Rebellious Master

Yet while Abner and Tohsaka Rin anxiously exchanged information, the person at the very center of it all—Tohsaka Mina—was sitting in a small restaurant, happily putting a food called Pan-Fried Buns into her mouth.

For a girl, a foreign girl, and especially a foreign girl who loved food, Chinese cuisine was always a central subject.

Watching the old master stick one small, adorable white bun after another into a round, pancake-like iron pan, seeing firsthand as their bottoms turned golden from frying, watching handfuls of sesame seeds and chopped scallions sprinkled over them, Tohsaka Mina could not help swallowing. She secretly praised herself for making the absolutely correct decision to grab something to eat before summoning a Servant.

The plastic sign at the entrance displayed four large Chinese characters: Shanghai Cuisine. To a foreigner, there were only a few famous Chinese cities—Beijing, Shanghai, and so on.

It was like the effect of advertising. Why did businesses keep desperately filming television commercials when they clearly knew viewers would not pay much attention to what those commercials said?

It was a statistical result from psychology: when shopping, ordinary people were often more willing to buy things they had heard of. There were two kinds of toothpaste. One was Darlie, which constantly appeared in television advertisements, while the other was some obscure small brand. Statistics showed that the overwhelming majority bought the major brand.

By the same reasoning, when a girl who knew nothing about China heard the name Shanghai, she naturally felt a sense of familiarity.

Completely unlike her grandmother, far away, with her queenly bearing, Tohsaka Mina could only be described as thoroughly enjoying herself. Her beauty inherited from her grandmother, her soft golden hair inherited from her father, and the exquisite happiness that came with delicious food filling her stomach all made the young girl radiate an impossible-to-ignore brilliance.

Inside the perfectly fried, crisp dough was richly flavored pork. The sesame sprinkled over it and the tongue-scorching meat juices formed a tremendous contrast with the chill typical of a spring night, making the sense of happiness all the more pronounced.

Happiness was not a fixed, unchanging solid, but something constantly shifting. Especially when comparison was involved. Drinking water when thirsty, eating when hungry, finding a bed when sleepy—though ordinary, that was happiness. Drinking, eating, and sleeping were not particularly happy things under normal circumstances. The key was "comparison."

Oddly enough, although the most active hour of the Leyline, midnight, had already passed, Tohsaka Mina did not seem anxious at all, as though missing the Leyline's peak activity period was no big deal.

Ah, she truly was the heir of the Tohsaka Family. Such was the poise of a great Magus lineage. Even without relying on that kind of petty trickery, she could easily win the Holy Grail War. Surely it was with such composure that Tohsaka Mina could happily savor snacks at a small restaurant in the middle of the night?

However, the restaurant owner saw it differently. The elderly man frowned and spoke a long stream of Chinese, concern written plainly across his face. But Tohsaka Mina did not understand a single word—she did not know Chinese, and even if she listened, she would not understand it, so why listen?

Seeing the old man's concerned expression, Mina guessed that he had probably mistaken her for a runaway and was trying to persuade her to go home.

There were still more good people in the world after all. Thinking that, she stuffed the last Pan-Fried Bun on her plate into her mouth, mumbled a "Thank you," then paid and ran off while blowing out hot air to cool her scalded mouth.

Qianxi City was cold in spring, but the boiling heat in the girl's chest was enough to resist the harsh chill. Her heart overflowed with the hot-blooded excitement of about to joining the Holy Grail War, enough to make her ignore everything else.

For example...

"Hehe, in another hour, it'll be the best time for Leyline activity."

Brimming with confidence, she took out her smartphone and lightly tapped it with a slender, fair finger. Sensing its owner's fingerprint, the device swiftly unlocked and displayed a male movie star on its wallpaper.

She checked the numbers on the screen. It was exactly 11:06 at night, still one hour away from midnight, when the Leyline would be most active! Easy, easy.

The Tohsaka Family's creed was to remain elegant at all times. Thus, Mina had deliberately set aside an hour to find a place rich in Leyline energy and summon her Servant.

Naturally, she had already prepared the catalyst.

Perfect preparations before battle—yes, that was very much the Tohsaka Family way! Prepare everything necessary for battle, then enter the war elegantly, obtain the Holy Grail elegantly, and elegantly make her grandmother acknowledge that she had become a Tohsaka Family Magus capable of standing on her own! How elegant was that?!

Pride filled Mina's ample chest.

Indeed, that was very much the Tohsaka Family way.

Especially since Mina had still not realized that China and Japan had a time difference.

Fifty years ago, when Tohsaka Rin summoned the Servant Archer, she had made a similar mistake. A magical power imbalance had caused the clock at home to run one hour fast—and Lady Tohsaka Rin had completely forgotten about it, resulting in her not summoning under optimal conditions...

Earlier still, her great-grandfather Tohsaka Tokiomi had also been too proud and complacent, placing too much trust in his "disciple," Kirei Kotomine, and ultimately died at another's hands.

The Tohsaka Family's creed, hidden edition: they would always overlook the most important detail at the most critical moment.

Of course, Mina would not know any of that.

Mina had done quite a lot that day.

Buying a ticket from the airport's automated ticket machine alone had been an enormous headache. It seemed that what her grandmother had passed down to Mina across generations was not merely beauty, but also a lack of skill with machinery. Even with the help of the friendly airport staff, Mina had nearly been driven to tears by that high-tech contraption.

Finding the boarding gate had been even more agonizing. The crowded airport terminal was like a maze made of human bodies, and Mina had nearly failed to find her flight in time.

Then, the moment she got off the plane, she began searching for a catalyst. Only now did she finally have time to eat something and fill her stomach, which had been growling for ages.

Mina had thought it through clearly. If she searched for a catalyst in Japan, her grandmother would probably catch her. Then her grandmother certainly would not let her run around anymore, and getting her grandmother to acknowledge that she could stand on her own would remain a distant dream!

So, she had decided to head to the battlefield first, then search for a catalyst locally. China was said to be an ancient civilization, with countless museums, exhibitions, and the like. She could look for one after arriving.

The moment she became a Master, she gained the corresponding basic knowledge and understood very well how fame enhanced a Servant's strength. Since the battlefield was in China, naturally she needed to summon a Chinese Servant, one who would be widely known.

Mina hugged something wrapped in yellow cloth to her chest and giggled as she headed toward a node where the Dragon Vein flowed.

It was a crown.

In ancient China, it was an ornament men used to bind up their hair.

Delicate patterns were drawn across its golden exterior, and merely looking at it revealed the fineness of its craftsmanship.

Mina had stolen it... no, Mina had exchanged it without telling its original owner, while the owner and security guards were not paying attention.

The way she acquired the crown was rather roundabout.

She had obtained it from a "Three Kingdoms exhibition." Taking advantage of the night, she infiltrated it with magecraft. The strict security system had no power to resist magecraft that completely ignored scientific principles. Mina easily slipped inside.

Even while she was in Germany, Mina had heard of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which showed just how famous it was. It was said that some people in China might never have read Three Kingdoms, but no one did not know Three Kingdoms.

In other words, no matter which general from Three Kingdoms she summoned, they would definitely receive a boost from fame and become a warrior capable of taking on a thousand enemies.

What was more...

Even though Mina was Japanese... no, precisely because Mina was Japanese, she knew Three Kingdoms culture, especially its anime and games, extremely well.

The peerless warrior hailed as unmatched beneath heaven, the formidable Lu Bu Fengxian, was her target. The crown in her hands was the one she had secretly exchanged from the exhibition.

If one read manga often enough, they could still recognize simple Chinese characters like Lu Bu from Three Kingdoms.

Of course, Mina had not taken it for nothing. Using the transmutation magecraft she excelled at, she had used a yellow gemstone she carried with her to imitate a crown and leave it in place. As long as no one touched it personally, they would never discover the problem.

With this golden crown, she would surely be able to summon the strongest warrior of the Three Kingdoms! Then the Holy Grail would be hers for the taking!

Thinking this, Tohsaka Mina quickened her pace even more, practically skipping along!

And so, not long afterward, Qianxi gained an urban legend: a red female ghost that hopped along late at night, letting out eerie little chuckles. Never approach her. It was that sort of legend.

But that was a story for later.

Incidentally, if Mina had known a few more Chinese characters, she would have understood that the banner at the exhibition read, "2045 Version 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' Prop Exhibition Hall." It was actually just a publicity stunt for a television drama rerun.

The crown in her hands was merely a television prop. It was not worth going to such lengths to exchange it with a gemstone. Its actual value was six thousand yen; even if the owner intentionally overcharged her, thirty thousand yen would have been more than enough. It was completely disproportionate to the value of a gemstone brimming with magical power.

However, when summoning a Servant, connection mattered more than authenticity.

Now that Mina had reached the convergence point of the Leylines, she set up a barrier to drive away bystanders and began her summoning in an orderly fashion.

The Pan-Fried Buns she had just eaten filled her stomach as they slowly transformed into her energy. Scorching magical power surged from her Magic Circuits. At the center of the summoning circle sat the golden crown, and Mina's abundant magical power flowed steadily along the paths of the formation and into it.

Her incantation was flawless, every word clearly pronounced. Before the summoning, she had even taken special care with her appearance, certain that she would leave a wonderful first impression on her Servant.

Perfect.

Aside from the China-Japan time difference, Tohsaka Mina's preparations had no flaws whatsoever.

"—Let silver and iron be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let my ancestor be the great master Schweinorg. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the Crown rotating the three heavens be summoned from the Kingdom. Enclose the seven heavens with three great words of power, come forth from the wheel of restraint, guardian of the scales!"

She completed the chant perfectly. The qualifications of the Three Families of the Holy Grail War were certainly not for show.

The torrent of magical power was even more exaggerated than Tsukahara Meiji's had been.

If Archer's appearance had stirred up a storm,

then Mina's summoning had called forth a tsunami.

Magical power like a tide surged from the magic crest like a fountain, wildly scattering in all directions. A torrent of earth-yellow magical power mixed with a fire-like scorching heat whipped Mina's flowing golden hair about, tracing dazzling arcs through the air.

Within that seemingly endless sea of magical power, the clopping of hooves was the only sound.

Hooves shattered the earth, and above the black hooves was crimson fur.

It was a magnificent horse standing two meters tall. Its powerful muscles throbbed with roaring force, while a crimson mane draped softly down its long neck, part of it bound beneath an ornate saddle. Further back sat a man atop the horse. He was simply too tall, like a god descended to earth, and the abundant magical power made it seem as though dazzling radiance shone from his entire body.

Dressed in finely crafted armor with beast-head shoulder guards, he embodied the word splendid to its fullest. He held an oddly shaped "spear" in his hand. The overwhelmingly imposing hero charged forward on horseback, galloping close before his hooves stomped down in fury, shattering the ground. Before such a sight, even a newborn calf unafraid of tigers could not help but feel intimidated.

"Lu Fengxian, unmatched beneath heaven—answering the summons as Rider. Heh... it seems the Master who summoned me is quite adorable."