It is about 30 kilometers west from the busy streets of Fuyuki City.

There is an east-west national highway that crosses the mountains far from the village. The highway is lined with dense forests, and the forest area seems to have been forgotten by the surging land development boom.

This land may be state-owned, but it appears from the land register to be private land belonging to a foreign-owned enterprise, and it is uncertain whether the foreign-owned enterprise actually exists. If you have to investigate this land, the first thing that makes people puzzled is this magical urban legend.

Legend has it that in the deepest part of this dense forest, there is a mythical city.

Of course. This legend is just a boring oddity. Although the forest has not yet been developed, it is less than an hour's drive from Fuyuki City. If there really is such a strange castle, everyone will know about it. In fact, there have been several land surveys in this primeval forest in the past, but no traces of artificial structures have been found.

But every few years, someone recalls the legend.

A group of children walked into the forest with a half-play, half-adventure mood. There is also a lost hiker. Out of the fog they saw an ancient city suddenly appear, a magnificent castle made of rock. The castle was uninhabited, like an abandoned city. However, the castle is fully equipped and well organized, which makes people feel as if someone lives here. It is said to be an unusually bizarre ancient city.

Of course, no one will believe this legend. At best, it's a one-page story told in a summer weird story in a third-rate magazine with no news material.

Only a very small number of magicians know that this castle is real.

The castle only welcomes its owner who enters the castle to participate in the war once every sixty years, and it is a castle of demons.

The castle is shrouded in multiple layers of illusions and magic enchantments. It will never be revealed, except in the most fortuitous circumstances. It's a bizarre space. Those who know that this castle exists call this dense forest the Einzbelen Forest.

At that time, the Holy Grail War was being held in Fuyuki City. The patriarch of the Ainzbelen family, Yubstakuhayd, felt that it was inappropriate to set up a stronghold in the direct territory of the Tosaka family, the nemesis. So he made full use of the family's financial resources. Bought out the place of the spirit vein closest to Fuyuki City and used it as the base of the Ainzbelen family. It was the eve of the Third Holy Grail War, which coincided with the period of tension just before the outbreak of World War II.

This vast primeval forest is shrouded in enchantments and completely isolated from the outside world, and the Einzberen family has transferred all their original castle to this forest. This shows that the Einzbelen family's huge wealth and dedication to chasing the Holy Grail are extraordinary. At that time, the Tosaka family negotiated for the purchase of land in Fuyuki and toiled for covert work in the area, which was only a laughable move compared to the Einzberen family.

Last night, after the Battle of Warehouse Street, Saber's master Kiritsugu Emiya and others attacked Kenneth, the master of the lancer. even encountered Yan Feng Qili, and another fierce battle was fought.

When Kiritsugu and his assistant Maiya Kuyu arrived at the castle, it was almost noon. However, as soon as they arrived at the castle, they received a summons from the Templar Church in Fuyuki City, and they were busy with all kinds of chores non-stop.

When he was done with that, the night fell again, but Emiya Kiritsugu and Kuyu Maiya didn't show the slightest tiredness, as if they didn't need to rest.

Right now. Kiritsugu, Maiya, Alice Phil, and Saber are discussing the next battle plan in the conference room prepared by the maids. The venue where the meeting was held was impeccable, with everything from the table legs to the teacups spotless, and the vases filled with vibrant flowers. It is impossible to imagine that this place has not been inhabited for sixty years.

It's not so much a matter of deliberation as it is of following Kiritsu's arrangement.

The atmosphere in the conference room was very dreary.

There are two reasons why the air becomes heavy.

One is that Saber resolutely refuses to take a position on Kiritsu. Saber's attitude is not new. It's just that it becomes more obvious after arriving at the castle of Einzberen.

The second is that Kiritsugu has neither human ethics nor pride as a magician, and he is just a hunting tool deduced according to the formula of the jungle.

"Master, how despicable do you want to be, this person?!"

Saber shouted angrily. Alice Phil also felt a dull pain in her heart. Saber's indignation now, unlike the anger he had generated last night's mockery from Rider and Caster's loud words, was in a sense much more intense.

"Lord Emiya Kiritsugu. You're insulting the Heroic Spirit. I joined this war to avoid a river of bloodshed. Fight for the Holy Grail. Don't shed blood needlessly, minimize the sacrifice, one person bears the mission of destiny instead of thousands of troops, and this competition here is what we should do. Why don't you leave the responsibility for going to war to me? It was the same last night when it attacked Lancer's master. One wrong step leads to tragedy. I've made an appointment with Lancer to fight again! You don't have to resort to such despicable means! Or is it Kiritsugu-sama, do you not trust me as a servant? ”

Kiritsugu did not answer. He remained coldly silent, as if Saber's fierce words were just innocuous words. Kiritsugu's mask-like indifferent expression disgusted Alice Field.

That man was not the husband she knew.

She did know that Emiya Kiritsugu had a dual personality. She realizes that Kiritsugu has injected all his affection into his wife and daughter, and on the other hand, he has hidden the scars of the past in his heart. What kind of life Kiritsugu lived before joining the Einzberen family is something that Alice Phil also knows. But is this the decisive factor that separates the two of them?

And, what prompted Alice Phil to realize this was the woman in black who was present at the meeting. The woman remained silent, silently entrusting her one qiē to Kiritsugu. That woman was another reason for Alice Field's melancholy.

This isn't the first time I've seen Maiya Kuyu. I've seen Maiya Kuyu a few times in the castle of Einzberen. During the nine years that Kiritsugu retired, it was Kuyu Maiya who was in charge of all the affairs of Kiritsugu outside.

A woman who acts together with Kiritsugu before she met Alice Phil. During this meeting, there was not a trace of doubt about Kiritsugu's remarks, and he remained silent. I'm afraid that for Maiya, the current Kiritsugu is the Emiya Kiritsugu she knows.

Saber trembled with anger, and Alice Fell had a lot of thoughts in her heart. For a moment, both of them fell silent. Kiritsugu saw this silence as a signal to end the meeting.

Alice Field, who doesn't know how to comfort Saber, comes to persuade her husband, only to find that her husband has been pushed to the limit by self-contradiction. Kiritsugu, who usually wears a cold mask, removes a qiē disguise in front of him, revealing the softest part.

He cried

Emiya Kiritsugu, is neither a hero nor a samurai, but a killer. He didn't have the courage and arrogance to compete with others with his life. He's a coward. So his goal is to be careful and secure the right to victory and survival with minimal risk. For hunters, the biggest nightmare is being the prey of others.

But despite this, if it was Kiritsugu nine years ago, he would definitely not even frown, and he would have calmed down and concentrated on thinking about the best countermeasures. This is the great thing about Kiritsugu when there is no lover to lose. But now that Kiritsugu, who is afraid of losing his lover, is facing the battle again, the fear of losing his beloved has become his fatal weakness.

Alice Phil could only hug her husband and pray. It doesn't matter if the prayer is useful or not, as long as you can hug your husband for one more second.

Suddenly, a roar rang in her ears. Not only that, but the night-tearing roar also took a huge toll on her magic circuit, and the dizziness almost brought Alice Phil to the ground, but fortunately she was supported by Kiritsu.

The roar came from close thunder, and the ensuing blast of mana meant that the barrier in the forest outside the city had been attacked. Although the enchantment is not something that is so easy to destroy, the spell has been destroyed.

"What's going on with a head-on breakthrough?"

Her husband, who had whispered in her ear, calmly regained the firmness and coldness to which she could not get accustomed.

Kiritsugu only saw his wife's expression and sensed that something was happening. Alice Fell nodded silently and left her husband's embrace. The grim face of the magician's assassin resurfaced before her eyes.

"Luckily it arrived before Maiya left, and now we can meet the head-on, Ellie!"

"What's going on, Alice Field."

Saber was also attracted by the violent thunder, and hurriedly appeared in front of Alice Phil and Emiya Kiritsugu.

"It's nothing, it's just that I didn't expect such a mess of guests to visit."

"The thunder just now, and this unscrupulous tactic, the other party should be a rider."

"I think so."

Alice Fell recalls the power of the Noble Phantasm "Kamui Wheel" that she witnessed in Warehouse Street yesterday. The Sacred Cow Chariot Entangled in Thunder and Lightning, the kind of Treasure of the Enemy, once unleashed its full power, could easily destroy the enchantment array set up in the forest.

"I'll go out and greet you, and you stay with the master."

Alice Phil nodded. With Emiya Kiritsugu's tactics, she will definitely not show her face lightly, so she must prepare a crystal ball that can look into the distance to cast a "clairvoyant" magic for Kiritsugu to observe the enemy. (To be continued......)