"Ah… it's the ceiling I'm starting to forget."
Shichen opened his eyes and saw a ceiling he was almost starting to forget, and for a moment his mind went blank.
"What are you even talking about? You say that all the time—what does it mean?"
Frieren's voice snapped him fully awake. He looked down and saw the silver-haired elf girl sprawled on top of him.
Her face was delicate and pretty, though her expression was as flat as ever—cool and restrained. Shichen liked that about her.
He lifted her by the waist, pulled her closer, and gave her a quick kiss without hesitation.
"Morning kiss," he said with a grin.
"Don't. It's morning. You haven't even brushed your teeth," Frieren said, eyes half-lidded in disgust.
"You haven't brushed either."
"I didn't ask you to kiss me."
"There you go again. You're not even a tsundere—stop pretending you don't mean it."
"…I'm not arguing with you." Frieren rolled her eyes. "I have no idea how I ended up getting stuck with someone this shameless."
Thinking back to when she first met Shichen, that had been the darkest point of her life. He'd appeared so suddenly—when she'd been dealing with demons, he hadn't been there at all. No sign, no presence.
Now she understood why he could show up like that.
Back then, she'd been lost. If her teacher hadn't appeared—if Shichen hadn't stayed with her—she didn't even want to imagine what she would've become.
Would she have cut herself off from the world? Would she have thrown herself into an endless war until she died?
Maybe her teacher would have guided her anyway. Maybe she would still have been taken away.
But she could already picture it: whatever came next wouldn't have been nearly as interesting as this.
Without Shichen, her early days would've been unbearably dull.
His presence gave her a sense of time—something concrete to hold on to. It even gave her things to look forward to.
A month suddenly felt long.
Later she learned why: Shichen would disappear for a month because he was traveling to other worlds.
Other worlds… that idea was ridiculous. She'd never even considered it possible. And yet she got to go too—see completely different worlds, different rules, different powers. She'd ended up quietly addicted to the wonder of it.
The world was… surprisingly amazing.
She was grateful to Shichen—and irritated with him. He never cared about her complaints, always decided things on his own, always pushed her around in his own way.
Was she really that easy to bully?
…She kind of was.
Fine. She couldn't beat him anyway. If he was going to be impossible, she'd just let him be impossible.
Shichen noticed Frieren closing her eyes again as if she planned to fall back asleep. He started gently shaking her.
"You're going back to sleep? It's not that late. If Illya comes by and sees you—"
"We didn't do anything. Why would I be scared?" Frieren muttered with her eyes closed, not moving.
"Don't be a bad influence. We're sharing a room. It's just… not a great look."
"This is my room," Frieren reminded him, exasperated.
"Your room? What's 'yours' and 'mine' between us?" Shichen said casually.
"…Then you can leave."
"I don't want to get up either. Your bed is comfortable. And having you here is even more comfortable."
"Suit yourself. Illya already knows everything she needs to know. Trying to 'prevent' anything is pointless."
"What? No way. I don't believe that!" Shichen looked genuinely shocked.
It made no sense—he'd always been careful about what Illya was exposed to.
Was she getting "corrupted" by classmates? Kids here matured fast; they got taught everything way too early.
"Why are you so shocked?" Frieren cracked an eye open and gave him a sidelong look, surprised by his expression.
"How could I not be? Illya's still young—she shouldn't be learning weird things already."
"Drop the overprotective dad act," Frieren said flatly. "And it's your fault anyway. You seriously don't realize that?"
"Mine? How is it my fault?"
"You don't know what your own household is like?" Frieren shot back.
"My household…" Shichen started, then choked on the words as reality hit him.
Yeah. He was the problem.
Constant flirting, constant PDA, zero shame about it, never bothering to hide it—Illya hearing and seeing all that every day… of course she'd pick things up.
"You're overthinking it," Frieren said, seeing his face fall. "Illya's sharper than you think. She probably already knew plenty."
"No. Illya's pure. There's no way. It has to be my fault. I'm a criminal," Shichen declared dramatically.
"…Whatever. Go apologize to her, then. And stop interrupting my nap." Frieren closed her eyes again.
"You don't feel bad for me at all?" Shichen stared at her in disbelief.
"Why would I?" Frieren said, completely unmoved.
"You disappoint me, Frieren!"
"That's great."
"Since you still don't realize it, looks like I'll have to punish you."
"That was your plan all along, wasn't it?" Frieren's eyes snapped open.
Shichen tried to look innocent.
Frieren bit her lip, too annoyed to even speak. He was way too good at pushing her buttons.
Her pale face gradually flushed, and her emerald eyes grew watery with frustration.
And just when Frieren thought he was going to take it further, cheerful footsteps pattered outside.
The door swung open.
"Daddy! Daddy, I knew you'd be in here!"
"And… Onii-chan."
Illya ran in, with Sakura following right behind her.
"Illya, Sakura—up this early?" Shichen greeted them calmly, waving like nothing had happened.
As for Frieren, he'd already tucked her under the blanket so only her head was visible.
Frieren shook her head at Shichen's ridiculous reflexes, then—since it wasn't a disaster—went right back to resting.
Good. No chaos. No drama.
It would've been a much worse headache if things had escalated.
She already knew this was her life now. Like it or not, she'd have to get used to it.
…
They stayed at the Einzbern castle for a week, then the whole group moved.
There wasn't much left to do there anymore.
They had a large villa in Fuyuki City—overgrown with weeds, but easy enough to clean.
Even Frieren's magic could handle it.
In two and a half minutes, everything—dust, debris, grime—was gone. The place looked brand new.
The only issue was that the villa had empty rooms and nothing else.
Luckily, Shichen had taken all the household items from the Einzbern castle with them.
Aside from Sella and Leysritt, there was no one left in Einzbern anymore. The head of the family was long gone.
Irisviel and the others didn't care whether the "head" lived or died. Sella and Leysritt staying behind had only been because they didn't know where else to go.
And deep down, they'd been hoping Irisviel would come back.
Setting up furniture and rooms took a while, but it wasn't difficult. Once everything was in place, Sella and Leysritt went to prepare lunch.
Shichen and the others had nothing urgent to do.
"Shichen, why are we in Fuyuki?" Irisviel asked. "Aren't we going straight back?"
"I'm here to confirm something," Shichen answered, looking at Artoria.
"Shichen?" Artoria tilted her head.
"Gilgamesh didn't die," Shichen said. "I want to check on him—just in case he's doing something dangerous."
"Is it related to the mana disappearing from Einzbern's territory?" Artoria asked.
"Not that… though now that you mention it, we might as well investigate both."
"Then what is it?" Artoria pressed.
"You forgot how we met?" Shichen asked with a faint smile.
"The Holy Grail War…"
"Right. The Grail—"
He suddenly frowned and looked down at the back of his right hand.
A red mark was appearing—slowly forming into a clear symbol made of three segments, shaped like a sword.
A Command Spell.