The first debut of legends , a term his father used to describe how each legend appears in the world , the Duchess's Debut wasn't even about her Family but the uncovering of the family's true secret .
The earth shook as the dark familiar of the duchess surfaced forming cracks and Ikuta being the only one inside pretended to be shocked as he faked his loss of balance .
The children were okay as they followed the earthquake protocols diligently but what the protocols couldn't prepare was a dark ray highlighted by a sudden thunder .
Ikuta held the umbrella as hard as he did not intend to let go and watched butterflies appear around , the tension reached the students when they saw the butterflies some recalled their lessons while others didn't have it " What's that ? "
The students asked with worry , they couldn't believe what they were witnessing either . Ikuta kept his balance on the shaking earth that burst revealing a dark sphere of energy .
Watching this burst of energy brought fear to the students " Ikuta " Nisse yells with a shaky tone , Ikuta watches his father from the corner of his eye knowing that he has no weapons to use .
Mannequin hands pop out , the fingers bend mechanically , a maiden figure without face or armor steps out of the sphere wearing runes that cover the white body of the maiden " Hahaha it's here "
Ikuta didn't need to turn to tell the fear in their eyes , he could sense a great history within this mannequin , a history shrouded with mystery that scares children and adults upon hearing it . The mannequin's face turns to Ikuta and without a face to express he has to assume the worst .
A sharp tip reached his face , Ikuta quickly parried the Mannequin's dark weapon in a hurry and took a deep breathe . This was his first battle but the risk of death felt like nothing compared to what he had been feeling with his father .
The mannequin looks at the umbrella and comes to a conclusion , they manifested weapons made of darkness that struck the ground and gave Ikuta a choice " Pick your weapon " Ikuta looked at all of the weapons presented to him .
He remembered what the inheritance game was like , he reached to grab a sword and listened to the mannequin's words " Take your place " the lack of tension from the mannequin gave the students some time to calm . Ikuta looks at the Mannequin who remains still waiting for him .
Nobody knew that this was the duchess's inheritance game since such information was held secret , Ikuta gulped and took a stance . The mannequin dashed to attack , he parried it and slid beneath them to strike from behind .
The mannequin's free hand reached to block him and pushed him away , he knew the rules of the inheritance game which was to defeat the mannequin , no children knew what to say at all as they were evacuated through the rain .
Ikuta saw a surge of darkness thrown at him and sliced the ground using it to collide with the magic , he went under the hole he dug out waiting for the chance , the Mannequin approach and thrust his sword upwards to stab the mannequin forming small cracks around while runes were destroyed .
The mannequin falls on him , he climbs out of the hole and looks down at the fallen mannequin " Hey is this thing working shouldn't he have inherited the duchess's power already ? it's the only thing that's gonna make him use magic "
" achoo " Ikuta opened the umbrella and noticed that it was no longer pitch black and back to looking like a normal umbrella while the sword disappeared into it . He looked at the Mannequin wondering what his father meant about inheriting it .
" Here kid " He left a towel wrapped around him " You did good now we'll take you somewhere safe " a thunderstruck casting a shadow over the mannequin , Ikuta felt something enter him " Ikuta are you okay ? " Nisse asked .
" Yeah I'm fine the mannequin is sorta dead " " You were so amazing you fought that creepy doll like it was nothing " Ezio praised making Ikuta feel embarrassed " I just hit it hard at its stomach although after it fell I felt something come inside me "
" What is it ? " " I'm not sure but I'm really hungry I hope I can go home and order some food " Ikuta felt his stomach grumble " I wonder how much you have to eat " some people took the mannequin away arousing Ikuta's curiosity on what they want to do with it .
' What are they going to do with that ? ' Ikuta looks at the rest of the students who looked at him with awe " Ohho looks like the audience this time are children " " How did you do that ? " Ikuta shy away from them .
" I'm gonna run home see you guys next time " Ikuta grabbed his bag and ran out of the shelter rushing away from the shelter and ignoring the adults who yelled to come back . He jumps over puddles carrying his bag and his hood over him for warmth as the sky clears up to a more brightly lighted sky .
" Watch out kid " his father said after pointing at the sky ' Even though dad makes trouble for me every day it's still nice for dad to help me sometimes ' he arrived home and announced his presence " I'm back " " How is school "
" It was nice I learned I can draw other things with pencils maybe I can buy some other things too ? " " Sure your father will be fine even if you spend his entire fortune he still has some houses he can sell "
Louis said " I know Louis " Ikuta passed the young man and went to his laptop to start ordering some pencils and pens and found an email "I heard you went to school I enrolled you to where you went you can start tomorrow although with what you have been learning I changed the enrollment a little bit"
" Oh thanks , dad " Ikuta still pretends that his father was just a distant figure who watched him from afar "Also come to the affinity testing tommorow maybe that doll you defeated did something to you I heard that many can inherit magic once they pass the trial who knows maybe you can get some magic lessons added"
" I can try magic ? " Ikuta pretends to wonder about the possibilities of his magic potential " That's right I'll even take out the magic grimoire that I've been hiding I'll just make a few changes to disguise it a little bit as a gift "
Ikuta gets a video call " Good evening Ikuta I never asked how you liked school ? " Nisse asked " I liked it a lot , dad heard I was invited and just enrolled me but he said that he'll change the enrollment a bit I don't know what it is about though "
" He definitely should change your enrollment you are already smart , meanwhile my dad is too busy to make any changes so I'm stuck with the usual , it's not too bad though , I get to stay in the classroom and read anything because the teacher knows I will pay attention when I need to , sometimes I can even stay at the library "
" That sounds nice " " I know " " By the way , Dad said the doll might've done something to me , he said something about inheriting magic by passing a test " " I know that and since that doll was very strong and you killed it maybe you got some magic "
Ezio joins the call " Hi guys what are you eating for dinner " They both hear loud voices once Ezio joins " Is it loud in there ? " " Yeah , I told mom that I want to call you and they are watching the news that talked about you fighting , so I told them that you were the one fighting "
They hear loud knocks " And they're trying to get in my room " " YOU BOYS DON'T YOU DARE BREAK THAT DOOR " " What's that ? " " Dad he yelled at cousins to not do anything " Ikuta liked how there was so much happening at Ezio's house .
" Ezio Ikuta said he's gonna test for his affinity " " Oh really , are you going to get a dark affinity like your hair ? " " Ezio you are blue but you don't have any affinity to water " " That would be nice if I do , it would be so much colder in the summer when the aircon keeps dying "
" But what kind of dark magic would you do Ikuta ? " " I don't know , maybe I can use it to make swords ? " " That could be hard but you can do it " " It would be so cool to see Ikuta holding a black sword again I wish I took a picture maybe you can make look cooler and bigger "
Ikuta thinks about the sword " But inherited magic is usually influenced by the predecessor so it might be hard to make changes " " Really ? " Ezio asked " We won't know until Ikuta tests his affinity , It's still hard to believe for someone to suddenly gain magic one day but it will be nice if you do "
" Yeah you can join us in magic practice and now we can see if I can win " they heard a loud wood crumble at Ezio's end " AHHHH " " Ikuta help me with dinner " " Sorry I have to help dinner see you soon " Ikuta closed the call and helps Claire make dinner .
...
Ikuta puts on his pajamas and combs his hair ' I wonder what kind of magic the duchess has ' he opens his eyes to the realm again to see the duchess " Huh ? " he was confused and wonders if she speaks .
" Hello ? " the duchess didn't make any response as Ikuta wondered what this meant and found a distinct mark on her eyes ' What's this ' he looked around out of habit and turned back to the duchess .
' I don't think she's asleep her eyes are open but it feels like she's not alive ' he thinks back about the marionette ' they never found her body so maybe that mannequin was her ' he wished he could go out and investigate further but figured that he'll have to wait for more concrete answers tommorow .
Ikuta sat in the car watching a light sun ray hit the other side of the car and turned to his side to a building . He followed Louis into the building and was led to a room to test his affinity " Amazing this dark magic you have is so refined "
He didn't need to hear it but showed some surprise to the tester " Alright we have written you down as an inheritor magic type so do your best with your new magic " " I will " Ikuta saw Louis texting likely to keep up the facade .
" What did dad say ? " " He'll have a book sent to help you " ' he'll probably just take it out from home ' Ikuta returned and waited to go home and eventually had the book in his hands " Wow it looks so new " ' Even though this is the duchess original grimoire '
Ikuta put the box away and read the book of magic , he felt that they were familiar wondering if that was the result of having the image of the duchess in his mind .
He reads diligently learning dark spells ' None of this are useful for now but at least I have some magic but I might have to hold back a little bit '
He takes a break , checking the emails Ezio has been asking "Have any secret service people been going to your house ?" "No" He left the message waiting for Ezio to respond later .
" Why is there no secret service visiting ? " ' Probably because dad is using the company to keep them from doing anything but it doesn't mean the guilds won't '
The TV shows an interview about a guild master " So with the appearance of a new talent in fighting are you going to pouch this child guild master ? " " I'm not sure , first the child is very strong evident to how he dug out a piece of the ground and his quick reflexes but there is no video footage showing enough proof about it other than witness reports "
" So can you ascertain their level if you see them for yourself ? " " Of course I always can observe the talent of any person , even our technology can do it as of now " ' Maybe the reason there are no videos is because of dad again '
" That's too bad if only they could've seen it , but they were bards who sang about the stories to others before and word of mouth too so this is fine " his father seemed to not have been involved making Ikuta wonder if other parties are willing to cover up Ikuta's fight .
" But I should investigate it either way " his father left and Ikuta looked at the book turning the TV off , he summoned a dark flame that burned without leaving ashes ' I'll try something else ' he looked at a spell involving the creation of lifelike dolls .
He looked at the kitchen and cast the spell , a dark surface appeared in thin air stretching out a dark marionette hand " But why is it white ? maybe they used an artifact "
' I can try to get something very powerful just incase ' Ikuta opens his laptop to check the website finding more about the expensive artifacts being sold .
Those without enough money wouldn't even dream of these artifacts as they could cost nearly as much as the annual salary ' Maybe not , it's not like I don't have anything that isn't valuable '
" Maybe I can try to make my own ? " Ikuta left the living room and walked to a storage room looking at a shelf with vases .
' Urns of gods ' he looked up on the upper shelf with glass jars that he thought would be fun to collect but what was inside ' Magic containing glass ' and even the paintings were ' Gateway to different realms '
Then a bunch of snow globes ' different masses of land and water sealed inside ' many of such things could drive a valuable amount of money into the house . But what was slapped into them were names like .
"Fermenting vegetables" "Glass container collection" "Beautiful paintings" "Collection of miniature world globes" at least the last one was close enough ' I just needed to grab one thing ' and he arrived at a small wood-burned box .
" Dad said I can use this for whatever I want so I'll use this " Ikuta grabbed the box that is an artifact of a god who wished for paradise by sealing all that is and will cause suffering .
The box that had tried to contain all that will cause suffering hence why there are cracks " The book says that a box is good enough " he takes the cracked box knowing his father wouldn't care if he used it because the god who wished for paradise failed to seal anything inside .
" Ikuta , what are you coming here ? " " I just wanted this box " Claire eyes the box to judge whether it's okay " Alright you can keep that box just tell me next time " " The house is too big it feels like it's supposed to be smaller from the front door "
" That's just because of the walls beside it and behind it we wanna make sure we have some privacy " Ikuta nodded and ran back to the living room ' with the box and checked the dark spells that he could supply into the box .
" there is so much " he placed a lot of dangerous spells essentially creating his own box of dangers , he already filled the box with some bad things but made sure to not go overboard .
' I'll close it ' he draws runes of strips of paper and wraps them around the box properly so that each paper is parallel to each strips ' I put a lot of restraining spells but will this be okay '
He remembers that Claire was an appraisal in paper and goes to find her " Claire can you check how good this is ? " Claire held the box to herself and observes it " What kind of spells did you put in here ? "
" I just thought I could create a very powerful catalyst , but everything at the shelves looked too valuable so I used this broken box " " Ikuta putting spells together doesn't make better spells your thinking of a gu poison jar doesn't apply to spells " ' I know that '
" Really ? " " Yes plus this box is somehow consuming the spell I don't really know why " Ikuta looked at the runes he wrote on the talisman disappearing except one " Just don't put more spells but you can use this reinforcement spell "
" Okay I will " ' I won't , I need a bomb that I can use just in case something bad happens , dad is gonna throw me into some dungeon one day I better prepare for it ' Ikuta starts scribbling more into the papers , filling up the box .
' As long as I don't dispel the reinforce spell I'll be fine ' Claire picks up some mail and takes one to Ikuta " Here this one is apparently for you " Ikuta looks at the mail .
"Addressed to Ikuta Seishin , since you inherited your magic affinity we would like to help you with your magic studies as we assume you have likely skipped some of them due to your previous affinityless nature"
Ikuta finds a card at the back ' Oh this must be dad controlling one of the puppets again ' just like the original duchess his father was using puppets beyond the house allowing for easier resource procurement just like how the duchess used the noble family's name to bring in fortune and power to procure resources .
" A library card " Ikuta takes a look at the books he could borrow from the library's books that were highly restricted someplace his father barely had his fingers around ' I remember that this is where someone can learn magic not very well known to the public but I'll be able to use it '
He uses the information in the library card and enters the library website with a search engine ' So I need to have a higher affinity level to get the higher ones ' he thought to hide his track better by picking the least suspicious books and choosing to get the basics first .
" Claire , can we go to this library ? " Claire drives Ikuta to the library while she parks the car in a mall pretending to shop giving Ikuta a lot of time until he has to be called out for lunch " here it is " he pulls out the book about the basics of magic .
' I have the duchess in my head but I can only use her spells so I need to learn the basics of magic ' he opens the book reading the definition of magic .
"Magic is a harnessable force that can be used , it's origin is yet to be known but is commonly taught as a natural origin that was harnessed just like how the fire is harnessed for cooking"
"But there are areas of magic that have greater mana of some attributes , such as a volcano which would have more fire attribute mana increasing the heat of fire spells , or the north where the ice attribute spells are colder and water spells are affected due to the temperature"
"There are rare types of magic attributes that are present in the world , one such is the god's divine mana that comes from their domain which can enhance a person's abilities depending on the god's domain"
"And there are also more unique attributes such as light , darkness , time , dream and etc. these attributes require extensive understanding of their nature and willpower to be harnessed . As such upon understanding them one can bend the new magic with the limits of their will"
He finds that the duchess is one of them and turns the pages to her section "The duchess has been one of the most powerful users of dark magic , her utility has bent the darkness to her liking , she gave the darkness form and in return for her tamperings of darkness she was able to gain a great land"
He looked at a familiar mansion made of black and white "The midnight mansion was the duchess's greatest creation that was found , despite having no records of the duchess being the creator of this mansion it was still often linked to the duchess for her great influence over the dark arts"
' No that's the duchess's mansion ' he remembers one of the snow globe which was on a white box to help see what the midnight mansion is , while it looked like a normal snow globe it was the real midnight mansion .
"It was later said to have disappeared sometime after its discovery , it was as if meant to reveal itself to the world and never to be known ever again just like the duchess" he was disappointed by the story of the midnight mansion .
He grabs a book to learn more about it and opens the pages "Upon the discovery there has been a little bit of exchanges with the mansion , the mansion doesn't accept any light other than small little candles"
"Many majin was stationed commanded by the ruler , there was no such thing as a sun in this mansion because of the great darkness that shrouds it , there were minimal lights likely to ensure the effectiveness of dark spells"
"Interactions with the Majin are simple however if a light is brought too close to them they will still not be seen , only solid marionettes controlled by magic served the dishes with light around"
' No there's nothing about the duchess here ' "During the discovery , a conclusion was drawn that this mansion was the original mansion of the duchess that was burned to the ground , it may be likely that there is a spell that can transport one to the midnight kingdom"
Ikuta recalls the dark flame he has and wondered ' Could that be it ' he checks the other things about the midnight kingdom " You must be Ikuta right ? " " Aww it's time already ? " " Your sister is calling you "
" Okay " Ikuta followed Claire to eat " What do you want to eat " " HOTPOT " Claire took Ikuta to an expensive hotpot letting Ikuta order his food which meant letting him play tap titans on the ordering tablet " Make sure to get vegetables " Claire reminded .
" I know " Ikuta said with happiness in his eyes " fried tofu , tofu skin , enoki , potatoes , dumplings , radish , corn , cow stomach , intestine , meatballs , greens , shiitake , lotus root , quail eggs , shimeji , king oyster and fresh oyster " " Is that all ? " " That's just for the spicy one now for the sea food "
He was so happy looking at the crowded hotpot and the kid next table was amazed pointing at their table . Meanwhile , the waiters were nervous to hear the massive order that Ikuta asked for so they had to excuse themselves by saying that the table should be emptied first .
Ikuta used the serving chopstick and pinched a great amount of cooked food , his eyes sparkled with excitement dumping it into one big bowl and picked a big spoon to grab the seafood from the other side and onto the big bowl " itadakimasu "
He started picking up his food with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth chewing it so fast that he got to the next one quickly , he was also picking through the crab , shrimp and oyster and eating them quickly .
Meanwhile , Claire enjoyed the soups with a few of the food she had ordered , the waiters and customers were amazed by Ikuta's speed and appetite .
Claire on the other hand placed more food into the hotpot to cook for Ikuta " Waitress we need more broth " They quickly worked pouring some more while Ikuta enjoyed his lunch so happy to eat outside at a restaurant " Claire can we go to grill later dinner ? "
" Sure " " Yata " Ikuta ate and ate through the list of food that spanned through the receipt they had to pay in advance due to ridiculously long menu .
One more carts were delivered concluding the list of food ordered that he emptied . He ate the meal and left not even a single drop of soup after socking it with some steamed buns .
He burped lightly amazing every customer who had recorded his eating " Be sure to exercise when you get home " " Okay can I have some steamed buns for snacks ? "
" Alright " they left while the employees said " Come again next time " " Sure " Ikuta said with a big satisfied smile and an unbelievably flat stomach .
Ezio and Nisse looked at the live feed unsurprised by the amount of food he ate " He said he's gonna eat some steamed buns later " Nisse mentioned " I want to eat that much too " Ezio wished " I want to eat that much and not get a big stomach but only Ikuta can do that with the exercise he has "
Druk walks to them and asks " Nisse what kind of exercise does Ikuta do ? " " I don't know but he is doing a lot " " How about you come with us to visit him and see ? " Ezio suggested .
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