Chapter 162: The Contaminated Greater Grail

After Li Mo finished his greeting, no one responded. He noticed the hostility in Saber and Archer's eyes. Only Medusa's attitude was slightly better; she was sitting there, sipping a cup of tea. 

"Was my greeting not appropriate? Well then, good morning, everyone? There's no need to look at me with such hostility. Look, I even brought a friend. Ta-da!" 

Li Mo stepped aside, revealing a blue-haired boy with a seaweed-like hairstyle standing behind him. However, the boy's expression was clearly fearful, his shoulders hunched together. 

"Shinji?!" Shirou Emiya spoke up. 

He had known since last night that Shinji Matou was with Li Mo. But based on Sakura Matou's explanation, he hadn't acted rashly. Reckless actions might have endangered Shinji. Besides, the facts had already proven that Sakura was right. 

Shinji was standing safely in front of them now, wasn't he? 

"Sh-Shirou." 

Seeing a room full of familiar faces, Shinji Matou managed to muster some courage. He cautiously glanced at Li Mo's expression. 

"I brought you here to set you free, didn't I? Hmm... I can already smell the food. Can we have breakfast? I've been talking to Shinji-kun all morning and haven't eaten yet. Ms. Koyanskaya, what are you doing?" Li Mo said. 

Shinji Matou quickly moved to join Shirou and the others, as if trying to distance himself from Li Mo, who he saw as a dangerous figure. 

At the same time, everyone noticed that another Servant had appeared beside Sakura Matou. Koyanskaya was helping Sakura prepare breakfast. 

"Please, come in." 

"Thank you, Shirou Emiya." 

Li Mo casually entered the room and found a seat. A peculiar situation unfolded: he sat on one side, while everyone else gathered on the opposite side, their gazes fixed on him. 

Medusa got up and prepared a cup of tea for Li Mo. Now, everyone sitting at the table had a cup of hot tea in front of them. 

Holding his tea, Li Mo said, "I'm just here as promised, maybe a little early, just to have some breakfast. Why so tense? Look, I didn't even bring Caster with me." 

Medea was currently in the cavern conducting research. A significant portion of the funds Li Mo had obtained from the Oil King had been spent on purchasing the equipment Medea needed. As for the living expenses of the children in the villa and Li Mo himself, those were relatively minor expenses. 

Li Mo's candid attitude made Shirou Emiya relax a bit. Although their first impression of each other hadn't been great, during their subsequent interactions, Shirou didn't feel that Li Mo was a ruthless, uncommunicative person. 

Rin Tohsaka remained vigilant. No matter what, Li Mo was a Master with two Servants, making him a formidable competitor. Even a powerful Servant would be at a disadvantage when outnumbered. 

However, the current situation wasn't suitable for conflict. The Master himself seemed to possess combat abilities on par with a Servant, and with the ability to summon Caster using Command Spells... at best, it would be a three-on-three situation. Moreover, they had two ordinary humans to protect. 

Why is there a Master who can fight Servants one-on-one?! 

Last night, Sakura Matou had mentioned the brief exchange between Li Mo and Medusa. 

Rin spoke up, "Alright, then what is your purpose for coming here, Li-kun? To form an alliance with us and eliminate the other competitors first?" 

"That kind of thing... no rush. Let's talk about something else first. For example, the matter of the Matou family." 

"You're willing to discuss that?" 

The Matou residence had been reduced to rubble, and Zouken Matou was dead. All of this had been done by Li Mo. Rin couldn't believe that the perpetrator was willing to bring up the topic. 

"Why not? Let's chat over breakfast. Look, our dear Saber's mind has already flown to the kitchen. Well, Britain has always been a culinary wasteland, even to this day." 

Li Mo teased. Nowadays, when people think of America, they think of various jokes about France. But when it comes to Britain, those familiar with history see it as a meddler. Those less familiar know that British cuisine is practically nonexistent. 

—Stargazy pie is watching you. 

"You know Saber's true name?!" Rin's eyes sharpened. Last night, the three of them had exchanged information about their Servants' true names. Of course, since her Archer had amnesia, they couldn't exchange Noble Phantasm details, but they had shared attributes. 

Saber was King Arthur, a figure of immense significance in mysticism and widely known. However, the common perception was that King Arthur was male, so Saber's female identity was a perfect disguise. 

Li Mo said, "Artoria Pendragon. She's so famous, how could I not know? Although there's also Jeanne d'Arc of France and Nero, who share her face. The former is usually a Ruler-class Servant, while the latter can also be summoned as a Saber, but her personality is completely different. 

Most importantly... 

She participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War." 

Li Mo was well-versed in the details of King Arthur. The scene of Shirou Emiya summoning Artoria under the moonlight was iconic. 

"Huh? Saber participated in the last Holy Grail War?" 

"Yes." Artoria nodded quietly. "In the last Holy Grail War, you weren't there." 

"Of course I wasn't. I wasn't even in Japan at the time. But follow-up investigations are possible, right? For example, a few years ago, the Lord of the Astrology Department at the Clock Tower commissioned magi to investigate the Greater Grail. It's funny, really. The three founding families know less about the Greater Grail than a Lord from the distant Clock Tower." 

Li Mo spoke casually. The day before he arrived in the Fate world, Li Mo had crammed all the related anime and worldviews, including *The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II*. Gen Urobuchi had put a lot of effort into building the foundation of the Type-Moon world. 

At this point, Sakura Matou finished preparing breakfast. Whether out of habit or because she had added more, there was plenty of food. 

"A Lord from the Clock Tower investigated the Greater Grail?" Rin asked. 

A Lord was at the pinnacle of the Clock Tower's hierarchy. For Rin, they were distant figures. But what concerned her was that magi had come to investigate the Greater Grail, and she had known nothing about it? 

Seriously, the Tohsaka family was the overseer of Fuyuki City's leyline. Why didn't she know anything about this? Did they just come and go as they pleased? 

Unaware of Rin's inner thoughts, Li Mo continued, "Fortunately, the Lord's investigation was very thorough. Otherwise, in this Holy Grail War, your opponent would have been a Lord. 

And the result of the investigation was that the Greater Grail has been corrupted and has lost its function as a wish-granting device." 

His words were light, but the topic was heavy.