Natalia Returns

The setting was still Kanbako City, still the Emiya Residence, and the protagonists were still the Emiya Family, but the theme had already changed.

Kiritsugu Emiya, the man who turned expressionless the instant he stepped out of the Emiya Residence, now had a face full of astonishment. It was all because of the woman standing before him. Her name was Natalia, Natalia Kaminski.

This was what had happened: back then, Natalia had been struck dead-on by Kiritsugu's RPG and fallen from an altitude of over a thousand miles into the sea.

Let's rewind a little further. Natalia had killed her target, only to be bitten by that bastard Dead Apostle Bee. However, Natalia did not turn into a ghoul or a living corpse, because she was exceptionally gifted. It was something even Natalia herself had nearly forgotten—she was not a pure human. Part of her bloodline came from a succubus.

By racial classification, succubi were a kind of magical beast. They had mainly been active during the Age of Gods, when Mystery was highly developed. Later, as Mystery declined, magical beasts gradually vanished from the sight of the vast majority of mages.

Nowadays, mages could only find traces of that race's existence in rumors.

After Natalia was infected by the Dead Apostle Bee, the succubus bloodline within her reacted violently. How violently? As violently as Doraemon was black.

Whether it had been a physical or chemical reaction, scientific or magical, was impossible to determine. But by the time Natalia woke up, the reaction had already ended.

Both succubi and Dead Apostles were species above humanity. Neither bloodline would submit to the other: one wanted to turn Natalia into a succubus, the other into a Dead Apostle. In the end, she became neither. Natalia was still human. But influenced by both bloodlines, she gained the powers and traits—or perhaps the stat allocation methods—of both races.

The succubus's innate allure and strength far beyond ordinary humans, the Dead Apostle's vitality, regenerative power, and physical abilities. They also canceled out some of each other's weaknesses. For example, Natalia had none of the blood-drinkers' weaknesses to sunlight, pure water, or silver.

All in all, everything had turned out well. Natalia had turned misfortune into fortune, and after completely mastering her new powers, she set out to find Kiritsugu.

Though he had nearly blown her to pieces with one shot, Natalia understood Kiritsugu's personality and understood him as well. Hatred was out of the question. Missing him, however, was completely genuine.

This time, I'll definitely make that brat call me Mom. His expression will be hilarious! With that thought in mind, Natalia returned to her old profession while setting out to find Kiritsugu. Earlier, with outsiders around, it had not been convenient. But everyone present now was obviously part of the Emiya Family. They were all family, so what the hell was there to hold back for?

"That's what happened. Now then, brat, call me Mom and let me hear it!" Natalia said. Perhaps influenced by her bloodline, she wore a faintly demonic smile.

Beside them, Illya looked from the smiling Natalia to Kiritsugu's troubled expression, then tugged at Shirou's sleeve and asked, "Hey, Shirou, who's that lady?"

Shirou put on a solemnly contemplative expression. After a moment, he said to Illya in complete seriousness, "In conclusion, she should be Dad's mom. Even though she's not his biological mother, just like I'm not his biological son, Mom is still Mom. So we should call her Grandma!"

"Wow, Illya's grandma? She looks so young!" Illya exclaimed after hearing Shirou's words. Since neither succubi nor Dead Apostles had lifespans comparable to humans, Natalia still looked almost exactly as she had when she was blown into the sea. If anything, she seemed even younger.

"My, having a house full of children and grandchildren all at once isn't bad, but considering how I look, being called Grandma is a little too early, isn't it, little brats?" Natalia's five senses had also been greatly enhanced, so Illya and Shirou's whispers naturally could not escape her ears. "What do you think, brat? Your children are already planning to call me Grandma, yet you still don't plan to call me Mom?"

Kiritsugu, who was usually calm and composed, flushed red from Natalia's teasing, yet he had no answer. He still carried a measure of guilt over that RPG shot from back then. It was a thorn in his heart. Though he had never regretted his decision, saying someone was truly family and then blasting them into heaven with an RPG was just downright awful.

In the original timeline—or rather, the FSN-FZ timeline—Kiritsugu had taken this matter with him to the crematorium. But for the thin-skinned, hopelessly tsundere Kiritsugu, the current situation was as painful as an urn, damn it!

Seeing Kiritsugu's face as red as a dick, looking like he wanted to say something but could not, Natalia finally burst into laughter so delighted it could have evaded taxes. "Hahaha! Fine, seeing how funny you look, I'll let it go. It's just calling me Mom, isn't it? Let's talk business."

Hearing that, Kiritsugu became serious as well, though his flushed face was still rather amusing. "A while ago, I accepted a commission with an extremely generous reward. The client was a talented young lady from the El-Melloi Family. The job was to help them clean house."

"So you want to find some trustworthy people to work with, so it'll be easier to act?" Shirou spoke up. Noticing Natalia's gaze, he said confidently,

"Hey, don't judge me by appearances. I'm the strongest fighter in the Emiya Family."

At that, Natalia turned her gaze to Kiritsugu. That look plainly meant, Is he telling the truth? After Kiritsugu nodded, Natalia asked directly, "The strongest fighter? How strong are you?"

"Within two hours, I can kill everyone in Kanbako City and turn this entire place into a pile of rubble," Shirou said, patting his chest.

Looking at Shirou's innocent smile, Natalia thought, Isn't he basically a walking human-shaped nuclear bomb? Having traveled all over the world for years, she had a feeling the brat was telling the truth.

There had never been any shortage of monsters in this world. Having a walking human-shaped nuclear bomb around was no big deal... my ass! Don't say such terrifying things! You scared the hell out of me, damn it!

"Hey, brat, how about lending me this little brat for a month or so?" Natalia asked Kiritsugu. Being able to fight was one thing, but more importantly, this boy could be considered her grandson. He was trustworthy.

Not good at all. If you take him away, how are we supposed to solve our family's meal problem?

Though he thought that, this was Natalia's request, and Kiritsugu truly could not bring himself to refuse. Besides, he trusted Natalia as well. After struggling with himself several times, Kiritsugu agreed. "Come back early."

That was how Kiritsugu and Natalia communicated. It was not mainly through words, but through tacit understanding. You could understand it, but not put it into words.

As for Shirou's safety... forget it! Ever since he had transmigrated, Shirou's body had been absorbing the magical energy in the atmosphere at every moment, just like the Holy Grail Cup. Not only that, nine-tenths of the food he ate every day was converted into magical energy.

Against ordinary enemies, he could crush them to death through sheer magical energy alone. By conservative estimates, even if Shirou faced one of the Twenty-Seven Ancestors now, he could fight head-on. As long as he had enough magical energy, a species like the Great Void could really do whatever it wanted.

"Then let's go, little brat. I'll take you out and show you the world!" With Kiritsugu's agreement, Natalia had no intention of continuing the small talk. Her commission was urgent, after all. Without trust, it was difficult for a bounty hunter to make a name for herself in this line of work.

After the two left, Kiritsugu could not help showing a wry smile. "Looks like I'll have to go back to Fuyuki and find Sella for a while."

Heaven pity him, Kiritsugu Emiya truly had no talent for cooking. He had lived this long entirely by relying on others to take care of him, yet now he was somehow the head honcho of the Emiya Family. Oh, what a soaring feeling.

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