"Are you finished with everything, Master?"
"Yeah. All the materials you asked for are ready, Your Majesty. Everything's in place. We can begin."
"Good. Watch closely, Master. Witnessing the construction of a workshop from the Age of Gods is a rare and valuable experience for you in itself."
Several weeks later, atop Enzō Mountain.
After hypnotizing the monks one by one, then driving them all out of Fuyuki and sending them to beg alms at temples in other cities, Ritsuka had finally completely cleared outRyūdō Temple.
And with the monks gone, the temple naturally "announced" a closure of the mountain—operations suspended until the monks returned.
The sudden notice left Fuyuki's tourists and residents a little confused, but no one really cared. It was just a temple. There wasn't even anything particularly worth seeing inside, and even visitors rarely went out of their way to come here.
But for Kotomine Kirei, the supervisor, it was a different story.
What kind of temple has all its monks suddenly go out in a group to beg in other cities?
Eastern monks weren't some family-run austerity business—they weren't wandering ascetics.
This was obviously the work of a magus.
And with the Holy Grail War about to begin in Fuyuki, who could be behind something like this?
Truly hard to guess…
So hard, in fact, that Kirei didn't need to think at all—the image of that strange boy surfaced immediately in his mind.
He stared toward Enzō Mountain and let out a slow sigh.
The operation was loud, but it hadn't caused any major unrest, and it hadn't broken any rules—so Kirei didn't stop it or even issue a warning. He simply turned away, intending to report the situation to his teacher, Tohsaka Tokiomi.
But just as he was about to leave—
—BOOOOM!!
A massive magical surge erupted without warning from the direction of Enzō Mountain.
The commotion was so violent that even Tokiomi—sitting at home drinking tea—felt his brow twitch.
The area several kilometers around Enzō Mountain shook as if an earthquake had struck.
"…Cleanup," Kirei muttered.
The sheer scale of it made the priest—who'd practically been ready to clock out—feel his temple throb.
Inside Ryūdō Temple, Ritsuka raised an eyebrow as he watched the terrifying magecraft barrier forming overhead and underfoot.
He glanced at Morgan, who wore the expression of someone savoring a flawless masterpiece, brimming with confidence in her own work.
Ritsuka couldn't help looking a little helpless.
"Is it really okay to be this blatant?" he asked. "Your Majesty."
"What's not okay about it?" Morgan flicked her long white hair, smug as she replied. "A barrier from the Age of Gods should look like this."
"Frankly, the fact that I didn't lift the entire Enzō Mountain into the air is me showing restraint."
"And besides…" she added, turning to him with satisfaction, "…isn't this the result of our efforts together?"
"…Yeah."
If selling off almost the entire Matou estate to gather materials counted as "effort," then yes—this was absolutely the product of their "hard work."
Ritsuka's expression turned even more resigned.
This had been their plan, but he'd still underestimated what a fully prepared magus from the Age of Gods could do.
Just the blast of that activation alone—every magus in Fuyuki would notice someone was doing something at Ryūdō Temple.
So where did their earlier talk of "stealth" go?
Wasn't this basically stealing Kayneth's script—openly announcing to the entire city that a Caster had seized Ryūdō Temple?
Ritsuka could already picture a certain priest wearing a miserable expression while handling the aftermath.
Morgan, however, clearly didn't care what anyone else thought.
Now that her workshop sat upon the leyline, she had absolute confidence.
As a famed great witch of the Age of Gods, she believed she could face any enemy.
Even if multiple Servants teamed up, she was sure she could hold them all off using the territorial advantage. There was no reason to cower.
But compared to that "trivial" problem, Morgan cared about something else more.
After everything was complete, she turned to Ritsuka and asked:
"Master… how is your body now?"
"Much better than before," Ritsuka replied. "At the very least, I can feel that many of the hidden problems inside me have been expelled."
Then he smiled and thanked her.
"Thank you for your help, Your Majesty."
"It was my duty," Morgan said with a small nod.
During the weeks Ritsuka spent raising funds for their base, Morgan hadn't been idle.
Yes, she'd spent a long time shopping on Amazon, and she'd even dragged him into playing video games for a while—but that didn't mean she wasn't doing real work.
Because after the earlier probe at Ryūdō Temple, and based on what he knew about the old worm, Ritsuka was certain Zouken had planted something inside him.
So he'd taken the opportunity to have Morgan, a great witch of the Age of Gods, examine him and purge whatever was there.
Morgan didn't refuse.
Even if he hadn't asked, she would have done it anyway.
And the moment she began, she understood why.
The first time she inspected him properly, even Morgan was startled by his condition.
Since childhood, he'd fought in a worm pit saturated with prana—his flesh had been eaten away and regrown countless times.
Each repair left no scars… but the magical traces were unmistakable to her.
Following those marks, Morgan could almost see the years of struggle—Ritsuka's figure clawing forward in desperation.
Her gaze softened, moved despite herself.
He'd suffered far too much.
Her Master—
Fujimaru Ritsuka.
It was hard to imagine how he'd endured long enough to reach this moment.
And at the same time, it made sense that he'd become what he was now.
She had many things she could have said.
But none of them came easily.
Instead, Morgan focused on carefully verifying his current condition.
Fortunately, because the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception interfered—and because Ritsuka had resisted nonstop from the very start—Zouken's alterations to his body were limited.
Zouken had only buried small tricks in several concealed places: measures to monitor Ritsuka's movements and condition in real time.
Cheap tricks like that couldn't fool Morgan.
To counter them, she brewed several bottles of potions, dismantling many of those hidden hazards and helping him break free of Zouken's shadow.
But just as she was about to remove the final "locator worm"—
Ritsuka stopped her, and made an unusual request.
"This worm was cultivated with the old worm's mana. It must be connected to him somehow—otherwise it couldn't track me in real time."
"So… is there a way to reverse-detect Zouken's mana without removing it?"
"In other words: can I use his worm to find him?"
Morgan blinked, momentarily surprised.
She didn't understand what he planned to do.
But after thinking it through, she answered honestly.
"Yes. Using the enemy's familiar for reverse detection isn't difficult."
"But because this would be modification and counter-detection—and because you didn't raise this familiar yourself—the result won't be as good as Zouken's."
"The effective range would probably be about half of Fuyuki City."
"Half of Fuyuki…" Ritsuka nodded. "That's enough."
So he asked her to leave it in place and remodel it as he described.
He wanted to use it—when the time came—to settle things with Zouken once and for all.
The last time Zouken's clone was shattered, he'd vanished.
But Ritsuka knew him too well to believe he'd give up on the Grail.
At some stage of the war—some dark corner—he would show himself.
Rather than waiting for Zouken to come to him, staying on the defensive—
Ritsuka would hunt him down first.
After all, you can't be a thief for a thousand days—yet defend against thieves for a thousand days.
With the locator worm, the moment Zouken surfaced, Ritsuka would know.
And he would go end it.
Morgan considered that dangerous, and entirely unnecessary.
It was only Zouken. How could he possibly cause trouble inside her workshop?
As long as Ritsuka stayed by her side, she could protect him.
There was no need to take such a risk.
But Ritsuka refused.
He said—
"Thank you for your favor, Your Majesty. But as I said before… my wish is to break fate."
"And this is the fate I must break."
"Only if I kill Matou Zouken with my own hands—only then will my revenge against fate be complete."
Years of torment had been, for Ritsuka, a road of Asura.
More than once he'd been on the verge of breaking, of falling into despair.
But he never considered giving up.
Because the only thing that carried him forward—
was the day he could take revenge with his own hands.
The day he could destroy the old worm.
That was his only reason for living.
And it was a destiny he could not avoid—no matter what.
Even Morgan couldn't shake him from that resolve.
He had already promised her unconditional trust and support—never betrayal.
So he asked that she respect his determination, and not obstruct someone who had already chosen his path.
"…."
In the end, Morgan could feel it.
Even if she refused to help, he would do it anyway—by his own methods.
So, reluctantly, she agreed.
She modified the locator worm, allowing him to sense Zouken's location at the most appropriate moment, so he could make his decision.
But Morgan also made one demand.
Come back alive.
No matter what the outcome was—
come back alive.
Because Ritsuka had promised he would not betray her.
If his Master fell first in the Grail War, then to her, that would be betrayal.
And when that happened, she would stop the war—
and seize him, and punish him properly.
Ritsuka understood.
It was Morgan's own clumsy, unspoken kind of concern.
So he simply smiled—and gave his guarantee.
"I will win."
No matter what.
He would win.
No abandoning. No giving up. No betrayal.
It was a promise he would keep.
Only then did Morgan finally seem willing to be at ease.
After that, Ritsuka also warned her clearly:
This Grail was abnormal.
She needed to be extremely careful.
If they wanted to realize a concrete wish, the Grail would have to be purified first.
Because in the previous war, a certain family's meddling had contaminated it.
But Morgan's reaction was calm—almost as if she already knew.
She didn't ask how Ritsuka knew.
Instead, the corner of her lips lifted in a faint smile, as though she was pleased by how openly he spoke to her.
Confidently, she said:
"After the Holy Grail War ends, I will purify it."
"It's only a Grail. Give me time, and it will be done."
Then Morgan asked him whether he had any specific wish he wanted the Grail to grant.
Reaching the Root.
Immortality.
Greater power.
Superhuman intellect.
Or even something vulgar—money.
As long as they won, she could use the Grail to give it to him.
But Ritsuka only shook his head.
He didn't truly have a wish.
Until now, he'd lived only to resist.
His greatest wish was to defeat fate—
which meant killing the old worm with his own hands and ending his suffering.
But that wish didn't need the Grail.
Because he had to achieve it before obtaining the Grail.
So he had no desire for it.
That surprised Morgan.
If that was truly all—
"Then what was your reason for joining this Holy Grail War in the first place?" she asked curiously.
"At first, I was forced," Ritsuka answered calmly. "Then it became an opportunity to settle things with the old worm completely."
"And now… it's to help you win, and to fulfill our promise."
"Please rest assured," he added, meeting her gaze. "I will help you claim victory, Your Majesty."
"…Mm."
Morgan neither looked happy, nor disappointed.
But something complicated stirred in her heart.
She gave a light nod, then looked at Ritsuka as though she'd made some decision.
Taking a slow breath, she spoke.
"I'm sorry, Master."
"In the future… for certain special reasons, I may cause you unavoidable harm."
"I may even betray you."
"But even so… when that time comes…"
"I still hope you can continue to trust me."
"…Can you?"
Harm. Betrayal.
For anyone, those were words you didn't forgive.
Not hating the person would already be the limit—continuing to trust them would be absurd.
Yet coming from Morgan, the words felt strangely… off.
Ritsuka raised his head, trying to read something in her eyes.
But no matter how he looked, he couldn't see through those lake-deep pupils.
Still—
he chose to trust what he felt.
He nodded, his gaze steady.
"I promise you. No matter what happens, I will continue to trust you, Morgan—just as I declared when we formed our pact."
"In this Holy Grail War…"
"…I entrust my life to your blade."
Join here to read ahead.
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