"Alright, it's settled! We'll come to your place for drinks tonight!"
The King of Conquerors was a man of grand gestures. After a brief standoff, he accepted Guinevere's invitation without a second thought. He either didn't suspect it was a trap or simply didn't fear one.
As a dignified king, he had no interest in shopping with girls. Once the arrangement was made, he hoisted his Master onto his shoulder and departed.
"Hey, Caster, are you really inviting the King of Conquerors for drinks?"
"Yes. I'll also use the opportunity to talk to him about the King of Heroes. I'm sure he saw the battle between the King of Heroes and Lancelot. Perhaps I can trick him into wearing down Archer's strength a bit more."
Currently, the biggest obstacles to destroying the Holy Grail are still Tokiomi Tohsaka and Gilgamesh, who remains under his command.
Among the surviving Masters, the one most obsessed with the Holy Grail—aside from Kiritsugu—is Tohsaka.
Unlike Kiritsugu, even if Tohsaka knew the Grail's corruption was irreversible, he would still use it without hesitation because its function as a path to the Root remains intact. He would do so even if it meant sacrificing all of Fuyuki.
"Lia, are you sure you want this outfit?" Guinevere asked, turning to Irisviel. "And Iri, I'll talk to Kiritsugu about my sword. For now, you should keep Lia's scabbard. As time goes on, your body will need it more and more to sustain itself."
With Guinevere linking arms with one and holding the hand of the other, the three women, laden with shopping bags, returned to their car. They then drove to the market, where Guinevere bought a large assortment of vegetables that caught her eye.
By the time they returned to the Einzbern Castle, Kiritsugu Emiya was already there, carrying the still-unconscious Rin Tohsaka.
Kiritsugu was a man of action; he had truly kidnapped the little girl.
"I sent her mother back with a message," he said grimly. "If they want this child back alive, Kirei Kotomine must commit suicide."
"Shouldn't you have demanded he release Maiya Hisau?" Guinevere asked.
"If this threat works, we can up the ante later. If it doesn't, we'll propose exchanging Maiya. Either way, this back-and-forth will widen the rift between Tohsaka and Kirei."
In the castle's living room, Kiritsugu Emiya took a deep drag from the cigarette dangling from his lips, consuming half of it in one go. He immediately broke into an uncontrollable coughing fit.
As he coughed, blood trickled from his throat.
"You're injured?" Guinevere asked, concerned.
"I managed to shake Assassin, but Kirei Kotomine still saw through my intentions," Kiritsugu explained, wiping the blood from his mouth. "That man is strong. I'm no match for him in close combat. I only managed to escape with the girl by bluffing with the fake Command Spell on my hand."
On the back of Kiritsugu's hand, the crimson Command Spell was still visible, but it was merely a tattoo he had inked himself the previous night.
Kirei Kotomine had only been frightened into retreating because his Assassin was completely outmatched and he didn't know Kiritsugu no longer had a Servant.
As Guinevere listened, she watched Irisviel step forward to heal Kiritsugu's injuries, leaving the couple to whisper quietly to each other.
Guinevere's gaze fell upon the small form of Rin Tohsaka. The seven-year-old girl was still dressed in her elementary school uniform.
After a brief examination, Guinevere found no traces of Magecraft on the girl, only a dark bruise on the nape of her neck.
She hesitated, then exchanged a glance with the King of Knights. Neither of them was surprised that Kiritsugu would resort to such methods.
With a snap of her fingers, an emerald materialized. Guinevere pressed the gem—a creation of her Noble Phantasm—against the back of Rin's neck, activating its natural healing properties.
The gem healed the bruise, forcing the black-haired girl with twin ponytails to abandon her pretense of being unconscious.
Normally, Mages adhered to a code of honor and wouldn't harm an enemy's family members once they were removed from the battlefield. But Kiritsugu Emiya played by no such rules, and Tohsaka hadn't sent his family far enough away.
"You... you use Jewel Magecraft too? Are you a relative of the Tohsaka House?"
Even at such a young age, Rin had been feigning unconsciousness, waiting for an opportunity. Now forced awake, she immediately tried to build rapport. Was she clever, or just bold?
"You've misunderstood," Guinevere replied gently. "I knew Jewel Magecraft long before the Tohsaka House even existed. And I have no family ties to them...
"Wait, no, that's not quite right. I'm Sakura's guardian now, and she's called me 'Big Sister' a few times. So you can call me 'Big Sister' too.
"How about it? Does that put you at ease?"
Guinevere was beautiful, and her tone was gentle, genuinely earning some of Rin's trust.
But just seconds later, Rin grew even more wary. "The Sakura you mentioned... is she really my sister, Sakura?" she asked tentatively. "Isn't she with the Matou House now?"
"Ah, that. It all started when your father sent Sakura to the Matou House. To put it simply, the Matou House is now completely wiped out. First, Shinji Matou and his father died the night Berserker was summoned. Then Kariya died at the hands of the Old Worm, and I forced Sakura to crush the Old Worm to death with her own foot."
Since Rin wanted to know, Guinevere told her everything, adding a warning: "If you two ever meet again, be very careful not to step on any landmines."
Rin was still just a child, so Guinevere only described the events verbally, without using her Noble Phantasm to recreate the images of what Sakura had endured. As a result, Rin couldn't fully grasp the reality of the situation. She only understood that Sakura had suffered greatly at the Matou House and had now been sent to the Clock Tower for recovery and further training.
"So, you're planning to kill my father, aren't you?"
Guinevere tilted her head, wondering how the little one in her arms had figured that out. Was it because her malice toward Tokiomi was so obvious? Or was it because Kiritsugu had intended this all along when he kidnapped her?
Looking at Rin's serious expression and thinking of Sakura's suffering, Guinevere couldn't resist teasing her.
"Why are you so attached to a father who would trade away his own flesh and blood for the sake of Magecraft? Even if I kill him, I can still raise you!
"Sure, you'll lose your father, but you'll still have me. I can completely replace him and raise you myself.
"What's a little thing like revenge for a father's murder?!"
As Guinevere's words fell, the castle living room fell silent. Even the Assassin, who had been lurking in the ornate light fixture on the ceiling, was so stunned that he fell, only to be instantly cut down by the King of Knights' sword.
The famous quote from someone in her past life seemed far more devastating than Guinevere had anticipated.
Fortunately, the Assassin's fall provided a distraction. The King of Knights merely touched Guinevere's forehead and asked:
"Guinevere, you're joking, right?"
"Hmph. Of course I was joking. I just wanted to see the shocked look on this little girl's face. But... I wasn't kidding about killing Tokiomi Tohsaka.
"Lia, don't give me that look. He's a Master who willingly entered the Holy Grail War. He put his own life on the line. If he dies because of it, I doubt he'd have any complaints.
"Isn't that right, you clever little girl?"
As Tokiomi Tohsaka's daughter, Rin understood the nature of the Holy Grail War. That was why she had begged Kirei to protect her father at all costs.
As Guinevere said, if Tokiomi were killed by an enemy in the Holy Grail War, Rin would have no grounds to complain.
Any resentment she felt would have to be directed at Tokiomi's lack of skill.
But that was only if Tokiomi truly died due to a lack of skill.
While Guinevere let Rin roam freely around the castle and went to the kitchen to prepare that night's feast...
On the other side of Fuyuki City, at the Tohsaka Residence...
Kirei Kotomine arrived, bringing Tokiomi's wife with him.
He reported Rin's kidnapping and the enemy's demand for his head in exchange.
And Tohsaka's reply was...
"Kirei, I heard from a friend at the Clock Tower that Sakura has officially joined the El-Melloi Classroom."
With that single sentence, Tohsaka's meaning was self-evident. He loved Rin, but he was a Mage first and foremost.
"However, we can turn their scheme against them."
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Spy-we can never escape otto