"Sakura, that's a thank-you gift for the person who helped you. Give it back."
Tokiomi Tohsaka could only turn to his younger daughter and instruct her.
"Uh… okay."
Having just been accepted back by her father, young Sakura was very obedient. She started to hand the sapphire back to Broly.
However, Broly did not take it. Instead, he frowned slightly and looked at Tokiomi with a hint of hostility.
This man was stopping him from raising the girl's Happiness Value. That meant blocking his access to food—which was practically asking to die.
Yet this was Sakura's father. If he killed the man, the girl would be sad. That left Broly hesitant, unsure what to do.
"This is something I'm giving you. I want you to be even happier."
After thinking for a moment, Broly could only fall back on his Planet Vampa-style, domineering wild-child approach and state this to Sakura.
"Eh?!"
Sakura was stunned.
"Hm?!"
Tokiomi was taken aback as well.
Everyone else watching the scene might as well have had exclamation marks pop up over their heads.
"Things just got interesting."
Mr. Gold gave his verdict. He could clearly tell that the boy was speaking the truth.
A little boy saying he wants to make a girl happier is usually just childish talk. But now that he knew it was sincere, how could it not be amusing?
Of course, part of the fun came from Tokiomi himself. The stiff, by‑the‑book man was currently displaying an expression of surprise that did not match his usual image at all.
That contrast sparked a flicker of curiosity in Gilgamesh—so this rigid fellow could make that face. What other faces might he still be hiding?
He's just a child. What he means might not be what I'm hearing.
Tokiomi told himself that, forcing a polite smile back onto his face.
"You mustn't say such things lightly to any woman, even a very young one.
"As a man, you should be elegant and maintain a gentlemanly demeanor at all times…"
He began trying to instill his gentlemanly wisdom into the boy.
"I'll only make my own wives happier. I won't say that casually to other people."
Broly listened earnestly, thought for a moment, and gave this answer.
"Calling a woman your wife all on your own is also an extremely rude, ungentlemanly thing to do."
Tokiomi added.
"But she is my wife."
He said it with his mouth, but in his heart he was thinking of all the food the girl had given him yesterday, right down to the worms in the basement. Broly's words were utterly firm.
"What do you mean by that?"
Tokiomi could not make sense of the boy's attitude until Sakura tugged at his sleeve and, in a gentler way, explained that she had promised to be this tailed brother's wife because she had no way to repay him for saving her from the worms.
Tokiomi was silent for a moment, then felt his composure crack. After that, he declared that it was just childish talk and did not count.
"She fed me, so she has to take responsibility."
At that, a line floated up in Broly's mind, and he used it directly.
The entire scene went silent for a moment.
His statement was so novel that everyone needed time to digest it.
"If I feed you, does that mean I also have to take responsibility for you?"
After a while, Tokiomi managed to ask.
"You can't. You can't become my wife."
Broly answered with complete seriousness, and his expression was so earnest that Gilgamesh finally could not help bursting out laughing.
Words that would have been utterly absurd coming from an adult could, when spoken by a child, be taken as just a kid's wild imagination.
Gilgamesh enjoyed that sort of imagination.
"Isn't there such a thing as gender reassignment surgery in this era?"
He had seen hospital ads for it on television when he was bored.
"Why not, Tokiomi? Go get that surgery done, become a woman, and marry the boy yourself!"
He cheerfully offered his vassal a thoroughly malicious suggestion.
"Of course, if you don't trust this era's medical science, this king also has gender-changing potions in his treasury to bestow on you."
"You jest, King of Heroes."
Tokiomi's face twitched as he responded to his Servant. Inside, he silently reminded himself to be elegant, to keep his gentlemanly composure.
"If you truly want Sakura to be your wife, then you still have a long way to go. At the very least, you must become an outstanding man."
From their exchanges so far, Tokiomi had also realized this child's understanding of some things might be… off.
He had no intention of correcting that, however. Instead, he laid out his condition as a father regarding any future son-in-law.
There was only one condition: the son-in-law must be excellent. As for what "excellent" meant, naturally he would define that as harshly as possible.
"To be excellent is to be above the ordinary, to achieve what normal people cannot…"
If this boy really grew up to be an exceptional individual, then what harm would there be in him marrying Sakura? Tokiomi thought he might be able to accept it by then.
"Excellent?"
Broly frowned, memorizing the word. Not solely because of Tokiomi's lecture, but also because of the Crystal Palace's prompt:
"Becoming an excellent person will indeed help the host in capturing wives."
"How do I become an excellent person?"
He asked.
"That is something you must think about for yourself. My advice is this: in all things, maintain elegance and the bearing of a gentleman…"
Tokiomi continued pouring his philosophy of life into him. Meanwhile, the Crystal Palace only said that a thousand people had a thousand Hamlets, and "excellent" was a subjective judgment that Broly would have to decide on his own.
To that, Broly only wanted to ask: What is Hamlet, and can it be eaten?
His habit was that whenever a new term popped into his head, he would ask if it was edible.
Usually, he got no answer.
"Hamlet is a tragic story. It cannot be eaten."
This time, however, the Crystal Palace answered.
With that, Broly lost all interest.
His focus returned to how he could make himself excellent.
Even though the Crystal Palace told him to decide for himself, there was someone right in front of him he could ask.
"What is elegance? What is bearing?"
Tokiomi had no idea how dangerous it was to indulge Broly's curiosity. When the boy first asked, the man quite enjoyed playing teacher and gave his own explanation of elegance and bearing.
But once Broly's follow-up questions began, and he started turning into a ten-thousand-why question machine, even someone as elegant as Tokiomi found himself at the end of his rope.
"Enough!"
He snapped, all composure gone. Realizing he had lost his temper, he quickly coughed and put on his earlier graceful demeanor again.
"What I mean is that there are still matters at home. It's inconvenient to continue entertaining you both."
He found an excuse to politely send them on their way.
"If I have time in the future, I will invite you to visit the Tohsaka house again."
In other words: if there is no invitation, do not come.
After the door closed, Taiga felt a pang of sympathy for the man who had chased them out.
Broly's endless questions had reminded her all too clearly of what had happened in the bath last night.
Back there, she had been exactly like Tokiomi just now, trying to explain things to a curious child who kept asking "why" about everything.
The end result was a total defeat, followed by shame and anger, and then a hasty retreat from the topic.
"Can you tell me…"
Broly, still unsatisfied, turned to Taiga.
"It's lunchtime. Want to go eat?"
Before he could get the question out, Taiga changed the subject.
At the mere mention of food, Broly tossed all the unresolved "elegant" questions out of his mind.
"Yes!"
He answered obediently.
….
"Whew…"
Once Broly was gone, Tokiomi let out a long breath.
"You have my condolences."
Mr. Gold actually felt a bit sorry for his unlucky Master.
If it had been him, he would not have resisted using force.
He had thought Tokiomi was dull, but now realized the man was not entirely without merit.
At the very least, as an adult male, he had earned the King of Heroes' approval for his elegance and composure.
Hearing this, Tokiomi blinked. He had not expected the tyrant-like Hero King to say such a thing, and he felt a trace of shame.
"My composure and elegance are still not fully honed. I let a child get under my skin just now. I need more practice."
Once he had sent his daughter back to her room, Kirei finally approached and asked, "Teacher, regarding Miss Sakura, do you still want me to investigate?"
"There's no need. No one tampered with Sakura. She must have run away from the Matou house.
"Though running away from home was a bit naughty, it did reveal some problems in the Matou family to me."
Tokiomi narrowed his eyes, walked over to a table, picked up the telephone receiver, and dialed the Matou number.
"Hello?"
A hoarse voice came through.
"Sakura has come home."
Tokiomi did not bother with preambles.
"As expected of the Tohsaka head—snatching her back so easily from those who abducted her."
Zouken Matou offered a compliment.
"I did not snatch her back. She returned on her own and told me some of what she experienced in the Matou house."
Tokiomi's voice was cold, with no fluctuation in tone.
"Is that so?"
Zouken asked back. He did not really believe it.
The speed with which Sakura had been "found" only made him think this was all part of some scheme orchestrated by Tokiomi.
"Lord Matou, do you not intend to explain anything?"
Tokiomi asked.
"What would you have me explain?"
"Explain why the daughter I entrusted to you was thrown into a pile of bugs. Explain when the Matou family's magecraft element changed from Water to insects."
Tokiomi's voice dropped, and this time there was a clear note of accusation.
"The world changes, and so does the Matou family. The magecraft passed down to us has left our bloodline in decline. For the sake of our lineage, we have to make changes.
"Whether that means altering our family's elemental affinity or taking a talented child from your Tohsaka house, it's all just for the continuation of the Matou family's magecraft. That is my answer.
"Are you satisfied, Lord Tohsaka?"
The Matou decline was undeniable. Tokiomi could understand changing the family's magecraft to preserve its legacy. In his place, he might have done the same.
"You should not have hidden this from me."
He said.
"Have you forgotten that our families are not only allied, but also rivals in the struggle for the Holy Grail? Would you reveal all of your trump cards to a direct competitor?"
Zouken countered.
"No."
After a brief silence, Tokiomi answered.
"So, are you sending Sakura back to us, or do you have other plans?"
Zouken asked again. The choice was in Tokiomi's hands now. If the man did not send the girl back, Zouken would have to find another child with magical potential to bring into the Matou house for "modification."
It was not yet time to burn bridges. Tokiomi was no weak magus, and as a Master in the current Holy Grail War, he had summoned an impressive Servant. If he really decided to storm the Matou manor with that Servant, Kariya's half-baked Servant would not be able to hold them off.
"Tap, tap, tap…"
Sitting on the sofa, Tokiomi drummed his fingers on the table. If the Holy Grail ritual were not so imminent—if it could have been delayed another four or five years—he would have fought to secure a separate magical crest for his younger daughter.
But there were no such ifs. Nor had he expected Sakura to have talent equal to Rin's.
By the time he learned of Sakura's potential, the Holy Grail War was already upon them. He no longer had the spare capacity to make arrangements for her.
So when he learned the Matou family needed an heir, he had felt nothing but relief.
Even now, having learned that the Matou element had shifted from Water to worms, the fact remained: the Matou family, which needed a magical heir, was still the best option before him for Sakura's future.
"I will send Sakura back. But please, when you modify her element, be as gentle as you can."
Tokiomi's answer surprised Zouken.
After hanging up, the old man muttered uncertainly to himself, "So abducting Sakura really wasn't his doing?
"Doesn't matter whether it was or not. As long as the Tohsaka boy is willing to send his daughter back, it's all good.
"Yes… better call Kariya back too, so no one can sneak into the Matou house again and steal away such a valuable experimental subject."