Battlefield - Qianxi

Qianxi is a "pilot city" recently proposed by China.

In response to China's increasingly severe population and aging issues, as well as rising crime rates and suicide rates due to growing employment pressure, the government proposed the concept of a [slow-paced] city. The very first [slow-paced] city in the world is Qianxi.

As the name suggests, everything in this city is peaceful and slow. Gentleness is its only characteristic. The elderly who cannot adapt to the rapid development of technology, middle-aged people who have accumulated stress for various reasons, and those who prefer familiar technology over cutting-edge high-tech, all live their lives peacefully, smoothly, and without disturbance.

Young people like to venture out, but only decades later will they understand that only 평범함 (plainness) is the sole purpose of life. Because no matter how hard one tries during life, in the end, it all amounts to a handful of Kitsuchi.

In Qianxi, the overall technological level is only thirty years behind the average.

For those who need to recuperate their minds and bodies, this level is sufficient. Or rather, this is the technological level they desire. Stagnant, regressing, yet incredibly comfortable technology.

Technology has developed to the point where it has gradually shifted from "serving the people" to "convenient for the people." Even technology from 30 years ago is enough for people to live happily, as long as they "get used to it."

In this slow-paced city, the elderly who find it difficult to cope with society's accelerating pace and have disposable income, and the middle class with some savings, have become the main population. With this as the core, the service and catering industries are abundant, and young people willing to seek wealth have flocked in, bringing new blood to the city.

In this city full of a sense of the era, Tsukahara Meiji was taking exaggeratedly deep breaths. It was April, which for China, meant spring.

However, spring is the season when ice and snow melt, so there is no "warm" climate in the conventional sense.

Therefore, the cold wind that rushed into Tsukahara Meiji's wide-open mouth instantly stripped his oral cavity of its temperature, forcing him to close it quickly. There is an old Chinese saying, [drinking the northwest wind], which probably describes Tsukahara Meiji at this moment.

"So, Karl, what do we do? Summon a Servant first? Or go to the hotel first? Or—sightseeing first?! I really want to eat Mapo Tofu, Peking Duck, and Shanghai Fried Dumplings!"

Tsukahara Meiji's proposed course of action was hardly that of "sightseeing."

Seeing his excitement, Karl suddenly felt he understood the reason he was participating in the Holy Grail War: could it be that he had planned to have a good time in China from the very beginning?

Entertainment to the death? While such people are not uncommon, seeing it in person still felt a bit awkward...

Karl tried not to overthink and said calmly:

"Don't rush. Tsukahara, give me your playing cards."

"Oh!"

Tsukahara Meiji didn't quite understand what he wanted to do, so he quickly took out the deck of cards he kept close to him, his most prized possession. Just as he was about to sort them, Karl said with a wry smile, "Not that deck, just ordinary ones."

What the careless Japanese man had just taken out was his Mystic Code.

Participating in the Holy Grail War without a trump card is a suicidal act.

Anyone who isn't an idiot would take self-protective measures before engaging in such a dangerous activity, meaning having a sure-win trump card.

For example, prioritizing the summoning of powerful Servants, preparing some particularly potent Mystic Codes, or constructing powerful Magic Workshops, and so on.

And those playing cards just now were Tsukahara Meiji's trump card.

Each card, made entirely of crystal, thin and semi-transparent, was engraved with complex magic. As long as Tsukahara Meiji infused them with mana, the magic inscribed on them would activate, launching attacks stealthily and without anyone noticing.

As mentioned before, Tsukahara Meiji only spoke Japanese and was very unfamiliar with English. Could you expect someone so unfamiliar with English to compete with others in chanting incantations at lightning speed?

The card magic perfectly compensated for this weakness; infusing mana was much faster than chanting incantations.

Unfortunately, each of these cards had a different effect, and the magic inscribed within them was also different, making them incredibly complex and cumbersome to use.

Moreover, due to the limitations of the medium, the magic ultimately activated was not particularly strong. Otherwise, the mainstream method of magical combat today would be activating talismans or cards, and who would bother chanting with their mouths? It's troublesome and lengthy, and if you mispronounce something, you have to start all over again. The ancients were very clever!

In a word, this was a troublesome and unrewarding Mystic Code.

However, Tsukahara Meiji liked it very much.

Clumsy effort is better than no effort.

This was why he liked card magic. Furthermore, as a "magician," he was most skilled with playing cards during his street performances, and he had an inexplicable fondness for this Mystic Code.

Moreover, there was a sense of rebellion against orthodoxy.

Incidentally, this deck of cards was also a preparation made by Karl to give Tsukahara Meiji an advantage in the Holy Grail War.

"Be prepared and avoid trouble" perfectly embodied Karl's characteristic.

And he had just thought Karl was going to inspect his trump card, so he quickly took this out.

"Ordinary ones? Okay..."

This time, Tsukahara Meiji was even more confused. He obediently switched to another deck of cards and handed it to Karl—as a magician, small props like playing cards were never far from him.

Karl casually drew one card.

"Three of Hearts."

"Oh, oh, what does that mean? Is it fortune-telling?!"

"No, this is the name of the hotel we're staying at."

Karl said somewhat mysteriously.

Of course, there was no hotel in China with such a strange name.

Before coming here, Karl had already booked rooms at twenty-eight hotels via international calls.

Admittedly, for Karl, this was a very large expenditure. However, compared to the funds required to revive the Winsted Family, it was but a drop in the bucket.

The reason for this secret strategy was none other than to confuse others.

The participants of the Holy Grail War could be predicted to a large extent. Especially since he was a disciple of the Clock Tower, anyone investigating the attendance records of outstanding students from the Clock Tower would quickly be able to identify him.

Next, they could engage in an intelligence war based on their own information.

During the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Clock Tower's excellent magus, Kirei Kotomine, suffered greatly from this. The hotel he was staying at was targeted by the magus killer Emiya Kiritsugu, who used an internal explosion to destroy Kirei's Magic Workshop, which was comparable to a fortress.

What Karl had to do was to remain hidden.

Even if someone wanted to investigate his lodging, there were twenty-eight hotels here. Did they expect him to blow up twenty-eight hotels simultaneously? Impossible. Neither Karl nor Tsukahara Meiji were particularly powerful magi, and because of this, Karl had completely abandoned the idea of building a Magic Workshop.

In other words, as long as the enemy didn't personally knock on the door and enter, they couldn't determine which hotel Karl and the others were staying in.

The method chosen was something Karl had randomly selected from Tsukahara Meiji's poker cards.

The red number cards corresponded to thirteen hotels, the black number cards corresponded to the fourteenth to twenty-sixth hotels, and the two jokers corresponded to the remaining two hotels. Even if the enemy was incredibly skilled, they couldn't possibly know which card Karl had drawn from Tsukahara Meiji this afternoon.

With meticulous planning, Karl's burdens did not allow him to make any misjudgments.

"Ooooh! As expected of Karl! So cunning! Cunning BOY!"

After hearing his explanation, Tsukahara Meiji secretly admired his companion's courage, staking all his savings to gain the greatest advantage! What an incredible person! He also admired his calculations; if he were to put himself in Karl's shoes, Tsukahara Meiji didn't think he could have come up with so much.

"As for Servant summoning, we've set it for tonight at the hour of the rat. Qianxi has seven ley lines. Excluding the best, the most remote, and the weakest in spiritual energy, we still have four options. We'll randomly choose one then, and use the suit of the poker card to decide where to summon the Servant."

More random numbers. It seemed Karl's attitude towards the Holy Grail War was no longer just a matter of being "cautious"...

It was clear that Karl was preparing to make assassinating Masters his basic combat strategy. To do this, he had to hide himself, lurking in the darkness, aiming for the slightest flaw exposed by the enemy, and launching a fatal blow. It was no wonder he chose Archer as his Servant.

"Okay! I'll do whatever you say! So, before that!"

Tsukahara Meiji's eyes widened with anticipation, and Karl sighed helplessly. Two barks could be heard in the distance, the slightly noisy sounds further highlighting the helplessness in Karl's voice.

"We can only eat in the hotel... I'll buy something on the way."

"Ooooh!"