Chapter 4: Chapter 4
"Ah, it's good to be on a bed again," I said while collapsing on the bed of the hotel room where I would be staying for the foreseeable future.
The flight from Fuyuki to London had been seventeen hours, followed by another hour of driving from the airport to arrive at the hotel I would be staying at.
Groaning, I got up off the bed and headed over to my luggage. "But while I would love nothing more than to sleep, I need to set up my bounded fields."
A Bounded Field is a geographical form of magecraft whereby one knits a boundary line of Magical Energy around a space to separate its inside from the outside, cutting off and isolating that space from the outside world, and then imposing an effect on the inside or the boundary line itself.
The Japanese term Kekkai for "Bounded Field" originates from Buddhism. The concept that repels people is something much more basic than magecraft, a fundamental function of the human brain, so magecraft is not needed for a place to naturally repel people without the need for external, mysterious powers. Bounded Fields are always something that isolates an area from the outside world, but they have come to represent techniques by which a magus protects his or her body.
Two types of Bounded Fields exist. The first applies a process on terrain, buildings, etc. to create a boundary between inside and outside. The second involves encircling a prepared component and then cutting the space off. The former includes wards that are used to protect a Magus' mansion or land, designed as defensive measures against other Magi, or security measures. The latter would include uses such as the encircling of a specific ground area using rope woven from hair imbued with Magical Energy, the drawing of magic circles, and so forth.
Going through my luggage, I pulled out a couple of gems. Once I had about ten in hand, I walked over to one of the walls of the room, and with a quick use of the Arc of Embodiment, I conjured up a container of human blood.
With the blood, I drew a pentagram inside a magic circle with my finger and then placed one of my gems in the center. As soon as the gem was set against the wall and I pushed magical energy into it, the gem released its magical energy and became infused with the blood that comprised the magic circle.
"Alright, that's one sigil down, nine more to go." I then began going around the hotel room, setting up the signs. Once I had finished setting up the perimeter for the bounded field, I went to the center of the room, where I began creating the matrix for the bounded field, adding an alarm system, making the room soundproof, and adding prepared magecraft spells to be used as defensive measures.
"Now I just need to set myself as the owner, and then..." As soon as I finished setting myself as the owner of the bounded field, the magical energy inside it as well as the sigils I had set up activated, melting into the walls and disappearing.
But even with them disappearing, I could now feel the bounded field that was now in place. I could see everything in the hotel room, and I knew that the spells would attack anyone hostile.
"Alright, with this done, I can finally go to sleep," I said with a relieved sigh. I collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
[***]
Waking up the next day, I washed up in the shower and then began cooking an English breakfast.
The soft morning light filled my private kitchen as I began looking through the pantry and fridge for ingredients. Once I had all I needed, I began cooking.
I kicked things off by placing a couple of thick-cut bacon slices in a sizzling skillet. The savory scent of sizzling bacon began to permeate the kitchen, instantly awakening my senses. I watched the bacon strips curl and crisp up, their edges turning a delightful golden brown.
While the bacon worked its magic, I turned my attention to other things. In a bowl, I cracked open a couple of fresh eggs and whisked them until they were perfectly combined. In a separate pan, I melted a pat of butter, and into it went the beaten eggs, resulting in a creamy and luscious scramble. The eggs swirled and danced in the pan until they reached the ideal texture.
In yet another pot, I brought water to a gentle simmer and introduced some fresh sausages into it.
Lining up on the countertop were slices of toasted white bread, ready to soak up the flavorful juices from the cooked bacon and sausages. A few plump tomatoes sat nearby, eagerly awaiting their turn in the pan. I grilled them until their skins blistered and their insides turned into a sweet and tender delight.
With everything done, I set my plate on the table and then washed my hands until they were clean.
"Ah, this is some really good bacon." The voice of a man spoke from behind me.
My eyes immediately widened in alarm as I spun around to face the table. There, sitting at the table where I had set my plate, was an old man. He wore a black cloak with a gold trim that sparkled in the morning sun. He had a white shirt underneath, but it was barely visible. He had a cane in his right hand, which he held with confidence and authority. He had spiky gray hair, a beard, and bright red eyes.
Flipping my magic circuits on, I reinforced my body after a quick structural analysis and then activated one of my offensive magecraft spells.
The spell was simple as it pulled the water molecules from the atmosphere, and then the molecules that comprised the water gained more energy and began moving rapidly, creating superheated water. The water would then be compressed into tiny bullets before being shot off. As for the name of the spell, it was named Aqua Ignition.
Around me, four small bullets of my Aqua Ignition spell surrounded me before shooting at the man.
The man simply hummed while looking at the spell before he moved faster than even my reinforced eyes could see, and the spell was destroyed.
"Not bad for someone who has just started using magecraft." The man said this while raising the weapon he used to destroy my spell. It was a dagger, I think, with a jeweled blade.
Wait, I recognize that blade; it's the one Rin used in Heaven's Feel, and now that I looked at the man, I recognized his appearance now that I wasn't rushing to defend myself.
"Your Zelretch!" I yelled in shock as the Wizard Marshall and wielder of the Second Magic, Kaleidoscope, grinned.
"So you know who I am, even though we have never met Shinji-kun. Now that I'm fully invested in this, I have to thank Caubac for bringing up this world line in particular."
"Oh, hell no! I'm not being pulled into any of your shenanigans."Using my reinforced strength, I ran along the wall while activating the defenses of my bounded field.
Water began to form around Zelretch on all sides and then turned to ice. And while I knew it could hold the old man of the jewels, I had to at least try since anything that had to do with that man was a pain in the ass and way out of my league.
Zelretch didn't just show up. Fanfic may have shown him as a bored trickster of the Multiverse, but he was a very serious man and made sure to not involve himself in the world line unless absolutely necessary, content to look on from his observatory in a separate, isolated space. Of course, his eccentric personality somewhat contradicted this, but that is to be expected of a man as old as him.
Just as I was about to bolt out the front door, I fell into a kaleidoscope portal, and when I came out the other side, I landed roughly on the ground.
Sitting up, I rubbed my bruised nose. "God damn it. I knew I couldn't get away, but it's still disappointing. Anyway, what do you want?"
"Now, Shinji-kun, why the rush? Why not eat your breakfast? After all, you worked hard on it, right?" Zelretch said while pointing at my food.
"No, I'm fine. You can have it," I said before sitting down. "Now. What do you want?"
"I see you are all business just like him; you'd think a family would change after three hundred years," Zelretch said with an exaggerated sigh before his face became deadly serious and the playful air around him disappeared, replaced by suffocating silence. "Now let's get down to business, shall we? To be honest, this world line is headed toward destruction, and nothing can stop it."
"What are you talking about? I know you're significantly weaker due to fighting Crimson Moon, but most threats can either be taken care of by you or the protagonist."
"Ah, so you even know about that, huh? Well, then, I'll just tell you plainly that the spider will be awakening in a little over three decades."
"What!" I said it in surprise and fear. I knew what Zelretch was talking about, or at least its name, when it was given once it landed on Earth: ORT, the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud.
"Damn it, that thing needs an entire army of heroic spirits just to stand a goddamn chance against it!" I couldn't help but bite my thumb in annoyance and slight fear. While I wasn't really afraid of death having died once, that didn't mean I liked it, and being turned into a crystal and absorbed sounded not like the nicest way to go. So the question is...
"Why did you come to me, Zelretch? After all, there are better people like Shirou Emiya or Shiki Tohno, hell even Waver Velvet, would work as protagonists of the world line."
"Yes, I considered those young men as well, but they wouldn't be able to get strong enough to fight The Spider in time. But then you came around and changed the script just by existing, so I've been waiting patiently for a couple of years so that I could ask for your help. After all, if you want to save your sister, you wouldn't want her to die, right?" Zelretch said with a grin.
Damn, my bleeding heart! With a click of my tongue, I looked at Zelretch with a glare. "Fine, so why the hell did you show yourself to me? After all, you could have just used the Kaleidoscope to look further down the world line and make me do things."
"Right now you're terribly weak, weaker than magi your age who have been training since they could use their magic circuits. But you need to work up the totem pole, so to speak, so I'll be sending you to a world overseen by another Zelretch, which should give you plenty of opportunities."
"I just got to London, and now I'm going—who knows where," I said with a sigh as I got up and started packing my bags again. After I was fully packed again, I stood before Zelretch.
"Oh yeah, by the way, you're going to need this." Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out something and handed it to me.
In my hand was a ring with a six-pointed star inside it. Around the ring were purple gems and a set of white wings.
"While I don't really care since I know what this is, if I find out this thing makes me wear a dress, I'm destroying it or at least ditching it," I said while deadpanning at the Kaleidostick in my hand.
"While it would be funny to see you in a magical girl dress, I need you to seem like you're taking it seriously and not like a joke," Zelretch said with a laugh. "Now, Kunzite, introduce yourself."
"Understood, Master Schweinorg." A deep male voice spoke from the Kaleidostick before it floated out of my hand until it was eye level with me. "Hello, you must be my new master, correct? I am Kaleidostick Kunzite." Kunzite said as the handle came out of the bottom of him.
With a smile, I grasped the handle of Kunzite. "Yes, I am your new master, Shinji Matou." As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a prick in my hand.
"Understood registering master as Shinji Matou. Activating second magic. Connecting magic circuits to the mana plane Activating Prisma Trace is commencing."
My vision was obscured by a veil of purple magical energy for several seconds before it dispersed into motes of purple-colored magical energy.
"Wow!" I said this in awe as I felt the overflowing power inside me granted by the Kaleidostick. After getting over my newfound power, I looked down at my new outfit.
It consisted of a purple suit jacket on top of a white shirt with a loose dark blue tie and purple dress slacks. I was also wearing some purple socks with dark blue Oxford-style shoes with black soles.
"Well, then with that, I bid you adieu, Shinji," Zelretch said with a grin as he created a portal below me.
All I could do was glare at the old man as I fell into the portal.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone