The words went out into the astronomy tower and stayed there, occupying the space between them with considerable presence.
Artoria was slightly frozen in her place.
"I see," Artoria said.
Her voice so calm that it was slightly alarming, the way a completely flat sea before a storm is slightly alarming.
"Before you say anything," Alister said, holding up one hand, "I want to clarify that I did not walk into this conversation expecting that outcome. He presented it as a simple condition. I only realized the full—"
"You agreed to become my fiancé," Artoria said.
"Yes."
"To get your research published."
"When you say it like that it really does sounds weird."
"Why did you decide to tell me this now? you could keep quiet at least for now."
"Because you deserved to know before he did anything about it. Anyway i know that this matter can't be hidden for long."
Alister braced himself for her reply.
'if she gets angry I need to hold myself back and try to make her calm down.'
"Alright," Artoria said.
Alister waited for the rest of the sentence.
There wasn't one.
"…Alright?" he repeated.
"Yes."
"Alright as in you've heard me and you're about to—"
"Alright as in I accept."
Alister stared at her.
"You," he said slowly, "accept."
"Yes."
"The engagement that your grandfather arranged."
"Correct."
"Without asking you."
"Also correct."
"And you're just—" Alister made a short, slightly helpless gesture with his hand, "—fine with that?"
Artoria tilted her head. "Did you want me to not be fine with it?"
"I want you to be whatever you actually are," Alister said, the bewilderment coming through despite his best efforts at composure.
"Which I genuinely cannot determine right now. Most people, when informed that someone has arranged an event in their life without their knowledge or consent, have some kind of reaction."
"I'm having a reaction," Artoria said.
"You don't look like you're having one."
Artoria was quiet for a moment. Then, without particular ceremony, she turned around and looked out the window. Their positions had reversed entirely.
Now she stood where he had stood when she arrived, one hand resting lightly on the stone sill, looking out at the grounds below.
Alister stood where she had stood, looking at the back of her head, watching the moonlight on her silver hair.
Then the corner of her mouth curved.
"Alister, you can't look at this fiancée of yours through your usual perception of girls."
Alister opened his mouth but immediately closed it unable to refute anything.
"I'm not like a normal girl who would go around throwing a tantrum in a fit of rage over something like this."
She lifted her left hand and placed it gently over her left eye.
"These eyes of mine," she said softly, "have shown me more of the world than a normal person could see in an entire lifetime."
The astronomy tower was very quiet.
Alister looked at her hand over her eye and at the slight curve of her mouth.
Something about this moment got caught in his chest.
"So that's the reason," he said, after a moment. His voice came out somewhat less sharp than usual. He cleared his throat. "But honestly. It's—" he paused, searching for the word. "It's a relief. Genuinely. I'm glad you're mature enough to approach it like this." A small exhale. "I'm really lucky."
Artoria turned her head slightly away from the window.
"Lucky?" she said.
"Yes," Alister said, settling back into something more comfortable. "All things considered."
"Well," Artoria said, and something in her tone had shifted as she turned around fully to face him.
"Of course you are," she said. "You must have spent a lifetime of your luck to end up engaged to a girl as pretty as me."
The astronomy tower went completely silent.
Alister looked at her.
She looked back at him.
The silence stretched long enough to form a awkward atmosphere.
"…Did I say something wrong?" she asked.
Her voice had lost approximately forty percent of its previous certainty.
In reponse a short exhale came out of Alister's mouth as he was trying very hard to be give a controlled, dignified response.
But it did not succeed.
What started as a chuckle folded rapidly into a full laugh. He bent forward slightly, one hand bracing on his knee, the other pressed to his stomach.
"Oh…..you absolutely…."
He couldn't even finish the sentence.
Artoria was left dumbfounded stared at him.
"What," she said. "What is—why are you—"
"You don't look like one," Alister said, straightening up just enough to look at her, his eyes bright with it, "but you are tremendously narcissistic."
Artoria's mouth pressed into a line.
Her head turned, very deliberately, to the left.
A small pout had taken up residence on her face clearly a sign of her getting angry.
"Bastard," she muttered, quietly, to the wall.
"I heard that."
"You were meant to."
Alister got himself more or less back under control, straightening up properly, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth for a moment.
"Okay," he said. "Okay. I'm sorry for laughing."
Artoria's head still remained turned to the left.
"No, you're not," she said.
"Okay! Okay! I will admit," he said, "you are Pretty. I'm not going to pretend I didn't notice."
Artoria looked at him from corner of her eye as her pout eased slightly.
"I know," she said simply
Alister exhaled.
"Right," he said. "Okay. Moving forward."
"Since we're apparently doing this," he said, "here's what actually matters. You're at Hogwarts and your grandfather is paranoid about it but that's also valid as there must be people in this castle who are already paying more attention to you than you realize."
"So if you need anything or you are stuck in any problem, any situation, anyone making you uncomfortable. Just message me on the arcane network."
"There isn't anything in this school I can't handle," he said. "And I'm not saying that to be impressive. I'm saying it because it's true. Don't hold back on me just because you think it will be inconvenient for me."
Artoria looked at him for a long, quiet moment. It can be seen on her expression that she was slowly dropping her guard around him.
Her emotionless cold face was melting away. She was showing more emotions around him.
"Does that mean you will be responsible for me?" Artoria asked with a mischievous smile.
"I won't object if you think of it like that."
Artoria immediately turned around as her cheeks had a slight shade of pink.
"Idiot."
'Cute. But she is still a little girl at heart, getting embarrassed over small talk.'
after some time she turned back around after her blush faded away.
"And for future reference," she said, and the small curve was back at the corner of her mouth, "if you laugh at me again I will ask grandfather to revise the terms of the arrangement."
"Noted," Alister said gravely.
They looked at each other in the dark of the astronomy tower for a short while till Artoria broke the silence.
"Good night, Alister," Artoria said.
"Good night."
She pulled her hood up and Turned toward the door.
"Artoria," he said.
Alister's voice made her pause again.
"You were right by the way," he said.
She waited.
"About the narcissism." He tilted his head, the ghost of the smirk back in place. "It's a good look on you."
She was still for a sec but soon walked out without replying.
Alister stood in the empty astronomy tower after Artoria was no longer visible.
He exhaled slowly through his nose.
"Gellert Grindelwald"
"You complete and total menace."
Thinking that cursing him now can't change the situation. Alister also headed for the door.
But his destination is different from Artoria, He headed to the abandoned classroom he's been using since the entirety of first year.
On his way down the third floor staircase he opened his status page which he hasn't checked in a while.
___________________________________________________
[Status]
Name: Alister Potter
Age: 12
Race: Human
Tier: 2 (Magister)
Magical Attributes:
Magic Power: Tier 3
Beast Tamer: Tier 0
Potion-maker: Tier 2
Alchemist: Tier 2
Astrologer: Tier 1
Transfiguration: Tier 3
Physique: Tier 2
Magic learnt: Tier 1[…..], Tier 2[…]
Skill Proficiency:
Runes: Tier 3
Language Master: [English, Ancient greek….]
CURRENT RELATIONSHIP FLAGS:
Artoria Grindelwald ~Fiancée
Astra Potter ~Sister
______________________________________________
Alister stopped walking.
He looked at the last line and looked at it for a considerably long time.
"What the…. actual…..Fuck…..When did you fucking update that!!"
"Hey! You crappy System!" Alister hissed, abandoning all his usual aristocratic poise as he waved his middle finger at the empty air. "Are you trying to join the fun? Do you think this is funny?!"
[The Relationship Database updates dynamically based on direct verbal confirmation, contractual agreements, and physiological data.]
"I want to file a bug report!" Alister shouted, glancing around to make sure the portraits weren't eavesdropping. "It's just a political alliance! A tactical exchange of research for protection! You can't put 'Fiancée' with a little decorative title next to it!"
[Correction: The title denotes a 'Romantic Development Flag'. Would the User prefer I change the designation to 'Business Partner Whom User Explicitly Called "Pretty"'?]
Alister's jaw dropped.
"Why didn't i see you talking so much before."
"I was just simply complimenting her to calm down her angeranger."
[Understood. Analyzing user's internal physiological logs from 00:15 AM to 00:30 AM.]
[Data Retrieved. User's heart rate spiked to 112 BPM. User suffered a temporary loss of verbal composure resulting in 'laughing'. User mentally registered the target entity as 'Cute' and noted she is 'a little girl at heart'.]
[Sorry host, this System isn't programmed to lie by world's will and can only reflects objective reality. The title remains unchanged.]
Alister grabbed the bridge of his nose, aggressively massaging an incoming headache.
"I can't even resent the dead world will."
"And you. You are supposed to be the Ascension System," Alister growled, glaring at the floating blue screen. "The pinnacle of magical computation. Not a teenage gossip magazine. Can't you learn something useful from arcane network instead of this crap?"
[The System is designed to support the User in all aspects of life. Including those where the User is currently in deep, psychological denial.]
"I am going to reprogram you," Alister threatened, his green eyes flashing dangerously. "I am going to strip you down to your base runes and turn you into a glorified alarm clock."
[Hostile action detected. If the User is dissatisfied, I can immediately revert the status flag.]
[Options include:
1. Hostile Dark Lord's Granddaughter
2. Financial Beneficiary
3. The Narcissist]
Alister opened his mouth to choose option one, but a sudden, unbidden image of Artoria standing in the moonlight with that slight, pink blush on her cheeks flashed through his mind. He closed his mouth and stared at the screen for another five seconds.
"Leave it," Alister finally muttered, crossing his arms and looking away from the interface. "Just… leave it. But get rid of the stupid title."
[Request denied. Have a pleasant night, User.]
The interface vanished completely, leaving Alister standing alone in the dark corridor, staring at the empty air with an expression of profound defeat. He let out a long, heavy sigh and continued his long walk to and continued his long walk to his base
END OF CHAPTER)
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