Zuke naturally had no idea that Mordred had come up with a strange plan because of Issei Ryuudou's words.
At this moment, he had already returned to Reines' base and placed Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture in the corner of the living room.
This short Hassan-i-Sabbah had nothing special about him aside from his Noble Phantasm "Zabaniya: Cyber Phantasy," so Zuke wasn't worried that he could break free from Sitonai's ice seal.
"So you've already captured Assassin and brought him back... In that case, all the participants have been confirmed."
During the time Zuke was out capturing Hassan-i-Sabbah, Reines had also recovered considerably thanks to the recovery ability of her maid outfit substitute and was able to leave her bedroom.
Looking at Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture that Zuke had placed in the corner, she also felt a sense of relief—as expected, with Zuke around, the Holy Grail War was on easy mode.
This sense of security made her very satisfied—as long as Zuke was here, there was nothing that could stump him.
"However, this makes us the ones holding things back."
Waver, standing nearby, looked at Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture and scratched his head somewhat helplessly—Zuke was keeping these Heroic Spirits alive ultimately because the Lesser Grail problem hadn't been resolved.
If Zuke dealt with these Heroic Spirits now, their souls would return to Sitonai's body, which obviously wouldn't work.
"Then hurry up and solve the Lesser Grail problem."
Hearing Waver's words, Reines glared at him irritably and couldn't help but urge him on.
Waver was a genius when it came to theoretical knowledge of magecraft, so logically, creating a Lesser Grail vessel shouldn't be very difficult—after all, the Einzbern family's data was readily available.
In the first three Holy Grail Wars, the Lesser Grail vessels were even just inorganic objects with holy relic capabilities, showing that as long as you understood the principle, creating one wouldn't be too difficult.
"Yes, yes, yes. I'll finish the Lesser Grail problem as soon as possible."
Waver sighed, feeling helpless about Reines' behavior of siding with outsiders—he had worked so hard for the El-Melloi family all these years, yet he still wasn't appreciated.
However, Waver himself felt guilty, as he had indeed stolen the holy relic from Kenneth El-Melloi Archibald, the former head of the family, so he had no complaints and could only continue being a workhorse.
"Hey, since I've already provided information about Assassin, shouldn't you consider letting me out?"
At this moment, Heroic Spirit EMIYA, who had been ignored for a long time, couldn't help but speak up.
He had watched as Zuke brought back Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture, yet he seemed to be completely ignored, and finally couldn't hold it in anymore.
He had provided such important information, so as compensation, shouldn't he at least be let out to get some fresh air?
"Don't even think about being let out. Do you think I'd let a Heroic Spirit move freely in my Master's house?"
Zuke glanced at Heroic Spirit EMIYA with a look of distaste on his face.
"Seeing as you did provide information about Assassin, I'll give you a quick death as previously agreed—don't ask for more."
Although Heroic Spirit EMIYA should have already realized that he couldn't beat Zuke, Zuke couldn't guarantee that letting this guy out wouldn't result in some accident.
After all, this guy had "Unlimited Blade Works," a Reality Marble as a trump card. It was better to keep him frozen.
"To dispel any ideas you shouldn't have, I'll tell you this—this guy's Master is Issei Ryuudou."
Of course, to ensure safety, Zuke didn't mind revealing some things to Heroic Spirit EMIYA—he pointed at Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture and said.
"I asked Issei Ryuudou, and he doesn't know any classmate with the surname Emiya. There was also no fire in this world ten years ago... You should understand what I mean, right?"
Heroic Spirit EMIYA had an obsession—he wanted to kill the young Shirou Emiya of the past, who was too fixated on "justice."
But now Zuke had bluntly told him that this world had no "Shirou Emiya," only an ordinary person with a completely different name and personality who hadn't experienced any fire.
So Heroic Spirit EMIYA didn't need to think about those unnecessary things. He should just stay here obediently and become nourishment for the Grail.
"...You really do know everything."
After hearing Zuke's words, Heroic Spirit EMIYA fell silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh.
"I understand. It seems this mission can only end like this."
Through "Ionioi Hetairoi," Zuke brought Sitonai back to the real world, and he himself left the mission world.
To avoid disturbing the others in the room, Zuke set the return location to the courtyard, so the two appeared directly in the yard.
"So we're back already... Although I kept my eyes open, I still couldn't see clearly how we crossed between worlds."
Sitonai blinked. When Zuke had used "Ionioi Hetairoi" to bring her back just now, she had kept her eyes open the whole time, but only felt her vision blur before the world changed.
Thinking about it, although there had been significant changes, "Ionioi Hetairoi" was still a Reality Marble. How could the naked eye see through it?
"It's still early morning. Sitonai, you should go back and continue resting."
Zuke looked up at the sky—it was still quite dark, clearly the time spent in the mission world wasn't very long, and the sky hadn't fully brightened yet.
Sitonai needed to sleep 12 hours a day, and she had only been sleeping for a short while before Zuke called her back to the Fate/Stay Night world. Obviously, she hadn't slept enough.
So naturally, Zuke planned to let Sitonai go back and continue resting to avoid any problems with her body later.
At the same time, Zuke was also considering whether he could find a way to stop her Lesser Grail function—just like Illyasviel from the magical girl world.
After the Lesser Grail function stopped, Sitonai should also be able to live as an ordinary girl.
"Mm... Before going back to sleep, could Papa give me a reward? After all, I helped out a bit over there, right?"
Sitonai thought for a moment, then looked up at Zuke with a mischievous smile on her face.
"Just kiss me."
It sounded a bit like a daughter acting spoiled with her father, so Zuke didn't think much of it and picked up Sitonai, preparing to give her the reward as she asked.
However, the next moment, Sitonai acted first.
She suddenly leaned in and left a mark on Zuke's lips with a smooch, then jumped out of Zuke's embrace and ran away laughing.
Zuke was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly. That just now didn't seem like the affection of a young girl at all.
To be continued…