Chapter 61: The Castle
Tiles fell to the ground, and Weber swallowed hard. Although the man on the rooftop was his enemy, Weber couldn't help but think that he wanted to become someone like that—someone whose every word and action exuded an overwhelming aura of authority, someone who meant what he said.
Setting aside Weber's thoughts, the King of Conquerors beside him was actually inclined to agree with Su Xiao's proposal. The two sides appeared to be at a standoff, but that wasn't the case. His Master was in mortal danger at any moment. Su Xiao's terrifying speed—he had witnessed it once. At that speed, even if he summoned the King's Army, he couldn't guarantee his Master's life.
"Kid, do you trust me? Do you trust me, the King of Conquerors, Iskandar?"
The King of Conquerors stared intently at Weber. Weber gently touched the Command Seals on the back of his hand—this was his only means of controlling the King of Conquerors.
"I... trust you."
"Hahaha."
The King of Conquerors threw his head back and laughed, a hearty, bold laugh.
"Berserker, we can expend three Command Seals. But what guarantee do you offer that after we use them, you won't suddenly attack and kill us?"
The King of Conquerors was being very thorough. If Weber used all three Command Seals and Su Xiao struck then, they would have lost everything.
"You have no choice. Like I said before, you've already lost, King of Conquerors."
Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash, making his stance clear.
"Kid, use the Command Seals. Like he said, we have no choice."
"But..."
Weber hesitated.
"Stop wasting time. You have twenty seconds to decide. If you don't agree, I'll chop you up."
Su Xiao suddenly spoke, startling the 'Princess' Weber into a tremble.
"F-Fine."
Weber raised his arm.
"By the power of the Command Seal, Alexander the Great, Iskandar, you are forbidden from patting my shoulder again."
"By the power of the Command Seal, Alexander the Great, Iskandar, you shall achieve victory in the Holy Grail War."
"By the power of the Command Seal, Alexander the Great, Iskandar, you shall..."
Weber used the first two Command Seals smoothly enough, but he stumbled on the third. He really couldn't think of what to say.
"You shall... survive this Holy Grail War!"
The three Command Seals were consumed. Weber's shoulders drooped, as if he had used up all his strength.
"That should be enough, right? Damn it, why are there such strange requests?"
Weber looked up at Su Xiao, but the rooftop was now empty.
"He's gone?"
"Yeah. The moment you lowered your head."
"Good."
Weber smiled, relieved to have sent that killing god away.
"But... kid."
The King of Conquerors looked up.
"What is it?"
"What about this roof?"
"Huh?"
Weber stared blankly at the mess of a roof. A broken tile slid off and fell.
...
Su Xiao leaped between buildings. There were still two Masters left to deal with. He no longer needed to search for their locations specifically; he could just use the tracking function.
After a few minutes of leaping across rooftops, Su Xiao stopped. Before long, Bubu Wang caught up with him.
"Initiate large-scale detection."
[Large-Scale Detection (Active) has been activated.]
[Randomly detecting Masters holding Command Seals...]
[Remaining Masters holding Command Seals: 2. Randomly selecting...]
[Detection successful. Emiya Kiritsugu's location has been detected. Real-time coordinates have been sent to the Hunter's Reincarnation Paradise mark. Remaining tracking time: 9 minutes 59 seconds.]
Light flickered before Su Xiao's eyes, and a semi-transparent screen appeared. The screen displayed a map of a 100,000 square kilometer area with Su Xiao as the center point. Fuyuki City was just a small part of it.
On the map, a red dot was flashing, roughly located in the southwest corner of Fuyuki City.
Su Xiao zoomed in on the map, and the red dot's position became clearer.
"To be here... truly surprising."
Earlier, Su Xiao had assumed Emiya Kiritsugu had fled far from Fuyuki City, hiding in some other city nearby.
It seemed that wasn't the case. Not only had Emiya Kiritsugu not left Fuyuki City, but he had actually stayed inside the Einzbern family's castle.
As one of the three great Magus families, the Einzbern family's castle was a landmark in Fuyuki City. This was because there was another castle in the world with over 95% similarity to this one, also belonging to the Einzbern family.
The Einzbern family had two castles. The original was in Germany, and the one in Fuyuki City was built as a replica of that German castle.
Moreover, the Einzbern castle was filled with traps and mechanisms. Simply approaching it was dangerous, let alone breaking in.
Following the map's directions, Su Xiao mounted Bubu Wang and headed for the castle where Emiya Kiritsugu was hiding.
...
In the southwest corner of Fuyuki City, a European-style castle stood. The castle wasn't very large, but its layout was reasonable. A few cherry blossom trees in the courtyard gave the imposing castle a touch of life.
A gentle breeze blew, rustling the cherry blossom trees in the courtyard. Pink petals drifted in the wind.
Several maids dressed like nuns were sweeping the petals in the courtyard. Their skin was fair and delicate, as if it might break at a touch. Each one was an impeccable beauty.
To be precise, these maids weren't human. They were homunculi created by the Einzbern family. Normally, they handled household chores and took care of the Einzbern family members' daily needs. But if an enemy invaded, they would take up arms and become formidable warriors.
"Iliza, after the courtyard is cleaned, we need to prepare lunch early. Today's lunch must be sumptuous."
"Mm."
"Is the ingredients fresh?"
"Very fresh. Delivered two hours ago."
"What about safety?"
"No problem. I tasted them myself."
"Good."
The maids divided their tasks. They were completely loyal to the Einzbern family. If an Einzbern family member gave an order, even if it meant death, they wouldn't hesitate for a moment.
As the maids chatted, a mechanical eye the size of a longan landed on top of the castle. The maid Iliza turned her head to look at the castle, but after observing for a long time, she found nothing unusual.
In the forest one kilometer from the castle, there was a towering ancient tree, dozens of meters tall. It was impossible to know how many years it had grown.
Beneath the ancient tree, a brown bear lay on the ground, blood oozing from its seven orifices. Its body twitched occasionally.
This brown bear wasn't an ordinary creature. It was a creature modified by alchemy. If this bear were killed, the castle one kilometer away would immediately receive a warning.
On the towering ancient tree, Su Xiao propped the Spider Empress on a branch. He was checking the magazine and the gun's condition.
Sneaking into the castle head-on wasn't a wise choice. Not only was the castle filled with traps, but just dealing with the homunculus maids and Saber would be difficult to break through.
Su Xiao chose to eliminate Emiya Kiritsugu by sniping. Although Emiya Kiritsugu was a magus, the Spider Empress could nearly kill a Servant. Sniping a Master would be even easier. If he landed one shot, Emiya Kiritsugu would burst open like a stepped-on tomato.
It sounded easy, but it wasn't.
First, Su Xiao needed to determine Emiya Kiritsugu's exact location inside the castle. The Apostle's Eye on top of the castle would handle that.
But that wasn't the main issue. The main issue was that Saber was also inside the castle. With Saber's A-rank Instinct ability, the moment the Apostle's Eye began scanning the castle, Saber would immediately sense it and take countermeasures.
Considering the severe incompatibility between Saber and Emiya Kiritsugu, they probably wouldn't be close to each other during non-combat periods. That meant the time from when Saber sensed Su Xiao's hostility to when she reached Emiya Kiritsugu's side would be about 2 to 7 seconds.
Therefore, Su Xiao had to lock onto Emiya Kiritsugu with his scope the instant the Apostle's Eye detected him. He would have roughly 3 to 7 shots.