“What?
He’s missing?”
At the Fujimura household, things had already become somewhat noisy because Scarface had failed to pick the boy up from school.
“Young Miss, when I went to the school, that was what they told me.
We checked the surveillance footage at the school gate.
Broly left the school on his own.”
Scarface said somewhat innocently.
In Japan, elementary school students usually went home by themselves.
Because of that, when the children were dismissed from Fuyuki Town Affiliated Elementary School, the school did not deliberately stop any particular child from leaving.
As a result, when Scarface received the notice that school would be letting out early but still went to pick Broly up at the usual time, he learned that the boy was no longer at school.
Scarface failed to pick him up.
The boy had gone missing.
And with a kidnapper-murderer still roaming around Fuyuki City, Taiga Fujimura, who had just returned home from school, immediately exploded.
“Didn’t the school call and tell you to pick him up earlier?”
Taiga Fujimura grabbed Scarface by the collar, her eyes looking as if she wanted to tear this bastard apart.
“I…”
Scarface did not know how to respond.
At the time, he had simply thought that there was no problem with leaving the child at school and going to pick him up when the time came.
“Taiga, let him go.
Something came up in the group this afternoon, and I asked him to run an errand for me.”
Just as Taiga Fujimura was about to beat him up, Raiga Fujimura spoke up in Scarface’s defense.
“Grandpa…”
“I know you’re anxious, but don’t panic just yet.
When a problem arises, getting anxious won’t help.
Blaming others won’t help either.
Right now, the most important thing is how to solve the problem.”
Raiga Fujimura spoke to his granddaughter in a very calm manner.
“Then what should we do now?”
Taiga Fujimura asked.
“There are some surveillance cameras installed on the roads around the school.
With the Fujimura Group’s connections, we are capable of obtaining that footage.
So first, we need to find someone to retrieve the surveillance records from the surrounding roads and track that child’s movements after he left school.”
“Then hurry up!”
“I’ve already sent people to do it.
According to the footage we obtained, that child boarded a train headed for Fuyuki City’s West Station without paying the fare.”
“Huh?”
Taiga Fujimura was somewhat surprised.
Raiga Fujimura, meanwhile, wore an expression that seemed to say, This is what your grandfather is capable of.
He was teaching his granddaughter how to stay calm when faced with trouble.
“And after that?”
“If you were me, Taiga, what would you do?”
“I would find Broly.”
“But what if there are no more surveillance cameras?”
“I’d go look for him myself.”
“Wrong.
The strength of one person is limited.
You need to mobilize the power of the Fujimura Group to search for him.
And it’s not as simple as just looking for the child.
Right now, the greatest danger to children in Fuyuki City is that serial kidnapper-murderer.
We need to search for traces of that serial killer as well.
At the same time, we must use our connections to contact the police and have them help us search too.”
Raiga Fujimura’s explanation of how to handle this sudden incident left Taiga Fujimura stunned.
Seeing the dazed expression on his granddaughter’s face, the old man felt very satisfied.
Only then did he continue speaking.
“These are things ordinary people cannot do.
When an ordinary person goes missing, a case can only be officially opened after forty-eight hours.
And even then, it is often difficult to get any results.
“But the Fujimura Group is different.
Not only can we mobilize our men to search, we can also use certain connections to contact the police and have them help.
“So, Taiga, do you understand now how important it is to have power and influence?”
Taiga Fujimura: “…”
“Grandpa, what you said makes a lot of sense.
I do somewhat agree now that having an organization is a pretty good thing.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the important part right now.
What I want to ask is this: have you found Broly or not?”
“We haven’t found him yet, but there should be news soon.”
“Then that means you haven’t found him.
No, I’m going out to look for him too—”
“Sister Fujimura, can we eat now?”
Just as Taiga Fujimura was asking about the place where the boy had last been seen, Broly descended from the sky.
He landed in the backyard.
Seeing several people inside the house, and noticing that no one had noticed him, he walked over and asked his sister-wife.
“Who has time to eat right now?
We’re—huh?!”
Taiga Fujimura suddenly reacted and stopped mid-sentence.
She turned her head, and along with everyone else, looked toward Broly, who had suddenly appeared outside in the garden.
“Huh?
You’re back?”
Scarface asked.
“Mm.
I’m back.”
“You little brat, where did you run off to?
When I heard you had suddenly gone missing, I was worried sick!”
Taiga Fujimura rushed over, hugged him, and asked.
“I went with my deskmate wife from school to look for her other deskmate friend.
On the way, she also treated me to takoyaki.
“And in the end, she gave me her portion of takoyaki too.
That thing called takoyaki is very delicious…”
Thinking back on his experiences after school, Broly answered Taiga Fujimura’s question.
However, in his answer, the taste of the takoyaki and the different ways of adding toppings seemed to be the parts most worth describing in detail.
As for the unimportant things, he directly skipped over them.
“If you go out to play with friends, you have to tell an adult first, understand?
Otherwise, people will worry about you.”
Seeing Broly return safely, Taiga Fujimura finally relaxed.
Even so, she still lectured the boy.
“Mm.
I understand.”
Broly memorized it and nodded obediently.
“As long as you remember.
Come on, I’ll take you to eat.”
After rubbing the boy’s head, Taiga Fujimura brought him toward the large dining hall.
“Old man, this…”
“Tell everyone they don’t need to keep searching.
Have them all come back.”
Raiga Fujimura waved his hand.
Broly’s disappearance could be considered an unexpected incident, but at the very least, it had made his granddaughter understand the benefits of having people and influence under her command.
And the boy returning safely was even better.
At least they no longer needed to waste effort searching for his whereabouts.
…
“Was this guy hit by a heavy truck or something?”
The missing child had been found and brought back, but the police still needed to remain here and deal with the body of the suspected criminal.
A police officer investigating the scene looked at the young man’s corpse, which was embedded in the shattered wooden crates.
The abdominal cavity was almost impossible to recognize as anything intact.
He could not help frowning.
He had seen plenty of death scenes before, but this one alone was somewhat absurd.
He could not even begin to guess what had turned the man into such a state.
“No matter what, this should be the major suspect behind the recent home invasions, child abductions, and child murders in Fuyuki City.
“Take detailed photos of this man’s face.
After we return, we’ll need to investigate his identity and see if we can find any substantial evidence.”
After the police inspector in charge of the scene finished speaking, he realized that none of his subordinates behind him had responded.
“Why did you all stop talking?”
When he turned around, he saw his subordinates being strangled by several tentacled monsters.
They were suspended in midair, desperately struggling, yet completely unable to break free.
“M-Monsters?”
The police inspector widened his eyes and took two steps back, only to find there was nowhere left to retreat.
Behind him was the corpse with its gruesome death.
“Let my men go.”
All he could do was draw his handgun and try to threaten the monsters wrapped around his subordinates’ necks, hoping to make them release their tentacles.
“How could this be?”
But before he could fire, a voice filled with shock and disbelief came from behind the sea demons.
“It’s dangerous in here.”
A strange man wearing a blue robe ignored the police inspector’s warning and quickly stepped into the bar.
His eyes bulged prominently, easily making one think of a goldfish with protruding eyes.
Yet he walked right past the sea demons without being obstructed at all.
“Ryuunosuke Uryuu, my Master… I never thought you would die before me.”
Sorrow filled Bluebeard Gilles de Rais’ eyes.
A Master who had shared his language and his passions now lay before him in the form of a corpse.
“However, your death is most artistic.
I imagine you must have offered yourself up for the sake of art!”
Since the sea demons did not stop him, and this man immediately began speaking to the corpse as soon as he arrived, the inspector realized something.
“You’re an accomplice of this suspected kidnapper-murderer, aren’t you?
And these monsters are under your control?”
The inspector aimed his gun at the man.
“Make those monsters release my colleagues right now, or I’ll shoot.”
The inspector threatened him.
Some of his subordinates’ eyes had already begun to roll back.
He had to take action.
“Hm?”
Bluebeard lowered his head and looked at the policeman, who only reached his chest.
Then he asked in return,
“Do you not know that one should never disturb a person while they are mourning the dead?”
He raised his hand toward the man’s head, but did not grab him.
He merely placed it in front of him.
“But you do not seem to possess any artistic sensibility, so I shall forgive you.”
Bluebeard began chanting in a low voice.
The inspector did not understand what he was doing, but roared,
“I told you to make those monsters put my colleagues down!
Do you hear me?”
“Dark sacrifice.
Sea demon summoning.”
A magic circle formed. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
The casting material was the inspector standing before him.
“What is this?
What did you do?”
A sudden agony erupted inside his body, and the inspector’s expression changed.
Rip!
Before he could pull the trigger, a sea demon burst out from within his body.
He died.
His flesh and blood were then devoured by the monster that had emerged from him.
“Ryuunosuke Uryuu, God is truly unjust.
He forced a great human artist like you to leave the stage early.
But worry not.
You still have me.
“I, Gilles de Rais, swear here and now that I will make the executor of God’s will who forced you to leave the stage early exit this world’s grand stage in the very same manner.”
He thrust his hand into the body of a police officer being held by one of the sea demons beside him, and pulled out a fresh, beating heart.
The sound of chanting rang out once more.
As the heart exploded as spellcasting material, the blood within it carried the resentment of the deceased and, under the effect of magecraft, pointed toward a certain direction.
…
“Fog?
No, this is a phenomenon created by magecraft!”
Through Assassin’s vision, Kirei Kotomine, who was waiting inside the Fuyuki Church, discovered Caster moving along with a group of sea demons.
That man still had no intention whatsoever of concealing the mystery.
In fact, he had grown even more brazen, leading a crowd of familiars down the streets.
Along the way, any ordinary people they encountered were killed without explanation and then used as material to summon more familiars.
“What a madman.”
While notifying Tokiomi Tohsaka that Caster had taken new action, Kirei Kotomine also ordered his Assassin to knock out the innocent passersby along Caster’s route and toss them aside.
This was not done out of kindness.
He simply did not want Caster’s army of familiars to continue expanding.
“What?
Caster has summoned a large group of familiars in the streets and is now parading around with them?”
Upon receiving the news, Tokiomi Tohsaka felt as if his blood pressure was about to explode in that instant.
As the head of the Tohsaka family, the greatest mage lineage in Fuyuki City, he had both the duty and responsibility to preserve the local mystery.
Caster’s behavior of marching down the streets with a massive group of familiars was practically a direct provocation, trampling all over the bottom line he held as a magus.
At this point in the Holy Grail ritual, could it even still be called a secret ritual?
Why not just hang a loudspeaker around Caster’s neck and have him announce it to the entire city?
“Has Caster’s Master gone insane?
To let his Servant do something like this… is he not afraid of being surrounded and killed by the other Servants?”
“Teacher Tokiomi, with all due respect, that pair has been insane from the very beginning of the Holy Grail ritual.”
“Oh, right.
I almost forgot.
Then what is their target?
After causing such a commotion, are they merely trying to make themselves a target for everyone?”
“Based on Caster’s route, he and his army of familiars are heading toward the Saber team’s new base.
For reasons unknown, Caster has been targeting Saber all this time.
Teacher, do we need to intercept Caster’s actions now?”
After reporting Caster’s apparent objective, Kirei Kotomine asked the question.
“If he is going after Saber, then there is no need to intercept him.
Let that madman Caster and his group serve as a probing stone to test Saber’s strength.
“Of course, continue having Assassin clear ordinary people from his route.
If too many civilians die, this matter will become rather difficult to cover up.”
Tokiomi Tohsaka did not stop Caster’s actions.
He only instructed his disciple to do some follow-up work that would make cleaning up the aftermath easier by reducing civilian casualties.
…
Guided by the blood of resentment, and with Kirei Kotomine’s Servant silently working to remove innocent passersby from his path, Gilles de Rais proceeded without obstruction all the way to Fuyuki City’s old district.
“Kiritsugu!”
Inside the mansion that served as their new base, Artoria sensed something abnormal in the air.
She rushed into the house and discovered that her Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, had also noticed the strange magical energy in the atmosphere.
At that moment, a submachine gun had already been assembled in his hands.
Looking at Saber, who had burst inside, Kiritsugu Emiya gave instructions to Maiya Hisau, who still had some injuries on her body.
“Protect Irisviel.
Saber and I will go out to meet the enemy.”
Under the moonlit night, fog filled the streets.
Dark clouds covered the moonlight.
Then, at the moment the moonlight revealed itself once more, Caster and his army of sea demons appeared at the end of the street.
There were far more familiars than there had been during the previous attack on the Einzbern castle.
“Heretic, how many innocent people have you slaughtered this time?!”
Looking at the enormous group of sea demons, Artoria felt only anger.
Although she was not from this era, nor from this country, the chivalric spirit she upheld made her furious toward anyone who committed such wicked and inhuman acts.
“Oh my, what a coincidence this is.
To think I would be able to reunite with the beautiful holy maiden here.
It seems fate itself is arranging for you to return to my side.
“However, O holy maiden, I, Gilles de Rais, have not come for you tonight.
“I have come for revenge!”
“Huh?!”
Both Artoria, who had stepped out onto the street to confront the enemy, and Kiritsugu Emiya, who had already set up his gun on the rooftop, let out sounds of surprise and doubt.
“My Master, Ryuunosuke Uryuu, a great artist of mankind, was brutally murdered in some nameless bar.
“My magecraft has guided this army of vengeance here.
“Step aside, holy maiden.
On tonight’s stage, there is no role for you.”