I Can See Health Bars in Real Life

"In fact there was never such a thing to begin with, but if I really went and asked Eirin myself, the nature of this whole matter would become completely different..." Gu Mo thought back a little and felt a chill; he really had been a bit careless, but Her Highness the Princess was honestly way too lacking in martial ethics.

She lied! She ambushed!

And she picked the moment when his mind was in chaos, with too many things splitting his attention, when he was already at his wits’ end... with just a bit of carelessness he really might have fallen for it.

Penglai Mountain Kaguya said faintly, "Since you never asked, how do you know that there was never such a thing?"

"Your Highness..."

Gu Mo was momentarily at a loss for words, looking at the long‑haired black‑straight girl who kept her head lowered and continued browsing the Spell Scrolls; for a moment he couldn’t quite get a read on her.

"Don’t look at me like that, I’m not going to make things hard for you... it’s just, are you planning to eat your fill and then play dead on the bill?" Penglai Mountain Kaguya sent him a knowing look, once again putting down the scroll in her hand, idly smoothing the soft hair that hung over her shoulder, her fingers looping a circle at the silk‑black tips.

"How am I supposed to prove I only ate one bowl of noodles... mm, no, that’s wrong, I clearly didn’t eat anything at all, okay!"

"Tch!"

The long‑haired black‑straight girl curled her lip; she knew this guy had gotten wary because of what just happened, and for now there was no way to trick him into the trap.

Her expression returned to indifferent; she thought for a bit, then simply started piling on more mental pressure:

"Fine, let’s not talk about that. What are you planning to do next? Want me to give you a bit of advice? It’s something you’ll have to deal with sooner or later, you know. Especially once they calm down, you should start taking action. And then there’s that daughter of yours, ahhh..."

Spiritual Attack was very effective, with very remarkable Effect.

Leaning against the pillar, Gu Mo felt utterly stabbed in the heart, his eyes vacant like a passenger who had just lost their dreams.

"Your Highness, please stop, I want to be quiet for a bit..."

"Who’s Quiet?"

"..."

...

...

The most straightforward result of this incident was—

Fantasy Land now had a gigantic tree that seemed capable of displaying the world itself, and its sky and night started to operate independent of the outside world’s day‑night system.

The residents of the Human World showed amazing powers of acceptance toward this, or rather, they were relatively indifferent; the only thing they cared about was how the Temple School’s new teacher had suddenly vanished. Their kids were still waiting to win at the starting line, you know?

And it seemed that it was precisely on that day when daytime suddenly turned into night, the day of the second Everlasting Night incident repeating itself, that the man disappeared...

The parents expressed concern about this, worried that the teacher, as an outsider whose worldview hadn’t yet fully adjusted, might have gotten scared by two incidents in a row. Did he pack his bags overnight and run off, leaving Fantasy Land with the Reimu Witch, or did he run around recklessly during the incident and accidentally meet with misfortune?

As for the concern of the Human World’s residents, Kamishirasawa Keine also had no idea how she should handle it; she could only go along with their guesses when explaining, and tell a benevolent Lie.

After all, regarding this Lord God Dragon God’s thoughts, no one could predict them; whether he would come back to continue teaching was anyone’s guess, so she could only leave herself some room.

Hieda Akyu, however, was very happy about all this; she had been in high spirits these past few days. It wasn’t that she took delight in seeing the Dragon God crash and burn; she was purely happy from the heart, feeling that this time she had a chance to finally complete the "Dragon God" Chapter in the Records of the Quest for Knowledge.

She had reincarnated over and over, endlessly compiling a bestiary of Fantasy Land’s non‑human beings, and that work might continue on, far, far into the future.

But compared with other beings that, once they appeared, could at least theoretically be recorded, there was that one and only Supreme God of Fantasy... this was the knot Hieda Akyu could never let go of. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t imagine herself ever having a chance to interact with that legendary Dragon.

Yet now...

Not only had she come into close contact several times, she had personally participated in his interview and hiring, and had even paid him wages. Naturally, once she realized all this in hindsight, she was so excited she could barely contain herself.

To the point that Kamishirasawa Keine was rather worried about Hieda Akyu’s condition, afraid that she might get overexcited and end her current life early... she wouldn’t live long to begin with, so it was better to take it easy. Great joy and great sorrow both hurt the heart and the body; she was frail to begin with, so she really shouldn’t be pushing herself.

As for Akyu’s idea of interviewing the Dragon God to obtain first‑hand information, Keine didn’t quite approve...

Yet she never expected that this invitation would actually be accepted.

It was set for a few days later, to be held at the Shimotsuki Shrine’s banquet... upon learning this, Kamishirasawa Keine could hardly believe it and confirmed it over and over. After mulling it over, she suddenly felt something was off: a banquet meant lots of people would be there...

It felt like some kind of public trial...

Startled by her own imagination, Miss Kamishirasawa shook her head vigorously.

...

Magic Forest.

Puppet House.

Everything looked just like before. But Gu Mo had been standing at the door for quite a while, and it still hadn’t opened. Under normal circumstances, Alice’s Perception should have caught him as soon as he approached, just like when she had recently discovered him in the Magic Forest.

He hesitated for a good long while, finding that he actually didn’t know what he should do. Instinctively he looked back over his shoulder.

Behind a nearby large tree, a single silver‑bright ahoge stuck out. A girl with shining Silver eyes hid behind the tree, clenching her fists and making a cheering gesture at him, like she was trying to give him encouragement...

Go for it!!

That was probably the gist of it.

Gu Mo’s mouth twitched slightly. He turned back and took a deep breath, while certain uncontrollable thoughts scattered wildly through his mind...

Speaking of which—

How come, just from appearances, it feels like Shinki actually looks younger than Xiao Ai...

Stop, stop! He was completely different from that old bastard Emiya Kiritsugu; he absolutely couldn’t lump himself in the same category! He mustn’t let his mind wander, mustn’t create a moral dilemma for himself out of nothing!

Shaking his head hard, Gu Mo steeled himself, raised his hand, and knocked lightly on the door, then waited with his head held high. For a split second, he suspected that even when he’d burned his Spirit, focusing to an unprecedented extreme in order to take Chaos’s Star Destroyer Cannon head‑on, he hadn’t been this nervous.

But there was no helping it; he really did need to start cleaning up this mess now, and Alice’s problem naturally had to be dealt with first.

"..."

"..."

Maybe only ten seconds passed, or maybe an entire century went by. As Gu Mo agonized over the total silence and lack of response, the house finally stirred.

A second or two later, the door opened.

Alice stood inside, looking at him with a blank expression.

"..."

"..."

A brief silence.

Yet Gu Mo suddenly felt himself settle. He gazed quietly at the Blond Maiden before him, and for some reason his heart filled with a kind of joy. All his unease and nervousness vanished, along with those weird, wandering thoughts. He simply smiled, raised his hand in a small wave, and said gently:

"Good morning, Alice."

Seeing the young man at her door with that smile on his face, Alice felt an instant impulse to slam the door shut. She fought to suppress her tangled emotions, her slender fingers clenching the doorknob so hard they turned white, and she spoke in a voice full of mockery:

"So how am I supposed to address you now?"

"Mr. Outsider..."

"Or Father?"