" Here you go " Ezio was shocked looking at the card " You just bought that ? " Ezio asked " Yeah it's easier than carrying coins " " Even though it was so expensive " " It's okay , Dad won't mind " Ezio wondered if there was a limit to Ikuta's spending .
Ikuta looks at all the games in the arcade wondering which one he should try first " Which one should I try first ? " Druk looks around just as confused " How about this ? " Ikuta looked at the machine that pushes coins into a hole .
" It has anti-magic and you can't cheat so it all comes to luck and all you have to do is put your coins in " Druk said Ikuta looked at his card wondering if this could be of any use " I only have a card though " Druk felt embarrassed to make such a mistake and Ezio pointed at the claw machine .
" You could do that " Ikuta thinks about his father who may rig the game and the arcade games that are usually rigged to profit out of unskilled customers " How about ticket games ? " " There is the basketball " Ikuta looks at the game " Okay I can do that "
He beat the highest score " Ahahahah of course you would be able to do that " Ikuta carried the tickets to the cashier who was terrified about what he would get " I want that " Druk was surprised Ikuta got the prize that was the least worth , a t-shirt " Why did you get that ? "
" Because I already have everything else at home " " You do ? " Ezio asked amazed because all the things on display were ridiculously expensive " But then again you don't have to care about spending "
" Yeah so all I have to do is get this nice shirt " Ikuta looked at all the shirts that were on display " Claire can I get more of those shirts ? " " It's okay to try and get them but just don't destroy anything in the arcade "
" ? " Druk wondered what Claire meant about destroying something in the arcade , Ikuta walked to the box machine that had the highest score displayed " Uhm kid that's for dragons " Ikuta instantly punched the machine and watched the machine die but at least survived partly and physically .
" Uhm " he looks at Claire " Huh ? " The employees were confused and Druk's jaw dropped " It must've malfunctioned " Claire told the employee " Come on Ikuta you still have to buy your games "
Ikuta sighed and they all followed Claire to the game store " Wow " Ikuta was amazed by the number of games " You are only allowed five games " " Aww " Ikuta was disappointed . Druk spots a salon and turns to Ikuta .
" Are you going to get a haircut? " Druk asked " No I like my long hair " " It would be bad if he had to cut it " His father said not delving any further into it ' I'll have to be careful about keeping my hair like this , who knows what kind of things dad knows about it '
" You could at least get it wash " Ikuta pulled his hair and took a sniff " It still smells like mint so I'm fine " " Oh Nisse is over there " Druk turned his attention to Ezio who ran to greet her , Ikuta put his games and saw many game merch " Can we buy those ? " " We do have a few spare rooms "
" yay " Ikuta said " Kid are you trying to bankrupt me with only this much ? You'd do a better job dropping the house out for free to do real damage " His father said ' I wonder how rich dad is , I mean he does have a lot of money but from where ? '
" Claire where does Dad get all his money ? " " From investing " Claire's vague answer made Ikuta wonder what it actually is " Hi Ikuta " Nisse said " Hello Nisse " Nisse looked at the cart filled with all the things that would make any gamer happy .
" It turns out I get a discount for finishing being good at the game I just had to log into my accounts " Ikuta held a retro game to show off " I never knew you were interested in that old game " Nisse said .
" I know but I probably won't play that retro game that I found but it is nice to have it in hand it's not a bad game that I hate but it's not a very good game that I'll play it "
Ikuta thinks of how the cultists use the game to wreak havoc and wonders if they discovered ways to tamper with reality using the power extracted from pain " I might try to code it " " Why are you looking forward to a career already ? "
" It just feels nice to make things , a weapon is good but there's not much to think about when making a weapon " " Even though there are dwarves who emphasize every single detail " She looks at Ikuta " Say why not get a weapon license you would get a lot of money if you sell weapons "
Ikuta thinks of it " No I took very good care of the weapons I made I even treat them like they will break like glass " Nisse thinks of his strength " Ehe with you they probably will break if you even swing it too hard "
She continues thinking about Ikuta's sudden decision to make games " But why retro ? " " Because it feels exciting to make something , but having to make one with really high graphics is forcing me to do more so I just plan to only do as much with old retro games "
" That's a nice dream " " But it isn't a job " Nisse was surprised and Ikuta said " It's more like a hobby but coding takes a long time so I'll have to learn a lot starting from the beginning who knows how much I have to learn to make that "
Ikuta looked at the other places " Maybe I can get some of those things " Nisse was confused and Claire carried bags of merch " Ikuta with the things you are buying Louis will have to take them home before so how about you look around for a while "
Nisse wonders what other things Ikuta had bought " Anyways Ikuta I hope I can keep styling your hair " " Oh uhm you're welcome ? " Ikuta was generally confused about what Nisse meant by styling his hair , she leaves and he thought of a reason .
' Maybe Nisse wanted to be a hair stylist in the future or does she just like doing that ? ' Druk and Ezio returned " Where did you guys go ? " " I met Nisse's cousins they were nice and they even said they wanted to come to the restaurant "
Ikuta looked at Druk " I just watched " " I'm sure it's okay if you just watched " " I have to go home as soon as I can but I can stay until 4:30 " Ezio said " What about you Druk ? " " I'll ask my parents what to do "
" Oh come on just tell your mom that you want to stay you already have very good grades nothing's gonna happen if you spend some time for fun " Ezio said " Now where should we go ? " Ikuta looked around the mall .
" I'm not sure I never went outside so Ezio you take the lead " " Alright follow me " Ezio took them to wherever he thought would be fun and eventually it was time for him to leave . Druk also followed and Ikuta finally went back home .
" Ikuta tomorrow you'll have to go to school we're calling some people to move the rooms " Claire said in the car driving Ikuta home " What about my lunch ? " " We'll give you an item box for that , any request ? " " Sushi " Ikuta goes to his bed and starts his plan .
" We have a problem , the spy we sent on this kid with dark affinity had disappeared " " No explanations for how they disappeared ? " " The tracker they had on them simply disappeared we went to where they were last seen and haven't found anything at all "
" We sent a spy so that we could keep the cultist from reaching out to a rare potential of dark mages but if they aimed for someone with that level in affinity what makes them think it would work ? "
" They were probably just guessing and hoping to get them , the sudden death of the clerk helped us know that the black sun was after him and they even sent a member to bring him to the cult upon a completion of a test "
" The test could be the game he received from the clerk upon payment , he seems to be well off to ignore the price of a retro game , there was magic in it more specifically a black magic " " How many people still have the misconceptions of dark magic being black magic "
Someone complained while they continued the discussion " However do you think this child could be related to the incident at the black sun ? " They all think about the news they heard " It could be possible , even if the news were published a few hours ago but it wouldn't make much sense "
" Then let's say that the child had completed the test on purpose , it would lead the member to invite him over " " But How did the cultist not see him ? Surely a child who appears in a cult would surely stand out ? "
" He likely doesn't need to be there , the Pandora's box that the cultist claims to have released a strange spell " " What about the specifics of that spell ? "
" We interrogated the cultist and found that the box upon opening released black strings each searching for a member , they were one of the lucky ones to be able to run out of it "
" They also said they failed to contain this black magic with a spell that imitates the pandora's box , Describing that the spell simply ignored the imitation " " It could be possible that the boy had taken the cult by his hands "
" But how ? " " Remember the duchess ? " " You mean to say that the puppet we have is one of the duchess's succession games ? " " It's possible " they worry about the idea that a young child has already turned to the dark side of the world .
" We will monitor him then " they agreed and sent a spy to stalk their movements .
Ikuta sent out a cultist to walk to a location " I know you are here " Darkness seized the spy and Ikuta watched who they were " Who are you ? " He was about to commit suicide . Until he forced the cultist to stretch out their hand taking the damage of poison .
He felt the increase in black magic from the formulas embedded into the cultist's body that turned their pain to power " I'm not here to hurt you but to negotiate " Seeing as he had no options Morst asked .
" Who are you ? " " The child you have been stalking I know that you had planned to spy on me after that other spy of yours died , You sent them to keep an eye out for the cult but not me but he had to die although it's not in my hands "
Morst was astonished to hear the answers he was getting just from a single question " What is your goal in taking control of the cultist ? " " I planned to find legal ways to improve my magic efficiency "
The truth-telling spell was working properly and detected no lies giving Morst even more surprise , he thought about doubting Ikuta but chose to record it .
" I don't mind if you bring this information to your superiors but I do hope you don't target my friends I'm sure you already checked all about me and know that they have nothing to do with this "
The more Ikuta talks through the cultist the more Morst thinks that IKuta is truly just a child " That store clerk that died did you do it ? " " No , but I can tell you that the killers of the store clerk and the person you sent to watch out for the cultist for me are the same person "
Assuming that all Ikuta said was true proceeds with the next one " Do you know this killer ? " " Yes , but I can't tell you they can be seen as forbidden knowledge , as soon as I tell you , your death will be guaranteed you won't even be able to react because this death is instant "
Morst gulps thinking what Ikuta means " Is this person your enemy or friend ? " " Honestly it's more like a stranger who watches out for me that which I have no control over or any interactions with so settle with only this much information on your side and as for those cultists"
Morst wonders what Ikuta wants with the cultist " You can do whatever you want with them , although you will have to pay attention to the groups of terrorists that's gonna start disappearing "
The cultist turns their back " Wait " " What ? " " Those recent attacks were they you ? " " Not sure which one you are talking about but I'm only targeting the ones that are in the way of peace "
...
" He plans to use the cultist to find "legal" ways to improve magic " " he certainly isn't going to undermine society but we'll have to watch his moves he was already able to control the cult like the duchess controls the family he might've somehow obtained the duchess magic one way or another "
" So we will continue to watch him " " We will also have to watch out for the guild they already caught on to his abilities after he started leaving his house " The cultist went to the soffin where the store clerk was .
' I'll be borrowing this ' strings of darkness stretched out and claimed the body and animated it with the soul , they left the coffin and closed it ' Good thing dad didn't kill him instantly ' the wounds healed and they proceeded to reclaim some of the retro games .
' Let's see I'll take a long time to learn this but I do have to be able to understand them first so for now I'll try to buy all his equipment ' Ikuta sends away the cultist back to the base which has increased .
He rounded up all the store clerk's equipment that was in a far distant using another cultist that had close ties and claimed all the belongings inside ' Now that I did that , gotta make sure everything is cleaned up make sure that the important memory is hidden and any personal information is erased '
Now the equipment had no traces of the store clerk's information or anything that could point that it was used to enchant a game card , right now it's just an old retro game equipment that can make modifications .
' I didn't find one in the mall but if I use the cultist to sell this at a price maybe I should make it negotiable , I'll be able to send funds to the cult this way ' he looks around to see if there are other pieces of information he could use .
' There are some game chips that I can pretend to add to my collection I did say I want to redesign it so dad shouldn't care about it ' he increased the price as high as he could and planned to have it posted at 4 in the morning .
' I'll just pretend I was scrolling for it ' the next day Ikuta found it " Louis can I buy this ? " Louis looks at it " Are you sure ? it doesn't look worth it ? " " Yeah but it's the only one that has data on it " Louis pauses to assess the worth .
" Okay since they claim to have memory of the notes of retro games we can buy it but I'll have to meet with the seller " Ikuta smiled happy to have Louis who doesn't have as good eyes as Claire and wouldn't notice anything unless it was badly hidden .
" Thank you " ' Now I got the funds sent to the cult ' " But are you sure you want to collect all these retro games all at once ? " " Yep , I am planning to change it and maybe remove some bugs if I can "
" School just called that the weather will be bad so you'll have online classes " " Okay " Ikuta goes up and opens his computer while Louis and Claire leaves ' he opens the online class and visits the breakout room with his friends .
" Hello Ikuta " Ezio greeted him earlier " Is it because it's online that you are early ? " " Yes because if I come here early I don't have to deal with my cousins " " You sound like you don't like them "
" I don't like them but I at least don't hate them it's just really annoying all the time if I was playing they would suddenly steal all my coins just like in party bros " Ikuta thinks of the coop games realizing he doesn't have any that allows everyone to play face to face instead of individual screens .
" Now that I think about I don't have any games like the ones you play on a single screen " " Oh it's okay that makes sense but the board games you have are really fun though " rain starts to pour .
" Why is it an online class by the way ? " " Because it would be really bad if we had to go to school and get sick and it's better this way , But we didn't have this in our other grades but we do now " " So that's why you have a computer "
Ezio nodded " I thought it was rare because screen time is bad " " It would be but all my gadgets have parental controls so I can't even use them most of the time " " Okay that makes sense " " But what about ? "
" My computer has a special lock I have to complete a lesson first and answer questions correctly to get in " " Wow I don't want to do that I won't be able to use my computer for life " " It's okay the lock behind my computer is hard to install "
Nisse joins the room " Hey guys " " Oh hello Nisse " " Hi Nisse " " It's raining hard it's a good thing the wifi is still good " " Yeah , it also means I don't have to clean the roof " Ezio remembers what Ikuta usually does .
" How many times do you clean the roof ? " " Not a lot probably once a month I was supposed to clean it today but it's raining outside " " oooohhh " Nisse thinks of why roofs have to be cleaned that often .
" I know there is some moss that grows on the roof that needs deep cleaning but why one month ? "
" Well it's my fault , I eat so much food every day and our water pipes are connected to our backyard so anything we flush out goes into the soil and we also have a spell that makes the dirt break down quicker " Nisse pretty much guessed what happened .
" Then why do you have to clean it every month ? " Ezio asked " Well do you know why the roof is green ? " Nisse wonders about it all the time " No ? " " The green are tiny leaves connected to the plants because there's so much food that the plants are eating they keep crawling through the roof or the walls to get more sunlight so I have to clean it "
" So that's why the air always smells fresher there " " It does " Ezio said recalling all their visits " You wouldn't believe it but the reason why there is a thick patch of the ozone layer in the city is because of our house that's why I have to clean the roof because I'm the reason it's like that "
" No wonder the stars were easier to see from there " They both imagine what it must be like to have to supply that much for Ikuta " Wait but you barely go to the bathroom everyday " " That's because I also have to sweat sometimes "
Ikuta remembered the item box lunch ' That's too bad ' " So you're basically the one that gives the plants all the nutrients ? " Ikuta nodded . The teacher enters the online class meeting and starts their lessons .
Ikuta took this time to search up how to code with the guidance of the clerk's soul ' Hmm these ideas are interesting ' he found several pending game designs and took a look at one of them ' This one is a summoning game it might be how they plan to create familiars '
He thinks about making it and the implications of it ' I could just say that I learned how to use this special kind of magic because I bought it , it was very expensive so I could pretend it's like that , Plus I'm sure Claire would notice it eventually , I could use this to showcase I have more magic potential '
The classes end and He joins the breakout room with Ezio and Nisse again " So Ezio did you pay attention ? " Nisse asked " I hate online classes it's so much harder than going to school for some reason "
" Is it because you were busy playing with toys ? " Ikuta asked and Ezio shyly admitted " Yes " " online class is good for me I don't have to feel bad about not being in classes and I get to do whatever I want on the internet "
" Me too , I did just learn how to code a little bit " they both wonder what Ikuta's standard of a little bit was " Really ? " " And I'm kinda excited about the set of coding equipment that I bought online , they had a collection of retro games , spare game storage "
" So you are going to make a game ? " " Yep right now all I can do is make a text-based one but it's kinda hard if the choices are predetermined " " Of course it is " Nisse said " It's not like there is a real person behind it , so I don't get why my cousins even like those dating games "
" Isn't that what teenagers do ? " " Yeah but my cousins prefer talking to a 2d person instead I don't get it " Nisse said " Well if they are living with my cousins I would get it they are horrible " Ezio said .
The next class started and Ikuta continued researching coding ' But text-based games are very interesting especially if I have the duchess with me it's kinda like that ' he tried to see what's the difference between the real duchess and the duchess right now .
' The current duchess is less of a person , but she does respond to my answers but why ? There has to be a reason why she does that ' he thinks of how this happens and looks at the console ' If I think about it that would be possible after all '
He thinks of the duchess as one of the 2d person that Nisse's cousin prefers talking ' I have a question and she answers it she's kinda like Claire and Louis only that Claire and Louis don't have souls of anyone but rather is controlled like a puppet by dad '
" I wonder what dad is doing " he hasn't seen his father since morning and thinks of the people he talked to last night ' I wonder how well the cultists are doing I have been checking the black market for something but I had to careful '
He checks on the cult and asked ' Did anything happen ? " ' No , we are still gathering materials as you have said and keeping watch on any terrorist groups " ' I'm glad this puppet spell is useful '
The Cultists continued their operations but with the rejection of using sacrifices , some people knew something was up " Should we destroy that cult ? " " It is meddling that they are turning every member into puppets "
A dark eye translates their lips to words to read ' So I have to deal with two parties one party is good the other is evil ' he knew the cost of trying to keep up with both so he sends an email through the cult .
"I found the location of the group that's been causing troubles , I know you want to take care of them but I won't give you this information for free" " To think he would go this far this kid is more capable than I thought "
Ryela looks at the email wondering what kind of deal Ikuta wants ' He's only a kid what do they actually from it ' She looks at the numbers "This is the cost of the information I'm going to give you bring it to the location I'll be sending and try to stop looking around the stranger I told your spy about they will find out about you so be careful"
' He just wants money what is he trying to do ' she checks on what kind of things Ikuta could be after ' What does he want to buy ? ' she spends the morning finding what he would like to get and Ikuta's classes end .
He walks down to eat lunch and finds a package " Hey I got your things so where do you want to set it up ? " " My room is fine " " Well we did call some people to make some space for you so the house will have some remodeling how about you go down then "
Ikuta thinks about what to do now that he doesn't have any privacy and decides to check on the cult while some people enter the house with Louis there to help add the rooms beside Ikuta's bedroom .
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