The first day of the Holy Grail War.
It was still very peaceful.
Not to mention the inherent secrecy and mysterious hidden rules of the Holy Grail War, each Master also concealed their identity.
An unwritten rule of the Holy Grail War is not to involve those outside the war. The first person to violate this rule will likely be attacked by other Masters. The Holy Church is the neutral organization responsible for this judgment.
So, even knowing that the big three are very likely participants in the Holy Grail War, almost no one would attack them.
On one hand, it's uncertain whether the other party is a participant in the Holy Grail War. On the other hand, breaking into a mage's workshop is a very reckless thing.
For a Servant, a mage's workshop is nothing, but if the other party also has a Servant, then in a Master versus Master duel, the gap can be huge.
So, when others discovered someone had broken into the Matou Family residence, they immediately shifted all their attention there.
The first batch of familiars, except for the photographic equipment installed by Emiya Kiritsugu which was not destroyed by Supreme King Haki, were all basically shocked to death.
By the time the second batch went to investigate, everything had already settled.
In the basement of the Tohsaka residence, Tokiomi sat in front of a gramophone. Even hiding in such a place, he maintained his elegance.
But the hand tightly gripping his cane still showed his inner turmoil.
"Kirei, has Assassin scouted for information?"
In the basement, Tokiomi suddenly spoke.
"Teacher, Assassin has returned. There seems to have been no major change at the Matou Family residence. Assassin saw a blonde woman in the courtyard in the morning, suspected to be Saber. After that, Kariya also appeared. To avoid being discovered, Assassin did not get too close. Do you need Assassin to infiltrate and investigate?"
A deep male voice came from the gramophone.
"No need, Kirei. Things have come to this. The Holy Grail War is the top priority. Just have Assassin monitor them from a distance. The plan for today continues."
After thinking for a while, Tokiomi made his decision.
Although he was also worried about his youngest daughter, Sakura had already been adopted by the Matou Family and was now a member of the Matou Family. He couldn't interfere.
Plus...
If he acted rashly now, it could very likely lead to the failure of the Holy Grail War.
Compared to the family ties he had already abandoned and the long-cherished wish of the Tohsaka, or rather, all mages in the world, Tokiomi chose the latter.
The same thing happened in many other places.
However, compared to the Tohsaka, they were not very familiar with the Matou Family, only knowing that it was one of the local big three. After confirming that the Matou Family had at least one Servant, they did not act rashly but continued to maintain a wait-and-see attitude.
But Takatsuki noticed that more familiars were monitoring around the Matou Family residence.
After shocking several batches of familiars to death with Supreme King Haki, Takatsuki was too lazy to clear them out anymore.
They were just too annoying, an endless stream.
He even chose the most ostentatious method. After discussing the plan with the others, he directly took the group to the streets of Fuyuki and started shopping.
Durandal even had some concerns, "Is it really okay for us to just go shopping like this? There must be many other participants monitoring us."
"Don't worry, the magical world has rules about hiding mysteries. Normal mages won't attack in broad daylight. Besides, according to the unwritten rules, this is usually done at night."
Takatsuki explained to Durandal, "And it's quite annoying to be monitored by those guys all day and hide in the mansion. Instead of waiting for others to probe, it's better to openly show them."
Takatsuki came out from there, bringing Durandal, Medea, Sakura, and Kariya with him.
Matou Tsuruno had returned once before, but Takatsuki had driven him out. However, the other party left happily, because the previous Matou Tsuruno was the nominal head of the family, but was actually very frustrated.
After Kariya chatted with his older brother for a while, Matou Tsuruno had new hope for the future. Moreover, he also wanted to stay away from this Holy Grail War. Having never been exposed to the magical arts, he naturally didn't have the so-called mage's honor.
The secondary purpose of going shopping was actually to show the current situation of the Matou Family to all parties. The actual purpose was to let Sakura reconnect with society and become more cheerful.
The role of bringing Kariya was naturally to pay and carry bags.
Watching Medea playing with Sakura in the mall's arcade, Takatsuki looked at Durandal, "There's an arcade over there. Want to go play?"
"Arcade?"
Durandal followed Takatsuki's gaze and saw a row of neatly arranged game machines.
"The technology of this era can't compare to ours. Games now are just like this."
"Have you played before?"
Durandal shook her head, "There's a game called Kallen Fantasy in Schicksal, said to train reaction speed, but after I played it once, His Grace the Bishop told me not to play it anymore."
"You didn't, by any chance, beat Otto's record, did you?"
Takatsuki rolled his eyes. This sounded like something Otto would do.
But Durandal hadn't seen the rankings and didn't know what rank she was at the time, so she stopped playing.
"You can check when you go back. If you reach first place, Otto will ban your account."
"Why?"
Durandal couldn't understand. Isn't it just a game?
"Well, the reason has to do with Otto's past. It's hard to explain in a few words. If you choose to regain your memories, I can tell you the story."
Takatsuki kept them in suspense, "But I can tell you one thing: Otto has done this before. I remember the last person to surpass him was Cecilia Schariac, the former Strongest Valkyrie of Schicksal, and then Otto banned her account."
In every sense of the word...
Takatsuki didn't say the latter half of the sentence.
"Lady Cecilia? If you can't say, then forget it. You keep urging me to regain my memories. It always feels like there's some kind of conspiracy."
Durandal was straightforward and didn't hide her thoughts.
"You're overthinking it. It's true that regaining your memories would benefit me, but it's also a good thing for you. Actually, if I wanted to forcefully help you regain your memories, I could. Do you see me doing that?"
Durandal nodded, reluctantly agreeing with Takatsuki's statement.
"Enough talk, let's play together, or do you want to play sand art with Sakura and the others?"