Inventorying the 'Inheritance'

The next morning, Aoko had still taken leave from school.

The teacher, Yamashiro Kazuya, couldn't do anything about her. Not only was she exceptionally beautiful, but her academic performance was impeccable, and her deviation value had always been the highest in the entire grade. So no matter how many times she asked for leave, as long as her attendance met the minimum requirement, no one in the school had any reason to stop the second young lady of the Aozaki family from skipping class.

Although she occasionally rode her beloved Interceptor (Honda VF750F) around, that was still unlicensed driving. It was fine for small vehicles like motorcycles, but if it involved transporting goods, she couldn't expect the police to turn a blind eye. So Aoko had to call her Cheap Dad to come and drive the truck for her. After all, it involved her old man's inheritance, so she couldn't ask outsiders for help.

"Hmph!" Aoko channeled her Magecraft, lifting a box that looked incredibly heavy and tossing it into the truck bed, then clapped her hands.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to help you move it?" Aoko's father asked with some concern. His simple values made him believe that his daughter's slender waist, which could be held in one's hand, might be broken by the box she just moved.

"No problem, this should be the last box," Aoko said, surveying the scene. "I'll lock up after this, and I probably won't be back for a while."

Aoko's father nodded after hearing this and got into the driver's seat of the truck. Aoko also got in from the other side door with a decisive movement and sat in the passenger seat, buckling her seatbelt.

Her Cheap Dad was a good driver, and the truck drove on the road without any bumps.

Neither father nor daughter spoke. Aoko rested her chin on her hand and looked out the window. The scenery of Misaki Town looked good today. No wonder the local government wanted to develop the tourism industry.

"Did your grandfather... pass away?" Aoko's Cheap Dad asked with a slightly hesitant tone.

"I don't think so?" Aoko blinked and replied. "I just couldn't find him after I finished something last night. You know how mysterious the old man always is."

"Ah, I see," Aoko's father replied with relief, his tone carrying a sense of "I knew it would be like this."

"Let's go to the house I share with Touko first," Aoko instructed. "Then, just drop me off at Alice's place."

"No problem," Aoko's father nodded. "Touko is coming back soon. She called home yesterday."

"...Is that so?" Aoko said after a moment of silence. It seemed her stubborn older sister would still pick a fight with her and her dog.

"Say, did you two have a falling out?" Aoko's father asked. "Like, over your grandfather's Inheritance Right or something?"

"Don't you have Inheritance Right too, Dad?" Aoko retorted slyly.

"Spare me," her father said with a wry smile as he drove. "I'm not cut out for that. Your grandfather gave up on me a long time ago."

"Even though that's not a good thing," Aoko said casually, "that old bastard was indeed quite a jerk."

"Aoko, promise me," her father said suddenly and seriously. "Get along with your sister, okay? Just consider it a request from me, your father."

"...I don't have a problem on my end," Aoko replied with a slight headache. "But you know, Touko is a very stubborn person. When she comes back in a while, I might have to fight her again."

After leaving most of the boxes at her own house, Aoko used Magecraft and Magic Net Spell to seal the storage area, then drove with her Cheap Dad to the Kuonji Residence.

Around three in the afternoon, Aoko's truck drove up the mountain and arrived at the Kuonji Residence.

Alice Kuonji was waiting for Aoko at home, as agreed. Aoko's father also knew that Alice had a special identity, so he didn't stay at the Kuonji residence for too long. After giving Aoko a few instructions, he drove away.

Alice sat to the side, watching Aoko channel her Magecraft, strengthening her physical abilities with Enhancement Magecraft, and then grunting as she moved one heavy box after another into the living room.

"What is this...?" Aoko began to sort through the various items in the boxes. In her hand was a glass bottle containing a strange object soaked in a pale yellow liquid. "Some kind of Curse Body?"

"...It should be some kind of Spirit Root," Alice said after identifying it. "It's a core material used to create golems made of earth or stone."

Aoko looked at it for a while after hearing this, then set the bottle aside and continued to search through the boxes.

"This stone looks a bit familiar..." Aoko took out another stone that flickered with arcs of electricity of different colors. It was encased in a piece of resin.

"Curse Beast Gallstone..." Alice said. "It's a deposit of curses within large magical beasts, a precious material for some curse Magecraft."

"Then it's quite useful," Aoko said, looking left and right, and then placing it in the 'useful' pile of items.

"Self-Restraint Scroll," Aoko recognized a parchment scroll that looked similar and set it aside. "Not needed for now."

"Huh?" Aoko pulled out something that looked like a mechanical pocket watch with a brass casing. However, upon closer inspection, it only had letters marking the four directions, and there was only one hand. "What is this? A compass?"

"A Mana Meter," Alice said after carefully identifying it. "It's a ceremonial tool used to detect large sources of Mana, and it's quite expensive."

Aoko listened and curiously pressed the button on top of the pocket watch, finding that the pointer remained still, pointing at herself.

Then she shook it left and right, finding that the Mana Meter's pointer still pointed at her.

"...It's probably because the amount of Mana you possess is too large," Alice said. "This kind of ceremonial tool usually only points to the person with the most Mana nearby."

"...Then it's completely useless to me?" Aoko frowned and said, "I'll give it to you, Alice."

Aoko casually handed the exquisitely crafted Mana Meter and its wooden box to Alice.

Alice took the box without saying much, as she knew Aoko wasn't someone who cared about trivial details.

Aoko sped up her inventory of her grandfather's 'relics.' Various strange devices and Magecraft materials were sorted and placed on the rug in the living room, with Alice occasionally offering comments.

However, her grandfather's inventory was too extensive; there were some things that even Alice didn't recognize.

It took Aoko more than two hours to open and examine all the boxes in front of her.

She wiped a nonexistent bead of sweat from her forehead and took out the last metal box from a large crate. This box had a lock with a complex mechanical structure, inscribed with a language she didn't recognize, and it seemed to be sealed by some Magecraft.

Alice looked at it and shook her head, indicating she couldn't open it. Aoko frowned and thought for a moment, then took out her spellbook from a void rift and flipped to the page where her first-circle spell scrolls were stored.

"Instant Locksmith," Aoko said softly. In an instant, the scroll burned itself, turning into ashes and disappearing without a trace. Then, the box emitted a series of fine mechanical operating sounds, finally making a click and unlocking.

Aoko happily opened the lid and found that the box contained only an exquisitely crafted crystal bottle with a narrow spout, filled with some unknown liquid that emitted a faint blue glow.