"..."
Shirou was deeply shaken.
He never imagined that the truth behind "cold-personality Irisviel" would be someone who had died more than 200 years ago.
When people spoke of the "Saintess of the Winter," Justeaze, wasn't she the one and only miracle in the thousands of years of Einzbern history, an incomplete imitation of the Third Magician?
Everything Shirou knew about the "Saintess of the Winter" came from the Einzbern history Irisviel had told him.
Originally, the Einzbern had been a workshop founded by the disciples of the Third Magician, one that had continued since the first year of the Common Era.
They tried to reproduce their teacher's miracle, but they could not achieve it with their own hands. As an alternative, they decided to create an individual connected to their teacher, then have that individual reproduce the Magic.
At the end of nearly 900 years of fruitless effort, the Homunculus known as the Saintess of the Winter, Justeaze, was created.
She had been created entirely by chance. Although she deviated from the magi's ideas and expectations, she somehow possessed the same abilities as their teacher.
The magi should have welcomed Justeaze's birth with joy, yet they could not bring themselves to celebrate.
Because no matter how they dressed it up as a "miracle," she was still a sudden mutation unrelated to their technology or effort.
Even when Justeaze reproduced the Third Magic.
For the magi, that "conclusion" was even more unbearable than 900 years of failure.
The magi began devoting all their strength to creating a Homunculus who could surpass Justeaze through their own technical system.
On the other hand, while Justeaze had successfully proven the Third Magic, its cost was extremely high.
Justeaze's Third Magic was a finely woven craft.
It took years to save a single person, yet saving all of humanity was impossible no matter what she did.
Several hundred more years passed, and this farce finally came to an end.
The magi admitted that their talent could not surpass a miracle, nor could it reproduce one a second time.
Perhaps…
If a miracle like Justeaze had never occurred, the magi would never have suffered that setback.
The magi surrendered to the limits of their own talent. Some left the castle, while others chose to end their own lives.
Although the Homunculi left behind in Einzbern had been abandoned by their creators, their purity kept the workshop running, the workshop built upon the magi's ideal of saving humanity and reproducing the miracle.
From then on, every Homunculus created by Einzbern was modeled after Justeaze.
By this generation, not only the "Lesser Grail," Irisviel, but even the "Dress Of Heaven," Leysritt, and Sella were Homunculi modeled after Justeaze.
So although Justeaze was not the oldest Einzbern, she was the true progenitor of Einzbern, the mother of all artificial lifeforms.
"Shirou, you've already met Justeaze-sama too, haven't you?"
Irisviel smiled. "Actually, the person wearing my clothes and chatting with you every night this past week was her.
Justeaze-sama is very interested in you. She said she wanted to personally judge whether Shirou Amamiya is a human worthy of trust."
"..."
Shirou was speechless.
Irisviel said they had chatted every night, but what Shirou had actually done was coach her in service techniques.
He looked at Justeaze. Her cold face showed no emotional reaction whatsoever.
Did she not remember what happened back then?
No, that was impossible…
"Justeaze-sama didn't trust Shirou much at first either, but lately she seems to have softened quite a bit…
Right? After a deeper exchange, Justeaze-sama also thinks my Shirou is a good boy, doesn't she?"
Irisviel asked with a bright smile, and the "Saintess of the Winter" gave a small nod.
Shirou: "?"
Could it be… that Justeaze was, at her core, a pervert?
No, saying that about the ancestor of Einzbern was far too disrespectful…
But no matter how Shirou thought back on it, his interactions with Justeaze had only consisted of those unspeakable activities.
Justeaze said, "My opinion of Shirou Amamiya is irrelevant. Let us return to the original issue.
Shirou Amamiya, how do you intend to handle this incident?
Everything began because of you. My descendants and the descendants of my enemies created a new Greater Grail for your sake.
Therefore, you should have the right to make the final decision."
After Justeaze said that, Illya, Sakura Matou, and Rin Tohsaka all lowered their heads in defeat.
"What will you do? Will you hold the Fifth Holy Grail War again, or dismantle the Greater Grail?"
"What does dismantling the Greater Grail mean?" Shirou asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like."
The "Saintess of the Winter" spoke calmly, her expression unchanged. "So that no one else's hands are stained, I will end my own life."
Her fusion with the El-Melloi family's Magical Energy Reactor had filled the only flaw Justeaze had possessed. The present her had become a human-form Greater Grail surpassing even the one she had been in life.
That meant dismantling the Greater Grail would mean ending Justeaze's life.
"Justeaze-sama! No!"
Illya threw herself into her arms, her voice choked with tears.
Although they had only spent a short time together, Illya had already grown deeply attached to Justeaze.
After all, for every Einzbern Homunculus, the "Saintess of the Winter" was the being who had always been by their side from the moment they were born into this world.
"Illya, this will only make things difficult for Shirou."
"I don't want to! Mother! I don't want Justeaze-sama to disappear!"
Irisviel tried to pull her daughter away.
Of course, she did not want Justeaze to disappear either, but she knew very well what would happen if the Greater Grail were allowed to remain.
The Mage's Association and the Holy Church. Once they realized the Third Magic had been revived, there was no way they would leave it alone.
This was no longer a question of whether another Holy Grail War should be held.
After all, Justeaze herself was the path leading to the Swirl of the Root.
Irisviel.
She was not only Justeaze's child, but also Shirou's mother.
Putting Shirou's wishes first and protecting their current peaceful everyday life was her ultimate duty as a mother.
"Senpai…?"
Shirou walked toward Justeaze, who was being held tightly by Illya.
"Illya."
The silver-haired girl looked back, and her eyes widened on their own.
Shirou's expression was colder than usual…
"Onii-chan, are you planning to…"
Perhaps her Einzbern blood had allowed Illya to sense something, because she held the "Saintess of the Winter" even tighter.
"No! Shirou, please! Please don't hurt Justeaze-sama."
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
A blow struck the back of Illya's neck.
The next second, the girl lost consciousness as if the power had been cut.
Shirou picked Illya up and handed her to Irisviel to look after.
"Now, I'll announce my decision."
Everyone swallowed nervously. Only Justeaze remained calm and composed, as if this had nothing to do with her.
She had been awakened from peaceful sleep by the obsession of her descendants. She did not have much attachment to this second life.
So facing death calmly was also…
"From this day forward, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern will no longer belong to Einzbern.
She will become my familiar," Shirou said.
"...Huh?"
Justeaze showed an expression of disbelief, while the other three were completely dumbfounded.
"W-wait, Shirou! What are you saying? Justeaze-sama isn't anyone's familiar…"
"Why not?"
Shirou said, "Isn't her current body made from El-Melloi's Magical Energy Reactor?
Leaving aside the fact that you used it without my permission, shouldn't ownership of her belong to me?"
"Well…"
"Right? Justeaze is still my property."
Rin Tohsaka said, "So what you mean is…"
Shirou nodded. "There will be no Fifth Holy Grail War, and the Greater Grail will not be dismantled. That is my answer.
Justeaze will continue living here as a member of this household.
If people from the Mage's Association come asking, tell them this: the 'Saintess of the Winter' is my familiar.
If they want to take her by force, then they had better prepare themselves for total war.
I'll end the history of the Clock Tower in this era."
"..."
Hearing him say that, Justeaze quietly closed her eyes.
Why… is my heart beating so violently?
...
...
"————"
The Amamiya family's living room fell completely silent.
This was the first time Sakura Matou had ever seen Senpai like that.
His expression was calm, but his twilight-colored eyes flickered with anger, as if they were burning.
The girl felt ashamed of her own ugliness.
Sakura Matou had once imagined that if the "Saintess of the Winter" disappeared, everyone could return to the happy everyday life they used to have.
But that thought itself was the greatest betrayal of Senpai.
"I wish Senpai had only saved me…"
Somewhere deep inside her heart, Sakura Matou had secretly thought that.
But that was impossible.
If Shirou abandoned Justeaze at a time like this, he would no longer be Shirou.
Precisely because he was "the Senpai who saved Sakura," he would throw himself forward without hesitation for the sake of a single Homunculus, even if it meant making an enemy of the entire world.
"I'm sorry, Senpai… But… I'm so glad… sniff…"
"Huh? What's wrong, Sakura? Why are you crying?"
Shirou immediately panicked. Sakura Matou was not the kind of girl who cried easily.
"I'm just so happy… sniff, sniff… waaaaaah…!"
"Oh my, oh my. You made Matou-san cry again. What a sinful man you are."
Rin Tohsaka said it with a wicked grin.
In the end, no one objected to Shirou's decision.
Although they still felt a little uneasy, everyone chose to believe in Shirou from the bottom of their hearts.
Rin Tohsaka: "If you end up going to war with the Mage's Association, I'll help too!"
Shirou: "Huh? Like I'd drag you into this, Tohsaka. This is my fight alone."
Rin Tohsaka: "What do you mean, your fight alone? There you go, trying to act cool again… At times like this, just shut up and accept people's goodwill, you idiot!"
Irisviel: "Shirou and Tohsaka-san really are close~ (smile)"
Sakura Matou: "Eh… Since when did Senpai get so close to Tohsaka-senpai? (shaken)"
The room, which had been so heavy just moments ago, instantly returned to normal.
Just then.
"Mmm…~"
Illya opened her eyes.
"Crap…"
Shirou tried to retreat, but he was one step too late.
"Ah! Shirou! You actually hit me just now!"
"N-no, that's not it, Illya. Let me explain…"
Shirou was tackled to the floor by the silver-haired little girl, then thoroughly mauled.
...
Until now, Justeaze had been hidden in Irisviel's room, but Shirou decided to temporarily settle her in the room next to his own.
Ever since Irisviel became pregnant with Illya, she had moved to the guest room area so that Sella and Leysritt could take care of her more easily.
After that, Ye Sizhen had stayed there for a short while, but she left the Amamiya household a year ago to pursue her dreams in Europe, and the room had remained empty ever since.
"Come in."
"Mm."
Justeaze followed Shirou into the room.
"Tch… I forgot this place hasn't been cleaned in ages. I'll tidy it up first, so wait a moment."
Shirou scratched his head in distress. The Japanese-style room was piled with clothes and miscellaneous items, leaving almost nowhere to stand.
"…I'll help too."
Shirou turned back to Justeaze with a startled "Huh?"
"What are you looking at?"
The "Saintess of the Winter" frowned in displeasure. "Do you think I don't know how to clean at all? That I'm some princess who can't even tidy a room and is completely incapable of taking care of herself?"
"…Yes."
Otherwise, he would not have put her in the room next to his.
Justeaze: "What did you say?"
Shirou: "N-nothing."
Looks like I made her angry, the boy thought.
"Got it. Then let's split the room in half and clean it together," Shirou suggested.
"Fine." Justeaze nodded.
Shirou could sense that she was full of motivation. Her eyes, which usually showed little emotion, now seemed to shine with life.
According to Irisviel, the "Saintess of the Winter" had been extremely frail when she was alive, so she had probably never done housework before.
Sorry, everyone…
Not only did I use your great ancestor to indulge my vulgar desires, now I've even turned her into my housekeeper…
If Sella found out, she would undoubtedly fight Shirou to the bitter end.
Justeaze rolled up her sleeves, ready to get started.
"Wait."
Shirou walked up behind her.
"What is it?"
"If you don't tie up your hair, it'll get dirty from the dust."
As he said that, the boy gathered Justeaze's long silver hair into a bun and tied it up.
"Mm. You're quite skilled at this…"
Justeaze felt terribly awkward.
Even though she had been receiving Shirou's instruction every night, and they had done almost everything except the main act, this was the first time he had made such an intimate gesture.
"There."
"Mm. Thank you."
Justeaze lowered her head, revealing the snowy white nape of her neck.
"Let me say this first. Since we're cleaning, we're cleaning it thoroughly, got it? I'm not going to go easy on you."
"Mm."
A stern pressure came from Shirou. Justeaze swallowed and clenched her fists.
And so, the two of them began a full cleaning of the room.
In the end, they worked from five in the afternoon all the way until eleven at night before they finally finished cleaning the Japanese-style room.
Just sorting out the clutter on the floor took three hours. After that came folding clothes, wiping dust from the tops of cabinets and the light fixtures, cleaning the doors, vacuuming with Magecraft, and so on.
By the time everything was finished, their room was the only place in the Amamiya residence that still had its lights on.
"I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm going to die. I can't believe it took six hours."
"Well, it was that messy…"
"That's because you're always slacking off."
Justeaze gave Shirou a reproachful look.
She had thought he was a clean, orderly, and flawless boy, but it turned out he had a bad habit of cutting corners in places people normally did not see.
Still, thanks to him, Justeaze experienced the joy of labor for the first time.
It was certainly exhausting, but it was also deeply fulfilling.
Perhaps that was a luxurious thought only someone like her, who had been unable to move normally in life, could have.
Even so, the muscle soreness now attacking her entire body gave Justeaze a stronger feeling than she had ever had while living in the City of Winter.
The feeling of being alive.
"..."
The "Saintess of the Winter" lowered her long eyelashes.
Again.
Once again, through Shirou Amamiya, she had gained a new experience she had never known before.
Justeaze was the completed Third Magic, an existence similar to an elemental yet not quite the same.
At the same time, although she herself did not age, her body was frail enough that she could die, so she could not leave the castle and spent year after year living in her own room.
Because Justeaze's intellect and mentality did not age, she did not grow at all.
From a human perspective, it was like "repeating the same day forever."
Although leaving the castle would free her from that "same day," for Justeaze, what waited outside the castle meant nothing but a slow death.
From the day she was created to the day she was abandoned by the magi.
From the day she offered up her life for her clan's long-cherished wish to the day she regained a body and was resurrected upon the earth.
In her long life of over a thousand years, Justeaze experienced the feeling of being human for the first time through Shirou.
Those slender, long hands, rough yet gentle, taught Justeaze the pleasure and happiness of being a woman.
Then, after secretly witnessing Shirou and Irisviel's immoral act in the entryway, she came to understand even more clearly what union between a man and a woman meant.
It was so ugly it made her nauseous, yet Justeaze could not look away.
Was the innocent, adorable Illya truly born from such an act?
"I… want to try it once too…"
That mad thought surfaced in Justeaze's mind.
It was all this boy's fault. The "Saintess of the Winter" had fallen into a vulgar woman.
But also thanks to him, the "Saintess of the Winter" had become a truly living human.
Justeaze kept her poker face tense and secretly thought:
Come to think of it…
Even without doing that sort of thing with Shirou, simply working alongside him was very enjoyable… Mm.
"It's getting late. I'll take my leave. You should rest soon too."
After resting enough, Shirou was about to stand, but Justeaze stopped him.
"The contract has not been formed yet."
"What contract?" Shirou asked, confused.
Justeaze said, "The master-servant contract that binds a familiar. Only once that is established will I truly be your familiar."
"Ah, that… It's not urgent, is it? We can do it tomorrow."
"No. It must be now."
Seeing Justeaze's determined expression, Shirou asked curiously, "Are you actually looking forward to becoming my familiar deep down?"
"N-no, of course not. It's only that I am indeed your property. That is all…"
The "Saintess of the Winter" showed a rare trace of panic. "Stop wasting my time and form the contract already."
Normally, for a magus to form a contract with a familiar, they needed a medium that matched the familiar's level of Mystery.
For example, Touko Aozaki cut off the hair she had grown for 20 years in order to subdue Beo, and from that point onward, her hair would never grow past her shoulders again.
Shirou did not have hair that long, but he had somehow stumbled into the right answer.
The large amount of magical energy Justeaze had received from Shirou over the past week happened to become the medium needed to establish the contract.
"Uh… Did you already have this planned back then?"
"O-of course I did. What else? Did you think I would willingly let you order me around and toy with me?"
The ice beauty of Einzbern glared at him.
Shirou found it hard to believe. As expected of the legendary Third Magician. To think she had calculated that far ahead… Incredible!
Justeaze's cheeks reddened almost imperceptibly.
In truth, at first, she had only been curious about the taste. But after secretly trying it once, she could not stop…
She had become addicted to that absolutely awful scent…
More importantly, she wanted to see the happy expression Shirou showed because of what she did…
Those true feelings were something she would never say, even if it killed her.
"Then the contract is formed."
"Oh. That's all it takes?"
"From now on, I am Shirou's familiar."
And just like that, the "Saintess of the Winter" became the Greater Grail that belonged only to Shirou.