Chapter 23: The Woman in Red (Patreon)

January 23rd, 2004, Late Night.

A small, somewhat remote hotel in Shinto, Fuyuki City, quiet and bordering the Miyami district.

In a lit suite at the end of the third-floor corridor, Shinji sat at a desk, his chin resting on his interlaced fingers, quietly listening to the sounds of a meeting coming from the laptop in front of him.

The meeting was about the amusement park project that had been in preparation since last year.

Currently, the indoor water park and indoor snow park had begun trial operations. The final large-scale amusement park would also enter its trial operation phase within the next week.

At 11 PM, Shinji ended the long meeting, closed the laptop, and stretched with a big yawn.

"Feels like I've obtained in this lifetime what would have taken me several lifetimes of struggle to maybe get in my previous one," he mused while stretching. "But for some reason, it doesn't feel as satisfying as I imagined."

[They are merely worldly possessions. Broaden your horizons, Grandson. A Monarch is one who possesses all things under heaven.]

Ignoring the dog system's nonsense, Shinji casually opened the system panel.

Over the years, even with the monthly use of the double-speed pills, he had only barely managed to consolidate the three foundational seishin aspects. He hadn't even fully consolidated the Inshin yet; he was still one step away.

With less than a month left before the main quest's deadline, Shinji had already given up on the requirement to "Temper Three of the Seven karada aspects" for the "Save Zōken" quest.

Unless he had another ten years, it might be possible to temper three of the seven karada aspects (Heavenly Charge, Spiritual Wisdom, Vital Force). After all, tempering the karada aspects was far, far more difficult than consolidating and internalizing the three seishin ones.

However... it wasn't entirely impossible. For example, there was a certain item that had recently appeared in the system shop—"Three-Body-Aspect Tempering Experience Card (10 minutes, one-time use)."

System, are you treating me like a cash cow? Is this on purpose?

Shinji really wanted to curse. The price of a single experience card was exactly the vast majority of the points he had painstakingly saved over the years.

After deducting the cost of some props bought in advance, he had saved a total of 60,000 points. One experience card cost exactly 59,999!

Looking at the experience card with its promotional-looking red font, exclamation marks, and "Hot Item" label, Shinji really wanted to drag the system out for a fight, but it was useless.

[This King's intentions are good, wanting to help my obedient grandson complete the quest. Why so irritable? Fine, fine. This King will remove this experience card from the shop. A vegetative state is fine too; he can still talk to this Sovereign and such.]

'You f**ing wait!'

[If you're not buying, it's better to remove it.]

Holy f* XXX!

Shinji cursed vehemently in his heart, then showed a pained, conflicted expression.

...I'll... I'll buy it.

[Deal.]

Shinji: I...

...

On the sparsely populated night path, under the streetlights, Shinji walked slowly towards Miyami Town, his hands tucked into his coat pockets.

Growth spurts and training had made Shinji's height leave the "canonical" Shinji far behind, reaching a staggering 185 cm!

His physique was also the kind his previous-life NEET self wouldn't have dared to imagine—slim in clothes but well-muscled underneath. Combined with his naturally good looks, he naturally became the most popular boy with the girls in high school.

However, there was something strange that puzzled Shinji. Despite being the most popular boy, he had never found a single pink, heart-adorned letter in his desk or shoe locker—something that seemed like it should be a given.

Was the world bugged?

Is it because I'm not the protagonist?

Lost in his random thoughts, Shinji unknowingly walked deep into the woods, arriving in front of a dilapidated, old, moss-covered standalone Western-style house.

Sensing something, Shinji stopped in his tracks in front of this house—which had been dark and, in his memory, uninhabited since he was a child—and glanced sideways at it.

The smell of blood...

Shinji's brow furrowed slightly. Since he began his training, his six senses had become increasingly sharp. Even through a magical barrier, the yard, and the closed door, he could smell the thick scent of blood inside.

Moreover, it was the smell of human blood. His keen hearing picked up a very faint, almost imperceptible breathing sound, telling him there was only one person inside, and they were on the verge of death.

With the Fifth Holy Grail War only days away, Shinji honestly didn't want to get involved in such trouble at a time like this. What if he was exposed under the true omniscient gaze of the "Worm Grandpa" or his insect spies...

"I don't want to die..."

The voice was incredibly weak, so faint that even with hearing several times sharper than a normal person's, Shinji could only catch it intermittently, incomplete.

Kekkai, rise.

As if having made a decision, after confirming there were no strange insects monitoring the area, Shinji called out softly in his heart.

In an instant, a thin, air-wall-like barrier enveloped the entire Western-style house and the area around it, including Shinji himself.

This was just a simple barrier that distorted the five senses, something Shinji had learned from the "Beginner's Compendium of Kekkai" he'd won from the lottery wheel.

Although those inside wouldn't feel any change, people passing by outside would unconsciously overlook the things within the barrier without realizing it—this was the so-called distortion of the five senses.

"Ah I'm really such a kind person" Shinji sighed lightly and pushed open the rusty iron gate, stepping into the yard.

That's right, it was solely because Shinji was inherently kind-hearted! It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact the voice was a woman's!

.....

In the second-floor parlor of the old Western-style house—or perhaps it should be called the Haunted Mansion or the Twin Mansions—a woman with short rose-red hair and pupils, a tear mole under her left eye, dressed in a red bean-colored suit and a rose-red tie, lay listlessly in a pool of blood.

Upon closer inspection, one could see the woman's left sleeve was empty, and her body was covered in wounds pierced by sharp objects. On the floor around her were some eerie glowing blue runic symbols. It was these runes that were barely sustaining the woman's life.

They were probably laid by a certain "Hound" at the last moment.

The woman's name was, in fact—Bazett Fraga McRemitz.

I don't want to die...

As her consciousness slowly sank into darkness, Bazett repeatedly murmured these words, though no sound came out anymore. Simply put, she had only the faintest breath leaving her body, with no air coming in.

Tap, tap, tap...

Hearing the footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear in Bazett's utterly despairing eyes.

The owner of the footsteps—Matou Shinji—unobtrusively curled the corner of his mouth upwards when he reached the top of the stairs and saw the suited woman lying face down in the pool of blood.

The Tax Evader—Okonomiyaki (Kirei Kotomine)

The Senior Tax Collection Officer—Bazett

Wasn't this development just delightful?

Thinking this, Shinji suddenly found himself feeling a sense of amusement as well.

Bazett, who had just been betrayed by that blue guy and was heartbroken, didn't recognize Shinji, who was walking slowly towards her and squatting down in front of her.

But in her final moment before completely losing consciousness, she managed to see clearly, by the moonlight from the window, this handsome youth with blue hair the same color as the hero she admired—until a few hours ago, her own Servant, Lancer...