Silas -
I looked at Rin and the other blonde girl who suddenly jumped in front of her, taking a stance as if wielding a sword and looked at us with a serious look on her face.
On a closer look, I could see that it was actually a barrier of some kind shaped like a sword… was that compressed wind?
"Rin, step back. There is an undead in this place." The blondie said, staring at Ainz.
We looked at Ainz and then at the blonde girl and then back at Ainz.
…He forgot to wear the mask again.
"Now now, no need to get scared. Ainz is a friend. Despite how he looks, he means no one any harm." I stood up and tried to diffuse the situation but the girl was staring at others by then.
"A Servant, a Dragon… and even someone with Divinity. What manner of place is this?" She asked, looking flabbergasted.
"This is a Restaurant… and waving around… a, whatever that is, here is considered bad manners." I replied and turned towards Rin. "You need to ask your friend to chill."
I don't know if she was still scared by yesterday's events or if it was just consideration for Sakura but she pulled her blonde friend back. "Saber, stop."
"Master, there are many supernatural beings here, and even a servant. Are you sure this place is safe?"
"I… yes. Let's listen to his explanation first." She said looking at me and then her eyes went to the side towards the kitchen's door where Sakura was standing by.
Sakura hadn't moved from her place, neither coming forward, nor leaving, as if unsure of what to do.
I looked at Rimuru who understood my message and took the lead to explain everything quickly while I went to Sakura to check on her.
"That's impossible. Such a thing is on the level of True Magic. I have only heard of one person being able to do such a thing, the Wizard Marshal…"
"It's not at the level of a True Magic, girly. It's beyond even that." Caster interrupted, making Rin look at her with narrowed eyes. "The scope of this place is far beyond even that of the Second Magic. Such a thing wasn't heard of even in the Age of Gods. For example, that Goddess sitting over there used to manage the cycle of reincarnation between many worlds and there are worlds outside even her knowledge." She said pointing towards Aqua. "Many people here come from different clusters of worlds, some having been reincarnated into different beings after death indicating the presence of different pantheons of Gods managing each cluster and this place still manages to appear wherever it likes without anyone being any the wiser. Does that answer your question?"
She then went on to argue with Rin and many technical terms went through one of our ears and out through another but at least by the end of it all, she understood… or at least accepted the explanation.
"Then this place… "
"Anyways, that should answer your questions. So no attacking anyone or you're getting thrown out no matter who you are. Got it?" I asked.
This girl seemed a bit hard headed and it was better to be strict with such people.
Rin didn't say anything so I looked at the blonde girl behind her who stood stoically but at least it didn't look like she would make any move.
"Now, let's take the next conversation to a private room." I told Rin and then looked at Sakura.
She looked a bit hesitant but I held her hand and reassured her before both of them followed me to the room.
When we were outside the room, Sakura stopped me.
"I… I want to do this alone."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes."
I looked at her for a moment and then at Rin who was also eyeing me.
"Alright. I am waiting outside. Call me if you need me any time."
"Okay." She nodded and entered the room.
Rin exchanged a glance with the blonde girl, Saber who waited outside while she entered the room too.
A moment of silence spread over the place.
This room was away from the main hall of the Restaurant so no one could disturb or see us during the conversation. That meant only the two of us were outside.
Finding the silence a bit awkward, I tried to make a conversation with Saber.
"So, Saber… are you also one of those servants like Caster outside, fighting in that supernatural war for a chance to summon Shenron?"
"Summon what?" The girl looked confused and I laughed.
"It's a reference. Shenron is a dragon who grants wishes in an animated series common in some worlds."
"There is such a thing in other worlds?" She asked, surprised.
"I mean we haven't encountered the Dragonball world yet but who knows. So, you want a wish granted too?"
She became quiet at that moment. "Yes." But said no further.
I didn't push either.
"So Caster was telling me that the summoned servants are all heroes from the past. Are you someone I would know?"
"That's personal."
"Oh, I apologise. I didn't know that."
"Hmm. Whose servant is the Caster outside?" She asked.
"A friend's." I answered briefly.
"Rin tells me you are strong and that you took on Berserker yourself. WIll you be participating in the Holy Grail War too?"
"Why would I do that?" I asked.
"Don't you have any wishes you want granted?"
"Wishes? Hmm, nothing urgent that I can think of. I am quite happy with my life. I have a place like this where I can meet people, make friends and do what I like the best… cooking. Sure sometimes there are things I desire but I'd rather work for it myself. I mean, the journey is just as important as the result after all."
"Really? No wishes? The Holy Grail could grant any wish of yours. It could make you all powerful, the king of the world." She spoke.
I raised an eyebrow at this and laughed. "What are you, the devil? Trying to tempt me like that? But no. I am not really interested. I am satisfied with my restaurant here. For many people such a life might be boring and unambitious but this is the life I have chosen for myself. Ruling a world… can you imagine the stress? I'd look like Saitama in a year and that's scary considering the fact that I might not even be capable of hair loss." I laughed at the thought.
The girl just stared at me and then looked at the ground.
"I envy you." She whispered softly but I was able to pick that up.
Suddenly, I heard voices from inside.
The sound of Sakura shouting but she didn't call for me. She was probably arguing.
Good.
Let her vent.
She had this bad habit of always keeping things buried inside and the only time I had seen her burst was when she was in front of Rin.
Beside me, Saber looked towards the door, looking like she was about to enter.
I held her by the shoulder and shook my head.
"Let them be. They need to do this."
She hesitated a bit but I added.
"They haven't called anyone yet. Don't interfere."
Apparently that was enough to get her to back off.
Their shouts died down a bit later. The door to the room opened after almost half an hour and Rin was the first one to exit. She looked furious but still paused when she saw me and hesitated for a moment before actually bowing a full ninety degrees. "Thank you."
"Hmm. Would you like to wait and have something to eat?" I asked.
"No. I have a bastard to kill first." She replied, gritting her teeth.
…
"Are you talking about the guy with blue seaweed type hair?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. I had always regretted not going with Gojo-sensei and Kisuke-san back then.
"Yes."
"Do you mind inviting me over if you ever find where he is? I couldn't go there last time and have always regretted it." I asked.
"I make no promises that he will be alive before you arrive."
"Then I will make sure I'm quick."
Rin just nodded and left the restaurant.
I too decided to go in and check on Sakura.
Sakura was sitting in the room, quietly, staring at the table in front of her. Her eyes were red.
Looks like she was crying.
Good.
Anything was better than suffocating like that.
I didn't say anything at first and just sat down beside her.
The silence in the room was broken when she spoke after a while.
"Silas-san."
"Hmm."
"I want to participate in the Holy Grail War too."
…
…
…
…
"What?"
"I wish to participate in the Holy Grail War too." She repeated, resolutely this time.
I stared at her for a moment.
I hadn't seen Sakura be so resolute before.
"Do you have something you want to wish for?" I asked.
"No."
…
"Then?"
"I… just want to win… to prove myself."
…
What did she want to prove?
I looked at her questioningly and after a while she spoke.
"My father… he gave me away because he didn't want competition. He gave me away to the Matou so that I could become the heir of that House so that they could train me as a magus but they didn't. They didn't train me… they… they…"
I put a hand on her shoulder.
"I want to prove him wrong. I want to show him that I could have done well even if he didn't send me away… I want to win this Holy Grail War." She finished.
I looked at her in pity.
Did her reason make any sense?
No.
But people rarely made sense when they were hurt.
Pain and anger distorts reason.
But if this is what it takes for her to regain her confidence… then so be it.
"Okay. Let's go and talk to Saitama. I don't think he would mind."
She nodded and got up.
Before leaving however, I pulled her into a tight hug.
"I am proud of you, Sakura." I whispered softly in her ears.
Sakura's breath hitched at this and she actually returned my hug, tightly this time.
I felt slight wetness on my chest, probably from her tears so I stayed like that.
After a while, she moved away and wiped her eyes.
"Let's go."
We went out.
Thankfully, the entire group was still in the restaurant. They looked worriedly at us.
Rimuru and Ainz looked at me with a questioning gaze.
"Saitama."
"Hmm?"
"I need a favour."
"Eh, what is it?"
"It's like this…"
I explained the situation to them and at the end Sakura also bowed deeply. "Please."
"Why would you need a favour from them then? She can participate too, you know. I just want the reward. She obviously doesn't want it so her participating only increases the chances of our group winning. I don't see a problem here."
"That's true."
"Actually… she, I mean Sakura-chan, wants to have a duel of sorts with her sister, right?" Ainz asked.
I looked at Sakura who nodded.
"Then why don't we fill the rest of the slots with our own people and beat the rest who are not with our team? That way Sakura-chan and her sister can duel while Saitama can win and get his wish."
"Will that work?" I asked.
That sounded too fucking convenient for having any wish granted.
Even collecting dragon balls needed people to go around the world.
This sounded like cheap match-fixing.
"How would we know if we don't try?" He shrugged and then looked at Caster. "You are the most knowledgeable about the whole thing. Do you think it would work?" He asked her.
She thought for a moment and shrugged. "I don't know. We can always try. It sounds interesting as it is. Do you have other players in mind?"
"Does it have to be humans?" He asked.
"I am not sure but it would be better if they are."
"Hmm in that case, Silas, you can ask the rest of the Restaurant staff to participate. We can call Cid or others if there are slots left."
"Eh, Ikki is off to save the supernatural police girl Rukia so I doubt he would be able to participate. Let's see how many slots are empty first. I will ask Lavy and Orihime and Cid just in case if they want to participate. If we have more slots left, we can ask other customers."
"Sounds like a plan. So… what exactly do we need to do to participate in this tournament?" Ainz asked Caster.
"That will require them to use a ritual to summon a servant. It will automatically register them as masters and start the war."
"Do we need anything for the ritual?"
"Not much. Although some catalyst to summon a servant would be nice, not having them wouldn't affect anyone either. They will just get servants fitting their personality or backgrounds." She explained.
"Alright then. Let's wait for Lavy and Orihime. We can start when they return. By then you can start preparation for the ritual." I asked.
She looked at Saitama who nodded and she too gave us a shrug and got to work.
- Tatsuki -
She felt the tremors from the fight outside and clenched her fists.
Ikki was fighting that monster of a man, holding him back from coming here.
She then looked at Ishida and Ichigo who were unconscious.
They had already used the potion which Ikki had got from Silas on them and while their wounds were healed, they were still unconscious.
They had to hold on until Ichigo woke up.
Until then, she would have to do something.
A while ago, she had looked outside and it didn't look like Ikki was faring well against that monster.
Suddenly, she felt a huge sense of dread and the next moment an enormous pressure fell on her, almost as if trying to crush her.
Next moment, she felt Ikki's power swell to an incredible extent and quickly ran out to check, just in time to see Ikki and that monster slashing dashing towards each other,
They clashed and ground, the buildings, everything was divided in two.
At the next moment Ikki fell.
She found her heart skipping a beat in dread.
The next moment, a large slash appeared on the monster's chest and blood spurted out like crazy, falling everywhere but the monster himself stood straight. His face morphed into a smile and then he began to laugh loudly.
"Hahahahahaha that was great! That was great, Ryoka! Come, get up! Give me more! I haven't felt this rush in a long time! Get up. Fight me!" He shouted but Ikki remained unmoving.
Tatsuki quickly thought of something and summoned her device and punched the building beside her to buff herself up. This was a trick she had discovered to her device. It increased the strength of the user as long as the combo went on, with no upper cap except how much her body could handle.
She was going to put everything in this one charge. Ikki had bought them some time, and she couldn't let his efforts go to waste.
With that in mind, she kept charging.
The building however crashed and that made the monster notice her but she didn't stop and kept charging until her body was pushed to the limit. Pain shot through her body and it seemed as if her bones were creaking but at the same time, the pressure from around her seemed to have gone.
No.
It wasn't gone.
It was still there.
It was just that she had grown strong enough to ignore the pressure now.
"Oh… another one. Although not on the level of this one, I can see that you are strong too. Good, I am excited. Come, fight me."
Without any more words, the monster kicked the ground and charged towards her.
Tatsuki also took her stance and faced him head on.
He slashed down with that jagged blade of his and she spun around to dodge and punched into his side. His steps faltered but before she could take another hit, she felt the blade coming for her neck and quickly stepped back.
"Yes. That one hurt. You are not bad either. Come! Fight me! Let's kill each other." He laughed madly and charged at her.
Very soon, Tatsuki understood that this man has had no formal training and yet his attacks were always meant to kill.
She was barely able to save herself from losing a limb due to her martial arts training all these years.
But as time closed in, she realised that she was getting nowhere.
He was still fighting as if he had no care in the world while she only had a few seconds left.
Finally deciding to risk it all, she made a bold move and rushed forward to directly kick his head with all her remaining power.
His smile widened and she understood that he had her where he wanted. The next moment, a sharp pain erupted in her guts however at the same time, her kick landed on him too and he was sent flying into a building, collapsing it.
She clutched her gut and fell to her knees, the world around her seemed to shake as an intense feeling of dizziness passed over her.
In the next moment, she vomited and felt light as her body started falling… only to be caught by someone.
She looked up to see a familiar head of orange hair and felt something wet wash over her injured gut and a cooling sensation passed over her. She realised that it was the potion from Silas.
"You are late, you idiot." She managed to whisper.
"Sorry about that. Now take some rest. I will take care of the rest." He replied but his eyes were still on the building where a cloud of dust had gathered.
Moments later, a burst of energy rose from the cloud, dispersing everything around the place and revealing the figure of the monster beneath.
"Hahahaha, that was good. I think I had a concussion from that kick. You are good, girl." He laughed madly.
She gritted her teeth in frustration. All that power and it didn't do anything to him.
Just how were they going to beat this guy?
As she was thinking this, Ichigo held his zanpakutō in front of him and took a stance and the next moment, his spiritual pressure started to rise too.
Her eyes widened at the power and she heard him speak, "Go and take care of Ishida and Ikki."
"Y-yes." She replied and somehow picked up Ikki and moved back to the place Ishida was hidden.
Behind her, clashes started again.
- Rin -
She sat in her room, holding her head in her hands, trying to figure out when things had gone so wrong.
Her father had given Sakura into the Matou custody to help her realise her talents as a magus.
They were supposed to train her into a suitable heir.
But they… Zouken Matou… and Shinji…
She gritted her teeth.
Her sister went through all that while she was deliberately keeping her distance.
No wonder she was so angry. Anyone would be resentful of that.
"Master." Saber spoke from beside her.
"Saber. We need to find Shinji Matou… and kill him."
"I understand your worries master and I agree with them too. Such vile creatures must be destroyed for good… but losing reason, especially during an event as big as the Holy Grail War… is not wise. There are still other masters and servants eying us. Even that Caster… she was the servant of one of the people from that place. You need to tread carefully at such times lest you fall into a trap."
The words made her pause.
Yes.
The other masters.
Right now she only knew of two others but both were more troublesome than the other.
First was that Einzbern bitch and her overpowered servant.
She didn't think it was dead even after that attack. After all, just moments before, it had healed from having half his body being completely obliterated.
Rin could bet an arm that she would still encounter that monster again.
Next was that Caster servant.
She knew that someone inside the Restaurant was her master but had no idea who it was. In her shock of learning about the place and then talking to Sakura, she had completely missed asking who the master of the Caster servant was.
If it was someone normal, it wouldn't matter but if it was something like that Lich or any of those dragons… yes… they probably wouldn't even need to use their servants to fight in the Holy Grail War.
"Saber, do you think you can fight those people from the Restaurant?" She asked.
On her question, Saber looked pensive. "I am not sure, Master. That place… it is completely out of my comprehension. There were actual Gods in that place. You should never underestimate Gods, no matter who they are. As for the dragons… the ones I sensed in that place… they were very strong."
Rin bit her tongue in frustration.
Those people… that place… how could such a place even exist?
Different worlds… completely different magic systems, gods…
In normal times, she would have happily dove into the place to explore its mysteries but now it was standing as the biggest competitor for the Holy Grail War… and Sakura was with them.
After hearing her story, Rin knew why Sakura was so close to that playboy and why she had snapped at her for accusing him
He, with just a few months of friendship, saw through her pain and actually lent a helping hand.
While she, her own sister, had not only been oblivious to her suffering and had actively ignored her for years.
This brought another thought to her mind.
If the people from that place were to participate, whom would Sakura side with?
The thought only served to depress her more.
"No. We cannot sit idly by. We need to plan and we will win the Holy Grail War. I am not giving up so easily." She got up. "Let's scout for other masters, Saber… and keep an eye out for Shinji Matou. I will strangle him with my own hands."
"Yes Master."
- Silas -
"I agree. I want to help Sakura-chan win. What do we have to do?" Lavy asked.
"Y-yes. I want to help Sakura-san too." Orihime added.
Lavy and Orihime had returned from August-san's place an hour ago.
They had gone there to get Orihime to meet the other students and learn magic under August-san and stayed there overnight due to the insistence of the kids, Brandish and Dimaria.
Apparently, Mavis-san, August-san's mother had taken a liking to Lavy and Orihime too and agreed to teach them magic with her son.
We told them about everything that had happened last night and now and Sakura's decision to participate in the Holy Grail War, which was apparently the name of the supernatural battle competition to help Sakura out.
It was kinda funny and even more strange that no one, not a single one of the three girls wanted any wish of their own… or rather they were fine with not getting a wish because Saitama had something he wanted first.
"Good. Cid-kun hasn't come today so I can't talk to him but I will ask him as soon as he comes later tomorrow. Till then let's help you all enter the competition." I looked at Caster who was sitting in the corner of the Restaurant and reading a book which Lavy and Orihime had brought.
She noticed my gaze and kept the book aside. "Oh, are they ready? Alright, in that case, I will proceed. Who is going to go first?" She asked.
"I…" Sakura got up. "I will go first."
"Okay. Let's go."
Ainz and the group in the Restaurant were also present, watching the ritual since it was something new for us.
We went to an alleyway near the Restaurant in Sakura's world.
I put up a barrier to prevent any normal person from intruding upon the ritual and Caster got to work.
She drew a circle with some materials she had collected before and checked everything a few times and then looked at the girls.
Sakura took the initiative.
She stood in the middle of the circle and chanted. It was a chant which Caster had already told them to memorise.
"Heed my call, my will creates your body, And your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning!"
The magic circle lit up with a red light and a moment later a figure materialised in the space in front of us, covered in the red light of the magic circle.
She had very long purple coloured hair, and was wearing a blindfold resembling a visor like band over her eyes. She had a red marking of some kind on her forehead and wore a modified greek mythology short black dress. She also wore a purple coloured collar-like choker, bands and handcuffs with long black sleeves, cutoff black legging with purple armor to the legs, and black shoes.
But most of all, she was absolutely stunning.
I have seen many beautiful girls in my time running the Restaurant but this girl, she was definitely among the best. In fact, I would say she was almost comparable to the likes of Albedo, who was a succubus and that's saying something.
Just as I was thinking of this, I heard Caster speak. "Oh, so it's her. How surprising. Then again, maybe not since there were no catalysts used. I can see why she would be summoned."
I looked at her. "Do you know her?"
She nodded but didn't say anything else.
The woman looked at her but didn't say anything and then turned towards Sakura and bowed. "My name is Rider. I am in your service, Master."
"Hello, my name is Sakura. Nice to meet you." Sakura greeted politely.
"Alright alright, move aside. Next one. Get in line." Caster said quickly.
Both the girls stepped aside while she got to preparing the ritual again.
While she was doing that, I suddenly remembered something and asked.
"You said the servants summoned would have similar personalities or backgrounds as the masters, what exactly did that mean?"
I was worried about what kind of servant Sakura had gotten.
"Exactly that. The summoned servants will have either their personalities similar to the master of some of their lives might have similarities which makes them compatible with each other. The Grail has this function automatically added as it would increase the efficiency of both masters and servants working together if they had commonalities between them. Some people however bypass this by using catalysts, items which have a very close connection to the servants to summon them instead. For example, it could be a sword of a hero from legends or some other item belonging to them. This is done if they want something specific or a specific servant to be summoned. For example, I am pretty sure that the girl who summoned Berserker used some kind of a catalyst."
I see.
So this girl… I looked at the purple haired girl who was currently standing beside Sakura and listened to her explanation… she is someone similar to Sakura either in background or personality.
That's good then.
Caster soon finished the summoning and circle again and called the next person.
Surprisingly, it was Orihime who came up next.
I guess she was excited to learn new things.
Magic was interesting.
I remember being this excited early on too.
"Go on. You saw what to do." Caster said and Orihime nodded, stepping forward.
From the corner of my eyes, I noticed that Rimuru had a video camera out at some point and was quietly recording everything from the corner.
She imitated Sakura's pose and started the chant.
"Heed my call, my will creates your body, And your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning!"
Just like the first time, the magic circle lit up with a red light once more and a figure covered in red light slowly materialised above the magic circle.
She was a young girl with purple hair in a twin tails hairstyle, a black and white headdress and same coloured neckband and was wearing a white coloured gown with black borders. She looked incredibly pretty too.
Were all servants supposed to look pretty or something?
"Oh my, this is a surprise." Caster chuckled.
"How… this…" Rider stepped back, almost as if in fear as she saw the figure.
Was this girl dangerous?
I was about to step in between them when the new girl spoke. "Oh, is that you Medusa? Are you happy to see me? Now come here and help me out."
We were taken aback by several things.
First was the behaviour of the girl. It was obvious that she and Sakura's servant knew each other.
The next was the name.
Medusa.
Wasn't Medusa supposed to be the snake haired lady from the Greek Mythology who could turn people to stone with a gaze?
This girl looked nothing like the legends of Medusa.
And then I recalled the description of Caster.
Servants were all heroes of the past who were summoned in this fight to aid a master. So was Medusa a hero of the past too?
What exactly was her history in this world?
I am not aware about Greek Mythology that much apart from the one or two names and stories here and there.
But I knew the name Medusa. That was obviously a big name.
And this new girl was calling her like that, not to mention the so-called Medusa actually looked scared.
What exactly was the relationship between them?
"Sister!" Medusa blurted out, throwing us into an even greater confusion.
Her sister?
Medusa had a sister?
"Oh! So you do recognise me. Then why haven't you followed my order? Don't make me say it again." The new girl commanded.
Was she a bossy elder sibling bullying her little sibling?
Medusa was flustered but her escape came in the form of an unexpected… or in this case, an expected person.
"Ano… who are you?" Orihime, the supposed master of the girl asked.
"Hmm, are you my master? Nice to meet you." She bowed gracefully, holding the sides of her gown, almost like a noble. "My name is Stheno. I am the Archer under your command." She introduced herself.
"Ah, h-hello. My name is Orihime Inoue. Nice to meet you too." Orihime bowed quickly.
"Nice to meet you too, Master. Now if you will permit me, I have met my adorable little sister after a long time. I would like to have a talk with her."
"Eh, s-sure." Orihime agreed and went to Sakura's side where Stheno looked like she was having fun teasing her sister, who in turn looked flustered.
Good.
At least they were getting along well.
It would help teamwork later.
Still, her behaviour was completely different than when she was talking to Medusa. She went from a graceful young lady to a tease immediately.
"Well now, the last turn." Caster didn't wait for anyone and started the work directly.
In minutes, the Magic Circle was ready and Lavy was in front of it using the same chant as before.
Unlike Sakura and Orihime, Lavy was already well versed in chants and rituals and it was visible in both her posture and confidence.
"Heed my call, my will creates your body, And your sword creates my destiny. If you heed the Grail's call, and obey my will and reason, then answer my summoning!"
The magic circle lit up for the third time but this time I noticed something different. The light of the magic circle suddenly became blinding.
"What is going on?" I asked Caster as I stepped in front of the girls and beside Lavy.
"Something is wrong with the summoning. The ritual was alright from this end then it can only mean something happened from that end." Caster said, a rare tone of seriousness in her voice.
Did something happen because we were trying to fix the whole competition? Did someone discover this?
Rimuru, Ainz and even Saitama were all prepared in case something happened.
The light slowly formed a figure above the magic circle, just like before.
It looked like the figure of another girl, just like Stheno.
The light cleared and it was indeed the figure of a girl. To our surprise, she looked extremely similar to Stheno. She had similarly twin tailed long purple hair, almost reaching the ground and was wearing a similar white dress with black borders, headdress and neckband.
After seeing her, I didn't even need to guess.
She was also related to the two sisters summoned before.
Caster looked at her and frowned as she spoke. "As expected. It was a problem from the other side. She must have sensed their summoning and hijacked the summoning. After all, she does have some divinity too."
Hijacked the summoning?
They can do such a thing?
As expected, the two girls summoned before this looked at her with different expressions. Stheno had a smile on her face while Medusa looked even more terrified at the sight of her.
"Euryale."
"Sister."
What was this?
A supernatural competition or a family reunion?
- Shinji -
"N-no… please… I h-have already done everything you told me. It just isn't working." The man in front of him begged.
Shinji wasn't in a good mood.
First his hunt for Rin had been fouled by the sudden intervention of that monster, a servant which he later found out.
His newly gained powers were nothing in front of that servant.
They couldn't even put a scratch on the beast.
Had it not been for that girl commanding the servant being distracted by Tohsaka, he would have died for real.
No.
He couldn't die.
Not when his dream was so close to him.
He was going to win this Holy Grail War and he was going to become stronger than anyone else… stronger than Tohsaka, stronger than Sukuna, stronger than that servant who beat him up and finally, stronger than that… that baldy!
Fortunately, it seems that the number of magus in the town was suddenly increasing. It wasn't unexpected but rather something they had planned.
Sukuna had started killing people in the town while not hiding the fact that these are supernatural incidents. They had done this to attract more magus to solve the situation so that they could then capture someone else and make them help him enter the competition.
During these hunts, they had discovered more information about the Holy Grail War as well as its history.
The Holy Grail War was a ritual established in the 1800s in Fuyuki City, by the Three Founding Families of Tohsaka, Matou, and Einzbern.
His own family, specifically that old man, his grandfather had started this ritual.
Shinji hadn't realised how old that monster in the basement truly was.
Even Sukuna had laughed wildly when he found out about him saying that he would have been a decent curse user had he been in his world.
The purpose of the competition is to win a Holy Grail. Seven magi are chosen by the Grail as Masters and, with support from the Grail, allowed to summon seven Servants to do battle. The winning pair, supposedly, will claim the Holy Grail and use it to grant their wish or wishes.
The ritual's true purpose is to use the combined magical energy of seven fallen Servants to burn a hole in reality, a gate to reach something called Akasha, that place which has all the knowledge and power of the world.
However, the ritual's very premise is flawed: only a Spiritual Body like a Servant, not a flesh-and-blood Master, is capable of grasping the Grail and completing the ritual. As such, the final Master, instead of sacrificing their own Servant to perfect the Grail and reach the Root, must keep their Servant alive to claim an energy source that is much weaker, but still capable of granting far-reaching wishes to the final Master and Servant pair.
This meant they needed to summon a servant and also needed to keep them alive till the end just so they could have their wish granted. There were however several problems with this.
The servant could have their own wish so they needed to have their command seals left over to command them in the end or they could just make their own wish.
Too bad not everyone who came here knew this.
After not finding anything substantial from the first two people, they had targeted someone they thought would know more about the ritual, a member of one of the founders, Rin Tohsaka. Unfortunately, that was messed up by the Einzbern girl.
Still, it looked like their luck was with them as the person they found today seemed to be a magus who had actually sneaked in, aiming to participate in the Holy Grail War too. This one actually wanted to mess with the Grail directly to increase his chance of winning and that's why he had far more information than anyone else.
With his help, they had directly found the place with the Grail, unfortunately without the energy of the servants, this was useless.
"Yes yes… and I am happy with your information. That's why you are still alive. Keep answering my questions and you will keep living." He smiled. "Now tell me, how do I summon a servant and enter the Holy Grail War?"
"I-I told you already. It is not working. Either you have no affinity to summon servants or… or…"
"Or what!" He roared.
"All the servants have already been summoned."
"What?!"
"That's… that's the only thing I can think of."
All of a sudden, Shinji's mind went blank.
No.
This couldn't happen.
He couldn't lose this.
This was his chance to finally become a magus, finally have what was rightfully his.
Grabbing the man by his collars, he lifted him up and glared at him. "There must be a way. There must be another way for me to enter. Something… anything!"
"I…"
"Tell me or I will cut you to pieces and feed them to you!" He roared.
He looked terrified but suddenly his eyes widened as if remembering something… "I… there… there… is something I read… from the files of the Clock Tower… about a failsafe in the Holy Grail… something called the… Apocrypha Protocol."
- Waver Velvet -
"Did you find anything?" He asked, looking around the place.
This place brought back memories… both good and bad.
But this was a place where he had wanted to return.
Still, until recently, he thought he would miss the time period for the Fifth Grail War due to his work.
But perhaps it was fate or just good luck that had brought this case and him back to this place again. Recently there was an incident about someone breaking into his quarters while he was absent to steal research data about the Holy Grail Wars. Apparently utilizing a family heirloom to break through its defenses, which then brought him here to this current case, hoping to catch a serial killer and a thief.
He checked the remains of the Matou estate which had been sealed by the resident magi and church a while ago. The stench of the cursed ritual could still be felt here.
The killings had started almost immediately after this accident happened and they were supernatural in nature too.
By now, everyone was sure that these two incidents were related and thus he had come to visit this place.
Unfortunately he found nothing.
He remembered that Kariya Matou had participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War as the master of Berserker. Later he had received the news that he had died a short while after the finish of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
A while later, his elder brother Byakuya Matou passed away and now even the two kids, Shinji Matou and Sakura Matou were missing, probably dead.
With them away meant all sources of information they could have obtained about the incident were gone, leaving them with a dead end.
Over the last two months, the number of deaths had only increased.
Just the number of reported deaths were above seventy by now and they still didn't find any clue about the person involved, except that the kills are all done by cutting the targets and several things around them.
Whoever the attacker is uses blades or spells which emulate sharp blades.
These blades were sharp enough to cut through rocks and trees without any difficulty. He had observed the places and everything was cut cleanly, as if a hot knife through butter.
Coupled with the curses in the place indicated the possible presence of a Dead Apostle, maybe even a Dead Apostle Ancestor, which made the matter far worse than normal. But none of the known ones have exhibited such traits before.
He had arrived just this morning and the people of the Church would be arriving here soon too.
"No, Sir."
"Where are the rest of the operatives from the Clock Tower?"
"They are at the hotel or out patrolling although…" The magi in front of him hesitated.
"What?"
"Some of our operatives have gone missing recently, Sir." He said after some hesitation.
"What! When did that happen? How many and why wasn't this reported first?"
"Two of them disappeared over the course of the last two months. We didn't discover this first because they were the first ones to arrive here and worked independently. They only contacted us when they found anything so it took us some time to realise that they were missing. When we discovered this, we decided to report regularly at the end of the day."
He fell silent at the news.
Was it really a Dead Apostle or Ancestor?
As they were talking, another magus came in quickly.
"Sir, we have discovered traces of fighting nearby." He reported.
"What kind of fighting? Describe the scene."
The Fifth Holy Grail War was in progress so fighting was not uncommon. It could very well be a fight scene between two masters and their servants, mistaken for the killer's attacks. This made tracking the killer even harder during the Holy Grail War.
"Cuts. It was as if someone cut the surrounding areas. Rocks, trees, even a cafe was cut apart. The attacks were just like that of the killer. This time, the range was quite high, but we didn't find any bodies."
"Lead me to the place." He quickly got up and commanded and looked at his apprentice who was wearing a hood, giving her a quick nod.
They quickly rushed to the place where the attacks were found and began investigating. The attacks did look similar, confirming that they were most probably from the same killer.
But in this case, the range of the attack… it was almost as if the killer was chasing someone… which was weird as they had killed the targets directly in all the previous entanglements. If someone could run away from them or even put up a bit of resistance then, they had to be someone from the supernatural side too.
On going further, they found a place with a crater in the ground and the chase seemed to have ended there.
A crater.
It was different from other attacks.
Was the killer actually attacked by someone else?
There weren't any reports.
But this crater… it wasn't something made by normal magus.
Was this perhaps the work of some servant?
He will have to ask.
"The arbiter of the Grail War this time… it is Kirei Kotomine, correct?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Then let's go to the Fuyuki Church. We have some questions to ask."
Just as they were about to leave, he sensed something, a familiar feeling on his hands and froze as he lifted his hands.
There, on the back of his hands, was a black symbol.
A Command Seal.
But how?
- Interlude (Silas' Revenge) -
"Silas-sama! I heard that you wanted to meet me." The woman in front of me greeted me enthusiastically.
Black hair, golden eyes and a pair of curved horns which seemed like a crown on her head, but most of all that enchanting face. Truly succubuses were something else.
Lucky Ainz.
I smiled politely at her.
"Hello Albedo-san. Yes. Ahahahaha how do I say this… I heard a lot about you from Ainz and thus I wanted to meet you."
"Oh! Ainz-sama has been talking about me? What did he say? Does he like me? Does he want me to do anything for him?" She asked quickly, almost jumping across the table to my face.
I pulled back a bit, forcing my lips from twitching at her enthusiasm.
Alright, now I understand why Rimuru and Ainz get jealous of me at times.
Being on the wrong side of this situation is not a good feeling.
Fucking Ainz… next time he calls me a Harem Protagonist, I would make a bone-soup out of him.
"Ah, well, he speaks good about you. It seems he is… interested in you in a… ah, romantic sense."
"Really?!"
"Oh yes. Absolutely. I know him very well. It was mostly about you and a few times about another girl, a vampire…"
"Tch… that blooksucking… cough… my apologies, Silas-sama."
"Ahahahaha no need to apologise. I understand your feelings. If I am being honest, I actually support you. I think you would be perfect for Ainz." I smiled at her as a wonderful smile bloomed on her face.
"Really! Silas-sama thinks so?"
"Absolutely. I think you two would look cute together."
"Ehehehehe."
"Well, if you want, I could… hmm, I could give you some advice regarding how to win Ainz's heart, you know?"
"Eh… will you do that, Silas-sama?" She asked, her eyes shining as she gazed at me with what seemed to be all the hope in the world.
Please don't do that.
"Hmm, just… just make me a promise that whatever is discussed here will remain a secret forever. No one else should know about it."
"I promise." She replied instantly.
"Good. In that case, I will tell you about a secret hobby of Ainz." I smiled and began telling her of my plan.
This is something I had planned for a while now. In fact, I had been planning this right after the Comiket event.
It's just that with the Mysterious Ice Devil incident and then everything else, I kinda got side tracked.
Still, that didn't mean I was not doing anything.
The first step in taking revenge is to collect information.
As the saying goes, 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you will win a thousand battles'.
I talked to the maids of Nazarick about Ainz and Rimuru's life in their world. The things that they did there everyday, how they interacted with everyone and what people thought about him.
During this, I discovered an interesting tidbit about Albedo and Shaltear who were both vying for the attention of Ainz.
I had a bit of an idea about the situation from what Ainz had told us before but this was a literal gold mine.
As soon as I found out about this, I formulated a plan.
"Really? Ainz-sama likes that? Do you think he would like it if I did that to him?" She asked, almost innocently.
"Well, he is very shy about his… hobbies so you need to be a bit forceful in your approach." I explained.
She nodded attentively. In fact, all that was left were a pair of glasses, notebook and a pen and she would look like a model student right there. Actually screw that, she actually did summon a pen and paper and started making notes.
"Finally, in doing all this you will need a few things."
"Yes."
"First are ropes."
"Hmm hmm, ropes."
"Then comes… blindfolds,earplugs, ballgags, candles, stra… no no, that's a bit too much for the first time." I decided to leave that aside due to him using the Wish Spell to help us out. The list went on. She copied everything but then she suddenly stopped.
"Umm, Silas-sama."
"Yes?"
"But what if I do something wrong?"
"Hmm, a valid concern. But no one masters things on their first try. We all start learning from somewhere. Still, if you are afraid… I might have a solution for that too." Here, my smile widened, as I took something out of my pocket and placed it on the table in front of her. "This is something called a camera…"
This revenge will be glorious.
_x_x_
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Author's Note:
I am back with another chapter of 'Isekai Restaurant'.
Sakura and Rin finally had their talk.
Rin as always messed up due to her dumb way of talking and her ineptitude when it came to emotional matters.
As a consequence, Sakura is now angry and wants to participate in the Holy Grail War too.
As for the servants summoned, there is a reason for every summoning which we will see in the later chapters.
The summoning of Stheno might seem odd to some people but trust me, it was done after some thought and wasn't as random as some might think.
So the Soul Society Arc is in full swing while the Holy Grail War is gathering heat too.
Clock Tower, Church, the Magus Families, Fraudkuna and the Restaurant group are all in without even knowing who is going to fight whom.
And then Shinjikuna goes ahead and does something crazier.
How will the Fifth Holy Grail War in Fyuki City end?
We will see in the next chapter.
Enjoy the new chapter.