An Arcanist in Karakura Town 24

An Arcanist in Karakura Town
Chapter 24

-VB-

Work work work.

What was work? Work was how things got done. It didn’t have to be anything big, arduous, grand, or even boring. The simplest of things, when distilled down to their components, was composed of tasks and work. Work made tasks possible, and in turn, tasks made work valuable.

This was something that most people instinctively understood.

I can’t eat if my arm doesn’t work to bring that food to my mouth.

I can’t get good grades if I don’t put work into the task, however small or large.

I can't just research without collecting reagents and whatnot.

In my case, work could be many things. Sometimes, it was searching through the depths of the internet for herbs, animal parts, and human parts. Sometimes, it was going out to collect more Hollows so that I could, instead of making a mask, crush up their essence. Sometimes, it was just sitting inside of a circle to recharge a particular array that has been powering many of the apparatus required for arcane research.

Sitting there in the middle of a passive exotic energy absorption circle, I watched boredly as the circle fed the energy it absorbed, both reiatsu and mana, down another path of the carved magic conduit towards what I called the Grinder.

It too was another magic circle, but that one disassembled all non-physical things into a consistent “primordial essence.”

I watched as that circle sent the essence down another magic conduit to the next destination: Converter. This too was a magic circle, but one made to convert the resulting primordial essence into mana, and then

This was all a set-up I thought of and made after realizing that I would be constantly spending mana to do research when my mana pool was limited, which meant that my time spent in research was also limited. By having a battery-charged system to use, I essentially had more time to research, but also because I set it up in such a way that it broke down spiritual essence and converted it to mana, I had even more time!

Orihime was off doing her homework, and Hidemasa… Where was he?

… Oh right. Something about contacting the Portugese magicians. Yes. Yes.

Hmm.

Very odd. I mean, Portugal was a superpower for a short period of time, but they didn’t exactly possess the largest population or the most connected population centers. Why would magicians even be interested in staying in Portugal? Why not Spain?

Hmm. Something to learn about some other time because I was stuck powering this system.

… Ugh. This was boring.

-VB-

“So that’s the kind of enemy that we will be facing soon,” I finished what would soon happen.

Orihime cradled her taut belly and frowned. “So we have a bad man coming to kill a lot of people, and I’ll be pregnant through it.”

“Yes.”

“Then I can’t help at all, can I?”

“Staying inside Hidemasa’s barrier will prevent anyone from getting their hands on you, so I’ll be able to plan and fight better.”

“So I should just … not do anything?”

It was an old conversation. I had to remind her that there were really big enemies out there, and I wasn’t comfortable letting her fight them, especially not while two to three months pregnant.

“You can’t right now.”

“... Then what can I do?”

“I’m not sure. We haven’t explored your power in full yet.”

“Well, Mr. Megazord can help you, right?”

I looked at the crooning bear-dog sitting on the ground next to Orihime. We were right now sitting at the dining table, and he still matched her height when she sat in a chair.

“I don’t know how strong he is, so I can’t tell. I also don’t know how far he can travel or how much damage he can take.”

“Then let’s test it out!”

“Then what about backlashes?”

“Backlashes…?”

“Sometimes, pushing our powers to the limit can have physical consequences. Incapacitation, miscarriage, coma, and even insanities are not off the menu, Orihime,” I told her gently. “And I don’t think you want that, too.”

She frowned and had tears in her eyes. “... I hate being weak.”

“You won’t be weak for long. Once we get through this disaster, I promise you I’ll be there to help you get stronger.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She nodded firmly. “Fine, but I want you to get help. You said this isn’t just about us, right?”

“It’s about the whole town, Soul Society, and more, yes.”

“Then get people involved. You said that there are magicians around the world, right? They really won’t like what happens if anything here goes to the bad end.”

I blinked.

That … was sensible of her. Huh, why didn’t I think of that?

Wait, was that why Hidemasa was out and contacting people all of the time? Was that what his wealth was for?

I quickly pulled up a phone and called.

Five tries later, Hidemasa picked up the phone. “Hello, this is -”

“Qin, you’ve been gathering an army, haven’t you?”

A pause.

“Well, it’s about time you picked up on it.”

I sighed in self-pity. “Well, now I feel like an idiot. I couldn’t even see through something so simple!” I grumbled. “What does the Portugese have do with your army?”

“It’s quite simple, actually. Apparently, World War II kind of got magicians involved as well, so a lot of neutral clans, houses, tribes, and individuals had to flee as magical means of detection is far ahead of mundane means then and now. Coming to Portugal was to get in contact with them. You told me about how the world was going to end if things didn’t go as predicted, right?”

“Yes…?”

“You’ve been too focused on yourself only, or rather couldn’t do much more than that,” Hide explained. “You’re only one person, after all. But I am an emperor. It was my job to delegate jobs to run an empire. No man rules alone, after all. So when you try to survive the end of the world, Alan, you don’t try it by yourself. You get people involved, because this is not a matter of one person or one society.”

I held back a retort about how he's been keeping secrets, but I really haven’t been paying attention to him and his things, so I couldn’t complain.

I mean, I was high on sex and magic to care about him or his company.

“Sorry for not asking for your help earlier.”

“Stupid Master.”

“But Portugal?”

“It’s where they have the magical version of the UN.”

“Huh. Why?”

“Most convenient location available after World War II.”

“Really? Convenience?”

“I think it says a lot of humanity.”