“Petting and cutting with a clatter, the ring rub glows bright, we love backyard battles the most, General Tryhard…”
Gwyn, back in his plain gray casual clothes, walked down the modern street, softly singing the Tryhard Song, one of the few melodies he still remembered.
Suddenly, he stopped, looked toward a tall building ten kilometers away, and waved with a smile.
?!
The Servant on the high building ten kilometers away was slightly startled.
He lowered his bow and arrow, turned, and left.
“Archer, is it? To be able to spot my existence in a vast crowd at a single glance is indeed commendable.”
“From that aura just now, he should be someone connected to the divine.”
“A demigod? Or a descendant or chosen of some god?”
“Ah, it doesn’t matter. He’s just a piece of firewood anyway.”
“Instead of thinking about whether the Servant is related to a god, I should think about how old Miyazaki Kotaka are now, and if they’ve started making Soulslike games.”
“And whether he is currently experiencing those strange little stories.”
Gwyn quickly put the Archer episode behind him and continued singing his Tryhard Song, wandering around Fuyuki City as a helpful citizen.
“Clang clang bang bang, half-leaf propeller, left bow and machine gun both lost their way, invisible line-pulling marathon only wins battles…”
…
The first day before the Holy Grail War officially began finally passed.
Gwyn spent the whole night wandering outside, visiting game centers and eating late-night snacks.
He quite indulged in this long-lost life of a normal person.
However, Tokiomi and Tohsaka Aoi of the Tohsaka Family were anxious.
Tokiomi had used the contract several times to ask Gwyn about the situation.
Gwyn ignored him completely; right now, he just wanted to have fun.
He had been burning for tens of thousands of years; what was wrong with indulging himself a little now?
Let the music play, let the dance continue!
Finally, at dawn, Tokiomi inquired again, not even caring if the other party might be displeased.
He just wanted to know if his daughter was safe.
A parent’s heart is always full of worry; in his anxiety, he had lost his composure.
Compared to other Mages, Tokiomi actually seemed quite human at this moment.
“Your daughter isn’t ‘unsafe’.”
Perhaps out of impatience, or perhaps moved by the man’s concern, Gwyn rarely replied with a couple of sentences.
“Whether she is safe now depends on whether I decide to kill her next.”
“By the way, send some more money over, and don’t bother me after that.”
Gwyn then unilaterally and temporarily cut the contract, diving into the bumper car arena and having the time of his life.
What did he mean by ‘not unsafe’?
And what did he mean by Rin’s safety depending on whether he killed her or not?
Tokiomi thought this first, and then he wondered if Rin had been rescued by Gwyn.
Only to have escaped the wolf’s den and entered the tiger’s lair.
Becoming a hostage in Gwyn’s hands.
Those words were telling him that he could kill little Rin at any time—it was a warning.
Tokiomi clenched his fists, then relaxed them.
At least he knew Rin was safe for now.
If it were the former and she had become a Master, she would have a Heroic Spirit protecting her and wouldn’t be in danger for the time being.
If it were the latter, she was merely being threatened but was still alive.
Moreover, he could determine if Rin was with him when he went to deliver the money to Gwyn later.
Tokiomi thought for a moment and asked his wife to prepare a meal, which he would put in a thermal container and deliver along with the money.
Tohsaka Aoi’s cooking was much better than his.
And this time he was very obedient, asking Aoi to add a lot of chili.
Surely that would satisfy the Ancient King.
If he was in a good mood, maybe he would tell him the details about Rin?
Tokiomi felt he had gradually figured out Gwyn’s temperament; the man responded to the carrot, not the stick.
At the same time, for the money, he prepared a bank card, some cash, and even some rare gems and several bars of gold.
All just so the other party couldn’t find any fault with him.
So, when Tokiomi went to deliver the money according to the address Gwyn gave, he found him playing in an amusement park, looking somewhat childish.
This King had such a side to him?
Tokiomi looked surprised.
Furthermore, he had observed carefully; there was indeed no sign of Rin’s presence nearby.
‘Where on earth did Rin go?
Even if she became a Master, she should have returned to my side.
She’s only seven years old.’
Tokiomi could not imagine a god possessing his daughter.
He waited in place for a long time until Gwyn came down from the Ferris wheel.
“Find a bench to sit and eat.”
Gwyn took the things from him, threw the bank card and cash into his backpack, and found a bench in the amusement park while carrying the thermal container.
When he opened the lid and saw the bright red dishes, his appetite was immediately whetted, and his mood became even more pleasant.
Clearly, Tokiomi had taken his words to heart.
He had been a Hunanese long ago; he couldn’t live without spice, and a love for spicy food was etched into his bones.
After becoming an Undead, his sense of taste was lost, and he could only feel spiciness because spice is essentially a sensation of pain.
As a result, once he entered the First Flame, he spent thousands or tens of thousands of years sitting and being burned.
From time to time, he would fight with the Undead who came to link the fire.
He’d sit and burn with the qualified ones and kick the unqualified ones out.
Naturally, as soon as he arrived in the modern era, he wanted to get some spicy flavors.
Noticing Tokiomi’s expression, Gwyn raised an eyebrow.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, it is just that I have been able to witness another side of the King, which fills me with even more admiration.”
Gwyn heard that he was referring to his behavior just now.
While picking up food and putting it in his mouth, he said:
“Haven’t you heard the saying? The first child a person should raise after growing up is their former self.”
“When I was still an ordinary person and very young, I only saw things like amusement parks on TV.”
“Sometimes when I passed by an amusement park, I would stop and look from afar.”
“Now that I finally have the chance, coming here to play is just to make up for the regrets of my childhood.”
Tokiomi thought to himself: There were amusement parks and TVs tens of thousands of years ago?
That should have been the Age of Gods, right?
It doesn’t seem strange to have amusement parks, but TVs…
Additionally, this Ancient King’s childhood didn’t seem very happy.
He obviously didn’t think in the direction that Gwyn was originally a modern person.
Or rather, he didn’t dare to think that way, even if he remembered the other party mentioning the word ‘transmigration’.
Otherwise, it would be a bit too shocking and would cause a tremor throughout the entire world.
Gwyn devoured the super spicy meal and was satisfied.
It was just a pity that his body was too strong; otherwise, the feeling of sweating from the spice would have been the best.
He had descended in physical form and had absorbed 99 Souls of Great Lords of Cinder.
Unless he was burned in the first flame for a few more years, it would be impossible for his physical strength to decrease enough to sweat from spice, even if he ate the world’s spiciest Resin Euphorbia as a meal.
This was also a bit of a regret.
He just didn’t know if Kotomine Kirei’s Mapo Tofu and Mapo Water were potent enough.
At this time, seeing that Gwyn had finished his meal, Tokiomi said:
“King, just now, I received news that the Master of the Einzbern Family will arrive in Fuyuki City by boat today.”
“They should be landing at that port.”
“In addition, I have received news from the Church that the Servant who offended you yesterday is indeed Assassin, and was summoned by my disciple, Kotomine Kirei.”
“That Servant holds strong hostility toward all Masters. Now, the alliance between me and the Kotomine Family can no longer be maintained.”
Gwyn casually handed the food box back to him and nodded to show he understood.
“The port over there? Many people should have received the news; it should be quite lively there.”
“I’ll go take a look.”
Gwyn, who was in a great mood, went along with his wish and ran off to play again after eating.
Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Tokiomi was also satisfied, though he still worried about Tohsaka Rin’s safety.
He wanted to find another opportunity to get more information from Gwyn.