The Plundering of the Three Great Families

"This is...?"

The next morning, under the lead of Kariya, a group of three people passed through a row of quiet, closely-knit residences and arrived in front of an ancient, traditional Japanese-style building.

"Ah, just as you requested."

Kariya said, walking ahead.

"'Abandon the conspicuous Matou family and find a new base, but if you want to visit the Tohsaka or Matou families, you can just walk over'—aside from the land owned by the Fujimura group, this property is the most suitable. If that couple weren't in such a rush to return home, we wouldn't have gotten our hands on it so quickly."

"Let me see."

Sakatsuki wasn't particularly interested in the story of this house. In the future Holy Grail War, which would be based on covert battles, magical factors like the quality of leylines were the true advantage, what people referred to as geographical advantage.

"This house just so happens to be located at a leyline node."

Sakatsuki crouched and set down the little girl he had been holding.

The little girl with black hair rubbed her eyes, still half asleep.

"Mmm... Brother Sakugetsu?"

"Sakura, do you like this house?"

Sakatsuki asked gently.

Sakura shyly glanced at the house before quickly answering.

"Whatever brother and uncle decide is fine with me."

Her obedient demeanour was both endearing and heartbreaking.

Kariya and Sakatsuki exchanged a glance, smiled faintly, and then sighed deeply.

"No choice, let's settle here for now."

Sakatsuki lifted Sakura back into his arms and, under Kariya's envious gaze, pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"At worst, we'll refurbish the entire house."

"Of course."

The two men were completely unaware of the implications behind their words, as they brought their beloved "princess" into their new base.

This traditional Japanese-style building was still located in the deep mountains, right at the centre of the future battlefield, but it was far from the Matou and Tohsaka residences, like a peaceful heaven found amidst many undercurrents.

Although Sakatsuki's reasoning behind this choice was unclear, Kariya, was more than happy to be far away from the Matou family.

"Here, take this."

A brand new notebook flew in a perfect parabola, landing in Kariya's hands, who fumbled to catch it.

Kariya took the notebook and instinctively flipped through a few pages. His expression immediately changed.

"Hey! Sakatsuki, this is..."

"As you can see, I copied the magecraft notebook all night."

Sakatsuki, who was teasing Sakura making her giggle, casually waved his hand.

"It's not the worm magecraft you hate, but the Matou family's original magecraft magic, and the imaginary number magecraft that Sakura will need."

"..."

Kariya tightened his grip on the notebook. Without a doubt, the notebook worth only a few hundred yen contained priceless magical knowledge.

Although Kariya still harboured some aversion to magecraft, for the survival of the Matou family and Sakura's happiness, he would have to once again pick up the mystery he had abandoned.

"Soon, I will connect the leylines of this mansion with the Matou family."

Sakatsuki stood up after playing around for a while and stretched.

"As for the disguise, I don't need to say much, right? And as for teaching magecraft... Sorry, I'm a half-baked teacher, so I'll leave it to your insight, Kariya."

"How could you say that?"

Kariya gave his less-than-reliable teacher a resentful glance, then crouched down and gently called to the girl.

"Sakura, that guy is busy now, come to me."

"Speaking of which, this child should be called Sakura Matou, right?"

Sakatsuki remarked pointedly, making Kariya, who was holding Sakura, freeze for a moment.

Matou... Sakura Matou.

When his surname was added to the name of his lover's child, even though Kariya had been prepared for it, he couldn't help but feel a storm raging inside him.

Although this life was already destined to have nothing to do with Aoi... at least, he could leave behind a memory.

Thud!

Another notebook landed on Kariya's head.

"Hehe!"

Seeing her uncle's dishevelled state, Sakura laughed with her eyes turned into crescents.

"What are you doing, Sakatsuki?"

As Kariya protested, Sakatsuki, unbeknownst to him, leaned in and whispered in his ear with a devilish tone.

"Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly live?"

"Do you want to reverse the mistakes of the past and make the one you love... your lover?"

"Come on, in this battle for the Holy Grail, you can get everything you desire."

As Kariya wrestled with his inner turmoil, Sakatsuki had already smiled and moved away from him and Sakura, his hands tracing intricate diamond-shaped magic circles.

With the enhancement of his magecraft workshop, the so-called spatial distance was nothing more than a plaything in Sakatsuki's hands.

Displacement locations. Displacement leylines. Displacement concepts.

Anchor points connected, configuration confirmed, mirror activated—

The leylines of the Matou family were now flowing through this secluded building, nourishing Kariya's long-dormant magical circuits and making Sakura squint comfortably, her small face flushing red.

The creation of the magecraft workshop was based upon leylines, so the energy from the leylines was mostly used to maintain the workshop, and the mage couldn't enjoy it alone.

However, this building, just seconds ago, had belonged to the mundane world, so such abundant magical power from the leylines now directly benefited Kariya and Sakura.

When the two snapped out of the overflowing magical energy, Sakatsuki, who had created it all, had already vanished without a trace.

***

"30 portions of ley line spirit essence, 3 bottles of phantom dust, 7 columns of Erebus clay..."

Sakatsuki counted the materials he had plundered from the Matou family. After a moment, he sighed.

"It'd be great if I could use imaginary number magecraft... I could just pull out an imaginary pocket and avoid carrying all these bundles around, looking like a thief."

It was common knowledge in the magecraft world that if one possessed the corresponding attribute, one could cast the corresponding magic. Therefore, even though Sakatsuki knew how to use the imaginary number magecraft, without the imaginary number attribute, he couldn't use it.

"Well, having such a broken foundational magecraft is enough."

Sakatsuki activated his displacement magecraft and sent the precious materials to a hidden place. Then, he mounted his motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and became a speeding shadow racing off towards somewhere.

"I still need some key materials... Let's see if the Tohsaka family has them. If they do, I won't hold back."

A few hours later, an explosion sounded from the Tohsaka family's residence. The pure black motorcycle, now disguised, tore through the flames, carrying a masked figure who escaped swiftly.

"Stop right there!"

A furious roar sounded. Tokiomi Tohsaka's once-elegant figure was no longer, with his magic-enhanced legs moving with a speed that could rival the vehicle.

"Leave the things behind, thief!"

Behind Tokiomi Tohsaka, there was a figure even faster than him. The troubled-looking man broke through the air like a soaring eagle, diving toward the masked rider!