Why bother with the Holy Grail War? Let's play cards!

"You want to save the world, right? Then choose, my Master. Red is for the elusive world peace, blue is for the tangible resurrection of the innocent in the present." Jiang You spread his hands earnestly towards Emiya, the two gems, one red and one blue, emitting a faint glow under the influence of magic.

"To fulfill the desire for salvation?" Kiritsugu Emiya looked at the hole in the sky, a hint of relief in his eyes. This time, he could save others without taking anyone's life. "If only you hadn't given me that look that said you'd kill me if I chose the ruby."

"Is it that obvious?" Jiang You subconsciously touched his face, only to find that he hadn't made any extra expression at all.

“I didn’t see it directly, but I’ve gotten a general idea of ​​your personality over the years.” Kiritsugu Emiya reached for the blue gem. “Although your thinking is very unconventional, you’re actually not much different from an ordinary person. You feel sadness for the suffering of others and show anger when things don’t go your way. Compared to the legendary ‘hero,’ you’re more like an ordinary person, an ordinary person who wants to play the field but can’t control their compassion.”

"You've helped almost everyone along the way. Caster, because of you, Eri can live a normal life, Illya doesn't have to wait in the snow for ten years, and innocent people are saved because of you. It's great to have met you!"

"You said the Black Holy Grail would distort the wishes of the wisher. So, the real Holy Grail must have a similar function. It's not about distortion, but rather requiring the wisher to define the way their ambiguous wish will be fulfilled. Otherwise, it's impossible to say how the Holy Grail will define that method, and whether it will cause any unforeseen consequences. How world peace can be achieved... I can't imagine. Perhaps a beautiful dream where no one is harmed?"

"Can something like that really be considered salvation? I wouldn't bet on it."

"So, the answer you're hoping for is my wish—to revive all those who died due to the Beast's arrival!"

The wish was granted, and the souls within the cup were released. A stream of light shot up from Mount Enzo, showering the entire Fuyuki like raindrops.

The souls returned to their bodies, and humans who had lost their bodies also reconstructed their bodies due to their wishes.

The "[Humanity's Survival: Battle for Fuyuki]" event has concluded; current number of survivors: 831347.

[Congratulations to the player who has won the highest reward. The reward is 3 [Blank Cards], which can be used to select one Servant card from this Holy Grail War. Additionally, the player's Servant stats will increase by two levels.]

Jiang You's spiritual base suddenly expanded by more than one circle, and except for luck and treasure, all panels reached C level.

It can be said to be a very big leap, from a fifth-rate servant to a fourth-rate servant.

As for the rewards, needless to say, are there any other options besides the God Ancestor?

At the same time, Emiya Kiritsugu's favorability reward [Bitter Choice]*1 finally arrived in Jiang You's deck, which made everyone happy.

"Then the Holy Grail ritual is over, our covenant is about to end, the time for farewell has come, and Rome should depart." Seeing the dust settle, Romulus's Grand Spirit Origin could no longer be maintained and began to dissipate. In his final moments, he seemed to sense something and bowed slightly to Jiang You. "Caster, Rome will come when you need it!"

Lancelot also performed a knight's salute to Jiang You and returned to the Throne of Heroes.

All that was left was Bai Mao staring at Jiang You - Jiang You thought she would also return to the Throne of Heroes, and was still waiting for her to say her final goodbye.

“Master… it seems that the contract between us was not broken after the Holy Grail Ritual ended, and I seem to be able to continue to exist. And you also seem to be unaffected.” Hyakko explained her situation in detail.

"Can I continue playing after the script ends?" This was the first time Jiang You wanted to praise Konami so much. The world that changes in real time according to the player's actions, allowing the player to see the traces they leave behind and the plot that they actively change, is just too conscientious!

With an uncontrollable smile on his face, Jiang You grabbed Kiritsugu and Baimao's necks and said, "In that case, let's have a celebration party! We won't go home until we're drunk tonight!"

Epilogue to the Fourth Holy Grail War, Part 1

This is Fuyuki a little over a month after the Fourth Holy Grail War.

"Hey Kariya, it's rare to see you here. Are you spying on Aoi Tohsaka again?"

The gray-haired youth turned his head, scrutinizing the newcomer with his only intact eye. "Caster? I'd heard you could move freely without a Master after the Holy Grail War ended, but it's true. And this isn't spying; I didn't hide from them at all!"

"So you're just going to sit here and watch?" Jiang You handed him a cup of milk tea. He especially liked to find things to eat in the game world, since it wouldn't make him fat.

"This packaging... Which milk tea shop requires reservations three days in advance? You actually went to queue up?" It seems this milk tea shop is very famous.

"I don't need to queue. Actually, the owner of this milk tea shop is Bai Mao. I explained the preparation method to him, and he learned it super fast. By the way, the flower shop on your left is also owned by Bai Mao."

"Assassin stayed too," Matou Kariya remarked with some emotion. "I didn't expect you Heroic Spirits to be so down-to-earth."

"After all, people can't live in constant fighting and killing. By the way, I've always been curious about how the Church of Battle, which affected the entire Fuyuki region, was dealt with in the end. That involved 800,000 people."

"Actually, you should ask that bastard Tokiomi Tohsaka about this, but he's busy paying off his debts and doesn't have time right now. I'll just tell you what I know." Matou Kariya pondered the information he knew. He, who possessed a small amount of magical talent, was also a survivor at the time. "Actually, those who were resurrected by the Holy Grail didn't have that memory. Only about 2 survivors had the memories they knew. Because there were too many witnesses, it was impossible to deal with them all without revealing their identities. In order to maintain the mystery of magic, these 2 people were all engraved with a spell of silence, making them unable to speak of the corresponding memories."

"How were the losses of public property and the lost memories dealt with?" Jiang You felt he should know the answer.

"It was a gas explosion and an excessive gas leak that caused a mass coma," Matou Kariya said, giving Jiang You the answer he was looking for.

"...How exactly has your gas company managed to survive until now?" Jiang You couldn't understand why a gas company that could explode twenty times a day could still operate normally for so long.

After the discussion failed, he pulled out a book. "Oh, right, I happen to have something interesting here."

The Dark Swordsman, Kalia

"You, you, you, how did you get this thing!?" Even when she was on the verge of death, Matou Yoru had never shown such a panicked expression.

"You'll have to ask Shinji about that. Didn't you sell off the old bug's collection of books? He must have unearthed this thing. And he even published it." Jiang You flipped through the novel, which was incredibly chuunibyou and overly simplistic, but this was 94, a whole era ahead of the Japanese publishing industry. "I have to say, if Shinji didn't get caught up in magic, he'd be a genius in other areas. I heard it sold pretty well."

"That brat!" Matou Yogan rushed to the Matou family home without even having time to say goodbye to Jiang You.

"You are Caster, the owner of Eindzbern Castle, right?" The little girl saw someone she recognized and hurried over.

Rin Tohsaka could never forget Jiang You's appearance; after all, her father had been defeated by this guy, and she had silently resolved to avenge him. However, she wasn't here to challenge him this time. "Sakura hasn't left the house in a long time, you didn't do anything to her, did you!?"

Rin Tohsaka is indeed very bold, daring to directly question Jiang You. It's also possible that the events involving the Matou family have traumatized her. As Sakura's guardian, she doesn't really trust Jiang You.

However, Jiang You wasn't angry with her. Instead, he patted her head. "I'll go ask for you later. I was also planning to see my former Master anyway."

Jiang You shared his milk tea with Rin Tohsaka. After hesitating for a while, Rin Tohsaka thanked him and returned to her mother's side, intending to share it with her.

Jiang You's C-level agility more than doubled his travel efficiency, and he quickly arrived at Einzbern Castle in the suburbs.

When Jiang You arrived at the master bedroom, Kiritsugu Emiya was making a phone call while organizing documents, and Irisviel was helping him.

Jiang You accepted the black tea handed to him by Irisviel and began to peruse the materials on Kiritsugu Emiya's desk.

"Are you planning to combine magic and firearms?"

"Yes, it is essentially inspired by Berserker. Not only can it rely on bullets containing magical materials, but it can also use magic to enhance the gun itself, using less magic to unleash greater power."

"It seems your sense of 'justice' hasn't stopped yet," Jiang You said, staring at Emiya Kiritsugu with amusement.

“You’ve misunderstood,” Kiritsugu Emiya explained. “It’s to protect my family. Sakura, do you remember?”

Jiang You nodded. It was his idea that Xiao Ying was living in Einzbern Castle.

“Her magical abilities are extremely rare, one in ten thousand. Kenneth sent a message saying that someone in the Clock Tower may already be watching her. We need to prepare as soon as possible.”

Jiang You scratched his head awkwardly. He had forgotten about the "sealing designation". Even if the Clock Tower didn't interfere, Sakura was still an extremely excellent base body.

Tokiomi Tohsaka's eagerness for Sakura to inherit his magic circuits wasn't really out of wishful thinking.

But since the fight had already begun, Jiang You was absolutely unwilling to admit his mistake. "Who is it? I'll drag him out and play this dark game with him!"

"That's not certain yet, but Assassin has been assisting us, so we don't need to worry about intelligence." Hundred Faces' strength is only considered bottom-tier among Heroic Spirits, but his intelligence capabilities are absolutely top-notch, and ordinary magicians really can't escape his assassination.

Kiritsugu Emiya was also debating whether or not to truly adopt Sakura into his own family. He wanted Sakura to inherit his magic circuits, since Illya, as a homunculus, possessed the Einzbern family crest, so his learning of magic wouldn't be a major concern.

"Oh, right, is this why Sakura hasn't been going out lately?" Jiang You suddenly remembered Rin Tohsaka's question.

Kiritsugu Emiya glanced at his wife discreetly, his tone slightly embarrassed. "Actually, Sakura herself didn't want to go out, since Irisviel has been picking her up and dropping her off lately..."

"Is it really that scary?" Jiang You recalled Irisviel's character design and showed an interested expression. "Mrs. Emiya, give me a ride!"

An hour later, little Ilya saw Jiang You, whose body had turned completely ashen, climb out of her mother's car.

When Irisviel is driving recklessly and completely unleashed, she certainly possesses the ability to kill a Heroic Spirit single-handedly.

Epilogue 2 of the Fourth Holy Grail War

"Jiang You?" Irisviel saw a familiar Servant in her home again. Even though the Holy Grail War was over and he had broken his contract with her husband, Kiritsugu Emiya, he still frequently appeared out of nowhere and would come over for a visit. "If you're looking for Kiritsugu, he's on a business trip to England."

"Business trip?" Jiang You found it hard to associate Emiya Kiritsugu with those two words. This guy was probably up to some kind of terrorist attack again. After saving the world, Emiya Kiritsugu seemed even more fanatical about justice. The only difference from before was that he cared more about his family. Overall, he hadn't changed much. "Why don't you just say he killed someone in the past? But it doesn't matter. I'm not here to see him. I'm here to see you, Madam."

"Madam, you didn't want this either..." Jiang You had been eyeing this tired trope for a long time. After all, the keywords of a husband away on a business trip and a wife sharing a room with another man had inexplicably activated his DNA.

"Just say what you want to say." Although Irisviel was only nine years old, she gave off an unusually mature impression. She didn't respond to Jiang You's strange remarks at all.

Irisviel was completely uncooperative, which greatly disappointed Jiang You. She should have shown a rather humiliated expression during this conversation: "I mean, Madam, you should at least give me some kind of response. What if I really did that?"

“If you were really that kind of person, I would have turned into the Holy Grail long ago.” Irisviel gave Jiang You a sincere smile. However, after receiving the full assistance of the Einzbern family, Jiang You’s first thought was to separate her from the Lesser Grail, something Kiritsugu hadn’t even considered. Jiang You seemed to have always harbored some kind of affection for her, and she would naturally respond to it, though not in a romantic way. “I’ve always believed in you, Caster.”

"So you're really boring." Jiang You, lacking interest, had no choice but to get back to the main topic. "I'm here to deliver good news."

"Nothing has happened during this time, has it?" Irisviel tilted her head, pondering the recent events in Fuyuki, and realized that there was nothing that Jiang You should have come to congratulate her on.

"Oh, it didn't happen here, it's a timeline ten years in the future. You remember Illya ten years in the future, right? The timeline where you and Kiritsugu both died."

"Of course I remember. That child's eyes were so lonely. Those ten years without Kiritsugu and me must have been very difficult for her... That child, did something good happen over there?" Irisviel was more concerned about the children here, but she didn't mind sharing her feelings with Illya from the Fifth Holy Grail War, something that her past self owed Illya.

"Of course it's a good thing." This is a side story, there's no need for a heavy atmosphere. Jiang You raised his hands, summoning Illya again with the same gesture he used to actively summon her for the first time, like raising Simba from The Lion King. "Here I will introduce you to the heir of the three starter families who built the Holy Grail Ritual, the victor of the Fifth Holy Grail War, the champion of the first Fuyuki Duel Tournament, the first Duel King, the legitimate white-haired loli—hey, don't kick me!"

This time, Ilya was wearing shoes, and Jiang You didn't want to have footprints on his face, so he quickly put Ilya down, which caused his calves to suffer.

"Didn't you ask me to bring you here to see your mother? Why are you still unhappy?" Jiang You pretended to be in pain as usual, and Ilya's kicks to him were noticeably weaker.

"Can't you summon me in a normal way?! And what kind of adjective is 'white-haired loli'? You have such a long list of titles and you still have to emphasize this? You're such a lolicon!"

"No, actually I'm a huge (?) breast fetishist." In fact, Jiang You's hunting range is very wide. His criteria for choosing a mate are either someone who can eat the bare feet of the entire opposite family (of course, if the development can be interrupted midway, inorganic matter is also fine), or someone noble enough not to choose a mate at all, even if they don't have a physical form!

In that sense, it seems that Kari Sesshouin Kiara is currently the one who best fits his criteria for a partner.

"I really need to go to FE to try and get Sesshouin..." Jiang You sighed again: Miss Sesshouin is too beautiful, I must bring her into my possession.

Jiang You was then subjected to a series of heavy punches from Illya. While parrying, Jiang You noticed that Illya's attacks actually possessed some structure. He wondered what strange things Minamoto no Yorimitsu had taught Illya.

"Speaking of which, Mrs. Alice, has little Ilya gone to school yet?" Jiang You couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Minamoto no Yorimitsu forcibly sending Ilya to primary school over there.

"Go to school?" Irisviel looked puzzled. Not only Illya, but neither had she ever attended school, nor had Kiritsugu Emiya. The three of them were probably at the level of prenatal education, so no one had ever considered this. She slapped her palm. "Right, Illya is living a normal life now, so going to school is necessary!"

"No, you take Sakura to school every day, haven't you thought about this?" Jiang You suddenly became a little worried about what kind of person Illya would become here. Did Irisviel and Kiritsugu plan to let Illya grow up freely?

“I only drove her twice, and Sakura refused to get in my car anymore. Now Bai Mao is the one picking her up and dropping her off.” Irisviel felt quite aggrieved. She clearly treated Sakura like her own daughter, but Sakura seemed very afraid of her. “Jiang You, do I look scary? Or am I not a good enough mother?”

"That's certainly quite incompetent." Jiang You didn't spare her any sympathy, but you can't expect a woman who's only about nine years old to fulfill her duties as a woman. In most countries, this would get you shot for doing something like that.

"Ugh!" Irisviel, struck hard, collapsed onto the sofa, her face drained of color.

"Stop bullying your mother." Ilya quickly pushed Jiang You away. She hadn't come here to listen to Jiang You's ramblings. "I need to talk to my mother now, so don't eavesdrop!"

After saying that, she was still a little worried, because it wasn't a secret that Jiang You could travel between different timelines, and she was quite worried that Jiang You might run away with someone else: "And you're not allowed to sneak off to other worlds by yourself! No matter where you go, you have to take me with you, understand!"

"I promise not! My Master!" Jiang You replied casually.

Because Ilya had won against Jiang You in the dark game, she wasn't worried that Jiang You was lying. Jiang You's words showed that he was sincere, so Ilya happily returned to her mother's side.

But in reality, the darkness had almost no effect on Jiang You, who felt that it was probably because the program couldn't achieve that level of control.

Of course, he wouldn't tell Ilya.