"Rider! What the hell are you doing?! You revealed your true name the moment you showed up..."
"Not that many people heard it."
"The Mana signature here must have caught the attention of other Magi long ago! Even if they didn't come themselves, they would have sent familiars to observe, so now everyone knows who you are!"
"That's not necessarily bad. Maybe some old friends answered the Holy Grail's summons too. Once they hear my name, they might come pledge themselves to me."
"Absolutely impossible!"
"Don't be so absolute. In that era, no hero could refuse me, the King of Conquerors..."
"Then what's with this Berserker and Lancer? They completely ignored you!"
"As for Berserker, he seems to have lost his reason. As for Lancer, judging by his behavior, there must be something wrong with his Master—meaning there are petty villains hiding in the darkness. Heh heh!"
"Damn! That scared the hell out of me. Is this the presence of a true hero? He really is completely different from a knockoff like me."
Outside of combat, Jizi was certain that Rider could not discover her with A-rank Presence Concealment. Yet while he bantered with the Queen Consort and swept his gaze around the area, every nerve in Jizi's body tightened when his eyes passed over her hiding place, like a small animal being watched by a predator.
Kiritsugu Emiya felt the same way from his own position. Whether intentionally or not, he felt that Rider's gaze lingered longer on his hiding place. Only after he forcefully suppressed his life signs with Time Alter did that prickling feeling at his back disappear.
"As expected of one of history's most renowned generals. He identified the most likely sniping positions nearby so quickly?"
The Magus Killer, who had just been inwardly mocking, The world was conquered by an idiot like this?, raised Rider's threat level by another rank in his mind.
Unfortunately, at this point Weber Velvet, the true female lead of the Fourth War, was still a rookie with only the title of Queen Consort and none of the substance. He did not understand in the slightest how great his partner was, so he started acting spoiled toward his servant—no, husband:
"Even if everything you said is right, so what? In the end, you still exposed your true name and put us in the most disadvantageous position, didn't you?"
"Well..." The red-haired giant rarely showed an embarrassed expression. To save face in front of his Queen Consort, Rider swung his sword in a phantom slash at the sky and loudly declared, "Come out! Heroic Spirits drawn here by the clash of Berserker's and Lancer's blades! Since you were invited by the Holy Grail and possess names worthy of pride, do not skulk in the shadows watching—unless you are cowards too afraid even to show yourselves!"
Aristotle's student truly was something else. Though it was an overbearing taunt, Rider's phrasing was surprisingly literary—and carried a different kind of force that made one unable to help but heed his words.
"Assassin, do not expose yourself."
Kirei Kotomine suddenly sent an instruction. He was probably afraid that his Servant would draw aggro from that taunt and be unable to resist revealing herself.
Of course, whether it was the original black uncle collective with some strange relationship with that Mapo priest, or the counterfeit Jizi, neither cared about so-called honor. They were completely immune to this level of provocation.
"I'm naturally fine, but there's one person who won't be so easy to reason with~"
The oldest king among mankind heard someone speaking disrespectfully on territory belonging to him. If he did not punish them, how could he demonstrate the laws of a king?
"My teacher will naturally have a solution. Do not concern yourself with matters beyond your duty. What progress have you made on the task assigned to you earlier?"
The task assigned earlier was to have Jizi focus on gathering information about Caster—after all, what Marshal Gilles and Ryunosuke Uryu had done was practically a slap in Tokiomi's face.
Previously, he had merely been an "ordinary" serial killer, not enough to make Tokiomi, who was preparing for battle, pay much attention. Now that he had become entangled with the Holy Grail War, if Tokiomi still did not properly deal with him, the name of the Tohsaka family, managers of the land, would be tarnished.
"I sensed the Mana signature from when I discovered Caster's summoning circle. He should also be observing this place."
"Can you find them through that clue?"
"Seventy to eighty percent confidence. After all, I don't know what special abilities that Servant's Noble Phantasm may have."
"Then confirm it. Gather as much intelligence as possible."
Kirei Kotomine did not give an order such as "assassinate them if the opportunity arises." First, because Tokiomi had not instructed him to do so. Second, because he felt a slight curiosity toward the murderer, who had not originally been a magus and had been suddenly dragged into this conflict, as well as the Servant who had answered his call. If they were eliminated without even knowing their wish, it somehow felt like a waste.
As for monitoring the battlefield, that task was no longer necessary. Why? During the conversation between Kirei Kotomine and Jizi, another Servant from Tokiomi Tohsaka's faction had already appeared and made an even more arrogant declaration than Rider's.
Unfortunately, the shock created by his dazzling entrance was quickly ruined by Berserker, who had been standing around doing nothing for half the battle.
And because Jizi had left the area at this point, the camera shifted away from that battlefield and followed the protagonist's footsteps.
"Dodge!"
On a moonlit rooftop, bathed in flowing silver radiance, she stepped through an elegant dance, punishing evil in the name of the moon—cough, cough, sorry, wrong show. The reboot had been airing these past few days, after all.
"Jump!"
The one hopping around like a monkey beneath the moon was neither a magical girl nor Bruce Wayne, but Jizi, her entire body covered by a hood and her face hidden behind a mask.
"Evasion Skill +2!"
To find a book, try searching for the author instead! Maybe it was just renamed!
Part of the reason she refused to walk properly and insisted on showing off her parkour was the professional pride of a role-playing enthusiast—what kind of Assassin could not do parkour? The other part, and the main reason, was the black, writhing, sucker-covered tentacles chasing relentlessly after her.
"These pose absolutely no threat to someone who isn't a magical girl like me. Haha—ow!"
She had just smoothly dodged the tentacles' attacks while leading the pursuer behind her toward the destination. Unfortunately, showing off always brought retribution, an eternal truth applicable everywhere. Just as Jizi narrowly dodged a suddenly extending tentacle and attempted a three-and-a-half-turn aerial spin onto the next roof, she misjudged the distance and lacked enough airtime to complete the move, resulting in a tragic face-first landing.
"Ahh, that hurts so much."
Both her mask and body took the impact, and the double pain brought tears to Jizi's eyes. Still, she was someone who had blocked an iron with her face before. She only froze for an instant before gritting her teeth and forcing herself back to her feet.
But that brief pause gave the pursuer behind her an opening. A sharp tentacle pierced through the roof tiles beneath her feet. Emerging from a mass of tentacles was a tall, thin man with bulging eyes, clutching an ominous book in claw-like hands. He spoke urgently:
"Ahh, my Saint, your most loyal servant, Gilles de Rais, begs you here to remove that utterly unaesthetic mask, so that I may once again gaze upon your visage."
You're the one with no aesthetics! Your whole family has no aesthetics!
Feeling insulted because the mask was her true body, Jizi helplessly turned around amid the encircling tentacles and faced Caster.
---------------Earlier--------------
How did one find a person in a city?
A person whose gender, appearance, and name were unknown, someone about whom there was almost no information at all.
Without question, it was an impossible task. But what if the person being sought had a means of identification beyond common sense?
For example, what if the target was not actually human, but another existence that merely looked human?
A Servant. A Servant of the Caster class.
And the seeker was likewise one of the abnormal—a Servant of the Assassin class.
Then the task became much simpler—because they were both participants in the Holy Grail War. All she had to do was seize final victory and make a wish to the Holy Grail, and the person she sought would immediately appear before her. How convenient.
That was a joke.
Even with the supposed advantage of "knowing the plot," Jizi could not have deduced the location of Caster's group's hideout at this time. The reason she had confidently told Kirei Kotomine earlier was because—
There was no need to find Caster. He would come find her himself.
All she had to do was use the mask's appearance-altering effect to disguise herself as Joan of Arc, then deliberately expose herself to Caster's surveillance.
First, turn silver hair into blonde hair. Then put in colored contacts. Finally, put on a cold and aloof attitude, and it was done—after all, it was nighttime and visibility was poor. As long as she looked somewhat similar, it would be enough to attract Caster, that brainless fanboy.
After luring out the monster, it was naturally time to farm equipment. With an enraged roar of, "Holy Light! This enemy is worthy of battle!", dozens of player characters instantly leaped out and surrounded Marshal Gilles before beginning to... Cough, cough, wrong show again. Draenor had only just launched, after all.
Originally, Jizi had planned to lure Caster to Einzbern Castle. Then, after meeting Saber, Marshal Gilles would reveal his true name, giving Jizi an excuse to explain her source of intelligence—some time earlier, Jizi had carelessly leaked several pieces of information she should not have known, drawing her employer's attention. Tokiomi had not thought much of it, but Kirei Kotomine seemed to have already begun suspecting something.
So even for information she already knew, Jizi had to make it look like she had only obtained it after considerable trouble.
As for why she had lured him toward Einzbern Castle, there were plenty of easy excuses: "Caster discovered me!" "I couldn't beat him!" "I thought of using someone else's blade to kill him!" and so on.
The plan had been good, but circumstances did not care for the mood. Jizi, who had overdone things because she thought her Agility stat was high, was now trapped in a desperate situation, surrounded by a creepy old man and countless tentacles.
And that was not even the worst part—what would Caster do after discovering that she was not actually the "Saint" and realizing he had been deceived?
The duration of her disguise skill had already expired, while its cooldown was extremely long.
Faced with the ever-approaching tentacles, the girl's fate would...
-------------Author's Notes---------------
The bookmarks dropped.
But compared to when I had only a dozen or so bookmarks at the beginning and cared deeply about every single one, now that I have three hundred bookmarks, I can already remain unshaken by fluctuations of one, two, or even a dozen or so. (That seems like the wrong phrase... you get the idea.) After all, rich people get to be willful.
So the fact that this willful me actually mentioned bookmarks proves that this round's negative growth index has become quite considerable!
To all the esteemed readers who still have room on their bookshelves—
Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm such an unreliable author, I'm really sorry! I keep playing dead, I'm really sorry! My writing is mediocre, I'm really sorry! Anyway, for this and that and all sorts of things, I'm really sorry!
So please don't delete the book! Don't delete it! I'm really not dead!
I dare not ask for recommendations, but please keep it bookmarked. I will carefully respond to every comment, and rewards will bring experience!
That's all.
If you think this book is good, please remember to add it to your bookshelf so you do not lose it next time!
Before you continue