"Is this... really the Matou House?"
As one of the Three Founding Families of the Holy Grail War, Guinevere remembered the Matou House as a declining but still prominent family that owned a garden villa in the Fuyuki suburbs.
But when Guinevere arrived, all she found was a massive, circular crater cordoned off with police tape—a crater that must have appeared within the last two days.
Scrolling through her phone, she quickly found a public notice from the previous day about a gas explosion.
The corner of her mouth twitched. Guinevere pinched a bit of soil between her fingertips, carefully sensing the residual mana aura within.
"Besides the nauseating stench of decay, there's a trace of wildly explosive mana. If it's a Servant, it must be a Berserker... but this aura is completely different from the Lancelot I know.
"No, that doesn't prove anything. Lancelot has Not for One's Own Glory. In my past life's memories, even Lia didn't recognize him."
This trip wasn't entirely fruitless. At the very least, Guinevere had confirmed that something unusual was indeed happening in this Holy Grail War.
After searching the area and finding no traceable clues, she rubbed her temples, considering whether she should find a place to sleep first.
Now that she knew something was amiss, it was even more foolish to wander around like a target.
Meanwhile, at the Fuyuki City police station, Tokiomi Tohsaka was speaking with the sole surviving child.
"So you're saying the person who killed your parents wanted to summon a demon—and actually succeeded? But as soon as the demon appeared, she severed the murderer's limbs and asked if you wanted to take revenge with your own hands?
"She was wearing a nun's habit, had gray-white hair, and was a super pretty lady?"
Using suggestive Magecraft to extract the boy's entire account, the man in the wine-red suit frowned slightly. He realized his judgment had been flawed: the woman who had stirred his inner desires was a Servant, and one with a worthless Master at that.
Logically, he should have Assassin attempt an attack now. A Servant with such an incompetent Master should be easy to deal with.
But...
"Gray-white hair... a nun... attractive to both men and women... highly adaptable to the modern era... and able to acquire a convincingly real physical body in a short time... What could her True Name be?
"And she was summoned by a murderer based on compatibility, with the murderer intending to summon a demon..."
He pondered, and pondered, and pondered. For heroes whose names were etched in history, one or two defining characteristics were often enough to reveal their True Name.
Especially since Tokiomi Tohsaka had spent vast amounts of time studying history in preparation for the Holy Grail War.
No, the focus shouldn't be on those traits. It should be on what the boy saw—the sword used to sever the murderer's limbs.
With this thought, Tokiomi once again used suggestive Magecraft on the boy, giving him paper and a pen and instructing him to draw the sword as clearly as he could remember.
Upon seeing the crude sketch, Tokiomi instantly understood the identity of the gray-haired female Servant.
"So it was you... Queen Guinevere."
Fifteen hundred years ago, Guinevere had provided the last safe haven for Europe's Mages. Because she had willingly cooperated in the development of the Albion Spirit Tomb, the Clock Tower was able to flourish and be established shortly after the era of the King of Knights.
To this day, the profit-sharing agreements for the Spirit Tomb's development, signed by Guinevere and numerous Mages, are still preserved at the Clock Tower. The tomb's revenue continues to accumulate for the potential descendants of the Pendragon bloodline.
As a user of Jewel Magecraft and the head of a Mage family with minor ties to the Old Man of the Jewels, Tokiomi Tohsaka had the privilege of seeing the original agreement and learning a fragment of the Queen's story.
Now, starting with the Replica Holy Sword she wielded and combining it with her appearance as a nun with gray-white hair, he deduced Guinevere's True Name.
Tokiomi also had a few theories about why Guinevere could be summoned by the murderer based on their compatibility.
To this day, within the Church, some clergy secretly call her a demon due to her ruthless Purification Plan against the British Church.
Furthermore, because she favored burning Church personnel at the stake, several unofficial histories produced by the Church in later eras spread rumors that Guinevere was executed by fire by her beloved King of Knights after her affair.
Guinevere... The number of people she killed, directly or indirectly, must be tens of thousands of times greater than that murderer's toll, right?
But this was all just speculation. He still needed to confirm if the gray-haired woman truly was Guinevere.
Even so, if there was even a one-in-a-thousand chance she was Guinevere, Tokiomi Tohsaka would not attack her before confirming her identity.
Putting aside everything else, there are still Mage families in the Clock Tower who are grateful for Guinevere's favor. If that Servant truly is Guinevere and he attacks her, he would be isolating himself from the entire Mage community.
"Master, she went directly to the Matou House. Alone."
"Kirei, I told you: only observe."
Having deduced Guinevere's True Name, Tokiomi Tohsaka had a new worry: he didn't want the Holy Church to learn of this too soon.
After fifteen hundred years, the hatred between the Holy Church and Guinevere had not faded.
If the Holy Church sent someone out of vengeance, and the Clock Tower intervened out of gratitude, the two organizations—which had only recently reconciled—might erupt into a full-scale war.
If that happened, this Holy Grail War would be over before it even began.
But life rarely goes as planned. Among the Mages in Fuyuki City, Tokiomi Tohsaka was no longer the only one who had recognized Guinevere.
"Your Grace, Guinevere. I am Kenneth El-Melloi Archibald, the current Lord of the Mineralogy Department at the Clock Tower.
"Might I have the honor of hosting you for a short while?"
Right outside the large crater at the Matou House, a blond gentleman in a blue coat appeared before Guinevere. He held himself in a humble posture, his waist slightly bowed.
Beside him stood his fiancée, a young woman named Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri.
Guinevere tilted her head slightly. While she hadn't intended to conceal her True Name, she was still surprised it had been discerned so quickly.
But what astonished her even more was the profound reverence shown by this Lord of Mineralogy.
"Your Grace, due to your past connection with the Old Man of the Jewels, successive Lords of the Department of Mineralogy have had the honor of safeguarding a relic on your behalf. Every Lord of Mineralogy is also bound to remember the debt of gratitude we owe you for your benevolence toward mages.
"Rest assured, I have come to participate in this Holy Grail War not for the Grail itself. If you have any need for it...
"I, Kenneth El-Melloi Archibald, am willing to serve you with the loyalty of a faithful hound."
After bowing deeply, Kenneth straightened, his face and eyes filled with reverence for Guinevere as he spoke.
Perhaps because of this profound respect—or perhaps because he and his fiancée, Sola, were not yet married—neither of them was affected by Innocent Monster.
Listening to his words, observing his expression, and sensing that he had no Servant with him, Guinevere decided to accept his invitation and visit his residence.
In her memory, Kenneth was a competent Mage, even possessing human emotions rarely found in his kind. Aside from his arrogance and disdain for "commoner" Mages, he had few major flaws.
And it seemed his arrogance wouldn't surface in her presence.
"Let's go. We can discuss the relic your Mineralogy Department has been safeguarding for me."