Chapter Text
Can I Ask You A Question, Dad?
Lily
It's not everyday that I receive something to look over that I don't understand. Christina has a habit of sending odd magical implements confiscated from criminals to me to identify them. Nine times out of ten it's some junk that could be bought at a local market for cheap. But this time is different.
What kind of gadget is this? It's shaped like a bracket, it has dozens of small moving parts, and it seems to… what are these small cylindrical pieces in this section?
Okay, time for an experiment. I think this piece here is some sort of firing mechanism, yes, this must be… I think Dad told me about these, or at least discussed something similar. I still have yet to get to all the ideas he wrote down in my notes. That's my goal someday, to create every idea my father had! Anyways, aim it at the wall and-
*BANG*
Ow, my poor ears. And the kick on this is- wait, that- it went through the wall! Made of solid wood! Incredible! I look to the ground next to me. I see one of those cylindrical pieces but- AH! I GOT IT! Somehow, using this firing mechanism causes the cylinder piece to propel the top half of it forward! The air smells of some sort of explosion, maybe it's part of the process. I need to show father this! I know he can probably tell me what it is!
My father was rocking back and forth in a chair on the porch of the house. When he spotted me he perked up and waved to me.
“Lily! Ah, how is my favorite little greasemonkey?”
I still don't understand what that term means, but ever since I started working on machines and such, he's been calling me that.
“Hello father! Long time no see! Have you been doing well?”
He smiles, he's grown old, but that smile of his makes him look at least five years younger than he actually is.
“Yes, I've been doing mighty well, your mother has been taking care of me quite nicely.”
My mother had become the Vice Principal at Ronoa University in the last ten years, at some point. With less work dedicated to teaching classes, she's been spending more time at home helping dad with things.
I remember when I was a child, he was so strong, and agile. You don't become one of the Seven Great Powers by accident. He earned that rank, and instead of letting it all go to his head, he did his best to be the best father he could for us.
I couldn't have asked for a better father. I respect him so much, such a wise and intelligent man with all sorts of interesting ideas. And he encouraged me to follow my passion when everyone else tried to push me to become a magician, or a normal career. I would have never made the things I have without him cheering me on the whole way. I proved them all wrong, the people who doubted me.
“Can I ask you a question, Dad?”
He nods and puts his chin on top of his interlocked hands.
“Ah, alright, a question. What can daddy do for you, sweetheart?”
I pulled the device from my pocket and presented it.
“It's something Christina sent me, a weapon they confiscated in Ars from a very dangerous criminal. It's this-”
The minute he laid eyes on it, his entire demeanor changed. His pupils showed concern and that smile disappeared.
“That… What is that doing here?”
So he does recognize it.
“What is it? It's very powerful, I know that.”
He shakily reaches and nabs the device and aims it toward the empty forest.
*BANG*
It's not as deafening outside as it was inside. He messes with the switches on it before handing it back over.
“Lily, why do you have a gun? You didn't make this, did you?”
A gun, so that's what it's called. I shook my head.
“No father, I didn't make this, a criminal in Ars had it. I'm not sure where he-”
“Whoever it is, we need to stop him, before he makes another one.”
He has a serious look on his face. I feel bad for taking that sweet smile away from him. I smile for him, trying to lighten the mood.
“It's okay dad, I'll find out who it is and get him.”
“No, it's too dangerous, let me-”
He starts to get up and stumbles forward a bit. I hurry and grab him before he falls. I knew he was going to say something like this but still it breaks my heart watching him still try to protect me, even at his age.
Rest dad, you've done enough, for all of us.
“Dad, it's okay, I'm not a little kid anymore. I can take care of this.”
I'll need to have Christina send me a file on the man so I can interrogate him properly. From what I understand, he has a very distinct look to him, but anyone who tries to apprehend him either gets killed or seriously hurt. The fact they even caught him is a miracle from what I can tell. But I'm not just any woman, I’m a daughter of Rudeus Greyrat, one of the Seven Great Powers. I can get him to talk, I'm sure of it.
“It's too dangerous! Get ahold of Sieg, or Ars, or-”
“Dad! He's caught, he's imprisoned, Christina took care of it-”
“But-”
He looks up to me, a smile on my face. I give him a tight hug and slowly lower him back to his chair.
“If I can't do this on my own, can I really call myself your daughter? I'll be fine. I can handle some nobody behind bars. And I'm sure Christina will help out if it's needed.”
His concern doesn't fade, but that sweet smile of his returns.
“Okay, but just make sure you don't get yourself into too much trouble. Dad can't swoop in for the rescue like he used to!”
He starts chuckling. He worries too much. If I inherited even a fraction of his heroism, I could conquer the world if I wanted to.
My sisters are Queens and Heroes, and my brothers are expert or master Swordsmen. I'd like to think I'm smart, smarter than Ars at least. This'll be easy.
Christina
I'm not happy. I'm not happy in the slightest. Why am I not happy? Because it had taken months of preparation, countless amounts of resources, and a hefty sum of funds to capture that man. And yet, we had succeeded, he was behind bars. But this lasted only one day. One day, and he had broken his way free and was back out on the streets.
His name? That was one of the many problems with him, he had none. We couldn't even pin down his immediate relatives. Might have been a good thing we hadn't found them, my anger is starting to cause me to think of resorting to less than kind measures for apprehending this man.
But, then again, I'm not sure if those measures would even work. His interrogation enlightened me on how petty he is.
“Who are you working for?”
“The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of Nazareth, Son of God Almighty!”
“What is your goal?”
“To stick it to the man!”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I have a Problem with Authority.”
All of his answers were nonsense. They almost reminded me of Dad in a way, which sickened me. I wanted him executed, just for that.
But no, he had escaped, and killed a knight on his way out. Nobody even saw him leave. And now I'm back to square one.
New Message: Lily Greyrat
Hmm? Ah, that thing I sent her. Was she able to identify it? I had forgotten to send a description, just a vague dossier on the man who had it, but there's no doubt she figured it all out.
“Father confirmed the device is called a Gun. I will be paying a visit soon to speak with this man.”
I hurriedly responded.
“Do not bother, my idiotic subordinates let him escape.”
…
“Please send me the relevant information about him, I will find him.”
Lily?
“Isn't bounty hunting out of your field of expertise?”
…
“I promised Dad I'd deal with him. His weapon intrigues me, I plan on interrogating him thoroughly before handing him over.”
Strange. Lily has never been one to want to get her hands dirty. But even I, someone who doesn't understand much of anything about magical implements, knew whatever that thing was was special.
“Alright, I'll send the file we have on him. Be careful, don't cause trouble for Orsted, don't let things get over your head.”
…
“Okay, little sister~”
Little? Did I strike a nerve on accident? Well, no bother, hopefully she can succeed where my men failed.
Lily
Under Name, there's a list of Aliases, none of which sound real. “Vash Stampede, Spike Spiegel, Anakin Skywalker, Brock Samson, Alucard Dracula, Ash Ketchum, Guts, Joker, Tony Soprano, Patrick Bateman, Samurai Jack-” the list goes for an entire page length. His crimes are concerning… multiple counts of murder, dozens. Destruction of property, tax evasion… no sexual crimes are listed. Either they didn't feel the need to include them on a list this long, or he's only violent, not a sex pest. Strange, considering he's Asuran. Or is he? Since there isn't a listed birthplace or any blood relatives listed. What's also strange is his physical description. Long black hair, the only person with black hair that I can think of is Aunt Nanahoshi. Red eyes, just like Christina's mom, constant stubble, never clean shaven, always wearing an odd looking coat, always carrying that device I looked at. An alcoholic, said to complain at bars about the quality of the liquor, despite the liquor being of high quality. What an odd thing to specify in the report.
I soon realized why it was specified, there's very little information on him. No immediate family like I had stated before, no concrete name either. Other facts include things such as “Purchases seemingly random supplies from shops.” It's a miracle that this man was ever caught with such little information to go off of.
The capture report is as follows. “Suspect was caught exiting a bar after heavy drinking. Three knights were killed during the apprehension. Commanding Knight Cluel had to be restrained during the arresting process as to ensure the suspect's detainment. Suspect was unruly and stated multiple times, ‘This is a violation of my rights!’ Suspect was uncooperative throughout the interrogation.”
This gives me so little to work off of, but I'll make due. I'm going to find this man and figure out how he made that device.
One Month Later
Red
“Your total comes out to around 4 Silver coins.”
How about I just shoot you and take everything you got, how about that?
“Haha! Gee, things sure are getting expensive, mister! Here's the cash!”
“Thank you Mr. Stampede, and do come again!”
“Just call me Vash mister! And use that cash to buy the missus something special will ya?”
“Haha! I might just do that! Take it easy, Vash!”
“You too! Hahaha!”
I'm going to be sick. Picking the Humanoid Typhoon as my alias for him was a great decision though, he grates on me something fierce, but being called Vash encourages me to play the part.
That's how my aliases usually work, I pick names based off first impressions, and adopt the appropriate personalities when talking to certain people. That way I can build faux loyalty amongst the normal people. It's a bad habit I have. Sometimes I forget my own personality after days of pretending to be fictional characters. I had to make a name for myself, not an alias. Mother gave me a name, but if I ever used it, she'd probably get implicated in what I'm doing. I don't care for her too much, but something in me tells me I can't be that heartless as to put my own mother in danger. So, from now on, I'm Red.
Something isn't right. I turn quickly to look behind me. Nothing. Strange, I felt the distinct feeling of being followed. Whatever, I need to get back to the cave, I've been dying to build a bomb.
Finally, back at the mancave. I hate making trips to town for materials and liquor, I wish I could just magic that shit into existence.
Whatever, more importantly, IEDs. Running this circle on the tube will act as a detonation switch and this line to it is mana conductive, so theoretically-
*tap, tap*
Cheesy. So I was being followed after all. Well, let's see who my stalker is. I turn to the tapping to see a blue haired kid holding- my gun! I thought I'd lost it for good! But if she has it then…
I get up and walk over, keeping eye contact as I do. She raises the gun to me, stopping my advance. It's silent for a minute or two, but eventually the voice at the back of my head wins.
“Liberal”
The girl tilts her head confusedly at me.
“Wh-what?”
I point at her and say it again.
“LIBERAL!”
She furrows her brow and shakes her head.
“Are you speaking Beast-God or-
“No, I'm calling you a liberal, liberal.”
“What even is that?”
It's working, the annoying midwestern republican highschooler strategy, it's working. Confusion is a nifty tool if used correctly, if I keep up the comedy routine I can probably get that gun out of her hands.
“It's what you are, what with that dyed blue hair you have. I bet you have a sign in your yard stating you're a champion of equality or something”
The confusion continues.
“What!? This is my natural hair color! And what's the problem with-”
“Natural!? Aw hell naw, you're not gonna tell me some impressionable young girl like you didn't dye her hair so she can stand out and be different in school-”
“What are you talking about!? First off, I'm much older than you, secon-”
“Bitch you look like a middle schooler! Ain't no way in hell you're a day over 14.”
“I'm 50 years old, you ignoramus!”
Now she's getting flustered, angry, emotional. Perfect. Now I just gotta move a bit closer.
“Kid, you ain't foolin nobody sayin that shit. I bet you just learned your multiplication tables last week-”
She raises the gun to my head after I start moving toward her. Smart girl, she must have seen right through me.
“Don't come any closer, stay there.”
She's almost in reach, just a step or two away. I let out a sigh, this might be the end of the road for me, might as well get some information out of this prepubescent assassin.
“Well, the fuck did you come here for anyways? My bounty? I ain't going in alive so if you're gonna shoot me, do it.”
“Who told you how to make this?”
… what? Me, you dipshit, the fuck is she implying?
“That question implies that you don't believe I could have made it.”
“Did you break into my house and look through my notes? I saw so many things walking in here that are straight from my notes. I originally came here to interrogate you about this but now I'm angry about your blatant theft.”
This… fucking cunt!
“Your notes? Who the fuck even are you!? I don’t need some kids scribbles to make my inventions!”
“I'M 50 YEARS OLD! That! On the table over there! It's a blatant copy of my portable oven!”
“Boo fuckin hoo! I beat you to the punch! What about what you're holding? Did I copy some stupid bluprint you had for that too? If so, I find it hard to believe you had a Beretta 92fs Inox with a longslide exactly in mind in whatever notes you might have had.”
“Is that what you call this? I have to admit, this contraption is a marvel amongst inventions.”
“What I call it? Yeah, sure, It's what it's called, the Sword Cutlass model 92fs. And if you don't mind I'd like it-”
As I inched my way closer while talking, she pressed the barrel to my head. I was just about to grab it out of her hands too, damn it!
“Back up or I'll shoot.”
That's when I noticed something, the safety's on. I smiled.
“You ever kill a man before, kid?”
She nods her head. Lying bitch.
“Then you should have no problem pulling the trigger and ridding a terrible person like me from this world. Do it.”
That comment surprised her a bit.
“You made this, don't you know how powerful it is?”
“Of course I do. No healing magic is gonna save me from a hit to the head. So do it, pull the damn trigger. I'm a wanted man and you can make a fortune off my corpse.”
She rolls her eyes.
“I'm quite wealthy as is, I don't need your bounty, I just need to know how you made this.”
“Shoot me, bitch.”
She wont move, and her arm is starting to shake. I grab her by the collar of her shirt.
“SHOOT ME! KILL ME! DO IT! I'M RIGHT HERE FOR THE TAKING!”
The look on her face shows clear hesitation. She's a goody goody who doesn't like the idea of murder. I grab the gun and then-
*click*
“H-huh!?”
“The safety's on, idiot.”
I yank the gun out of her hands and flip it on her. I point it at the wall next to her, flip the safety off and-
*BANG*
To my surprise, she didn't flinch much, and doesn't look terrified. This kid has nerves of steel, I'll give her that much.
“Now that the roles are reversed, I'll ask a few questions.”
She slowly closes her eyes and breathes deep through her nose, exhaling through her mouth.
“Fine.”
“First off, how did you get this? Who are you? And why go through all this effort to find me?”
“My name is Lily Greyrat, you've probably heard of my name if you've been inventing for a while, studying my work to-”
“Who?”
She flinched, and looked at me with confusion.
“You mean you haven't been using my work for reference?”
This kid's got an ego, that's for sure.
“Why the fuck do I need a reference from someone like you? Ah, I think I've seen your work in the markets, the overpriced Lylian design implements. It's all junk and I'm not impressed.”
Her teeth are showing, I think I struck a nerve, let's keep prodding this vein.
“Your designs are as if someone told you the vague concept of something and then you had to piece together how it works. By that metric if that's how you make things, impressive. But if not, your work is incredibly sloppy, no safety mechanisms, no killswitches, no thought put into longevity, your products will last maybe a year at most before needing replacing if the buyer plans on using it consistently. Just sloppy. You couldn't even recognize that this gun had a safety on it.”
“What is the point of a safety?”
“So I don't blow my balls off when holstering it in my waistband, duh. You wouldn't want the hair trigger being pushed from just moving and have it go off with the barrel pointed at your dick or thigh or something.”
As I talk, she moves her hand to her chin, contemplating what I was saying. I was half lying to her. If she was the brains behind the Lylian brand of implements and gadgets, which I have a hard time believing since she looks like a child, then I am impressed that she was able to create an engine at all. I had seen one installed in that city I was born in to automate the drawbridge's lowering and raising with a pulley system. Nothing special really but considering these people are basically medieval peasants, it's impressive.
“I never thought of that…”
“No killswitch on the engine I saw either, what if someone raised the drawbridge while people were walking across? You'd want something to stop the process midway to minimize damages. It's simple safety features, any decent engineer would have thought of that.”
“Engineer?”
“That's what we are. We invent machines and do technical work the average person cannot understand. That is… if you weren't lying, kid.”
Her face grew sour.
“Are you even educated on the races outside of Asura? I'm a Migurd, we stop aging physically around the age of 13-”
“Cease! I need not hear the incessant prattlings of some child!”
I'm starting to enjoy pushing this girl's buttons. Migurd huh? I vaguely remember hearing about the races to the east across the sea. A collection of odd races that are all categorized as Demons for some reason. I don't know, nor do I care, I probably would have known more if I paid attention to this world's history. But the thing is, it serves no use to me knowing it. My goal is to turn this ass backwards planet into my personal utopia. Everything before is irrelevant, it's everything to come that is meaningful. She looks at the gun that is still pointed at her.
“What are you planning on doing now that you have me in this precarious situation?”
I'll hand it to the kid, she has a nice vocabulary for a middle schooler.
“Well, if you are who you say you are, I've been dying for an assistant-”
“What makes you think I want to help a murderer like you? My sister told me you've killed dozens of people.”
“Well because if you've been lying to me, and or you prove to be worthless, I'll put a bullet in your head and throw your corpse outside for the birds to eat.”
Again, for a kid, nerves of steel. She barely reacted to that.
“I've been in worse situations than this.”
“Oooh, I'm sure you have, girly.”
“When you're one of the six children of a Great Power, you tend to find yourself in compromising situations like this often.”
Great Power? That's one of the only things I bothered to look into on this planet, the Seven Great Powers. This girl is the daughter of one of them?
“So which of the Seven is your parent? I don't know any of their names, just their titles.”
“He doesn't really have a title-”
“Oh, the oddball one. What was his name? Rudinger? Ruijerd? Rudyard?”
“Rudeus, Rudeus Greyrat.”
“Ah right, that's the name!”
“You seriously couldn't remember the name of one of the most influential men in history? He invented mana potions-”
“I need not concern myself with useless names of people I don't care about. I'll probably never meet him, although now that you're mentioning him, I'd love to pick his brain, might be a better assistant than you.”
“He's 74 years old.”
“Nevermind, I'd rather talk with a child over some old fart with dementia.”
Do I have to be so cruel? Absolutely. It's just not my nature to mince words with people. I pride myself with my ability to be blunt and honest with folks.
“Dem- you keep saying a lot of odd words, where are you from? Did you always live in Ars?”
I can't very well drop that I'm from the greatest country on another planet on her, so I guess I'll just have to be half honest.
“Uh maybe? I know I live in Asura, some big city there, can't be fucked to remember the name.”
“Huh? What do you mean? You seriously don't know the name of the city you're from?”
“It's irrelevant, who cares. It's like my birthname, useless.”
“Don't tell me you don't even know your own name!”
Honestly, I don't. It's been so long since mother talked to me that I couldn't even tell anyone the name she gave me.
“The only name I go by is Red. Anything else is a false name, legal or otherwise.”
In my free hand I conjure metal and mold it into the shapes I needed to create handcuffs. They're going to be supremely uncomfortable, but I don't really care. Before I can command her to turn around, she lets out a surprised response.
“Did- did you just shape metal with magic!?”
It had slipped my mind that normal people couldn't conjure up metals and shape them. It took me years of painstakingly fucking around with the intricacies of magic to figure out how to fine tune earth magic to do this.
“Yeah? As a kid I remembered going to a toy store and seeing an expensive doll. The owner said some famous guy made it using only earth magic, which had me thinking of the practical applications. Metals are earth, so naturally you could assume that creating and molding metals with magic is theoretically possible. Took me years to figure it out, but this is the proof of my labor.”
I wave the gun quickly and aim it back at her, motioning her to turn around with it.
“Now put your hands behind your back and turn around.”
She stalls for a bit, then obediently does as I said. I place them on and tighten them. I notice her hands are a bit calloused while her face looks smooth like silk. The girl definitely has working hands, maybe she's the real deal.
“So now that you have me restrained, are you planning on doing anything to me?”
She glares at me as she lets out that pretty insulting sentence.
“What? That’s fucking dusgusting, who the hell taught you to talk like that, kid?”
“The last time this happened, my captors debated having their way with-”
“With a child? No thank you.”
“Most Asurans wouldn't care about age, or race, in this case.”
“Whether you're some weird looking Demon or a blue haired human, I don’t fuck children. So if this was one of your little fantasies, I hate to break it to you-”
“I'm- fine, sure, I'm just a kid, don't molest me.”
Finally, admitted defeat. I grab her by the shoulder and sit her down in a chair next to my work desk.
“So, from now on you're going to help by letting me bounce ideas off you. If you don't prove useful, I'm just gonna shoot you and dump you out back like I said earlier. Got it?”
She nods, she doesn't look like she's resigned to her fate. It's more… She's confident that she'll find a way out of this. Something like that. If she is the daughter of that Rudeus guy, I'm sure he'll either send someone to come poking around for her eventually or do it himself. This cave is so remote though that I doubt I'll be caught anytime soon. I'll give it a year before I start worrying.
And that essentially was how I held Lily Greyrat hostage for five years, making all sorts of neat toys in the process.