Adopting Caren

Mo Li gently brushed Caren's bruised, mottled face. The reddened cheek bearing a palm print instantly became perfectly clear, leaving no trace that she had ever been struck.

Feeling that her face no longer hurt, Caren touched it blankly. "This is...?"

"My ability. It doesn't hurt anymore, does it?" Mo Li smiled and ruffled Caren's hair. She touched her now-messy hair and gave a soft nod.

"Risei!" At the entrance of the Holy Church, Tokiomi Tohsaka rushed in, staring in shock at the two corpses on the ground.

Kirei Kotomine followed behind Tokiomi, silently looking at his father's body. His expression seemed both tearful and smiling; he could not understand whether he felt joy or sorrow.

Tokiomi silently examined the row of bullet holes in Risei Kotomine's forehead. Whoever had killed Risei had certainly been careful.

"What exactly happened here...?" Tokiomi asked Mo Li. With Mo Li's abilities, there had been no need to go through so much trouble to kill Risei Kotomine—and besides, the gun was still in the hand of the other corpse.

Mo Li replied indifferently, "You know about my recent plans. I have no interest in your Holy Grail War, so I started trying to take control of this country. The recent gun ban operation was one of the measures I took for that purpose. Under these circumstances, someone bought a gun here in Fuyuki City, so I followed the clues and came here. Unfortunately, I was still too late. In the end, I only managed to save Caren. But I'm sure Caren knows what happened."

"Caren..." Kirei Kotomine lowered his head to look at his daughter, and an inexplicable flicker of relief passed through his heart. "Caren, it's good that you're all right."

Sitting on a bench, Caren said dejectedly, "I almost wasn't. Big Brother Mo Li saved me."

Kirei Kotomine continued, "What happened here?"

Caren said, "At first, I was inside. Then I suddenly heard a sound that wasn't very loud, but it was strange, so I came out and saw that man with the gun kill Grandpa..."

Caren began describing everything she had seen.

Tokiomi listened with a bitter feeling in his heart. Risei Kotomine had been fairly capable, yet he had truly been killed by a gun. It was far too unexpected.

Long after Caren finished recounting the events, Tokiomi said, "Leave this matter to me and the Holy Church. My old friend should have a proper funeral."

As he spoke, Tokiomi looked at Kazuma Shinkawa's corpse. "How did you kill this man?"

Mo Li said, "It was an emergency. When I arrived at the Holy Church, I saw him slap Caren. I was afraid he would fire next, so I took out his heart from behind, made him eat his own heart, then shattered his brain."

"A slap..." Tokiomi looked at Caren. "She mentioned being slapped as well. Where are the marks? Those are evidence too."

Mo Li said, "I healed Caren. Her face was bruised and discolored at the time. It wouldn't have been good to leave those injuries on her face, so I healed her while I was at it."

Caren touched her left cheek and nodded to Tokiomi and Kirei Kotomine. "That's what Big Brother Mo Li did. I can't feel the pain from before anymore."

Tokiomi suddenly said, "...Kirei."

Kirei Kotomine said, "Hm?"

Tokiomi said seriously, "Your father is dead, and Caren cannot be left without anyone to care for her. You should inherit your father's duties. The higher-ups will have nothing to say about it."

Kirei Kotomine glanced at the Command Spell on his hand. "Will that be all right?"

Tokiomi said, "It won't be a problem. Apply to become the supervisor after this Holy Grail War ends. There are less than six months left now, and the Holy Church cannot possibly send someone specifically to serve as supervisor. Do not take action in this Holy Grail War. Just protect Caren."

Kirei Kotomine asked, "Will it really be all right if you don't need my cooperation?"

"No problem." Tokiomi was full of confidence. The greatest trump card was already in his hands.

"All right."

Tokiomi and Kirei Kotomine discussed various matters. Once everything had been arranged, Mo Li suddenly said, "Caren has never gone to school, has she?"

Kirei Kotomine looked at Mo Li. "Hm? That's right."

Mo Li said, "I can sense the emptiness in your heart, Kirei Kotomine. Leave Caren to me to teach. I'll tell you what you have been unconsciously yearning for."

Caren was dumbfounded. She had never expected that Mo Li wanted to take her away.

"The emptiness in my heart..." Kirei Kotomine's pupils contracted. Instinctively, he pressed a hand against his chest. He lacked certain emotions that humans ought to possess.

Mo Li said, "Why not start by pursuing something simple and easy to understand? Set yourself a small goal first, then try to accomplish it. Do so without harming others, and while pursuing it, understand how to restrain yourself as well."

Kirei Kotomine said doubtfully, "Without harming others? Restrain myself even while pursuing it...?"

Mo Li continued, "I can see that you were born with a personality defect. You cannot feel the beauty in the things people call beautiful. Instead, you find it difficult to forget many things that others call ugly. You have always been like this, haven't you?"

Kirei Kotomine stared fixedly at Mo Li. "How do you know?"

Mo Li said with a smile, "I have my own methods. Kirei Kotomine, have you ever considered that, for you, it is the incomplete humanity within your heart that makes you feel those sorrowful, ugly things? That is why you subconsciously wish to extend a helping hand and save those pitiable people and events. Instinctively, you yearn to turn all bad things into good ones, and saving others brings you joy as well."

Rather than let Golden Flash ruin Kirei Kotomine, it would be better to shape Kirei Kotomine himself first. Kirei Kotomine was not destined to become evil in every Worldline; there were also worlds where a kind Kirei Kotomine existed.

To Kirei Kotomine, everything Mo Li had said fit perfectly. At last, he discovered his own heart. "So the reason I want to save and help those people is because I yearn for beauty? Because I yearn for something I cannot feel myself... Watching them attain beauty truly does bring me joy as well..."

The scene fell silent. Tokiomi looked at Mo Li in confusion. Not knowing what was wrong with Kirei Kotomine, he could not understand the situation.

After a long while, Kirei Kotomine finally let out a long breath. "Hah... So that's how it is. I have been pursuing and yearning for beauty. I want to grasp that beauty I cannot feel. I want to try to understand all of it. Though I cannot grasp it, my instinctive yearning has led me down another path, allowing me to find joy in it."

As his words fell, light appeared in Kirei Kotomine's eyes. The chaos in his heart completely took shape, and he came to a full realization. "So this is what I have been pursuing!"

Watching Kirei Kotomine's enlightened expression, Mo Li smiled. "Heh. Then there is no problem with me taking Caren away, right?"

Kirei Kotomine looked at Caren for a while before saying, "...Yes. I am officially participating in the Holy Grail War. Although my battle plan is mainly focused on self-preservation, someone may still come to my door. There could be no better person than the head of the Matou Family to teach Caren. If I die, I'll have to trouble you to raise her."

"Dad..." Caren found it strange and could not understand why Kirei Kotomine truly intended to entrust her to Mo Li's teaching, but she did not question his decision.

"All right, then I'll take Caren with me."

Mo Li rose and took Caren back to the Matou Family.

As for the scene, because the deceased was no ordinary person and had been shot to death, the Holy Church and the Mage's Association handled it swiftly. The cause of Risei Kotomine's death was quickly determined.

Risei Kotomine had first been shot twice in the back near the heart. His ability to survive as a magus had allowed him to cling to life briefly, but the assassin had been extremely cautious and fired additional shots into his forehead and heart.

By tracing the firearm and silencer, they determined that the assassin was named Kazuma Shinkawa, a mediocre high school student in Fuyuki City. No one knew why he had suddenly learned how to buy a gun before coming here to assassinate Risei Kotomine. The possibility that he had been controlled could be ruled out.

Although they could not find any grudge between Risei Kotomine and Kazuma Shinkawa that would make the latter target him so fiercely, there was no doubt that Shinkawa had shot him. There had been no scheme behind it, merely a murder committed on a whim.

Upon learning this, Tokiomi Tohsaka was at a loss for words. His old friend truly had terrible luck. At the same time, this incident made him more vigilant. When Magi did not channel magical energy, they were extremely fragile. If caught off guard, they truly could not withstand firearms. Calling them glass cannons would not be an exaggeration.

Inside the Matou Family residence, which was so empty that only the two of them remained.

Caren looked uneasily at several stacks of books taller than herself. "These are..."

"Magic tomes. All of the magical knowledge of the Matou Family and the Tohsaka Estate is here. But you must first make up for your elementary education. Otherwise, knowing nothing, you will find it difficult to learn these spells. I will personally tutor you. Whether it is the knowledge taught in school or the magical knowledge of both families, I can help you with it."

Caren picked up a magic tome and began reading. She discovered that it was filled with annotations, as well as expanded explanations of magical terminology. "There are... so many explanations."

Mo Li said, "Because this is magical knowledge I personally recreated by hand. It combines and elevates the magical knowledge of the Matou and Tohsaka families. After my alterations, this knowledge is no longer the same as the original magic tomes of the two families. These are spells I improved and elevated that can be achieved in the modern age—or, more accurately, magecraft. These spells do not depend on the magical energy of Magi; other forms of energy can be used as substitutes."

Mo Li placed a hand on Caren's shoulder. "I'll give you some things first, then improve your constitution."

Caren felt a warm current spread from her shoulder, leaving her pleasantly warm, yet she could not understand it. "This is..."

Mo Li said, "I recovered Risei Kotomine's Magic Circuits and Magic Crests. Now I'm giving them back to you. I'll also use my divine power to improve your body and give you an amount of magical energy equal to what Risei Kotomine possessed while he was alive."