Zongman, the journey begins from the wrong place

——No, those are not what I want to do.

It would not be accurate to say that it appeared, because the voice had never disappeared. It was just that Matou Kariya had never faced his own heart, so he had never heard it.

Following this voice, Matou Kariya reviewed the dark desires that emerged from the deepest part of his heart.

Then he was surprised to find that the images that remained in the deepest part of his memory were not the bits and pieces of growing up with Aoi.

It was Tōsaka Tokiomi—the man with elegant demeanor, distinguished family background, and brilliant magic, as if the gods had deliberately made him superior to themselves in every aspect.

Although most of the scenes in his life were of Aoi, the starting point and center of his memories and emotions were Tōsaka Tokiomi.

——Yes, why are you confused?

——The answer is right in front of you, what is it that you don’t understand?

——In fact, from the first day I met that man, Tōsaka Tokiomi, wasn't it very clear what I wanted to do?

——But, is it really possible? Do I really want to do that?

Sensing the inner turmoil of Matou Kariya, Noah raised his eyebrows, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.

"Oh, it seems that you have already figured out what you should do?"

Matou Kariya subconsciously looked at Noah, but quickly lowered his head out of guilt.

"Really, is it really okay?"

In Noah's opinion, Matou Kariya's wish is nothing more than to win back his childhood sweetheart, Tousaka Aoi, who is now married and raising two daughters.

Although it is a bit immoral to steal someone else's wife and daughter, and it may shorten his life, Noah doesn't care. It's just a little bit of life that can be shortened... anyway, it's not his life!

The most important thing is that Matou Kariya is a normal person!

What Noah meant by normal was not in terms of good or bad character, but that Matou Kariya was not like other magi who were willing to sacrifice his life for the long-cherished wish of achieving the root.

This also means that Matou Kariya may be the only one who can escape at the critical moment in this Holy Grail War.

This is very important to Noah.

Because he wanted to find someone to rely on for Sakura Matou, someone who could protect her even after he left.

Although Matou Kariya is a little stupid, this also means that he will do his best to protect Matou Sakura, right?

Noah couldn't say what kind of person Tōsaka Tokiomi was, but he estimated that the probability of this person surviving this Holy Grail War was not high.

As a good husband and father who loves his wife and daughter, Tōsaka Tokiomi would give his daughter away for adoption, which shows that he is ultimately a magician at heart.

With such an excellent magician, and the advantage of the Tōsaka family as the number one local boss in Fuyuki City, it would be strange if they were not targeted by most of the participants.

Noah, who had fought on countless battlefields, knew very well that the more powerful and famous a person was in a war, the faster and more miserable his death would be... Oh, he himself was an exception.

In short, if Tohsaka Tokiomi died, then Tohsaka Aoi, an orphan and a widow with a mother, would surely have a very hard life and might even follow her husband.

At that time, she could send her long-lost little daughter over there, and give her a childhood sweetheart who they once had feelings for each other and who she was sure would love her daughter. Wouldn't that be perfect!

If Tōsaka Tokiomi were alive, even if Matou Sakura went back, the environment there would only remind her of the fact that she was abandoned by her family.

The rest of the Tohsaka family will remember this as well.

But once Tōsaka Tokiomi died, how could the three mothers and daughters, grieving the loss of their father and husband, feel alienated? They would only cry together, becoming a loving family again.

By then, Matou Kariya will get his lover back, Tousaka Aoi can use the joy of reuniting with her daughter to soothe the pain of losing her husband, and Matou Sakura can return to her mother's arms.

So, Tōsaka Tokiomi, you died well, it was a wonderful death!

Sacrifice you for the happiness of you, me and him!

Of course, as someone who made this arrangement, I am also a good person second only to Tōsaka Tokiomi.

I am truly worthy of being the best person in the world!

When Livilia hears this, she will definitely praise me for being so smart!

"Until now, are you still clinging to your little sense of morality? What's more important, your self-respect or the happiness of your loved ones? You know, sometimes abandoning dignity and beliefs is harder than abandoning your life!"

Noah's voice was like a winter wind. Although it was cold, it also had a ferocity that shocked the soul. Matou Kariya could not help but tremble all over and looked up at Noah.

"You don't even have the courage to throw away your dignity, become a despicable person, or even knock her to the ground and take her home?! How dare you say you love her?! You know, many times, once the opportunity is missed, it will never come back!"

Although it was a little difficult to understand, Noah's last words penetrated deeply into Matou Kariya's heart.

Eight years ago, the night before Zenjo Aoi became Tousaka Aoi, he had hesitated whether to take her away by force.

But looking at the happy smile on the face of his beloved woman, Matou Kariya chose to give up.

It was because of that momentary thought, coupled with her escape from the Matou family, that Sakura almost fell into the abyss.

Because of the appearance of the silver-haired boy in front of him, he did not make a big mistake and had the opportunity to choose again.

A chance to challenge that man!

If I miss it, will fate give me a third chance?

I'm afraid it's impossible, and Matou Kariya doesn't dare to hope for a third chance.

Now that the opportunity is right in front of him, he must consider whether this is his only chance in this life.

If I watch Tōsaka Tokiomi die in this Holy Grail War, I will probably feel a regret even stronger than losing Zenjo Aoi!

So, it’s decided!

Accompanied by a burst of burning heat like a branding iron, Matou Kariya subconsciously lowered his head and looked at the back of his hand.

It was a bright red pattern made up of three waves, shaped like waves.

The Matou family is one of the three great families in the Holy Grail War, and is also the founder of the Command Seals system. Matou Kariya must understand the meaning of the Command Seals in his hand.

"I! Going to defeat him!"

There seemed to be an invisible fire burning behind him. Matou Kariya slowly stood up, straightening his back as if he could pierce through the ceiling!

"I! I will defeat that man Tōsaka Tokiomi! I want to see him kneel down before me! Weeping bitterly, with a look of shame on his face!"

Listening to Matou Kariya's renewed determination, Noah nodded in satisfaction.

But as he listened, he felt something was wrong.

Ok?

Why do you keep talking about Tōsaka Tokiomi?

Where's Tousaka Aoi?

Where is the courage to protect the one you love?

Your focus is not right, is it?

But Matou Kariya did not notice his confusion. After calming down, he gave Matou Sakura an apologetic look.

It's a bit cruel to swear to defeat someone else's father in front of her daughter.

But, I'm just venting Sakura's anger, right?

However, what Matou Kariya didn't notice was that Matou Sakura also didn't notice his gaze, but was staring at Noah's back.

You don't even have the courage to knock your loved one to the ground and take him/her home? And you dare to say you love him/her... Is this what love is like?

Although she is just a little girl of five or six years old, she has learned to read people's expressions and expressions due to the subtle inferiority complex of Matou Sakura, who is much better than her in every aspect.

Not to mention the experiences she had over the past few days, which had made her more mature than other girls of the same age.

Although you won't suddenly become smarter and more knowledgeable, you will have a deeper understanding of many things that confused you before.

For example, there are naturally very few men that Sakura Matou knows well. One is her father, Tōsaka Tokiomi, and the other is her mother's friend, Uncle Kariya.

However, her beloved father had personally sent her to hell a few days ago...

Although she really wanted to go back to the past, Sakura Matou also vaguely understood that she could no longer throw herself into his arms and call him father wholeheartedly like before.

Although Matou Kariya treats her and her sister very well and always gives gifts, Matou Sakura is very sensitive and a little...

Sakura Matou couldn't explain the feeling. It couldn't be said to be rejection or disgust. Rather, every time she saw him talking to his mother, she was always concerned and worried. She felt that he was a little unreliable and not someone she could rely on.

But more importantly, it was the young man in front of him.

When Noah rescued the girl from the insect nest, she thought that God had sent her support again, just like the hero who rescued the princess in the fairy tale.

But when Sakura Matou tried to transform Noah and herself into the hero and heroine of a fairy tale, she failed.

Sakura Matou knew that what separated her from Noah was not an indestructible wall of barriers, but simply the extreme distance.

Don't understand, don't comprehend, not clear.

Noah's past, what was in Noah's heart, everything hidden behind Noah's blue eyes... I never understood any of it.

In his eyes, she was probably just a poor little girl who was abandoned by her parents and almost bullied by bad guys.

Other than that, it doesn’t matter whether she’s called Matou Sakura or Tousaka Sakura.

Noah didn't care and didn't want to understand.

So, even though she could sleep in Noah's arms, Sakura Matou still felt that he was like a white cloud floating in the boundless blue sky.

Although it seems that you can touch it with your hand, it will be blown away by the wind and melt into the sky in the next second.

When she saw Noah scolding Matou Kariya just now, Matou Sakura became even more certain of her premonition.

This person has a firm will that Matou Sakura cannot imagine. He is running towards a distant goal that she cannot even see, at a speed that she cannot even reach.

For Noah, who is as free as the wind and will not stop for anyone, Sakura Matou is just a small passer-by in his long journey.

Noah will disappear from her side sooner or later, will leave her side - every time she realizes this, Sakura Matou feels a blockage in her chest, difficulty breathing, and a sore nose.

Moreover, that kind of discomfort was different from the reluctance and grievance when leaving my parents, and the fear and terror when being taken to the insect nest by "Grandpa".

It was a lighter, yet harder-to-let-go kind of bitter suffocation.

This feeling was so complicated that Sakura Matou couldn't understand it at all. She just instinctively wanted to reach out and grab it, and keep this small remaining shelter by her side.

Big brother, what kind of person are you?

Can't you really stay with Sakura?

Sakura really doesn't want to feel the fear of being abandoned by everyone again.

After nightfall, Sakura Matou slowly fell asleep with the warmth on the back of her hand.

When the sky full of dust came into view, she realized that she was dreaming again.

Then, Sakura Matou saw the corpse.

There were corpses of all kinds, almost covering the entire field of vision, and blood was literally flowing into rivers.

However, before Sakura Matou could feel any fear, she was attracted by the figure in the center of the battlefield.

At just one glance, she was sure that this was the child she saw in her dream last time.

He held a broken sword in his hand, half-kneeling on the ground, his body covered in blood. His thin and scarred body was revealed through the shattered armor, and he looked at the battlefield with gloomy and lifeless eyes.

Although it had been speculated long ago, this time, Sakura Matou confirmed that the boy was Noah.

After finishing the battle alone, Noah returned to the crowd.

But in addition to cheers, he was greeted with silence and fear.

Noah knew that people relied on his power but were also afraid of it.

But he said nothing, and quietly returned to his residence. After washing his body and treating his wounds, he ate dessert in big mouthfuls.

He felt a little sad, but it was not because he was envied, feared or hated by others.

Because everyone has his or her own mission and position, different people are destined to have different missions, and the weak and ordinary people are inherently ignorant and incompetent, and are destined to be dominated and ravaged by the strong.

Even towards the legendary Demon King who brought endless killing and suffering to the world, he did not harbor the same hatred as others.

Because they are weak people, weak people who are addicted to the desire for killing and destruction and cannot extricate themselves.

Under my sword, the only difference is whether I can kill you or not.

Coming from a mountain village where no one was left alive, he had never entertained the foolish idea that everyone would be grateful, because the idea of the survival of the fittest had long been ingrained in his bones, even before the warmth of human nature.