Junichiro nodded and climbed out of the ATV, "Yeah. I've got a delivery arriving early tomorrow morning at my warehouse that I need to be there for." He gave her a bland look, "Gee, It was ever so much a surprise when I got a notification that it was arriving a whole month early."
Mittelt winced at the mixture of sarcasm and accusation coming toward her. While she honestly hadn't been aware of what Azazel would do, she knew he would do something the moment he found out about Mephisto. Junichiro was clearly upset at his vacation being cut short and she wasn't sure what she could say to help the situation.
Junichiro spun on his heel and made his way into the house. It was evening in Japan and despite the day being so short, Junichiro was already tired and just wanted to get some sleep. Ending his exploration at a tomb he couldn't even take a peek into was just the cherry on top of the disappointment cake.
The delivery of the industrial laser to his warehouse wasn't much of an issue for Junichiro. Thanks to some simple magic tools, the delivery guys didn't even notice his age. It was a nice experience.
Once everything was delivered, Junichiro got to work setting the machine and its support hardware up. This included a computer system he'd previously purchased and already set up. The goal of this whole thing was to make the smallest, most precise, rune engraver on the planet. He'd already been working on programming the software for the machine, one rune at a time.
There were still several hurdles he would need to overcome, but when it was all finished he would be able to whip up rune schemes and have the laser carve them into items for him. Just imagining being able to rapidly program the system to carve out hundreds, or even thousands, of runes while using an insignificant amount of surface area excited him greatly.
He'd be carving runes so small they couldn't be seen by the naked human eye. So tiny it took something with a fair amount of magnification to even see them.
His grin wouldn't go away as he worked to set everything up.
Two months, that's how long it took him to get his new high tech laser engraving setup to even function. Getting the laser setup and working hadn't been much trouble. Telekinesis let him act like a bunch of people working together and lift weights he couldn't handle alone. It even let him skip using things like screwdrivers during the assembly process.
Programming the necessary steps to produce individual runes wasn't hard either. It just took a lot of time to program each rune individually as he had to program each individual stroke of the rune to be done in a specific way. He couldn't go the most efficient route like the machine would want. If the runes weren't drawn in such a strict manner, they simply wouldn't work.
While the programming took time, it wasn't the most time consuming. No, that honor belonged to the runes he had to carve into the laser himself and the enchantments he had to layer onto the machine. The CO2 laser was a powerful machine, to be sure. However, it couldn't scratch the surface of even Mana Steel as it came from the factory. Dealing with magical materials took a spark of magic. A mundane blacksmith couldn't ever forge something out of Mana Steel.
The same went for the laser. Without a touch of magic, it wouldn't even scratch the hard magical materials he wanted it to engrave things into. Taking the machine apart, adding magic to it, and putting it back together took far more time than he had expected. However, he knew the final result would be well worth the hassle.
He booted up the computer and loaded in the programmed pathway he wanted the laser to cut into the item sitting in its bay. He was starting with something small, a ring. A special ring that he was carving several hundred runes into, then would be enchanting further. He wanted to see if he could make a ring so powerful it would make Sauron tremble in jealousy.
He pushed the final button and watched as the laser sprang to life. It was going to be interesting to see if his invested time and money would be worth it. He couldn't wait!
Junichiro walked toward his front door while stretching and yawning. He'd just been woken up by two people with a fair amount of magical power walking through his wards and ringing his doorbell. He wasn't worried about the people his wards were sensing even though their magical power was easily twice his own. If whoever it was meant him any harm, they wouldn't have been able to cross his ward lines. Despite his personal strength being weaker, his wards had been up for years now and were constantly getting stronger day by day.
After he finished yawning he checked his watch again and sighed. He wanted to complain about people visiting too early in the morning but it was two in the afternoon. Ever since his visit with Mephisto nearly four months ago, Mittelt had been spending less and less time hanging around his home. It'd had now been eleven days since he'd last seen her in person. It was pretty clear that their relationship had been on the downturn ever since she learned of his plans to become a devil.
Conversely, Azazel had actually been showing up more often and seemed to be subtly encouraging his decision. Which struck him as very weird. Still, without Mittelt around to grab him when it was dinner time, he'd been working into the late hours of the night. He hadn't realized their little ritual of swapping who cooked dinner was keeping him on such a nice schedule. It didn't matter whose turn it was to cook either. If she cooked, she grabbed him to show off what she made. If it was his turn, she grabbed him to make him cook.
Now? He'd been eating far too many meals from the local convenience stores. He even knew many of the third shift folks by name now.