Capítulo 29: The Making of a Friend
So, Magic Police Girl AKA Sera Naiberg. I had met her before at the warehouse of course and at that time I was surprised by the strength of her spiritual core. The significance of that observation had escaped me at that time, but it was a bright flashing billboard advertising her status as one of the heroines of this world. It also explained why she was hanging around the Hero the night I was beating up those gangers.
Alright, enough sidetracking. Back to the story.
When Tensei lost his mother during the escape from Legion territory, the UN P5 was put in a bind. Tensei was a minor and obviously needed a guardian. Nevertheless, the future prince (Vice prince, deputy prince? However you want to call it.) of half of Legion controlled Europe could not be fostered by any old family on the adoption register. Tensei's difficult position in House von Amsterg also made the more politically connected families in the P5 leery of fostering him. Such an adoption would effectively be interference in the succession of House von Amsterg, a conflict many were not interested of getting involved in.
Enter Archmage Naiberg.
The Archmage was a highly respected figure in the P5, being one of the major researchers responsible for developing a magical theory that was generally compatible with humanity. Gone were the days when a human had to roll the dice whenever they wanted to use magic. Get an even number, cast fireball. Get an odd number however, and your soul would be devoured by some cosmic horror. It made learning magic a very dangerous proposition for early human practitioners, and that was why the trailblazers, like Naiberg, were eventually elevated to high status. Naiberg for instance, is the honorary, though largely absent, adviser of the Board of Governors for Unity College as well as an "elephant", a researcher doing work of strategic importance.
Archmage Naiberg's research took the risk out of the entire process of casting magic. Using his magical theory, humans could draw from what were effectively three sources of magic, the traditions of both the Host and Legion as well as the growing library of human specific spellcraft that was in development. The cost for that, and there is always a cost as The Voice enjoys reminding me, was inefficiency in casting.
Any human mage who follows Naiberg's casting theory, meaning most human mages, would be able to freely cast from any of the three schools of magic. This gives human mages a powerful advantage over their angel and demon counterparts, who were limited to their own racial spell pool. However, humans would always pay more in spirituality for each spell of equivalent power they cast compared to their angel and demon counterparts. This drawback coupled with the fact that most human mages had leaner spiritual cores compared to angels and demons, was a constant problem that human mages had to grapple with. Researchers including Naiberg were burning midnight oil looking for a solution.
Apparently this was a problem that affected me as well, since the casting theory The Voice provided me with was based off Naiberg's original work. The Voice told me that it had added its own spin to the method though, increasing the intensity of the spells I cast at the expense of even greater inefficiency. The justification being that since I had an effectively infinite amount of spirituality thanks to the artificial core, I could afford to pay out of my ass for juiced up spells that would end fights more quickly.
Archmage Naiberg did not have access to an artificial spirit core crafted by a god though. That made brute forcing a solution impossible. Naiberg instead chose to research further the development of spiritual cores in children, hoping to find a way to bulk up on the core before core growth stopped in adulthood. And he had the perfect test subject for his theories, the newly born Magic Police Girl.
As a child, Magic Police Girl became a test subject in Naiberg's experiments. Happily for her though, The Voice had seen value in her as an eventual Heroine. Thanks to its fiddling while she was in the womb, Magic Police Girl developed an immensely powerful spiritual core when subjected to her father's treatments. Magic Police Girl became known as a prodigy and Naiberg was once more lauded for his work, his theories vindicated.
However, The Voice saw little value in Naiberg's research itself. Naiberg had indeed made several important discoveries on soul growth while working on Magic Police Girl. But, the bulk of the actual heavy lifting was done not by Naiberg, but by the genetic enhancements supplied by The Voice. Naiberg's methods would only work on someone with the exact same enhancements, meaning that it would work on absolutely no one else.
Disappointed, Naiberg nevertheless decided to continue pursing his research. As far as Magic Police Girl went, he encouraged her to study and develop her magic, but otherwise had not much interest in her as a father. Magic Police Girl diligently set her mind towards the goal of mastering magic as it was the only means of getting acknowledgement from the Archmage. She achieved great success, cementing the reputation of her family as a family of geniuses.
This state of affairs continued for several years, until Naiberg heard about Tensei. As I had noticed earlier, Tensei has a really unusual spirit core. Two cores in a single structure constantly in conflict. Although the locals can't see spirituality directly like I can, this irregularity was quickly discovered when Tensei was put through a battery of medical tests upon reaching P5 territory. Naiberg was intrigued and wanted to get his hands on Tensei as a test subject.
The P5 shot the idea down immediately. Tensei was far more valuable as a political piece then a lab rat. Naiberg kept nagging about it though and the P5 eventually threw their collective hands up and laid down some ground rules with the Archmage.
Access to Tensei was subject to Naiberg fostering him, the cost of which would be borne by the P5. Tensei's education and other needs would generally be met by the P5, Naiberg was only to provide a place for him to stay and act as a suitably prestigious surrogate parent for the future prince. Naiberg in return would be allowed to perform non-invasive research on Tensei, with a guard always on hand to make sure the Archmage did not get too enthusiastic.
Under these circumstances, Naiberg got really nowhere investigating Tensei's unique soul and lost interest in him. Tensei did not mind though, as he had already found a friend, the future Magic Police Girl. Magic Police Girl originally did not have much interest in Tensei, seeing him as unusual but weak. However his good nature, determination and handsome looks quickly won her over. Magic Police Girl eventually saw herself as a kind of protector and mentor to Tensei, guiding him in his studies and helping out when he got into trouble.
When Tensei came of age, he desired to leave the cold, impersonal house of the Archmage and talked things over with Magic Police Girl. By this time, she had already been scouted by the City's Special Operations Police and was only hesitating because she feared leaving Tensei by himself. Tensei's desire to leave fit well with her own plans and together they enrolled at the Academy with the blessing of the P5.
So Magic Police Girl juggles her studies with her duties as a part time member of SOPO all the while keeping an eye out on Tensei. Such a packed schedule might be a problem for you and me, but its not a problem for a Heroine. Magic Police Girl has by this time settled into her role by Tensei's side, keeping him safe and she hopes, perhaps stirring his romantic interest?
But its not enough.
The Voice abruptly loads a clip of security camera footage on the laptop, sweeping aside all the documents that I was still in the process reading.
"A situation has arisen," The Voice rasps, "Your intervention is required."
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