, but every enemy has a weakness, and the Ultimate Ones should not be the exception. They are merely so powerful that no one has found a significant weakness in them."

He nodded, "And the star and the box?"

"When I refer to the box, I speak of Pandora's box. Do you remember the myth?"

"Yes."

Enjoying the food, she continued with the explanation, "The myth was wrongly passed on: the box was opened and closed before the last thing came out."

"You speak of Elpis. In the Greek myth, it is the spirit of hope."

"Men believed that by keeping hope locked up, they would always have it with them. But that was a mistake. By keeping it locked up, they let infinite evils roam the world, sealingman's fate, with nothing to stop them."

"And Pandora, what happened to her?"

"Zeus was angry that Pandora didn't open the box thanks to Prometheus's warning, so he cursed her with immortality until she opened it, and, once she did, she became mortal. When she realized she had done it, she tried to reopen the box; however, the humans prevented her from opening it, they believed that if the box was opened once more, they too would lose hope. Therefore, Pandora died without being able to reopen the box. However, she lived an extremely long life, and, being the only key to the box, in the end, she could do nothing but entrust her wish to an unknown family of magi."

"And hope ended up locked in a prison for eternity, evils populated the world, and that led us here. Is that what you mean?"

She nodded, "Yep. As for the star, it's called Velber. Charlemagne discovered a mural showing drawings of what it looked like, although who made them is not entirely clear. Long story short: Velber is an alien threat that appears within the Milky Way every 14,000 years. And its purpose is to destroy all intelligent civilizations in its path."

"That... is crazy..." said the incredulous boy.

"Now do you understand why I told you that we have fate against us? Besides, now that you know the whole story, will you give up?" she asked as seriously as when they had first talked about it.

"No, I won't. What's the use of giving up? If we do, we will all die. Even if it's useless, I'd rather keep trying to find a solution than just sit around doing nothing."

She smiled, "Stubbornness is not wrong sometimes..."

"We'd better go to sleep, classes start tomorrow, and it's going to be a long hard day."

"Agreed."

Shirou walked to his bed and noticed a little problem…

"What's going on? Why are you stopping?"

"There is only one bed..." said the boy remembering that, originally, it was a room for one person.

"I do not see the problem…"

"I guess you're right. You can use the bed, I'll use the sofa."

But before he could withdraw, the Princess threw him onto the bed.

"A-Altrouge, what are you doing!?"

"If you sleep poorly, it will affect your performance. The bed is big enough for both of us, I may look your age, but I'm centuries old, remember?"

"That is precisely why I am leaving the bed to you!"

She laughed and, scoffing, said, "Oh relax, maybe in a few more years, but if I wanted to eat you now, it wouldn't be in that sense..."

How the hell can she go from an innocent girl to a mature woman in a matter of seconds?

The redhead thought worriedly.

"I don't know, they have always told me that I am somewhat unstable..."

"You read my mind!?" he asked, concerned.

"Not exactly, it's part of our contract," she smiled.

Restless, the boy whispered, "I feel like I don't win anything with this contract..."

"Oh, don't worry, there are things you win, but you still don't know what they are," then she smiled ghoulishly, "by the way when you thought of doing that, two girls briefly appeared in your mind..."

"P-Please stop..."

"You did put me before them, so you have good taste, I will not deny it...

"A-Altrouge!"

The Eclipse Princess laughed, "Sorry, bothering you is fun. If you make me breakfast, I'll stop."

And, thus, it returns to its infantile form.

Tired, and knowing that he would not be able to win against the woman in front of him, he decided to go to sleep.

The next day, in the courtyard of the bedroom...

"You are being very rigid!" said his ancestor.

"I understand, is this way better?"

"Only a little..."

Shirou was in his morning training with his ancestor. He was brandishing the katana, trying to improve his technique.

"Spread your legs more," said the voice of his 'teacher' and, at the same time, his 'apprentice'.

"Just like that?"

"Better than before…"

Altrouge wasn't the biggest fan of using swords, but she had faced several sworders during her long life so that she could point out the redhead's flaws.

In this way, with the advice of both masters, Shirou continued to swing his sword for a few more hours.

…

"If you are a blacksmith, why do you wield a sword?"

They were both walking towards the main building of the Clock Tower.

"Grandpa is not only a great blacksmith, but he is also a great swordsman..."

"Seriously?" Altrouge asked curiously.

"I'm not that amazing, but I got to the point where I was able to cut the causality. On the other hand, the boy will be the one who wields the last sword, that's why he has to become a decent swordsman."

"Hmm... That's impressive, although Shirou still has a long way to go to reach that level..."

He nodded.

Right now, they were walking around the outer area of the Clock Tower.

Shirou...?

Altrouge asked telepathically.

By the way, use your thoughts to answer me.

Is this part of the contract too?

She nodded.

Why are there people looking at you like that? I'd understand if they knew who I was, but...

"It's not because of you, it's because of who my father is. He's, how to say, well, let's say he's like Enhance, in the sense that he works hunting magi."

She slapped her hands, implying she knew what he was referring to.

Does he also go around on a motorcycle with a shotgun and like strawberry ice cream?

Shirou shook his head quickly.

No, no, no. They are only the same in the part where they hunt their own species.

I understand, by the way, where do we go now?

To my General Fundamentals class, won't you get bored going with me?

She shook her head. On the contrary, I have always wanted to see what the Clock Tower is like, also the Holy Church, but there I have no contact.

You live on the edge...

Neither of them realized that people no longer viewed them strangely for who they were. Instead, they looked at them that way because of the strange gestures they made for no reason.

Shirou came to the auditorium, and the reaction was as expected: looks, whispers, and the occasional insult spoken in whispers. Fortunately, thanks to his involvement in Aylesbury, it seemed that no one wanted to confront him directly.

Shirou sat in his usual position and, surprisingly, Ayaka was unaffected and greeted him with a nod, just like she had done all the past year. After a few minutes, Lord Trambellioentered the classroom.

Again, with Lord Trambellio?

The curious redhead wondered.

He is important?

Shirou nodded.

He is one of the Three Kings of the Clock Tower, just like Barthomeloi. Do you remember her?

She nodded.

Of course, she has an absurd hatred for us, just like the rest of her family. A troublesome brat, in a nutshell...

He couldn't help laughing.

I think you are the only person in this place who could refer to her that way, except for the director and Kaleido.

Oh, the director, he is an old Solomon apprentice.

Merem?

She shook her head

. No, I'm talking about The King of Magecraft, Solomon.

"We will now proceed to study the location and potential of the thaumaturgical lines. Join in pairs, we will use the equipment provided by the Astrology Faculty."

The students began to form duos, the apprentices did not count as members of the class, so the blacksmith's apprentice could not team up with Altrouge. Shirou had managed to break the ice a bit last year with some other students, however, he came to understand why Rin had chosen to have him help her with the classwork, for some reason, there was quite a lot of xenophobia in the Clock Tower, although not to the same degree as the mutual contempt that existed between various families of high and low level. Be that as it may, it seems that his efforts of the past year had been wasted with the discovery of his lineage.

One weird thing about magi is that they always put their magic circuits ahead of their blood, so in short, no matter who you are, as long as you can use the family magecraft, even if you are adopted, you are considered a member of the family. So, it was of little value whether or not he was adopted.

He watched as everyone got into pairs, and little by little, he was left alone, he looked to his side and saw Ayaka in the same position, and this wasn't new to either of them the two of them had been doing most of the class assignments together for the past year. They were both Asian, so it was normal for the local magi to avoid them, also, and worse still, in the past year, he had noticed that Ayaka was a person who found it quite difficult to relate to others, and in an environment like this, it was two or three times as difficult for the girl.

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AN: I've decided to open a Pat reon, you will have more details on tomorrows chapters.

Sorry for not posting this weekend, my PC died so I couldn't do anything.