Accompanied by crisp footsteps, Caren, dressed in a nun's habit, calmly entered the church hall.
Caren raised the oil lamp in her hand and looked at the visitors. Using the dim light of the oil lamp to clearly see the guests, Caren's pupils constricted, and her breathing was noticeably ragged.
Gudako saw Caren's arrival, hurried forward, and said ingratiatingly.
"Sister Nun, can we stay here for the night? We'll just make do on the benches in the hall, we absolutely won't disturb you."
Caren pointed at Kiritsugu Emiya and said to Gudako.
"You can, but he cannot! I absolutely forbid myself from giving him any help!"
Gudako heard Caren's resolute answer and looked at Kiritsugu Emiya with a troubled expression.
Kiritsugu Emiya frowned, not remembering where he had offended Caren. He went to Gudako's side, comforted her, then took the coat Gudako gave him, put it on, and walked into the wind and snow.
After Caren left the church hall, Gudako sat dejectedly on a chair and asked Martha, who was beside her.
"How can she be like this? With such heavy wind and snow outside, as a clergy member, she actually kicked Kiritsugu out!"
As Caren's former Servant, Martha naturally knew what kind of person Kiritsugu Emiya was. After the Holy Grail War, Martha was forcibly kept in the present world by Rin. In her years of working with Kiritsugu Emiya, while she didn't claim to know him intimately, Martha was very clear about his character. Almost no one would want to be with Kiritsugu Emiya, let alone Caren, who already held a grudge against him.
Of course, to complete Rin's plan, those with memories wouldn't overly target Kiritsugu Emiya out of personal desire. Otherwise, with Martha's personality, the first time she saw Kiritsugu Emiya again, she would have taken advantage of this experiment to give him a painful beating.
Martha, not knowing how to explain, gave Gudako an awkward smile. Then she turned Gudako's body, letting Gudako rest her head on her lap, and then took off her own coat to cover Gudako.
"We still have to travel tomorrow, Master. Get some rest early!"
Gudako, understanding that Martha was changing the subject, didn't press further. She simply snuggled into the coat that carried Martha's scent, adjusted herself into a comfortable position, and slowly fell asleep on Martha's lap.
Late at night, after Gudako had fallen asleep, Caren quietly walked over and sat on the stool next to Martha.
"Martha, long time no see!"
Martha looked at her former Master and couldn't help but reach out and ruffle Caren's head, who had matured a lot.
"It seems like a long time to you, but I've actually been sleeping in the core of the Spiritron World. To me, I saw you just yesterday! But Caren, you've matured a lot!"
"Of course! I've lived alone on this floor for 200 years!"
"It's alright, Caren. Didn't Rin guarantee that the experiences here wouldn't affect your senses once you woke up? You'll just feel like you had a dream."
Caren looked at Martha's profile, then took Martha's hand, held it in her embrace, rested her head on Martha's shoulder, and closed her eyes.
"Let me lean on you, Martha. In return, I'll give you a piece of information. The ruler of this floor is the Servant 'Emiya' whom I summoned back then. He's currently near the elevator. If you want to pass, you'll have to defeat him! Oh, and regarding our original agreement, most of the upper floors should be without rulers, but perhaps there will be cases like mine where Servants don't obey their Masters and go independent!"
Amidst the heavy snow, Kiritsugu Emiya, by the church wall, braved the bitter cold and finally built a snow hut. Once inside and settled, Kiritsugu Emiya's mind constantly replayed the image that had appeared in his head earlier.
After a long period of unproductive thought, Kiritsugu Emiya looked at the snow hut's roof, raised his hand in front of him, and murmured.
"What was that image? Why do I care so much? Why can't I remember anything!"
The next morning, Gudako, just awake, awkwardly wiped the drool that had frozen on Martha's leg. Then, as the embarrassed Gudako sat up with a shiver, she distinctly felt that the temperature today seemed even lower than yesterday.
At this moment, Caren slowly walked into the church hall carrying a tray and approached Gudako and Martha.
Gudako looked at the bread, jam, eggs, bacon, and mutton soup on Caren's tray, unconsciously swallowed, and at the same time, discreetly put the energy bar she had brought from the elevator back into her pocket.
Caren smiled sweetly at Gudako's comical expression, then placed the tray between Martha and Gudako and said.
"Have some! A bowl of hot mutton soup will be very comforting in this weather!"
"Then I won't be polite! Thank you!"
Watching Gudako wolfing down her food, Caren turned to Martha, who was sitting beside her, and said.
"You eat too!"
Martha smiled at Caren, then clasped her hands together in front of her chest and prayed to the statue of Christ before slowly beginning her meal. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu Emiya, awakened by the cold, was struggling to refuse the frozen-hard energy bar.
After a quick meal, Kiritsugu Emiya took out his Mystic Code with some spatial properties and began to take out the firearms and weapons one by one, applying anti-freeze paste and performing maintenance.
Until the sun rose, Kiritsugu Emiya, having finished his maintenance work, put away his Mystic Code, put on Gudako's coat, and arrived at the church door.
At this time, Gudako, having eaten her fill and rested, pushed open the church door and walked out.
"Goodbye, Sister Nun! Thank you!"
After bidding farewell to Caren, Gudako came to Kiritsugu Emiya's side, took the coat he handed her, and quickly put it on.
"Kiritsugu, how was your night?"
"It was alright."
"I'm very sorry about last night, I didn't come out to accompany you."
"No need to apologize, let's set off quickly to the next floor."
Then the duo once again embarked on their journey through the wind, snow, and severe cold.
Near the elevator, a dark-skinned, white-haired man looked at the distant small figures approaching the elevator with dangerous eyes, a dangerous smile appearing on his face.
Then he spread his hands, and two pistols with blades fell into them; it was the twin swords, dual-gun version. Emiya, gripping the twin swords, lightly stepped his right leg on the ground, and with a flurry of snowflakes, Emiya disappeared from near the elevator.
At this moment, Gudako, walking in the snow, happily pointed to the distant elevator and turned to shout at Kiritsugu Emiya.
"Kiritsugu, look! It's the elevator, we're almost there!"
Kiritsugu Emiya nodded, his steps unconsciously quickening a bit, while his mind pondered, 'Does this floor have no ruler?'
Suddenly, Kiritsugu Emiya's heart trembled. His battle-hardened survival instinct drove him to roll on the spot, and then a bullet struck where Kiritsugu Emiya had just been standing, kicking up a large amount of snow. Only then did the gunshot reach Gudako and Kiritsugu Emiya's ears.
"Martha!"
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