The girls cautiously observed the two sisters. They hadn't forgotten that the practice of using glasses to segment personalities was something Aoko had taught Roy. In other words, when Aoko took off her glasses, it meant she was truly angry.
"Touko, you..."
Aoko froze for a moment, her expression complex as she glanced at Touko.
Aoko wasn't bothered by Touko's anger—after all, their relationship had weathered countless storms, even including life-or-death battles in the past.
But the fact that Touko was this angry meant she was taking the matter of Roy very seriously.
"I was saved by Aoko and raised by Touko."
Seeing the tension between the two sisters escalating, Roy sighed softly, as if lamenting the situation.
"Regardless, both of you are irreplaceable in my life... By the way, don't you want to know what I experienced at Outside of the World?"
His words instantly redirected everyone's attention.
Rin and Illya's eyes lit up as they crowded around Roy, practically urging him to continue.
The Outside of the World—for modern magi, it remained an unexplored frontier, the very depths where the Root resided. The fact that Roy had ventured there and returned alive would pique the interest of any magus. Some might even speculate that he had obtained the Sixth Magic.
Utaha and the other girls looked bewildered. What is the Outside of the World?
Even the Aozaki sisters found their focus shifting slightly at this revelation.
"I saw the Root there—and even spoke to it. Though I'm not sure if it counts as a proper meeting."
Roy glanced at the visibly unsettled Touko and smiled, patting the spot beside him.
"Alright, everyone, take a seat. I'll share what happened with you."
The Root hadn't forbidden him from speaking of it.
If secrecy had been demanded, some form of warning would have reached him by now.
But as Roy surveyed his surroundings, he detected no such signs.
This meant the Root had permitted it.
Of course, Roy had his own reasons.
Some parts of his conversation with the Root at the Outside of the World were worth sharing with everyone.
After a brief hesitation, Touko put her glasses back on and sat down beside Roy with a resigned expression.
Aoko shrugged and found a seat as well, though she mentally filed away this incident.
Touko's attachment to Roy was unlike anything she'd seen before.
"Alright, where should I begin..."
As the girls settled into silence, Roy lowered his gaze, carefully choosing his words.
"First, let's start with last night's battle..."
***
Time passed steadily.
The sun gradually rose above the horizon—today's weather was splendid.
In the living room of the Aozaki residence, Roy selectively recounted his experiences from last night until now.
This included his final battle with the King of Heroes, his handling of the corrupted Holy Grail, his plunge into the world's outer edge, his encounter with the simulated persona of the Root, and his transaction with it.
The details of his deal with the Root were glossed over—he only mentioned that he would assist the Root in exploring other worlds.
"I'll also benefit from it. It'll greatly aid me in achieving my ideal."
"Your ideal?"
At this, Aozaki Touko rubbed her chin, visibly intrigued.
"Now that you mention it, I've never asked—what is your ideal?"
"Hmm, I think I might be the only one here who knows."
Touko shot her sister a glance, a faint smirk playing on her lips.
Score one for me!
Aoko rolled her eyes.
Ugh, she's impossible.
Rin and the others also turned their attention to Roy with keen interest.
Roy's ideal—truth be told, they were deeply curious about it.
For someone like Roy, who had endured inhuman suffering in the past, what kind of ideal could have emerged from such experiences?
"Simply put, it's to dismantle magecraft, eradicate all tragedies born from it, and reconstruct a new system to compensate for humanity's inherent flaws."
Under the girls' collective gaze, Roy smiled lightly and gave his answer.
Though he delivered it casually, the moment the words left his mouth, the entire room fell into stunned silence. Even Rin and Aoko were left speechless, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
From such pain and torment... this was the ideal that had been born?
Because he himself was a tragedy wrought by magecraft, he sought to prevent all such tragedies from ever occurring again.
After me, no more suffering.
How many people could claim such nobility?
No—how many people could even conceive of such a thing?
Among the girls, the one most profoundly shaken wasn't Rin or Illya, nor was it Utaha or Ichika, who were still unseasoned in the ways of the world.
It was Hayasaka Ai.
Hayasaka, who had always adhered to a philosophy of self-interest—especially after arriving in this world, where she embraced it wholeheartedly.
Hearing Roy's words, the turmoil in her heart surpassed everyone else's, and her gaze at him grew indescribably complex.
"A reconstructed system of magecraft..."
Rin crossed her arms, her expression grave.
"Maybe I'm overstepping, but Roy—what does this ideal system of yours look like? Do you have even a basic framework in mind?"
Her eyes held a trace of concealed worry.
Roy's psyche had never been stable, and Rin's greatest fear was that one day, under the weight of his ambitions, he would undergo an irreversible transformation—descending into the same abyss as Zouken Matou or Uemon Ji.
Especially with something as monumental as rebuilding the foundation of magecraft.
One misstep, and the very ideal meant to save others could become the chains that dragged him into depravity.
"It's still very rough, but I do have a general outline."
Roy met Rin's gaze and smiled reassuringly, as if seeing through her concerns.
"Don't worry, I won't take extreme measures. For example—what if we incorporated a 'karmic retribution system' into the new framework?"
"Karmic retribution?"
The entire room echoed in unison, baffled.
"It's simple."
Roy nodded and elaborated.
"The core principle boils down to one phrase: Good deeds bring rewards, evil deeds bring punishment. By giving humanity a clear choice between good and evil, which path do you think they'd take?"
"So you're materializing the abstract doctrines of religion?"
Rin pondered this carefully.
Unlike the vague promises of divine justice in religious teachings, this system would deliver retribution immediately.
"But wouldn't that create a host of new problems..."
***
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