Capítulo 54: Aozaki Aoko Case File [52]

"Do you think you have time to manage all that yourself?"

Touko raised an eyebrow as she asked.

"Of course, I don't have that much time," Aoko replied nonchalantly.

"But I can always hire a professional manager, can't I? I'd provide guidance on the key strategies."

"And Japan's economy is about to collapse," Aoko added gleefully.

"I'm going to make a huge profit off this opportunity!"

Hearing this, Touko frowned slightly.

"Aoko, do you… have foresight about the future?"

"Not exactly foresight," Aoko thought for a moment before replying.

"You could say I've learned, through certain channels, what would have happened. So, I can use this information to plan my moves accordingly."

As her sister spoke, Touko immediately entered a speculative mode. Aoko saying something like this—could it mean she had seen this world's history within the Swirl of the Root?

Aoko didn't elaborate further, but seeing Touko sitting there with her tense little face, lost in deep thought, made her want to laugh. She was delighted.

"By the way, if you're interested in foresight, I do know someone I can recommend to you," Aoko said, stirring her coffee with a spoon.

"She possesses absolute foresight—it's just a matter of whether she'd agree to meet you."

"Someone like that still exists after the Age of Gods?"

Touko was visibly surprised. To her knowledge, such an advanced level of foresight, often referred to as Clairvoyance, was one of the rarest talents even among magus from the Age of Gods.

"Yes, she should currently be in Mifune City," Aoko said after sipping her coffee.

"Appearance-wise, she's an ordinary old woman. People call her the 'Mother of Mifune,' and her fortune-telling stall is quite famous in that area."

"Forget it," Touko said with a hint of resignation.

"In my current state, I'm not in any condition to travel far on my own."

"Aoko, you'd better take responsibility," Touko mumbled through a mouthful of fried potato cakes.

"Take responsibility for looking after me."

"Otherwise, if I get caught by my creditors, I might spill all your secrets!"

"That day will never come," Aoko assured her.

"At least not after we arrive at the Clock Tower."

...

After breakfast, Aoko brought Kohaku, Hisui, and Touko to her villa. Touko still had a workshop there, and she needed to start teaching the two sisters in that space.

Meanwhile, Alice remained at home, carefully repairing the mechanical robin, Robin. It was meticulous work that required considerable time.

At Aokos villa, she had already set up rooms for Kohaku and Hisui. Though the furniture wasn't designed for children yet, the sisters seemed to like the arrangements regardless.

Aoko also revisited her workshop in the villa, where she resumed her magical studies. She finally made some progress in mastering the Disintegration Spell.

She had been working on this spell for a while. Although she hadn't yet reached the level of proficiency where it could be considered second nature, she had prepared sufficiently to use it now.

In her underground magical testing facility, Aoko planned to use the Disintegration Spell for the first time to test its capabilities.

After a series of preparations, Aoko performed the spell through a magical ritual. Before her was a cubic stone block, and not far behind it, a bound rabbit that couldn't move.

She wanted to see if the spell could pass through obstacles to harm the living target behind them.

Before casting, she donned a high-grade gas mask, just in case the spell released any harmful substances.

"Frange!"

Aoko softly recited the incantation, channeling magical energy into the mental model of the spell. She extended her right index finger, and a beam of green light shot forward, striking the cubic stone in an instant.

The stone dissolved rapidly as if butter melting under intense heat.

Approaching the stone's former location, Aoko inspected the remains. All that was left was a pile of unidentifiable powder. However, the rabbit in the same attack trajectory remained unscathed, lively as ever.

Aoko was a bit disappointed. She had imagined the spell would function like a directed energy weapon. Instead, it seemed to be limited to a single-target effect.

Nevertheless, the spell's destructive power was immense—it could instantly disintegrate a 10-cubic-foot object into dust or deal devastating damage to a single creature. It was a spell that deconstructed its target at a fundamental level, unlike Aoko's magical bullets, which relied on raw magical energy to produce impact, heat, and light.

The casting speed was decent. Aoko thought it would become even more effective if she mastered silent casting, making it harder for opponents to defend against sneak attacks due to the spell's likely near-light-speed trajectory.

With the test complete, Aoko's sixth-circle spell slot for the day was expended. She returned to her workshop and spent the remainder of her spell slots crafting scrolls. The more prepared she was for her confrontation at the Clock Tower, the better. Even though Aoko could activate the Fifth Magic to achieve a pseudo-invincible state, conserving the universe's lifespan was wise. After all, if the Counter Force sent a Grand Servant to fight her, things could get tricky.

Her studies and experiments continued until dusk. By the time the sky darkened, she decided to head back to the Kuonji mansion, not wanting to leave Alice alone.

Since she had used up all her spell slots, teleportation was out of the question. And using an expensive scroll for a simple commute wasn't worth it.

Around 6 PM, Aoko and Touko's dad arrived by car to pick them up.

As they walked out of the villa to board the car, Aoko noticed her dad staring at Touko, utterly dumbfounded.

"?"

Aoko paused briefly, then realized she had forgotten to explain Touko's rejuvenation. Even though her dad wasn't deeply involved in the mystical world, as a father, he'd surely remember what Touko looked like as a child...