"The headache you had earlier was probably caused by excessive blood loss. While you're recovering, eat more foods that help replenish your blood. And don't do too much mental work."
The doctor in a white coat closed Wang Xiaoming's medical chart, then gave him some instructions.
"Okay, sorry for the trouble." After listening to the doctor's advice, Wang Xiaoming nodded and thanked him.
"I only did what I was supposed to do." The doctor waved his hand with a smile. "Besides, you're a hero to all of us here in Fuyuki City."
"A hero?"
Wang Xiaoming was taken aback by the title and couldn't quite process it.
"Of course. You caught that psychopathic serial killer and risked your life to save this child. You're certainly a hero to everyone in Fuyuki City." The doctor reached over and patted the boy beside him on the head. "When the boy came to the hospital with you, he was covered in blood. Our nurses were terrified."
The doctor's words left Wang Xiaoming utterly bewildered.
I saved someone?
And caught that psychopathic serial killer?
Doctor, are you sure you're talking about me?
Seeing that Wang Xiaoming was lost in thought, the doctor didn't disturb him any further. He left the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Now the boy and Wang Xiaoming were alone in the hospital room.
"Mister..."
The boy walked over to the bed. Looking at Wang Xiaoming's furrowed brow, he called out to him timidly.
"I'm so glad you're okay." Seeing that the boy was safe and sound, Wang Xiaoming smiled. Then he asked, "Can you tell me what happened after I passed out?"
As a reporter, Wang Xiaoming naturally had a reporter's desire to get at the truth. He couldn't believe that he'd somehow managed to turn the tables on the crazed Ryunosuke Uryu while barely conscious.
That sort of thing only happened to the protagonists of novels. Wang Xiaoming had no confidence that he was one of them. So something else must have happened after he passed out—some unforeseen circumstance no one knew about.
"..." The little boy hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Seeing that the boy seemed to have something difficult to talk about, Wang Xiaoming decided not to press him. They'd both survived the same desperate situation, after all. They ought to trust each other.
"It's okay. You can tell me whenever you're ready." Wang Xiaoming reached out and patted the boy on the head.
"Mister, it's not that I don't want to tell you..." The little boy scratched his head, as if trying to find the right words. "It's just that what happened sounds kind of unbelievable."
Unbelievable?
Wang Xiaoming scoffed to himself. I'm a man who's been transported to another world more than once. What could possibly surprise me?
Suddenly, something red flashed across Wang Xiaoming's vision. He froze, then reached out and grabbed the boy's right hand.
It was a red crest drawn with just a few strokes. At first glance, it looked like a tattoo on the back of his hand.
But Wang Xiaoming knew that before he passed out, there hadn't been anything like this "tattoo" on the boy's hand!
"Is this... a Command Spell?"
Hiss—
His head started throbbing again. Scene after scene flashed through Wang Xiaoming's mind, assaulting his consciousness. But this time, the pain was much less severe, and he gritted his teeth and endured it.
"Hey, Mister, you know about Command Spells?"
The boy hadn't noticed anything unusual about Wang Xiaoming. He looked at him in surprise.
"Oh my, Little Master. Looks like your uncle isn't quite as simple as he seems."
Though there were only two people in the room, a third voice suddenly rang out. Even more surprising, neither of them looked startled.
As the voice faded, a figure dressed in purple appeared in the hospital room.
Double update.
So you're the protagonist, huh~
"Chief, it's me."
In the hospital lobby, Wang Xiaoming was wearing his hospital gown as he called his boss from one of the hospital's public computers.
"Yeah, I'd like to take a few days off. As for this article..."
I nearly got myself killed. To hell with the article.
"Okay, got it."
After hanging up, Wang Xiaoming felt a little puzzled. Why was that lousy chief so easygoing this time? He'd expected to have to talk his way into getting the leave.
What he didn't know was that while Wang Xiaoming had been unconscious, the police in Fuyuki City had already investigated him from top to bottom. They'd even called the newspaper to commend him, leaving Chief Baiting so delighted he could hardly contain himself.
The impact of the serial murders had spread across Japan. Everyone in the country was talking about it, afraid they might become the killer's next target.
Of course, it didn't help that Japan was so small—not even as big as a neighboring province. In such a tiny place, news spread incredibly fast.
When Baiting learned that the culprit had been caught by Wang Xiaoming, whom he'd sent out on assignment, he stayed up all night personally writing an article. Then he had the newspaper print extra copies overnight and distribute them across the country.
The article reported that Wang Xiaoming had caught Ryunosuke Uryu, but Baiting also made a point of describing his own brilliant decision to send Wang Xiaoming out on assignment.
He really had no shame.
But however shameless he was, Wang Xiaoming had no energy to worry about it. After ending the call, he returned to the hospital room. There were still a lot of things he needed to find out.
He opened the door and saw the boy with his head lowered like a child who'd done something wrong. The hooded woman from earlier was gone. Wang Xiaoming didn't bother asking about her. He walked over to the bed and ruffled the boy's hair. "Come to think of it, we've been through life and death together, but I still don't know your name. My name's Wang Xiaoming. You can keep calling me Mister if you want."
The boy nodded, then said a name that made Wang Xiaoming's expression freeze.
"Shirou..."
[Shirou]
[Emiya Shirou]
[Emiya Shirou]
"Shit!"
A fragment of a memory flashed through Wang Xiaoming's mind. Clutching his head, he let out a curse.
"Mister, are you okay?! Caster..." Seeing Wang Xiaoming's pale face, Little Shirou panicked and was about to call for help, but Wang Xiaoming stopped him with a raised hand.
"I'm fine. My head just started hurting all of a sudden." Wang Xiaoming forced a smile, then raised his head to get a good look at Little Shirou's face.
Now that he looked closer, the boy had orange hair and features that bore some resemblance to the young man in his memory...
Well, looks like I saved a protagonist.
"Mister, you should rest some more." Seeing that Wang Xiaoming didn't seem to be in any danger, Little Shirou let out a sigh of relief. Still, he stubbornly insisted that Wang Xiaoming get back into bed.
"I'm fine..."
Wang Xiaoming smiled wryly, but in the end, he couldn't win against the stubborn Little Shirou. He returned to bed, and Little Shirou sat on a stool beside him.
Lying in bed, Wang Xiaoming had managed to piece together some of what was happening to his memories:
He was like those amnesiac protagonists in novels. His sealed memories needed a "key moment" to "unlock" them, but the side effect was that his head hurt terribly while the memories came back.
Just like when his head hurt earlier: the fragments of his memories about Little Shirou's life ten years in the future had felt as if someone had shoved them into his head.
"Start by telling me what happened back then," Wang Xiaoming said to Little Shirou from his bed. "And how you used up one of your Command Spells."
That was right. There should have been three Command Spells on the back of Little Shirou's hand, but now there were only two. A faint red trace remained, like the mark left behind after an eraser rubbed something away.
Though Little Shirou was young, he told the story in a clear and orderly way. It began when Wang Xiaoming passed out and Caster was summoned."
"Caster has answered your summons. Oh my, looks like you're in a bit of trouble, Master~"
After stepping out of the magic circle and taking in the scene, Caster didn't rush to save Little Shirou from Ryunosuke's grasp. Instead, she looked around the room.
"Are you a demon?"
Ryunosuke stared blankly at Caster as he asked.
A magical bullet appeared behind Caster and slammed into Ryunosuke a moment later.
"Pfft..."
Ryunosuke spat out a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious.
Caster's face was mostly hidden beneath her hood. Her lips pressed into a cold line as she looked at Ryunosuke as if he were already a dead man.
"Cough, cough..."
Caster heard a weak cough. When Ryunosuke was blasted away, the Little Shirou he'd been holding had also fallen to the ground.
"Are you the one who summoned me, my Master?"
Caster turned her attention to Little Shirou and walked over to him, asking in a cold voice.
"Cough, cough... Please save Mister."
Little Shirou couldn't worry about anything else. He had barely survived and had no strength left. All he could do was put his hopes in the mysterious person who'd suddenly appeared and knocked down the killer.
"Then our contract is sealed."
After Caster calmly said those words, the Command Spell on Little Shirou's hand changed from dark red to bright red in an instant. Then she looked toward Wang Xiaoming, who lay on the ground, breathing his last. She shook her head and said:
"Master, I'm sorry, but I can't save him."
Wang Xiaoming was barely clinging to life.
"Then call an ambulance!" Little Shirou couldn't hold back his emotions and shouted at Caster.
"Master, it's not that he can't be saved, but..." Caster hesitated for a moment after Little Shirou shouted at her, then continued.
"What do we need to do?" Little Shirou looked at Caster with desperate hope, as if she were his last lifeline.
They didn't have enough magical energy. That was the harsh reality.
How could a child from an ordinary family have any access to magical energy? As a Caster, she could see Little Shirou's situation at a glance. If she used healing magic, her little Master would probably be drained dry.
If they lacked magical energy, they could use a Command Spell instead.
"Master, use a Command Spell."
"A Command Spell? What's that?"
Looking at the confused expression on Little Shirou's face, Caster was even more surprised. Was he really just an ordinary person?
"I see..." After Caster briefly explained, Little Shirou had a rough understanding of what a Command Spell did. He raised his right hand, marked with the spell.
"By the power of my Command Spell..."
"What about Ryunosuke Uryu?"
After hearing Little Shirou's story, Wang Xiaoming brought up the other man.
"When we left, Caster said she'd take care of him."
Wang Xiaoming breathed a sigh of relief. Little Shirou had seen his parents murdered, but the less blood he saw, the better. Wang Xiaoming didn't know what Caster had done, but judging by the doctor's reaction earlier, she must have handled it well.
"Caster, could you come out if you're here? There are a few things I'd like to say to you."
The purple figure appeared in the hospital room again.
"Since we're asking questions, I'm a little curious too... You seem to know a lot about the Holy Grail War, even though you're supposedly just an ordinary person."
Double update...
By the way, I changed the title too. The cover's under review.
A Deal
"Since we're asking questions, I'm a little curious too... You seem to know a lot about the Holy Grail War, even though you're supposedly just an ordinary person."
When Caster appeared in the hospital room again, Wang Xiaoming finally got a good look at her.
She wore a hooded cloak in shades of indigo and purple over a purple robe. Her hood hid her face, making her look like a mysterious sorceress out of legend. Her lips, the only part of her face not concealed by the hood, were painted purple. Her figure was so alluring that even her loose robes couldn't hide her curves.
Before you continue