Chapter 4: Raising Your Head Is Your Lie, Arguing Is Your Purpose!

After Broly left the Matou Family, the headless corpses in the Insect Warehouse gathered some worms at the head position again, forming a new old man's head.

"What a dangerous brat. This kind of power is impossible for a normal human to possess, yet I can't sense any magic power or breath from him. That guy should be a Heroic Spirit."

This is the only explanation, and Zouken Matou, precisely because he understood the gap between himself and a Heroic Spirit, played dead right after his head was blown up. After all, his main body was in this Insect Warehouse, and he was truly afraid that fighting would affect his main body.

"The Matou Family participating in this Holy Grail War is no secret, but who exactly is the person behind the attacker? Why take Sakura from the Matou Family? Do they think they can use that child to threaten the Matou Family, or are they preparing to use her to threaten the Tohsaka Family?"

Zouken Matou muttered to himself as he walked out of the basement, paced along the corridor outside, and abruptly stopped at a window near a corner.

"Perhaps this attacker was also sent by Tohsaka Tokiomi, and the reason is that Tohsaka Tokiomi discovered the Matou Family's magecraft had changed from water attribute to worm attribute. Because he didn't want to abandon his covenant with the Matou Family, he used this trick to take back his own daughter from the Matou Family."

Reflected on the glass window was the old man's ghoul-like appearance, but his sharp eyes narrowed during the process of muttering.

"No, with Tohsaka Tokiomi's personality, obsessed with the Tohsaka Family's rigid family precepts, he is not someone who would abandon the covenant in secret. And given his absolutely calm and competent demeanor as a mage, familial affection probably isn't enough to make that person do something that breaks principles. But this isn't certain either; humans are relatively complex emotional creatures. What if Tohsaka Tokiomi that brat..."

Speaking to this point, Zouken Matou stopped.

"I'm getting a bit senile too. This kind of thing ultimately needs to be tested, and things that can be clarified by testing—why guess randomly here?"

Zouken Matou shook his head and continued walking forward.

"Eh, Grandpa, you're actually home?!"

Just as he reached the corner, he ran into his nominal grandson.

"Ah, no, now isn't the time to talk about that. Grandpa, Sakura was kidnapped by a dangerous guy. You go save her quickly."

【This foolish grandson has no talent as a mage, but has a child's innocence and kindness. I don't know what such innocence will be twisted into once he gradually grows up and realizes he's a talentless waste. Just thinking about it makes me look forward to it...

Hmm? I, an elder of the Matou Family, actually look forward to the twisting and pain of my descendants. It seems my soul is also crumbling. Holy Grail, Holy Grail, I must obtain it quickly. Before I completely forget my existence as a mage, but before that...】

"Shinji, did you finish your vacation homework?"

"Uh, not finished yet, Grandpa. Now isn't the time to talk about that!"

Young Shinji was a bit anxious, but still answered his grandpa's question.

"Homework not finished, then what nonsense are you telling me here?"

The eerie smile on Zouken Matou's face disappeared, and he directly scolded Young Shinji.

"Get back to your room and do your vacation homework."

"But Sakura..."

"She's just your stepsister. Mind your own business regarding her."

Young Shinji felt wronged, but didn't dare defy his grandpa's will, and could only return to his own room.

In Fuyuki City, where the Fourth Holy Grail War had already begun, a conflict was occurring in a restaurant specializing in rice bowls.

The situation was this: Broly was eating his katsudon just fine, but this rice bowl restaurant suddenly stopped serving him more rice.

"Why aren't you serving more rice?"

"I'd like to keep serving you, but you two kids ordered so much stuff. Do you really have money to pay the bill?"

The restaurant boss said with his arms crossed, speaking words of doubt. The current social economy wasn't too good, and not long ago someone came to his restaurant to eat a free meal and run out on the bill.

Today, two brats who hadn't even grown hair yet and were no taller than his thigh, after entering the restaurant, ordered a lot. Asked about adults, they said an adult would come soon.

As a result, only a small half of the food had been served, and they still hadn't seen the adults the two brats mentioned. The restaurant boss couldn't help but suspect these were guys coming to eat for free at his restaurant again. With more than half the food still not on the table, he came out to ask about the situation.

"Money?"

Broly was stunned for a moment, then the interpretation of money surfaced in his mind. It was the usual transaction item for buying food.

Broly understood immediately. That should be this world's Bay Blood, but he didn't have this kind of thing, so he couldn't help but look at Young Sakura.

"Excuse me, how much money do we need for what we ordered?"

The girl asked very politely.

"Including those rice bowls not yet served, you need to pay a total of..."

The restaurant boss named a number. Young Sakura took out the pocket money Matou Shinji gave her and counted it carefully, only to find the coins in her hand were only enough to pay a small fraction.

The restaurant boss also saw the girl's predicament, and added another sentence: "If you only count what you've already eaten, you just need to make up two thousand yen for me."

Young Sakura: "......"

This was the disadvantage of not yet attending elementary school—not even knowing the simplest addition and subtraction. The meal money obviously exceeded the budget.

Young Sakura looked at Broly, seemingly wanting to seek help from this slightly older boy, but Broly looked at her somewhat innocently.

If Young Sakura could be considered a child of civilized society, then Broly was a pure wild child from a barren planet in the Dragon Ball World.

His father Paragus only taught him combat knowledge, not arithmetic. And the information that occasionally surfaced in his mind also didn't teach him this.

So Broly was also a rice bucket who only cared about ordering rice and didn't care about calculating.

At this moment, he, who didn't have this world's Bay Blood (money), couldn't help the girl in front of him at all.

Their gazes met. Broly's innocent and pure eyes made Young Sakura realize one thing: that this tailed older brother who saved her from the Insect Warehouse seemed to be a poor ghost who couldn't even afford a normal meal. She could only look at the restaurant boss: "I don't have any more money."

"Short on money? You can find an adult to come pay the bill."

The restaurant boss said.

Young Sakura fell silent a bit. When she left the Matou Family, she was thinking she could finally return to her true home.

Only after following Broly into this restaurant to eat rice did she suddenly remember what her father said when he sent her away.

"Sakura, from today on, your surname will change to Matou. You will no longer be a child of the Tohsaka Family. Neither I nor your mother will have any relation to you.

From now on, if you face Rin again, don't treat her as your sister. You will be fellow practitioners on the mage path, and also opponents.

If one day you sisters face a situation where you must fight each other, please don't feel sad. On the contrary, you should feel happy. Happy that your magecraft talent has not been wasted..."

The father who had already spoken words of severing ties—did that home now really still have a place for her?

Young Sakura didn't know, but she knew that if she couldn't pay the meal fee because she had no money, and this restaurant boss found her biological father Tohsaka Tokiomi, that would definitely make that elegant gentleman-like father feel embarrassed and awkward.

"I have no home. My dad and mom don't want me anymore."

Young Sakura said extremely dejectedly.

Restaurant Boss: "???"

"So you're trying to eat a free meal?"

His complexion was somewhat displeased, and his tone turned unfriendly.

"I can help do work to pay off the debt."

Young Sakura hurriedly said; her magecraft aptitude had given her more education, including the magecraft covenant and transactions.

This was also why, when she was sent to the Matou Family, she was naive but not rowdy; overall, she was a sensible child.

And her sensibility made her want to use labor to pay the shortfall in the meal cost, only she overlooked that she was too young.

"Are you joking with me? What can a little brat like you do?"

The restaurant boss obviously did not accept this proposal, and seeing the two children's clothing did not look like poor children or street urchins, he only thought they were children who had thrown a tantrum at home, insisting the girl call home to get her parents.

"Reminder: Matou Sakura's Happiness Value is decreasing. Host, please pay attention to her condition."

In his consciousness, the Crystal Palace's reminder surfaced again, and Broly detected the girl's reluctance. "Hey, don't make things hard for her."

He said directly.

Hearing this, the restaurant boss looked over and asked: "So you have money to pay?"

"I don't."

Broly shook his head decisively; if he had this world's Bay Blood, he would have given it already.

"Then can you call home and ask your parents for money?"

The restaurant boss asked again.

"I don't know who my mother is, but my father is not in this world."

Broly shook his head again in reply.

"You have no money and can't call home for money—are you messing with me?"

It looked more and more like eating a free meal, making the restaurant boss even angrier.

"Do you believe I'll call the police and have you two brats who eat without paying thrown in?"

The restaurant boss threatened, not noticing that the child beside him was looking at him with eyes gradually turning dangerous.

Broly indeed did not have this world's Bay Blood, but in the past he had no concept of using Bay Blood to exchange for food.

When he was younger, he and his father Paragus obtained food on Nappa Star by hunting Vampa Spiders themselves in the most primitive way.

In other words, killing the restaurant boss who owned the food before him was the simplest way for Broly to solve the problem of not having enough Bay Blood to trade for food.

However, obtaining food without a transaction might damage the ecological balance, but before entering this restaurant smelling the aroma, Broly had seen many tailless creatures on the road.

Following the past practice of not trading with Bay Blood but simply hunting Vampa Spiders directly for food, which had not destroyed Nappa Star's ecological balance, thinking it over, killing just one tailless creature should be no problem.

Moreover...

Broly looked toward the back kitchen with curtains; food aroma constantly came from that place, and he thought that once he dealt with the food owner beside him, the food inside would belong to him.

Broly grew more and more tempted, and just as he clenched his small fist, preparing to strike and hunt the restaurant boss...

"Bang~"

At the neighboring table, the sound of a table being smashed came a step earlier.

"This is truly unbearable to listen to, Boss. You're an adult, after all—how can you bully two little children?"

"No, sir, who are you, and what does this have to do with you?"

"I am Fujimura Taiga. This indeed has nothing to do with me, but I can't stand you, an adult, bullying two little children."

The one standing up to speak was an orange-haired girl with a single ponytail tied behind her head; she slapped the table with one hand and pointed at the restaurant boss with the other, speaking these words with a righteous appearance.

"How is this bullying? Is asking for payment bullying? It's their own fault they don't have enough money for the meal!"

The restaurant boss argued back.

"Yes, these two children don't have enough money for the meal, but don't they have their difficulties? Didn't you hear that just now?"

One doesn't know her mother or father—they've passed away; the other has no home and should have been abandoned by her own biological parents.

"Who knows? Children love to lie; if this is a lie they made up, they just want to refuse payment."

The restaurant boss's complexion was somewhat unnatural.

"I didn't lie."

Broly and Young Sakura immediately retorted, the two almost speaking these words in unison.

Fujimura Taiga nodded; she was willing to believe the two children.

"What if they're not lying?"

She asked the restaurant boss.

"I run a restaurant, not a welfare institution—am I supposed to lose money?"

The restaurant boss retorted; orphans should go to the welfare institute to beg for food—what's the meaning of eating for free at his restaurant?

"You shouldn't lose money, but your approach is detestable. Can't you speak gently? Facing a child this age, you actually said you'd call the police to take them away."

"Wasn't I just trying to scare them?"

The restaurant boss said somewhat wronged; nowadays, protection for minor children makes it almost impossible to jail two obviously young children over something as small as eating a free meal.

At most, the police would come, take the two children away for a lecture, then call their parents to pick them up—if these two children still had parents.

"Scare them?"

Fujimura Taiga raised her volume, stomping over with heavy steps, pointing at the restaurant boss's nose and beginning to lecture him.

"Do you know how much psychological harm such scaring can bring to children? If it makes them fear the police and no longer trust the police afterward, can you bear such a social responsibility accident? Children are like beautiful flowers, but in this society, there are always bad adults who want to harm the young..."

Near mealtime, people occasionally came into this restaurant; upon seeing the quarrel inside, they found this didn't seem like a place to eat, but watching the spectacle seemed fine.

Customers entering the restaurant, as long as they weren't in a hurry, all watched the spectacle at the restaurant entrance.

"Alright, alright, I was wrong, okay? I'll apologize to them, so stop talking."

The restaurant boss saw the customers crowded at the front door watching the show; if he continued to be dragged along by this girl with extremely high combat strength, his terrible reputation for bullying a helpless little kid would probably spread, and on top of that he'd be labeled as lacking social responsibility, a person without a shred of adult magnanimity, so he directly admitted defeat.

"Hmph, this was your fault to begin with; count this guy as sensible."

Fujimura Taiga let out a long exhale through her nose, looking just like a victorious general; the restaurant boss apologized to her and the two kids beside her for scaring them, chose to swallow the insult and accept the bill for this meal that hadn't even finished being served, with the only result being the change in the girl's hand.

*Slap~*

However, Fujimura Taiga walked over and slapped two thousand-yen bills in front of him.

"I'm not someone who bullies others with power either; I'll cover the meal money these two kids are short."

She said this.

"Alright, customer, you truly have a kind heart."

The restaurant boss switched to a smiling face, turning from the look of counting himself unlucky in his bad luck into enthusiasm for treating a customer.

"Speaking of which, customer, if you'd just told me directly you were willing to cover the meal money for these two kids, I wouldn't have argued with you."

"Haha, no thanks; after arguing a round with you, my mood is much better now."

Fujimura Taiga had recently been in a depressed mood from not getting along too pleasantly with her parents at home over the matter of dyeing her hair.

Borrowing this righteous argument, her mood instead obtained a very good release.

Restaurant boss: "..."

So you stood up for the sake of arguing, right, it must be like that, right?

But considering the other party paid the bill and didn't let him bear the loss, this extra provided emotional value would be free of charge.

"Welcome next time!"

(Chapter End)