Special Training, Search, Hunt

Ever since Fujino arrived at the Household, the once-quiet Genji Clan estate had been filled with laughter and cheer. Whether servants or members of the Genji Clan proper, everyone liked her.

Those old geezers in the Council of Elders were even more eager to visit Fujino and bring her tasty food. It was hard to say whether they saw her as a granddaughter or a future granddaughter-in-law.

However, to avoid trouble, I told them that Fujino possessed Mystic Eyes of Distortion that could potentially reach Rainbow Rank, and I hoped they would help train her.

The old men's expressions were wonderfully varied when they heard the news. It felt as though every one of them had imagined an entire blockbuster in their heads. Those old geezers might not have had much talent, but they had plenty of knowledge stored away. I believed they would be able to bring out Fujino's potential.

Although Fujino might not see me during the day, she was very sensible. She wanted to master this power so she could help me in the future.

Most importantly, Fujino slept under the same blanket as me at night and held me while she slept. It was torture for me. I kept silently repeating three times, I'm not a lolicon, before hugging Fujino and going to sleep.

Another two years passed without my noticing. Tokiomi Tohsaka finally agreed to my request and built a magecraft workshop for me on the outskirts of Fuyuki City. Naturally, the payment I offered made him grin from ear to ear.

Rin Tohsaka was born, and I brought another gemstone to offer my congratulations. It looked like a harmonious occasion, but in truth, I still had not earned their trust. That was simply how magecraft families were.

Before Tokiomi Tohsaka figured out my true intentions, he probably would not trust me completely. In any case, I was one step closer to my plan now, so there was no need to fuss over this little bit.

My current panel was: Intermediate Swordsmanship 2231/3000 (same as above, omitted), Intermediate Magecraft 1894/5000 (same as above, omitted), Intermediate Reading and Writing (same as above, omitted), Intermediate Reinforcement Magecraft 801/8000 (same as above, omitted).

World-Breaking Mystic Eyes (a name I came up with myself; I did not know whether it existed): Mystic Eye rank could reach Rainbow Rank at most. Just imagine it—wouldn't these Mystic Eyes make it easy to enter someone else's magecraft workshop? Once you confirmed the owner was not home, you could just go in and take whatever you wanted. Miscellaneous items included several bags of dried fruit, and I had 194 attribute points.

When I asked the system when my attributes would appear, it said sixteen years old. Then it added in an annoyingly flamboyant tone, "Young man, hurry up and lay your foundations. Go farm attribute points."

Once the attribute page became fixed, improving it further would become extremely difficult. After calculating carefully, wouldn't that mean it would unlock before the Fourth Holy Grail War? Was it another coincidence? With those doubts in mind, I did not ask any more questions and hurried to train. There really was not much time left.

No matter how I trained now, my progress did not seem significant. Whether attribute points or skill points, the amount I gained showed almost no difference. I asked the system whether there was any way to level up faster, such as a little house that could slow down outside time, or items that doubled or even tripled training efficiency.

The system looked at me as though it were caring for an idiot and said, "No. You can only rely on yourself, brother. Though bitter advice is unpleasant to hear, I still have to remind you that there are no shortcuts in life. Take it slowly, one step at a time."

Yuan Shikai shot back with the same disdainful look. "Then what the hell is the lottery?" He noticed that the system seemed unusually talkative today. Though puzzled, he could only accept it and continue his daily training.

Earlier, I had arranged for my subordinates to search the entire country for the serial killer Ryunosuke Uryu, because he had a place in the Fourth Holy Grail War, and I intended to replace him.

That was right. Yuan Shikai intended to intervene in the Holy Grail War and prevent certain things from happening. Since he knew how the story unfolded, his plan had a high chance of succeeding.

In the end, he would create a timeline where only Tokiomi got hurt. So first, he had to pinpoint Ryunosuke Uryu's location, find him, kill him, and replace him.

Amid day after day of training, both he and Fujino improved. Today, his subordinates sent word that they had found more than twenty people across Japan with names similar or identical to Ryunosuke Uryu. After the final screening, one man met every condition.

After confirming the photograph, it was him. At that moment, the long-absent system popped up with a mission: Scumbags Must Die.

Mission Requirement: Personally kill the scumbag Ryunosuke Uryu.

Mission Reward: 2 lottery draws, 10 skill points, 5 attribute points, and immediately obtain a Command Spell.

Mission Failure: Ryunosuke Uryu escapes.

Failure Penalty: Lose the chance to participate in the Holy Grail War and remain single until the age of thirty-five. (Does losing even exist? A magecraft user against an ordinary person—don't make this system look down on you.) Mission Time Limit: 7 days. Good luck, young man.

I curled my lip. Who was it looking down on? Still, getting rewards was an unexpected delight. This was the first time a mission time limit had appeared. Did it mean Ryunosuke Uryu might leave after seven days, making him impossible to find? But that should not be much of a problem.

What kind of trouble could an ordinary person possibly stir up? Still, this made me even more certain that the system issued missions and rewards according to my wishes or needs, but they could only be triggered if they aligned with the plot.

I wondered whether the next mission would be to win the Holy Grail War or destroy the Holy Grail. Forget it, no point thinking about it. It was time to set off and hunt.

It was my first time hunting alone. Though I said there was no problem, I was still somewhat nervous inside. Not nervous about the mission, but nervous about killing someone for the first time.

People said killing was easy, but as someone who had received a good education, I still felt uncomfortable about it. Yet in this world, if you did not kill others, others would kill you. A man's only crime was possessing a treasure.

I would use Ryunosuke Uryu to get some practice first. Otherwise, wanting to kill Kirei Kotomine would be nothing but a fool's dream. If my skills could rise another level before the Fourth Holy Grail War began—

Swordsmanship, combined with Reinforcement Magecraft and its enhancements, would absolutely produce terrifying numbers. But that was only a fantasy for now. First, I had to deal with the mission in front of me.

I told Fujino that I would be leaving for a few days. She held back her tears, and seeing that made my heart ache. I repeatedly promised that I would return soon and bring her a gift.

After saying goodbye, I set off at once. The sooner I went, the sooner I would return. I took the family's dedicated transport plane there. At that very moment, Ryunosuke Uryu was selecting his targets, never imagining that he had become someone else's target.