"What are you thinking about, Ancestor?"
Matou Shinji sat down beside Adelson—Adelson was sitting on the ground, so Matou Shinji naturally sat down on the ground as well.
The surroundings had basically been plowed flat again and again by the erosion of the black mud, Anno and Shirou Emiya's holy light, and King Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms. Finding anywhere that could support someone sitting down was simply unrealistic.
"...I was thinking about something else."
Thoughtfulness filled Adelson's eyes as he sighed.
"You should understand, Shinji. In the end, I have to leave, but..."
"The Holy Grail War, huh."
He gently shook his head.
Since it was a Holy Grail War, everyone who came to participate had their own dream.
Although Adelson's dream had changed several times, it still existed at its core.
"...You mean the wife of our ancestor Lawrence—your mother, Ancestor Harley."
Matou Shinji recalled the portrait hanging in his family's study.
The painting depicted an outing—it showed a wonderful couple from Florence, Italy. The man was named Lawrence, and the woman was named Harley.
It was a painting by Lawrence himself.
Several hundred years ago, Serim Zolgen, who had caused the London Terror Incident, traded a large number of Lawrence's relics to the Einzbern Family in exchange for homunculus resources to support his research. The Lawrence relics traded to the Einzbern Family were divided into three batches for processing, and every batch underwent rigorous appraisal.
Because Lawrence's collection might accidentally summon other dangerous Servants, it was turned into the Einzbern Family's own collection and sealed away in their warehouse.
As for Lawrence's personal relics, most were used in experiments related to Servant summoning. The small remainder was resold by the Einzbern Family, earning them a large amount of money to exchange for resources for magical experiments.
The Matou Family