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–––Christina’s Perspective

This is something that happened various days before Natalia woke up, the Magic Academy’s break still in full swing.

In a seldomly transited alleyway a young girl in long robes that concealed her identity crossed an old door together with two women. Inside was a shop, lined with monster bones and horns, as well as other magical items. The shop also dealt with illegal materials, and stolen goods, so their lineup went from extremely good deals, to overpriced items, to straight out scams and fakes. Some of the items were so powerful they could wipe out the entire city, making the shop even less of an agreeable place to the law.

But one of the women, a bodyguard magician, searched through the shop only to shake her head at the young girl, Christina Barnard, who slumped her shoulders in disappointment.

There were excellent items in the shop, but they were not what Christina was after. Excellent was not enough. Not even a shady shop that was not afraid to make illegal deals, located in the same city as the best Magic Academy of the country, had the item she was looking for. It was unlikely she would be able to find it anywhere.

Christina hunched down, feeling bad for dragging the bodyguards there as well, since they had tried to stop her. The two bodyguards had told her to desist at first, given their position and role, but in reality they had wanted to grant her wish however possible, as it was a rare request from Christina who usually kept quiet and never asked for anything.

“Hello, are you looking for something specific?”

Christina looked up hearing that voice and the two bodyguards stood in front of her. The voice came from a neatly dressed man, who looked to be in his thirties, and whose attire felt completely out of place in that shady shop.

“Oh, excuse my rudeness. I’m Arrold from the Platiboros Company. It seemed like you were looking for something, so I decided to talk to you, as I may be able to be of assistance.”

Arrold bowed with refined movements that could dazzle even nobles. That meant that he was accustomed to dealing with nobles, and that was also how he instantly determined that Christina was a noble.

The two bodyguards turned to look at Christina, who gave an unsteady nod.

“We’re looking for a Sorcery Core. We can pay this much, and we’d like one with a high power output if possible.”

A bodyguard spoke on Christina’s behalf. Arrold replied with a “Please wait a moment” before vanishing further inside the shop, and after a short wait he came back with what looked like a walnut-shaped metal container.

“What do you think of this? It should fit nicely inside your budget.”

Arrold began explaining the properties of the Sorcery Core he brought.

The core itself was built with B rank monster bones, and the outer shell was damascus steel. It required to be imbued with mana to be activated the first time, but after that it could produce mana on its own. The purity of its output was also within the requested spec. It also had five layers of protection, obviously limiting ownership of the Sorcery Core, but also offering resistance to physical and magic attacks.

Christina and her bodyguards opened their eyes wide hearing all of that. The price was not a small sum in any measure, but its features seemed too good.

It was hard to say whether they could trust Arrold though. There was a high likelihood that the Sorcery Core was a fake. But the Platiboros Company had many stores in public roads, which should make it more trustworthy. But more importantly, if Christina did not buy that Sorcery Core, chances were she would never find any other again.

Christina pondered about it for a while, and then nodded determined.

“I’ll take it.”

And so Christina bought the Sorcery Core from Arrold.

In truth, she could have obtained a far superior Sorcery Core if she used the influence and money of the Barnard family, but she wanted the Sorcery Core purely for her personal interest, so she limited her budget to what she could afford with her own money, and did not contact the merchants working under her family.

She also did not want to sour friendships over it, so she did not consult with Amy either. That friendship was far more valuable to her. But in the end, maybe it would have been better if she consulted her family and friends first.

Or at the very least she would not have come in possession of an identical Sorcery Core to the one used in the golem incident at Bamel.

“Natalia, I like you.”

She suddenly confesses while we walk through the Research Campus. Though at this point this isn’t exactly sudden, she’s been doing that almost daily for a while now. It’s not like she does it out of habit, she’ll just sneak it into random conversations.

“I like you too, Young Lady.”

I reply, not slowing down at all, but Olivia purses her lips into a pout.

“That’s not how I meant it though.”

I pretend not to hear that.

Olivia is in an easily impressionable age. I’ve already verified she’s interested in sex from her collection of books under her bed, so it makes sense that she’s also longing for romance. She lost her father when she could’ve used his presence the most, and she lost her mother when her future was changing greatly. It makes sense that she doesn’t know how to properly handle those new emotions. I’m sure she’s longing for affection and her hormones are running wild, so she just latched onto the person closest to her.

But that’s only momentary. Such emotions wane with time and eventually become memories. I’m not saying they don’t mean anything, but if I accept her words at face value I might twist her view of life.

Olivia is the daughter of Ophelia, my creator who I owe so much. I appreciate her too, but as family, not as a lover. My duty now is to keep glossing over her confessions, and make sure she can mature properly.

Though maybe her perception of life is already too twisted if she’s ******* after a magic automaton that looks like a girl.

“Sooo, where are we going?”
“To Miss Annabelle’s laboratory. Apparently they want to show us something there.”
“Hmmm.”

We arrive while we talk like that. I knock on the door and Christina opens it.

“Natalia, we’ve been waiting for you.”

I feel like she’s blushing just a little, I wonder why? We enter the laboratory and I see Annabelle sitting in the back with a suspicious smile. Though I guess with her that’s her default state.

“Good good, you came.”
“Hello, Miss Annabelle. What is it that you wanted to show us?”
“You’re an impatient one, aren’t you? But I’m not the one doing the showing, that’s Christina.”
“Christina?”

I turn to look at her, and see her cheeks redden even more, and start to fidget while looking down.

“S-soo… Natalia.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“I know I should’ve told you sooner about this but umm… It’s a bit embarrassing, you know? I felt like it would bother you too… but I decided to gather my courage to tell you.”

I wonder what it is? Christina is a good friend of Olivia’s, and she helped me while I was unconscious, so I really think we’re on friendly terms. Is there really a reason to be so nervous?

“So… Natalia… we uh…did it…”

…
……
………
…………What?

“N-N-N-N-Natalia and Chris did it?! They crossed that line?! They spent a night full of passion whispering love to each other?!?!?!?! And now their love has taken shape and aaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH???!!??!!”
“Calm down Young Lady! Nothing of that sort happened! And please stop cackling like that and help me Miss Annabelle!”

In the end I had to scream at Annabelle, who laughed loudly like she was an outsider while she watched Olivia shaking in terror and starting to produce black mana that emanated from her body like vapor.

“Pfft ahahahah. I expected you’d be shocked, but this is even better than what I expected. Ahh… my chest hurts.”

Annabelle begins to wipe tears from her eyes while she massages her chest that had started to cramp.

“Anyway, her weird way of phrasing it aside, what she said is true. Come in and say hi.”

In cue with Annabelle’s voice, a door opened inside the laboratory. Then it walked out and bowed to me.

“I’m the magic automaton Plum. Nice to meet you, Sister.”

A doll that looked like me scaled down to an elementary schooler’s size said that¹.

1. Robinxen: IMPOSTER. I want one.