In just a few days, Laurent and Justeaze arrived in Japan.
They settled in Fuyuki City.
At first, they didn't visit any mage families. It was just the two of them going out and having fun every day.
Laurent really was excited—but after centuries, the part of him that had once hunted for a way to revive Jeanne like a madman had been worn down.
He was still searching like a madman, sure. Just not twenty-four hours a day anymore.
Zolgen Makiri came along as well.
But now that he was in Japan, he couldn't keep using his old name. So, with a bit of phonetic sleight of hand, he renamed himself Zouken Matou and settled here too.
Zouken Matou's magecraft was water-based.
Only after Justeaze had played to her heart's content did they begin paying calls—starting with the local Tohsaka family's head, Tohsaka Nagato.
A handsome young man.
That really was Laurent's first impression.
Long black hair. A cool, severe face—beautiful in a way that made you hesitate to approach. And that distinctive air about him, always giving off the message: keep your distance.
But Nagato Tohsaka was genuinely capable. He'd originally been a secret believer in a foreign faith, yet after an elderly gentleman's passing admonition, he'd turned toward magecraft and stepped into it.
He was the sort who treated magecraft and martial arts as equals.
With Zouken Matou, Justeaze, and Laurent all pressing him, he began to waver.
Especially after hearing the words "without end." As a magus, his interest was piqued.
"So you need a place to build a Greater Grail, right?" After listening to their explanation, Nagato Tohsaka summed it up quickly. "In that case, I can provide the land. But what comes after that? Have you figured out how you're going to solve the magical energy problem?"
At that, both Justeaze and Zouken Matou shook their heads. Even now, they still didn't know how to resolve it.
Maybe they could gather magi and draw from them—but how many would be willing?
To a magus, magical energy was essentially life itself. Their ideals might be for humanity's future, but how many would willingly hand over their lives for others?
Laurent, off to the side, didn't say anything.
And besides—
Justeaze's body really was having issues.
Laurent had noticed the moment they left the mansion.
Why was her life being consumed… faster than before?
He wanted to check whether something had gone wrong with her Magic Circuits.
Not now, though. Her Circuits are in an awkward place—if I want to look, she'd have to take a bit off.
And her figure is way too good.
"Still," Zouken Matou spoke up then, "magi can summon familiars and the like."
He organized his thoughts, then continued. "Back when I was at the Clock Tower, I heard about a hypothesis. Supposedly, there's a special kind of summoning that can call forth Heroic Spirits—bringing people from history into the present. Like… extremely powerful familiars."
Even he wasn't sure whether the concept was real.
"It's not impossible," Nagato Tohsaka said, rolling the idea around in his mind.
Justeaze, meanwhile, wore a deeply satisfied smile.
Things really were proceeding unbelievably smoothly.
Of course, what Zouken Matou had proposed wasn't something that would succeed in a single day. It would take hundreds—thousands—of trials.
After all, even the Clock Tower, where the hypothesis had originated, hadn't succeeded a single time.
They got no results that day.
But none of them had any intention of giving up.
Justeaze suggested they research together. With Laurent's help, time slipped by, and night fell.
Laurent and Justeaze had been staying elsewhere, but the environment couldn't compare to Nagato Tohsaka's home.
So when he suggested it, they accepted and moved in temporarily. Research like this wasn't going to be finished in a day or two, after all.
The Einzbern would also send some people over to help—along with the production of the Lesser Grails.
They couldn't let those homunculi have emotions. That would be torture. Better for them to remain machines with human faces.
How many nights had it been?
Even Laurent couldn't say.
The Tohsaka household had excellent conditions in every regard—far better than an inn.
Still, it was a step down compared to the Einzbern.
After all, the Einzbern had professional maids.
And then there was the matter of rooms.
Justeaze, with a perfectly serious expression, declared that one room for her and Laurent would be enough.
Nagato Tohsaka was surprised at first—he didn't understand why. But after Justeaze said it was necessary, something about researching the Einzbern's special thaumaturgical formulas… somehow, she convinced him.
So he gave Laurent and Justeaze a single room.
Laurent wasn't thrilled at first, but then he thought about it. Justeaze would sneak over in the middle of the night anyway.
So he agreed.
Fuyuki City's night felt more dreamlike than the Einzbern mansion—like a thin veil of illusion laid over the dark.
Laurent didn't go to sleep right away. At the very least, he wanted to wait until Justeaze had settled in, and ask her a few things.
"Laurent… you're not sleeping?"
Justeaze had just finished bathing. She stepped out of the bathroom with steam clinging to her, wet hair trailing down her back.
She dabbed at it with a towel, wrapped in nothing but a thick white bath towel.
It wasn't like Laurent hadn't seen her body once or twice. Even if the towel slipped, she didn't particularly care.
And she was long used to sleeping in the same room as Laurent.
He didn't look at her.
"How do I put it…" Laurent said. "I think I'm looking forward to it."
For the first time in a long while, there was real feeling in his voice.
"I can more or less follow your theory. It's like using an abnormally powerful force to punch a hole through a locked door."
That was the story Justeaze was feeding them.
"Mm. That's the simple version, yes," Justeaze said—though her tone turned a little uneasy. "You're not going to obsess over the research again, are you? It took a lot to get you out, and I only have ten years left."
"Aren't we researching together just fine?" Laurent said. "And if we really open the ROOT, couldn't we use that power to fix your body?"
Justeaze put on a bright, agreeable smile.
As the Holy Grail's vessel—the existence meant to link to the ROOT—if this truly succeeded, then in essence she would become a wish-granting machine. That meant she wouldn't be able to make wishes involving herself, or wishes that exceeded her own existence.
But she didn't tell Laurent any of that.
He didn't need to know.
And as long as no one told Laurent, he wouldn't learn the truth—that she was the Greater Grail—until right before the moment of success.
Her original body's thaumaturgical structure was unusual to begin with. She had spent a hundred years researching it, then remodeled herself into a vessel that could serve as the Greater Grail and link to the ROOT.
Laurent, as the one and only god, had never studied magi formulas and structures in any depth. He wouldn't be able to grasp it.
Justeaze had overlooked one thing, though—
The Lesser Grails.
…They were the Einzbern's people.
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T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, last week it was 7dtd this week it was tomodachi life........ teehee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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