In the world of Type-Moon, it all begins with becoming Morgan's husband!

"Hey! Uncle, you're not doing this on purpose to mess with us, are you?"

Do you think I need to?

Ian responded to Shuten-dōji's question in this way, and then looked at the golden cup that Ushi-gozen had given him.

Does this contain any techniques?

Who put it on?

[The Holy Grail, its potential exhausted, has been activated: You realize that this Grail may have been tampered with.]

You really want to know who did this.

But you haven't figured out how to do all this.

After all, this is your first time interacting with it.

"..."

Seeing Ian's furrowed brows, Shuten-dōji quickly realized that the man in front of him was not lying to him.

He really had no reason to lie to himself.

"Hey, uncle."

"Since you didn't do it, do you think it might have been that ugly royal?"

Shuten-dōji's words were not without reason.

After all, in a sense, Ushio Gozen is the only person besides Ian who has access to this cup.

But the great Onmyoji shook his head at this possibility.

"I think it's unlikely."

"Because she kills ghosts day and night... ghosts and monsters dare not approach her, so why would she need to carve such a spell on a golden cup?"

"That's true... If no ghosts dare to approach, then there's no need for any precautions."

"Eh?!"

Shuten-dōji suddenly remembered something.

She spoke again:

"Uncle... is it possible that this golden cup was actually given to her by someone else?"

"Someone else gave it to her?"

“That’s right!” Shuten-dōji nodded repeatedly. “Just because that Ushi-gozen can kill demons doesn’t mean the person who gave her this golden cup can also kill demons, right?”

"Of course, it's not necessarily true that he actually handed it to her personally."

"These are just some precautions to be taken before the Golden Cup reaches Ugly Gozen."

"Precautionary measures?"

You think Shuten-dōji's words make sense.

[Ushi-Gozen is not a demon, so she will not be affected by such a spell.]

However, this raises a new problem.

Who did this?

You realize your departure was a bit too hasty—you should have asked more questions.

You feel a little regretful.

Shuten-dōji noticed Ian's dejection.

She hesitated for a moment, then spoke softly:

"Uncle, don't be so discouraged... We were just saying it casually, we don't even know if it's right or wrong yet."

"But Shuten-dōji, I think what you said makes a lot of sense."

"If the person who initially received this cup wasn't Ushio Gozen, then anything could have appeared on it."

"Shuten-dōji—"

Ian looked at the former Demon King of Mount Ooe with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Do you have any other ideas?

"This one……"

This was the first time Ian had looked at Shuten-dōji with such anticipation.

For some reason, she suddenly felt a sense of "I must answer this question".

"Uncle, wait a minute, let's think about it!"

Shuten-dōji held his cheeks and kept squeezing them, occasionally slapping them as if to cheer himself up.

Ian found it somewhat amusing to see her like this.

Finally, he spoke directly:

"Never mind, Shuten-dōji."

"If it's too hard to think of, then forget it."

"No!" Shuten-dōji interrupted Ian. "We're bound to think of something, Uncle, wait a minute!"

"..."

That’s all for the sake of talking about it.

Ian could only patiently wait for Shuten to arrive.

but--

Ghosts and monsters always seem to have flashes of inspiration.

If you try to figure it out, you'll find nothing.

In the end, Shuten-dōji could only accept his defeat, then looked at Ian and muttered to himself:

"Uncle... I can't think of anything."

Shuten-dōji was prepared for Ian to say "you're wasting your time," but to his surprise, the other man simply reached out and patted his head.

"fine."

"It's normal if you can't think of anything."

This was the first time Shuten-dōji had his head touched.

She had thought this would be an unbearable feeling.

But actually—it's quite comfortable.

However, she quickly realized that this idea was a bit wrong and immediately shook her head.

Why are you touching my head?!

"I am the Demon King of Mount Ooe!"

"Oh...you mind this kind of thing a lot."

Ian removed his hand from Shuten-dōji's head.

"I'm sorry, I offended you."

"..."

Shuten-dōji felt that he had some strange thoughts in his heart.

She had no choice but to quickly change the subject.

"Don't you have any thoughts of your own, sir?"

"It wasn't originally there."

Ian looked at the petite ghost woman in front of him.

"But seeing you thinking, I suddenly had an idea."

"What do you mean by that?" Shuten-dōji narrowed his eyes slightly. "Have we become some kind of strange hint?"

"Do not."

Ian shook his head.

"But what you just said made me realize something."

"If the first owner of this cup might not be Ushio Gozen, then it must be someone who had a connection with her."

Upon hearing this, Shuten-dōji made his own judgment.

"Uncle...you don't mean to say it's Minamoto no Yorimitsu, do you?"

“No.” Ian shook his head again.

"If it were Raikou, things wouldn't be like this now."

"after all--"

"She seemed completely unaware of Ugly Gozen's existence."

“…That’s right.”

Shuten-dōji scratched his face.

"Given her attitude towards you, she would definitely rather become some kind of ugly royal than have you take this risk."

"So, who exactly is this uncle?"

Ian didn't mince words and answered directly:

"I feel it is Raikou's father, Minamoto no Mitsunaka."

"Yuan Manzhong..."

Shuten-dōji muttered about this topic to himself, then suddenly realized something.

"Wait a minute! Didn't you tell me this person was dead?"