Unfortunately, the countless traps that would have been enough to send even top-tier Magi home in defeat had not served the slightest purpose.
Because the unwelcome guest who had broken into this garden... was a Servant.
Just as nearly every trap in the garden had been destroyed by the intruding Servant,
Sakura, who had hurried up from the Basement, made her entrance.
"What a complete mess... Miss Servant, isn't barging into someone else's garden so casually rather rude?"
Facing Sakura's dazzling appearance, Artoria—the intruder and unwelcome guest Sakura had spoken of—immediately revealed an uncertain expression.
Through her instinct, although Sakura's aura was slightly strange, Artoria was certain that the Sakura before her... truly was a young girl, not some strange magus.
For Artoria, the King Arthur of the Chaldea Timeline, men, women, elders... as a king, so long as she confirmed they were her enemies and the outcome was right, no matter how reluctant she felt, she could swing her sword at them without hesitation.
After all, she was the most perfect King in the eyes of all her subjects.
Yet when facing a human child... even Artoria... still could not bring herself to swing her blade.
"I am sorry. If it were not necessary... I would not have entered your home this way... But I have a reason I must come here... Sakura Matou, head of the Matou Family... can you return Lady Irisviel to me?!"
"Big Sister Irisviel? No...!"
Magus Killer—Kiritsugu Emiya.
In the garden of the Matou Residence, which had been thoroughly plowed over by explosions and magecraft,
Sakura, standing before Artoria, refused the request to return Irisviel without the slightest hesitation.
"Big Sister Irisviel? No... I can't give her back to you."
"Why... You are not a participant in the Holy Grail War, so you should have no reason to refuse."
"Of course I do. Big Sister Irisviel isn't a Master. I refuse to let her return to that cruel Holy Grail War!"
"Mm..."
Artoria froze slightly. Then her soft pink lips parted... yet nothing came out.
Sakura was right. Irisviel was not a participant in the Holy Grail War. Was bringing her back and making her continue participating in that cruel war truly the right thing to do?
Just as Artoria had been left unsure of what to say by Sakura's words,
Sakura, standing opposite her, suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha, King Arthur... no, Artoria, you really are adorable."
"How rude... Are you teasing me, a King?"
"Then will you pass judgment on me?"
"You..."
Seeing Artoria rendered speechless again, Sakura knew perfectly well... if she kept playing with fire like this, Artoria, who differed somewhat from the King Arthurs of other Timelines, might actually pass judgment on her.
Thus, after obvious anger appeared in Artoria's eyes,
Sakura began explaining in a serious tone. However... she did not seem to have restrained herself at all...
"Just kidding... But Big Sister Artoria, you really are adorable... As far as I know... Big Sister Irisviel is your Master's wife, right..."
That was right, Irisviel was Kiritsugu's wife... Even if returning Irisviel to the Holy Grail War was wrong!
Yet Sakura's next sentence stunned Artoria again.
"Still... Big Sister Irisviel seems to be only nine years old, right? Your Master seems to have even had a child with Big Sister Irisviel... He seems like a total scumbag!"
"Nine years old..."
Yes, nine years old. Counting from the day Irisviel had been created, Irisviel was indeed only nine years old.
"Impossible... How could Lady Irisviel possibly be only nine years old?!"
"Do I have any reason to lie to you?"
Tilting her head, the serious Sakura seemed to be emphasizing that she was not lying, directly delivering a devastating head tilt to Artoria.
But clearly, Artoria had no mood to appreciate Sakura's head tilt right now.
Nine years old... having a child... Those words were simply too much of a shock for Artoria.
Just as Artoria was sunk once again by Sakura's words,
Kiritsugu Emiya's voice rang out from beyond the garden wall of the Matou Residence.
"Arthur... remember your mission."
Upon hearing Kiritsugu Emiya's voice, before Artoria could react, Sakura, standing opposite her, responded to Kiritsugu Emiya before Artoria could.
"Pfft... So the Magus Killer is here too. But what's with hiding outside the gate? Don't tell me you're scared of a five-year-old girl like me?"
As she spoke, Sakura's entire presence suddenly darkened, and a somewhat crudely made Magic Wand appeared in her hand.
The reason Sakura had chosen the magic of the Harry Potter series
was not merely because it was cheap enough and its functions and effects were quite good.
There was an even more important reason.
That was because a considerable portion of Harry Potter magic required the user's own emotions.
For example, when casting Avada Kedavra, one had to feel absolute killing intent toward the target.
And Sakura, who followed the path of cultivation toward immortality and sainthood, could alter her emotions as easily as breathing thanks to the mental state gained from cultivation. She could even completely eliminate the potential negative effects caused by Harry Potter magic.
Therefore, it was quick to learn and could be cast without restraint. Naturally, that had become the most important reason Sakura chose Harry Potter magic as her current transitional method.
Although there were still some Harry Potter spells Sakura had not learned due to lack of time, Sakura, who could easily control her emotions, had more than enough time to use those emotion-dependent spells with perfect mastery.
The instant Sakura's words fell,
Sakura, radiating a dark aura, cast a spell toward the direction Kiritsugu Emiya's voice had come from. As she swung her Magic Wand, a mass of blue-green flames instantly surrounded her.
A bang rang out. The bullet, faster than the sound, had been reduced to ash by Fiendfyre before it could reach her.
As expected... Kiritsugu Emiya really was a killer through and through.
"Deliberately speaking to draw my attention, then attacking during the gap while I was talking... Just as expected of the Magus Killer!"
But that shot was clearly only the beginning.
Sakura had barely finished mocking Kiritsugu Emiya when, the next second, a spear shattered the wall of the Matou Residence and shot straight toward her.
"So you're going straight for the kill..."
Sakura's Fiendfyre could naturally not stop a spear thrown by a Servant the way it had stopped the bullet just now.
However, Sakura, who had not relaxed for even a moment since arriving in the garden, still reacted in time.
As the Qi within her body surged wildly into the meridians of her legs,
In an instant, Sakura enhanced herself. Taking advantage of her small frame, she barely avoided the spear's lethal strike.
Choosing to face a Servant really was too much... But wasn't Leonidas being a little too shameless...?
It was not that Leonidas was shameless... It was Kiritsugu Emiya...
Just as Sakura narrowly evaded Leonidas's thrown spear,
Artoria, who was suddenly not far from Sakura, sharply changed expression. Then she drew her holy sword and slashed at Sakura, who had nowhere left to evade.
"Kiritsugu Emiya~!"
Under the Command Seal's order, Artoria's face was filled with fury. Feeling humiliated yet completely unable to refuse the Command Seal, her expression twisted at that moment...
No matter how unwilling she was to harm a human child... Artoria's sword still slashed toward Sakura.
Just as Sakura was about to be cut in two by the holy sword... at the critical moment... a Giant Python as thick as a car suddenly burst out from beneath Sakura's feet and swallowed her whole.
The Giant Python was sliced in two, and foul-smelling snake blood splashed all over Artoria.
Wiping the blood from her face, Artoria turned toward the gates of the Matou Family with a somewhat ferocious expression.
At that moment... Leonidas, wearing a grim expression, and Kiritsugu Emiya finally showed themselves at the gates of the Matou Family.
A Child with Bad Taste, the Second Summoning
Slimy, still constantly wriggling.
Sakura struggled to crawl out of the sticky, foul-smelling half of the python's corpse.
Covered from head to toe in snake stomach fluid, Sakura immediately turned to look at Orochimaru, who stood nearby with his arms folded and a smile on his face.
"Orochimaru... Couldn't you have used a cleaner method?"
"Hehe... This was the most effective one."
Fine, it truly had been the most effective.
If not for the Giant Python Orochimaru had summoned, Sakura would likely have been bisected by Artoria just now.
Although that would not have killed Sakura, she had no interest in experiencing what being cut in half felt like.
"Phew... Never mind. Aguamenti."
Her Magic Wand swayed lightly. As the incantation was spoken, a mass of clear water immediately enveloped Sakura. Once the slime on her body had been washed away, she chanted another spell to make herself look brand-new.
A few seconds earlier, Sakura had been in a miserable state, but now she had returned to her usual appearance.
"What a convenient ability..."
"What's there to marvel at? If you were willing, Orochimaru, developing a few Ninjutsu for daily life would be easy, wouldn't it?"
"Rather than improving Ninjutsu, I think replacing my body with one that possesses Mage Circuits, then using this magecraft, would be more interesting... Sakura, do you need me to deal with the trouble above?"
Looking at Orochimaru, whose current body could use at most seventy percent of his strength,
Sakura gently shook her head.
"No. It's not time to expose you yet... By the way, Orochimaru, do you think that old man Zouken Matou is gloating right now?"
"That strange bug probably does not have the courage... Sakura, they've come in."
Inside the empty Matou Residence,
although they were extremely dissatisfied with Kiritsugu Emiya's actions,
Artoria and Leonidas did not hold it against him for using a Command Seal to violate their will under the pressure of their shared objective.
They still chose to follow him as Servants and act under their Master's command.
"Please be careful. This house is filled with a decayed and strange aura."
Decay was not unusual. Any magus family with even a little history would possess such a scent.
Compared to the current Matou Family, the decayed aura from when Zouken Matou had controlled it before had been truly nauseating.
Kiritsugu Emiya sensed the decay within the house as well, even without Artoria's explanation.
Though he was not an orthodox magus and had never systematically learned proper magecraft,
as someone who belonged halfway to the Magecraft world, Kiritsugu Emiya understood this decay that ordinary people could not sense very well...
"Ignore it. That so-called 'decay' is merely a unique magical aura formed after Magi confine the land's magical energy... The Matou Family's is already very faint... Arthur, finding Irisviel as quickly as possible is what matters."
"No, Kiritsugu... I am not paying attention to that decayed aura. What concerns me is that strange presence..."
"A strange presence?"
Unconsciously stopping, Kiritsugu Emiya, who had already checked more than half the rooms on the first floor of the empty Matou Residence with his two Servants, could not help looking toward Artoria, seemingly wanting her to describe the aura in detail.
Just as Artoria faced Kiritsugu Emiya's gaze with deeply furrowed brows, uncertain how to describe the sensation that strange aura gave her,
Sakura's voice suddenly rang out beside Artoria.
"What a cheat. You can even sense Chakra, an energy that doesn't belong to this world, through instinct?"
They vigilantly looked around, secretly shifting their positions as Artoria and Leonidas protected Kiritsugu Emiya from front and rear.
For some reason, Sakura's suddenly appearing voice made the two Servants feel as though they faced a formidable enemy.
"Chakra... doesn't belong to this world..."
Before you continue