No More Side Quests!... For Now

About a dozen or so meters away from Shuhang, a figure gradually revealed itself from the shadow. If this old man isn't that troll Zelretch then Shuhang swore he would eat his own shoes.

"Kuku... a visitor from another world. What a pleasant surprise." said the old man in an amicable tone. Shuhang wasn't fooled by that however and treated this old man for what he truly is. A dangerous and unpredictable foe. Most importantly, he's a goddamned troll who's way too into magical girls.

"Surprise my ass, old man. I may not know everything there is about this world, but I know enough to be able to say there is no such damn thing as an 'Emperor' class servant. You've been expecting me way before I came to this world. Most likely from the Kaleidoscope's passive ability to make its users to view alternate realities for limited future knowledge. In other words, you've long since noticed my existence via precognitive sight."

"Hou... If that's what you say, then it must be true." responded the old man in an even tone and a grin on his face. That smirking face of his is making it harder and harder for Shuhang to resist punching him in the face.

"💢 So...? What is it that you want from me? To go through all the trouble of tweaking the Grail just to catch my attention..."

"....I was just curious and wanted to see you in person. Even now, I can't seem to see through you at all. Everything just seems to be in chaos and unstable. Hm. How interesting... truly."

"The hell is this old man playing at? As a user of kaleidoscope, isn't it obvious that my future and fate would be in constant chaos? You use the same Magic as me so you should know this already..." said Shuhang with a bit of a frown. The answer that Shuhang received however sent his mind whirling in chaos.

"Do you take this old man for a fool? I have hundreds of years worth of experience with the 2nd True Magic. That said... I am more than 90% sure that you are not a kaleidoscope user. It may look and work in similar ways but... that's about it. They are not at all the same thing." said Zelretch with a sneer. It's as if he's looking at a total fool.

"...Huh?"

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Hours later after their 'pleasant chat', Zelretch had long since left and went back to wherever it is he came from. Currently, Shuhang stood motionlessly atop a skyscraper as he faced the direction of the sunrise. His talk with the old man opened his eyes to many things he took for granted before. He didn't believe everything that left the troll's mouth of course, but he did make a lot of sense.

(Damn... now I'm starting to doubt that loli-goddess. If what Zelretch said about my 'kaleidoscope' is true then... what about the rest of my 'cheats'? Leaving the Library aside, Ddraig himself is highly suspicious. The ability to endlessly alter 'concept' is really too damn terrifying no matter how you look at it. And not to mention that it is also not the ability of the 'original' Red Dragon Emperor.)

After bouncing some ideas around, Shuhang got no closer to the truth and is in fact just getting more and more confused.

(Really. Is it possible that... it wasn't a 'mistake' that I was killed? If it was on purpose, why? And even if I'm starting to believe that I've been setup, why is it that I have this feeling I should trust her still? Is it mind control? Suggestive hypnosis?) pondered Shuhang with a growing frown. When the sun finally rose for the day, its light reflected itself in Shuhang's eyes which broke him off from his trance.

"Sigh... no point in thinking about it now when there aren't enough clues to go around. My only goal now is to find a way to finally break through to the next realm. As long as I'm strong enough... in front of 'absolute' power....."

As his voice fell, Shuhang's figure gradually faded away. As of this moment, the 3 people known as Song Shuhang, Illyasviel von Einsbern, and Tohsaka Rin no longer existed in this 'reality'. Well... until they came back and visit anyways.

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"Hm?" mumbled Venerable White as he noticed a new presence appearing within the house. After recognizing who it is, Venerable White turned his gaze back to the laptop. On the screen, there were multiple windows opened as dozens of different types of documents were displayed on the screen.

They were of course all things that his good friend, Song Shuhang, recommended he studied to be able to blend into the modern world. For some reason though, there was a lone picture of what seems to be a 'hand guided tractor' buried under many other windows.

"Yi? Morning already? Also fine... It's a good time for a tea break anyways." With that said, White closed the laptop and took out his tea set. One cup for himself and the other for the Shuhang who was making his way down the stairs.

"Good morning, Shuhang." greeted Venerable White as he gave off a radiant smile. Were it anybody else, they would have hopelessly fallen in love with White already. Regardless of the gender and orientation. For Shuhang however... he just offhandedly returned the greeting. This is one of the reason why both he and Shuhang became such close friends despite having only met recently.

Of course that '1 week' trip had a big say in it, but the biggest reason would be due to both their 'troubles' involving their irresistible charms. Surprisingly, neither party were affect by the other person's charm. This truly gave White a peace of mind as their friendship were more genuine than any other. Since neither party were affected by their charms that is.

"...morning." After saying so, Shuhang wordlessly took the offered cup of tea and downed everything in one go. Then without a word, Shuhang put down the cup and walked off towards the kitchen, presumably to make breakfast.

(Oh? He seems to be a bit distracted today. Did something happen last night? Also, why is he going into the kitchen? Is it not the Su Clan's Junior that usually do the cooking?) thought Venerable White in confusion.

Sixteen and Doudou who showed up some time ago was also perplexed by the sight of Shuhang expertly preparing breakfast in the kitchen. His movements were fluid, as if he had done so hundreds to thousands of times already. It's almost as if his body were in auto mode due how used he is to doing this.

(Did Shuhang eat the wrong medicine today?)