Last night, because Gilles de Rais had killed several police officers, the police concluded that the serial killer had accomplices.
Not only was the citywide alert not lifted, it was raised by another level instead.
As a result, many elementary and even middle schools directly suspended classes.
Learning that one temporarily did not have to go to school should normally have been a happy thing for a student.
However, after Tohsaka Rin received the news, her little face fell somewhat.
Broly had saved her yesterday, but because they had later run into Uncle Kariya, there had been many things she could not properly say to the boy.
She had planned to ask him about everything at school today, only for the school to call and announce that classes had been suspended.
Tohsaka Rin was somewhat disappointed.
Fortunately, her mother suggested taking her and her younger sister to the amusement park, which quickly changed her mood.
Over the course of the morning, they rode the carousel, went on the Ferris wheel, and played bumper cars.
At noon, they ate ice cream, hamburgers, and fries.
Even after returning home, the good mood she had gained from playing at the amusement park still lingered in her heart.
“Mom, next time, can we have Dad come to the amusement park with us too?”
Faced with her daughter’s expectant question, Zenjou Aoi revealed a somewhat forced smile.
After perfunctorily agreeing, she hid in her room and called her husband.
Tohsaka Tokiomi had only just lain down on his bed to rest not long ago when the ringing phone woke him up.
After answering and realizing it was his wife calling, he asked whether Zenjou Aoi had mentally prepared one of their two daughters to be sent to the Matou family.
“No, Tokiomi.
I still haven’t prepared our daughter for it.
It’s just that last night, I ran into Matou Kariya in Fuyuki City…”
“Wait.
You came to Fuyuki City last night?”
“It was Rin.
She secretly ran off to Fuyuki City on her own, wanting to look for her friend…”
“Why didn’t you watch her properly?”
“I…”
“All right.
I do not mean to blame you.
As long as you and the girls are safe, that is what matters.”
Fatigue had lowered Tohsaka Tokiomi’s ability to control his emotions.
Realizing that he had misspoken, he quickly restored his elegance and spoke gently to his wife on the other end of the phone.
“If there is something you need to say, just say it.”
Tohsaka Tokiomi only wanted to end the call quickly so he could get some rest.
“I met Matou Kariya, and his physical condition has become terrible.”
Zenjou Aoi continued.
“What does he have to do with us?”
Tohsaka Tokiomi frowned.
Hearing his wife bring up another man made even someone as elegant as him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
“He protected Rin last night.”
“Then we really should thank him.
If I run into him later, I will try to leave him alive.”
“That’s not what I wanted to say.
He mentioned the magecraft of the Matou family.
He said it is something that corrodes life and flesh.”
Zenjou Aoi did not hide anything.
She told her husband everything she had seen regarding Matou Kariya’s condition the previous night.
“Continue preparing our daughter mentally.
I will go ask Matou Zouken about the situation.
If the Matou family’s magecraft is truly as unbearable as you say, then I will not push my daughter into a pit of fire.”
After Tohsaka Tokiomi hung up, he returned to his study and wrote a letter to Matou Zouken.
Then he summoned a crow familiar and had it deliver the letter to the Matou residence.
After receiving Tohsaka Tokiomi’s letter, Matou Zouken flew into a rage.
Supporting himself with his cane, he strode quickly into the underground worm pit.
Inside the worm pit, Matou Kariya was currently enduring the worms gnawing at him.
This was the method by which a half-baked magus like him maintained his magical energy.
“Kariya, do you really think that by telling the Tohsaka family about your physical condition, they will stop sending their daughter back to the Matou family?”
Matou Zouken spoke directly to the man buried in the swarm of worms.
“What do you mean?”
Matou Kariya, who was enduring the agony of being eaten by worms, only felt confused.
“Heh.
Playing dumb, are you?
It does not matter.
I will tell you anyway.
It is useless.
The head of the Tohsaka family is a rational magus.
He has already decided to send the child who left the Matou family back to the Matou household!”
Holding the letter in his hand, he waved it around.
Without waiting for Matou Kariya to see it clearly, Matou Zouken put the letter away and turned to leave the worm pit.
“No, Matou Zouken, you damn bastard!
Explain yourself properly… Ah!”
The worms intensified the force with which they squeezed the life out of him.
“Tsuruno!”
After leaving the worm pit, the old man found his eldest son in name.
“Father, what are your orders?”
Matou Tsuruno showed a look of fear, but still stepped forward to receive his instructions.
“Take Shinji and leave the Matou house.”
“Eh?”
“Go outside and hide for a while.
A dangerous guest will be coming tonight.”
In Tohsaka Tokiomi’s letter, the other party had arranged to bring his Servant to visit the Matou residence that night.
It could not be refused.
Although Zouken felt that Tohsaka Tokiomi was unlikely to make a move, he still had to take precautions.
On the surface, he was having Matou Tsuruno, an ordinary person, take his grandson away from the Matou residence to avoid danger.
But in truth, his real body would also secretly leave with them, temporarily distancing itself from the Matou house.
“Pardon the intrusion, head of the Matou family.”
That evening, Tohsaka Tokiomi, who had recovered his condition, arrived as promised.
“Not at all.
The visit of the Tohsaka family head is something the Matou family welcomes most sincerely.”
The old man stood at the entrance, wearing a polite, false smile as he replied.
“Then, regarding the doubts I mentioned in my letter, may I receive an answer from the head of the Matou family?”
Tohsaka Tokiomi was also smiling, but the way he gripped his jeweled cane made it clear that if the answer failed to satisfy him, he would take action.
“Of course.
Please, follow me.”
Matou Zouken seemed not to notice this at all.
He invited Tohsaka Tokiomi inside, along with Gilgamesh, who had manifested behind him.
“What unpleasant magical energy.”
After entering the house, the golden king frowned and offered that evaluation.
Then, acting entirely on his own, he walked over to the Matou family’s wine cabinet, took out a bottle of wine, removed the cork, and began drinking.
“This wine, however, is better than the wine at your house, Tokiomi.
It is even better than the wine at your disciple’s place.”
Matou Zouken looked at Gilgamesh as he opened a bottle of the family’s treasured wine, which could practically be used as reserve funds.
The eyelids of his worm-constructed flesh could not help twitching twice.
“What?
Do you have an objection to this king opening your wine?”
“No, how could I?
For my family’s treasured wine to receive the praise of the King of Heroes is its honor.”
“For a swarm of insects, you are rather good with words.”
Matou Zouken’s body stiffened slightly.
He had not expected his false body to be seen through so easily.
“For the sake of this wine, this king will tolerate a little filth here.
Whatever you have to say, discuss it with this king’s retainer yourselves.
But if you dare make that mad dog hiding underground attack my retainer, then do not blame this king for showing no mercy.”
Gilgamesh remained in the living room drinking, while Matou Zouken led Tohsaka Tokiomi into the worm pit.
There, Tohsaka Tokiomi saw Matou Kariya.
Matou Zouken had the worms lift the man up as he explained to the head of the Tohsaka family why the Crest Worms were eroding Matou Kariya’s life.
“In the end, it is simply because this useless son of mine suddenly returned to the family and wanted to participate in the Holy Grail War.
Left with no other choice, I used such an extreme form of modification magecraft on him so that he could possess the ability to fight against excellent magi.”
“A very intricate technique.
Although his body and life have both been severely corroded, the Magic Circuits stimulated at the cost of his life have produced a considerable amount of magical energy.”
Tohsaka Tokiomi ignored the dense mass of worms inside the worm pit.
After observing how the Crest Worms stimulated the Magic Circuits in Matou Kariya’s body, he gave this method his generous praise.
“Head of the Matou family, you are indeed an experienced magus.
On the path of magecraft, I am still far inferior to you.”
“You flatter me.
They are merely some minor, unrefined tricks.”
“Then how can I know that you will not use this method on my daughter as well?”
“What this old man wants is an heir to the path of magecraft, not a disposable tool like him.
Naturally, I would not apply such a cruel modification method to your daughter.
If the head of the Tohsaka family does not believe me, we can sign a magecraft contract as a guarantee.”
Perhaps because the words “head of the Tohsaka family” triggered a key phrase, Matou Kariya, who had originally been made unconscious by the Crest Worms, opened his eyes at that moment.
“Tohsaka Tokiomi, why are you here?”
“You are awake, Kariya.
The head of the Tohsaka family came here to investigate the Matou family’s magecraft and discuss the matter of sending his daughter to the Matou family once again.”
“D-damn it…”
Matou Kariya was currently being controlled by the Crest Worms, and his consciousness was still not very clear.
Even so, he still struggled to force out his question.
“After seeing me like this, you bastard, do you still intend to send your daughter here?”
“You brought this suffering upon yourself.
You tried to participate in this Holy Grail ritual as a half-baked magus, and that is why you ended up like this.
“But the head of the Matou family has already assured me that he will not use such cruel methods to modify my daughter’s Magic Circuits.”
Tohsaka Tokiomi paused, then thanked Matou Kariya for helping his wife and daughter the previous night.
Only then did he turn to Matou Zouken and ask, Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Head of the Matou family, may we sign a new adoption contract now?”
“Of course.”
Matou Zouken smiled in a rather unsettling manner and said that he already had contract documents prepared by the Mage’s Association at home.
“Ah, Tohsaka Tokiomi, you bastard!
You are not worthy of being a father!
Ber—”
Matou Kariya wanted to call upon his Servant to launch an attack, but Matou Zouken quickly ordered the Crest Worms to restrain him.
“You will regret this…”
Before the worms made him fall unconscious again, Matou Kariya forced out one final unwilling sentence.
“I am Rin and Sakura’s father.
How I arrange matters for my own daughters is a private affair of the Tohsaka family.
Outsiders have no right to interfere.”
In response, Tohsaka Tokiomi merely showed some disdain.
However, when he looked at Matou Kariya, there was still a hint of regret in his gaze.
As his wife’s childhood friend, and also a friend from his own youth, this man’s concern for his two daughters was genuine.
If he could survive, then the daughter sent to the Matou family would at least have someone there who truly cared for and looked after her.
Tokiomi sighed inwardly, while still maintaining his elegance on the surface.
He left the worm pit together with Matou Zouken.
Matou Zouken provided a high-level magecraft contract from the Mage’s Association, and the two discussed the contents of once again adopting a daughter into the family.
After confirming that the adopted child’s life would not be harmed and that she would be made to inherit the Matou family’s magecraft, Tohsaka Tokiomi signed his name with magical energy.
“I wonder when Sakura can be sent back?”
After the magecraft contract was signed, Matou Zouken asked.
“My wife seems extremely reluctant to part with our younger daughter.”
“What does the head of the Tohsaka family mean?”
“I may send my elder daughter over to become the adopted child instead.
Would the head of the Matou family mind?”
“Haha, I do not mind.
Whether you send your elder daughter or the original younger daughter, the Matou family merely needs an excellent heir to the path of magecraft.”
Of course, Matou Zouken did not mind.
What he wanted was only a mother body with excellent aptitude.
If Tohsaka Tokiomi sent his elder daughter instead, that would actually make him even happier, because he could modify her mature womb earlier and turn her into a mother body for bearing the Matou family’s descendants.
Tohsaka Tokiomi left the Matou residence.
After confirming the Matou family’s worm magecraft, he returned home and called his wife, vouching for the Matou family’s magecraft and asking her to prepare their daughter mentally as soon as possible.
“If possible, I still think Sakura should go.
Rin is older, after all.
If something happens to me, she, being older, will be better able to stabilize the Tohsaka family’s situation.”
“But would that not be too cruel to Sakura?”
“All right, Aoi.
I will not interfere with which one goes.
As their mother, you may decide.
As long as you can persuade one of them to go to the Matou family and continue as the adopted child who will inherit the Matou family’s magecraft, that will be enough.”
Tohsaka Tokiomi took a step back on this point, handed the choice over to his wife, and hung up the phone.
…
At the Fujimura residence, Broly felt somewhat fortunate.
Before the time came for him to be sent back to his own world, he had discovered something extremely important.
That was, in order to convert the Happiness Values of his wives into Happiness Points, he needed to invite them to join the Crystal Palace.
At first, Broly had not noticed this at all.
It was not until noon, when Emiya Kiritsugu and Irisviel entrusted their daughter to him and the Crystal Palace suddenly gained its first official member, that he questioned the Crystal Palace and was given a detailed explanation of how Happiness Points were obtained.
In other words, if that wife he had never met had not joined the Crystal Palace, he might have returned empty-handed like an idiot without ever understanding how the Crystal Palace’s Happiness Point system worked.
But now, after he formally invited Fujimura Taiga while bathing in the evening, and after Fujimura Taiga agreed, the Happiness Points in his account had skyrocketed to over twelve thousand.
And aside from Fujimura Taiga, this high-quality stock that had already been converted into Happiness Points, he still had two other wives in this world with high Happiness Values.
At the thought that, after inviting them to join the Crystal Palace tomorrow, his Happiness Points would continue to skyrocket, Broly could not help feeling excited.
If testing the exchange function of the Crystal Palace had not wasted some time, and if the sky had not already grown so late, he might have gone out to invite the other two right away.
“I really hope tomorrow comes quickly.”
“What?
Are you that eager to leave your big sister’s side?”
“Uh…”
“I’m just teasing you.
But after you go back, don’t forget about me.”
“Mm.
I won’t forget.
Big Sister Fujimura is the person who treats me the best.”
Fujimura Taiga hugged the boy.
Using the subsystem module the Crystal Palace granted to official members, she had exchanged for a specialty food from Planet Vampa: the leg of a Vampa spider.
After taking one bite of the sticky, yellow-brown meat juices, she had nearly thrown up her entire stomach.
Afterward, when she heard Broly describe the plain and simple—yet utterly absurd—hunting life he had once lived on Planet Vampa, she felt even more pity for this child.
On the night before their separation, Fujimura Taiga wanted to give this child a motherly kind of care.
Her body was soft, and she smelled fragrant.
Broly soon fell asleep in the girl’s arms, lulled by the way she gently patted his back as if coaxing a child.