An Acceptable Ending

When he woke up for the second time under the morning sunlight, Naoki stared at the familiar ceiling and felt a bit dazed for a moment.

The sound of a kitchen knife jumping on a cutting board reached his ears. Grabbing the coat beside him and putting it on, Naoki stood up and walked to the kitchen. What he saw was Arthur wearing an apron and chopping vegetables.

"Who?"

"Ah, Master, you're awake."

Hearing Naoki's voice, Arthur immediately stopped what he was doing and turned around. Seeing Naoki standing behind him, Arthur clearly felt relieved: "Good, Master, you look fine. Wait a moment, I'm making breakfast, it'll be ready soon."

Arthur was making breakfast?

Why?

What happened last night?

Last night... last night...

"This is my curse on you."

Sajyou Manaka's voice suddenly echoed in his ears. Almost like a conditioned reflex, Naoki tightly covered his mouth, turned around, and rushed to the bathroom, leaning over the sink and vomiting, throwing up everything he could from his stomach.

"Master!"

Arthur immediately returned to Naoki's side, his face showing concern: "Are you okay? Do you need to sleep again?"

Shaking his head, Naoki rinsed his mouth and washed his face: "It's nothing, it's just that after waking up, I suddenly remembered the events in that dream, and I couldn't stop for a moment---!"

Before Naoki could finish his words, he started vomiting again, and Arthur hurriedly patted his back, trying to make him feel better.

After repeating this three or four times, Naoki finally stopped and was helped by Arthur to sit at the table.

"Alright Arthur, I have hands and feet, you don't need to hug me all the time."

"But Master, you've been asleep for three days, and you haven't eaten anything during that time, so it's natural that you'll be a bit weak. Moreover, because of me, you've become like this, so please let me take responsibility for taking care of you."

"The more you do this, the more I'll be tortured by that curse." Naoki sighed helplessly, "Wait, you said I slept for how many days?"

"It's been three days since you last woke up, and five days since we went to the Matou family."

Five days!

Naoki couldn't sit still anymore.

"Arthur, how is the Holy Grail War situation? Has anyone come to fight? And what about the Matou family—"

"Master, calm down and ask slowly. Don't worry. We're still safe." Arthur pushed Naoki back onto the tatami and placed a plate of sandwiches in front of him. "Eat the chicken sandwiches. After you finish eating, I'll tell you what happened these past few days. You haven't eaten for several days. You must be hungry."

"This isn't heavy—"

*Gu~~~~~*

Just as Naoki was about to say something, his stomach growled. He glanced at Arthur, who was laughing, kicked him in annoyance, then picked up the sandwich and started eating.

◆━⊰✧⊱━◆

After breakfast, Arthur and Naoki sat facing each other again.

"Let me start with what happened at the Matou family." Arthur calmed his thoughts. "I fought at the Matou family and eventually eradicated all the insects there. I also saved the two people you asked me to. When I brought them back to you, you had already fainted due to excessive Mana depletion."

"I took you home. The man among the two, named Matou Kariya, woke up first. I explained some of the situation to him. He thanked me and left on his own. Before leaving, he asked me to take good care of the girl."

"Master, you woke up around noon the next day, but you weren't in a good mental state at that time. You seemed very opposed... Disliked me, so I couldn't explain the situation to you then. Later, Kotomine Kirei from the church came, and I asked him to help you with mental treatment."

"After that, you slept for three consecutive days. During that time, Kotomine Kirei came again and asked me about the Matou family. It seems Master was caught on surveillance footage at that time, so he came to our house."

'Surveillance footage... Oh, as expected, there will be some oversights when making last-minute decisions.'

Naoki sighed: "Then how did you handle it?"

"I leaked some information, but Kotomine Kirei came again not long after he returned, bringing Kotomine Risei and Tohsaka Tokiomi with him. After several communications, I handed over the girl hidden in the closet to them."

"You handed her over!?"

Naoki immediately exclaimed.

Sakura, who was saved with great difficulty, was returned to Tokiomi like this?

Arthur was slightly surprised by Naoki's reaction, but he still lowered his head: "Tohsaka Tokiomi is the girl's father. I verified it from multiple sources. After that, I also visited the Tohsaka family in spirit form. Although I couldn't get too close because there was a Servant there, the girl... at least smiled."

Sakura smiled...

"I see... That's... not bad."

Actually, Sakura was adopted by the Matou family three years ago, and now there should be crest worms in her body. With Tokiomi's vision, it's impossible for him not to see the changes in his daughter. After all, he is a first-class Magus, and at the same time, he also has the most basic sensitivity of a father.

Combining the two, Tokiomi should be able to deduce what happened to his daughter at the Matou family. As someone who hates evil Magus the most, he must be filled with regret now, regretting that he pushed his daughter into the devil's cave with his own hands.

'However, considering his personality, he might consider adopting Sakura to another Magus family. After all, he values the identity of a Magus too much. And the choice of adoptive family... Considering his connections, it's most likely the Edelfeldt family in Finland.'

That is Tokiomi's mother's family, and they are one of the few families in the mystery world that doesn't worry about having twin heirs, because the characteristic of their family's Magecraft is sisters, and each generation has two heirs.

Anyway, the situation on Sakura's side has developed to this point, and Naoki no longer needs to intervene. After all, he is still an outsider.

"So, what about the Holy Grail War?"