Type-Moon: Root Seiko

Taking advantage of the Holy Grail's corruption, he stole the Arbiter's Spirit Origin, which was in a state of waning activation, and smuggled himself into the real world.

Because of this situation, Luo Zhen essentially forcibly occupied the Arbiter's Spirit Origin. Since the settings in various aspects were not yet properly adjusted, he was sealed away for several decades after finally arriving in the real world.

His soul could only wander in a spirit egg the size of amber, leading a dull life, until he was freed by Orange about five years ago.

Luo Zhen had already told Jeanne d'Arc all of this, but she still found it hard to accept.

Luo Zhen grinned: "The Greater Grail that summoned me was already corrupted. The summoning went wrong, causing me to occupy the body of an innocent little girl. And my Master is a so-called 'smuggler from the Root who stole the Arbiter's Spirit Origin.' These things must have overwhelmed that simple village girl."

"She seems to still prefer to believe I am Ahura Mazda. Let her crash; she can recover with time."

"...You're really lenient, especially towards such a silly girl (€€€€€€)"

Orange is a jealous person who seems to diss Luo Zhen for any act of kindness.

But that's also cute. Luo Zhen's pleased smile left Orange feeling helpless, as if she had lost.

At that moment, Yuzhu, who was focused on sensing, opened her eyes:

"No. I can't find any reactions from Servants in Fuyuki City, nor do I find any Masters there."

A few plump starlings flew back from outside the window, pecked at Zhu's fingers, and then turned back into a few chocolates shaped like gold coins.

This is one of the fairy tale magic tricks (PLOY) that Arisu often uses, called "The Song of Sixpence".

She had Luo Zhen buy each piece of chocolate from the supermarket, and then personally cooked it by heating it over a double boiler.

You can also use inexpensive cocoa butter substitutes; the process is similar to that of a high school girl making Valentine's Day chocolates for her crush.

What's special is that they also add bird ashes to the beads. After they've cooled and set, they can be restored to their original appearance and fly around Fuyuki City to gather intelligence.

They are best at monitoring cheating boyfriends who are obsessed with young girls. They also kill more than a dozen people every day due to the reflection of glass buildings, but it's not a big deal.

However, none of these trusted informants discovered any trace of the assassins who had just attacked the Holy Church and fought against Luo Zhen.

Orange frowned deeply: "My barrier didn't react at all. I've registered all the magicians in Fuyuki City, and they all have puppets monitoring them. None of them seem like the kind of people who could command Servants to attack the church."

"The key question is, who can summon a Heroic Spirit right now? How can they provide the magic power? That mad assassin used five or six Noble Phantasms in a row, right? Even if the assassin's magic power requirement isn't high, such a lavish bombardment would have drained an ordinary magician dry long ago."

Luo Zhen nodded: "I'm also very confused. The key point is that she's not even on the list of assassins in the Holy Grail War system. You shouldn't be able to pull that strange girl from the Assassin's gacha pool."

The word "Assassin" originates from the Middle Eastern assassination sect, the Old Man of the Mountain, whose leaders have all been called Hassan al-Sabah.

From the very beginning of the establishment of this class, the scope of summoning was limited to that famous assassin group that existed in history.

Other world-renowned assassins or killers, whether it's Charlotte Corday, John Booth, or Jing Ke.

They cannot be summoned as Assassins in a regular Holy Grail War.

The history of the Old Man of the Mountain sect is also very clear, having gone through a total of nineteen leaders from its inception to its demise.

These nineteen old men from the mountains throughout history are all the potential candidates for the Assassin card pool, and they certainly do not include the girl who doesn't even wear the iconic skull mask.

“But she must be from that sect, right? According to you.” Orange switched to analysis mode.

Luo Zhen nodded in agreement: "All the Noble Phantasms she used were indeed from the Old Man of the Mountain. And her skin color and facial features, she must be from the Middle East."

"She even said, 'Our God didn't take any cup.' It's clear she's the type who's disgusted with the Church and the Holy Grail War itself."

"...Is it possible that the Master has already been killed by her?" Orange came to the answer after a moment's thought.

Although the Holy Grail is theoretically an omnipotent wish-granting machine, it is very attractive to many heroic spirits who still have regrets in their lives, so heroic spirits will rush to accept the summons.

However, there are also many fanatics, such as the Old Man of the Mountain, who has his own religious beliefs, is a determined and ruthless assassin, and it is not surprising that he would immediately turn against his Master after being summoned.

But Luo Zhen still shook his head: "That girl was eventually summoned away by a Command Spell. And it didn't seem to be her own will; it was very sudden."

“I didn’t sense any third-party surveillance at all. In that situation, the Master who could suddenly use a Command Spell to call away the Servant must be a Master with independent consciousness.”

Orange raised an eyebrow: "So, we're now facing a Master of unknown identity, plus a Heroic Spirit who can use various assassination techniques of the Old Man of the Mountain and whose actions are extremely extreme?"

Hmm... Luo Zhen and Youzhu both fell silent for the time being, and only the muttering of the devastated saintess in the corner of the room could be heard.

Orange immediately clapped her hands: "Great! It's not even the Holy Grail War yet, and things have already started. That's good too, at least we can relieve some boredom."

Chapter 33 The Saintess's Delusions

After analyzing the general situation.

Of course, Luo Zhen and the others had to prepare for the mysterious female assassin and the Master behind her.

Although we don't know who they are, they dared to summon Servants before the Holy Grail War officially began, and then they immediately attacked the overseers of the Holy Church...

His audacity is only slightly less than that of Tokiomi Tohsaka, who directly colluded with the church overseers, engaging in petty and despicable acts, and was in cahoots with them!

Now that Kotomine Riki is seriously injured, the Holy Church will definitely be incapacitated in the short term, and it's hard to say whether they can send another supervisor in time.

On the contrary, the assassin's future actions are quite predictable... he will likely attack Tokiomi Tohsaka again.

After all, he is the only Master in Fuyuki City who will definitely participate in the Holy Grail War.

Therefore, when Luo Zhen took Kotomine Risei to the hospital, he immediately notified Tohsaka Tokiomi, telling him to be careful.

At the same time, Touko also planted the strongest battle dolls around the Tohsaka family, so that they would be able to fight even against Servants, and at least ensure that Tokiomi would not die quickly.

After completing these preparations, Tokiomi Tohsaka expressed his gratitude to Ryouma.

Then, while Luo Zhen's family was also strengthening their defenses, he even made a rare phone call.

“Lord Luo, please drive to our house first thing tomorrow morning, the earlier the better. We need to discuss something very important, okay?”

"Okay, I understand." Luo Zhen nodded knowingly.

Tokiomi Tohsaka's tone was so heavy that Rozen immediately guessed what he meant.

The sudden attack on the Holy Church and the serious injury to his accomplice, Kotomine Risa, must have made him feel that the situation was rapidly deteriorating.

I felt like I had everything under control, but an unexpected assassin shattered it all.

Even if he is the weakest assassin among the Heroic Spirits, he is still an existence that is almost impossible for humans to deal with, so Tokiomi Tohsaka naturally has to find a way.

...And then, Luo Zhen chuckled and asked, "Mr. Tokiomi, how are you making phone calls now?"

"You don't use this kind of appliance, do you? Did Ms. Aoi make the call for you?"

“‘Ah…’” Tokiomi Tohsaka visibly panicked, feeling guilty.

Then static came from the other end of the phone. Ms. Tohsaka Aoi, who was holding the receiver for Tokiomi, laughed:

"Absolutely correct~. Luo Zhenjun, you guessed right. I dialed the number for Tokiomi and put the intercom to his ear."

“Even so, he was still trembling with fear. I really don’t understand these magicians; why can’t they use something so simple? In this respect, Luo Zhenjun doesn’t have this problem at all, so I can rest assured that I can entrust Xiaolin and Xiaoying to your care.”

"Yes. Don't worry, Ms. Aoi, I won't let Rin and Sakura become those electronic failures."

Luo Zhen answered with a smile, and after exchanging a few more pleasantries, he hung up the phone.

The Tohsaka couple must have made up their minds by now.

This is a war.

Although somewhat unexpected, this did make them clearly realize that they were in the midst of a war.

While on the phone, Luo Zhen could feel the warm gaze from not far away.

His servant, Saber Jeanne d'Arc, was watching him intently from the corner of the room.

After Luo Zhen and she made eye contact, the saintess looked away guiltily for a moment.

But then, as if she had made up her mind, she took a deep breath, got up, and walked towards Luo Zhen.

"Master, I was quite out of line just now. I apologize for making a fool of myself."

"Hmm, have you adjusted your mindset?" Luo Zhen asked deliberately.

This joke made the Holy Maiden feel embarrassed again, and she felt quite uncomfortable.

She even wondered if this was an influence she had received from Karen, who was made of flesh.

I found myself feeling very unsettled when facing this man; my heart was pounding painfully.

But at the moment of receiving flesh, Jeanne clearly felt that she had simply gone through Karen's six-year life experience and did not feel that she had such wavering feelings for Rozen.

...The saintess, who still doesn't understand human nature, chooses to set aside her thoughts for now and convey the important matter:

"Yes, I was too immature just now. I've adjusted now and understand the situation."

"Although I don't fully understand your identity and experiences yet, since the oath has been made, I have no intention of breaking it. I have become a Saber-class Servant and have even borrowed Kallen's body. So I swear that as long as I am within the scope of this oath, I will be loyal to you until the very last moment."

Joan of Arc clenched her fist over her heart, conveying her resolve to her Master.

This truly demonstrates her dove-like resilience; not many people can establish themselves so quickly amidst chaos.

-----------------

After hearing the whole story from Rōjin, Joan of Arc was stunned and her mind went blank, but she also thought about many things.

His Master, Ryougi, is not human...

No, it seems he was originally human?

But because he accidentally fell into the Root, he came to the mortal world by stealing the spirit origins of Heroic Spirits?

But... has humanity fallen into its origins?

And yet it wasn't crushed by the sheer volume of information? Its soul still retained its individuality?