A Mysterious Servant

The goddess seemed somewhat troubled.

Perhaps because of the influence of [Tohsaka Rin], the goddess showed no sign of anger when facing Sakura, even when the latter behaved disrespectfully.

"Oh, right, there's something—"

The goddess suddenly turned to Sakura and asked, "Sakura, what are you going to do with that Servant you brought before who lost his Master?"

"Miss Cassandra!"

Sakura, belatedly realizing it, then remembered that she had brought a "burden" with her when she came.

Sakura quickly walked to Cassandra's side, looking at the girl whose body was beginning to turn transparent, and felt somewhat at a loss.

"Sakura, do you want to try and keep her?"

The goddess, who was watching from the sidelines, suddenly spoke up.

Ultimately, the reason she was eliminated was because no Master could provide her with magical energy. The solution is simply to find her a Master.

Are you talking about me?

"Of course, there are only the three of us in the room, otherwise, who else could it be but me?"

The goddess, with an expression of indifference, continued, "Make a decision quickly, or she might really have to leave the stage."

"I understand. I am willing to become Miss Cassandra's Master."

Without much time to think, Sakura nodded and said...

"Let's begin then."

Seeing Sakura nod, the goddess didn't do anything special, simply extending her hands to gently cover Sakura's left hand.

After a few breaths, Sakura heard the goddess speak.

"--Done."

When the goddess removed her hand, a pattern outlined by three Command Spell appeared on the back of Sakura's left hand.

Without incantations or any elaborate formations, the magical channel between the two was opened solely through the sheer volume of magic power and precise manipulation.

This demonstrates the extent of this goddess's power.

"Sakura... um, Master?"

Because the magic channels had been reconnected, Cassandra, who had just regained consciousness, seemed not to have figured out what was happening.

Thank you very much...

Seeing this, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to thank the goddess again, only to find that she was looking out the window, seemingly observing something.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing the goddess's serious expression, Sakura asked her with some concern.

The goddess, having turned her gaze away, saw Sakura's worried expression and offered her words of comfort.

"Don't worry, it's just that I detected an unpleasant aura."

"Speaking of which..."

As if she had thought of something, Sakura's expression became slightly conflicted.

"My Goddess, I still don't know your name..."

"Ishtar, remember this well."

At the same time--

"..."

"Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone again, Wang Xiaoming turned to Medea beside him and said...

"Touko Aozaki has arrived in Fuyuki."

"Yeah, I'm at the highway exit... Ha, coming to pick me up? Come on, are you planning to carry the car back with you...? Well, I'll be there in about half an hour. We can talk about it when we meet."

Touko Aozaki tossed the phone onto the back of the passenger seat, humming a little tune as she restarted the engine.

It's clear that Touko Aozaki is in a pretty good mood right now.

Was it an unexpected surprise? Touko Aozaki, who hadn't planned to come to Fuyuki's place as a third wheel, unexpectedly received a call from someone last night—

I need your help.

Although it was a woman's voice she had no recollection of, Touko Aozaki, relying on her woman's intuition, immediately recognized the person's identity, only—

Do you need my help?

Although the woman didn't explicitly say it on the phone, the fact that even the Divine Era Magus found it difficult aroused Touko Aozaki's curiosity.

On the other hand, feeling that she had gained the upper hand in some aspects, Touko Aozaki decided to be more generous. After packing her few belongings, she headed towards Fuyuki City early the next morning.

However, even though they had been traveling non-stop, it was already close to midnight when Touko Aozaki arrived in Fuyuki City.

"Hopefully they've already cleaned the room for me, otherwise I'm in for a real headache."

As Touko Aozaki muttered to herself, a slight smile appeared on her lips.

Although I had imagined my first meeting with "that person" countless times, now that the moment had actually arrived, all those thoughts vanished...

Although you rarely see other vehicles or pedestrians on the road late at night, it's still extremely dangerous to lose focus while driving.

"?!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark figure lunging towards the front of the car, Touko Aozaki instinctively slammed on the brakes.

Squeak--!!!

The screeching sound of brakes almost ripped through the night sky, but it still couldn't stop my Beetle from crashing into that sudden dark shadow.

--Bang!

Although the car wasn't going too fast, it still hit her hard. Looking at the dark figure that had already flown a distance, Touko Aozaki could finally see in the headlights that it was actually a strangely dressed person.

As a vulnerable woman alone out late at night, Touko Aozaki hesitated for a moment before deciding to get off the bus and check on the unfortunate guy.

After opening the car door, Touko Aozaki first glanced at the dent in the front of her car, a hint of heartache flashing in her eyes. Then she turned her attention to the figure lying on the ground in front of her.

"--Why?"

Before Touko Aozaki could even get close, she saw the strangely dressed guy roll over and stand up, roaring like a madman.

"Why? Why didn't they choose me?! They actually... chose that stinky dog?!"

"Did the impact make you stupid?"

Looking at the hysterical guy ahead, Touko Aozaki wondered if the collision had damaged his brain, but she hadn't been driving that fast!

Just as Touko Aozaki was wondering if she was driving too fast, the unfortunate guy who had been hit seemed to have noticed Touko Aozaki too.

"Madam over there, you're the one who hit me, aren't you?"

"I'm so sorry, but if you're feeling unwell, let me take you to the hospital. I'll cover the medical expenses."

Since she was in the wrong, Touko Aozaki was prepared to suffer a huge loss.

"Let's waive the medical expenses; after all, I don't have any particular desire for money."

After straightening her clothes, which had become disheveled from the earlier collision, she gave Touko Aozaki an elegant and impeccable smile.

Maybe he's an easy person to talk to... yeah right!

In Touko Aozaki's experience, generally speaking, in this modern society, only those from Magecraft families who are practically buried in their bones can speak in such a cheesy tone.

Ignorant, foolish, and arrogant.

On the other side--

Although the incident had filled the unknown Magecraft with humiliation, regret was useless now that it had happened. His immediate priority was to find a base to replenish the magical energy depleted from the previous operation, and then wait for the right opportunity to reclaim the Command Spell from that stinking dog!

And now, the opportunity has come unexpectedly—

Although she was just an ordinary person, it was the perfect opportunity to convert her life force into magic to make up for his previous magic deficit.

Thinking of this, the unknown Magecraft looked at the urban woman in front of him and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"But since you have offended me, then as the price, madam, you shall atone for your offense with your body and your life."

However, contrary to his expectations, the rather attractive woman in front of him showed no fear or panic whatsoever. Instead, she stared at him with a strange look.

"So you mean you want to fight?"

Whether it was just his imagination or not, the Magecraft felt he could read a sense of pity in the woman's eyes.

"He really must have been stunned by the accident."

Touko Aozaki, having easily solved the problem, sighed as she looked at the Magecraft lying on the ground, his life hanging in the balance, and casually snapped her fingers.

The next second, a raging fire erupted from the Magecraft's corpse.

Ignoring everything else, Touko Aozaki turned her attention to the direction the Magecraft had come from. What came into view was a forest, which, if Touko Aozaki remembered correctly, was an undeveloped area.

Shall we go take a look?

An irrepressible thought suddenly sprouted in Touko Aozaki's mind.

However, there are certain risks in that forest; there might be Servant or something similar.

After all, there's no other reason Magecraft could be in Fuyuki at this time except to participate in the Holy Grail War.

So, are you going?

--Let's go take a look.

Touko Aozaki's naturally restless nature suddenly surfaced, shattering her hesitation and unease to shreds.

I came in a hurry and didn't have time to prepare any souvenirs. If I find anything interesting on this trip, I'll take it back as a gift.

Of course, Touko Aozaki would never admit that she actually wanted to show off to someone.

Having made up her mind, Touko Aozaki started walking towards the forest.

PS: There was a slight error in the calculation; the new Servant will only appear in the next chapter.

But can the experts guess which Servant it is?

The clues were actually quite obvious...

Chapter 396. The Mysterious Servant

Touko Aozaki, having just stepped into the forest, immediately sensed something was amiss.

It was as if they were two completely different worlds; the land beneath Touko Aozaki's feet was enveloped in an extremely dense magical energy.

Logically speaking, in the modern era of the [Great Source]'s decline, only those top-tier [spiritual vein gathering places] could possess such a large total amount of magic power.

The forest at Touko Aozaki's feet, located on the edge of Fuyuki City, is clearly not included in this category. Unless—

Severing the spiritual veins and forcibly diverting their course.

"To be able to alter the environment, it seems there's a rather formidable individual in this forest."

Touko Aozaki surveyed her surroundings as she walked deeper into the forest. To be honest, she was becoming increasingly interested in the "true identity" of the person responsible for this scene.

"Waaah--"

Before Touko Aozaki could take a few more steps, a low growl carrying a warning tone reached her ears. She stopped and looked in the direction of the sound, where a wild beast with Touko Aozaki fur suddenly appeared in her sight.

It seems to be --

"A wolf?"