Adjusting Fate

I meditate in my newly built meditation chamber that looks like another world—a large, still, and reflective lake with floating stone islands and a cloudless blue sky. I am doing this to understand my changes better and possibly further change myself so I would be more Silva Branwen than Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Thankfully, Soul Archive helps identify my changes and whether they are good or bad for my current self and situation.

For starters, I feel far more world-weary and tired than before, but deleting miscellaneous memories from Zeltretch has been helpful. I do not need to know every one-night stand and prank he pulled nor his blurred day-to-day. Another change is giving care about this world outside my circle of friends and family; this is annoying because if worse came to worse, I would transfer everyone I cared about to Remnant or some other world I have set up shop at and let this World Line burn.

The worse change is the sense of boredom and wanting to stand back to watch how things change and unfold; it's maddening. The Zelretch I fused with had done a lot to entertain himself, most of which I deleted; I refuse to be overly passive since I have no intention of gaining immortality and want to live my second life, or is it the third, to the fullest? While sorting my mind and memories, I also started to understand the Second Magic, Kaleidoscope. It can enable me to travel to other worlds but getting back to Remnant is going to be harder than I thought.

For starters, Zelretch has never set foot in that world or, rather, rarely set foot out of his neck of the woods for a few reasons. Each universe has its own set of laws of nature and operates completely independently of other universes. This a good thing for me as I could return to my Remnant right at the point where I was sent away, so even if the System User is still alive, I can still kill him before he causes any damage. However, the bad news is that I have to move from world to world. Who knows how many times I will have to reach Remnant and map the world I am in if I plan on returning to Fuyuki?

This could easily take years, decades, or even centuries, so I likely got a long journey ahead of me, but on the plus side, once I map out my route, I can easily travel to and from Remnant and Fate. Thankfully, Zelretch's method of immortality is easy for me to use. Use the energies from parallel worlds through Kaleidoscope to enrich my cells to the point of producing perfect copies to gain biological immortality. Plus, another thing I have learned is that I am aging, but there is a lag, so the years I experience in this world will hit me all at once at some point causing me to age rapidly.

However, with Zelretch's method, I will be fine, so it's a moot point. I finished my meditation for the day and went out of the chamber feeling refreshed with a clearer mind. As I just left, I heard someone I did not want to meet again, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. Of course, he's here.

" Well, now, since you have joined the family, Mister Demon King of Japan, allow me to welcome you to the family. I always wanted a little brother to torment, I mean play with. You can call me, Onii-chan, Aniki, or whatever term of endearment you want."

" First, are you trying to make me lose my appetite with the nauseating idea of using those terms to address you? Second, drop dead you are already too old for your own good. Third, why are you here? No bullshit on welcoming me to the family. I, unfortunately, know you too well for my liking."

The old man just grins at me, which just worries me because I would not put it past him to show up to troll me to death. Should I just use Gae Bolg on him and be done with it? Not that I would actually be able to kill him. He would undoubtedly run away without a scratch and pay me back later. Zelretch then tells me.

"I am not bullshitting you on welcoming you to the family, and the reason I am only doing this now is after dealing with the situation of the Red Faction losing to your Black Faction during the Great Holy Grail War. Another thing is to give you the heads up that Lorelei has not given up on dragging you to be her bridegroom. I am aware that you fused with a version of myself in a World Line that was becoming a Lost Belt, so I should not need to explain anything to you on the dos and don'ts of world traveling.

Lastly, I am here to wish you luck in your endeavor to return to your home world."

" Okay, but what's the actual then?"

" So distrusting, tsk, tsk. I am going out of my way to tell my little brother good luck, and yet."

I rolled my eyes and just waited for him to either troll me or tell me his real reason for being there. After several moments of awkward silence, the older man tells me after sighing.

" Look, you are an abnormality, and it's not possible to even get an idea of your future in this World Line because, despite absorbing a version of myself, you technically don't belong here. Then there is the fact that you are going to leave soon and undoubtedly return, which throws a lot of things out of order, so I am asking you this only once. What is your end goal?"

" To live my life as best I can until death finally takes me as you should know better than anyone eternity is a curse for most."

He looks me in the eye for a few moments, then sighs as he complains.

" How humble. And I, unfortunately, believe you, but the fact you have the Second Magic will eventually get out will give you a few headaches in the future. Best of luck to you, my new little brother."

He leaves through a multicolored portal, and I finally relax from the tension his visit caused. As I went to get myself something to eat, I felt like I had just stepped into something and looked down to see dog poop on the floor. Thankfully I had my boots on, but still, I should have known that old troll would pull something. A*shole. I used some Magic to remove the mess and clean up. Another change, this more on the physical side or rather the magical side of things, is that my Magic Circuits make using Aura, Magic, and even Divinity easier to use to a degree I had not thought possible.

On a side note, I will pay back the old troll for this a few times over.