Status Panel, Mapo, Sakura

Four years passed in a flash. It was now November 1992, and snow had begun to fall outside. I arranged with Tokiomi Tohsaka over the satellite phone to pick up Sakura from his home today. At the same time, this marked the beginning of the final preparations for the Holy Grail War.

It was a year earlier than I had expected, but that was not a major issue. Through relentless training, my swordsmanship had finally advanced to the advanced level, and my status panel had taken shape as well.

Name: Yuan Shikai

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Magic Circuits: 70

Magecraft Aptitude: A-

Attributes: Strength E-, Endurance F-, Agility F+, Mana A-, Luck ?

0 unassigned attribute points remaining. Attribute points could be allocated freely by the host.

Innate Talent: Lifetime Good Fortune. With transmigration and a system, how could my luck be bad? Passive effect: the activation rate of chance-based skills increased by 200%. When actively activated, the next chance-based skill was guaranteed to trigger, and the effects of buff-type enhancements increased by 100%.

Skill: Advanced Swordsmanship 71/30000. You were already a swordsmanship master. Improve further, and you would reach the level of people such as Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro.

Intermediate Magecraft Knowledge 3317/5000, Intermediate Reading and Writing, Advanced Reinforcement Magecraft 556/80000, Beginner Driving. Do not drink and drive; do not drive after drinking.

Beginner Intuition 2/10000. The inherited skill of the ahoge family—you had learned it too, but it was still only at the beginner level. You were still far from being able to easily see through the future. Each time you evaded a fatal injury, proficiency increased by one point. Nonfatal injuries did not count.

Mystic Eyes: Mystic Eyes of Rule Breaking. Noble Phantasm: All-Answering Breach (Pseudo).

Mystic Code: Necromancer (Level 3). After receiving fatal damage, a check would be performed. There was a 30% chance of ignoring death and removing all statuses from yourself, including buffs. Regeneration: organs and limbs could slowly regenerate.

Health: 551. Mana: 1146.

A Servant-like data template had appeared. I had poured all my attribute points into Agility. It had originally only been F-, but I had forcibly raised it to F+ through attribute points. I really did run a little faster now.

There was no way to estimate the Health and Mana values. I cut myself with a small knife and bled a little, but the Health value did not change. After activating the Mystic Eyes of Rule Breaking, my Mana panel lost 50 Mana, and it continued to decrease.

All-Answering Breach consumed 500 Mana in one go. As for its effects, there was no target to test it on. After activating Reinforcement Magecraft, my Strength rose to D+, Endurance to D-, Agility to D-, and Health to 3736.

It felt like my panel could rival Archer's. I finally understood why there were titles like Demon Muscle Rin and Lady Crane.

The only headache was that Fujino was thirteen now. She understood the things she ought to understand, yet 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.

In the end, though, she understood her circumstances and happily accepted them after adjusting her emotions. She just became even clingier than before, and this time she also insisted on coming along.

Although Fujino was only thirteen, her figure had developed rather nicely—cough, cough—the Mystic Eyes of Distortion were already under her proficient control. On top of that, the Asagami Clan elders said someone needed to look after her. Left with no choice, I agreed to take her with me.

I arrived at the Tosaka Residence once again, this time with Fujino. The one who answered the doorbell was Kirei Kotomine. He was quite handsome, judging by his face, but it was a shame something was wrong with him. His personality was flawed.

After Kirei Kotomine and I introduced ourselves, I entered through the door. In the living room, Tokiomi Tohsaka and Aoi Tohsaka sat on the sofa while Rin and Sakura played beside them. I spoke first. "Greetings, Father-in-law. Mother-in-law."

"This is Fujino Asagami, formerly the daughter of the Asagami Clan of Nagano. She is now my adopted younger sister."

Tokiomi Tohsaka still seemed unable to accept that form of address and merely grunted. Aoi Tohsaka, however, accepted it quite well.

She rose at once and pulled Fujino and me over to sit on the sofa. Rin and Sakura also came over and stood on either side.

I handed over the gifts—still gemstones—while putting on an act about coming to fulfill the agreement, then asked about Kirei Kotomine's identity.

Tokiomi Tohsaka coughed and said, "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 she did not want to be separated from Sakura.

But after Tokiomi Tohsaka glared at her, she fell silent. Sakura, meanwhile, remained completely still, her expression unreadable. Seeing her obedient, resigned nature made my heart ache, and it 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 appears to have brought in Kiritsugu Emiya, the Mage Killer, as a son-in-law. They may be using him as their Master. There is currently no news from the Matou Household, and there is 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 is correct. He is the son of Risei Kotomine, 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 the supervisor of this Holy Grail War, and he is also my friend. Kirei Kotomine has also obtained Command Spells."

"He has become my disciple for now, 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, yet we already have three people on our side. Once we confirm everyone's identities, it will practically be an open hand."

"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 lineage's long-cherished wish of reaching the Root." That barrage of flattery delighted Tokiomi Tohsaka immensely.

After confirming that our cooperation remained unchanged and that we would proceed according to plan, I prepared to leave with Sakura. Tokiomi Tohsaka also intended to announce the engagement publicly. Before I left, Rin kept glaring at me viciously, as if she wanted to devour me.

A mischievous urge suddenly rose within me. I deliberately walked over to Rin and said, "Little Rin, you'll be my sister-in-law from now on. You're welcome to visit Tokyo anytime." Then I vigorously rubbed her head, making her absolutely furious.

After bidding everyone farewell one by one, we departed. The car slowly drove out of Fuyuki City, but we had actually left midway and arrived at a Western-style house near the outskirts of Fuyuki City. This was my magecraft workshop.

Sakura did not say a word the entire time. I asked Fujino to look after her first, while I confidently inspected this magecraft workshop that I was visiting 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.