C4- Dealing with Uninvited Guest

Instead of sleeping, Marcus instructed his Caster to prepare a dummy for his bed as he will be working the whole night at his Workshop.

At this moment he can't have quality stuff, not enough time. However, he will be using items that are good enough for this mission.

So he started with moulding Alchemist clay into the shape of a rifle with a long muzzle, it was quite quick work as he wasn't trying to perfect it.

The second was much larger as it slowly took the form of a bike.

The third one is a triangle-shaped item of which he will have three.

These will be drones that he will use for recon.

What was quite weird for the duo is that all of this was happening in what the girls call 'the pit' ; that place is where the Matter Converter should be constructed in the not far future.

According to him, he is throwing away efficiency and is going to waste quite a bit of Mana he has stored in the Mana Pools.

Once he finished with the moulds he then created a makeshift pool and let the liquid mana flood this pool.

The liquid mana will flood this pool via the pipes which he created for the use of Matter Converter. It was a good test run at the same time.

When it was at a satisfactory level he closed the pipe and proceeded to transmute his first item.

It was a sniper rifle.

The pair who were matching from some distance were curious. Especially the maid who knew this was the weapon that was promised for her!

The pale blonde was especially giddy about this!

However, the duo was also slightly shocked to see how quickly the liquid mana is getting drained. More like absorbed by the Alchemist Clay.

Marcus was manipulating the liquid mana in this pool to make this mould change into the metal needed for this rifle.

After it was done he pulled out the rifle from the pool and started to dismantle it and check the parts separately.

He was making sure the weapon was working and that all the parts fit each other nicely.

Once that was done he tried out the balance of the weapon and how it feels to hold it.

"Not bad, an 8 out of 10. Try it out." The Alchemist handed over the weapon to the maid. The Alter quickly inspected it herself.

"...This is good. Why did you only give it 8 out of 10?" She asked with a frown. It feels good enough to wield it. She could feel that she could channel her mana into it. So it means it could be quite a powerful weapon. Though she still needs to see how durable it is when she is using her mana to empower this sniper.

"Because… of reasons… from weight, to efficiency, to handling… anyway… next is the bike." Marcus didn't want to get into details. He might not look like one but he is an artist at heart. The Alchemist spent over a hundred years developing his suits. His Iron man-like suits. He used them to explore solar systems.

That's why even when he was rushing he was still using magic to make sure the designed weapon doesn't have any sort of miscalculation in the frame.

In other words, he is treating this as factory work instead of handcrafted work.

"If you say so. This is still a good weapon, do I get bullets for this? Or?"

"Yes, bullets are coming next." He rolled his eyes at her. He can hear how she is getting anxious to test this weapon.

So he used the remaining water in this pool to create several boxes of ammo.

"We have here anti-material rounds, explosive rounds, Mana empowering rounds, piercing rounds. In total over 300 bullets."

When she heard the number Alter was impressed!

"That's a lot of bullets!"

Marcus simply grimaced when he heard how impressed his maid was.

"It's like using a golden ingot to buy a loaf of bread." He said with a sigh. Making the maid lose some of the enthusiasm.

"I see… it's a big misuse of the resources then." The pale blonde maid agreed as she realised how bad of a deal this was.

"Yes. Now you can test this in the testing range. The wall there will hold regular shots, just don't use mana."

The maid swiftly nodded before collecting the bullets and rifle then disappearing with her impressive speed.

"...Master making weapons for Rider is not important. Why are we wasting time like this?" Caster asked him with a small frown.

"As Fae, you know what it means for outsiders to be targeted by the local population. You were a Fae of Avalon, an outsider to those six clans. They all…felt it. This is quite similar.

Especially when some of the population are missing in such a small town, a lot of people will be very suspicious of everyone.

Then imagine we come in. Either I am alone or with you two I will be suspicious since I will look like I am sneaking around.

It will be more of a hassle than a scouting mission."

The Fae frowned when she heard how much he knew about her. It makes her feel that he was in her world all along.

"...So you will give her a bike to travel to that town? Won't she stand out even more?" Artoria's reason was on the spot. What she said was the truth.

"Yes, this is why she will do two driveways, this will only perk the attention of those policemen in the town."

"...Oh, I see… why two 'driveway'?" The Fae is still learning the modern words. Vehicles didn't exist in her world.

"To place some of the drones. This is why, by the time it's night time the whole town will be scouted." As Marcus said that he pointed at the triangle-shaped Alchemist Clay.

"...What is a drone?"

"Simply, a Technology version of a Familiar." He explained to her as simply as he could.

"OH, I see… so this is what you are going to do!" Now the Fae understood what was going on.

"Rider will drop those familiars— I mean drones, which you will use to scout the Town. Finding a boundary field should not be difficult. Worst case scenario your Maid should be able to use her Sniper rifle to assassinate that rogue mage." Artoria explained how she saw his plan unfold.

"Yes. You got the basics down. However, another reason is that I want to have the foundation for the technomancy as we move forward.

In other words, the drones, the bike, and the sniper rifle while basic all have the same higher purpose. I will use those frames to work on greater inventions.

The Fae nodded at him with an understanding look she could understand from the mage's perspective as well. It's like developing a simple spell that will work as a foundation for future spells!

'I should… probably start doing that too!' Embarrassingly she thought that she should start doing something similar to that. Because previously, she would just throw magic at her enemies. Yes, she is a Fae and she could just do that. But having a certain orderly system feels like just the right thing to do?

"...Like having something to work with? Foundations? Like the roots of a tree?"

Marcus nodded at the blonde as he started to fill up the pool with liquid mana once more, as the liquid mana was filling up the alchemist went to pick up the mould for the bike.

He used some of his mana to start transmuting the main frame of the bike. The issue which sometimes Marcus has with himself is that he is still an artist at heart.

So when regular people's lives are at stake he will STILL want his things no matter how rushed or inefficiently created to be superior to whatever one could find in the market. It is just how he has self-created himself over the centuries.

Sad or not, he doesn't care. His things take priority.

As the frame was created he took the mould of the engine out, it was a twin-engine model, the first engine is a regular internal combustion engine. From what he can recall…at this moment he can recall a single-style Ducati engine so it was based on it, if he had more time he could do some research but at this moment it's not that important the secondary engine is a high-performance engine important, it's a mana-powered one.

It has direct mana injection into the wheels, his rough estimate is that it should be able easily exceed 300 kilometres per hour.

Though it was a simple observation as it will have a single Liquid Mana cell as a fuel.

By his extremely rough estimates because of how different the consumption is compared to mana in gas state which he used for a long time and mana in liquid state which he didn't have that much time researching and testing out yet. One cell of liquid mana should last for several days of intense use.

He would need his A.I. to do the specific maths on how superior is liquid mana which is much more compressed compared to the gas one.

As he thought about it he prepared more makeshift tools. A bike is much more complex than a rifle. This is why he made more tools and a pair of tables.

Once his preparations were complete he proceeded with the transmutation.

~~~

The maid inspected the walls where the bullets rammed into.

She was perplexed how solid this…Alchemist clay is when it's used as material for construction.

This made her realise that… in this underground Workshop, there is not a single column that SHOULD be used to support the ceiling!

A Cave-in is bad for underground places, that's common sense!

Yet, this place has not a single column! Like this shooting range, she was in at this moment, it's long and quite open.

While she is not an architect, the pale blond can guess how solid this clay material can be to sustain so much earth above.

Honestly, just thinking about how useful this clay makes her sour for a while.

'I should have got an Alchemist as my court wizard instead of a certain someone. At least Alchemist could have made my castle something similar to this.' She snorted to herself. Another stone falls on her 'glorious' rule.

That's why she is a maid now…

After testing the bullets and seeing that the damage was minimal in the testing room she walked back to the floor below and ended up facing what kind of 'creature' her Master was crafting.

It was a bike!

She knew it well enough! She had one Fourth Grail war, she had one in Shinjuku, and she even had one as her mount as Rider.

'I should have one as I am now, but Master's summoning method is just uniquely weird.' For a moment she did pout. But then she realised that she will have something superior to whatever she had in the year 1999.

That bike has enchantment and augmentation made by magecraft pales in comparison to whatever things her Master found in space.

Well, she hopes that he will use those things he discovered and learned to transmute

The maid didn't say anything as she just continued to observe how all these parts just came together as if they were originally like that.

They were but at the same time they were not. It's just strange, as her Master…from her understanding is turning dirt into water and water into metal. Alchemists are so strange…

After watching for hours, the maid and the Fae went to bring some food for her Master who took a short break before returning to his work.

He had the frame, the seat, the speedometer, the petrol tank, and both engines done. The hardest and most time-consuming part was the cables as he didn't use any sort of bolts or screws, as in he uses alchemy. Why would he use those?

This means a lot of time is saved. Placing down the cables, for the breaks and the electronics cost him several hours.

Once those were done he went to work on the Battery cell and transmute some petrol. He hadn't made petrol for a very long time.

The style he is thinking of using to make the cells is very simple: it will be cylindrical, inside there will be three cards that are cartridge-like items. They are separated from each other by several inches.

These three are the battery 'cards'. The cylinder itself is just a protective layer that keeps the liquid mana secure.

While the cards are made from solid glass material. While Marcus calls this 'liquid' mana it's not truly 'liquid' the water in those cards will never be used. What will be used is the mana itself which is bonded with the water.

What the Alchemist is doing is something similar to what people are doing with their regular batteries. He is copying the same principle.

Only that he won't need to throw away the battery after use. He will simply pull the cell out, refill it with mana and re-use it. The process will be even faster once he makes proper stations for refuelling.

~~~

The pale blonde with a slightly opened mouth was stroking the bike's sides. Now she can see how the bike looks after everything is done.

"...Impressive, my Master. Are you sure this is what rapid inefficient work looks like?"

The maid was not convicted, it just looks too good…

"I wasted enough liquid mana to summon a Servant so far. And I am still not done. So you tell me." Marcus pointed out a small detail which made the maid slightly grimace.

"...I am sure you could have used less…" She said that as the maid used her eyes to point at all the LED lights this thing has.

"If you don't like this then I am going to use this myself."

She stiffed hard when her Master said that!

"N-No! My apologies!" The alter maid quickly apologised and bowed to her Master.

"Good. Then let me set up the drones next and then make some less… standing out clothes for you. I have never seen a maid costume in my hometown before." Marcus said that as he realised that he needs more clothes for his maid as well.

"Don't worry Master, I can do that for you. Clothes are something I am capable of doing." Caster chipped in as she was inspecting the bike from the other side as well.

"Great. Then I leave that with you. I am going to focus on finishing the drones by midday. I still have around 8 hours left. I hope I still have enough time to make the OS in time…" He said that with a sigh.

A more electronic variant of the drone would be better; he has no idea how good the senses of the Mage who is making these cheap imitations of the Vampires are.

So going with electronics for him would be better. Not that it's possible since he has a pair of Servants which are simply nexuses of mana. Even a blind mage could pick one from a distance.

This is why he didn't hold back when he made the bike, he won't be with his drones either! Mana? He is going back to those with it!

"So… what are these buttons for?"

"Can't you tell?"

"I need to ride the bike to know about its perks." The maid explained with an eye roll. Her Riding Skill doesn't work from a distance.

"This is a high-performance shift, it turns off the internal Combustion engine and switches to a Mana-based one. Though I suggest not to use it unless you are getting chased because of how ridiculous I made it."

"Ridiculous how?" She asked extremely curiously.

"It's a direct injection of mana into wheels. Front AND back wheels get the power, I made it with the idea that the driver is an extremely physically powerful person who can drive this even if the front wheel gets direct power."

His explanation made her nod multiple times over.

"Sounds like a great perk! I like it, Master! And this switch?"

Instead of explaining, Marcus just flipped and more LED lights turned on.

Wheels got illuminated red, and several more areas got LED lights! Like the engine part!

There are some under the bike. Which work like under lights seen on those tuned cars!

"Master…didn't you say that all those cables…" Alter was about to ask him about the cables…since he complained about wiring this bike but… these lights need wiring too!

"Beautiful isn't it?"

She was ignored…

"The High-Performance mode is the best in a straight line. Taking turns while turning it on is not recommended as the extra juice of power will make the bike much heavier. The instant increase in heaviness can catch you off guard. Though I doubt it's a thing for a Rider."

The maid simply sighed and nodded at him, before giving him an explanation.

"Yes, we simply control any sort of vehicle to perfection."

"Good. This means you will give me a good report on the bike And where should I improve it."

She agreed with a nod. This is something she can get behind. An even better bike in the future? Yes, you can sign her up for that!

While the Caster who was looking at the pair could only sign in, it appears actual true efficiency is gone… her Master only cares about all the fancy stuff and his maid agrees with it. Feeding his ego to make the next one even fancier.

'Well… whatever… it's not like the planet is under some sort of a risk…'

The Fae thought to herself, her duty is to her Master not…whatever is happening outside the boundary fields of this town.

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~

Around midday, Marcus was done with his three drones. It wasn't THE best work he has ever done. Nope, they are so shit that if his former self from his previous life would have seen it he would have laughed his ass off.

His drone Technomancy was something he invested a lot of time developing in space. Since he was a one-man show he needed extra hands to explore the solar systems he used to visit.

Yes, Solar systems… his drone tech range used to reach from planet to planet in worlds where mana doesn't exist.

So making a drone that can fly to the city next door is nothing… or should be nothing…

However, the issue is that he doesn't have the infrastructure to have long-range. No emitters or receivers he doesn't have his mini-satellites, magnifiers, or wave deflectors…

Without any of that, he could only improvise for a bit to make his drones have a range of around 2 to 3 kilometres.

"So… the plan is very simple, we need that asshat to leave my town perimeter. More preferable solution is that we terrify the very daylight out of him or her.

He is so terrified that he leaves and doesn't come, and tells his buddies not to come here." Marcus said that as he rolled out a map of the Town next door.

"Wouldn't…it be better if you just use us? We are Servants, a Servant is something which would work as the best scare factor. And you have two of us." The Caster suggested to him.

"No. That would not work." Instead of Marcus, it was Rider who denied her suggestion.

"We are dealing with a Magus. If one of them sees that the Master is only using Servants then they will try to deal with him even more."

'Magus? Oh riiiight… they call themselves Magus, not Mages…I completely forgot about that!' The Alchemist hummed to himself he remembered that Magecraft is slightly different from the stuff he used to do!

"...They would?"

"Magecraft above everything else. Learning the secrets of our Master would be paramount for such Magus. They would risk their lives. However, if they see that he is very capable AND has Servants now that would be a different thing altogether. Having a diplomatic solution would be possible."

Marcus nodded as well when he heard that. He remembered that these Magus are cold-blooded researchers.

However, from the study he found so far. Mana is not dwindling and mystery is not disappearing. Mana in this world is just as flexible as it was in his world. Maybe even more than he can tell.

This means that Magus of this world should not be as extreme as his Rider is telling him.

"I see… in that case we should do a systematic reveal. With our Master being at the core of revealing his magic little by little. And then we will appear at the end to put the nail on the theoretical coffin so to speak." The Caster proposed the idea after hearing what Rider said to her.

"That's the idea. Now to the Town layout. The heart of the town is a fork-shaped road. At the centre, there is a memorial for World war 2 victims, and some distance away there is another memorial for an ancient battle.

Since the town is built in quite open plains there are not that many places where this Mage—Magus could build his workshop.

My preliminary ideas are; he dug a cave or used someone's basement. As a Mage—Magus he needs to have a workshop underground to make sure mana doesn't escape. Underground is the best solution for this in such an open plain area."

The pair nodded. Caster knew this one from experience. One of the reasons that castles are such a big thing in Fairy Britain.

While the maid knew from experience she had with Magus that he was right.

"I see. Should I look out for anything suspicious?"

"No. I need you to do a drive-through and drop those drones. Once it's done you will return here. We will proceed with neutralisation once it's nighttime."

The maid nodded at her Master's requirements, she was not questioning any of it… even if he wanted her to pull out her Holy Sword and check house by house she would do it without any sort of care… Maybe that's even better? She could check all those kitchens as well.

She still needs to sort out what kind of food palette people in this part of Earth have.

"Good. So these are the locations where you will drop them off."

Marcus pointed at the map and started to explain how she would approach it and from which direction.

~~~

Another issue that arose was the fact that Marcus' neighbourhood is rural.

So if a bike leaves his driveway, everyone will know. That is not an option.

This was something Marcus missed because it was ages ago when he needed to be this secretive.

After taking a quick note on his notebook he made his maid pull the bike out of his street with his Fae's help.

Thankfully her Territory Creation helps in such situations.

Dressed in skin-tight black biker gear the maid was ready for her first drive in this new world.

The three drones are neatly put in a specially prepared backpack.

Once they were in a clear the maid put her helmet on and Marcus handed over the bike keys.

When ignition happened the Alchemist looked at the exhaustion. He is still trying to figure out how on Earth he is back in making internal combustion engines…again.

"Don't take long, and don't forget the directions."

"...Yes, Master, I heard that before. Leave this to me." The maid rolled her eyes. He could not see it so she was not holding it back.

Turns out he has quite a bit of trust issues when it comes to things that are not his creation.

"...Good then go."

With a nod, the maid went full throttle. The internal combustion engine roared to life. After talking a few turns her right-hand index finger pressed a certain green button which ignited the mana engine. That moment the speed which was around 40 went to 120 in a single burst which made the Alter Maid grin behind the helmet.

'Very impressive…'

She quickly turned it off as she needed to take a turn.

Soon enough she was on a much more active road. This is where she was obeying the road rules.

Her Master was very specific with that. So she is making sure she is following what he demanded. Otherwise, she will lose her chance to be properly useful.

Though… she does like how a bunch of people look at her bike… after all, it's completely custom. There is no second such thing in the whole wide world!

A few turns later she was in the city centre, her gaze looking around to make sure there were no police around.

While she has all the 'documents' it's better if no one stops her. And thankfully no one does. The majority of the police force is in the Town next door.

As she passed the town centre she then passed the flats and the supermarket. They have been here before at night time. Not that daytime makes that much of a difference to the maid.

The Town doesn't have many people to begin with. At night time it was empty, in day time one sometimes two people walked around.

Alter count the number of people she saw was less than 30 which she saw in her whole trip from one side to another side of the town.

'I suppose it's better this way…'

Once she was out of the town she grinned once again and pressed the green button. Her bike instantly accelerated the sound of the electrical accelerator replacing the sound of internal Combustion. As the maid blasted past through several cars.

Her trip was short as she could not stay long on the highway as she needed to take a turn.

After driving less than three minutes she saw the town in the distance.

The first thing she noticed was how small it looks from the angle she was seeing!

'Hmm… nothing impressive…'

Artoria Alter realised that this was what people call 'In the Middle of Nowhere', 'in the sticks'.

When she saw the map she knew that it was a small town. It only has 3 five-floor flats! The majority of the buildings are one to two-floor houses.

It has only a single elementary and high school. Marcus' hometown can be considered a city if one calls this place town.

However…

'...And here goes our plan without any sort of hitches…' Artoria Alter stopped in her tracks as she saw Police checking every single car leaving or entering the town.

'Nice try Magus… using Police like that…' The maid thought with a frown as she realised that she needs to switch to Plan B

Plan A was police simply on vigil inside the town, while Plan B if they are keeping the perimeter clear.

Thankfully she has some of the Fae gadgets prepared by Caster as they prepared several contingencies in cases like these.

The Maid pulled out a pendant and placed it around her neck. This will cause her and her bike to turn invisible for around 5 minutes.

Once the pendant was in place, the maid cut the line and rushed past the checks…

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes…a bike?"

"Strange…"

Two policemen looked confused as they could swear they heard the sound of a bike!

Yet, there was nothing there!

~~~

After passing the check line and taking a turn the maid took the pendant off and continued driving deeper into the small town.

'It appears I will be able to drop those without doing a second drive-through.'

She thought to herself as she saw that there are much fewer police inside the town.

Less than 5 minutes later Artoria Alter dropped her first drone.

"I have placed the drone, Master."

"Roger, let's see…"

The triangle-shaped drone's twin rotors started to spin as it started to raise from the ground.

"Is it functioning properly?" The maid asked as she slowly got up on her feet.

"Yes, once you set the second one we will be able to cast an overlapping scanner." Alter heard her Master's voice which was slightly more happy than it was before. It appears having some of his toys back functioning is giving him some happiness.

'So cute. Well, let's get back to work.'

The maid returned to her bike and ignited the engine. Then she looked around to see if there was anyone around, after seeing that the coast was clear she proceeded to move to the next location.

A few minutes later she placed the second drone which activated like the first one and then moved to the last location.

As she was doing that the maid started to get noticed which made the pale blonde quickly finish her work.

Thankfully the drones can just fly up on the roof and hide, but for her it is not that easy.

Once everything was said and done she left the spot where the Police car just passed through. She had her pendant so the police didn't see anything. However, all these… weird see/didn't see moments have crept these law officers out.

This is why they started to talk via radio that something weird is going on.

While the Police have their issues the pale blonde maid left the town and went back to the highway where she once again tried out the High-Performance mode just to feel that absurd burst of speed once again!

Around ten minutes later she arrived at the rendezvous spot.

The maid can't bring the bike back because it's going to take ages to take the bike in and out of the workshop. This is why Marcus is thinking about expansion work for his workshop.

Her Master is thinking to spread out much more. Which is quite an easily possible thing. As his house is built not far from a place where nature is in abundance and that land doesn't belong to anyone, doesn't have any sort of buildings that would obstruct his expansions.

That's right the Fae already explored this area not long ago and explained the possible expansion into the river valley. Marcus' home was built just next to the edge of the hill which leads into this valley.

The road which passes right through the edge of this hill is situated behind Marcus' house and is used by his neighbours.

While not visible from the alchemist garden it is there.

So it is not a far guess that their Master will most likely build a direct way into this valley and then build something there.

What he will build there is something Alter can only wildly guess. Her Master is constantly giving her the vibes of her older sister.

Extreme ambition hiding under the very thin veil. Something she has seen before…several times.

Arriving from the city centre in front of her was a small stadium, and to her left was a line of houses which ended and a small forest started, if one was to enter this forest they would end up at the river.

In other words, she was in this specific river valley, her destination is not the river though. Where she is going is to the right. There is a gravel road that leads towards a thin forestry area and toward the uphill. If she is to directly disregard the roads and dash up she would end up not far from her Master's house.

Not that she would do that. Nope she found the place where Caster mana is in the air. It's a temporary boundary field left for her.

This is where she would leave the bike. Leaning against quite a young Oak…

Seeing this tree specifically made her stop in her tracks.

She snorted, realising that this situation was quite similar to her dying place. The only thing she needs is a lake instead of a river…

Regardless, after leaving the bike she turned into her spirit form and rushed back into the workshop.

~~~

Marcus frowned as he did a third synchronised flyby around this town. He didn't pick up any sort of boundary field or remnants of mana.

This was quite annoying because he will have to spend time looking for the source himself in person instead of finding it with the drones.

"This won't do… whoever is this thing he is not stupid to leave traces. *Sigh* it appears this whole expedition was a burst. We will be going there in person." The Grand Alchemist said with a sigh as he put the controller down.

The controller was quite special as it's connected to a new antenna he has put on his house roof. It has three screens that are directly linked to the drones. Which are over 6 kilometres away…

Not bad for prototype technomancy but not good enough either.

A few moments later the pale blonde maid entered the main workshop and she was already dressed in her maid uniform.

"Nice work placing those drones."

"My thanks Master for trusting me. It was quite a close call. They already noticed me and tried to catch up to me. I doubt I could return to that place and I believe we might have the attention of the government…" The maid explained to him.

"I see… in that case Caster can you cast a wide area sleeping spell?" Marcus asked his Fae assistant.

"...I could, but preparations are needed to do such a thing." The blonde said that after thinking for a while.

"Do it then. That Vampire wannabe already most likely knows that we are onto him. There is no point in pretending that he is not there."

The Fae nodded before disappearing from the Workshop.

"Since we have a few hours, let's talk about that report on the bike." The alchemist said to his maid.

Seeing that Caster is gone Marcus pulled out his notebook and opened a fresh page.

"As you wish."

As she said that the maid started to formulate sentences in her mind while her Master pulled out his pen and waited for her to begin.

"I will begin with handling, the bike slowly creeps to the left when a certain speed is reached, the breaks are too sensitive, the gear shift to the fourth gear is needlessly long, and the high-performance mode while powerful it would be much easier if it has direct induction into internal combustion engine instead of being separate engine.

Next is that the bike is pretty useless offroad, different sets of tires are needed…

That sums it up." The maid gave her an uncensored report, she was still thinking if she missed anything.

While her Master wrote everything down. He nodded to himself quite happily, there are so many faults to this thing which made him quite giddy to return to work.

"Good… I was thinking of making it a single engine, but we were out of time. What do you think about the boost to both tires instead of just the back one?"

His question made her think for a bit.

"It's dangerous. But I can assume it's only for special people to use it. The boost in speed is phenomenally far faster than any bike I used before." The maid honestly said to him,

"I guessed that much, I don't think anyone would boost both tires directly," Marcus explained with a shrug as he typed down.

"Then the obvious is the light on the bike. A Lot of people were looking at the bike. I am pretty sure everyone will know in this town that there was such a bike. A Lot more will look at it if I am to pass again."

The Alchemist nodded at her, his eyebrow raised slightly, is it true that it was special? Honestly, he is quite clueless after living in space for the past 160 years. His youth is quite cloudy…

"I see… so you think I should make the future ones…with less personality?"

"...No…"

"Thought so…"

~~~~~~~Later, Evening~~~~~~

Once again evening arrived and the trio left the workshop it was time to deal with that nuisance.

This was the first time since his rebirth that he travelled such a distance by himself.

Though it gives him some space to stretch out. And use mana without restraint.

After 20 minutes of rapid travel, Marcus arrived at the outskirts of the town.

He spread his senses as far as he could with his current capacities.

'Nothing, yet.'

After failing to sense anything he proceeded to get closer to the town.

"Artoria put people to sleep."

"Understood."

Green and blue-like mist spread through the town as everyone dropped to sleep. A few minutes later Marcus with his two Servants walked past the sleeping police officers and entered the town.

As they were walking Marcus used his Mana sonar to try to pick up anything but as he was walking forward and deeper into the town the more annoyed he was becoming.

He can't pick up any sort of anomalies!

"Caster use your Fae senses, my Sonar doesn't work." As he said that he used Reinforced jump to jump on the roof of a three-floor flat. And used sonar from that height and bombarded the ground with it.

"One moment."

The Fae proceeded to cast magic from her 'counterpart' book. Morgan's magecraft. Mist-related magic allowed her to 'touch' a lot of surfaces.

Moments later another mist spread out through the streets of the town.

As mist was spreading out Marcus was looking down on the street with a frown on his lips. He needs to find other methods to find hiding enemies. He is not used to going on the offensive.

Nope, enemies would usually come to him.

'It appears I need to reinvent myself.'

"I think I got it, Master."

The blonde Fae got the Alchemist's attention.

"There are some Mana residues on a few stairs…" She pointed towards it.

"Good. Let's go." He motioned to move as he jumped down from the third floor. Before he could touch the ground, it rose and caught him.

Transforming into makeshift stairs which retracted to the ground the moment Marcus walked off.

"Show the way."

The Fae nodded and motioned him to follow.

A few minutes later the Alchemist was looking at a general store. He walked to the side as he saw stairs leading to underground on the of the store.

'This doesn't make sense, why would a Vampire care about regular products? I guess we will see….' As he thought about it, it just didn't make sense to him. He walked over and descended five stairs down and put his hand on the doors. Then he released a pulse of mana into it.

The lock on the doors simply undid itself, with another pulse the doors opened themselves and Marcus walked in.

The first thing he smelled… was blood.

"You two turn change into spirit form."

The pair didn't say anything, instead they just turned invisible. After sensing that Marcus walked inside. Instead of relying on his eyes, he used his mana to see. Constant pulses of mana allowed him to see, good enough. This time he is not efficient, nope he is in his battle mode.

As he walked deeper he noticed a tunnel. Carved in a wall on the other side of the basement. He then noticed that the shelf arrangement is quite weird.

Products usually are arranged properly but this specific shelf has a bunch of specific products. Almost like a shopping bag is left for someone to pick this.

'I see… so he or she still DOES need regular food intake… '

Marcus thought with narrowed eyes as he moved forward. He sends several pulses through the tunnel. His eyes slightly bulged out as he sensed how long this thing is.

'So it's both… a basement and a tunnel which leads to somewhere.'

The Alchemist proceeded to wall through this tunnel.

~~~

At the end of the corridor was quite a large cavern, the walls, and the ceiling were solidified stones. It was shown that this Magus knows basic Alchemy.

When Marcus saw this Magus he immediately frowned.

'Mage nobility, the clothing, even how clean he looked while doing human experiments are all the signs of mage high-class.'

"Did you know that in ancient times humans were extremely strong in a physical sense? There are paintings of humans wrestling with lions and winning!

Nowadays no matter what you do a lion would crush you in brute strength! Say what you want but humanity has devolved! No matter what one says! What do you think, my dear guest?"

Marcus who heard all that looked around and saw a bunch of bones… laying on makeshift beds. He could see a pile of rusted-away armour in a corner as well.

After seeing those he knew where he was.

"We are directly under that ancient battlefield. You are practising Necromancy."

*Clap*Clap*Clap*

"Indeed! As expected from a fellow Magus, you catch on pretty quickly! However, we are at a crossroads. You saw my workshop and my location. For this, I need to remove you." As the magus said that his friendly tone quickly got replaced by a cold one he started to speak in German…it was a spell.

At that moment the skeletons started to rise from the makeshift beds.

To answer that Marcus simply tapped with his foot and those makeshift beds rose and slammed those skeletons into the ceiling.

Forcing the reanimation to collapse.

"...Alchemy… impressive for such a young Magus!" The Magus exclaimed but then he had a realising look.

"...Oh… I see…you are a Goldmen! I thought your family stopped practising Magecraft in general!" The man said with a generally surprised look.

Marcus frowned when he heard that. So they know about his family just from this!?

Well, it doesn't matter! He will deal with this guy!

He once again tapped on the ground and rocks rose from the ground and started to circle him. The Alchemist then snapped his fingers and the larger rocks collapsed into much smaller ones. Changing into different compositions as well!

"Gravity magecraft? Impressive. But far too slow!"

A bunch of skeletal hands rose from the ground and grabbed Marcus' legs. Holding him in place.

The Magus who said that rushed towards another corridor.

'Running away? No…'

That moment Marcus heard inhuman groaning from the corridor where this mage ran away.

'Test subjects…'

He clicked his tongue and channelled more of his mana, causing the creation of more intense gravity well.

This made all those skeletal hands break down and collapse. The earth started to compress as well under his weight.

Though this didn't last long as Marcus lowered his gravity wave and instead started to use alchemy on his rocks which were circling him.

Soon enough they were not rocks but circles made from several different liquid metals. Since Magus is getting his help then the Alchemist is going to make his preparations.

Quickly enough at least 10 bulky-looking pale creatures rushed at him from the corridor.

Marcus could only grimace seeing how bad this person's experiments were going. He is going completely wrong with this…

'Fine… let me put you all out of your misery.'

The Alchemist's circles glowed and a wave of mana slammed into these wannabe vampire ghouls.

The creatures stopped in their tracks as they took several steps back.

"Oh? Do these things heal from solar radiation? Curious…" He exclaimed with some shock as these things once again tried to rush at Marcus.

But the circles glowed once more and several waves of mana once again slammed into these ghouls…this time they slowed down considerably and instead… started to attack each other.

"...Of course… cannibalistic as well… *Sigh*..."

Once again more mana waves slammed into these things which caused them to stop completely and then rapidly start to rot away. The flesh could not contain the solar radiation anymore.

Before Marcus could proceed, circles appeared all over him. A cocoon of magic surrounded.

'He weaponized all of his workshop mana to keep me in place.' The Alchemist thought about this as he inspected the circles. It has been a long time since he had to read runes of not his own making.

"...I was wrong. It appears Goldmen don't stop practising magecraft! It was a mistake to come to this place. At least I caught you! Your family secret are mine young Goldmen!"

"... It's Goldman, you primate." Marcus could not control himself anymore. Not only this fool is messing around his hometown but he can't even pronounce his family name properly!

Same with the other Magus who didn't like being called primate!

"This is not how you talk with the older generation! It appears you have no etiquette whatsoever!"

"Pfff—Hahahaha!"

"...Now you went insane… fragile one aren't you?"

Instead of answering that Marcus just shook his head with amusement.

Then… it felt like he became a bottomless pit! It was as if time itself stopped and started to get pulled towards him!

This was the Gravity Well technique at its peak! He lifted his hand and his index finger simply poked the barrier.

A screeching sound spread through the workshop as it felt like someone extremely heavy sat down on the barrier! It could not handle it and simply exploded into a thousand pieces in all directions!

The Magus who saw this could not believe his eyes! This guy, this family of his… has completely weaponized gravity!

Before he could complain about the fact that the whole Mana of his workshop got wasted away, the Alchemist appeared in front of him! It looked like reality turned into jelly of some sort and the distance to the Alchemist was non-existent!

"Listen carefully as I won't repeat myself." Marcus' words felt like they had gravity to them which made the Magus drop on his knees. It was just too hard for him to stand!

"You will remove yourself from this town, from this country, and never appear here again. If I see you again then death will be paradise to you. And believe me, you can run and you can hide, but you can't escape me. I will find you even if I have to check the entirety of the space-time continuum. There is no peace for you when I am looking for you. Now, Rider, take him away and remove him from this town."

The Magus who heard all of it was confused for a bit. Rider…who?

At that moment the guy felt a hand behind him as someone grabbed him by his neck.

The next second he felt like someone was dragging him through the ground and outside the workshop.

After some time he realised that Goldman was not alone. He had something to assist him as well!

Once he was blasted out through the doors and outside into the darkness of the night. He felt that they rushed rapidly through the town and outside its perimeter.

"Get lost, you don't want my Master looking for you."

"...You…You…"

"I am a Servant, now get lost." Alter did her part by revealing about herself.

"...A…Servant…A Servant… sweet magic…hehehe…" Now he sounded insane as the Magus got on his feet and started to run away…

"...I hope this works…" The maid said to herself as she sighed in disappointment, she wanted to chop him to bits.

~~~

"This deals with the issue of unwanted guests," Marcus said as he looked around.

"I still think it would be better if he was dead." The maid said as she reappeared behind him.

"You just want to kill him."

"True. But I think you will gain more attention, people will come to you regardless, this is why if he is dead then no one would come here." The pale blonde maid said with a frown.

"On the contrary, they would come here regardless. You forgot yourself, they are Magus, don't they have family crests? If one dies and doesn't return for a while they will want to get that crest and all that magic—magecraft recorded in that crest."

Now she frowned when she heard it.

"...I suppose you are right… So what did he study here? Bones?" The maid said while looking at a bone laying on the ground.

"He was studying early humans. And trying to recreate humans when they were at their strongest. Such a strong body would allow larger strain and more dangerous ritual usage. In other words, he is working to make his foundation stronger. But the way he was doing it was wrong." As Marcus said that he looked at the rotting flesh laying on the ground. He motioned with his hand and all the rotten flesh turned into Alchemist clay.

"...Master, are you saying humanity is becoming weaker?" The Caster who was listing what he said was dumbfounded to hear that!

"...Physically, yes, in general, no. The human body adapts to what it needs the most. Extreme physical strength is not needed because we have the technology to cover it for us. This is why we are getting…smarter… debatable, but yes we are smarter now. Or at least that's what the majority think."

The pair deadpanned at him. The way he said it doesn't calm them down at all!

"...Didn't he discover a form of Parasitic survival? Doesn't it make them stronger? And those experiment subjects looked quite strong." The Fae said as she started to explore the workshop. Not touching things, just inspecting from a distance.

"Muscle inflation doesn't make them strong. He needed a stronger immune system and things like denser bones. His understanding of body functions is that from the medieval ages." Marcus said that with an eye roll of his own. He walked over to the work table and started to read what was written on the notes.

"He started everything from scratch, with the current pace he was working he would take around 200 years of constant human experiments just to reach the current regular human understanding of human bodies. In other words… it's a waste of time and human resources." The Alchemist's words made the pair of Servants a little bit… unsettled. This was bad for regular people.

"...Do you think it was wise to let this thing go? What if he will continue with his experiments?" The Caster said with a frown.

"Maybe, however, I believe he would follow a different path from this one. For the simple reason that he lost all of his research." Marcus said that as he picked up the research papers from the table. His eyes quickly read through them. It was in German. While his language understanding is rusty he got the main point across after reading it.

"Wouldn't it be the opposite? He lost his research he would try to recreate it!" Artoria reasoned with him.

"He wasn't attached to his work. If he was, he would have been a bloodsucker himself."

"..."

"..."

'This stuff is garbage… the only thing I could use is the regeneration capacities, though I would need to rework to fit with my style, these muscle inflation spell work is cheap as well. Can't believe he spent years working on this specifically.'

Marcus thought to himself with a frown. This expedition was quite shit. At least he got this Magus out of his Town. And he hopes they won't be aimlessly visiting him…any time soon.

After checking the workshop and removing everything it was time for them to leave. The Alchemist sealed off the entrance into the workshop with a several metres thick wall and then cleaned everything up in the basement of the shop.

While Caster went around the town to clear up any sort of remnants of mind control done by the Magus.

Once they returned to their Workshop Marcus started to think about how to build up his workshop and spread out his influence to towns next door.

If he has such a thing it will allow him some breathing space. He would know about enemies early and would have the means to manoeuvre to intercept before the enemy could do that.

This is why new boundary fields need to be created. Thankfully he still has his drones in this town he can fly around and find the perfect spot for the creation of boundary fields.

However, for now, Marcus stored the looted research away and returned to his work.

Well, more like tried to but, he realised that now that the threat is gone he was tired, which means he needs to sleep. So instead of work he just decided to retire and sleep.

After their Master retired the pair of Servants could speak among themselves without worry.

"...That thing he did in the Workshop… Do you know what it is?" The maid asked the Fae. To her understanding, a Fae should have a better understanding of magic than her.

"You have to be more specific, he did several things in the workshop of that Magus." The blonde asked for specifics as she took her seat. It was a long… day for her.

"...He bent reality and made himself thousands of times heavier, it was nothing I have ever seen before, such weight should have made his body collapse and turn himself into dust." The maid reasoned, what she saw and what she knew contradicted each other!

"...What you saw was gravity manipulation, our Master discovered and harnessed gravity when he was in space," Artoria said what she heard herself not long ago. Not that she saw it before. What she saw today was the first time in action as well.

"...I see… and those waves? He made those Bloodsuckers… rot…" The maid remembered it with a frown. It was simply… disgusting, especially when she was forced to smell it…thanks to her stupid living body…

"...Yeah…that too…"

They were reminded that their Master is not just a weird inventor, he can be very dangerous too.

~~~

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