Outside Church of Null.
Shishigou Kairi looked up at the Mage Workshop, scratching his head with a bit of a headache. But thinking of the task he had accepted, he steeled himself and barged in.
Touko, who was in the research lab analyzing Asagami Fujino's data with Rin and Da Vinci, suddenly stopped her work. She adjusted her glasses, revealing a dangerous expression, and looked downstairs through the floorboards.
Rin looked at Touko, who had suddenly stopped working, and asked curiously.
"What's wrong, Touko?"
"Someone has broken in. I need to go see."
Seeing Touko preparing to go check, Rin reached out to stop her. Under Touko's puzzled gaze, Rin took out her phone and waved it at Touko.
"Come on, Touko. It's just someone breaking in. There's no need to interrupt our research. For something like this, wouldn't it be better to just call Aoko and have her handle it?"
Touko crossed her left arm over her chest and rested her chin on her right hand. She looked at Rin, who was talking to Aoko, and nodded. 'Indeed, it's not bad to give this kind of thing to my sister, who does nothing all day.' With that, she felt at ease and continued analyzing Asagami Fujino's data.
Aoko hung up her phone, sat up from her bed, and stretched. Seeing Alice sitting at the desk casting a curious glance, she explained.
"A mouse just broke into the workshop. Rin called and asked me to check it out. I'll go by myself. Alice, you keep reading."
Hearing Aoko's reply, Alice nodded, then shifted her gaze back to her book, no longer paying attention to Aoko.
Shishigou Kairi had already reached the third floor of Church of Null. Having just walked up, he saw a door slightly ajar and curiously walked over to peek through the crack.
"Stupid onii-chan, you're using Reinforcement Magic wrong. The book says you need to arrange the nodes on the main muscle groups of your arm through the conversion of magical energy, not by using the entire arm as the main body."
Inside the room, Kallen was holding a magecraft book borrowed from Rin, flipping through the pages while 'guiding' Shirou Kotomine in his magecraft studies.
Shishigou Kairi watched the two brats teaching themselves magecraft and couldn't help but push the door open and walk in.
"I suggest you two little ones don't just follow the book blindly. One mistake and his arm will be ruined!"
"Who's there?" X2
Hearing a stranger's voice behind them, Kallen and Shirou Kotomine turned around in a panic. Seeing the stranger, Shirou Kotomine immediately took a step across to shield Kallen behind him. Kallen, holding the book in front of her, stared warily at the stranger from behind Shirou Kotomine.
Shishigou Kairi looked at the wary Kallen and Shirou Kotomine, smiled, and took off his sunglasses, putting them in his coat pocket.
"Hello, I am Shishigou Kairi, a mercenary. I'm looking for Tohsaka Rin. Could you please lead the way?"
Shirou Kotomine looked at Shishigou Kairi, who claimed to be a mercenary, and didn't dare to act rashly, saying decisively.
"I refuse. I won't just lead the way for a stranger!"
"Ah, is that so? Sigh, what a pain."
Suddenly, a hand rested on Shishigou Kairi's shoulder, and a voice said the same thing, "Yeah, what a pain."
Shishigou Kairi's pupils constricted. 'When did she get behind me?!' Out of habit as a mercenary, Shishigou Kairi immediately prepared to pull out the 'gun' from his coat.
Unfortunately, the person behind Shishigou Kairi was none other than Aoko, who had come to check on the intruder. Once Aoko, a combat-oriented Magus, got close, any resistance was bound to be futile.
Shishigou Kairi, whose hand had just reached into his coat, felt a massive force on his shoulder. Then, he was grabbed by the shoulder by Aoko and flung away, slamming heavily against the wall.
Aoko looked at the unconscious Shishigou Kairi with satisfaction, brushed off some non-existent dust from her hands, and gave Shirou a thumbs-up.
"Shirou, your performance just now was great!"
Hearing Aoko's praise, Shirou scratched his head sheepishly and said.
"It's nothing, Aoko-nee. It was just what I should do."
"Alright, you two go back to your rooms and rest. The next part of the process isn't suitable for children to watch..."
Shishigou Kairi woke up from his coma and found himself tied to a chair in the same room. Not far away on the sofa, the Fifth Magus, Aozaki Aoko, was peeling fruit with a small knife. She looked at him with a half-smile, occasionally gesturing with the knife toward him as if looking for where to start cutting.
Seeing this scene, Shishigou Kairi hurriedly shouted at Aoko.
"Wait! Fifth Magus, I have no ill intent! I'm a mercenary hired by the Tohsaka Family. I broke into your magecraft workshop because I received news that I needed to inform Tohsaka Rin as soon as possible. There's a contract in my coat pocket; you can verify it!"
Aoko, who originally thought she had just caught a greedy mercenary and planned to kill time with Shishigou Kairi, was taken aback. She stood up, walked to Shishigou Kairi's side, and pulled out the mercenary contract and self-coercion document signed by Tohsaka Tokiomi and Shishigou Kairi from his pocket.
After reading it carefully and confirming that Shishigou Kairi was indeed a mercenary hired by the Tohsaka Family, Aoko curled her lip. With a flick of her small knife, she cut the ropes binding Shishigou Kairi and turned to walk out the door.
"Follow me. I'll take you to see Rin. You should tell her whatever news you have. How boring."
As the ropes were cut, Shishigou Kairi stood up, rubbing his stiff wrists from being bound, and hurriedly followed Aoko's pace.'Sigh, I knew it. This job is a stroke of bad luck!'
Knock, knock, knock.
A crisp knocking sound rang out. Inside the research lab, Rin gloomily put down the materials in her hand. Looking at Touko and Da Vinci, who were indifferent to the knocking, she walked irritably to the door and opened it.
"Aoko, why is it you? Weren't you going to deal with the intruder? Finished playing so soon?"
Aoko, standing in the doorway, turned her body slightly to reveal Shishigou Kairi not far behind her.
"What intruder? He's a mercenary hired by your family to protect you. He says he has some important news for you."
Rin looked at Shishigou Kairi, walked out of the research lab, closed the door behind her, and then walked over to Shishigou Kairi, who was looking out the window into the distance.
Shishigou Kairi felt Rin's approach and quickly looked away from the distance, looking directly into Tohsaka Rin's eyes to show that he was definitely not peeking at their research.
Rin came to Shishigou Kairi's side and gave him a polite bow.
"Your name is Shishigou Kairi, right? What news do you have for me?"
Shishigou Kairi nodded, took a stack of photos from his coat, and handed them to Rin.
Rin took the photos, examined them carefully, and looked up in surprise.
"Gransurg Blackmore — Black-Winged Duke?"
"Yes, Miss Tohsaka Rin. I took these last night at the Ogawa Apartments in Maimihama. Also, I heard from colleagues that a large number of Dead Apostles are currently on their way to Miyako City..."
-------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 30 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon.
patreon.com/TLScarlet
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!