Tergeo!
Early in the morning, Xia Yu was excitedly casting sorcery everywhere.
Initially, she felt that as a lifestyle spell, having Tergeo sandwiched between Senzu Beans and Shamash was a bit mismatched, and it seemed rather useless.
But now...
This estate had some history to it. The original owner didn't actually live here often; his mother lived here alone. Being an old lady, she couldn't keep such a large mansion perfectly clean in every nook and cranny.
Not to mention, the old lady had fallen ill a few months ago and was currently hospitalized in Tokyo. Her son had been urgently sent abroad by his company, and his wife had to look after her mother-in-law, so naturally, they couldn't tend to the estate.
Aside from a few main rooms that were relatively tidy, other places were quite cluttered, and the backyard was covered in a thick layer of dead leaves.
If it weren't cleaned now, it would be even harder once the snow started falling in a few days.
Thus, the first order of business for the Einzbern Family upon landing in Fuyuki City was: cleaning.
Sella and Leysritt were fine with it; they were used to maid work back at the family home. During this Holy Grail War, they were also supposed to be responsible for managing that castle on the outskirts.
Managing such a massive castle with only two people's labor, even with Magecraft assistance, was no easy task.
Illya was still sleeping in, but Xia Yu had gotten up early. Seeing the two of them busy working, she felt bad just watching from the sidelines. Since she had just gotten her hands on a spell, she figured she might as well give it a try.
So, she picked up a straight branch from the backyard, casually traced an arc in front of her, and cast Tergeo.
The dead leaves were swept up by invisible magic, the clutter was categorized, and various bits of trash were piled neatly together, waiting to be cleared away. Xia Yu suspected that if there were a trash can nearby, the magic could have finished the job in one go.
She then found a room with a trash can and tried it.
As expected.
Hey, this magic is fun!
And so, Xia Yu began excitedly waving her wooden stick and throwing spells everywhere.
Sella and Leysritt were stunned.
"This Magecraft... I've never seen it before." As Illya's Magecraft teacher, Sella had a solid foundation, yet she couldn't recognize what school of Magecraft this belonged to... It made no sense!
No communication with a foundation, no runes, no formal incantation (she had used seven or eight different tones for Tergeo)—was this really Magecraft?
She wasn't even channeling Magical Energy!
To be honest, if it weren't so far-fetched, she would have almost mistaken it for Lady Firefly's Noble Phantasm!
Then again, this magic was incredibly useful; one person could easily manage an entire estate alone.
She and Leysritt exchanged glances and began collecting the categorized trash.
It was just too convenient!
Meanwhile, Xia Yu was still enthusiastically waving her little wooden stick.
A pond neglected for a long time?
Tergeo!
Mold spots crawling all over the walls?
Tergeo!
A rusted gate?
Tergeo!
The road in front of the gate?
Tergeo!
Emiya Shirou across the street?
Tergeo!
Wait, what did I just cast magic on?
Emiya Shirou felt the strange change in his body, at a loss.
Well, it counted as a change, right?
He had stayed up late last night worrying about Sakura, and due to lack of sleep, he could only roughly tidy his hair this morning. Now, it was being groomed by a gentle breeze. His slightly crooked collar was straightened, his slightly rolled-up sleeves were smoothed down, and the dust clinging to the edges of his shoes was whisked away...
Most importantly, that refreshing feeling, as if all the grime on his body had vanished in an instant... though he felt he bathed quite frequently and shouldn't have had much grime to begin with...
"Ah, sorry," seeing him standing there dazed, Xia Yu said with a slight hint of apology, "I just wanted to clean up the street. I didn't notice where you were, Emiya-kun."
"Oh, no, it's fine." Emiya Shirou's mind was filled with confusion.
Even though he had only learned a bit of Projection Magecraft and was a half-baked Magus, he had been seriously warned that Magecraft was a Mystery that must not be exposed to ordinary people.
One could tell from the lack of any shadow of Magecraft in his years of ordinary life that this was a rule of conduct followed by the vast majority of Magi.
So... was it really okay to use Magecraft so brazenly on the street? If it weren't him standing here today...
"It's just, uh..." He was still organizing his words. Emiya Shirou had never met other Magi and had never communicated with them, so he was somewhat nervous.
"It's alright," Xia Yu knew what he wanted to say and shook her head slightly. "Your rules don't apply to me."
Huh? You say the more a Mystery is known, the weaker it becomes?
Mhm, you're right; that's how this world works. But that's a problem for you Magi. What does that have to do with me, an Iron Cavalry of Glamoth?
Firefly's power came from Glamoth's modification technology and the SAM Armor; at most, it included the power of a Path. Which part of that had anything to do with Magecraft?
You say I'm a Heroic Spirit... Heh, I'm not even sure if I am one. I can't undergo spiritualization, I have a physical body, and I'm completely unbound by Command Spells... After all, I'm still a living, breathing person.
She even suspected that her appearance from the Heroic Spirit summoning circle was just borrowing a path.
Calculated properly, this had its pros and cons. The benefit was that she wouldn't be forcibly bound by Command Spells to do anything; the downside was that she seemingly couldn't teleport to her Master's side using a Command Spell like other Heroic Spirits.
Meanwhile, Emiya Shirou hesitated to speak.
"Hmm? Looking at you, is there something you want to ask?" Xia Yu tilted her head and asked.
"Um, do you mean this is just a rule of the Japanese Magecraft and doesn't apply to foreigners?" Emiya Shirou could only understand it that way, though that wasn't how Kiritsugu had taught him back then.
"No, it has nothing to do with nationality," Xia Yu smiled. "Because I'm not a Magus, young man."
"Magecraft, in the end, relies on Mystery to gain power. And the more a Mystery is known, the weaker it becomes. That's why they wish they could live like rats in a sewer."
Xia Yu's opening was full of mockery; after all, she really didn't have a good impression of the Magi of this world.
"But I'm different. I'm a bio-engineered soldier, or rather a homunculus, you see. This power is pure technology; it doesn't align with Magecraft at all. Naturally, I don't need to fear the things you fear."
Emiya Shirou didn't understand, but he felt greatly shaken.
"A... homunculus?!" His face was written with confusion. Did such technology actually exist in this world?
In the past, he was just an ordinary (not) boy who couldn't even maintain Projection Magecraft for very long. How could he have encountered such high-end topics?
"Hmm? You didn't know?" Seeing this, a sense of mischief rose in Xia Yu's heart. "Emiya Kiritsugu didn't tell you?"
"Kiritsugu? Wait, you know Kiritsugu?" Emiya Shirou's expression changed drastically. This was the first time he had heard news of Kiritsugu from an outsider.
"Looking at you, it seems he really didn't teach you anything," Xia Yu shook her head. "As for 'knowing' him... that's not exactly accurate either. I've simply heard of him. The one who truly knows him is Illya."
"Illya? That little sister from yesterday?" Hearing this, Emiya Shirou hesitated for two seconds before speaking up. "I have some things I'd like to ask, regarding Sakura..."
"I'd be more than happy to answer your questions, but given the time," Xia Yu looked up at the sky, "aren't you afraid of being late, Emiya-kun?"
"Ah, right, I'm going to be late!" Hearing this, Emiya Shirou hesitated for two seconds, then bowed to Xia Yu. "Sorry, I will definitely pay a visit another day!"
Although he was very concerned about Sakura, he had woken up very late this morning. If he delayed any longer here... besides, Sakura had warned him not to get close to the people across the street.
...Better play it safe for now. He'd ask Sakura again at school; if that failed, he would visit.
Watching his hurried back, Xia Yu felt a bit bored.
How should she put it? Emiya Shirou's name had been known to her for a long time; after all, he was a man who could build a harem in a Yuri series.
But it had to be said, just like Kamijou Touma, every member of his harem was someone he had risked his life to win back.
Such a person was truly beyond reproach.
She just wondered which route he would take.
Thinking this, Xia Yu walked back into the house.
"Is Illya not up yet?" she looked toward Sella.
"Miss is still sleeping in," the latter spread her hands helplessly.
In the main Einzbern home, this wouldn't be permitted. But ever since this Servant had personally blasted Jubstacheit von Einzbern along with the entire castle's Magecraft Workshop, no one could control the young lady anymore.
Logically speaking, although Jubstacheit was also a homunculus, he was different from the others.
Jubstacheit von Einzbern, commonly known as Acht since inheriting the position of the eighth family head, had lived for nearly two centuries by constantly extending his life.
In reality, Jubstacheit was an AI created by the disciples of the third practitioner of The Third Magic to control the castle's core. Full name: Golem Jubstacheit.
He was the father of all homunculi created by Einzbern, and Acht was the eighth-generation humanoid terminal created by Jubstacheit.
His personality no longer existed.
At most, he was a thing acting as a smart AI (not very smart) for operating the castle, with the core code of winning the Holy Grail War and realizing the long-cherished wish of The Third Magic.
In the Third Holy Grail War, the "genius" idea of summoning Angra Mainyu, who bore All the World's Evil, was thought up by this artificial idiot. It could be said he was the source of all the tragedies to follow.
Generally, he was very hard to kill. As the AI system controlling the entire castle, if you didn't have the ability to blow away the entire castle, you really couldn't do anything to him. This was also why Emiya Kiritsugu had failed to see Illya despite going to Europe so many times.
He couldn't beat him.
But under Xia Yu's Might of An-Utu strike, though it only looked like a single wall was blown away on the surface, because it was a direct attack on Acht, the core, the entire castle's Magecraft system was mobilized, hit its limit, and was subsequently breached at the speed of light. The Bounded Fields set up around the Magecraft Workshop were destroyed and left in tatters.
Under these circumstances, the "network" carrying the artificial idiot Acht was on the verge of destruction; his fate was easy to imagine.
The entire system was in pieces. Even if it could be restarted, it would no longer be that Acht.
Currently, aside from Sella and Leysritt, the other homunculi of the Einzbern family were still working overtime to repair the castle and the Bounded Fields and to rebuild the workshop.
Xia Yu opened the door to Illya's room; sleeping in wasn't a good habit.
She looked at the straight wooden stick in her hand.
Should she do it?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
"Tergeo!"
Illya, in the middle of a dream, was instantly startled. She did a "carp skip"... but failed to jump up, ending up as a "salted fish roll."
"You!" Illya's wide eyes instantly found the suspect. "Berserker!!!"
"How was it? Comfortable?" Xia Yu asked curiously, seeing her ruffled state.
"I... com... how could it be comfortable!" Illya jumped up and shouted.
Actually, it was very comfortable. That feeling of all stickiness vanishing, like a rebirth... Normally, she wouldn't be so stubborn.
Mainly, she had been dreaming just now, and in an instant, a refreshing feeling spread throughout her body. Sleeping in always had a price; usually, the mind was drowsy, but now she was full of energy... how to describe it? It was a very contradictory feeling.
Your instinct tells you something is wrong, it shouldn't be like this, but your body says, "You're right, bro, this is the feeling!"
Seeing her stubborn look, Xia Yu looked down at the wooden stick in her hand.
Is my Tergeo... perhaps not quite legit?
I mean 'legit' in terms of magic.
At least in the Harry Potter series, this spell definitely didn't have an invigorating effect.
It was originally just a simple cleaning spell, but looking at the two siblings, Emiya Shirou and Illya, the function of her spell went far beyond that.
Xia Yu thought for a bit, then pointed the stick at herself.
"Tergeo."
Hiss!
Xia Yu suddenly understood.
It was that feeling as if all the dirt on her body had been cleaned away, a feeling of utter refreshment. It wasn't that anything was actually cleaned, but the feeling was real.
Mhm, it was a bit addictive.
"Tergeo!"
Whew...
Refreshing!
Thinking of this, Xia Yu turned back to look at the steward and the maid.
Tergeo x2!
This time, even a trace of pleasure flashed across Leysritt's expressionless, deadpan face.
How does this not match up to Senzu Beans and Shamash? I declare Tergeo to be my favorite quality-of-life magic!
Don't mind the fact that I only have this one quality-of-life magic.
What? You're asking about the Glintstone Sorcery from the Tarnished's side?
Heh, look at that long spell list. Aside from a bit of Starlight that can be used for lighting assistance and has something to do with lifestyle, which of the other spells isn't filled with "fight, fight, fight"?
Although the feeling was addictive, she was still shooed out by Illya, joined by Sella and Leysritt.
On the surface, it was to have her go buy ingredients, but in reality, they couldn't stand her wanting to throw a Tergeo at everything she saw.
However, Xia Yu was happy to come out; she had wanted to wander around Fuyuki City anyway.
Ingredients?
Xia Yu looked at the surrounding streets. She was unfamiliar with the place...
She should have asked Emiya Shirou in advance.