NABC Page 154
Page 154
Matou Ike took out a stack of drawings depicting the same creature from his pocket and handed them to Aozaki Touko.
"It's pretty good, and quite cute. I didn't expect you to have this kind of quirk." Orange took the drawing and examined it carefully, glancing sideways at Matou Ike.
“Drawing is the foundation of a magician, isn’t it?” Matou Ike said with a smile, ignoring Aozaki Touko’s teasing.
The drawing depicts a creature resembling the "Fourth Beast," Cathy Palug, who is the second body he prepared for Angra Mainyu.
"Hmph, do you have any requirements? I don't think you're the kind of person who just wants a doll to cuddle with while sleeping." Aozaki Touko looked at Matou Ike's fake smile and gave a soft snort.
"As for the requirements, firstly, it must have the characteristics of a living being; secondly, it must have the characteristics that allow a familiar to possess it; and finally... well, give it a magic spell that solidifies the implication that 'this is a dog.'"
Matou Ike responded to Touko's request, explaining why it was a dog instead of a cat, simply because he felt that Angela Mainyu was more like a dog than a cat.
Angra Mainyu's protesting voice echoed in his head, but Matou Ike ignored it, taking it as revenge for the guy's constant chatter in his head lately.
"Okay, no problem. For your sake, the fee will be around 1300 million yen." Aozaki Touko nodded and placed the blueprints under a stack of documents.
"Hmm...hmm? How much?" Matou Ike doubted his ears. (Note: 1995)
No, why don't you go rob a bank?
Oh, so selling dolls is more profitable than robbing a bank.
"You don't run out of money, do you?"
Upon seeing Matou Ike's expression, Orange's entire demeanor changed instantly. She stood up from her seat, transforming from a languid urban woman into a landlady collecting rent.
This is an amazing transformation, even without taking off his glasses.
"Um, the money... um... I'll have to wait a bit. Give me your card number, and I'll pay you back in a while," Matou Ike said with an awkward yet polite smile.
"Fine, but you should know the consequences if you don't have the money to pay later, right?" Orange threatened through gritted teeth.
“Okay, the second thing is... I'm sure Miss Touko is aware of the recent murder and disappearance cases.” Matou Ike changed the subject and spoke to Aozaki Touko again.
"Of course I know. I've received quite a few requests for these kinds of things. What, are you interested in this too?"
Orange clearly didn't take this matter to heart. Garan Hall had just opened and was short of money, so small-profit commissions like this were usually put on the back burner.
"Does Miss Orange still remember Araya Souren? This matter is inextricably linked to him." Matou Ike didn't beat around the bush, but directly stated the matter.
As expected, when Aozaki Touko heard that name, she slightly lowered her glasses, revealing a look of utter rejection of all warmth in her eyes.
Her cold words and actions, her cold thoughts, her cold theories—this is the very description that defines her when she takes off her glasses.
"Of course I remember him, he's an old friend of mine, but I don't want to have any contact with him at this time. If there's nothing else, please leave. I'll make the doll myself."
His voice and expression were extremely cold, like a pool of ice water.
Matou Ike shook his head. "This matter has blown up too much and has seriously violated the Mage's Association's regulations on the disclosure of secrets."
"What, are you also a loyal supporter of the association?" Aozaki Touko said with some disgust, and lit a cigarette.
"No, it's just that if we make too much of a fuss and attract the association's attention here... Miss Orange should know that better than I do."
Aozaki Touko was well aware that when she learned that this matter was related to Araya Souren, she had already foreseen the consequences.
That guy was so utterly unacceptable to others, he only absorbed their pain.
His abilities as a magician have many flaws, yet he surpasses everyone else through his sheer tenacity.
Can't these guys just give up for a while? They're still trying to get to the bottom of things.
He could see the "origins" of humanity, and his pursuit of the rudiments of the soul led to his expulsion from the sect by his master... Even now, he's still involved in such matters; it's truly karma.
Orange was a little angry, and she just wanted to study magic in peace for a while.
Yet I always end up getting caught up in these kinds of troublesome things.
So annoying!
"Alright, what do you want to do?"
Orange roughly crushed the still-burnt cigarette in her hand into the ashtray and met Matou Ike's gaze.
Chapter 200: The one who owes money is the boss.
At night, Matouchi Pond carries out the repetitive task of clearing out the "pseudo-dead" (fake dead).
He kicked aside the ashes and debris blocking his way and headed deeper into the alley.
After yesterday's battle, Matou Ike is even more adept at clearing out these monsters.
They even had the leisure to conduct some experiments.
He pinned a irrational "pseudo-dead apostle" to the wall and carefully observed its reaction.
Various methods were used on his body in turn.
Including but not limited to cutting, flooding, magic bombardment, impact, compression, high-temperature steaming and cooking, etc.
Even damaging core organs like the brain and heart cannot completely eliminate their activity.
The final conclusion was that burning them to ashes was the most efficient method.
The active cells inside these things are incredible; their proliferation and growth are almost on par with the monsters Caster summoned back then.
It's important to understand that they were originally just humans, and humans without magical talent or special abilities.
This gave Matou Ike a deeper understanding of the origins of Shiro Jun Rio and the chain reaction between Beelzebub's authority.
Compared to other methods, fire is significantly more effective against these pseudo-dead apostles.
Even with their exceptionally strong regenerative abilities and resistance to various types of damage, the nature of carbon-based life forms still prevents them from escaping the flames.
It must be admitted that although these pseudo-dead apostles seem to have lost their minds, in a sense, their existence itself is an extreme form of evolution.
Or rather, it's a regression.
Watching Matou Ike clean up the "trash" around him, Angra Mainyu couldn't help but ask him:
"Are you really going to that high school for college entrance exams tomorrow to be a male high school student?"
Matou Ike flicked the blood off his hands onto the ground and replied, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"There's nothing wrong, it's just..."
Angra Mainyu thought about his conversation with Aozaki Touko that evening.
When asked what Matou Ike wanted to do, he actually replied that he needed a transfer student status for a high school.
Recalling Aozaki Touko's reaction when she heard Matou Ike's words, that woman couldn't help but laugh despite her cold personality.
Are you kidding me?
We've laid so much groundwork regarding the dangers of Araya Sōren and the potential consequences for both sides if left unchecked.
But the final strategy he adopted was to become a boys' high school student.
Are you sure you haven't been reading too many action-packed manga in Weekly Shonen Jump? Do you really think that being a high school boy will save the world?
This isn't some kind of supernatural or bizarre world.
Aozaki Touko's expression immediately turned sour.
"Haven't I already explained it? Araya Sōren's core goal has always been to seize Taiji and use it to access the Root."
"Now that we have identified the enemy's target in advance, we can take precautions in advance and figure out their strategy."
Matou Ike paused for a moment. In fact, he roughly knew some of the opponent's strategy, but he didn't say it.
Angra Mainyu said with great dissatisfaction:
"Stop, stop, stop! That's not what I meant. I meant, why go looking for that Aozaki Touko? Why not just infiltrate that school and stake out that girl named Ryougi Shiki? Why bother..."
Matouike noticed his behavior and asked with some suspicion:
"You're not doing this because of that 100 million, are you? I haven't even complained, why are you complaining?"
That's right, in this matter, Aozaki Touko extorted another 100,000 yen from Matou Ike.
Although Matou Ike was a little reluctant, he still agreed.
Angela Manuel roared, "That's 100 million! Plus the cost of making that doll, we have to pay her 1400 million!!! We could have done this ourselves, why did we have to ask her?!"
Matou Ike shrugged at this. Angela Mainyu was still too young and didn't know that in this world, the one who owes money is the boss.
Paying money was just a way to drag Aozaki Touko into this mess, since she's a Grand Puppeteer.
Moreover, the more money I owe, the greater Aozaki Touko's sunk cost will be.
You'll become more attentive to this matter, won't you?
......
Meanwhile, Aozaki Touko was researching information on the fourth floor of the Garan no Tou.
"The four exorcising families: Ryougi, Asagami, Shichiya, and Wujing?"
The conversation with Matou Pond at dusk, while not particularly interesting, was still noteworthy.
In particular, the discovery of the idea of her former like-minded friend naturally gave Aozaki Touko a certain amount of motivation.
"Whether you say yin and yang, light and darkness, positive and negative, it's all acceptable. It's a state of being divided into two from the root. In the Yin-Yang philosophy, it's called the Two Forms."
She was very interested in the girl named Ryougi Shiki that Matouchi had mentioned.
The continuation of the Tai Chi diagram.
It split into two from the chaotic void, forming the two polarities.
In pursuit of greater stability, and to add more categories, it was divided into the Four Symbols, and even more complex was the Eight Trigrams, and so on, continuing to be divided in a binary system.
In other words, the girl possessed almost "omnipotent" abilities.
Perhaps Araya will actually succeed this time.
I picked up the photo that I found while searching through the documents.
The photo shows a stone-paved path, a clock tower that looks like something out of a movie, and three people standing side by side under a gloomy sky where snow could fall at any moment.
Two men and a girl.
Both men were very tall; one was Japanese, and the other blended in with his surroundings like a local, appearing quite natural.
"It's been more than six years, hasn't it? I almost forgot what you two look like, Araya Sōren and Aruba Alois."