Chapter 16. It's True that Flat Has Been Found
"If it's Shirou's request, leave it to me to handle, ohohoho! Finding a person? Looking up a family? Such small problems are nothing at all; I'll have it sorted in a moment!"
The true young lady was in high spirits.
I can't help but feel she's misunderstood something in a subtle way.
"Um, 'long-term cooking' means like... a month or two, or something..."
Not for a lifetime, okay?
"It doesn't matter! It's quite alright, Shirou. That means you'll come back to be my butler for at least a month or two, right? That is more than enough!"
Ah, well, I suppose that interpretation isn't exactly wrong.
Subtly correct.
...Fine, I give up.
Shirou squeezed out a fatalistic, resigned smile. Regardless of the cost, let's just say the matter was resolved.
I feel like I've awakened a beautiful beast that shouldn't have been awakened... must be my imagination.
While expressing his thanks, Shirou brought the call to an end with a relaxed expression. Shirou didn't ask about Flat's situation, because if Luvia knew, Lord El-Melloi II would have certainly asked her first; there would be no need for Shirou, who was personally in Snowfield, to look for him.
"Shirou, when I said I've been busy lately, I wasn't lying. It'll be at least seven days or more of work. And then..."
Luvia suddenly asked from the other end of the line:
"Which city is the Kuruoka family based in? I can find them without that info, but would it be convenient to tell me?"
Right, Shirou wanted to commission Luvia but forgot to mention that part.
Maintaining a relaxed face, Shirou replied:
"In the United States, a city called Snowfield."
The conversation, which had been flowing smoothly, suddenly stopped. As if the line had gone busy, everything from her voice to the background static vanished instantly.
"..."
Silence spread.
The sky was sliced into square, well-like fragments by the alleyway where he stood.
He didn't know if dozens of seconds passed. He didn't know if it was minutes.
Luvia spoke with an aura completely different from before, with an unprecedented seriousness:
"—Shirou."
.
.
.
Observing the weeds in front of her with her hands on her hips, Tohsaka Rin was in a remarkably good mood.
Since she had no knowledge of the contact between Shirou and Luvia, it was expected that her good mood would last for several hours.
Had she known of the unilateral sacrifice made on her behalf on the other side, she really would have been desperate enough to charge to Luvia's doorstep to demand an explanation.
The technical term for this phenomenon is a "stress response."
'Luvia, you have the guts to raid my home and steal my man, but you don't have the guts to tell me to my face!?
Fine, let's go; only one of us walks away today!'
Rin bringing back intel on Flat and Shirou bringing back intel on the Kuruoka family—the two of them covering all the entry points for the Holy Grail War separately—was, of course, a display of perfect chemistry.
But who wants that kind of chemistry!
Rin would only be left with a stiff face and gritted teeth for having to fulfill the contract. Of course, she would immediately draft a counter-plan, like running to Luvia's house to work as a maid just to flirt with Shirou and make Luvia cry into her handkerchief.
Given that a Pride-ranked magus would work as a maid just to spite Luvia, she really is the same type of person as Luvia after all.
However, the future doesn't affect the present.
The current Rin was simply in a good mood. And the reason for that good mood was that she had found traces of Flat.
"Finally. It was worth all that effort."
This was a park with a wide lawn. The delicate blades of grass were spread out like a soft carpet. A breeze blew past, causing the grass to sway gently.
The person who had been here previously was no longer present.
Rin had simply sensed his magical traces; they were so obvious it was as if some sort of operation had been performed. Judging by the nature of the prana, it hadn't even been three or four hours since the operation ended.
Even Rin had been walking aimlessly for a long time; passing this park was purely a coincidence.
But the moment she intended to walk through, she immediately detected the target's presence.
One can only say—I'm really lucky, favored by the goddess of fortune.
Rin smiled.
She opened the small box in her arms, and a gem flew out from the space that seemed deep enough to be bottomless.
It wasn't just "seemed bottomless"; it literally had no physical bottom. It would be a hassle to describe the various attached magical (?) properties, so it's better to sum it up in one sentence.
This was a box given to her by her Great Mentor. It was the same type as a certain large chest back home that would spit out magic wands.
In other words, a miniature Treasure Chest.
"Bounded Field, Reveal."
While no one was around, the gem quietly shattered, then collapsed into powder and debris.
The dust particles spontaneously formed a vertical circular pattern in the air. Rin reached out and made a diagonal slash from the top-side to the bottom-side, pushing aside the fragments in her fingertip's path.
With just that, ripples of magical energy encompassed the surroundings.
This domain, where even the colors seemed slightly altered, was a relatively powerful Bounded Field. It not only provided complete concealment but also possessed a certain degree of defensive capability.
Then, Rin walked toward a park bench.
"Engravings, Identify."
She opened the gem box again.
"Trace back, Track."
Five gems flew out of the box, hovering over the bench.
"Etchings, Manifest."
The chant was complete.
The five gems also shattered, and the powder of these formerly precious items coated the bench, disappearing like melting snow half a moment later.
The occurrence of that phenomenon didn't make Rin wait even another half-moment.
Within ten breaths, something slowly appeared beneath the bench.
Purple footprints.
She could discern the trail of a single person's footsteps, winding and twisting across the lawn, with the other end of the trail leading far into the distance.
Watching the magical effect lead the way for her, Rin clicked her tongue and nodded in satisfaction.
Her hawk-like sharp eyes had already locked onto someone located far away: "Flat, looks like you've run into a dead end."
As Rin followed the footprints, she felt a strange sensation rise in her heart and scratched her head.
Strange, everything is going smoothly.
But... why do I feel like I'm going to drop the ball out of nowhere?
I don't get it.
Rin shook her head to wave away the vague intuition. Then, she put on a sharp, decisive expression.
Her entire soul was switched to "magus mode." For a magus, this meant she was an existence that absolutely could not be underestimated.
For example—
Twilight: Eastern side of Snowfield City
Flat was walking toward a motel with an equally satisfied pace. Along the way, he chatted idly with the watch on his wrist.
To an onlooker, he would seem like a madman, but as expected, he had no self-awareness of it.
Until a certain moment, when he suddenly glanced back. Then he stopped walking.
"What is it, Master?"
"Ah, it seems my footsteps are being tracked."
The blonde idiot matter-of-factly dropped a shocking piece of news.
However, Jack—as a Servant—hadn't detected a single abnormality.
"Tracked!?"
"Oh dear, they seem a bit too close. I can't dodge at all at this distance~ Even I only realized it once they got this close! This level of magecraft... Little Luvia-class... no, Miss Rin?"
If Miss Rin weren't the disciple of "that person," he certainly would have nicknamed her "Rin-pyon." What a pity.
Facing Flat's tension-free string of comments, Jack asked in a low, serious tone, as if taking a deep breath:
"From your perspective, Master, what exactly is going on?"
"I don't know! But we'll find out if we respond! After all, that Bounded Field is right in front of our eyes, isn't it?"
Flat's gaze didn't waver. Looking closely, his sight was concentrated on a patch of empty air.
Yet in his eyes, a certain silhouette was reflected.
"Mr. Jack, don't speak for now, and don't manifest."
The watch went silent. Confirming this, Flat walked back.
He reached out his hand to stroke the empty space, and then entered.
What appeared before his eyes was—
A stunning woman in a red shirt, standing on the roof of a building.
"Yo. You can really walk a long way on your own, can't you?"
She acted as if she had been waiting for a long time, revealing an elegant smile full of overwhelming pressure.