29th Move | Hic Sunt Dracones

Silence heralded Veldora's return.

Rimuru didn't move a single bit. It was as if he saw Medusa and was turned into a statue. He couldn't move, lest he attracted the attention of a top predator.

Every one of his senses was screaming at him to run, yet his conscious mind knew Veldora wouldn't hurt him since they were friends, and what's more, he was bestowed a name by the True Dragon.

This dichotomy, this dissonance, this paradox was causing Rimuru to undergo the slime equivalent of a 'divide by zero' error commonly found in calculators.

"Hahahaha... I have returned!" Veldora finally declared boisterously, as if he was a king declaring victory over his enemies. The Storm Dragon spread out its wings, slamming into the walls and ceiling and causing loud metallic groans, "The Storm Dragon Veldora Tempest has returned! All who stand against me shall be defeated with extreme prejudice!"

Veldora started going off on a physical tangent, acting like an overpowered anime protagonist as he started to throw punches and kicks that caused great stress upon the room itself. Had Veldora done his tangent anywhere else, that whole place would've collapsed. It was only due to this room being able to contain explosions equivalent to several tons of TNT that Veldora doesn't just fall through the floor.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Veldora then let out a stormy breath quickly dispelled before they reached more than a few meters, acting more like a blow torch.

<[Soul Corridor] between individual: Veldora and Scientia has been established>

Feeling rather vindictive, Rimuru sent one more curse through the [Soul Corridor].

'Damn you Scientia for leaving me to deal with Veldora alone!'

He received no response, just like last time. Scientia's always preferred technology over magic (even Skills to a lesser degree), to the point that Rimuru thinks it's safe to call it a 'prejudice'. The amount of time Scientia has used [Soul Corridor] can be counted on two hands.

Of course, from Rimuru's perspective, he just chalked it up to eccentricities.

The slime's attention returned to the dragon that was standing above him.

"Umm, buddy?"

"How good it is to see you Rimuru!" Veldora's long neck twisted to look at the relatively tiny slime who sat right underneath the True Dragon. Then, Veldora looked around at his environment, finding no one other than the slime, "So! Where's Scientia?"

Veldora then placed his hands on his hips, giving his posture an appearance of expecting something. Normally it wouldn't look out of place if a human do it, but a large dragon? It was like looking at a Godzilla who was getting impatient.

"Scientia... Scientia was just here before leaving—"

"Hmph!" Veldora crossed his arms over his chest while swinging his head to the side, acting extremely uncharacteristic of your stereotypical 'proud, treasuring hoarding' dragon, "I thought my return would generate more hype! Where's the music? Where's the cheering crowd? Where's the food?"

"..."

Rimuru purposefully shifted into his human form just so he could give Veldora the most deadpanned-est look he could muster.

Seeing how his question was received, Veldora cleared his throat, "I must say, I really hadn't expected to be freed so soon. I mean seriously, it has only been four months since the last time we met and I'm already out here! You guys are really embarrassing me by freeing me so quickly you know!"

To do something in four months that a True Dragon like him wasn't able to do in 300 years really made him feel worthless. Veldora is a True Dragon for crying out loud! The highest ranking being in existence!

He was supposed to be a nigh-invulnerable and nigh-unstoppable avatar of nature that serve as one of the supporting pillars of existence!

While the Storm Dragon was happy to be freed, having been stuck with no one to talk to for 300 years, his ego and pride as one of the Four True Dragons were seriously bruised.

"..."

The humanoid slime's expression turned into one of exacerbation.

Seeing how Rimuru still hasn't replied, Veldora got a bit worried. He wasn't too rude was he? No, the 'holy text' Veldora read when he was inside Rimuru's stomach showed this is how a proper 'powerful' introduction should go.

Perhaps he was too boisterous? Then it's time to rein it in a bit.

Veldora lowered his head, "but! I will accept this apology in the form of quick freedom. Rimuru, you and Scientia have earned my eternal respect," the True Dragon then pointed at the slime with his left hand closed into a fist.

"... Oh!"

It took a bit for Rimuru to realize it was meant to be a 'fist bump'. As the humanoid slime moved to return the gesture, he couldn't help but notice how different Veldora is compared to before his entrance into the slime's stomach.

Veldora became so much more... human-like, what with his body language easily mistakable for a human in a really good dragon costume.

"But seriously, where is Scientia?"

Veldora suddenly questioned in a flat tone completely different from before. The change was so sudden that it almost gave Rimuru a whiplash.

"Oh her? Scientia's..."

"Scientia's what?"

"—She's—" Rimuru realized he'll need to think of a way to introduce the companion of Scientia: Arcueid Brunestud.

Who, apparently, is an alien not from this World.

'Damn you Scientiaaaaaa!'

_____________________________________________

'Damn you Scientiaaaaaa!'

"Heh," A chuckle came out of my lips as I heard Rimuru cursing my name through the [Soul Corridor]. In all honesty, it was a bit of a jerk move on my part to leave him to deal with the walking calamity that is Veldora.

But then again, compared to the day that Arcueid was summoned, I think Rimuru could use some experience in dealing with crises like Veldora.

I figured since Arcueid was bored from reading all the time I'd introduce her to the arcade and the magic of the crane box. Basically, I'll entertain her with those big metal and glass boxes you'll find in malls where you can pick up small, inexpensive toys with a claw.

Walking through a Doorway and appearing in the middle of the topmost floor of a mall inside of Metropolis, I turned to face Arcueid as she looked around at the concrete and glass structure. The mall was a three-storied one in the shape of an 'L', with the ceiling being composed primarily of mirrors that let rays of sunlight come through.

Overall, it looked just like a mall from my old world, if now populated with races from a fantasy novel.

Despite what it may look like, I had no influence in the creation of this mall. Thus, I personally think the design of this mall being so similar to that of my old world is a result of convergent evolution, or maybe the architect was inspired by the arcologies.

"Let's go, I'll show you something fun—"

Everyone is staring at me. That realization came when I intended to search for those claw machines and saw every person who was present in at least a 50-meter radius staring at me, with some of them whipping out their cellular devices to record us, or more specifically, me.

Is this what movie stars feel like every time they go out into public? Where is said movie star's every move monitored?

While it may feel nice at the start, it must get really tiring after a while since you're forced to put up a mask.

Thinking quickly, "Door me," I grabbed Arcueid's hands and walked through the newly generated Doorway, and appeared in the middle of the living section of the Citadel.

Half a dozen Shizue chassis stopped what they were doing and bowed, "Lady Scientia, Lady Brunestud."

Ignoring them since those Shizue chassis were on auto-pilot, meaning that Shizue isn't in control, I turned around to face the White Princess and realized I was still holding her hand.

Letting that go, I stared at the True Ancestor's face.

There were some sprinkles of extra redness on Arcueid's face, otherwise, she looked entirely unperturbed while I imagined all the internet gossip that must've sprouted from seeing me with someone as pretty as the True Ancestor.

"What?" Arcueid asked, her unperturbed features turning into confusion at the sudden attention.

Aesthetically, I can say Arcueid's prettier than anyone I've ever seen. The second place really doesn't even approach Arcueid. What's more, her prettiness is really enhanced by how she's oftentimes dressed really plainly.

I'm going to need to teach her about clothing and its effect on others, don't I?

I took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.

Turning around, I spoke as I slowly approached the stairs, "alright Arcueid, according to Shizue you seem to have this ability to conjure up clothes from seemingly nowhere, I'm going to teach you the effect of clothing on others."

I stopped at the base of the stairs.

"Let's be real here: you are a really pretty woman." Arcueid nodded at that, accepting the statement not as a compliment, but as a fact, "that means other people will be attracted to you. One way to ward off unwanted attraction is by wearing more pieces of clothing."

"I see," Arcueid replied as I continued up the stairs, the wood making 'thumps' as I step on them.

"Equally, if you want to attract attention, one way to do it is through less clothing. Though do know that by having less clothing, you're effectively becoming a beacon for everyone. Thus, if you want it to be effective for one person, do it somewhere private."

Personally, I don't have a problem with what anyone else wears. So long as they're contributing to the company and doing their work, they can wear nothing for all I care.

"Scientiaaa! I already know this! Your books— the books that you gave me already told me these things." Arcueid smiled. It was a bright smile that was reminiscent of Rimuru's: full of innocence and a time long gone.

Reaching the second floor, I walked over to an easily overlooked door and pushed it open, revealing a featureless room with a single mirror that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Because of how the mirror was situated, I could clearly see the doorframe held within the reflection.

"To avoid attention, we'll need different clothing." A series of holographic dolls each wearing different styles and kinds of clothing materialized in front of me.

Pinching them, the hologram moved with my hands as I turned to face Arcueid who stood by the doorway, about to ask which one she would like—

"Ah?"

She's already changed.

From her original plain clothing consisting of a short blue skirt, black tights, and a white sweater, she now wore something entirely different, more along the line of a rich teen. Arcueid now had a white jacket, with a large white fluffy scarf hung around her neck tied in place by a large black bow situated in the center of her chest, and finally a pair of black boots that reaches the mid-point of her thigh, leaving the area on the bottom of her jacket-skirt to the top of the boots bare.

"..." Arcueid's even more noticeable despite technically wearing 'more'.

Placing her hands behind her back, the True Ancestor leaned forward with an expectant look on my face, unsubtly asking me 'how does it look?'.

If this were in my past life, I think I would've tried everything to charm Arcueid. I mean for crying out loud, right now she wouldn't look out of place at a fashion show!

"How is it that you change so quickly?" I asked as I closed in to examine her new clothing.

That must've not been what the blonde vampire was imagining since she faltered a bit before catching herself.

A smirk that oozed smugness bubbled onto the surface of Arcueid's face. She looked like someone in Jeopardy that was asked a question that she knew but the others didn't.

"Well, that's just a secret— urk!" The two odd strands of hair on her head jutted out and froze like water when exposed to liquid nitrogen when I pinched her new jacket.

From a cursory glance and touch, it seems her clothing is made from wool. [Clothing] recognized the quality of the material is top-notch and can really only be found in high-end stores.

How does she do it? I narrowed my eyes down at the fabric. It doesn't seem to be any form of teleportation since I would've sensed some disturbance in the air, so did Arcueid just suddenly make it appear out of nowhere?

"Okay Arcueid, how do you do it?"

Arcueid suddenly blitzed away from me into the hallway and struck a certain pose I recognize from one of those Japanese comics Rimuru created, the one where she had her right-hand cover most of her face while tilting the chest to the side like a half-fallen domino.

"Hmm! That's a secret ability of mine!"

When did she become this dramatic? Was it all the works of fiction I gave her?

"... Maybe I should've given you some nonfiction to read."

I sighed at the lack of answers, content to accept it as an ability of the whimsical True Ancestor.

Pinching the hologram of different styles of clothing to my side, I turned around and went through many clothing.

The clothing I wore— mostly consisting of a skin-tight black bodysuit under a white lab coat— disassembled itself.

The whole thing was literally unmade like an icy sculpture melting underneath the heat of a summer sun, streams of nanites flowed down my body until I'm entirely nude, standing in the center of a black pool that seems to reflect almost no light.

My pale skin that was devoid of any flaws or discolorings was once again exposed to the self-contained world of the Citadel.

I stared at the naked body in front of me. There was a sense of dissociation, a sense of foreignness of the body in the mirror.

Even after four months, I still haven't gotten used to everything about this new body of mine. I guess me mostly covering myself head to toe was also to blame. Never really got a chance to acclimate to the body of a Perfect Homunculus, unlike the voice.

"Wah!"

My self-introspection was interrupted when I heard that embarrassed sound coming from Arcueid.

Turning to her, I'm met with the puzzling sight of Arcueid covering her face but still peaking through the space between her fingers.

Is she...?

"You've seen me naked multiple times already, why are you now embarrassed?" I asked her in befuddlement, my arms off to the side as if I was about to hug someone.

The hot spring incident springs immediately to mind.

Her face was so red they remind me of a tomato, "Ye—yeah! But that's because I didn't know it was improper before! I had no idea that looking at other people was indecent!"

So she's read books where it's inappropriate to view others without clothing and now she's applied such logic to her identity.

It's... oddly human-like, to be influenced by literature. Like a person in their teenage years, Arcueid's on her own journey of self-discovery where she'll really explore what she likes, and dislikes, her boundaries, and the forging of her identity.

A blank canvas that is being painted on...

Chuckling at her antics, I moved next to the human-like vampire and gently removed the arms off her face, a blush almost as red as her eyes still present on her cheeks.

In a somber tone, one filled with nothing but acceptance of the situation, I started, "Do you see anything down there? Do you see any genitalia between my legs? Even if the area is extra sensitive, there's nothing down there. I'm like a doll. Strictly speaking, I have no gender. So technically, seeing me without any clothes on is like seeing a naked mannequin: do you advert your eyes from looking at them?"

It was a rhetorical question that has Arcueid shaking her head from side to side.

"S— so the things depicted in the books aren't always correct?"

The way Arcueid meekly asked was so unlike the image I have of her that I couldn't find myself facepalming while laughing, "hahaha! Only you could take fiction as literal, Arcueid. Fictions are a mere distorted reflection of reality, not a crystal reflection!"

The True Ancestor then pouted like an embarrassed kid who asked how babies are made but are denied and told they'll learn after they're older.

A single tap of which caused my left index finger to move through one of the many holographic dolls, and sludges of pitch blackness immediately came down from the ceiling. Even after being here for so long, Arcueid was alarmed at the sudden appearance of the black sludge and only didn't spring into action only because of how calm I am.

I looked down at the swirling mass that was crawling up my leg.

Admittedly it is rather scary if a person who sees it doesn't know its purpose, like an infection from a zombie game.

Once the mass has fully consumed my body and only my head remained clear, it solidified while changing its color to match that of a set of plain clothing: a simple long-sleeved blouse and leggings with a pair of running shoes and gloves to top it all off.

That should blend in. "Door me," next I reached into a Doorway that formed right beside me and took out a seemingly 'simple' necklace with a large blue sapphire-like gem at the center.

The sapphire alone makes this necklace worth thousands in my old world, and let's not even get to the technology held within.

Lowering it down to my neck, I fiddled and played with the large sapphire, as if it was a gift from a lover and I had just heard worrying news about them.

Dropping my hands to the side, I turned to find Arcueid that was looking especially nervous, like a schoolgirl about to be on her first date.

I don't understand why she's so nervous. She's an individual I accidentally brought into this world.

[Psychology] raised the possibility of attraction, like Arcueid just now a few seconds ago realizing what's about to happen as a 'date'.

I silently scoffed, what a ridiculous notion.

She's got to be on another level of Stockholm Syndrome to be having any attraction to me. Plus, even if she does, I can't really return her feeling since I'm her guardian. Even with what little ethics I have, I knew that to be improper.

Finally, I pressed the gem with a small amount of force and in the next moment, my face glitched before changing completely. A hologram overlaid my entire head, creating a mask filled with flaws that made me look 'normal' instead of that freakish alien perfection.

"Woah..." Arcueid stared at me in awe, her gaze focused completely on my new face as if it was an alien.

The Digital Mask: not really useful in areas of low-lighting since my head would literally be glowing.

"Heh," I cracked a smile at the generated mental image. "Door me, to a place that'll generate lots of fun."

The Doorway appeared next to me, and with it, both I and Arcueid appeared inside an alleyway south of Congress.

"Oooh! What is that?" Arcueid immediately exclaimed, running toward a casino of all things.

Fuck.

_____________________________________________

"Those look fun!" Arcueid marveled at the inside of the casino with her mouth opened wide in a massive grin.

The flashing lights, the large metal slot machines, the numerous tables containing gambling games that only existed in this world: these entertainment devices were situated in rows after rows that filled the always warehouse-like indoors. There's only really a small handful of people playing with the slot machines since right now, most people who would be here are working.

It was completely different from any casino I've been to, being more barebones than the richly decorated places of entertainment.

I guess that's also because it's very new.

Should Arcueid even be here? I wondered internally as I stared at one of the slot machines. She wanted to visit this since she's only read it in books, never in real life.

Still, there's a reason why only adults are allowed inside a casino, and while Arcueid maybe 800 years old, [Psychology] places her mental age around that of a teen with a 90% certainty.

"Hey, Arcueid. I know of a better place—" As I spoke I turned my head to where Arcueid stood—

Only to see nothing but empty space.

I stared at where the True Ancestor should've stood mere moments ago, there was only one thought on my mind.

Oh shit.

I panicked. Akin to a parent who just lost their child after taking their eyes off them for a few seconds, I felt a sense of incredible terror at the idea of Arcueid suddenly disappearing into a foreign place.

Frantically whipping my head to scour everywhere around me like a hawk scouring a desert landscape to find prey, there was a brief flash of blonde before they disappeared into the rows upon rows of slot machines.

Running towards it, everywhere on the peripherals of my vision turned into a blur as I blitzed past the machines, quickly reaching the middle of a cross-intersection with three different paths that Arcueid could've gone.

Damn it, this is pointless!

[Silenced Emotion: 50%]

Near instantly, I calmed down from my panicky high. Standing still and without any movements, I reminded myself that there's such a thing as 'cameras' within all hotels, an excessive number of surveillance cameras since most hotels have them to prevent acts of cheating.

I looked around me and yup, I had found one of the cameras attached to a pillar holding up the ceiling almost five meters high.

I was about to hack those cameras before I spotted a single wire running out of those white metal boxes and into the pillar.

"Ah..." I can't hack those cameras since there's nothing to hack. Those surveillance cameras transmit their information using wires, not through anything wireless like radio waves that I can intercept.

I could climb the pillars and physically access the wires, but that'll be vandalism and destruction to property, not to mention I wanted to be discrete.

It seems it's proper channels then.

I turned on a dime and ran towards this casino's reception desk, internally promising to give Arcueid a phone next time so communication would be easier.

_____________________________________________

On the other side of the casino.

The technological advancements of this world were simply astounding.

Though Arcueid never once really paid attention to the outside world even during her hunts for Roa, especially since her memory was wiped from her mind after every hunt, the Princess of the True Ancestors still remembers her last hunt for Roa before she was transported to this World.

While yes in her Old World, there are skyscrapers, there's none quite like those pillars of metal and glass that almost seem to hold up the sky.

Those were more befitting of something built by the gods, not something with science.

What's more, those 'machines' held within the Workshop... those that allow the user to look deep into the microcosm of the World, to discover when Quantum Uncertainty becomes noticeable... those almost scared her just like how a human would be scared of the unknown.

What's more, to be able to manufacture those Greater Devourers on an industrial scale, things that can only exist out there in the depth of space, whose birth signaled the end of a star... and use them as storage units.

Scientia... in the beginning, when she was first dragged here, she had genuinely thought that she was in a trap set by that annoying Serpent of Akasha just as she had finally killed him for the last and final time with the aid of a certain sword of her father.

When the vampire first came to, she discovered that she was inside a bubble of distorted space that's dramatically similar to a reality marble, and was less than pleased as a result. But discovering that she was standing on her cousin made that displeasure disappear.

Arcueid's attention was then drawn to the only observer watching her.

It was a hole.

The being that Arcueid would later come to learn as 'Scientia Tempest' was a literal void in reality, an endless abyss with cracks spreading around her on a metaphysical level, infecting everything everywhere she had gone. The World itself seems to almost fear the hole as if its very existence was a representation of everything wrong in the World, akin to those 'Foreigners' Arcueid had once heard her grandpa speak about.

But personally, Arcueid thinks Scientia is like Science personified: a being that chases away Mystery. And it's this property of the Perfect Homunculus that would undoubtedly cause Gaia to treat her as possibly the greatest threat to its existence, the same with Alaya as well. Both would team up to do everything they can to slay that void, lest the Mystery which makes up the Will of the Planet and the Will of Humanity be turned into fairy tales like dragons of old.

Thus, knowing the threat and following her most basic programming of 'slaying threats to Gaia', Arcueid moved to eliminate that hole in reality, charging at it like a rhino.

Though she never said it, Arcueid was happy that she was stopped. During that time as a disembodied Soul, all of Arcueid's programming was deleted.

She broke. She was shattered. The only thing that was on her mind was her killer, that perfect void in reality. And when she could finally think of something else again, Arcueid was still feeling the phantom pain from being hit with multiple topological defects.

But at the same time, the vampire, ever since her inception, had finally begun to think more than just her mission.

Finally reforming her body with [Marble Phantasm], Arcueid found herself high up in the clouds, standing on the top of one of the colossal pillars of metal and glass.

Seeing down at the edge with her feet dangling off the ledge, Arcueid thought about everything. On her mind was this new World, that strange Voice, the lack of Gaia, those titanic pillars of scientific progress, and at the center of it all: the void in reality which killed her.

Being without a history, Arcueid jumped down from the top of those buildings and started wandering the streets like a person lost and without any destination, only stopping when she saw a rapidly changing picture attached to a smaller building.

The picture displayed scenes from a 'motion picture' and was apparently one of the first of its kind. The focal point of that picture was about a cheerful and whimsical female green human-like thing in love.

The blonde tilted her head as she stared at the rapidly changing picture even when it no longer displayed the motion picture.

The female 'goblin' was shown in the rapidly changing picture for approximately 42 seconds and inside her mind, Arcueid continuously replayed that 42 seconds again and again. Due to her inhuman physiology, the True Ancestor remembers just about everything.

It was only when the sun was at its zenith did one of the goblins in uniform approached her and ask her what was wrong.

Mimicking that cheerful female goblin from the motion picture, Arcueid smiled brightly and said 'nothing much,' before taking off to find that void again, only for that void to run away after immediately spotting her.

But in the end, she still caught up and everything was well.

"Mmm! How terrific!" Arcueid did a little jump.

Walking with her hands held behind her back, Arcueid neared one of the many... 'roulette' was it? There was a pattern of red and black squares combined together on the table alongside a single spinning thing at one end. In addition, there was a single human wearing a sharp suit who stood by the table, looking at her with a disarming smile on his face.

"Good afternoon miss, fancy your chance at winning?" The human held up a black coin-like chip.

Arcueid cupped her chin, before smiling brightly and nodding, "okay!"

The dealer explained how roulette is supposed to be played and asked her for the money. In response, Arcueid pulled out a ten-dollar bill from seemingly nowhere, causing the dealer to raise an eyebrow before passing the bill under a Neutrino Scanner.

All Tempest Dollar bills possess a thin line of 'trackite', that is, metamaterial capable of more easily reflecting neutrinos than your average baryonic matter. This trackite is what's preventing people from just duplicating the bill with magic.

Seeing how it passed through the Scanner, the dealer just shrugged and gave Arcueid a blue chip— the second-smallest denomination— and explained how the game was supposed to work.

"I'll recommend you place them on—"

"I'll place it on 0."

"What?" The dealer was stumped. Newbies typically go for the safer options of either odd or even numbers, not directly go for the one least likely to lose! "Are you sure?"

"Yep!"

In his training, the dealer's main priority was to get the players hooked. So even if the player doesn't win, he's allowed to call in some guest services like free drinks to entice the player to spend more.

So reaching underneath the table, the dealer preemptively pressed the button that would bring guest services here.

"Very well," the dealer spun the roulette wheel and...

It landed in 0.

"Huh," The dealer stared at the ball before reaching over and giving Arcueid five black chips representing the highest denominations, "very well. As I said before, the payout for any single number is 35:1, but with the zero, it's 50:1. Congratulations, miss, you just earned 500 Dollars. Would you like to continue to play or would you cash out?"

The vampire pondered for a brief few moments before remembering her main goal here.

To bankrupt a casino that's surely used to launder money, just like the protagonist of one of the books that she'd read did.

Typically, the chance of her winning is in the single-digit percentage. But as a True Ancestor who crossed that barrier of entropy and had her Marble Phantasm turned into a Unique Skill if that odd voice was any indication, Arcueid's [Marble Phantasm] can now affect man-made objects just as easily as with nature.

_____________________________________________

I waited patiently as the orc manager, who actually isn't that obese like the other orcs, awkwardly sifted through the many cameras that were situated all over the casino. His movements were filled with mistakes and second guesses made his inexperience with technology all the more obvious where I can instantly tell without the use of [Inspired Inventor].

Due to my insistence on keeping up the facade, I couldn't just ask them to let me do it myself. Moreover, [Psychology] said how the manager is a person with a huge ego and wouldn't take too kindly to others doing better than himself.

Though interestingly, for a brief moment before the camera record switched, I saw a Kijin with a Shinto shrine maiden outfit standing by one of the tables in the VIP blackjack section.

What was Albedo doing here? I couldn't help but ponder as my eyes narrowed. She was an individual that was particularly against the creation of a casino, but when she realized that it was going to be legalized, the Kijin pushed heavily for tight regulations.

Putting that aside, the door to the monitor room suddenly burst open as a goblin wearing a waiter uniform came in.

"Sir! There's a situation in the Roulette section concerning the potential use of a Skill for cheating!"

"Skill use for cheating?" The manager's eyes widen before turning to me, "I apologize for this, Miss Tia, but cheating with a Skill demands my attention, I hope you'd forgive me for that."

"No, it's alright..." I rolled my tongue inside my mouth as I tried to determine the likelihood that it was Arcueid who was responsible for this, "can I also come?"

"It's preferable that you do not come, Miss Tia."

I turned to the waiter goblin, "does the situation involve a female human with blonde hair and red eyes?"

"Um— yes."

I snapped my finger at that before turning to face the manager with an expectant look.

"Very well. But you do know the penalty of using a possible unregistered Skill yes?"

It was only with [Acting] that I don't just say that 'of course I know, I'm the person who wrote those damn laws'. Instead of a rebuke, there was only a calm smile on my face, "of course I know."

"You know what I think?" The manager said as we started hurriedly jaunting over to the Roulette tables, "I think this is a conspiracy. You and this blonde woman are obviously in collusion to scam our casino out of money but now you've been caught, you're trying to do damage control by appearing cooperative."

"..." Now that I think about it, from the manager's perspective, I really do look suspicious. Even so, "Don't be absurd, I have no need to scam your casino out of any money."

I literally own the source of wealth for this nation, not to mention my endeavors in space provided me with an inexhaustible amount of raw material.

The manager didn't reply. [Psychology] said how he was put off by my nonchalant attitude.

We finally reached a small crowd of people, and just as I thought, Arcueid stood in the middle of that crowd right beside a roulette table with an exorbitant pile of colorful chips, glaring defiantly against a large orc with her hands posed for a killing slash.

If ignoring the situation, the number of chips on the table almost made it look like a set from one of those TV shows where the protagonist is a mathematical genius who started a company, and the only way to fund said company is through casinos.

The manager then spoke into his wrist and asked for additional reinforcement for a potentially violent situation.

"Oh no."

Using movements I learned from [Stealth], I quietly snaked undetected through the crowd until I'm right beside the super vampire.

Lightly tapping her shoulder, Arcueid continued to stare down at the security guard with both of her hands out, protecting her pile of chips like a dragon protecting its hoard.

"Arcueid," I tapped harder, this time eliciting a response in the form of a head turn before immediately returning to a few seconds ago, only her form changed where instead of purely wanting to kill the orc in front of her, the vampire now has her left claw stretched out in a stance that seems to almost separate me from any harm, like as if Arcueid was including me in that 'hoard'.

I snarled, muttering, "god damn it."

Feeling my options get closed off with each passing second, what with the tension becoming higher and higher, even an idiot can see something bad was going to happen unless something drastic was done to prevent it.

So I did something I'm not particularly proud of.

I drew my hand back before striking the back of Arcueid's head around the base in a barber slap that I know full well won't do any actual harm but god damn it I'll make it painful.

I lectured Arcueid with negative reinforcement.

"YEOW!" Arcueid yelped suspiciously like that cat from Tom and Jerry before recoiling and whipping around to look at me, the edge of her eyes had sparkles of light to signal bits of tears while the part of her lips she wasn't biting down on quivered.

I could see my own reflection in her eyes, my posture and form stated stanch unimpressed. The True Ancestor continued to rub the back of her head before yelling, "Scientia! Why did you hit me?! I was only trying to impress you by bankrupting a corrupt casino!"

Oh fuck.

"Scientia?"

"As in, Director Scientia?"

"That can't be right..."

"—she looked nothing like Commander Scientia!"

The people around me all muttered and murmured in surprise.

[Silenced Emotion: 70%]

An even further application of [Silenced Emotion] destroyed the mounting panic that was quickly building deep inside me. I looked around at the people gathered before focusing on the manager, who quickly got the message and told the newly arrived security team to disperse the crowd.

Is this what it's like to be the parent of a teenager whose rebellious streak had gotten them into major trouble?

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AN: you know, I really dislike the fact that they display the original paragraph of a comment as "Deleted" when you edit the thing.

Why is there a Magic tag but no Science tag? what's with this double standard?

100K words, woo!

Due to the fact that the LN is translated only to 12, I will substitute what the LN lacks with the WN, things like Leon's ultimate skill [Metatron, Lord of Purity] is something he's always had.

I'm using the VS battle wiki for things that the Wiki or the LN doesn't contain as well.

However, if it's something that LN said is intentionally different from WN (namely Yuuki) the LN will take precedence

Anything else I'm going to take some creative Liberty as this is an AU.

Spoiler beyond this point.

I need to make this change especially since the Great Tenma Wars doesn't start until Vol 18 according to the people on Tensura Discord.