Moonlight fell over all of Fuyuki City on that cool night. The town should have been asleep by now, but under the surface, currents were already stirring.
"Assassin..."
A low voice sounded, and a figure like black mist materialized beside him.
"What are your orders, Master?" the dark figure replied.
"For you, a Magecraft barrier as imposing as a fortress shouldn't be much of a challenge, should it?" A young man with an expressionless face gazed down at the luxurious mansion at the foot of the hill.
"Are you sure that's wise? As far as I know, the head of the Tohsaka Family is your teacher." True to an Assassin who walked in darkness, he'd guessed the young man's intentions from just one sentence.
"There's no need to worry about any of that. There's only one thing you need to do..." The young man's eyes didn't waver as he spoke.
"Take Tohsaka Tokiomi's head for me."
"As you wish, Master."
After speaking, Assassin vanished once more, leaving the young man alone to gaze at the luxurious mansion. No one could guess what he was really thinking.
[The Tohsaka Family]
For generations, the Tohsaka Family had governed the land that was Fuyuki City. They had also provided the land for the Holy Grail War, making them one of the Three Founding Families. The greatest achievement of the current head of the Tohsaka Family, Tohsaka Tokiomi, was giving birth to someone's two harem members...
Ahem!!!
Three years ago, Tohsaka Tokiomi had taken on a disciple. That disciple had also earned the Holy Grail's favor and become a Master. But no one could have guessed that the first battle to set off the Holy Grail War would be Assassin and his Master—Tohsaka Tokiomi's disciple, Kirei Kotomine—launching an attack on his own teacher!
"He's definitely going to die next."
Watching the image of the Tohsaka Residence conjured by Magecraft in the crystal ball before Medea, Wang Xiaoming made a [prediction].
"..."
When Medea didn't respond, Wang Xiaoming shrugged and left the room. In the living room, he gazed through the floor-to-ceiling window at this town in the Far East.
No one would have guessed that this peaceful town concealed a wish-granting machine capable of granting any wish, one that Magecraft users coveted. But neither would they have guessed just how terrifying the thing hidden inside that wish-granting machine was...
A sound from the room interrupted Wang Xiaoming's moment of distraction. He turned and saw Medea coming out, though she didn't look too happy.
Countless Noble Phantasms emerged from the radiance behind the golden Servant. With casual ease, they blasted another Servant to pieces.
Anyone who witnessed that insane scene would be utterly shocked.
"What would you say if I told you this was all an act?" Wang Xiaoming's words brought Medea back to her senses. She looked at him and asked, "Have you remembered something else?"
"Not as clearly as before. I only know that this scene was staged by the Masters of Archer and Assassin working together." Wang Xiaoming honestly recounted the memory that had suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"That's quite the scheme." Hearing his answer, Medea let out a cold laugh.
No wonder Assassin had been so conspicuous and foolish. Archer's Master had probably arranged it that way to show off their strength. Medea, who trusted no one, wouldn't believe that an Assassin skilled in assassination would withdraw so easily. She would have to be extra careful from now on. An Assassin who wanted to stay hidden wouldn't reveal himself so readily again.
"Then who are they?" Medea continued.
"I don't know." Wang Xiaoming shrugged. "That's the only piece of information that appeared in my head. And the side effect—the headache—seems to have disappeared too."
"I see..."
Medea looked thoughtful. Then, out of the blue, she looked up at Wang Xiaoming and asked, "You weren't from this world in your previous life, were you?"
"Holy shit!" Wang Xiaoming was about to exclaim when he realized something was wrong. By the time it dawned on him, he wished he could smack himself across the face.
"Just as I thought..." Wang Xiaoming's reaction further confirmed Medea's theory. She began to lay out her reasoning:
"Judging by your previous performances with Magecraft, you probably weren't a Magecraft user in your previous life. You wouldn't have been so hopeless if you'd even been a novice. But if you were an ordinary person, you couldn't have come into contact with memories related to the supernatural. So where did your memories come from...?"
"..." Wang Xiaoming's hopes gradually faded, and he turned ashen.
Ignoring his theatrics, Medea continued her reasoning. "I don't know where you learned about all this—perhaps from documents, or something else. But even though these memories were familiar to you in your previous life, you'd forgotten them in this one. So your memories must have been affected by more than simple forgetfulness. I think..."
Medea stated her hypothesis:
"This is the result of the Counter Force intervening."
The Counter Force—
At the sound of Medea's voice, Wang Xiaoming grew a little dazed. For some reason, two little girls suddenly popped into his mind.
"Because the Counter Force exists, this world naturally rejects anything that might affect its course. It won't erase such things immediately, but it will influence you little by little."
As he listened to Medea's reasoning, Wang Xiaoming suddenly thought of one detail. When he'd first been reborn, he'd had grand ambitions! He'd planned to write novels, compose songs, and all sorts of other things. He'd even carefully written everything down in a little notebook.
But when had that changed?
His memories of his previous life had begun to disappear in great chunks. Somehow, he'd left the little notebook full of plans for his future earnings in a cupboard, and his grand ambitions had turned into nothing more than living an ordinary life.
At last, Medea reached her conclusion:
"Your soul must have been restructured when it entered this world. Your normal values and common-sense memories were preserved at its core, while memories related to the world's course were placed on the outside of your soul and gradually drifted away. That way, you'd slowly come to live like any ordinary person. Even having memories of your previous life wouldn't make any difference."
"..."
Wang Xiaoming looked at Medea as though she were a goddess.
You guys have been awesome. Here's the extra update!
First of all, thanks to all the big shots for your support. I don't have much to say—if you support me, I'll keep updating~
The next bonus update will be when we reach 500 favorites.
I think we'll get there soon!
By the way, the chapter numbers are correct. I revised and deleted the old first and second chapters.
It won't affect your reading~
The First Clash of Spear and Sword
Fuyuki City was a coastal town in Japan. The Mion River, its main source of water, flowed from north to south through the city before finally emptying into the sea.
The Mion River divided the city into two areas with sharply contrasting architecture. To the east lay Shinto, a highly modern new district with everything you could want. To the west lay Miyama Town, an old district made up almost entirely of residential neighborhoods.
On the eastern side of the river's mouth stood a seaside park, a popular spot for young couples to stroll. But after Ryunosuke's recent spate of frenzied murders, the usually lively area had grown eerily quiet, even at night.
That evening, however, an unusual pair arrived at the park.
A beautiful woman dressed entirely in white walked in front. Her white outfit was made of expensive fur, and with her ruby-red eyes, pale skin, silver hair, and regal bearing, she looked just like a pure-white princess stepping out of a fairy tale.
If the woman in front was a princess, then the person following close behind her must have been her knight.
With an androgynous face, the knight was no less beautiful than the princess. Their simple black suit and ponytail made them look especially dashing. The knight was a little short, but the two looked surprisingly well matched together.
But the most eye-catching thing...
"It really is the ahoge."
Watching the black-and-white pair from a distance, Wang Xiaoming couldn't help commenting. He clearly remembered that the knight in the suit beside the pure-white woman had also appeared on the battlefield ten years later.
The knight's face looked exactly as he remembered, and then there was... the ahoge. If he wasn't mistaken, she would take part in the war this time as Saber, the highest-rated of the seven Servants and the class most coveted by the Masters in the Holy Grail War.
"Hmm?" The golden-haired Saber suddenly frowned and turned her gaze toward the distance.
"What is it, Saber?" The pure-white woman, who'd been curiously looking around at the scenery, noticed Saber's unusual behavior.
"Probably some lowlife watching us from afar. There's no need to worry, Irisviel." Saber looked away and smiled at Irisviel.
"Then I'll leave my safety in your hands, my dear knight~" Irisviel stuck out her tongue and made a cute face.
"Don't worry, my princess."
Saber gave Irisviel a perfect knightly salute.
Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoming, the lowlife Saber had mentioned, looked helplessly at Medea beside him. He'd clearly seen the naked possessiveness in her eyes.
Wang Xiaoming rolled his eyes.
Well! The thing he'd been most worried about had happened after all.
"So, what exactly did you bring me out here for?"
Wang Xiaoming glanced at Medea beside him, utterly speechless. Ever since she'd seen Saber, she hadn't looked away even once.
"I'd love to stay comfortably at our base and be the mastermind behind the scenes." Hearing Wang Xiaoming's question, Medea reluctantly shifted her gaze from Saber to him and said disdainfully, "But someone's memory is so useless that I have to test my theory myself."
"I'm sorry I'm so useless," Wang Xiaoming said, his face dark.
After her previous deduction about Wang Xiaoming's origins, Medea had also formed a theory about his memory. She believed the memories drifting on the outer edges of his soul would only unlock when he [observed] the people connected to them at close range and formed some kind of causal connection with them.
This explained why watching the magical images had never unlocked his memories of Assassin or Archer. So Medea planned to take Wang Xiaoming to observe a battle between Servants up close and test her theory. As luck would have it, just as Medea was looking for an opportunity, the owner of the barrier began to make a move.
Medea had gained some control over the barrier, so there was no way she'd miss a single move made by that Lemon Head on the top floor. Not long after Lemon Head left the hotel, the familiar Medea had sent began trailing him from a distance.
Eventually, Lemon Head stopped in a coastal warehouse district. Wang Xiaoming had already studied a map of Fuyuki City, and this warehouse district lay near the city's mouth, where it also served as a cargo port. On a cold winter night, almost no one would pass through the area.
Even Wang Xiaoming, a layman, could tell this was a good place for a fight. After all, Magecraft was part of the supernatural, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
Now that they'd pinpointed Lemon Head's location, Wang Xiaoming and Medea naturally had to take action as well. But when the two arrived, they spotted Saber and Irisviel together, and then...
"For an entire day, you've been the only person in this city who answered my challenge."
In the warehouse district, a handsome man with two brushes in his hands looked at Saber and Irisviel and praised them generously.
"Were you the lowlife watching me earlier?" Saber stepped forward and placed herself in front of Irisviel, challenging the man with a stern expression.
"Watching you?" Lancer looked confused at first, then explained, "I prefer face-to-face combat. I wouldn't resort to such underhanded methods."
"Ah-choo!" *2
Wang Xiaoming rubbed his nose helplessly. This wasn't going well... He looked at Medea, who remained calm, and felt ashamed of how thick-skinned he was.
But why did it suddenly feel so cold...
"Then I apologize for accusing you without cause." The man didn't seem to be lying, so Saber's expression softened a little.
"No harm done." The man didn't get angry over the unfounded accusation. Instead, he calmly asked Saber:
"That fierce fighting spirit of yours... You must be Saber, right?"
"That's right."
Saber's gaze fell on the weapons in the man's hands. A long spear and a short one were both wrapped in cloth covered with something like talismans, hiding their true forms. It was clearly a measure meant to conceal the names of his Noble Phantasms. It also revealed his class:
"You're Lancer."
"Precisely." Lancer's lips curled into a smile, clearly pleased with the opponent before him.
"An enchantment spell?"
Irisviel, standing behind Saber, snapped out of her daze and called out to Lancer. "That's extremely rude to a married woman, Lancer!"
At Irisviel's protest, Lancer could only give an awkward shrug.
"I'm sorry. I've been cursed since the day I was born. But it can't be helped. If you must hate someone, hate my birth—or hate the fact that you're women."
"Tsk, tsk..."
Hearing such shameless words, Wang Xiaoming could only sigh.
Come to think of it, Lancer was an exceptionally handsome man. Not the delicate, feminine kind of handsome, but the sort that magnified masculine charm. His high nose, stern brows, and refined lips all possessed a strict, restrained beauty. Deep in his eyes, his gentle, melancholy aura made him all the more captivating.
Brr—suddenly it felt even colder.
Wang Xiaoming couldn't help shivering. He glanced at the sky, puzzled. The temperature should have been quite comfortable now. Then he looked at Medea...
Well, he'd found the source.
Medea's eyes were icy, and the one drawing most of that hostility was none other than Lancer on the battlefield!
Wang Xiaoming suddenly remembered that this woman hated pretty boys. He was also suddenly grateful his parents hadn't made him too handsome in this life.
Why do favorites rise so fast at night...
I'm suddenly thinking of changing the update time.
Two Spears
The two people on the battlefield had no time to pay attention to anything else.
Saber snorted and looked down on Lancer.
"Don't tell me you expect me to go easy on you because of that face of yours, Lancer."
Before you continue