A dimensional journey starting from the Dragon Clan

"Uncle, thank you so much for giving me gifts every time. I will cherish this."

"Haha, you like it, and uncle is also very happy."

While stroking Rin's head, Kariya looked for another gift recipient.

For some reason, it was not found anywhere in the park.

"Hey, where did Sakura go?"

As soon as he heard Kariya's question, Rin's smile immediately became very hollow.

It was the unique expression of despair and stasis in thinking that a child has when he has to accept an incomprehensible reality.

"Sakura is no longer here."

With stiff and empty eyes, Rin said this sentence stiffly as if he was reciting lines, and then ran back to the children who were playing together as if refusing to answer any questions Kariya would ask later. .

"..."

In response to Rin's incomprehensible answer, Kariya turned to Rin's mother and asked her with doubtful eyes. Her eyes were gray, and she turned her eyes towards the void as if she was escaping from something.

"What exactly is going on……?"

"Sakura, she is no longer my daughter, nor is she Rin's sister."

Dry voice, but stronger than Rin.

"That child went to Matou's house."

Matou——

After repeating this annoyingly familiar name, Kariya's heart suddenly tightened.

"How is it possible...what on earth is going on, Aoi!"

"Is there any need to ask? Especially for you, Kariya-kun."

Rin's mother, Tohsaka Aoi, suppressed her emotions in a cold tone and spoke calmly, never turning her eyes to Kariya.

"Matō longs for a child who inherits the blood of a magister. You should know the reason why, right?"

"Why, would you... agree?"

"Agreeing to the long-standing request of our allies, the Matou family, is a matter decided by the head of the Tohsaka family. ... I have no room to express my opinions."

For that reason, mother and child, elder sister and younger sister were forced to separate.

Of course it's emotionally unacceptable. But Aoi and the young Rin also understood that this was something they had to accept. That's all the reason for being born a magician. Kariya clearly knew the cruelty of this fate.

"…Even so, does it not matter?"

In response to Kariya's unprecedented stiff question, Aoi could only respond with a feeble wry smile.

"Since the day I decided to marry the Tohsaka family, since the day I decided to marry the magician, I have already figured it out. As a family that has inherited the blood of magic, it is wrong to pursue the happiness of an ordinary family."

Then facing Kariya, who seemed to have something to say, the magician's wife showed a gentle but firm expression of rejection.

"This is a matter between Tohsaka and Matou. It has nothing to do with you who have left the magic world."

——chirped like this, shook his head slightly and said something.

Kariya remained motionless, as if he had turned into a tree in the park. Feeling a heart-constricting sense of powerlessness and isolation.

Ever since she was a girl, until she became a wife and the mother of two children, Aoi's attitude towards Kariya has never changed. My childhood sweetheart, who is three years older, is almost like a real sister. She always treats Kariya gently, puts herself in his shoes, and treats him kindly and without any worries.

This was the first time that she clearly drew a clear line between the two of them.

"If you meet Sakura, please treat her kindly. Because that child is very attached to you."

Where Aoi looked, Rin was playing happily and energetically, as if she was trying to drive away her sadness.

As if saying that Rin who was playing was the answer, and as if she was silently rejecting Kariya who was standing speechlessly next to her, Tohsaka Aoi kept her mother's kind expression on her days off, just facing Kariya from the side.

Even so, it did not escape Kariya's eyes. Of course it's impossible to mistake it.

Tohsaka Aoi is strong, calm, and sure of her destiny.

Even so, she couldn't completely hide the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

············

Looking at the scenery of his hometown that he thought he would never see again, Kariya walked quickly.

Countless times, I have thought about going back to Fuyuki City, but I have never crossed the river and stepped into this small mountain town.

I guess it's been ten years since I left. Unlike emerging cities that are constantly developing and building, here it is as if time has stopped and nothing has changed.

A quiet town as I remembered. But slowing down and looking out, none of the revived memories make people feel comfortable. Deliberately ignoring this unhelpful nostalgia, Kariya began to think back to the conversation he had with Aoi about an hour ago.

"…Even so, does it not matter?"

Aoi asked without thinking, as she lowered her head. I didn't expect such harsh words to come out of my mouth, this was the first time in several years.

Inconspicuous, not in the way of anyone...I have always lived with this policy in mind. Anger and hatred were left behind by Kariya in this silent town deep in the mountains. For Kariya, who had abandoned his hometown, there was nothing worth caring about or being rigid about. No matter how despicable, no matter how ugly, it is incomparable to everything that is hated in this land.

So - right. Eight years ago, there were times when I expressed my emotions in my voice like today.

At that time, wasn't Kariya questioning the same woman with the same voice and the same momentum?

"Doesn't it matter even so?"

——The same question was asked at that time. Facing her older childhood sweetheart, the night before she was to marry into the Tohsaka family.

Can't forget. Her expression at that time.

She seemed to feel a little troubled and a little sorry. She blushed because of shyness and nodded gently. Seeing that dignified smile, Kariya surrendered.

"...I have figured it out...it is wrong to pursue ordinary family happiness..."

Those words are lies.

On that day eight years ago, when she accepted the young magician's proposal, that smile truly believed in happiness.

It was precisely because he believed her smile that Kariya admitted his defeat.

At that time, she thought that the man Aoi was going to marry might be the only man who could give her happiness.

But I thought wrong.

For this fatal mistake, Kariya was more heartbroken than anyone else. It was precisely because of the pain that magic was so terrible and despised that Kariya decided to reject his fate, say goodbye to his parents and brothers, and left here alone, wasn't it?

Nonetheless, he forgave.

He knew the horror of magic and was timid to betray him... but he gave up the most important woman to a magician.

What burned Kariya's chest now was the pain of regret.

He misused the same word not just once, but for the second time.

You shouldn’t ask, “Doesn’t it matter even if that’s the case?” Instead, you should say categorically, “That’s absolutely not okay.”

If on that day eight years ago, if Aoi could be kept so decisively - maybe there would be a different future than today. If she hadn't been married to Tohsaka at that time, she might not have had anything to do with the magician's cursed fate, and she might not have lived a mediocre happiness.

However, today, if she had so categorically disagreed with the decision between Tohsaka and Matou in that afternoon in the park - she might have been surprised.

Maybe it will just be regarded as a joke from an outsider. But even then, Aoi didn't need to just blame herself like she did now, and there was no need for her to grit her teeth and endure the pain alone.

Kariya would never forgive himself for making the same mistake twice. In order to punish myself for being like this, I returned to this place where I had said goodbye to the past.

There must be a way to compensate there. A world that I have strayed from. The fate of escaping because of pity for yourself.

If it’s to protect the only woman in the world who doesn’t want to cause her pain——

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, I stopped in front of the towering Western-style building.

Ten years later, Matou Kariya once again came to the doorstep.

············

After a small but dangerous conversation at the entrance door, Kariya soon arrived at the very familiar Matou residence and sat on the sofa in the reception room.

"You once said that your stinky face would never appear in front of me again."

Sitting across from Kariya, the one who said those words in a cold, disgusted tone was a short old man, the head of the Matou clan - Matou Zouken. The bald head and hands and feet have shrunk to the point where people could mistake him for a mummy, but under the sunken eye sockets, the eyes are still shining. He is a strange old man who is unusual in appearance and demeanor.

To be honest, even Kariya didn't know the correct age of this old man. As if he was joking, he was registered as the father of Brother Kariya in his household registration. But in the family tree, there is also a person named Zang Yan among the great-grandfather and the ancestors three generations above. No one knows how many generations this man has ruled the Matou family.

He must be an immortal magician who used horrific means to prolong his life. The patriarch of the Matou lineage that Kariya had always avoided. He is a true monster still living in modern times.

"I heard a rumor that cannot be ignored. There is an unworthy descendant of the Matou family."

What he was facing now was a ruthless and powerful magician. Kariya knew this clearly, but he didn't have the slightest fear. The man who combined everything that Kariya hated, hated, and despised most in his life. Kariya was determined to despise him until the very end even if he was killed by this man.

Ever since the duel began ten years ago, it was precisely because he faced it with this unyielding spirit that Kariya was able to leave the Matou family as a deviant who broke the rules and gained freedom.

"It seems that you have welcomed the second daughter of the Tohsaka family into your home. Do you really want to keep the magician factor in the Matou family's blood?"

Listening to Kariya's questioning tone, Zang Yan frowned as if he felt disgusted.

"You're here to question this? It's not someone else but you? Whose fault do you think it is that the Matou family began to decline?

The son born to Tsuruno ended up not possessing magic circuits. Matou's pure magician bloodline is over in this generation. However, Kariya, as a magician, compared to Tsuruno, you, as a younger brother, are above him. If you could inherit the family business obediently and inherit the Matou family's secrets, things wouldn't be as pressing as this. But you actually..."

Looking at the old man spraying menacingly from the corner of his mouth, Kariya just snorted.

"It's time for the farce to stop, vampire. Do you care about the survival of the Matou clan? Whether it's two hundred years or a thousand years, as long as you continue to live."

As soon as Kariya finished saying this, Zouken's anger suddenly disappeared, and he twisted the corner of his mouth into a sinister smile. There's nothing remotely human about it. That's a monster's smile.

"You are just as unflattering as before. You spoke so openly."

"This is also your education. I will not be deceived by your nonsense."

Gu Gu Gu Gu... the old man made a sound that seemed to be very pleasant from the depths of his throat.

"Indeed. I will live longer than you and Tsuruno's son. But how to preserve this decaying body is indeed a problem. Even if we don't need Matou's successor, we still need Matou's magician. In order to get Holy Grail..."

"...In the end, this was your real plan."

Kariya has basically understood. This old magician has been persistently pursuing immortality. The "Holy Grail" wish machine that can realize this wish in a perfect form...

What has kept this monster alive for centuries is the hope placed in this miracle.

"The sixty-year cycle will come next year. But in the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Matou family has no one who can take action. Tsuruno's level of magic power cannot control Servants. There is still no Command Seal.

But even if this battle is miscalculated, there will definitely be a chance of victory in the next sixty years. Judging from the placenta of Tohsaka's daughter, she will definitely give birth to an excellent magician. That's really exciting. "

Kariya thought of Tohsaka Sakura's young face.

She matures later than her elder sister, Rin, and is always following behind her, giving people a very delicate impression. It was too early for her to bear the cruel fate of being a magician.

Swallowing the rising anger, Kariya pretended to be calm.

I am here now to negotiate with Zang Yan. Nothing good comes from being emotional.

"——This means that if the Holy Grail is obtained, Tohsaka Sakura will be useless, right?"

Hearing Kariya's meaningful words, Zouken narrowed his eyes in surprise.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Deal. Matou Zouken. I will bring back the Holy Grail in the next Holy Grail War. In exchange, you have to let Tohsaka Sakura go."

Zang Yan seemed to be frightened for a moment, and then showed an expression of undisguised contempt.

"What nonsense are you talking about? How can a laggard who has never practiced anything until now become a Servant's Master in a year?" ()