Morgan emerged once more from the underground cavern, her expression slightly grim.
She had indeed reached the location of the Greater Grail.
The cavern housing the Greater Grail's magic circle did have a barrier designed to isolate Servants from spirit forms, but to Morgan, those tricks were no better than children's games.
However, after examining the Greater Grail, Morgan confirmed that the circle could adjust Fuyuki's land to make it suitable for spiritual descent and initiating the Holy Grail War. But she also uncovered a troubling fact.
"Something this contaminated is useless—even as a wish-granting machine."
Morgan came to a conclusion.
It was already late outside. She hadn't expected the investigation to take so long.
Returning to the courtyard of Ryuudou Temple, she found that Tenkei Shiomi was no longer there.
Morgan briefly scanned the connection between them—the mana link remained, but his presence had vanished from both Ryuudou Temple and Mount Enzou.
"Where have you gone, Master? To leave your Servant behind and act on your own— even if the Holy Grail War hasn't started yet, that's far too careless." Morgan reached out through the mana link to contact Shiomi's consciousness.
"Sorry... You were taking longer than I thought. It's already after school, so I went to pick up Sakura and Caren. You can make it back on your own, right?"
Shiomi offered an honest apology for leaving Morgan behind.
Hearing his response, Morgan let her anger go.
Her Master was, in every sense, a Magus far too human—almost to the point of being unqualified.
Understanding the situation, Morgan made her way back to the Shiomi residence in Miyama Town on her own.
She didn't bother spirit-forming her way inside. Instead, she opened the gate and entered as if returning home.
Unexpectedly, there was a visitor.
Turning around the porch, Morgan spotted the guest through the glass.
It was a young man, likely not yet thirty, his gentle smile tinged with a trace of exhaustion as he spoke with Shiomi and Sakura.
He seemed to know Sakura.
"…Looks like everything's fine. Seems I worried for nothing," the man said.
"Even if we're caught up in the Holy Grail War, taking care of a couple of kids isn't that hard for me." Shiomi ruffled Sakura's hair. "Besides, Sakura is extremely talented. As a beginner Magus, she could probably beat even Mr. Kariya."
Sakura gave a proud yet shy smile at the praise.
"Of course," the man—Kariya—responded, his smile slightly bitter.
Just then, Morgan's footsteps as she entered the living room from the porch cut the conversation short.
Startled by the sudden appearance of a stunning woman, Kariya froze for a second, instinctively assuming she was someone from the Shiomi household.
"And this is…?" he asked politely.
Shiomi narrowed his eyes and smiled to mask the awkwardness. "…My wife."
"Really?" Kariya was clearly surprised. "When did that happen?"
"Just recently," Shiomi answered vaguely.
Fortunately, Kariya didn't press further, nor did he realize that Morgan was a Servant, not a normal human.
He chatted with Shiomi a bit more, left a gift for Sakura, and said he'd soon be leaving Japan for work and wouldn't be able to visit again before then.
"So, you've finally made up your mind?" Morgan asked with a sly look as Shiomi returned from seeing Kariya off.
She was referring to how he had introduced her as his wife.
"It was just something to say—what else was I supposed to do?" Shiomi sighed. "You're the one who barged in. If you'd just gone into spirit form, he wouldn't have noticed anything—he's not even a Magus."
Morgan smiled faintly, ignoring the complaint. "Who is he?"
"Kariya Matou. Before I adopted Sakura, when she was still with the Tohsaka family, he used to look after her and her sister," Shiomi explained. "Apparently, he had some sort of relationship with Aoi Tohsaka when they were young."
"Matou…" Morgan recalled the old Magus manipulating insects she had encountered earlier that day.
"Don't worry about it. The Matou family's mostly fallen into ruin by now. Mr. Kariya is the only one with any potential, but he gave up Magecraft and lives far removed from it. He's just an ordinary person—not even a Master."
With that, Shiomi headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
After the meal came the usual Magecraft lesson. Sakura had already gone to the workshop to wait and review.
During that time, Morgan briefly told Shiomi about encountering the head of the Matou family near the Great Hollow and described the situation there—but deliberately left out the most critical detail: the Grail had been contaminated.
She still didn't know Shiomi's true reason for joining the Holy Grail War—whether he needed it as a wish-granting machine, or if, like the founders of the Fuyuki Grail system, he sought the Root.
During their conversation, Morgan tried to probe again, but Shiomi deflected as vaguely as before.
So, Morgan decided it would be best to hold off for now on this potentially unstable matter and observe him more closely during this period.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head to the workshop to teach Sakura—"
Just as Shiomi was about to wrap up the conversation, the phone rang.
He answered, exchanged a few brief words, then hung up.
"That wasn't just a casual call," Morgan remarked.
"Yeah, the church's overseer just informed me—the Caster-class Servant has been summoned," Shiomi said, his tone turning serious.
"Looks like the Holy Grail War will officially begin tonight," Morgan said with a quiet chuckle.
Shiomi was already making his way toward the workshop. "For now, let's hold our position and observe how things unfold."
During his time in Fuyuki, he had planted surveillance familiars across the city—especially around the Tohsaka and Matou households, and the Einzbern castle on the outskirts, the bases of the three great families.
Now, he was about to activate those familiars to see which factions would ignite the opening clash of the Holy Grail War.
"Dad?"
Seeing Shiomi rush in, Sakura could tell tonight's Magecraft lesson was off.
"Sorry, Sakura. Lessons are on hold for a while. Go back to your room and get some rest. I've got things to handle." Shiomi leaned down and gently comforted the girl sitting in the chair.
Sakura nodded obediently and left the room.
"I forgot to mention earlier—her attribute is Imaginary Numbers, isn't it?" Morgan asked suddenly.
Shiomi, busy activating the familiars, nodded. "It's a rare one. Why?"
"You can't teach her anything about Imaginary Magecraft," Morgan said with a faint, confident smile. "Since the Holy Grail War won't be nonstop, if there's time, let me teach her."
Shiomi hesitated for a few seconds. Then, with a wave of his hand, the familiars' shared visions lit up the workshop like floating monitor windows formed from glowing runes.
"I'll think about it."
That was his reply to Morgan.