[Comprehensive Anglo-American] Gem Merchant

On this day, everyone felt that Tony Stark was a bit uncharacteristic.

He first shaved his beard, and then attended two "boring events" that he would never show up at all, and he once scoffed at.

The daily headlines in the morning can still be "Tony Stark's new look", and in the afternoon, this guy who has always been too lazy to deal with the media suddenly becomes acerbic - or, he was originally a smart person, but he never Don't bother to cast your eyes on other unimportant things.

"Most of the employees in the weapons research and development department have been transferred, and the resigned employees have also been compensated according to the law."

"The technology itself is harmless. The cold fusion technology based on palladium metal can become a clean energy that advances the progress of the world, or it can be made into an extremely dangerous nuclear weapon. As you can see, I chose the former."

The CEO of Stark Industries held the awarding trophy in one hand and stared directly at the countless flashing lights in front of him. Even if this body did not have a magic circuit, it was impossible to activate the mysterious crystal monocle, which can detect malicious intent. Magic dress, he can also instinctively feel the pair of unfriendly eyes behind the camera.

He didn't understand the nuclear fusion of palladium metal at all, he only knew that it would put a load on the heart.The spinel protected by magic can temporarily relieve this poison, but this adsorption effect is a temporary solution, not the root cause. Even so, the owner of this body still chose to pile his life on the chips without hesitation, incarnated as an attempt to The hero who saves the world.

— A magician does not do things that do not make sense.

This is what Alphonse was taught the moment he was born as a magician.

Every action has its purpose. Compared with ordinary humans, they have more straightforward thinking and thinner moral concepts.

But it is clear that they have reached the far enough distance that no one can reach, but Tony Stark, a human individual, has done something that completely violates the value orientation.

Alphonse boasted that their relationship was not familiar enough to find out why the other party wanted to become "Iron Man". After all, even if Tony could give an answer, he couldn't answer the sentence that Stark's character would inevitably Asked "what about you".

——Why did the alchemist named Alphonse choose to be the bridge between the mysterious and scientific sides?

A few years ago, Gem Unzelrich pressed the indifferent young man in his memory, pressing his palm tightly against his shoulder blades. The other party's eyes were full of violent and restless power. Fleeing.

And the magician's first words made him quiet.

"What did you see in Fairyland? 』

"I saw……"

Memories come to an abrupt end.

"Mr. Stark?"

A microphone was rudely brought up to his chin.

Alphonse finished his distraction and carefully identified the logo of the TV station under the microphone. He remembered seeing it in the materials recited recently.

"Do you think that by providing donations and pensions, you can make up for the damage you have done to the world in the arms trade?"

The female reporter's lipstick is bright red, provoking a slight arc: "According to the polls on the Internet, you..."

"Do you really think these wars wouldn't happen if there wasn't me in this world?"

Alphonse asked suddenly.

—they wanted to piss him off.The eyes of these people are filled with such emotions.

I want to see him waving the microphone away in anger, I want to see him walk away violently, maybe I can capture famous scenes like Khrushchev taking off his shoes online, holding up his shoes and roaring at the table, which will be recorded in history. Everyone can compile fast food news as always, and traffic and KPI can be easily satisfied.

"Should the people who died during the Crusades in the cold weapon era be blamed on the blacksmiths who forged the weapons?"

"The thermal weapons after the Industrial Revolution killed a large number of people. Should the blame start from the invention of the steam engine?"

"Would you now blame Albert Einstein for advancing quantum mechanics and general relativity because of the danger of the atomic bomb? If not, then Anthony Edward Stark's cold fusion technology is theoretically Going one step further on the steps of the predecessors, which people's nerves have been touched by this?"

Word by word, Alphonse walked to the center of everyone with the microphones surrounding him.

Today's exposure rate has exceeded the standard, he thought, Lord of Jewerly has never attacked so many people in one go.

"No one wants to hear sophistry, Mr. Stark."

The reporter's eyes drifted and he regained his voice: "Please answer my question directly."

Alphonse stood in the center of the reporter siege, in the empty seat, leaving only the phone screen slightly bright: it was a short conversation, and the last sentence stayed on Tony Stark's reply.

"Do you mind if I say something in front of the reporters? If it causes economic losses to Stark Industries, I am willing to make compensation."

"--You're angry?"

"I do not know."

"How can someone not know if he is angry or not... Oh, forget it, what do you want to say?"

There was no reply.

After a while, Tony Stark sent another text message.

In a private mansion on the sea cliff, a man wearing goggles put down the chrome-white battle suit parts in his hand, and ordered the smart housekeeper to turn on the live TV.

"Only two hours from now, allowing you the freedom to do what you want as Tony Stark."

The businessman in the laboratory rolled up the large sleeves of his white robe. The clothes were not at all convenient to move around, but he couldn’t put it down because it was said that the dreamy material that could become clean once it was burned—and after a simple test, this piece Clothes can withstand a certain degree of shock load, and if he can use magic, it should also support additional functions such as changing various styles.

That's great. He'll be wearing it until his body changes back.This is more useful than any advanced custom clothing.

Stark took out a donut, and on the TV screen, the jeweler with his own face took over the microphone, and asked solemnly to the reporter lady with golden wavy hair:

"Excuse me, may I know your name?"

Tony: "..."

His first reaction was, this guy actually wants to flirt with my face? ?Didn't expect a serious little profiteer to be so open in his bones...

Apparently, the reporter also thought of the businessman's romantic history, and immediately switched to the mentality of "work is work and life is life": "My name is Emily."

Alphonse nodded. "New York Today?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark."

The reporter even threw a wink at her. Even if her job is to pick up some sensitive topics from Stark's body with a camera and a microphone, it doesn't mean that a smart person will miss the opportunity to really hug his thigh. —Tony Stark is a man of extraordinary generosity on certain levels, and especially…

"I remember "New York Today" has a stake in Stark Industries."

All the reporters held their breath.

They heard Tony Stark announce in a gentle and flat tone: "Stark Industries will cancel the capital injection of "New York Today."

"..."

The reporter raised his head in astonishment: "What did you say?"

"As you have heard, ma'am."

The businessman with light brown pupils re-emphasized, as if to prevent someone from not hearing clearly: "I will cancel the capital injection for "New York Today."

His eyes swept over the crowd present, and he seemed to have carefully checked the logos on the microphones of many reporters. It was obviously an extremely peaceful and stable expression - this expression itself rarely appeared on Tony Stark's face In fact, this person has always been in high spirits and exaggerated emotions - but it just makes everyone feel a little scared.

"And Westchester Television."

"And the New York Weekly," he announced.

"And 'Daily Entertainment News.'"

He enunciated very clearly and counted the names of these media one by one. Nick Fury, who was sitting in the audience, was ashamed but heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. Divestment is better than cursing, and the game of real economic interests is better than illusory The "Alchemist's Retribution" is much better.

Thank God, Tony Stark's body doesn't have any magical gifts.

The informed Nick Fury and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are all grateful in their hearts. Mr. Alchemist is willing to vent all the unhappiness in his heart in a peaceful way. Naturally, everyone is happy, and the vigilance can be lifted. Today The field work was not in danger, and he didn't mention it when he went back to write the mission report, but the other people present were shocked and mixed.

"...Mr. Stark, can you explain why?"

Among them, a reporter with black-rimmed glasses raised his hand tremblingly.Alphonse glanced at him, the other party's microphone logo was a bit unfamiliar, and the TV station with this logo did not seem to have officially made unfounded critical remarks against Stark.

"Because I feel unhappy."

He said it very naturally.

"..."

The crowd fell silent.

Of course, investors can withdraw their capital at any time because they feel uncomfortable, but generally speaking, few people would remember that the investment scope of Stark Industries is extremely wide and penetrates into all aspects of life, because Tony Stark himself would not Care about these online floods - and rarely stay honestly at the awards ceremony to wait for their questions.

The sleeping lion yawned, showing its full mouthful of white teeth.

"And I didn't invest the money in order to embarrass myself."

Alphonse was very puzzled, so Tony Stark must have a problem on some level, either because the technical nerd is too informal, or he simply doesn't know what Stark Industries has to the outside world. How much capital injection is all managed by Pepper-considering that Stark himself is not a "house" at all as a party animal who can be targeted by hell, the latter may be more likely.

"...But, this is part of freedom of speech! You can't just want to silence the voice of the media just because of your own personal likes and dislikes!"

Someone retorted that the momentum was not very strong.

"Then, sir, all I can say is."

Alphonse said the last sentence of today's award ceremony: "This is part of the freedom of investment. As the CEO of Stark Industries, I have the right to decide what I want to buy and what I don't buy, except whether I shave my beard or not. .”

"This investment will be redistributed to the construction of clean energy infrastructure and the promotion of waste removal and recycling systems."

Anyway, there was such a part of Stark Industries' original plan. After confirming Pepper's plan list, Alphonse had no pressure to make this part public.

The motion of the businessman spreading his hands helplessly in front of the camera became the end of the day's farce.

On the return trip, Pepper sat in the back seat of the car, recalling the scene of the awards ceremony several times, and wanted to hide his face and smile.

"Mr. Alphonse."

She blinked at the alchemist: "I never thought you would be so emotional."

This person usually looks like he doesn't move in all directions, as if he doesn't have any emotional ups and downs. I didn't expect to be so angry when he was angry...

Cough, how can I describe an alchemist as childish.

"Because of my willfulness, I rashly disrupted the plans of Stark Industries. I am sorry to cause you trouble."

Alphonse apologized: "I hope it didn't affect your work too much."

"This is no trouble at all. It's not as much as one-thousandth of Stark's usual trouble. Al, you have cooperated very well."

Pepper sighed: "And he said sorry like that always makes me feel a sense of crisis, Al, you still don't have to apologize."

Tony Stark would take the initiative to apologize, always feeling that he had caused some extremely difficult disaster.

The scenery outside the car window quickly went backwards, and Pepper looked at Alphonse in the reflection of the glass. The other party had calmed down again, with his hands folded above his knees, and he was sitting upright.

Her boss is a lonely researcher who is completely different from ordinary people, and it is difficult for most people to understand. He has never dismissed the public opinion on the Internet, but Pepper actually doesn't know it. People, will they care about these "boring trivia".

But Alphonse cared.

"You didn't even refute those bastard magicians who said that to you back then. Why are you angry at what some reporters said? It's really not like you." 』

Tony Stark held the phone in his hand, and swipe his fingers on the screen quickly, chatting with the gem merchant who was driving back in the car.

"I'm not angry. 』

"...Okay, okay, Al, but why don't you refute those magicians?They're even more exaggerated..."

Alphonse didn't reply.Tony Stark ordered Friday to secretly activate the car camera. In the image sent back, the alchemist dragged his chin and looked out the window, occasionally glancing at his phone thoughtfully.

... If this guy doesn't know how to reply, will he just keep silent?This will directly kill the chatter!

Even if it's really inconvenient to say something, you have to say "I can't tell you", right? He doesn't even bother to say it's a secret now!

Tony Stark pressed his temple and felt extremely speechless, and the social skills of a gem dealer seemed to be a bit lower than he had imagined.He re-edited a short paragraph as if resigned to his fate, which probably means that if this is your secret and you don't want to say it, you don't have to force yourself like this.

As a result, just when he was about to press the send button, Alphonse resent the reply.

"The only purpose of magicians' research is to reach the root. If you compare your research progress on the scientific side, it can be described as a unified formula, the only law of everything in the world, etc. Countless generations of magicians have exhausted All kinds of methods are just to achieve this goal.”

Radical scientist, Tony Stark thought.

"Magicians are almost passed down from generation to generation, because the heirs of the family will carry all the knowledge passed down by the previous generation. Compared with chasing the root, magic is just a by-product of the process."

So what's the matter—Tony Stark subconsciously wanted to refute, but suddenly froze when his fingertips touched the screen.

He thought of the girl with the big golden curly hair and the pretty face like a jewel.That was Edelfelt's current head of the family, Alphonse's younger sister.

It does not belong to Edelfelt, nor does it belong to Bathmelo.In the world of family-based magicians, Alphonse is like Yu Yu, a traveler walking alone in the world.

The smartest brain in the world thinks of many things in an instant.

The New York Temple is the base camp of Visandi's origin magicians, and Alphonse apparently even used their hanging rings in an unfamiliar and difficult way. The Magic Association is stationed in the UK, but he traveled thousands of miles to New York alone. A jewelry store with a dusty signboard opened on a deserted street.

A "why" leads to more "whys" that need to be asked urgently. The businessman named Alphonse is carrying countless secrets behind him, but Nick Fury has repeatedly told him that it is enough to maintain a cautious communication distance , don't pry too much into the mysterious world.

"Don't think that that guy looks easy to get along with, so you have to make an inch of Stark, think about the fate of everyone who offended him, including but not limited to a certain game player who has been in bad luck for several months, the two who have died on the spot A magician who still spits on himself in prison and plays with the whip."

Fury's eyebrows were almost twisted together: "Don't think about reaching into the beast's mouth to count how many teeth it has, magicians are different from other humans in terms of fundamental thinking mode."

"But why?"

The inventor who is also the richest man finds it incredible: "Shouldn't knowledge be something that can be promoted faster by brainstorming, learning and discussing with each other?"

Although there are not many people in the world who can discuss with him, Tony Stark still recognizes the current education model through the journey of studying from childhood to adulthood.

But Fury himself couldn't answer this question.Even if it is deduced from the beginning of the establishment of S.H.I.E.L.D., in the past thousands of years, the magicians of various families have kept their secrets secret, and have never been willing to reveal a little more information to the outside world.

"Call Lokabrenna."

Tony Stark tried again unwillingly, and the amethyst that was casually placed on the table still didn't respond at all.

"Setup."

Tony ordered, then switched from English to German: "Anfang."

German doesn't help either.Tony Stark wanted to try the older Hebrew language, or simply learn Chinese again, but the smart butler promptly pierced his thoughts: "Sir, switch between different languages ​​to start the gem. The success rate is calculated to be less than two per thousand, are you sure you want to continue trying?"

"..."

So sad.

Fortunately, even with a different body, the progress on the battle suit is still very good.

The businessman finished bridging the chrome-white battle suit with the positioning device of the watch, walked out of the gate of the underground laboratory, and closed his eyes slightly to feel the oncoming sea breeze. After continuous work, this is his most common way to relax recently.

If there is a way to cover the entire suit without the need for long-distance summoning... Reminiscent of the suit that can change the shape of the suit I am wearing now, should I also add a layer of optics to the steel suit? Camouflage, made exactly like a normal suit jacket?

Oh my god, stop it. A magician can solve a problem that can be solved by cognitive interference. On the scientific side, it is a breakthrough in materials science and many interdisciplinary subjects to achieve the same.Rather than spending energy making a big fuss about the appearance, it is more urgent to directly improve the firepower and suit performance.Tony Stark pressed his eyebrows, and the wound on his forehead had already scabbed. It seems that the medicine used by ordinary humans is also very effective on the body of an alchemist.

……

Tick.

It was a sound inaudible to human ears.

Feeling the approach of the source of magic power, some invisible things began to surge up slowly.

The blood that dripped on the ground due to the trauma on the forehead had already dried up, and now there is no trace of it.The blood engulfed the magic power (Od) flowing in the body and penetrated into the ground, blending with the magic power (Mana) of the earth veins, like a drop of blood flowing into the sea, it disappeared in an instant.

But even the insignificant and imperceptible bloody stream flowing in the veins of New York City is enough to affect the sensitive sense of smell of some sharks with ulterior motives.

"—Found you, Alphonse."

The author has something to say: Alphonse (frowned): I sprayed Stark, and now I'm in Stark's skin, rounding it up is spraying me.

Fury: How did the equation in your mind work out? ! !