Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 890 - : Darkness Under the Lamp

First of all, it's important to clarify that while the world Shinji resides in is an experimental world that integrates various special elements (for the sake of the plot), there are still many elements (plots) that cannot be unified due to timeline conflicts. For example, the Holy Grail War in Romania and the elements from Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya.

Although that world shares many similarities with Shinji's world, there are fundamental differences that cannot be reconciled. For instance, there is no Einzbern family in that world; instead, there's the Ainsworth family, which is somewhat similar but not quite the same. Hidden in Fuyuki is not the Greater Grail, but someone akin to Child of God, Miyu Satsuki.

The Illya in that world also differs greatly from the one in this world, from her origins to her age. Although thanks to Zelretch's interests, both versions can transform into magical girls, the Kaleidostick system that replaces Heroic Spirit Summoning is something this world's Illya cannot do. The staff she holds doesn't have that foul-mouthed simulated personality named Ruby—having one foul-mouthed personality in the form of Add is enough.

On the other hand, this world's Illya doesn't need to bear the responsibilities of that other world. She doesn't need to come out at night to collect cards, nor does she need to fight the Ainsworth family. Her transformation now is merely to practice magic in a more spacious area; daytime is inconvenient, so she can only practice at night.

She started off learning Einzbern alchemy from Justeaze and her mother, followed by magical energy conversion and manipulation taught by Zelretch. Later, Shinji and Touko taught her how to adjust her soul.

Finally, the highlight was sparring in magecraft with her mother, Irisviel.

No matter how many times Shinji watched their sparring, it always looked quite fascinating.

The problem was, while Shinji found it engrossing—after all, the fact that the Emiya family had come this far was largely due to his involvement—why was that strange woman watching so intently as well?

Shinji was very familiar with the Emiya family's network, and this woman didn't match up with anyone he knew. If she were some long-lost relative—Kiritsugu's father and foster mother were both killed by his hand. Maiya was a war orphan, and her only child still hadn't been found—could it be that the woman before them was the child?

If he remembered correctly, Maiya's child, Sigma, was aware of his mother and Kiritsugu's relationship. In the original timeline, Sigma didn't come looking because Kiritsugu and Maiya died early. But now that they hadn't died, and Sigma came looking, the black hair might match.

However, Sigma was male, not female. Could this be a case of gender-swapping due to a deviation in the timeline? Or maybe Sigma was a cross-dresser who liked wearing women's clothes and even padded his chest?

Alright, that was just Shinji talking nonsense—the possibility was nearly zero. Those red eyes weren't something a normal human should have. If anything, it made more sense to say she was Kiritsugu and Irisviel's child rather than Maiya's, considering the black hair and red eyes.

Wait, red eyes? Besides vampires, there's another possibility—an Einzbern homunculus. Given that it was currently a critical time for the activation of the Greater Grail, it wasn't unusual for the Einzbern family to send someone. If they discovered that the traitor Irisviel hadn't died ten years ago, nor had Illyasviel, monitoring them wasn't out of the question.

Although the standard for homunculi was silver hair, changing hair color is easy, and Einzbern homunculi do give off an inhuman vibe. Could it be that he was mistaken from the beginning? If he continued along this line of thought—no, there were too many possibilities.

The more Shinji analyzed, the more confused his mind became. Eventually, he simply gave up on thinking. After all, they were already watching her. Whatever she was planning, she would eventually take action. All he needed to do was wait patiently.

Patience was something Shinji didn't lack, and Fujino and Kirie had even more of it. If they didn't, they wouldn't have been willing to stay by Shinji's side for so long, waiting.

The two of them, along with the ghost (Kirie in her intangible form), maintained a two-up, one-down formation, silently observing.

They continued watching until the mother and daughter stopped their sparring and ran back inside, hand in hand.

They continued watching until the woman finally climbed down from the wall and left without saying a word.

Shinji and the others were left speechless. The three of them had stayed out all night, not returning home or sleeping, following her for so long, only for her to spend over an hour sitting on a wall, watching a magic show and enjoying the night breeze.

For a moment, Shinji even considered capturing her directly to save the trouble. But it was just a thought. They had followed her for this long; they didn't mind following her a little longer. At worst, he could sleep on the school rooftop tomorrow—Japanese high school students do that all the time.

Unlike when she arrived, with her eyes wandering, the woman's gaze was now focused and straight ahead as she left. Her movements were also much quicker than when she first came. The gradually increasing speed of her movement further confirmed that this woman wasn't an ordinary person. But that was all—her speed wasn't enough to shake off Shinji and the others. On the contrary, Shinji hoped she would move faster; the sooner she returned to her hideout, the sooner they could finish.

This time, the woman didn't disappoint them. She did return to her hideout—an apartment building just two streets away from the Matou family's mansion.

"I didn't expect it to be so close... Did Lorelei's people overlook the concept of darkness under the lamp? Or is there some hidden agenda?"

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While pondering this, Shinji descended from the air, first placing Fujino in a corner to keep watch, then sneaking onto the woman's balcony with Kirie.

Just before landing, Shinji felt a tingle in his feet, as if he had been shocked by a weak electric current—a spontaneous reaction from his magic circuits sensing a foreign magical presence.

"A bounded field?"

Shinji was more pleased than surprised.

The presence of a bounded field indicated that he hadn't found the wrong place, and it also confirmed that Kirie's analysis was correct—there were indeed other people behind this strange woman, and they were quite skilled. Over the years, Shinji had studied Araya's bounded field techniques extensively, enough to be considered a half-decent bounded field master himself. The fact that he only sensed the bounded field upon landing meant that the bounded field was of a considerable level of proficiency.

Judging by the nature of the magical energy emanating from the bounded field, its purpose was to detect living beings—effective against living entities but not against non-living ones. Realizing this, Shinji immediately modified his plan. He projected a portion of his spirit into Kirie's Dual Existence to investigate inside while he retraced his steps to reunite with Fujino.

Upon landing next to Fujino, he heard two unfamiliar voices—

"Back already?"

"Yeah."