Aozaki Touko raised her spoon, closed one eye, and flashed a playful smile. "Sit down first. Wait just a little, and you'll have a hot breakfast to eat."
"I understand."
The girl nodded, turned around, and walked to the dining table before sitting down.
Then she quietly began to wait. Her eyes, black as pearls, watched Touko busily working in the kitchen, and the awkward feelings in her heart gradually began to fade.
She was naturally happy to see her long-lost friend return.
However, perhaps because it had been far too long, she had developed the feeling that she had been abandoned, even though she knew that Aozaki Touko had only left for the sake of her research into magecraft.
But when she saw the photograph of Aozaki Touko with someone named Irisviel...
Her mood suddenly worsened.
She didn't know why, what the reason was, or even what she was feeling.
In short, she was simply very unhappy.
Chapter 34: Sealing Designation
"...Sorry for the wait."
Aozaki Touko carried two bowls of steaming porridge to the dining table. A rich fragrance wafted from the bowls, whetting the appetite of anyone who had just gotten out of bed.
Especially since it was the cold winter season.
Being able to have a bowl of hot porridge at a time like this.
It was absolutely a pleasant thing.
"...Thank you."
Kuonji Alice picked up the spoon resting in her bowl and cautiously took a bite. The familiar taste flooded her palate in an instant, exactly like the breakfasts Aozaki Touko used to make.
"...You were away for so long, yet your cooking hasn't declined at all. I thought that after spending all that time as a young lady in Einzbern, your cooking skills would have deteriorated quite a bit."
She put down the spoon in her hand and said this with some surprise.
"Hmm... Being out of practice should be completely unrelated to me. Any technique I've remembered, no matter how much time passes, can be recalled whenever I want. I can even recall memories I carried in my mother's womb."
Aozaki Touko explained with a soft laugh.
Now that she possessed Gene Lock Release, she had not merely unlocked her body's strength. Her ability to interfere with herself had become extraordinarily precise.
Actively reading and reviving memories buried in her brain was as simple to her as eating or drinking.
As long as she wished, she could return to peak condition in less than three seconds.
"...If you became a warrior, you might even reach the level of a Primordial Hero."
Hearing this, Kuonji Alice spoke in a somewhat strange tone.
She was speaking from the heart. Having a general understanding of Aozaki Touko, she could say with certainty that compared to being a magus who studied magecraft, Aozaki Touko now possessed more of a warrior's qualities.
She did not fight using exquisite magecraft techniques. Instead, she used strength that had been liberated from its limits, relying on unparalleled combat techniques to achieve power akin to that of a Primordial Hero.
"That was an accident... I didn't expect my skill points to go in the wrong direction."
Aozaki Touko poked at the porridge in her bowl and said strangely, "Back then, I was only studying Dollcraft when inspiration struck me and I thought it might work."
"Then I went and conducted some specialized experiments on the idea."
That was right. The origin of Gene Lock Release had actually been nothing more than an accident. It had purely been a flash of inspiration while she was studying Dollcraft. She had thought it seemed feasible and then researched it for a while.
Who could have expected the results to be so astonishing? She had actually obtained power on the level of a True Ancestor Dead Apostles.
"All of that was the result of what you accumulated over the years~"
Kuonji Alice spoke calmly. "Still, you should pay a little attention. This technique of unlocking the human body's potential already meets the standard for a Sealing Designation."
That said, she did not actually care much.
Could the Mage's Association really have gone mad enough to place a Sealing Designation on the heir to the Fifth Magic?
Not to mention that Aozaki Touko's strength was already absurdly powerful.
"Hmm... I'll be a little careful."
Aozaki Touko nodded slightly, then smiled. "Still, I'm rather curious about those Enforcers. If they can fight, they should be able to give me quite a bit of inspiration."
After some time, her grandfather would probably announce Aoko as his successor.
Once she lost the protection of being the heir to a Magic User, quite a few people who disliked her would probably choose to push for a Sealing Designation against her.
As for whether the Sealing Designation would actually be approved, that would depend on whether the Mage's Association had enough courage.
Her Gene Lock Release absolutely met the standard for a Sealing Designation. It possessed a rare and unrepeatable quality that others could never learn even after spending their entire lives trying.
That was right. Though Aozaki Touko had developed it quickly, if someone else tried to learn it, it would be absolutely impossible.
Even if the child prodigy Kayneth tried to learn it, he would have no way of mastering it.
That was because learning this magecraft required two prerequisites.
The first was possessing a level of understanding of the human body close to Aozaki Touko's. To reach that level of understanding, even an exceptionally intelligent person might need decades of study.
The second was possessing Mage Circuits of overwhelming precision. This was basically an innate talent, a private limitation that ordinary people could not possess.
"Even facing an Enforcer, you might still lose."
Kuonji Alice's tone became slightly serious. Although Aozaki Touko possessed great strength now, the world of magecraft also contained many strange methods, such as artifacts capable of reversing cause and effect.
"Don't worry. As long as I have a chance to start over, even losing is fine."
Aozaki Touko's eyes held a smile, and her tone carried an intentional implication.
"...You completed that?"
Kuonji Alice blinked lightly and asked in a soft voice. Her eyes drifted somewhat, and a flush spread across her delicate face, as if whatever she was referring to were extremely difficult to bring up.
"I completed it."
Aozaki Touko nodded slightly. "I can now make dolls identical to myself. Even if this body dies, I'll be resurrected through the next one."
"Is that so?"
Kuonji Alice nodded with slightly flushed cheeks, then silently began eating her porridge.
As a Fairy Tale Witch, if she became pregnant and gave birth, her life would rapidly wither away until she died.
It was a force almost equivalent to a curse.
Even her mother had been unable to avoid this outcome.
Generation after generation had repeated the same process.
After giving birth and passing the Magic Crest to her daughter, each woman had soon fallen into death.
However, Aozaki Touko could now create a body capable of carrying a soul.
That meant that after becoming pregnant and giving birth in the future, she would not need to follow the fate of witches, who died soon after giving birth.
Aozaki Touko would prepare a suitable body for her to revive in, allowing her to bypass the witch's curse.
Of course, using this resurrection technique required an extremely high price.
At the very least, she would need nine figures' worth of money to purchase a body from Aozaki Touko.
There was no way she could casually produce that much money.
But there was also a compromise.
She could become pregnant with Aozaki Touko's child, thereby avoiding that astronomical expense.
In other words, she could use Conceptual Conception to become pregnant with Aozaki Touko's child.
The consequence of doing so would be that Aozaki Touko's descendant inherited the Fairy Tale Witch's Magic Crest.
And she would not lose out either. She would fulfill her mission as a Fairy Tale Witch by passing down the Magic Crest, while also avoiding the fate of death.
It was a win-win situation.
The only problem was that she would have to become Aozaki Touko's wife.
Chapter 35: Tohno Family
"What do you think, Azu?"
Aozaki Touko wore a sly smile and pretended to be serious. "If you need it, we can start resolving your problem tonight."
On the dining table, the two bowls of porridge steamed, as if raising the temperature of the air by several degrees.
"..."
Kuonji Alice's delicate cheeks flushed red. She lowered her head and silently ate her porridge, looking like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. However, after finishing the porridge in her bowl, she seemed to have no reason left to avoid the subject.
Thus, she adopted her usual rational, indifferent attitude and said:
"...I haven't reached the age for a trial marriage yet, so there's no need to consider this problem for now. Besides, a child would be far too troublesome for me at present."
Her tone was extremely calm, and her reasoning was perfectly sound.
She was still growing, and the curse brought about by the fate of the Fairy Tale Witch was still far from reaching her. For the time being, she had no reason to bear a child.
"Is that so?"
Aozaki Touko nodded slightly. "If you need me, Azu, you can notify me at any time. I'll come back as soon as possible."
In truth, she had not really intended to have a child with Alice right away. She had only wanted to tease her a little because Alice's shy expression was adorable.
There was no complicated reason. It was just like a little boy bullying the girl he liked—the motive was simple, yet malicious.
"...You're just as perversely playful as ever."
Kuonji Alice glared at Touko with some displeasure. She understood Aozaki Touko's unpleasant side very well, but the subject Touko had brought up was simply too explosive, which was why she had become so flustered.
"...Hehe~"
Aozaki Touko did not deny it. She smiled slyly and wisely fell silent. If she continued provoking Alice, she might be thrown out of the Western Mansion.
"I'm full. You can clean up the dishes."
With that, Kuonji Alice puffed out her cheeks slightly, set down her bowl and utensils, and turned to walk toward the second floor.
Since they were young, neither of them had been permanently responsible for cooking. They had always acted casually, yet with a remarkable understanding between them. If one person cooked, the other would instinctively wash the dishes.
But as a small revenge for Touko's malicious teasing, she chose to leave the dishwashing to Touko.
"...It's gotten a little cold."
After watching Alice leave, Aozaki Touko took a bite of porridge, then suddenly frowned. Perhaps because she had been too focused on teasing Alice, her steaming porridge had already cooled somewhat, and it no longer tasted as good.
Elsewhere.
After returning to her room, Kuonji Alice threw herself onto the bed and buried her delicate face in the blankets, whispering softly about something no one could make out.
To ordinary magi, this probably looked like Aozaki Touko coveting the Fairy Tale Witch's Magic Crest.
After all, to a magus, a Magic Crest was more important than a descendant, and even more important than their own life. As a pure magus, Aozaki Touko wanting to obtain a Magic Crest that had been passed down for generations was only natural.
The Magic Crest represented not only the knowledge and power accumulated by a magecraft family over the generations, but also a magus's possibility of reaching the Root.
If someone could obtain a Magic Crest that had been passed down for generations and have their descendant inherit it, there should be no magus who would refuse such a thing.
Especially when the mother possessed exceptional talent. That made it even more imperative.
But that was not actually Aozaki Touko's motive.
"...Who cares about the Magic Crest? You clearly just want me."
Kuonji Alice hugged the blankets tightly, her muffled voice coming from within them.
She had actually discovered Aozaki Touko's abnormality when they were very young. It was only because she did not dislike it that she had never distanced herself from Touko.
Aozaki Touko's sexual orientation was twisted and misaligned. She had never shown the slightest interest in men, not from childhood to adulthood, and she had even coveted her closest friend—Alice herself.
Alice knew this.
Therefore, Aozaki Touko's words just now had not merely been about solving the Fairy Tale Witch's curse. They had also been an oblique confession.
Before you continue