After pinky-swearing with Esdeath—and splitting a pot of meat soup as a late-night meal—Esdeath washed up and returned to her tent to rest.
Baiye returned to the Type-Moon world.
For the past several days, he'd returned for meals with Sakura and the others, and at night he'd come back once or twice to get updates from Morgan.
Even if the Einzberns hadn't moved, and there was still no news on the remaining two Master slots, the Grail War didn't seem likely to erupt suddenly.
But… what if it did?
Also, returning regularly had another benefit: sometimes you stumbled into surprises.
"Kariya Matou?"
In the courtyard, a young man stood frozen in place under Morgan's binding magecraft. Baiye recognized him immediately and gestured for Morgan to release him.
"Cough—…hah…!"
Kariya sucked in air, clearly having been restrained for a while. Once he recovered slightly, he stared at the unfamiliar man and woman.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Wasn't it said the second son of the Matou family left years ago and cut all ties with 'Matou'?" Baiye asked with a smile. "Bad intel?"
"…."
Kariya panted, silent.
Baiye was right.
Twisted sorcery. The nauseating worm pits. The inhuman old monster who was "father" in name and "ancestor" in truth—
Kariya had hated it all so deeply he'd fled, breaking free from that hell.
So why had he returned?
Because of his childhood friend: Aoi—now married into the Tohsaka family, mother of two daughters.
To preserve the Matou bloodline, Matou Zōken had arranged for Kariya to get close to Aoi back when they were young. Zōken had long noticed Aoi Zenjō's qualities as a "mother vessel."
But Kariya never acted on his feelings—because he didn't want to drag Aoi into worm hell.
When Tokiomi Tohsaka appeared, Kariya confirmed that Tohsaka magecraft was at least more "normal" than Matou magecraft—and that Tokiomi, as a magus, wasn't the kind of warped monster Zōken was.
So Kariya chose to step back and bless them in silence.
Marrying him should make you happy, right?
Until today—when Kariya, with gifts in hand, happened to have free time and came back to Fuyuki to visit Aoi and her children—that was what he believed.
At first, hearing Aoi had returned to her family home with her daughter, he thought it was just a marital rift. After all, they'd been married six or seven years; "seven-year itch" wasn't rare.
Then he arrived at the Zenjō residence, talked with Aoi and Rin, and learned—
"What do you mean, 'because the Matou magecraft bloodline is severed, under the old alliance, Tokiomi Tohsaka handed over his second daughter Sakura to the Matou family'?!"
When he learned it had happened about a week ago, Kariya felt the sky collapse.
He'd yielded Aoi to keep her away from hell, and this was how Tokiomi repaid that trust?
Worried Sakura would suffer, Kariya didn't even finish a cup of tea. Under Aoi and Rin's stunned gaze, he ran straight for the Matou estate.
And the moment he stepped into the courtyard—before he could do anything—his body locked up. He only regained movement hours later, now.
After taking a deep breath, Kariya spoke.
"I think I can guess who you are… helpers the old man brought in for that matter, right?"
Kariya had never inherited Matou magecraft, but before he fled, he'd been the only young Matou with potential. He'd heard Zōken hint—vaguely—about a war that would be immensely significant for Matou and Tohsaka alike, if Kariya had inherited the craft in time.
Combine that with what Aoi told him recently—that Tokiomi had sent her and the children away from the Tohsaka residence "for safety"—and the pieces lined up.
"Since you know who I am," Kariya said, "can you let me meet him first? I want to say some things to him in person."
"…Are you sure?" Baiye looked at him strangely.
"I'm sure!" Kariya nodded hard. "If I've come back here, I'm ready to face everything."
"Then please," Baiye said, gesturing outward. "Preferably walk farther away first. Don't get blood on the courtyard."
"?"
"You don't know?" Baiye said. "Matou Zōken died a few days ago. If you want to talk to him, you'll have to go 'down there' yourself."
"Ah?"
Kariya froze.
Dead?
Great—!
Wait.
"Then Sakura—! The girl adopted a few days ago, five years old, black hair, about this tall—"
Kariya didn't even have time to process how the old monster could be "just dead" after centuries. He only cared about Sakura.
"She's in her room," Baiye said. "Sleeping. It's late—kids shouldn't stay up."
"Right—yes—she should rest." Kariya nodded rapidly, then forced himself to ask: "That old man… is he really dead? I'm not doubting you, but… he was hard to kill."
"In the end he was just an old worm obsessed with clinging to life," Baiye said. "Since you're not an enemy, come tomorrow. I'll let you meet the girl. For tonight… you can go find your brother. They're in Shinto, at the Hyatt."
Baiye gave him the room number and phone contact for Tsuruno and waved him off, telling him to return at 9 a.m.
Kariya left.
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it