'Fuck!' I frantically leave the shopping district.
A command seal? How?! I am in Saitama, this place leylines should be incapable to support a Holy Grail War!
No, calm down and think straight. What do I know for now?
I just received the mark, maybe the war is not here but in another city? Wouldn't be the first time that happened, it's actually the most common.
But I need to check first, the date don't match with any war I recognise. The year is currently 1998, that would be two year after the Fourth Holy Grail War of Fuyuki and two years before the First Holy Grail War of Tokyo. So either I am in a whole new timeline or this is not a proper Holy Grail War to begin with!
For the sake of my own sanity I will say this is not a whole new timeline, so this is most likely an off shot Holy Grail War. Maybe something like the False Holy Grail War created by Francesca Prelati or an Subcategory Holy Grail War made in Apocrypha when Darnic spread the blueprints for the war. Not a perfect theory but will work well for now.
In this case the Magi who made this ritual most likely planed to kill any poor soul who ended up being a Master, after all what's the chance a no name magus is in this city at the exact moment of the ritual? Higher than you would expect considering me!
With my thoughts organised I went to a secluded place and grabbed a map of the city. Then I grab a chalk and begin writing a runic sequence.
A basic Bounded Field, made to dissipate quickly. But it's true purpose is to hide anomalies, so I can so a minor showy magecraft without being noticed.
Placing my map at the top of a stone table I begin creating a new Runic sequence.
First Kenaz(ᚲ) for it's ability of revelation and bringing ou knowledge.
Then Ansuz(ᚨ) to find signals and revealing messages.
Gebo(ᚷ) to create balance between the runes.
Eihwaz(ᛇ) to bring forth enlightenment.
"Kage(ᚲᚨᚷᛇ)!"
The map begins changing colours, going from a light green to a dark purple, with light blue lines traversing it's surface.
This is a basic spell that helps me see the Leylines location, any magus could do it, even I with my non-existential knowledge can do it.
I begin looking at the map and couldn't contain my shock.
Are the magi who created this ritual mad?! Who in their right mind would do something like that?! Forget about getting a sealing designation this would bring the anger of something worst than a mere Enforcer!
They're fucking siphoning magic energy from Misaki's leylines to support this ritual! That's like asking for war with The Pure Witch!
There is no way Alice Kuonji won't retaliate against the organisers of this thing, and even if she mellowed out after Mahou Tsukai no Yoru she is still a proper Magus, there is the small chance she will just kill anyone involved in this ritual!
Of course, if they have summoned a servant already they won't have to worry about direct retaliation but how are they stopping her from cutting whatever is stealing magic energy form her city?
Well, they most likely have something otherwise this ritual would not even be possible.
Anyway, no reason to keep trying to guess, best start trying to prepare myself and finding a way to summon my servant.
Damn, I really should have memorised the summoning circle from the anime.
Let's prepare a place to operate then. I look at the map and try to find a good area to set an workshop then, doing it at the orphanage would be obviously terrible idea, it would bring attention to the kids and the matron. After looking a bit I find a good area, not that far from the orphanage but far enough that people won't associate one with the other. It also happens to have a unclaimed leyline and have a few minor font near it, perfect for a base and workshop.
I then go to the area I found, reaching an abandoned building, perfect. I begin set basic runes around the perimeter, some to create a working bounded field and a way to gather the telluric from the minor fonts to strengthen myself and the bounded field itself. Hopefully this will be a good workshop, and the space it offers is kind of good, enough to practice my magecraft without having to fear explosions. It wont stop a servant obviously but may at least buy me some time if a Magus tries to attack me.
Having fineshed the basic makings of my base I decided to leave for the day, the sun having already dropped I left for the orphanage.
________________________________________________________________________________________
"Tadaima (I'm home)!"
"Ehhhh, Nii-san!" Four small blurs of color run in my direction, before bumping into me.
"Ouch. Carefull kids, oneday that may actually hurt me." I jokingly chastise them.
"Heh, no way, big brother is too strong to be hurt by that!" Wearing a red t-shirt and having deep dark black hair and blue eyes is Araki Masaru. This brat can't stay in a single place, and if you let him he may end the world before going to bed.
"That's right!" With a green shirt is Hano Minori, nice kid but he follows Masaru's lead too much.
"Sorry, nii-san." Bowing her head a brown haired girl wearing a purple dress is little Hirata Kotone. The oldest of the kids and the currently the only girl, she is the one who reigns the other two when the Matron an I aren't here..
The last kid just pouts a bit before nodding. Toshiaki, the youngest of the kids and the one I like the most honestly, he usually stays at the living room reading and only leaving when the other kids asks him to play with them. He is also a bit like me, being the only one who doesn't have a family name.
"And where were you young man?" Entering the room is Masumi, with her hands on her hips clearly annoyed.
"I got lost." I say with the straightest face possible.
"You, who has basically perfect memory somehow got lost?" She asks incredulously.
"Yep." I simply nod.
I have perfect memory sure, but to compensate I have no sense of direction at all. Like sure I am no Zoro or something ridiculous like that but it's still really easy for me to get lost. Even if that was not the case in this instance.
I just spent a bit too much time in my new workshop.
"Alright I will forget this transgression this time, but try to be on time next time, what kind of example would you be setting for your siblings?" She sighs a bit.
"Shouldn't they be my nephews and niece? Considering you act like their m-" I feel a small pain at the top of my head.
Did she just... Karate chopped me? Well, points for the audacity.
My hands begin reaching for face, before starting pinching her cheeks.
"Wouh, stahp dhat-" She jumps back a bit. "-you damn brat!" Her cheeks are completely red, and small tears are falling now.
"You're the one who started!" I laugh at her.
She begins chasing me around trying to reach for my face, before tiring out.
"Da-damn you!" She says while heavily breathing.
I continue laughing, with the kids soon following me. Having calmed down Masumi being thinking about what just happened and joined in.
"HahhahHAHA!" We all laugh today at the situation.
Soon we go to the dining room to eat. A simple meal, but good enough for us.
"So... what did you do today Niko?" Masumi asks. "I know you left to do something but you never said what."
I who was just chewing stop for a bit, before continuing and swallowing the food. Then I take a small sip of juice, before looking at her.
"Oh, I went shopping. Didn't find anything interesting, at best some books." Technically true, but I did find something. I just don't want to waste my time using perception magecraft to make you not notice the books I bought. One of them technicality qualify as adult content after all, even if I have no interest in that part of the book.
"What kind of books?" Toshiaki quietly asked. He is the one who likes reading the most here after all.
"Nothing that cool, some philosophy books and a few books about other languages." I answer him, then pause. "I think I should go back to get one to learn a new language."
"You talk like you already know more than one." Masaru says accusingly.
"I do actually. Five languages, including japanese." No idea if that's because of this body's knowledge or my previous life, but I do know quite a few languages.
He gets speechless. Huh, miracles can happen after all.
"Well, but enough about me, what about you guys? How was your day?"
"We...uhm, we did a bunch of stuff!" Masaru hastily says.
"Yeah, that's right! We played a bunch and even went to the playground!" Minori helps Masaru.
'Did Masaru already forget what he did today? Why am I not surprised.'
"The playground? Huh, what did you do there?"
"We hunted for beetles and even ate some dangos! But we had to come back home soon..." Kotone says with a smile, ending with a bit of sadness in her tone.
"Hoh, did something nice happen? You seem sad you had to come back home."
"Huh, yeah!" She says surprised, then takes a longing face. "We meet a nice Onee-chan today! She was super nice and played with us all afternoon!"
"That's right! That pretty Onee-chan was so cool, she played sword fighting with us and everything!" Minori adds.
"She even managed to convince Masumi to buy us dango!" Masaru enthusiastically says.
"Even made me buy one to her..." Masumi murmurs.
"I liked her." Toshiaki adds helpfully.
"Huh, seems like a cool person. Who knows, maybe you guys will find her again when you go to the playground again." I tell them.
'Huh, good for them for finding someone they like like that.'
"Yeah, Sou-chan was really nice. We didn't talk much but I felt like she was a really nice woman." Masumi asserts.
After that, we finished our food and went to take a bath. I honestly had forgotten about japan's costumes about bath.
Usually in a household the 'patriarch' went first, then the 'matriarch' and then depending on their children's age they would enter in order.
The worst about that? They used the SAME water. Like, you would use the dirty water someone else already used, I don't know where I came from in my other life but I can feel in my soul That this disgust me in a personal manner.
Luckily Masumi always washes the dishes before going to take a bath, so I am the first to bathe. Sadly this will have to keep being this way, water is not free and we're a freaking orphanage, we don't have money to spare, and I am the only one who dislike that anyway.
Once I took my bath I went to my room, waiting for everyone to go to sleep so I could go back to my workshop.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Pov ???
"No, that won't be enough. " A brown haired man shakes his head in denial. "While the catalyst will summon a powerful servant no matter what we do it won't be what we need."
"Yes that is true, it seems this hero denies this saint graph through sheer willpower, perhaps altering their usual aspect may change this result." A white haired man, Caster, agrees, while also adding his own opinion.
"An alter form? I have hear about it, but it's never depicted in a good light. Alter servants seem to have a higher chance of killing their master it seems." The man frowns, but maintains a thoughtful look.
"What if we set limits? Their saint graph is too strong anyway, perhaps inflicting minor seals may help us in keeping their body without it collapsing from overextending their saint graph. This way we will be able to transcend beyond the level of a Top Servant and reach the next level!" Caster theorises.
"Yes...yes! That may work, luckily this servant already has a conceptual number attached to them, configuring their own saint graph to their myth's numerology will allow us to limit them without outright weakening them!"
As they continue theorising their new servant summon, a knock can be heard from the door.
"Ah, it seems she came early than we expected master." Caster says with a smile.
"Tch, couldn't she arrive at a better time, just as we were about to reach a breakthrough." He says annoyed at the terrible timing. "You may enter!" He loudly says.
"My my, did I interrupt something?" A female voice amusingly asks.
"Yes you did. But that doesn't matter, I thought you had left the city already?" He asks confused. "I believed you had lost your target for good."
Her left eye twitches a bit. "Yes, I did lose him. But I have found some interesting information. It seems someone managed to hide him from the system. After 'kindly' questioning him he decided to tell me what he knew."
'Kindly huh? Poor soul, may you rest in peace. I wouldn't wish this demon in woman skin onto anyone.' The man thinks.
"So what do you need? I doubt you came here just to talk."
"Oh, I don't need anything from you. I just wanted to warn you I was back." She smiled at him, bringing a vein to bulge at his forehead side.
"But also because of this." She shows her left hand, revealing three red marks that together resembled a cross.
The man's eyes widen. "You were chosen as well?" He then looks at Caster. "What do you think about this?"
"Well, we never actually put a restriction for her kind into the grail. So this is just coincidence."
"Annoying, but nothing we need to worry about. Should I expect you to participate then?" He looks back at her.
"Yes, I feel like this ritual will be quite entertaining. Well, with that having being said I will take my leave. I will try taking care of my target before the ritual begins after all." She then leaves the room.
The man begins massaging his temples, before muttering. "Damn vampires."
________________________________________________________________________________________
Pov. Doctor Uchida
So that how this feels then? It's warm but the heat is slowly leaving and bringing a harsh cold, a cold so intense it penetrates the skin and reaches the bones.
The light has begun diminishing, the sound are getting weaker. I can't feel anything other than the slow and warm water falling through me. Oh, that's not water is it? It's my blood.
Huh, so this feeling... is death? It's more comforting than I was expecting.
I would like to say that I have no regrets, but I do have one, I wish I could have done more for young Niko.
I did what I could to protect him from the moonlit world but I knew it was for naught, someone like him could never remain in the common world after all.
I will never forget the first time I saw him. His hair may look like a weak red but at that time it looked more like a deep grey. His sickly pale skin only made it look even more out of place, as if the world itself bended the colors around him.
But what truly attracted my attention were his eyes.
Usually they were like his hair, a brown hair that looked like red, but that time...
They were terrifying.
A deep blue hole that seemed to attract my very essence and threaten it's existence.
Surrounded by the darkest shade of black I didn't even think existed, as if he could see all that made me 'me'.
But he couldn't handle whatever his eyes showed him, so he sealed them, alongside all memories of them.
That was when I decided I would help him, perhaps it was fate or maybe just a coincidence but I hope that my presence affected him enough that he will not be corrupted by his eyes.
Sadly I will never know, the consequences of my choices arrived and I will bear them until the end.
...
...
But if I had a last wish, I would ask Niko to save(Kill) my daughter.
Here lies Doctor Ushida Shigeo.
Kind Doctor
Good Husband
------- Father