One of the founding royal families, the Makiri family, that is, the Machiri family, the master of this family is the Makiri family who broke off relations with the Makiri family a few years ago because he saw through the essence of his family.

In conclusion, the night of the wild goose has been detached from suffering mentally, but there is no way to detach from the physical body.

By the time he entered his third month, his hair had turned all white, and his skin was covered with scabs, and beyond the scabs was a bloodless dead gray. The veins that flowed through the toxin called mana had swelled to the point where they could be seen through the muscles, and the whole body seemed to be covered with dark cracks.

As a result, the collapse of the body came faster than expected, especially the nerves in the left half of the body, and for a period of time the left arm and leg were almost completely paralyzed, and although the sensation was regained after emergency treatment, the reaction of the left hand is still half a beat slower than that of the right hand, and the left foot can only drag it when it rushes.

The throbbing caused by irregular pulse is commonplace, and the throat has become unable to swallow solid food, so it can only be replaced by intravenous injection of glucose.

From the point of view of modern medicine, his biological functions are already in an abnormal state, but Yan Ye can still stand and walk, and ironically, he has exchanged his life for a "magician", and it is thanks to this magic that he can continue to stand and walk.

The Marker Worm, which has been eating the flesh of the wild goose for a year, has almost grown to the stage where it can play the role of a magic circuit, and now it is gradually playing a role, continuing the life of the host who is struggling with life and death.

From the magic circuit alone, the current Yan Ye already has the basic qualifications of a magician, and Ma Tong Dirty Yan is also quite surprised by this, and now, Yan Ye's right hand has been clearly engraved with three spells, and the Holy Grail has also recognized his qualifications as the representative of the Ma Tong family.

In the opinion of Dirty Yan, Yanye only has one month left to live, and Yanye himself thinks that this is enough time.

Now that the countdown to the Holy Grail War has begun, once all seven Servants have been summoned, the flames of war will ignite on the same day.

The time of the battle, judging from past examples, is less than two weeks, and there is still enough time before the death of the wild goose.

However, if the current wild goose night wants to activate the magic circuit, it also means stimulating the marker worm.

Of course, the burden of the flesh at that time was far greater than that of other magicians. In the worst-case scenario, the Marker Worm will even devour the host until it is decided, which has to be taken into account.

It's not just the other six Masters that Yan Ye is fighting with, in fact, his biggest enemy is the creatures that live in his body.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

On this night, in order to face the upcoming final test, the wild goose night who walked to the basement of the Kiriki Mansion met Sakura under the corridor on the way, which is also the reason why he returned to the home he had given up for a while, and made himself a ghost and a ghost, and his life was about to end.

“……”

As soon as she saw Sakura, she showed a frightened expression on her face, which really made Yanye feel a pain in her heart.

Although the matter is irreparable now, I didn't expect that even myself would become the object of Sakura's fear, and Yanye was very uncomfortable at the moment.

"Yo, Sakura--did it scare you?"

“…… Well! Your face, what's wrong? ”

"Ahh......h

Yesterday, the vision of the left eye was finally completely lost, along with the necrotic and albino eyeball, and the surrounding facial nerves were also completely paralyzed, and the eyelids and eyebrows could not move, I am afraid that the left half of the face has been as stiff as a dead man's face, and even when I saw the mirror, I felt a chill rising from my back, no wonder Sakura was afraid.

"It seems that I lost a little bit to the 'worm' in my body again. Uncle is really useless, not as strong as Sakura. ”

I wanted to make a wry smile, but when it appeared on my face, it looked so weird, and Sakura was even more frightened and shrunk up.

"--Uncle Yanye, more and more of a different person."

"Haha, huh?"

While hiding it with a dry and hard laugh,

- You too, Sakura.

While whispering melancholy in his heart.

Sakura, who has now changed her surname to Kiri, has become a completely different person from the girl in Yanya's memory.

The cold, empty and gloomy eyes like a doll, I have never seen any joy and sorrow in her eyes for a whole year, and the face of the innocent girl who used to play with her sister is now gone.

It's no wonder, just think about how Sakura has been treated in order to become the magic heir of the Maki family this year.

Sakura's physical body does possess the full qualities of a magician, and her excellence in this is unmatched by Asaya and her brother Tsuruno.

However, after all, she has the blood of a magician from Tosaka, and the magic of Maki has a fundamental difference in attributes.

In order to adjust Sakura's body to "close to Makiri", the old man's measures were to abuse him day and night in the underground wormhole of Makiri's house in the name of "education".

Children's hearts are immature.

They have not yet formed beliefs, they cannot turn lament into anger, and in the face of a cruel fate, they cannot choose to fight by willpower.

Moreover, because children do not fully understand life, hope and dignity are not yet fully cultivated.

Therefore, when faced with extreme situations, it is easier for children to close their minds than adults.

You can give up because you haven't tasted the joy of life yet, and you can despair because you haven't understood the meaning of the future.

The so-called "tutorial" of abusing a young girl like this to make her close her heart has to be witnessed by Yanye for a whole year.

When the severe pain of the parasite gluttony in the body came, what made Yan Ye uncomfortable now was only fierce self-blame. Sakura's suffering, there is no doubt that Yanya herself should bear the greatest responsibility. He cursed the dirty inkstone of Makiri, cursed Tosaka Tokito, and at the same time inflicted the same curse on himself.

The only thing that shines is that Sakura, who is self-enclosed like a puppet, can only relax her guard when facing the wild goose night, and can easily say a few words when you meet.

Is this a sympathy for the same disease, or is it a friendship between her when she was still Sakura Tosaka before? In any case, in the eyes of the girl, Yanye is not an "educator" like Dirty Yan and Tsuruno.

"Tonight, I don't have to go to the worm barn. It seems that there is something more important to be done, grandpa said. ”

"Ahh Uncle went down below instead of you. ”

Hearing such an answer, Sakura tilted her head and looked at Yanye: "Uncle Yanye, are you going to go far away?" ”

Perhaps the child's keen intuition has told Sakura about the fate that Sakura is about to face, but Geese doesn't want Sakura to worry.

"For a while after this, my uncle will be busy with some very important things, and there may not be much time to talk to Sakura like he is now."

"That's ......"

Sakura's eyes moved away from the wild goose, as if she was looking for the place where only she existed. Can't stand Sakura's appearance, Yanye forcibly took over the conversation and continued.

"Sakura-chan, when my uncle's work is done, let's go play together and bring my mother and sister."

"Mom and, sister......" Sakura hesitated, "...... I don't have anyone to call that anymore, and my grandfather told me to treat them as if they didn't exist. ”

Answer in a very embarrassed voice.

"Really......"

Yanya knelt down in front of Sakura and gently hugged Sakura's shoulder with her still nimble right arm. If she was held to her chest like this, Sakura would not be able to see the face of the wild goose, and she would not be able to see that she was crying.

“…… So, let's take Aunt Aoi and Rin of the Tosaka family, Uncle and Sakura, and the four of us go to a distant place together and play together as before. ”

"--Can I still see them?" The girl in the arm asked softly.

Yanye hugged her tightly and nodded.

"Ah, I'll see you, uncle."

No further guarantees can be made.

If he could, he wanted to say something else. Said that he would be able to save you from the demon of the Kiriki inkstone in a few days, and said that please bear with me until then, he wanted to say these things to Sakura here.

However, this is not possible.

Sakura has been paralyzed by despair and pessimism, desperately trying to protect herself, and the helpless girl can only use this way to erase the "self that can feel the pain" in order to resist the unbearable pain.

How could such a child be able to say to her, "Be hopeful," to her, to "cherish yourself"? Such irresponsible lines can only comfort the person who speaks. Wishing her hope is tantamount to depriving her of the "despair" she uses to protect her heart, and without the protection of despair, the young Sakura's body and mind will collapse in just one night.

So—

Even if he lives in the same house, Yan Ye has never said to Sakura that I'm here to save you, and he can only live by her side as an adult who is also "bullied" by the dirty inkstone and is as helpless as Sakura.

"--Uncle is almost, it's time to go."

It is estimated that the tears stopped, and Yanya let go of the hand holding Sakura, and Sakura looked up at Yanya's half-broken face with a wonderful expression on her face that was different from usual.

“…… Well, bye-bye, Uncle Yanye. ”

It seemed that the parting words should have been said at this time, and she seemed to understand it at a young age.

Sakura turned away and walked away unhurriedly as usual, looking at her back, and the wild goose night prayed bitterly and heartily - not too late, not too late.

Yan Ye himself doesn't care anymore, he has decided to give this life to Sakura and Aoi, the mother and son, and it is "too late" for Yan Ye himself, which means that he lost this life before he obtained the Holy Grail.

What Goose Night is more worried about is Sakura's "lateness" - if Goosenight successfully gets the Holy Grail and sends Sakura back to her mother, the girl's heart has been curled up forever in a shell called despair and can never come out again.

The wound in Sakura's heart over the past year must have left scars, but at least the scars can heal slowly with the passage of time, and he hopes that her spirit has not left a fatal wound.

The only thing that can be done is to pray, and it is not Yanye who can save the girl, he no longer has the life span to take on this responsibility, and this task can only be given to those who live.

Yan Ye turned around and walked slowly but resolutely towards the staircase leading to the underground wormhole.