Chapter 49: A Young Cherry Enters the Embrace

1989, Fuyuki City.

The Head of Household of the Matou family, one of the two greatest Magic families belonging to this city.

Matou Zouken's mood today seemed quite good.

In this city, a Magic Ritual unknown to ordinary people is held every sixty years.

Seven pairs of Masters and Servants fight each other, using the defeated as sacrifices to ultimately summon the legendary Holy Grail.

Of course, it is merely a ritual system constructed by mages; the thing summoned could naturally not be the Holy Relic of that Holy Son.

However, its functionality is in no way inferior to the legend; although it is a magical Holy Grail, it is also a wish-granting machine capable of realizing any wish.

Calculating it, the Fourth Holy Grail War seems to be approaching.

There is probably less than a year left until it officially begins.

However, regarding this Fourth Holy Grail War, Matou Zouken no longer holds any hope.

The Matou family, or rather the Zolgen family, entered Fuyuki City as outsiders.

But Magic is closely related to one's living environment; after hundreds of years of evolution, the phenomenon of incompatibility finally appeared in this generation.

The family's magic factors began to regress.

But this is also a matter of course.

After all, at the beginning, no one could have anticipated that in these hundreds of years, the Holy Grail Ritual had never once been completed in any true sense.

Having consumed such a long time, even the mage bloodline was nearing the point of being severed.

It even reached the point where, in the generation after Matou Zouken's son, the Magic Circuits were blocked from birth, making it impossible to become a mage at all.

Consequently, for this Fourth Holy Grail War, the Matou family could not produce a new pawn and naturally could not participate.

However, unexpectedly, the Tohsaka family—also a Magic family and one of the three founding Master families of the Holy Grail Ritual—produced quite good successors.

Both of Tohsaka Tokiomi's daughters were mages with excellent aptitude, but the Tohsaka family's Magic Crest could only be inherited by one person.

Therefore, in order not to waste his daughter's aptitude, and with the Matou family's bloodline coincidentally severed, Tohsaka Tokiomi had one of his daughters, Tohsaka Sakura, adopted by Matou Zouken.

No, she should be called Matou Sakura now.

"Yongren's descendants have produced quite good successors. At least the bloodline is becoming more prosperous with each generation."

"But sometimes being too excellent is not a good thing, don't you agree, Sakura?"

The old man, whose appearance had twisted into something grotesque, looked the little girl beside him up and down, a look of satisfaction appearing in the depths of his eyes.

Because of the laws of this world, mystery attracts mystery, and Sakura, with her overly excellent aptitude, could never escape the fate of mystery.

However, Sakura, still just a little girl, naturally could not understand these things.

She could only follow fearfully behind Matou Zouken; after all, she had already been abandoned by her own father and mother.

"Hehehe~ No need to be afraid, Sakura. From today on, you are my granddaughter. I believe you will like your new name, Matou Sakura. It sounds much more pleasant than Tohsaka Sakura."

"However, before that, I think we still need to perform a small ritual."

Matou Zouken let out a strange laugh and pulled Sakura toward the depths of the Matou residence.

Hearing this, Matou Sakura's small body could not help but tremble; she subconsciously shrank back, but due to her personality, combined with the intense unease and fear in her heart, she forcibly stopped her movements and stood in place with her head lowered.

But how could Matou Zouken care about Sakura's thoughts, under the influence of his powerful hand that was even gripping Sakura painfully?

In the end, Sakura still finished walking this distance.

It was just that Matou Zouken's rough attitude made Sakura feel even more uneasy.

"Gran... Grandfather, where are we going?"

"We're here, Sakura. No need to be afraid."

Matou Zouken comforted her in a rather sinister tone, though it would not have much effect, only making Sakura even more terrified.

And after seeing the scene below the steps, the girl's eyes widened instantly, and fear spilled out uncontrollably.

Even without being explicitly told, anyone would foresee what was about to happen just by seeing the scene below.

Those were thousands upon thousands of insects.

A pool piled up with insects of all kinds—twisting, crawling, wriggling—that any human would find physically and mentally unacceptable.

Disgusting?

That had already exceeded the simple boundary of being disgusting.

"Alright, Sakura, go down."

"Eh?"

Hearing Matou Zouken's command, Sakura was stunned for a moment; perhaps because she was too flustered, or perhaps because of Matou Zouken's small movement.

Just in the small motion of turning her body, Sakura accidentally lost her footing and fell down.

And below was the terrifying swarm of insects.

And just as Sakura was about to hit the ground, a golden figure suddenly appeared.

With a bewildered expression, he caught the little girl who had fallen.

Sakura raised her head, looked at the person holding her, and grabbed his collar tightly, unwilling to let go.

"Bro... Brother, can you not throw me down?"

Sakura gently bit her lip, terrified that even this last hope would abandon her.

Afraid of becoming a useless object and being thrown down into the swarm of Imprint Worms.

"Rest assured, I will not abandon you."

"So, where exactly have I been transported to this time?"

Su Nian was also somewhat bewildered as he held the little girl he had caught, gently patting her back to comfort her.

"Huh? What is this filthy thing!"

Even Su Nian was thoroughly disgusted by those Imprint Worms that were wriggling, crawling, twisting, and even shaped like some indescribable things.

Gently stomping his foot, sacred flames rose from beside Su Nian's feet in an instant.

All the filth around him, such as insects and other existences that caused physiological discomfort, were all burned to nothing.

"Old bug?"

The disgusting crests, the frightened little girl, and the old thing leaning on a cane to the side, radiating an aura that made one want to vomit.

Even though Su Nian was not some "Type-Moon fan," he realized which world he had arrived in.

"I wonder what business you have holding my granddaughter, sir?"

Matou Zouken looked at Su Nian and retreated a few steps without changing his expression.

Just from looking directly at the flames from a moment ago, he felt as if his soul were being scorched.

Every single bug in his body was warning him to run, to run away, as if the moment Su Nian cast his gaze over.

They would be burned to nothing.

"As a Servant to a Master, isn't it common sense to protect one's Master?"

Su Nian comforted Sakura while nonchalantly setting up a Barrier.

(End of chapter)