Type-Moon: Card Servants Chapter 43

As for Kotomine Kirei and Hassan of the Hundred Faces? Hah! They could be ignored!

Now that the plan had reached this stage, he could disregard part of the earlier plan to assassinate Masters. They had become entirely dispensable.

"I want to know—will you pass hope on to the future?" Kotomine Kirei asked his question. All this time, he had been lost over everything he did.

Whether it was learning combat techniques, studying magecraft, or even getting married.

He had been confused about all of it, feeling as though everything he did was meaningless. He did not know what he should do in the future, nor did he care to think about it.

But through Matou Kariya, Kotomine Kirei seemed to have seen something. That man appeared much like himself, without any so-called ideals and equally unremarkable. Yet such a man had suddenly stepped forward and joined the Holy Grail War.

He had not done it for the Holy Grail, but for a little girl who had little to do with him. He had wagered everything just to pull that girl out of the Matou family.

His answer was that he himself was beyond saving in this life, so he would place all his hopes on Matou Sakura. It was a kind of inheritance—what he could not accomplish, he would let her accomplish.

But it was not something forced upon her. It was a form of entrustment. Though such entrustment seemed foolish to a clergyman like Kotomine Kirei, Matou Kariya's resolute gaze had still stirred his heart.

It seemed that, like Matou Kariya, he too had someone upon whom he could place his hopes—a small someone...

"Is there any point?" Mikaela looked at Kotomine Kirei in confusion. Could it be that he, like Kayneth, had undergone some strange change???

Kayneth had lost his fiancée. Was Kotomine Kirei no longer pursuing pleasure?

That's a good thing!

Mikaela suddenly thought of something. A Kotomine Kirei who did not pursue pleasure seemed beneficial to their side. If he obediently stayed within the Holy Church, or went looking for his daughter and voluntarily withdrew from the Holy Grail War...

That would give their side a huge advantage!

"There is." Unaware of Mikaela's thoughts, Kotomine Kirei nodded seriously. He felt that the answer he had spent his entire life seeking would surely be found in this Holy Grail War.

"Mm..." Mikaela was still gathering his thoughts, but Irisviel spoke first.

"Aren't you married? Why would you ask something like that?" Irisviel spoke with utmost bluntness, looking at Kotomine Kirei with puzzled eyes. According to the intelligence, Kotomine Kirei was already married.

Though his wife had been killed by bandits, he had at least been married before. How could he possibly say something like that?

"Is that strange?" Faced with Irisviel's questioning, Kotomine Kirei actually seemed somewhat pleased. He had always been "affirmed." No matter what he did, others praised him. But now, being denied by a homunculus, he felt unexpectedly happy and excited.

"It's very strange. Because our lives are finite, we work hard now so that our children can have better lives in the future."

As Irisviel said this, her eyes dimmed slightly. Wasn't the reason she had joined the Holy Grail War for her daughter Illya? Though she knew it meant death, she had still stepped into the Holy Grail War.

Because that was a mother's responsibility. Irisviel had no regrets.

"Is that so?" Kotomine Kirei fell into thought. Looking at Irisviel's dim eyes, an impulse suddenly rose within him, and he asked, "Emiya Kiritsugu... does that man think the same way?"

"Eh? So you really do care about Kiritsugu!!!" Upon hearing that, Irisviel reacted like a cat whose fur had stood on end. In a frenzy, she said, "Kiritsugu can't possibly be with you, so just give up!!"

"Kiritsugu joined the Holy Grail War to save his daughter." Mikaela spoke up. He could clearly see that Kotomine Kirei seemed to have been guided onto another path.

Though he did not know who had started it, Mikaela sincerely wanted to praise that person. Well done!

"Save his daughter?" Kotomine Kirei turned his gaze to Mikaela, a trace of confusion flashing through his eyes. "Emiya Kiritsugu has a daughter?"

"That's right. Emiya Kiritsugu joined the Holy Grail War to save his daughter." Mikaela said with utmost seriousness, "As a father, he could not bear for his daughter to die before reaching twenty, so he joined the Holy Grail War."

"Father, have you never tried to understand your own daughter?" Mikaela smiled, as if implying something.

Useless Information?

"Was it useful?"

Watching Kotomine Kirei leave in thought, Mikaela could only sigh inwardly. He did not know how the hidden move he had planted would turn out, but it did not matter.

Success would be best, but failure was fine too.

"Aila-chan, did Kiritsugu really think that way?"

However, Irisviel seemed to have truly believed it. She looked both happy and pained.

"I just said it casually. Don't take it to heart." Mikaela did not want Irisviel clinging to "meaningless fantasies." He lightly mocked, "You know perfectly well what kind of man Emiya Kiritsugu is. After all, you know both his length and depth."

"Pah! Don't say things like that at your age." Irisviel's pretty face flushed. She was no innocent herself and naturally understood what Mikaela meant.

He was making dirty jokes at fifteen—what would become of him in the future?!

"You're younger than me." Mikaela looked at Irisviel with a subtle expression, unable to understand where she found the confidence to compare ages with him. Though she looked mature, she was definitely younger than Mikaela.

"..." Irisviel was rendered speechless for a moment. Still, she sighed inwardly. Though she knew Emiya Kiritsugu's true wish, she still hoped that her husband could think a little more about his family.

"Alright, let's go. We have things to do tonight. You need to get closer to Kiritsugu and replenish some Magic together. Tonight, I have to kill one of them." Mikaela took Irisviel's hand, his eyes full of coldness.

At this point, there was nothing more to say. After coming this morning to win over Tohno Shiro, they would launch a surprise attack on Kayneth's side that night.

"Eh?!! I have enough magical energy!!" Irisviel's little face turned bright red. Having absorbed the souls of two Servants, she could now barely draw upon a portion of the Greater Holy Grail's magical energy. That should be enough for Mikaela to attack, right?!

Mikaela smiled and calmly said to Irisviel, "Last night, I nearly drained you dry."

"!!!!!" Irisviel's expression immediately froze. Last night, she had indeed nearly been drained dry. Had she not been connected to a portion of the Greater Holy Grail's magical energy, she would probably be bedridden now.

Seeing Irisviel's awkward expression, Mikaela knew she understood what he meant. He continued, "So before tonight, you and Emiya Kiritsugu need to replenish more Magic. You could replenish it with me too, but I'm male, so I can't engage in excessively intimate acts with you. So go communicate more with Kiritsugu."

"Can't we not do it?"

Irisviel was truly conflicted. It was not as though she had never done it before, but being urged by someone else to "do it" was incredibly embarrassing.

"Not only do you have to do it, you and Emiya Kiritsugu must do it from morning until night." Mikaela revealed a rather "cute" smile and said solemnly, "That way, I probably won't lack magical energy tonight."

"!!!!!!"

At that moment, Irisviel understood that her Servant was a devil. She was clearly so cute, yet she could say something so terrifying with a straight face.

Do it for that long?! Wasn't she afraid that Kiritsugu and she wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day?!! Wait... she might be able to get up, but Kiritsugu probably couldn't.

"Let's go. Stop talking about it." Mikaela smiled faintly. In any case, he had no intention of watching Irisviel and Emiya Kiritsugu replenish Magic. His targets tonight were King of Conquerors and Kirei Kotomine.

"I see. So it was only this kind of intelligence. How laughable, how laughable." Kirei Kotomine's expression was rather strange at that moment. The intelligence he had heard from Waver left him at a loss for words.

First, Saber had only revealed part of her trump cards. While that information had value, Saber had already revealed a terrifying second Noble Phantasm last night.

That was probably her true trump card, so that piece of intelligence was already useless.

Then there was the fact that Emiya Kiritsugu seemed to think he had joined forces with this good-for-nothing student of his. What a joke! Was he that kind of person?! How could he possibly join forces with his useless student?!

Ahem, though there was a reason for it. This Holy Grail War involved "Magic," and as a Lord of the Clock Tower, he naturally had to protect his useless student.

But protection came with conditions. He would temporarily accept that meager strength of his. After all, although the student was disappointing, King of Conquerors was at least the Servant from his original setup, so his strength was naturally guaranteed.

In a sense, that intelligence was useless as well.

The later intelligence was more valuable. For example, Tohno Shiro's Servant had been called the King of Heroes by Emiya Kiritsugu. That meant... the Tohsaka family's Servant was the legendary King of Heroes—Gilgamesh.

()

This was the conclusion Kirei Kotomine had deduced through his clever mind, Gilgamesh's appearance during his first "battle," and the three words "King of Heroes."

The final piece of intelligence, and the most valuable one, was that Assassin had not died. Kotomine Kirei and Tohno Shiro had colluded, and the Holy Church stood on Tohno Shiro's side.

"Lord, I also have some intelligence." At that moment, Diarmuid spoke. Although his injuries had not improved much, he could still manage simple speech. He also had intelligence to report to his Lord.

"Hm? What intelligence?" Kirei Kotomine looked at Diarmuid strangely, not understanding what information he had to share.

"That homunculus is not Saber's Master. When I attacked Saber's Master last night, the homunculus did not use a Command Seal. Instead, it was the man beside her who used a Command Seal to summon Saber over."

When Diarmuid said that, only Waver revealed a shocked expression. King of Conquerors and Kirei Kotomine showed little change in expression.

It was as though the two of them had known all along.

"I see. No wonder." Kirei Kotomine stroked his chin, clearly not shocked by this news.

After all, the technique currently used by the Einzbern family—or rather, by Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel—had been developed by him.

After he developed this technique, Sola happened to fall ill and could not accompany him to the Holy Grail War to "have fun."

So, with the idea of making some extra money, Kirei Kotomine sold the technique to the Einzbern family, who offered a high price. Since he had no use for it anyway, he might as well earn some extra cash to cover Sola's medical expenses.

"At this point, whether she is the Master or not no longer matters." King of Conquerors remained very calm. "Right now, the one we are dealing with is Saber. Having suffered once, she will not give us a second chance."

"Mm... that's true." Diarmuid thought for a moment and seemed to feel that this intelligence was of no use.

"No, it's still useful." Suddenly, Waver spoke. He seemed to have thought of something as he looked at everyone. "We might not care about this information, but someone else might. For example, Tohno Shiro, who has yet to appear..."

"Useless." Kirei Kotomine shook his head and looked at Waver mockingly. "They are one of the Three Great Families. So what if that homunculus is not the Master? That filthy Magus killer currently represents the Einzbern family. He is an outside ally."

"Would you kill an ally's outside support just because an 'enemy' said so?"

Kirei Kotomine's words left Waver speechless. That seemed right... if it were him, he would not do something so foolish.

That said, after Kirei Kotomine and Waver finished discussing it, they suddenly realized that although the intelligence they had gathered was valuable, Mikaela had already exposed the most important pieces. Those pieces of intelligence were practically meaningless. They could be looked at, but if they were actually used, the effect would not be particularly great.

"Tch, that Saber really can't be underestimated." King of Conquerors clicked his tongue. Last night, he had thought they had done everything flawlessly.

They had gathered intelligence, and not a single person had died. But now it seemed... Saber had outplayed them. Knowing that her side's intelligence had been exposed, she had revealed all of her trump cards at once and put everything out in the open.

It looked as if Saber had suffered a loss, but in reality, she had forced King of Conquerors, Diarmuid, and the others into a desperate situation.

"Still, it is too late to say anything now. Saber will definitely come to attack today. Heh heh, just let her see the Magic Workshop that I, Kirei Kotomine, have painstakingly arranged."

Although Kirei Kotomine feared the existence of "Magic," he was not so wary of Servants. While Servants were indeed powerful, if the contest was one of magecraft—or rather, if the battle took place within his meticulously prepared Magic Workshop—

Kirei Kotomine did not fear Servants at all, because inside the Magic Workshop, his talent and wisdom could be brought into perfect play!

Of the thirty-two floors in this building, twenty-four were covered by Kirei Kotomine's Magic Barrier. Even the sewers had not been overlooked, and the corridors had been turned into alien spaces. On top of that, there were three mana furnaces, as well as dozens of evil spirits and monsters summoned in place of hunting hounds.

Even Assassin would find it difficult to enter this Magic Workshop, which could be called a magical fortress, without being noticed.

"Based on my assessment of my Lord's Magic Workshop, if Saber attacks head-on, even an attack equivalent to an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm can be blocked by my Lord using the power within the Magic Workshop." Diarmuid clearly had great confidence in his Lord. He had tested it a little himself and found that as long as his Lord was inside the Magic Workshop and did not act carelessly, he could definitely fight a Servant.

Well... most of the credit went to those three mana furnaces, but being able to obtain three mana furnaces was also his Lord's own capability.

"Won't we take the initiative?" King of Conquerors rubbed his chin, his tone calm. "If we keep staying here, it will be too easy for us to be wiped out in one go. Your Magic Workshop is indeed impressive, but don't forget that Saber is the natural counter to Magi like you."

As soon as those words were spoken, Kirei Kotomine's somewhat proud expression immediately darkened. Right, how had he forgotten that? If Saber came here, he would be the one at a disadvantage.

The Divine Grace Barrier used earlier against the Sea Demon was precisely the bane of orthodox Magi like Kirei Kotomine. Though it only lasted one minute, if the Magic Workshop stopped functioning for even a few dozen seconds, Saber could casually set off some kind of bomb outside. Without even its defensive barrier able to activate, the Magic Workshop would definitely be blown to pieces.

What? Magi could ignore something like bombs? Don't joke around. Someone had used bombs to blast several monster-like people to the brink of death. Who still dared to underestimate bombs?

Meanwhile, the Mikaela they were discussing was staring impassively at Irisviel, Emiya Kiritsugu, and Maiya Hisau, whose face was equally expressionless but whose body trembled faintly.

"This is the plan. Please, you two, begin replenishing Magic. Any position will do; I just need a large amount of mana." Mikaela looked at Irisviel and Emiya Kiritsugu lying on the bed and spoke seriously. "If nothing unexpected happens tonight, King of Conquerors and Diarmuid will definitely be slain by me. But the condition for nothing unexpected happening is that I must have sufficient mana. Otherwise, things will be very difficult for me."

"It is ten in the morning now. My battle will probably take place shortly after night falls. Before then, I need to prevent King of Conquerors and Diarmuid from coming to ambush you, so I must protect you at close range. Of course, I will not watch you do it. I will guard you outside. I hope Irisviel will not cry too loudly. I am still fifteen."

Mikaela's meaning was very clear: Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel were to begin replenishing Magic, and she would guarantee their safety.

"This..." Emiya Kiritsugu looked as though he wanted to say something but held back. He did not object to "Replenishing Magic," but having him replenish it from morning until night—wasn't that fucking asking for his life????

"This is for victory." Mikaela stared at Emiya Kiritsugu and said with utmost seriousness, "You need to remember that Irisviel simply doesn't have enough magical energy for me to use truly powerful abilities right now. If it turns out like last night, where Irisviel can't hold on after I haven't even been formally fighting for three minutes, then the consequences will be unimaginable."

Losing the supply of magical energy in the heat of battle—anyone could imagine how that would end. That was why Mikaela was looking at Emiya Kiritsugu so seriously.

"If you're not satisfied, she can go over too." Mikaela pointed at Maiya Hisau beside him and said calmly, "After all, her temperament and figure are completely different from Irisviel's. With two of them at your disposal, what is there for you to be dissatisfied about?"

Maiya Hisau did not object, because her entire being belonged to Emiya Kiritsugu. If this body of hers could help him, then she had no complaints about letting him do as he pleased.

Irisviel did not refuse either. Before coming here, she had already thought it through. If she could not make it back alive, then having Maiya Hisau take her place would not be bad. At the very least, there would still be someone by Kiritsugu's side to comfort him.

"This isn't a matter of satisfaction. No matter how good my stamina is, there's no way I can keep going from morning until night." The hand holding Emiya Kiritsugu's cigarette trembled slightly. He knew Saber was right, but when he thought of what he was about to face, he wished he could make Saber try it herself!!!

If you can do it, then you do it! What the fuck kind of Replenishing Magic takes that long and can't stop for even a moment?

If he really did that, Emiya Kiritsugu probably would not even be able to get out of bed for the next day or two.

"Quit talking and take this." Naturally, Mikaela had considered what Emiya Kiritsugu was worried about. He casually crushed a card and tossed out a small bottle of blue pills, saying calmly, "These will be enough to keep you going for a day. Once I return, I'll restore your body to normal. You won't end up drained into a mummy."

"Enjoy the process." Mikaela revealed a harmless smile, then walked out of the room, leaving Emiya Kiritsugu to enjoy himself.

"Wait!!"

Emiya Kiritsugu felt that he could still be saved. He reached out, wanting to call Mikaela back, but then... the door closed, leaving one man and two women in the room.

My wife.jpg

Things seemed to be going very well on Emiya Kiritsugu's end. At this moment, Mikaela could continuously feel the magical energy being transmitted from Irisviel.

But perhaps they really were being considerate of Mikaela. At first, only muffled moans came from the room, but then they seemed to completely let go. Those cries... it was hard to know what to say about them.