Fate ⁄ Zero - Volume 01 - Act 3.pdf - Fate⁄Zero - RX-0

Act 3

-162:26:39

Fuyuki city, Shinto―

The housing district at the east of the Mion River is a new town reclaimed from a once empty

wasteland; it is different from the history the Miyama town originally has, but it is being refined

in a large-scale redevelopment project from the government to build a modern business district

over the ancient site.

The buildings in the area planned as a business district are only 40% complete, but the

maintenance of the park and shopping mall in front of the station is already done; the future

plans are already done for the Shinto district to be clean and sterile, pompous and with no

individuality. The city hall is also being moved piece by piece to Shinto, revived with modern

iron, glass, and mortar, stealing all central municipal functions from Miyama.

It is already crowded even during holidays. In the middle of the crowd going back and forth,

cowering from the northern wind, Emiya Kiritsugu disappeared, colorless and odorless without

attracting any attention.

His shirt and coat worn for a long time and his lack of baggage give him a slacking appearance

that wouldn't make you think of someone who has immigrated. As a matter of fact, he has been

like that since he walked in the country up to Shinto in Fuyuki, but Japan still remains his native

country. Being used to coming and going, he still felt better in this country.

With a complex feeling, Kiritsugu looked down on the cigarette paper package he had just

bought from a vending machine.

It's been 9 years he has stopped smoking. He hasn't been able to find his favorite brand in the far

land of the Einsberns, but that was mainly in regard for the mother and child. Just as he came

down at the Fuyuki station, prepared for battle, he had thrown a coin in the vending machine out

of habit.

Since he has bought a disposable lighter from a convenience store to get back the sensation, he

breaks open the cigarette pack. The white of the row of filters is dazzling.

He put one in his mouth and lit it. As if there wasn't a blank of 10 years, he was able to redo the

movements naturally. The aroma flowing into his lungs, he got used to the taste as if he had been

doing it just the day before.

"..."

Kiritsugu looks at the transformed scenery, completely different from the one he vividly

remembers in his heart.

He visited Fuyuki in reconnaissance under cover three years earlier, but the face of Shinto has

completely changed since then. This isn't unexpected, but this is beyond what he imagined. He

needs to confirm the neighborhood again.

Despite the slight difficulty from the transformation of the area, Kiritsugu reached the hotel he

wanted.

The lobby and the front have been arranged, but the interior is a fairly cheap business hotel.

Families or wanderers, this hotel is a good harbor for quite a wide genre of users.

Acting as if he knew the place, Kiritsugu walks through the lobby up to the elevator, up to the

seventh floor. This is where his faithful subordinate has been for three days, in room 73.

In the world of magi, his relation with Hisau Maiya would be that of a pupil and a teacher.

But to Kiritsugu, who saw magecraft as a mere tool he has acquired knowledge in, and not as the

object of his quest, there wasn't a single sense of master and pupil. What he has taught to Maiya

is merely a "way to fight". This too is only for the purpose of counting her as a "tool". This is

from a time when he went through countless desperate battles for an utopia that could never be

fulfilled, when he didn't know about the existence of the Grail.

Hence his connection to Maiya is older than the one with Irisviel. Having fought at his side,

Maiya knows of the blood-stained side of Kiritsugu that his wife has never seen.

As he knocked at a pre-arranged rhythm on the door of room 73, the door opened immediately as

if he had been expected. Skipping unnecessary greetings with a mere glance at each other,

Kiritsugu enters the room and closes the door.

Maiya has already been involved for a while. After Kiritsugu retreated, she has arranged the

preparations for the Grail War according to the instructions given by Kiritsugu from overseas,

and has been busy with returning to the Einsbern castle many times.

Handsome, fair-skinned, she was a beauty who used neither eye-liner nor lipstick. Her long eyes

and her gaze seem to be always scrutinizing suspiciously, but she deliberately leaves an

impression of indifference. Her jet black, silk-like straight hair catch the glance of many men but

her cold, sharp look definitely makes any lady-killer give up.

Anyway, they have known each other for over 10 years. She was still a young girl when they met,

but since she isn't a child anymore, she sharpened her sagacity as a characteristic; when with that

type of beauty, normal people tire easily, Kiritsugu was the opposite. She is a woman who

constantly saw the reality, and could sometimes give out an accurate judgment more merciless

than Kiritsugu. With her, Kiritsugu didn't have to be ashamed of his foul plays or detest his

cruelty. This could put him to some sort of rest.

"The Tōsaka mansion moved last night."

Maiya started by jumping straight to the point.

"Please watch the records of it. Also, all the equipment has arrived."

"Understood. First, the situation."

Nodding, Maiya switches the decoder of the unpacked television.

Amongst the magecraft Kiritsugu had taught her, Maiya was particularly capable in the

management of regular familiars, and Kiritsugu often entrusted her with scouting or

reconnaissance missions. This time again, Kiritsugu has assigned her to the surveillance of the

Matō and Tōsaka mansions.

The familiars Maiya has pride in are bats, but unlike other magi, her bats have a miniature CCD

camera tied on the abdomen. Of course, this is an idea of Kiritsugu. The illusions and

camouflaged bounded fields of magi are often based on using suggestions on an observer, but

that sort of things often forget about electronic-based counter measures. Video records are also

helpful for re-watching, so even considering it slows down the familiar the joint use of cameras

is a viable solution.

The whole scene of the previous night is replayed on the 13 inch CTR. The blurred image is

enough to understand the whole event. Without raising an eyebrow, Kiritsugu watches the

Servant with a skull mask unable to escape annihilation from the golden Servant.

The white mask of the defeated Servant is without a doubt of the Assassin class.

"What do you make of it?"

"I think it is going too well."

Maiya replied immediately to Kiritsugu's question.

"The time lag between Assassin's materialization and the attack of Tōsaka's Servant is too short.

He was waiting for him. I could accept he might have detected an intruder in spirit form, but his

opponent is an Assassin with the Presence Concealment ability. ... I wonder if Tōsaka wasn't

aware of the invasion prior to it."

Kiritsugu nodded. Having been trained by him, Maiya's conclusion was the same as Kiritsugu's.

"The more I think of it, the more it seems like an arrangement. Why did Tōsaka expose his

Servant like that if he had such a margin?"

The Tōsaka family has obviously accumulated experience from the second and third Grail fights.

There is no way they don't know the other Masters would be observing the Tōsaka mansion.

The Heaven's Feel is a confrontation between heroes who have gained fame. And the legends of

these heroes include a lot of information on their fighting patterns and their strong and weak

points. This means it is natural that the skills and weaknesses of the Heroic Spirits are known

from the beginning.

And so, it has become an ironclad rule to hide the true identity of the Heroic Spirits in the war

between Servants. In light of this, Heroic Spirits are all called by their class to avoid revealing

their true name.

Last night, Tōsaka has left two clues to the other Masters, being what his Servant looks like, as

well as showing a method that looks like a Noble Phantasm. Neither were enough to definitely

identify the Servant, but that was a risk that should have been easy to avoid. If he was to bring

down Assassin, he could have done so outside of plain view.

"Showing us something he didn't have to show us― that means he wanted to show it to us."

Kiritsugu nods again at Maiya's conclusion.

"Possibly. If there is any merit in doing that, then the explanation is obvious. ... Maiya, what

happened to the Master of Assassin?"

"He went to the Church last night and has requested the supervisor's protection. It is the man

called Kotomine Kirei."

Hearing that name, Kiritsugu's eye lit with a cold ghastliness.

"Maiya, send a familiar to the Fuyuki Church. One will be fine for now."

"... Is it alright? The Church is an area where aggressions between Masters are prohibited."

"Unless the priest supervisor doesn't find out. Stay at a reasonable distance. Don't overdo it. He

doesn't have to know."

Maiya frowned at Kiritsugu‟s incomprehensible instructions.

"Muse I observe the Church?"

"You can just make it a 'regular patrolling'. What you must concentrate on is being absolutely

not-discovered."

"... Yes, understood."

Maiya couldn't understand what Kiritsugu had in mind, but didn't question him. She at once

picks one of the three bats observing the Tōsaka mansion and sent it the thought of going to the

Fuyuki Church at the end of Shinto.

Kiritsugu turned off the TV, then resumed inspecting the equipment Maiya prepared.

In the various tools lined up on the sheet of the bed, awaiting Kiritsugu's check-up, there was not

one a magus could find interesting. Not a single ritualistic catalyst like a dagger, cup, talisman,

elixir or spiritual container. They were state-of-art and highly efficient, but apart from that, they

were nothing but conventional weapons. Nothing that could store prana.

That was the heresy that earned the magus Emiya Kiritsugu the nickname of "magus killer."

Fate ⁄ Zero - Volume 01 - Act 3.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: