Irisviel raised her slender hand and placed it in Fu Yuan's palm.
Through the contact of their hands, Fu Yuan felt the temperature of Irisviel's palm.
It was cold, icy, like snowflakes falling from the sky.
But Irisviel did not feel the same way.
She felt warm and comfortable, like the warmth of clothes draped over her body.
No, it was even warmer than those clothes.
The warmth flowing from his palm made Irisviel blink her slightly dazed crimson eyes. She had the urge to never let go once she had held on.
Because this warm feeling was a comfort she had never experienced before, she developed a faint sense of dependence and longing.
Fu Yuan helped Irisviel to her feet. Perhaps because she had lost too much blood, her entire body was weak. As soon as Fu Yuan supported her up, she slumped directly into his arms.
"..." Fu Yuan lowered his head to look at the girl, who could only stand steadily by leaning on him, and asked somewhat awkwardly, "You're so weak, you probably can't walk. I should carry you."
"Huh??" Irisviel, who had fallen into Fu Yuan's arms, looked at him with a baffled expression. That bewildered look gave Fu Yuan a strong sense of incongruity.
Right now, Fu Yuan felt as though he was not facing a woman around his own age, but a... slow-witted little girl of seven or eight.
In fact, Fu Yuan's feeling was quite accurate.
Although Irisviel had a curvaceous figure and a beautiful, delicate face like that of an adult woman, she was actually only three months old.
Irisviel was an artificial lifeform created by the Einzbern family three months ago. She had merely been instilled with the Einzbern family's magecraft.
That was why Fu Yuan sensed such a strong feeling of incongruity from Irisviel.
Thus, the current Irisviel did not understand shame, nor did she understand the distinction between men and women. She only felt that Fu Yuan's embrace was warm and wanted to stay in it forever.
Though this zero-year-old woman was younger than both Tohsaka Rin and Tohsaka Sakura, her figure was certainly no smaller than the two sisters'...
With Irisviel pressed tightly against him, even through a cloak and a layer of clothing, Fu Yuan could still sense the proud curves of her body.
Fortunately, when Fu Yuan had entered the Bavarian Forest, he had trained his resistance to women on Scáthach. Otherwise, his face would probably have turned bright red by now.
Still, Fu Yuan was not entirely unaffected. He felt his face growing somewhat hot.
Since Irisviel had not responded to his question of whether she wanted him to carry her, he stopped worrying about it.
Fu Yuan bent down, slipped his arms beneath Irisviel's slender, snow-white legs, and lifted her in a princess carry.
Fu Yuan felt that Irisviel was very light, as though he were holding a soft down comforter.
After being picked up by Fu Yuan like this, Irisviel neither protested nor fussed, simply allowing him to do as he pleased.
Rather than obedient and well-behaved, it was more like... she did not know how to respond to Fu Yuan's sudden embrace.
After lifting Irisviel up, he headed back toward the tracked snow vehicle and asked, "You still remember the way back to Einzbern, right? I'll take you home."
"I remember, but Einzbern forbids outsiders from approaching. I can't tell you," Irisviel said, lightly shaking her head.
Truly worthy of a reclusive magecraft family, but this would not stump Fu Yuan~
"I forgot to tell you. I'm actually someone sent by the Tohma Family, intending to discuss the upcoming Holy Grail War with the Einzbern family," Fu Yuan said with a straight face, spouting nonsense.
In order to enter Einzbern castle smoothly, Fu Yuan told a lie for the first time in quite a while.
But it was a well-intentioned lie.
After all, Irisviel was so weak right now that she could not return to Einzbern castle by herself.
So, for Irisviel to make it back to Einzbern castle, Fu Yuan had no choice but to lie~
This is Apple speaking. This world was not the Fourth Holy Grail War of Fate/Zero, but the Fourth Holy Grail War from an FGO crossover.
Therefore, Papa Kiritsugu had not received an invitation from Einzbern~
Since he had not received an invitation, then~ Irisviel belonged to Apple, confirmed.
The third unlimited bounty has begun!
As the title says, Apple has launched the third unlimited bounty~
The rules are the same as before.
One thousand recommendation votes, one extra chapter.
One hundred monthly votes, one extra chapter.
One hundred blades, one extra chapter.
Ten thousand in tips, one extra chapter.
The bounty begins now and will continue until 6 PM on May 10th.
If you're interested, try guessing how many chapters Apple's third unlimited bounty will leave me owing~
Apple thinks fifteen chapters should be about right.
Then~ let's begin, our third bounty? (^?^*)
Scáthach, Come Help Me!
"Tohsaka... the Tohma Family that created the Holy Grail War with our family?" Irisviel asked, somewhat puzzled.
"That's right, that family!"
Fu Yuan's Main Quests were to find Einzbern castle, then find an excuse to stay there. So, he planned to impersonate someone sent by the Tohma Family.
As for whether Einzbern would send someone to the Tohma Family to verify the matter and discover that Fu Yuan was lying... that did not matter either. By then, Fu Yuan would have already completed his Main Quests.
"If you were sent by the Tohma Family, and the matter concerns the Holy Grail War, then I can take you into Einzbern castle," the slow-witted Irisviel said.
This was the pitiful part of a sheltered young lady. She easily believed whatever others told her.
Although deceiving a girl like Irisviel gave Fu Yuan a slight sense of guilt, fortunately, he had no malicious intentions, so the guilt was not too heavy.
"Then let's introduce ourselves. My name is Fu Yuan. You can just call me Fu Yuan."
Before you continue