To Become a King and a Magician

After following Kirei for dozens of minutes, Naoki was taken to an area on the outskirts of Fuyuki City. If he walked further, he would enter the mountains.

Stopping at the door of a somewhat secluded church, Kirei pushed the door open and led Naoki inside.

"Are you back, Kirei?"

A middle-aged man with a sturdy build spoke in a deep voice to the two who had entered.

Kirei nodded, and then the middle-aged man walked toward Naoki and showed a smile that could be described as kind: "Nice to meet you, the seventh Master. I am Kotomine Risei, the pastor of Fuyuki Church."

"Hello, I'm Natsukawa Naoki."

After a brief greeting, Naoki asked, "Um... Kotomine-san said he wanted to explain the bruise to me."

As Naoki spoke, he showed the Command Spells on the back of his hand to Risei.

After examining it once or twice, Risei nodded: "It is indeed a genuine Command Spell. It seems the revelation from God was correct. You've done very well, Kirei."

As Risei said, the reason the church was able to find Naoki's identity was because he received a revelation yesterday. The God the church believed in informed him of Naoki's situation, so Risei asked Kirei to bring Naoki.

Gesturing for Naoki to sit down, Risei said, "Natsukawa-sama, I must tell you something both unpleasant and fortunate. You have been chosen by the Holy Grail to become one of the seven Masters who will participate in the Holy Grail War. The bruise on the back of your hand is proof that you have been chosen—the Command Spells."

"Holy Grail War... What is that?"

"Seven Magus chosen by the Holy Grail lead the Heroic Spirits they summon to fight for the possession of the Holy Grail. The surviving winner will gain ownership of the Holy Grail. This is the Holy Grail War."

"The Holy Grail? The one mentioned in the Bible..."

"Oh? Have you read our teachings?"

"There's a translated version in the school library, and I read it out of interest."

Hearing this, Risei couldn't help but laugh: "If you have the chance, please feel its mystery carefully. Let's return to the topic. Unfortunately, the Holy Grail fought over in the Holy Grail War is not the holy relic mentioned in the doctrine, but merely a nickname. Essentially, the Holy Grail is actually a universal wish-granting machine that can fulfill any wish."

"A universal wish-granting machine? Really?"

"Who knows? It's just a title passed down by word of mouth. So far, the Holy Grail War has been held three times, but not once has it succeeded in fully summoning the Holy Grail. Each time, the ceremony failed due to various factors."

In the First Holy Grail War, because no formal rules were established beforehand, the awareness of the Masters as participants was weak. On the other hand, since there were no Command Spells like we have now, there were several cases where Servants did not obey orders. As a result, the summoning of the Holy Grail failed before it could even form as a ritual.

The Second Holy Grail War absorbed the failures of the first war and was held only after detailed rules were drawn up. Although the Command Spell system was completed by then and Masters could command their Servants as they pleased, the ceremony ended in failure due to various reasons.

And the third time... this time it could be said to have become All the World's Evil to some extent.

The Einzbern homunculus, who performed poorly in the Holy Grail War for two consecutive times, took advantage of the situation and summoned the Heroic Spirit Angra Mainyu, who was an Avenger-class Servant beyond the standard. However, he was extremely weak and was quickly killed, and his soul was returned to the Greater Grail. The colorless power of the Holy Grail was then contaminated into black mud by the Avenger formed from his evil wishes.

At that time, it was World War II, and the Imperial Army and the Nazis were also involved in the Holy Grail. If Einzbern had summoned Amakusa Shiro Tokisada instead of Angra Mainyu, the timeline would have leaned toward Fate Apocrypha.

From this perspective, the root of everything lies with the Einzbern family. If they hadn't broken the rules and exploited loopholes, the Holy Grail War might have ended for the third time.

Additionally, there was a minor episode during the Third Holy Grail War—the Finnish magus family, Edelfeldt, sent the sisters of the next head of the family to participate in the Holy Grail War. As a result, both sisters fell in love with the head of the Tohsaka family at the time, who was Tokiomi's grandfather. The two sisters fought each other over a man, and in the end, the older sister became the loser. After withdrawing from the Holy Grail War, she swore never to set foot on Japanese soil again. Therefore, the descendants of the Edelfeldt family hated the Japanese, especially the Tohsaka family.

Coincidentally, decades later, the descendants of those sisters fell in love with the same man again and began fighting over him once more. In the end, the descendant of the older sister lost again...

'By the way, Risei was the supervisor of the Third Holy Grail War, so did he witness the entire process of the events back then?'

Naoki suddenly wanted to ask Risei about the details of what happened at that time.

He loved watching women fight.

"Natsukawa-sama."

Risei's voice brought Naoki back to reality.

"You are the only ordinary person in this Holy Grail War. If possible, please summon your Servant as soon as possible. That way, your safety will be guaranteed. Additionally, if your Servant is destroyed, please come to the Church as soon as possible. The Church will protect Masters who have lost their Servants in the Holy Grail War. Please remember this."

"Alright, I'll remember that."

After a pause, Naoki asked again: "Hmm, can you tell me the exact date of the Holy Grail War? And who are the other participants besides me, so I can prepare mentally."

"..."

As if hesitating to tell Naoki, Risei fell silent for a moment, then sighed: "When all the contestants arrive in Fuyuki City, the Holy Grail War will officially begin. At that time, I will summon all the Masters to the church to listen to the rules, and I will also send Kirei to inform you."

"As for the contestants, there's no harm in telling you."

"Einzbern, Matou, and Tohsaka—these three families are the three great families that established the Holy Grail War, and they have fixed quotas. The Einzbern family has hired the Magus Killer Emiya Kiritsugu, the Tohsaka family is the current head, Tokiomi, and Matou has not been confirmed, but they will not be absent."

"The remaining four are you, my son, and the last two are Magus from the Clock Tower in London. After all this talk, you probably haven't heard of these people. In any case, as an ordinary person, you just need to survive as long as possible."

'Emiya Kiritsugu, Tōhsaka Tokiomi, Kotomine Kirei, Kayneth... these four should remain unchanged. As for Ryuunosuke, if the timeline hasn't changed, then he won't change either. The only one left is Matou.'

Thinking this, Naoki smiled and bowed to Risei: "Thank you very much for your advice and guidance, Pastor Risei. I will remember it. Goodbye."

"Very well. Kirei, please escort Natsukawa-sama out."

"No, that's not necessary. I want to... do something on my own, so I won't trouble Kotomine-san any further."