Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi

Chapter 3: Il Mondo (Part III)

Sakura knocked on the double doors, and on hearing an invitation from within, entered. "Ah, Sakura!" Kaleva Edelfelt, her uncle and Luvia's father (and proxy head while she was in London), cheerfully greeted her as she stepped inside. "Come in, come in."

"The maidservant said you had something important to discuss?" Sakura asked as she closed the doors behind her and approached her uncle who quickly seated himself behind his desk.

"Oh yes…you see, there's been an interesting development lately, and with it an opportunity has arisen." Kaleva said with a nod and a smile, folding his hands on the desktop in front of him. "Long story short, we need you to return to the land of your birth, and assume the office, authority, and responsibilities of the Second Owner of Fuyuki City."

Sakura immediately raised an eyebrow. "This isn't a 'no', mind you," she began. "But something big must have gone down if you're asking me to do that at this time. If I remember correctly, the plan, well, the plans weren't supposed to go into action until another decade at least. Especially the best case ones, which…well, basically have one of my children marrying their cousin born of my sister."

Kaleva tilted his head. "You hadn't heard?" he asked curiously.

Sakura smiled wryly. "I hear a lot of things, uncle." She said. "Which of them do you refer to?"

"Heaven's Feel took place quite recently." Kaleva said. "In fact, it took place while you were in South America taking care of Lord Crépin's bastard, and climaxed while you were spending time with Luvia in London."

"…I had heard of that," Sakura admitted after a moment's thought. "But I never really paid it much mind. Even if a Grand Ritual had gone awry by taking place decades ahead of schedule, that's not really my problem. Let my sister take care of it, she's the Second Owner. Or the local Church representative, given how…asinine, they've been about managing the Fuyuki Grail after what happed in the ritual's third iteration."

"Oh?" Kaleva drawled with an amused expression. "The land the ritual takes place on might be yours someday, and yet you don't care about it?"

"It's not my responsibility…yet." Sakura bluntly replied. "And so what if the land there is valuable? All I really need for relevance and legitimacy as a magus is the crest fused to my spine. And while my sister lives in Fuyuki, I'm an Edelfelt first, and a Tohsaka second. Even if the land loses value or is completely lost one way or another, this is home."

Sakura paused, and then tilted her head with narrowed eyes. "Is my sister dead, then?" she asked. "Or has something happened to her that allows me to just smoothly step into her place as Second Owner?"

"Then I will be as blunt as you." Kaleva said while briefly closing his eyes. "The fifth iteration of the Heaven's Feel ritual not only took place decades ahead of schedule, it exposed certain…irregularities."

"Such as?"

"How about the fact that the Fuyuki Grail was never truly a wish machine in the first place?" Kaleva asked back. "Well, according to the reports Luvia forwarded from London, it could be used in such a fashion, but that's only as a side-effect of its true purpose. A useful one, too, to mask the truth behind the Fuyuki Grail. No, it's true purpose is that of a World Gate."

Sakura blinked and burst out laughing. "Seriously?" she asked after a few moments.

"Seriously." Kaleva replied, and Sakura laughed again. "You think this is funny?"

"In a cosmic sort of way, yes." Sakura said. "And I can also figure out what happened next, considering the Association insists that any and all experiments to reach the Root be done under their direct supervision. That is, my sister's been taking into custody by the College of Law."

"Yes, she has." Kaleva said with a nod. "Though it goes much worse than simply conducting an unsanctioned experiment to reach the Root. As you well know, this is the fifth iteration of the Heaven's Feel ritual, and all indications point to the Fuyuki Grail having been a World Gate for the past century and more since its construction."

Sakura laughed again. "In other words," she said. "Those wretched Tohsakas and their allies have been pulling the wool on the eyes of just about the rest of the world this whole time, and the Association doesn't appreciate that."

"Oh it gets worse."

Sakura's merry expression vanished. "Are you serious?" she asked.

"Oh yes, I am completely serious." Kaleva said, also beginning to laugh. "You mentioned the Tohsakas' allies, just now…well, one of them, the Matou, are revealed to have been blood-slaves of their patriarch, which is apparently a Dead Apostle of some kind or another."

Sakura palmed her face, while Kaleva laughed in his turn. "You're right, though." He eventually said. "It is funny, a comedy, even, in a cosmic sort of way."

Sakura took a deep breath. "And?" she asked. "What happened to the vampire? Did my sister at least finish the job?"

"Unclear." Kaleva said with a shake of his head. "According to Luvia's report, your sister may have destroyed the vampire's body, but the nature of its mysteries are such that it's unclear whether that might have been enough to finish the job."

"…well, that's vampires for you." Sakura said with a sigh. "They're like cockroaches and bad weeds, so very hard to put down for good."

"Indeed," Kaleva said with a nod. "In any case, your sister faces plenty of charges at the Clock Tower even as we speak. One, conducting an experiment to reach the Root without Association supervision. Two, conspiring to conduct said experiment to reach the Root without Association supervision. Three, negotiating, allying, and cooperating with a Dead Apostle without Association supervision. And four, gross negligence and sheer incompetence in the line of duty as a Second Owner."

Kaleva paused. "I'm sure you have your thoughts on all those charges." He said.

"The first three are probably less directed to my sister as much as they are against the Tohsaka family as a whole." Sakura said. "Unfortunately, my sister is the current head of that family, so she bears the responsibility. A shame, but someone has to take responsibility."

Sakura paused in her turn. "The fourth charge, though…" she began. "…do you mean to say that my sister is claiming ignorance of the Fuyuki Grail's true purpose, and of the fact that the Matou patriarch was – is – a Dead Apostle?"

"Excellent deduction," Kaleva said with a nod. "Yes, that is precisely what your sister is claiming. Apparently, she is aiming to plead guilty to a lesser charge so as to be acquitted of the more serious ones."

"Hmm…considering how idiotic our birth father was," Sakura mused. "And how young my sister also was at the time of his death, there are grounds for such an argument. He might have neglected to tell her, or failed to leave her with any materials that could point to the true natures of the Fuyuki Grail and the Matou patriarch, before his death."

"Luvia agrees, and along with other members of the Trambelio Faction, have pushed for the trial to adjourn until a proper investigation has been conducted." Kaleva said. "There is also the question of the Church's involvement, as they have managed the Fuyuki Grail for over half a century now. They couldn't have not known about the Fuyuki Grail's true nature in that time."

"Hmm…but, even if my sister gets acquitted of the first three charges laid against her," Sakura began. "She would still have proven herself unsuitable for the post of Second Owner. Isn't that why that one, lesser charge even managed to get past the initial hearings? She failed to notice the Fuyuki Grail's true nature. She failed to notice the Matou patriarch was a Dead Apostle."

"And in failing both," Kaleva added. "She almost failed to contain a Masquerade breach."

"…that bad, huh?"

"Yes."

Sakura sighed. "This isn't funny anymore." She said.

"Indeed."

Sakura sighed again. "Well," she began after several moments. "Going back to the main point, and again, I'm not saying 'no', but I'm rather curious why I'm being tapped as the new Second Owner for Fuyuki City. To be sure, I'm technically still a scion of the Tohsaka lineage of magi, and logically with the heir discredited, I'd be her successor. But reality is hardly as simple and straightforward as that. For one thing, Tohsaka as a whole is discredited by the apparent deceptions and treacheries of their past generations. Also, my claim of being an Edelfelt first and a Tohsaka second is more than fancy rhetoric on my part."

Sakura paused, and raised her arms to gesture around her. "I grew up in Finland, under the care of House Edelfelt." She said. "My crest was broken off that of a mainline member of House Edelfelt, and not of the Tohsaka family. It answers to Edelfelt, not to Tohsaka. I'm sure Japanese magi with a presence in the Clock Tower would argue that I am…unsuitable, to supervise valuable territory in a place that might well be alien to me as Japan."

"That," Kaleva concurred with a series of nods. "And there are other families in the Clock Tower who'd want a look at the ruins of the World Gate in Fuyuki for their own purposes."

"Indeed," Sakura agreed before narrowing her eyes. "So why?"

"Why indeed…" Kaleva said while sitting back in his seat. "…tell me, Sakura. Do you know why we went through so much effort to, well, speaking frankly kidnap you as a newborn that you may be raised here with us?"

"Of course I do." Sakura said immediately. "It is compensation – the first payment (in kind) – for the theft of an Edelfelt Crest by the Tohsaka family during the third iteration of the Heaven's Feel ritual."

"And there you go." Kaleva said while taking one of the files on his desk, and then opening it to the relevant page, turned it for Sakura to see. "You are a scion of Tohsaka, but you are also Edelfelt first and foremost. You were trained and tested properly as a magus, with many achievements to your name even at your age, vouched for by lords and scions of both Trambelio and Meluastea allegiances. In other words, not only are you qualified for the post of Second Owner, you are also qualified to cleanse Tohsaka of your ancestors' collective shame."

Sakura was silent for a long while, scanning the page as she was with her eyes. After a couple of minutes, she glanced at her uncle, and raised an eyebrow. "I notice the Mages Association found it curious that Edelfelt is currently in possession of the Tohsaka heiress supposedly stolen away some eleven years ago." She dryly remarked.

"And your point is?" Kaleva asked, looking and sounding amused.

Sakura smirked. "Luvia thinks she's funny and clever." She said.

"You mean she isn't?" Kaleva asked back.

Sakura laughed. "No, she is." She said. "That, and she's got quite the nerve to respond to that by noting that it's even more curious that almost all the circuits in the Tohsaka Crest belong to our family."

Kaleva laughed in his turn. "And that is why the trial of your sister is currently adjourned." He said. "Luvia was completely correct, after all. Each and every test of the Tohsaka Crest returns the same result. Virtually all the circuits it possesses belongs to one or another of our ancestors, with Tohsaka's paltry contributions forming only a…superficial, layer to the crystallized legacy of our family."

"Humph…" Sakura snorted. "And which makes our claims preeminent, both by tradition and long-established precedent, due to such unquestionable proof of Tohsaka's theft and treachery."

"As you say."

Sakura was silent for a long moment. "My sister's trial may be adjourned at present," she finally said. "But my appointment as Second Owner is confirmed?"

"It is." Kaleva said while getting to his feet, and gathering the files on his desk, stacked them on top of each other into a pair of columns each around twelve or so inches high. "Denying our claim would have the other houses and lesser families up in arms over the precedents set and discarded."

"Alright then…" Sakura said before tilting her head. "How much gear can I can I bring?"

"As much as you need." Kaleva replied.

"Do I still retain access to my accounts?" Sakura asked.

"Of course." Kaleva said with a nod.

"Do I get to bring troop support along?"

"Yes, but try not to go overboard."

"Will one company be alright?"

"Yes, a company's worth of troops to back you up is reasonable."

"I'm bringing Elisa with me."

"That goes without saying."

"When do I leave?"


Sakura looked up from where she was reviewing the files and other material she'd brought with her, and turned to the door at a knock thereon. "Come in." she said, already knowing who it was thanks to her bounded fields.

That, and while her personal villa – well, cabin (made of brick and not logs, thank you very much) – was about twenty minutes or so away from the main residence, it was still well inside the ancestral lands of House Edelfelt. Infiltration was virtually impossible, and an outright breach of the defenses would have Edelfelt battle-magi, spell-caster auxiliaries, and PMCs with mechanized and gunship support bearing down on the invaders with overwhelming force.

So there was no real concern about unexpected knocks here. Edelfelt and their vassals were as safe here as a child would be in their mother's arms, in the winter wonderland that was the Lapland countryside.

Only it wasn't winter right now. But that wasn't important.

"Sorry to interrupt, Sakura." Elisa said while stepping into the cabin's living room, only to find herself coming up short at the piles and stacks of files, reports, books, and other written materials covering the coffee table. "…what's all this?"

"We're headed to Japan in about a week." Sakura said. "I'm taking up the post of Second Owner for Fuyuki. I know, way ahead of schedule, but something came up."

"I'm sure something did." Elisa said with a nod. "Though, that doesn't really answer my question."

"I might know how to speak, read, and write Japanese," Sakura said, which wasn't really unusual considering the long-term plans to bring Tohsaka to heel (and which turned out to be useless now what with the deceit and treachery of past Tohsaka generations finally calling in what was owed to them). "But I don't really know much about Japan or the city I'll be taking charge of."

"…do your best, Sakura." Elisa said after a moment, with an encouraging smile.

Sakura smiled back. "I will." She said. "Though, that's not all you want to say, is it?"

"A week of reading up about Japanese customs, history, and the like won't really make you knowledgeable about your birth country." Elisa said. "I'm not saying what you're doing is pointless, but…it's just something to keep in mind."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sakura said with a sigh. "But, it's better than going in ignorant and expecting Japan to be just like Finland."

Elisa nodded, and Sakura nodded back. "And," she said. "Is there something else you need?"

"Hmm…I think I have most of the answers I came here for."

"Oh?"

"I just received orders to assemble a company of troops to accompany you." Elisa said. "They didn't say why or where, but I have those now."

"Hmm…" Sakura hummed. "Any thoughts on what we should bring?"

"Two infantry platoons, preferably three, just in case." Elisa immediately said. "We'll be in unknown territory, after all. We'll also need at least one sniper team, three if I can help it. A mortar battery might also be useful, and a squadron of gunships."

Sakura snorted, and then laughed. "A mortar battery?" she echoed. "We're not going to war, you know."

Elisa shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "But you never know. And you do remember a couple of years back, when we had to smoke out a group of heretics from their hidey-holes?"

"Okay…I see your point." Sakura said with a nod. "Alright then, I'll leave it to you. Though, to quote my uncle, don't go overboard."

Elisa beamed. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Sakura." She said.


"I'm rather curious, Sakura." Marjatta Edelfelt began.

"About what?" Sakura asked.

The cousins sat at a wooden table in an out of the way sitting room at the main Edelfelt residence, playing a game of cards between them. A tea set sat to one side of the table, with both cousins each having a cup of tea beside them. From a phonograph in one corner of the room, the tunes of Chopin's Nocturne in B major, No. 1 drifted through the room.

"Father told me about your conversation earlier today." Marjatta said. "That, and you're heading over to Japan in a week's time."

"And what's so curious about it?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm…" Marjatta hummed while taking a card off the top of the deck on the table between them, and adding it to her hand. "Well, for starters, you admitted you'd heard about Heaven's Feel while you were at the Clock Tower. That, and you weren't interested in it."

"And?" Sakura prompted while also drawing from the deck, and adding it to her hand.

"Are you really uninterested in Heaven's Feel?" Marjatta asked.

Sakura smiled. "The World Gate function aside," she said. "I'll admit the idea of using a wish machine to grant any one wish so long as it doesn't trespass on the domains of True Magic is tempting. But…well, we were taught all about how wishes inevitably rebound onto the one who made the wish. I mean, it's not just those old stories about wish-granting djinns, sprites, and nymphs either. The Fuyuki Grail is hardly unique as a wish machine from times past."

"Certainly," Marjatta said while resting her face against an elbow. "There were other wish machines in times past, now lost to magi of our day and age. And as I recall, the Fuyuki Grail was – at least, supposedly – a replica of one such artifact. I suppose it's for the best that it's gone now."

"On that we are in agreement." Sakura said while discarding several cards from her hand.

Marjatta hummed while continuing with their game. "I get the sense, though, that you're not really eager to handle this assignment." She said.

"Orders are what they are." Sakura said.

"Hmm…" Marjatta hummed while also discarding several cards from her hand. "But, you've also always known this day would come."

Sakura snorted. "And you've also always known that I'd prefer an outcome where I wouldn't have to permanently leave Finland either." She said while adding another card to her hand.

"You can visit anytime you want." Marjatta pointed out.

"It's not the same." Sakura said. "This is home. Nowhere else is."

"…I suppose I can't argue with you there." Marjatta said while adding another card to her hand. "Oh very well, I'll write to Luvia this evening, tell her to put her back into it."

"Into what?" Sakura asked while sliding another 1-Euro coin across the table.

"Making sure Cousin Rin doesn't end up vanishing for good into the depths of the College of Law, or some other corner of the Clock Tower." Marjatta said. "By all accounts, she's a decent woman, who gladly stood trial on all charges to take responsibility for the sins of her entire family."

"I read the report." Sakura said. "Luvia did say Rin's strategy to at least avoid execution was pointing out that despite all her handicaps she ultimately managed to prevent that Matou vampire from completing Heaven's Feel, and managed to keep the Masquerade's veil intact, if only by the narrowest of margins."

"She did the best she could." Marjatta agreed, and also sliding a 1-Euro coin across the table. "I think between that and her genuine sense of responsibility, she is an admirable person in her own way. I would love to know her better, and I'm sure you would too."

"…I admit, I'm rather curious about this stranger of a sister I've long known about but have never actually met." Sakura admitted after a moment and another coin slid forward. "Here's to Luvia managing to pull that off. We get a chance to get to know my sister, we manage to resolve the Edelfelt-Tohsaka feud with a more optimistic outcome than previously-expected, and I get to go back home here in Finland after this little assignment on the far side of the world is finished."

"Hear, hear." Marjatta agreed, also upping her bet, and which Sakura reciprocated before Marjatta upped her bet again.

Sakura smiled. "Looks like I win tonight, Marjatta." She said while laying out her hand on the table. "Here are four jacks, so tomorrow's your treat again."

"Sorry, Sakura." Marjatta said with a smile of her own. "I have a four of a kind, too: three queens, and a joker."

Sakura tutted in disappointment. "Looks like we're even again, and it'll be my place for tomorrow's game." She said. "Oh well, you win some and you lose some. In any case, it's getting late, so I'll go on home."

"My, my," Marjatta teased while gathering the cards together. "That's just what you'd expect of an experienced soldier of fortune. Cut your losses while you still have something to lose. Sleep well, and pleasant dreams."

"Likewise." Sakura said with a nod, and making to leave, stopped as Marjatta cleared her throat.

"If you'll take my advice," she began while shuffling the cards in her hands. "This assignment would be less tedious if you take the opportunity it presents to see new places, meet new people, make new friends, and have good memories to remember in times to come."

Sakura mulled it over for a few moments, and then smiling, gave a shrug. "I'll keep that in mind." She said. "Thanks for the advice, Marjatta, and good night."

Marjatta beamed. "You're welcome," she said. "And good night."

Sakura nodded and left the room, while Marjatta finished shuffling the deck. Then palming the card on top, she gave it a look and smiled wider.

It was the Ace of Spades.


Sakura walked down a dirt path leading away from the lights and carefully-tended gardens of the main Edelfelt residence, and into the surrounding countryside, lit only by the Moon and stars above. The spring night was cloudless and bright, more than enough for Sakura to see her way with without needing to reinforce her eyes. The air was similarly clean and crisp, a familiar air that was completely unlike the dirtied air of cities no matter where you went around the world.

Every now and then, though, a slight breeze would pick up, and while it was already spring, this far north the wind's cold could still bite all the way to the bone. Sakura shivered from one such breeze, and rubbing her arms, hurried on her way to her cabin. As she did so, she looked up at the sky, at the stars of night glimmering in their countless millions.

It was a view completely unknown to those who lived their whole lives in cities, and another reason for which Sakura was thankful to grow up in the countryside. No matter how much she knew better, seeing the heavenly vista above her made her want to reach up, as though to hold the stars in her hands, and hold them to herself.

Take the opportunity it presents to see new places, meet new people, make new friends, and have good memories to remember in times to come.

Sakura smiled to herself as she remembered Marjatta's advice from earlier. It was good advice, and Sakura could see how it might help make this potentially – though hopefully not – long-term assignment that much more remarkable.

"Well, we'll see." Sakura thought. "At the very least, I'll get a feel for things first before deciding one way or another. Though…I'll still have to clean house, regardless."

Sakura sighed at the thought, and picked up the pace. The College of Law was thorough, but they were still only Human in the end, and Humans always made mistakes. One way or another, and to one degree or another.

"Maggots feast on dead meat." Sakura thought. "Now that there's no Second Owner, and the College of Law's vacated the place with their spoils, maggots might just come crawling out of the woodwork. If so, then I'll take great pleasure in burning them out."

Smiling viciously at the thought of a vampire hunt, Sakura busied herself with thoughts of how to dig out and burn the taint of vampirism from Fuyuki. Easier said than done, but it was doable, and nothing of great value could be achieved without equal effort and sacrifice anyway.

This was going to be fun.

By the time she'd arrived at her cabin, she'd come up with more than a few ideas, and while they needed polishing and research to check on their viability, it was a start, regardless.

"Welcome home, Sakura." Elisa said, standing up from where she was seated at a table on the front porch, working on some task. "I've prepared dinner if you want."

Technically, Sakura had already eaten dinner earlier. But she wasn't going to turn the offer down, especially when Elisa was the one who made it.

"That sounds lovely. I'll have a bite, please."


A/N

A short time skip, and it's off to Finland, even as things go FUBAR on the other side of the world.