Aiding Damsels in Distress

"Gilgamesh really told you that the Grail War is going to start in three years?" Rin asked, her expression a mix of concern and exhaustion as she looked at Shirou, who was busy painting the floor of his shed. "He really, literally said that? There is no room for confusion or misinterpretation? Was he clear?"

"He said it is going to start in less than three years." Shirou corrected her, pausing his painting to look at her. "And yes, he was very clear about it. There is a chance he was lying of course, but I am not willing to risk it. His story sounded very plausible."

"His story about the Grail not using all its power during the previous War and thus being ready to go again already?" Ayako asked, before sighing when Shirou nodded. "Well, I suppose that does sound logical. Then again, this is magic, so it might as well not be. Logic has nothing to do with this to begin with, if you ask me."

"That is-" Rin made to correct Ayako, to argue that Magecraft did involve logic, but interrupted herself when she remembered there were more important things to discuss right now. Talking more with the brunette about the ins and outs of Thaumaturgy could come later. "But you believe Gilgamesh, Emiya-kun?"

"I do." Shirou nodded, leaving his painting for what it was for now. "Maybe he was trying to prank me, but frankly, he does not strike me as a person who would enjoy such low-level humour."

"And even if he was lying, it would not hurt to be prepared." Sakura piped up, a somewhat unsure smile on her face. "Better that you prepare for a Grail War and it doesn't happen than that you don't prepare and it does happen."

"Right you are, Sakura." Shirou grinned, and he would have patted her head if his hands hadn't been covered in his own blood at the moment.

The four of them were sitting together in a corner of Shirou's shed-turned-Workshop. Shirou was sitting in the centre of said area, while the girls were all seated at a fair distance away from him. He was busy painting an insanely intricate Magic Circle in his own blood after all, and they didn't want to disturb the circle or get blood on their clothes by unnecessarily coming too close.

The Circle was a part of the ritual to turn Illya, Sella, and Leysritt into actual human beings. It was easily and by far the most complicated Magic Circle that Shirou and Rin had ever seen, containing symbols and words that had never existed and would never exist in their own universe. Even though the redhead had been working on it for hours already, he'd only finished one-tenth of the eventual end-result.

That didn't stop him from conversing with his girlfriends though. It might seem rather unwise, speaking with others while working on such a hellishly difficult project, but for some reason, Shirou was able to paint the Magic Circle with the kind of ease that normally only came with years of experience, even when distracted.

It was undoubtedly another perk that came with being Thor's successor, some kind of in-built paint-support, and Shirou gratefully made use of it, leaving his hands free to do what they wanted while he continued discussing the matter of the upcoming Grail War with the girls.

"I will continue working on my gems and my other crafts." Rin said, crossing her legs rather unladylike, a scowl on her face. "I cannot promise I'll come up with anything that has the potential to allow me to fight with Servants, but I'll do my best to become stronger than any other Master at least."

"So it's a given that we will have to fight in the Fifth War?" Ayako asked, grimacing at the thought of having to participate in something her lovers had always described as 'a wretched, senseless slaughter'.

"I am not going to force any of you to fight." Rin said immediately, her voice clear and decisive. "If you don't want to take part in it, that is completely fine with me. I'm sure I can work something out."

"I am the last of the Matou though. I will have to participate." Sakura countered, but Rin was already shaking her head before she'd even finished.

"You can just give away your Command Seals to the War's arbiter before summoning a Servant. If you leave the city after that, the other Masters and their Servants won't have a reason to come after you anymore, while the Church will make sure another candidate is found to take your place." She explained, before wincing. "Though it might be better if they did not select another candidate at all. We don't want the Grail to be completed after all."

"My thoughts exactly." Shirou agreed after finishing a particularly difficult symbol, which required his fingers to move in a way he hadn't thought possible. "Ideally, I'd prevent all the Masters from summoning their Servants to begin with. If I don't have to contend with Servants, I only need to get my hands on the Lesser Grail, supply it with just enough power for Angra Mainyu to materialise, and then deal with him. There does not need to be a War at all."

"Why do I doubt that it will be as easy as you describe it?" Ayako sighed.

"Because you have an ounce of common sense." Rin replied dryly, giving the brunette a smile, before turning back to Shirou. "Preventing the Masters from summoning their Servants is easier said than done. Many will summon their Servants long before coming to Fuyuki, and even if they wait until they are here, Fuyuki is a big city."

"I am aware of that." Shirou nodded with a frown.

"Sakura and I will do whatever we can to help you of course, but you cannot ask us to remain Masters yet not summon Servants of our own." Rin continued, her voice hardening slightly. "If we did that, we would be sitting ducks, easy prey to anyone who wants to eliminate their competition or take us captive to use us."

"Nee-san and I will need the protection that a Servant provides." Sakura supported her sister's argument, giving Shirou an apologetic look. "We'll definitely be targeted by enemy Masters, either to kill our Servants or to take our Command Seals and our lives, and only Servants can fight other Servants."

"I understand. I would never ask you to expose yourselves to danger like that." Shirou assured them. "If you get Command Seals, please do not hesitate to summon a Servant as quickly as you can."

"We won't." Rin nodded, before she turned to Ayako. "Are you still keeping up with everything we say?"

"I think I can see the problem here." Ayako crossed her arms with a thoughtful look. "Basically, while you and Sakura are willing to help Shirou by not summoning your Servants, the fact that there are five other Masters out there, five wildcards whom you guys cannot control, makes it impossible for you to do so, at least not without risking your lives and your freedom."

"Yes, exactly." Rin nodded, satisfied with the brunette's understanding of the situation.

"Not to mention Gilgamesh." Sakura reminded them of the worst wildcard of them all. "We shouldn't forget about him."

"Definitely not." Shirou nodded, before clicking his tongue once. "He was very explicit about the fact that he wants the War to take place. I cannot say why, aside from his obvious cruelty and sadism, but I strongly suspect he has his own designs for the Grail. If we don't summon our Servants, he'll definitely do something to force us."

"Great." Rin grumbled, the mention of the golden king having completely spoiled her mood. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with yet."

"But if trying to prevent the War at its initial stages is too difficult, can we not try to stop it before it begins at all?" Sakura suddenly suggested.

"Hm? How would we do something like that?" Shirou asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, perhaps we can make an estimate of the likeliest candidates to receive Command Seals, visit them before the War starts, and convince them that the Grail had been corrupted?" She proposed, licking her lips. "I'm sure none of them would want the world to be destroyed, even if they are Magi."

"That sounds good in theory, but once more, it is easier said than done." Rin promptly shot her down. "The only people who will certainly get Command Seals every war are the representatives of the Founding Families. Other than them, the Grail selects candidates by itself, without revealing their identities before or after the fact."

"We've got two of the representatives right here already." Ayako noted. "What about the third?"

"The Einzbern. Their candidate was supposed to be Illya, but I think we can assume that she won't be getting any Command Seals anymore." Shirou replied. "Not now that she is out of their control."

"She won't be getting them as the Einzbern candidate, no. That role likely shifted to someone else after you took her away." Rin agreed, before lifting a cautionary finger. "However, since she has been very involved with the Grail for all of her life, it is not unthinkable that it would grant her Command Seals anyway, making her an independent candidate."

"What about Shirou?" Ayako asked, gesturing at the redhead while keeping her eyes on Rin. "He has been involved with the Grail as well. Does that mean he can become a Master too?"

"In principle, all Magi have the potential to become Masters." Rin answered her question, though a bit unsurely. "The requirements are that you have Magical Energy and that you have some sort of wish to make at the end. I believe Emiya-kun conforms to both, so he should be able to receive Command Seals."

"I suppose so." Shirou huffed. "Not that I would ever summon a Servant with the way things are now, even if I get Command Seals."

"Senpai, didn't we just agree that that is dangerous?" Sakura frowned at him, displeasure writ clear on her face.

"And don't say anything about being able to handle Servants on your own." Ayako said sharply when Shirou opened his mouth to respond. "I think goldie proved pretty conclusively that you are not strong enough for that yet."

Harsh words, but they were true, and Shirou inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Then perhaps, instead of not summoning them, we should try to ensure they won't die?" Sakura made another suggestion, not discouraged by having been shot down twice so far. "If they don't die, their power won't be returned to the Grail, and Angra Mainyu can't manifest."

"That sounds like a more realistic option, a really good option even." Shirou nodded in agreement, liking the idea more with every second that passed. "It's a concrete goal, not too difficult if we play our cards right, and it does not put innocent people at risk."

"Then it has been decided." Rin declared, her tone brokering no argument. "We will all summon Servants if we get the chance. It is safe to say we'll get at least two and possibly as many as four. That should be a considerable advantage, more than enough to prevent any Servant from dying and being added to Angra Mainyu's power-supply, at least until we can vanquish him."

"You know, about that." Ayako suddenly frowned, as if something had occurred to her. "Servants respond to the summons because they are promised a wish if they win, right?"

"Indeed." Rin nodded, almost unconsciously taking on a lecturing pose. "Heroic Spirits are normally only summoned when the world is in danger, by the world itself. The Heaven's Feel ritual essentially lifts along on the world's summoning mechanism, using it to summon the spirits of the dead from the Throne of Heroes for selfish purposes. Naturally, the Servants wouldn't go along with that if they didn't get something in return, that being the Grail's wish."

"But in this case, there will be no wish at all, even for the winner." Ayako continued, and Rin froze, her face becoming expressionless. "Doesn't that mean we'll be summoning them under false pretences? And won't that really piss them off once they realise they have been lied to?"

"You are asking a lot of very good questions all of a sudden." Shirou hissed, frustration bubbling up in him, though it was all aimed at himself for not realising that sooner. "You're right, we cannot summon Servants under these circumstances."

"No, we still can." Rin countered immediately, putting on a brave face. "We'll just have to summon them without catalysts, and with an Incantation that tells them the truth."

"That is possible?"

"It is." Rin answered Shirou's question. "Without a catalyst, we will reach the Servants that are most attuned to us and our goals, and if we alter the Summoning Incantation to reflect the actual situation, which should be doable, we will only get the Servants willing to fight with us without a reward."

"Are there Servants like that?" Sakura asked, looking rather sceptical of the idea that Heroic Spirits would allow themselves to be summoned without a promised reward.

"Well, I don't think there are many who would come to a normal Grail War if there were no reward at the end." Shirou mused, before smiling slightly. "But this is not a normal Grail War, is it?"

"It is a battle to save the world." Ayako realised, snapping her fingers. "Then, would any Servants show up to help prevent an evil god from dooming us all?"

"The honourable Servants should." Rin nodded. "History and legends are rife with heroes who genuinely want to do the right thing. If we can summon a few of them, it should be alright."

"Do you have any examples?"

"Siegfried, from the Nibelungenlied, is renowned for his kindness." Rin was able to give the first example in a flash. "King Arthur and his knights were honourable and fought for those in need. Ditto for Charlemagne and his followers, as well as several of the famous Indian heroes."

"Okay, so there's choice enough." Ayako let out a sigh of relief. "I really thought we were screwed for a moment there, but we still have options."

"Indeed." Rin agreed. "Also, by not using catalysts, we will decrease the chance of summoning a Servant who is so fundamentally different from us, in morality, worldviews, or whatever, that they will eventually betray us."

'Like Gilgamesh'. The words weren't spoken out loud, but everyone heard them nonetheless.

"Well said, Rin." Shirou nodded, fully aware of how troublesome and unpleasant a Master-Servant relationship could become even without direct betrayal if their personalities didn't align. "Servants might be familiars in theory, but they still have their own identity and especially their pride. None of them will stand for being jerked around, which is why it is important to get along with them."

"Though we do run the risk of our Servants being on the weaker side if we summon them at random." Rin cautioned them, before shrugging a bit. "But with as many as four Servants, that will not be a significant issue."

"Quite." Shirou huffed in amusement, before dipping his hand into his bowl of blood again, which drew the eyes of all three girls as he continued creating the Magic Circle.

"You know, that is still weird." Ayako remarked, her face scrunching up at the sight of the red fluid. "I tried to convince myself it's just paint, but it isn't working."

"I rather dislike the sight as well." Sakura nodded, evidenced by the fact that she'd been looking a bit green ever since Shirou started his project.

"I'm no stranger to using blood in rituals, but this amount does look excessive." Rin added her two cents, crossing her arms with a pensive look. "Tell us if you feel lightheaded, Emiya-kun. Anaemia is no joke."

"I will, but you don't have to worry about me." Shirou shook his head, flashing them a cocksure grin. "I am durable, and I heal very quickly. Any blood-deficiencies I might have had have already been fixed."

"You didn't use any healing spells though?"

"I don't need to. My body's constitution and restoration-abilities take care of most injuries by themselves. I only heal myself when the injuries are really serious, like when I was stabbed through the heart by the Nokken."

"You gods are a bunch of cheaters." Ayako scoffed, sounding very exasperated with Shirou's continued stunts. "Have you no respect for the laws of Conservation of Energy?"

"I suppose I do cheat, quite a lot." Shirou admitted frankly, aware that he was essentially playing the game of life on easy mode. "And no, Ayako, I am under no obligation whatsoever to obey any laws of physics."

"That's such bullshit." Ayako scoffed, before promptly receiving a whack to the back of the head from Sakura, for the use of such improper language.

"That's just how gods are." Rin sighed, her expression laconic as she shrugged once. "They wouldn't be very divine if they couldn't perform impossible acts."

"I suppose that is true." Ayako allowed, rubbing the spot where Sakura had slapped her. "Hey, Rin, do you know what gods are supposed to be?"

"Supposed to be?" Rin parroted, appearing a bit confused by the question. "In what sense?"

"Well, you know. Were they physical creatures, like mammals, or were they more like spirits, or perhaps beings of pure energy?" Ayako clarified.

"Why are you asking this now all of a sudden?" Rin replied with a question of her own, cocking her head to the side.

"I've been meaning to ask for a while, but it always slipped my mind." Ayako admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "I thought now was perhaps a good opportunity. If you don't want to answer though…"

"I do, I do! I suppose that as the most experienced Magus here, it falls to me to educate you." Rin saw an opportunity for an impromptu lecture and immediately jumped on it, smiling proudly as she did so. "Before we begin though, I must warn you that all knowledge we have on gods comes from guesses and deductions that were made with the meagre amounts of knowledge found in ancient texts. The gods never allowed themselves to be studied after all, and even if someone did discover some of their secrets, they usually took those secrets to their grave."

"For clarity, when Nee-san says that those people took the secrets of the gods to their graves, it was usually the gods themselves who put them there." Sakura added to her sister's warning. "They thrived on being beyond understanding after all."

"Exactly, Sakura, exactly." Rin praised her little sister, smiling brightly at her. "Currently, the consensus among Magi is that gods were Nature Spirits that became sublimely powerful through the worship of humans. The more they were worshipped, the stronger they were. As such, it was vital for them that humans could not possibly understand them."

"Worship is the furthest from understanding after all." Shirou nodded.

"Question!" Ayako proclaimed, raising her hand.

"Ask." Rin allowed, smiling magnanimously.

"What's a Nature Spirit?"

"Great question! A Nature Spirit is a spirit formed from elements of nature. An element of nature could be something like a particular species of plant, a certain kind of soil, or a type of metal ore or gemstone, but also natural phenomena such as storms, tidal waves, and sunlight. By existing, these elements of nature make their mark on the world, and thus create Nature Spirits. Generally, Nature Spirits aren't very intelligent, in fact, they often aren't even sentient to begin with, but once they are worshipped by humans, they have the potential to grow in power and become gods."

"People usually don't worship the Nature Spirits themselves though, but their element instead." Sakura clarified. "The Ancient Egyptians worshipped sunlight, while the Romans were always very careful to pay proper homage to the sea."

"Which created the god Ra and the god Neptune respectively." Rin finished. "I'm sure the Egyptians and Romans didn't intend to do so, but that was what happened."

"I see." Ayako mumbled, doing her best to absorb all the new information they were presenting her with. "What about Thor?"

"Thor was created when the Norse people decided to worship the storms wracking their coastal lines." Rin replied, glancing over at Shirou for a moment. "Later on, further domains were added to his legend, such as the domain of the Earth, the domain of fertility, and the domain of oak trees."

"That last one really doesn't seem to fit in the list." Ayako deadpanned.

"I didn't decide Thor's domains." Rin countered, sounding a bit miffed, before clearing her throat. "Ahem, well, regardless of what domains belong to what god, this is the best explanation we have at the moment."

"It sounds very plausible, if a little complicated." Ayako spoke with a self-deprecating laugh, before turning to Shirou. "Right, Shirou?"

"It does sound plausible indeed, and yes, also complicated." Shirou nodded slowly, before smiling lopsidedly. "But Sakura and Rin are completely wrong, so don't worry about it, Ayako."

"Oh?" Rin raised an eyebrow, her face becoming expressionless. "That is quite a thing to say so suddenly, Emiya-kun."

"W-Wrong?" Sakura on the other hand blushed slightly, before bashfully rubbing the back of her head. "Ahahaha, how embarrassing."

"Well, perhaps it's not entirely wrong." Shirou amended his earlier claim, realising he might have oversimplified matters a bit too much. "The Babylonian gods were, I believe, exactly like you described; Nature Spirits that gained a conscious and divine power through human worship. The same went for the Mesopotamian gods and the Egyptian gods."

"But not for the others?" Ayako pressed him when he fell silent for a moment to order his thoughts.

"Not according to Gilgamesh." Shirou sighed. "He told me that the Greek gods were apparently Mecha Spaceships, that the Meso-American gods were aliens that came to the Earth on the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, and that the Norse gods were AI-constructs made by Yggdrasil to guard humanity."

"Hah?" Ayako cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Come again?" Rin blinked once, looking as if he'd just told her the sky was purple.

"That sounds fascinating!" Sakura on the other hand wasn't confused, but delighted instead, for some reason. "Did he say anything else?"

"No, he didn't." Shirou shook his head, which visibly saddened the plum-haired girl. "But I guess I am not as unusual as I thought I was. In fact, if we can believe that guy, the Norse gods from our world and the Norse gods from Thor's world weren't even all that different."

"You almost sound disappointed." Sakura smirked teasingly at him, falling in for Rin, who still looked rather flabbergasted. "Did you like being unique, Senpai?"

"Maybe, a bit." Shirou admitted, consciously looking anywhere but at the plum-haired girl and her smirk. "I mean, it's pretty cool to be the successor of an alien god from a different universe, but compared to a Mecha Spaceship…"

"Don't worry, Senpai! You're still the best in my book! You are our favourite god, by far!" Sakura proclaimed, before looking at the other two girls. "Right, girls?"

"Absolutely." Ayako grinned, giving him a thumbs-up.

"Well, I don't know any other gods." Rin began, before a pleading look from Sakura made her relent. "So yes, you're definitely the best, Emiya-kun."

"Thank you, you three." Shirou smiled at his girls, and he would have embraced them or kissed them or something like that, if it hadn't been for the fact he was still covered in blood.

"But to get back to the lecture." Ayako then brought their conversation back on track, turning to Rin again. "Why did the gods disappear?"

"Now that is a question I know the answer to for sure." Rin straightened her back proudly. "It's because of us."

"Us?" Ayako parroted, before pointing at the four of them. "As in, us-us? Or…?"

"I mean humanity as a whole." Rin clarified. "The Rise of Mankind and the subsequent increase in logic began eroding the world's Mystery. Obviously, the gods were the first to suffer the consequences, and were banished to the Reverse Side of the World, and the Phantasmal Creatures followed later."

"So, basically, us humans kicked the gods out?" Ayako grinned. "Go us!"

"Quite, though it is rather a pity our own decline followed soon after."

"Hold on! Decline?"

"Yes, decline." Rin confirmed, looking at Ayako with a complicated expression. "During the Age of the Gods, the power of the gods heavily influenced humanity as well. In those days, humans were far stronger than they were now."

"Celtic records claim that normal men were capable of carrying boulders twice their own size up a hill, in one go and without even really straining themselves." Shirou provided an example. "They were stronger, faster, more durable, everything."

"Some humans were even greater than that." Sakura also added her two cents. "They were special even in those times, because they were particularly strong, or fast, or good with weapons, or even especially clever. Those people are what we now call 'heroes'."

"Like Ushiwakamaru." Shirou gave an example. "Or Minamoto no Raiku, Oba Nobunaga, or Senji Muramasa."

"The decline of Mystery also weakened humanity however." Rin took over from them again. "Modern people cannot hope to carry boulders uphill anymore, Thaumaturgy becomes weaker with every generation, and there haven't been any heroes in decades."

"Damn, that sounds like a real shame." Ayako huffed, crossing her arms with a frown.

"Maybe it is, a little." Shirou acknowledged, before holding up a finger in warning. "Though you might also see it as a necessary trade-off for our current standard of living."

"Oh yes, definitely." Ayako immediately understood what he was getting at, nodding her agreement. "If not being able to carry boulders uphill is the price I have to pay for having things like indoor plumbing, reliable drinking water, and a surplus of food, then I suppose I'll have to rely on my capable boyfriend to carry my boulders uphill for me."

"It would have been nice though if the decline of Magecraft would have been halted some time ago." Rin argued, maybe a bit petulantly.

"Right, I understand it is difficult for your profession." Ayako conceded. "But certainly, you too can see that the comforts of modern life are quite convenient?"

"No, I don't." Rin instantly denied. "I live an old-fashioned life, and that has always been enough for me."

"Even though you use high-quality materials like glass in your experiments?" Sakura challenged her.

"Glass? They had glass in the past-"

"I'm pretty sure you often use door-to-door delivery as well to obtain the materials you need, Nee-san." Sakura continued, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Rin. "From shops on the internet even."

"That is-"

"What about your clothes, Nee-san?" Sakura was relentless in her pursuit to prove Rin also appreciated the modern age. "All stitched perfectly by machines and shipped here on boats with motors and engines, ensuring that they are both high-quality and affordable to almost anyone."

"W-Well, I…" Rin tried to find something to defend herself with, before she slumped. The black-haired girl was practical enough to see that Sakura was right, and not too stupidly prideful to argue despite that. "You're right. I do like the modern age."

"Nothing shameful about that." Ayako tried to cheer her up a bit, placing her hand on Rin's back. "Hey, how about we go inside, have a cup of tea that was grown in Kenya and shipped here in less than a week, eat some chocolate that came from Brazil, and then have a dinner with a nice hot pot made from vegetables from every continent on the world?"

"No one likes a show-off, Ayako." Rin huffed, but there was no denying that the corners of her lips were twitching.

"How long will it take you to finish the Magic Circle, Senpai? Sakura asked, turning towards Shirou.

"I'm not going to be able to finish it today." He replied immediately, as he wasn't even half done yet. "I'll just finish this part and then I'll stop. Feel free to go back to the house, I'll join you shortly, once I clean up a bit."

"We'll get the tea ready." Ayako grinned, getting up from the floor and dusting herself off a bit. "Don't be too long."

"I won't." Shirou promised, before turning back to the Magic Circle, faintly hearing how the girls left the shed.

Finishing the current part took him another ten minutes, and Shirou groaned when he rose again. Enhanced body or not, kneeling on the floor for hours was murder on his back and knees, and he wasn't at all looking forward to having to do it for another two or three days.

Still, he would do it, and once the Circle was complete and several other steps had been taken, he could finally initiate the ritual to change Illya into a real girl.

Frankly, it was about time.

In the Black Forest in Germany, in the early hours of the morning, the hunt for the Wayward Chimaera continued unabated.

"Have you found anything?" Lorelei asked her head tracker, who had just gotten up from a kneeling position after studying a set of footprints. One would never have noticed it from her voice, but the Queen of the Clocktower was feeling quite impatient, eager to beat her rival in finding the creature they were both hunting.

"I have found some tracks." The head tracker nodded, before holding up a hand in warning. "Definitely not a Chimaera though. I'd say this was a deer. A young, female one, searching for a place to give birth to her fowls."

"This late in the year?" Another tracker asked, frowning slightly. "It is autumn. Winter will soon be upon the land, and the bears are building their supplies in their caves. This is not a good time for a deer to be pregnant."

"Yet this one is, which is probably why it was cast out by its herd, for being too slow and clumsy." The head tracker sighed, before shaking his head. "Alone and about to give birth. It is doomed, the poor thing."

"I suppose that is how nature functions. The deer and her fowls will provide sustenance for the predators, who can then survive for a while longer." The other tracker said, taking a philosophical stance on the matter. "That said, it is a bit surprising that it hasn't already been killed and eaten by a wolf or a bear. If it's about to give birth, it should have been pregnant for a while. That it survived for months alone in that state does not make sense, unless she somehow managed to avoid all predators on her own."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen any tracks of predators for quite a while now." The head tracker noted, frowning slightly at the realisation. "Not for several miles in fact. Not even a fox or a badger."

"What does that mean?" Lorelei asked sharply, wary of any irregularities on her hunt. Any small change from the standard, from a sudden, unexplained shifting of the wind to a mysterious scratch on a tree, could be the difference between life or death when you were hunting the supernatural. "Does it have any relevance to our hunt?"

"It might have something to do with our quarry." The head tracker nodded, though he didn't seem all that sure of himself. "As I told you before, Chimaeras attack everything in sight, which tends to make other animals keep their distance. If the creature is near, it is only logical that bears, wolves, and badgers would stay far away."

"Yes, but a Chimaera would have attacked the deer as well." The other tracker argued. "If it was close by, the deer would never have dared to come here."

"What are you saying?" Lorelei interrupted their little discussion, her voice sharp. "That this Chimaera only attacks predators while leaving prey animals alone?"

"It would seem like it, my lady." The head tracker nodded. "It would seem like it."

That was strange to say the least, and Lorelei pursed her lips, suddenly a lot less concerned about Lissenbaum and a lot more about the hunt itself.

"I have never known Chimaeras to be so selective." She spoke.

"You are correct. If this is a rampant Chimaera, there never should have been tracks from a deer here, pregnant or not." There was no doubt in the head tracker's voice as he said that. "So it's either just a coincidence that there are no predators in this area, or we are dealing with something other than a Chimaera."

"I do not believe in coincidence, not on a hunt." Lorelei said sternly, before turning to address all her followers. "We will not completely abandon the Chimaera-theory yet, but take into account the fact that our prey may be something else entirely. Something that can make the distinction between predator and prey."

"Yes, miss Vice-Director!" Her entire team responded as one, all standing at attention, including the two trackers whom she'd been speaking with.

"Then we continue."

And so they did. They continued searching the forest for tracks or other clues, keeping careful watch of each other and their surroundings as they did so.

They were spread out in a diamond pattern, with Lorelei at the front and her strongest warriors to the sides and the rear, while the ones in the middle always kept at least two of their comrades in sight.

It was a formation most suited for searching an unknown forest for an unknown enemy. The presence of the strongest warriors on the outsides made sure any possible assailants wouldn't break through the formation immediately, while the watchers in the middle, equipped with powerful lamps, made sure they couldn't be ambushed and couldn't be picked off one by one in the dark of the night.

It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.

"Ho!" One of the outer guards suddenly shouted, and the entire formation halted immediately at her order. "I need a tracker over here!"

After assuring that the front was adequately guarded, the head tracker immediately made his way over to her, and Lorelei followed close behind.

"Are these tracks from our quarry?" She asked once she arrived at the scene, the head tracker already kneeling next to a trail of extremely obvious tracks, the kind even a child couldn't have missed.

"These prints do not match any kind of Chimaera or monster I have ever seen, nor any kind of animal." The head tracker snorted, sounding half-amused and half-exasperated. "Not unless they started wearing boots all of a sudden. My lady, this looks like another group of poachers."

"Poachers." Lorelei made no effort to hide the distaste in her voice. Poachers were criminals, hunters in name only, who caught animals with cheap traps and cheaper guns, while actively breaking the law of the land.

It was one thing if they did so in order to eat the animals, that was still somewhat palatable, or if they were executing a well-planned mission of population-control, but those who hunted for sport were really nothing but scum.

This group likely belonged to the sports category, as the people of Western- and Northern-Europe generally didn't hunt for food. Lorelei was a bit surprised they would dare step into the Black Forest after so many of their fellows had died over the past weeks, but their foolishness might provide her with a valuable opportunity.

The beast she was hunting had already shown that it hated poachers, and it was very probable that it would ambush them sooner or later. Lorelei had had no luck so far in finding the beast, so a group of poachers to serve as bait, to lure the creature out of hiding, might have been exactly what she needed.

"Shall we ignore these tracks, my lady?" The head tracker asked, getting up from his kneeling position.

"Hm." In normal circumstances, ignoring the mundanes and avoiding them studiously would have been the proper thing to do, if only not to have to deal with their bothersome questions, but in this instance, they might very well have a role to play. As such, Lorelei shook her head. "No, we shall follow them."

"My lady?"

"The beast has already proven that it hates predators and poachers alike." She told him, and she was happy to see he was able to connect the dots himself after that.

"You wish to use them as bait." He surmised, loudly enough that everyone could hear it, though her Enforcers, professional as they were, did not react in any way. Whether they approved, disapproved, or just didn't care, they would follow her directives, even if it meant dangling mundanes in front of a supernatural beast.

"They volunteered for the task once they headed into the forest." Lorelei spoke mercilessly, a comment that might have drawn a laugh from some of her followers if they hadn't been standing at attention. "It would be rude to ignore their sacrifice."

"As you say, my lady." The head tracker inclined his head in acceptance.

The group continued their march through the forest in the same formation as before, steadily tracking down the poachers. They didn't go very fast, being mindful of ambushes and threats lurking in the shadows, but even so, they were steadily gaining on the poachers, who were apparently going even slower.

For a few hours, this continued, without anything of note happening, but eventually, just before sunrise, the peace and quiet of the forest were rudely disturbed.

It began as a soft sound in the distance, monotonous and barely audible even to Lorelei and her trackers, but it soon grew out into the distinct sound of terrified screaming, something they were all quite familiar with after years of hunting Dead Apostles and other monsters.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Someone, likely male, was screaming his lungs out as he crashed his way through the forest, uncaring about the noise he made as he ran. He was going in exactly the opposite direction from the poachers, and as such, would soon run into the team of Enforcers. "AAAAAAAAH!"

It was obvious he was fleeing from something, and Lorelei, having a gut-feeling that this might be what she'd been waiting for, held up a hand, wordlessly ordering the formation to a halt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Not a minute later, a man came bursting out of the shrubbery, running at full power, uncaring about the damage he sustained as he ran into branches and twigs. His eyes were large and panicked, his exposed skin was bruised and riddled with cuts, and his clothes were torn, yet he still continued running like the hounds of hell itself were on his heels. "UWAA!"

Until he saw Lorelei.

"ARG!?" The man came to an instant halt, jumping away from the brunette like a startled deer, falling on his backside in the process, though he ignored the pain in favour of shouting at her. "Who are you?!"

"I am-"

"You have to help me!" The man didn't let her finish, throwing himself forward and onto his knees when he had ascertained that she was a human. "It got my friends! It's chasing me!"

"What is chasing you?" Lorelei asked calmly, too experienced with panicking people to lose her composure.

"It!" The man shouted, his eyes bloodshot. "The shape! The thing in the bushes! It got us! It got us all! You have to help me!"

The man was outright crying in fear at this point, uncaring about how pathetic it might make him look. He was clearly scared to death and wanted nothing more than to go home, begging Lorelei for her help.

It was a pitiable sight.

Lorelei found it hard to feel pity though. This man and his comrades had gone into the forest to hunt after all, and they shouldn't complain now that they had become the prey instead.

To the brunette, hunting was something almost sacred. It was a match of strength and wits between predator and prey, a match that could very well go both ways. It was a contest of life and death, literally, and she knew, better than most, that going on a hunt could very well be the death of even the greatest of hunters when their prey proved too strong.

That also meant that a hunter should not complain if they lost. Of course, they could flee, hide, crawl through the mud, or do whatever else they thought was necessary to survive, but complaining was nonsensical. The moment they'd set out to kill, they should have known and accepted that they could be killed in turn. That was a simple truth.

In other words, this poacher, who was whining and crying about it being 'unfair' that his prey had proven too much for him, was worthy of nothing but her contempt. A feckless child who thought he could kill without ever having to fear for his own life in return.

After she'd extracted every piece of information from him, she'd adjust his memories and send him on his way. Hopefully, their paths would never cross again after that.

"Tell me everything you can about the shape that killed your friends." She ordered him.

"Huh! You can't be serious! That thing is-!"

"Tell me." She repeated, hardening her voice a bit, which appeared to make a sufficient impression on him.

"I-I couldn't see it properly. I-It was dark, a-and it m-moved so fast." The man stuttered, his eyes flitting around, as if afraid that the beast would suddenly jump on him out of nowhere. "I c-couldn't even shoot at it! It bashed my friends' heads open, knocked me down, and left."

"How did you survive?"

"I-I played dead."

Not a bad course of action, and it proved the beast wasn't very careful, if it was fooled by a childish trick like that.

"Can we go now?" The man pleaded. "P-Please?!"

"You can go." Lorelei nodded, recognising he had nothing more to tell her. "My team and I will continue into the forest."

"What?!" The man paled in horror and shock. "No, you can't! It's too dangerous!"

"Nevertheless, we will continue." Lorelei replied calmly, though the fact that the man seemed worried for her and her followers made her a tiny bit more sympathetic toward him. "You can follow the trail we left in order to get out of the forest. You will not get lost-"

"You have to protect me!" The man screamed, and Lorelei's ever so slight sympathy for him vanished in the blink of an eye when his purely selfish motives were revealed. "Listen to me, woman!"

Lorelei looked at him for a moment more, before she decided there was nothing more she had to say to him. Any word she spoke from here on would be a waste of breath. As such, she walked past him, ignoring any further cries for help.

That seemed to be the catalyst that turned the man's desperate fear into rage.

"Don't ignore me, you bitch!" The man screamed, launching himself at Lorelei from behind, perhaps to try and grab her shoulders, perhaps to take her hostage, or perhaps to just beat her as an outlet for his frustrations.

His actual reason for assailing her would remain forever unknown however, for the moment he got within two paces of her, one of her Enforcers threw a knife into the back of his neck, killing him instantly.

"Do not touch the Queen with your dirty paws!" The Enforcer spat, two more knives glistening in the light of the moon as she held them ready to be thrown as well. "You cretin."

"Eleonora." Lorelei lightly chastised the woman, not bothering to turn around. "Did I tell you to kill him?"

"No, my lady." Eleonora acknowledged her mistake, returning the knives to their sheaths, though there was not a trace of an apology in her voice.

The woman had definitely gone against protocol by killing a man without being ordered to do so, but after a moment of thought, Lorelei decided not to pursue the matter.

Killing the poacher might not have been her own first instinct, but it served to protect the Secrecy of the Moonlit World just as well as when they would have Hypnotised him. Besides, she couldn't really bring herself to feel bad about his death.

Actions had consequences after all.

They didn't bother to dispose of the corpse, though Eleonora did retrieve her knife, cleaning it with the dead man's jacket before sheathing it again. The dead body would either be used as sustenance by the forest, or it would be discovered by a passer-by and a murder investigation would be started, an investigation that would never result in the truth.

The encounter with the poacher had mostly been unpleasant, but it did serve to confirm that they were on the right track.

Lorelei and her team continued to follow the poachers' trail, and it wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, the place where the poachers had been ambushed.

It was a very macabre scene.

At first glance, the brunette counted six corpses, strewn around over a decently large area, half of them looking as if they'd tried to flee once their comrades were defeated. None of them had gotten far though before they had been mowed down.

They had been crushed, torn apart, and bludgeoned so badly that death would probably have been nearly instantaneous for all of them. Blood was splattered everywhere, several trees had been demolished completely, and all the guns that the poachers had carried with them had been mangled and flattened. It still wasn't clear what manner of creature they were hunting, but it obviously had a penchant for brute force.

Her trackers promptly went to work on inspecting the corpses, studying their fatal and non-fatal wounds, to get a picture of how the creature fought. In the meantime, the other Enforcers established a perimeter around the scene, before they searched the surroundings to see if the creature was still around.

The search didn't yield any results though. The creature was long gone.

"My lady." The head tracker did seem to have found something interesting though, and he came over to Lorelei to inform her of his discovery. "There is something peculiar about the corpses, about the way they were killed."

"I know what you mean." Lorelei nodded, having already spotted the irregularities. "There are no claw marks on them."

"Or bite marks for that matter." The head tracker added. "These men were killed by blunt force trauma only, repeated blows to their heads and bodies, hard enough to shatter their bones and turn their organs to mush."

"Have you seen anything similar before?"

"I have, many times, during my travels to Africa." The head tracker nodded, pursing his lips. "The victims of elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses look exactly the same. Battered to death by a creature that possesses immense strength and aggression but does not use its claws or teeth to attack."

"Are you saying there is a rogue elephant roaming these woods?"

"No, there are no traces supporting that theory. In fact, there are no traces at all, aside from the damage to the surroundings from the fight. Our quarry is extremely light-footed and careful, it would seem."

That was strange news, and Lorelei wondered if they were perhaps overlooking something. Had she ever hunted a creature before that was immensely strong yet stealthy, aggressive only to predators, and never used its teeth or claws to fight?

Nothing immediately came to mind.

"It is undeniable that we are in the creature's territory." She eventually decided to leave the ruminations for another time and instead addressed the group again. "Likely, its lair is nearby. Spread out, search this area of the forest, and make sure you are never alone."

The team immediately set to carrying out her orders, and Lorelei returned her focus to the corpses, walking up to one of them, that of a scruffy-looking man with a beard and an overall.

His upper body was mostly fine, aside from a few cuts and bruises. His lower body however, from the waist down, had been completely crushed to mush. Likely, it was the shock and the blood loss that had killed him, as it didn't seem like any vital organs had been hit.

Lorelei herself had several ways to deal with missing limbs and flesh wounds, and she was confident in her ability to heal herself from any injury, no matter how large, if no vital organs had been hit, but mundanes had little to no recourse if they lost so much blood and flesh.

While she was studying the man's intact upper body, she suddenly noticed something peculiar. There were a few hairs lying scattered across his chest. Hairs that her trackers had failed to mention.

She promptly summoned the head tracker, who immediately paused his work elsewhere to walk over to her.

"What are these hairs?" She asked, taking a few of them between her thumb and index-finger, absently noticing how soft they felt to the touch.

"Ah, yes, I noticed them as well." The head tracker nodded, before he shrugged. "I do not think they are of use in the investigation. There is nothing remarkable about them."

"What are they then?" Lorelei asked, wondering what made the man so certain that a potential clue was of no value.

"Just a few rabbit hairs, that's all." He replied, picking up a few of the hairs himself. "Rabbits tend to love warm places. Most likely, several of them came to enjoy the remaining heat of these bodies just after they were slain. When the bodies cooled however, they moved elsewhere."

"I see." Lorelei nodded, having to agree that rabbit hairs were indeed not at all relevant to the investigation. "Carry on then."

"Yes, my lady."

The head tracker returned to his work, and Lorelei set out to inspect the other bodies as well. Similar to the first one, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about them, aside from the brutality with which they had been killed.

No blood had been sucked, no parts had rotted much more than the rest of the bodies, no flesh had been eaten, and none of the organs had been taken away. It all seemed perfectly ordinary, as much as a bloodbath could be ordinary.

Lorelei did note though that there were rabbit hairs on each of the corpses, and she spared herself a moment to enjoy the mental image of a herd of rabbits proudly perched on the warm bodies, uncaring about the blood and guts.

Aside from those hairs though, there was nothing remarkable about the bodies, nothing to indicate anything supernatural had taken place.

That complete lack of clues was a clue on itself however, a very significant clue.

All the usual suspects could now be ruled out. Dead Apostles, Chimaeras, Wraiths, Gremlins, and even rogue Magi always left distinctive traces, no matter how hard they tried to hide them, but none of those traces were present here.

In other words, there was a chance, just a chance, that she was dealing with something new, something she had never fought or even seen before. She had entered unknown territory, searching for a creature she did not recognise.

The thought was enough to make her heart beat faster, the first time it had done so since her competition with Fujimaru, and the corners of her lips twitched uncontrollably, as if they wanted to form a smile.

The competition with Lissenbaum suddenly seemed irrelevant, and all the twinges of impatience that had developed over the past days melted away, as Lorelei took a deep breath.

It had been supposed to be nothing more than a standard hunt, to let off some steam, but now, it had developed into something much more.

How riveting.

"Luvia! Luvia, a moment please!"

The cry sounded through the hallway on the uppermost floor of the Edelfelt-manor, audible to everyone inside.

Upon hearing the cry, Luviagelita Edelfelt stopped walking to look behind her, her good mood unspoiled by the interruption. She was on her way to the family's library, searching for a few books that could help her solve a problem with her research that had been nagging her for a while, but that was hardly urgent. She had more than enough time to spare for a conversation.

Which was fortunate, because Helena, the one who'd called out to her, looked quite frantic, and her little sister Ysolde, who was following close behind, even more so. Something that did not bode well for Luvia's peace of mind, prompting her to mentally reschedule her library hours to another day and brace for the bad news the sisters undoubtedly had for her.

Had it been Mikael, or Hannele, or even Gunter or Clarence, Luvia would not have been too concerned, but when Helena and Ysolde started to get worried, everyone had to get worried.

Helena and Ysolde oversaw the Edelfelt's resource-procurement after all, arranging for the purchase of everything the family needed at a given time, a task so important the sisters were basically exempt from the usual power plays within the family and could count on the support of the family's head and its heir at any time they wanted.

It was Helena who made sure the larders of the manor were filled, who ensured that all the furniture and luxuries in the numerous rooms were top-notch, who made bulk-purchases of common resources such as gems, chalk, and glass, and, very importantly, kept an eye on the markets at all times to spot irregularities before they could do too much damage to the family's financial status.

It had been Helena who had first spotted the fact that the gem-market was collapsing as a result of the Meluastea's fall, but even before that, she had foreseen a bump in the gold market, anticipated the supply-issues within the market for the blood of Phantasmal Beasts, and had even shielded the Edelfelt from the fall-out of a sudden drop in the trade of Mystic Eyes.

Aided by her little sister Ysolde, Helena handled all such matters quickly and efficiently, pretty much guaranteeing her a place on Luvia's inner circle and the respect of nearly every other member of the family, even those who were nominally her rivals and opponents.

Luvia too had a lot of respect for the young woman, and that meant she knew that Helena wouldn't look so concerned and frantic over an insignificant issue. No, the fact that she had taken the trouble of tracking Luvia down to bring her the news as fast as she could likely meant that there was another crisis either already happening or about to begin.

"Luvia, there has been a development-" Helena began once she'd caught up, but she fell silent when Luvia held up a hand.

"Let's take this discussion somewhere else." The blonde girl suggested, jerking her head towards the maids walking through the hallway. "It's a little too busy around here."

It wasn't that Luvia didn't trust the maids, as they had all been trained for years and had been handpicked for their loyalty, but even so, they were still human, and sometimes prone to gossip, and if there was anything Luvia didn't want any gossip about, it would be issues with resource-procurement.

As such, she quickly led the other two girls into the nearest room, which was a bedroom normally meant for the most esteemed of guests, which she then quickly warded against eavesdroppers. Helena, as quick on the uptake as ever, took care of sealing the windows, while Ysolde quickly checked the room for possible listening-spells.

Only when they were sure nobody would be able to overhear them did Luvia turn back to Helena and Ysolde.

"My apologies. What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh no, y-you don't have to apologise! I completely understand that we have to be careful." Helena quickly assured her, Ysolde nodding along in agreement. "I-I mean, this is not information that just anyone should know about! I mean, you should know about it, a-and I guess a few others as w-well, but definitely not the maids. I mean, they're trustworthy and all, but you can never know, do you? And even if you can-"

"Helena, stop! You're not making any sense." Luvia interrupted her ramblings, though she made sure to keep her voice soft. Helena was a skittish person, and the best way to get through to her, to get her comfortable, was by being kind and patient to her. Shouting would only make things worse and would get Luvia nowhere with her. "Take a deep breath."

Helena promptly followed her orders, taking a few deep breaths, visibly calming down as a result.

"Good. Now tell me what you wanted to say."

"It's about the gem-market." Helena started again, still not entirely comfortable, though that was more because of the news she brought than because of Luvia. "There has been a… development."

"What kind of development?" Luvia fought to keep her voice composed and her face neutral, even as worry wormed its way into her gut. After all, the last time Helena had brought news about the gem-market, it was to report on its collapse, the consequences of which Luvia was still busy dealing with.

The biggest suppliers on the market, the Meluastea, had fallen away, which was already bad enough, but on top of that, several other suppliers had chosen that moment to make it known they were running dry as well. Apparently, gems were getting scarcer in the world, especially those that could be used in Magecraft, and as a result, several businesses who dealt in gems had decided to focus on something else instead, leaving the supply even smaller.

Meanwhile, the most powerful and wealthy buyers had started hoarding gems like nobody's business, spooked by the news that they were getting scarce. With such a massive increase in demand, the few remaining suppliers had seen their chance to drive the price up even further than was necessary, no longer fearing competition now that over sixty percent of the available supply had disappeared overnight.

The Edelfelt, whose treasury had already been emptying at an alarming pace even before the collapse, could not afford to pay those prices, at least not for long, and Luvia had immediately persuaded the head of the family, her great-aunt, to place a strict limit on the purchase of gems.

Essentially, it was forbidden now to buy gems from any supplier without first asking for Luvia's express permission. That rule did not apply for individual members using their own private funds of course, they were free to spend their own money on whatever they wanted, but anyone who wanted to use family money needed to go through her first.

Over the past week, Luvia had been busy threatening, cajoling, bullying, bribing, and begging her relatives to obey that ruling without fuss and to wait with their purchases until the market had recovered, but it had cost her a lot of goodwill and several favours she hadn't wanted to cash in on just yet.

It wouldn't surprise her if it had set a lot of bad blood too, especially since the two cousins who'd been plotting against her had suddenly gained a lot more traction over the past couple of days as more and more of the Edelfelt started chafing against her rule.

Ever since Helena's first report, things had been spiralling out of control, fast, and Luvia dreaded what else the young woman had discovered now. If the price of gems had gone up ever more…

"A new supplier has entered the gem-market." Helena reported, and Ysolde held out a file for Luvia to take. "Since yesterday, they have put a small number of high-quality gems up for sale."

"Oh?" That was not what she had expected, and Luvia blinked once as the information sunk in, absentmindedly accepting the file from Ysolde. "Is that not good news?"

"On its own, it is." Helena nodded in agreement, taking a look into her own papers. "In total, this new supplier placed two-hundred-and-forty gems on sale, divided in twelve packages of twenty gems each. Every buyer can only purchase one package, no matter how much money is offered for a second."

"That is an interesting way to conduct business." Luvia commented in a light-hearted tone, even as her mind raced to find a plausible explanation for such a stipulation. "Are they fishing for more clients perhaps?"

"Perhaps." Helena nodded in agreement. "It could be that they are trying to create a network of steady customers instead of having one hoarder buy them all. It would also explain why they are offering the gems for pre-collapse prices."

"Pardon me?"

"They are selling the gems for a price that was the standard before the market collapsed." Helena repeated dutifully, looking just as confused with the matter as Luvia. "Less than one-fifth of what the other suppliers ask even with the shipping price included, if my calculations are correct."

"There is no way that offer is genuine." Luvia scoffed, her earlier enthusiasm at the emergence of a new supplier drying up quickly. "There has to be something behind it."

"That is what I thought too, so I decided to find out where these gems are coming from." Helena looked at Ysolde, who promptly fished another file out of her backpack, which she then offered to Luvia as well.

So far, Helena's little sister hadn't said a word yet, remaining silent as the grave while her big sister spoke, only moving to support her by nodding or offering files. She was Helena's faithful assistant and had been ever since she got old enough to walk after her.

Had Luvia already mentioned that Ysolde was ten years old? Because she was. Just a little ball of cuteness doing her best to be useful to her sister and the family, her expression adorably serious as she presented another file to Luvia at her big sister's behest.

Truly, everyone with a heart, so about one-third of the Edelfelt, would melt at such a scene, and Luvia was no exception.

She smiled brightly at the little girl, gratefully accepting the file, though she didn't open it yet, knowing that Helena would give her a summary first.

"The gems are being sold through the proper channels, but the supplier was most unexpected." Helana went on, her fingers nervously grasping the papers she held.

"Don't leave me in suspense, Hel, who is it?"

"The Tohsaka." Helena revealed, and Luvia couldn't stop her eyes from widening comically. "For the first time in their existence, they are selling gems to others instead of only buying them."

"The Tohsaka are selling gems!? Selling?!" Luvia could barely believe her ears, her voice rising a pitch or two, before she quickly cleared her throat, composing herself again. "Did you buy any?"

"I did." Helena nodded nervously, lifting her files before her face like a shield, shrinking in on herself slightly. "I-I am sorry. I just saw that there were only three packages left available, a-and I wanted to buy one before they were all gone."

"So you bought twenty gems, just like that?" Luvia frowned, not happy Helena had acted so impulsively, especially not after Luvia had spent so much time and energy on enforcing a ruling that forbade the impulsive purchase of gems.

"From my own money." Helena defended herself hastily. "T-They were cheap, r-relatively, so I could afford it."

"I see." That lifted a considerable weight from Luvia's shoulders –she had not fancied having to punish Helena for breaking the edict– though not all of it. "Have you considered though that these gems could very well be compromised? The Tohsaka could have placed all kinds of listening spells into them."

"The sale was being handled by the Thorvi." Yet again, Helena had her defence ready. "They assured everyone that the gems were safe and of excellent quality."

"Oh…" Luvia muttered, as Helena's rebuke had taken the wind out of her sails.

The Thorvi-company was a trade-company of sorts that had been founded by several Magus-families in the sixteenth century. Originally, the families had numbered five in total, but now, several centuries and a lot of intrigue, backstabbing, and intermarrying later, there was only one family left, the Thorvi.

The Thorvi-company had initially started out as a proper merchant-venture, selling all kinds of stuff on public and private markets. Later on however, they had realised that they could earn far more money by being reliable middlemen.

If someone in the world wanted to sell Magical Items, such as gems, Mystic Eyes, Mystic Codes, or body parts of Phantasmal Creatures, they could use the Thorvi as middlemen. The Thorvi would ensure the quality of the merchandise was at the level the seller claimed it to be, and they would make sure the buyer paid the agreed-upon price. Essentially, they made sure the sale was conducted properly and without bloodshed, for a small fee of course.

They were extremely reliable and very good at what they did, sufficiently so that their name had almost become synonymous with safe trade in the Moonlit World.

In other words, if they guaranteed the Tohsaka's gems were good, they were actually good.

"So you did think this through." Luvia huffed, and Helena looked up at her, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Good work then, Helena."

"Yes!" Helena perked up at the praise, before she coughed into her fist. "Ahem, but, ah, the reason I wanted to talk with you is not about me having bought twenty gems, t-though I shall share them with the family of course, but about the Tohsaka. What do you think happened for them to start selling their gems?"

"My first instinct is to assume they have become so poor they have no choice but to sell their gem-supplies, but if that were so, they would have asked the highest price they could get." Luvia mused, before clicking her tongue. "I guess they do have another source we don't know about, like we theorised before."

"A cheap source then." Helena added. "If the Tohsaka can sell so cheaply too."

"Exactly." Luvia nodded, bringing a hand to her chin. "I was planning on sending a few spies to Fuyuki anyway, and that just became even more important."

"To find that other source?"

"Or, failing that, to find me an avenue by which I can persuade the Tohsaka to enter a trade-agreement with us." Luvia said, pursing her lips. "So we can buy more than just twenty gems at a time."

It would be up to the Tohsaka whether 'persuade' would involve peaceful negotiation or blackmail.

"Thank you for informing me about this so swiftly, Helena." Luvia addressed the young woman again. "You may return to your duties. Let me know if anything else happens on this front."

"Understood!" Helena nodded sharply, before she left, once more closely followed behind by Ysolde, and Luvia left the room a few seconds after, her mind already abuzz with the things she'd have to arrange in order to get herself a few eyes in Fuyuki.

It seemed her visit to the library would have to be postponed indefinitely.

Shirou and his girls were sitting around the dining table of the Emiya-estate, not for a meal, but because the living room was already occupied entirely by Illya, who was watching an anime again.

The story had honestly not even sounded all that bad, but they already had several things to discuss between them, so they had given the anime a miss and had left for the dining room, so they wouldn't disturb Illya and Illya's anime wouldn't disturb them in turn.

With the door between living room and dining room closed and a small Bounded Field applied, the cries were no longer audible, leaving the four of them free to discuss their business.

Being the one who'd called the meeting in the first place, Rin wasted no time in speaking up.

"I went back home to pick up my mail this morning." She told them, gesturing at the bag that was lying next to her. "As always, I received a lot of letters, most of them irrelevant and only fit to light my hearth with. However, I expect that among them, there is one letter of importance, from the Church."

"From the Church?" Sakura parroted, her eyes widening in surprise. "Why would they send you a letter, Nee-san?"

"Probably to inform her about the new priest, the one who is supposed to replace Kotomine at our church." Shirou took an educated guess, aware that the Burial Agency would never allow Fuyuki's church to remain empty for long. "It is only proper to inform the Second Owner of such a thing in advance."

"Indeed, they should inform the Second Owner." Rin agreed, giving him a meaningful glare. "That goes for both the Church and for Magi who want to set up shop in my territory, right, Emiya-kun?"

"It's just as you say, Rin." Shirou smiled at her, pretending he had no idea what she was referring to. "But in all seriousness, the Burial Agency really wants one of their own to keep an eye on the Grail, and with Kotomine gone, they will have to send a new agent."

"Right, they probably don't want anyone to run away with their precious cup." Rin huffed, rolling her eyes to show how little she thought of the church as a whole.

"Right, their cup…" Shirou had never been able to determine whether the Burial Agency thought that the Grail in Fuyuki was the real thing or whether they knew it was a meagre fake, and at this point, he was honestly afraid to ask.

"I suppose, as the only Magi in town, we should make sure to get along with the new agent." Sakura piped up, not seeming particularly interested in the subject, judging by the way she was leaning her chin on her fist. "Do you know who they are, Nee-san?"

"Not yet, but I expect their name will be in the letter that they sent me." Rin responded, and then, without further ado, she grabbed the bag she'd taken with her. "Now it's just a matter of finding it."

Then she turned the bag upside down.

A veritable deluge of letters came pouring out, clattering all over the table, and it didn't stop until a small mountain of paper had been formed.

"What's this now?" Shirou lifted an eyebrow at the sight.

"Why are there so many letters?" Sakura too was surprised, sitting up straight as she looked at the pile. "Is it all your mail of the past month?"

"Or the past year?" Shirou huffed.

"This is about a week's worth of mail." Rin corrected them, further surprising the two, but Ayako didn't seem all that shocked.

"I take it most of these are love letters from your admirers?" She asked, smiling slightly in amusement as she studied the pile.

"Yes." Rin admitted bluntly, grabbing a few letters off the table. "Alongside invitations for parties, some hate mail from girls who are jealous their boyfriends pay more attention to me than to them, and somewhere in here, there should be a letter from the Burial Agency."

"Here it is." Shirou said, picking up the letter bearing the stamp of the Vatican, having used his enhanced eyesight to quickly and easily pick it out of the pile.

"Thank you, Emiya-kun." With a smile that clearly showed she had expected him to do that, Rin took the letter out of his hands, unceremoniously ripping it open to retrieve its contents. "Hm, let's see."

She fell silent, focused on her reading, and while Shirou and Sakura waited patiently for her to finish, Ayako used that opportunity to sneakily grab one of the love-letters off the table, the corners of her lips curling upwards in anticipation.

Rin continued reading for about a minute, and then she grunted in displeasure.

"This does not tell me anything." She said, handing the letter over to Shirou, who held it to the side so Sakura could see it too, before he read it himself.

Dear miss Tohsaka,

It has come to our attention that the priest assigned to your city, Kotomine Kirei, has disappeared without a trace after you discovered him to be involved in the kidnapping and incarceration of several orphan children. These charges against him are serious, and they will be investigated thoroughly.

Pending the investigation, Kotomine has been relieved from his position of supervisor of Fuyuki. In his stead, another agent from the Burial Agency will be assigned to serve as both supervisor and your liaison with the Church in relation to matters concerning the Chalice of our Lord.

The agent will arrive within the week of you receiving this letter. They have received strict instructions on proper procedure and will be at your disposal, provided the arrangement between the Tohsaka and the Burial Agency is still in place.

Was signed,

Bishop Leandros Von Ultramar, as witnessed by Ariadne Lissenbaum.

That was all. There was no further explanation of what they would do about Kotomine, no apologies for the trouble he'd caused, or even an assurance that they would take responsibility. They just acknowledged that he'd done something wrong and left it at that.

Moreover, they didn't give any details about the new supervisor. No name, no description, nothing. It was almost as if they hadn't even selected anyone yet but were trying to hide the fact so as not to seem even more incompetent than they already appeared.

Rin was right, this rather cowardly letter indeed did not tell them anything.

"Can I see it too?" Ayako asked, holding out a hand. The brunette, Shirou noticed, was already making her way through her third love-letter but had paused her avid reading to catch up on the group-discussion, making an effort to stay involved.

Strangely enough, it seemed as if Rin hadn't even noticed yet that Ayako was going through her mail, absorbed as she was in the matter of the new supervisor. That more than anything showed that she took the matter seriously, and in response, Shirou decided to give it his due consideration as well.

"It might be wise not to play an open hand with this new agent about me living here, at least not right away." He told Rin, who nodded absentmindedly. "I don't know how many people know about me at the Burial Agency, but considering they like to keep tabs on the Magus Association, I have to assume they know what I look like and that I am believed to be a Sorcerer."

"So if their agent finds you here, they will immediately tell the Church that the new Sorcerer lives in Fuyuki?" Sakura asked, pursing her lips when Shirou nodded. "That is not good, right?"

"I don't know." Shirou admitted honestly. "It might be that they keep it a secret, if only to spite the Clocktower. It could also be that they consider Sorcerers to be even worse than Magi, and that they will try to kill me. Alternatively, they can reveal my location to the Magus Association in exchange for a favour. I have no idea what they will do exactly."

"And we better not take any risks." Rin nodded, placing her hands against her sides. "Not with the Grail War being so close at hand. I'll have to ask you to stay out of the new supervisor's sight as much as you can, Emiya-kun, at least until I have determined what kind of person they are."

"No problem. I'm good at hiding." Shirou grinned, and Rin sighed in frustration, reminded of the eight years during which she'd had no idea of who, or rather what, he truly was. That she'd been very aware of him nonetheless, not because he was a Magus but because of… other reasons, did not make it any better.

"Oh right, because Nee-san wasn't able to find you for years." Sakura's belated realisation of what he was talking about did not improve Rin's mood.

"That was a fluke." The black-haired girl defended herself. "I was distracted, and I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for anything. Normally, I am very observant."

"Are you now?" Shirou asked playfully, receiving a firm nod in return. "Then have you noticed yet that Ayako has been stealing your love letters since this conversation began?"

"Huh?" Rin blinked owlishly, her gaze snapping towards the pile of letters that had been left on the table, before it shifted towards Ayako, who had several opened letters on her lap. "Ayako!"

"Yes, dear?" The brunette asked innocently, acting like nothing was wrong and she had no idea why Rin was so agitated.

"What are you doing with my letters?!"

"You mean the love letters you were going to burn anyway?" Ayako continued the innocent charade, blinking her eyes adorably, giving Rin her cutest look. "I was curious, and I thought I'd read them before you threw them away."

"Don't give me that!"

"Don't give you the letters?" Ayako asked with fake enthusiasm, purposefully misunderstanding Rin, prompting a giggle of amusement from Sakura. "Alright! Then I'll keep them."

"That is not what I meant!" Rin fumed, before she made a grab for the letters. As Ayako was sitting on the other side of the table however, the furthest away from the black-haired girl, it was child's play for the brunette to hold them out of her reach. "Give them to me!"

"But they are funny." Ayako protested, giving up on the innocent façade. "Just let me read a few out loud, please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Will you actually stop after that?"

"I will. Promise."

"Fine." Rin relented, perhaps having seen that it would be easiest way to get out of the current mess. "You can read three, and then I'm burning them all."

"You're the best, Rin." Ayako beamed, before she held up one of the letters in her hand and read its contents out loud. "Dear Tohsaka-san, I have never introduced myself to you, but I am the person who bumped into you in the school's cafeteria during the last month before the holiday. I already admired you deeply, but your reaction to my clumsiness, your kindness and forgiveness where other idols would have bullied me, have made a deep impression on me. I realise this is very forward of me to ask, but would you consider going on a date with me? I know you are busy, and that you get a lot of requests like this, but I promise I will give you a wonderful evening. Was signed, Kushina Minata."

For a few moments after Ayako finished, it remained silent.

"Shouldn't Kushina-san have said this to your face?" Sakura then wondered out loud, looking adorably confused. "This sounds like it would be much better said face-to-face."

"I agree." Shirou nodded pensively. "Why would he send a letter if he went to school with you? He could have spoken to you in the hall, or, if he wanted more privacy, reached out by phone or by visiting you, right?"

"He sent a letter because he is too cowardly to come in person." Rin scoffed, crossing her arms as she flipped her hair behind her shoulders, showing an immense amount of contempt for poor Kushina. "He sent that letter because he had to think for hours about what to say, and expressing yourself in written text is easier than speaking. Also, I can't interrupt him or refuse him outright if he isn't actually present, meaning his ego will be spared from my wrath."

"That's harsh, Nee-san." Sakura winced in sympathy for Kushina. "Maybe he thought it would be a romantic gesture? Love letters are often shown in films and series as the height of romance, right, Senpai?"

"I don't watch a lot of tv, so I wouldn't know." Shirou shrugged apologetically. "Though I have to say that I would only send a love letter if I knew for sure that it would be welcome."

"Feel free to send me one anytime." Ayako grinned at him, before she held up the letter again. "But we are getting off-track. Hey Rin, do you actually have any idea who this Kushina-guy is?"

"None." Rin answered bluntly. "Dozens of people have bumped into me in the cafeteria over the past year alone. Most of the time in an attempt to strike up a conversation and get in my good graces. This boy is just one of many."

"Me thinks they watched too many anime if they think that method can succeed." Ayako huffed in amusement. "Bumping into a girl and eventually getting her as your girlfriend is such a cliché. It never works in real life."

"I don't know about that. It worked perfectly well for me." Shirou laughed, referring to the first time he and Ayako had met, when they'd bumped into each other on the street. "I walked into you one day, and not long after, you were my girlfriend."

"Oh, right!" Ayako blinked, before she let out a small huff. "I didn't realise we were so cliché."

"I did the same with Rin, now that I think about it." Shirou recalled, looking at the black-haired girl. "The first time we spoke was right after we bumped into each other, and you are my girlfriend too now."

"Only because you were the only halfway decent choice amongst all the men pursuing me." Rin sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. "If I was going to have to pick one, I might as well go for the richest of the bunch."

"I love you too, Rin." Shirou smiled fondly at her, leaning to the side to press a kiss against her cheek, and he was very satisfied to see the corners of her lips twitching as if she were only just suppressing a happy smile of her own.

"Don't you mean that 'her forgiveness and kindness have made a deep impression on you'?" Sakura teased them. "And that 'you swear to give her a wonderful evening'?"

"Enough with the nonsense." Rin said sharply, before she snatched the offending letter out of Ayako's hands while the brunette wasn't paying attention and set it on fire.

Shirou would have protested against the blatant arson in his house, but Rin's fire burned so thoroughly that not even ash was left afterwards, and she had it under complete control the entire time.

"The second letter." Ayako carried on like nothing had happened, selecting another letter from the pile that looked interesting, before she lifted it to her nose and sniffed it once. "Oh, this one's perfumed."

"Is it from a girl then?" Sakura asked, sounding a bit more interested than before.

"Likely not." Rin shook her head. "Some boys tend to perfume their letters in the hope that it'll attract my attention."

"Does that work?"

"In the beginning, it did." Rin admitted, rubbing the back of her head with a complicated expression on her face. "The smells made me curious, and I reasoned that if they were willing to do that, they had to be at least a little creative. When the contents of the letters failed to deliver however, I stopped opening them as well."

"The life of an idol must be hard." Shirou said, placing his hand on top of Rin's in a show of support.

"Oh, you have no idea." Rin groused, turning her hand around and linking her fingers with his.

"Oh gracious and beautiful Rin." Ayako then started reading the second letter, one of her eyebrows coming up at the flowery language and especially at the use of Rin's first name. "Your beauty is beyond compare in all of the world. Your grace and elegance can only be matched by your wits and your talents. Your lips are like clouds so soft, your breasts have the ideal slope, and if there is a butt firmer than yours, I have not laid eyes upon it yet. Your long and luscious legs were clearly made in Heaven, and I truly hope with all my heart that you'll allow me to spread them so I can penetra- Okay, enough of this!"

"This person is bold." Sakura remarked, sounding both impressed and perturbed as Ayako threw the letter on the table with a disgusted expression.

"Who sent that letter?" Shirou asked calmly, giving Ayako a very peaceful smile as he reached for the piece of paper.

"It isn't signed, and I think that is for the best, because your expression is really scary right now." Ayako quickly hid the letter from view, indicating Shirou's peaceful smile might not have been so peaceful as he thought it was.

"Why would they write something so forward?" Sakura wondered, giving Rin a glance. "I mean, they weren't wrong about Nee-san being beautiful, or about her butt being firm, but why did they think they could just say all that?"

"It was an attempt to shock me, to unbalance me." Rin revealed dryly, rolling her eyes again. "They send me letters like this, and then, at an ideal moment, approach me in person to reveal the letter came from them. At that point, I, the sensitive idol, will be reeling in shock and embarrassment, and they can press me into doing what they say."

"Ayako, give me that letter!" Shirou's voice had become much more forceful now, and he held out his hand towards the brunette. "Even if it isn't signed, there are ways to discover where it came from. I can identify the writer, I'm sure of it."

"And then?" Ayako asked sharply, quickly holding the piece of paper out of his reach. "What will you do when you have identified them?"

"Break their fingers." Shirou answered bluntly, before a fist suddenly slammed down on his head.

"Don't be an idiot." Rin scolded him, before she again grabbed the letter from Ayako's hands to burn it. "Take it from me, Emiya-kun, you should not give these people any attention, that only strengthens them. If you ignore them however, they'll go away sooner or later."

"Even so!" Shirou protested, his rage still burning hot, but Rin just sighed, before she grabbed his hand, pulled it towards her, and placed it on her bottom.

"There." She said, giving him a smile. "You get to touch my butt any time you want, while whoever wrote this letter will never even get near it. Is that not revenge enough?"

"You make a very strong point." Shirou nodded, his anger having disappeared in the blink of an eye, before he lightly squeezed the flesh of her rear, widening Rin's smug smile.

"Ah, I'm so jealous." Ayako sighed, looking with envious eyes at the duo sitting across from her. "How I wish I could touch a pretty girl's behind."

"You're touching mine though." Sakura pointed out, as Ayako had indeed reached out to pinch the plum-haired girl's rear.

"Oh, I guess I am!" Ayako blinked once, before she grinned. "Marvellous!"

In the end, it took a few minutes to get things back on track, but then Ayako was ready to choose a third letter to read.

"That's the last." Rin told her in no uncertain terms. "After you've read it, I will dispose of the whole pile, immediately!"

"You're really putting a lot of pressure on me." Ayako huffed, her hand hovering over the letters, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "I'll take… this one."

She chose a rather non-descript letter from the pile, plain white, with only Rin's address written on it.

"Ahem." Ayako cleared her throat again after opening it, before she began reading. "How dare you try to entice all the boys with your wiles, you slag?! Do you know what they should do to whor- Hey now!"

The brunette interrupted herself, sounding outraged at what she was reading. Her eyes flitted over the text, her anger seemingly increasing with every word, before she held the letter out to Shirou.

"You said you can track down a letter's sender even though they didn't sign it?" She asked him, before smiling joylessly when he nodded. "Then find the one who wrote this and break their fingers. They deserve it."

"No, don't do that." Rin said sternly, grabbing the letter out of Ayako's hand before Shirou could, once more burning it immediately. "Don't spend any time or energy on these people. I don't care what they say or think, and neither should you."

"…Fine." Shirou accepted after a few moments, not happy with the directive, but aware that it really was Rin's call what she wanted to do about the hate mail she received. "If they start making actual trouble though…"

"Then you can break their fingers." Rin nodded. "Until that point however, you should do as I do and disregard everything that is not important."

To prove her point, Rin pointed her left index-finger at the pile of letters. Magical Energy started gathering in the digit in preparation of a fire-spell, and Shirou took one last look at the heap of paper, knowing that it would be gone in a few seconds.

As he did that however, he suddenly noticed something, one particular envelope among many, that looked extremely official and not at all like either a love confession or a declaration of hatred from fellow teenagers.

"Feuer." Rin said, her voice perfectly calm, and from her outstretched finger, a modest, controlled flame sprang forth, making for the letters, including the one that looked significantly more important than the others.

Shirou's hand shot out, quick as a whip, and he managed to secure the piece of paper just before the flame struck.

"Emiya-kun!?" Rin started slightly in shock at his sudden movement, as did Sakura and Ayako.

"Sorry, Rin, this just looked too important to burn." He apologised, offering her the letter along with a sheepish smile. "If I'm wrong, you can just throw it into the flames though."

"Hm, let's see." Rin said, turning the letter over to look at the return-address, before her eyes flew open in shock. "Ergh!"

"Nee-san?" Sakura straightened her back when Rin made a choking noise, her hands coming up in a hesitant gesture. "Is something wrong?"

"No, fortunately not, thanks to Emiya-kun." Rin put the hand that was not holding the letter against her heart, letting out a sigh of relief. "It would have been seriously bad if I'd burned this one."

"That was rather careless of you then." Ayako frowned. "Did you not think to inspect all the letters before burning them?"

"I did not think this letter would arrive so soon." Rin defended herself, pouting a bit at the brunette. "I expected it next month, in three weeks at the earliest. I have no idea what it's doing here now."

"Well, open it and find out, I'd say." Shirou suggested, and Rin did exactly that, opening the envelope to retrieve its contents. After she'd read it, her expression remaining mostly neutral throughout, she clacked her tongue once. "Emiya-kun, can I have a word with you in private?"

"Oh?" Ayako lifted an eyebrow at the unusual request. "Doing secret stuff, Rin?"

"Hardly." Rin scoffed, getting up from her seating position. "It's about business, gem-selling, if you must know. Emiya-kun and I can handle it between us. There's no need for all four of us to get involved."

"That's fine." The brunette didn't much care for business dealings, never had, so she easily accepted Rin's words. "Just fill me in when you get back."

"Shall I get started on dinner then?" Sakura asked, ever the dutiful one. "I was going to make a hearty stew tonight, and the preparations can take a while, so it's best to start early."

"Excellent idea." Shirou nodded in approval, before glancing at Ayako as he got up as well. "Meanwhile, Ayako can set the table."

"Yes, dear." Ayako purred, giving him a small grin as she stretched a little. "I'll get right to it."

"Don't feel the need to hurry, Rin and I won't be long." Shirou finished the instructions, before following Rin out of the dining room and towards the guestroom that she was using as her Second Workshop.

"You said you wanted to talk about the sale of gems?" He asked once they were inside.

"I did." Rin nodded, showing him the letter again. "I received this letter from the Thorvi-company."

"The Thorvi-company? What's that?"

"It is a family-owned business that focuses on assisted trade. They buy the gems I want to sell from me and then sell them in turn to interested third parties, before giving the profit to me, minus a small fee for themselves of course." Rin explained quickly. "They are the most trusted company in the world when it comes to being middlemen for trade, and the Tohsaka have been clients of theirs for generations, though we normally only buy gems. This is the first time a member of my family is trying to sell them, and the Thorvi promised to keep me in the loop of the details surrounding the sale. They told me they'd send a letter once most of the gems had been sold, and that they expected it would take a week or four, maybe five."

"Then why did that one arrive so soon?"

"Because they have run out of gems already." Rin revealed, her expression a mixture of happiness and slight disbelief. "Everything has been sold, far faster than they expected."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, yes, but… Based on my own experience with buying gems and how long they sometimes remain on the market, I reasoned that it would take several weeks at least."

"Can't that have been caused by the crisis in the gem-market?" They had talked about the bad state of the gem-market before, so it seemed only logical to Shirou that any gems that were put on sale would be quickly snapped up by whoever came across them first.

"Yes, it could, but even so." Rin replied, scratching her cheek in thought. "I put a firm limit on how much gems a single individual or group could buy. I thought that would make the process take longer."

"What kind of limit?"

"I sold two-hundred-and-forty gems in total. These gems were divided in twelve packages of twenty gems each. I left strict instructions for the Thorvi-company that every group or individual that reached out to them could only buy one package." Rin explained. "That's why I thought it would take a while before all packages would have been sold."

"What did you charge for them?" Shirou continued the questioning.

"Uhm." Rin visibly hesitated for a moment, before she coughed into her fist. "Ahem, I charged pre-crisis prices. I only asked the average of what I paid for gems in the past."

"Couldn't you have asked for much more than that?" Shirou asked, feeling rather surprised. "With the current high demand and low supply?"

"I could have, but that would have meant that only very wealthy people could afford them." Rin said, sounding a bit defensive. "By keeping the prices low and dividing the gems in packages, I ensured I could reach a maximum number of customers, who might buy from me again in the future. I'm building a network of clients."

Shirou had to admit that when she presented it that way, her style of doing things actually made some sense, if you squinted a little and assumed that Rin had no idea how to run a business.

Shirou knew though that the actual explanation was much simpler. It wasn't because of some scheme to attract more customers. No, Rin sold the gems for pre-collapse prices because she didn't want to take advantage of people's desperation, and she put a limit on how much every customer could buy to prevent one or two hoarders from taking them all, leaving nothing for the less wealthy.

Ultimately, Rin had turned her back on maximum profit, not because of an elaborate attempt at advertisement, but because she was a deeply kind person.

"Oi!" Rin suddenly snarled, looking very vexed with him. "Don't smile like you understand everything! I said wipe that grin off your face, idiot!"

But Shirou didn't wipe the grin off his face. If anything, he smiled wider, and he quickly took Rin into an embrace before she could protest again.

"You are a wonderful person, Rin." He whispered, before he kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

"Idiot!" She hissed in return, but from the way she relaxed a few seconds later, accepting his embrace, she didn't dislike his forwardness. "M-Maybe I love you too."

"But what is the problem exactly?" Shirou returned to the previous subject after a minute, letting her go again. "I understand that the sale happened quicker than you expected, but you look much too agitated for that to be the only issue."

For a few moments, Rin remained silent following his question, but then she gritted her teeth.

"They bought my gems."

"They?"

"Them! Those people!"

"Rin…"

"Why did they buy my gems?! I thought they had plenty themselves, but now they go around buying mine? What were they thinking?!" The black-haired girl demanded, her voice shrill as she shouted at the letter, before she turned towards Shirou. "It's ridiculous!"

"Rin, you're not making any sense. Who bought your gems?"

"The Edelfelt!" Rin spat, and just like that, everything made sense again. The cause for her agitation had been revealed. "Emiya-kun, you spoke with them, right? You know what they are like?!"

"I did speak with one Edelfelt and her fiancé." Shirou nodded, referring to Sophia Edelfelt and Eduardo di Stanza, two of the very few Magi who'd dared to approach him directly after the rumours of him being a Sorcerer had started spreading. "Though we mostly only talked about a non-violence agreement. If you want to know what their family-procedures for gem purchases are, I cannot help you."

"Ugh." Rin slumped, before she looked at the letter again. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all."

"Why not?" Shirou asked, cocking his head to the side. "Are they not just customers as well? I mean, they paid the full price, didn't they?"

"They did." Rin admitted reluctantly, looking as if she'd bitten into a lemon. "But even so, my rivals shouldn't be buying gems from me. I would never buy from them."

"Are you sure about that?" Shirou challenged her, crossing his arms with a knowing look. "Even if they were the only supplier with prices you could afford?"

"…Stop confusing me!" Rin hissed, grumpily looking away from him, before she snapped her head back, bringing forth new arguments. "B-Besides, they are the Edelfelt! They pride themselves on being thieves! They bought my gems this time, but they are undoubtedly plotting to steal them next time!"

"I won't let them." Shirou didn't bother trying to deny it, as he didn't know enough about the Edelfelt to make any sort of case, so instead, he tried to calm Rin down with an assurance. "I promise you, Rin, as long as I am here, I won't let them take even a single pebble without your permission."

"Excellent!" Rin's agitation vanished in a split second, revealing rather blatantly that his assurance was what she'd been fishing for all along. She then pulled out a map of Fuyuki and placed it on the table, beaming at him. "Then I would like you to secure several key locations in the city. As you can see, I have already marked them on the map, so you just need to memorise them and get to work."

"Way ahead of you, Rin." Shirou smiled at her once he was done studying the map. "After Kotomine fled before we could confront him, I already secured all ways in and out of the city. I also placed Bounded Fields around our houses, which will inform me of any intruders with active Magic Circuits within a ten-kilometre radius, and I put restrictions on the leyline to make sure no one can tap from it without my say so. Now, a Caster Servant could likely bypass my defences with ease, but I don't think any modern Magus can."

"Wow." Rin blinked once in surprise at all the measures he had taken, which were much more than she'd asked for. "Paranoid much?"

"I'd say I have not been paranoid enough up until now." Shirou countered, grimacing slightly. "I mean, I let Gilgamesh and Kotomine do what they wanted in our city for far too long. I am not going to let that happen again."

"Our city, is it?" Rin whispered, looking down at the table with a faint blush and a content smile, before she shook her head. "Ahem, that is very good, Emiya-kun. Listen, if the Edelfelt or any other Magi arrive without telling me in advance, you are to detain them."

"And if they do tell you in advance they'll be visiting?"

"I'll let you know, and you can let them through."

"That is fine, but Rin, you do know that once I start detaining people, it will become commonly known that I live here?" Shirou inquired, making Rin freeze in place. "After what happened over the summer, I don't think that would be wise."

Not just because numerous Magi would start hounding him, for favours or to try and kill him, but also because it would put his loved ones in danger. Greed and fear could make people do horrendous things after all, and that went doubly so for Magi.

"You're right, we can't have that." Rin replied immediately, also seeing the dangers of having it become known that a Sorcerer was living in her territory. "In that case, detain them from a distance. Use Bounded Fields or something, don't show yourself, and I'll take care of the rest."

"I will, Rin." Shirou nodded, balling his fist and placing it on his heart. "I don't want to put you in any kind of danger. I'd rather leave this city if it came to that."

"Hm." Rin made a ponderous noise. "Emiya-kun, could you please stand up and turn around?"

Shirou was a bit surprised by the sudden request, but he did as she asked, standing up and turning around.

Then he was hugged from behind, Rin's arms wrapping themselves around his midriff.

"Dummie." She sighed, resting her forehead against his back. "You don't have to leave the city to protect us. It'll all be fine if you just stay out of sight, okay? Especially when the Edelfelt's spies arrive."

"You seem awfully certain they'll send spies here." Shirou remarked, wondering where that confidence was coming from.

"A hyena doesn't change its spots, Emiya-kun." She explained calmly. "They always use underhanded tactics. That was how they did things in the past, and it is how they still do things now. Undoubtedly, those spies have orders to either collect blackmail material on me or to directly track down my source of gems so they can steal it."

"You really don't like them much, do you, Rin?" Shirou sighed, though he couldn't suppress a fond smile.

"Just stating facts, Emiya-kun."

"Then I will not let them through." He promised, placing a hand on Rin's arms, which were still hugging his midriff. "Shall I chase them out of the city?"

"Yes." Rin nodded against his back. "And if you do that often enough, the Edelfelt-heir will come in person. At that point, it's a matter of negotiation. They will try to persuade me to enter an exclusive contract with them, all while also keeping an eye out for opportunities to find my source."

"Even if they find me, I won't switch sides." Shirou laughed. "Of course I won't. I'm yours after all."

"…Yes." Rin said again, her arms tightening around him, and although her voice was cool, she radiated so much happiness that it was impossible to miss how delighted she was. "You're mine."

Gladstone Phamrsolone was first and foremost a Magus. A first-rate Magus even, who had spent decades of his life researching Mystic Eyes with a fervour that very few mundane scientists could ever hope to match. He had the results to show for it too, pages and pages full of successful experiments and new knowledge, which would be added to the family's already-not-inconsiderable library.

Aside from being a Magus however, Gladstone was also a dedicated family man. His wife Hermione was the love of his life, and his daughter Ophelia was the apple of his eye. He adored both of them, and although his research and other duties as Magus still took precedent over them, it was only by a hair.

Sometimes, the two facets of his identity even overlapped. Ophelia for instance was the first person ever in the Phamrsolone-family who had the potential to develop an actual Jewel-Ranked Mystic Eye, the highest class of Mystic Eyes if one forgot about the legendary Rainbow-Rank. In other words, she was Gladstone's most important and treasured achievement, both as father and as Magus, making her the most important and valuable possession he had.

Of course, his place as the chairman of the meetings of the Clocktower's Neutral Faction after the Meluastea had been ousted was also important to him, and his function as main ambassador during the negotiations with the Democratic Faction were a never-ending source of pride, but that was all just a sideshow in the end.

Ophelia was still his number one, and always would be.

However, at this point in time, at this very moment, now that he was sitting in a grubby, little café at the edge of London, at a filthy table that was flanked by the dirtiest wall he had ever seen, drinking coffee that tasted like it was made from sewer water, he was neither a father nor a Magus.

He was, in one word, a traitor. A traitor to the Magus Association.

"I have all transcripts of the meetings held by the Neutral Faction of the past months." He spoke nervously, retrieving the massive stack of papers from his bag and placing them on the table. "E-Everything we discussed is in there, I assure you."

"I have the same, but for the Democratic Faction." Haruri Borzak, a fellow traitor of his, spoke up after him, sounding a lot calmer than he was. She was seated on Gladstone's left, closest to the wall, and her stack of papers was almost as thick as his.

"And my spies have delivered to me the full report of what was discussed during the gatherings of the Aristocratic Faction." The handsome fellow on Gladstone's right, who hadn't introduced himself yet, finished, placing yet another stack of files on the table, though his was rather small. "As agreed with your master, oh Blood Lord."

The handsome fellow, who had blood-red hair and equally red eyes, smiled congenially at their interlocutor, the only person to sit on the other side of the table, but even with that smile in place, it was clear that he was very nervous too.

Which was only logical, considering their interlocutor was no one else than Stanrobe Calhin, the Eleventh Dead Apostle Ancestor and one of Trhvmn Ortenrosse's closest confidants.

"Thank you for your hard work." Calhin smirked slightly, clearly enjoying their fear, before he waved his hand over the stacks of paper, which then disappeared in flecks of shimmering light. "You will be compensated through the usual channels. Your money and resources will be in your possession before dawn."

"M-Much obliged, lord Calhin." Gladstone stuttered, hoping frantically that they would be allowed to leave now that their business had been completed. The Eleventh was not a creature you wanted to be in the presence of for any significant amount of time.

Stanrobe Calhin was a curious existence. He had been a normal Dead Apostle Ancestor, or at least as normal as those creatures could be, for the first two-hundred years of his existence, after being turned by Ortenrosse himself.

Eight hundred years ago however, he had been completely and utterly destroyed in a clever ambush from the Church. Rather than dying however, which would have been the sportive thing to do, Calhin had manifested himself upon the Earth as a Ghost, which had earned him his title of 'The First Wraith'.

He wasn't incorporeal, or at least not fully, but his existence and his physical body were a bit more… intangible, than they should have been.

Dying had not made him any weaker. Calhin retained his immense power of destruction, which had resulted in the acquisition of nicknames such as 'The Duke of Predation' and 'The Devourer of Cities', and many great Executors and Enforcers had fallen by his hand.

But Calhin's main strength wasn't his destructive abilities. He wasn't merely a rampant agent of ruin. To the contrary, his greatest talent was actually at subterfuge and espionage, being an unseen assassin, and worse, a perfect spy.

In the shadows, Calhin had caused untold damage over the centuries, often without ever being suspected as the culprit. He had almost broken the Church on no less than three occasions, and had caused schisms in the Magus Association at least five times, perhaps more.

He truly was one of the best agents Thrvmn Ortenrosse had at his disposal, and an absolutely vital part of Ortenrosse's plan to execute the Aylesbury Ritual.

It was Calhin who subtly got rid of the king's most troublesome opponents when brute force couldn't prevail, who gathered crucial information from all corners of the world on people, events, and resources, and who consistently managed to recruit willing and unwilling accomplices within the Magus Association and the Church.

The Eleventh Ancestor was discreet, subtle, and patient, and knew like few others how to tempt people into throwing away their convictions and their oaths in favour of their desires. Gladstone certainly hadn't been able to last long once Calhin began promising him the resources he'd always wanted to get his hands on and had been convinced to forsake his loyalty to the Magus Association in short order.

To be fair to Gladstone, he did feel bad about doing it. In fact, he felt outright slimy, cooperating with a Dead Apostle Ancestor like this. However, his research demanded sacrifices, and he was man enough to actually make those sacrifices.

Ophelia was doing wonderfully, as well as could be expected of her, but for some reason, her Mystic Eyes refused to awaken. For years now, it was clear that she had the potential, yet it somehow never actually seemed to happen.

He clearly needed to work harder, to do more to trigger the awakening of his daughter's Jewel-Ranked Mystic Eyes, yet that was only possible if he had the right equipment and resources. If he did not, his frantic efforts would only end up hurting Ophelia without any sort of gain, and that was not something he was willing to do.

It would be immensely cruel and unforgivably foolish of him to bungle the last phase of his family's ultimate experiment merely because he was impatient and careless.

However, he did need to do something before it was too late, before Ophelia passed the ideal age to awaken Mystic Eyes, and that meant he needed to get that right equipment from somewhere, fast.

Then, out of nowhere, Calhin had appeared, offering him exactly the type of equipment and resources he needed. Gladstone knew that it had been a trap, that Calhin was exploiting his weakness and his fears, but merely knowing that wasn't enough to remove the temptation.

Hence his decision to work for the Dead Apostle Ancestors. It was evil, undoubtedly, but very much necessary. Other Magi might condemn and curse him for it, but that would only make them a bunch of hypocrites. They would all do the same in his position.

"How do you all fare at the present time?" Calhin then spoke up again, giving them a look that was a very decent attempt at seeming genuinely curious. "I hope the recent upheavals in the Clocktower have not made life too difficult for you all?"

'The recent upheavals' was quite a euphemism to use when they were talking about the largest and bloodiest purge in the Association's history, and the vampire knew it too, if his small smile was any indication.

Not that Calhin should have had much to smile about. The Purge had hit him too, if indirectly. Before the Purge, there hadn't been three Magi regularly meeting with him to deliver information, but five. Yes, two of their little group had been killed by the Department of Policies, one of them even by Barthomeloi herself.

Not that the vampire seemed to care much about that. He kept smiling, wordlessly demanding an answer, and eventually, the handsome fellow on Gladstone's right was the first to speak up again.

"I have not entered the Clocktower in months, if not years. Its troubles and wiles are of no consequence to me." The redhead shrugged uncaringly in answer to the Ancestor's question.

"I was not impacted much myself, but my teacher is unsettled, mainly because of the Sorcerer." Haruri replied softly, wringing her hands together under the table. "She is so busy dealing with the damage that she doesn't have much time for me."

"I-I did quite well for myself." Gladstone tried to boast, but even he could hear how weak his voice sounded. "I am now the chairman of the Neutral Faction, a-and I have access to most of its secrets."

"Bring them with you next time." Calhin ordered, his red eyes flashing dangerously.

"Y-Yes, sir."

Ophelia and Hermione better appreciate all his hard work for them, because Gladstone almost had a heart attack there.

"His majesty has another request for you, if you are willing to accept it." Calhin spoke again, slowly, tauntingly, fully aware the three of them were in so deep they couldn't refuse any 'request' from his king, whether they wanted to or not. "He needs information about several key figures."

"Let me guess; Shirou Fujimaru, everyone's favourite new Sorcerer, is on the list?" The redhead asked, showing a composure that Gladstone could only dream of.

"You guess correctly." Calhin nodded once, a very slow motion that seemed disturbingly human for such an inhuman creature. "Along with Lord El-Melloi, Lorelei Barthomeloi, and Grey."

Gladstone blinked in confusion at the last name. He'd heard of Fujimaru, El-Melloi, and Barthomeloi of course, and he knew why they were significant, but the name 'Grey' didn't mean anything to him.

"He wants information on Grey? Really? The great Ortenrosse is afraid of a little girl?" The redhead seemed to know more though, smiling mockingly at what was apparently an inside joke, before holding up his hands when Calhin's gaze sharpened. "Alright, alright, if he wants information on little Grey, he will get information on little Grey. The Department of Modern Magical Theories used to be mine after all, so there are plenty of ways for me to enter."

"As well as the others." Calhin repeated.

"Lord El-Melloi should be easy enough, he accepts just about everyone into his classes." Haruri muttered, before she winced. "Lady Barthomeloi will not be so easy to approach however, for anyone."

"N-Not to mention Fujimaru has left." Gladstone added, drops of sweat pouring down his brow as his mental fortitude started cracking from being in the presence of a Vampire Lord for so long. "How are we supposed to get information on him?"

"That," Calhin spoke slowly, his lips shaping into a lazy smile. "Is your problem."

Gladstone gulped audibly at the unveiled warning in the vampire's tone, while Haruri paled significantly at the monumental task that now awaited them.

"Carry out this task well, and his majesty will reward you handsomely." Calhin continued a moment later, in a more reconciliatory tone, and Gladstone suddenly found he could breathe a little easier. "Money, resources, and power will find their way into your hands in quantities you cannot even imagine."

"I have a strong imagination." The redhead purred, lifting an eyebrow at Calhin. "Are you sure you can deliver on that promise?"

Calhin's only response to that was a smile.

And as the redhead negotiated with the Ancestor about his payment, quickly joined by Haruri, who had several requests of her own, Gladstone wondered how he had gotten into this mess.

That moment passed quickly however, and the next moment, he was right in the middle of the discussion, reciting his wishes to the Eleventh Ancestor, whose smile widened with every greedy word coming out of their mouths.

The first impression that Shirou got from the mental health clinic in which Rin's mother had been admitted was that it seemed to be a very nice place, at least when seen from the outside.

The complex was huge, bigger even than Fuyuki's hospital, yet despite its size, it didn't seem intimidating at all, and instead looked very welcoming to patients and visitors alike.

That was in no small part caused by how open it was. There were doors everywhere, and every wall in sight had at least one window to allow sunlight to fall through. Those walls themselves had been built out of pure white stone, and there was a massive garden all around the complex, containing several ponds, fountains, benches, and even a miniature golfing course.

More than a few patients were currently out in that garden, some of them alone, others with a caretaker present, and Shirou was happy to see that they were all as happy as could be with their mental illnesses.

It seemed as if this place was more of a luxurious hotel than a mental health clinic, an opinion shared by Ayako and Sakura by the way, as they too were pleasantly surprised by the peaceful beauty that now laid before them.

Unfortunately, the fourth member of their group, Rin herself, had no eye for the clinic's beauty right now, as she was still troubled by the fact that they were all there to visit her mentally ill mother.

"Don't just stand there!" She eventually snapped, her patience wearing thin, before she grabbed Shirou's wrist and began pulling him along. "Come on."

"Coming, Nee-san." Sakura shook herself loose from admiring the building and quickly followed the two of them into the clinic, in turn being followed by Ayako.

Rin had visited the place many times before, checking on her mother quite regularly, as a good daughter should, and was thus able to lead them quickly and efficiently towards the reception desk.

Behind that desk, a black-haired woman in a standard nurse uniform was sitting primly and properly in her chair, elegantly making notes in a large map with a perfectly composed expression. She was young, only a few years older than they were, yet there was no denying her professionality and competency, even at first glance.

"Good morning, Kirishi-san." Rin said once they had reached the desk, not letting go of Shirou's wrist even though they had reached their destination.

"Ah, Tohsaka-san." The nurse, Kirishi-san, welcomed Rin with a small, polite smile, one that spoke of sincere kindness and genuine sympathy. "Have you come to visit your mother again?"

"I have." Rin nodded, giving the woman a weak smile in return, before gesturing to Shirou, Ayako, and Sakura. "I brought guests too."

"Guests?" Kirishi looked curiously at them, studying them one by one, paying extra close attention to Rin's hand still holding Shirou's wrist, before turning back to Rin. "Is one of them…?"

"Yes." Rin nodded, apparently understand what was being asked, before placing her free hand on Sakura's shoulder. "This is my sister, Sakura."

"Oh, I am so happy to finally meet you." Kirishi beamed at the response, bowing repeatedly at Sakura. "Your mother has been asking about you for such a long time."

"…She has?" Sakura seemed deeply uncomfortable with that information, her face paling slightly.

"I understand that there were circumstances that prevented you from visiting sooner, but I just wanted to say I am so happy that you seem to have sorted things out." Kirishi continued, still beaming happily. "It'll do Aoi so much good to see you again. I'm sure she'll be delighted."

Sakura pursed her lips, adopting an expression that Shirou recognised as an attempt to stop herself from frowning outright. He didn't know what exactly Kirishi-san thought had happened within the Tohsaka-family, what tale Rin had spun to keep the existence of Magecraft a secret, but it clearly did not involve a forced adoption by a cruel Magus with the approval of the daughter's own parents.

"Could you bring us to her now, please?" Sakura requested, her voice surprisingly steady for how uncomfortable and uneasy she looked.

"Please?" Rin added, looking just as uncomfortable.

"Of course!" Kirishi nodded, her expression becoming more serious again as she stepped out from behind her desk. "You must be quite eager to see her. I shall not keep you any longer than necessary. If you would just fill out these visitor forms please?"

They all did as she asked, and once she'd gone over their answers and found nothing amiss, Kirishi nodded again.

"Follow me." She said, before she led them further into the building, her back straight, her gait elegant and composed, and her hands held against the front of her apron.

They went down a network of brightly lit hallways, every turn marked clearly with signs denoting the directions they pointed in.

"We have a lot of patients staying here these days." Kirishi spoke up unprompted, mainly addressing Sakura for some reason. "Most of them suffer from maladies they were born with, but there are several who, like your mother, sustained an injury that resulted in diminished mental capacity."

"Is that so?" Sakura mumbled, in a voice so dead it was almost painful to listen to.

"We usually have them spend their time drawing and doing other art-related work." Kirishi bravely continued anyway, gesturing at some of the doors they walked past, one more lavishly decorated than the other. "It has a calming effect on them, especially if we leave them free in what they want to create."

"Aha."

"Your mother isn't a very active participant though." Kirishi admitted. "She considers it too childish, and keeps telling us that we should bring the pencils to her daughters. That is why her room may be a bit less… colourful than the others."

As if on cue, they arrived at the end of a hallway right as Kirishi finished speaking, where they encountered a door that wasn't decorated at all. It was coloured an even brown, with its only discerning feature being the white nameplate that had been installed at about eye-height.

Tohsaka Aoi

"Here we are." The receptionist said, softening her voice a bit. "Do you need me to stay with you or can you handle it on your own from here?"

"Please leave us alone for a moment." Rin requested, and the receptionist nodded with a sympathetic smile, walking away quickly and discreetly, only pausing to give Shirou a penetrating look, one that said he better take good care of the girls.

He didn't need to be told, and he nodded strongly, which seemed to please her well enough. Then she left for real, and Shirou turned back to the girls.

Rin took a deep breath, steeling herself for what laid ahead, and then she opened the door to her mother's chambers and stepped through, followed closely behind by Sakura.

The room itself was spacious and luxurious, with a flat-screen television, two comfortable sofas, a radio, a dining table with four chairs, and a glass slide door that led into a private section of the clinic's garden.

Shirou did not miss though that there were no stoves, no knives or forks, no ropes or rope-like material, or anything of the sort around. It seemed everything that could be used to cause harm had been removed, which did not bode well.

Tohsaka Aoi herself was currently seated in a wheelchair in front of the slide door, looking out into the garden, which was bathed in the light of a setting sun. She was turned away from them, so Shirou couldn't see her very well, but what he could see, her hair and her hands, seemed to be in good condition, better than he had expected.

"Mom?" Rin called out to her, walking into the room with a sense of caution that did not speak of a fear of harm, but more of a different, much more complicated kind of fear. "Mom, how are you today?"

"Rin?" The woman reacted immediately, sitting up straight when she heard her daughter's voice. "Ah, Rin, you are finally back."

"Yes." Rin agreed, smiling even though the woman couldn't see her yet. "I'm back, mom."

"Welcome home, dear." Aoi turned the wheelchair around in a flourish, revealing herself to the room, smiling so happily that the sun behind her was rivalled in its intensity. "Did you have fun outside?"

"I did, mom." Rin nodded, her smile unmarred. "A lot of fun."

"I'm so happy to hear that." Aoi tittered, getting up from her wheelchair to approach her daughter, walking with a strong and confident gait that absolutely did not hint at any kind of mental illnesses whatsoever.

Tohsaka Aoi still looked incredibly good for her age. Her hair was a glossy black, falling straight down her shoulders, her skin was unmarred and smooth, her eyes were clear and sparkling, and her body was curvaceous and lean, barely hidden by the loose gown she wore.

If someone had claimed that she was Rin's and Sakura's older sister rather than their mother, Shirou might have somewhat believed them.

She didn't look at all like a woman who had spent the past eight years in a mental health clinic. She didn't look emaciated and close to death, or even the slightest bit unkempt. She looked like a healthy mother of two who was living her life to the fullest.

But there was no denying her insanity nonetheless. The moment Shirou had laid eyes on her, he could see, clear as day, that she had more than a few wires crossed.

"You are back just in time for dinner." Aoi beamed at Rin, stepping closer to place a hand on her daughter's cheek. "Children should eat well. Then they'll grow up to become big and strong."

"Mom, I'm already grown up." Rin sighed, her eyes containing both fondness and misery as her smile turned a tad brittle.

"Now, now, dear." Aoi tapped her nose once, giggling at her. "I know children like to think the world is at their feet, but you are only five years old. You are still a child. Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, it's much less fun than you think it is."

"Mom…"

"Oh, you're right, that's enough heavy talk for one evening. I shouldn't spoil your fun. Let's eat instead. Your father will be busy for a while, but why don't you call Sakura, then I'll put the food on the table. I made your favourite." Aoi talked over her, turning around again, before she stopped. "Oh, but where has the kitchen gone now? I always lose track of it."

The woman began spinning around, looking in every nook and cranny for her non-existent kitchen, her gown spinning along with her as she did so. It would have been funny to see, if it wasn't so immensely sad.

"Holy smokes." Ayako whispered, looking on as Rin was treated like a five-year-old by a woman who thought she was in her own house, that her husband was still alive, and that her second daughter hadn't been given away to another family years before.

"She is stuck in the past." Sakura mumbled, looking with wide eyes at what used to be her mother.

"Ah, I can't find the kitchen!" The woman wailed, clenching her head in her hands, and her voice suddenly turned strangely intense. "I'm such a failure of a mother!"

"Mom." Rin protested, but the dam had been broken, and there was no stopping it now.

"I'm such a stupid cow! Tokiomi is always in his study! Sakura is gone! My family is broken, and I let it all happen!" Tears started streaming over Aoi's cheeks as the woman fell to her knees. "What have I done?! What have I done?! I'm sorry, Rin! I'm so sorry!"

"No, mom, that's not..." Rin took a step closer to console her mother, before she froze again, having no idea what to do. Her face was expressionless, but her hands were balled at her sides, so tightly that they were shaking.

She did not seem surprised at the way events had unfolded though. Everything in her body-language screamed this was exactly what she had expected.

"Mother, stop it!" That was when Sakura took action. The plum-haired girl marched straight up to the woman and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Stop crying! You are making Nee-san sad!"

"…" For several seconds, Aoi did nothing but stare at Sakura, her cheeks wet from the tears and her eyes red from crying. Then she brightened up so quickly it almost gave the others in the room a whiplash. "Sakura, you've come home!"

The woman shot to her feet and threw her arms around Sakura, laughing happily as she embraced her daughter, nothing left of her earlier sadness and self-hatred.

"Rin, look!" She called out, beaming at her eldest child. "Sakura is finally back!"

"Y-Yes, mom." Rin nodded, her hands unclenching as she gave her mother a cautious smile in return. "She is."

"I was so worried about you, young lady." Aoi then put Sakura down again to chide her, wagging her finger at the plum-haired girl. "I know you like playing outside, but we agreed that you would be back home before dinner, remember?"

"Playing outside?!" For a moment, Sakura looked utterly incredulous, outraged at the notion that she was being blamed for her absence, but then she deflated again, realising there was no use in getting angry at a madwoman. "Yes, mother. I am sorry, it will not happen again."

"Oh no, don't look so sad!" Aoi changed her tune with immense speed again, fussing over Sakura like one would over a four-year-old. "I still love you, honestly, even if you played outside for too long. I love both of my daughters, more than anything else in the world. I would never abandon you!"

Sakura breathed in deep, a thousand emotions flashing over her face, from anger to delight to betrayal, before she turned to Shirou.

"Senpai?"

It was clear what she was asking.

"I'll get to it."

He resolutely walked up to Aoi, before gently removing Sakura from her grasp. The plum-haired girl retreated the moment she was free, choosing to hide behind Ayako, and Shirou placed himself right in front of the elder Tohsaka.

"Emiya-kun?" Rin asked in surprise, but he ignored her for the moment.

"Good evening, sir, may I ask what you are doing?" Aoi narrowed her eyes at him, clearly suspicious of his motives. "If you are looking for Tokiomi-"

"I am not." Shirou interrupted her, but that didn't lessen her suspicion in the slightest.

"Are you here for my daughters then?" Aoi's brows furrowed, and she scowled at him. "You are much too old for them! My daughters are toddlers, you are older than I am. Frankly, your pursuit of them is insanely creepy! Go away, before I call my husband to throw you out."

Shirou wondered for a moment what part of her insanity he'd stumbled upon now, before dismissing the matter. He forcibly grabbed her head and forced her to make eye-contact with him, ignoring both Aoi's squawk of protest and Rin's identical squawk of shock behind him.

"Wait, Rin!" Ayako called out, and Shirou heard more than he saw how the brunette grabbed the other girl to stop her from running up to him. "He is just seeing if he can help her."

"Help?" Rin did not understand what she meant at first, but the penny dropped quickly, and she gasped in shock. "You mean, Healing?!"

"Perhaps." Shirou nodded, before he focused completely on the woman in front of him.

He had already noticed that she was insane, and now that he was looking her in the eyes, his Magically-Enhanced senses also told him it was because of the brain-damage she'd sustained through prolonged strangulation.

He studied the damage for a bit longer, and then, seeing that it wasn't extensive and well within his capabilities to heal, he couldn't suppress a massive smile.

"Oh!" Ayako piped up from behind him, her voice full of happy anticipation. "Did you see that?"

"I did." Sakura laughed softly. "Senpai only reacts like that when he is happy."

Apparently, he was very easy to read.

"Shirou." That was Rin again, her voice so fragile Shirou was almost afraid to move an inch in fear of breaking it. "Can you help her?"

"I can." He confirmed, completely sure of himself, and then, without wasting another second, he channelled his Healing Power.

The next moment, the room was bathed in golden light.

It was as if she woke up from a very long, very confusing dream.

Tohsaka Aoi blinked blearily as she opened her eyes, feeling extremely disoriented and dizzy, and she was very grateful to find herself sitting on a sofa, for if she had been standing, she would have undoubtedly fallen over.

Aoi groaned lightly when she noticed she had a headache on top of the disorientation, and she would have brought up a hand to rub her brow if it hadn't been for the fact her arms felt like lead, utterly immoveable.

Her grogginess and disorientation, combined with the fact she could barely move, ignited a spark of worry in her heart, and she fought to keep her eyes open and to focus on what lay before her.

These sensations were not unlike being drugged, and since she would never take any drugs herself, she could only be drugged if someone had slipped something into her food or drink to abduct her.

The spark of worry increased in intensity when she realised that the only reason for which she could have abducted was to use her to force Tokiomi into compliance, and increased even more when she remembered that her husband had told her, in no uncertain terms, that if she was taken by anyone, he would abandon her without a second thought.

With titanic effort, Aoi managed to lift her head a bit, to find herself staring at-

Beautiful golden eyes looking straight back at her.

Aoi blinked once in surprise, before she widened her field of vision, slowly regaining control over her body.

The golden eyes belonged to a redheaded teenager, who was looking at her with a mixture of satisfaction and slight concern. A brunette girl was peeking over his shoulder, casually standing with her cheek against his, indicating they were perhaps lovers.

To the side, a black-haired girl of about the same age as the other two stood, looking at Aoi with an astounded expression, holding hands with a plum-haired girl with pretty purple eyes, who looked just as astonished.

For some reason, the latter two girls looked incredibly familiar to her, to a point where Aoi felt shame welling up in her breast for not recognising them immediately, and she quickly looked them over, hoping to stimulate her memory.

The older girl's hair, done up in twin tails, connected the dots for Aoi.

"R-Rin?" She muttered, and the black-haired girl stiffened. "Sakura?" The purple-haired girl stiffened as well. "Is that… Is that you? You look so old."

"Mom, that's rude." The black-haired girl, Rin, huffed, and Aoi was shocked to see unshed tears shining in her eyes. "I'm only eight years older than the last time we spoke."

"Ten years, in my case." The plum-haired girl, Sakura, grumbled, a tiny bit of venom in her voice, before that venom melted away again. "It's good to see you again, mother."

"Huh? But… That is- I don't…" Aoi spluttered, her brain making desperate attempts to reboot without success, before the redheaded teen held up a hand, silencing her.

"Please calm down, Tohsaka-san." He said in a pleasant voice, giving her an easy smile. "Don't try to force your memories to return. Just relax for a moment, and they'll come to you by themselves."

"Relax?" Aoi muttered with slight confusion.

"Yes." The boy nodded, still smiling. "Just take a deep breath and lean back for a bit.

His voice somehow set her at ease, and Aoi followed his advice, leaning back as she breathed in deep, before-

"I have arranged with Matou Zouken that Sakura will become a part of their family." Tokiomi told her, and the news was like a punch to her gut. "She'll be happier there, and become a Magus in her own right."

...

"Mommy, I don't want to go." Sakura pleaded with her, while Rin stood off to the side, crying openly at the thought of her sister being taken away.

...

"You must forget about her, dear." She whispered to Rin, who was sitting on her lap, several months after Sakura had left, trying to ignore the gaping hole in her heart. "Sakura is not your sister. Not anymore."

...

"The Fourth Holy Grail War will begin soon." Tokiomi told her, while Kirei stood behind him, looking on with an impassive gaze. "I want you and Rin to leave the city until it is over."

...

"You gave Sakura to Zouken?" Kariya cried in horror, widening the gaping hole in her heart even further. "Is Tokiomi insane?"

Aoi screamed as the memories all entered her head at once, her hands now coming up by themselves to cradle her head, and she was only vaguely aware of the commotion in front of her in reaction to her screams.

Tokiomi kept reporting to her about the War's progress, until he suddenly stopped.

...

Kirei sometimes sent Rin and her a message as well, until he suddenly stopped.

...

Risei tried to provide some comfort to her while she was waiting for the War to be over, until he suddenly stopped.

...

She received a message from Kariya, the only one who still communicated with her, to come to Fuyuki's church.

"No!" She wailed, realising what she was about to see. "No, I don't want to-"

She entered the church, finding Kariya standing near the altar, staring at something on the church's pews in horror, and she looked as well, wondering what it was-

The body collapsed to the side, falling off the pew and onto the ground, and she realised it was Tokiomi's corpse.

She shouted at Kariya, he shouted back, and then his hands were around her throat, squeezing so hard it was impossible to breathe. She clawed at his face, begging for air, but there was no response as she sunk deeper and deeper into darkness, until-

"MOM!"

A slap to her face broke her out of the memory, and she breathed in hard when she realised she wasn't being strangled anymore.

"Mom, calm down!" Strong hands grabbed her shoulders, and when she looked up, she saw Rin standing in front of her. "Calm down! You're safe here!"

"Rin." She muttered, and her eyes started pricking when she remembered, fully, what had transpired during the Grail War. "What happened? W-Why was I… gone?"

"You were strangled." Her daughter explained. "You got brain damage. It's… It's been eight years since then, mom."

"Eight years?" Aoi didn't truly get it at first, staring at Rin with a befuddled expression, before the words really got through to her. "Eight years!?"

That was why her daughters were so much older now? That was why she was sitting in a place she now recognised as a medical room?

That was why her daughters looked so happy to see her?!

"Oh, girls." She whispered, realising how much they must have suffered during her absence. "Oh, how could this have happened?"

"Mom…" Rin began to answer, but Aoi interrupted her by taking her into a big hug, embracing her as strongly as she could.

Aoi then turned to Sakura, wordlessly invited her to join the hug. Sakura stood still for several seconds, betrayal still reflected in her eyes, opening the gaping hole in Aoi's heart all over again, before the plum-haired girl's eyes misted over.

The next second, she was in Aoi's arms as well, and the woman couldn't stop herself from crying when she realised she had both her daughters with her again, at last, after what had apparently been ten years.

There was still a lot she needed to ask, a lot she needed to do, she hadn't yet been introduced to the red-haired boy and brunette girl, and she had much to make up for, but at that moment, she didn't care.

All she cared about was hugging her beautiful, precious daughters.

All's well that ends well.

Or at least, that was what Shirou would like to say.

It wasn't quite true though. Things hadn't ended yet, not by a long shot.

Although he had managed to mostly heal Tohsaka Aoi, she wasn't yet allowed to go home. The doctors at the clinic, astounded by her sudden recovery, had insisted that she stay with them for several weeks more, for observation, and although Aoi hadn't looked particularly keen on it, the doctors had put their foot down, forcing her to agree.

Furthermore, although the scene of Sakura and Rin hugging their mother had been wonderful and heart-warming to see, it did not magically fix all the family-issues. As much as Aoi professed to love Sakura now, she had still given her away to the Matou all those years ago, something that still haunted the plum-haired girl to this day.

Rin had eventually gotten a pass from Sakura since she'd still been a child herself at the time, but Aoi had no such excuses. She had been an adult, a mother, and she had given her daughter away without even a token protest.

That was a wound that would take a lot of time to heal, that was certain.

Still, Sakura had been cordial the entire time, though more for Rin's sake than for her mother's, and had carefully avoided any mention of the Matou.

Since Aoi had just been healed from her brain-damage, they had all been very careful not to stress her too much. As such, they had made no mention of what the Matou had done to Sakura, what Kirei had done to Tokiomi, and of the fact that Gilgamesh was still around.

They had also avoided the topic of their relationship with Shirou, and had introduced him and Ayako as 'friends', nothing more.

Aoi first needed to recover properly, and then she could be overloaded with all the hard truths. He knew for a fact that Sakura had some choice words for her, and Rin likely had a few things to say as well.

He could not help them with that though, not truly. He couldn't reconnect them with their mother, nor could he decide for them to break off all relations with her. That was something they had to figure out for themselves.

He would of course support them to the best of his ability though, through the entire process of either getting their mother back or getting some actual closure. That was the absolute least he could do as their boyfriend.

Or fiancé, in Rin's case, because that term, unlike boyfriend, held actual meaning in the Moonlit World.

Something that might become relevant sooner than they had expected, if Rin's predictions about the Edelfelt coming after her would come true.

But that was a matter for a later date. Right now, he had more than enough going on already, and the Ritual to change his sister into a human really was his number one priority.

After that, he needed to prepare for his return to the Clocktower, he needed to prepare for possible Edelfelt-spies, he needed to work out a plan to deal with the Church's new agent, and he had to start planning for the Grail War.

A hero's work was never done.

But chapter forty-nine is in fact done. I have completed it. It was an annoying chapter too. So much talking and talking. It had to be done though.

The girls have been informed of the fact that the Grail War is nigh. I know you readers are quite eager for the War to start too, but you'll have to be a little more patient. There are a few things that must be dealt with beforehand. I will be using more time-skips though, and the Clocktower-arc I have planned will be combined with some other stuff.

With some luck, the Grail War isn't even that far away anymore. Or at least, the start of the Grail War, as it's going to be a long one. A lot of other things I had planned will be moved into the Grail War as well.

Lorelei is still hunting her beast, Luvia learns that the Tohsaka are selling gems, and Rin learns in turn that the Edelfelt have been buying her stuff.

Rin's mother has been healed too. This might complicate things a little bit for the family-situations, but I'll do my best to mention her as little as possible and to keep her impact on the story to a minimum. There was just no way Shirou was not going to try and heal her after hearing about her and her condition.

Like I said though, don't expect everything between Aoi, Sakura, and Rin to be fine immediately. There are many issues that need addressing, and said addressing will continue until well into the Grail War.

In the next chapter, Shirou finally turns Illya into a human(ish being), they go to school again, Caren arrives in Fuyuki, and Lorelei continues her hunt. Maybe I'll even include a scene of Edelfelt spies running afoul of Shirou's defences.

Now for some clarification of Shirou's current power level. Shirou is not Thor's equal yet. He is still growing into the role. All the people who took Shirou's and Gilgamesh's battle last chapter to mean that Gil is stronger than Thor are wrong. Gil is stronger than the current Shirou, but that is all.

Again, Shirou is not at Thor's level, and if we want to keep conflict in the story, he won't be until at least the end of the Holy Grail War. Because frankly, 616-Thor would easily steamroll all the Servants, and Old King Thor would only need a gesture to crush all threats the Nasuverse has to offer.

You can't write a compelling story if the MC is so much more powerful than everyone else.

I hope that straightens things out.

Now, I am happy to tell you all that I have finished my internship. I've done the presentation, handed in the reports, and now all that is left is waiting for the grades. I have every expectation of passing though, I'm not worried about that.

That also means however that I'll be going on holiday soon, and the computer is not coming along. As such, the next chapter might be delayed slightly. It is well on its way, but my first beta (my brother) was not happy with certain parts, and upon revision, I am not happy either.

Correcting it will take some time, after the holiday.

Bye bye.