Chapter 2: A Trade More Than Fair

Clocktower, England,

Department of Evocation,

Roman POV,

Opening the ornate wooden door, Roman walked out into the hallway with a lazy smile on his face, using his cane to walk properly... which of course he was, it was no joke when he called his leg partially defunct, it couldn't handle enough weight to support his body once he put his foot down, the cane was to help balance that out.

"Greetings, Master. Your lessons already concluded?"

Snow white shoulder length hair, scarlet red eyes and a well endowed figure, the Victorian era maid dress worn by the speaker only added to her already otherworldly allure. Still however, it was quite apparent to anyone watchful that the maid or servant, whichever was more suitable, was a homunculus. (A/N: The model is similar to Sella's.)

"I guess so, still can't see the point though." The Trambelio didn't stop walking, his pace was relatively slow considering the limp in his step and the maid followed behind with her gaze upright, her hands held over her stomach as she gracefully followed her master.

"Conditions do suggest it is to further your education." She stated the obvious with a monotone voice making Roman only chuckle in response,

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious."

"Always at your service, master."

Roman laughed at her answer, it was funnier because she said it with no hidden meaning or mockery. And yes, as her appearance and mannerisms already gave away, the homunculus was an Einzbern one... It's acquisition wasn't quite elaborated to him and his father was the one that actually acquired it, or her and she'd been his companion since he was ten.

Yes, the Einzbern were selfish assholes but so were all magus and for all their prestige, the Trambelio outranked them by a rather wide margin. It was probably a trade of resources or maybe even money, the Einzbern had to maintain their wealth somehow and even defective models went for incredibly high prices as they were far beyond the conventional homunculus in terms of quality.

Well anyway, this was the homunculus his father gave him when he was 10, emphasis on 'gave' because he didn't really have any other choice regarding the matter.

In a peaceful silence, the two walked through the regal and well lit corridors, the tapping of Roman's cane seemingly the only noise to emanate from the pair. Of course, there were again certain mocks and disdainful gazes directed at Roman from the magi standing and talking here and there but he was used to it and didn't care enough.

He'd much rather lead a simple life but, his father 'insisted' otherwise.

"I like how I study evocation when our family's forte is General Fundamentals." Roman commented, climbing down a stairway with the help of his maid, she was one of the few people he was actually comfortable around and it was understandable, she'd cooked, cleaned and taken care of his daily needs for nearly a decade now, "Any thoughts on that, Thea?"

"It is rather strange, doesn't quite fit. It is the subject your sisters are studying, master." The homunculus maid, Thea, gave her own input. At the start, she'd been more like a machine but living around Roman, she had developed something of an ego.

"Er ist ein Arschloch."

"Master, you switched languages." Thea pointed out with closed eyes, having no real thoughts about the change other than it would confuse the common man.

Roman paused for a bit before coughing, "Pardon, I was saying he's an asshole." The young magus corrected himself, all the while smiling at the few magi present near the door.

"...." Thea wondered if she should point out that she'd understood him the first time.

Thea walked ahead, passing by Roman and pushed upon the relatively massive wooden doors that functioned as the main doors to the department building itself.

A group of students passed by the black haired young man and he prepared to listen to another round of shitty, overused and generic jokes and insults,

"Isn't th-..?!"

Only he found himself pleasantly surprised.

The student that was about to talk froze in her spot, her black eyes wandering around as she hastily changed directions.

Of course, Roman didn't have any delusions about them fearing him, it was Thea. The homunculus was extremely cold to other people and also easily triggered... or so he'd say but she only reacted to insults directed towards him.

"This will never get old." Roman commented, staring at the grey cloudy sky with a strange smile as a gentle breeze brushed past his skin. It was always amusing to see people scurry about.

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Coincidentally, the girl from earlier decided that the man she was about to insult was also the best escape route and rushed towards him..... Only to trip on something and fall face first on the concrete stairs.

"OW!"

"That must have hurt a lot... or so I'd imagine. Strange the cripple didn't fall yet you did." Laughing to himself, the young Trambelio walked away with a hand over his mouth... Of course, everyone except the girl herself did see that he was the one who hit her on the knee with his cane....

But,

Fuck were they gonna do about it? Yes, he was slightly crippled but he was still a Trambelio, the direct son of the family head, a family that held major sway over the Clocktower as a whole, a place where meaningless discrimination ran rampant. While they may not necessarily care for him, his family did more than care for their reputation.

With that, the pair once more started on their walk. On the outside, the different departments of education affiliated with the Clock Tower only seemed to appear as normal somewhat old universities.

-x-X-x-

A black Mercedes W140 S-Class drove through the roads of London, it's mirrors were a pitch black making it impossible to gaze inside the vehicle itself as it blitzed past both pedestrians and other vehicles without much regard for safety, the local populace made sure to reward it with colourful language for such an amazing act too.

Inside the vehicle itself however, a young black haired man wearing a grey suit sat calmly with an annoying smile plastered on his face, as if it had been practised over and over to annoy any that witnessed it.

Roman Trambelio was having quite a bit of fun as he snapped his fingers rhythmically, ignoring Thea who was the one actually driving.... The maid did have a verified driver's licence after all and Roman couldn't exactly drive himself.

Though, one thing that would leave any magus with their eyes popping out in shock and mouths agape, was the bright golden ball of fire that flickered in and out of existence each time Roman snapped his fingers.

His greatest secret and one none really knew, Thea was absolutely loyal to himself, that was the way she was created so the secret was completely safe.

The action he performed now was something so absolutely removed from even the logic used by magi that they might think it some kind of illusion. It was by no means magecraft but it wasn't magic either.

This was the 'power' he'd gained in exchange for his leg and eye. The ability so to say, to directly convert prana (or mana, atmospheric magical energy present all around), to a desired form or shape so long as he understood what he desired and there was enough prana to convert... This was in essence what every magus did but therein lay the difference, he required no preparations or chants, just his imagination and enough prana.

It did follow the law of equivalent exchange however except, his part was filled by magical energy of any kind. It didn't even require him to make use of his own magic circuits or Od (Magical Energy in the body, determined by magic circuit amount and regenerates over time, higher quality than prana) despite it's high quality..... Lineage did have it's perks after all.

With a power such as this, it was no wonder that Roman wasn't the slightest bit interested in conventional magecraft, he had something directly 'above' it after all... But well, it wasn't a power to be flaunted... yet at least. He'd probably end up dissected or brainfucked in a search for how it functioned.. Magus were cunts like that.

"Hah, I thought I didn't really care." Roman smiled at his clenched fist, he'd not even noticed when it happened. Were his family to know this, they may even have a 'miraculous' change of heart, unfortunately, he wouldn't accept something like that.. Yes he knew it was petty of him but so what, it had been 17 years and literally none had sought to take his side because, he was a 'cripple'.

"Master?" Thea glanced at him through the rearview mirror, her tone carrying a hint of worry as her red eyes observed Roman.

"Just a little tantrum, keep driving."

Eventually, they arrived at a mansion in a quieter and emptier part of the city, near the very edge of the giant sprawl called London, with it's 'cheerful' and 'welcoming' people. The mansion wasn't grand... Well, relatively, it was still a mansion after all...

"Master." Thea's eyes opened in alarm, Roman too leaned forward with his one eye shining in curiosity. The young magus wasn't exactly 'normal' and had no real notion of fear.

There, outside the walled mansion, a number of black cars were parked and the iron gates were open,

"Damn, who that? We got a break-in?"

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