That protagonist is trash; I could do better!

Being buried by the collapsed house actually saved her from being killed by the witch cultists.

Shinji Matou picked her up and took her to a secluded forest. He used body transmutation to heal her abrasions and, after waking her up, asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Master?" The little girl opened her eyes and looked at Shinji Matou hesitantly. After recognizing Shinji Matou, she breathed a sigh of relief, then looked around and asked in confusion, "Where is this?"

Shinji Matou patted her little head and smiled, "Something happened. The house you lived in collapsed, and your parents brought you here for treatment. You're fine now."

The little girl was probably stunned by the shockwave during the explosion or by being knocked unconscious by the collapsing buildings, so she probably didn't witness the massacre of the village.

The little girl looked at her hands in surprise and exclaimed happily, "It really doesn't hurt anymore!"

Can you tell me your name?

“Petra, Petra Light.”

Shinji Matou asked gently, "Then I'll call you Petra. Petra, could you tell me what happened in the village today? Even the slightest thing would be helpful."

Petra thought for a moment, then shook her head and nodded: "Nothing special... If I had to say something, well... let me think, it seems a caravan of merchants passed through here today and will be staying in the village for a day."

"Is there nothing else?"

"No."

"You must be tired today, take a good rest." Shinji Matou stroked her hair, used the magic of this world to hypnotize her consciousness, and placed her in a tree hollow not far from the village, just in case he could hide her again using alchemy.

"She probably won't wake up until tomorrow. Sigh, all these actions are unnecessary given that we were planning to use the save/load ability." Shinji Matou shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh, still not wanting Petra to know the cruel truth.

If he can reload the save file, Shinji Matou can prevent this disaster.

Shinji Matou turned and stared in the direction of the mansion: "There's still some time until dawn. We need to continue gathering information. Let's go back now."

After all, they are the weakest of the Archbishops of the Great Sins.

Basically, he's a complete weakling.

In terms of strength, the stronger ones could fight Julius and then be killed.

The weaker ones were simply bitten to death by the monsters of the forest.

Chapter 139 Incompetent Teammates and Actors

Before Shinji Matou could fly back to the manor, he was met with a bone-chilling cold wave. The temperature suddenly plummeted from a pleasant level to that of the polar regions. The cold wind was like a knife, and a blizzard howled as if to swallow the whole world.

“Natural weather couldn’t change so drastically in such a short time. The only thing that could achieve this effect is magic, and a rather advanced temperature magic at that.” Shinji Matou’s body stopped in mid-air, his Mystic Eyes fixed on the direction of the mansion. He knew without a doubt what had happened there.

“Something’s not right. Parker and Emilia have a contract. If the spirit is forcibly summoned at night, it will consume Emilia’s life force. A magic of this scale can devour all of Emilia’s life force in less than a minute.”

“Puck, who treats Emilia like a daughter, would never do such a thing. The only reason that can be thought of is the termination of the contract. Judging from the current situation, Emilia has most likely been killed by the Archbishop of Sloth.”

Shinji Matou narrowed his eyes, connecting all the events he had encountered since he transmigrated to this world, feeling that he was only one step away from the truth.

A sense of incongruity, a strong sense of incongruity.

Emilia's life is threatened, so she will inevitably use her life force to summon Puck to repel the enemy. But why can't Puck, who is stronger than her, protect Emilia?

No, before that, there was an even more crucial anomaly.

Although Shinji Matou has no memories of this world, he is used to thinking about the development of events from the perspective of an audience member who breaks the fourth wall.

It's too much of a coincidence that everything is unfolding as planned, and numerous clues have indicated that this is not a deliberate arrangement by fate (the author), but rather that there is a hidden force behind the scenes.

"There's no use thinking about it now. I'm not strong enough to get in touch with the people who orchestrated these events. If witches are involved, the mastermind is most likely one of them." Shinji Matou shook the complicated thoughts out of his mind. There was no point in thinking about it now. It was more important to consider how to change the current situation.

Before even reaching the mansion, Shinji Matou could see a gigantic monster standing atop the mansion building. Its glowing golden eyes conveyed no human emotion, and the blizzard that ravaged the world emanated from its body.

Shinji Matou landed in the courtyard covered with thick snow, looked up at Puck's lineup, and muttered, "This is Puck's true form, the Beast of the End of the Permafrost. I should be able to deal with him when I'm in Servant form."

Puck seemed oblivious to Shinji Matou's arrival, or perhaps he simply didn't care, as he channeled his raging magic and used the power of a supreme spirit to control the temperature fluctuations.

If left unattended, this blizzard will soon cover the entire kingdom.

"As expected of magic, it easily accomplished what alchemy cannot, lowering the temperature of matter without adhering to the law of conservation of energy." Shinji Matou wisely refrained from disturbing Puck, using alchemy to absorb heat from the earth's crust and create a thin film of air around his body to minimize the effects of the low temperature.

Passing through the garden, Shinji Matou saw a large number of corpses belonging to the Witch Cult.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, and his demonic eyes caught a glimpse of pink in a corner of the garden. He sighed inwardly and pushed open the door to enter the mansion, which was almost entirely filled with the corpses of witch cultists and the destruction caused by the battle.

Following the signs of the battle, Shinji Matou found Emilia's body in the second-floor corridor. A piece of her neck had been slashed off, indicating that she had been directly attacked by the Archbishop of Sin.

The surrounding witch cultists were all turned into ice sculptures.

Passing Emilia's body, Shinji Matou arrived at another side hall and found the last survivor.

"Lord Shinji..."

Rem lay against the wall, a dagger protruding from her abdomen. A large amount of blood seeped from her maid outfit, soaking the carpet and freezing into clots due to the extremely low temperature.

Rem's face was pale, her expression revealing a heavy death. When she saw Shinji Matou, her dim eyes lit up slightly, as if she had achieved a dream and showed a satisfied smile. She murmured to herself, "That's good...that's good...that's really good, you're alright."

Shinji Matou squatted down and said softly, "I went to the village and wiped out all the witch cultists there."

"Is that so?" Rem replied softly, her tone devoid of emotion, like the murmur of a sleeping person.

"Does it hurt?"

Rem murmured, "I'm sorry, Shinji-sama. I failed to protect anything this time. Sister, Emilia-sama, everyone has been killed."

“You’ve done a great job. If it were Ram, she would definitely say thank you for all the hard work you’ve done.”

"Lord Shinji, is it already dark?"

"I've drawn the curtains. You're tired and need to rest."

"I see."

"..."

"Lord Shinji..."

"I'm here."

Don't you feel hot?

"Don't talk nonsense, it's not summer now."

"Could you help me take off my clothes? I feel so hot."

"Just bear with it."

"..."

"I'm sorry, even if you're the only one left, I hope you can live. I'm sorry for relying on you all this time."

"Go to sleep, leave the rest to me."

"Lord Shinji."

"exist."

"Finally, could you grant me my last wish?"

"As long as it's not too excessive."

Can I hug Rem?

Shinji Matou knelt down and hugged Rem, stroking her hair and comforting her.

Rem closed her eyes and chuckled contentedly, "I've always wanted to do this. Shinji-sama's heart is just like my father's, broad and warm."

"..."

"Rem".

He called his name but received no answer. With a complicated expression, Shinji Matou went to the window and looked at the scenery outside. The world was covered in ice and snow, and all he could see was the howling blizzard.

"..."

"Speaking of which, this is the view from Einzbern Castle inside the Holy Grail."

Leaving the room, Betty's Opportunity Door could not be found in the mansion.

Shinji Matou climbed onto the roof, looked up at the gigantic monster, and shouted, "Puck, what are you doing?"

The monster slowly turned its head, its glowing golden eyes staring at Shinji Matou, its neutral, deep voice devoid of emotion: "To fulfill the contract with my daughter, the world will slumber together with my daughter."

"This contract is utter nonsense. Reinhard will be here soon. Before then, tell me why you failed to protect Emilia. You're a hopeless piece of trash, yet you call yourself the Beast of the End. You easily killed Emilia with an opponent of that caliber." Shinji Matou's voice was filled with barely suppressed anger. The killing of all the Witch Cultists had slightly calmed Shinji's killing intent, but Rem had just fully awakened it.

Shinji Matou hadn't experienced this feeling in a long time. It was like playing League of Legends and trying to reach the Challenger rank, only to encounter a bunch of terrible teammates in the promotion match, and some of them were even intentionally throwing the game.

"Everything returns to the contract. World and you, sleep now, with my daughter."

Shinji Matou clasped his hands together, activated his alchemy, and poured all his magical power and life force into his Mystic Eyes. He stared at Puck, the Beast of the End, and sneered, "Perfect timing. I've long wanted to know the strength of the world's highest-ranking spirit."

Chapter 140 Hugging Thighs

When I opened my eyes again, it was already daytime. In front of me was a table by the window, on which sat an unfinished magic book.

Matou Shinji sensed the exact time from the magical energy within his body and muttered to himself, "It should be yesterday afternoon now. Is the time span for reloading a day? That should be enough time."

Reflecting on what tomorrow might bring, Shinji Matou muttered under his breath, "That damn Pakkun is quite the actor; his skills shouldn't be underestimated."

Shinji Matou's self-destruction, which exhausted all his magic and life force, only severely injured Puck.

Upon arriving at the main hall of the mansion, he instructed Rem to summon everyone except Betty.

"Shinji-sensei, I'm still working on the assignment you gave me yesterday. Is there anything important?" Emilia rushed over in simple home clothes, her straight, jade-like legs encased in white stockings, making her even more alluring.

Emilia, perched on the shoulder of the elf Puck, yawned. As an elf, she generally followed a nine-to-five lifestyle.

Shinji Matou looked at Ram and asked seriously, "It is very important. Before that, Ram, do you have a way to contact Roswaal?"

Ram felt slightly uncomfortable with Matou Shinji's seriousness and shook his head, saying, "Lord Roswaal left in a great hurry, leaving no specific information other than informing us that his destination was the Sanctuary."

“Every time, we can’t find anyone at the crucial moment.” Shinji Matou’s face was gloomy. He looked around at everyone and said solemnly, “You all know that I am related to the witch. Because of this, I have gained an ability that I don’t know whether to say is useful or boring. You can think of it as a premonition of something important that will definitely happen next.”

"Lord Shinji, you mean..."

Shinji Matou said decisively, "The Witch Church will attack the village and the mansion tomorrow night. I don't know what's going on, but it seems to be some kind of trial given to Emilia."

"Is the target?" Emilia's delicate face tightened.

"The one presiding over this trial is the Archbishop of Sin, Petyrcius Romani-Conti. He has the power to control the invisible hand and can possess believers to resurrect. He is not a threat to me, but he can kill you."

Shinji Matou's cold gaze swept over Puck, and he said in a deep voice, "Puck, I have a question. I know you can't come out at night, but if Emilia forcibly summons you with her life force, can you protect Emilia?"