FATE: Target of Grand Master

Thanks to Kirei Kotomine's intervention, Xia Yan and Nero avoided two consecutive rounds of illegal combat.

Back in the lounge, Xia Yan and Nero began a strategic meeting.

First, Xia Yan shared information about his opponent, Lan Lu Jun, and his servant, Vlad III, with Nero.

"So it's the 'Piercing Lord' of Romania. While his fight to defend his homeland is respectable, the methods he used were rather unrefined. However, after witnessing him today, I find him to fit my image of the 'Piercing Lord' quite well. He possesses a madness that will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, using fear and power to crush his enemies."

Xia Yan nodded in agreement. In fact, in Xia Yan's mind, this Lancer-class Grand Duke seemed even more insane than the Berserker-class Grand Duke in FGO.

"Although the 'Piercing Lord' has been stigmatized just like me, I will not have any sympathy for him. Musician, you don't need to be soft-hearted just because the other party's Master is female. We are participating in the Holy Grail War, which requires us to risk our lives. On the battlefield, there is no distinction between genders, only between friend and foe."

Xia Yan naturally understood this principle.

"Nero, you'll be facing countless spears thrusting out from the ground. Do you have a way to deal with that?"

After the intelligence sharing was completed, the next step was to formulate an operational plan.

"Hmm... This is indeed a bit tricky, but this is the effect that only Vlad III's Noble Phantasm can produce. I just need to keep suppressing him and prevent him from unleashing his Noble Phantasm. If all else fails, I will use my own Noble Phantasm to fight him on equal footing."

"Battles can change in an instant, and Vlad III is not a Servant without combat skills. It's not that I don't trust you, Nero, but it's not safe for you to suppress him alone. I will also try to launch an attack on Lanlu-kun, which should be able to tie down some of 'Piercing Lord's' attention."

Xia Yan still felt it wasn't safe enough and offered his own suggestions.

"Sir, I understand your concerns. I won't say anything more, but you must prioritize your own safety."

Xia Yan nodded, and the operational meeting came to an end.

To avoid encountering Lanlu-kun and Vlad III, this rule-breaking duo, again, Xia Yan and Nero decided to resolutely stay outside the lounge, except when going to the cafeteria to buy food or to the restroom.

And so, Xia Yan and his companion successfully spent half a day.

To pass the time, Xia Yan stopped by a convenience store while out buying lunch and bought two decks of cards.

Fortunately, these kinds of entertainment items and non-life-saving drugs are classified as extremely niche entertainment items by BB. They can be supplied in unlimited quantities for just 1 Master Point. Xia Yan had already used them when buying digestive tablets, so the playing cards were essentially given away for free.

"Player, are you even capable?"

Nero once again took the cards that could form a "pair" from Xia Yan's hand, and with a flick of his wrist, threw the cards onto the table.

"I've won again. Let me think, the score is 16 to 0. As agreed beforehand, I will be in charge of 16 of your Master Points."

Nero flashed a bright smile, then spread his hands, feigning regret.

"It's a pity, I was originally planning to show you my confident figure, but you're so disappointing."

That's right, Xia Yan and Nero's agreement for playing cards was that Nero would get 1 Master Point from Xia Yan for every game she won, while Nero would take off a piece of clothing for every game Xia Yan won.

Don't misunderstand, this request wasn't made by Xia Yan himself. Rather, Nero wasn't interested in Xia Yan's original suggestion that he simply wanted to play poker, so he added the stakes on his own.

Looking at the Joker card in his hand, Xia Yan felt that he really was quite the clown.

But he was helpless. No matter what game he played, he couldn't beat Nero. Was this the value of an Ace of Luck?

To put it nicely, he said he played poker with Nero all afternoon, but in reality, Nero beat him up with poker all afternoon. Xia Yan has made up his mind never to play any games with Nero that require luck again.

Throwing away the "paper mirror" in his hand, Xia Yan stood up and suggested getting dinner packed up.

"It's already this late."

Seeing that the sky outside was gradually darkening, Nero did not object.

The two stopped abruptly at the cafeteria window, for standing before them were Lanlu Jun and Vlad III.

With his heightened senses, King Flanders III immediately spotted them, but instead of drawing his weapon as he had done before, he asked his wife, Lanlu, with utmost tenderness, "My wife, is there anything that could whet your appetite?"

Lan Lujun, still flipping through the various dishes, stammered and hesitated. Finally, she closed the menu and said regretfully, "No. None of them are appetizing."

"And what about the two behind you?"

Lan Lu turned around and saw Xia Yan and Nero; his voice immediately turned joyful.

"Naturally, this place interests me more."

"I knew it was like that."

Upon hearing Lanlujun's words, Vlad III immediately transformed from a gentle and caring husband into a bloodthirsty demon.

"How about we eat here?"

Xia Yan cursed inwardly upon seeing this.

Knowing that Lanlu-kun had an extremely severe and twisted anorexia, he assumed that the other party would not come to the cafeteria, but he overlooked the possibility that Vlad III wanted to try to alleviate Lanlu-kun's symptoms.

Adding to his bad luck, which had been going on since noon, Xia Yan just happened to run into the two of them.

It wasn't that Xia Yan was afraid of the two opponents; he was quite confident that Nero would defeat them. He just didn't want to get a ticket for no reason.

"Never mind. I'm not really in the mood yet, let's save it for tomorrow."

"I see. Then there's nothing we can do."

Just like in the morning, Vlad III would immediately give up the fight if Lanlu showed no interest.

The two of them swaggered past Xia Yan and Nero and disappeared into the corridor.

"Hmm... Player, we definitely need to teach those two a lesson tomorrow."

Nero was very unhappy, but he still restrained himself from making a move.

Xia Yan patted Nero's head and comforted him, "Yes, we must teach them a lesson tomorrow, so don't be angry now. Let's go see what we want to eat."

"Mmm."

Nero walked up to Xia Yan and stood at the window first.

"I'd like spaghetti bolognese, Turkish flatbread, tomato soup, and ice cream."

After ordering, Nero turned to Xia Yan and said, "You, if I were alive, your actions just now would have been enough to land you in the gallows. However, considering that you treated me to dinner, I will let bygones be bygones for your presumptuous act of touching my head."

Xia Yan then realized that he had just touched Nero's head.

He really didn't mean it; it was just that Nero's height of 150 cm made it too easy for Xia Yan's height of 181 cm to pat his head.