The frequency of cursed spirit incidents in Tokyo City far exceeded Roy's expectations.
In less than half a day since arriving, he had already encountered two cursed spirit attacks. One outside the city was understandable, but this one had occurred inside the city—and worse, inside a school.
This school was supposedly specialized in teaching magecraft, so where were the teachers?
Why hadn't he seen a single one?
Roy swept his gaze across the chaotic chapel, pausing briefly on Nino and Itsuki. Nino, who had just narrowly escaped death, was visibly shaken, while Itsuki was trying to comfort her.
Roy flashed Nino a radiant, infectious smile.
No explanation was needed—it was a magecraft-infused smile, carrying a hint of mental suggestion to calm emotions as quickly as possible.
Nino's agitation subsided almost instantly, her trembling body settling as if she had been given a sedative.
She stared at Roy in disbelief.
But by then, Roy had already stepped forward, heading toward the front of the chapel.
At the front of the hall, Shiki Tohno was breathing heavily, his hands trembling as he fumbled to put on his glasses.
Before him lay the corpse of the kappa-like monster, now sliced into several pieces, lying in a pool of blood—utterly dead.
"Shiki-sama, are you alright?"
Seeing this, Kohaku's expression shifted slightly, and she hurried over to him.
"Kohaku…"
Shiki's face was deathly pale. He forced a weak smile when he saw her.
It wasn't until then that Satsuki Yumizuka snapped out of her daze, quickly standing up to help Kohaku support Shiki and guide him to a seat.
"Impressive work. As expected of you!"
Roy approached as well, his eyes briefly scanning the monster's remains before settling on Shiki, his tone full of admiration.
The monsters that had attacked the chapel had all been eliminated.
Most of the students had fled or left, leaving only a handful still in the chapel—those who remained were frozen in place, too afraid to come any closer.
"...Do we know each other?"
Having regained a bit of strength, Shiki looked at Roy in confusion.
"You probably don't know me, but I've heard of you."
Roy pointed at the black-framed glasses on Shiki's nose, smiling.
"Your glasses are the same model as mine. The only difference is that mine doesn't have the Mystic Eyes-killing function."
"You're an acquaintance of Aoko-sensei?"
Shiki suddenly understood. Now that Roy mentioned it, he realized their glasses were identical—not a single detail differed.
"I'm her kept man."
Roy grinned.
Shiki's smile stiffened for a moment.
"Also, these glasses aren't Aoko's—they're her sister Touko's. Aoko's too careless to have the skill to make something like this. She stole your glasses from Touko."
Shiki's smile vanished completely.
The idealized image of Aoko from his childhood was shattered in just a few words.
For a moment, Shiki was at a loss for words.
"Master Shiki, this is Lord Roy. He's come from Fuyuki City to assist us, and he's incredibly strong! Just now, he kicked away a huge cursed spirit with one foot—it was more terrifying than a rocket!"
The ever-energetic Kohaku took it upon herself to introduce Roy.
"Ah, um... pleased to meet you..."
Tohno Shiki wasn't in the mood to talk. He nodded politely at Roy before falling silent again, continuing to rest and recover his stamina.
"That's strange."
At that moment, Yumizuka Satsuki suddenly murmured to herself.
"What is it?"
Tohno Shiki looked over.
"Ah, no, I was just thinking..."
Satsuki tilted her head, her face showing unshakable confusion.
"Ordinary people shouldn't be able to see cursed spirits, right?"
"That's correct—"
Tohno Shiki nodded.
But immediately afterward, his body stiffened.
Ordinary people couldn't see cursed spirits.
Even members of the security team needed special glasses to see them and special bullets to harm them.
So what had just happened?
Aside from the fixed students who already possessed magical energy, there were also ordinary people in this church who hadn't awakened their Magic Circuits.
Yet they had all fled in panic as if they'd seen ghosts.
They had clearly seen the cursed spirits!
"Then... these monsters aren't cursed spirits?"
Tohno Shiki ventured an uncertain guess.
"No, the stench of curses is strong. They're undoubtedly cursed spirits."
But Roy flatly denied his speculation, though his expression was equally strange.
"It's just that these cursed spirits have physical forms."
"No, that might not be the right way to put it. Think about it—ordinary cursed spirits turn into black smoke and dissipate after death, right? But these cursed spirits are lying there like corpses."
Roy pointed at the fallen cursed spirits, each lying in a pool of blood, showing no signs of dissipating even several minutes after death.
"Why is that...?"
Tohno Shiki was puzzled.
Kohaku and Satsuki also shook their heads in confusion.
The nearby students and the Nakano sisters, who couldn't understand at all, turned their gazes toward them.
"There are only two scenarios where ordinary people can see cursed spirits. One is when a cursed object incarnates, but none of these here fit that—cursed spirits born from incarnated objects wouldn't be this weak."
Roy scanned the church, his eyes sweeping over all the cursed spirits.
"The other possibility is that these might not originally have been cursed spirits but humans who were transformed into their current state by someone."
Roy's expression carried a hint of eeriness.
To be honest, he already had a rough idea of why cursed spirit incidents were so frequent in Tokyo.
This world originally had no cursed spirits. While there were similar entities like wraiths and ghosts, cursed spirits themselves weren't native to this world—they were products of another world.
But then the Root intervened, plucking a cursed spirit from that world, and suddenly, cursed spirits began appearing here.
The Nightmare Cursed Spirit Roy encountered during the Holy Grail War was a native entity of this world, possessing the ability to drag people into dreams and even kill through them—undoubtedly a powerful cursed spirit with an innate technique.
But in this world, there was only one cursed spirit that wasn't native—the one the Root had brought over from another world.
That was the first curse spirit in the Type-Moon world.
Now seeing these curse spirits—or rather, modified humans—visible to ordinary people, he finally understood exactly who that captured curse spirit was.
"Have Tohno Akiha investigate. There should be a lot of people disappearing inexplicably in Tokyo City recently."
Roy retracted his gun-shaped Orga Lux, reverting it to its activation form before sliding it back into the holster at his waist.
After giving Kohaku these instructions, Roy turned and walked toward the Nakano sisters.
Seeing him approach, the sisters momentarily flustered, their expressions flickering with unease.
"You two must be Nino and Itsuki."
Roy stopped before them, his face breaking into a gentle smile.
"...How do you know our names?"
Nino and Itsuki exchanged glances, seeing identical shock reflected in each other's eyes.
At the same time, a hint of wariness surfaced in their gazes.
"I heard from Ichika and Miku."
Roy didn't mind their caution—without such vigilance, survival in this world would be impossible.
"They asked me to find you."
"Ichika and Miku?!"
"So they really did come to this world too?!"
Nino and Itsuki froze momentarily before their faces lit up with identical joyous smiles, their wariness melting away like spring snow in an instant.
"The curse energy here is too thick—this isn't a good place to talk."
Roy glanced around. Bloodstains littered the area, and the stench of curses was so dense it nearly clogged his nose.
"Let's get out of here first. We'll find a proper place to explain everything in detail."
***
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