Chapter 72: Unshakable 15

Fuyuki City, Emiya family.

When the familiar Japanese-style building appeared before him, Shirou Emiya finally breathed a sigh of relief. He opened the door, turned on the light in the corridor, and said to the five guests and Archer in spirit form behind him, "Come in."

Tens of minutes ago, Tosaka Rin took the initiative to talk to Zhongli and others, suggesting that they go to the Emiya family to discuss countermeasures. After the other party agreed, Emiya Shirou took them home.

"I'll go pour tea for everyone. Please go over there and wait for a moment." Shirou Emiya pointed to the living room.

Tosaka Rin was his ally before and was very familiar with the structure of this place. She walked towards the living room without waiting for him to finish speaking. Illya, Weber and Gray followed closely behind, and finally Zhongli.

They were the only two people left in the corridor, and Shirou Emiya suddenly said, "Thank you for your hard work along the way, Mr. Zhongli."

He saw clearly that on the journey from Einzbern Castle to his home, no matter how the positions of several people changed, Zhongli was always at the end.

He stayed behind to protect them and to facilitate a quick counterattack if they were attacked.

Therefore, although they were not attacked again when they went down the mountain, Shirou Emiya still developed a lot of affection for him and thanked Zhongli for his kindness in the end.

But Zhongli didn't seem to be willing to admit it.

He smiled gently, as if he didn't understand the implication: "The journey is not far, so it can't be said to be hard."

Seeing this, Shirou Emiya stopped asking questions. He saw Zhongli hesitate at the entrance and suddenly realized, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhongli is not Japanese, right? If you're not used to it..."

"It doesn't matter. Experiencing the customs of other countries is also a kind of fun." Zhongli shook his head and finally chose to respect the etiquette of other countries and took off his shoes.

"Then I'm relieved," said Shirou Emiya. "Please go to the living room first. The tea will be ready soon."

He turned and walked deeper, and after a moment he returned to the living room holding a wooden tray in one hand and placed cups of tea in front of everyone.

The simple and elegant white porcelain cup, paired with light green tea and misty hot steam, is very suitable for relaxation. Shirou Emiya felt that there was nothing wrong with these things, but when he placed the teacup in front of Zhongli, his movements paused unnaturally.

Zhong Li sat between Gray and Weber and asked with a smile, "What's wrong?"

Shirou Emiya was startled by his sharpness, and then said awkwardly: "Ah... nothing, I was just wondering if the tea is to your taste."

This was not wrong, but it was mainly because Zhong Li was too "noble". His speech and behavior were like those of a distant oriental noble. He subconsciously felt that he should give Zhong Li something better, such as the priceless porcelain he had seen on TV - of course, it was just a thought, after all, it was an antique to be sold at an auction.

His family conditions are very ordinary, and no matter how hard he tries, it is impossible for him to create high-end goods out of thin air.

Shirou Emiya withdrew his hand unnaturally. Weber, who was standing beside him, lowered his eyes to look at the teacup and guessed the boy's true thoughts.

After spending a few days together, Weber was convinced that Zhongli was used to good things and knew how to enjoy them.

He thought Zhong Li might not drink it.

The next second, Zhong Li picked up the teacup and took a sip: "It tastes great, thank you for the hospitality."

Weber: “…”

He vaguely remembered that a few days ago in the hotel, Zhong Li only gave a "OK" comment to the expensive and high-quality cup of tea - at least in his opinion, it was of excellent quality.

But seeing Shirou Emiya's obviously relaxed expression, Weber swallowed his words back and pretended to know nothing.

...Mr. Zhongli is such a considerate person.

After a brief interlude, Weber looked around and began to secretly observe the participants in the Holy Grail War.

Rin Tosaka is a person with strong opinions and great initiative. If he remembered correctly, Rin Tosaka and Sakura Matou should be sisters. However, because both sisters are extremely talented and the magic seal can only be inherited by one of them, in order not to bury anyone's talent, young Sakura Matou was sent to the Matou family to inherit magic.

As for the remaining Shirou Emiya and Illya... Weber felt a little weird.

If the surname "Emiya" was really left by Kiritsugu Emiya, a participant of the Fourth World War, as he thought, then Shirou Emiya and Illya are siblings with no blood relationship - androids don't grow, and Illya, who looks like a child, is probably already close to twenty years old.

His gaze lingered on her for a little while, and Illya looked back with a faint smile, her eyes devoid of any warmth.

Weber looked away and continued to think.

There was no close interaction between the two. Rather than being family members, they were more like familiar strangers who had just met each other. This meant that Kiritsugu Emiya had not allowed the two to recognize each other.

Shirou Emiya probably doesn't know about this, but Illya... probably knows about it.

The alliance between these three people is not as solid as iron, but fortunately, Shirou Emiya and Illya have both lost their qualifications for the Holy Grail War and have no reason or motive to betray each other, so it is safe and feasible to cooperate with them.

Weber tapped the table in front of Zhong Li lightly and hinted, "Mr. Zhong Li, I think it's okay."

Zhong Li tilted his head, and in order to avoid being heard by Shirou Emiya, he lowered his voice and said, "Well, I think the tea is OK too."

Weber: “?”

Are they talking about one thing?

After a brief hesitation, Weber understood what Zhongli meant - Zhongli's evaluation of the tea suddenly changed from "very good" to "okay", and he deliberately lowered his voice in order to respond to him without leaving any trace.

If it's just short-term cooperation, they are decent allies.

After figuring it out, Weberson said, "I understand."

Zhong Li: “Yeah.”

Gray: “…”

Were the master and Mr. Zhongli exchanging information or discussing tea... Why did she feel that they were talking about different things?

The bright lights and the misty air relaxed their tense nerves. The atmosphere gradually relaxed. Tosaka Rin felt that the time was right and said, "Let's talk about tonight."

Zhong Li nodded.

The information exchange process was boring, and when talking about Matou Sakura, Illya expressed her guess.

She believes that there is no winner in the Fourth Holy Grail War. Someone destroyed the Lesser Holy Grail in the final stage, and the fragments were scattered all over Fuyuki City. Most of the fragments were recovered by the underground Greater Holy Grail system, and a small part fell into the hands of Matou Ruoyan, who used it to transform Matou Sakura's body.

With Sakura Matou around, victory was a sure thing for Matou Rankan, but unfortunately he was intercepted by Fyodor halfway.

"Did Matou Sakura volunteer?" Weber asked.

"I don't know... No, maybe," Shirou Emiya whispered, "She heard our conversation."

On a rainy night a few days ago, he and Tosaka Rin sent the injured Sakura Matou to Fuyuki Church for treatment, but learned from the supervisor that Sakura could no longer control her magic power.

She will continue to rampage and hurt people until her magic power is exhausted and her life is in danger.

She will be used by Matou Ruan until she loses all value and is then abandoned.

This was an unsolvable deadlock, so that night, Tosaka Rin said, I will kill her.

After waking up from her coma and hearing these words, Sakura Matou climbed out of the church window without hesitation and ran into Fyodor.

She may not have understood that Fyodor wanted to use her, but she chose to "live".

Alive. Hoshino Nozomi savored the word carefully.

Shirou Emiya said that she was a kind girl who didn't want to be hurt by others, nor did she want to hurt others, but she seemed to have no choice.

To live is to hurt others, then condemn one's own heart, constantly endure mental pain, fall into a vicious cycle of repression and despair, and finally be attacked by everyone.

Hoshino Nozomi feels that Tosaka Rin's judgment is correct. Whether she wants to protect people's lives or end Sakura's suffering, death is her best destination.

Matou Sakura... should have understood this, but she still chose to live.

Why? Does she have some strong obsession?

Hoshino Nozomi thought so and asked the same question. Shirou Emiya, who had spent the longest time with Matou Sakura, shook his head hesitantly and said that he had never seen Sakura show an unusual interest in something.

The system said: [Maybe there aren't so many complicated reasons, maybe you just want to live? ]

Xingye Wang did not answer. The system guessed that he did not agree with it, but for its host, not refuting was a kind of progress.

"Anyway, Matou Sakura has obtained enough magic power this time. She won't take any more actions until she has completely 'digested' it, right?" After Illya nodded, Weber continued, "There is one thing I need to confirm again. Can the Holy Grail really be destroyed?"

Illya nodded again.

Weber frowned.

He was not very interested in the Holy Grail, but Zhongli wanted the Holy Grail, which was not good news for Zhongli.

Weber: "Mr. Zhongli, what do you think?"

What if the other party wants to "die together" and breaks the Holy Grail at the last minute...

Hoshino Nozomi: “Don’t worry.”

He had this intention long ago - at the last moment, he summoned Tianxing to smash the Holy Grail and prevent the Red King from approaching the World Tree.

Unexpectedly, Weber had the same idea as him.

Seeing that he didn't seem to worry about the Holy Grail being destroyed, Weber felt relieved.

"Okay, now that we know what happened," Illya said, "let's talk about what to do next."

She suggested, "How about we find a chance to kill Assassin tomorrow while Sakura is resting?"

Illya is also the carrier of the Holy Grail and is in competition with Matou Sakura. Heroic spirits not killed by "Black Shadow" will enter her body and prevent the Black Holy Grail from taking shape.

This is equivalent to a layer of insurance.

The room was quiet. Everyone seemed to be moved by her proposal and were thinking about the feasibility. Zhong Li suddenly said, "But you will be in danger."

Berserker was defeated, and Illya's ability to protect herself was obviously not good enough in front of Red King and Matou Sakura.

Illya did not deny: "I am the Holy Grail. Now I am just exercising the function of the Holy Grail."

"There is no moving, talking, human-like cup in this world," Zhong Li looked at her. "Things are far from being this bad. There is no need to sacrifice yourself."

Even if Matou Sakura absorbed all six Heroic Spirits, there was still Rider who had not been summoned yet. Even if Fyodor wanted to use Gilgamesh's soul as a replacement, he had to defeat him first.

...By the way, how is Gilgamesh?

Zhong Li paused and decided to go check on him tomorrow and get some information about the Red King.

On the other side of the long table, Illya was also stunned for a moment.

She didn't think it was a sacrifice, after all, she was born to complete the ceremony and become the Holy Grail. The words of rebuttal rolled around in her throat, but strangely she didn't say them out.

After being enlightened, Shirou Emiya also disagreed with her taking risks: "Mr. Zhongli is right, things are not that bad."

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

This proposal was abandoned due to Zhongli's opposition.

After the night meeting, Tosaka Rin and Illya prepared to stay at the Emiya family temporarily, while Zhongli and others returned to the hotel.

The city sank into the night, and Gray followed the two people without saying a word.

She had been silent since the meeting, and now she was holding her hood and keeping watch on all sides. Zhong Li suddenly stopped, and Gray was caught off guard and almost bumped into him.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Gray," Zhongli said without any context, "how do you feel?"

"Huh?" Gray was confused for a moment. "What... feeling?"

"What do you think of Saber?"

Zhongli learned at the meeting what happened before his arrival.

The Saber in the Fourth and Fifth Wars is the same person, King Arthur, who looks the same as Gray. In the recent battle at Ryudo Temple, Sakura Matou swallowed Saber, but she did not absorb it immediately. Instead, she transformed it into an Alter, magnified the dark side of Saber's personality, and used her to fight Berserker.

Before Zhongli arrived, Gray had a brief fight with her.

Saber is undoubtedly the top Servant, but Gray also has the confidence to fight her - her "Yad" is actually a magic outfit used to seal the holy spear "Rongomeniad". As long as the seal is lifted, it can release a power comparable to a Noble Phantasm.

It’s a pity that with the Holy Grail’s infinite supply of magic, Saber Alter can no longer be stopped by just one Noble Phantasm.

Gray didn't understand, but she answered obediently: "What... strong, cold, meticulous... in short, she..."

"Completely different from you." Zhong Li added the second half of the sentence.

Even if they look the same, they are different souls.

Gray was stunned for a moment, lowered her head, and the corners of her mouth slowly rose.

Zhong Li only said jokingly, "If you're happy, can you stop scratching its hood? I'm afraid it will cry out in pain."

“Okay, okay!”

*

The next day, at Fuyuki Church.

The faint light of the morning sun fell on the priest's dark robe. Kotomine Kirei stood by the window, looking at the path hidden in the trees below: "Oh? Someone is coming."

There was no response from behind him, so Kotomine Kirei continued, "Aren't you curious about who it was? Or are you in so much pain that you don't have the strength to speak?"

"I'm telling you...are you getting more and more daring?" Gilgamesh snorted coldly, "How could such a filthy person possibly hurt me? But she actually dared to interfere in my battle. She is really audacious."

"So, are you curious about who's here?"

“Not interested.”

Kotomine Kirei: "It's Zhongli. What a rare guest."

Gilgamesh: “…”

Gilgamesh: "He is indeed a rare guest. Let him in. I want to see what he wants to do."

Kotomine Kirei smiled with an ambiguous tone.

Gilgamesh stared at the priest's back with indifference.