'Now it begins . . .' Jun thought to himself.

Magdalena crumpled onto her knees sobbing at the "truth" that Jun had just revealed to her.

If she had been in a normal state of mind, she would have never bought Jun's words, same if he had not carefully manipulated his supernatural presence to prey on her mind and make his words more believable.

Jun realized he was being a cruel and manipulative asshole but figured that since his plans would ultimately benefit both the mother and daughter, a little callous manipulation would not really matter that much.

Magdalena was more resilient that Jun gave her credit for and gathered herself in a few short minutes, trying hard to see through Jun with a burning gaze.

She was not stupid. She realized Jun had the solution to her problem, perhaps an even better solution than the one she had planned for, considering his self referencing as the "Solution to all her problems".

The issue was, at what cost would said solution come. Magdalena knew for a fact that she had nothing that Jun, who she considered to be a powerful individual, might hold an interest in. No, like always, this was about her daughter.

Her question was whether what Jun wanted for or from Gray would be better for her little girl than what her cult wanted for her.

Considering the cult's plans, it would be hard to come up with something even worse but she figured it could easily end up in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

Still, she was desperate, and a desperate person is far more willing to go to extremes. Should jUn give her a remotely nice offer, she would be very hard pressed not to accept and he knew this which was precisely why he pushed her to the brink in the first place.

"What is your price?" Magdalena simply asked.

Jun smiled.

"It is always a pleasure speaking with smart people . . . Well, not always." He finished with shrug.

Magdalena did not appreciate his response though so Jun got right to the point as well.

"My offer is simple. I will make sure your daughter will not be eroded by King Arthur's existence any further in such a way that she'll never have to worry about not being herself ever again." Jun proposed.

"I'll even let her keep the Factor of the Dragon that she inherited which will allow her to grow into a powerful existence in her own right." He added.

"And in exchange?" Magdalena questioned.

"You and your daughter will follow me. I will offer protection, power and an eternity together along with a solemn vow to treat you both well and always take your feelings and thoughts into consideration but in exchange I demand absolute loyalty." Jun named his price.

It was essentially eternal servitude and Magdalena knew it. Still, what he offered in exchange was certainly good enough for such a price.

'If he offered to give us all that without such a binding condition, I'd be suspicious instead . . .' The woman thought to herself.

It was a chance for a better life, a life of servitude but a much better one that she had ever imagined for her or her daughter.

Many people were happy to serve and she knew that neither she nor her daughter were the decision making leader type and were much more comfortable in a subordinate role.

Not wanting to rush into a decision that she might come to regret however, despite how terrible the alternative was, Magdalena asked a series of questions, mostly on what her and her daughter's servitudes would entail.

Jun honestly answered. Magdalena herself was honestly an afterthought and he didn't have anything specific in mind for her while Gray would be trained for a combat role considering her talents inherited from Artoria.

Combat meant danger but it was not certain death and Jun assured that he was not interested in finding disposable subordinates and that Gray would undoubtedly become a valued member in his group considering her potential.

With this in mind, there was no reason for Magdalena not to accept.

Both Jun and her cult wanted to use Gray for their own purpose but Jun clearly wanted Gray herself while her cult just wanted her as a sacrifice and the benefits in offered in exchanged to both her daughter and even herself were incomparably better. And so, Magdalena made her choice.

"I accept your offer." She finally said.

"You'll come to see that this decision as the best you have ever made. That's a promise." Jun replied

"I most certainly hope so." Said Magdalena with more strength in her voice. Settling on a path had let her gasther her resolve once more and she was nothing if not determined when the situation was tied to her daughter and said daughter's future.

"How are we going to do this?" She asked the costly saviour in front of her.

"I was thinking about waiting until you two were together in this house before using spatial transportation to get out." Jun mentioned his simple yet effective plan.

Truly, the most troublesome part was about convincing Magdalena to take her daughter and come willingly with someone who she had just met but after some manipulation to make that happen, Jun could just warp everyone out with not problem.

"Such abilities belong to the domain of magic!" Magdalena was shocked.

A magus she wasn't but still aware that manipulation of space was a power reserved for magicians, at least in the modern day and spatial transportation was something only Zeltretch could pull of under normal circumstances.

But, from the way, Jun was casually referring to such a feat, Magdalena correctly assumed he could easily pull something like that off, immediately raising him up further in her mind and making the woman more sure of her decision to take Jun's offer.

"Ah yes, my magecraft is more powerful than that of an Age of Gods Magus so such feats are really not that difficult for me." Jun explained, leaving Magdalena confused as to what kind of being he actually was.

With that, Jun faded from existence right before the shocked woman's eyes, further reinforcing his prestige in her mind even though at this point, he was only acting cool because he liked it.

All that was left now, was wait. From Jun's surveillance, there was no one powerful enough to notice his presence in the village much less run interference so he merely needed to wait for Gray's lessons with Bersac Blackmore to end and for Magdalena to pick her daughter up and return to the house.

Jun wasn't satisfied however and though that since he was already screwing the village over, he might as well do it completely and maybe go even further be extending his reach to not only the Blackmoore Cemetery Cult but also their associates, the Atlas Institute.

Atlas was one of the three major branches of the Mage's Association along with the Clock Tower and the Wandering Sea, specializing in Alchemy.

Despite its name relating to Greek Mythology, its founders were actually magi descended from the goddess Isis, the ancestor of magi in Egyptian mythology.

Possessing a low number of magic circuits with a quality that was not great either, Atlas' Alchemist instead relied on their genius intellect to discover their greater truths of the universe.

Also known as the Titan's Pit and the Institute of Aggregation and Analysis it was a place where there were no taboos and no penalties to prevent the creation of the most unethical of weapons.

Their only one rule was that things which were created there must never be allowed to leave. Such was their founding principle.

There were however, exceptions. These came in the form of several Contracts of Atlas. Seven such contracts were issued at the founding of the institute and made it bound to cooperation with those in possession of one at their demand. Recovery of these contracts was a goal of Atlas.

Blackmore Cemetery just happened to be in possession of one such contract, which allowed them the use of Logos React one of Atlas' Seven Superweapons.

Said sperweapon was currently in held in the Blackmore Cemetery and the various safety measures protecting it would be wholly incapable of stopping Jun from taking it, something which he was most certainly contemplating . . .

Quickly coming to a decision, Jun located his prize and slipped through all of the bounded fields protecting it with ease due to his ability to fade out of existence completely.

The moment he reached Logos React however, something happened . . .

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba  without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.