Seeing Gilgamesh actively entertaining the kids right now is really surprising. I honestly never expected her to act like this.
I completely thought she was going to do the classic noble lady laugh, covering her mouth and saying something like "Ohohoho, do you truly believe you deserve to be in the audience of this King?"
Instead I heard her say to Yua, "That is right. Even though you can never be as beautiful as me, I can help you become better than your current self" before she actually started telling her exactly what she should do to improve.
"Oh well, at least everyone is happy" I whispered to myself.
I finally decided to stand up from the sofa and leave the living room. The sound of everyone talking and laughing slowly disappeared behind me as I walked up the stairs.
"Are you still there, Cath Palug?" I asked quietly into the empty hallway.
Right after saying that I felt a soft weight suddenly land on top of my head and rest there comfortably.
Cath Palug's tiny body started blurring for a second before he completely dropped his disguise and could be seen again.
He has actually been coming with me since yesterday, but he stayed invisible the entire time to the point that even Gilgamesh could not sense him.
I do not know what kind of magic or Magecraft he uses to hide his presence so perfectly, but it is incredibly useful and I really hope he teaches me how to do it someday~
Speaking of teaching, where the hell is Lady Ava? Is she seriously doing her livestream for three straight days?
I arrived at my bedroom door while complaining about Lady Ava in my head.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside, walking straight over to the wooden table where I usually do all my reading and writing.
After silently removing the locking spell I placed on one of the drawers I pulled it open and took out my diary.
"This really takes me back," I muttered while smiling at the cover.
I remembered when I first decided to start writing in this exactly three years ago.
The entire reason I started this diary was so I would not forget the original plot of Fate zero and to safely keep track of my main goals in this world.
- Rescue Sakura. Checkmark.
- Meet Gilgamesh. Technically this is a checkmark but the one I met ended up being female instead of male.
But then I remembered the incredibly soft and warm hand that I held earlier today along with her flawlessly beautiful appearance, and I think that completely deserves a real checkmark too.
I grabbed my pen, erased the confused note I wrote previously about her, and replaced it with a bold checkmark symbol to finally indicate my biggest objective in this world is complete.
"Now the last one to complete." I muttered while looking at the third row of the objectives I want to accomplish in this world.
- Getting rich so I do not need to do a 9 to 9 work again.
With my Magecraft I can easily get rich like winning the lottery, predicting the stock market to make millions, or even just using basic spells to find expensive lost treasures buried deep underground.
After everything checked out I stared proudly at my objectives.
I also already decided to leave this orphanage when I am older.
It is going to be really sad, but I cannot just stay here forever.
Because this is an orphanage new children are going to come here eventually, and then the older ones have to leave the nest to become their own person.
"Now let's see if I forgot something." I said to myself, and now it is time to read the story of what is going to happen next.
"Day 1 is still the same with most Servants appearing at the docks, but the difference is Berserker already died on Day 1."
With Berserker dead this early nothing much else should change, as the only real difference is probably just that the whole dramatic reveal between Saber and Berserker is completely gone now.
"Now let's see Day 2." I mumbled.
From my diary notes Day 2 should start with Caster bringing multiple children to the Einzbern castle with the intention to talk with Saber, because Caster totally thinks she is Jeanne.
I have never seen Jeanne since she never appears during this war, but whoever she is she seems really important to Caster.
And then Caster turns all the children into grotesque monsters to attack Saber before she gets rescued by Lancer.
Back in the Einzbern castle Lancer's Master uses the chance while Saber is distracted to try and kill Kiritsugu, but unfortunately he is the one who ends up getting shot by Kiritsugu's special bullet and completely loses his Magic Circuits.
"The problem is I do not know where Caster is, and Ryuunosuke has never appeared again since that day." I complained out loud.
"He did not appear in the news, and there are no missing people reports appearing on the TV either."
It is like he just completely disappeared from this world.
I stayed there for a while, just thinking deeply about what to do next as I stared blankly at the Day 2 text.
After thinking about it for a while, I decided that I absolutely had to rescue the children Caster was planning to use.
With my Mystic Eyes, I should be able to see the specific spell he placed on them that was supposed to turn them into monsters. If I can just "kill" the spell before it activates, then the children will be safe.
Without those monsters acting as meat shields, Saber should be able to handle Caster with no problem, especially with Lancer stepping in to help her.
Asking Lady Ava for advice about Caster's specific brand of Magecraft would probably be a good idea right now, but like I complained earlier, I still can't contact her through our mental link at all...
"Hahhh... Cath Palug, when can I finally take a break?" I sighed heavily, leaning my head back against the chair.
"Fou?" he replied, peeking over my forehead upside down.
"I know I'm the one who decided to save everyone," I muttered, "but still. I've been training every single day for three years straight ever since I realized I was in Fate Zero."
From morning until night, I do my chores and help around the orphanage.
Then, the second I have free time, I push myself to train with my Mystic Eyes to make sure my physical body gets used to the strain.
And then, at night, I appear in the Garden of Avalon and train even more with Lady Ava, studying Magecraft and getting used to my Magic circuits.
Even in my sleep, I am still working and training. It's actually crazy.
"Fou..." Cath Palug cooed softly, nuzzling against my hair as if gently telling me to just drop it and rest.
"Well, I kinda want to," I smiled bitterly.
"But my conscience won't let me abandon them. Those children don't deserve to be turned into something so horrifying."
While complaining to Cath Palug, I kept skimming through the diary to remind myself about the major events of the coming days.
"Kiritsugu bombing the Fuyuki Hyatt hotel, huh..." I mumbled, tracing the ink with my finger. "Yeah, he really is just a crazy guy."
I flipped the pages a few more times before stopping at the very last entry I had ever written.
It was the part where Saber uses Excalibur to completely destroy the Holy Grail.
Because I had stopped watching the anime right at that exact moment in my past life, I actually had absolutely no idea what happened next.
How did the war actually end after the Grail was destroyed?
But as I stared at the words destroy the Holy Grail, a sudden, sharp pain pulsed behind my eyes.
My breath hitched. A vivid, terrifying flash of the nightmare I had last night violently invaded my mind.
In the blink of an eye, I saw the burning ruins of Fuyuki City. I heard the agonizing screams of people desperately running away, their bodies engulfed in flames.
I saw the blackened, corrupted Servants clashing in the devastated streets, the ground completely littered with corpses.
And rising above the sea of bubbling black mud was that colossal, terrifying beast, with Manaka sitting perfectly still on top of it, staring down at the destruction with those dead, empty eyes.
I gasped, my hand flying up to cover my mouth as the horrific vision vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving me staring wide-eyed at my diary.
It took me a few minutes to finally calm down, taking deep, shaky breaths and slowly exhaling them into the quiet room.
"Calm down..." I whispered to myself, tightly gripping the edge of the desk. "Void said that's just a possible future..."
From what I had seen in that terrifying vision, that black mud was definitely the thing affecting and corrupting the Servants.
But the real question was... where exactly did that mud come from? As far as I knew, there wasn't a single place in Fuyuki City that naturally had pits of bubbling, evil black mud lying around.
- Saber destroys the Holy Grail.
- Destroys the Holy Grail.
- The Holy Grail.
My eyes kept darting back and forth, completely fixating on those specific words I had written in my diary.
"The corrupted Holy Grail... and Saber destroying the vessel..." I muttered, my mind racing to connect the dots.
I never actually saw any black mud in the anime, but that was probably because I had stopped watching right at the climax.
If my vision really was a glimpse of a possible future, then that terrifying mud had to appear in the part of the story I had completely missed.
Meaning... it happens after Saber destroys the Holy Grail.
Suddenly, the pieces all clicked together in my head.
I already knew the Holy Grail in this era was fundamentally broken and corrupted.
That was a fact that Einzbern family had summoned Angra Mainyu, the embodiment of All the World's Evils, during the previous Grail War, entirely corrupting the system.
So, if my assumption was correct... having Saber use Excalibur to destroy the physical cup wouldn't actually fix anything.
It would just break the container.
And all of that condensed, cursed Angra Mainyu mud trapped inside would forcefully spill out, flooding directly into the city.
About half an hour passed while I sat there staring blankly at the diary, completely lost in my own thoughts about the corrupted Grail and the black mud.
The loud, energetic sounds of playing downstairs had actually quieted down a while ago, but my mind had been too preoccupied to notice.
"So this is where you sleep, little Guardian?" I jumped, my shoulders flinching as I quickly slammed my diary shut.
I hadn't even heard the door open, but Gilgamesh was already standing right inside my bedroom.
The exact second she had walked in, I felt the soft weight on my head vanish as Cath Palug instantly dropped back into his perfect invisibility.
"The children finally ran out of energy," Gilgamesh stated casually, crossing her arms. "I left them asleep on the sofas. Those two women downstairs are taking care of them now."
So the aunty were watching them now.
Gilgamesh didn't immediately look at me. Instead, her crimson eyes slowly scanned the plain walls, the simple wooden furniture, and the tiny window.
"There is nothing interesting in your room, and it is terribly small for a bedchamber," she stated bluntly before finally shifting her attention down to me.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm just writing in my diary," I answered, placing my hand flat over the cover to casually hide it. "You know, so much has happened lately, so I think it's better to just write it down and get it off my chest."
"Writing a diary? That is a commendable hobby," Gilgamesh nodded approvingly, her tone surprisingly serious. "Yes, instead of letting your burdens build up until you become an annoying, miserable mess, it is far better to release them from time to time."
She really seemed to understand why I was doing this.
I wondered if it was because she was a King, entirely used to carrying massive amounts of stress on her own shoulders without being able to complain to anyone.
Still, as she stood there making herself comfortable, I couldn't help but wonder when she was going to leave.
I really needed to go back and check on Manaka.
Because of that vision I had just seen last night, I'm really worried about her.
Even though Void said it was just a possible future, the image of Manaka sitting on top of that beast wouldn't leave my head.
She was just a cute, sweet girl right now. So there was no way she was doing anything bad while I wasn't looking.
'I wonder what she's doing right now...' I thought to myself, staring at the closed diary.
---
---
---
Somewhere deep beneath Mount Enzou.
"Hum~ Hum, hum"
A sweet, cheerful humming echoed through the massive, cavernous space hidden deep inside the mountain.
Manaka stepped lightly across the rocky ground, her movements resembling a graceful little dance.
She didn't even blink as she casually walked right through the old, highly lethal Bounded Fields set up by the Three Founding Families centuries ago.
The traps and the barrier shattered like fragile glass the moment her pristine shoes touched them.
She finally stopped at the edge of a massive, glowing crater. Below her was the Greater Grail-the core system of the entire Holy Grail War.
The sheer density of the magical energy gathered in this cavern would be enough to instantly crush the lungs of a normal Magus.
But Manaka just smiled, her pale blue eyes completely devoid of any light as she stared down at the swirling, unnatural energy.
"She's so beautiful," Manaka whispered softly, a deeply affectionate, lovestruck smile blooming on her face.
"We are connected to the exact same place. We are the only two existences in this entire universe who can truly understand each other."
She reached out her small hand, gently trailing her fingers through the heavy air.
Immediately, the glowing magical pathways of the Greater Grail began to twist and warp, forcibly bending to her absolute will.
"But my body is still so weak right now," Manaka pouted slightly, looking at her own hand with a hint of disgust. "If my body stays this fragile, I won't be able to stand beside her properly. I need to be flawless. I need to be the perfect match for her."
A dark, chilling smile slowly stretched across her face, completely shattering her innocent facade.
"Once this cup fills up, I'll just tear it open and take everything inside. I'll force my circuits to evolve." Manaka giggled, her voice echoing unnervingly into the dark abyss of the Grail.
"Just wait a little longer, Rikka. I'm going to become your perfect equal... and then we can finally be together forever, with no one else to get in our way."
As she spoke, the massive magical array beneath her feet pulsed violently.
The Greater Grail was reacting to her forceful tampering.
The ambient light in the cavern suddenly darkened, and from the very center of the crater, a thick, bubbling pool of pitch-black mud began to rise.
It oozed over the edge, hissing and melting the solid rock upon contact.
It was the physical manifestation of All the World's Evils the curse of Angra Mainyu that had been trapped down here for sixty years.
Sensing a living soul, a massive tendril of the cursed mud suddenly shot forward, snapping like a wild beast aiming straight for Manaka's pristine dress.
Normal Servants would be corrupted instantly.
A normal human mind would be violently shattered into a million pieces the second it made contact.
But Manaka didn't even flinch.
She simply raised a single, pale finger and gently tapped the tip of the terrifying black tendril.
Splash.
The massive wave of mud instantly froze in mid-air. The suffocating aura of curses and pure hatred that filled the cavern was completely crushed under the sheer, absolute weight of Manaka's presence.
"Shh," Manaka whispered sweetly, her pale blue eyes staring into the dark mass. "You are far too dirty. If I let you touch me, my dress will get all messy. Rikka wouldn't like that."
The terrifying, world-ending curse actually trembled.
As if it were a frightened puppy being scolded by its master, the tendril of black mud slowly retracted, shrinking away from her finger and sinking back into the crater submissively.
Manaka giggled, her dark, chilling smile completely shattering her innocent facade as she looked back down into the abyss.