"Madman who summoned this king here and presumptuously disturbed this king's slumber, state your name!"
As expected of Gilgamesh—his entrance line was different from everyone else's.
"Greatest King of Antiquity, please allow me to explain my actions... blah blah blah..."
As expected of Tokiomi Tohsaka—out of respect for the oldest Heroic Spirit in human history, he responded with flawless etiquette even to the insolent attitude of Gilgamesh, who should have been his familiar.
"So this is a Heroic Spirit formed from humanity's 'noble fantasies'? With an aura like this, we've already won! Brother Tokiomi, Kirei!"
As expected of Risei Kotomine—out of devotion to his responsibilities and confidence in Tokiomi Tohsaka, he made such a decisive declaration without even seeing the other teams.
"..."
As expected of Kirei Kotomine—even the scene of a Heroic Spirit descending, a spectacle worthy of being called a "miracle," failed to stir the slightest emotion in him. Was it because he had already seen it once? No ripples could be seen in the depths of his dead-water eyes.
"King of Kings, it is my great fortune to witness your radiant form and bear the honor of worshipping you. I do not know how many lifetimes of cultivation it must have taken to earn such a blessing. If you do not find me unworthy, I am willing to follow wherever you lead."
As expected of Jizi—before Gilgamesh had even responded to Tokiomi's torrent of flattery, she had already cheaply dropped to her knees and bowed before him, firmly carrying out the strategic policy of hugging a tycoon's thigh.
Tokiomi: O_o
Risei: O_o
Kirei: -_-
Gilgamesh: ~^O^~ (Delighted)
------------As expected of the author, even this bit of plot could be padded with so much nonsense----------------------------------------------
The steady bass of the cello, the crisp highs of the clarinet, the mellow and elegant leaps of violin and piano, along with the classically refined harp and solemn pipe organ—these notes continuously vibrated through the villa's air, gathering into melodies that were sometimes majestic and sometimes gentle, as if a symphony orchestra were holding a grand concert.
But in reality—
The final measure of "Götterdämmerung" ended beneath Jizi's showy plucking technique. She turned the exquisitely designed guitar—every sound just now had actually been played by this single guitar—into light and dismissed it, then rose and bowed to the golden king seated in the place of honor.
"As a performer, this mongrel is barely qualified. And this piece, composed by some unknown mongrel, is at least worthy of being heard by me."
If Wagner had heard such an assessment of his work, then even if he were facing the oldest hero of humanity, he would probably have hurled his instrument straight into the other man's face without hesitation.
But the one performing here was someone who had already decided to completely cast aside shame and dignity in pursuit of her goal, so her response was, "If I can bring you even the slightest bit of pleas♂ure, then my existence has value."
"Hmph." Dismissing Jizi's flattery with a casual nasal sound, Gilgamesh rose from the velvet-backed chair that had originally belonged to Tokiomi and headed for the door.
"Your Majesty, are you going out for a walk again tonight?"
"Must this king report his itinerary to a mere entertainer?" Without even turning his head, Gilgamesh said disdainfully, "Focus on your own affairs. Think about what performance you should use to please me tomorrow. That is your only purpose. Perhaps, for that sake, I may reward you as I would a subject."
There was no doubt that Jizi's excessively fawning attitude had not fooled Gilgamesh into believing that she had humbled herself because she was captivated by the ancient king's personal charm. To begin with, he had no such thing as the "charisma of a superior." As everyone knew, aside from that one close friend who mutually acknowledged him, the tyrant of Uruk had only servants who submitted out of fear of his strength. He did not care why those mongrels submitted to him. He demanded only their submission.
That was precisely why Jizi did not need his trust. As long as she continued to treat him respectfully as a subordinate and could still bring him so-called "pleasure" in certain ways, Gilgamesh would at least not turn his blades against her. In truth, this man was a king who valued rules and order. (Gilgamesh: All you mongrels must obey the law! The laws I make!)
Watching the king vanish into spirit form amid Gilgamesh's golden glow, Jizi's masked face showed no expression. Once she sensed Gilgamesh's presence leaving the Tohsaka Residence, she too dissolved into the air and headed into Fuyuki's turbulent night.
----------------The style of the assassin route... Cough, cough, I mean the writing style feels a little strange--------
Inside the sealed basement, the master and disciple, who had lacked "private time" for various reasons these past few days, once again resumed their long-awaited world for two.
"According to the news from your father, the final group in the Holy Grail War, the caster team, has appeared as well."
"That's right. Assassin said she seems to have discovered some information about caster."
"Can we track their movements?"
"No. Assassin said that by the time she arrived, the caster team had already left. But we can basically confirm that caster's master is the serial killer who has been causing such a stir recently."
"!"
"Through the vision shared with assassin—we saw an entire family brutally murdered in an apartment. The summoning circle was drawn with the victims' blood. The method was very similar to several earlier cases. There is more than a ninety percent chance that it was the same person."
"Did some rabid dog from who knows where worm its way into this war?"
"The summoning circle at the scene was extremely crude. It looked completely like a child's scribble, definitely not something made by someone with knowledge of magecraft. I believe it may have been a madman who somehow obtained a spirit-summoning ritual and tried it just for fun. The Grail probably pulled him in to make up the numbers so there would be seven teams."
"Such a lowly creature actually received the Holy Grail's favor and touched the threshold of the path of magecraft? Modern magecraft truly has fallen completely. This only strengthens my resolve to seize the Holy Grail, reach the Root, and fulfill the long-cherished wish of us orthodox Magi!"
"My teacher, assassin says that if she continues tracking them, she has a sixty percent chance of finding the caster team. What do you think?"
"...Uh... Have her return first. No matter what, our battle plan is the most important thing. We can deal with such petty trash whenever we want!"
Having received Kirei Kotomine's message, Jizi smiled faintly. "Is it really fine to leave them alone like this? A summoning without a catalyst means the Grail will choose a servant most similar to the master. So caster is definitely some deranged lunatic, a murderous demon king or something like that. If you let me assassinate the master now, before he has had time to use Territory Creation to establish a base, we can solve the problem directly. Once enough time passes and caster finishes his workshop, it will be difficult to do anything."
There was silence for several minutes. He was probably consulting with Tokiomi Tohsaka.
"Return. Follow the original plan. Do not worry about things that are not your concern. Just carry out the orders we gave you."
My, my. It seemed that although the summoned archer was powerful, he was not obedient, making Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kirei Kotomine realize a mistake in how they treated servants—servants were not familiars that could be commanded at will. On top of that, Jizi had directly latched onto Gilgamesh's thigh, so had they started to become wary of her as well?
"I have absolutely no ulterior motives. Inside and out, I only want to help the archer team achieve victory." After all, Gilgamesh, that huge tycoon, was the strongest, and he had originally been the ultimate winner of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
"But it's fine if I make Tokiomi a little wary. Perhaps it might even save him from the tragic fate of being kidney-stabbed. I did make a promise with Rin, after all." She would help if she could do so casually. Of course, if it conflicted with her ultimate objective, then Lord Error of This World, you could go peacefully together with the Evil of This World. I shall raise your wife and daughter for you. Mainly your daughter. Hehe.
After muttering a few words to herself, Jizi left the home whose family Ryunosuke had brutally slaughtered.
"Now then, let me think about how to finish tonight's performance without providing gymnastics fanservice."
---------The greatest feature of this book is its built-in snark, isn't it?--------------
A random cold joke:
As the final note fell, the golden king's evaluation rang out through the room:
"As a performer, this mongrel is barely qualified. And this piece, composed by some unknown mongrel, is at least worthy of being heard by me."
Jizi's inner thoughts: Damn it, I've played this "Gangnam Style" one hundred and twenty-five times, and I never expected you to like this sort of tune!
Gilgamesh said, "Oh, right. Play those earlier songs, 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' and 'Devotion of Love,' two more times each for this king."
Two dialogue boxes appeared before Jizi's eyes—
Divergence 1:
Jizi silently reached for the top of her head and pulled out three ahoge in one breath. "I'll fight you to the death, damn it! Ragna Blade! Kamehameha! And finally, let's purify this rotten world directly—Black Magic Crystal!"
Divergence 2:
Jizi's inner thoughts: You want to hear songs, huh! You really want to hear songs, huh! If you want to hear them, I'll let you hear them!
"So cold~~! I'm playing with mud in Northeast China! Although Northeast China isn't big, I have no home in Dalian~"
Not dead? Then have another triple blast of "Ruyi Jingu Bang," "Fahai, You Don't Understand Love," and "Tantan." What? You still have strength left? Then take "Ultimate Blue Blue Road"!
End of divergence.
Whether it was Divergence 1 or Divergence 2, the result was—
Gilgamesh bled from all seven orifices, convulsed in all four limbs, and died.
-------------On second thought, quite a few books come with built-in snark, so it can't really be a selling point-----------------------
Before you continue