Fate/Magus Path

111 Prepare

"What kind of joke is this? You ran into Aoko today?!"

After a long day, Touko had just returned to the hotel at night. Before she had the chance to eat the dinner that Roy and the others had brought back, she was startled by the shocking news.

"Where did you run into Aoko? Does she know who you are? You didn't reveal anything about me to her, did you? Hurry, tell me exactly what happened."

Touko immediately stood up from the sofa, forgetting all about eating, and grabbed Roy's shoulders, bombarding him with questions about the situation.

"You need to sit down and calm down, Touko. Maintain a magus's basic composure. Don't lose your cool just because you heard the news about your sister. Don't forget... you are the challenger this time..."

Hearing Roy's words, Touko managed to calm herself down a bit. Realizing her outburst, she nodded and let go of his shoulders.

Cautiously, she asked, "You didn't reveal our situation to Aoko, did you?"

"You might be disappointed."

Roy shook his head. "I've already informed her that you've returned to Misaki Town. Right now, your sister is probably running all over the city looking for you."

"..."

"?"

When I ask a question, does that mean there's a problem?

"Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"Of course, I'm on your side now." Roy answered lightly. "After all, you're my employee, so I'll naturally help you."

"But you..."

Touko tried to say something else but was interrupted by Roy's next words.

"Relax, Touko. Even though this is your hometown, don't forget that this city is also the other side's territory."

"Today, I took Shiki around the city and discovered a lot of interesting things. The Aozaki family's bounded field and that witch's surveillance covered the entire city. If you were trying to hide, that's one thing, but with the way you've been moving, you've definitely already been detected. So why not just be open about it?"

As he said, even though she had taken precautions, Touko hadn't fully escaped the detection of the Aozaki family's bounded field, despite her careful concealment.

Ever since Aoko Aozaki left on her travels, Alice Kuonji had temporarily taken over as the guardian of Misaki Town's ley lines, deploying familiars to monitor potential threats in the city.

The phantasmal species golden wolf that Touko had left behind was naturally one of the main subjects of Alice's surveillance, so her contact with the wolf today did not go unnoticed.

Aoko Aozaki's return wasn't coincidental either.

Recently, Alice Kuonji's familiars had detected many Dead Apostle presences in Misaki Town. People had started going missing at night, and the Church's Executors were likely already involved. The city was gripped by fear.

There wouldn't be this level of alarm if it were just ordinary Dead Apostles. But Alice had detected at least five Dead Apostles in the city, and her intuition as a witch told her that this situation wasn't simple.

With so many Dead Apostles appearing at once, they were either plotting something or there was some creature in the city capable of creating Dead Apostles on a large scale.

Given that such a threat could exist in her own city without her detection, the opponent could be a significant figure... perhaps even one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors!