Chapter 25

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-Fuyuki City.

3rd POV*

"Sigh, how did it come to this?" Lawrence sighed in exhaustion. He stared at the scene being laid infront of him, there was Shiki, Anastashia and one unknown woman arguing about something stupid. Their idiotic topic has made him question their age a lot.

"Obviously Rome has the best scenery in the world! No one can compare to Rome!" The unknown woman proudly declared raising her red sword. "Why, you are just a brat. You probably hasn't seen any of the Britain's beauty! Being stuck in Rome must be difficult" Anastashia retorted snorting at the woman.

Unusually for the mature and reserved Shiki, she responded to their words. "Two inexperienced fools with no sense of Aesthetic. How could you even fathom what is beautiful when both of your mind are still behind the current era. In this generation, Japan is equivalent to Beautiful, there is no doubt in that" Shiki shook her head as if disappointed in their narrow view.

Lawrence gave up watching that scene, he just instead took a cup of coffee and drank on it. "Fuaah, living a life of tranquility is really the best. How I wish I wasn't involve in this mess" he ignored his surroundings and just continued sipping the coffee. To know what happened, we must return an hour ago.

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Shiki, Bea, Anastashia and Lawrence are currently standing inside a closed room. There is a circle placed in the middle of the room with many creepy like writings designed on it. This clearly shows a process of magecraft. "Master, are we not adhering the saying? It is mentioned that to get the Saber Class we must do the ritual in a specific time which is not right now" Bea asked.

She just said what she has read before. Lawrence smiled at her and responded, "We are not going for a Saber Class. Considering what kind of emperor that guy is, he will probably summon as a Berserker" he said. "I see, Heroic Spirits doesn't matter to you right? You can easily manhandle them after all" Shiki nodded her head in understanding.

"That's right! With Lawrence's capability, he does not need for a servant! He can simply call out to me for help and I can easily handle anyone! After all, Lawrence care for me!" Anastashia raised her chest, proud about something she doesn't own. She seemed to take pride in Lawrence himself.

After Anastashia reclaimed Lawrence's presence, her madness has calmed down. She can now handle seeing Lawrence interacting with other girls, though she still has some negative thoughts about it. She now understand that Lawrence simply could not let go of Shiki hence making her accept Shiki's presence. 

Well, Lawrence could never push her away because she has been the pillar of his childhood. Despite bringing many traumas to him, she still helped him a lot in various things. Especially now that Lawrence is handling the Rulphas family. She became his main backer making others think twice before provoking him.

Every transaction of Lawrence is always being guarded by Edefelt Family which is the reason why he could still proceed in peace. Normally, many nobles will use cheap tricks to restrict a middle rank noble's action. Yet now they can't do that as they will harbor the emnity of Edefelt Family if they really do it.

"Don't talk as if you own him woman, Lawrence is merely being tolerant of your presence because of your family" Shiki snorted at Anastashia finding her attitude to be annoying. "Shut your mouth Shiki! I don't need your words" Anastashia snorted. 

"Okay that's enough. Let's start the ritual" Lawrence stopped them with utter seriousness, he felt like this process would not move at all unless he do this. "Fine.." Shiki said moving away from Anastashia. Seeing that everyone has finally calmed down, Lawrence smiled at started the process.

"Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Let each turn over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time. Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let my great master Schwienorg be the ancestor. A wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close and come our from the crown and rotate the three branch road reaching the kingdom" Lawrence stated.

The magic circle started glowing under the sight of the group. "I declare the following! Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be under your spear. Submit to the reckoning of the holy grail, if you submit to this will and reason, then answer! An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all heaven, I shall have dominion over all evils in all of hells. From the seventh heaven, attended to by the three great words of power"

Lawrence then completed the ritual, "Come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the balance-!!" he said as wind covered their whole view. Dust exploded before it eventually subsided revealing the new figure. This figure is wearing a white bride like outfit, she has blonde hair tied in a bun. 

The new person smiled gleefully at the others as she stated, "You are given the honor to be my Praetor! Umu, it fits perfectly!" Her words caused Lawrence to froze because the 'Umu' thing doesn't belong to Caligula at all! No, the person he remembered saying that term is one troublesome woman that he doesn't really like to meet.

Shiki noticed the change in Lawrence's expression, "Lawrence, how come that emperor is a woman? Is there something wrong here?" Shiki asked rudely pointing at the woman. "Shiki.. were doomed" Lawrence simply said as his eyes lose light. "Worry not Praetor, we shall win this war with elegance!" The woman grandly stated pushing her chest out.

Her self confidence surpassed that even of Anastashia, though her charisma is screaming that she could possibly do such thing. "Hey, name yourself. Are you the Emperor of Death?" Shiki narrowed her eyes at the person while asking. Although she is itching to fight her right now, they need to know who she is first. "Umu? Why have the title of my dear uncle has arrive here? Did you not call upon me?" She asked.

Anastashia grabbed the mantel that they used as the artifact and handed it to the person. "We were said that this mantle belong to Emperor Caligula. We meant to summon him, so having you here is unexpected" Anastashia explained glaring at the person. Since she is a woman, Anastashia couldn't help but raise her guard for a possible rival.

The person tilted her head seeing the artifact, "Umu! Indeed! This mantle belonged to my uncle! He gave it to me when I was a child and it was used as my undergarment!" The woman cheerfully said making everyone else in the room pale from the notion. "Shit, I was scammed after all! Bea! Tell Hana to look for that merchant! We need to kill him!" Lawrence ordered.

He grabbed his hair feeling that the world will break any moment from now. "Why the long face Praetor? This war will be easy for me! After that, the world shall know the glory of Rome!" The woman declared as if citing a poem. "It is saddening that the world can't understand the greatness of Rome, I will take it upon myself to show the world how awesome it is! Umu! That's right!"

"First name yourself first. We need to know you" Shiki said opening her Mystic Eyes. That took the woman's attention away as she immediately got closer to Shiki. "How magnificent! To think such beautiful eyes exist in this world! Umu! It is perfect!" The woman complimented Shiki ignoring the killing intent she was showing.

"Fuh, no! I won't tell my name! I shall be the judge to see if you are worthy to know it!" After taking a long breath, the woman declared. Shiki and Anastashia got pissed by her troublesome personality, they were about to fight her when Lawrence finally interfered. "Forget it. She might be a better servant for us" he said.

Lawrence then broke the intense atmosphere by stating the woman's name. "5th Emperor of Rome. The Rose Emperor, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.. become my guide in this war" he said stepping forward to the woman. Nero widened her eyes hearing her master state her name. 

"Umu! Umu! It seems that my Praetor already know me! Caster Nero Claudius, let's get along!" Nero said smiling at Lawrence. "Now then, where is Rome? I'll tell you the beauty of Rome! No one can surpass how breathtaking the Rome is, and no one ever will!" Nero proudly announced.

This time, Shiki and Anastashia finally snapped. They could not bear the annoying way of talking the newcomer do. They simply accepted her provocation as they delve into deep argument to what country possess unparalled beauty. "No way! Britain doesn't even have any sense of aestetic! They are simply barbarians who live to fight!" Nero rejected Anastashia's claim.

She based her view on the way things moved during her time because in 59 AD, people of Britain are known for their barbarian ways. "Ahh?! How dare you say such thing! Those romanians are the one who are mad! They simply live a debacherous life without care for the world!" Anastashia retorted.

"Hmn! That's right! We live in greatness!" Nero seemed to take that as a compliment based on the way her chin rose. "Two morons talking about beauty when their country are prone to wars. Like can't you observe my country? It is majestic and full of nature created beauty. Quite different from you westerns" Shiki snorted at the two of them.

"Japan? Isn't that the primitive country who used woods as their houses? Where can you find beauty in that? They don't even possess a proper system within their country, it is extremely crude!" Anastashia spat in disgust towards Shiki's statement. "Although I do not possess any knowledge about the country Japan, this British Woman must be right!" Nero supported Anastashia.

"Don't support me! We are supposed to be enemies! Or do you simply accept defeat? Are you indicating that my country is better?" Anastashia was angry at first but she provoked Nero with a smirk. "Hm!? Your insolence knows no bounds! Rome is the greatest country in the world! There people with many gifts in arts lived! I am a living example of that!" Nero was enraged hearing that.

Shiki sneered hearing Nero's words. "Art? As far as I heard, Emperor Nero suck at art. Every person who heard of his singing voice passed out from how horrifying it was" Now the comparing of countries turned into an insult fight. Each side refuse to back down.

"Why you..!" Nero was enraged, everything else is fine but when it comes to art where she is most confident, she cannot simply let it pass by! Nero despite summoned as Caster brandished her red sword ready to attack Shiki. Shiki also didn't show any weakness as she just grabbed her Strength Dagger.

Lawrence saw that their idiotic argument finally came to an end. "Alright, alright that's enough. We don't have time for this thing" Lawrence said stopping them. "Get away! You may be my Praetor, however I won't tolerate any insult to my art!" Nero said. This is how high her passion for art is.

She even almost killed one of her friends in the past because that friend of her stated that he can't understand 80% of her art. Lawrence sighed seeing that no one is adhering his words. "Don't blame me for this" he said casting Lion's second skill which is Wex. Without any hint, the three of them instantly turned into frogs.

The three couldn't even do anything except croaking like frogs. They became despaired realizing this situation as the three moved around in panic. Only after a few seconds that they returned to their previous form. "So? Do you like the feeling of becoming a frog?" Lawrence smiled at them which only terrified them. ""N-No..""

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