I Want You to Help Me Cultivate

What you think of by day, you dream of by night.

That line surfaced in Shirou Emiya's mind.

Yesterday he had carried the Wa Lord on his back for a long time, and the feeling of her serpentine body coiled around him lingered stubbornly. Sure enough, he dreamed that night—a smiling, seductive Snake Demon in nearly transparent, flimsy clothing drew close, while his own upright, imposing figure adjusted his monk's robe, swelled with thick magical power, and shouted, "Demon, I command you to aid my cultivation!"...

Ah, what a mess that was...

Today, the formal appointment of the Zhou Family's Chief Steward had been announced, and Shirou Emiya estimated he'd have to wade through a mountain of troublesome paperwork.

After all, the Wa Lord hadn't yet officially begun her "reforms." Based on his stereotyped impression of the Zhou Family, Shirou guessed he'd need to handle ancient credentials like a Fish Token, a Waist Badge, an Ivory Tablet, and an Appointment Certificate... But to his surprise, the Wa Lord had issued a verbal order early this morning, specially allowing Shirou to sign a modern contract for a fast-tracked process.

At this point, most of the Zhou Family members didn't yet know Shirou, so the men and women bustling about—combined with yesterday's rumors of Shirou carrying the Wa Lord into the underground palace and the Family Elders supposedly fainting from rage—shot him strange looks, as if he were some kept pretty boy of the Zhou Family head.

Shirou shrugged, too lazy to argue. Rumors were just rumors. With the Zhou Family's backing and his talent in Projection, he'd prove his ability soon enough, and everyone would see him differently.

What he cared about more was why the Wa Lord hadn't shown up today. She seemed awfully busy.

"This is the family's investigation report on the Death Servant attack scene, compiled from sampling and analysis." Zhou Yuxuan, now recovered from his injuries, handed over the report. As the one who had experienced the entire incident, he was the most suitable person to answer the Wa Lord's questions.

"...Still no valuable evidence found?"

Compared to her softness yesterday, the Wa Lord now wore an icy, frosty expression.

The messenger personally appointed by the family head, meeting with Shirou, who was still a guest at the time, had been ambushed by an unknown mixed-blood force—a direct provocation to the Zhou Family's face. Even if the enemy had been wiped out with minimal losses on their side, the Wa Lord would not show an ounce of leniency.

More likely, the enemy's goal had been to disrupt the relic exploration hosted by the Zhou Family, and they'd just happened to be discovered by Zhou members. If those Death Servants had been perfectly deployed, causing losses among other families' personnel, the Zhou Family would never be able to clear their name, even if they jumped into the Yellow River.

Zhou Yuxuan hung his head. "Yes, unfortunately. The scene was too thoroughly destroyed—perhaps the Great Word of Power's might was too strong... But that can't be blamed on Chief Steward Emiya."

"Blame? Hmph, how could I blame him? I can't thank him enough!"

Zhou Yuxuan was astonished to hear the Wa Lord's tone shift instantly when she mentioned Shirou, turning from bitter winter to warm spring sunshine. Then she added with a blooming smile:

"Hehehe, thanks to Shirou's righteous act, we have a chance to turn the tables..."

The Wa Lord recalled something, her mood warming as she teased, "The reason is—well, Zhou Yuxuan, even without evidence, you can guess, right? There are only so many families with the strength to keep Death Servants. The suspects are few, and those daring to covet our Zhou Family's power and challenge us are even fewer."

"The Chen Family!" Zhou Yuxuan almost blurted out.

"Exactly. Ever since the Chen Family latched onto that Western Gattuso Family—as I recall, weren't they a bunch of gangsters who washed themselves clean and came to power?—the Chen Family has grown restless. They're the ones jumping around the most every time. Now it's clear their loyalties have long been crooked..."

"Does the Wa Lord intend to use this incident to settle accounts with the Chen Family?" Zhou Yuxuan frowned. The biggest problem now was the lack of clear evidence against them.

"Drop the idea of finding evidence. Do you believe it? Even if we'd kept the bodies intact, you wouldn't have found convincing proof from those two Chen Family members. They've already 'laid their plans abroad'—these personnel and Death Servants were likely brought in from outside. Gathering evidence from the Chen Family domestically would be like heading south while chasing north, letting them slip away unscathed.

"...Besides, we don't need evidence. Change tactics—strike first, make every family target them. While they're 'isolated and abandoned,' beat the dog while it's down, until the Chen Family has no foothold left on the Divine Continent... And the push for this step is just a small plan."

The Wa Lord looked smug as she pulled out a report titled "Feasibility Study on Human Meridians, Inscription Arrays, and Refining Essence into Qi." This was something she'd developed after discussing cultivation methods with Shirou Emiya, then meeting with several Inner Alchemy Sect masters from the Daoist Sects to finalize the approach.

Once this was verified and backed by a convincing success case, every family would flock to this cultivation method. Not just the Chen Family—even driving all the clans to unite and destroy them wouldn't be impossible.

"Zhou Yuxuan, you said before that you observed a micro-array composed of metallic elements inside Shirou's body, suspected to be what he calls 'Magic Circuits,' right?"

"Yes. The structure of that array was extremely intricate—a combination of Daoist Runes (Alchemical Arrays) inscribed throughout his body, forming an array arrangement (Alchemical Matrix). Wa Lord, from what I sensed, it's like a complete organ... Do you understand? Like a living system..."

"Mm... An overly precise system. It seems the new system's construction can't do without Shirou's guidance for now."

The Wa Lord's gaze shifted. She gently closed the documents, handling them with excessive care, because in her eyes, this was undoubtedly a plan to usher in a new era.

"Oh, right. I promised Shirou access to the treasures in our Zhou Family Treasury. Make the arrangements."

"Yes, it's already been arranged."

"Are you Zhou Minhao?"

The visitor was a gentle young man in a Tang Suit, standing straight with no wasted movement in his gestures. Like Zhou Yuxuan, he looked lean but brimming with vitality—clearly a martial artist.

"That's right, Chief Steward Emiya. I've been ordered to take you to the Family Treasury. Is now convenient?"

"Now works. Please, lead the way."

Shirou Emiya set off immediately. Aside from analyzing the Dragon Severing Platform's Noble Phantasm structure and learning Projection, he had nothing urgent pressing him.

Shirou's eyesight and memory were exceptional. Once his Projection was fully mastered, he could remember the structure of ordinary Noble Phantasms after just one look and successfully complete the Projection.

Back in his Clock Tower days, Rin Tohsaka had pulled off a stunning move—she wrote over a thousand application reports to the Clock Tower just to get Shirou Emiya into the British Museum and the Clock Tower's secret locations to view the collections...

Of course, Rin's motives weren't pure. She wanted Shirou to project famous paintings and sell them off to make money for the household.

Unlike the Wa Lord, whose arrangement was meant to help Shirou in his cultivation.