Fate Coiling Sword

Chapter 15: Velvet

Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331

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-England-

In an apartment complex, a man in his late twenties with long loose hair tied in a low ponytail rested against his bed frame. His face bore a tremendously sour expression as he was met with the twelfth game over on his TV screen. 

"Hah, this is not going to work." He said while pressing the start button on his grimy and worn out controller, exhaling another puff of smoke with some ashes falling on his pants. 

"Ouch! Damn it, I'll burn a hole through them by the end of the day at this rate." the man complained, dusting off the ashes of his silk pants.

Still quite early in the morning, Waver El-Melloi II or as known in the Clocktower; Lord El-Melloi II. The nonstop cold and damp weather of London made this a regular activity for the man who preferred some quiet and alone time after finishing teaching his classes. The accumulated stress over his duties and research deserved to be balanced out by relaxing times such as these. As for breakfast, he just sent his assistant to get some while he waited. Waver went to smoke another cigarette of his favorite brand… only to discover the packet was empty. 

"Tch, I should call her to buy me some." He said while rubbing his bloodshot eyes, drowsiness evident in his tone. Pouring himself another glass of bourbon, Waver took a quick shot before going back to playing his game in peace, confident that he would not lose for the thirteenth time. 

Ring~!

The doorbell to his apartment rang once, silence followed as the man sighed and forced himself to get out of his messy beg. Wearing sweatpants and a shirt with a short and shield logo belonging to one of his favorite games — these being the kinds of clothes he wore privately. For someone carrying the title of Lord in the Clocktower, having thousands of students who looked up to him and his achievements… this image of his would definitely shatter many of their images they had of him. Not that he cared in the first place, reputation in itself was not a resource he could deny to have never taken advantage of in the past, but Waver reckoned that any feeling of regret or sadness would emerge if he were to lose it. 

Did that make him pessimistic? Perhaps, he was called that numerous times by both his colleagues and his own students. Perhaps for his younger self, such an aspect would count as an essential trait of a powerful and competent mage. 

Though, Waver the failure, as a few of his classmates liked to call him back during the time he was Kayneth's disciple. That boy had many flaws, worried about things that held no importance to his situation and venturing into outlandish wars accompanying the King of Conquerors. All of that to have others acknowledge him? 

Yeah, the current him laughed mockingly at that, while feeling utter shame on how he acted in the past. 

"Then again, I would not be here if it were not for my foolish actions all those years ago. My King's teachings would have fallen in deaf ears if Kayneth were to become his Master… no, knowing that red hair meathead, things could have turned out much worse." 

Unbothered to freshen himself up or change his clothes into something more presentable, Waver walked to the door while yawning. Taking with him his glass of bourbon, this was some high quality produced he had purchased recently, and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste. He had an idea about the person that decided to visit him this early in the morning. His apprentice would have just entered the place without knocking, most of his students did not know where he lived and even if they did not a single one of them would believe that someone of his stature lived inside an apartment like this instead of a villa or a mansion. Any official member of the staff, teacher or research needed to give an advance notice for any sort of visit.