The Mito River runs through the city, dividing the entire Fuyuki City into two parts with completely different architectural styles.
The east part is the new capital, which is a highly modern new city that has everything. The western part is Miyama Town, an old town with basically only residential areas. The whole town is built against the mountains, and slopes can be seen everywhere.
When walking through the shopping street, you can clearly feel that this street is the divergence point of Miyama Town's painting style——
On one side is the ramp leading to the Tosaka Family Mansion, along which are residential areas with a strong Western style; on the other side is the Japanese-style residential area with a completely different style, passing by the bridge, school, and shopping street of the neighboring town of Shinto. Finally, it connects to Ryudouji Temple on Mount Enzo.
Xia Zhi saw through this simple and clear city layout at a glance, and silently praised it in his heart.
Now that the road to Yuanzang Mountain is clear, the next step is to conduct an on-site investigation and plan the next action plan based on the actual situation.
He kept this thought deep in his heart and once again turned his attention to the black-haired girl with twin tails who was walking slowly with her head lowered. He silently added a part to the plan, that is, he still needed to find a way to get rid of this Miss Master.
The two of them walked all the way to school in silence, without saying anything else on the way.
Surprisingly, Tohsaka Rin did not really intend to return to the classroom. Instead, he seemed to be searching for someone in other classes with a clear goal, but he did not get what he wanted. After asking, he got the answer. News about future schooling.
Her face became even more gloomy as a result, as if she was owed a huge sum of money.
She directly asked for leave from the teacher, and then stepped out of the school gate again, with a deep voice: "Let's go, let's go and see this city now, so that you can have a general understanding of the possible battle environment that will happen next... "
--Um?
This actually made Xia Zhi a little bit impressed. He thought that the lady master really couldn't distinguish between priorities. During the Holy Grail War, she still planned to go to and from school normally, but now it seems that this is not the case.
Paying attention to the girl's expression, and combined with the previous series of situation analysis, he couldn't help but frown slightly again——
Could it be that she believed from the bottom of her heart that there was no hope of victory in the Holy Grail War and foresaw her own tragic fate, so she came to the campus with the feeling of saying goodbye to an important person and wanted to explain her funeral... …
I have too little confidence in myself...
Where is the trust between people...
Ahem, but if you think about it carefully, even he himself would inevitably have such thoughts. No matter how lucky the girl is, she will inevitably be more pessimistic. This situation is reasonable and completely understandable. .
It's just that this thing is a bit strange... Just an ordinary classmate on campus can make her so worried?
Or is there some unknown deep connection between them?
Furthermore, she did not choose to communicate over the phone, but came to the school to search in person. In addition to possibly wanting to seize the last chance to meet, could it also be because she was unable to contact the other party directly?
Recalling the Tosaka family mansion that looked luxurious but was actually deserted and where the girl was alone, he remained calm on the surface and kept this in mind. This was also very important information.
If you want to successfully "persuade" this Miss Master so that she is willing to cooperate with your planned actions, you must collect as much relevant information about her as possible, find out where her weaknesses are, and grasp her weaknesses and handles.
The more complete the information you have, the more powerful your "persuasion" will be!
Xia Zhi knows how to make friends, and he firmly believes in it.
While following the depressed Master, he stared at her back and slowly thought about the art of persuasion that he might need to use.
"Speaking of which, I forgot to ask last night..."
Some distance away from the school, walking to the deserted and empty streets in the early morning, Tohsaka Rin seemed to remember something. She looked around, without looking back, but asked like a whisper.
"What's your... rank?"
It definitely won’t be Saber anyway.
After a series of blows last night, she no longer had such extravagant hopes. She could only hope that her luck was not particularly bad and she would not be drawn into the two worst sewer classes.
However……
"Oh, I'm Assassin." Xia Zhi replied calmly.
"..."
"..."
The girl didn't want to talk to him at all, and just walked forward in despair.
I'm dead...
I guess this is my last chance to see Fuyuki City, the city where I was born and raised...
With her will too depressed, she didn't even want to think about why she could summon Assassin other than Hassan... The Assassin class itself is a catalyst. Normal summons in Fuyuki's Holy Grail War system can only summon Hassan. · Sabah.
But there are exceptions to everything. For example, although the system for summoning servants of the Holy Grail was made by the Einzbern family in Germany, it can only summon Western heroic spirits in principle. However, illegal summons are not subject to this restriction.
so--
Miss Tohsaka had already preconceived the idea that the source of this series of bad things was her wrong summons at a critical moment.
If any strange results occur, I can only swallow them bitterly.
"Hey, that's really rude. Are you discriminating against the Assassin class?"
Xia Zhi calmly followed her and brought out Chicken Soup for the Soul to comfort the girl——
"You can't deny yourself before you start. To change things, you have to change yourself first; to make things better, you have to make yourself better first..."
Next, there were deceptive words such as "Who said Assassin can't win the Holy Grail War", "Become bigger and stronger", "Create greater glory", etc. They brainwashed Miss Tohsaka over and over again in an annoying manner. .
————
————
Fuyuki City is just the right size, not too big but not too small.
At least it is enough for a secret Holy Grail War, unless something as vicious as that happened ten years ago...
It took about a morning for the two of them to set out from Suoqunhara Academy and explore the surroundings. They almost walked through Miyama Town roughly, and then headed towards Shinto to start the second half of the tour.
"There is a port near the sea in the north, and the church is on the hillside in the southeast..."
Near noon, standing on the streets of the new city, the girl with black hair and twin tails pointed in two directions and said.
"When a master loses, he can go to the church to seek refuge. If he actively wants to give up the game, he can also go there to seek help. The church is equivalent to a neutral referee, responsible for supervising these things."
And for some reason, she focused on introducing the latter church and explained the responsibilities of the Holy Church.
"So - you want to be a deserter?"
The young man looked at her with contempt.
"You! What are you talking about!" Tohsaka Rin almost couldn't breathe, and then glared at him. Although she did reveal her inner subtle thoughts inadvertently, the other person's words were too heart-wrenching.
"Otherwise, why do you specifically say this?"
"Didn't we come all the way here? I have to make it clear to you!" The girl was furious.
"It goes without saying, I understand, I understand..." The other party waved his hands repeatedly and said perfunctorily.
"What do you understand!"
Tohsaka Rin was filled with anger. She didn't realize that this was because the opponent had changed his strategy to provoke others. In other words, she was just following this strategy. She instantly aroused a strong desire to win and was ready to argue with reason. Ichiban.
However, the moment immediately afterwards——
"Wait a mininute!"
The young man opposite raised his eyebrows slightly and pulled her over without hesitation. The two of them instantly ducked into the alley next to her, and he quickly returned to his spiritual state.
Tohsaka Rin's heart tightened, and he realized the situation almost immediately, and quickly hid aside. She cast her gaze towards the road in the distance. She was confused at first, and then after a while, she frowned:
"Sakura?! Wait, damn, what's going on with that yellow-haired gangster!"
Down the southeast ramp, on the road leading to the church.
It was a bit empty at first, but not long after, she saw the figure of a purple-haired girl appearing. She seemed to be in a hurry, but was blocked by an oncoming yellow-haired girl, who started talking about something.
The purple-haired girl seemed to be flinching and kept backing away, while the yellow-haired girl assumed an aggressive posture. Although the distance between them makes it difficult to see the expressions on the faces of both parties, the current situation can be easily judged from their body movements.
Just seeing this scene, Tohsaka Rin almost exploded with anger.
Where did this damn yellow-haired gangster come from? How dare he bully his sister!
"Sakura? Is this the person you want to find when you go to school?" Xia Zhi Leng watched all this calmly, using the aura blocking skills he was given to make the most of it, perfectly hiding his presence.
"And please take it easy...don't just take everything at face value. There is obviously something wrong with the other side."
"What's the problem? Could it be..."
Miss Tohsaka was stunned for a moment, but she immediately reacted, but became even more vigilant.
"Is that Huang Mao a servant? Or a master?"
"It's not certain at the moment, it doesn't look like it, but that level of magic reserve is probably not something ordinary humans can possess... Also, I'm not just talking about that Huang Mao, Miss Sakura is not simple either."
Xia Zhi shook his head. He was indeed an insulator of magic power before.
But after awakening, he somehow became extremely sensitive to magic.
Today's world has taken on a new look in his eyes, as if every day is revealing more light and color, making his vision clearer and more vivid every day, and the context of all things is clearly discernible.
Therefore, under the scrutiny of this pair of sharp eyes, there is undoubtedly something strange about the two "individuals" over there.
Even if I have to say it, the seemingly weak and low-key girl with purple hair has far more problems than the yellow-haired gangster.
From the perspective of Xia Zhi's perception of magic power, he could clearly sense that his magic power was connected to the Master around him, and then like a relay, there was another magic connection on her body, extending in the direction of Enzang Mountain. go……
Next, it seemed as if another invisible transmission and transition had occurred.
The magic connection quietly traced back in the void, and finally landed on the purple-haired girl not far away. And there was not just one connection, but many magic powers, which made people wonder whether she was the human form of this Holy Grail War. Terminal or something.
"Sakura? How could..."
Tohsaka Rin's expression changed slightly, but soon he seemed to have thought of something and gritted his teeth tightly.
The Holy Grail War was initiated by the Yusan Family. No matter what, as long as the Yusanjia still exists, they will not be absent.
But just as in her case, it is the only choice for the Tosaka family, so what about the situation of the Matou family? It seems that adopting Sakura is the only option. Otherwise, can we still count on the leader? !
Subconsciously, she thought that what her servant said was "not simple"——
It means Sakura may also have participated in the Holy Grail War and become a Master, that's all.
The conversation in the distance had ended. The purple-haired girl seemed to be a little lost and walked away, while the yellow-haired gangster arrogantly put his hands in his pockets and walked in another direction with a high-spirited look on his face, as if he was patrolling his own territory.
"Want to go over and see that Miss Sakura?"
Summer solstice timely suggestions.
"...No, it's not necessary." Tohsaka Rin was silent for a while, but still refused.
If Sakura also becomes a contestant, then this is not the right time to go to her. This is not a problem that can be solved through dialogue, and the sisters cannot go back to the past. Facing the cold reality will only embarrass both parties.
"Then let's continue to check out the spots." Xia Zhi was confident, but he actually didn't want to expose himself so quickly.
In fact, he encountered several waves of suspected contestants along the way, but he relied on his too keen sense of magic to avoid them in advance. Just like the episode just now, the two people were already in advance before they met. Got it.
But at that time, he thought that the two groups of people might be about to collide, but it turned out not to be the case, which really made him happy for nothing.
………………
By the time we had basically walked through the main part of Fuyuki and returned to the Tohsaka family's mansion, it was already evening.
Tohsaka Rin was also very sleepy, but when someone said that he was going to go out to explore again, his eyes widened in shock.
"What's so strange about this? Isn't Assassin a class that specializes in covert operations and assassination skills? If I don't take action at this time, do you really plan to wait a few days and let me go with other servants in an upright manner? Just face to face?"
Xia Zhi is very convincing about this.
The girl was speechless. It seemed to be true. Assassin used it this way.
"Don't worry. If something goes wrong, you can just use the command spell to teleport me back... But I prefer that you find another stronghold. Don't stay in this mansion all the time. It's too conspicuous."
Xia Zhi made the suggestion. He really felt that this mansion was unreliable.
It is true that as the base camp of one of the three imperial families, its defense level is actually not bad. With the barriers and defensive techniques set up for generations, it is not easy to win this position.
But no matter how impregnable it is, it has been played for so many seasons...
Cunning Rabbit still has three caves. In order to avoid being targeted and to prevent people from locking down the base camp before the battle begins, other preparations must be made.
Tohsaka Rin's expression suddenly became complicated. She admitted that what the other party said made a little sense, but the problem was... where is the money?
When it comes to money issues, there is no way.
Xia Zhi briefly inspected the mansion and searched the surroundings. After confirming that there was no threat for the time being, he went out relaxedly and happily.
The ghost, which had no sense of existence, headed straight towards Yuanzang Mountain under the cover of the dim sky in the evening. He had no intention of searching for clues about other contestants, nor did he plan to assassinate them.
The efficiency is too poor and the success rate is too low.
Enzang Mountain was pitch black at night, and the astonishing whirlpool of magic power in his field of vision made him frown. Although he had been mentally prepared, he was still somewhat surprised by such a large magic reserve.
It is indeed the center of the magic power flowing under the land of Fuyuki City. Just a small amount of overflowing earth energy has such a majestic and astonishing scale. The quality of this spiritual vein must be extremely amazing.
After circling the mountain a few times, the sky turned completely dark.
He was not able to enter it easily, and Xia Zhi was not disappointed. This place can be said to be the core of the entire Holy Grail system. If you are unprepared, then there is something wrong. He does not expect such a good thing to happen, just waiting for him to take advantage.
So – start plan B.
That is to say, gradually nibbling away at this spiritual vein bit by bit, bit by bit from the periphery.
He has already observed that, nourished by abundant earth energy, the entire mountain and the surrounding large area of land, soil, mud and rocks are full of spiritual power, which is just suitable for the art of boiling stone.
Using some gems he "borrowed" from the Master quietly and some simple tools and materials, he found a remote place and arranged a magic circle around it to simulate a simple "alchemy furnace" , the kind full of symbolic meaning.
Activate your magic and cook the earth.
In his field of vision, the earth in the "Alchemy Furnace" was boiling. It was a vision of the earth's energy being steamed, concentrated and extracted bit by bit...
In the end, large areas of the earth's energy disappeared, leaving only a few flickering points, as round as a pill.
