Chapter 1, Part 4: Stop Being Rude

Ciel, Phiz, and Heg arrived at a crossroads. Fortunately, stacks of crates were lying around, enough to hide all three of them from sight. Workers from various races were seen carrying different things through the crossroads.

"Hey, why are you two hiding? They know you two are with them right?"

"Yeah, well, we just kinda followed you in a whim." Heg said.

"Should we continue doing that act earlier, Master?"

"Yeah, it works. We can keep it up until we get to this boss of yours."

They stood up and redid their act where Ciel was a captive. They counted to three and showed their selves. They came across a Halfling in the intersection.

"Hey, friend. Do you know where the boss is?" Phiz asked.

"Hm? What, you caught someone looking around? He's in the room to the right of you. I was there an hour ago."

"Right. Thanks, friend. Let's do our best."

"Yeah."

The Halfling went its way, carrying a crate full of bottles. Those bottles having Genesis in them is a high possibility.

Surprisingly, they barely ran into traffic or danger. They arrived at the door of the boss's room effortlessly.

"Well that was easy." Ciel said, still in the middle of their act.

"Should we enter, Master?" Phiz asked.

"...Yeah. Be ready for a fight just in case."

Heg knocked thrice at the door and turned the doorknob. Before them was the boss, sat behind a large wooden desk riddled with papers, books, and other such things commonly found in a busy office. The boss produced a silhouette and could not be identified, but they are clearly drinking something.

"Boss, are you here?" Phiz asked.

"You two are from the upside. What brings you here?" the boss said.

"We caught this girl going around our area. We think she's a spy." Heg said.

"I see. Alright, bring 'er in."

They entered the room. Upon entry, the smell of alcohol wafted around. Either it came from Genesis, or perhaps just plain drinking alcohol. To the right side of the room was a vast blackboard, riddled with chalk writings. How did this fit in here?

Ciel's Apprentices pushed her towards the desk. This way, she got a clearer look at the boss. The silhouette quickly faded until the boss's true appearance was revealed.

He... is not a good shape. In the first place, why does he have eye patches on both eyes? Also why are his eyebrows absent?

"Forgive my appearance, girl. See, I accidentally tripped on a bone and got my eyes a good amount of toxic smoke that cost me my eyesight. The process of making Genesis is truly dangerous."

Ciel dropped the act immediately.

(How stupid are you? Aren't you supposed to be their boss?)

The risk of danger is probably why the pay is good, but him messing up extremely badly is very unbecoming of a boss. Phiz and Heg covered their mouths to muffle their chuckles.

"My name. It's Waffle Sugar." the boss, er, Waffle, said.

Phiz and Heg, upon hearing his name, broke down in tears, suppressing their laughters by hammering their knees and covering the mouths. They had no idea the boss looked like this; they were hired by someone else, one of Waffle's underlings.

Ciel thought she heard something behind her, and turned her head slowly. Phiz and Heg were there standing by the door. She turned back and spoke to Waffle.

"Why are you doing this business?" she asked.

"I aim to enter an alternate world."

After Waffle's answer came a long pause. His answers have become so incredibly ridiculous that Phiz and Heg could not even laugh at it anymore.

"Huh?"

"You heard me right, girl. Genesis is capable of transporting you to an opposite version of Alter. Not a different world, but an 'opposite' one, where everyone is happy to exist."

Waffle stood up and picked up his cane. He circled around his desk and approached Phiz and Heg. He stopped right beside Heg, who just recovered from laughing.

"On a side note..."

Waffle stabbed Heg in the ribs with his cane. It was not sharp, but the blunt force had him in absolute pain.

"...bold of you two to laugh at me, of all people."

"Guh—?!" Heg collapsed to the ground, grunting in agony.

"Heg!" Phiz ran towards his aching partner, but in the blink of an eye, Waffle was already in front of him.

"?! You damn...!"

Phiz ducked to the level of Waffle's abdomen and made a tackling motion, creating a barrier. Waffle sidestepped to the left and, with his momentum, swung the cane and hit Phiz's unguarded back.

"Too predictable! You two need some combat lessons!" Ciel complained.

Now, both of her Apprentices are more or less incapacitated, writhing in pain. It is said that blunt objects are more painful than sharp objects, and these two may have proved that. They were on the verge of tears.

"I thought you two were thugs?! Why are you two about to cry?!"

"We...we always avoided trouble..." Heg said, his voice weak.

"You must have gained their trust, girl. Impressive. Work for me."

"Nah."

"I promise you, your salary will—"

"Nah. I'm on a quest contract to get rid of this harmful drink."

Ciel took a bottle from Waffle's desk and smashed it against the edge. It made a loud noise. Waffle held his ears and appeared weakened.

"Argh!" he cried.

"I knew it, your hearing is top notch!" she said, swinging the bottle around, drawing circles in the air.

"H-How did you...?!"

"Just a guess. Well, I'm gonna have to tell you to stop this business. It's ruining lives."

"I can't! I haven't perfected the concoction yet!"

"It still hasn't been perfected at this point? It's already so potent. Last warning, Mr. Waffle. Cancel your operations and start a new, Genesis-free life." Ciel walked towards the blackboard.

"No! Not until I go to the alternate world!"

Waffle removed his eye patches and revealed his reddish eyes that discharged pus. It looked like he was crying yellowish tears.

"Ew! Put those back on! No one wants to see that!"

"You! You will not stop me from achieving my dream!"

Waffle charged at Ciel with his cane raised. He let out a battle cry as the discharge from his eyes trickled down his cheeks.

Before he could close the gap, Ciel put the broken part of the bottle on the surface of the blackboard, then dragged it in different directions. The action created an extremely unpleasant sound.

Waffle dropped his cane and pressed his hands tightly against his temples. "AAAAAAAGH!"

"I warned you, didn't I? You should've let the local Academy heal your eyes, you know."

"I refuse to get help from Magi! Magic only brought me suffering!"

"Perhaps, but Magi have been doing what they could to protect people. They go out into the Divides to help establish new settlements."

"You're one of them, aren't you?! Don't you know how much humiliation I got because of them? Laughing at my name, shaming my sad talent for spellcasting? Even going so far as to permanently suppress my Ability for the sake of making fun of me?!"

"Look, don't drag other people into your endeavors. You and your customers may be different, but don't rope them into addiction. You'll kill them."

"Do you think I care about them? They're just testers! It's their fault for testing the drink!"

"There's your problem. You think your words are always right. You're also at fault for releasing Genesis."

Phiz and Heg recovered from Waffle's attack and stood up grunting. They looked at Waffle whose back was facing them.

"Master!" Phiz cried.

"Don't. I got this under control." Ciel said, gesturing them to stop.

"These two fools behind me. They acted just like those Magi. I hate them, from the bottom of my heart."

"They aren't. They can barely use magic. You have to stop—"

Waffle turned around and charged at Phiz. Phiz saw his eye condition along with his partner.

"Ew, put those eye patches back on! Damn!"

"You're making fun of me again! You'll pay for that with your lives!"

"Dude! Seriously! You're too creepy!"

But before he could attack one of them, Ciel threw the bottle at Waffle's head. Luckily, the unbroken part of the bottle collided with him. He fell down face-first with a loud thud.

The three approached the fallen Waffle. He started sniffling, and eventually cried.

"I just wanted my life to get better. I wanted to prove those assholes wrong."

"You had a good dream. But you tried to achieve it through something bad."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have roped people into my bad decisions."

"Do you still want to try for a new life?" Ciel asked. She got on her knee.

"...If it's possible. I just want to live the life I wanted."

"Then, let's start by erasing that seal on your Ability."

"Master? You can do that?" Heg asked.

"Yeah. I have a third Ability."

"For real?!"

Ciel's third Ability is Undo.

Anything that has happened before can be undone by chanting a trigger word, which Ciel chose to be the Ability's name itself. She made the Ability four years after the war, but she rarely uses it. For Ciel to undo something, she must know how something was made or happened, so that she can reverse the process and restore them to their original state.

"An Ability-suppression spell was cast on you, right?" she asked Waffle.

"...Yeah. There were five of those Magi. They all cast Void: Suppress on me while the other Magi laughed at me instead of helping me."

"A bit too personal. I don't want to open old wounds, so it's best if you keep everything to yourself."

(Void: Suppress, eh. That's a fourth tier spell. His bullies must be really gifted. They also know the suppression becomes permanent when five people cast it simultaneously on one opponent.)

She held the back of Waffle's head. A faint blue glow was emitted underneath her hand as she chanted, "Undo."

She held her position for a few seconds and stood up afterwards. "You can stand now. Try out your Ability again, whatever it is."

Waffle stood up slowly, wiping off his tears, snot, and saliva with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. He realized his eyes did not burn anymore even without the eye patches.

"What did you do to me?" he asked.

"I also undid your eye infections. I also restored your brows. You're looking neat now."

Waffle immediately ran towards his desk and grabbed a mirror. There, he saw a handsome man with beautiful, deep azure eyes.

He heaved and gasped as he grinned from ear to ear. He was back to his original state.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" he said, his voice trembling.

"Now, you gotta try out that Ability of yours. Oh, do remember that if you do any harm to me or my Apprentices, I'll have to apprehend you."

"There's no need for that. My Ability... isn't very well-suited for combat."

"Oh?" Ciel walked towards Phiz and Heg, while looking at Waffle. "What's your Ability about then?"

"My Ability is Gourmet."

Waffle's Ability allows him to dramatically enhance the taste of the food he makes. A professional chef can satisfy the palate of their customers, but he can send them to the Realm of Gods and back. He uses normal ingredients, but with this Ability improving his cooking, everything he makes just tastes to incredibly amazing.

"The food I make become really delicious. I've always wanted to become a chef, so I wanted to learn magic that will help me when I open a business."

"I sense a business opportunity." Heg said, grinning.

"Great minds think alike, partner." Phiz replied.

Ciel smiled. "That's nice. Waffle, I have a proposal for you. Would you like to hear it?"

"Please. I want to repay your kindness."

"Then. If you cancel all productions of Genesis, I'll take you under my wing along with these two as an Apprentice. I'll make sure you learn everything you need to become what you aspire to be."

"Really?!" Waffle rushed through the room and kneeled before Ciel. "With pleasure!"

"Very well! Then," Ciel held his shoulders firmly, "Apprentice Waffle Sugar, welcome to our little family!"

Tears rolled down Waffle's cheeks. "Thank you very much, Master!"

Phiz and Heg looked at each other, then spoke to him. "Hey, uh, Waffle. Sorry about laughing earlier. We were being assholes." they said.

"Oh, it's okay. It's all in the past now, right?"

"Then, wanna be friends? Let's all establish a business together in the future." Heg said.

"My first friends! Yeah, I'd love that!"

(He didn't have friends? Harsh past...)

Her two Apprentices—or rather, three Apprentices—did a group hug. Phiz called to their Master to join. "Master! Please join us!"

"What? No way, it's embarrassing..."

Her Apprentices looked at her with shining eyes. Left with no other choice, she approached them and joined.

"...Fine. Welcome, Waffle."

In such a short amount of time, she acquired three Apprentices with shared goals.

Later that night, Waffle cancelled all operations and ordered every single bottle to be emptied in the gutters. He paid all of his employees for the trouble and started from scratch with Ciel as his Master.