A dimensional journey starting from the Dragon Clan

"I am a person who likes arrogant opponents. Humble and ambitious people who are not limited by their own abilities. Whenever I see such an opponent, I will be very happy."

Looking at Kirei with a puzzled expression, Archer calmly shook the glass of red wine and continued.

"But there are two types of arrogance. One is one with too low abilities, and the other is one with extremely lofty ambitions. The former seems very stupid, while the latter is a rare and precious type."

"Anyway, it's just stupid, right?"

"Compared with ordinary wisdom, this kind of rare stupidity is more valuable, right? Although he is born as a human being, he has an ideal that is so lofty that human beings cannot achieve it, so in order to realize this ideal, he can only give up his identity as a human being. ——No matter how many times I see it, I never get tired of it, the sadness and despair of this kind of person.”

After Archer finished speaking, he raised his glass as if celebrating something, and then drank the red wine in it gracefully. No matter how bold and bold he behaves, this heroic spirit cannot leave anyone with the slightest impression of greed. Maybe this is also his demeanor as a king.

"Kirei, having said that, it's rare for you to be in a good mood today."

"It's just peace of mind. I'm finally free from a heavy burden."

The command spell originally engraved on Kirei's right hand had disappeared. In the battle at Einzbern City last night, all his Servants, Assassin, had been wiped out.

Kirei has completely lost his authority as Master. Although it seems that nothing has changed, as he said himself, he is now truly freed from the responsibilities and obligations as a Master. Kirei, who now lives in the church, is finally justified.

"Where has the disappeared command spell gone now? After all, it is the existence of magic power. It can't just disappear out of thin air, right?"

"Theoretically, it should be returned to the Holy Grail. The Command Seal itself is something given by the Holy Grail. For those who lose their qualifications as Masters because they lose their Servants, the Command Seals should be taken back by the Holy Grail. However, if someone loses their Master If the contract is terminated by the Servant, the Holy Grail will redistribute the previously recovered unused command spells to the new contractor."

The twenty-one engraved command spells assigned to the seven Masters will disappear once used once, and the command spells that are not consumed in the end will be concentrated in the hands of the supervisor and entrusted for safekeeping.

"So that means a new Master may appear as the war unfolds?"

The hero king in front of him should not be so interested in things that have nothing to do with his own desires.

Although he felt that Gilgamesh's question was somewhat unusual, Kirei continued to explain further.

"Yes. But being a candidate selected by the Holy Grail cannot be decided casually. So when looking for a new Master, the Holy Grail will still give priority to those who have been selected before and can become Masters.

In particular, the Masters of the ‘Founding Royal Three Families’ are even more special. Even if a Servant is lost, as long as there are other Servants who have not signed a contract during that time, they can continue to exercise their rights as Master without losing the Command Seal. It seems something similar has happened a few times in the past. "

"——"

In the eyes of Gilgamesh, who had been listening to his explanation silently, Kirei noticed a disturbing pressure and couldn't help but stop.

"What's wrong? Keep talking, Kirei."

"...In short, a Master who loses a Servant in battle will be protected by the church, which is one of the reasons. When there are vacancies for other Masters, they will have a high probability of obtaining the 'remaining' Command Seals again. Because of this, the participants in the Holy Grail War do not kill the enemy Master directly, but directly kill him. This is also a measure to ensure that there will be no future troubles."

"Hmm."

Gilgamesh sneered, seemingly amused, and refilled the glass with wine.

"Then, Kirei, don't you have a great chance of obtaining the Command Seal again?"

Hearing the King of Heroes' words, Kirei sneered this time.

"It was impossible then! The purpose of my participation in the Holy Grail War was just as my mentor Tokiomi said - to provide aid to the Tohsaka camp, and now my mission is all over. Assassin's investigation has been completed. Tokiomi-sensei has also formulated a winning strategy for all Masters and their Servants. Now there is no need for me to appear again."

"Let me tell you, I am very suspicious of this Tokiomi's plan. That guy has absolutely no ability to obtain the Holy Grail."

"You are really open-minded about your Master."

Gilgamesh looked at Kirei who was laughing uncontrollably with his crimson eyes.

"Kirei, it seems that you have a big misunderstanding about the master-slave relationship between Tokiomi and I.

Tokiomi treated me as a minister would treat a king, and at the same time offered his magic power as a tribute. Because of this contract, I agreed to obey his call. Don't compare me to other Servants who are like lackeys. "

"So, what do you do with the command of the Command Seal?"

"I don't care... it's just that if the minister fulfills his obligations as a minister, the king will occasionally listen to his advice."

Kirei couldn't help but smile bitterly.

If Gilgamesh knew the true purpose of this Holy Grail War... there might be a flaw in the contractual relationship with Tokiomi. Of course, if that time comes, Tokiomi, who possesses the Command Seal, will definitely gain an overwhelming advantage.

"Right now, there's a fight over Caster's head, and the one who strikes the decisive blow in the end - Archer should be you. You don't have the time to enjoy wine so leisurely now."

"Based on Tokiomi's dawdling, it's still too early for me to appear. Now I can only find something else to do during this period to kill the boredom - Kirei, you just said that Assassin has completed all his mission?"

"Ah, is it routine?"

Kirei once promised Gilgamesh to provide him with Assassin's information about the movements of various Masters and their motivations for obtaining the Holy Grail as his "entertainment". So in order to satisfy Gilgamesh's curiosity, Kirei also gave Assassin the order to monitor him.

"Ah, that investigation has been completed. Assassin should have reported it himself last night, so as to save the time of explanation——"

"No, that's fine."

Suddenly Gilgamesh interrupted Kirei.

"I'm not interested in the words of a guy who looks like a shadow. Kirei, this kind of information can only be meaningful if I hear it from you."

"..."

Kirei had no choice but to deal with the always elusive Archer in front of him. He could only briefly tell the other party the information he had on each Master.

By eavesdropping on the conversations between Masters, their Servants and followers, one can easily deduce their purpose for participating in the Holy Grail War.

Lancer's Master and Rider's Master have no special desire for the Holy Grail, but only come to this battle to seek victory for the reputation of magicians.

As for Caster's Master, he doesn't even know what the Holy Grail is. I came to participate in this Holy Grail War just for the higher pleasure of killing.

Berserker's Master seems to be pursuing some kind of "atonement". Because of his escape, the second daughter of the Tohsaka family was sacrificed, and now he returns to demand the release of the hostages... in exchange for getting the Holy Grail back. It seems that he and Tokiomi's wife Aoi had a story in the past. Perhaps in a sense, he is the one with the most despicable motives among the other five hostile Masters.

The only thing about Saber's Master—Kirei could only deal with Archer perfunctorily.

Assassin had not found any information about Emiya Kiritsugu until he was accidentally eliminated last night. Only that man seemed to have seen through the fact that Assassin's death by Archer was a scam from the beginning, and he completely concealed his secret until the end. All I can say is that being able to do this under Assassin's strict surveillance is truly commendable. Compared with other Masters, he is the only one who is special.

Moreover, even if Kirei did discover Kiritsugu's true intention, I'm afraid he wouldn't report the matter to Archer.

There are still many doubts at present. But even so, it did not shake Kirei's desire to fight Emiya Kiritsugu at all. This was Kirei's personal issue that had nothing to do with the Holy Grail War, and he had no intention of letting others interfere.

Therefore, Kirei told Archer that it was the Einzbern family's obsession for many years, and they only participated in this Holy Grail War simply to bring the Holy Grail to them. However, Archer didn't seem to see through what Kirei was thinking, and just listened to his report with interest.

"——Hmph, it would be good entertainment to let their hopes fail."

After hearing the motives of the other five people, Archer said disdainfully.

"After all, they are just a bunch of bastards. None of them have any creative ideas. They just want to rob my treasure for some boring reasons... They are all thieves who should be executed without any discussion."

Hearing Archer's unusually arrogant words, Kirei sighed helplessly.

"Are these my only thoughts on the information that others have worked so hard to obtain? It seems that my efforts were in vain."

"What's all the fuss about?"

The King of Heroes said with a meaningful smile on his face.

"What are you talking about, Kirei? Your efforts with the Assassins have yielded great results."

As if sensing some irony in the other person's words, Kirei stared at Archer and said.

"Are you laughing at me? King of Heroes."

"Don't you understand? Forget it, it's understandable that you don't understand. Because you are a man who can only see what he cares about."

Completely ignoring Kirei's sharp gaze, Archer continued calmly.

"——Guys without self-awareness are simply pursuing instinctive pleasure. Just like those beasts chasing the smell of blood. This emotion in their hearts will be intuitively reflected in their words and deeds.

So, Kirei. When you retell everything you have heard, seen, and understood through yourself, your inner thoughts have been fully revealed. The part of your language that describes it in the most detail is the part that interests you the most.

In other words, observing a person's words and deeds is the best way to understand his interests. Toys like humans, stories like life... there is really no more interesting way of entertainment than this. "

"..."

Kirei had to admit this time that he was indeed careless.

I thought this was just the King of Heroes’ unquestionable pastime. But it seems that my judgment was wrong, and the other party used this method to explore his inner thoughts.

"First get rid of the guy you deliberately concealed the truth about. This subconscious concern is nothing more than an obsession. Now I want to talk about the person you noticed unconsciously.

So, among the remaining four Masters, who is the one you pay the most attention to? "

Kirei suddenly felt a strong uneasiness in his heart. It is best to end this topic as soon as possible.

Archer seemed very satisfied with Kirei's wavering. He smiled and took a sip of red wine before continuing.

"Master of Berserker. What is his name, Kariya? Kirei, your report on this man is really very detailed."

"...Because his affairs are more complicated. So there are naturally more parts that need special explanation, that's all."

"Hmph, isn't it? That's because you are more concerned about this man's affairs, so you gave Assassin the order to 'investigate all these complicated matters.' You gave it out of interest without even knowing it. of."

"..."

Faced with Archer's irrefutable statement, Kirei began to review his behavior.

Matou Kariya... I really think that this is a person who needs special attention. Not only does this man himself have a strong hatred for Tokiomi, but as his Servant, Berserker also has the mysterious ability to seize other people's Noble Phantasms, and for Archer, he is even more of a nemesis among nemesis.

But if we look at the threat level - Kariya and Berserker are definitely not at the forefront.

The magician and the violent Servant are hurriedly preparing to join the battle. I'm afraid it will be the group that dies the fastest among these five groups of enemies. There is no need to use any tactics, just prolong the battle into a protracted one.

As long as you leave him alone, he will fend for himself. So to some extent, he should be considered an easy enemy to deal with. For such an opponent to investigate the situation so carefully - to say the least, it does seem a bit unreasonable.

"...I admit that this was a mistake in my judgment."

Kirei nodded and said with the humility of a priest cultivated through years of self-cultivation.

"Indeed, if you think about it carefully, Matou Kariya is just a short-lived and fragile enemy.

From a long-term perspective, he does not pose a threat and has no value of attention. I thought too highly of him, so I explained too much to you, Archer. "()