Telos Karma Meta Gacha

[Hajime POV]

When I entered the house, it was very different from Yasaka's. Whether it was because of race or position, the way they decorated was vastly different.

Yasaka lived in a typical Japanese-style house, if a little outdated, with white walls lined with wooden beams. Tatami mats cover the floors and shoji for doors. It still had modern aspects to it. The living room had a couch and television, the bathroom and kitchen were modern-looking, and the house had electricity and wifi. Despite some decorations on the walls, the house felt a little empty.

However, they heavily decorated this place. The walls were covered in shelving, holding dozens of small magical items. When I asked them about it, they explained that it was a way of showing off, showing that they could afford to buy or make so many items.

I would agree; I thought it was interesting to have so many items.

When I asked about some of the items, they refused to explain anything for some, but for others, they were pretty open about what they were. It was likely because those were already well-known, so telling me wouldn't do anything. The others were either rarer or self-made, which would explain why they didn't want to explain anything.

One shelf contained a rack of wands. They explained that wands were occasionally useful foci, having bought the set of wands, each benefitting different magic types. For example, one specific wand they showed me had a thunderbird feather and raiju tooth used in its creation, making it beneficial when using lightning spells.

Another shelf had an elephant mask on it. Having gotten it on a trip to Africa, the mask was enchanted using powder from a grootslang's tusk. Underneath it was the shedding from the same grootslang. The mask allowed one to control the shed skin like a golem. Despite how thin it looked, the skin was as strong as iron.

Tadashi's father acquired many of these artifacts during his travels over the decades. As such, the man was proud when he talked about them. While most of the items were as common as the wand collection, his grootslang mask was the most impressive part of his collection if his voice was anything to go by.

Eventually, they brought me to the office. When they opened the door, the room was surprisingly empty after seeing the rest of the house.

Tadashi excused himself while his father and I sat down at the desk.

Once he was in his seat across from me, he began speaking.

"I am Nakajima Toshio; welcome to my family home."

"I'm Suko Hajime."

"So my son said you wish to know about the ritual, correct?"

"I'd just feel more comfortable. I don't want to help with an unknown ritual."

"Smart. I've seen many greedy fools who would jump right in hearing payment over the years. If you keep that attitude, you'll survive as long as I have."

"I would hope so."

"Haha. Anyway, this is a simple ritual called the Ritual of Broken Whispers. The Ritual of Broken Whispers is commonly used to break the protection enchantments on magic artifacts.

I attended an auction a few months ago and purchased a sealed box. When we tried to perform the ritual, we couldn't unseal it.

The ritual requires a certain amount of magic, which differs depending on the strength of the seals. The box has two layers of seals, which the rituals need to break one after the other. The first requires intermediate-stage mid-class reserves to break, which my son and I can easily provide. The second layer requires initiate-stage high-class reserves.

The seals activated after we performed the ritual, so we hesitated to try again. Unless we manage to unseal it this time, the box will activate security measures to destroy what's inside.

"Why wouldn't it destroy it after the first time?"

"The seals aren't activated yet, just awakened. They sensed magic used nearby, but due to the ritual, they didn't recognize something was happening to it. If the ritual were used again and failed, the seals would realize that magic was trying to break them and open the box, so it would activate the safekeeping runes and destroy everything inside.

Are you willing to help us to perform the ritual?"

Though all the magic I knew about was from my Laxus template, I believed Toshio. I don't know why exactly, other than gut instinct.

"Yes. Though I do have a question about my payment."

"Payment won't be an issue, though I will say now I'm unwilling to part with any of my artifacts or whatever is in the box."

"That's fine; I only need some information. I came to Kobe to find someone, but I'm unfamiliar with the city. If you help me, it would save possibly days of work."

"That isn't a problem at all. Who do you wish to find?"

"I heard that the Shinra clan exiled someone recently for awakening a sacred gear."

"Ah, her. She isn't staying that far from here. She's been within the neighborhood for the last few months. I can have Tadashi bring you where we've seen her stay when we finish the ritual."

"That would be great, thank you," I said, bowing my head slightly.

"No need to do that, Hajime. A few other families could've probably given you the same information. I'm just lucky my son found you first." He laughed.

He wasn't exactly wrong there. That information wouldn't be challenging to obtain for anyone living nearby. Still, I am grateful since this cuts down the search by possibly days.

Toshio then stood up and walked to the exit.

"Let's finish this ritual then. My son should have set everything up for us."

"Right."

I stood up, too, and followed him toward the ritual room.

-----

Once inside the ritual room, I felt the ambient mana change. Whereas it had flowed wherever it wanted outside, it could only move in a specific way now. From what I could tell, it was flowing toward the center of the room, just above where they performed the rituals.

They likely designed this room to interact with the ritual as efficiently as possible.

On one side of the room, Tadashi stood, likely preparing for what was about to happen.

"What you need to do for the ritual is simple. We've drawn three sections in the circle, which you can feed mana into to power the ritual."

I nodded and moved to where they directed me to.

They started the ritual a few minutes later.

Tadashi went first, sending most of his mana into the circle. Toshio immediately followed up, using a smaller portion to break the first seal.

Toshio used more mana than he did previously for the second seal before leaving the rest to me.

Channeling my magic into the circle, I felt my mana draining quickly.

Once half my mana was gone and still being drained, I started to get a little concerned that I would be out of mana before we finished the ritual.

Luckily, my worries were unfounded. When my mana was almost 85% drained, the ritual broke the second seal before deactivating.

Falling backward onto my butt, I took in deep breaths.

That was more exhausting than my fight with Yasaka. Granted, that fight was more painful, but the adrenaline made me feel less exhausted.

At least it was over.

As I caught my breath, Toshio walked toward the box and opened it. Sticking his hand inside, he pulled out a glowing stone with inscriptions.

"Was the box worth it?"

"Hmm?" He turned to me. "Oh, right. You might not know, but this is a wardstone. They create a permanent barrier, more powerful than most mages can make. Though I'm not sure of its origin, the craftsmanship is exquisite. This stone could withstand a few high-class attacks; I'll integrate it with our house's current ward system. Tadashi."

"Yes, Father?"

"Can you show Hajime where the Shinra girl stays?"

"Yes, Father." He nods before looking at me. "Let's go, Hajime."

-----

He brings me several blocks away once we're out of the house.

He stopped once we were outside of a two-story shop.

"We last saw her here a few days ago. She purified the place for the shop owner. She might have moved but should still be nearby."

"Thanks; I don't know how long my search would take with your help."

"It was a transaction. Anyway, I should get back. I still have some work to do."

"Bye."

"Farewell."

As Tadashi walked away, I turned my senses on as much as possible. With my dragon senses, I could easily pick up different scents.

When I entered the shop, I looked around for the back of the place. I took a big whiff and detected a few scents when I found it.

I ignored the strongest scents since those were likely people who worked here. There was one scent that was recent and weak. Though I was unsure if it was Tsubaki, it was the best I could do.

Before leaving the shop, I looked for the scent before following it. Hopefully, this scent was hers and not someone else's. Otherwise, I'll be back to square one.

----------

Omake: Excalibur Thief

[Francisco POV]

As I was standing outside the sanctum containing one of the Excalibur fragments, I was ecstatic.

I learned about the supernatural side of the world ten years ago, but I have reached this position thanks to my hard work.

It was shocking to learn that God was real. Not that I didn't believe in him, but even as a devout Christian, I always thought of him as a metaphorical existence, kind of like Bigfoot or Santa, funnily enough.

That confirmation of everything made me dive headfirst into anything church-related to show my devotion.

I was in the Vatican, now guarding one of their most important relics.

I felt like a hero. Like one of Jesus' apostles. Not Judas.

While I stood guard, I mentally recited Bible verses to pass the time when I sensed a faint surge of magic from the room behind me.

Immediately concerned that someone had broken in to steal the sword, I hurried inside, only to see it disappear through a portal resembling a wormhole.

Rushing to grab the sword before it vanished, the portal closed before I could cross the room.

I fell to my knees. I had failed.

How did this even happen?! What was that portal? Who made it? As I kept thinking about the situation, several figures burst into the room shortly afterward.

-----

As I tried to explain what happened, the people immediately grabbed me.

Before I could explain anything, I found myself in a cell in only a few minutes.

Dammit! Why me?!

__________

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed the omake. I figured it would be interesting to know what happened in one of the worlds these items were taken from, and this was the best idea I had. I'd say it's semi-canon since it doesn't affect the main story. I'll keep it as a mini-story at the end of chapters, so skip it if you don't like it.

Images for the father and son here.

Thanks for reading; see you next time!