FATE: Target of Grand Master

"Forehead..."

Villeneuve clearly hesitated on this issue.

Xia Yan immediately said, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Xia Yan."

Xia Yan is currently the most famous Master among those still surviving the Master Trial, if not the strongest in terms of strength.

The fact that he possessed two formidable weapons, Morgan and Tiamat, along with other excellent Servants, was known to the other Masters. Therefore, when Xia Yan introduced himself, Villeneuve knew that he was in deep trouble.

"I don't want to waste time, so I'll only say this once: if you cooperate, I can let things slide, but if you don't cooperate, then I'll have no choice but to take it out on you first."

Xia Yan paused, then continued, "Answer my question. Who exactly did you and your follower fight in this area? You only have ten seconds to answer. One...two..."

"I'll tell you. But you have to promise not to kill me."

Xia Yan seemed not to hear Villeneuve's words and continued counting.

"Four...five..."

Xia Yan's behavior actually showed his attitude: you have no right to negotiate with me.

"Six...seven..."

"It's Miyamoto Musashi and Euryale!"

Villeneuve eventually compromised under Xia Yan's immense pressure.

Where are they now?

Upon hearing the name, Xia Yan immediately pressed for details.

"I don't know. I really don't know. We did injure Miyamoto Musashi earlier, but they still managed to escape. We're actually looking for them too."

Seemingly realizing that his words would displease Xia Yan, Villeneuve immediately added, "I didn't know they were your Servants. I originally wanted to win them over, but I didn't expect Euryale to reject me outright and even say a few harsh words to me. So... if I had known they were your Servants, I wouldn't have dared to do anything rash even if you gave me ten lives."

Seeing Villeneuve, who was clearly taller and stronger than himself, now wearing a comical, fawning expression, Xia Yan remained expressionless and asked, "Besides me, have you seen any other Masters?"

"I've seen it."

"How many have you met?"

"Four."

Are they aligned with your main questline?

"All they talk about is 'defeating the Lostbelt King'."

Xia Yan narrowed his eyes, not because of the glaring cold wind of the blizzard, but because he was thinking.

If Villeneuve is telling the truth and the other Masters aren't lying to him, then in the worst-case scenario, he'll be fighting five against one. After all, his mission this time is to make Anastasia the Lostbelt Queen. According to the original setting, he's on Kadoc's side this time, while the five Masters, including Villeneuve, are on Fujimaru Ritsuka's side.

As for the scenario in the original work where Kadoc and Ritsuka first team up to defeat the Thunder Emperor and then fight each other, it is impossible in the Master Trial. This is because there is no basis of trust between me and those five Masters. Once the other side guesses my main quest, they will definitely be happy to stand by and watch me and the Thunder Emperor wear each other down, while they reap the benefits.

Therefore, Xia Yan was already considering whether to prioritize dealing with the five Masters. Coincidentally, his side quest was to eliminate all resistance forces, and these Masters were naturally included in that task.

"Um... Xia Yan... I've told you everything I know, can you please spare my life?"

Villeneuve tried to negotiate with Xia Yan, but Xia Yan ignored him again.

"Anastasia, have the Slaughter Soldiers search this area and tell them not to approach any Servants who resemble swordsmen or diminutive goddesses without reporting back to us immediately."

"it is good."

After giving instructions on the search mission, Xia Yan turned his attention back to Villeneuve.

"Could you tell me about the Servants of those Masters?"

"I really don't know. When we met before, in order not to expose any information, we even just stood at a distance and used our familiars to communicate together. So, apart from the number of people, we didn't know anything else about each other. I could only tell from their voices that the other four were three men and one woman."

In order to survive, Villeneuve continued to answer every question, but the information he could provide was really limited, which naturally did not satisfy Xia Yan.

"Mr. Villeneuve, this information of yours is not enough to buy your life and the lives of your three Servants."

Villeneuve understood this as well. At this moment, he was doing his best to activate the brain hidden in his bald head. Unfortunately, he usually paid more attention to training his limbs than training his brain.

Seeing that Villeneuve had been holding it in for a long time without uttering a sound, Xia Yan held up two fingers and waved them in front of Villeneuve.

"You now have two choices. One, end your Master Trial here. As a reward for providing the information, I will let you leave without pain. Two, go and dig out more information for me, that is, become my undercover agent and find out about the other four Masters. I'll give you ten seconds to consider. One, two..."

Villeneuve replied without hesitation, "Two! I choose two!"

Xia Yan smiled.

"A wise choice. Since you've chosen option two, there are a few things I need to discuss with you beforehand. First, as long as you cooperate actively and provide sufficient information, I won't kill you. Second, once you've provided enough information, I'll allow you to leave this trial using a teleportation orb."

Buying a life and saving three Servants with 50 Master Points isn't a bad deal. Of course, if you have the opportunity to kill those Masters, I won't stop you, provided you don't reveal your identity as someone working for me before I obtain enough information.

Seeing that Xia Yan was not as cruel as he had imagined, Villeneuve nodded vigorously and readily agreed.

"Alright, then hand over your teleportation orb and one of your Servants as hostages. You can take the remaining two Servants back with you. For subsequent intelligence exchanges, you can arrange for a familiar to stay at the gates of the Moscow Imperial Palace, maintaining a reporting frequency of at least once a day."

I think I don't need to specifically tell you not to try to use your familiar to look around aimlessly. If I discover any wrongdoing on your part, or if you don't report anything for more than a day, I will immediately kill your servant who is being held hostage. Believe me, at that point, you will have no other fate but death.”

Villeneuve continued to nod vigorously, repeatedly stating that he had no ulterior motives.

After Xia Yan signaled Anastasia to remove Villeneuve's ice, Villeneuve also moved his somewhat frozen body.

"This is a teleportation ball. Also, Sugitani Zenjubo will be staying with you for the time being."

Villeneuve also made a very decisive choice.

In this icy world, Zenjubo Sugitani's sniping is much more troublesome to operate than Hyde, the only melee fighter in his lineup, and Billy the Kid, who can fire continuously. He can also provide limited support during battle, so he can only be used as a hostage for the time being.

After finishing everything, Xia Yan had Anastasia release the other two Servants, leaving Sugitani Zenjubo to follow behind them.

To prevent Sugitani Zenjubo from launching a sneak attack, Anastasia only removed the ice from his hips down, leaving his arms and body firmly frozen.

Besides talking and walking, Sugitani Zenjubo can do nothing else.

"Report! A target similar to the one described has been spotted approximately 1200 meters to the northwest. The target has already killed two of our personnel and is fleeing in a direction away from this location."

Upon receiving the news, Xia Yan immediately said to Nero, "Nero, you're faster, take me there right now. Anastasia, you take the rest of the Killer Hunters and catch up with us as quickly as possible."