Chapter 9: The "Mother of Mifune City" (First Update)
Bzzzz—!
"Now arriving at Tokyo Station. Passengers getting off, please gather your belongings and prepare to disembark—"
The sounds of the Shinkansen pulling into the platform drifted into his ears. Listening to the brisk station announcement, Ritsuka, who had been dozing with his head against the seat, slowly stood up and followed the bustling crowd off the train.
"Achoo!"
The moment he stepped out of the warm carriage, a coastal chill hit him head-on—cold enough that the just-awakened Ritsuka couldn't help sneezing.
And as he disembarked, something else happened—something on the surface of the hand he kept hidden beneath a special glove, something he couldn't ignore.
"So it's finally starting…"
After moving to an area with no one around, Ritsuka pulled off his glove, rubbed the back of his hand, and murmured to himself.
The three faint marks that had appeared on his hand long ago began to glow. A burning heat followed, sharper by the second. Then, one by one, three clearer crimson lines surfaced.
The blurred imprint transformed completely.
Three fresh red streaks slowly intertwined across his skin, settling into a strange, intricate pattern on the back of his hand.
The instant those three "Saint Marks" completed their metamorphosis—like a mysterious sigil etched by fate itself—it announced the next stage:
The Omen Crest.
The final step before the arrival of the Command Spells.
"It's finally here… my Command Spells."
Ritsuka whispered as he stared at the "seed" of the Command Spells on his hand. He traced the lines lightly with his fingertips, focusing on the heat and power flowing within them.
With the Omen Crest manifesting, his status was essentially confirmed:
He was undeniably one of the participants in the Holy Grail War.
Which meant that, in terms of his plan, only one thing remained—
the relic Zōken Matō had promised.
The moment he thought of the catalyst, his mind jumped to that "old worm" who had been missing for a while.
From the flight information he'd dug up in Fuyuki, Ritsuka knew the old monster had flown to Germany.
And Germany…
The only plausible reason Ritsuka could think of was the Einzbern family.
Given the abysmal relationship between the old worm and the Einzberns, even Ritsuka found himself suspecting:
Was the old worm trying to steal a catalyst from the Einzberns?
But thinking it through, it was absurd. No matter how strong he was, he was still a magus—he couldn't realistically take on an entire lineage alone.
So…
Was he searching in Germany on Ritsuka's behalf?
But a mythic-era Caster from Germany was an absurdly broad target. It was honestly a blind spot in Ritsuka's knowledge. He couldn't guess who it might be.
And surely that old worm hadn't gone completely insane—he couldn't possibly be intending to make him summon some "Sieg" or "Siel" equivalent out of sheer spite, could he?
Still, if he counted the time…
Zōken should be back in Fuyuki by now.
So Ritsuka activated the detection boundary he had laid over the Matō household.
From the feedback, he could sense that the sealed front gate had been pushed open from outside.
Someone had entered.
And the old worm was currently within the range of the underground "worm pit."
Once he had Zōken's position roughly pinned down, Ritsuka's tension eased—just a little.
Because a worm exposed in sunlight and a worm hiding in darkness were two completely different threats.
No one wanted to prepare for a Holy Grail War with something like that lurking overhead, watching them.
Now that he knew Zōken was still in Fuyuki—and couldn't interfere with him here—Ritsuka could continue handling his own matters with a steadier mind.
He could even picture Zōken's mood right now, realizing Ritsuka wasn't in Fuyuki.
With that personality, the old monster would undoubtedly follow the scent of his insects and come crawling after him.
So after a brief consideration, Ritsuka decided to speed up.
Finish what he needed to do here, then return and continue setting the board.
After confirming the state of his Command Spells, he put his specialized glove back on to conceal his left hand, and continued moving through the city—searching for a certain mysterious presence.
Normally, by the rules of the supernatural world, a magus from an outside lineage entering a city with a "host" family in control of the leylines had to "pay respects"—formally visit, explain their purpose, and make their presence known.
But the city he'd come to was… unusual.
This was Mifune City, within the greater Tokyo area.
Yes, it had once possessed a lineage that held its leylines.
But compared to Fuyuki's Tōsaka and Matō—this place's magus family had long since become a hollow name.
Because the Mystery of the world had declined, magecraft lineages had withered, and a once-famous demon-hunting family had fallen so far that not a single orthodox magus remained.
They'd sunk into the ordinary crowd, mixing with normal people.
They still retained a little knowledge of the hidden world, perhaps, but in practice they were completely detached—no different from a mundane household.
They certainly weren't in any position to control a phantom presence like Ritsuka.
Truthfully, this kind of decay wasn't rare in the "backwater" Far East.
Many cities were like this now—one of the era's symptoms of the fading Mystery.
But Mifune City…
was special.
Very special.
From certain memories that didn't belong to this life, Ritsuka already had a rough idea of the kind of place it was.
It couldn't compete with Fuyuki's daily "gas explosions" and pipeline disasters, but the secrets hidden here were no fewer.
Because this city was also a major stage for another tale within the Type-Moon world—
The Garden of Sinners.
Unfortunately, even though it was part of the same larger world, its popularity lagged far behind the Holy Grail War and FGO. Plenty of veteran FGO players barely knew its story at all.
Even so, its protagonist remained famous far beyond the work itself:
Shiki Ryougi.
With the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, her sharp, heroic presence, and that iconic line—
"As long as it's alive, even a god—I'll kill it for you."
—she had gathered endless fans.
Back then, even Ritsuka himself couldn't deny he'd been captivated by her.
And now, as soon as he thought of the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, his hand drifted unconsciously toward his own eyes.
"Mystic Eyes of Death Perception…"
The same deep-blue irises—yet Ritsuka's were clearer, purer, like two flawless gemstones.
And just the same, they could perceive death in all things.
But unlike Shiki's manifestation, Ritsuka didn't see the Lines of Death with the same clarity or stability.
What he could see with absolute sharpness were the nodes along those lines—the Points of Death on an object or living body.
That was why he paired firearms with insect familiars.
Precision assistance ensured he could punch straight through the "death point" without error—
achieving a true one-hit kill in battle.
In that sense, his eyes resembled Tohno Shiki's more than Ryougi's.
If there was any major difference, it was development and control.
Tohno Shiki's eyes were suppressed by Aoko Aozaki's "Mystic Eye Killer."
Ritsuka, on the other hand, had been "trained" since childhood by Zōken's relentless stimulation—forced to regulate and practice within the worm pit until control became instinct.
Yes, the feedback burden still existed when he used them.
But it remained within a range he could endure.
Even if all three bore the same "Mystic Eyes," differences were only natural.
Each of them had their own experiences, their own suffering.
Ryougi's relationship with "Origin Shiki" was something he couldn't compare to.
And as for himself and Tohno Shiki—
both had crossed the boundary of life and death, once, and returned.
By Ritsuka's own guess, when Lev blew him up in Chaldea, he truly died.
But his soul revived in this world afterward.
That might count as its own form of "crossing the border," and perhaps that was why his eyes awakened.
Still—none of that mattered.
Ryougi Shiki, Tohno Shiki… neither of them was his objective.
Ritsuka had no interest in getting involved with them.
His focus was already fully locked onto what he had to do.
And what he needed to do now was—
"An urban legend… the 'Mother of Mifune City'…"
He pulled out a map and studied every street printed on it.
Compared to chasing Shiki Ryougi—who might not even be where he could reach her—this legendary fortune-teller was far more valuable to him.
The woman herself was shrouded in mystery.
But the stories were consistent:
A hidden old woman in the alleyways, possessing an Absolute Future Sight.
She asked for nothing in return.
She read the threads of fate—career, romance, karmic bonds—for passersby, helping them avert tragedy.
A being closer to an urban myth than a person.
Because her whereabouts were never fixed—and few could testify to having truly met her—people called her an "urban legend" rather than an "urban celebrity."
Every fortune-teller bragged about accuracy.
But compared to con artists or half-trained diviners using cheap "fortune-telling magecraft," the Mother of Mifune City was in another league.
Her eyes were the real deal in this era: Future Sight.
Not just any clairvoyance, either—an "Absolute" kind.
Something, in Ritsuka's view, even more practical than the likes of Solomon, Gilgamesh, and their EX-grade clairvoyance.
Eyes like that were a miracle.
Perhaps even rarer than the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
So no matter what, Ritsuka needed to meet her—and demand information about what came next.
Only then could he truly stay one step ahead.
But…
When he looked at the map of Mifune City—at the maze of tangled alley routes—even Ritsuka felt a headache coming on.
To search this many alleys blindly—especially for an old woman who might intentionally avoid him, and who possessed Absolute Future Sight—
was no different from searching for a needle in the ocean.
At least, that was what he felt as he looked down at the map already covered in red X marks.
He had already released numerous insect familiars to help scout.
And yet he'd gotten nothing.
No Mother of Mifune City—
only other nauseating things.
Just as he was about to move on to the next area, through the sensory link of his familiars, a fragment of voices suddenly reached his ear.
"Today—money—"
"Miss—let me play—"
"Come try—my—stick—"
The source was too noisy to catch it all clearly, but he could tell several young men were shouting near his familiar—only a few alleys away.
What a pain.
Running into people in a place like this.
Ritsuka had no desire to invite trouble.
His priority was meeting the Mother of Mifune City before the old worm tracked him down—he had no time to get tangled up with ordinary people.
And he didn't even know what was going on. If it was just stupid roughhousing, stepping in would only bring annoyance.
Ritsuka turned to leave—
but those men were blocking the entrance to the very alley his familiars needed to investigate.
So, following its instructions, the insect familiar crept closer.
And the situation… wasn't quite what he'd assumed.
Their tone wasn't playful at all.
They started yelling, escalating fast.
And that—
made Ritsuka halt mid-step.
Join here to read ahead.
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