บท 4: Killing Stone
London, England,
Trambelio Subsidiary Mansion,
Roman POV,
A small yet very audible bang rang out in the office.
Roman had banged his fist on the table, his father only staring in silence as he did so. With a scowl, the young man stood up, limping over to his eyepatch and putting it on once again, "I'd like for you to leave, or don't, not like it matters what I'd like." Roman shrugged helplessly, touching the black patch that covered his eye before picking up his cane and storming off, slamming the door shut behind him.
McDonell could only sigh at his son's actions, yes he understood the frustration but, it was still true that he had no accomplishments to his name. He valued merit and from what he'd seen, his son had a 'crippling' lack of it..... McDonell grumbled at his own shitty joke before standing up, he was leaving this place... The kid would probably come around eventually.
In another part of the mansion, Roman could be seen walking down the hallway, the practised smile once more plastered on his face as if what had happened just a few moments ago didn't even matter to him. He stopped near one of the windows and stared out into the yard, the suited men were already getting back in their vehicles meaning that his father was, in fact, leaving.
"....." Thea only followed in silence, her master was clearly upset and she lamented that she couldn't really help him with it,...
"I believe that you can make them regret this."
The maid spoke out anyway.
Roman paused for a moment before lightly laughing, "You think I give a shit? Come on now, that's not me." He spoke in a joking tone, once more resuming his slow tread through the dimly lit hallway. Yes, he'd thought of it before but his lack of care nullified most of the desire.
"Master, why not take up a thaumaturgical foundation?" The maid suggested in a low voice, a 'thaumaturgical foundation' was best described as a cluster of spells or magic formulae in the form of programs, which could be activated simply by connecting one's magic circuits to the foundation and supplying the necessary magic energy along with the command. It was a widespread method and fairly easy to use too.
"Unnecessary." The proposal was shot down quickly, why would he do that? If Roman knew what a spell did, then he could directly replicate the effects with but a snap of his fingers, why limit himself to one when he could use spells from them all? His ability wasn't exactly limited to simple manifestation of desire.. well it was, but that made it a very versatile ability capable of easily pulling off insane feats.
"I see." Thea nodded with closed eyes, "Why not reveal one of your many spells?" She really did want to help, and she did want people to stop treating him as they did.
"Why would I do that?" Roman smiled with a closed eye, "You see, I only learnt of my prowess once I crossed ten. I'd been trying to accomplish a spell but it kept failing and out of frustration, I just supplied the prana and wished it would happen... By that time, I did know how magi were and also knew that my family would change their attitudes in a heartbeat..."
".....?" Thea didn't quite understand what he was talking about... He... She thought he'd have all the spells he did to entertain himself had been set up beforehand...
"Yeah so that was kinda frustrating to realise.... Then I realised I didn't really give much of a fuck about their support and love." The young magus huffed as he walked, furthering his own agendas had become priority number one after that fateful day, and most of his agendas were just whims and thrill.
"Master, why not rely on someone?" Thea pointed out one thing she noticed in his words, not once did he mention caring for something or someone or even having someone that he could always fall back to.
"Haha.." Roman only laughed at her words, not answering the question.
"There is also one other matter." The maid averted her gaze, finding it somewhat difficult to say her next words.
"Hm?"
"What of your familial thaumaturgical attribute? Why not make use of it?"
"Ah yes.." Thaumaturgical Attribute, or Sorcery Trait, a trait passed down from one generation to the other, improving effectiveness and expanding versatility to whatever the family focused on. The Trambelio, as masters of General Fundamentals, certainly had to have an insane trait.
"I don't have that. I also don't have any elemental affinities. They don't call me a failure for nothing... And, we've had this talk multiple times before. Nothing is going to change from you bringing it up."
Yes, that was the truth, he had no attributes and no affinities, something that was completely abnormal seeing as everyone had at least one. Though, the truth of the matter was known only to himself, the Root had sapped away quite a bit... But, it wasn't like such things were needed. With the ability to freely manipulate prana as desired, he could pretty much use any element as he 'desired'....
Hell, even now, he could turn the whole of London into a scorching sea of fire just by changing the prana in the air into fire.
By now they'd arrived at one of the guest rooms, Thea pushed open the wooden doors for her master with a difficult expression on her face, "I was only trying to-..."
"Yes, yes I know. Thank you, but it's useless." Roman waved his hand, dismissing her worries and attempts, she oft reminded him of what he could do were he to try in an attempt to help him... But, did she not understand that he never had any self esteem problems in the first place?
The maid seemingly sighed, standing to the side with her hands at her waist, hopefully her master would decide to flip the table soon. She hoped for the day when all those that shunned him scurried for his favour.
"He gone?" Melvin, who'd been waiting for him in the guest room, stood up from the couch, waving his hand with an excited smile. The room itself was nothing short of luxurious, dark furnished furniture, expensive paintings on the walls, a fireplace with some sofas placed around it. A shelf with numerous bottles stood to one side.
"I like how he thinks he's in the right with what he says." Roman chuckled, walking to the shelf and picking up an expensive looking bottle along with two glasses, "You mind?"
"Nope." Melvin picked up one of the tables near the walls and placed it near the fireplace before pushing two of the sofas closer, "There we go." He pointed at his arrangement with a smug smile.
Roman chuckled at Melvin's excited nature and sat down on one of the couches, pouring wine into the two glasses he'd carried over as Melvin too took a seat.
"Cheers."
With that, the two took sips from their glasses and discussed menial and benign topics like whether or not Roman had banged someone yet.
Soon however, the jovial air changed into a more serious one, "So, did you get 'that'?" Roman asked, calmly placing his glass down. The year was 1994 and after some investigation, he'd learnt the 4th Holy Grail War would be starting soon, maybe days or weeks were left till it did.... Naturally, the young Trambelio would participate.
In a bid for a better servant, he'd asked his dear friend Melvin Weins to acquire a certain 'something' for him....
What?
It should have been apparent that Roman wouldn't be letting an opportunity such as this one go and, servants were one of Fate's fundamental concepts, no way in hell he'd be forgetting how that worked.
"You bet." Melvin reached behind his sofa, picking up a rather small briefcase and placing it on the table. With a swift movement of his fingers, the container was unlocked and Melvin turned to Roman with a wide smile, "Acquiring this was a pain in the ass not gonna lie. Would you believe that the piece in the famous hot springs was just a fake replica?"
"... Why would they leave a national artefact out in the open?" Roman deadpanned at his friend's words, what was he even expecting?
"Checks out." Melvin nodded with closed eyes, having had a real life no shit sherlock moment.
"That aside, open it."
Roman nodded, slowly opening the case as an ominous aura leaked out of it, clearly hinting at the origin and nature of the artefact in question. Once fully opened, the case revealed a piece of shattered stone inside.
Roman's eyes glowed for a moment, revealing that he'd appraised the item before him in said moment, and he nodded in approval, "What do you want for this?"
"The Killing Stone. Allegedly the corpse of Tamamo-no-Mae, the nine tailed demon fox.... I doubt a price can be put on a part of something like that." Melvin leaned down with his hands locked together in front of his face, his tone completely serious.
Roman braced himself for something outrageous, clenching his fist.
But then,
Melvin burst out laughing, banging on the side arm of his sofa with a hand over his stomach. Only after a good few moments did he settle down and wiping a fake tear from his eye, he turned to Roman, "Man, that was good."
Roman looked at him in silence.
..
..
.
..
Roman then smacked Melvin's head with his cane.
"Damn you." Melvin rubbed his head in pain, still laughing silently, "Anyway, no price for you. You know I wouldn't do that. The trip to Japan was fun enough and, I get the feeling I'll be seeing something very interesting..." Melvin's smile widened to slightly insane proportions, his thrill senses were tingling!
"Well then, I'm grateful." Roman smiled with a closed eye, had it been someone else saying this, he'd have greatly doubted them... But, he'd known Melvin since they were kids, he wouldn't betray him nor would Roman ever betray Melvin.
"Eh, no need. Now go my child. You are free to see the world!" Melvin held a hand over his chest and raised the other dramatically.
"You suck." Roman chuckled at his friend's antics.
Next, was a little help to a certain friend and a flight to Japan....
"You not gonna ask what I did to get it?"
"...." Roman narrowed his gaze, "What?"
"Actually, you don't need to know. Just blow it up or something after you're done with it though." Melvin averted his gaze, troubled laughter escaping his mouth.
Roman sighed, "Ich schulde Ihnen etwas."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
====
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