Gray tilted her head slightly, looking at her in confusion.
"I still have one thing I want to verify."
A faint, interesting smile suddenly spread across Reines's face.
"Something that felt unbelievable when I first heard it, but later started to seem only natural."
In the end, Reines never said what exactly she wanted to verify. Gray didn't press her either. After chatting with her for a while, she left on her own.
———
The silver-haired girl walked along the corridors of the Clock Tower. Sunlight streamed in through the classical windows, dust drifting in the light.
"The Holy Grail War…"
Only after a long time did she softly repeat those words in her mind.
Although she was in the Clock Tower, Gray wasn't actually unfamiliar with the Holy Grail War.
She had been born in a very remote region, and she herself had come into the world as the reincarnation of 'King Arthur.'
Back then, the villagers often spoke of various deeds of King Arthur, even mentioning the Holy Grail War.
At one point, she had even suspected that she might be able to use herself as a 'catalyst' to summon that King Arthur of Britain.
'I wonder if Reines will run into danger if she goes to Fuyuki?'
The thought suddenly crossed Gray's mind.
After all, when Kayneth went to Fuyuki to participate in the Holy Grail War, he had repeatedly run into setbacks, and Reines wasn't as skilled in magecraft as Kayneth. There was a real chance she could run into trouble.
Thinking of this, Gray instinctively lowered her head and looked at the 'cage' in her hand, hesitating slightly.
Reines was the kind of person who, once she made up her mind, was very hard to persuade otherwise.
If she couldn't convince her but still wanted to ensure her safety, then there was only one option. Go to Fuyuki with her.
As if she had made some decision, Gray's gaze gradually firmed.
She turned and disappeared into the far end of the corridor.
———
[The Sajyou Residence]
A girl wearing a light blue gothic long dress, with a pure and gentle temperament, lay relaxed on the slightly cool tatami, staring at the beam beneath the ceiling, her eyes somewhat unfocused.
Her soft, shoulder-length golden hair spread out loosely, strands faintly glowing under the sunlight with a brilliant sheen. Her deep blue eyes were clear and pure, like flawless sapphires.
The hem of her skirt was slightly disheveled, lifting just enough to reveal her smooth, pale calves. Her delicate feet were wrapped in short white socks, small and refined.
Sajyou Manaka turned onto her side, looking toward the tightly closed door ahead, then glanced around at the familiar surroundings.
"I'm back."
After a long silence, she murmured softly.
After returning to the present world, she hadn't gone back to the Clock Tower, but instead returned to her own world.
The familiar room, the familiar scent… and familiar family, though she couldn't feel even the slightest sense of familial affection toward her parents or her younger sister.
That was one of the drawbacks of omniscience and omnipotence.
"Saber… are you still at the Clock Tower?"
Sajyou Manaka slowly closed her eyes, and her special omniscient authority quietly spread out.
However, her omniscience yielded no 'information' about Alvin.
She slowly opened her hollow eyes.
At that moment, an inexplicable sense of fear suddenly arose in her heart.
'Could it be that I'll never be able to return to Britain again?'
'Could it be that he isn't at the Clock Tower anymore either?'
Various uneasy and fearful thoughts flashed through her mind. Sajyou Manaka stood up.
She pulled open the door, only to bump straight into another girl head-on.
It was a girl wearing glasses, who seemed somewhat lacking in confidence.
She collided directly into Sajyou Manaka, fell to the ground, and hurriedly started apologizing.
The youngest daughter of the Sajyou family… Sajyou Ayaka.
"Ayaka?"
Sajyou Manaka tilted her head, looking at her sister on the ground in confusion, "What are you here for?"
Sajyou Ayaka looked up at the blonde girl and instinctively said, "Sister, are you going out?"
Sajyou Manaka gave a soft "Mm," her tone unchanged, devoid of any emotion, "Tell them for me. Just say I have something to take care of and will be going on a long trip."
After saying that, she had already left the room.
Sajyou Ayaka hurriedly got up and chased after her, asking reflexively, "When will you come back?"
Sajyou Manaka stopped but didn't turn around, "I don't know… maybe I'll come back when I find him."
"Him?"
Sajyou Ayaka stared at her sister with a confused expression until her figure completely disappeared from sight.
———
[The Clock Tower]
Inside a room in one of the dormitory buildings—
The afternoon sunlight slanted across the bed, ivy from the window trailing down.
Alvin lay in the sunlight, enjoying the warmth and ease of summer. Before long, he slowly opened his eyes.
In front of him, a personal interface quietly appeared.
After staring at it for a moment, Alvin let out a satisfied sigh.
"Not bad… at this rate, maybe by the end of the Fifth Holy Grail War, I'll have collected all the CGs in my system."
Alvin had only just returned to the present world not long ago.
After coming back, he had been thinking about one question.
'Where exactly is that remaining 6% of CG?'
Right now, the Age of Gods in Britain had almost completely faded. Logically speaking, the CGs there should already be fully collected.
And the remaining CGs couldn't all be completed inside the Clock Tower, right?
After thinking it over, the only place left where there was still a chance to complete them… should be the Fifth Holy Grail War.
'I wonder what kind of grand reward the system will give when I reach 100% completion?'
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a quiet sense of anticipation.
Tick! Tock!
The clock on the wall ticked steadily. Alvin gathered his thoughts and was just about to get out of bed to attend his afternoon class.
However, at that moment, he suddenly saw a notification quietly appear.
[You have triggered a special CG: Girls' Choice (Note: This achievement carries a Bad risk. Please proceed with caution!)]
———
[Half An Hour Later]
Clock Tower, a corner of the courtyard—
"Looks like I've triggered some pretty serious special CG mission, huh?"
Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves. Alvin sat leisurely under a large tree, looking at the system notification on his personal interface.
If this had been in the past, seeing a system alert flashing with a red exclamation mark would have probably sent him into a panic.
But now, after so many battles, he was already used to this kind of 'kind reminder' from the system.
A Bad? It wasn't like he hadn't experienced plenty of those before.
As long as he had enough strength to back him up, reversing a Bad outcome wasn't actually that difficult.
In the end, the only people in the Clock Tower with a somewhat delicate relationship with him were Gray and Sajyou Manaka, and after this return, Manaka hadn't come looking for him immediately. Maybe she had already gone back to her own time?
If that was the case, then there was even less to worry about.
While he was thinking through these scattered thoughts, a flash of bright red suddenly passed before his eyes. Tohsaka Tokiomi.
He had originally been planning to walk straight across the courtyard, but something in his peripheral vision seemed to catch his attention, and he instinctively turned his head.
"White Dragon… Alvin?"
The moment he saw the boy in the courtyard, Tokiomi's pupils widened. He stared at him in disbelief, clearly not expecting him to appear here.
"Tokiomi?"
Alvin paused for a moment, then quickly raised a hand in greeting, showing a gentle smile, "What a coincidence. Didn't expect you to be this efficient. Feeling better?"
Tokiomi was briefly stunned, then placed a hand over his chest and gave a proper aristocratic bow, "Thank you for your guidance last time. I'm much better now and focusing on recovering."
Although he was very curious why the White Dragon of Britain was in the Clock Tower, some things didn't need to be asked too clearly. If Alvin didn't bring it up, he wouldn't take the initiative to ask.
Seems like he understands social etiquette pretty well. Alvin gave the elegant man in front of him an extra glance, somewhat surprised, but quickly accepted it.
After all, mages were proud, but he was still the head of the Tohsaka family. There had to be a reason he could establish himself as the local authority in Fuyuki.
"Oh, right… this is a small token of thanks. I'd like to give it to you in advance as repayment."
After chatting for a bit, Tokiomi seemed to remember something. He took out an exquisitely crafted wooden box and handed it to Alvin.
Alvin looked at him instinctively, "What is this?"
"Open it and take a look. With your insight, I think you'll recognize it immediately," Tokiomi replied.
With a hint of doubt, Alvin accepted the box and slowly opened it.
Under the sunlight, a scroll lay quietly inside. Ancient characters flickered faintly on its surface with a golden glow, as if whispering a forgotten secret, waiting for someone destined to awaken its power.
Alvin's pupils contracted slightly. He quickly looked up at Tokiomi, "This is…"
The man nodded lightly and said in a low voice, "The design blueprint for the Jeweled Sword."
'As expected,' Alvin thought to himself.
Back then, when Zelretch passed through Fuyuki, he had taken the first head of the Tohsaka family as a disciple and, upon leaving, gifted him the 'Jeweled Sword,' which could traverse various parallel worlds.
However, over the long stretch of time from then until now, no one in the Tohsaka family had successfully managed to recreate this extremely powerful Mystic Code.
But even so, Tokiomi hadn't used the blueprint to exchange for resources, even during his time at the Clock Tower. Instead, he directly gave it to Alvin.
On one hand, it was to thank him for his guidance. On the other, it was likely also for the sake of the future.
After what happened in the last Holy Grail War, Tokiomi had started thinking about what lay ahead.
He had considered that if something were to happen to him in the future, having Alvin around would at least ensure that the Tohsaka family wouldn't completely decline because of it.
After chatting a bit more, Tokiomi took his leave.
Watching him depart, Alvin then spread out the blueprint of the Jeweled Sword.
Although the sword had many limitations, it possessed the power of the 'Second Magic' to operate across parallel worlds. Put more plainly, it could peer into other worlds and even interfere with them.
Of course, setting aside how difficult it was to create the Jeweled Sword, even if it were successfully made in the future, there were very few people in the present world who could actually use it to peer into parallel worlds.
After all, it required an extremely high amount of magical energy.
In the end, he didn't really have any need for the Jeweled Sword. Alvin smiled faintly to himself and was about to put it away and leave.
But just then, another notification quietly appeared:
[You have triggered the prerequisite mission for "Girls' Choice." Please collect the corresponding jewels within three days to complete this mission.]
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