Chapter 4: Suspicion

Authors Note:

Some might not like the progression of this story, but I would prefer a story with emotional stakes and not some mindless driven characters who'd want to grind exp and defeat the last boss, the end.

The story will unfold on its own. Some questions might be unanswered, I will deal it by showing them in the story. I got you brah!

Quick Recap: Ms. Oujo-sama blackmails a commoner with a grandiose endeavor to be a businessman to hand over his adoptive child who he forces to work on his behalf. Adoptive child still hasn't done anything so relevant in this fic so far. But who does? He's not the Generic Slime Stuff out there!

Now, back to the story!

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Some thoughts plagued him. It boggled him to the point that he couldn't focus on what he calls training anymore. Abiel should be thankful that he was granted the chance to be excused - for what they referred to as child labor. Although, a temporary notion. Maybe he might be twenty-two years old in his soul and mind, but the thought of being in the body of Abiel - a fourteen-year-old teen who grinds the rat race already. It's indeed disgusting.

Thirteen hours, Abiel's face soured. Thirteen hours of shift work daily, including maintenance duty, customer service, and dishwashing, might be too much for someone who should be playing outside all day.

Abiel breathed. Knowing the survival rate of the Clover Kingdom in the future, he might indeed be lucky that he could still eat three times a day, despite being exploited by the man. However, he wished, ten, no, twenty times a day, that Soranon could shove the earnings in the ass. He wouldn't see it happen though, as the man was back and forth running errands Abiel did not wish to be part of.

No need to think about that Yumeko-chan. He should give him my token of appreciation, as she managed to infuriate and occupy the old man. What he would need to achieve today, is to maximize this time to train and explore his powers. He didn't have the luxury to settle down with his waifu in the countryside, while they drank Nord mead and danced in an unknown lake - as of the moment. Abiel's survival rate was as low as negative to think about that splendid lifestyle.

Now he has to work. He closed his eyes. Then, he stood in a vast darkness of nothingness. No matter how he tried to walk, or run, or try to explore the horizon, he reached the end of this absolute darkness. He couldn't simply measure how fathomable, how immense this space is. Thus, Abiel called this realm - Void Space. In the middle of space, the globe had grown bigger. In the past few weeks of trying to rotate this sphere, it changed. Before, it was the size of a basketball, but now it engulfed some of his vision. It grew to the size of a ten-story building.

Abiel learned to manipulate the sphere by rotating it. It creates a strong suction force that consumes energy from another dimension. At first, the absorption was so weak that he could feel it. Nonetheless, as the globe grew larger, the pulling power improved by a huge margin. Things are strange. He kept absorbing and absorbing energy from unknown sources, from unknown locations. He's sure it's not from this world, but from something more mysterious.

It might cause his demise or bite him in the future, but he must carry out his plans regardless.

He cannot afford to rely on theoretical factors of what-if, things. The thing people romanticized, idealized, to be thrown in your favorite fiction sounds exciting. Abiel had also liked the premise, of course, at least in the past. Now that he was here in one of his favorite Shonen anime, he's looking forward to going back home and eating at a fast food restaurant as usual. He missed drinking coke, sour popsicles, and tortilla chips already. He dearly missed it. Now he has to return to his so-called training.

"Rotate."

Abiel cracked his neck. He reached out his right hand in the direction of the sphere. It seems the suction power had increased the quality of mana in his body. Upon overtaking this identity, the mana density was thin, swallowed, and unrefined. It was weak. He noted that the Mana quality is as important as the Mana Quantity. During his binge in the anime, he had observed that most Magic Knights were incompetent and weak. Their mana quantity, despite being immensely superior compared to that of peasants - they couldn't do their goddamned job. High salaries were wasted for the likes of them. Maybe being a Magic Knight wasn't so bad after all. You just walk, patronize yourself as moral support to the Cloverian Citizens as some kind of Symbol of Hope, ala One-For-All, go home, and sleep. Once a fight breaks out, he will engage if the chances of winning are high, if not - then flee from the battle. Abiel is now considering to be the greatest con man in the Black Clover.

Wait, Abiel halted his tracks. Void means nothing. It means emptiness. The reason why it appeared to be absolute darkness was because there was no light. The properties of this affinity were negating, crushing, compressing, and destroying the energy that produces light. The void condition was to remain empty. To remain nothing. To not have anything. Then –

If that's the case, then maybe I could also halt time? He pondered. Truly fascinating. Julius Novachrono was an unrivaled character in the verse so far. Abiel called it bullshit of him, losing to the likes of Patry the elf. It might have been because of the plot device for other characters to grow on their own. After all, Julius's power was a cheat power, with him in the picture, he could annihilate the villains in no time. Without the opposition, there's no plot, no stakes, and no character development.

"Abiel."

He started to think about how. His brain racked. It started moving, processing, analyzing any possibilities on how he could compress time, or if not, just to affect it to his advantage.

"Abiel."

Time could be measured. Void could not. Time is constant, it is associated with change and progression. Void is stasis, it means absence, nothingness. If he could use his Void Magic to compress an affected space to slow down the time passage. But how –

"Wake up kid, we have to talk."

But how –

"Are you okay, kid?"

The rotation of the sphere ceased. Bubble-gum pink eyes shot open. Beads of sweat slithered in his forehead. He gasped for air. His vision was blurry. Slowly, but slickly the vertigo that crashed through his head settled down. The man locked his eyes on him. It bores into him with concern. It shows worry. Abiel found it unsettling.

He catches his breath. "I kind of fell asleep, do I? Yeah, it's so boring not doing anything - right?"

He laughed. Soranon looked in the window on his left.

"What's the prob?" He asked. "What happened to that weird young noblewoman over there?"

His father looked at him with wide-open eyes. Abiel blinked. Shock? No. Fear? That boggling feeling rammed into him again. He hated how his instincts kept expressing that something was not right. He loathed that feeling—that feeling of relying on something without a rational basis.

He detested that.

"What's with that look - it seems you've seen a ghost?"

Soranon froze, not uttering a word. He reached his hand towards him to ease that look –

"Come with me, Abiel. I have something to tell you."

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Kiten in real life was huge. Abiel had tried to scout and observe the surroundings in his second day of stay in this verse. He thought at first this place, was smaller, akin to the anime depiction. Despite being night and not having the same access of electricity compared to the modern world - the edifices had enough illumination. Yellowish light glows strewn everywhere. It must be the Light Magic used by the royal family. Abiel means, the word must as to monopolize it to gain extreme profit.

The taxes for every Cloverian disturbed him. Regardless of that absurdity. That insane amount of corruption in this Kingdom. Nobody complained. Abiel perceived that commoners and middle-class people developed a mindset to worship the nobles for their own survival. He couldn't blame them. The individuals in this verse had the capacity to conduct a mass genocide in mere seconds. Yuno, a teenager. Not even fucking allowed to drink alcohol in most countries back on Earth. Could lay waste in Kiten. Summon powerful tornadoes to shred the buildings and turn the folks into mincemeat. Two chants would be enough for him to call upon calamity from the heavens and turn this place into absolute horror.

Same as everyone else. People were not scared. They believed that it was okay to resign themselves to these gods in the flesh. They believed that, at least, they were safe compared in the wilderness wherein they could be killed by other gods that didn't have a collar on them. Or speaking of the collar itself, they would be turned into mindless slaves that do erotica for a living.

I mean, Abiel reasoned. People back on Earth had the hobbies of mutilation and torture, right? In a world far more static, and a lot outdated compared to his former reality. Would it get worse?

Get stronger until no one would dare –

"So… what's it all about father?"

They had been like that for an hour. They kept walking around the town. He couldn't push the man to speak. It's getting annoying, and irritating. His patience is slowly peeling off. Sooner or later, as much as he would want to happen. That patience he held so tight will vanish.

"… son."

"Huh?"

"What kind of life do you want to live?"

"At first…. I'd like to expand our family business and make some friends." Abiel grinned. "But I've kind of realized that being Magic Knight sounds awesome as well."

"Magic Knight?"

"Yeah! Those robed heroes that protect the weak and uphold justice. I want to defeat villains, save the day and of course, take the beauty…. ha-ha."

"That's… that's nice to hear, kid."

Abiel twisted his hair tie. He had found that the length of his hair was annoying. With an infuriating feminine face, and a skinny and small body. Having this hair-length wouldn't turn him into Brad Pit when he played Achilles in the Troy movie. This hair length, instead had turned him into a fucking Gasper Vladi in the making. If he's not just damned occupied with training and overworking. He would have ended this madness already –

"Cool right?" Abiel rolled his eyes. "Does being a Magic Knight catch your eye too - I mean, in the past?"

He chuckled.

"Of course. Every kid does that once in their lives. Hopefully, some made it. But y'know?" He smiled, bitterly. "Not all could become one. I'm one of those who had - dreamt that - maybe - just maybe someday I can become part of a powerful known Squad."

"Cool, right?"

"Right. I will save the girl from evil mages. We will fall in love. Get married and have kids." He paused. "But life's not like that. I didn't pass the Magic Knights Entrance Exam due to my lack of character. I don't have a lot of mana compared to the likes of nobles. I was… back then… pathetic."

The situation changed, it reversed. Abiel became the listener.

"But you… Abiel. You are different. I may be an oldie like this." His pupils dilated. "But in a decade, I have learned to observe the amount of mana a person has. Yours… yours are too vast. Mana of the kids your age will look like a bucket of water. But yours… it's more than that."

Abiel frowned. Strange. His understanding of the old man's attitude was brash and aggressive. He didn't hesitate to yell or find faults in him during work time. Do that! Swipe the floor, those words brought him back to the corporate setting during his internship in the past reality.

"You maintain our restaurant well daily. I couldn't even think of someone who could do better than you. God…. You're a good boy."

"I know."

"… since you wanted to become a Magic Knight. I am sure that Ms. Fragil Tormenta could us with help."

"What?"

"I - I - the young lady today was the second daughter of Marquis Tormenta. The lords of Kiten."

"Huh?"

"She - their family, they saw your magic potential. They - they would want to adopt you, Abiel."

Abiel couldn't utter a word. He inhaled deeply and began to bash his brain. so, her name is Fragil Tormenta. Fragile, Fragil, Fragil. She doesn't seem to be in the anime. Wait, yes, she does! That girl is worse than a god-damn side character. I think her magic is snowflakes. Right? Her screen time was just a bit. It shows how dorky she is against other side characters.

I frowned. "So, they want me to be their care or something?

"Y-yes."

"Did you accept their offer?"

"I… yes. Offer like that is once in a blue moon. So…"

"I see."

Not a bad offer. Being on the good side of the nobles will surely bring good results. Abiel sought power. Power to live comfortably in this new world. Power to return on Earth. Power to live with his family, again. Connection is a form of power. He could use this to further expand his plan in this new world.

"Is it part of your agreement to let me visit you once in a while?"

"I'm not sure. But hopefully, they would let me…"

Abiel scratched the back of his head. It felt awkward. The atmosphere became tense. He doesn't know what to do - how to act - seeing the old man's wrinkled face crumpled as he breaks into tears. The man might be sometimes harsh, but he thought, perhaps the old man extremely strict and martial-law kind of approach was a way for Abiel to learn in life. Not a lot of father would be willing to be apart with their children - no matter what. But he, Soranon, sacrificed what it meant to be a father just for the sake of his son's future. It might sound cliché, but Abiel admires how mentally tough the old man is.

The ratio of Magic Knights with commoner lineage is low. Magic Knights were the elite, the winners, the heroes of the kingdom. Soranon would want his son to become one, and his - being a commoner was an obstruction.

He sighed. There are a lot of improvements to do. Three months away from getting his Grimoire but he's nowhere enough compared to the control Yuno has. He might be able to rival him in Mana Density and Quality. Yet he didn't have the reference to begin with. Plans. He needs new training plans. It has to be effective enough for the time limit.

Abiel narrowed his eyes, something was suspicious. A noble taking a mere commoner as family. He knew something was wrong with this. Yet, he didn't have enough information about the whole story. Baseless assumptions would just hinder his plans, and based on his canon knowledge, these characters fall into the good one's category.

There's not enough time before the devils would descend and wreak havoc in this world. Abiel hopes that he will have enough power when that times happen -

To return to where he truly belongs…