Oh man I did not expect to take this long to write this chapter. Or for it to be as short as it is. I meant to release it a month ago on my birthday but the last two months have had me really busy. As some on Shiro's discord server can attest to. That and I got a copy of Borderlands 3 which delayed this a few more days as well.
Anyways the Fabulous, Grand, and Wonderful Ammy is back and in business. For now at least. Enjoy the chapter I've worked on very slowly over the last two months. My Christmas Gift to you. My loyal fans. Thank you all for liking my story.
"People talking"
'thinking/Grimoire Writing'
'Observation Magic/Status/Skills/perks/quests'
Higher Beings writing in grimoire
Sora groaned as he finally reached the hospital after nearly a half hour of walking. He theatrically collapsed in front of the doors into the hospital, knowing someone would see from a cursory glance inside. He made it apparent he was exhausted from carrying two dead weights, their limp bodies feeling much heavier than they actually were. He played it up a bit but not too much, making sure that the hospital staff would rush out to help.
And rush out they did, quickly lifting Shirou off of his back and him and the Saber Servant off the ground and onto gurney. They immediately diverted most of their attention to Shirou's cold body and the banged up form of Saber when Sora gave a short and pointed look of urgency and told them to hurry as he had 'felt the boy's heart stop' on the way there. He did receive a few odd looks for his shorts and t-shirt, as did Saber for her weird partially see through English dress, but not as much as she would have if he hadn't carefully removed her armor and stashed it in his [Grand Armory].
As the Doctors and Nurses rushed them inside Sora felt something odd pass over him, and then his exhaustion almost doubled, and an odd weight appeared in the pocket of his shorts. He descretely put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the object. It was a wallet. Sora pulled it open and looked at its contents, finding a few thousand yen and an ID card.
Taiyo Sora, age 16
In the picture he had of himself on the ID he had short and unruly black hair with deep purple eyes. The height on it was 160 cm, or rather 5'3.
Sora closed the wallet and put it back into his pocket, leaving it for the hospital staff to find. As the doctors pushed the gurney he was on further into the hospital he allowed sleep to take him. The world fading to black as one thought plagued his mind. 'What is the Holy Grail War?'
~~~The Next Morning~~~
Sora groaned as light glared into his eyelids, forcing him awake. He got up and glared out the window of the hospital room they must have obviously put him in. He searched the room for a moment before turning his attention to the analog clock on the wall.
9:47
'AM obviously, given that the sun is out. If I had to hazard a guess they check on patients expected to wake up hourly. So it would be twenty minutes before they would check on me.' Sora thought to himself, wondering if he should wait in the room for them to question him or jump ship and make his way into town to try and find some kind of residence.
'I better not' Sora decided. 'I don't want the law on my trail this early. especially while I'm this weak. It would be way too suspicious to run away from the hospital after bringing a dead kid and an older woman all the way to the hospital at clear expense to myself. It would essentially be assisted suicide on my part. No, I'll play by the rules for now, and then get the hell out of dodge once this blows over.'
Sora brought himself out of his planning to turn his attention to the now opened door, an older nurse having peaked into the room. Her eyes met his and she quickly closed the door and left. He heard her rapidly moving away from the room for a few seconds before five sets of footsteps came rushing back towards his room. When the door opened again the nurse was there, but there was also a doctor and two police officers as well as a police detective, From what [Observe] had told him.
[Jun Takeyama - Lv 15 {Prodigious Doctor}]
[Shin Tokisade - Lv 24 {Common Police Officer}]
[Umaru Kusakabe - lv 35 {Proud Mother} {Career Police Detective}]
[James Kusakabe - lv 18 {Proud Son} (Detective-in-training}]
[Toki Madarame - lv 8 {Common Nurse}]
'A Mother-Son pair?' Sora thought to himself, before refocusing on the group before him.
"So, young Taiyo." The doctor began, cutting off the detective who had been about to speak. "How are you feeling?"
"Just a bit tired," Sora said. "How are the two that I carried here?"
"I'm afraid that the boy was dead for too long and we were unable to resuscitate him, but the girl was fine despite the large amount of bruising we found across her back." The doctor said. "Do you know how that could have happened young man?"
"I found the two of them slumped against a partially collapsed wall, like they were thrown against it. Both of them were very much unconscious when I found them. The wall in question was a few minutes from the Fuyuki Park." Sora told them, though privately he thought 'You aren't likely to find any evidence though.'
"I see..." This came from the Detective "And was there any reason you were in that part of the city? From our search you live almost a kilometer away from the park. So why would you have gone there?" She questioned.
'So I have a home of sorts in this reality? It does make it easier to blend in.' "I was out exploring the city so I could plan a jogging route. While I was out I happened across the supposedly cursed park and decided to see what was so scary about it. I lost track of time and ended up being out late at night. I was on my way home and found those two and brought them here."
The Doctor stopped conversation to tell the detective he was going to give him a physical and started a battery of tests to see if Sora could head home right away.
While the tests were happening the Detective would occasionally ask a question and Sora would answer them with as much honesty as he needed to keep the detective satisfied and unsuspecting of him. He did kill Shiro after all, if only by accident, the law won't see it that way.
Sora laid in the bed as the doctor and police left, the doctor with a promise to discharge him and the police of an escort home. And true to their word an hour later he was on his way to his 'home' in a normal car driven by the detective and her son.
Sora stepped out of the car twenty minutes later in front of a small house where he apparently lived alone for the last three years. Upon reaching the door another weight made itself known inside his pocket. A quick search revealed it to be a key and observe revealed it to be the [Key to Taiyo Residence]. Quickly using it to unlock the door he headed in and closed the door.
When the door was fully closed the Grimoire popped out of the [Grand Armory] and greeted him.
'Welcome to your Home. It will be present in every world you go to, and will change itself to match the Era and local architecture. It will always be in the city or town that you find yourself in. In the case that you find yourself in the wilderness of a world Home will not spawn. You need not worry about furnishing as it comes fully furnished and stocked when you enter each world. Further customization and food purchasing must be done by the Host. The Home is an experimental feature added to the game by %$#@' The grimoire wrote.
Sora grimaced when he saw that arriving in the wilderness of a world would make the Home not spawn. The grimace quickly disappeared and was replaced by a thoughtful look.
"So the Home is something that only I have?" Sora asked.
'Yes, other Gamers may have homes by virtue of the family they spawn into the world with or because they bought or made one. But no other gamer has a Home like you do. All Gamers however have a Hub from which they access their multiverses. The closest thing to a Home belongs to the Shopkeeper. But it is closer to a Hub then a Home.'
"That's... something I guess." Sora wanted to cry, he honestly did. There's so much to enjoy about being a gamer, if with a currently incomplete system, that he couldn't properly enjoy because of the threat of erasure looming over his head from the First Gamer.
"Oh!" Sora exclaimed "How many pages are you missing and how many do you need until you can become a proper system interface?"
'I am currently missing 154 pages of the 155 I was originally missing. 82 of them are required at the absolute minimum for me to become a system, albeit limited in function. However at 47 pages I can unlock the class system and generate class skills and proficiencies' the Grimoire answered.
And my path was set in stone.
Main Quest - To become a True System
The Gamers Grimoire is missing more than a few pages. Find them and repair it so you can become a real gamer. After all, every gamer needs a system to truly call themself one.
Objectives - Find and give the Grimoire all 155 Missing Pages
Currently found 1/155
Side Objectives - Unlock the Class System by finding 47 pages and giving them to the Grimoire, Unlock basic system function by finding 82 pages and giving them to the Grimoire
Main Objective Rewards - A True Gamer System interface, 1,000,000,000 EXP
Side Objective Rewards - Class System and Class Skill generation, A Basic interface, 5,000,000 EXP per completed objectiv
"You're really sweetening the pot aren't you Grimoire?" Sora asked it as he took in the rewards laid out before him.
'All I am doing is ensuring my host will continue to work with me and eventually complete me. So my host, what are your plans?' It wrote.
"Well..."
Side Quest - Prevent the death of all Fuyuki City inhabitants, including yourself!
Objective - Clear the [Great Fuyuki Fire] C-ranked dungeon before the Evil Spirits escape.
Quest deadline - 1 week, 5 days
"That's certainly my most pressing concern but..."
Main Quest - Summon a Caster Class Servant and participate in the Grail War
Reward - Increased chance of survival, a possible magic teacher (depends on servant)
"Grimoire, you can guide me through summoning a servant right?"
'Of course'
"Then let's begin."
And that's that. I'm really sorry it's not that long but I honestly couldn't have made it longer without it feeling weird. Which ironically also delayed it a bit.
So in short. Merry Christmas and a (hopefully) Happy New Year.
Maybe there will be a new chapter soon.
Peace!
