Eminence in Technomancy c8

“West Road is on the other side of Kagenou lands,” Alpha explained while pulling out a map and spreading it on the table.

“They rerouted their caravans further away from us.” The blonde pointed to the location.

“That much was expected. We only needed confirmation. The cult still needs to pass these lands if they want to get deeper into the lands of Midgar.

It's funny how their ‘holy lands’ are in the middle of this kingdom. We can use geography to our advantage as well.” Marcus pointed at the holy lands.

“That's because Midgar is the military powerhouse; they protect the Oriana Kingdom and are the guardians of Lindwurm, the Holy Lands,” Claire explained with a plain voice. There is some anger there. She is annoyed that her homeland protects people who want to eat her!

That's just disgusting!

“Isn't that just amusing?” Marcus smirked as he realised how easily this could backfire.

“What is amusing?” Alpha asked with a curious look.

“How easily this can backfire—a city-state surrounded by a kingdom. Sovereignty is the far better choice in case something backfires, but then again, I am not the leader of the Cult.” He replied with a shrug.

“Don’t give them any ideas—my lord!” Claire exclaimed.

“I doubt they take suggestions.” He shrugged at the future Baroness.

“Regardless, we should decide what to do.” Alpha changed the theme of the conversation.

“Retrieval and extermination, and try to look for any paperwork. I want to have more leads.”

The blonde Elf nodded at him; the red-eyed baroness chipped in afterwards.

“I want to join the operation too!”

“No.”

Marcus immediately said no. It was so fast that it took a second for Claire to process his reply.

“B-But why?” She complained the very next second.

“You don't have armour, and them noticing you would endanger your public identity, and your studies and training take priority over this.” He explained in a single breath.

“...Ugh…fine…”

“Remember what I said last time?” He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

“...Umm…” Claire got uncomfortable.

“Well, repeat what I said.”

“...Bad girls don't get rewarded.” She explained with an embarrassed blush. Her voice was tiny; the elf trio were grinning at her. Those grins are making that embarrassment magnify even further!

“Exactly, so if I say you are not going, that means you are not.”

“Y-Yes, I understand!”

As the future Baroness was getting over her embarrassment, she realised that Marcus was not going! The Alchemist returned to his work!

That means— she can have him all to herself! What an opportunity!

“My Lord, you are not going?” She asked him softly, as if not wanting the elves to hear.

“I trust in Alpha’s abilities. Besides, I have things to do.”

She nodded to his explanation and then proceeded to wait. Yep, the black-haired girl will wait until those elves leave, and then she will start—

‘What can I do? I mean— can I ask him to train me in person? But then— ugh…’

Claire realised she hadn't thought beyond the point that she wanted to have him for herself.

After the trio left, the girl started to get nervous for some reason.

The funny part was that Marcus didn't even register that the girls had left or that the red-eyed girl was still there. He was simply continuing to carve runes into the squire-looking plate.

“Are you going to ask, or are you planning to continue to act like a fish?” He asked without even looking at her.

“...W-What?”

“Don’t act silly, Claire. I can sense what you are doing. Do you think I must look or hear what you are doing?” He talked with a ‘Are you for real?’ voice.

“...Ugh…fine…whatever… “ She took a deep breath. This was the first time she was alone with him after the whole debacle with possession and the beast killing. Quite a bit has changed, and she learned much from him.

Now, she doesn't know how to act around him anymore.

“I was wondering if— I can learn anything now that they are not here.” She said that with red cheeks while looking away.

*Amused Snort*

“How cute! Claire wants to get the upper hand.” Marcus teased her. His tease made her even more embarrassed!

“I-I-I know! It sounded better in my head!” She admitted after stuttering for a bit.

“Regardless, it's not that I can teach you something. Magic is knowledge gathering. If you want to wield spells and things like that, you need to know what you want.”

He stopped carving and showed her his hand. At that moment, a flame, a blob of water, lightning, a small amount of dirt, and a ball of wind appeared above his palm.

“See, I can use all the elements, but I need to dictate how my mana flows to make it transform.”

“...Oh…wow, you can wield all the elements…” Claire realised that this guy could probably pass as some sort of Sorcerer as well!

“That much is given. Elements are considered basic.” He said with an eye roll.

“Then—”

“I know it is boring, but simply studying is something you have to do. It was boring for me, but I simply wanted to build a suit when I started at first.

I had a big goal and worked towards it. You should do something similar. Once you have a big goal, you won't notice how you passed those smaller goals.”

“...”

For a second, she pondered on his words.

‘My big goal? I mean, I want to destroy those cultists who want to eat me. But what else could it be?’

“...Your goal— building a suit of armour. You can now make it easily, no?” Claire asked him, curious. She wants to ‘weigh’ the goal.

“You are probably wondering how my goal led me to this place, right?” He motioned at his surroundings.

She slowly nodded.

“That's because you probably don't see it as something more than just a piece of protection.” He pointed at the obvious.

“... not—fully? I mean, is it a weapon? Like a trump card? An artefact?” Truthfully, Claire didn't see it as just a shield but a magical weapon. She saw what the gloves could do in person.

“You are not wrong, but it's more than just that. It's an augmentation.” He got up from his seat and walked over to the armour on the mannequin.

Marcus motioned for her to come over.

“At this moment, the armour is a basic piece of protection and manoeuvrability, combined with third-rate offence. This is nothing more than a test model and means to allow Alpha to release her frustration towards the cult.”

“...Did you just say basic!? But—”

“I am a Grand Alchemist, not a third-rate alchemist with fourth-rate talent.” He quoted something he picked up a long time ago.

“With my latest suit, before I died, I could travel the void, visit other celestial bodies, destroy worlds, and remake them as I see fit. I didn't need to sleep or rest; the operational time was nearly limitless.”

“...Then—”

“How did I die?”

She dumbly nodded at his words.

“I was hit by something that can erase multiple solar systems per second.”

“...P-Per second!?”

“Yep, I wasn't strong enough.” He shrugged at her. While he was pissed, he was beaten by a cosmic phenomenon. It's like being angry at the wind.

Her eyebrows twitched; this felt like Marcus had introduced her to a new world!

“Now let me tell you about the shortcomings of this armour. So that you could get over this silly notion that this is impressive.”

She swiftly snapped out and proceeded to listen.

“This is a two-piece armour. The chainmail works as an exterior skeleton. The official name is an exoskeleton. It sticks to the body and moves according to the human body.

The downside is that you can't go underwater or fly in the sky beyond two to three kilometres in the air. It doesn't have an internal breathing system, nor does it protect from water or coldness.”

‘I never even considered that those are needed.’ Claire’s mouth twitched. It's not like she is planning to go to those places.

“Then the most obvious ones, the leggings, have no use so far, apart from essential protection, same with the chest piece, it's 95% empty, while from elbow to shoulder, we have kinetic absorption we could add some more uses.” He finished explaining to her.

“As you can see, an upgraded model is needed.”

“I see.”

The girl got spacey. She walked back to the couch and proceeded to process it.

Now she started to understand why Alpha and the other two elves were just listening to him.

~~~

“This is West Road.” The blonde elf commented as she saw the road.

“According to Claire, they should have passed the town half a day ago.” Beta replied as she looked around, trying to orientate where she was.

“The town is that way, then we should move forward?” Gamma pointed out.

“Yes, let's go.”

The trio flew for a few more minutes until they saw a large convoy-like of soldiers dressed in garbs of Divine Teachings church.

“Impressive numbers, this more of them than last time,” Beta said with an impressed look.

“It's great, isn't it? They are taking this seriously now.” Alpha’s voice was borderline mocking, as numbers don't mean much to her; no sword can cut her. Her armour is made from material not found in this world, nor the runes carved on the armour plating can be understood by these people.

“Yes, but this doesn't matter now, does it? Our Lord’s armour is protecting us.” Beta said what Alpha was thinking.

“Precisely! Now let's Kill.”

The pair nodded at Alpha’s words.

Gamma brought her hands together and created a ball of raw mana.

Once it reached levels she liked, she threw it at the front of the convoy.

Like a missile, it slammed at the leading person, creating an explosion big enough to cause a large dust cloud.

‘Impressive! I need those rune casters, too!’ Alpha was impressed by the projection of mana and its destructive powers.

Gamma was just like her; she thought about creating a ball, which just happened!

The blonde rushed to the front as she pulled out her katana. The blade on the weapon glowed blue, as the runes were visible on the blade.

Like a cannonball, she slammed to the ground, cutting a heavily armoured Dark Knight in half. It took a couple of seconds to catch up with what happened as the knight’s body split in two, and the vertical cut finally appeared, exploding into a mist of blood.

“W-What are you!?” One of the knights, with a shaky voice, demanded to know.

“Prepare to bathe in the Light of Technomancy. You all will pay for your sins.” The blade started to vibrate from the sheer mana it was receiving.

Before they could comment, the blonde proceeded to slice and dice.

No blade could intercept the swings from Alpha; the runes on her weapon are sharpness-increasing runes, which means the more mana the blade has, the sharper it is.

So even if the dark knights channel their mana to their blades, it's meaningless.

Even Beta, at the back of the convoy, was slaughtering the knights.

At first, she was still panicky, but she recalled those head pats and praises. Making her just— snap. Ultimately, this didn't matter; all that mattered was her Lord. If he wants her to kill, she will kill; if he wants her to die for this cause, she will gladly die.

But as long as she has his blessing (the armour and the blade), she will kill all of them.

The knights swiftly realised what was going on. It appears they realised where the previous caravan had disappeared too, so several of them proceeded to run away.

But at that moment, beams of energy punched holes through their bodies.

It was Gamma who snipped them from the air.

‘Sorry, but no witnesses.’

The blue-haired elf lowered her hands as she watched the fight and waited for any of the knights to try to run away.