'Why does this sound kind of like doing ten pulls without getting a gold, then going for another ten pulls?'
'So everyone else came to participate in the Holy Grail War, but this Miss Sajyou Manaka came to roll gacha?'
"Let's not talk about that for now. Hurry up and try my cooking~"
Alvin was full of things he wanted to complain about, but at this moment, Sajyou Manaka had already pulled him over to sit down at the dining table.
When he picked up his chopsticks, Sajyou Manaka sat across from him, propping her snow-white chin up with both hands. A sweet smile hung on her face. Her smooth golden hair framed her pure little face, and beneath her skirt, a pair of feet in cute short boots swung back and forth.
Alvin couldn't quite tell what Sajyou Manaka was thinking right now, so he quietly ate, occasionally glancing at her. It was rather pleasing to the eye.
Just then, he suddenly saw a line of deep-blue text quietly appear in his field of vision.
[You have collected Root Princess CG +1. Please collect the related CGs before the end of the Holy Grail War. Reward: Root Grand Gift Pack]
A pure and delicate girl sat right in front of him, yet Alvin's attention was completely focused on that line of text.
At the same time, a special CG image was engraved into his CG collection interface.
And the scene in that image was precisely Alvin and Sajyou Manaka enjoying dinner together in the dining room at this very moment.
When he saw this system notification, Alvin's first reaction was complete confusion.
'Does this task mean I'm supposed to seduce Manaka?'
In the past, he had indeed seduced quite a few "heroines" in simulation games, but in real life, his experience with seducing heroines wasn't actually that rich.
Moreover, the requirements of this task were also a bit vague. It didn't even state the conditions for unlocking CGs. So how exactly was he supposed to collect all of Sajyou Manaka's CG achievements?
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
At this moment, perhaps feeling shy from being stared at by Alvin, Sajyou Manaka slightly lowered her head and played with her hair.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
Alvin subtly brushed a grain of rice from his own bowl with his fingertip, then reached out and lightly touched Sajyou Manaka's soft, delicate cheek. He gestured to the rice grain on his fingertip and smiled.
"Nothing. I just saw a grain of rice at the corner of your mouth."
"Sorry. I can't believe I'd be this improper in front of a guest I just met."
As Sajyou Manaka spoke, she saw Alvin toss the grain of rice into his mouth, and she couldn't help awkwardly rubbing her white-stockinged thighs together.
Even though she was the Root Princess, she was still just a girl. Faced with such overly intimate behavior, Sajyou Manaka was thin-skinned. Her face quickly turned red as she lowered her head.
[You have collected Root Princess CG +1]
Another special CG image appeared before his eyes, depicting the scene of Sajyou Manaka looking at Alvin in surprise as he ate that grain of white rice.
'Looks like, even self-directed situations can count as CG scenes, as long as they make Sajyou Manaka genuinely believe them and produced emotions like "joy" or "shyness," the system will judge them as valid CGs.'
Looking at the two faint blushes blooming on the girl's fair, delicate face, Alvin couldn't help falling into thought.
'If that's the case, collecting all the CGs shouldn't be too difficult.'
He reined in his thoughts a little and suddenly said, "Oh right, do you know who's participating in this Holy Grail War?"
From the moment Sajyou Manaka appeared, this Fuyuki "Fourth War" had very clearly already deviated from the original story he knew.
Alvin was confident, but not arrogant enough to completely ignore the Servants of this Holy Grail War.
The last arrogant Servant was called Gilgamesh, and how that ended was already obvious.
"I'm really sorry, but I don't really know either," Sajyou Manaka replied.
She was clearly still immersed in the joy and shyness from earlier. Her little face carried a faint blush as she kept her head lowered, not sure what she was thinking.
Alvin couldn't help being stunned for a moment, "How is that possible. Don't you have omniscience and omnipotence?"
"As long as I'm acting together with you, omniscience and omnipotence can't function," Sajyou Manaka said.
'Am I some kind of jammer or something,' Alvin felt a strong urge to complain.
"You should be done eating, right? Since you want to know who the Masters in this Holy Grail War are, why don't we do a bit of investigation."
There was a faint hint of anticipation in Sajyou Manaka's tone, "It just so happens that I've just arrived here and I'm not familiar with Fuyuki at all. We can also take the chance to relax a bit."
This was the eve of the Holy Grail War. Normally speaking, for every Master participating, this should have been a time to be extremely cautious.
Yet the girl, rather than wanting to investigate who the participating Masters were seemed more like she wanted to go out on a date.
'At the end of the day, is Sajyou Manaka's "omniscience and omnipotence" really unusable?', Alvin had serious doubts.
But seeing the girl's face full of expectation, her bright eyes looking at him, Alvin ultimately chose not to expose her lie and gently nodded.
"Then let's go out and clear our heads."
———
Compared to the leisurely "date" on Alvin and Sajyou Manaka's side, inside the Tohsaka family mansion, a man's face was filled with gravity and solemnity.
"Teacher, the preparations for the Holy Grail War are complete. We await your instructions."
From an old gramophone, a man's low and respectful voice echoed through a hidden small room.
A man dressed elegantly, with a neatly kept mustache, sat in front of the gramophone. Listening to his disciple's report, he softly responded with an "Mm."
Tohsaka Tokiomi. He was one of the participants in Fuyuki's Holy Grail War, one of the city's "Three Founding Families," and the current head of the Tohsaka family.
And the one speaking with Tohsaka Tokiomi through the gramophone at this moment was none other than his disciple, Kotomine Kirei.
From the day he transmigrated to Britain, Tohsaka Tokiomi had already decided that he would only perform a Heroic Spirit summoning once he was confident he could summon the White Dragon.
However, in the end, he still failed, because he couldn't find that "Watchman" in the Throne of Heroes.
In the end, he chose the backup he had prepared in advance.
Using the shed skin of the world's first snake as a relic, the Servant he summoned was, the ancient King of Heroes, Gilgamesh.
"Additionally, just now, traces of suspected Servant and Master activity were discovered in Fuyuki," At this moment, Kotomine Kirei spoke again.
"They entered a shopping mall and seem to be purchasing supplies."
"Oh?"
A look of surprise appeared on Tohsaka Tokiomi's face, "On the eve of the Holy Grail War, they're strolling around a shopping mall?"
Magi were generally beings that acted in the darkness, and during a special period like the Holy Grail War, caution was even more necessary.
'What is the situation with these two?'
"Do we know their identities?", Tohsaka Tokiomi quickly asked.
"Not yet. However, the Master participating in the Holy Grail War appears to be a little girl. Should I take action?", Kotomine Kirei asked.
Tohsaka Tokiomi slowly shook his head, "Observe for now. It may be a trap."
He didn't believe anyone could be this careless during the Holy Grail War, openly appearing in public view. Wasn't that just asking to be used as a live target?
"Hmph! How interesting."
At this moment, a cold laugh filled with arrogance suddenly sounded by his ear.
Not far from Tohsaka Tokiomi's side, golden particles of light silently gathered, and the King of Heroes in golden armor appeared soundlessly in the room.
Tohsaka Tokiomi cut off the gramophone, placed a hand over his chest, and bowed respectfully, "King, please wait a little longer. I will quickly investigate the various Masters and the Servants they have summoned. After that—"
"There's no need for so much trouble. Since there are already Masters and Servants strutting about openly on the streets, it means they are declaring war on this king."
"This king would like to see just who has such courage."
"King—"
Before Tohsaka Tokiomi could finish speaking, Gilgamesh had already turned and left the room.
Tohsaka Tokiomi's expression instantly turned extremely ugly.
He knew exactly what kind of Heroic Spirit the "snake's skin" he prepared as a backup would summon, and he also knew that the personality of this King of Heroes was bound to be extremely arrogant.
But he never imagined that the other party would be completely uncontrollable.
And worse, he actually went to provoke the enemy when their identity was still unclear.
Tohsaka Tokiomi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"This is going to be troublesome."
———
Winter arrived, and the night sky grew even more gloomy. Goose-feather snow mixed with icy wind battered against the glass windows.
This was the first snowfall of the year in Fuyuki. In no time at all, the accumulated snow had covered the woods outside Einzbern Castle, blanketed the roads, and draped the entire castle, and even the whole city, in a thin layer of silver.
Emiya Kiritsugu stood by the window, gazing out through the glass at the profound darkness outside.
As a man known in the outside world as the "Magus Killer," his special methods had drawn the attention of the Einzbern family, who hired him as a Master to participate in this Holy Grail War.
Buzz! Buzz!
The vibration of a phone suddenly sounded from his pocket. Emiya Kiritsugu smoothly took out the phone and answered the call.
From the phone came a woman's cold and calm report, ["Traces of suspected Master and Servant activity were just discovered in a shopping mall on the south side of Fuyuki."]
Emiya Kiritsugu's expression remained indifferent, his emotionless eyes quietly staring at the deep darkness outside the window, "Do we know their identities?"
["Not yet. That Servant is wearing a black robe and also a mask, deliberately hiding his appearance. As for his Master, she looks like a little girl, around fourteen or fifteen."]
"I thought it was very strange, so I didn't dare get too close."
Emiya Kiritsugu fell silent.
Very strange.
Extremely strange, even.
Normally speaking, a Servant could follow their Master in spirit form. The advantage of doing so was that enemies wouldn't dare act rashly, since no one knew whether the Servant was nearby.
'Yet this Servant openly manifested, following beside his Master. What exactly are they planning?'
"Do we know what they're doing?", Emiya Kiritsugu asked.
["From what we've observed so far, they're simply shopping in the mall. Or rather, it looks more like a date between a man and a woman."]
This answer finally caused a hint of oddness to appear on Emiya Kiritsugu's perpetually calm expression.
Fuyuki's Fourth Holy Grail War was a "game" in which seven Masters summoned Servants to kill each other, with the final victor obtaining the Holy Grail and its wish-granting power.
Today was the eve of the Holy Grail War. Although by the rules, Masters could only perform Heroic Spirit summoning on the day the war began. Basically every Master cheated in secret and summoned their Servant in advance.
Under normal circumstances, once a Master died, the Servant they summoned would also disappear due to losing their supply of magical energy.
The first night should have been the time when all sides were the most cautious, because no one yet knew what kind of Servants the others had summoned, nor their identities or trump cards.
'So what exactly is this pair of Master and Servant trying to do?'
'Using themselves as bait to lure others into biting? Or, are they simply that careless?'
"Keep a close eye on their movements, but don't act rashly for now."
Emiya Kiritsugu said in a low voice, "I should also start preparing the Heroic Spirit summoning ritual."
———
Alvin was obviously unaware that while the two of them went out to relax, eyes from all sides were already watching them in the dark.
More precisely, he had already noticed those eyes tailing them the moment he went out with Sajyou Manaka, he just couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
"Saber, what's wrong? You've looked distracted since just now."
At this moment, a clear and pleasant female voice suddenly sounded from beside him. She looked at the boy with a hint of doubt in her eyes.
Alvin shook his head and smiled, "It's nothing. I just sensed some rather interesting presences earlier, so I couldn't help pausing for a bit."
'Interesting presences?'
Sajyou Manaka tilted her head slightly, then quickly understood what Alvin meant. She pressed her lips together in a smile and said, "You mean those rats hiding in the dark?"
"Alright, don't worry about them. Let's go buy some ingredients first. I've been looking at some recipes these past few days, and tomorrow I can let you try some new dishes."
After saying that, she very naturally looped her arm through one of Alvin's and walked toward the shopping mall.
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