In the highland villa district of some unremarkable little place, the bathroom lights were dim. Water streamed endlessly into the sink, while the mirror reflected the face of a young man.
But that face was a little too young.
He looked about eight years old—a delicate, pretty sort of boy, the kind who made people want to dote on him at first glance.
Paired with the expensive fuzzy sweater he was wearing and the luxurious bathroom around him, the image in the mirror was almost absurdly perfect.
Staring at that "lady-killer" face of his, he could not help muttering to himself,
"Don't tell me I'm this handsome because I transmigrated into the protagonist?"
Tia von Einzbern.
On the outside, he was a striking little boy with white hair and crimson eyes. Three days ago, he had arrived in this world as an entirely ordinary transmigrator.
Truth be told, Tia himself had no idea how he had ended up here.
More precisely, that was the conclusion he had come to after crawling out of a cultivation tank.
Most likely, his soul from another world had slipped illegally into an empty shell, allowing the dead him from his previous life to be born into this one.
And the homunculus body now standing in the bathroom was something the Einzbern family had created after the Lesser Grail—a being that did not exist in this world.
To put it simply...
It was as if, in some parallel world, there existed a timeline where Illya had never been created.
Instead, there was another homunculus named "Tia," a body that did not use the Lesser Grail as its power source, and whose compatibility with magecraft had been raised to the absolute limit.
In other words, he was the perfect homunculus, crowned with the name Einzbern.
A true and literal thing that did not exist in this world.
The water kept rushing down with a steady splash.
After washing his already immaculate face out of habit, Tia silently turned off the faucet and headed for the door.
As for what "perfect" actually meant, Tia himself did not have any clear idea.
First of all, his lifespan was still limited.
According to the old man, he was "something that was never meant to be born in the first place, but happened to come into existence by sheer chance. Sooner or later, he will face correction by the Human Order."
Second, the reason "Tia" had been created was to secure victory in the Fourth Holy Grail War.
He did not know whether the old man would still hire Kiritsugu Emiya like in the original story, but the Einzberns' obsession with obtaining the Third Magic was as fanatical as ever.
At that thought, Tia slowed to a stop.
The Einzbern manor was absurdly vast. Just getting back to his room took quite a while.
And during that short walk, it was inevitable that he would run into one of his fellow homunculi.
He lifted his gaze.
By the windowsill sat a beautiful woman in white, smiling softly as she enjoyed the breeze and gazed at the white flower buds blooming in the early spring.
The moment she noticed Tia in the distance, delight shone in her ruby-like eyes.
"Tia-chan!"
"Wait, don't call me that."
Irisviel slid down from the windowsill, landed lightly, and trotted over, wrapping Tia in her mature body with a tight hug.
Her cheek rubbed against him over and over, soft and warm.
The young Tia very quickly found it hard to breathe, and immediately pinched the soft flesh at the woman's waist.
Only then did Irisviel yelp and let him go.
"And besides, I was born one day before you, so by rights you should be calling me big brother."
Tia pointed at the crouching, pouting Irisviel and declared imperiously from above.
"Say it. Or I'll pinch you again."
Faced with Tia's threat, Irisviel finally gave in and called out unwillingly,
"Big brother~"
"Good. Much more spirited."
After giving his disobedient little sister her customary correction, Tia continued on his way.
That had been Irisviel—also a loophole the Einzbern family had prepared for the Holy Grail War. Her fate was one of inevitable destruction, to be used as a tool until the day she died.
Tia was not exactly what anyone would call a good person, but within the limits of what he could do, saving the people around him when possible...
That much, at least, he was willing to do.
"Tia-chan, where are you going?"
At the sound of the call from behind him, Tia waved a hand and replied,
"I'm heading back to my room. Don't bother me for now."
Though he did not turn around, he could still hear the faint sound of her stamping her foot.
He paused, then called back once more,
"...When I'm done, I'll come play with you."
Irisviel was very obedient—perhaps because her emotions had not fully matured yet.
She did not cling to him with childish stubbornness. If anything, she was far more sensible, far more compliant.
"Okay~"
Reaching his door, Tia stepped into his bedroom. The room was lavish enough to be called top-class. It seemed the Einzberns truly did place great importance on this homunculus who should never have existed.
Still, they had not resorted to any forceful experiments on his body. Perhaps the case of Justeaze had already taught them that such a miracle could not be replicated.
As for why he had sent Irisviel away and wanted to be alone in his room, the reason had to do with what he had seen in the bathroom earlier.
He looked toward the dark-blue screen in the lower-left corner of his vision. Like a system straight out of fiction, a virtual electronic panel floated before his eyes.
"I knew it. I really am the protagonist..."
he thought.
[Life Simulator: allows the user to personally experience different lives, enabling near first-hand immersion into worlds of story.]
[Each simulation requires points to activate. Points are obtained whenever the user alters a major event in the original world.]
[The greater the change to the course of fate, the more points are earned.]
"A cliché system, huh... Still, I guess I finally get to be the protagonist for once."
As Tia read the contents on the panel, he could not help snarking inwardly.
"So how do I start a simulation?"
[As this is the user's first activation of the system, 100 points have been granted for the first simulation.]
[Note: The first world is completely random. Whatever you draw, no refunds.]
"Then start."
Tia raised a hand. In that instant, the red in his eyes dimmed, mixed with a torrent of data—as though, just for a moment, he had seen through to the essence of the world itself.
[Because the user possesses special abilities, each simulation may bring those abilities in and convert them into Traits.]
[The Traits you currently possess are:]
[Perfect Artificial Lifeform] [Big-Sister Killer] [Beautiful Boy] [A Constitution That Can Contain Everything] [Abnormal Magical Energy Storage] [Soul from Another World]
[Then, I wish you victory in battle.]
It felt as though he had lost consciousness for a single instant.
And in that same instant, he had arrived in a new environment.
He could not move his limbs. He wanted to speak, but could not open his mouth.
Sensing the state of his body, the first sound Tia made was the cry of a newborn infant.
"My son... let me see him..."
A weak, feeble murmur echoed beside his ears. He thought he could sense a trace of sorrow—something coming from this new body.
He tried to force his eyes open, but could not. Perhaps that was simply the limitation of an infant. Left with no other choice, he turned his attention to the azure panel, hoping to learn where he was now.
[You have been born. You were born in the Kingdom of Thebes.]
The next line on the panel made him jolt in shock.
At the same time, this infant body of his also burst into loud wailing.
[Your mother's name is Alcmene.]
[Your father's name is—Zeus.]
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