-
After finishing the contract and three meals' worth of food, Myeongseong promptly fell into a deep sleep.
And so, after sleeping through an entire day, Myeongseong's first new day in this new world passed by very quickly.
His fractured arm and body were healed with magecraft (strangely, healing magecraft worked well on his body, though it was agonizingly painful), they checked out of the hotel, and his clothes were changed from tattered traditional Korean attire to a Western-style child's suit.
The Korean-style braided hair, which seemed to be the default(?) setting, was also cut off haphazardly.
Kokumin made an expression of surprise at the sight of him cutting his hair without hesitation, but Myeongseong paid no mind and snipped away with scissors, *snip snip*.
'It's just hair. I have no particular attachment to it.'
The body, hair, and skin are received from one's parents.
But Myeongseong's sense of era was originally the 21st century. Haircut decrees or the 19th-20th century? That had absolutely nothing to do with Myeongseong.
Let alone in this fake world within fake history.
The language problem in this era of Japanese colonial rule was also surprisingly easily resolved.
There were Japanese and foreign languages rampant here and there, but―――
'―――Strangely, translation magecraft and healing magecraft work just fine, you see.'
The Tōsaka guy gave him a brooch enchanted with translation magecraft, so the language issue was neatly solved. Though that Tōsaka guy did vent his frustration about why suggestion magecraft didn't work while healing and translation did.
Anyway, having tidied up their appearance like that, Myeongseong and Kokumin headed straight for the port.
Fortunately, the village Myeongseong fell into was very close to the seaside. After a brief carriage ride, they arrived at the port in no time, where Kokumin used his characteristic wealth to instantly book tickets and board the ship in first class.
Ah. By the way, regarding taking a passenger ship, how was Myeongseong's identity guaranteed?
That was solved by the rabbit mother…, no, the Tōsaka guy.
'I guess you could say that's the power of a magus family.'
At first, there was brief suspicion upon seeing Myeongseong, but it seemed the Tōsaka name carried quite some weight, as once he vouched for Myeongseong's identity, even the captain immediately skipped procedures and let him board.
But that identity guarantee was really infuriating.
'Fuuuuck. Yearning for Japan? Studying abroad? In this situation (era)?'
Myeongseong's identity was roughly set as a Korean child who yearned for Japan, met a kind Japanese nobleman, and, thanks to his goodwill, was going to Japan to study.
'Mother. I'm sorry. This son has become a traitor (?) in a fake world.'
Even if it was a fake world, fake history within a fake, it was quite awkward to board a ship bound for Japan under such an absurd setting. It felt like becoming a traitor with a fire attribute, a filial son, no, like becoming a Korean alter(?).
'Endure it. For the greater cause. To return home. This isn't the real reality anyway, it's the Type-Moon world.'
This place is neither his reality, nor is it a time-slip.
Myeongseong is simply trapped in the fake that is a work of fiction.
Myeongseong rationalized it as best he could.
Still, inwardly, it left a bitter taste.
Barely enduring that bitterness and to blow away the gloomy mood, Myeongseong absentmindedly watched the blue sea from the ship's deck. Swelling waves. The shadow of seawater glittering in the sunlight. Fish, maybe tuna or flying fish, leaping up occasionally.
Everything felt vivid and real.
'Just like a real sea.'
Even in a fake world, the sea was beautiful. Yes. Well, it was quite something to see, wasn't it?
Anyway, after watching the sea for a short while, Myeongseong, soon losing interest, returned to the first-class cabin where the Tōsaka guy was. Myeongseong passed through a corridor bustling with people, with an antique design reminiscent of the Titanic seen in movies, and upon opening the door, he saw a first-class cabin truly fitting for a wealthy man.
'It's not that I've never been on a ship, but a first-class cabin on such an old ship is novel.'
Myeongseong scanned the first-class cabin with eyes full of fresh curiosity. All sorts of decorations and classical wallpaper. Even a dresser and a soft, high-quality bed.
For him, who lived in the 21st-century real reality, they were all just old antiques, but at least the quality and service of this first-class cabin were beyond what he had experienced in the modern era. Because the modern Myeongseong was from a decent middle class.
As he was looking around the inside of the first-class cabin, a laugh came from beside him.
"Wandering around with such curious eyes, you look no different from a child."
―――For something that isn't even human.
To that implied remark, Myeongseong retorted bluntly.
"I am human and a child, right?"
"You? Not something mimicking the appearance of a child?"
"I am (really) human. And my age…. Let's say 10…, no, 11 years old."
"Huh, so age is also a setting?"
"Yes, yes. That's probably correct."
"Huh. My my. How absurd."
Tōsaka Kokumin shook his head at Myeongseong's age, decided so casually, and spoke while pointing at the bed.
"It's time for the promised physical examination. Get on the bed, take off your top, and sit in the lotus position."
"Yes. Father."
"Huh. The word 'father' already rolls off your tongue quite well."
"Then call me your son too."
"The adoption process isn't even complete yet, what are you, and we don't have that level of trust between us yet, do we?"
"You fucking bastard? Who do you think enjoys calling you father?!"
'Come to think of it, that's true.'
For a moment, flaring up, Myeongseong's thoughts and words came out opposite!
"What did you say?"
"No, it's nothing."
Though momentarily taken aback by Myeongseong's curse, Kokumin let it pass as if nothing happened, and Myeongseong got on the bed, took off his top, and sat in the lotus position. Seeing that, Kokumin stroked his chin with an interested expression and let out a subtle snort.
"Hmm. By the way, even though it's probably your first time wearing a suit, you put it on and take it off well. Is this also implanted knowledge? My my, your common sense is truly convenient."
"Is every single word, every single action an experiment or a bluff?"
"Of course. Naturally. You are, in every way, both a source of interest and an experimental subject to me."
"You motherfu…!"
"Now, let's begin."
Just as another curse was about to fly out, Kokumin cut off Myeongseong's words mid-sentence and stretched his hand toward Myeongseong's back.
"Eueuk?!"
For a moment, he felt disgusted that a grown man's (Tōsaka's) hand was touching his pure, innocent, chaste body (…?).
"Huhk?!"
Soon, feeling a strange energy seeping in, Myeongseong let out a moan.
"Endure it a little. I'm examining your body with magical energy."
Saying that, Kokumin increased the concentration and intensity of the energy, the magical energy, flowing out.
"Keuheuk!"
'It's like a river flowing inside my body.'
At the increasingly fierce concentration and speed of the magical energy, Myeongseong felt an excruciating pain as if a strong river was flowing inside him and screamed.
'It's hot. No, cold? What is this bizarre energy? Is this mana? Or magical energy?'
Myeongseong shuddered at the magical energy flowing through his body.
It was a sensation he could never, or would never, feel in a lifetime if this were reality.
It was a sixth sense transcending sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
As if the brain compensates and shows the visual information from both eyes. It felt like the brain was forcibly compensating for some sensation that couldn't be felt by the existing five senses, downgrading it into the five senses and jamming it into his head.
A grotesque sensation that was both blue and red, loud and quiet, fragrant and foul, sweet, salty, and bitter, hot, cold, rough, and even soft.
The five senses don't react. But he feels it with the five senses.
Simultaneously, Myeongseong felt a sense of unity with the world.
A feeling as if his body was rejecting the world, this different world.
Simultaneously, a feeling as if he was being accepted by the world, this different world.
Contradiction. Duality. Feeling some incompatible sensation, feeling, mood simultaneously, Myeongseong writhed for a moment before the magical energy flowing into his body soon stopped.
The examination was over.
"Huh. Hmm. Haa. This is truly a grotesque body. And simultaneously inferior."
"What did you say, you motherfu…."
Having uttered an evaluation filled with admiration as a magus and the sense of being the chosen people as a magus, Kokumin quickly cut him off before Myeongseong could curse and continued speaking.
"Your body is a physical form without a single Magic Circuit. I expected that much, but a body where not even life force (od), which anyone with life possesses, flows? Is this a bodily structure that can exist? With this, it's just a body that merely imitates or reproduces a human body, isn't it?"
"Is that strange?"
"Of course!"
Kokumin shouted.
"I can swear on the name of Tōsaka. Your body is grotesque! No matter how inferior a human without Magic Circuits, life force (od) flows. That's what having life means! But you don't have that! No, it's more than that! Not even mana (the greater source) exists inside you. You don't even inhale mana through breathing!"
In other words!
"A being that breathes and lives but has no life force flowing—truly an undead where life doesn't exist. It's unmistakably a body from outside that deviates from this world's providence!"
Huff, huff. After catching his breath for a moment, Kokumin took a deep breath and calmly explained again.
"It looks like a foreign substance to the world, and simultaneously seems like the purest human flesh. Biological organs that absolutely cannot exist in this world, yet are infinitely close to human. Like a biological machine that merely reproduces humans, yet a soul exists…"
Looking at Myeongseong for a moment as if peering through his soul, Kokumin spoke to him with a somewhat indignant expression.
"I, actually, you, no. I deeply doubted your words, but I admit I was wrong. It seems you really are an alien."
A clean admission from a magus that he had turned away from the truth and misjudged. An unexpected judgment. But to Myeongseong, it was closer to an insult worse than a curse, and he frowned.
"You fucking bastard?"
'Indeed, I see.'
"What did you say?"
"No, nothing. For a moment, my inner thoughts and spoken words got switched."
"…Usually in that case, one makes an excuse or changes the subject, don't they?"
"Ah. Right. So what about it? You fucking bastard."
Whether the Tōsaka guy looked at him with a dumbfounded expression or not, Myeongseong coolly ignored him and thought.
'The reason I have no greater source or magical energy is probably because I'm a real human.'
Originally, what is a time-slip, or dimension travel?
Whether it's a truck, a flowerpot, a bicycle, or 5,700-character comments, once you time-slip, having a system window or mana or chakra or ki, or magic (here, magecraft) is a cliché.
This is a world overflowing with all sorts of mystical energies.
Let alone Myeongseong, who consumed such a world as a work of fiction, an existence that descended from the real world.
To put it metaphorically, it's like falling from the sky to the ground, from a higher dimension to a lower dimension.
'Since my body is that of a real human, the laws of this world don't apply, I guess.'
No matter how young his body's age has become, the body itself is from the real reality. Myeongseong is certain of this fact without a shred of doubt.
Myeongseong is, so to speak, that.
He is the foundation and the origin of all humans in this fake world.
―――Such fictional energy from this creation cannot flow through him.
Myeongseong speculated like that.
'But why do translation magecraft and healing magecraft work?'
However, there was a flaw in Myeongseong's reasoning. If he were a real human with a body that doesn't even have mana or od, then translation magecraft or healing magecraft shouldn't work. No, even before that, he shouldn't have been able to accept the magical energy just now.
'A kind of privilege? Or…. Huh? Wait?'
If Myeongseong's body not only has no od flowing but doesn't even inhale mana.
"Father bastard. If od or mana doesn't flow through me, doesn't that mean I can't use magecraft?"
"Father bastard…? Ahem. Well. I guess so?"
"Then how do I learn magecraft?"
"Umm. Naturally, you can't learn it?"
At Kokumin's words uttered nonchalantly, veins bulged on Myeongseong's forehead.
"You fucking bastard? Are you already trying to break the contract?"
'So what should I do?'
"You, you've been switching your inner thoughts and spoken words since a while ago."
"Shut up and tell me how I learn magecraft! Is there a way?!"
"Eueuk, rather, let go of this collar fir…keuk?! This is impiety…kehek?!"
"The adoption process isn't even done yet! And you don't even call me your son, you bastard! How?! Is there no way?!"
"Keuk! Let go of the collar for a moment…. Ughk!"
With a desperate feeling, Myeongseong grabbed the Tōsaka guy's collar and shook him.
'I can't survive in this crazy world without magecraft.'
This world is the moonlit world. Vampires stroll in back alleys, self-proclaimed clergymen walk around with File Bunkers, and it's common for magi to kidnap or manipulate the memories of passersby—a dystopia(?). No, an urban fantasy.
'To survive, I need to become at least a magecraft user!'
That infamous(?) magus-killer, that Kiritsugu… no, Kiritsugu was also a magecraft user who used magecraft, wasn't he!
To survive in this shitty world, to win the Holy Grail War, he had to learn at least basic magecraft.
As Myeongseong shook his collar thoroughly and roughly let go (essentially threw him), Kokumin let out rough coughs, gasped for breath, and heaved a big sigh.
"Haa. I made a troublesome contract. I have to teach you magecraft somehow, but you don't even have magical energy, so using magecraft is completely impossible…"
"…Figure it out somehow."
Unconcerned by Kokumin's lament-like words, Myeongseong spoke coldly.
"That's the contract, right? If you don't teach me magecraft, I won't cooperate with experiments, so teach me well."
"The contract wasn't that I can only conduct experiments if I teach you magecraft, was it?"
Kokumin's words were correct.
"No. That was the contract."
But even at Kokumin's natural question, Myeongseong shook his head and shamelessly insisted that he was right.
"So you must keep it. If your eyes are precious, that is."
Saying that, Myeongseong stroked the quill pen in his pocket. At that sight, Kokumin, inwardly tense, swallowed his saliva.
No matter that he was the third head of the Tōsaka family. A first-rate magus. But to him, Myeongseong was an unknown and a variable itself. On top of that, the madness he occasionally showed was the kind even he couldn't easily handle.
'I might be able to subdue him, but I might really lose an eye.'
Of course, subduing would be possible.
Kokumin was confident in his own abilities and would actually subdue Myeongseong.
But in the process, Myeongseong might really crush his eye. Or if luck was bad, a quill might get stuck in his throat. At that premonition, that ominous feeling, Kokumin stroked his tingling eye and groaned.
"Ha. This is truly a headache…. Ugh. Because of the contract, I have to teach you magecraft, but you have a body that can't use magecraft…. Aha!"
As he agonized, as if realizing something, Kokumin slammed his palm with his fist.
"Yes. There was that method."
He then opened a drawer and rummaged through things here and there.
"I thought of a method that allows you to use magecraft by force, even without Magic Circuits or od flow."
"Really?! Father!"
"Only at times like this, I'm father?"
"Whatever. Anyway, good is good, right? Old man."
"What's 'old man' now. Let's unify titles at least."
Tired of Myeongseong's Udyr-level stance change, Kokumin soon took something out of the drawer.
It was something positioned somewhere between an arm guard, a half-glove, and a gauntlet combined.
The part corresponding to the half-glove had rivets embedded, and the material was leather.
It looked quite sturdy and practical, but the most eye-catching were the mysterious circuits themselves flowing and glowing faintly inside the glove. Blue circuits made of straight lines and right angles, like electronic components of a computer.
That is….
"It's a Mystic Code."
"A Mystic Code?!"
At the appearance of a method he had never even considered, Myeongseong was astonished.
"That, isn't that something that can replace or serve as extra Magic Circuits? I know the price is astronomically expensive…. Ah!?"
Damn it.
'I acted like I know again.'
Unable to control his actions due to the joy (that his chances of survival increased) of being able to use magecraft.
Like an immature child who can't regulate emotions well.
'Could it be…?! Is my mind already being influenced by my body's age?!'
There's a saying that the mind follows the body.
As if that were true, Myeongseong was also gradually finding it harder to control his impulses.
It feels like he's (descending) into an impulsive, emotional child little by little.
"Yes. That's right. Your words are correct."
Having unexpectedly satisfied another curiosity, Kokumin smiled leisurely and explained.
"As you said, a Mystic Code can replace Magic Circuits, but this isn't such a grand item. It's just a low-grade Mystic Code that absorbs the magical energy within the body to produce magical energy. The efficiency is so-so, it's one of those practice items made for training, but…"
Looking at the glove, Kokumin glanced at Myeongseong.
"For you, who doesn't even have od flowing, this alone would be no different from a miraculous product."
"You're really showing off to an alien, aren't you, Mr. Magus."
"Who would have thought I'd have an adopted son with no life force (od) flowing?"
"You said the adoption process isn't even done yet."
"Huh. You don't let a single word slide."
Kokumin flipped the glove and brought his index finger to it.
"Anyway, with this, you might be able to use magecraft temporarily. Let me adjust the settings a bit. If I reverse the circuit to absorb external mana instead of internal od…"
*Swish swish*, as if drawing on a magic tablet, the circuits gradually reversed following Kokumin's finger.
"There, now this has become a pseudo low-grade, trivial Mystic Code substitute that absorbs mana (the greater source) from the air to produce magical energy."
"Oooh! As expected of Tōsaka (whatever) guy!"
"Wha…. No, never mind. Want to try it on?"
"Of course! Father!"
At this moment, Myeongseong forgot passion, worry, sorrow, and care, and happily took the pair of gloves and put them on his arms.
"Kya! They cling on tightly!"
The sensation of wrapping around his hand and arm and becoming one was truly strange, but Myeongseong was excited, thinking good is good.
'Anyway, I can use magecraft now!'
Fire or lightning comes from the hand. Or a beam(?) comes out. What man wouldn't be excited by this fact!
Wearing the gloves and excitedly throwing punches into the air, *bang bang!*, clenching and unclenching his fists while examining the Mystic Code here and there, Myeongseong was observed by Kokumin, who felt a peculiar sentiment.
'It's as if he's truly like a child.'
Because Myeongseong's pure curiosity, his expression of pure emotion at this moment, now, looked utterly human.
'Having a body that deviates from providence, a body that mimics humans, yet that way of thinking and behavior is truly fitting for a human of that age, isn't it?'
Feeling a strange mood at the sight of Myeongseong running around like a child happy with a Christmas present, Kokumin. However.
'Is this the feeling of a father who has a child? Yes. This is quite….'
It might not be bad.
As he thought that and was about to form a faint smile, Myeongseong, who had been swinging his fists here and there as if realizing something, asked Kokumin.
"But…."
"Hmm?"
"This Mystic Code? How do I use it?"
"Well, you just activate the circuit, don't you?"
"So how?"
"So you sense the circuit and channel magical energy…. Ah."
"Ah."
Kokumin and Myeongseong realized.
Myeongseong's body was an anomalous constitution (to Myeongseong, a normal constitution) where not only were there no Magic Circuits, but not even od flowed, and not even mana was inhaled through breathing.
A body of pure purity where the magic of magical energy does not exist at all.
In other words.
"This, it's impossible."
He cannot use the Mystic Code.
From the start, he had not only no ability to sense and interact with the circuit, but not even the sense to perceive it.
"You fucking rabbit mother(?) bastard!!!"
"Wh, what?! Tokiomi? That's not my name…ughk?!"
As if tumbling headlong from heaven to earth, like a despairing child told Santa doesn't exist on Christmas, Myeongseong couldn't contain his anger for a moment and kicked off the bed, leaping up to once again grab and shake Kokumin's collar.
"You fuck! I'm ashamed I called you father! You fucking bastard! Are you a magus! You're a magus?! If you're a magus, then fucking think of a way like a magus! Fuuuuuck!!!"
The guilt of having become a traitor(?) (even if in a fake world) inwardly.
The guilt of having become the son and disciple of the dregs of humanity, inhumane, the pinnacle of heresy (a magus).
The fear and anxiety of possibly dying held deep inside.
And even the shock of having the expectation of realizing a man's romance utterly betrayed.
With all that exploding at once, Myeongseong thoroughly choked Kokumin's neck.
"No, what can I do about your body being strange… keuheuk?!"
"You fucking figure it out! Am I the one? Am I the one doing it?!"
"Keuek! Keuk! Why aren't my Magic Circuits activating…? Wait… keuek!"
Like that, for a while, with his collar grabbed and neck choked by Myeongseong, Kokumin desperately tapped the bed. It was a shape like a pro wrestler tapping the mat quickly to surrender.
-
After having his collar grabbed and neck choked for a while, Kokumin, finally freed from the now-calmed Myeongseong, straightened his disheveled clothes and tie while catching his breath.
"My oh my, to commit such impiety already. Taking in an adopted son like you seems to be my big mistake."
"You said the adoption process isn't even done yet. You're really fucking showy. If you're a magus, you should give what you promised and take what you're owed according to the contract, shouldn't you?"
"Again with th-that, vulgar speech. I really took in the wrong adopted son. Haa."
Worried for a moment that the Tōsaka name might be shaken by Myeongseong's vulgarity, Kokumin inadvertently tested Myeongseong.
"By the way, to think you could stop my Magic Circuits' operation, even if temporarily. Are you the personification of some anchor that binds the surface or something?"
"Surface? Anchor? What's that again."
'What, Longinism? What's that. That should be somewhere in England.'
At the Tōsaka guy's strange question, Myeongseong tilted his head, and Kokumin clicked his tongue.
"Tsk. You're not even aware? Never mind if you don't know. Is it some uncontrollable peculiarity of the body? Anyway, interesting."
While saying that, stroking his chin as if pleased inwardly, Kokumin muttered interestingly.
"By the way, Tokiomi. I don't know why you called me that, but it's quite a good name, isn't it?"
"Ah."
'Did I just name this bastard's grandson? That rabbit mother's(?) name? Is this Human Order Foundation or something?'
Causality or immutable history or something.
"If you can't even use a Mystic Code, we have no choice but to change the plan."
As he was briefly lost in stray thoughts, at a single sentence from the Tōsaka guy that reached Myeongseong's ears, Myeongseong beamed with joy.
"There's a way? Father!"
With eyes sparkling brightly, looking up at Kokumin again, at his stance change, he clicked his tongue.
"My my, when it's advantageous to you, you call me father again."
"I'm calling you father because the father bastard is finally acting like a father, isn't that right?"
"Huh. Father bastard…. Then if I can't act like a father, you'd even kill me?"
"Eh. Would I really do that?"
'If necessary, of course I'd smash you.'
A fake human or whatever. The setting values of a universe or whatever, I can break―――kill as many as needed.
To return home, he had that level of resolve.
―――He had already committed it.
'Uh. Huh?'
The moment a certain blood-stained memory tried to pass by, Myeongseong quickly stopped thinking. And forgot.
'What was I just thinking?'
I thought about breaking that Tōsaka guy….
He couldn't remember (think of) what came next.
"By the way, we've arrived."
"Ah!"
Turning his head naturally toward Kokumin, who was looking out the window at some point, Myeongseong soon let out an exclamation.
Beyond the passenger ship's window, a port city small enough to take in at a glance was visible.
Still, a premodern Japanese-style city with no modern scenery mixed in at all.
A colorful city with paper lanterns and gas streetlights, Japanese and Western styles intermixed.
"…Fuyuki City."
Fuyuki City.
"Yes. That's right. Son."
Having approached his side at some point, Kokumin placed a hand on Myeongseong's shoulder.
"The place where the three founding families are. Where the Greater Grail is enshrined. Where the Tōsaka family is. And…."
Where we will live.
-
1925. January 1st. Eun Myeongseong. Arrival in Fuyuki City.