Reborn in Type-Moon: Starting by Adopting Sakura - Chapter 49

On a luxury cruise ship sailing through the middle of the ocean, Kayneth sat in an opulent cabin with a warrior carrying two swords standing at his back. His expression turned gloomy as he thought about the events of recent days: his fiancée’s increasingly cold attitude and his student’s spectacular betrayal had left him in what could generously be called a foul mood. For a man who considered himself nobility incarnate, the whole affair was turning into quite an undignified mess.

‘Think of it as a trip to the countryside.’ He waved one hand dismissively at the endless blue horizon. He then turned to face the sea properly. "You understand, don't you? I need only victory."

The swordsman dropped to one knee. "Yes, Master. I will bring you the honor of victory with this body."

…

8:12 a.m. Einzbern Castle.

"Lancer, why did you join the Holy Grail War?"

The morning sun streamed through the tall windows, and Irisviel found herself asking the question again. Her curiosity had been eating at her for days now, like an itch she couldn't quite reach.

It was supposed to be simple, wasn't it? The promise to grant any wish—that's what called Heroic Spirits into the world.

But Lancer seemed to want absolutely nothing. She never showed the slightest urgency about anything, never even hinted at having desires worth fighting for. So what exactly had compelled her to answer the summons?

Artoria stood on the castle balcony, her blue cloak wrapped around her shoulders. She gazed up at the morning sky as if it held answers to questions Irisviel couldn't even begin to ask.

"A wish?" Her voice was thoughtful.

"Mm-hm." Irisviel bounced slightly on her toes. Finally, she was going to get a real answer instead of more cryptic silence.

"Iri, do you think this world is stable?"

Irisviel blinked. That wasn't even remotely close to what she'd expected. "Um, what do you mean?"

Artoria turned slightly, her eyes serious. "The world can only exist if the past, present, and future move toward the strongest and most stable form."

"Mm…" Irisviel furrowed her brows, doing her best to look thoughtful. The effort was real—comprehension, not so much.

Artoria continued, apparently unbothered by her obvious confusion. "The world may contain multiple histories."

"Eh? Is that so?" Irisviel perked up. "Yuu said something like that too." Though honestly, when he had explained it, she'd been equally lost. Maybe there was a pattern here.

"If there are multiple histories, then there are multiple paths we could have taken." The King of Knights turned back toward the horizon. "So why is this particular present the only one that exists? The reason I'm here is to reclaim a world that still shines, even beyond the end."

Irisviel tilted her head. "So… to do that, you need the Grail?"

Artoria shook her head with what might have been amusement. "The Grail? It's just a prize at the end of the road, so I'll take it if I win. That's all."

After a few more minutes of conversation that left Irisviel feeling like she'd grasped maybe half the meaning—if she was being generous—she clapped her hands together in sudden decision.

At the very least, Lancer was reassuring and dependable. Assassin, on the other hand…

The image of that soft-bodied woman floated through her mind, all curves and nasty smiles. Beautiful as a poppy and probably twice as toxic. She hated her.

…

Ryuudou Temple, underground cavern

"Please allow me to serve you, Master. You are my lord… my everything."

"…Alright."

"Master, please open your mouth. I… I'm coming in."

Yuu opened his mouth and accepted the ration bar Serenity fed him. The care she took was almost exaggerated, as if she were offering him a five-course meal instead of what basically amounted to cardboard with vitamins.

For more than a week now, he'd been eating nothing but these things until his mouth felt like sandpaper. At times like this, he missed Manaka's cooking like a man stranded at sea dreams of rain.

But even with the same terrible food, eating it differently did lift his mood somehow. Strange how context could improve even the most depressing meals.

Breaking off a small piece, he smiled. "Serenity, let me feed you this time."

"Eh? C-can I? Ah… you're willing to touch me? Thank you… even though my body is all poison, and my mucous membranes are many times worse…"

"Alright, come on."

"Mm… all according to Master's will."

Serenity sat cross-legged on the ground, shyly parting her lips. They gleamed slightly in the dim light.

Holding the bar between his thumb and forefinger, he placed it into her small mouth. His fingers brushed her lips—unavoidable, really, though she clearly didn't mind.

She tilted her head back slightly, lifting her blue hair away from her ear. A flush crept across her cheeks, and her toes pressed against the ground, the arch of her foot tensing as her delicate digits curled inward.

Not just the food—her mouth closed over both it and his fingers.

"Sorry… I'm so greedy…"

A Servant didn't actually need to eat. They could maintain their existence entirely on a Master's magical energy, making this whole routine technically unnecessary.

But in the end, it was about feelings more than sustenance.

After a few more bites, he returned to studying the Grail system.

Serenity lay down with a satisfied sigh, then activated Presence Concealment and vanished into thin air.

The system's core was the magical circuit of the Winter Maiden, Justeaze—a network stretching a full kilometer. The thing was basically magical infrastructure on an absurd scale.

The ring of circuits formed a volcano-like rim, and they pulsed with an organic rhythm that made his skin crawl. Looking at it too long felt like staring into something that shouldn't exist.

At its heart sat the materialized form of the Third Magic—Materialization of the Soul. The Holy Grail of magical research, quite literally.

Studying the Greater Grail was essentially getting a crash course in the Third Magic itself, which was either incredibly fortunate or incredibly dangerous. Probably both.

For now, he set that particular rabbit hole aside.

As he dug deeper into the mechanics, he realized the Lesser Grail's method of storing Servant souls aligned surprisingly well with his own ability—Item Record. The process was straightforward enough: Heroic Spirits needed a Saint Graph to exist in the world, which the Grail provided at summoning. When they died, the Lesser Grail collected both soul and shattered Saint Graph like some cosmic recycling program.

If he could use Item Record to inscribe a Saint Graph's data, it would essentially let him hijack part of the Grail system's authority. After that, redirecting the soul fragments would be child's play.

The problem was that inscribing Saint Graph data was monumentally difficult. He could think of exactly two methods that might work: either the Servant cooperated completely, or the Servant died while he was there to record the process.

"Let's try it on Serenity first." He glanced toward where she'd disappeared.