Sebloro paused, a friendly smile returning to his face. "It's no problem. We can still have other transactions. We don't necessarily have to be employer and employee; we can just maintain a... friendly relationship."
Wayland felt a sudden, powerful sense of déjà vu. 'If we can't be lovers, let's at least be friends.'
He felt a shiver of goosebumps crawl up his arms. "Aside from the two things you mentioned, I don't have anything else I need from your company for the time being."
"No worries, no worries."
Sebloro didn't seem bothered in the slightest. He was used to this kind of rejection. He'd handled plenty of difficult clients before, always managing to win them over with his 'unique charm.'
He pulled out another business card for the Gleaming Tower and held it out. "You won't throw this one away, will you?"
'If you'd acted like a normal human being last time, I wouldn't have thrown it away,' Wayland thought, taking the card.
He considered it for a moment. In truth, he didn't expect to have much use for the Gleaming Tower. Anything too difficult would likely carry a price he couldn't pay, and anything simple he could handle himself.
"Well, my mission is officially complete. I need to get back and report to the Boss."
Sebloro stood up and let out a long, satisfied sigh. "This has been the most exciting job of my life. It's not a bad feeling, honestly. We're people who live by dancing on the edge of a blade, after all. Goodbye, Mr. Wayland. Remember to call if you need anything. Or call even if you don't! It's good for building rapport!"
Wayland opened his mouth to reply, but Sebloro was already moving.
He vanished with breathtaking speed. There was no sound, no flash of light; he simply faded away like a breeze passing through the room.
'The security industry must be brutal these days,' Wayland thought. 'If the Gleaming Tower is the standard, everyone else is fighting for a distant second.'
It was a total 'dimension reduction' strike against the competition.
Wayland shook off the distraction and turned his thoughts inward, calling for Irigal.
This time, the response took longer than usual.
["Good morning, Master,"] Irigal's voice rang in his mind, clear and sharp.
Something felt different.
Wayland tried to put his finger on it but couldn't quite grasp the change. Instead, he asked the question that had been weighing on him. "I've been wondering... why would a system designed by Chaldea be afraid of reaching the 'Grand' rank? Under normal circumstances, a Servant summoned by Chaldea wouldn't have anything to fear from a modern-day Grand magus."
["It's not about 'fear,' Master. It's about the probability of being detected. Anyone recognized as a 'Grand' by the Clock Tower is an exceptional individual. If the system's existence were discovered, the most likely outcome is that you would be dragged off to a laboratory for 'dissection and study.' Don't worry, the chances are incredibly small, but the Servant who designed this system was cautious to a fault. That's why the protection mechanisms were implemented."]
"And who exactly built this system?"
["I suppose there's no harm in telling you now. It was that 'Omnipotent Genius,' Da Vinci-chan."]
'You again, you damn merchant!'
"Da Vinci-chan, huh?"
Wayland sighed, but he wasn't truly surprised. Looking at the roster of Chaldea, there were only a handful of Servants capable of crafting a system of this complexity.
"Were the missions pre-set by her as well?"
["No. I'm the one who designed the mission parameters."]
"You?" Wayland let out a faint laugh. "Your system-crafting skills aren't exactly world-class, are they?"
He heard the faint sound of grinding teeth from within his consciousness. After a long silence, Irigal replied, ["Once you summon your own Servant, I won't be bothering with missions anymore anyway."]
"What do you mean?"
["The moment you summon a Servant, my 'career' as your system will effectively end. From that point on, you'll be accompanied by a soulless, automated system interface."]
Wayland froze. "You're... you're leaving?"
["Naturally. Staying inside a system forever is incredibly boring."]
Wayland fell silent for a long moment before speaking in a soft, low voice. "You're a pain in the neck sometimes, and those main objectives feel like you're trying to kill me, but... I'm going to miss you."
"Who are you calling a pain!"
Irigal's voice flared with indignation. Her cheeks,if she had them,would be puffed out like a hamster's. Who was he to blame her? If he wanted to blame someone, he should blame 'BB-chan' for her substandard system training.
'She told me if a master ever got confused, I should just act cute!'
'It was all a lie!'
["Anyway, without missions, there are no rewards, and I can't just hand things to you for free."] Irigal paused, then added, ["But actually, I do have a reward for you right now."]
"A reward?" Wayland asked, curious. He hadn't completed any specific tasks recently.
"A promotion reward."
Irigal's voice was filled with genuine, heartfelt joy. ["Congratulations, Master. You have been promoted to the rank of 'Cause.'"]
"Cause?"
Wayland stared into the void, disbelief washing over him. "I became a Rank Five 'Cause' just by taking a nap?"
["It wasn't that simple. Your consecutive battles provided you with significant growth, and the experience of dying yesterday caused profound changes in both your physical shell and your soul. You should take a look at your magical circuits."]
Wayland visualized the inner landscape of his soul,the 'Lightning Cage.'
One by one, seven magical circuits flared to life within his right arm.
The sensation was entirely different from before.
The quantity remained the same, but the quality... it had tripled at the very least.
In the world of magi, the 'rank' of a practitioner was determined by the quality and quantity of their magical circuits. Generally, the more circuits and the higher their quality, the greater the talent.
Geniguses like Rin Tohsaka and Luviaedelfelt possessed over a hundred circuits each. Even Shirou Emiya, as a first-generation magus, possessed twenty-seven, which was impressive in its own right, though his overall talent was considered average at best.
But quantity wasn't absolute. Quality was just as vital.
Manaka Sajyou, for instance, possessed only a single magical circuit, but she was connected directly to the Root,a true 'cheat' who bypassed all the rules of the world.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]