"This guy is Matou Shinji's Heroic Spirit?"
In the base's living room, Reines looked at the ice sculpture of the Heroic Spirit Emiya that Zuke had brought back, her face bearing a somewhat strange expression as she examined it up and down.
"Your efficiency is way too fast, isn't it? I had just barely investigated that Matou Shinji had become a Master, and you've already packaged up both his Heroic Spirit and him and brought them back......"
As she spoke, Reines also glanced at Matou Shinji who had been thrown in the corner of the living room—his hands and feet were all bound together with zippers, and in his condition, he naturally couldn't break free.
Of course, the reason Reines could see the zippers was because she had been granted a maid outfit Stand by Zuke, thus also possessing the characteristics of a Stand user, allowing her to see Stand abilities.
Like Sitonai who followed by Zuke's side, she couldn't see the zippers created by "Sticky Fingers'" ability, so she didn't know what had bound Matou Shinji's hands and feet.
There was also the Heroic Spirit Emiya in the ice sculpture—the zipper on his mouth could only be seen by Zuke and Reines; Sitonai still didn't know that the Heroic Spirit Emiya's mouth had been sealed.
"But why freeze this guy and bring him back? Since he's an enemy Heroic Spirit, wouldn't it be fine to just finish him off directly?"
Regarding Heroic Spirits other than Zuke, Reines had no particular interest, so she was somewhat puzzled why Zuke hadn't directly dealt with the Heroic Spirit Emiya.
"Or does this Heroic Spirit also have some kind of karmic connection with Zuke-san?"
The reason she said this was because last time, Tohsaka Rin's Heroic Spirit Mordred had come looking for Zuke, but was let go by Zuke.
So Reines speculated whether this guy who had been frozen into an ice sculpture but not directly sent back to the Throne of Heroes also had a similar situation to Mordred.
"That's not it; I'm definitely going to deal with this guy."
Zuke shook his head and said to Reines with a smile.
"It's just that there are some rather special reasons, so I temporarily haven't made a move. You should know where the souls of Heroic Spirits go after they die in the Holy Grail War, right?"
"Where do the souls of Heroic Spirits go after death... Don't they get absorbed by the Lesser Grail? When enough dead Heroic Spirits accumulate, the Lesser Grail will become the vessel to open the Greater Grail."
As a member of the Mage's Association, before participating in the Holy Grail War, Reines had also done her intelligence gathering work well.
Especially with Waver, a survivor of the last Holy Grail War, by her side to supplement information, Reines had a more detailed understanding of the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.
"I remember the Lesser Grail of the Holy Grail War is the responsibility of the Einzbern family, right? It seems they use homunculi from their family as the Lesser Grail......Wait!"
Speaking of this, Reines seemed to react—she looked toward Sitonai standing beside Zuke. Her white hair and red eyes were clearly the characteristics of Einzbern family homunculi.
She had been wondering why Zuke would bring back a little girl; it turned out this little girl had quite a background.
"Just as you guessed... she is the 'Lesser Grail' prepared by the Einzbern family for this time."
Zuke crouched down, stroking Sitonai's head while saying to Reines.
"However, I have some rather special connections with her......so I need to take her away from this world. She can no longer function as the Lesser Grail for this Holy Grail War."
"She's really the Lesser Grail... No wait! She's clearly a Heroic Spirit, isn't she!?"
Reines felt the information load was a bit much, rubbing her forehead somewhat speechlessly to relieve her overloaded brain.
Masters in the Holy Grail War can see their Servants' ability parameters to a certain degree. Reines had just seen Sitonai's ability parameters, so she could confirm that Sitonai had the body of a Heroic Spirit.
An Einzbern family homunculus becoming a living Heroic Spirit...? What kind of cold joke is this? Do people at the Mage's Association know the Einzbern family has this ability?
"And you said you want to take her out of this world, what does that mean...? If she's not here, then the Holy Grail War has no Lesser Grail, so wouldn't the ritual fail?"
"That's exactly why I temporarily haven't finished off this Archer, but want to wait until a new 'Lesser Grail' is prepared before dealing with him."
Zuke smiled and pointed at the Heroic Spirit Emiya's ice sculpture nearby, explaining why he hadn't immediately dealt with him.
After all, if the Heroic Spirit Emiya were devoured now, his soul would enter Sitonai's body, causing Sitonai's "Lesser Grail" function to officially activate.
So to prevent this from happening, Sitonai must first be taken away, then a new "Lesser Grail" vessel created in this world before devouring the Heroic Spirit Emiya.
"Eh? Does Zuke-san have a new Lesser Grail prepared?"
Hearing Zuke's words, Reines was stunned, then seemed to breathe a sigh of relief—her purpose in participating in the Holy Grail War was naturally for victory, so she naturally didn't want to see the ritual fail.
However, after speaking, Reines noticed the somewhat mischievous expression on Zuke's face, and her heart couldn't help but beat faster.
"...What's wrong........was there something wrong with what I just said?"
"There is indeed a problem. I haven't prepared a new Lesser Grail......but I brought the method for creating a new Lesser Grail."
Speaking, Zuke waved his hand, and numerous golden ripples appeared in the spacious living room.
The next moment, a large number of books, documents, and some strange magical equipment fell from the ripples, crashing heavily onto the living room floor and making the entire house shake.
"These are the Einzbern family's magical materials, including homunculus records, Lesser Grail technology, and other contents. They should be quite valuable, right?"
Seeing Reines' dumbfounded expression, Zuke smiled.
"I know nothing about magecraft, so from here on I can only trouble you to create a Lesser Grail based on these materials."
"You want me to make a Lesser Grail?"
Reines stared wide-eyed at Zuke in disbelief, as if she had heard something incredible.
But seeing Zuke's expression, Reines quickly realized he wasn't joking but was serious.
There were no other Lesser Grails in Fuyuki City anymore, because in the last Holy Grail War, Zuke had directly killed Matou Zouken, and also prevented Matou Sakura from being defiled by the Crest Worms, so naturally there was no Makiri's Cup either.
"Ahh... Really, Zuke-san is really causing me trouble."
Reines scratched her head with a very helpless look—but who made Zuke the Heroic Spirit she had summoned? So this was also unavoidable.
"But having me create a Lesser Grail alone is too difficult. I'll need to call some personnel from the Mage's Association to help."
Speaking, Reines again pointed her finger at Zuke with a very serious expression:
"But since I'm going to this extent, Zuke-san absolutely must obtain the Grail for me!"
To be continued…