Life at the Kuonji Mansion was quite monotonous.
Aoko-nee and Alice-san spent every day in the study, translating and scouring books on Rune Magecraft. Soujuurou-pyon—I mean, Soujuurou-nii—rotated through several part-time jobs, and I would spend my time in a corner helping the two women with various errands or playing with the toys Alice-san gave me.
In truth, I wanted to train the abilities of my Rinnegan, but doing so felt like a fast track to becoming experimental material. Thus, I chose the path of a normal child playing with toys.
Alice-san, who had initially been displeased with Soujuurou-nii and me staying at the mansion, slowly began to open up. This was likely due to the staggering amount of money Soujuurou brought home from his part-time jobs and the dishes I prepared using recipes from my past life. Eventually, she stopped speaking up even when I scurried around the mansion like a small animal.
"…As long as you do not go down to the basement, you may move about the mansion as you wish."
"Where is the basement?"
"…You will know it when you see it. If you enter, I cannot guarantee your life. Keep that in mind…"
This mansion itself was the Workshop of the witch known as Alice Kuonji. In the world of Magi, facing a Magus inside their own Workshop is a suicidal act; I had no intention of poking the hornets' nest by treading where I shouldn't.
After about a week, this lifestyle took root as a routine, and I began to contemplate the problems that lay ahead.
Specifically, I thought about which worldline this actually was.
Officially, the world of TYPE-MOON is divided into two major branches. There is the Fate branch, where the strength of Alaya—the Counter Force of Humanity—is powerful. Then there is the Tsukihime branch, where the Counter Force is weakened.
In the Fate worldlines, the twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors do not exist as an organization, and the appearance of powerful Dead Apostles threatening humanity is significantly reduced. Conversely, in the Tsukihime worldlines, major rituals like the Holy Grail War do not occur, and insane Dead Apostles who slaughter humans roam free.
Of course, there are several others—the *strange Fake* branch where the two are mixed, the *Apocrypha* branch which is neither, and the *Moon Cell* branch that practically drifted off to Andromeda. But ultimately, all were treated as special cases or classified as a type of Fate worldline.
...Honestly, I suspect the Human Order in the *FGO* worldline is more tattered than even the Tsukihime branch, but I digress.
Actually, the specific branch wasn't the immediate problem. The destruction of the worlds in Tsukihime or Fate was a concern for the far future; it wasn't something I needed to worry about right now.
"Grand Order…"
"Did you say something just now?"
"No, I was just talking to myself."
Among all the worldlines, there is one that sits at the top tier of bleakness—the *Grand Order* worldline.
The King of Magi… no, the Demon God King Goetia completely devastates the world once. Then, just as the incinerated Human Order is barely restored, the Alien God and the internal mastermind known as Chaldeas pull some serious bullshit, driving humanity into a corner. In the process, the protagonist literally crawls through hell and high water… and yet, it's a worldline of immense danger where one cannot even be sure if the situation was truly resolved. If Ritsuka Fujimaru had solved everything, it might be different, but my memories only reached the events of Part 2, Chapter 7.
That meant I had zero knowledge on how to oppose Chaldeas, the presumed final boss of Part 2.
The bleakness of it could rival *Notes* (The Land of Steel) or *Coral of the Moon*, which the original author had declared as possible 'ends' for the world. To begin with, if you look at Tiamat in Part 1, Chapter 7, or ORT in Part 2, Chapter 7, comparison with other worldlines becomes impossible…
'The turning points for that worldline are surprisingly simple. The suicide of the researcher Lev Lainur in 2014. The birth of the Demi-Servant Mash Kyrielight. And Marisbury Animusphere winning the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.'
Therefore, if I could somehow resolve those three things, I might be able to prevent the herald of a sudden, groundless "extinction."
The problem was… well, there were two problems.
First, I would have to properly involve myself in Magecraft to stop those branch points.
Second, there was the butterfly effect that would come from stopping them.
Take Lev Lainur. He is a man who holds a significant position in the Mage's Association. His relationship with Marisbury and Olga Marie goes without saying, and he is a talented individual who has served as a head of a department.
As for Mash Kyrielight, she is the product of human experimentation carried out by Marisbury alone. To prevent such a cruel fate, one would have to become involved with Chaldea regardless.
…And the 4th Holy Grail War? That place is Fuyuki City, a den of supernatural monsters. Roughly speaking, I could just blow up the Greater Grail and be done with it, but who knows what kind of mess the corruption of the Grail would cause, and I might end up in a frontal war against the Mapo-eating Gundam and the old worm who protects Fuyuki.
Furthermore, the butterfly effect.
It was revealed in Part 1 that the reason Goetia enacted the Incineration of the Human Order was, ultimately, to prevent an invasion from space.
But what if, after erasing the very existence of Goetia, the alien invasion commences anyway? What if Goetia never appears, and the hero of promised victory, Ritsuka Fujimaru, disappears?
"…Uh?"
"Huh?"
In that moment, a voice I had been ignoring while deep in thought reached my ears.
"I asked if you were listening!"
"Ah, sorry. I was just daydreaming for a bit."
"Sigh… Anyway, Aoko and I are going out for a while."
"Are you going somewhere?"
It was a rare occurrence.
Aoko-nee and Alice-san went out often, but it was very rare for the two of them to go out together.
"We have some business outside. We'll buy something delicious on the way back~"
"…Thank you, I'll look forward to it."
And so, I was left alone in the house.
* * * * *
Alice-san told me: "Do not go down to the mansion's basement."
There was no telling what kind of defenses she had placed down there, and I had no intention of crumbling the trust I had built up until now.
Since I had discovered this was the Moonlit World and that my home was Misaki City, I was fated to be intertwined with Mystery regardless of my will.
Even if I wanted to deny it, Misaki City is a supernatural nightmare where Nrvnqsr Chaos—no, Fabro Rowan—would eventually run amok, followed later by Michael Roa Valdamjong. Even if nothing happened in Misaki City, another disaster would break out in Fuyuki, and later, the world might meet its end from Phoenix Chaldea.
Dying an unreasonable death while doing nothing? I absolutely refuse that.
Ultimately, since I know, I must do something. My goal here is to survive by any means necessary.
You see as much as you know, and knowledge itself is power. "Ignorance is bliss"? That is nothing more than foolish self-consolation for those who truly know nothing.
"…Phew."
Alice-san would frequently enter the basement to look for Magecraft that could erase Soujuurou-nii's memories.
Every time she went down, she came back up with arms full of books, and she would read through them with Aoko-san, flipping through dictionaries. In short, I could conclude that the basement was a sort of library.
"…And she hasn't tidied those books yet."
I didn't know why they had left, but the Grimoires they were studying remained on the table. Fortunately, even Soujuurou-nii was out, so I was the only soul in the mansion.
Walking toward the table with soft steps, I carefully pulled out one of the books and began to read.
"My goals are information on Magic Circuits and Mystic Eyes."
* * * * *
Memories of a past life help in many ways.
I don't need to study painstakingly at school, I don't need to search through cookbooks to prepare meals, and I don't even need a dictionary to translate Grimoires written in English.
'Reflections on Human Psychology and Runes—Berkana and the Rune of Travel… This is a miss. What I need is a fundamental primer.'
Regrettably, most of the books Alice-san and Aoko-san were researching were aimed at erasing Soujuurou-nii's memory. Books on the basics of Magecraft seemed to be missing.
But luckily, Alice-san's style was to move a large number of books at once to avoid repetitive trips. Thanks to that, several books that presumably had nothing to do with Soujuurou-nii's memories were mixed in. Whether by chance or fate, among them were books related to Mystic Eyes and the basics of Magic Circuits and Magic Crests…
"…This should be quite useful."
***The Catalog of All Colored Mystic Eyes.***
In the TYPE-MOON world—where Cybele, which is closer to an Authority, and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are both treated as types of 'Mystic Eyes'—it was easy to predict that the Rinnegan would be categorized as such.
"But to think the author is Rita Rozay-en…"
I never imagined that someone who would be part of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors in the Tsukihime worldline would leisurely write books… anyway! The book contained a fair amount of content.
From the Rainbow-rank Mystic Eyes that the King of True Ancestors, Crimson Moon, was presumed to possess, to the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, whose existence is said to be uncertain, to the Natural Mystic Eyes that can predict and avoid the future, and even the most basic Mystic Eyes of Charm and Petrification.
"*It is no exaggeration to say that this author is the most knowledgeable concerning Mystic Eyes in this world. Therefore, I shall not bother denying the fact that Mystic Eyes themselves are directly connected to the Root—the Swirl of the Origin. For instance, the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception held by the god of death, Balor, correspond to a sort of singularity that can lead an opponent to death just by gazing upon them. In the Age of Gods, everyone possessed Mystic Eyes or something similar, but since they possessed eyes of the same rank, they negated and canceled each other out. In the current age, only those born with a part of the Swirl of the Origin or those who acquired them through artificial means possess what are called Mystic Eyes…*"
In other words, while it might have been different in the Age of Gods, in the modern era… specifically, the time of my birth… Mystic Eyes were products completely tied to the Root.
As the Human Order strengthened after the Age of Gods, the Texture of the Age of Man began to overlay the Texture of the Age of Gods. The Root was separated from the Earth and moved to a separate phase.
Because of this, Magi of the Age of Gods, who existed before the Root was separated—representatively, someone like Medea—perceive the Root as something always by their side, not something they need to reach. There is no drive to 'Reach the Root.' To begin with, in terms of sheer skill, excluding True Magic, even the Aozaki sisters wouldn't be a match for Medea.
This was because they were already connected to the Root by forming contracts with the gods who were closest to it. If you think about Hecate, who was a priestess, and Solomon, the greatest Magus in the world, and which God he served… detailed explanation isn't really necessary.
Originally, the principle of Age of Gods Magecraft was to access the Root by using a god's name as a master key. Considering Solomon's Third Noble Phantasm, one can get a rough idea.
"*Mystic Eyes of Noble Color possess value beyond your imagination. Rail Zeppelin, operated by this author, Rita Rozay-en, trades in all Mystic Eyes and guarantees perfect extraction and transplantation of new eyes without side effects… For inquiries, seek the representative at Buhenwald Castle, Norway…* What a load of useless fluff."
Dismissing it with a light snort, I returned the book to its original place and rubbed my face with my hands.
I hadn't found information on awakening Magic Circuits, but I had succeeded in obtaining some information regarding the Rinnegan.
"…Next are the Magic Circuits."
Regarding Magic Circuits, I had some personal knowledge.
Magi or those with an aptitude for magecraft have special 'cores' placed throughout their souls, which can turn part of their nervous system into Magic Circuits. By using these as channels, they can perform Magecraft by utilizing Mana from the atmosphere or Od from within their bodies.
The problem was that I knew absolutely nothing about how to actually 'awaken' those circuits.
"It would be nice if there were instructions on how to awaken them…"
Fortunately, the method for awakening Magic Circuits was laid out quite simply, and it didn't seem particularly difficult to perform.
After all, I didn't plan to learn Magecraft in earnest; I only needed a minimal link to the Mystery of the world. It wasn't as if I needed results immediately.