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*****
"Mr. Maple Tree, are you alright?"
Seeing George descend after subduing the attacking Lancer, Emiya Shirou finally let out a breath of relief.
But before he could ask what was going on, the courtyard door was pushed open, and a boy and a girl rushed in.
"Tohsaka? What are you doing here?"
Shirou's face filled with surprise as he looked at the girl who entered.
It was Tohsaka Rin—his classmate in the same grade, the vice president of the student council, and the school idol known for her grades and beauty.
They weren't especially close, partly because his friend, the student council president Ryuudou Issei, had warned him to avoid getting too involved with Tohsaka to "avoid misfortune."
"The second Servant—I'll take care of this one!"
The female Saber saw the white-haired, red-clad man standing behind Rin and immediately recognized him as a Servant, realizing Rin was one of the seven magi.
She swung her invisible sword at once.
The Archer reacted swiftly, manifesting twin daggers to block Saber's strike.
"Stop—please don't fight! Can someone tell me what's going on?!"
Shirou hurried between them and halted the clash.
Rin pressed a hand to her forehead.
"So the seventh Master turned out to be you of all people… Fine. Emiya, you're clearly ignorant about all this.
Anyway… good evening, Emiya-kun."
"Good evening, Tohsaka."
Seeing Rin's calm, bright expression, Shirou replied sheepishly.
"Restore to original."
Standing nearby, George waved a hand—and the courtyard, previously damaged in the battle, was instantly restored to how it had been.
This caught the attention of both Rin and Archer.
Saber was clearly a summoned Servant of the Saber class. But this young man who casually performed high-level magecraft—who was he?
And the spell he used to repair the destroyed courtyard? She had never seen anything like it. It must have been advanced magic.
"Who is he?"
"He's Mr. Maple Tree—he used to be my tree, and then he…"
Shirou tried to explain, but halfway through he realized he had no idea how to continue. How was he supposed to say a maple tree he'd planted had turned into a human—and could use magic?
"A tree turned into a person? What are you talking about, Emiya?"
Rin touched Shirou's forehead. No fever—yet he was babbling nonsense?
Maybe he still had aftereffects from being stabbed through the chest earlier?
Tonight, she had been at school investigating a string of student disappearances and discovered someone had set up a soul-devouring bounded field that could corrode human flesh and absorb souls.
Then she was attacked by Lancer. While her Archer fought him, Shirou, who had stayed late to clean the archery dojo, happened to witness the battle.
And thus, he was run through the heart by Lancer's spear.
By some stroke of fortune, he hadn't died instantly despite the heart wound and still had a breath of life.
She used the red jewel her father left her to heal him.
In fact, ever since middle school, when she'd gone to the school Shirou and Sakura attended for student council matters, she'd once seen him practicing high jump on the field.
He'd kept trying for an impossible height without stopping, which left her a deep impression. She'd often paid attention to this inexplicably strange boy.
And since her pitiful little sister Sakura seemed to like Shirou, Rin couldn't just ignore things.
So after realizing Lancer might go after Shirou again, she brought Archer and rushed here to save him.
"Here's what happened—I was at school tonight…"
Shirou scratched his head and recounted everything: being stabbed by Lancer, being healed, returning home, and all that followed.
Honestly, among everyone present, the person he trusted most was Rin.
George was a maple tree turned man. The female knight was a summoned Servant. Both were strangers he'd only met today.
Rin, on the other hand, was a classmate in the same grade, the student council vice president—someone he already knew, even if they hadn't been especially close before.
"So your maple tree turned into a person… and beat Lancer…"
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Rin's jaw dropped. It was all too absurd.
But for some reason, her intuition told her Shirou wasn't lying.
Still, it was unbelievable.
Lancer was among the strongest frontline combatants of the seven Servant classes.
And the Child of Light from Ireland was no small name in legend—yet he'd been defeated by a maple tree planted by Shirou ten years ago.
"How about we all sit inside and have some tea while we talk things over?"
George's voice drifted from the living room. He had already walked in and made himself comfortable.
Everyone exchanged glances and headed for the living room.
"I'll go make some tea."
Before Shirou had even found the tea leaves, George waved his hand and several steaming cups of tea appeared on the table.
"No need, it's already here."
"This guy's magecraft…"
Rin's pupils shrank again as she watched George conjure the tea.
As the sole heir of the Tohsaka family, she was nothing like half-trained Shirou—she knew magecraft well.
But she had never seen anything like what George was doing.
Restoring a damaged house with a wave, conjuring tea without incantation or a magic circle—any proper magus would think he was performing stage magic.
"Alright, let me explain the situation first."
Rin took a sip of tea, then calmly recounted the facts of the Holy Grail War.
"So that's how it is. You're the seventh Master, and the final participant of this Holy Grail War."
"To be honest, I still don't really get it. If a Master is supposed to be a real magus, maybe you should pick someone else. I only learned a bit of basic magecraft from my father."
Shirou sighed.
"And this whole thing is ridiculous. For the so-called Holy Grail, we're supposed to kill six people—and their summoned Servants?"
Since childhood, he had made a promise with his adoptive father to become someone who upheld justice and did righteous deeds. In his eyes, the Grail War was anything but just.
"It's not necessary to kill the Master—defeating the Servant is also valid. But compared to powerful Servants, eliminating the Master is usually more efficient.
Even then, if the Master still has Command Seals, they can summon a new Servant and continue participating."
Rin explained.
Shirou's eyes lit up.
"So if I use up all three Command Seals at once, I can forfeit being a Master?"
"If you're planning to give up your Master role, how about you pass that position to me? I'm actually quite interested in this Holy Grail War."
At that moment, George—who had been silent the whole time—finally spoke.
(End of this chapter)