C3- Dead Apostles Around Perimeter
Marcus looked at the Alter version of King Arthur herself!
How on Earth was he able to summon this specific Servant?
She is not even a Saber Version!
Nope, this Artoria Alter was a Rider!
He knew that because of her parameters which he checked with his Master's vision.
[Rider]
[Real Name: Artoria Pendragon (Alter)]
[Parameters:
Strength: A
Endurance: A
Agility: A
Mana: A+
Luck: B
Noble Phantasm:A+]
[Class Skill:
Magic Resistance: A
Riding: B+
Independent Action: EX
Pseudo Life (Vessel): A]
[Personal Skills:
King of Maids: A
Charisma of Head Maid: E
Dragon Reactor: B
Coaching: A
Intuition: A]
[Noble Phantasm:
Excalibur Morgan: A]
'Her parameters are impressive, however, they are weird as well. It's like she is a completely separate being from regular Alter.'
Marcus thought about this for a bit before he felt his Command Seals glow and his new Servant was officially connected to him.
"It is a pleasure to meet Artoria Pendragon herself." The Grand Alchemist started the conversation.
Firstly she did a simple bow, before starting to talk.
"The pleasure is mine, I have answered your summons because you needed a helper, a specific helper. You need a maid who can run things in your household, and I am King of all Maids. This makes me the perfect candidate." The pale blonde explained to him straight to the point.
'I needed a maid? Since when? How? For what?'
For a moment he thought about this. He then recalled that he is quite bad at taking care of his daily stuff.
"I guess you are right. I do need a maid. It's always good to have the best maid around."
His newly summoned Alter slowly nodded at him. She was glad that he so quickly accepted.
"...Um… Miss…Maid…may I ask why the King of Knights has turned into King of All Maids?" Artoria asked with quite a shy tone as she got out from behind her Master's back.
"...And why is there a King Arthur mage version? You should get the point." The Maid said with a blunt tone, which made the Fae Caster grimace for a bit.
"I am not King Arthur… I might look like one but I am Fae of Holy Sword, a Fae of Avalon." Caster explained herself to the maid.
"...Curious." The maid responded with a no-care tone at all, she then started to explain herself.
"For me it's simple, my Saint Graph has been altered and then I was recorded as a separate entity, at least that's how I understood."
'Saint Graph alteration? Isn't this done by Chaldea Servants when they go on Holidays?'
Marcus thought with a sweatdrop.
'Does this mean this Maid variation is only possible with such alteration? Or am I just overthinking?'
"I see… you are a variation of an already existing Servant?" The blonde Fae said with a thoughtful look.
"Indeed. Now the basic introduction is finished, what are your orders, Master?" The pale blonde looked at her Master, waiting for orders. It was time for her to show how good she is as a Maid! As King of Maids!
"Hmm, at this moment I am still building up my Base. So, the amount of work, there is not that much." As he said that he motioned her to follow him.
The pair of Artoria, who look polar opposite of each other, started to follow him.
The Fae just wants to see more of this unique Maid Servant!
As the trio arrived at the back of the workshop the maid could see a bunch of clothes laying on the couches, the floor was not the cleanest as there was some dirt in this room which came from the outside, then they went to the kitchen area which had plates in the sink…
Followed by the shower which needs a good scrub.
After seeing all of that, the pale blonde maid explores the rest of the workshop.
The King of Maids figured out that they were underground. Her eyes even slightly widened when she saw the exercising area.
It was a wide cavern carved out perfectly… she could not see any sort of irregularities.
"...Master, what kind of Magus are you?" She asked him with a frown as she tried to figure out how he built all of this.
"I am a Grand Alchemist."
"?"
"Master is over three hundred old Genius in Alchemy who discovered Eternal Youth and ended up exploring space in a suit. He then died and woke up in his younger body." The Fae was quick to explain about their shared Master.
"..."
The Blonde Fae explained to the maid who was looking at Marcus with one raised eyebrow.
"...curious…"
"I have met all sorts of crazy entities, from weird historic singularities, to all sorts of beings which want to change humanity in all sorts of different ways.
But this is the first time I met someone who was put back in his younger body… I am quite jealous." The Alter Maid said with a slightly pouty tone before sighing and getting over it.
"So you can make things? Can I get basic cleaning things?" The pale blonde maid asked with a thoughtful look.
Marcus thought for a bit, before answering.
"It has been some time since I worked anything chemistry related, but I do know a few top-notch formulas for cleaning products."
His words perked the maid's attention, and she turned towards him.
"Oh? I am all up for quality cleaning product material."
"Good. Then let's get this underway."
~~~
"I was wondering. As a Rider, where is your mount?" Marcus asked curiously. He wants to see that bike this Servant should have with her.
"?"
"I don't have it. I might be a Rider, but the only thing which came with me is my Sword."
As she explained to him her black and red holy Sword appeared in her hand.
When Artoria saw it she had a pained smile on her face. The Blonde Fae could feel how 'tainted' that blade was.
"I see."
The Grand Alchemist had a thoughtful look, he realised that this summoning was quite specific, almost like a piece of a puzzle.
"Does this mean you don't have your Sniper rifle as well?"
Now the maid's eyes widened for a bit.
"...You know quite a bit about me, my Master. I am quite satisfied with such a Master." The pale blonde maid smiled at him, her smile is a far cry from the smile he gets from his Fae Servant.
But it is a start.
"I guess this means I will have to make a sniper rifle for you then."
When his Maid heard him her eyes sparkled for a bit.
"...That would be… Amazing!"
"Are you some sort of Blacksmith as well?" Now she asked him with increased curiosity. In her mind, the maid was imagining an entire armoury of guns and regular swords! That's if he is Blacksmith like she was thinking.
"I am Alchemist. Making weapons is something I started to do over 100 years ago. It was after some thugs tried to destroy my workshop. It was the same time when I took a life as well."
Marcus explained to his maid with a casual shrug. It was so long ago that he doesn't care anymore.
"...How does it even work? I thought Alchemists make dolls and potions…" The maid version of Artoria asked him while crossing her arms. She is trying to grasp how an Alchemist can make weapons.
"What you said are only two branches of Alchemy, as my Caster said before, I am a Grand Alchemist. In comparison, I am at a level of one in two thousand years of talent."
Now she raised her eyebrow, the maid doesn't quite believe it yet.
To satisfy her he raised his hand and showed his palm, air started to rush and gather above his hand.
As this air was gathering it started to glow and transform.
It took the shape of a person eventually turning black and red.
When the pale blonde maid saw it her eyes gleamed with wonder.
It was a small statue, or more like the small figurine of her dressed in black armour and wielding Excalibur Morgan.
It was a perfect replica! The maid doesn't even realise that her Master knows about her Saber version so it was quite something to watch how this maid reacted to this figurine.
"Here, while it's not diamonds, it is still quite durable."
Marcus said that while handing over the figurine.
"...How did you do it?"
"It was Alchemy."
"... That's not how Alchemy works…" His Rider said with a deadpan look.
"Oh? How does it work?" He asked with a smirk, which made her frown at him for a bit.
"...Now you're just asking for a smack." The Darkened version of Artoria pouted angrily at him, as the maid realised that he was making fun of her.
"Do I? It is amusing to watch when someone is telling me how to wield my weapon. A weapon I wielded most of my life. Don't you find it amusing when someone is telling you how to wield your Holy Sword?" Marcus explained with a joking tone.
"Fair enough."
"Indeed. Alchemy at its very foundations is a trade, I use mana to trade one into another. What I did in this Figurine case was I used air to change it into a crystal you hold." The Grand Alchemist gave her a very basic explanation.
"... That's… that's alchemy? It's borderline True Magic!" The Maid exclaimed when she heard the explanation!
"Hmm… I suppose? It's around 90% of what is Denial of Nothingness. However, to make it a true Denial of Nothingness I should use Ether instead of Mana, something which is impossible for me to do."
"...So if you had a different energy source you would be a Magician?" The pale blonde said that with realisation. It appears she has looked down on Alchemy too much… Maybe it's because she has memories of those Two Grail wars? She always was disgusted with THAT Alchemist family.
Especially how they treat their creations.
"I suppose? I never cared about such a thing." He said with a shrug.
"I see, then I have to apologise for looking down on you my Master." Once again the pale blonde maid bowed in apology.
"Oh? You don't like Alchemy?"
"In a way. I have experience of two Grail Wars. In the first war, I was a Servant under the Alchemist family and in the second war, I had to fight against the very same alchemist family."
Marcus raised his eyebrow.
'So this Artoria remembers her time as Saber under both Emiyas, so she got darkened by corrupt grail? Heaven's Feel route?'
While he doesn't recall everything he was traumatised enough to recall certain things from those routes…even three centuries later.
"I see… so you saw how Homunculus gets treated by Aristocratic Magus families."
She slowly nodded at him.
"I thought as an Alter version you don't care about certain things," Marcus asked her curiously he remembered how Alter behaves like a sword, a weapon of her Master, doesn't care about anything.
"I don't. However, certain memories are worth preserving." She said that with an extremely thinly veiled chilly tone.
"I see… betrayal, Regardless, you are not summoned to fight a Grail War."
"Indeed. If you wanted to summon me for Grail War I would have never answered the call."
"Good. You are Maid, my Head Maid."
She nodded, there was a small smirk on her lips. For some reason, the pale blonde maid likes her current circumstances.
Her eyes then went to the figurine she was holding, she closely inspected it. Her wonderment grew with this as she saw that this was a perfect replica from the armour to facial expression to her hair.
It's like her Master knew her long before he even summoned her!
"...Um… Master… Can you make a statue for me as well!?" Artoria said from the side as she was looking at the maid who was still inspecting the figurine.
"We call it figurines in the twenty-first century."
Marcus corrected the Blonde Fae before raising his hand once again and the air started to rush and concentrate above his palm.
A few seconds later Artoria saw a small statue of herself in her armour while holding her big sword staff.
"Wow… so pretty, you even got the colours right!" The Fae rushed forward and inspected the figurine standing on her Master's hand.
"I am an artist, why would I get the colours wrong?" He asked with a little bit of confusion.
"I don't know. I mean you need to know everything quite well to get the colours right?" His Caster reasoned.
The pale blonde nodded when she heard that! How does their Master know the colouring so well? It's like he saw it many times before!
"Indeed. I saw it many times to know it."
"..Where?"
"I will tell you one day." He smirked when he said that. This made the Fae pout at him angrily! Such teasing made her almost stomp her foot.
While Artoria pouted, the pale blonde maid had a contemplating look.
"I see… so we need to prove ourselves first before you reveal such a thing?" The Alter reasoned with him. Which for a second made Marcus think about what she said.
"I suppose?"
His Rider nodded at him with quite a serious look. She does want to know where he saw her as Saber, it's something to satiate her curiosity. As she would have remembered if she met such an Alchemist before.
His single demonstration already impressed her enough.
"Good, since you got your tools I can return to my work."
~~~
Marcus realised that his new Servant has double… maybe even triple use.
The first use is that she is good at cleaning. It's like she is on a mission.
'No wonder her Magic Resistance is at A… far superior to the Saber Alter version. Alter took it personally to be the best maid there is. Her resolve and belief are that strong.
Is it because it's the second try? Since she failed as a King she will take this extra seriously this time.
Well, this is my guess…'
While she is very good at cleaning, the Grand Alchemist still needs to test out how good she is at cooking.
He will be able to do that later, for now, Marcus decided to work on the weapons.
The second reason why Artoria Alter is useful is because she will be good at testing and using his weapons and most likely vehicles.
The Grand Alchemist can already imagine his maid being a badass hitman.
The first thing he needed to recreate was his A.V.W 'Pacifier', his go-to weapon when he was still living on Earth.
The A.V.W stands for All Variation Weapon.
The core of the weapon is something Marcus needs to re-create regardless. It is liquid to solid or L.T.S core which allows the weapon to alter its shape. It's a reversed-engineered alchemy in the form of an item.
It's not a transformer but more like it turns into liquid then moulds into solid and vice versa, and it can be made into three shapes. Well, four as there is the holstered form.
But the active form has three forms A shotgun, Assault Rifle, and a Sniper Rifle form.
The core itself is only responsible for the forms while the ammo itself is solid-liquid Mana cartridges. Marcus was close to reaching Mark III of 'Pacifier' when he was in space.
Sadly he died before he achieved that. Not that it was easy to improve the weapon which is Anti-Gravity in its Mark II model.
Thankfully he will be able to do it in this life, there is more than enough time to experiment and develop even superior models.
He always wanted to develop elements into liquid-solid cartridges. Regardless, whether this element is fire or even lightning.
Liquid lightning? Now that's something he wants to see.
Before he can start making this weapon the Grand Alchemist always starts first with a small version. It's much easier to do, it helps to bring the imagined weapon to fruition and one can tinker with a smaller version if something came out wrong.
This method of use is something he did before his Legion, his M.A.I. was fully developed and was able to assist with holographic designing.
At this moment he neither has his Artificial Intelligence or his holograms… so he stuck with the early methods of development he used to use in his early life.
However, before he started to do anything he needed to get some Alchemist Clay.
He used all of the remaining clay in making the reactor, his table, and the Computer.
Now he needs to get more.
But, before he can proceed he needs to figure out how to get that material, he will use the dirt but he can't just aimlessly transmute it.
Nah, that's why he grabbed his notebook and opened the pages where he drew his workshop.
Right under the garage, where the stairs are, he has a small waiting room with his locker. It has three doors, the one to the left leads to the kitchen and the bathrooms, the one on the right leads to the training room, and the one at the front leads to the main workshop.
In the workshop, there are two doors as well, on the left it's the ritual room which is directly under the neighbour's driveway, and on the right is the testing room. It's supposed to be a long room. Similar to a shooting range.
It runs directly under his family's garden next to the training room.
He can't build it wide as he would end up in his house basement.
The situation is a little bit bad but after solidifying the walls more and making them fully noise proof he will be able to use these test grounds.
For now, Marcus focused his attention on the floor below.
He has the maintenance corridor which can be accessed through the kitchen, but he has other stairs which are in the waiting room next to the entrance stairs.
These stairs lead to the corridor which takes one to the Reactor room. The reactor room is partially under the waiting room and the entrance of the workshop.
This is not a design flaw or anything like that. To the north of the Reactor right under the workshop, he will make the Assembly lines, and to the right are the Liquid Mana pools.
He gained some of the clay in making that room but he wasted it all in making the connections and filling the pools. He didn't use the city water.
Using that much water would cause an investigation.
Something he doesn't want in his small and tranquil town.
That's why he needed to use the clay to make water, now he was out of materials.
Since he was out of material he decided to proceed and start carving out the area where the future assembly line is going to be made.
'Right, so on the right side are the pools, I will need to connect them with the assembly line…
Damn, this ain't the perfect positioning… The Matter Convention should be right between the pool and the Assembly lines.
I suppose… since I am working with slightly limited space and I just want to have my workshop under my first garage…'
Marcus groaned quite a bit. He is getting emotional now that he is back in the past and doesn't want to miss his garage. Instead, he is willing to sacrifice efficiency for the comfort he wants.
'Or I could just… heh… this might be even better…'
That moment the Grand Alchemist just decided to make the Matter Converter right under the Assembly Line, this means that the energy stored in the pools can be sent directly to the Convertor where Liquid Mana can be transmuted into Alchemist Clay.
The best part is that the transmutation ratio is heavily on the liquid Mana side, this means that one drop of Liquid Mana is worth nearly half a kilo of Alchemist Clay.
If Marcus was an extremely petty and vindictive man he could have destroyed the economy long ago when he first finished his Matter Converter. He might back then not have Liquid Mana but he could just transmute all the waste found over the world.
The planet was overflowing in rubbish by that point.
'This… can always be my triumph card…'
For now, he decided to shelve this idea in the back of his mind.
Instead, he started to draw the area where the Assembly line will be and the Matter Convertor underneath it.
'Even if I take that dirt for my current projects I will need to rely on Liquid Mana for more materials once I start working on Matter Converter and Assembly Lines.'
For a moment Marcus closed his eyes and thought about how he wanted his Workshop to look.
For his ultimate plan, the plan in which he will be untouchable for the current masses he needs a large amount of land. Surface land.
'I could do that by acquiring land around my house. Thankfully the river valley area is a small forestry area with no use. It should be around 500 to 800 metres from the street to the river.'
After thinking about the long-term plan the Grand Alchemist returned to working on the current project.
~~~
Soon things got into a grove, for Marcus that is, but for the pale blond maid, it was a new page in her life as a Heroic Spirit.
This was the first time that she was summoned not for fighting but for maid duties. It was very strange for her how… quiet everything was.
No world-ending threats, no crazy magus, no Grail wars, only working as a maid for an extremely unique alchemist.
Unique because he is nowhere near similar to any alchemist she met before.
Is it because he is from the future? Because she is getting a similar feeling from him as she had from the Chaldea Master.
Not completely identical but there are similarities? Especially after seeing him work, and work, and work! It's like there is no concept of maybe, the moment he has an idea he will continue to work towards it.
'Is it the drive? Chaldea Master even if he was a regular human with no training, he moved on to face the threat regardless.'
Artoria Alter is not talking about fearlessness, as Chaldea Master was one, but she is thinking about the drive, he just continues to walk.
This was similar to right in front of her eyes she saw how another deep hole started to appear right under her Master's Workshop.
According to her Master, this will be an automated alchemy forge. Simply put with a single button she will be able to have food, weapons, or even vehicles…
After hearing all that, she was certain now that he was from the future, as not even Chaldea had an automated factory like this…
"Impressive isn't it? Master built everything like this with his own two hands." Blonde Fae said to the pale blond maid.
"...It is, this is the first time I saw that Master is the one who is working while we just look at him doing that." The maid pointed this out which makes her maid sense of duty flaring up…
As someone who takes it very seriously, this constantly rubs her off in the wrong way.
"I know…"
"Aren't you a Magus? Why are you not helping him?" The pale blonde Artoria almost snapped at the blonde Fae.
"...I am a Fae, my magic is different and I have no experience in this. Unless our Master gives us some sort of tools to do it." As she said that the Fae had a thoughtful look. While the maid snorted and instead walked forwards she found a slowly growing mountain of clay-looking material.
"Master, do you need these materials taken somewhere?" The Alter maid asked her Master.
"Hmm? Sure, take these to my main workshop."
Alter smirked for a bit when she heard that there was something to do. She might not have magic but she can do heavy lifting in this.
The maid looked at the Fae who frowned for a bit, the Caster pulled out her notebook and started doodling something.
'I guess my existence here will make this Caster try harder.'
The pale blond maid thought to herself, the Fae might say that she is not King Arthur, but she still has her pride as a Servant, so the maid is going to poke it until the Fae mage will try harder to help her Master.
~~~
Marcus was quite surprised that his Servants found a way to help him. It was still coming naturally to him to work alone.
But Artoria and the maid Artoria remind him that he doesn't need to do things alone.
His new maid can easily do heavy lifting with her Strength being ranked at A, and his Caster pulled out from somewhere a pair of gloves which with slight configuration allowed her to turn dirt into his Alchemist Clay.
It has impressed the Grand Alchemist who wrote down in his notebook about future projects related to gloves.
It's not a bad idea!
He could improve his fighting capacity with such a thing. For one he would improve his basic use of transmute with his mana sensory ability.
Doubt anyone would expect diamonds to drop at them. Or making swords, blades made from diamonds? To his knowledge of diamonds, a sharp diamond is as lethal as glass to flesh.
Once he got the idea down he returned to his work.
With both Artoria's assistance, his working speed increased several times
Though he didn't finish, he was nearly half done. But, he still has his regular life to consider so he can't just stick in his Underground Workshop for the whole day. Especially, since it was mid-July.
"Well, we are done for today. I still have to prepare the food my mother has asked for." Marcus said with a sigh as he got up and stretched out.
"...Is it related to the fact that your mother finds out that you are more than adequate in cooking?" Artoria asked him as she stopped with her transmutation.
"Yes…I quickly realised that Cooking is a distant cousin of Alchemy to some extent, and I became quite good when I started to live in seclusion."
That moment the Maid stopped in her tracks and looked at her Master.
"...How many years does it translate to experience? I mean how long have you been cooking?" She asked with a small gulp.
"... roughly… more than 150 years?"
"...and you continued to improve it the same way you did with your Alchemy?" Alter pushed for more information.
"...I did? I had to… if it tastes shit then I worked until it tastes good." Marcus explained with an understanding frown on his face. Why is she asking him such things?
"...Good…Good…My Master, can we observe your cooking?" The pale blond question got him even more confused…
"Sure? I don't see the reason why not?"
"Then it's settled!"
This got even the Fae confused why she wants that?
As the trio started to walk, Alter pulled Fae aside and said a few things which made the regular blonde somewhat perplexed.
~~~
The pair watched how Marcus started his cooking.
"See, I told you so. I have met another great cook like our Master before. That person spent an incredible amount of time perfecting his art. This is why I asked how long he practised." Artoria Alter said with a victorious smirk.
Yes, this was a personal victory for her!
Ending with another Master who can cook! Especially a Master which she will spend years with! This is a total victory.
"...You like your food don't you?" The Blond Fae asked with a forced smile.
"You will like it as well, once you realise how good food can be." The Alter said with extreme certainty making the Mage Fae slowly nod. She indeed liked Marcus' mother's food. But to have such a zealous look…
As she was thinking, the pairs Master started to cook in earnest as he prepared all of the materials.
Around half an hour later the first dishes started to get placed on the table.
The Caster was slightly confused…
Why is he preparing this much food?
"...*Gulp* Is this for us too!?" The maid said with a loud gulp.
"Yes. Do try it out and tell me what it tastes like." Marcus said that as he put two types of soups, and several chicken and pork dishes on the table.
This was not all of the food as he still left some for his parents which Artoria Alter doesn't know…
The pair walked over and sat down. The maid was much more forthcoming as she swiftly put everything into her plate while the Fae one was much more controlled. It was strange for her as her Master is not eating with them.
As with all the previous times when she ate it was her joining in when Marcus would offer her food, this time it was different, this time she was cooking just for them to eat.
…
…
…
"I knew it… this is GOOD." The pale blond maid said with a positive shiver passing through her whole body.
"...Master…did you use your alchemy for this?" The blonde Fae asked him as she was cleaning her lips from overstuffing.
It's too good! Some sort of Alchemy has to be used!
"Oh? You noticed it?"
For a short moment, the Caster was shocked before nodding to herself.
So it is…
"...You do? I see… it makes sense… the taste is too good! It feels even supernatural."
"Yes, I use alchemy to freshen them up, and alter some of the bad traits, as some of the products can have chemicals, too much salt, or some other things," Marcus explained what he does.
"...But… you need to know every single product and its composition to make them perfect!" Artoria exclaimed as she recalled how her Master's Alchemy works.
"Yes, it took some time but I can tell what is what just from sending a pulse of mana into any sort of product."
Caster slowly nodded while trying to process that while Alter was stuffing herself with soup.
The pale blonde maid didn't care about the details. For her, it was all about the fact that her Master's food was good.
"It appears you like food, but now you will need to cook as well when I am busy with my work."
That moment the maid stopped in her tracks she almost choked on her food.
*Cough*Cough*Cough*
"...Master, I am a maid, not a cook…"
"And where is it written that a maid is not a cook? The maid must take care of her Master's needs. From cleaning to making food.
Especially the Head Maid who is King of All Maids. I am very certain that you can fight, shoot weapons, ride vehicles, clean faster than everyone… but what about when your Master is hungry?"
His question got the Alter version of Artoria in a tight spot. For a moment she put the bowl down and placed the spoon on the table.
The maid then thought for a moment.
"...I would find a cook? Or buy some food?"
"Is that how Head Maid operates? Hmm… I suppose I am disappointed."
When he said that her yellow eyes widened she felt like she was stabbed by a cursed spear, and yes, she has been hurt by one before, so it's a familiar feeling.
It was a familiar feeling of deep pain.
"...My apologies Master! This is my first time being summoned as a proper maid! I have no cooking experience! I request your training in this!"
When the Fae Caster saw this she felt that this was done on purpose.
'Is Master doing this on purpose? It feels like he wants to train her… I feel like he knows much more than he reveals.'
The blonde Fae said with an internal frown this was strange for her. Rider is falling into some sort of scheme made by their Master and the Caster can't even see what it was.
"Good, then we will start our training tomorrow."
~~~~~~~Same Night~~~~~~
As Marcus was sleeping soundly, a chill feeling washed him over as he saw several visions slam into his mind.
He saw his Town perimeter breached by a pale-skinned red-eyed being.
That moment his eyes snapped open as he jumped out of his bed.
Two seconds later both of his Servants manifested in his room.
"...The Town Alarm went off, a bloodsucker just entered the city."
"...Master sent us to deal with this." Caster requested and the maid nodded at her.
"No, I need practice. I will be dealing with this, while you two will be running support." As Marcus said that he dressed in his black clothes and took his glasses just in case he will need to use them.
He improved the design slightly now the lag is much lower than it was before.
"Understood. We will be following you." As Artoria said that she with a burst of light dressed in her battle clothes.
The maid who saw how she looked when Fae was serious was slightly impressed with the array of weapons she had.
'Are those…'
The Alter Maid's mind tried to process what she saw floating behind the Fae.
He can only be baffled by the fact that those are copies of Rhongomyniad…
A few moments later Marcus jumped out of the window, it was open since it was summertime. His jump was quite a large leap as he landed in the middle of the road before jumping once more and landing on a roof of a house in front of his house.
A quick look around he called forth his mana and connected to the boundary fields.
At that moment his mind was flooded with images of where he found this bloodsucker.
'That's the southwest of my town. Let's see what kind of thing you are.'
The Grand Alchemist remembers that such creatures would pop up from time to time in his previous life. Most of them were killed off with extreme prejudice.
Well, that's why his Eternal Youth is quite different from anything possible to be achieved through the magic of his previous world.
Parasitic eternal youth is not true youth, it was frowned upon and eliminated with extreme prejudice.
And Marcus is one of those, especially when he saw that this thing is borderline feral.
"Found it, let's move out."
As he said that via his connection with his Servants, Marcus used Reinforced jump to skip a large amount of distance. Without holding back he jumped above several houses.
For a moment his eyes went to the sky and he saw that it was a full moon.
'No wonder they are active, it's their peak time. I do wonder how Bloodsuckers are operating in my new world. Do Types even a thing? Since Gaia is not a thing then Crimson Moon should not be one as well.'
As Grand Alchemist was thinking about it he crossed the city centre. It was extremely quiet. With such a small population. The traffic lights are all blinking on orange lights, meaning that no traffic exists at night time.
Honestly, Marcus is still amazed at how dead is his hometown at night time.
Soon enough he had to move to higher vantage points as old buildings ended and he moved on to Soviet Union-style five-floor flats.
While such a vantage point is good in a normal situation, this was not it.
His prey was not in this area. No, South West of his town has several hangars, the fire brigade department, and the dairy production facilities.
Marcus even snored as he imagined a vampire stuffing himself with milk and cheese.
After passing all the flats he landed on a supermarket roof and looked forward. His senses worked like sonar as he sent waves after waves of mana. Picking up his prey moving towards regular houses on the outskirts of the city.
'He passed all those facilities and focused on all those people living around the circular road.'
Like any city, his town has a road circling his town from both directions to keep the traffic at manageable levels.
However, like any settlement when the population grows houses pop up around such roads.
This was not different. Around 20 to 30 people are living around just this junction.
"He is moving towards those houses. Let's move."
As Marcus said he kicked off and jumped forward. Passing a pedestrian bridge, and landing at a junction. He once again scanned the path in front of him. Sensing foreign entity around 100 metres in front of him.
"Caster, make sure no one sees or hears what we are going to do here. I want all the regular people tightly asleep with no idea what is going on around their house." The Grand Alchemist instructed his assistant as he slowly started to walk forward.
"Understood, leave it to me." The Fae acknowledged and rushed forwards towards the house.
"What about me?" The maid said with a borderline barely hidden pouty tone.
"Watch and observe how Alchemists fight."
As Marcus said that his eyes finally made contact with a pair of glowing red eyes.
A zombie-like groan spread through the surroundings as the next moment the thing blasted out through a fence and rushed towards the Alchemist.
It only took less than a few seconds for this undead thing to be in front of Marcus who simply offered his hand to the thing.
When the Maid saw this she summoned her Holy Sword and was ready to slice that obnoxious thing.
But it was not needed as the thing screeched from pain as its teeth were broken!
The Grand Alchemist then did a spartan kick and sent the bloodsucker flying away, however, the flying was very short as it rammed into a wall that rose from the ground just a second before.
"Hoh… so you do have vampire teeth.." As he said that he inspected his hand. It wasn't a normal hand, no while the sleeve was shredded the hand itself was crystalline. It has turned into a diamond because Marcus has transmuted his flesh into diamonds.
He picked a vampire tooth that was lying on the ground.
"...Master…what in…"
"Hmm?"
"Your hand!"
"Oh, you haven't seen this?" As he said that he showed his hand which turned back into a regular flesh one.
"You can transmute your body parts!?"
"I am a Grand Alchemist if I could not then I would be a third-rate one," Marcus said with an eye roll before pulling out a notebook with a pen from his belly pocket and threw it at her.
"Take notes for me, I will say details which you will write down for me." He said that seriously as the pale blond caught the notebook with the pen.
"...Alright if this is what you want." The maid said with a slightly dumbfounded tone. He is using her… like a maid… which makes her perplexed, she is happy and somewhat disappointed. She still has her sword, the Holy Sword.
After the short conversation, the feral bloodsucker got himself out of the wall and once again lunged at Marcus who called forth his Mana at max.
This made the feral creature's knees give up as it collapsed on the ground.
The Alchemist then swung his right hand and smashed into its face. The sound of neck breaking could be heard. This made Marcus look at this with a curious look.
He was not disappointed as he saw that the creature was not dead. It twitched and spasmed as it started to stand up once again.
"It has a medium to high level of regeneration. Healing a broken neck only took a few seconds. However such high-speed regeneration should burn quickly through its energy. We need to test that."
All that Marcus said was written down by his maid who was trying to keep up with the speed he was talking.
She is a warrior—maid, not a scribe!
The Alchemist waited for the bloodsucker to recover, he watched for signs of it being more feral after the recovering…
But it was not.
'I do wonder from where it gains energy to recover. I sensed no draining from the surroundings or changes to its corrupt mana.' Marcus thought about this while observing his foe.
This time this thing lunged forward with its claws which were quite long and sharp looking.
"It has basic survival instincts as well. After receiving a crushing punch and inability to bite through my hand, it switched to using fangs."
He made another observation which made his maid write more before catching the vampire's hands, both of them using his hands. This made the thing try to bite him but the thing received an empowered headbutt instead.
There are several sounds of breaking bones, as the bones of the vampire's hands broke and the skull has been caved in from the powerful headbutt.
"It appears that recovery has slowed down after receiving a multitude of wounds. Broken arms and skull take longer to heal now.
We still need to know if damage to the brain will heal the same as it healed from a broken neck."
Marcus said that as he observed the healing of the vampire happening in front of him.
It has slowed down considerably as the thing got sluggish.
"There are no changes to its Mana, the Boundary Field does not pick up any sort of drain from the surroundings. Either the creature is healing from an outside source which I can't sense or it's using another source of energy…
If it's the second option then it should be its special corrupt blood." The Alchemist dictated to his maid who was furiously writing for him.
This time she didn't need to rush as the regen of the bloodsucker was quite slow now.
'Well, this is strange, or I should say more manageable, if I hurt this thing more he most likely will die. Something I don't want. I need the details.' He thought about this with a frown.
The creature is on its last legs as once the wounds healed it slowly got up and turned around and wanted to escape!
"Well, well, so it's not completely feral. More like animalistic. You will be coming with me, I need to take a few tests from you and find out where you come from." As Marcus said that he tapped with his right foot several times and walls rose around the bloodsucker, trapping it inside a makeshift box.
He then walked over to the box and inscribed a few runes on each wall.
That moment the box shrunk and turned into a much smaller cocoon.
"You can return, I captured the intruder."
"Understood."
"Watch this for a moment. While I doubt it can escape, we can't be too lax, I will be fixing the damage caused by this thing."
The maid nodded, pocketing the notebook and walking over the black cocoon. It was no longer dirt but something else entirely. Alter's hand stroked it for a bit, it felt like some sort of a metal, it was quite solid.
Moments later Caster appeared next to the maid, she looked at this thing as well.
"How did our Master do?" She asked curiously, the Fae still doesn't know how powerful their Master is. All she knows is that he can channel mana and turn it into gravity of some sort. She doesn't know if he achieved a concept or if it's a technique. All she knows is that he is potentially a very powerful being without his creations.
"Our worries are not needed. He never fought it, he tested it before capturing it. It was not a fight, more like throwing this thing around.
Oh, and he can transmute his body parts, never seen such a thing. Only a few selective Servants have self-modification as their Personal skill. But this was not a skill, he actively used his mana to change his body parts into diamonds."
The blonde Fae slowly nodded, she expected that much, if he can alter air itself, it's no wonder that he can do it to his flesh.
A few seconds minutes later Marcus has fixed the road, fences, and the grass into pristine condition before leaving this place with his loot and his Servants.
Thankfully only a few cars passed through this spot; none of them saw anything with help of his Caster's magic.
Once everything was done the trio returned to the Alchemist workshop. The doors needed to be widened, as the cocoon was too wide for regular size doors.
Thankfully, it was not an issue for Marcus, but this means he needs to make more entrances to his…man cave? Workshop? Well in the future it won't be just a Workshop, a greater word needs to be selected.
For now, he is calling it a day after putting the cocoon on the ground and leaving his maid to watch it over. It should not break down, however extra security won't hurt.
While Marcus went to sleep the Caster appeared next to the maid.
"Can you tell me how well our Master fights?"
The question made the pale blonde think for a bit.
"I can't tell how good he would do in the more equal fight but from my observation, he can be as cruel as most Magus I have seen."
This made the Fae frown for a bit.
"I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. I come from a world where Fae dominated the society and where humans were kept as slaves." The blonde explained with a sigh.
This made the maid look at her weirdly, she could not imagine such a world, regardless, she decided to explain what is a Magus and how cold-blooded they could be.
~~~~~~Next Day~~~~~~
Since he got that bloodsucker his other projects had to be postponed.
First, he began with preparations, since that thing is dangerous the homunculi table was improved, powerful chains have been transmuted and runes have been inscribed into them.
Once all the preparations were done he turned off those runes on the cocoon and the black metal-like surface collapsed into the dirt. Those runes forced the dirt to condense into a much more solid surface, it turns into dirt once the mana flow is removed.
The moment the cocoon collapsed the thing revealed itself. However, it looked like it went into some sort of hibernation.
As it was just laying there on the floor.
This was even better for Marcus as he didn't need to waste time with manhandling this thing.
He casually picked it up and laid it on the table.
The chains coiled around its limbs. The bloodsucker was a male, in its middle ages, the clothes it was wearing are regular people looking not what a mage would wear.
This means that this guy was a victim which was turned into this thing by a mage.
'I don't remember any sort of magic family living in this territory in my past life. The Goldman family moved into this small country because there was no sort of competition which allowed us to practise magic in peace.
Does this mean my home country has an unwelcomed guest?'
The alchemist thought about this before walking over and putting his hands on the runic circles. He channelled his mana and the runes came to life.
He started running scans on this bloodsucker
'The base is still human. Bones, nerve system, flesh, however, all of it is corrupted and slightly mutated by the corrupt blood.
From what I understand the blood itself is altered there are traces of ritualistic uses of Mana. However, the body doesn't have such traces. Meaning that this regular human didn't experience rituals. He was turned into this on purpose.'
After doing the scans he started to dig into its blood. To do that he inscribed a few more runes and added a new array to the table.
What he found in the blood made him snort.
"This again…stupidity of mages never ceases to amaze me," Marcus exclaimed as he rolled his eyes.
"What did you find?" The curious Caster asked him.
"Same old I used to find in my previous life." The Grand Alchemist said with a sigh.
"It's a ritual to alter one's blood, believing that immortality and eternal youth will come to them if they alter their blood. But what they do is usually turn it into a usable fuel. It makes them pseudo-immortal. As their organs cease to work properly. Instead of keeping it as it is, normally blood is produced by one's organs, but here it's instead used as burnable fuel to power those organs.
Another cheap imitation of what a vampire is supposed to be. It's something made by a mage, not a nocturnal creature from myths."
After saying that Marcus checked the blood once again before extracting some of it from the half-dead creature. Once he got the blood he wanted he turned the bloodsucker into Alchemist clay…
When the pair of Servants saw this they slightly gulped down… they had never seen someone turn their foe into construction material!
It's efficient…
"Master… how are we going to find where this guy came from if you just turned it into clay?" The blonde Fae asked him.
"We don't need to do anything. This bloodsucker was a regular person before he was turned into this parasite.
We will simply watch the news and see if the police will report a missing person or group of people.
Such a method is far quicker and more efficient instead of me or you trying to mind rape a borderline feral creature."
Marcus explained his tactic for this one.
"I see… we will allow regular people to do their investigation instead of us wasting time. I prefer this over the other method." His Caster approved of his choice.
"Good. Now can you give me that notebook?" The Alchemist nodded at his Caster before turning his gaze to the maid.
With a nod, she pulled out the notebook and gave it to him.
The Alchemist then started to read it for a bit before smiling.
"Not bad, you could work as my scribe."
*Snort*
"I am a maid, but if you need me to write then I will do it to perfection." The maid quite arrogantly said that to him. She wants to be the embodiment of the perfect maid. However, her cooking is something that is lacking and it somewhat rubs her in the wrong way. The Alter maid wants to rectify such… imperfection.
"Yes, I will remember that. For now, let's return to work."
That's it!? But what about the blood he has recovered!?
"...Master, what about the blood?"
"I will use this as data to improve my future Homunculi but for now there is no need to do anything. It's not crucial."
"And the origins of this bloodsucker?" Artoria Alter asked him this since cutting someone is much more fascinating than working in an Underground Workshop.
"We will be investigating when we hear anything about missing people in other cities." Marcus pointed out.
"Bloodsuckers like these require constant substance to continue their pseudo-immortality."
"...You think we will hear about this over television?" The blonde Fae asked with disbelief. Will they talk about missing people on television?
"Yes. If they don't then we will know something is wrong. Someone or something is covering it up."
"I see… then we have something to look forward to." The maid said with a small smirk, it appears she might get some action from this!
While her Master just looked at her with an eye roll. So much for a 'perfect' maid…
~~~
After the whole incident with the bloodsucker, Marcus returned to working on the rooms meant for the Assembly line and the Matter Processor.
Finishing with carving out the room was quite easy but what was much harder is preparing the rooms for their future use.
At the bottom of the hole, the Alchemist was laying down the cables and making pipes which would lead the liquid mana flowing into the Matter Converter.
Just doing that made him work for several hours!
So he needed to leave his workshop just before seven as he needed to watch the news.
After a quick shower and snack, Marcus was in front of the television watching channel 3 and its news.
The preview alone perked his ears as he heard missing people and a possible serial killer.
"It appears you were right. They will do this investigation for us." His Caster said to him with a serious nod.
"Indeed. Now let's watch."
~~~
'This is strange… Why that town? The only thing that settlement has is that it had a medieval battle not far from it. That's the only thing this place has!'
Marcus, after finishing watching the news, rushed into his room to do research.
He was annoyed as these missing people happened in a small town 6 kilometres away from his town.
This is far too close to his home. This means he will need to purge these bloodsuckers himself.
However, why this small town specifically?
'Unless it is some sort of location-based ritual which needs an ancient battlefield?
But this is just stupid there are much bigger battles waged all over Europe.'
The Alchemist sighed and realised that it was most likely because his country and town are so backwater it is a good place to cause some havoc.
He decided to teach this mage some manners, no one messes with his Hometown and his territory!
But first, he needs to prepare some gadgets…