"A battle fought in Fuyuki City by seven Masters summoning Servants. The final victor will gain the right to wish upon the Holy Grail and have one wish granted, is that correct?"
"More or less, but it seems that's just the surface information."
Takatsuki nodded; this was roughly the same as what other Servants knew.
"What do you mean?"
Durandal frowned. She wasn't good at intelligence gathering and deduction when it sounded like there was more to it. Normally, Rita handled that, and she was only responsible for stopping violence with violence.
"Before I talk about the deeper things, I want to ask, Miss Durandal, do you have a wish for the Holy Grail?"
The Holy Grail...
"I want to defeat Honkai!"
An omnipotent wish-granting machine, it must be able to defeat Honkai!
"Sorry, it can't. Not to mention the current Holy Grail, even a Holy Grail without problems can't do it. If you want to destroy the world, then it can."
"What do you mean? Didn't you say it was an omnipotent wish-granting machine?"
Takatsuki shook his head: "That kind of thing is just hype. The essence of the Holy Grail is actually just a necessary device for achieving the Third Magic, which stores the souls of deceased Servants and stably connects the great holy grail to the present world's magical energy channel."
"The so-called wish-granting is simply accomplished by accumulating a large amount of magical energy. As for magical energy, you can think of it as an energy similar to Honkai Energy, but not as dangerous."
"So, not only can the Holy Grail not interfere with our world across dimensions, but its power also has limits."
Takatsuki didn't mention the big three' various wild ambitions; he didn't expect anything from the Root anyway.
"My mission is to destroy the Holy Grail."
"Because the Holy Grail in Fuyuki was once corrupted by something called the evil of this world, Angra Mainyu. The current Holy Grail will twist the wish of the wisher. For example, if you want to be the richest person, it will kill everyone else in the world, making you the richest. If you want to resurrect the dead, it will resurrect them as undead. It fulfills your wish in the worst possible way. The current Holy Grail's logic of action is simply to destroy the world."
Durandal looked at Takatsuki with some doubt: "How do I know if what you're saying is true or false?"
Although she wasn't good at deduction, Durandal knew not to easily trust others.
"We're the only fellow countrymen here. You don't believe me, but you'd believe other strangers?"
Takatsuki shook his head, then said: "But it doesn't matter. Anyway, the Holy Grail can't grant your wish, but as compensation, I will grant you one wish. How about that as compensation?"
"Then can you eliminate Honkai?"
Looking at Durandal, who kept talking about eliminating Honkai, Takatsuki rubbed his forehead: "Do you really want to make this wish? First, as I said before, a world-level disaster like Honkai, let alone me, even a true Holy Grail cannot eliminate it in one go."
"Moreover, I myself am acting to eliminate the Honkai's influence on the world. Otherwise, why do you think I'm traveling the world?"
Hearing Takatsuki's words, Durandal fell silent. If Rita were here, she might have been able to refute many things, but she couldn't at all, and she couldn't defeat Takatsuki either.
"Miss Durandal, why don't you be a little more selfish and consider your own affairs more? A wish is a rare opportunity."
"I will obtain my power myself; I won't use this method."
Goodness, her values are quite upright.
Although Durandal pursued power, she wouldn't use methods she wasn't sure were correct.
"Uh, that's not what I meant. How about this, since you have no ideas, I'll give you one. I can help you retrieve your past memories. How about using that as compensation?"
Upon hearing this, Durandal's eyes widened. Just today, she had heard about her past from someone else. If the two people hadn't looked completely different, Durandal would have truly been suspicious.
Seeing Durandal still hesitating, Takatsuki continued: "If you're worried that your past memories will affect your current personality, I can guarantee that they won't. Although you've forgotten many things, your past personality hasn't undergone any drastic changes. So-called growth is inherently the act of constantly killing your past self, which is unavoidable. And your current self has grown step by step through many experiences, so there's no need to worry that your past will affect you."
"Let me think about it..."
Thinking means there's a chance!
"Alright, my promise is always valid. Even if you return to that world, you can always find me. Now, Miss Durandal, are you willing to cooperate with me to complete this Holy Grail War?"
He extended his hand towards Durandal.
Looking at the fair hand extended towards her, Durandal also extended her hand and shook it.
"But I won't do evil deeds."
"Haha, neither will I. And with your personality, you'd definitely have a lot in common with a certain King of Knights."
After a simple handshake, Takatsuki released her hand. Although the girl's palm was soft and boneless, and felt very comfortable, he wasn't someone who coveted such things.
He took off his jacket and handed it to Durandal. Knowing that he had a mission after sleeping at night, Takatsuki had even gone to bed without taking off his jacket.
"Miss Durandal, please put it on. It's still daytime in this world, and running around outside in pajamas isn't a good look."
Durandal, who had originally wanted to refuse, looked at herself. She was still wearing the pajamas she had put on before going to bed last night, which were very cute. Thinking that she had just been talking to Takatsuki in those pajamas for a long time, Durandal's face flushed, and she snatched the jacket from Takatsuki's hand.
"You think it's because of who?"
Takatsuki didn't refute anything, but continued: "Based on the information you provided, Miss Durandal, I've roughly understood our current location. It's Fuyuki City in 1994, which is when the Fourth Holy Grail War of this world takes place."
"Fourth?"
Durandal had put on her clothes. The knowledge instilled in her was minimal, only basic information.
"That's right, this Holy Grail War is a magical ritual jointly performed by the three magic families of this world, with the aim of pursuing the Root. It's complicated to explain in detail, so you can just think of it as making a wish through the Holy Grail. In short, during the Third Holy Grail War, one family illegally summoned Angra Mainyu, the evil of this world, who bore all of humanity's evil. Anyway, because of this, the Holy Grail was corrupted, which led to our current mission. In the original history, this corrupted Holy Grail would destroy the world, so we have to stop it."
Since future events hadn't happened yet, Takatsuki could say whatever he wanted.