"My father?"
Shirou Emiya frowned at Zouken Matou's words. He was a survivor Kiritsugu Emiya had saved ten years ago, and it was precisely Kiritsugu's influence that had made him want to become a hero of justice.
"My father was your friend? Don't joke around. Who exactly are you?"
Zouken Matou's withered body was thin and frail, giving off a rotten stench. He also coughed frequently, and his eyes were unusually sinister.
Shirou could not believe that Kiritsugu would have a friend like this.
"Heh heh heh, exceptionally wary. You're very much like Kiritsugu Emiya in that respect. Very well, I'll tell you who I am. I'm Sakura and Shinji Matou's grandfather, Zouken Matou, head of the Matou Family."
"Sakura and Shinji's grandfather? Then how did you..."
Shirou looked surprised at his words, then quickly recalled what Rin Tohsaka had told him. Combined with his own experience visiting the Matou residence, a possibility occurred to him.
"Just as you suspect, I escaped from the Matou residence. If I hadn't had a few tricks up my sleeve, the Servant Sakura Matou summoned would have killed me by now."
Zouken's words dispelled a little of Shirou's wariness, mainly because of his identity as Sakura and Shinji's grandfather. Still, Rin's words kept him on guard.
"The Servant Sakura summoned was an accident. I've heard about what happened at the church, too. It must have been the Foreigner Sakura summoned that sent the Holy Grail War in an unknown direction."
As Zouken recalled what had happened that day, the hatred in his heart would not fade. He had schemed for decades, for a century, and this had been the closest he had ever come to the Holy Grail. Yet because of Karn, he could no longer even keep himself alive.
"I sensed something was