“Ahaha, I guess I should probably get serious, huh? Anyway, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cause a misunderstanding. Look, I promise I don’t want to hurt your family. I mean it. I don’t lie.”
Oscar had a hard time believing that, but he nodded anyway.
“The reason I came to meet your family first was because I wanted to learn more about you, O-kun. I went around asking the townspeople about you too.”
“So it’s not like you knew about this place beforehand?”
“I came here on a wild goose chase, really. I’d been told that there was a genius orphan somewhere. I visited so many different countries, checking all the orphanages I could find. I was searching for a genius. Though now that I think about it, there was no guarantee the genius orphan had to be a kid.”
Oscar nodded in understanding.
Even when she’d been joking around, Miledi’s gestures had been refined. He’d guessed that she’d grown up in a noble family, or as the servants of one. Her story further cemented that assumption. It had become somewhat of a fad among nobles to seek out highly talented individuals and bring them into their household.
Miledi turned around and looked up at the moon. After a few seconds, she glanced back at Oscar over her shoulder.
“It was only after I talked to those kids that I learned about your abilities.”
Oscar narrowed his eyes. There was a dangerous glint in them.
“My abilities? I’m just a failure of a Synergist who can only make household goods.”
“Ahaha, you’re such a jester, O-kun. No failure could make those magic items of yours. In fact, it’s so good that you might as well call it an artifact.”
Oscar’s eyes opened wide in surprise. He’d expected Miledi to have heard the rumors about how he’d been a prodigy or that he was secretly hiding his talents, and that was why she thought he was skilled.
To think she’d figured out what the alarms I set around this house really are... Oscar eyed her warily.
“Seriously, quit glaring at me like that! I’m standing here even knowing what it can do, so can’t you trust me a little?”
“Well...”
The traps Oscar had set around the orphanage were lethal. With one word, he could engulf his target in a hail of lightning, wind, ice, and fire.
Furthermore, once it had expelled the intruders it would deploy a five-layer barrier and start ringing a loud alarm.
If the intruders somehow managed to get past his barrier, his trap would resummon it. On top of that, all entrances to the building had been reinforced with the hardest material Oscar could find.
It looked run-down at first glance, but Oscar had transformed the house into a fortress with walls harder than steel.
Any attempt to break the walls would result in a lightning counterattack as well. Oscar had transformed them all into reactive armor.
This was the real extent of Oscar’s skills. He wasn’t just a genius Synergist, he could imbue magic into ore. Create artifacts, in other words.
He could use magic from the age of the gods. The magic that, according to legend, the gods had used when they still walked the earth. The only people who could use it now were Atavists, who had inherited the gods’ blood.
There was a reason he’d told Karg his abilities were abnormal. On top of everything else, he could freely control his own mana, and didn’t need magic circles or chants to use magic. The things master craftsmen took years to accomplish were mere child’s play to Oscar. That was how huge the difference was between his abilities and normal people’s.
“Honestly, this orphanage is better defended than even the royal palace. No simple Synergist could have made an artifact-class defense mechanism.” Miledi had seen through it all somehow. Oscar really couldn’t let his guard down around her. There was more to her than her frivolous attitude suggested.
“If you think I can’t be trusted, why not activate your fortress and kick me out? But unless you do, I won’t leave until you hear me out.”
Ah, now I get it. Oscar seemed to have come to a realization.
Miledi really didn’t seem to have any shady ulterior motives. She’d found this place by coincidence. However, she’d been amazed at the defenses it had, so she’d asked around about who lived here. From that she’d learned about Oscar, and then decided to wait here until he showed up.
Here, where Oscar had access to his most powerful weapons.
She’d let him haul her to the backyard, but she hadn’t left, which would have proved she was at his mercy.
“Why don’t you try and act serious, then? That stupid attitude of yours makes you hard to trust.” Oscar relaxed slightly. He let the tension drop from his shoulders and stopped glaring.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about~ I’m just your ordinary, cheerful, happy, beautiful girl~” She winked at him again, making the same cliched pose as last time. It annoyed the hell out of Oscar.
It was a wonder anyone could combine frivolity and earnestness the way she did. It seemed he’d caught the eye of a very odd woman. He had a headache just from dealing with her.
“Okay, so what is it you wanted to talk about? Let me guess, you want me to make an artifact for you.”
“Nope, you’re totally off~ It’s up to you if you want to make anything for me. Wait, don’t tell me you get off from being ordered around by women? Sorry, I’m not really into that kind of thing...”
“Thunder Snake.”
“Abababababababababa!?” Miledi spasmed as Oscar hit her with one of the orphanage’s anti-intruder countermeasures. The one he’d activated summoned snake-like electrified wires from underground that wrapped themselves around Miledi.
As the electricity faded, Miledi slumped to the ground.
Oscar adjusted his glasses, then looked down at her.
“I’m not a pervert!” He yelled at her.
“F-First you attack me, now you’re yelling at me... Even I didn’t expect that...”
Trembling, Miledi rose back to her feet. Plumes of smoke were rising from her clothes.
“Can you say two sentences without having to stick a joke in between them?”
“It’s one of the best things about me, I can’t just stop. Won’t you please accept me for who I am, O-kun?”
Oscar just silently glared at her. After a few seconds of sulking, she straightened up and adopted a serious attitude. Oscar’s heart skipped a beat again, and he inwardly cursed at himself.
“I have only one goal. Oscar-kun, I want you.”
“You... want me? What do you mean?”
It can’t possibly mean what I think it does, can it?
Miledi looked back up at the moon.
“Have you ever thought... there was something wrong with this world?”
“Ah...” Oscar fell silent. He couldn’t formulate a reply.
“Well, O-kun? You’re a Synergist that’s clearly on a different level than all the others. If you showed the world your skills, you’d probably become the most famous person alive. In fact, you’d probably be remembered by history as a hero. Yet you stubbornly hide your abilities. What is it you’re so scared of?”
Isn’t it obvious? If I did that, all the important people in the world would seek me out.
Sure, he might receive fame and glory. Hell, he might even leave his name in history. But he’d no longer be free. And more than anything—
“Is it the Elbard Theocracy and the church that backs them that you’re afraid of?”
“I should have known you’d figured it out. You know what my abilities are, after all.” Oscar smiled wryly.