Chapter 728: Hishiri Adashino

The Tohsaka family, managers of Fuyuki City, and the prestigious Edelfelt family from Finland are relatives. Tohsaka Rin and Luviagelita are distant cousins.

This was a secret Shinji had recently learned from Kariya, a secret hidden by the Edelfelt family.

The Tohsaka and Edelfelt families had no connection until the Third Holy Grail War in the 1930s. This was the largest Holy Grail War in Fuyuki's history, a divergence point in world lines, and a turning point for everything.

The Edelfelt family, known as treasure hunters, somehow got wind of the Holy Grail and intended to claim it. They sent the family's heirs, twin sisters of that generation.

As a result, the sisters turned against each other, the younger sister died in battle, and the elder returned alone to Finland—or so the Edelfelt family unilaterally announced. In truth, the younger sister didn't die. She remained in Fuyuki after the war, becoming the wife of the then-head of the Tohsaka family—that is, Tohsaka Tokiomi's mother and Tohsaka Rin's grandmother.

This explains why the founder of the Tohsaka family, Tohsaka Nagato, had black hair and eyes, while Tokiomi and Rin have azure eyes. Moreover, Rin once mentioned she was one-quarter Western, and Tokiomi had indicated they were distant relatives of the Edelfelt family.

The reason for claiming the younger sister died in battle is unknown. Perhaps the elder sister lied to the family for her sister's happiness, or maybe she was thoroughly disappointed in her sister and used this method to sever ties.

Shinji leans towards the former, because both the Tohsaka and Edelfelt families have sister complexes. Rin's feelings for Sakura are undeniable, and Luvia is also good to her sister. Moreover, in a parallel world, after the Matou family's decline, Sakura was eventually sent to the Edelfelt family, becoming twins partnered with Luvia, likely due to that sisterly bond.

To this, Shinji can only say, birds of a feather flock together.

With Luvia in this state, there are two options: either let her vent and feel better or knock some sense into her.

Letting her feel better would mean Shinji wouldn't, so he had no choice but to apologize.

"Miss Luvia, please stop your magecraft immediately, or I'll have to retaliate."

The response was a super curse bullet the size of a head.

Faced with this instantaneously lethal attack, Shinji still showed no intention of dodging. He even said to Gray:

"Gray, watch carefully."

As he spoke, Shinji raised his right hand, fingers together in a knife-hand strike, and lightly swept it through the air.

With a boom of air, the curse bullet exploded. The negative curses and compressed mana it contained spread through the air, forming a temporary mist between them.

Luvia immediately took out a light green jewel, pouring out mana to manipulate the atmosphere.

Before she could disperse the mist, a black shadow had already passed through—it was Shinji.

"Call!"

Luvia decisively abandoned dispersing the mist and compressed all the mana she had poured out to form an air barrier, blocking Shinji's approach.

Shinji neither stopped nor changed direction, heading straight for the barrier. His hands, infused with mana, were like two iron hammers, brutally smashing through the barrier's obstruction. One more step and he would be right in front of Luvia—the consequences of such a human-shaped tyrannosaurus getting so close were easy to imagine.

This was the moment Luvia had been waiting for. When constructing the barrier, she had intentionally strengthened its physical defense. Although Shinji displayed tremendous power and speed, his forward momentum would inevitably be affected when tearing through the barrier—this was Luvia's chance.

The instant Shinji was affected by the recoil of the shattering barrier, Luvia made her move.

She casually tossed the jewel, now reduced to powder from mana depletion, into the air to attract everyone's attention. At the same time, she spread her arms, lowered her center of gravity, and crashed into Shinji's side just before he could take a step. Her two arms, seemingly delicate but sturdy, clamped around Shinji's waist like iron pincers.

"Don't underestimate the Treasure Hunters of the Edelfelt family!"

With a haughty voice, Luvia exerted force with both hands, about to flip Shinji head over heels—the signature move of the Lancashire-style,

However, Shinji's lower body stability was terrifyingly good. His two legs seemed rooted to the ground like trees.

"Miss Luvia, I mentioned that nickname, how could I not be prepared? You seem quite skilled in wrestling. I'm sorry, but so am I."

As he spoke, Shinji landed an elbow strike on Luvia's back. The force wasn't heavy, but it sent a numbing sensation through Luvia, involuntarily loosening her grip slightly.

Taking advantage of this gap, Shinji placed one hand on Luvia's shoulder and grabbed her belt with the other, lifting her and throwing her towards the second-floor viewing platform.

There stood the last guest, or rather, someone "other than a guest."

Pale fingers traced the English oak handrail, staring this way.

The woman wore glasses.

Her black hair was much longer than Luvia's, reaching her ankles like a black waterfall. She wore an ethnic costume that matched her long hair.

The woman raised her long sleeves, decorated with vibrant flowers, like two colorful clouds, and gracefully caught the falling Luvia.

"Hey~ A Kaga Yuzen kimono, I didn't expect to see clothing from home here," said Jiroubou, of Japanese origin, while rubbing his chin and nodding to the black-haired woman in acknowledgment.

The woman set Luvia down with a dance-like movement and said to Shinji, "A beautiful strike."

"Excuse me, that was Mongolian Bökh," Shinji said, shaking his shoulders. He had originally intended to respond with the Pankration etiquette, but he wasn't Shinji now, he was Johnny Smith, so he had to make up a wrestling technique he knew of.

The woman pushed her glasses up expressionlessly. The butler who had greeted everyone at the main castle earlier had somehow already moved to the woman's side.

"I am Hishiri Adashinoi, appointed by the Department of Policies at the Clock Tower to serve as the estate administrator for the designated Geryon Ashborn," she said.

The magus stirred once again.

"...Hey hey, of all things, it's the Department of Policies?"

"...These unorthodox folks who've reversed means and ends."

Department of Policies—this was a term with special meaning for them. Except for oddballs like Shinji, no one wanted to be associated with that department. Even Luvia, the center of attention, set aside her pride in front of the Department of Policies.

Hishiri looked down at the magus below and took out a letter from her bosom.

This letter looked very similar to the invitations all the guests held—however, next to the Ashborn family seal on the envelope, there was also the seal of the Clock Tower's Department of Policies.

"Then—" Hishiri opened the envelope in front of everyone and announced:

"I hereby make public the last will of Geryon Ashborn."

"—Ask the name of the angel."

Hishiri's voice carried strange magic, making one almost see the image of a very neurotic old man half-reclining in bed. That was the former lord of the Castle Adra—Geryon Ashborn.

Using all his strength, the old man spoke his final words.

"Those who cannot answer the question shall be stripped by the angels."

As if it were a spell, the final incantation of the magus who had collected so many angels awakened this castle.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle.

From the floor, from the walls, from the ceiling, it seemed as if angels were floating out like bubbles. This illusion refused to dissipate.

In this scene between reality and illusion, the woman's and the old man's voices overlap, speaking the decisive words:

"The one who grasps my angels in their hand shall be the inheritor of the castle."

PS: There's no direct evidence that Rin's grandmother and Luvia's grandmother are sisters, but considering personality issues and a series of hints, this speculation is almost certainly correct.