Chapter 2: Reunited

It's been two weeks since Anthon has been back on earth. He has an apartment and has been chilling around his house, figuring out the current technologies while also perusing the local cafes.

In his opinion, the quality of coffee has gone down when compared to his previous life, but then again, he wasn't as much of a coffee enthusiast back then compared to the current him, so it could be that he simply didn't notice it.

He also has been looking around his former family and had come to the conclusion that they are a group of mages that had been hiding in the guise of a normal company up until the magic was revealed to the earth. This made Anthon both relieved and annoyed.

Relieved because he knew that they may not have exactly hated him back then and it was more of his lack of magic that made him unable to inherit the company.

Annoyed because all his efforts back then were for naught. He worked his ass off so that he could inherit the company, only to realize now that it was never going to happen. Anthon also said "I'm also pissed that they hid something as cool as magic from me."

Today Anthon is going to meet up with his sister and his grandpa, who somehow is still alive after ten years. Note that the grandpa is now in his nineties. Anthon thought that maybe magic makes people live longer since the mages in the fantasy world were able to do that, but he will have his answers soon.

Anthon enters the company building and is escorted to the meeting room where he will meet up with his sister and grandpa. Anthon is feeling all kinds of emotions walking the same halls that he used to when he was still a kid in his previous life. But that was all in the past, so he tried not to think too much in that direction.

Anthon entered the room where there were six chairs around the table. Two on the long sides and one on the short sides. The clerk told Anthon that she would inform the other two about his arrival and that they would be there shortly. Another person offered Anthon some coffee while they were at it, and of course Anthon took on the offer to drink some coffee.

Of course, Anthon knew that the coffee was offered to him because they wanted to take off his mask, but little did they know that the mask allowed its wearer to eat and drink without the need of taking off the mask. When Anthon took a sip of the coffee with his mask on, he could feel the surprised gaze of the other person, although he didn't see it personally.

Then Anthon said "6/10. You gotta work on the ratios a little more. Heat was excellent though, otherwise it would have been 5/10." The other person replied by saying "Thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure to improve on it." There was a hint of sarcasm in what the other person said, but Anthon didn't care that much, since they probably thought lowly of him since he was from a less advanced world.

A little while later, both the people who Anthon came to meet came to the room. Anthon rose from his chair, bowed and said "Thank you for allowing me to have this meeting, Miranda Nox and Arthur Nox. I am an S-rank adventurer from the world known as Ferotnias and my name is Shade. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Arthur said "Thank you. It is a pleasure to meet someone like you as well. You may sit." Anthon replied "Thanks" and sat back down. Mira and Arthur also sat opposite of Anthon.

Then Arthur said "So, about the reason you came to meet us." Anthon replied "Oh yes. But before that, you know the nature of my abilities, correct?"

Mira said "We do. You have the ability to cancel all kinds of spells and absorb mana around you." Anthon said "As expected of the next head of the company. But to extend this a little further, any type of magic doesn't work on me the way it would a normal person. This means that any healing magic, illusion based magic and so on don't work on me. Are we clear on these facts now?"

Arthur says "We are aware of these facts, but why do you bring these up? Are you trying to tell us what you can offer?" To which Anthon says "Close, but not quite. So…" Anthon takes a deep breath and takes off his mask. What is revealed is the face that both Arthur and Mira know. Both are perplexed about seeing their dead relative alive and well from someone who came from another world.

Anthon then said with a smile "Sup gramps. Sup sis." Both Arthur and Mira are speechless for a moment before Anthon says "While there are a lot of things I want to say, that was basically all that I came for. So if you excuse me…"

Anthon rises from his chair and begins to head to the exit, but Mira says "Mike? Is it truly you?" Anthon stops and says "It's Anthon now, but yes, I was once known as Michael Nox. The eldest son of Alice Nox and Olaf Bern. But now, I'm just Anthon."

Mira says "But this can't be. You died ten years ago, and yet…" Then Arthur says "Reincarnation is it? It is something that happens in this world from time to time, so it isn't completely out of the picture for someone reincarnating to another world entirely. But to be reincarnated to a world that would later be connected back to this world… the odds are absurdly low. We require further tests to make sure that you are really Michael. I'll make preparations immediately, so you can…"

Anthon says "There is no need for that. I don't care if you believe me or not. All I wanted is to say a proper goodbye this time and leave you be. That's it. Now then… goodby…" But before Anthon could finish his sentence and leave, Mira teleported next to him and grabbed Anthon's arm. She said "Please, don't leave. I… I trust that you aren't lying to us and that you are my big brother. Come down and sit so we can talk about things and all the things you have missed."

Anthon looked away for a moment and hesitated, then he looked back and saw the puppy eyes of his dear little sister. Anthon tried to resist, but soon found himself sitting on the chair he was sitting just a moment before, drinking the coffee that was still there. Mira also went back to her previous seat, but this time, she had a genuine smile on her face.

Anthon says "So… I heard you have a fiance now sis. How is he?" This question makes Mira lose the smile on her face instantly as she says "It's not been going so well. SHE has been cheating on me with multiple men and women."

Anthon stops drinking for a moment to think about what Mira just said. The coffee cup is still near his mouth as he ponders. He then removes the cup from his mouth and says "I see. Then… how is SHE still alive?"

Mira responds by saying "We aren't going to kill anybody." To which Anthon looks at Arthur and asks "How have you allowed this, gramps? Your dear granddaughter is suffering and you still let the engagement continue. Why?" 

Arthur says "It is a little more complicated than that. Louis, the woman in question, comes from a powerful family of mages. We cannot simply "get rid of her" or "null the engagement". Doing so would ruin our reputation."

Anthon comments "How is being with someone like that any better than cutting ties? In the first place, how would they have made kids in the first place since they are both women? Artificial insemination? Surrogacy?" Mira responds by saying "The magic in our world allows both genders to have the reproductive organs of the other gender if so desired. But as for why it is better to keep the engagement, a connection with the Worshta family is important due to their lineage. Their lineage goes as far down as the 1st century whilst ours goes down to the 15th century. A connection like that is very important to the Nox family as it allows us to gain access to magic that is only accessible to the Worshta family members. Also, due to how far their magic lineage goes, they have accumulated a very sought after genepool for mages such as us."

Anthon thinks for a moment and then says "So… if the current family members lose the magic lineage, would that affect the engagement in any way?" To this, Arthur says "Hypothetically speaking, it would mean that they no longer are valued as mages and the Nox family would no longer have any reason to interact with them. Worshta family would have no choice but to leverage their vast collection of magical artifacts and records to keep their position as a mage bloodline. However this would in turn make their only value be their collection and not the people themselves, meaning they would eventually lose their possessions in one way or another."

Anthon says "I see. Well, now I have something to work on during my retirement that isn't related to coffee. That being said, I won't compromise on my coffee trials in any sense." And Mira responds "What grandpa says is only something that would happen in theory. Currently, there is no way to remove magical properties from a genepool of a person, so even if we remove their ability to cast spells, they could still produce heirs that can do that."

Anthon then says "You are forgetting something very important. You see… I am an anti-mage and I have a plethora of ways to get rid of troublesome mages. Just leave it to me, Shade, and wait for the good news. In the meantime however, I need to ask you a favor."

Arthur asks "What kind of favor?" To which Anthon answers "You see, my current ID in this world belongs to my Shade persona. This means that if I run into trouble with authorities while I'm not in that mode, I wouldn't have any means to prove my identity. Worst case scenario is that I would be booted out of the country, and while I don't really care that much about staying here, I still have cafes to visit."

Mira then takes out her phone and takes a picture, which surprises Anthon. Anthon asks "What are you doing?" And Mira responds with "You were going to ask us to produce an ID for the person known as Anthon, so I took the picture that would be used in the ID. Do you have a last name that we can use?"

Anthon says "I don't have a last name in this life, so you can choose whatever you want for me." This makes Arthur say "We cannot give you the Nox name." To which Anthon says "That would have been the one name that I didn't want you to put on me. In any case, I'll let you guys deal with it. You know my address, so send it there when it's ready."

Mira is doing something on her phone and Arthur is pondering something. Anthon then asks "So whatever happened to my rope company?" Mira stops using her phone and answers "The secretary, Mia Lucktowitch, was charged with murder. The rest of the company soon fell apart due to there not being any people who could have taken the position as the CEO, so it sold out to the rope union."

Anthon asks "Why was that legal loli secretary charged with murder?" And Mira says "You do realize that you died of poisoning and that the poison had to come from somewhere, right?" And Anthon says "I get that, but it wasn't Mia, I'm sure of it."

Mira says "She is literally a witch. Like her name suggests." Anthon just responds "So?" And Mira asks back "What do you mean "so"? Witches are real and they are enemies of mages. Even if you didn't know of magic society before, you should at least get what I mean by now, right?"

Anthon says "But it wasn't Mia. That sweet ray of sunshine would never poison me. And even if it was her, someone must have coerced her to do it." This makes Mira worry and ask something she dreads on asking "Did you… and Mia… have a relationship or something?"

Anthon answers with a serious face "She was my secretary." Mira asks "Just a secretary?" And Anthon says "Just a secretary."

Mira and Anthon stare at each other for a moment, until Mira gives up and says "Fine, but you are strangely confident that she didn't do it." 

Anthon says "I am confident because I knew her well. Even if mages and witches had a rivalry, I'm sure that someone like her wouldn't resort to poisoning me if they wanted to get rid of me. In my opinion, Mia being the killer is too convenient to be the case. Mia was honest to a fault, so if she knew I was about to get poisoned, I would have noticed that she was anxious about something and asked about it. But that day, she acted like always."

Then Arthur steps in and asks "Then who do you suppose is the real culprit?" And This made Anthon think for a moment before saying "Yes, it had to be the rope mafia. After all, I refused their offer back then, so the timing matches." Arthur asks "Rope… mafia? You mean the rope union?" 

This made Anthon go into lecture mode as he says "Do not underestimate the market for ropes. There are all kinds of ropes with different materials and different techniques used. The rope business is very competitive and people are at each other's throats all the time. The rope union you speak of is just a bunch of people extorting the weaker rope manufacturers. They want to control the world's rope market all by themselves without exceptions and make sure no one gets on their way. Yes, I was foolish to not be cautious back then. There is no doubt in my mind that they are the culprits of my death."

Arthur then says awkwardly "I… see… Then I'll assign people to reinvestigate what happened ten years ago with the information you gave us in mind." Anthon says "Thanks. I don't want that legal loli to stay in prison for something she didn't do."

Mira says "But she is a witch though." To which Anthon says "Cute witch secretary is what she really is." And the room fell silent.

Then Anthon says "If there isn't anything else, I'll finish this cup and leave." He grabs the coffee cup and starts to finish it and Mira says "Hey Mi… Anthon." Anthon finishes his cup and says "What is it?"

Then Mira says "I'm sure mom would be really happy to see you again." To which Anthon says "I'll think about it."

Then Anthon places the cup on the table, puts on his mask and leaves. Beneath the mask, Anthon cannot help but smile a little as he glances at Mira and Arthur. Mira then quietly says "Please don't do anything rash, brother."

As Anthon leaves the building, he mutters to himself "Worshta family huh. Well, let's see how well they fare against an S-rank anti-mage of Ferotnias."