A couple of days before. A man in a raincoat with a black mask walks in the slums. Dark, dirty alleys and disgusting smells of sex and shit. These were the gateways of the city of Neo. The city is located very far from the capital. And the nobleman Harrison, who controls the order of the city, is his old friend, who also participates in his slave machinations. He had no intention of ever coming here. But recent events forced him to do this.
He enters the building. It was some kind of cafe. The disgusting interior and smell will drive away any sissy. But that's not what worries him now. It was Mustang. And he doesn't come here alone. There are no clients in the building. After all, there will be a family meeting here. He takes the chair that smelled the least like shit and is going to wait for his distant loved ones. Teenagers gradually enter the building. Among them were mens and women's. The teenagers do not look rich, they are dressed in extremely terrible clothes. And they all look extremely terrible. The reason is simple. They are all abandoned childrens.
Mustang has used many women. And in fact, he has many illegitimate children. In such cases, he hires people for the ritual. Hiring a person to perform a ritual to seal magic is not easy. But Mustang has his own connections with the right people. Having sealed the magic with it, he could not be afraid that any problems would occur during another important ritual. But Tenma is a special case. She was a woman, and they were considered incapable of accepting Artoros's gift. However, this turned out to be untrue. And he doesn't need to be a genius to understand what will happen next. The fact that Tenma was left alone, despite the fact that she is not an official child, is simple. Midas wants to use her to replace Mustang. They will try to teach her how to use her gift. And then when she can replace him. They will strike. But Mustang doesn't worry. If only he had known earlier about the death of the emperor. He would have strangled her in her own bed. There would be a lot of news about this, where his reputation is insulted in every possible way. But this way he would guarantee his safety. Although he does not know Midas, his self-confidence tells him that he is able to defeat him. The other nobles would also do little against him. Now it is necessary to enlist support from the army. A small army is sufficient to capture important points in the empire. Threaten weaker nobles to participate in his plans. During all this, Tenma is guaranteed to die.
Mustang wanted to be number one. He could not tolerate Emperor Adam's strangling hand. He thought it was unfair. They both reincarnated, then why is he stronger then me? It's not fair. But now he was excited. Because now he can take everything into his own hands. But first, he need to convince the teenagers to do a small favor.
"Wake up, sleepyhead." As usual, Shio woke me up. She became somehow nanny for Lane and me. Liana left the room before everyone else, as she said, she had some important meeting. But now I'm a little upset. "Shio wake me up in an hour." Bad decision.
I suddenly couldn't feel the air. She pinched my nose. Effective tactics, damn it. In the end, by force, I still get up. "Good morning." Shio was ready, she didn't seem sleepy at all. "Okay, I have a problem with her." She pointed at Lane. She lay with a blanket wrapped around her face, but the other half was absolutely visible. And I'm talking about the ass. "Hey, wake up! Fat ass." How is she even breathing? Or she did it on purpose so that Shio wouldn’t get her. Well, I have a better idea.
I squeeze her ass, you will thank me. Lane gets up, making a cute squeak. She covers herself with the blanket first, and I see how she is about to fall asleep again. "No, you can’t. You yourself asked us to wake you up early." She looks at me as if I were a sworn enemy. "How can I turn you off?" Turn me off? Am I a lightbulb or something?
Through the pain, she enters the bathroom and after I’m fully dressed, I look at Shio. After all, the two of us will now have a special time. She probably noticed my elevated mood and that’s why she said it. "I’m glad for your attitude, but it won’t be as special as you think." Yeah, yeah, of course I believe. After yesterday's battle, the arena was destroyed, but fortunately it recovered itself after a while. However, I was unable to fight with Liana. The battle was gold. Lane is in such a bad mood that she didn't get to see the fight, only hear it from us. And Shio watched the fight through the window. And even after all this she said, "I can beat both of them." I didn't believe her, and as proof she said to practice with me. It will be interesting.
Lane came out of the bathroom and, let’s say, she didn’t look the happiest. Having sat down at the table with us, she still could fully awake. I handed her a cup of tea and her face became softer. "Thank you." Still then, I never apologized to her for my hostility. When the time is right, I need do so. But now. "We're going." Finally.
We entered another arena, this place was not similar to the previous one. It's more like a workout sheep training ground. There were large walls with ropes, springboards, mannequins and other stuff whose names I don’t know. We weren’t alone here, but I didn’t see any familiar faces here. Shio was wearing a light training uniform, just like me. Today I gonna have boring history and math lessons. History is always written by the winners, so the bad parts of our empire are kept silent. I learned better about our country thanks to conversations with Rokshar. And mathematics, let's say Sera and Mary tried to teach it to me. But it turned out terrible.
"Well, Shio, don’t disappoint me." To be honest, I’m waiting. If she's really strong I can't do anything to her. But experience is experience. You can't refuse it. "We won't fight." Shio's sudden answer surprised me. What's the point? "I'll dodge your blows, you'll show how good you are at this." Oh, well, that's probably even better, perhaps?
Not going to wait any longer, she jumps towards Shio. She stood like a statue armed with a spear. Fortunately, Tenma’s swords and Shio spear were in case. Therefore, they would not harm each other, well, not that much at least. She pointed two swords towards the spear, hoping to knock it out of her hand. "Slowly." Tenma didn't have time to react before Shio already disappeared. She looked around and saw that she was sitting on a bench. "Such disrespect, you can offend me by this." Shio just looked at the sky, but her thoughts were aimed at something. While Shio was in her thoughts, Tenma's black sphere slowly approaches from behind. Tenma trained to control it. And she learned to feel his presence in the walls. She could even tell where it was without even seeing the sphere with her eyes. The sphere came close enough for Shio to see it. She wanted to jump away from him first. But she realized that he was harmless. "Interesting." While Shio wasn't looking, Tenma had already pointed two swords at her back. But Shio dodged and weakly hit. Strike dropped Tenma to the ground, and it looked funny.
"Damn." Tenma lost again. She understood that she was no match for an experienced fighter. But why doesn't her gift help? "Don’t be upset, for someone who studied magic for a month, you’re doing pretty well." Not bad, but it’s not enough. "But others with the gift..." "If you compare yourself to others, you won't learn anything." Shio's harsh comment cheered Tenma up a little. "You will say thank you when you become the strongest, but now get up." Rising to her feet, Tenma cleared the dust from her uniform. "Your comment can be considered a betrayal of the empire, what about the emperor. Can I surpass him according to you? "Tenma did not believe in this, she needs to at least be an average mage, and then strive for heights. "Why not, who knows what potential you have."
Tenma didn't believe it. She is unlikely to reach that level. But she has a goal. The one she wants to get rid of. And for this purpose she does not necessarily become strong. It is enough to wait until Mustang makes a critical mistake. And then she will take advantage of it. "Enough talking, I'll make you fight seriously."
Unfortunately, she didn’t force it. She ran after Shio for thirty minutes, failing to hit her even once. It was extremely shameful. "Why are you so strong." Shio thought about it until she answered. "Secret."
Tenma already knew little about Shio, it was rude to try to forcefully learn her secrets. But they accumulate more and more. Where is she from? What ability does she have? Who did she want to kill? And most importantly. Where does she get so much combat experience from? They are both the same age. But why does she have such an advantage? It’s as if she’s in front of a martial artist.
"I’ve had enough, who taught you to fight like that." Shio sat down on the bench; unlike Tenma, there wasn’t a drop of sweat on her. "My parents, and my love." Tenma was surprised to hear this. For the first time, something interesting about her past. But wait, can it? Tenma wanted to ask a question, but Shio beat her to it. "Unfortunately, they dead if that’s what you’re thinking." Yes, that’s exactly what she wanted to say.
"I. Sorry." Shio just waved her hand. "You don't need to apologize, someone else should." Tenma missed the last part of what he said. For her, Shio is just a familiar neighbor, and not the closest. The curiosity to find out who she was never left her. And she wants to get to know her, maybe a little closer. "I, Shio, I know almost nothing about you. And I’m not someone important to you. You have the right not to tell anything about yourself. But. I want to be closer. If I may say so. I didn’t have any friends before that. And. Well. I don’t even know what I want." Seeing all this, Shio sighed. "Do you want to be closer?" Tenma nodded.
Shio thought about it. This meant a lot to Tenma. She had no friends. And she would like to fix it. Spending your whole life alone is not so cool. But Shio was thinking about something completely different. She enjoyed spending time with Tenma. But she doesn't see her as a friend. She sees an opportunity. She wants to get closer to her and with her help take revenge. Tenma is different from ordinary nobles. She knows nothing about her past. But other people's rumors and my own observations. They made it clear about her difficult childhood. "I don't mind. But friendship takes time, so when can we practice again?"
Tenma looked extremely happy about this. She took off her sullen mask for the first time. And when Shio saw this, she said to herself. A smile suits her face.
Forgive me Tenma. But I have to do this. I promised her.
