Four years passed in a flash. It was now November 1992, and it had already begun snowing outside. I arranged through a satellite phone with Tokiomi Tohsaka to pick Sakura up from his home today. At the same time, it marked the beginning of the final preparations for the Holy Grail War.
It was a year earlier than I had expected, but it was no big deal. After relentless training, my swordsmanship had finally advanced to the high level, and my status panel had taken shape.
Status Panel Name: Yuan Shikai Gender: Male Age: 17 Magic Circuits: 70 Magecraft Aptitude: A- Attributes: Strength E-, Endurance F-, Agility F+, Mana A-, Luck ? Remaining Attribute Points: 0 (attribute points can be freely allocated by the host). Innate Talent: Lifetime Good Fortune (how could someone with transmigration and a system have bad luck?) Passive Effect: The activation rate of probability-based skills increases by 200%. When actively activated, the next probability-based skill is guaranteed to trigger. The effects of enhancement-type buffs increase by 100%. Skills: Advanced Swordsmanship 71/30000 (you are already a swordsmanship master. Improve further, and you will reach the level of people like Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro). Intermediate Magecraft Knowledge 3317/5000, Intermediate Reading and Writing, Advanced Reinforcement Magecraft 556/80000, Novice Driving (don't drink and drive). Novice Instinct 2/10000 (a hereditary skill of the Ahoge Family—you have it too. But its effects are still at the novice level, so you are far from being able to easily see through the future.) Each successful evasion of a fatal injury grants one proficiency point. Nonfatal injuries do not count. Mystic Eyes: Mystic Eyes of Rule Breaking Noble Phantasm: Rule Breaker Mystic Code: Necromancer (Level 3) (upon receiving fatal damage, a check is made. There is a 30% chance of ignoring death and removing all status effects, including buffs. Regeneration: organs and limbs can slowly regenerate). Health: 551 Mana: 1146
A Servant-like data template had appeared. I dumped all my attribute points into agility. It had originally only been F-, but I forcibly raised it to F+ through attribute points. I really did run a little faster now.
There was no way to estimate health and mana through normal means. I cut myself with a small knife and bled a little, but the health value on the panel did not change. When I activated the World-Breaking Mystic Eyes, my mana panel dropped by 50, and my mana continued to decrease.
All-Answering Breach consumed 500 mana at once. I had no target to test its effects on, though. After activating Reinforcement Magecraft, my strength rose to D+, endurance to D-, agility to D-, and health to 3,736.
It felt like my panel could rival Red A's. I finally understood why there were titles like Demon Muscle Rin and Lady Crane.
The only headache was that Fujino was already thirteen. She understood the things she should understand by now, but she still kept insisting on sleeping with me.
When Fujino learned that I would marry Sakura Tohsaka in the future, she was depressed for a long time. She even cried.
But in the end, she understood her own situation, adjusted her emotions, and gladly accepted it. She only became even clingier than before, and she insisted on coming along for this trip as well.
Although Fujino was only thirteen, her figure had developed quite well—cough, cough. Her Mystic Eyes of Distortion were already under proficient control. On top of that, the Elder Council said someone needed to look after her, so I reluctantly agreed to bring her along.
When I arrived at the Tosaka Residence again, Fujino was with me this time. I pressed the doorbell, and Kirei Kotomine answered the door. He was quite handsome, judging by his face, but what a pity—there was something wrong with him. His personality was flawed.
After Kirei Kotomine and I introduced ourselves, I entered through the gates. In the living room, I saw Tokiomi Tohsaka and Aoi Tohsaka sitting on the sofa, while Rin and Sakura played nearby. I spoke first. "Greetings, Father-in-law and Mother-in-law."
"This is Fujino Asagami, originally the daughter of the Asagami Clan of Nagano. She is now my sworn younger sister."
Tokiomi Tohsaka still seemed unable to accept that form of address and merely grunted. Aoi Tohsaka, however, accepted it quite well.
She stood up and pulled Fujino and me over to sit beside the sofa. Rin and Sakura also came over and stood on either side.
I handed over the gift—a gemstone, as always—then put on an act about coming to fulfill the contract while asking about Kirei Kotomine's identity.
Tokiomi Tohsaka coughed before saying, "Sakura, this is your fiancé, Yuan Shikai. He has come to take you back with him this time." As soon as he finished speaking, Rin suddenly jumped up and fiercely objected, saying that she did not want to be separated from Sakura.
But after Tokiomi Tohsaka glared at her, she fell silent. Sakura, meanwhile, did not move at all, and no expression could be seen on her face. Seeing her meek, resigned personality made my heart ache. It only strengthened my resolve to take her away.
Then Tokiomi Tohsaka said, "This is Kirei Kotomine, my newly accepted disciple." After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Tokiomi Tohsaka and I went to the study alone.
Tokiomi Tohsaka said, "The Holy Grail War is about to begin. The Masters currently known are you, me, and my disciple Kirei Kotomine."
"It seems the El-Melloi Family at the Clock Tower has someone participating. The Einzbern Family seems to have brought in Kiritsugu Emiya, the Magecraft Killer, as a live-in son-in-law. They may have chosen him as their Master. There is currently no news from the Matou Household, and we have no information on the final Master for now."
I put on an act and said, "Kirei Kotomine is your disciple and also a Master. That makes him one of your people."
Tokiomi Tohsaka smiled. "That's right. He is the son of Risei Kotomine, a priest and supervisor of the Holy Church's Eighth Sacrament."
"He was once a first-rate Executor of the Holy Church. Risei Kotomine will be supervising this Holy Grail War, and he is also my good friend. Kirei Kotomine has also conveniently obtained Command Spells."
"He is becoming my disciple first, and we have further plans for the Holy Grail War. It will not affect our cooperation. Besides, I have not told anyone about your identity."
I put on an act again. "It is a war of seven, and we already have three people on our side. Once we confirm everyone's identities, it will practically be an open-hand game."
"It will be hard not to win. Let me congratulate you in advance, Father-in-law, on winning the Holy Grail War and fulfilling your clan's long-cherished wish of reaching the Root." My stream of flattery delighted Tokiomi Tohsaka immensely.
After confirming that our cooperation remained unchanged and would proceed according to plan, I prepared to leave with Sakura. Tokiomi Tohsaka also planned to announce the marriage alliance publicly. Before I left, Rin kept glaring at me viciously, as if she wanted to eat me alive.
A playful urge suddenly rose in my heart. I deliberately walked over to Rin and said, "Little Rin, you will be my sister-in-law from now on. You are welcome to visit Tokyo anytime." Then I vigorously rubbed her head, angering her beyond measure.
After saying goodbye to everyone one by one, we left. The car slowly drove out of Fuyuki City, but we had actually already changed course midway and arrived at a Western-style house near the outskirts of Fuyuki City. This was my Magic Workshop.
Sakura did not say a word the entire time. I asked Fujino to look after her for the moment, then confidently inspected this Magic Workshop that I had come to for the first time.
After familiarizing myself with the surroundings, I sent Tokiomi Tohsaka a message through the satellite phone: "In position." He immediately replied: "Received. Wait for the right moment."
When I found Fujino and Rin, they were cooking. Sure enough, a home could not do without women.
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