Chapter 321 Pride’s Daydream?
Heracles chuckled after hearing that. "If you mean Heracles, the son of Zeus, then yes, it's me, noble lady."
Pride didn't believe it at first, but then she recalled the scene where Heracles effortlessly turned a bunch of blade drones into scrap metal—the same drones that could cut through the thick hide of an Oni, impervious to bullets.
[No... Maybe it's possible after all.] Pride thought, then approached Heracles. She used her eyes to inspect him, seeking the magical structure within his body.
In this world, everyone has their magical structure, even normal people whose magic veins were never awakened, resembling the roots of trees.
What she saw was a robust magical structure enhancing Heracles' bones, muscles, sinews, and organs. There were blessings within his body and the dimensional void power merged into him, further enhancing his power and vitality.
[Incredible... Very interesting.] Pride thought to herself as she witnessed the structure, but she didn't find what she was looking for.
"Strange... Why is that? Why is there no trace of the Philosopher's Stone?" Pride uttered while still searching for the trace of Philosopher's stone power within Heracles.
"Why are you looking for the Philosopher's Stone?" asked Daniel.
"Well… didn't you put Heracles' soul into a Homunculus body? That's the only way we could resurrect someone if they don't have their own body, but to achieve this degree of body synchronization, you must use DNA of Heracles himself as a base and use that DNA to make a Homunculus body for him. Otherwise, with Heracles' overwhelming power, the body wouldn't be able to contain it," Pride explained with a mumble.
"I don't know what you are talking about, but I don't think Heracles' body is a Homunculus," Daniel said.
"Huh!? Not Homunculus!? Then how!? How can you resurrect him?" Pride quickly inquired.
"Resurrection spell, that's how," Daniel answered, his expression conveying a sense of 'Isn't that obvious?'
Hearing that, Pride was stunned. She knew that resurrecting or bringing an ancient hero to the modern world is challenging, but it is within the realm of possibility with lengthy preparation and a serious investment of money and resources.
Even the Vatican, using miracles instead of magic to resurrect someone, still requires a body as a sacrifice and can't easily resurrect people on a whim. They only do it once every ten years and reserve the spot for someone they need, with severe consequences for breaking that rule.
Today, Pride had met a lot of things that can subvert her common sense, from witnessing Daniel display both Space and Time magic. And the greatest blow to her is knowing that Daniel could resurrect the ancient hero such as Heracles to serve him made her want to scream.
This can't continue! As a daughter of one of the leaders of the Confederation of America, she can't stay still. She needs to find a way for Daniel to stay on the Confederacy side or, at least, not let Daniel be personally upset with her homeland, the Confederation.
Right now, she knows that Daniel plans to help Greed retake Texas, and it's impossible for the Confederacy to give Texas back to the USA. Since Texas is the primary producer of oil for the Confederacy's industry and electricity production.
She needs to find an alternative way to bring Daniel to their side while not compromising the Confederacy's interests or, at least, minimizing the compromise. Perhaps the plan she saw in movies and soap operas might work—a honey trap!
And she heard that this place has many beautiful spots for them to travel and have a date. So, it should be pretty easy to entrap Daniel and make him forget that greedy witch Greed!
—
Under the sunset of Edo, beneath the sakura tree beside the red bridge with fewer passersby, Pride, wearing an old European noble dress, smiles under the Sakura. Beside her stands Daniel in a luxurious noble suit, smiling at her like a true gentleman.
"Your eyes are like stars that shine through my heart. Your hair is like the finest silk, and your color is like the sky itself," Daniel says with a charming smile, gently kissing her hand.
"Lord Emberweave, please... don't be like this. Your smile is also like the sun in my heart," Pride responds with a shy smile.
"Please," Daniel kneels before her with pleading eyes. "Marry me." As he says that, he produces a ring made out of the highest-grade magic stone and puts it on her ring finger.
"Yes, Lord Emberweave!" Pride accepts the proposal with a bright smile.
Then, the two draw closer, understanding each other's desires. Their soft lips are about to touch, sealing the promise under the sakura tree in this beautiful land.
As the two are about to kiss, a familiar voice is heard. "Hmph! You thieving cat!" A cold yet graceful voice says. The two lovebirds quickly turn toward the direction of the voice.
It is none other than Wrath—the witch of Wrath—in a noble kimono. Her eyes promise only ruin and cold hatred against her. Sera, the noble lady from the Confederacy.
"Kill her and bring that man to me!" Wrath commands in a cold, murderous tone. Suddenly, Heracles in red samurai armor appears along with a small army of ninja in black cloth.
Pride quickly runs to the front and pleads. "Please, Wrath, we love each other! Please give us your blessing! Please, don't do this! Aren't we friends?"
"Friends shouldn't snatch their friend's fiancé! He's mine!" Wrath domineeringly declares.
"He's not anyone's object!" Pride brandishes her ice sword, prepared to protect her beloved.
"Today, either you or I will die!" Wrath roars and rushes toward Pride with fire magic in hand, accompanied by Heracles and the ninja army.
—
"Yes! This! This is it! It can be done!" Pride exclaimed to herself while lost in her thoughts.
Then she noticed both Daniel and Heracles' eyes looking at her as if she were a weirdo, and her face suddenly turned to despair once again.
While Pride was contemplating how to help her homeland, Daniel found it amusing. Right now, Pride's changing expressions were very interesting—pale one moment, then despair, quickly turning to determination as if she had decided something, followed by inexplicable happiness, only to plunge back into despair again.
Daniel couldn't help but chuckle, making Pride wish she could dig a hole and hide there for the rest of her life.
"Haha… I'm sorry, I don't know what you're thinking, but you seem to be pondering some fun stuff. You don't need to be shy. I could relate to that myself," Daniel said with a smile.
"You could relate to that? How so?" Pride asked, thinking this might be a breakthrough to get closer to him.
"Well… Don't laugh at me, okay?" Daniel said, and Pride nodded repeatedly, promising not to laugh. "Well… before I became a mage, I was just a nerd, a normal nerd…"
Daniel then began to share about his life as a college student, where he would quickly go home and immediately join a card game to play with others.
That was the place where he felt most at home, as his adoptive parents weren't exactly kind; they only saw him as a money-
making machine, which, to some extent, was true. He had made a lot of money for them—enough to live their entire lives in luxury, with some to spare.
Fortunately, he didn't suffer much abuse. The most he had to endure was the need to find money for various things himself, as his parents only provided the bare minimum, like basic food and lodging. They recorded all of it as a debt in their accounting books, so he always knew how much he needed to pay them back after graduating.
Traveling with his parents or going to an amusement park was just business, and they saw it as an investment. His memories of the card game were the closest to having a childhood, as it didn't require much money to play—excluding some extremely expensive rare cards, which he never had a chance to buy.
He passionately described the cards, their intricacies, and how the game worked. Every word he spoke was filled with love and enthusiasm.
After sharing this part of his life, Daniel noticed the time and quickly ended his story.
"Oh, sorry. You must have been bored," Daniel said with a wry smile, aware that not many women found card games interesting.
"No, Magitek, you might not know this, but… I like it. I really do," Pride said with an earnest smile, without any deception. She was genuinely interested in the card game, finding its concept relatable to her life. Perhaps she could even draw inspiration from those cards to create new spells.
"That was... surprising. I thought only Koyuki liked this kind of stuff like me. Even though she likes it, she's very bad at it; it's rare for her to win against someone," Daniel said, his thoughts drifting to his girlfriend, the reason for his visit.
After hearing Daniel mention Wrath, Pride felt a sudden heaviness in her chest, an uncomfortable sensation. According to the Korean soap operas she enjoyed watching, this should be jealousy. It was the first time she had experienced such a feeling.
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