"What exactly is going on right now?"
Jubstacheit asked his homunculus assistant.
He was the brain of the Einzbern family, driven solely by reason, but that did not mean he could know everything without ever leaving Einzbern Castle.
Jubstacheit had, in fact, participated in a Holy Grail War himself—the Third Holy Grail War. Yet, due to his poor combat ability and the weakness of the Servant he had summoned, he had lost the Third Holy Grail War early on. It was precisely because of that dismal outcome that Jubstacheit came up with the idea of seeking outside help.
The homunculi Einzbern had created specifically for the Holy Grail War were indeed immensely powerful in combat. They were beings far beyond humans, possessing Magic Circuits of both exceptional quality and quantity at the cost of their lifespans. The problem was that, as the Holy Grail War progressed, a homunculus Master's combat ability would grow weaker and weaker. After all, they would eventually become the Lesser Grail. Once the souls of roughly three Servants entered the Lesser Grail's body, its ability to function as a person would nearly cease.
And once that ceased, all that remained was to rely on the Servants. But Servants... proper magi never trusted their Servants.
To proper magi, Servants were nothing more than familiars meant to obey their commands. How could something inferior even to a homunculus be worthy of trust? What did it matter if they had been famous figures in history? In a magus's eyes, there was only magecraft.
Homunculi did not trust Servants either.
So, from the very beginning, Jubstacheit had never believed that Illya could bring back the Grail and complete the Third Magic. In truth, he had already begun preparing for the Sixth Holy Grail War sixty years later.
But several recent