Chapter 21: England is My City

[] Speaking English

{} Speaking German

Everything else is Japanese unless otherwise specified. (I won't be doing honorifics)

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"Well I guess that means we're done here?"

Coming to terms with both the recording and the super speed grandpa simply shrugged and began to head back to the door.

I stood up to follow him, or I tried to. Upon standing I got extremely dizzy and nearly fell over. Grandpa immediately turned around and came over to support me, worry and judgment apparent on his face.

"What happened to 'a little tired but fine'?"

"Nothing to worry about I just underestimated how tired I was… it's not like I had tried this before."

"Hmm, well let's get you up stairs so you can lay down for a bit yes?"

"Okay grandpa."

After a short conversation in which I almost let my embarrassment shine through a couple times, we headed up the staircase. And let me tell you, if I thought going down the staircase was annoying then going up it while slightly nauseous and tired was a whole other experience.

After we finally arrived at the top, I felt more tired then I had in a long time. Moving to the nearest chair I plopped myself down and sighed.

"Alright, you stay here and I'll go get you some water as well as inform your nana that we might have to delay a little bit."

And with that he walked off, I was tempted to tell him I could just create water, well a condenser that makes water but same difference, but held off and just let him go.

Instead I decided to take this time to look through the new styles. One of my favorite thing about the repository was the sorting and search functions that were built in. So, I sorted from strongest to weakest, after all I wanted to know what the strongest art down there was.

And, to my surprise, the strongest art wasn't the Crawford family blade style. No, the family blade style was second, the strongest art was called Shadow Step by Lucis Absentia Night a weird name considering it basically translated to no light night but I wasn't going to judge. Looking at the name it became clear it was a movement technique, 'clicking' it with my mind I saw the first page was actually a note.

'Near impossible to learn, if it wasn't for him teaching me directly I doubt I'd ever understand it. For my decedents who wish to learn this I wish you good luck as it's going to be very hard.' - William Crawford, 2073

"William Crawford…"

Before I could continue my out loud thinking I felt something looking at me. Sitting up in my chair and looking around I didn't see anybody but my senses highly disagreed with this outcome. Putting my hand behind my back and summoning a dagger I willed my reserves to recover faster, even if that won't work, so I could get some anti invisibility methods going.

"I know your here! Come out and face me like a man!"

As I finished my sentence the air in front of me began to warp and twist before a boy, no older then fifteen popped out in front of me. Quickly enchanting the dagger to be non-lethal I threw it at him. It got about halfway between us before it stopped midair and just hovered there.

"Well that wasn't very nice…"

Looking at the boy closer I notice he was wearing a set of blue robes with an oversized wizards hat on his head. I'm sure he made the knife stop but he didn't do anything so it must have been mentally activated.

"Sorry it was out of instinct, why don't you tell me your name and I'll make sure to compensate you?"

I had to stall for time, either grandpa would get back or my reserves would reach reasonable levels and then I'd be able to do something.

"Oh, well my name is Ramsey, Ramsey Night and I don't really want compensation I just wanted to know who was talking about my old benefactor."

"Wait what?"

His last name, Night, is he maybe related to the guy who wrote the Shadow Step manual. But at the same time he said that I talked about his benefactor, and the only name I'd said out loud at this point was my ancestors.

"You mean William Crawford?"

"Yep, that's him. Old Willy really helped me out during the fourth world war."

The fourth world war? But that was a hundred years ago. And no matter how I look at it this kid isn't a day over fourteen.

"Ah, yes a common mistake considering what I look like. I'm turning 112 this year, but my aging has halted."

Did he just read my mind? No, that shouldn't be possible with the necklace on. But at the same time he had already shown a clear use of telekinesis to stop the knife what if he was psychic?

"No dear I didn't read your mind. It just that all you Crawfords react the same to enemies and while your face goes blank I can still see through it."

"Okay, so what's your relation with Lucis Absentia Night?"

I saw a brief streak of sadness flash across his face before he simply sighed.

"He was my brother, he died in the war."

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

"No it's fine…"

Hearing footsteps from down the hall I turned my head and saw grandpa and nana heading this way. Grandpa noticed Ramsey in front of me and started to run toward me. However, as he got closer an expression of recognition appeared on his face and he slowed down.

"Sir Archmage, what brings you to my home today?"

"Nothing Michael just your granddaughter here mentioned your grandfather that got pinged on my web and I came to check it out."

"A yes, Grandpa Willy (1) I guess that would get your attention."

"Wait your web?"

"Yes little one my web, a large magical structure that spans all of England allowing me to essentially watch the whole country at once."

"Magic?"

"Well yes Ayah, his name is Archmage for a reason. His quirk let's him use any thing that falls under 'magic' nearly without limits."

"Wow…"

"Yes, my quirk is pretty awesome isn't it. Couldn't be the foremost hero in the UK without it."

"The UK, don't you patrol a city?"

"No, England is my city I watch all of it at once supporting other heroes when they need it or stopping crimes that they miss. Speaking of which I have to go a bank in New Manchester is getting robbed."

And with that the air distorted around him and he disappeared. Turning to face my grandparents, who seemingly found this normal, I asked the most important question I could.

"Why haven't I ever heard of him?"

"Oh, that's simple dear he is an open secret in England. Nobody without high enough clearance can say for certain he is around but it's pretty well known that he's real. He isn't on our hero rankings and most people respect his decision to remain unknown."

Well I could respect that, a lot of newer heroes do it for the fame and fortune. Those who do hero work out of actual heroic impulse are a dying breed but I suppose a 112 year old would make sense.

"So, Ayah, are you feeling better?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I feel way better."

It was true my reserves had refilled to the point I didn't feel drained anymore and while I wasn't combat ready I was perfectly fine for a day out.

"Okay then, your grandmother had prepared a list of museums and attractions for us to visit so let's get going."

"Sure!"

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Next chapter going home then time skip 2/2 and finally reaching canon.

(1): So my personal timeline is that the main cast enters UA in 2164 and the fourth world war ended in 2070 in between there is the hero vs villain ages. That means that a war veteran of the fourth would be Ayah's grandfathers grandfather.