To become a king and a magician

"Since you are the head of the Fuyuki Church, you should know who the church sent to monitor me."

20. Natsukawa Tora's reputation was harmed.

Natsukawa Torato's question was not entirely unexpected by Kotomine Kirei.

After all, anyone would be dissatisfied to suddenly have two monitors by their side and come to question them. But what Kirei Kotomine didn't expect was that Natsukawa Torato didn't come to protest the surveillance, but to find out who his monitors were.

"You accepted the surveillance arrangement very quickly."

"As I've already said, although it was unintentional, I'm the one who attracted the moon's fall and caused a huge impact, and I'm also the one who caused you trouble. Now that you're helping me clean up the mess, I'm in the wrong in front of you, so I have no objection to being monitored."

“Quite reasonable. I thought you would be quite resistant, but it seems you are very reasonable.” Kirei Kotomine was slightly relieved. “Although the official mission document has not yet arrived, the order was issued yesterday. Your monitor is my daughter Karen—but unfortunately, she is not very enthusiastic about this task.”

Not paying attention?

"How to say?"

"She said that instead of wasting time spying on a boring man, she'd rather watch the children cry their hearts out in the elementary school infirmary after they've been injured." Kirei Kotomine's expression was somewhat helpless. "I don't know if it's because I've failed as a parent or if it's just her nature to have developed this kind of personality."

(Your father is a potential pleasure-seeker, and he's lived with you day and night for eight years. It would be a miracle if he wasn't influenced by you!)

"So, she's now a school nurse at an elementary school?"

Kirei Kotomine nodded: "She seems to be treating that as her main job and the church work as a side job. But today is Saturday, so she doesn't need to go to work and left early this morning. If you want to see her, you may have to wait until she comes back tonight."

"No, knowing who it is is enough. I apologize for bothering you, Mr. Kotomine. I will be living in Fuyuki City for a few years, and I may be a great inconvenience to you during that time. Please take good care of me."

"Of course, but if possible, please don't let what happened early yesterday morning happen again. Dealing with it afterwards will really shorten my lifespan."

I'll try my best.

When fighting Ainsworth later, try not to make too much noise—just activate Tsukihime Armor right from the start.

——————————————————————————————

After leaving the church.

That man is quite dangerous.

Ruby's voice came from the birdcage.

It's said that the church has a type of combatant called the Agents, each a top-tier expert honed through countless trials. He must be one of them; a magician would be at a significant disadvantage fighting him.

"But we don't have any real magicians around here."

Xia Chuanhu smiled.

"Besides, we have no need to fight him."

Kirei Kotomine in this world did not experience the Fourth Holy Grail War, so naturally, his latent nature as a pleasure-seeker has not been developed. He is probably at a level where he is somewhat aware of himself but can control himself well.

In other words, Kirei Kotomine is not a dangerous enemy at present, and he will not resort to any means for pleasure.

"So, brother, are we going to Mount Enzo next?" Gray asked. "It seems like there's quite a distance between here and Mount Enzo, and it might take some time to walk there."

"Then let's jump over there, or fly over there too, but before that—"

Natsukawa Tora looked towards the corner not far away: "Isn't following them this far enough? Do you have to sneak around even in your own backyard, Miss Karen?"

Are you being followed?

Grey quickly looked toward the corner, and the next moment, a white-haired beauty in a white coat walked out carrying a bag of things, her golden eyes sweeping over the two of them.

"I wasn't following them. I just happened to be coming back from buying something and was a little curious about the people coming in and out of my house."

The white-haired beauty, Karen Altasia, answered somewhat languidly.

“There are very few people who come to church in this city; you might only see a handful a year.”

"Really? Don't you find it boring to work here?"

"So my main job now is as a school nurse." Karen said as she walked to Natsukawa Tora's side, pushed open the church door, gave him a meaningful glance, and went inside.

She's a nice woman.

Yad's sleazy voice suddenly rang out after Karen entered the church.

[Her hair and eyes are exceptionally beautiful; she's a top-tier, sickly beauty, with an aloofness that keeps people at arm's length and seems indifferent to everything—buddy, don't you feel an urge to be trampled on by her?]

"I'm quite curious why you would have this impulse? And why do you think I have this impulse?"

[Because you're constantly being tormented by that nightmare, aren't you?]

"so?"

She seems somewhat similar to that bastard succubus, so I was wondering if you might also feel a similar urge towards her.

Taking a deep breath, Natsukawa Torama took the birdcage from Grey's hands: "First of all, what do Mary and she have in common? Apart from both having white hair, there's nothing else, right? Do you judge people by their appearance alone? Besides, who told you I like being stepped on?"

Merlin

"..."

That damned nightmare! If she drags him into that place again tonight, Xia Chuanhu will make her cry! All she does is spread slanderous and defamatory things about him all day long! His reputation is ruined beyond recognition!

Seeing Natsukawa Tora's face darken, Grey quickly comforted him, "Brother, I believe that Sister Meryl didn't say that on purpose. It must be that Yad misheard. Besides, I also believe that you are definitely not someone who likes to be trampled on."

[Hmm? Gray is quite certain. Could it be that my brother was really stepped on by someone with feet wearing used stockings before?]

"this......."

"I'm really curious why you all think I was stepped on." Natsukawa Tora was both angry and helpless. "Forget it, I'll settle the score with Meryl later. Let's go to Mount Enzo now. Grey, come here, let's fly over there."

After nodding, Grey immediately leaned into Natsukawa Tora's arms, and with the whirlwind rising beneath their feet, the two of them instantly shot into the sky.

Shortly after the two took off.

Pushing open the church door again, Karen looked up at the sky, opened her notebook, and wrote down a line—

[She giggles in her dreams, possibly indicating mental issues; she can perform flight magic, carries two talking Mystic Codes, enjoys being stepped on, is a lolicon, and a potential criminal.]

"Wouldn't it be better to call the police?"

21. The Lost Holy Grail

Legend has it that Yuanzang Mountain was once a sacred mountain where dragons lived.

While the veracity of this legend is unclear, from a magical perspective, Mount Enzo is indeed a rare and exceptional location where spiritual veins converge. Fuyuki City's three major spiritual vein gathering places are the Fuyuki Church, the Tohsaka Mansion, and Mount Enzo.

Among these, Mount Enzo is of the highest rank. Therefore, Mount Enzo was chosen as the best place for the Holy Grail to descend, and even the spell for the Greater Grail was set up in the underground cavern of Mount Enzo.

Although they were in different worlds, fortunately, the path leading to the underground cavern was the same as the one Natsukawa Tiger knew. After following the path in his memory for a while, Natsukawa Tiger and Gray entered a secluded mountain passage.

Is this cave... a natural formation?

Yad looked around with some curiosity.

[It's incredible that such a mountain passage could have formed; it's generally impossible for humans to do that. Could it be that a dragon once lived in this mountain?]

"Who knows? Shouldn't dragons, these fantastical species, have migrated to the inner world a long time ago? The only dragon still existing on the surface of the world now should be the Albion Dragon beneath the Clock Tower, even though it's already a corpse."

While Natsukawa Tora said this, he was actually quite curious about the authenticity of the legend of Enzang Mountain.

(Sajō Aika, did dragons really roam this place?)

【...】

No response.

(Sajō Aika?)

【...】

(Still withdrawn?)

"Don't talk to me, you perverted vixen. Only the prince can talk to me"—this thought suddenly entered Xia Chuanhu's mind.

Xia Chuanhu frowned.

(You said you didn't want to talk to me... but weren't you very proactive in talking to me before?)

Go to hell!

"You're a very strange girl."

"Huh? Brother? What are you talking about?"

Hearing Natsukawa Tora mutter something, Grey immediately turned around and asked curiously, "Is there something strange about me?"

"No, it wasn't you, it was this guy." Xia Chuanhu patted his chest. "I wanted to ask her if there really were dragons living here, but she ignored me and even told me to go die. She still doesn't like me as much as ever."

There's nothing to say to you.

(Didn't you say you didn't want to talk to me?)

[Ugh—you vixen, die ten thousand times!]

(I told you not to shout it in my head!)

Rubbing his aching temples, Natsukawa Tora sighed helplessly, "Oh well, it doesn't matter whether there are dragons or not. Anyway, I'm not here to slay dragons, just to set up traps."

As they spoke, the mountain passage came to an end, and the narrow, dimly lit path suddenly expanded into an enormous underground cavern. Surprisingly, despite being underground without any light source, the environment inside the cavern was clearly visible.

In the very center of the great void, there is a circular platform that looks like an altar.

"Is the cavity itself a natural formation, and the platform artificially carved out later?" Xia Chuanhu walked to the platform, squatted down, and touched it. "Such a peculiar environmental structure, whether entirely man-made or entirely influenced by nature, is impossible to achieve, right?"

I guess so. Are you particularly interested in this place?

"A little bit."

Xia Chuanhu took out a small red gem from his pocket, infused it with a little magic, and after a flash of light, the gem transformed into a red sphere.

It is a reenactment device.

Looking at Natsukawa Torato placing the replay device on the ground, Grey couldn't help but ask, somewhat puzzled, "Brother, what are you doing...?"

"The core of the Holy Grail War—the Greater Grail—its spell itself should be buried here. I am somewhat interested in the Greater Grail's spell itself."

Aside from its ability to grant wishes in a distorted way, the Holy Grail is essentially just a massive source of magical power; its ability to grant wishes stems from the sheer volume of magical energy it accumulates. What interests Natsukawa Torato isn't the wish-granting machine's function, but rather the Holy Grail's role as a source of magical power.

He has decided on the function of the re-enactment device—to use it as a self-governing combat doll that can freely change its appearance, which would essentially mean that he would have to bear the magic power of two people.

However, this isn't true self-discipline; once Natsukawa Torama's magic power is exhausted, the puppet will shut down. But if the Holy Grail is used as the magic power source...