"All right, we are done. Go and take your break." Kano called out to me from the kitchen.
"I can still keep going." I tried to insist only to get hit on the head.
"Oh no you don't young man." Kawako brandished her ladle like a weapon. "You are going to take that break and you will rest the full half-hour. If I catch you doing something that is remotely work, I will personally ensure that you be made to sleep for the rest of the day. Do I make myself clear?" I could only raise my hands in defeat and nod my head quickly to appease her temper.
It was currently the afternoon after that incident of the academy, and I can honestly say that I was officially placed on leave from the academy until I recovered properly. Despite my body having been healed of my injuries and my attempts to dissuade their decisions, Sona with the help of the Student Council made sure that I do not return for a few days until the situation with those people they called exorcists had calmed down. With that in place, I had no choice but to go and continue my job while continuing to fix the Kaleidou-Amulet.
Hah~ if only Rin, Luvia, Sakura and the others could see me now. They would probably laugh their asses off at the sight of me being subdued by kids.
"Ring~" The bells at the front door chimed softly and we both turned to find Mitelt walking in and heading towards us.
"Oh~ Mitelt-chan, how are you dear?" Kawako beamed while walking over and hiding her ladle quickly.
"I am okay." Mitelt lightly bowed her head before pointing her thumb at me. "I am just here to check up on the idiot."
"The so-called 'idiot' is standing right here you know." I remarked while pretending to sound irritated.
"Well you are an idiot for trying to force your way to work after all the trouble those girls went through to get you some rest." Mitelt snorted without missing a beat. "From what I was told, you were practically running on fumes by the time they found you passed out at the corridor. You should be glad that you are given time-off from school, you know?"
"Was it really that bad?" Kano came out of the kitchen while wiping his hand with a cloth. "I figured it was bad that Shirou got sick, but this is the first I heard of it being that serious."
"It is fine, don't worry." I tried to assure them only to back down from the glare of the two elders.
"Shirou, it is clear that you will continue pushing yourself to the point of collapsing in a hospital, so on that note, you are not coming to work for one week." Kano held up a finger to stop me from arguing. "Take the break kid. I will still pay you your check, though it would be a little lower. Just concentrate on getting better."
"Mitelt-chan, could you please escort this young man back to his home?" Kawako paused before directing the ladle at me. "And if you dare to make any trouble for her, I will make sure that you will be spanked." I swallowed my saliva while eyeing the ladle she has. It was absurd to think about it, but I could swear that there was Prana emitting from it with the promise of divine punishment if I disobeyed their orders.
"Now get going." Kawako shooed me out of the bar. "Go and get some rest. The other assistants need to get their asses moving anyway, so it will be fine." I could only sigh as I followed Mitlelt down the street. After walking for a few minutes, Mitelt finally dropped her façade and started laughing.
"Ha~ Ha~, you got whipped big time by the granny~" Mitelt snickered evilly as she walked beside me. "To think the wizard who could kick all sorts of ass gets scared of a grandma who wields a ladle?"
"This is coming from someone who is supposed to be a higher being yet made regularly to kneel down in front of said grandma and sweats a bucket load every time you make a minor mistake?" I countered her words, to which she replied back by sticking out her tongue.
"So then, mind filling me in on why you were looking like you were dropped off at death's door rather than your apartment's front door?" Mitelt raised her eyebrow at me. "When I tried to get some info from the princesses, neither of them gave me much to work on, and I really do not want the person in charge of me to die and leaving me hanging by the noose."
I snorted as we turned the corner. Considering the temper she has, that may have been the reason they did not tell her and left me the task of dealing with the crap. Slowly but surely, I gave the abridged version to her while keeping back the more sensitive information, especially regarding the part of me getting stabbed by two swords.
It was mostly because telling her that would send her on a rampage at me, but at the same time, I needed to clear my head what I had seen and ingested from the swords. The swords' history, the past users, the number of years accumulated on it, and finally, the one name that appeared in both swords.
Excalibur, or more precisely, what remains of Excalibur.
I was honestly unsure of what to make of that bit of information. Knowing that it was this universe's counterpart of Saber's sword did little to help me through the various emotions that was going on inside me.
Confusion, because I was uncertain about the manner the sword could break.
Skepticism, because I was highly doubtful that a sword as famous as Excalibur could be broken so easily, even if it was a different dimension.
Rage, because such a blade was considered a mockery to Saber, the way it was being projected as one equal to hers when it was only at D-Rank.
Sadness, because I could sympathize with the swords after being remade and losing a huge chunk of their power in the process, and having been passed around to users that they felt were not worthy for their blades.
All these emotions were having a tug-of-war session inside me, and I was feeling very frustrated; I just felt like having a throw-down with a devil, demon, some crazy magus, or hell with it, even a bloody Dead Apostle just to get rid of these emotions in me!
"CRACK! BOOM!"
"What the heck?!" Mitelt yelled as she ducked in time to avoid a stray brick aiming for her head. I myself barely took cover to avoid a crumpled car that crashed where we were a moment ago. I had one armed holding Mitelt back against the wall while projecting a small blade in my hand and peeked out of my cover.
Looks like I could let out some steam.
...
'Great, just great. Whose bright idea was it again to go after two rogue exorcists and get back the shards? Oh yeah, me.'
Ise huffed and sweated as he took a quick moment to assess the situation he was in. The area he was currently standing in resembled more of a place that was stricken by gang wars, with the smaller buildings broken down and the vehicles completely flipped on their sides with the windshields broken. He himself was sporting a few wounds that was leaking blood, his shirt was torn up and he was a hard time hearing in one ear after Xenovia decided to blow up a car to try and take one of the exorcists out with the result of him and the others getting hit by the blast.
He was starting to think it was a bad idea to have them come along for this plan.
After that disastrous meeting, he and Kiba got into a fight with the exorcist girls where they got their asses royally handed over on a silver platter. Kiba disappeared shortly afterwards, likely trying to find the fallen exorcists and some fake priest called Galilei Valper, despite an argument by Rias who explicitly told him not to go after them. Ise was not too sure about the situation, but he did feel that the manner Kiba was going about this was not safe or normal.
So he decided to meet up with the exorcists while roping in Koneko and Saji along to propose a plan where they could achieve both their goals, whereby Ise and his side would destroy the shards while the exorcists could take back their shards home. It would be a win-win situation for both sides. Xenovia on her part agreed with his plan on the condition that Griselda does not know of it since she would likely object to it. Kiba who came later took a fair bit of convincing to agree working with the girls, but he too came along as he would get the chance to destroy the holy sword.
...
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