The True Holy Relic / Hmph~ Trying to Run?

Fujimaru Kyoya's words had thoroughly exposed Matou Shinji for what he was. For the first time, he understood that he was actually weak.

More importantly, he had discovered his father's beastly behavior toward Sakura...

At the time, Matou Shinji had wanted to pretend he had seen nothing, but Fujimaru Kyoya's words ultimately made him pick up a wine bottle from the ground.

After that day, Matou Shinji's father, Matou Tsuruya, died of a sudden heart attack.

After that day, Matou Shinji also resolved to become strong.

"Britain's history seems to be... here."

Matou Shinji found the information he wanted, but there were only scattered fragments concerning the White Dragon Vortigern, insufficient to answer Fujimaru Kyoya's questions.

"Perhaps only the Clock Tower has that information."

The Clock Tower, one of the Mage's Association's three major institutions, was permanently based in London. If any organization knew Britain's history best, it was undoubtedly them.

"Lord Animsphere of the Department of Astrology wants to see me?"

Having just finished a day of classes and dealt with those problem children, Lord El-Melloi II had barely gotten home and warmed his seat when he received this news from his adoptive sister.

"The Department of Modern Magecraft and the Department of Astrology shouldn't have much overlap."

"It's naturally about a Holy Relic. Aren't you the only one at the Clock Tower who has participated in a Holy Grail War, Brother?"

Reines spoke frivolously, yet her words made Lord El-Melloi II tense up.

The current Department of Modern Magecraft was simply no match for the long-established Department of Astrology. Although his classroom had some bizarre prodigies, they were clearly still far inferior to Kirschtaria Wodime.

If someone like that participated in the Holy Grail War, his odds of victory would plummet.

"I refuse. I won't accept this commission."

Since they were future enemies, Lord El-Melloi II wanted to avoid the other man whenever possible, let alone help him.

"But Brother, our family owes quite a lot of money, doesn't it? Without additional income, do you think a mage of your level might hold your Servant back?"

"Urgh..."

Reines struck directly at Lord El-Melloi II's weak point. The Holy Grail War occurred once every sixty years. Though only nine years had passed, Lord El-Melloi II's magecraft had more or less reached its limit.

If he did not want to hold his King back, the best solution was to gather enough money to build a perfect Magic Workshop, just as Kayneth had done.

"The Animsphere Family is offering a generous fee. More importantly, we can learn in advance about the Servant they intend to summon and make preparations beforehand. Opportunities like this are rare."

"I... understand."

The moment he saw his adoptive sister's mischievous smile, Lord El-Melloi II's stomach began to ache. Though she was clearly just a child, she effortlessly had an adult like him in the palm of her hand.

Still, Reines was right. He needed money, and there was still a long time until the next Holy Grail War. He might as well meet this future enemy.

After putting on formal attire and equipping his defensive measures, Lord El-Melloi II brought Reines to the Animsphere estate. There, he met a white-haired man who was clearly older than him yet looked like a young man.

Marisbury Animsphere.

The True Holy Relic

"I have long heard of you, Lord El-Melloi II."

Marisbury carried himself like an old aristocrat, with not a single flaw in his etiquette. Even toward Lord El-Melloi II, who might become his enemy, he showed sufficient respect.

"The feeling is mutual."

Lord El-Melloi II was not skilled at aristocratic small talk, so he had brought Reines along. After a round of insincere noble pleasantries, they quickly got to the point.

"As someone who has participated in a Holy Grail War, I trust you understand the importance of Holy Relics. I would like you to appraise this."

Marisbury clapped his hands. At once, a woman dressed like a secretary approached carrying a long, narrow wooden case.

A Holy Relic was an item once used by a famous or great figure from history.

The key to the Holy Grail War was the summoning of Servants. With a Holy Relic, one could narrow the summoned Servant down to a specific individual. Without one, the Servant would only be summoned based on compatibility with the Master.

The latter was far too random. It was not a choice a mage should make.

"This is..."

The long wooden case opened, revealing a sword that emitted a faint azure glow. Even after a thousand years, it remained dazzling.

"This weapon has undoubtedly reached the realm of a Holy Sword. Its history can be traced back to the 5th century AD... Wait, the 5th century AD."

Just as Christians would never forget Jesus, no proper Briton could possibly be unaware of King Arthur's legend. The 5th century AD was undoubtedly the era in which King Arthur had been active.

"This is the Holy Sword of one of the Knights of the Round Table?"

Lord El-Melloi II recalled all he had seen and heard. He knew the weapons of the Knights of the Round Table by heart, yet none matched the sword before him. Then, suddenly... he remembered something.

"Blade of Vortigern."

"So it was."

Marisbury revealed a relieved expression. Clearly, he had already known the sword's origins and had only called Lord El-Melloi II here to confirm his guess.

"The original inhabitants of this land were the Celts, not us Anglo-Saxons. To proclaim our legitimacy, we honored King Arthur as our ancestor and erased all stories of the White Dragon. As a result, people today delight in King Arthur's tales but know little of the White Dragon's legend."

Such secrets were beyond the reach of ordinary people, but Marisbury, as one of the Clock Tower's Twelve Lords and the Head of the Animsphere Family, naturally understood the details.

"Just as I thought. To preserve the legitimacy of the Anglo-Saxons and conceal our former invasion, we altered and hid history. Most later generations only knew that Vortigern was King Arthur's Arch-Nemesis, but not that there was also a Knight who defeated several Knights of the Round Table."

Lord El-Melloi II's origins were ordinary, but he had read extensively over the years and explored that concealed history. Especially after facing King Arthur in the Fourth Holy Grail War, he had studied it even more deeply.

"Everyone is extremely guarded about all records related to Britain in the 5th century AD. Even after years of investigation, I have only reached two conclusions."

Though the two were future enemies, once the subject turned to academia, the two mages could still sit down and have a proper discussion.

"First, there is far too little information about Vortigern. Too little is known about his life and experiences, and why he betrayed Britain remains unclear. Second..."

"Mordred's betrayal makes no sense, right?"

Marisbury was no less learned.

"The exposure of Lancelot and the queen's affair was too coincidental. Though the situation was clearly unstable during the latter years of King Arthur's rule, he still launched an expedition to Gaul. Most importantly, most of the Knights of the Round Table did not attend the Battle of Camlann."

Every aspect of Mordred's betrayal was strange, yet no one had ever questioned it over the years. Most people regarded it as a myth, while those on the mysterious side remained guarded about that period. Even if someone noticed something unusual, they would not discuss it publicly.

If one truly investigated, how had Britain's rulers transitioned from the Celts to the Anglo-Saxons?

Why did the Anglo-Saxons specifically honor King Arthur as their ancestor?

How could one explain the Knights of the Round Table constantly missing crucial battles during the later years of the Camelot dynasty?

"We have gone a little off topic. Still, with the appraisal of your eyes, I can rest easy. As long as I can summon the one connected to Blade of Vortigern, victory will be mine."

"You are that confident?"

Lord El-Melloi II was displeased. It was one thing to underestimate him, but if Marisbury also underestimated Iskandar, the King of Conquerors, then as his retainer, he could not tolerate it.

"After all, he was a powerful figure who defeated numerous Knights of the Round Table, and he even has the feat of defeating King Arthur. As far as I know, Saber's Master persisted until the very end in the previous Holy Grail War."

"You think he will participate again?"

The thought of that King Arthur made Lord El-Melloi II feel awful.

"Who knows? It is merely a precaution. We have talked long enough today. I will transfer the appraisal fee to the El-Melloi family account as promised. I will not see you out."

Having obtained a satisfactory result, Marisbury directly served tea to send them away. After the two left, the female secretary stepped forward and put the sword away.

"Head of Family, are we really going to sell this sword?"

"Of course. Why would I summon someone who only possibly defeated numerous Knights of the Round Table?"

Marisbury smiled disdainfully. Calling Lord El-Melloi II over had merely been a smokescreen.

He was determined to win the Holy Grail War, and he could more or less identify four competitors: Lord El-Melloi II and Fuyuki's Three Families.

However, among Fuyuki's Three Families, the Einzbern Family was a collection of the old, weak, sick, and disabled; the Matou Family's magecraft had been cut off; and only a little girl remained in the Tohsaka Family. None were worth his attention. The only one he truly needed to worry about was Lord El-Melloi II, another Lord.

"The Contract of Astral Academy, the pseudo-Earth model, imaginary number diving, Spiritron transfer... I have assembled most of the necessary conditions. All that remains is sufficient startup capital."

Marisbury thought of Fuyuki's Greater Holy Grail. It was the most convenient channel for him to acquire a massive amount of funding.

Even though he already knew the Holy Grail in Fuyuki City had been contaminated, everything was ready except the final push. The arrow was already on the string; he had no choice but to fire.

"The Holy Grail may be contaminated, but if I borrow his power and wisdom, perhaps there is still a solution."

Marisbury removed his glove. On the ring finger of his right hand, he wore a simple golden ring.

How could he casually show others the Holy Relic for summoning his Servant?

"King who set the course for magecraft in later generations, if it is you, you will surely fulfill the long-cherished wish of our Animsphere Family—Chaldea."

Marisbury was extremely confident in this smokescreen, because although Lord El-Melloi II intended to prepare for the Holy Grail War, he did not know that it would begin next year.

That man still foolishly believed it was more than fifty years away. By the time he learned that the Holy Grail War had already begun, he would have no time to see through Marisbury's deception.

He was determined to win this Holy Grail War. Chaldea would definitely be established.

Hmph~ Trying to Run?

"Shinji doesn't have any leads either? This is troublesome."

Fujimaru Kyoya had a headache. This was 2003, not the age of information explosion more than a decade later, where one could simply look something up online.

Even in a developed country like Japan, computers had not yet become widespread, and mobile phones had not yet been redefined by Jobs. Fujimaru Kyoya had difficulty even getting online, much less researching Britain in the 5th century AD.

"But one thing cannot be wrong. This power is Mana."

Though the method of using it differed and its efficiency was much lower, Fujimaru Kyoya had indeed sensed Mana, and his physical abilities were steadily becoming stronger.

"The only question now is how to use this power."

When Fujimaru Kyoya had been Lloyd, his ability to suppress the Knights of the Round Table had not come solely from hard work and talent. It had also relied on talents awakened through the simulator and his special advantage against Britain, allowing him to display such exaggerated combat power.

His only way to obtain talents now was to wait for the next simulation. Before then, he had to find a method of training Mana suited to this era.

"Should I go to London and find Platform 9 3/4? No, I would rather buy an Owl. Then Hogwarts can contact me too."

For learning Magic, Hogwarts was the place to be. I will be waiting for you in Gryffindor.

"Hm? Was that Tohsaka?"

Just as Fujimaru Kyoya was preparing to enroll at Hogwarts, a graceful figure flashed through his field of vision.

It was his classmate, Tohsaka Rin—the top beauty of Hohgitsunohara Academy, an outstanding student, the woman Matou Shinji could not have, and the publicly recognized Unreachable Flower.

Even someone as blockheaded as Emiya Shirou noticed her, which was enough to prove her charm.

Yet Tohsaka Rin was currently wearing a red-and-white shrine maiden outfit and... working part-time at a shrine-like place?

She was probably working part-time. Still, with Tohsaka Rin's popularity, if she were working, everyone should have known about it—especially when she looked so appealing in shrine maiden clothes.

Had he mistaken someone else for her?

"Tohsaka, you are working part-time in a place like this?"

"Fujimaru Kyoya... I did not expect it to be you this time."

Tohsaka Rin's expression immediately changed when she saw Fujimaru Kyoya. After all, Fujimaru Kyoya was Hohgitsunohara Academy's notorious school delinquent.

In his debut battle, he had trampled the former school delinquent, Matou Shinji, underfoot and turned him into his errand boy. Afterward, he single-handedly fought through the kendo club, judo club, karate club... He was practically Fuyuki City's god of delinquents.

If a delinquent like him had noticed her, something like, "Tohsaka Rin, you would not want others to know you are a shrine maiden, would you?" would definitely happen.

Following that script, scenes found only in videos with the ".avi" format would soon appear. She absolutely did not want that.

"Although we have no grudge against each other, please forget about this."

Seeing that there were no passersby nearby, Tohsaka Rin immediately prepared to use hypnotic Magecraft to hypnotize the delinquent before her and erase this memory.

If others learned that Hohgitsunohara Academy's Unreachable Flower was working part-time here, she would never have peace again.

That was also why no one at school knew she was working here as a shrine maiden. As long as she erased those people's memories and implanted a suggestion that they should avoid this area, everything would be fine.

Tohsaka Rin thought this would end quickly, but this time, the Magecraft she had long mastered failed.

"Did you do something just now?"

Fujimaru Kyoya felt something approach him just now, only for it to vanish without a trace.

"How could this be?"