At her age, a girl did not yet have such a strong state of mind. Especially in the dead of night, as she thought about these things, Matou Sakura was suddenly overwhelmed by a sharp sense of bitterness. She felt her eyes slowly growing moist.
Zzz!
All of a sudden, it was as if the sound of an electric current rang by her ear.
["Longing to fill your body with the love of others, I never thought you'd already be this lonely at such a young age~"]
["Hehehe! It's fine, you know. Relax your body. I can grant your wish, compared to the Holy Grail, maybe I'm the real all-purpose wish-granter, hmm?"]
Right after that, a seductive and sweet giggle echoed from within Matou Sakura's body.
Her eyes slowly widened as she instinctively looked around, but everything around her was silent, without the slightest movement.
["Don't bother looking. My true form is special, so for now I can only slumber inside your body in an 'attached' state,"] That lazy, bewitching voice rang out again.
An inexplicable sense of fear rose up in Matou Sakura's heart. She instinctively wanted to wake Alvin beside her, but she still restrained the impulse and tried to communicate with the voice inside her body.
'Who are you?'
["You don't need to know who I am. You only need to understand that I can help you at critical moments."]
["Now relax your body… don't worry, I won't hurt you."]
In the dimness, Matou Sakura's hair color seemed to change ever so slightly.
———
Nothing more was said that night.
On winter mornings, getting out of bed was always a hard-fought battle against the blankets, but for Alvin, there was no such thing as 'sleep' to begin with.
Under normal circumstances, the Holy Grail War only unfolded late at night, while most of the daytime was spent planning the next steps and actions.
Last night, the masters of all sides had already summoned their respective servants. Now, everyone was on high alert.
And yet on Sajyou Manaka's side, it felt more like they were on vacation.
Early that morning, she was already in the kitchen preparing to bake cookies, and she even pulled Matou Sakura over to help.
Every master who participated in the Holy Grail War had their own reason or wish they wanted to fulfill, which was why they all longed to seize final victory and make a wish upon the Grail.
And for most magi, that wish was usually just one thing. The path to the Root.
Perhaps that was precisely why Sajyou Manaka had no interest in the Holy Grail at all.
After all, what magi pursued their entire lives was something she was born with.
"Saber, why do you look so distracted? What are you thinking about?"
Sajyou Manaka took some freshly baked cookies out of the oven, poked her head out toward the living room, and asked the boy curiously.
"Still thinking about Kayneth?", she added.
In the kitchen, Matou Sakura was carefully shaping the cookies, seeming completely unconcerned with their conversation.
"You don't need to worry so much. I'll find a way to locate him," Alvin said with a smile.
Sajyou Manaka didn't seem very happy. She puffed out her cheeks, and her already pure and sweet face instantly looked like a little soup dumpling, gaining a bit of playful cuteness.
Accustomed as he was to her usual noble and elegant demeanor, this side of her instead carried a lively charm unique to a young girl, and it was rather adorable. Alvin couldn't help but look a few more times, quietly marveling to himself.
Among all the girls he knew, each had her own distinct traits. Morgan le Fay's bewitching beauty, Artoria's nobility, Arcueid's aloof coldness, Grey's fragile reserve… and Sajyou Manaka was the most graceful of them all.
She rarely showed such a girlish side in front of others, perhaps because she felt it would be impolite, or something along those lines.
Alvin stepped forward and gently touched the girl's cheek, smiling as he said, "I'm not keeping you at arm's length, Manaka."
"This time, I accepted the summoning because I want to save my teacher. I'm really happy that you're willing to help, but it's just finding someone. For me, that's not exactly difficult."
"If there ever comes a day when I truly need your help, I won't hesitate to ask."
Sajyou Manaka studied Alvin carefully for a while before finally smiling, "All right. Since you put it that way, then let's leave it at that."
She hadn't joined the Holy Grail War with any particular wish to begin with. If she had to name one, it would probably be enjoying the Holy Grail War and, along the way, experiencing a romance straight out of a girl's fantasies.
It was just that, so far, that romance hadn't made much progress at all. Thinking about that, the girl couldn't help but sigh quietly in frustration.
If possible, she really didn't want to use command spells to force Saber to do anything. After all, what she wanted was something genuine.
"Tonight, after it gets dark, I'll need to head out for a bit. Until then, I'll have to leave Sakura in your care," At that moment, Alvin suddenly lowered his voice.
Pulled back to reality from her thoughts, Sajyou Manaka instinctively looked up at him, "Where are you going?"
"The Tohsaka house."
Alvin said slowly, "Matou Zouken and Matou Kariya have disappeared, and his daughter Matou Sakura's whereabouts are unknown. Even if his nerves were made of steel, Tokiomi should be frantic by now, right?"
———
Late at night, all was silent.
For ordinary people, this would be time to sleep.
But for magi, especially masters participating in the Holy Grail War, nightfall was when the Holy Grail War truly began.
The Holy Church, as one of the two great modern powers of the Type-Moon world, exerted its influence across the globe, centered around Western Europe.
Preaching God's love, aiding the poor, and healing the sick. This was the creed of the Holy Church.
In Fuyuki City, there was likewise a building belonging to the Church.
Inside the church hall, a priest dressed in black clerical garb held a Bible in his hands. His eyes were closed as he stood quietly before the altar, looking as though he were praying, his expression devout and serene.
"I've heard about what happened last night. You're down to only one command spell now, are you?"
From the center of the church came the priest's deep, magnetic voice.
Kotomine Kirei slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the man who had entered the church hall at some unknown point.
Tohsaka Tokiomi walked in with a low tone, "This Holy Grail War is far harder to win than I imagined. Saber's existence exceeded our initial expectations."
"Is there anything I can do?"
Kotomine Kirei stepped down from the altar, "Though I think that with Assassin's strength, it would still be difficult to contend with Saber."
"The matter of Saber can wait. I need you to help me find someone first."
Tohsaka Tokiomi said slowly, "Last night, the Matou household appears to have been attacked. Matou Zouken and Matou Kariya are still missing, and my daughter has also disappeared."
Hearing this, Kotomine Kirei couldn't help but feel a flicker of surprise.
He knew that the Holy Grail War could bring disaster upon one's family, which was why Tohsaka Tokiomi had sent one of his daughters to the Matou family in advance.
And yet, the Holy Grail War had only just begun, and Matou Sakura had already gone missing?
"It seems she slipped out of the Matou house last night, and after that, her trail was lost," As he said this, Tohsaka Tokiomi recalled what Archer had told him the previous night.
From the way the King of Heroes had spoken, it was clear that he knew about the trouble at the Matou house, and even about Matou Sakura's disappearance, he simply had no intention of explaining it.
If Matou Sakura had merely run away from home, then with the Matou family's influence in Fuyuki, finding her shouldn't have been difficult.
Coupled with the disappearance of Matou Zouken and Matou Kariya, it was obvious that the Matou family had encountered some powerful enemy they couldn't resist.
And Archer had even seen that enemy. The answer was actually quite clear. Saber.
'Is he the one who took Sakura?'
'But why? In the end, given the White Dragon's status, he shouldn't have stooped to doing something like this.'
Tohsaka Tokiomi couldn't figure it out, but now wasn't the time to dwell on such questions.
He had to find Saber as soon as possible.
Taking a deep breath, after instructing his disciple to secretly keep an eye out for Matou Sakura's whereabouts, Tohsaka Tokiomi left the church through the back door.
After returning to the Tohsaka residence, he sat down on the sofa and gently rubbed his brow, feeling his body sink into the soft cushions, yet his nerves remained completely tense.
The mansion was silent at night. Even before the Holy Grail War began, Tohsaka Tokiomi had already arranged for his family to stay on the outskirts of the 'battlefield' to avoid being caught up in it.
Victory in the Holy Grail War was his lifelong wish. For that wish, he was willing to sacrifice anything.
But even so, it was impossible for him not to care about his daughter's disappearance.
'Saber, what exactly is this man trying to do?'
At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, a stream of golden mana quietly gathered into form.
Tohsaka Tokiomi instinctively turned his head and saw Gilgamesh's figure appear in his field of vision.
He reflexively stood up, "My King, this is?"
Gilgamesh's crimson, arrogant eyes coldly gazed toward the outside of the estate as he said slowly, "I didn't expect that during the Holy Grail War, a servant would boldly visit an enemy's main base. Should I say he's careless, or that he has absolute confidence in his own strength?"
"You wouldn't think that I left last night because I was afraid of you, would you?"
'There's a servant outside the estate?'
Before Tohsaka Tokiomi could ask anything, he heard a gentle voice from outside the mansion.
"Tokiomi, won't you invite me in to sit for a while?"
The voice was unfamiliar, yet carried a strange sense of familiarity. Tohsaka Tokiomi felt as though he had heard it somewhere before.
Combining that with what Gilgamesh had just said, as if realizing something, Tohsaka Tokiomi suddenly stood up and stared intently outside the mansion.
"Saber?"
He actually came knocking on the door himself?
"Since Saber has come to visit in person, then let him in. Let's see what he's planning to do."
After a brief moment of shock, Tohsaka Tokiomi quickly recovered and snapped his fingers with his right hand.
In an instant, the barrier set up around the estate quietly faded away.
Gilgamesh glanced at Tohsaka Tokiomi with some surprise and said, "Letting a potential enemy into your own estate during the Holy Grail War, I didn't expect you to be capable of doing something like that. It's truly a bit surprising, Tokiomi."
In Gilgamesh's view, Tohsaka Tokiomi was the type who thought things through again and again before taking action.
This was the first night of the Holy Grail War, and even Saber's master was still unknown. Yet Tohsaka Tokiomi dared to let Saber into his estate.
That really didn't seem like something he would normally do.
Tohsaka Tokiomi said slowly, "In the Holy Grail War, there are no so-called 'friends'. But since the other party dares to visit alone, if I don't even have the courage to let him in, then how can I talk about winning the Holy Grail War?"
"Besides, with you here, even Saber wouldn't dare act inside an enemy's main base, would he?"
Gilgamesh snorted coldly and turned away from the hall.
At present, Gilgamesh was very interested in Saber. Or rather, he had developed a strong interest in Alvin's special Noble Phantasm.
And it was precisely because Tohsaka Tokiomi was certain that the King of Heroes would not ignore Saber that he dared to let the other party in.
Even though this did not align with Tohsaka Tokiomi's usual cautious approach in the Holy Grail War.
Under normal circumstances, he would never allow an enemy servant into his own estate.
Of course, Alvin had no intention of fighting on this visit at all.
After Tohsaka Tokiomi removed the barrier around the mansion, Alvin walked into the hall as though strolling through his own garden and saw the man sitting upright on the sofa.
Tohsaka Tokiomi stood up, placed a hand over his chest, and offered a graceful bow.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.