"Misaki City, huh? So familiar… I'm back…"
At the Shinkansen exit in Misaki City, Roy stretched his arms wide, embracing the deep blue sky, and let out a satisfying yawn.
The gesture might've seemed embarrassing on a busy street, but a touch of suggestion magecraft fixed that. To avoid pitying stares, he'd prepared this precaution.
Using suggestion magecraft for such a trivial matter risked overuse, but wasn't magecraft, science, magic, meant to serve its user's convenience?
Besides, compared to his minor trick to dodge awkwardness, others' uses were far more egregious.
Take the Runes plastered across the city, dense enough to weave a spider's web. If someone used them for spying… cough… best drop that topic.
"Yo, finally back, Master?"
A brash, teasing voice interrupted Roy's thoughts from above.
Looking up, he saw a blue-haired youth with a wolf-tail, draped in a thick, Druid-like robe, smirking down from the platform, their eyes meeting.
His distinctive appearance needed no introduction.
"Cú Chulainn, long time no see." Roy said, straightening his clothes and greeting the Irish hound above.
"Damn right, it's been ages. Vanished for a year and a half. Some Master, summoning me to this city then disappearing." Cú Chulainn quipped.
"Quite the oddball…"
Seeing Roy return, Cú Chulainn ignored the crowd's gasps, leaping from the three-meter station roof with agile grace, landing smoothly before him.
He was genuinely glad to see Roy, his summoner to this era. Their personalities clicked, and Roy's tasks, guarding the city's leylines and protecting those girls, suited him.
Among prickly magi, finding such a Master was a stroke of luck.
Sure, he'd dealt with some reckless magi in that time, but they were weaker than his era's common soldiers.
Their magecraft was feeble, their casting sluggish. Often, he'd tire of their chanting, rush in, and knock them out with a single strike.
These small fries didn't even qualify as warm-ups, let alone satisfy him.
Though summoned as a Servant, Roy's hands-off approach left Cú Chulainn free.
His days were patrols and fishing. That Ryōgi old man was oddly warm, offering endless booze and cash. Cú Chulainn didn't refuse, becoming casual drinking buddies.
He guarded Misaki's leylines, occasionally handling Ryōgi family troubles. They paid, provided liquor, and showed respect.
Honestly, it was a decent life.
But after too long, it grew dull. Fishing, patrolling, bar-hopping, chasing women, same old loop.
The Ryōgi family offered a room for convenience, but Cú Chulainn wasn't one for kennels.
He'd crash under a bridge, wake naturally, sell yesterday's catch to neighbors, flirt with old ladies for laughs, spend his earnings on drinks, and use his charm and silver tongue, honed on countless girls, to bed lonely housewives or rebellious teens. Sleep, repeat.
He initially followed Roy's orders diligently.
Then it hit him: as a Caster, why not use Runes? Why bother running around when his mentor's skills could handle it?
So, he blanketed Misaki with a web of surveillance Runes, rivaling the Aozaki's great bounded field. Any disturbance, he'd pinpoint and neutralize swiftly.
The Head of the Ryougi treated him like a brother, using yakuza-style camaraderie.
Need help? Call Nii-san. Otherwise, the little guys paid respects.
Cú Chulainn ate up the yakuza loyalty, stepping up when needed.
He even gifted the Head of the Ryougi a projection stone for the Rune barrier, sharing a modern magecraft marvel rooted in Rune secrets.
If the Ryōgi aimed to re-enter the magecraft world, this barrier alone could anchor their legacy.
His carefree nature, or recklessness, let Aozaki Touko snag a full Rune set for a few bottles of cheap convenience-store liquor, worth mere thousands of yen.
"In your eyes, Primordial Runes are worth two bottles of budget booze?" Touko had laughed, incredulous.
Thousands of yen? Barely enough for a finger on one of her craft dolls, not her spare bodies, but shop-sold figurines.
Holding her life's pursuit so easily, Touko sank into self-doubt.
But after Touko requested the Runes, Cú Chulainn made a casual demand.
"Once you crack these, write a report for my lil bro's family. I know my limits, teaching's not my thing. You seem sharp, so I'll dump this boring task on you."
For such a steal, Touko couldn't refuse, nor was she in a position to.
Pushing further risked Cú Chulainn's wrath, even with his easygoing nature.
In Roy's year-and-a-half absence, everyone lived their lives.
Touko studied her Primordial Runes, teaching new findings to Shiki Ryōgi and Arcueid.
Shiki, lacking magecraft talent or basics, was clueless about advanced Runes, her learning curve steep.
Arcueid? No need to learn.
If she wished, the planet fed her the knowledge. She wielded Runes better than Touko, though she couldn't explain the theory.
Her words was "Like this… then that, and it works."
"…"
Was this a species gap? Baffling, yet awe-inspiring.
Cú Chulainn lived freely, his escapades risqué enough to earn a "mature content" label if written.
But even this carefree life grew stale. Women bored him; the odd brawl wasn't enough. Sensing Roy's return, he raced to the station to greet him.
His hands itched for action.
Trash magi and thugs fell in a few hits, unsatisfying.
Touko, the red-haired magus, had some skill, but her non-Primordial Runes marked her as a mere elite soldier, easily bested.
Shiki's eyes intrigued him.
Her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception echoed Balor's annihilation eye from his myths, a distant ancestor's power.
In Druid tales, Balor's closed eye, requiring four men to lift, killed anything, man or god, in its gaze, its sole weakness.
Shiki's eyes were similar but far weaker. Paired with her knife, they were dangerous, if they hit.
Arcueid? As a Druidic Caster, he wasn't foolish enough to challenge the Earth's Princess.
That left Roy, his long-absent Master, as his prime target.
Bound by contract, Cú Chulainn sensed Roy's oceanic mana and knew, instinctively, he was a worthy foe.
His warrior's gut screamed Roy was a powerhouse, a fight worth having.
He'd already planned where, how, and how to make it thrilling.
Warriors didn't mince words, it was just a spar. So, he laid it out.
"Master, I can feel your strength. Fight me."
"No Grail War, no real foes in this era. I'm rusting. Spar with me."
"You want a fight?" Roy asked, surprised.
Hadn't Touko or Shiki told him who Roy was?
But seeing Cú Chulainn's clear, battle-hungry eyes, Roy nodded, agreeing.
For Ireland's mad hound, Roy's identity didn't matter. He just wanted a good brawl.
Roy had summoned him and tasked him with guarding Misaki for ages. Denying this small request was unfair.
He'd need to hold back, though, to avoid thrashing Doggo too badly.
"You're in!!" Cú Chulainn grinned, thrilled, rubbing his hands eagerly.
"When's the spar? Soon?" Roy asked, smiling.
"No rush. I've been idle over a year. A few days won't kill me." Cú Chulainn replied.
"Alright, I'm ready anytime."
"Haha! My Master's brimming with confidence!" Cú Chulainn laughed, seeing Roy's assurance.
"That's the spirit. Prep well, I'm pumped for this fight!"
"Anything notable happen in Misaki while I was gone?" Roy asked, smiling at Cú Chulainn's enthusiasm, probing for updates, especially on Shiki and Arcueid.
"Hm… Shiki Ryōgi, who's that?" Cú Chulainn blinked, puzzled, but soon recalled.
"Oh, the girl always trailing that red-haired magus, learning stuff?"
"Yeah." Roy nodded.
"Her? I know plenty." Cú Chulainn said, chatting as they walked, filling Roy in on Misaki's events.
First, Araya Sōren, a magus awakened to the Origin Stillness, stirred trouble, targeting Shiki. But Cú Chulainn's city-wide Rune lockdown meant Araya got clobbered the moment he surfaced, learning what Ireland's hound could do.
Even as a non-Lancer, Cú Chulainn crossed the city in minutes.
Multiple times, Araya barely appeared before a blue-haired youth dropped from the sky, knocking him out and dragging him off.
If not for Araya's backup bodies and consciousness transfers, he'd have died countless times.
For months, Araya played cat-and-mouse, but Cú Chulainn crushed him every time. Araya vanished for months, then, one night, slipped past the Runes, while Cú Chulainn was "entertaining" A new girl at a hotel.
Araya reached the Ryōgi estate.
The girl's timing was suspiciously perfect, but Cú Chulainn, ever welcoming, trusted his Runes too much to suspect a trap, letting Araya slip through.
But Araya was unlucky.
That night, Arcueid, back from a long outing and missing Shiki, insisted on a "girls' tea party" with Fujino and Shiki, mimicking TV dramas.
When Araya breached the Ryōgi estate, Arcueid sensed him instantly.
After dodging countless traps and familiars, he opened the door to find Arcueid, fuming from losing at cards, her face plastered with paper strips.
Before Araya could react, Arcueid, venting her frustration, confirmed his hostility and tore his head off with a blood claw, sending him back to another body.
This taught Araya that Ireland's Child of Light wasn't his biggest obstacle. He couldn't fathom why a demon-hunting family housed a vampire princess.
Cú Chulainn got a scolding from Touko, prompting him to bolster Misaki's defenses. Stung by the trick, he hounded Araya relentlessly, beating him into hiding.
It'd been half a year since Araya showed, likely giving up.
But Cú Chulainn stayed vigilant, his Runes ready for Araya's return.
More than Araya's misadventures, Roy fixated on Cú Chulainn's casual mention of Kokutou Mikiya.
Hearing that familiar name, Roy's brow furrowed, a jolt of tension gripping him.
"Kokutou Mikiya? That punk?" Cú Chulainn noted Roy's interest, pausing briefly but spilling the details.
As Roy recalled, Mikiya was Shiki's persistent suitor, constantly fawning over her.
Shiki ignored him, deeming him an annoying creep. But after Mikiya staked out her home daily for "chance" meetings for half a year, she snapped.
She rejected him outright, warning him to stop loitering.
Mikiya, undeterred, had rare tenacity.
He stopped haunting her home, "bumping" into her at school instead.
Despite warnings, he believed Shiki just hadn't accepted him, doubling down.
Until Shiki told him, "I've got a dumbass in my heart already. Give up."
The blow crushed Mikiya, and he vanished for a while.
But with Shiki's "boyfriend" Absent over a year, Mikiya assumed it was a lie to brush him off.
One day, Cú Chulainn, drinking with the Head of the Ryougi, spotted Mikiya resuming his stakeouts.
For his Master's happiness, Cú Chulainn intervened.
Before Mikiya acted, Cú Chulainn strung him up, lectured him, and confirmed Shiki's "dumbass" was real, his friend, just away for reasons.
"Trying to steal my Master's girl? You've got guts."
"I'll let you off since you didn't know. Try again, and I'll pummel you."
The encounter snuffed Mikiya's rekindled hopes.
Realizing Shiki truly loved another, Mikiya saw further pursuit as pathetic.
He abandoned his chase and never returned.
Seeing Mikiya's resolve, Cú Chulainn found him amusing, taking him as a lackey, teaching him.
"Women are everywhere. Stick with me, and you won't lose out."
This led Mikiya to bumble into Cú Chulainn's crew, practically a peer to the Head of the Ryougi by association.
"Your stories are wild…" Roy exhaled, relieved, his anxiety easing.
Nearly had his wall dug…
Grateful, Roy's gaze toward Cú Chulainn warmed.
Doggo was clutch in a pinch.
Chatting as they walked, Roy caught up on the past year and a half.
Unknowingly, they reached the Ryōgi estate's grand courtyard gate.
The familiar Edo-style wooden door loomed shut.
"Back again…" Roy murmured.
Before he could reflect, Cú Chulainn bellowed beside him.
"Hey! Come see who I brought! Get out here and greet your Nii-san, lackeys!!"
___
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