Shirou, who walked home with Rin, was asked various questions by the girl along the way.
"Are you also a magus?"
"What kind of magecraft do you know?"
"Tell me~ Shirou~"
Shirou, helpless against the girl's coquettish tone, raised his eyes to look back at her.
"Don't you know that it is forbidden to pry into other people's mysteries?"
Hearing this, Rin immediately remembered the rules.
"Ah... Sorry, I forgot about it in my excitement."
Rin immediately apologized to Shirou.
"No, it doesn't matter if I tell you. My current magic attributes are 'Sword', 'Wind', and 'Water'. I am very good at the common 'Fluid Manipulation' magecraft of the latter two. Secondly, I also know magecraft such as spiritual evocation, summoning, alchemy, and so on."
Rin's eyes widened when she heard Shirou's answer, and she exclaimed:
"That's amazing!"
Shirou warned her again.
"Don't spread the word about this."
"Un, I know!"
Rin nodded firmly, indicating that she would keep her lips sealed.
Rin, who originally thought she had finally found a playmate of the same age, was a little shocked by the fact that Shirou had mastered so many techniques.
Rin couldn't help but feel ashamed at the thought of the magecraft she was still studying.
She is the heir of a magus family, and she is also a genius whose talent is recognized, but she was so easily compared.
Rin secretly made up her mind that she must work harder to study magecraft and never fall behind Shirou.
Rin, determined, said goodbye to Shirou at a fork in the road and trotted away in the direction of her home.
"Why do I feel like she's suddenly become so anxious...?"
Shirou looked at the girl's back and raised his eyebrows, a little confused.
"Well, forget it. Let's go see Sakura."
...
As time passed, the already gloomy sky became darker and darker, and from time to time, lightning swam like snakes through the blackened clouds.
Shirou went home for dinner, then set up a magic barrier at home before heading to the upscale hotel where Sakura lived.
"Nothing unusual happened today, did you?"
While pressing the elevator button, Shirou asked Diarmuid.
"No other Servants or magi have been found, Master," Lancer replied.
Shirou made his way to the upper floor of the hotel and knocked on Sakura's door.
Knock knock knock...
Soon, the girl opened the door.
As soon as she saw Shirou, Sakura seemed very happy.
"Shirou, you're here!"
"Un. Did you have a good meal today, Sakura?"
Shirou asked with a smile as he reached out and stroked Sakura's hair.
"Yes!"
The girl in the white dress brought Shirou into the room. They sat on the sofa together, and she chatted with him.
She was only elementary school age and had been alone for several days, so as soon as Shirou arrived, Sakura's mood immediately became excited.
It was at this time that Shirou suddenly received a warning from Diarmuid via their telepathic link.
"Master, I've noticed a wave of magic near the hotel. There must be some other Servant or magus here!"
Hearing this, Shirou frowned suddenly.
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I have something to go out and deal with."
"Huh... Shirou, are you leaving?"
Sakura glanced at the somewhat gloomy sky outside the window, and as if she had noticed something, she looked at Shirou with concern.
Regarding Shirou's rescue of her from the Matou house, Sakura, who was smart and clever, naturally understood the situation. Plus, Shirou had always treated her very well, so although she didn't say it on the surface, she kept it in her heart.
"Don't worry, I'll come back when the matter is settled."
Seeing the look of loss in the girl's eyes, Shirou smiled slightly, reached out, and patted her head.
"Un!"
Sakura's eyes bent into crescents, and she looked happy again.
...
After leaving the hotel, Shirou walked toward the street on the left, which ended in the direction of the Mion River, near the sea.
The Mion River is a river that divides the old district and the new district of Fuyuki City, connected by a large steel bridge.
Because it was already night, there were far fewer pedestrians on the street than during the day, and the closer he moved to the river, the fewer people there were.
"Master! Waves of mana are approaching you!"
The spiritualized Diarmuid sensed the rapidly approaching fluctuation of magic power and chose to materialize without hesitation.
In the midst of a surge of magical light, Diarmuid appeared in front of Shirou with a crimson spear in his hand.
"Be careful, Master!"
Several water puddles on the ground began to surge in response to a voice, and octopus-like tentacles extended from them.
The next thing that emerged was a roaring monster that resembled an octopus but was far more ferocious.
These were not ordinary animals; one could feel the breath of magic from them. They were familiars.
At the base of the tentacles of those monsters, there were rings of sharp fangs, no doubt strong enough to tear the skull of a living person into slag in an instant.
"Hmph, do you think this thing can hinder me?"
At the same time, Diarmuid wielded the crimson spear in his hand, Gae Dearg, and easily swept away all those monsters!
"It's not over yet, Lancer!"
Caster's voice rang out from all around.
"Don't you even have the courage to come out and fight head-on?"
Diarmuid laughed and mocked.
However, Caster didn't seem to intend to answer at all.
Tentacles poured out of the surrounding water puddles again, and one after another, octopus monsters crawled out.
Diarmuid naturally felt no pressure from this kind of monster. Wielding his spear and sweeping it gently, all the monsters touched by the tip of the spear, with its power of breaking magic, disintegrated.
"Just summoning this kind of monster... What's the point?"
Shirou couldn't help but think of this question as he watched Diarmuid wield the crimson spear to block the swarming monsters.
Caster is a magus, so it's normal for him to hide in the shadows.
But it was a bit strange to summon such weak monsters to attack. After all, for Lancer, this kind of weak monster was useless no matter how many came.
Suddenly, a guess came to Shirou's mind.
The Noble Phantasm in Caster's possession is Prelati's Spellbook!
It is a grimoire bound in human skin, able to summon and control monsters from the depths of the sea. This book has the ability to act as a mana furnace, able to ignore the magus's own magic supply to launch great magecraft. It is ceremonial spell-level magic.
"Could it be that these monsters are just... used to delay time?"