[Snippet] Just A Story (Fate/Dxd): Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Alexander walked into the office after a long day at school.

His metrics were going up fairly well these past few days. He was almost close to the goal for his next quest. But otherwise, nothing really interesting had happened.

Views are going on, and people are buying his app.

At this point, Flappy Bird had made a few thousand dollars, which was very much welcome.

“Roman.” He called out.

“I’m behind the computer.” Roman didn’t even look over.

Alexander walked around the back to see him and went still. "...are you watching Magical Girl Levi-Tan?”

Roman shot him a glance. “It’s a good show.”

“It’s trash.” He deadpanned.

“It’s not trash! It’s a heartfelt adventure of a magical girl and her companions that triumphs over evil with love and justice!" Roman quickly defended.

“It’s trash.”

“It’s not trash!" He pouted. “It’s almost as good as Magi Mari!”

“That was Merlin dressed up as a woman.” 

“Stop making fun of my interests! I’m doing research; she’s a devil, so I need to see what she’s like!”

“I heard there are a lot of panty shots in the show.” Alexander said casually.

"...I watch for the plot.” He looked away.

“Right.” Alexander rolled his eyes. “Did you at least get the work done that I asked you to do?”

Roman paused the show, clicking around before they were pulled up. “Yeah, I finished two of the advertisement pieces you want. The last one just needs to be colored. I was taking a break.”

"Roman…..." Alexander leaned in. “These are phenomenal.”

“Really?” Roman tilted his head.

“Roman, I’m being serious. This is amazing work, genuinely and honestly.” He wouldn't be facetious or sarcastic. “This is better than I can do, Roman.” And he had some cheating help with ‘talents’ from the system. “You really captured Artoria’s regality.”

The first one was of Artoria, standing first with her hand on Excalibur’s hilt as it pushed into the ground. Behind her were images of the other servants and the words ‘Fate/Stay Night’ overlaid in the background that flowed wonderfully into the overall image.

“...thanks.” Roman said quietly, but the happiness on his face was hard to hide. “You know, I did meet her and talk to her several times in Chaldea. So I was able to do my best to mimic her whole demeanor as best as I could.”

The second one is just as good as the first, maybe even better.

It was Shirou and Artoria sitting back-to-back; half the image was the bloody battle of Camlann, and the other was Unlimited Blade Works on Shirou’s side.

“Roman, you have amazing talent for this.” He patted the older man’s shoulder. He wasn’t used to having an employee, but he also knew that it was important to give them praise when they did a good job.

“Really? You think it’s that good?” 

“I dare say that you could make a living drawing furry porn, Roman.” Alexander nodded.

“W-what!?” Roman nearly choked as he heard that.

“That was a compliment.”

“How was that a compliment!?”

“Do you have any idea how much furries pay for porn, Roman? Furries have money, and you need to be good at what you do to get those kinds of commissions. Do you know how many fresh out-of-college artists take commissions drawing porn? A lot.”

"Then…T-thanks?" He didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, he was being praised; on the other….

“I think I’m going to need to buy a second computer so we can both work at the same time.” 

“Probably. As much as I would like to tell you to pay me, if we want this company to get up and running, we can’t rely on just one work station.” Roman, at this point, had basically already committed. “If you buy the parts, I can put it together. I did have some technical training back in Chaldea too; I knew how to do some maintenance and stuff when it came to the systems.”

“That would save a bit of money.” He nodded. Alexander couldn’t claim to know how to put a computer together. He could probably find the videos online and manage, but at the same time, he wasn’t overly confident. If he messed up something, well, he would be out a lot of money that he didn’t have.

“How have you been handling things?” Alexander slid into a spare chair off to the side, making himself a cup of coffee.

“The magic here is ridiculous.” He said rather casually. “I mean, I get it, it’s cool, but it’s also weird. It’s not different from what Solomon did back then, to make a branch of ‘Magic’ that didn’t rely on gods or foundations like that. But the Merlin here took a completely different route when he designed their magic system."

“It’s apparently created based on Devil’s imagination magic.” Alexander pointed out.

Roman rolled his eyes. “I already looked into that. ‘Imagination Magic sounded far too impressive for how little results they seemed to show for it. No, it’s just them cutting out the process and going from initiation to result. Their ‘Demonic Energy’ seems to fill in the gaps to stabilize the actualization of the spell. The ‘Imagination’ claim is simply that they don’t have to learn properly. They can imagine the conclusion, and the sequence of events aligns through their Demonic Energy."

“You sound salty.” Alexander took a sip of his coffee.

“It’s stupid!” He huffed. “It completely removes the rigors of study and proper spellcasting. Obviously, if you only rely on that 'imagination' method, you’ll never get good. But even still! It’s stupid and I hate it.”

“Salty.” Alexander snorted. “But that sounds similar to something over back in your home, right?”

“You mean Wishcraft?” He asked, still not pulling his eyes away from his screen. “It’s similar in application, but the underlining mechanisms differ enough that it’s not the same. The Holy Grail operates the same, if you ignore the magnitudes and many other layered conditions. ‘More Magical Energy = Results.' Devil ‘Imagination Magic’ more or less operates the same. Obviously, the two can’t compare in results.”

It was easy to forget that Roman was actually Solomon based on behavior. But the moment he started talking about magic, that bit of Solomon reared its head, and he could analyze and extrapolate foreign magical concepts with ease and even explain them easily.

“So you hate the magic here?”

“The opposite, actually.” He was typing on the computer. “I think what Merlin did was fantastic. If there was one regret with Magecraft that I passed down, it was that it wasn’t as widely available for humans, and it still relied on magic circuits. Merlin did something I couldn’t do; he made it accessible to technically anyone. Technically anyone.” He emphasized the last point. “I can say that I had more restrictions, that our worlds were different, but at the end of the day, I can only say that he did better than me in that regard.”

“I don’t have any talent in magic, apparently.”

“I said technically anyone, twice. You still need some amount of talent, but you don’t need to be born with Magic Circuits. I would need to look into it more here, but people seem to have their own pool of magical energy they can pull from. They can grow it to some degree as well. It’s honestly rather fascinating.”

“You’re welcome to go look into it.” Alexander didn’t want to tell him what he was and wasn’t allowed to do.

He had a chance at a normal life, to live how he wanted this time around. 

Roman paused for a second before continuing his work. “Maybe later. I think right now, I prefer not getting involved with anything like that.” 

“It’s your decision.” Alexander just shrugged. But Roman seemed to appreciate that sentiment even more.

“By the way, I watched your anime.” Roman changed the topic. “Fate/Stay Night. And I read the graphic novel.”

“Already?” He blinked.

“Hey! Don’t underestimate me! I’ve been watching anime and reading light novels before you were even born!”

Alexander put his hands up. “I admit defeat to your superior slacker skills.”

Roman harumphed. “Was it really necessary to have a sex scene?”

“Yes.” 

“You know, if Artoria ever finds her way here and finds out, you’re screwed, right?”

“Roman, if that happened, I would have much bigger problems to worry about.” Alexander shook his head.

“After watching it and reading it, I understand now why Artoria and Emiya were always awkward around each other. But also why they always were nearby one another. It’s kind of sweet in hindsight.”

“Did Cu Chulainn and Emiya argue in Chaldea too?”

Roman snorted. “Almost every day. And King Gilgamesh would constantly throw insults at Emiya. I always wondered why they were always at each other's throats. Despite Emiya always saying something sarcastic or getting King Gilgamesh angry, he would never actually retaliate physically. It was always threats and returned insults; the King wouldn’t hesitate to throw out Noble Phantasms at anyone else, but he would bicker with Emiya and never escalate. Looking at it now, there was some sort of begrudging respect he had for Emiya.”

“Scoot over for a second.” Alexander nudged him a bit so he could get his hands on the keyboard. “I have three advertisement spots picked out. They’re nothing amazing, but they’re for websites that get a bit of traffic.” He pulled up the information. “Overall, the costs will be just under 1.3 million yen. So, a bit under nine thousand dollars."

“Advertisements aren’t cheap; are you sure you want to spend that kind of money at this point in time?”

“We have a website set up, we have the anime ready for viewing, we just need more traffic to the website. At this point, our growth is exponential, so the returns will be much higher in both the short term and the long run.”

He had spent quite a few hours redesigning the website completely. 

While he could reuse a lot of the original code and such, it still needed a lot of work to get right.

“And their services are easy to use. I already emailed them; they just require the advertisement to review to make sure it’s not overstepping any guidelines, and then payment and they’ll run each of them for a week.”

“If it’s what you want to do, I’ll finish up the last one now then.” Roman nodded.

He didn’t say that it also fulfilled a quest for his system, which was the main point at the moment.

“I did have one concern. Is it already showing or talking about real magecraft like you’re doing? While it’s not covered heavily, it’s still using proper concepts and underlining logic. If someone studied it, they could get results.” Roman asked.

Alexander considered it and then shrugged. “What’s the worse that could happen, Roman?”

@***@

It was a normal day at Mountain Optics.

A normal company in the human world.

Absolutely nothing abnormal about it.

That was a fact for the first floor of the building. The second floor, however, had a few more secrets about it that many didn’t know. That is to say, the second floor was almost entirely made up of non-humans.

Oh, there were a few humans here or there, but they were the ones who knew everything about the hidden side of the world.

Centaurs, Satyrs, a few Youkai, a goblin or two, some Lamia, a mermaid that required special accommodations, and even a harpy that sat on a perch rather than in a computer chair at its desk.

In this age, there were many non-human beings who just wanted to live normal lives. They didn’t want to live on some deserted island, or lure humans off ships, or hide under bridges waiting for someone to pass by.

They worked, they lived, and they walked the same streets as their human counterparts these days.

However, this company in particular had a special job.

The name Mountain Optics was chosen specifically because they were under the authority of a specific place. 

Being operated in Greece, it wasn’t hard to guess who stood above them.

They were one of a few companies in the human world that catered to Olympus for mundane matters.

Mundane money—they helped direct the flows of it so mortal authorities didn’t come asking. They helped keep bank accounts for non-humans, and they helped create identities when someone wanted to wander the human world.

Essentially, one of the few go-to spots when a mundane human matter needed to be taken care of.

The bureaucratic underside that keeps the bottom line moving.

It was a necessity in this day and age where the supernatural separated and hid itself from the human world. What was a Cyclops supposed to do if it wanted to enter human society without causing trouble?

They go to one of a few companies like this and get help.

From monsters all the way up to even gods.

Could you expect a God of Olympus to head into the human world and not have money on them? It was both a bank and a bureaucratic machine when needed.

Aphrodite wants to spend six months living in Paris?

Someone needs to create a valid identity.

A satyr wants a mortgage?

Someone needs to explain where his income came from.

A three-thousand-year-old nymph wants a driver's license?

A god wants to buy a Lamborghini without the Greek tax authorities wondering why a man with no employment history just transferred €400,000?

Mountain Optics.

That is to say, they also handle issues of intellectual property. But not the kind of intellectual property that’s recognized by most mundane authorities. Even if humans don’t know they exist, the gods and their extensions don’t like their images or stories being used without their consent for a plethora of reasons.

It was one of the primary reasons there wasn’t a lot of media that made use of mythological figures.

That isn’t to say there’s none; there’s a decent bit, but it’s all under agreements from the ones involved.

One particular Satyr was typing away at a computer, something that wouldn’t look out of place in any human workplace, bar the hooved feet and goat legs. He was even wearing a proper collared shirt and tie with a pair of glasses that he adjusted while leaning forward to look at his computer.

He quickly went to go print out a few papers before grabbing them with a bit of a haste in his step. He awkwardly danced around a passing Troll who was carrying a small lunchbox and coming back from his lunch break as he came to an office door, knocking on it.

“Come in.”

The Satyr pushed open the door. "Hey, Boss.”

“Pierno.” His boss greeted him. Two large bull horns protruding from the sides of his head, and his desk was a little small compared to his stature. But even so, he wore a full suit, looking very professional.

In ages passed, a satyr would have fled on sight from a minotaur in their vicinity. But many ancient beliefs, values, or desires had shifted over the years. That’s not to say that you won’t find a minotaur who’s rampaging around, killing and eating humans or whatever else it can find. Just that, there is a good portion of most ‘monster’ populations that have become civilized over the years.

For many intelligent creatures, it’s hard to remain a man-eating, dredge-wearing, cave-living monster in an era where technology in the human world has advanced so much. Seeing most humans living in what was considered the lap of luxury of royalty back in the older eras, most adapted as well.

“It’s like this, Boss.” Pierno the Satyr sat in the empty seat, setting down the papers. “There was a take-down request sent a bit over a week ago, maybe longer. Run-of-the-mill stuff, you know? All automated.”

The Minotaur nodded. 

He wasn’t unused to these sorts of things. They occurred every once in awhile. Mostly from ignorant humans who tried to exploit certain stories or personages that would find exception to it.

“Everything seemed fine, but when I checked back with it a few days later, it was still up and running. So I sent a second one.”

“There’s sometimes an error or issue in the first.” He nodded again.

“Yeah, well, the second didn’t work either. That’s when I called up the Image department like I’m supposed to.” The Satyr adjusted his glasses. “They did a manual pull-down request on it and sent me the confirmation. Except, when I checked it again just now, it’s still up and was never taken down.”

The Minotaur frowned, grabbing the papers as he brought them up close to his face to read. "Fate…stay a night?" He adjusted the distance between the papers and his eyes to better read it. “Hmm, from what you reported, they’re using the image of Hercules? I see. It sounds like you did everything right, but why wasn’t it taken down?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I came to you. I’ve never had a problem persist after the Image Department got a call.”

“Our people on the human end should have manually struck the website. That’s odd…” The Minotaur stroked his chin. “Let me call up someone.”

He carefully picked up his phone, using a pen between his large fingers to tap the buttons before putting it on speaker.

It rung a few times before someone picked up. "Hey, you old bull."

The Minotaur smiled. “Ol’ 5-head, how the heck are you?”

“Oh, you know. Just got back from a well-needed vacation. Felt like I hadn’t had a relaxing break in a few centuries!” There were a few hisses on the other end. “Quiet, quiet, I’m on the phone.” He said in a low voice. “What can I do for you?”

“I have an issue here, a takedown request. Unauthorized use of images and such. Uh…the report says Hercules," the Minotaur boss stated. “You know how it is.”

“Yup. Are you having problems with the automatic systems again?”

“Well, I have one of my subordinates here. He said that the automated system attempted to take it down twice and failed. Then he sent it over to your department, and they reported they did a manual take-down request, yet it’s still up.”

“Huh.” The other side of the phone had a few more hisses. “Let me take a look. What's the order number?”

“FF8757-84B”

“Got it, looking it up now.” There were a few noticeable moments and sounds of typing on the other end. “Ah, found it. Uh…Type-Moon? Is that the website? It says that the media is called ‘Fate/Stay Night?’. The ticket was closed as settled. Let me look it up; there’s a website address on the ticket.”

The minotaur hummed silently. “Did you find it?”

“Yeah, I’m there now. It’s still up. I can use my permissions to try and do it right on my end. Let’s see…my reporting still works, so it shouldn’t be something on our end. Alright, request sent in. I used my higher-level authority to expedite the request just in case. It should be done…now. Wonderful, I just got a response back that the system did a full block on the domain.”

The Minotaur refreshed the website page himself. “It’s still there.”

“What do you mean it’s still there?”

“I’m saying, I just refreshed the website; I’m still staring at it.”

"...Alright, let me try something else.” There was another pause. “What about now?”

“Still there.”

“Alright, something’s going on.” The hissing on the other end persisted again. “I’m going to kick this upstairs.”

“Alright, thanks. I’ll tell my guy that he doesn’t need to worry about it anymore.” The Minotaur thanked him as he hung up the phone.

For them, business went on as usual.

The Satyr went back to his desk and got started on his other work. The Minotaur went back to doing what he was doing before.

However, upstairs, a man with a beard got an email from a manager in the Image department.

He looked at the issue and also tried his best to issue a take-down using his higher-level permissions. Seeing as it didn’t work, he also kicked it upstairs.

It went up another level.

Then another.

And a third before finally, at the very top of the proverbial food chain, a man leaning back in his chair noted his computer pinged him with a new email.

Sitting next to him, leaving on his desk, was a golden scepter with two intertwined snakes and a wing motif hanging up over the window behind him.

“Huh, an issue?” He wasn’t used to doing actual work, so it was rare that he got brought into the discussion when something happened.

A figurehead or someone who just didn’t care to micromanage, there wasn’t much of a distinction between the two for him.

“Let’s see, a takedown request circumvented…twenty-seven times?” He tapped his chin. “That’s not really my wheelhouse, though. Dionysus sort of handles most entertainment stuff, but I guess I’m already here. Hmm, can’t trace the IP address, can’t find the creator’s profile or information. Can’t even block the website locally? Can’t scry the person; that’s a little more interesting.”

Hermes, the God of Messengers, looked at the report rather curiously now.

His job had become a bit more automated in the last century or so, which made it so he wasn’t actually flying back and forth between Gods to deliver messages these days. 

“Hoh, someone’s playing around~." He was now amused. “Which God has so much time on their hands. Besides me, that is. If you’re going to go through so much trouble, I may as well check it out.”

He looked at the report and found the culprit.

“Fate/stay night? An anime?" His lips curled up before he laughed. “Alright, I got some free time. If it’s fun, I might just leave it alone.”

@***@

Alexander was sitting at the desk working, finishing up some small details. The artwork was good to go, and he sent the advertisements to the right places.

With the fee paid, the advertisements were going to go live tomorrow, and he anticipated a spike in popularity over the next month or so.

If all went well, not only would the quest for the advertisements get finished, but within the next few days, he will also have Fate/Zero released too. 

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms. “Where’s Roman? He was supposed to pick up dinner.”

He let Roman go pick out dinner, which he was starting to regret. But it was also one of the man’s hobbies; he was a bit of a foodie. Well, not a foodie, because foodies had certain expectations and admiration towards food.

What was the name for someone who just liked to eat snacks and garbage food? Someone who just enjoyed tasty food?

Regardless, Alexander was hungry, and he was about to maybe go try and find him until his system pinged up.

[Ding!]

[Milestone Reached!]

[A God has watched Fate/Stay Night for the first time!]

[Reward: 1 Gacha roll!]

“Fucking what!?” Alexander rolled over in his seat and ended up falling over in his chair. He ignored it as he stared at his system still.

Panic.

Confusion.

More panic.

“Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck.” Alexander stood up. “Alright, calm down. They can’t find me. Calm, no God is going to come smite me. Worse case, I throw Roman under the bus and run.” He took a deep breath. “No point in getting flustered; it’s not something I can control. This was going to happen eventually…probably."

He just didn’t expect a god to actually watch Fate/Stay Night or anything of his so soon.

He still felt so…vulnerable.

“God, I hope it’s not someone who' going to be pissed.” He shook his head. “Roll the Gacha.” It was the only thing that he could use to take his mind off things.

The system's gacha rolled.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations!]

[You Received: 1 Archer Class Card!]

The system spat it out like it was trash being thrown to the ground.

Alexander stared at it; an Archer Class Card was just sitting on the ground in front of him.

“Fucking what!?”

@***@

A/N

Alexander gets a Class Card, and a god finally notices him too.

Chapter 11, that means Patreon is now ahead 1 chapter for this snippet.