9. Chapter 9

*A week later*

A week has passed since Saber has been summoned, she was now in the living-room drinking tea while she was watching Shirou having a cooking lesson with Caster while they made lunch.

For her this past week has been really... strange. When she was re-summoned she expected to immediately return on the battlefield and fight once again for the Holy Grail, but now she was in her summoner home, with another Servant, waiting for other Servants to be summoned... and yet she was enjoying this little peaceful moment.

After all the events of the fourth war and the discovery of the true nature of the Grail Saber was mentally exhausted, she really needed some time to rest and to reflect on her actions and desire... and now she had plenty of time.

'Lies... They have been lies all long... there was no reward... no glory... no honor... only death and betrayal.'

This is what Saber has been thinking for all the past week after she discovered the corruption of the Grail, also now she didn't even know what she wanted to do. Her morals were conflicting, a part of her wanted to erase everything she did, but another part of her didn't want to let all the sacrifice that all her people made be in vane...

She thought that she was not worthy to be a king, but she knew that all the people that died for her thought otherwise, and she didn't want to disappoint them once again.

Saber sighed and took a sip from her cup of tea, luckily the tea managed to calm her down every time.

She turned her attention back to Shirou and Caster and she could not help but note how relaxed Caster was. Saber could only envy her a bit, Caster desire, in the end, was really a simple one, one so simple that she did not even need the Grail to realize it.

Also, as she watched them she noted that when Shirou complimented Caster plates or said something about how she had improved, Caster's pointy ears started to move a little. Saber thought that it was pretty cute, she would have never expected someone like Caster to behave like that or to act like a normal person in general.

After some moments Saber turned her attentions back to her thoughts, now her goal had changed: Her first objective now was to destroy the Grail since it could not be purified.

At first, after Caster told her that the Grail could not be purified she had some of her doubts, maybe there was some way to purify the Grail, right?

This was what she thought until Shirou started to take Saber around the city and took her to the park, she then could literally see and feel the corruption and the madness that infested that place... In Shirou's memories, she could feel that the contents of the Grail were cursed, but only now she realized how cursed they were.

And now that she was thinking about Shirou's memories and about the Grail...

The night when Saber had been summoned she and Caster had decided that Shirou had to know the truth about everything, the sooner, the better. Caster at first didn't want Shirou to know about the previous war, his father, and the Grail, but then Saber started to scold her because she could not hide the truth or lie to Shirou, he needed, and deserved, to know the truth about the events of that night.

After a while Caster relented, she then started to think about how knowing these things would change or influence Shirou in the near future, she feared that he would change a lot after discovering the truth about the 'incident' and about his father.

Both Saber and Caster knew very well that a 'careless action' from the parent could change the kid and make him twisted, and that in fact was what had already happened with Shirou. When Kiritsugu saved him he accidentally twisted Shirou to the point where the child started to not care about his life anymore.

Saber could not help but note how worried Caster was for him, it was clear that the witch was grateful to her Master and that she really had the best intention for him, Saber knew that she could reveal herself as a great ally.

Anyway, Saber had just met Shirou, but she was more than sure that he was a strong young man, not just physically, but also mentally. She was more than sure that Shirou's opinions about his father would not change after he would discover his past, but she too didn't know how he would react to the truth about that hell on earth.

Luckily after thy confronted him everything went for the best... kinda.

The morning after they talked to Shirou about the last war and the corrupted Grail, they noted that he was pretty calm about everything, but thanks to their connection to him they could feel that deep down he was deeply disturbed and more than furious, he had kept his emotions in control just to not make them concern for him. They also felt that his resolve and determination got way stronger, they could easily tell that now he was more determined than ever to stop the war from ever starting at all.

Saber liked this part of Shirou, no matter what happened or what he discovered, he would always keep moving forward without any hesitation.

In fact Saber was more than satisfied with Shirou as her new Master, not only he was a great swordsman and a powerful mage, he was also an excellent cook, something that she had never thought to be as an essential ability!

"Good work here, you have just to put some more salt. Could you pass me some?" Shirou asked Caster.

"Oh, here." Caster said as she passed it to him.

"Thanks... ok, now this plate is perfect!" Said Shirou happily after tasting the plate.

As she listened to the conversation Saber could say that this house was always lively, in fact at that moment she started to think about the other 2 people that from time to time would come here to eat.

First there was Taiga, a lively woman, and Shirou's legal guardian. Their first meeting was quite strange, Taiga was incredibly shocked when she saw her the first time, and then she even asked Shirou if he was building a harem and why she was not enough for him... Anyway, they then convinced Taiga that she was a friend of Caster that was searching for her, they then told her that Shirou had been gentle enough to ask her if she wanted to stay there for a while so that she didn't have to pay for a hotel, and she accepted his offer.

Thanks to Saber's B in charisma Taiga easily believed their story, but for some reason from time to time, the woman still shot some dirty looks at Shirou as if he did something wrong.

Then there was Sakura, a young and beautiful girl, she was another magus that was friend with Shirou. She too was a bit shocked when she saw Saber the first time, but for some reason, Saber could see some traces of envy and fear in the young girl's eyes, and at first she didn't know why...

Saber then sighed and started to observe Caster again, it had been thanks to her and her ceaseless teasing to Shirou and Sakura that she understood that the girl was in love with him. Caster told her that it was obvious, but in truth Saber has never been good with this find of emotions in general. Also, Saber could not understand how and why Caster and Taiga could found joy in teasing the young girl's heart and her pure sentiments...

Still, Saber had noted that Sakura was hiding something, when she confronted Caster about it she said that she noted it too, but she was probably just hiding the fact that she was a mage. Caster then even said that sometimes Sakura reminded her of herself for some reason.

"Saber, lunch is ready." Caster said while she was carrying some plates to the table, Saber thanked her and took her plate.

Saber's relationship with Caster did not improve very much in this week, in truth it was pretty strange. They were the clear opposite of one another, their ideology and methods were too different and it was clear that they could not get along too well, but luckily they were both neutral. None of them wanted to start any kind of conflict in any way possible so they treated each other with respect, they still had the same ally and the same goal, they could not destroy the alliance just because the 2 of them could not get perfectly along.

While she started to eat Saber noted that Caster was observing her, she then started to wonder what Caster may be thinking...

'Heh... she is... so cute.' Caster thought while watching Saber eating.

For some reason a shiver went down Saber's spine, and she didn't know why.

"Caster, is there something you want to tell me?" Saber asked a bit preoccupied.

"Ehmm, yea, what do you think about the plate? Does it taste good? Shirou did say that it was good, but I want to know your opinion." Caster said after she thought something on the fly.

Saber could not help but raise an eyebrow. Just a week ago she was ready to kill Caster at any time, and now she was there tasting her plates. She could see Caster's expression and it was clear that she was... hoping for some compliments? Life was really strange sometimes.

But before she could respond Caster eyes widned and she immediately got a serious look, Saber wanted to ask what happened but then the woman turned toward Shirou.

"Shirou." Caster called him with a serious tone.

"What is it?" He noted Caster's voice tone.

"I've found a Master."

The air in the room froze and then it started to get tense, for a long moment there was only silence.

"Where?" He then asked.

"He has just arrived in the city from the main road and I'm keeping him under surveillance. Right now he is in the other part of the city, the area is too populated and now we cannot attack him at the moment... I think that we will have to wait for him to reach his base, then tonight we will be able to strike him."

"Have you sensed if he has a Servant?" Saber asked.

"...No, he does not have any kind of connection." Caster said after a moment as she started to smile. "Huh, what a fool, to go straight into the battlefield without any proper preparations or a Servant, does he have a deathwish?" Caster said with a sinister tone.

"It's better this way, it will be easier for us in the end..." Shirou said as he turned toward Saber. "Saber, it's time, are you ready?" He asked.

"I'm ready to fight any time." She simply said.

"Perfect. For now let's finish lunch, then we will start to formulate the plan to raid him." Shirou said in a cold tone.

They proceeded to ate in complete silence.

-1 hour later-

After lunch Shirou called his workplace to tell them that he would not come that day, he then returned into the living-room where Caster and Saber were waiting for him.

"So, where is he?" Saber asked Caster.

"He now is into an apartment in the center of shinto and he has already started to create some good defenses there... it seems that the fool intends to make that place his base. Is he hoping that no one will attack him just because he is in the city center?"

"...Caster, you can easily make a breach into his defenses without him noticing, right? You will just have to teleport me and Saber there, since he has just moved there he may expect an attack but we will catch him completely off guard if we are already in his base. From that point on we will take care of everything, you will just have to make sure that no one will interfere."

Caster said nothing and simply nodded, she liked Shirou's plan.

"What are your intentions with him?" Saber asked.

"I will order him to surrender and give up his commands seals, if he will cooperate Caster will take his command seals and then release him after altering his memory. If not, we will simply take them by force."

"What do you intend to do with the command seals?" Saber then asked Caster.

"I think that I will summon another Servant myself since I have the capability. It will be a bit of an overkill for this war, but we cannot be too sure."

"...You can summon a servant? Huh, that's... impressive." Saber said surprised. A Servant that could summon Servants could be an incredibly dangerous enemy.

"Yes, and with 3 servants just by our side there will be literally no way that we can lose." Caster smiled wickedly as she spoke, but then she returned to her normal expression. "...Unfortunately I will have to wait another 2 weeks before I can do that. I have to wait that my mana reserve will reach its maximum potential and find a way to sustain the Servant constantly." Caster then continued.

"Not that it will be of any problem if you don't summon it, we still have Saber by our side and she is more than enough. And..." Shirou then turned to Saber. "I'm sorry Saber, I know that you may not like our methods, but even if the enemy is alone and defensle-"

"Shirou, I have to tell you that I too have committed 'dishonorable' deeds in the time of need. Right now we are talking about the safety of the city and of innumerable lives, this is the least that you can do in a situation like this. In fact, I can say that from my point of view you are not doing anything bad, you just want to make sure that the war ends as soon as possible with the least amount of victims... you don't want the events of the last war to repeat."

Shirou nodded and said: "Thanks for understanding."

Saber simply nodded without saying anything, she liked the fact that Shirou cared about her opinion and point of view, he respected her... unlike Kiritstugu. Even if Shirou was young and 'naive' he demonstrated to be a better Master than his father.

At that point, Shirou got up and said: "I will start to prepare myself, if something should happen tell me immediately." He then got out of the room leaving Caster and Saber alone.

"So, what will you do now?" Saber asked Caster.

"I will recon the territory for traps, familiars, and so on. Then I will start to create a little bounded field around his base to make sure that no one will ever discover anything, or until it's too late."

"Do you think that we are not the only ones that know about the new master?"

"Yes, after all this is the city where the war is going to happen, also there are other 2 families of mages, and one of them is very old and powerful... by this time standards if you know what I mean."

"Are you saying they will not be a threat?"

"Likely, but I'm keeping an eye on them, they could still become Masters and become a threat later on."

"Very good, overconfidence is the enemy."

Caster remained silent for a moment and then spoke again.

"Saber, it's useless that I say it, but you have to protect Shirou at all costs. From now on I do not know how he will behave or what he will do, you have just to make sure that he stays safe."

"No one shall ever harm him while he is under my protection." Saber then swore.

"...Thank you." Caster said.

*7 hours later*

Shirou was ready for the incoming fight. He was now in his room and he had just put on the tracksuit and equipped the other objects that Caster gave him.

He got out of his room and started to walk to the living room, where he and Saber would wait for Caster to teleport them into the enemy base.

Shirou was now thinking of what the enemy magus could be capable of, from Caster's crystal ball he saw him, he seemed a normal European man between the age 20-25 years old, Caster also informed them that he was just an average by today standards, so he was not a threat.

'But he is still a magus.' Shirou then said. No normal person had a single chance against a magus, no matter how strong or weak said magus was. Caster reassured him that the man would have no chance against him, he was a classic magus, someone who fought at distance and was not prepared to fight in close-quarter combat. Even if the man somehow managed to hit him he would be protected by the equipment that Caster gave him, there was literally no way that Shirou could get wounded by someone like him.

But that was not what Shirou intended, he knew that the man would not be a threat to him... but what about the civilians? What if he already did something to those around him?

Shirou was still thinking about the events of the last war... and about that killer Saber told him about.

At that moment Shirou's blood started to boil, he could understand why someone would sacrifice and kill others for his personal objectives... BUT HOW COULD SOMEONE KILL AND TORTURE CHILDREN JUST FOR FUN!? WHAT KIND OF MONSTER COULF FIND ANY ENJOYMENT FROM THAT?!

An instant laster Shirou immediately took a deep breath and started to calm down, he needed a lucid mind, he could not start to get driven by his emotions or he could make a fatal mistake that could cost lives.

Since last week, after Caster and Saber revealed him the truth, he could only think about the fourth war... just how many people really died in that stupid war? How many lives were lost for the selfish desire of 7 people? To even think that his father too was there fighting... but 'luckily' he was an exception. Saber told him that his father wished for the world pace, she told what kind of man he was and how he sacrificed everyone and everything to try and achive achieve his dream, if he had to taint his hand with the blood of innocents to be the hero of justice he would have done it... but in the end there was no hero to be found, there was just the hollow shell of a man who tried to become one.

Shirou could finally understand why his father abandoned his dream and why he was happy when he told him that he would become a hero of justice. He hoped that thanks to his nature Shirou would follow his same dream without making the mistake of killing innocents, and he will keep that promise! The man that saved him was not the so-called 'Magus killer', he was not the man that saved the majority by killing a minority... He was the man called Emiya Kiritsugu, the man that for the first time in his life managed to save someone, and that at the same time managed to save himself. That was the only thing that Shirou could do to thank his father for saving him that cursed night.

He entered the living room and saw Saber wearing her armor, ready to fight.

While Saber was in the living-room waiting for Caster to return she saw Shirou entering.

Saber looked at him, she wanted to ask if he was ready, but that would have been a very stupid question. She could see and sense that Shirou was ready to destroy everyone and everything that was going to stand in his way, she could see no trace of mercy in his eyes...

'Yes, knowing the true nature of the Grail and the war really changed him.' She thought.

Saber had already reached that conclusion, but that was just the confirmation. She knew that in the past week Shirou could only think about the Fourth Holy Grail War, and she had already understood what kind of conclusion Shirou reached. When they met for the first time Saber could have said that Shirou was the type of person who would have killed only if he had no other option left, but now you had just to give him a good reason.

She knew that Shirou feared that the events of the fourth war may repeat, and now she could sense that his fear... has been turned into anger. She knew that unlike his father Shirou would never harm innocent people or let them die, he would not close an eye if a magus harmed or put in danger innocent people, he would start to hunt them down.

When she first told him the action of his father he was incredulous at first, but then he slowly started to accept the fact that his father more than a hero that saved lives was a killer... he did not hate his father nor he remained disgusted by his actions, he knew that he did everything for the 'greater good', but he could not accept his actions nor his methods, for him, they were simply wrong.

'If someone ever deserves to be killed that person has to be evil, that person must deserve death.' These were Shirou's words at the time.

"Any news?" Shirou asked her.

"Nothing. It's been over an hour since Caster went away. Why don't you try to conta-?"

"He is now into his workshop and he has already finished the preparatives for the summoning ritual. Now it's the best time to go." Caster said as she appeared in the living-room interrupting Saber.

Shirou nodded and Saber walked toward Caster, they got closer to Caster and after a moment the 2 of them disappeared from the living-room.

After an instant, they were into the apartment of the enemy magus.

"I have already disarmed any kind of trap and alarm that was here. When he will come back I will activate the bounded field and then everything will be in your hands." Said Caster's copy that was already waiting there.

"Is there something you can say about him?" Shirou asked.

"Hmm... he may be a normal magus by this time standards, but he is just an immature man, a spoiled brat that somehow has been chosen as a Master. He thinks of himself as a talented mage that will easily win the war thanks to his "incredible" intellect and abilities... he is just cannon fodder, really."

"Until now you observed him, right? Is there something else that you can say about him or his methods?"

"Oh, that... He is not much different from Atrum, you can do whatever you want with him."

Shirou frowned at Caster's words, but he remained calm.

"My job here is done, stay safe and good luck." Caster's copy then said to Shirou and Saber before slowly disappearing.

"...Well, it seems that we will have to wait a bit." Shirou said while he sat on a couch. He then started to look around and he could say that the apartment was filled with any kind of luxury.

"I can see that the man treat himself pretty well." Saber commented after looking around, even when she was a king she did not have all this kind of luxury in her own room.

"Hmmm, since Caster said that he is an average magus that wants to win with his intellect I must think he must come from a rich and noble family of mages. He and his family must be the kind of mages that are more pointed toward study, politics or economy, and not fighting..."

"I think that you are right, but still, I knew many that even if they were not talented were incredible opponents, you must never underestimate your enemy." Saber warned Shirou.

"Yes, you're right... but why did Caster call him a spoiled brat?"

"Probably because he overestimates himself too much, mages always tend to do it. Caster also seems the kind of woman that hates men like him."

'Oh... right.' Shirou thought.

In that instant Saber noted Shirou's silent reaction.

"What is it? Did I said something wrong?" She asked.

"No, you did not. I just realized that you were right about Caster."

'Ah, so Caster really dislikes men like him...' Saber thought, slowly she had more and more information about Caster's identity.

Saber still did not trust Caster, so she wanted to discover who she was, and since she could not directly ask Shirou about the witch identity she had to slowly put the pieces together alone.

'She is a very powerful mage... a witch... someone who cannot be trusted... someone that wants a peaceful life... and that hates prideful men.' These were all the clues she had about Caster, they weren't many, but she could already think of something. 'Could it be that she wants a peaceful life because a man who thought only about himself ruined her life?' Saber thought.

Yes, it was a good guess, but she knew too many stories like that, it would be too difficult to guess which one was her legend.

"Saber, what are you thinking?" Shirou asked.

"Mhmm, I was thinking about this enemy Master. He has just arrived and Caster said that he has already created his defenses and finished the preparations for summoning a Servant, I must say that it's impressive. He may not be powerful as a mage, but he surely is someone who knows what he is doing." Saber said.

"Now that you are making me think of it I must say that his plan, in the end, was not that bad. He quickly got into the city, he then made some good defenses around his base, which is in a populated area to discourage an attack even during the night, and now he is almost ready to summon his Servant... too bad that we have already ruined his perfect plan." He said sarcastically.

Saber noted Shirou's mocking tone, she could sense that he was inredibly angry toward the man that made his base in this apartment building and put to risk the lives of many innocents. Luckily they arrived there before he summoned his Servant, but what would have happened if 2 Servants fought there? How many people would end up wounded or killed?

At that point they slowly started to feel rising the bounded field that Caster created, they now knew that the enemy Master was coming back.

"Saber, I have to ask you to hide. I want to be the only one speaking to him, and if he will not collaborate I have to ask you to leave him to me." Shirou said.

Shirou wanted, and needed, to know if he could negotiate with other mages without the help of a servant or resorting to violence... he needed to know if the other mages that took part in this war were ruthless and merciless as he feared.

"As you wish, just make sure to not get hurt." Saber said knowing what Shirou wanted to do. She also knew that the possibilities of Shirou being harmed were basically zero, so she simply accepted his request.

"Yes..." Shirou said, clearly knowing that if somehow he got hurt Saber then would have beaten him very hard in the dojo later.

They started to hear steps approaching them, they could feel the enemy Master getting closer. At that point Saber hid behind a curtain, but then the steps slowly stopped, and the enemy Master tuned back and went into his workshop.

"..."

"..."

"Did he... did he realized that we were waiting for him?" Shirou asked.

"No, I could not feel any panic in his movements, I think that he may have forgotten something in his workshop." Saber said while trying to hide herself a little better, but because of her armor it was clear that someone was behind the curtain, she could just hope the enemy Master didn't notice her.

The 2 of them remained in complete silence for the next minute, and then at one point, they re-heard the enemy master coming back.

"Where did I put the catalyst?" They heard a voice speak from behind the door, then they saw the door opening and the enemy Master entering the room.

He was looking on the ground while searching for something, he then slowly lifted his eyes while he was carefully observing the ground... and immediately after the man saw Shirou on the couch.

"Ah, there you are! I was wondering when you would come back." Shirou said calmly.

"WHO-"

"Before you do anything, I want to tell you that I just want to talk." Shirou said as he raised his hands and interrupting the man.

Shirou then wanted to say that he would not hurt him, but he did not since it would have been a lie.

"A-Ah... y-you, who are you? What do you want?!" Said the man while backing away before pointing his left hand towards Shirou ready to attack. On his index finger, a little ball of energy started to take form.

"I'm someone who hates violence and I am participating in the war to make sure that there will be the least number of victims as possible, and no, I don't want to fight you."

"W-Why are you here?!" The man asked panicked at the boy's sudden appearance. Who was this person? And when did it arrived into his base?

"I've already told you that I just want to talk with you, I wa-"

"And what if I don't want to hear you?! Why should I trust you?!" The man said with an aggressive and scared tone.

Shirou observed the man, it was clear that in a few seconds he would attack him, he was too scared to talk or to negotiate, or even to realize that in the same room there was a servant who badly tried to hide behind a curtain. Well, it has been his fault really, he shouldn't have suddenly appeared in his base like this... but the man shouldn't have made his base into a bulding full of civilians.

"Do you realize who are you speaking to, you brat?!" The man then said. As he spoke the ball of energy started to brighten as more energy started to go into it "I am an agent of the Clock Tower! I am the great-"

In that instant, a knife flew towards him, which struck his hand and splitted it almost in half.

Thanks to the shock and the adrenaline that was now running in his body the man felt almost nothing, in fact, he realized that a knife hit him just because he saw the kid projecting a knife and throwing it at incredible speed.

"AAAHH! You bastard!" The man said as he crouched, covered himself with a magic shield, removed the knife and then started to use some healing magic on his hand.

"I've told you that I wanted to speak with you! Not fight! Now, will you listen to me?!" Shirou said in a serious tone as he got up from the couch and looked down at the man.

"Tch, w-what do you want?" The man said in a hateful tone.

"As I already told you I do not want to fight, in fact, I-"

"Are you seeking an alliance? You know that we are not starting with the right foot, right?"

"...What am I seeking is not an alliance, but your collaboration." Shirou corrected the man.

"GO TO THE POINT!"

'Huh, first he interrupts me and then he tells me to go to the point...' Shirou thought a bit irritated.

"I want you to get out of the war. Simple as that. You will surrender, give me your command seals, and nothing else will happen to you." Shirou said.

"...Are you joking?! Did you take me for a FOOL?!" The man said as he took off his hand from the wounded hand, Shirou noted that it was in already good conditions as if nothing ever happened.

'Huh, fast.' Shirou thought.

"And why should I ever do that?! Do you really think that you can defeat me?!"

"Listen, I don't want to hurt you anymo-"

"YOU CLEARLY DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO!" The man screamed as he got up.

"!" Shirou said nothing but he got ready to react.

"RIGHTEOUS FIRE!" The man screamed as a ring of fire formed in his hand. An instant later the ring should have expanded engulfing the entire room with flames.

But before the ring could start to expand Shirou was already at the side of the man, he was that fast thanks to the speed boost that the enchanted suit gave him. Shirou then projected a short and blunted sword and broke the man's forearm before he could release his spell. He would have cut it off, but on that hand, there were the command seals and he didn't want to risk something happening at them.

"AAAH-!" The man screamed in pain and shock, but before he could do anything else Shirou strongly hit him in the side of the head with the hilt of the sword, knocking him out.

'Why don't you listen to me? Are all you mages like this?' Shirou thought irritated before sighing.

"You tried, but we both knew that it could not have ended differently." Saber said from behind the curtain trying to comfort Shirou.

"I know, there is no need to remind me." He said.

Shirou then kneeled and started to stop the bleeding from the man's head, they needed him alive for now. Now that he knew that an approach like that did not work, next time he will have Saber at his side to pressure the other Master to surrender, or maybe he would let Caster do everything.

"Caster, we have done here." Saber said knowing that Caster was now hearing them.

After a moment a copy of Caster appeared, then the copy waited for Shirou to finish to block the bleeding, then she took the man and disappeared.

"Where did she took him?" Saber asked.

"Probably in her workshop." Shirou said before he started to look around, other than the little stains of blood on the floor everything else was in perfect conditions. "Well, I will have to clean this mess that I have made... but there are some interesting things here." He said after noting some precious magic gems the man had on his person that had fallen in their short confrontation.

"Then as the king, I will take the loot that now is rightly ours!" Saber immediately said.

Shirou turned and for a moment he looked at Saber in disbelief.

"Huh... have fun, your majesty." He then said.

'So, I do all the work and she goes to take the loot?' He asked himself a bit amused.

"Jokes apart, there should be some useful things, why we should let them here since no one will use them? Maybe Caster will be able to do something with the materials that we will take."

"...You're right, but this is still a rented apartment, so take only the things from his workshop."

"You mean the treasure room, right?"

"Yes, the treasure room..." Said Shirou as he started to clean the floor with a cloth that he found.

Saber smiled a little as she started to remember the times when she enjoyed some little adventures with her knights.

She turned around and started to go into the workshop, there had to be something that could be useful... or she may go to the kitchen before gong there.

But before she could even get out of the room the real Caster teleported in, and she had a very serious look under her hood.

"Caster?" Saber said surprised.

"Did something happened?" Shirou asked.

"While we were distracted a Servant has been summoned in the city." Caster said in a serious tone.

Saber and Shirou stood in silence, this was not something they expected to happen.

"This timing... it can't be, could it be that someone knows about us and he was waiting for the right occasion to start the summoning?" Shirou asked as he thought.

"Maybe they just knew about our presence in the city and they used the arrival of another Master as a distraction to summon their Servant." Saber said.

"Do you know where the summoning took place?" Shirou asked Caster.

"No, I only know that one Servant has been just summoned and that it is in the city."

Shirou started to sweat cold and said: "Caster... could it be that someone of the 2 families of mages had summoned the Servant?" He asked as his hands started to sweat.

"Yes, but I do not think that it was any of them. As you said before the timing was too perfect, if someone had to know about our presence in the city it would be them, and that would automatically make them our first suspects. I do not think that they are foolish enough to put themself into danger at this stage of the war." Caster said as she tried to calm Shirou.

'But I will still check them.' She thought. 'Especially the Matou, they have a bounded field that it is focused on magic absorption and that could have hidden all the magic traces, perfect to hide a summoning ritual.'

"So, now there is a Servant in the city that may know about our presence, and maybe even the location of our base..." Saber said as she turned to watch Caster.

"I don't think so, but still, the Servant now may be everywhere. For now, we have no clue about its position and we can only hope that they make a mistake that makes us capable of tracing them." Caster said.

"Do you have any idea of what Servant has been summoned?" Saber then asked. She wanted to know if she should start to stay near Shirou 24/7.

"I just sent a copy of myself to control right now, if I interact with the Grail I may be capable of seeing of what class the Servant is..." Caster answered.

They stood in complete silence while Caster was concentrating, then after a minute, she broke the silence.

"So, for now only 4 servants have been summoned: Berserker, Caster, Saber... and Rider."

Zouken Makiri was now laughing.

Everything had gone according to his plans.

He knew that the enemy Servant was preparing itself for something, and just like he had predicted the servant attacked the first Master that it found. That was the perfect moment for him.

When the majority of the familiars of the Servant moved towards the other side of the city he used a little trick and gave a bit earlier the command seals to his granddaughter.

He used all of his familiars to absorb the excess energy of the summoning to make sure that no now would be able to sense it.

Right now he was now watching his granddaughter and her Servant. He could see the Servant's expression and her distaste towards him was clear, it was perfect, it was clear that the servant would do everything to protect Sakura.

He then turned his attentions toward Sakura, who was now tired after the summoning. At first, he wanted her to participate in the war but she didn't want to, so as a good grand-father he would not force her...

Zouken then started to smile wickedly.

It was time to see if his grandson was completely useless, or if he had even a little redeemable trait.