Shirou Emiya.
That was the name of the boy who called out to me that day.
Though of course, he wasn’t called that yet.
It was Kiritsugu who gave him the Emiya surname, after all, and that man has yet to be involved in this boy’s life as of now.
Instead, his current name was Shirou Futaba.
Nevertheless, his status as the true protagonist of this story hadn’t changed a bit in my eyes.
The fact that I met him here surprised me greatly.
Wasn’t he and I supposed to meet later down the line in middle school?
That’s what Shirou said in the original canon when asked how he and Shinji ended up becoming friends.
However, this may not be a deviation like what I initially suspected.
Both of us were still toddlers at this point, and the original Shinji likely didn’t put any emphasis on Shirou’s presence during this time.
It wasn’t too unbelievable for him to have forgotten.
As for Shirou, he definitely forgot considering how he had suppressed his memories after the events of Fate/Zero due to his intense trauma.
Ever since meeting him, I’ve half expected some other major characters to also make their way out of the woodwork, but no such significant figures appeared.
…I guess my luck wasn’t that crazy just yet.
I’ll definitely have to refine some Luck Path Gu Worms in the future.
It never hurts to have more plot armour.
Anyway, it didn’t take long for me to befriend the ginger-haired boy.
Although I didn’t really like the current him, that was mostly just because he was a stupid toddler.
I actually admired the future Shirou Emiya much like I did Gilgamesh due to his steadfast conviction as a so-called Hero of Justice, even if it may be foolish in the end.
He and I were quite the polar opposites, but as they often said, opposites attract one another.
The current Shirou was a far cry from his future Hero of Justice persona, but he was quite upstanding and honest.
A good-natured kid for sure.
However, it was when I told Byakuya about my friendship with him that I ended up receiving a great revelation.
“Futaba…
you met the Futaba family’s son?” Byakuya exclaimed when I had told him about Shirou.
“What a coincidence.
They’re a Magus family too, but a newly established one unlike ours despite their claim of having descended from Senji Muramasa.
Your friend should be the third-generation successor.”
‘So Shirou’s actually from a Magus family?
I guess that does make sense…’
In this world, most Magi were born as such.
It wasn’t Kiritsugu adopting him that made Shirou a Magus.
He must have already had his Magic Circuits before then!
As for why Shirou’s original family was never explored in canon, there wasn’t any need to as they were long dead by the time the Fifth Holy Grail War commenced.
He also forgot about them, which was a vital point as the story was told in his perspective.
Curiously, I asked him then, “How many Magus families are there in the city?”
“Hmm, only a few.
Fuyuki’s not exactly prime real estate for the average Magus.
I would say there are around 4-6 or so at any given time, but the only permanent residents are our own family and the Tohsaka as we are true owners of this land.
All the others pay tribute to us and usually move out to some other place once the, um,” he paused as he was clearly about to say something about the Holy Grail War before deciding otherwise.
“Once the rent gets too high, yes.
The current economy is quite harsh, after all.”
“What’s a tribute?” I asked with a curious expression.
You can think of it as another word for gift.”
“In their case, it’s money.”
“And what’s rent?” I asked another question.
“It’s…
it’s another word for tribute, but it doesn’t necessarily share the same meaning as gift.” Byakuya struggled to explain as I snickered inwardly.
In the end, I was just messing with him.
This guy was terrible at explaining things to young children.
Were it not for my adult intellect, I would have likely been left more confused than before I had asked.
“Regardless, I don’t think you should pay that little boy much attention,” Byakuya suggested with a firm gaze.
“The Futaba’s Magecraft isn’t anything remarkable.
Furthermore, you’re not a Magus, so it’s best to avoid the Magi as they only attract all sorts of trouble.”
Faced with such a bitter truth, I could only nod along.
‘Not a Magus, huh?’ I thought as I recounted how many times this fact was repeated to me explicitly by Byakuya.
No wonder the original Shinji felt so inadequate and became a scumbag.
Not that such a thing justified what he did, but it wasn’t as though he was born a sexual predator.
Luckily, even though I wasn’t a Magus, I wasn’t an ordinary human either as I had my Aperture and the Primeval Essence inside of it.
This strange energy was completely different to conventional Magical Energy.
I’ve already tried to use it in Reinforcement before, which could be considered the easiest type of Magecraft to learn as most Magi could do it, but it simply yielded no results.
This wasn’t to say that the two were completely unrelated as I doubted that.
It was likely possible to convert Magical Energy into Primeval Essence, or the other way around, but I haven’t found the method to do so and likely won’t for a long time considering my atrophied Magic Circuits…
Hopefully, Michizane would be able to devise the refinement method of a Gu that could do this.
It would greatly assist in my cultivation and serve as a suitable substitute for the lack of Primeval Stones in this world.
Months passed as I continued in my cultivation journey, pushing past the halfway point to Rank 1 Peak Stage with the Liquor Worm’s help.
It was one day in late June when a couple of the other kids approached Shirou and me with an unusual offer.
“Hey, you two,” an older boy called out with a smile as they gathered around us.
“Want to join us to look for a treasure?”
“A treasure?” Shirou immediately beamed in excitement at the boy’s offer.
“Like a pirate’s treasure, are those really real?”
“Even better,” the boy continued with a grin.
“It’s the janitor’s treasure…”
“What are you talking about?” I asked in confusion as I displayed a much more cautious expression.
Another boy answered my question as he urged the first boy, “Tenko-kun, show him the map!”
He soon did as he took out an intricately drawn treasure map, which none of the kids here could have possibly drawn.
“This is the map Uryuu-san gave to us.
He says if we can follow the clues on it, we’ll find his secret stash of cookies.”
My eyes landed on the map as I gave it a careful look.
The map was clearly supposed to portray the kindergarten and its surrounding area.
However, all of the notable landmarks had been replaced with fantastical renditions.
For example, the parking lot had been renamed the White Tiger Desert, and the kindergarten director’s office had been titled the Royal Castle.
The route itself would be pretty confusing for these kids since they couldn’t read and had to rely on the illustrations, but it was easy for me to figure it out.
“He said the treasure was in this place,” the boy pointed to a landmark aptly titled the Dragon’s Lair, which was drawn to be a cave where a western dragon slumbered inside.
“But I can’t figure out where that is…”
“Shinji, Misaka-sensei always says you’re the smartest out of all of us.
Do you know how to get there?”
I paused to consider the wisdom in leading these kids to their destination.
For one, this all seemed rather sketchy.
But since the treasure hunt took place entirely within the kindergarten, there shouldn’t be any danger.
More likely than not, that janitor was just putting these kids on a wild goose chase for his own amusement.
The Dragon’s Lair probably contained only some dust and crickets.
Hell, I’d do the same given how boring that job must be.
“Sure,” I muttered a reply after my initial hesitation passed.
“But I don’t like cookies.
You’ll have to get me something else after this.”
The children groaned before we eventually came to an agreement that they wouldn’t bother me with anything like this ever again and leave me alone to cultivate.
Of course, I didn’t say that last part and merely told them that I liked being alone.
My satisfaction quickly wavered though as we reached the location of this supposed Dragon’s Lair.
“Hey, you sure there’s a treasure down there?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“There is, the janitor wouldn’t lie!” The boy with the map said as he then teased me.
“What, are you scared?”
“I sure am.” I said without an ounce of hesitation.
The Dragon’s Lair turned out to be the basement and in order to get there, we naturally had to go down this staircase.
Granted, it didn’t look overtly scary at first since it was fully-lit.
That did not reassure me however as I’ve watched enough horror movies to know that it definitely wasn’t a good idea to enter any suspicious basements.
“Well, you guys can go have fun,” I said as I turned back the other way and motioned for Shirou to follow me.
“Our deal was just for me to find this place, so I’ll leave you all to enjoy your—”
Unfortunately, not only did Shirou ignore my gesture, he also ended up being the first to sprint down those stairs, recklessly shouting for the others to do the same, “The first one to make it there gets half of the pile!”
“Hey, that’s not what we agreed on, jerk!” A girl complained as the crowd of children left me in the dust as I could only give a resigned and frustrated expression.
‘Fucking idiot!’
I cursed inwardly as I felt heated enough to kick Shirou’s shins should I see him again.
No wonder Archer hated his past self.
Did this lunatic not have any sense of self-preservation!?
I definitely could not let him go to harm.
There might be danger down there and I distinctly felt that this whole thing might have been caused by me.
After all, those kids only invited him along because he happened to be next to me and they probably only wanted my guidance.
This meant that he was never involved in the original timeline and thus, never faced this dangerous situation!
Furthermore, those kids in the original timeline probably never even figured out where the Dragon’s Lair was without my guidance…
I gritted my teeth and mentally reached inward, pouring my Primeval Essence into the third Gu that I’ve managed to refine recently.
Of course, I cared about Shirou enough to brave the dangers of that basement.
However, I wasn’t foolish enough to do so without a weapon.
That would just be wasting my life away.
Confirming that the third Gu was ready to be deployed at my leisure, I steeled my gaze and took the first step down the staircase.
As promised, he’s an extra chapter.
What do you guys think of the story so far, any criticisms?