To become a king and a magician

As Arcueid spoke, he handed a small ball of red light that had floated from his chest to Natsukawa Tora.

"This is a part of my power, about one percent."

"Your...power?" Natsukawa Torama looked at the red light in his hand with some confusion. "Why are you giving this to me? And sharing your power with me...won't that have any effect on you?"

"No, no, I recovered from such a small loss in an instant. Besides, I didn't share my power with you. In terms of category... it's like a relic, right?" Arcueid explained. "Tiger, the summoning magic you used can summon fairies, elves—to put it bluntly, it's magic that controls the Star Touch, right?"

"Ah."

"The True Ancestor is also a type of spirit, so I am also a suitable candidate for summoning magic."

Arcueid pointed to herself: "Although I can't appear directly in front of you through summoning magic, as long as you use summoning magic with my power, I will lend you my power no matter where you are."

So wouldn't this be equivalent to... Tsukihime Armed Forces?

"Arquette, why...?"

"So—that—I mean—this—is—a thank-you gift!" Arcueid laughed. "You've been lending me your power all along, and your power has helped me a lot, so from now on it's my turn to lend you my power. Don't worry, my power is very strong, so if you encounter an opponent that even a tiger can't defeat, just take my power!"

"Buzz—!"

The crimson light gradually coalesced, forming a faint crimson moon mark on the back of Xia Chuanhu's hand. At the same moment this mark appeared, Xia Chuanhu felt an inexplicable connection develop between himself and Arcueid.

Looking at the crimson moon mark, Natsukawa Tora chuckled softly: "It's a nice gift, thanks, Arcueid. I'll use it if I need it."

"Well then, that's settled. We've said our goodbyes and given the gifts. Now it's really goodbye."

Goodbye.

With his eyes fixed on Arcueid's retreating figure, Natsukawa Torama briefly recalled the events of the past few days.

(Not even a week? That's such a short time we've spent together.)

Arcueid!

When he called out to her, Natsukawa Tora pursed his lips.

"You don't have to lock yourself in the castle all the time. Come out for a walk every now and then—see you when we have the chance."

"Yes! There's a chance—no, I think we'll definitely meet again in the near future. I'll be troubling you again then, Tiger!"

"Haven't you been bothering me all this time?"

Arcueid did not hear Natsukawa Tora's words, because before he could speak, Arcueid vanished into the bright moonlight as if he were transparent.

49. Jewel Man

After watching Arcueid leave, Natsukawa Tora glanced at the mark on the back of his hand again before heading back to his apartment.

But before he could take a step, a person suddenly appeared on the bench next to him.

"Don't rush off, young man. Deal with that girl's matter first, then take care of yours."

The person sitting on the bench spoke in a somewhat weathered but strong voice.

He was an old man, who looked quite old, probably in his fifties or sixties. He was wearing a large cloak and appeared to be quite robust.

Natsukawa Torama recognized this person, not only because he knew him in his past life, but also because he had seen his portrait in the Clock Tower Library in this life.

—Kishua Zelrich Schbeinaugu.

A top-tier magician known as the "Jewel Elder" and the "Second Magician," and the "Marshal of the Magic Path" of the Clock Tower.

"It's such a small city like Misaki, yet two mages have come here."

“You know me. Well, that’s not surprising, but you don’t need me to introduce myself, it saves you the trouble.” Gemstone said as he stood up. “Arquette—that girl has been under your care lately. Although I’ve been keeping an eye on her, things are definitely not good for her this time. In the many parallel worlds I’ve observed, she has died or gone berserk quite often.”

Does this refer to the original endings of each route in Tsukihime?

"If things had turned out that way, it would have inevitably caused trouble in the end. But since you saved me from that trouble, let me thank you in advance."

"Haa...you're welcome."

"Well, you really don't need to thank me. After all, while you saved me a lot of trouble, you also caused me a lot of annoyance."

At this point, Gemstone Elder's expression and eyes immediately turned displeased, and he pointed to Xia Chuanhu's chest: "Because of the being within you, the rate at which the concentration of mystery in the present world is decreasing has accelerated, and the time of the Great Source's decline—the time of the end times—has been brought forward by at least fifty years."

"Huh? It's that serious?"

"It's not that serious, it was bound to happen eventually, just sooner or later. But it must be said that this incident has seriously affected modern society. Even if the church tries its best to cover it up, the mystery has inevitably been exposed to some extent—you have indeed violated the first principle of the Clock Tower."

Upon hearing this, Natsukawa Tora frowned: "I didn't expose myself, did I? Ultimately, wasn't it caused by Floff's loss of control and Roya's actions?"

"Do you think the Clock Tower will accept this explanation?" the Jewel Elder laughed. "The Clock Tower will send people over to investigate in a while. As the person involved, you can't escape it. No matter what the reason, the fact is that you caused the mystery to be exposed. Those idiots in the Legal Affairs Department won't go easy on you."

"Then I don't mind if the Clock Tower has one less subject."

In reality, it certainly won't go that far, but if the Clock Tower really tries to pin the blame on him, then Natsukawa Tora definitely won't let that happen—he'll at least tear down half of the Clock Tower, right?

This made the Jewel Elder laugh: "A very good answer, but doing so will cause more trouble. Although those guys are weak, stupid and like to cause trouble, the Clock Tower is still necessary for the current magic society."

"So, I'm here to see you as a mediator, Natsukawa Tora."

"I'll keep this matter quiet at the Clock Tower; I still have some influence there. As for Misaki City, although it's a bit troublesome, I'll still lend a hand."

"What do I need to give in return?"

“You don’t need to pay anything, you just need to leave this world temporarily,” the Gemstone Elder explained. “I can suppress it, but those bastards are very good at playing dumb, and they’ll come after you sooner or later. You can’t escape it. Of course, you can fight back, but that would mean I owe the Clock Tower a favor.”

"So, you want me to go to another world to lay low for a while?"

"And help me take care of something while you're at it." Gemstone Elder smiled. "If we wait for this matter to pass, I think it will take about five years."

Five years?!

"It's going to take this long?"

"It's nothing, I just wanted to make it easier for you to remember the time."

"Must go?"

"Just in case. Nothing is absolute, this is just the safest approach. After all, those brats at the Clock Tower... sigh."

As for the magicians of this generation, there's not much to say. Although they are all talented from a magician's perspective, they just happen to like playing power games and engaging in internal strife. Why don't they learn from Atlas Academy and Wandering Sea?

All I can say is, it's exhausting. Gemstone Elder has had to worry a lot to prevent these guys from going too far.

"Please try to understand the difficulties this old man is facing, young man."

"Oh well, let's just treat it as a trip. The only downside is that I wanted to finish making my dolls first, but I don't know when that will be."

"Projecting mental images onto blank dolls to create versatile dolls that can change shape at any time—that's a good idea, and with that device, it's only a matter of time. But creating something like that just to satisfy your own desires, you're really not a magician."

Natsukawa Tora shrugged: "Anyway, I've already achieved the ultimate goal of a magician once. I'm only learning magic for my own purposes, so it doesn't matter whether I meet the standards of a traditional magician or not—so, if we're going to other worlds, will you be the one to send me there?"

"There's no rush, it'll be fine in the next couple of days. Besides, you don't want to just leave by yourself, do you? Putting aside other people, I don't believe you can let go of your sister."

"Grey..."

That's true. Natsukawa Tiger really doesn't feel comfortable letting Grey live alone here for five years. Although there should be many people he knows who would be willing to take care of her, Natsukawa Tiger would rather take Grey with him himself than let those people take care of her.

Another one is Merry.

After all, he had already done it before. If he just walked away without saying a word, he would be the epitome of a scumbag—but he's not a scumbag!

"Once you've decided who you want to take away, I'll naturally appear before you."

"understood."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Gemstone Elder vanished from Xia Chuanhu's sight. Did he just teleport away? He really does come and go without a trace, just like the rumors say.

(But... going to other parallel worlds? I don't know if they'll be the ones I know. If we go to those places that Mushroom hasn't written about yet, it'll probably be a bit troublesome.)

(Speaking of which, five years later... that is, 2004... which means that when I came back it would be World War V.)

The Fifth Holy Grail War.

In the 94 Holy Grail War, Tokiomi Tohsaka used a Command Spell to order Gilgamesh to destroy the Holy Grail. However, this only destroyed the Holy Grail that had already been revealed; the Greater Grail spell itself should not have been affected.

In other words, the Fifth World War will proceed as scheduled, and since Gilgamesh did not receive physical flesh, the circumstances of the Fifth World War will likely differ from Natsukawa Torato's memories.

No, in the end, the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City since the last one has not been the Holy Grail War he knew. Morgan, Arthur, and Ayaka Sajou—it has long since gone astray!

"Forget it, things will work themselves out. We'll deal with what happens five years from now. As for now..."

Let's go back and discuss the idea of ​​traveling to other worlds first.

50. Traveling with the whole family

"—So, to save himself trouble and to prevent you from flattening the Clock Tower, the old man Gem plans to send you to a parallel world to lay low?"

Back at the apartment, after listening to Natsukawa Tora's account, Aozaki Aoko couldn't help but sigh: "Ha, the people at the Clock Tower are still the same as ever. Although they're fine according to their rules, the problem is that they basically fabricate facts to fit their rules. Especially the people in the Legal Affairs Department, they talk about looking at facts and providing evidence, but in reality, they rely entirely on their own imagination and nonsense."

"Qingzi, you seem to have a lot of opinions about the Department of Law and Political Science?"

"I've been bothered by them a lot over the past ten years—So, Tiger, have you decided to accept the old man's proposal?"

Natsukawa Tora nodded: "There's no harm in it. Just think of it as a trip. Anyway, I've already graduated from the basic courses and transferred to the Spirit Summoning Department, so I don't have to go to class every day anymore. At most, my puppet studies with Orange Teacher will be delayed."

At this point, Natsukawa Torato looked at Aozaki Touko: "Jewel Elder told me that I don't have to go alone, and it's okay to leave with a few people, so I wanted to ask Touko-sensei if you want to come with me."

"Hehe~~~~?"

Aozaki Touko's expression and eyes immediately became playful: "Young man, are you inviting me to elope with you? Or to a parallel world? That would be romantic too."

"No way! Gray, don't look at me like that. Do you think your brother is that kind of person?" Natsukawa Torato rolled his eyes helplessly. "I just want you to continue teaching me about puppets, teacher. What are you thinking?"

"Well, just kidding." Aozaki Touko chuckled, then lit a cigarette. "Going to a parallel world... well, I'll pass on that, it's too much trouble. Besides, I'm not planning to close down Garan no Tou, I want to keep it open for a few more years."

"As for learning with puppets... if you don't mind, that re-enactment device should be able to recreate me, right? As long as I input my knowledge into it, it can teach you too. I'll connect it with my thoughts later."

That is one solution.

Natsukawa Tora nodded: "Then I'll leave it to you, teacher—and then it's Grey's turn."

“Yes, I’m here, brother.” Gray approached Natsukawa Torato. “We’re going to a parallel world, right?”

"Yes, I was planning to take you with me, since I'm really worried about leaving you here alone. Of course, if you don't want to go, that's fine too; I'll ask some people to take care of you."

Forget about Meryl, but Lydia should be fine. After all, she's a monarch; she should be able to take care of someone.

Grey shook her head: "No, I'll go to the parallel world with you, brother. Wherever you go, I'll go. After all, if you leave me, you definitely won't be able to take good care of yourself."

"It's not that serious, is it? I was perfectly fine before you came."