Kazuha had little expectations for what he was in for when he stepped out of "his" bedroom. What he thought would go was he and the pink-haired girl who calls him senpai would make their way to this place's cafeteria. However, halfway there, they ran into and were joined by a weirdly dressed person.

…Okay, admittedly, Kazuha himself does stand out in his normal clothes but right now he was dressed more plainly.

"Yo, Master, Mash," the blue-haired man with an equally blue and skintight suit casually greeted them. What caught Kazuha's attention the most was the blood-red spear he carried."Getting something to eat?"

"Oh, good morning, Cu," the now-named Mash replied with a cheerful tone. "Yes, we're on our to the cafeteria. Would you like to join us?"

The blue spearman took them up on their offer, saying he was starving after some early morning training. And so the three went on their way with Kazuha only listening in to the other two talking about things going on in this place. He picked up several keywords: Chaldea, Servants, Singularities, and with some other names like Holmes, Sion, and Da Vinci.

His complete silence did not go unnoticed for long, however.

"Hey, Master. You've been quiet," Cu called him out. "Something on your mind?"

"Huh? Oh… yes." It wasn't a lie so Kazuha didn't feel bad for dodging the question.

"Are you still thinking about that last Singularity?" Mash asked next. "I've been worrying over it too but Da Vinci and Sion said nothing is likely to happen."

"Uh… yeah. You're right. I'm just worrying over nothing." Kazuha tried to fake a laugh but he doubt it worked. In any case, he was no detective— that was Heizou's job —but he assumed whatever happened in this "Singularity" was the cause of his odd situation.

There was a minor discrepancy though; if he also assumed this place was some sort of fabrication or illusion, then nothing should have caused anything from this side. Either that meant this place was real and Kazuha was not having a very weird dream, or there was something that happened on his side— possibly both.

"Food'll get your mind off that whole debacle, Master," said Cu with a hearty laugh.

'Why do you call me that?' It reminded him of some of the servants his and other families had back in Inazuma. Frankly, he disliked being called such.

Soon enough, the trio reached their destination— Chaldea's cafeteria… and even before they entered, they could hear a large commotion going on inside.

"What's happening this time?" From the exasperated tones in both their tones, Kazuha made the safe assumption that this was a regular thing. He wasn't sure if he'd like that. Kazuha was more than fine if he had to mediate whatever conflict was going on in there but he'd much rather stay by the sidelines and let others take the reins.

As soon as they opened the door, Kazuha's ears were assaulted with shouting and the sounds of metal clashing. In the middle of the large mess hall were two combatants locking blades while most of the spectators either watched with excitement or disappointment at them fighting.

"Why am I not surprised it's that hot-headed Saber causing a ruckus this time?" Cu sounded unsurprised at seeing one of the fighters but still grinned at the same time. "I thought she would've learned from last time to take all fights to the simulator?"

"You should step in, Senpai," Mash told him with a defeated look. Now Kazuha was sure that this was a normal occurrence in this place; normal enough that no one was surprised, anyway.

Over the commotion, Kazuha could hear the two fighters hurl insults at each other— something about the one wielding the blood-red sword being English and the white-haired man with the broadsword being French. He assumed it was a country thing even though he had no idea what those countries were.

However, it was faint due to her tone and more aggressive demeanour but for a moment, Kazuha thought he heard the Shogun's voice in the former's. The lightning her sword was giving off, even if it was red instead of purple, was not helping matters.

"Well then, good luck, Master," Cu grinned sadistically, eliciting a confused "Huh?" from Kazuha before the spearman pushed him into the thick of it just as the two quarrelling fighters were about to clash again.

Luckily, the two managed to stop their attacks mid-swing before Kazuha found himself diced into cubes.

"Oh, Master, you're here," the rowdy Shogun-soundalike immediately dropped her hostilities towards the person she was fighting and vice versa. "Did you have a nice nap?" She asked like nothing had happened.

Never mind that— "What's going on here?" Kazuha tried to question them in the most assertive tone he could muster. Naturally, he didn't quite nail it but they still answered him anyway… by pointing fingers at the other.

"He/She started it."

Something told Kazuha that relaxing was something he best forgets about till the end of the day.


As it turned out, Kazuha had severely underestimated the situation. Shortly after the small commotion in the cafeteria ended, everything went along like business as usual (or Kazuha assumed so). That was the last bit of peace Kazuha had for the next several hours. As soon as he finished his admittedly delicious breakfast—

"Master—!" "Yo, Chan-Mas!" "Do you need any extra hands today, Master?" "Master? Can you help me with this?" "Master, Master! Let's play together!" "Master! It's time to train!" "Master…?"

It was always Master this and Master that. Even if they were "his" Servants (as Kazuha would soon confirm thanks to passing talk with Mash), did they all have to call him that? Kazuha disliked it. The fact they dragged him all over the place which, while helpful in getting him familiar with this cold place (in the literal sense), exhausted him. The Servants were all so different and had robust personalities that it was hard to keep up with them.

Was this how the Traveler felt when doing commissions all over Teyvat?

In any case, by the time it was time for lunch, Kazuha was close to collapsing.

"Senpai. Are you okay?" Mash, bless her heart, helped him through the day and expressed concern for him. While she sounded like Director Hu Tao's, her demeanour reminded him more of the Knight of Favonius's maid Kazuha had the pleasure of meeting that one time.

"No need to worry about me," Kazuha tried to play it cool but naturally failed to convince her.

"If you want to, you can take the rest of the day off," she told him. "I'm sure everyone will understand if you want to take the time to rest."

Kazuha appreciated the offer but he remembered that he promised several Servants to help them earlier and he had no intentions of standing them up. He can take a nap later; hopefully, this place has an outdoor area. Kazuha was getting tired of only seeing the white walls and hallways.

Regardless, there were three Servants who he promised to help with whatever issues they had. 'Let's see… their names were…' Hopefully it won't be too tedious…


Being on a ship was fun and feeling the sea breeze hit his face was nice, but Ritsuka much preferred being on land. As soon as they docked in port, he was the first one off the ship; he already had permission from the captain to do his own thing anyway.

As for the city they docked in, Liyue Harbor was calm and peaceful. While he may or may not have PTSD of the Nightless City, Ritsuka found himself enjoying a walk through the Chinese city.

'It is Chinese… right?' It certainly fits the aesthetics but the citizens weren't speaking in Chinese or Mandarin. Then again, it could be magecraft letting him understand everything as usual despite how non-standard this strange predicament he was in was.

As he strolled through the city, taking in the sights, some people recognized him and gave him a wave or said hello. From what the captain said, he was not a stranger to these parts but it still felt odd. Maybe because they all called him Kaedehara Kazuha still.

"Oh, Kaedahara! Over here!" Someone called out to "him" as he passed by the local blacksmith. Ritsuka glanced up at the wooden steps nearby to see someone in green trying to get his attention. "Can you come up for a second?"

…Sure. Why not?

Ritsuka made his way up the stairs to meet the woman in green to see what the problem was. He noted that her clothes were unlike the ones everyone else in the city wore and assumed she too was from out of town. When he tried to talk to her though, she directed him towards the nearby reception where another woman was standing.

"Ad astra abyssosque!" The receptionist greeted Ritsuka with a smile. "Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild." It was probably something that was rehearsed and expected of her to say but Ritsuka was thankful he at least know the name of one place in the city.

"You… wanted to talk to me?" Ritsuka hesitantly asked. Chances were what they were going to discuss concerned Kaedahara Kazuha, not Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"Yes. While it is unorthodox for us to do this since you are not a member, there's a particular commission that we'd like for you to help us with," the receptionist explained. "You'll be properly compensated for it, of course."

If there was a fatal flaw with Ritsuka, it was his willingness to help others. As such, he accepted without missing a beat even though he knew he should at least hear what this commission was first.

'Eh, it can't be too bad, can it?'


As it turned out, Ritsuka had severely underestimated the situation. The commission the Adventurers' Guild had was a particular case of highway robbers that were prowling the road to a nearby mining site. The Guild was currently short on available members and as it happened, this particular group of robbers had come across Kazuha before and he had sent them packing the last time.

On the one hand, great, this Kazuha guy sounded more and more like a nice guy to Ritsuka. On the other hand, Ritsuka was now stuck doing something that Kazuha (maybe) normally does— clearing out a bandit camp by himself.

He could not back out though, both out of pride and knowing he should do something to help. As such, after somehow getting lost on the way (don't judge him), Ritsuka arrived at the bandit camp— "It's him! Run!" —where several of the bandits promptly ran with their tails between their legs. That nearly went as smoothly as Ritsuka hoped it would. He pinned his hope on dealing with this commission on scaring them away with his sheer presence alone.

Unfortunately, the operative word here was nearly.

A few of the bandits stood their ground and readied to fight him, wielding weapons like shovels against him. That should have been easy enough; he was far from being an expert but Ritsuka had been trained a bit in swordplay, mainly thanks to a couple of his Servants wanting to see how he'd carry himself with one. He wasn't planning on killing them or anything but he could at least deflect their attacks and maybe disarm them if he was lucky.

That was his initial plan— the second some of the robbers started chucking firebombs in his direction, Ritsuka had to turn tail himself.

Then things got worse, much worse.

ROOOOAAARRR!

The absolutely massive monster let out a loud roar that shook the very earth. In his bid to escape from the bandits, Ritsuka ended up running into yet another camp. This one was not filled with human bandits that fled upon seeing him coming, this second camp was occupied by a bunch of humanoid creatures that wore masks and carried clubs, staffs, and such.

Oh, and had a hulking version of themselves leading them. A hulking version that was now after Ritsuka's ass. If it catches him, his goose was soooo cooked.

"WHY DO I HAVE SUCH TERRIBLE LUCK?!" Ritsuka screamed as he was chased across the fields by a giant monster and his cronies.

And as if the gods themselves were watching him, another curveball was thrown his way. He only took one second to look back and he immediately tumbled down a small ledge and fell into a shallow lake.

"Ow…" He groaned as he tried to get up. 'Great, now I'm all wet too.'

Splash!

Annnd now the monsters had caught up with him too. Things couldn't possibly get any worse.

"Well… when push comes to shove…" Ritsuka mumbled before unsheathing his sword. At this point, it was better to try his (terrible) luck and stand his ground. 'If you are a real person, Kazuha, I'm sorry.' His body was likely going to be in terrible shape soon.

Ritsuka buried his feet in the mud as he watched the lumbering giant with its massive rock shield slowly come towards him. It stepped into the foot-deep river too, getting a bit wet in the process, and was still followed by the other smaller monsters.

'This is going to hurt…' Ritsuka thought to himself.

A cool breeze blew past them, making him shiver, but Ritsuka kept a brave face on. He waited for the monsters to make the first move; it was a smarter play… he thinks. He hoped to the gods that were clearly watching and screwing him over that at least one of them was going to throw him a bone and he'd get out of this relatively unharmed.

"Ice and frost, incarnate yourselves!"

…Okay, maybe he was not too far off the mark.

From out of nowhere, a snow-white wind blew past Ritsuka and, in a single moment, the monsters were completely frozen solid.

"You are…" a calm, serene voice from behind him spoke. A voice Ritsuka was more than familiar with.

"Artoria?" Ritsuka spun around, hoping to see one of the many versions of King Arthur… only to see a tall woman with long white hair that covered her right eye. She wore a mostly black bodysuit that showed off a bit of skin with a white top and some red cords accessorizing her. His savior also carried an icy spear.

Ritsuka stared at her for a few seconds before blankly saying, "You're not Artoria."

"No, I am not. I'm afraid you have mistaken me for the wrong person," the woman said. "Maybe I did too… Are you Kaedahara Kazuha?"

"…Yes."


A/N: Of course the first person Ritsuka'll run into is the one voiced by Ayako Kawasumi. Although, I did initially plan for him to bump into best girl in the streets of Liyue, I thought it'd be better (and funnier) to have Ritsuka be saved by someone while running from a Mitachurl.

It also juxtaposes better with Kazuha having to deal with all the Servants in Chaldea, both would in some sort of situation. Speaking of which, any Servants you guys would like to see next chapter? Leave a comment/review/whatever and I'll see if I can throw them in for Kazuha to have to deal with.