Dιʋιɳιƚყ [Yandere Reverse Harem x Angel Reader]

6.2

(Picture of Atticus Callisto)

        The rest of your day was uneventful as you walked around the places where you had formerly only quickly flown over. The place was quite beautifully constructed, and you wondered why so much effort and funding would be spent into the villa. Perhaps it had something to do with Dongfang and his mysterious connection with the Bureau?

You stopped speculating since there wasn't enough evidence to make any real conclusions and chose to admire your surroundings instead. From the numerous lamps lining the smooth, paved pathways, to the various native greenery and autumn colors, it was quite literally breathtaking outside.

'Is it just me, or are colors just more vibrant in autumn?' You mused to yourself, taking in the crisp, autumn air, 'The sky is bluer, the light is yellower, and everything is just more.'

You shivered a little at the wind, before manipulating the light to make a sort of warm blanket around yourself. Luckily, yesterday had been a warmer, summer-like day, or you would have been even more miserable from falling into the lake. Speaking of yesterday...

You wince at the pits in the formerly manicured lawn surrounding the West wing, which had been caused by your light blasts. Walking over, you focus your magic on the bare areas, hoping to find sparks of life that you would be able to make grow, but as expected, the ground there, soil and dormant seeds included, had been vaporized. Guiltily walking away from the scene of your crime, you make a mental note to get some plant seeds later, to fill in those bald spots on the lawn. After admiring the sunset from the roof of another tower, you returned to your room.

'I really need to get some work done,' you think to yourself, 'I've been wasting the past two days because of unforeseen circumstances, but it can't go on like this. Winter will come soon, and then the city will basically be cut off from trade and information for a while. Not only that, with the villa being this high up, there's a good chance that it will be quite difficult to actually go anywhere. If I can gather information now, then I'll be able to spend the winter brainstorming and not going out.'

Going to your luggage, you start to fully unpack everything and settle into the tower. You work in silence, with only your floating lights to accompany you. As you went through the briefcase with all your notes for the mission, a little machine fell out, clattering on the surface of your desk. A genius mage friend of yours from the capital had invented this for easier communications, and normally the two of you corresponded quite frequently, but the past few days had been so hectic you hadn't had a chance yet to reply to him.

Turning on the machine, you allowed for the signal to calibrate, as the texts started loading up.

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [I hope you receive this test text. After some experimentation, I have created a working prototype of what I call a text machine! Being my precious partner in science, I have decided to give you the honor of being my tester. This could be a revolutionary technology, if it works, but I'd like to test out its range and informational capacity first.] 12 days ago

Holding onto the down button, you quickly scrolled past the first text to try and get to the newest one, all the while keeping in mind various changes that could be made to make the usage of the machine more user friendly. Seriously, it was quite annoying to need to scroll down every single past communication the two of you had ever made, especially now that the thread was getting quite long.

Upon reaching more recent texts, you slowed.

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [On the topic of our last discussion, the large vitalia mine is a major state secret, and even I couldn't get my hands on its location. My greatest apologies, but I think that if you contact the heavenly council and arrange an official visit through them, the imperial family might allow you to tour there, since you are the second darling of Heaven.

As for the other matter we talked about, the study's results have come out, empirically proving our hypothesis. Since human mages act as conduits of magic, they can draw out magical energy from their surroundings and input it into vitalia, thereby decreasing the amount of magic in the environment when they recharge vitalia or use magic. This effect is so slight that we had to control for the location and amount of magic withdrawn. However, after numerous trials, it has been shown that there were not insignificant decreases of magic for the controlled location. This also opens up a lot of interesting questions, but I'll wait for your commentary.] 4 days ago

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [How has your journey been?] 3 days ago

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [Have you safely arrived yet?] 2 days ago

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [You should be there by now...] 2 days ago

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [(F/N)... you promised me that you would help me test this machine out...] 1 day ago

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [(F/N), here's a surprise! I formally asked for a leave from my duties as the Grand Mage of Valentia, and will be visiting you at the villa in the spring. Due to my busy schedule, and the inconvenience of traveling into the mountains during winter, that's the earliest I could schedule.] 12 hours ago

(F/N) OF FAMILY (L/N): [Apologies for my late response, I've been occupied with traveling and settling into my new home. There are a couple of things I've noticed with this machine that could be improved upon organizationally to make usage more convenient. For example, there isn't a notification method for one to see if there are new messages, and it gets a bit annoying to have to scroll all the way down to see the most recent messages...]

You continue to list out all of your commentary for the recent discovery and any suggestions towards user convenience of the machine. Looking at his last text, however, you aren't quite sure what to feel. Was it just you, or was he strangely clingy? Was it normal to require a response to correspondence immediately after a day? Not that you minded, but it was just strange, especially since humans generally used the much slower method of sending letters, which meant that societal expectation for a reasonable reply time was around a week. You pushed this into the back of your head, thinking that you were being oversensitive, before texting a response to his last comment.

(F/N) OF FAMILY (L/N): [As for your visit, I'd be glad to help you settle in when you do come. However, are you sure you would be alright taking such a vacation? Is the imperial family fine with it? You are the closest thing to a grand mage that the West has seen in a hundred years. I know you're normally concerned with scientific matters, but I hope that you also consider your political position and the power dynamics of the court. I do worry for you, sometimes.]

In your experience, most geniuses were usually considered geniuses because they were obsessed with something. This was the case with him, this was the case with you, and this was also the case with Atticus, who had always been quite obsessed with the science of magic and mechanics. However, because of his single minded focus on science, he often disregarded the implications that new technology and sciences would have on society and power dynamics. It did help that he had the backing of his noble house, the house of Callisto, and was quite a powerful mage himself. Otherwise, who knew what trouble he would get himself into?

You, on the other hand, had a much broader interest range, but because of the overlapping interest areas, the two of you had quickly become great conversational partners and friends. He had gotten somewhat strange towards the end of your stay in the capital, but you just chalked it off as the two of you becoming closer to each other, which was probably natural after the years of interaction you'd had with each other.

Almost immediately after you posted your comments, you obtained a response. It was so fast, in fact, that you raised an eyebrow.

'Wow, he saw it so quickly,' You think to yourself, scrolling down to see the new text, 'Was he watching the chat, or was it coincidental? After all, there are no notifications for this machine...'

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [You were worried about me? How kind of you! I will cherish your sentiments and take your advice into consideration, of course...]

Along with that were various scientific inquiries, which you looked over, but were too tired to reply to. As your eyes scanned the text, your attention was invariably drawn towards the last line, which gave you a strange foreboding feeling.

ATTICUS OF HOUSE CALLISTO: [I'll be able to modify a lot of things, when I come in spring. Do prepare.]