FATE: Target of Grand Master

"Huh? But this is very dangerous. Even if you have overpowered Servants like Morgan and Tiamat, the authority to change the rules goes beyond the scope of Servant combat power."

Seeing that Xia Yan readily agreed, Hu Xia instead began to urge him to think twice.

"I know. But you've probably seen it too. It's not a question of whether I should cause it trouble, but rather that it's already starting to cause me trouble. I'm not a saint; I can't be someone who gets slapped and then patiently lecture the other person that 'hitting is wrong.' Since the other person hit me, I should naturally hit them back. That's what fairness is, isn't it?"

Seeing that Xia Yan was determined, Hu Xia stopped trying to persuade him, since having such a powerful companion was definitely a good thing.

"Alright, then our alliance will aim to defeat the 'Information Broker.' The 'Information Broker' will soon find out about Oliver's death, and it will definitely need a new henchman to keep the organization running. I will try to get that identity and see if I can dig out more clues about it."

"Isn't this a bit too risky?"

Historically, undercover agents rarely have a good ending, and Xia Yan felt that Hu Xia didn't need to go this far.

"Someone has to take this risk. If I don't go, am I supposed to let your 'Master Group' members go?"

Hu Xia's words startled Xia Yan. How did she know that he had created the Master Group?

"Hmm, the response is quite good, but don't worry, this is just my personal guess. You should have seen that the 'information broker' asked us to check if we were in any of the six Master groups, and we all replied 'no,' so you're either a lone wolf or you've created your own Master group."

When we met in the trials, you were the one who proposed that the alliance conditions include "not restricting either party from having other allies or participating in Master groups." At the time, this condition seemed to be for my benefit, but thinking about it carefully, it makes even more sense if you also have a Master group.

"Yes, that's right. I did indeed establish a Master group."

Since the other party had seen through him, Xia Yan stopped hiding it. However, he only touched on the details and did not reveal more specific information such as the number of Masters or their information.

"Thank you for your honesty. It seems there's more trust between us now."

Hu Xia's condition is gradually recovering.

"Isn't this just common sense? I'm not like that 'information broker,' I don't trust members of the Master Group or allies of the Alliance. If there's nothing else, I'll head back; my territory is still under attack."

After Xia Yan said that, Hu Xia stopped arguing.

"Well, I've finished what I needed to do and I'll be leaving soon. Oh, just in case, there's something I need to remind you of. From now on, let's not exchange important information over our phones. Who knows if the 'information broker' will ask me to install some weird program to test my loyalty? Maybe it really does have the technology to hack into phones. Let's agree on a code word, and after sending it, let's meet at the Holy Grail Front. Luckily, our safe houses aren't too far apart."

"Hmm, no problem. But if the 'information broker' really has the technology to hack into phones, wouldn't she also be able to see your previous information?"

"There's no need to worry too much about that. If 'information brokers' already had the technology to hack into phones, I would have been eliminated long ago. Besides, to prevent my phone from being hacked, I had Lancer destroy my original phone, and I bought this new one with Master Points. The chat history on it is all clean."

Unless the "information broker" gains administrator privileges on BB, it shouldn't be able to view the chat data in the cloud. If it ever does gain administrator privileges, then there's basically no point in continuing the trial, so I'm certain it can't do that.

Xia Yan thought about it and realized that Hu Xia's analysis was correct. However, just to be on the safe side, he also deleted all of his previous chat history with Hu Xia.

After Hu Xia withdrew, the two returned to the Holy Grail War front. Oliver's safe house also disappeared with the death of its owner, turning into nothingness.

After the two parted ways, Xia Yan returned to his territory and saw Tiamat playing cards with Ibuki and Ereshkigal, while on the other side of the canyon, a group of clone Servants corrupted by black mud were fighting against the original clone army.

"Welcome back, little one~"

When Tiamat saw Xia Yan return, she threw down the cards in her hand, forcibly ending the game.

Seeing the three of them looking so relaxed, Xia Yan's slight worry subsided.

It must be said that a large number of low-quality enemies pose no threat to Tiamat, who has targets to corrupt. Xia Yan's only concern is Tiamat, or rather, whether his magic power is sufficient to support her.

Tiamat reassured Xia Yan about this.

In addition to corroding the target with black mud, Tiamat can also absorb the target's magic power. The two cancel each other out, which is roughly equivalent to the consumption of Tiamat in normal combat. According to Tiamat's own judgment, as long as she is given another Servant who can withstand the enemy army for several hours so that she can recover her magic power, Xia Yan can basically rest easy.

However, Xia Yan ultimately decided to leave two followers behind in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Regarding the choice of who would stay behind, Cú Chulainn Alter was the one Xia Yan had decided on from the beginning, but no Servant wanted to volunteer for the other spot.

Although everyone was contributing to Xia Yan's cause, staying here meant they wouldn't be able to adventure with him in the upcoming trials, and they would naturally miss out on a lot of time together. Xia Yan's followers all looked reluctant.

Ultimately, Morgan made the final decision to let the other Servants decide their fate by drawing lots, while she herself was naturally excluded.

Although the other Servants had some reservations about this, they all understood that with Tiamat staying behind, Morgan had to stay by Xia Yan's side as a backup, so they all accepted Morgan's suggestion.

Ultimately, amidst the gloating gazes of the other Servants, Ibuki-douji, whose luck was only D, became the "lucky one" among all the Servants with luck of B or higher.

Ibuki-dōji, who was crying while stroking Xia Yan's head, could only take the opportunity to give her master a quick rub.

Fortunately, Morgan's rules included that Servants who had stayed behind once would be automatically removed from the list of those who stayed behind in the next trial. This allowed the "left-behind child," Ibuki, to reluctantly release her grip on Xia Yan's hand.

After repeatedly reminding the three to be careful, Xia Yan and the other followers returned to the safe house together.

After this encounter on the Holy Grail Front, Xia Yan once again felt the urgency to improve his strength. Even though he was now not afraid of any Master, he could not guarantee that he could win against an enemy who could manipulate the rules.

Therefore, he must continue to become stronger.