26 Arrival in Fuyuki

With the moon high in the sky, the air in a back alley in Fuyuki city shifts as three figures materialise in the alley. One is wearing clothes that are clearly too big for her, another looks like a small nun, and the third is seemingly a high school girl. Huang Luan, Theresa, and Satsuki have arrived in Fuyuki for the 4th Holy Grail War.

"And the place we appear is an alley…" Satsuki mutters.

"It doesn't look too different from my world," Theresa says.

"So what now, I don't really know much about this world and to be honest I don't trust that Kazuma and Konata will give us the right information if we ask," Huang Luan says.

"Why? They seemed pretty informed about this Quest and gave us a lot of information beforehand. I think they're reliable," Satsuki says.

"Yeah. I mean, they can be a little irresponsible sometimes, but I don't think they're bad kids," Theresa says.

"Think about it for a moment. Think about their personalities. It's 100% possible they send on on a wild goose chase for entertainment," Huang Luan says.

"I don't think they would do that, they gave me the impression that they were reliable people when I spoke with them," Satsuki says.

Theresa doesn't say anything as a strange expression appears on her face as she realises that it isn't outside the realm of possibilities for those two to mislead them for fun.

Huang Luan shakes her head, "You simply haven't been with them for long enough. Those two are definitely trouble makers. If we give them the chance, they'll definitely take it."

In truth, Huang Luan doesn't actually think that Kazuma and Konata will mislead them and are likely to give reasonable answers to any questions they ask about the current Quest. But Huang Luan wants to procrastinate and spend as much time in this world as she can. In her view, it's far more interesting to spend time in another world compared to the school trip to Osaka.

"Oh, by the way, have you bought the Energy Conversion ability in the Chat's Shop? Although I don't think it's particularly useful for Satsuki right now, I think it will be quite useful for you Theresa. It's 1,000 points, but you should have enough unless you've been super unlucky on your daily sign-ins" Huang Luan says as she recalls the matter.

"Oh this does look useful," Theresa says as she reads the description in the shop, "Converting one type of energy into another. So I can use it to draw in mana and change it to Honkai energy. It's a shame that isn't all-purpose and I need to specify the type of exchange from the beginning and then buy it again for a different conversion."

Raising her eyebrows, Huang Luan says, "You say it's a shame, yet I can clearly see in the purchase history that you bought it."

"I never said I wasn't going to buy it. More importantly, we should figure out what to do. For starters, we can take a look at the Quest again," Theresa says.

The three of them bring up the Quest Window in the Chat Group. But upon opening it, they see a warning sign next to the bonus objective for not triggering a response from the Counter Force.

"This doesn't look like a good thing. This isn't my fault, is it?" Satsuki asks.

"Don't blame yourself," Theresa says to comfort Satsuki.

But hearing Theresa say that, who is quite a bit smaller than her, Satsuki can't help but think it to be a little strange.

"Hey, the two of you are older than me, right?" Satsuki asks.

"What are you insinuating?" Huang Luan and Theresa say simultaneously.

Feeling a sudden pressure on her, Satsuki subconsciously takes a step back with her hands folded in front of her, "N-nothing, I… I was just curious."

Suddenly, the back of Satsuki's hand begins to glow red and heats up slightly as three command spells appear. At the same time, Huang Luan feels a small connection flowing between her and Satsuki. Though much of it is redundant, Huang Luan receives an influx of information, but the only parts that are useful are those pertaining to the Holy Grail as well as the designation she's been given.

"Those should be the command spells that designate you as a Master in the Holy Grail War, right?" Theresa asks.

Inspecting her hand, Satsuki says, "Probably."

"About that warning sign about us almost failing that bonus objective, the one about not triggering a response from the Counter Force. Turns out that it's probably my fault," Huang Luan says.

"What did you do for the Chat Group to explicitly warn us about it as soon as we got here?" Theresa asks.

"Strictly speaking, I did nothing. It was my existence that triggered a response. As Satsuki got her command spells, I also got some information. A lot of it was useless stuff about the time period, but there was also some information about the Grail and about my abilities. If I return to my Mythical Creature form, I will be regarded as a threat to humanity and it's probably this that would trigger the Counter Force into action."

"So as long as you don't transform we can still complete this bonus objective?" Satsuki asks.

"Probably," Huang Luan shrugs.

"Hey, shouldn't we find a place to use as a base or hideout? There isn't much of a sense of security with us standing in the middle of an alley and if anyone saw us it would look incredibly out of place," Theresa says.

" I can see what you mean. But I refuse. You two can deal with this on your own, Imma go and look for some fun things to do, cya!" Huang Luan says as she instantly disappears from the view of Satsuki and Theresa.

Over the course of the night, Satsuki and Theresa managed to get a room at the Hyatt Hotel in Fuyuki. Although the topmost 24 floors were booked, they still get a room that can accommodate three people on the 2nd floor. During this time, Huang Luan had also been exploring the city and came across an interesting scene, a man clad in black wearing a skull mask was pierced and killed by several weapons flying through the air, launched from a golden portal.

Currently, Satsuki and Theresa are lounging in their hotel room and they open the Chat Group.

Teriri: "We've gotten settled at a hotel for the time being. But Huang Luan ran off to who knows where."

Advocate of Gender Equality: "Has the Grail War started yet?"

Sacchin: "How would we know?"

Advocate of Gender Equality: "Uhh, if all the other servants have been summoned."

Teriri: "Why do you think we would know that?"

Advocate of Gender Equality: "Fair point."

Retired Loli Sovereign: "Based on what I saw, then yes, the war has begun. A dude in black with a skull mask was skewered by a flurry of flying blades coming out of golden portals."

Advocate of Gender Equality: "Ok. I understand where you are in the timeline now. Officially that is the first battle of the 4th Grail War. But little do others know, it's a trap. That was Assassin being killed by Archer. But the Masters of those two are working together right now. Assassin's true name is Hassan of a Hundred Personas and has 100 different bodies."

Retired Loli Sovereign: "Alright, I think I get the plan. They pretend that Assassin is out of the war to lower the guard of the other participants. But is secretly lurking in the dark to strike the unsuspecting Masters."

Konakona: "Unrelated note, what hotel are you guys staying at?"

Teriri: "The Hyatt Hotel. These hotels also exist in my world, so I was a little surprised to see them here as well and by how similar they are to the ones in my world."

Konakona: "I heard it's a nice place. You probably won't need to worry about any problems there, its foundation is pretty good."

Seeing the name of the hotel, Kazuma's expression shows a hint of worry as he remembers some details about a certain man who wishes for world peace and sends a private message to Konata.

Advocate of Gender Equality: "Should we tell them about the bombing?"

Konakona: "Hmm… Nah. I think it's more interesting this way. We should get them to stream the events too."

Advocate of Gender Equality: "But isn't it a bit dangerous for them not to know anything."

Konakona: "Take a moment and think about who we're talking about here. Do you really think they'll be in danger from someone like Kiritsugu?"

Advocate of Gender Equality: "Fair point."

Konakona: "I've got my popcorn and I'm ready to watch the fun."