Nightfall, for the ordinary Fuyuki office workers, was synonymous with liberation.
But for the participants of this Holy Grail War, nightfall meant that the Holy Grail War had finally officially begun.
However, this was only the first day of the Holy Grail War. Even if there were any battles, they would surely end quickly. No one would be so foolish as to reveal all their trump cards right at the beginning, would they?
Regardless, Haku had already made preparations early. After a short nap in the afternoon, he set off directly.
Although Haku was half a nocturnal creature and his energy at night could be said to be extremely vigorous, it was always good to rest a bit more. And most importantly, it was to let Tom sleep a bit longer.
He knew the consequences of Tom being sleepy; he would truly just fall asleep after two steps. The thought of it was a bit terrifying.
Let alone encountering a Servant, even encountering a Magus, it would be effortless for them to easily eliminate Haku. Haku was very confident in his combat ability, knowing full well that he couldn't defeat anyone in the entire Holy Grail War.
"It's so quiet, and there's no one on the streets." Walking along the Misono River, he truly couldn't see a single living soul.
Just now, there were still some people strolling by the river, but the closer he got to the estuary, the fewer people there were, until there was no one at all. But this was good; Tom could walk normally, saving Haku the trouble of carrying Tom around his neck all the time.
To be honest, it was fine at first, but later it really became increasingly uncomfortable, making Haku's neck all sweaty.
As for why he was wandering by the Misono River, it was because two famous battles from the original work took place near the Misono River: the first was Saber and Lancer clashing at the Misono River estuary port, and the second was the subjugation of Caster in the Misono River.
He was completely clueless about this so-called 'Fourth Holy Grail War,' which he had no idea who was participating in, so he could only come here to try his luck.
In the original work, Lancer should have been attracting Servants to fight him everywhere at this time, but currently, there was no sign of that. At least, Tom hadn't sensed anything yet.
"Zzzzzzzz!!!"
Just then, a sound of electricity suddenly flashed across the sky.
"What the hell was that?!" Hearing the sound, Haku quickly looked around, but found nothing.
It wasn't until Tom pointed to the sky that Haku noticed a tiny flash of lightning streaking across the firmament. If he didn't look carefully, it would be hard to spot. It was probably at a very high altitude, undoubtedly a Servant, and very likely Iskandar.
If it was, that would be great, indicating that although the timeline was problematic, perhaps some of the characters could still match up. This way, his advantage in understanding the characters would be regained.
Seeing this, Haku immediately wanted to go take a look, but unfortunately, that thing was flying too fast. With just his two legs, he might not be able to reach the scene in time. "Tom, let's go, let's go see!"
With that, Haku picked up Tom, tucked him under his armpit, and ran towards where the lightning had flown.
However, before Haku had run a few dozen meters, Tom, who was being carried in a daze, suddenly broke free, leaped up, and jumped to the ground.
Then he picked up Haku and ran towards the direction where the lightning had gone, at a much faster speed than Haku.
"???" Haku was running when he suddenly found himself being carried by Tom. He immediately looked down with a bewildered expression.
------
A few minutes earlier, in the courtyard of a residential house in Fuyuki's residential area.
Inside the house, Waver was observing the images transmitted back by the familiar he had released. He suddenly heard a burst of thunder from the courtyard. Looking through the window, he found that Alexander had somehow slipped out and even summoned his warhorse!
Waver quickly opened the window and whispered to Alexander, "Wait, Rider, where are you going?!"
"Hmm? To battle, of course!" At this moment, Alexander had just summoned his warhorse, Bucephalus, in the courtyard and was about to mount it. Hearing Waver's question, he immediately replied.
"Nonsense, of course I know you're going out! The question is why you're running out! And making such a grand show of it!"
"Isn't this the Holy Grail War? Of course, I'm going to participate in battle!" Alexander tilted his head, as if wondering why Waver would ask that, then flipped onto his horse.
"I am to become a great hero like Achilles, how could I not fight and go out during wartime?"
Seeing Alexander about to rush out and get himself killed, Waver immediately became anxious. "Huh? I completely don't understand what you're thinking. The Holy Grail War isn't some gladiator match. Stop right there and don't run!"
He had originally thought that there were only seven Servants in total in one Holy Grail War, and he alone had two Servants, Rider and Caster. This advantage was simply ridiculously huge, it could practically be said, "How can you lose with dragons riding your face?!"
Once he obtained the Holy Grail, he would be able to prove himself in front of his teachers and classmates at the Clock Tower.
However, in such an advantageous situation, one of his Servants suddenly started acting recklessly, which Waver could not accept.
Kongming, who was nearby, came up behind Waver and patted his shoulder. "What? Aren't you going?"
Waver, who was considering whether to use a Command Seal, was startled at first, then immediately reacted. "Huh? Why should I go... No, it should be why he should go!"
"What? You're going too?" First, he exclaimed as if playing deaf, then Kongming said to Alexander outside the window, "Rider, Waver says he wants to go to battle with you too!"
He had just learned with his unique skill'Strategist's Counsel A+' that Waver would be perfectly fine going out this time. An A+ level of this skill was enough to predict unexpected situations with 100% accuracy. To counter this skill, one would need an equivalent level of luck.
Moreover, every time he saw Waver's idiotic expression now, his stomach hurt. This was a good opportunity to throw him out for some training, since nothing bad would happen anyway.
No sooner had he spoken than, amidst Waver's bewildered expression of 'What the hell are you doing?', he grabbed Waver by the back of his collar and threw him out the window towards Alexander.
"What are you... AHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"Eh?! Really? Master, I didn't expect you to be a brave warrior too! Excellent! Truly worthy of being my Master!" Alexander casually caught Waver who was thrown down, then just as casually placed Waver behind him.
Without waiting for Waver to refuse, he immediately pulled the reins and soared straight into the sky.
"YAMETE!!!"