章 102: Talent Hunt I
In the Nasuverse, the group sent there was set up comfortably in Ryuudou with Sakura and Illya attending school together.
They went to Homurahara Middle School with Illya being a third year and Sakura being a first year which led to a meeting with Rin, Sakura's elder sister who attended that very same school as a second year.
Maya and Natalia, under the leadership of the later began setting up operations, working for the Mage's Association and some of the more prominent mage families in order to build up connections and reputation, getting started with Natalia's old contacts.
Iri took care of the girls and was their legal guardian taking the parent role at home and for official school purposes.
Asako's job was mainly information gathering and bodyguard duties for all the others using her multiple bodies to efficiently take care of all tasks simultaneously.
After everybody was set into their routines, Jun visited to hang but also to scout out a talent he had his eyes on.
Using his Ideal Craft that had been sublimated through his noble phantasm, he travelled to the British Isles through spatial transportation and visited a certain location where he was certain that he would find who he was looking for.
Blackmore Cemetery, Wales a graveyard where King Arthur's remains are kept. It was named after the Superior Dead Apostle Gransurg Blackmore and he village attached to the cemetery is the hometown of Gray, the so called talent that Jun wished to scout.
Of course, the current Gray, despite already having inherited a part of Artoria's power along with her likeness, was still only eleven years old and since child kidnapping wasn't really up Jun's alley and would not really breed that much trust for the future, he had other ideas.
Sure, he could simply wait until the events that led Waver who would come to be know as Lord El-Melloi II, to pick her up and simply get to her first.
And that was her mother Magdalena. Despite overtly worshiping her daughter as a vessel for King Arthur Artoria, covertly, Magdalena plotted to make sure the ritual that would result in Gray's soul being replaced by Artoria's would not be successful in order to protect her daughter.
She played the role of loyal cultist to give her the necessary trust in order to pull of such an endeavour, even if doing such a thing resulted in her daughter becoming disgusted by her own mother and the face that became her own.
Magdalena believed that even if her daughter became doomed to a life of lonely despair, even if it made Gray hate her, she would do her darndest to make sure her daughter would live on as herself and nobody else.
To this end, other than pretending to be a loyal follower in order to gain the trust she required, Magdalene cut a deal with Doctor Heartless, a rather complicated man whose nature and identity would be better left for another time.
The deal was that in exchange for providing Heartless with the secrets of the Blackmore Cemetery's Ritual, he would in turn provide for the means to make sure it did not work.
Jun was sure this deal had already been made but also believed that Magdalena could be persuaded to listen to him instead if he made a much more appetizing offer, one that would not only ensure her daughters safety and continued existence as herself but also more.
He would be able to provide Gray with happiness, companionship and purpose and, at the same time, give magdalena time heal her relationship with her daughter by taking both away from their little cult. At least that was the plan.
Using the Beyond Reach ability of his Crown of Paradise: Eden, Jun erased his presence completely, fading out of existence and just hovered around the Blackmore Cemetery and its attached village.
Even powerful heroic spirits adept at detecting hidden presences would most likely not be able to spot him and so, a few cultist wouldn't be able to do any better.
He creeped around for a while and bidded his time, waiting to catch Magdalena alone in her home. The burden of what she was doing was getting to her, his extrasensory perception made it obvious so he figured she got some substantial alone time to vent and reaffirm her resolve on the matter.
Gray was being taught, in a worshipping, cult like manner about the various secret arts of the Blackmore Cemetery Gravekeepers, Bersac Blackmore, about the only person that did not worship her, was her teacher.
Meanwhile, Magdalena who usually was with Gray all the time as a caretaker, used the period where her daughter was receiving her daily lessons to cut loose and allow herself, her real self to flow out and grieve for how things had to play out for Gray's safety.
Jun simply created an undetectable barrier that sealed the house and popped in behind the grieving woman.
"Greetings lady Magdalena." He made his presence know.
The aged woman turned around surprisingly quickly and drew a golden curved dagger with various inscriptions engraved on it, a glowing mystic code by the name of Erosion: Penetrating Blade of Gold, given to the Blackmore Cemetery Cult by Morgan herself.
A Key part of the plan to revive King Arthur of which Gray was a part of but also a critical part of Magdalena's plan to save her daughter as well and obtaining it was the reason she had spent years gaining the trust of the cult's leader.
"No need to alarmed. That little toy. Erosion was it? It can't really hurt me anyway." Jun calmly spoke to the wary woman.
"Who are you?" Magdalena questioned.
"The answer to all of your problems . . . If wish to be that is." Jun responded.
"Shall we talk?" He suggested.
Now, Jun might have lost most of his supernatural charm but he still radiated power and for a desperate mortal who was meant to be on her grieving time, her time of weakness, his aura wormed its way into Magdalena's mind, made her more receptive to his words, hsi ideas.
That being the case, despite not letting go of Erosion, keeping it pointed at Jun, Magdalena's guard loosened slightly and she decided to hear the strange being that entered her home uninvited.
She called Jun a strange being in her mind because his instincts told her he was not human at all but something more, much more.
"What do you want?" Magdalena asked him.
"The question my dear . . . Is what do YOU want." Jun pointed out.
"You want to save your daughter from the fate your little cult has planned for her yes?" He questioned but, before Magdalena's silence, he simply kept talking.
"Not only do you want to do it, you even have a plan set up to go about it. A plan that involves that little toy in your hands yes?" Jun continued to ask and the feeling that he could see through everything was planted into Magdalena's mind, making her believe she could hold no secrets from him.
"Now, what if I could give you an even better alternative?" Jun kept going, intent on making the woman breakdown and surrender to him.
Magdalena was a mentally strong woman but the life she led was constantly wearing her out and Jun's very presence and aura when combined with his words were causing her to near her breaking point. That's when things could get started.
Once she broke down, Jun could manipulate Magdalene with his aura and words into accepting his plan and going along with it. Unsavory as such manipulation might be, it would ultimately be better for both her and Gray so Jun didn't feel even slightly bad about doing it.
"Come now lady Magdalena . . . You must know, deep in you heart, that what you plan to do would at most delay the inevitable don't you think?" Jun kept pressing.
A little lie since he did not actually know if the sabotage the woman was planning would actually be something that could be fixed.
However planting that suggestion within her mind drove ever closer to the abyss. Magdalena was willing to sacrifice everything to make sure her daughter remained herself.
She did not fear for herself but the thought that what she planned to would not save her beloved daughter was haunting indeed.
Jun artificially enhanced that feeling driving her closer and closer to the edge, suffering he thought necessary and believed was justified since it was part of his plan to give mother and daughter a better life.
It was all made possible by his aura that he projected, otherwise, Jun was just an home invader whose words did not deserve any trust and it was the pressure from the aura and Jun's subtle manipulations that finally managed to tip Magdalena over.
Thinking her plan was useless and that her daughter would be sacrificed as a vessel to somebody else, even if that somebody was the King arthur, Magdalena broke down, dropping Erosion and falling to her knees.
'Now it begins . . .' Jun thought to himself.
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