Chapter 67 Night Talk in the Church

Kotomine Kirei fled all the way back to the Holy Church.

His left abdomen was bleeding because of the erosion of imaginary particles.

But he didn't dare to treat it. To be more precise, he didn't dare to use magic to treat it.

Once the magic aura was exposed... that young man might find him.

The fierce posture of the young man with golden eyes flashed through his mind, and Kirei felt a surge of regret in his heart.

He didn't expect that Sakutsuki would have such a strong desire to kill him. He even abandoned Emiya Kiritsugu who almost shot him and wanted to kill him. It was really a big mistake.

But why?

Even if he took the initiative to sacrifice Assassin to cover his retreat, Kotomine Kirei still didn't dare to relax. He returned to the sheltered church as quickly as possible, spilling blood along the way, and even had double vision in his eyes in the end.

"Kirei? What happened!"

A vague but familiar voice came into his ears, and the agent who lost too much blood could no longer support himself and fell to the ground and fell into a coma.

The moment before he fell into a coma, he felt something in his heart break.

That is, the contract.

————

After a brief commotion, the Holy Church fell into peace again.

Kotomine Kirei walked in the quiet corridor, his eyes calm, thinking about something.

The wound on his waist has completely healed. His mentor Tokiomi did not hesitate to use the precious gems in his collection, not only to heal the wound, but also to eliminate the loss caused by imaginary particles to the human body. Now Kotomine Kirei is undoubtedly in peak condition.

But from the perspective of the Holy Grail, the Master named "Kotomine Kirei" is in a dangerous situation.

Just now, with the joint confirmation of Kotomine Risei, the supervisor of the Holy Church, and Tosaka Tokiomi, the heir of the three great families and a participant in the Holy Grail War, they had to face a painful fact-the core of their early plan, the one-man intelligence network: Assassin, was just confirmed to have been eliminated.

The killer, Master Sakutsuki,

The so-called Holy Grail War is an intelligence war before the final battle. The absence of Assassin is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Tohsaka Tokiomi, which means that he has lost his greatest advantage and can only use the most basic familiars to find intelligence, which greatly reduces his efficiency.

Even so, this elegant man in a red suit did not vent his anger on others, and did not even pursue Kotomine Kirei's unauthorized actions. After a brief loss of composure, he suppressed the bad news in his heart, and comforted the "depressed" Kotomine Kirei, and kindly let him go back to his room to rest.

Such demeanor is worthy of the head of the Tohsaka family who inherited the family motto of "always maintaining elegance".

If it were an ordinary person, he would definitely prostrate himself in shame and gratitude, be conquered by the charm of this man, and go through fire and water without hesitation.

But Kotomine Kirei is not such a person. His concern for Tohsaka Tokiomi is not false, and his heart is as calm as dead water.

The priest in the robe stopped.

No, there was indeed.

His heart did have ripples at a certain moment.

But... that was the moment when his mentor lost his elegance when he learned of Assassin's death.

Kotomine Kirei realized his almost instinctive desire at that time.

He wanted to appreciate this kind of distressed expression more, appreciate this kind of pain that belongs to others.

! ! !

Reason finally returned belatedly. After realizing his thoughts, Kotomine Kirei's first reaction was not to admit it, but to lock it firmly in his heart, locked it in a place that even his memory could not reach.

"Lord..." He recited the Bible subconsciously, but such prayers were more hollow than the wind passing through the corridor.

But no matter what, with the help of the Lord, Kirei once again avoided his essence.

After the emptiness in his heart faded a little, the man who suppressed his thoughts sighed and pushed open the door of his room.

Suddenly, Kirei was trapped in an unnatural feeling, as if he had accidentally broken into someone else's room.

It wasn't that the smell or temperature was different, but the atmosphere had obviously changed. Kirei's room, which was originally very plain, was filled with a luxurious and elegant atmosphere, as if it had become a room in a palace.

The furnishings and lighting in the room were of course completely unchanged, it was simply because there was a man leisurely leaning on the bench.

"... Archer?"

The golden Heroic Spirit, dressed in a modern style, a fur-trimmed enamel leather jacket and leather pants, held a goblet and smiled secretly at Kotomine Kirei.

It was like a forbidden snake lurking in the Garden of Eden, spitting out its tongue.

————

Golden hair like blazing fire and eyes as red as rubies. That person was none other than Tōsaka Tokiomi's Servant - the Hero King Gilgamesh.

Since being summoned, this Heroic Spirit has been traveling around at will with his ability to act alone. Recently, he has even gone further to show his physical form, changed into "casual clothes", and swaggered on the street. Kirei had heard Tokiomi talk about this matter with a slightly complaining tone, but he had never expected that Gilgamesh would actually come to his room.

Archer didn't care at all about trespassing into someone else's room, and poured the red wine he had taken out of the cupboard into a glass and tasted it elegantly.

"Although there are not many, the treasures here are more complete than Tokiomi's wine cellar. What a terrible apprentice."

"..." Kirei could not judge the purpose of the other party's visit. He saw that the table was full of wine bottles. It seemed that he had taken out all the wine in the room and was tasting wine.

Others may find it surprising. Kirei has a strange quirk. Whenever he hears that there is top-quality wine somewhere, he will buy it first regardless of the circumstances.

Liquor is a profound world that seems endless the more you pay attention to quality. In this case, maybe there will be some kind of taste that can fill the hole in Kirei's heart. If such an encounter really happened, it wouldn't be bad to indulge in alcohol - the desperate monk once half-seriously thought about it.

But so far, his involvement in wine has never yielded any rewards, only more and more bottles of some luxury brands. Of course, he never thought about entertaining guests with these wines, let alone an uninvited guest. Even if the other party praised his wine, he would not want to entertain such a person.

"What's the matter with you?" Kirei asked patiently.

"It's nothing, I'm just interested in you." Archer's eyes looked at Kirei thoughtfully through the wine glass.

"How about it? Still taking orders from Tokiomi can't satisfy your soul?"

"... Now that things have happened, are you beginning to feel dissatisfied with the contract? Gilgamesh." Kirei did not answer Archer's question, but asked him back with a cold face.

Even if the opponent is the legendary King of Heroes, Kirei doesn't feel afraid at all. No matter what Tokiomi thinks personally, a servant is still a servant of the Master. No matter who this heroic spirit is, as long as he is Archer, he is just an existence subordinate to Tokiomi. Compared with myself, who is a direct disciple of Tokiomi, at most I have the same seniority position, so there is no need to be overly humble towards him.

Kirei's attitude did not make Archer feel dissatisfied. He just snorted and tasted the wine in the glass.

"It was Tokiomi who summoned me. This body can remain in the present world only because of Tokiomi's support. More importantly, he treated me as a minister, so it is not impossible for me to respond to him."

After saying these unexpected words, Gilgamesh's unusually blood-colored eyes revealed a bored look.

"But to be honest, I didn't expect him to be such a boring person. He has no meaning at all."

"...It's really surprising that a servant would say such a thing."

Kirei was too surprised, and the anger in his heart towards Archer's attitude, as well as the suspicion of not knowing the true purpose of his visit, had gradually subsided. Under this wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, Kirei almost allowed Archer to have a place in this room.

So they started talking.

Starting from Kotomine Kirei's mentor, Tokiomi Tosaka, they shook their red wine glasses and discussed the Holy Grail, magicians, the Holy Church... and finally even mentioned the "root" and the inside of the world.

Not only that, but looking at Archer who declared that "I will be satisfied as long as I enjoy this universe that belongs to my garden", Kotomine Kirei secretly sensed that some kind of fate was approaching.

In the past, Archer had countless opportunities to break into this place and talk to him, but this king did not do so.

So, why did the oldest hero king come to him only at this time, when Tohsaka Tokiomi controlled his actions with a command spell?

"I'm just interested in you." As if aware of Kotomine Kirei's question, Gilgamesh repeated his original words, drank the wine in the glass in his hand, and asked casually:

"Kirei, what about you? What is your wish for the Holy Grail?"

Hearing Archer ask this, Kirei felt for the first time that he didn't know how to answer.

"I-" Yes, this is the biggest problem. Why does the stigmata appear on Kotomine Kirei's right hand?

"I... don't have any special wishes that I want to realize..." Kirei's answer was a little confused. When Archer heard this, a strange light flashed in his red eyes. "

"This is impossible. Doesn't the Holy Grail only summon those who are qualified to receive it?"

"That should be true. But...I don't understand either. I don't have any ideals that I want to achieve, and I don't have any long-cherished aspirations that I should achieve. Why was I chosen to participate in this war."

"Is this kind of question so difficult?" Archer chuckled, as if mocking the sullen Kirei. "There is neither ideal nor long-cherished wish. So wouldn't it be enough to just pursue pleasure?

"How can this be done!" Kirei's tone subconsciously became impatient.

"Do you mean to say that I, who serve God, should pursue pleasure—contaminate myself in that kind of sinful depravity? Archer!"

The command spell system in FZ and FSN has always been a mystery, and I can't figure out the relationship between it. Let's just set it up so that "the command spell will not disappear after the servant contract is broken." Otherwise, Rin-chan will be in the ubw line. The situation is difficult to explain, and the reason why Emiya Kiritsugu killed Kenneth is no longer sufficient.