"It's truly unbelievable."
In a restaurant in Mifune City, watching Naoki devour his food in front of her, Touko still couldn't quite believe the scene she had just witnessed.
Without using even a bit of Greater Source, only converting the Lesser Source within his body into Mana, and from there launching Gandr—Touko herself knew this technique; it was a very basic self-defense Magecraft, also one of the beginner Magecrafts for learning Mana flow, but the Gandr Naoki unleashed, both in power and scale, far exceeded common sense.
That firework-like blooming Gandr... Fortunately, Naoki had previously suggested going to the outskirts of the city; if it had been shown in the city center, it would have definitely caused a huge commotion.
'He's really like Aoko... No wonder he said he and Aoko could be considered the same type of Magus.'
If this person was by her side, then next time she met Aoko, she might really be able to make her suffer a great loss—thinking of this, Touko unconsciously smiled and finished the wine in her glass.
"By the way, you're really a good eater."
"Hm?"
"Just fried rice and you've already finished five large bowls... Are you a pig?"
"Ugh ugh ugh—gulp!"
Swallowing the food in his mouth, then gulping down a lot of water to calm himself, Naoki said with a bit of regret, "Because I used my own Mana during the demonstration earlier, I got a bit hungry, plus my appetite is indeed big, so I ate quite a lot... Did it bother you?"
"No, I can still pay with this much money, consider it a welcoming gift after accepting you as a disciple."
Yes, accepting a disciple.
After seeing Naoki's strength, Touko decided to accept him as a disciple. Of course, formal disciple acceptance required signing a magic contract and holding a simple ceremony. Although neither of them cared much about such things, these were the rules of Magus.
In the past, it often happened that disciples betrayed their teachers, or teachers killed their disciples, for various reasons, ranging from coveting the teacher's wife's beauty to jealousy of personal talent. So, since a hundred years ago, the relationship between teacher and disciple among Magus had to be formalized in the form of a contract.
Of course, this applied to two completely unfamiliar people. If it was father and son, or family friends, there was no need to sign a contract. Basically, the contract was there to prevent mutual betrayal.
"By the way, I haven't asked until now, who is this little girl?" Touko looked towards Gray, who was quietly continuing to eat beside Naoki.
"Oh, her name is Gray, she's my adopted younger sister, and also you could say my follower." Naoki explained, "She's eight years old. Because I was afraid she'd be mischievous at home, I went through Professor Kayneth's connections and got her into the Clock Tower to study as well."
Follower in that sense.
Touko smiled, "I thought you two were the young noble and female servant type."
"Do I look like a young noble?"
"Just looking at your face—no, not a young noble, but a young lady. If you were shorter and wore women's clothes, no one would doubt your gender."
"There's no way I'd wear women's clothes my whole life—excuse me, waiter, a super-sized portion of roast meat fried rice number six, plus three more bowls!"
"You really are a pig!"
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
One hour later.
On the streets of Mifune City.
"Ugh~ so full..."
Rubbing his clearly enlarged stomach, Naoki burped, "Turns out I still ate too much."
"That was a total of ten bowls, Brother. Even if you were very hungry, eating ten super-sized portions of fried rice at once is really too much. Is your stomach strong?"
"Because it was the teacher's treat, it was free, so I unconsciously ate quite a lot. Besides, I haven't eaten until I was full since returning to Japan."
In England, knowing that Naoki already possessed part of Arthur's nature, Merlin would prepare portions sufficient to fill Naoki up, but after returning to Japan, after deducting the cost of the plane ticket back to England and accommodation fees, the remaining money had to cover daily meals, so Naoki had to be willing to eat less.
"Well, from now on I can eat more. After all, I won't need to return to England for a long time. After this, I'll look for a part-time job to start earning money and gradually improve my life."
"Eh?" Gray was stunned for a moment, "Brother isn't going back to England?"
"Having been accepted as a disciple, of course I have to learn everything I can until graduation, right? Besides, it's not like I won't go back at all. For things like the final thesis and some mandatory activities, I still have to return." Saying that, Naoki looked at her, "Gray, do you want to go back to England?"
Gray shook her head, "No, I'm quite alright being with Brother, but... there will be a little bit of longing."
After all, it was her hometown.
"By the way, was it okay to show that to Miss Touko? I remember Brother once said, it's only shown to very close people... Even Lord Waver doesn't know the real function of that tool, right?"
"As for the teacher... I think it's fine, consider it my intuition, my intuition is usually very accurate." Naoki laughed, "As for Waver, the less he knows, the better for him. Sometimes, knowing too much is a mistake."
Seeing Naoki start saying things she didn't understand, Gray firmly ignored her brother's words and focused her attention on the road ahead.
Unlike the Clock Tower located on the outskirts of London and Fuyuki City which was just starting to catch up with the times, Mifune City, whose prototype was Tokyo, could be said to be the perfect form of modernity, a true metropolis, its level of luxury far surpassing both.
Seeing the neon lights of various colors flashing around her and the various shops, Gray, who had never seen such a never-sleeping city scene before, felt overwhelmed for a moment, completely unsure where she should go next.
"Is there any place you want to visit?"
Naoki asked with a smile.
"Since we're here, there's no harm in taking a short walk, where do you want to go?"
"That... no, it's not allowed, I don't want Brother to spend money, so there's no need—"
Before Gray finished speaking, a scene suddenly flashed in her eyes, causing her to pause for a moment. Then she tugged on Naoki's sleeve, "Brother, I just saw a woman being taken into an alley by some men."
"Eh? Really?"
"Because there were too many people, I only saw a little... but it shouldn't be wrong."
"Hmm... a common occurrence at night in big cities, it's like this nowadays." muttering a few words, Naoki stretched his arms and legs, "In that case, consider it exercise after eating, moving around also helps digestion. Let's go, Gray."
"Okay."