10 Temporary Compromise
His eyes burning in concentration, sweat rolling down his forehead, and every single muscle in his system scrunched, Nicholas eyeballed the laptop sitting on his table. His concentration was at a level none at Chaldea had witnessed before, his state one they didn't know existed.
That was why no one in the cafeteria asked why he was watching a Magi Mari stream like his life depended on it... Oh yeah, there was also the form he'd been told to fill out lying near him.
He had to do this.
Nicholas HAD to fully know what Magi Mari was.
It didn't matter that he was missing a medical check-up.
It didn't matter that the inventor, Sion Eltnam Sokaris, of the TRISMEGISTUS system used by Chaldea as the core for rayshifting aka, time travelling, was staring him down with her hands on her hips.
He didn't know that so for all he cared, it was a chick with her screws loose, there were a lot of those around here.
"Is it really that important?" She tilted her head in confusion, leaning down closer to him as her uniform jiggled from the movement, "Why won't you lead me down to Trismegistus?"
"Leave me alone, woman. Go mess with someone else."
"Ehhh.... So you'd ignore me for a virtual idol? That's a first, sorta pathetic." Sion tossed aside one of her long purple twintails and fixed her glasses, "And nerd? Bahaha, please... I know I'm a genius but not a nerd. Wait, depending on the meaning, I guess I might be one."
Nicholas deadpanned, raising his head to look at her for a moment, "You're annoying, piss off."
"... This is the first time someone's been so rude. I won't lea-..."
"Lady, I think you should-"
Bill, for his part, tried to warn her.
This was more warnings than he'd seen most people get, and he knew full well the sort of attitude and 'hesitation' Nicholas had when it came to punching the opposite gender.
And just about as he'd expected, a fist smashed into the girl's face, knocking her through the air and into the metal wall. The older man could only sigh at what had occurred. Anyone that had spent over a month with Nicholas Martel, no, a single day, would know how quick he was to punch what he found annoying.
The genius inventor of a literal time travel system slid down the wall, her limp body coming to rest in a sitting position, her head hanging forward.
"Woah, you actually punched me. When the Director warned me, I didn't believe it!"
Nicholas raised a brow, intrigued, "That doesn't happen a lot."
The few times someone had managed to tank a punch from him, even if it was a light one, they weren't human. There was definitely a pattern there.
The girl's frail body jerked and she spit a mouthful of blood before turning to look at him with a massive smile, "You punch really hard, don't you? And a lady too! Isn't that supposed to be wrong? Aren't you ashamed?"
"Are you one of those True Ancestors?" He threw a wild guess, recalling them to be something like Yu.
"Tota-..." Sion put both her hands over her mouth, cutting herself off, "N-Nope! What makes you think I'm a vampire? I'm just cool like this. Wait... You see through the illusion?"
Nicholas deadpanned more than he physically could, "I never said you were a vampire." The teenager gave the genius inventor a thumbs up, "Great going."
Sion drew conclusions of her own, as a genius, there was no way for her to be fooled into revealing one of her cards by mishap! So yes, she realised in 0.01 seconds just what kind of person she was dealing with here!
"I see, I see..." The purple haired girl stroked her chin and nodded her head several times, "You're one of those, huh... So that's how it is. To think you would actually appear in Chaldea."
He was one of those extremely smart masterminds who acted dumb and stupid to throw people off while plotting all sorts of shit! Sion was onto him now!
She hmph'd and pointed a finger at the oblivious teenager, "I'll be back after I lay the finishing touches on Trismegistus or your boss will really have my behind!"
They had had the system fully installed a few months ago, she was here to work out quirks and note any shortcomings in it's processes but who knew she'd find something so interesting. Besides, where else would she find a person who talked to her so freely?! Like friends would?
The not vampire waved him goodbye and took her leave
"It's like everyone I meet is fucked up in some way." Nicholas shrugged and returned to his work but not before glancing at Bill, "How's Randy?"
"We got him completely healed, don't worry about it."
"Also, I agree with you refusing to wear the standard uniform!" A loud voice echoed from the hallway, "It's functional but the design is just non non! Don't tell anyone I was here kay~?! It's a secret!"
Nicholas and Bill exchanged glances before nodding at each other.
""Nothing happened.""
The higher ups of Chaldea were weird as hell.
"Who even was that?"
"Beats me."
And so, Nicholas unknowingly made a friend of the immortal inventor of Trismegistus and representative of the Atlas Research Institute whose science could fell the gods themselves.
A representative whose temporary presence in Chaldea was supposed to be privy to only the Director.
The pale haired teenager looked back at his laptop, finding a note taped to the screen and curiously took it off.
What it said managed to genuinely confuse him.
"If you meet an alien, punch it as hard as you can without holding back even a bit if you wanna save your friends."
Fate had aliens?
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Nicholas stared out at the vast expanse of snow from one of the corridors, arms crossed as he nodded his head in appreciation.
The temperatures out there were enough to freeze any living creature within seconds, ranging from -49 degrees to -83 degrees, maybe colder but here he was, wearing nothing but a plain navy t-shirt and black jeans, feeling nothing but room temperature... but then again, that was how he'd felt outside too so his word wasn't something the normal people could go off.
"A stark difference from fields of grass, crops and grazing animals, is it not?"
Nicholas didn't need to look back to know it was Lev Lainur Flauros who was talking to him, "What ya want, chucklefuck?"
"A truce." He heard the man chuckle, "I have come to realise it is counterproductive to risk ruining all the careful effort we had to put in for this plan of ours to remove a simple disconcerting variable out of personal motivations."
At that, even Nicholas had to turn around with eyes narrowed, "I like your fancy words magic man but I don't get even a bit of what you just said."
"Of course you don't." The professor facepalmed with the one hand that wasn't in a cast, "I'm saying we should stop working against each other until our mission succeeds. I will no longer attempt to have you removed. In exchange, you should stop harassing me like a child."
... That... was fishy as fuck.
Nicholas had dealt with sneaky bitches like Lev before, this was just a ploy to get his guard down, "You also stay away from Olga."
"Done." Lev grinned and held out a hand only for Nicholas to look at it with disgust in his eyes.
"I'd spit on it but even that'd be a waste."
Lev shook his head, visibly disappointed, "A child, I swear, a child." He gave a small bow and left quickly.
"Kids are menaces." Nicholas took the jab as a compliment.
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The lore explanation for Sion visiting Chaldea even tho she came in much later on is pretty much as stated in the chapter. The TRISMEGISTUS system was finished and installed in 2015. FGO starts somewhere between 2015-2016 and I can't recall any official dates. It's logical to presume the system's creator would check up on it somewhere in between, more so because she was recognised when she made her official entry later on.
She's using an illusion to hide her features but Nicholas saw them all along.
He also knew Magi Mari was a dude even though Merlin uses an illusion.
In the spirit of Ritsuka Fujimaru being immune to poison, Nicholas also has a passive ability besides punching shit.
What do you think it is?
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