"You're saying the Secret Party is stirring up trouble again?"
In the late-night hours at the main hall of Tang City, Wa-zhu was clacking away at her keyboard. A Zhou clan member in charge of recruitment duties had contacted her remotely with the latest developments.
"Wa-zhu-sama, the Secret Party hasn't sent additional personnel from overseas, but their Huaxia division seems upset over being suspended without cause and about us taking over the new generation's education affairs."
"How absurd! They're blaming us for their own incompetence? Were the students selected from the wild mixed-bloods affected by this? What do they mean by 'dissatisfaction'? Are they trying to forcibly keep the students?"
"Well… no, not really. We've successfully enrolled quite a few talented students. Ye Sheng and Gao Mi both scored top marks in the initial tests. They also showed great enthusiasm for learning magecraft and signed the confidentiality contracts without hesitation. Oh, and there's a younger one named Xia Mi—extremely outstanding results…"
Wa-zhu waved her hand dismissively. "Just compile the list and upload it yourself. The relevant project team will handle the evaluations. Do your job well. I'll assign more people to deal with any disruptions from the Huaxia Secret Party division."
She typed a bit more, then finally shut down the screen and collapsed comfortably onto the soft cushion of her long chair.
First she turned on her side, then lay down lazily with her face down. A sliver of her delicate white neck peeked out.
Her long hair cascaded down her body like water flowing along her curves—like the soft springtime willows drooping in strands. Her waist was supple and slender, barely a handful, with just a faintly perky curve at her hips. As for her petite chest, the soft cushion beneath her squished it into a shallow, alluring groove.
Her hand moved, and she pulled out her phone—chiming with incoming messages—from under the cushion.
"…," she scrolled through the notifications with excitement and anticipation, but quickly became disappointed.
The person she wanted to hear from—Emiya—had sent no messages. Instead, it was that chatty Nono who had sent a whole pile.
The gist of Nono's messages was supposedly a report on a group of young people going out at night to "have fun." But Wa-zhu wasn't a noob on the internet—she could tell right away it was some generic copy-paste text pretending to be a formal report. It looked detailed but was totally fake.
Then Nono messaged again, saying she had added someone named Melusine—her so-called distant cousin—to the chat. Along with Wa-zhu, the three of them now had a temporary group chat.
Wa-zhu closed her phone screen and reopened her laptop, logging into the chat. Scrolling up, she saw that the first thing Melusine said upon entering the chat was something that made her vision go dark:
"So… are we doing it tonight or not?"
Nono didn't even react with surprise. She casually replied:
"Sure. You and Emiya already did it by the seaside during the day, right? And now Emiya's working non-stop on his craft… That guy never knows when to rest. Judging by that, he probably used up a lot of energy. I'll take care of him tonight."
"!" Wa-zhu, who had been lying down, shot up straight. The explosive content made her feel like a heavy weight had suddenly fallen on her head.
Emiya… daytime… with Melusine… doing his "craft"… and tonight with Nono…
Wa-zhu's jewel-like eyes looked away from the phone, filled with disbelief. Was she seeing things?
Something definitely didn't seem right.
Still not giving up, she turned her gaze back to the screen, hoping to see more. Her brow was tightly furrowed, her face showing a mix of disbelief, sorrow, and hope.
It was like she was watching a melodramatic soap opera lit by the faint white glow of the screen. And she was the naive and pitiful viewer—
No, more like a tragic heroine caught in the storm, screaming into the snowy winds, praying for a plot twist that would give her the ending she wanted.
Melusine continued:
"Okay then… so who do I sleep with tonight? Can I sleep in Emiya's bed?"
Clack!
Wa-zhu almost dropped her phone, ready to smash it into pieces. This French woman was truly shameless and indecent! She'd always heard that Westerners had open sexual views and messy private lives. Turns out it was all true!
Ever since this Melusine arrived, good young people like Emiya and Nono had been led astray! It was all her fault!
Fortunately, Nono wasn't entirely complicit and scolded her: "Melusine, go put two couches together and sleep there. From now on, that's your bed!"
Melusine responded pitifully: "But the couch isn't as comfy as your beds…"
The rest of the chat devolved into meaningless banter. Wa-zhu scrolled back and forth, her frown never easing.
She still refused to believe—or maybe just didn't dare to believe—that Emiya and the others were living such a degenerate daily life.
No, she had to ask Emiya directly and get his side of the story. Wa-zhu suddenly realized everything so far was just the two girls' claims!
Panicked, she stared at the phone, but Emiya still hadn't replied. He rarely responded quickly unless it was urgent.
Ding-dong!
Suddenly, a new email popped into her inbox.
"…Who is this now?"
Annoyed, she opened the message. The sender claimed to be from the "Yamata-no-Orochi Eight Families of the Far East." The writing was long-winded and formal, sounding like some old-fashioned geezer.
The letter expressed admiration for the deeds of the now-famous "God-Slayer Emiya Shirou," praising his achievements.
It said this was not only a blessing for the Zhou family, but also an honor for the mixed-bloods of Japan. The Zhou clan's defiance of the Secret Party and their refusal to bow to Western power was inspiring. The Eight Families deeply admired them.
The letter concluded with a saying: "To enjoy riches and not return home is like wearing fine clothes in the dark." They earnestly wished to establish contact and, if possible, witness Emiya's brilliance in person when he returned to his homeland…
"…," Wa-zhu thought for a while. Truthfully, she didn't know or care about what eight families lived in that faraway island nation.
But since this involved Emiya's homeland, she figured he would respond quickly if she used this as an excuse.
————
Regent Hotel.
"Hey, seriously—was this necessary? You're sitting right next to each other and still using chat apps to talk?"
Emiya stepped out of his room and found Nono at the keyboard while Melusine clumsily typed away beside her. It looked like Nono was teaching her.
A quick glance revealed they were messaging each other the whole time. Wow, the two of them were really just wasting electricity.
Emiya had been busy crafting Noble Phantasms in his room. Until he mastered Unlimited Blade Works, this handiwork was his full-time job. Better to stockpile now than run out when needed.
Besides, Noble Phantasms didn't just vanish—they were better made in advance. He had a hoarding rat mentality.
He picked up his untouched phone from the desk—he never looked at it while working. Electronics were time vampires. If he checked his phone mid-task, time would slip away without him realizing it.
"That's odd. What's Wa-zhu want so urgently? Didn't she usually talk to you first, Nono?"
"Eh?" Nono smiled mischievously, then quickly put on an innocent face and blinked. "What are you talking about? Nono doesn't get it~"
"I don't believe that for a second. You're obviously up to something. I can practically smell the schadenfreude coming off you."
Ignoring her, Emiya checked his phone. In the chat log, Wa-zhu had sent a long string of messages saying she had urgent business. But at the end, she had cautiously asked:
"You don't have anyone else in your bed tonight, right?"
"???"
Emiya blinked at the message oozing with grievance and quickly replied, "Nope."
Instant reply.
Wa-zhu sent a smiling emoji and said, "Ah, good! Then no problem!"
What kind of play were you girls putting on behind my back!?
"So… what's the urgent business?"
"Oh, it's news from the Far East. It concerns you, Shirou."
Wa-zhu got straight to the point. "Apparently, there are eight major families in that island nation. They're begging the Zhou family to visit for exchange and dialogue. They heard about your achievements and even called for you by name."
"By name? Even after I've been gone this long, they're still naming me specifically when they invite the Zhou clan?"
When he heard "eight major families," Emiya suddenly recalled that The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II mentioned Japan's magic system being based on eight clans.
They preserved various "Shintai"—formally called "Divine Organ Casts," meaning fragments or remains of gods. Japanese magecraft relied on these divine fragments.
"Shirou, did you forget? You've been carrying the Dragon Severing Platform. That treasure represents the Zhou clan. There's no way they'd dare invite you without going through me."
Wa-zhu sighed. "You think you've just been left alone all this time? I've been blocking all the forces trying to probe you."
Emiya was surprised she'd quietly shielded him from so much. "I didn't know… Thanks."
"Hmph. Then you'd better come visit me when you have time."
"Sure."
Wa-zhu smiled smugly. In truth, brushing off those minor forces hadn't taken much effort.
But if she didn't act pitiful and earn his love, how could she claim the heroine spot?
"By the way, Wa-zhu, if you agree to their invitation, be careful. Their trump cards—the 'Shintai'—aren't to be underestimated."
"Shintai?" Wa-zhu had a vague idea—was it like that Odin situation again?
"I only know the basics. They're supposed to be remnants of ancient gods."
Emiya recalled a fuzzy arc from The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II—something about the Yake clan, and a girl named Yake Akira being the vessel of the god Okuninushi.
"The method is to transplant the Shintai into the most qualified descendant, making them a vessel to contain the god."
(End of Chapter)
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