Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 960: An Unexpected Entrant

Many people know that King Arthur's right-hand knight, Gawain, is called the Knight of the Sun, almost invincible under the sun.

However, few know that while Gawain enjoys the sun's blessing, King Arthur is blessed by the night. Although this doesn't provide any tangible boost, King Arthur's presence becomes significantly more intense at night. Her regal aura, combined with her youthful beauty, leaves a profound impact.

Saber smiled at Shinji.

"I'm back."

Shinji also smiled and was about to speak when Scathach suddenly interrupted, "You're injured?"

This one sentence immediately halted all actions.

Shinji's response, Illya and Irisviel rising to greet her, Kiritsugu and Maiya's questions, Sakura and Medusa's curiosity—all were momentarily suppressed.

Shinji quickly scanned Artoria's body and indeed noticed faint traces of blood between the seams of her silver armor. Her face, too, was slightly paler than when she had first been summoned, though this was hard to notice under the moonlight.

While quickly carving healing runes, Shinji turned his gaze:

"Illya, where's the scabbard?"

"Mom—"

Illya turned her head toward Irisviel, who placed her hand over her chest, ready to extract the conceptual weapon.

However, Artoria shook her head.

"There's no need. It's just a minor wound; healing magcraft will suffice."

So, mother and daughter began casting healing magecraft together, while Shinji lowered his hand, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Who was it? Berserker or someone else?"

"It was Berserker."

"As I thought."

Hercules had been forcefully relocated by a Command Spell because of her.

The order Artoria had received was to find the Einzbern Master hiding nearby and capture them alive. After leaving the Emiya residence, she immediately began the search.

While she didn't have much experience in this area, her excellent mobility and intuition made up for it. Even if she didn't know the best way to search, sweeping the streets one by one wouldn't take too long, especially since Einzbern wasn't particularly adept at hiding.

In the end, Artoria did find them.

Thanks to experience from previous Holy Grail Wars, the Einzberns had grown a bit smarter. They didn't send out all their forces and had kept a few combat homunculi to protect their Master.

However, homunculi couldn't compare to Servants, let alone a top-tier Servant like Artoria. The Knight King didn't even need to draw her sword; a few punches were enough to knock out the homunculi blocking her way.

But this bought the Master enough time to activate a Command Spell, summoning the giant with the massive axe-sword from the sky. At the same time, the Einzbern Master began to retreat—knowing when to run was another sign of the Einzbern's growth.

Artoria, of course, didn't want to let her target escape, but Hercules stood in her way like the world's toughest fortress.

The outcome of the fight was astonishingly similar to a certain world line—Artoria, at close range, unleashed the Invisible Air and took one of Hercules' lives. She was just starting to relax and follow the retreating Einzbern Master when Hercules revived.

Having left early, Artoria didn't know about Hercules' Noble Phantasm. Although her Instinct skill allowed her to dodge his next attack, she ended up at a disadvantage. With Hercules' increased resistance to slashes and the Invisible Air, Artoria was eventually forced to take a hit to the shoulder and be flung away to escape the hurricane-like barrage.

Just as she was preparing to re-engage, Hercules suddenly withdrew, likely because the Master had relocated to safety.

Considering her injuries and poor condition, Artoria chose not to continue the chase and returned to the Emiya residence.

Her explanation was reasonable. Being unaware of Hercules' abilities would indeed lead to such a setback. The final decision she made was also prudent. The whole process seemed unremarkable, except for one detail—

"You saw the Einzbern Master?"

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Because Illya, who was supposed to be the Lesser Grail and the Einzbern Master, had been stolen, Shinji was particularly sensitive to this matter. After all, to purify the Greater Grail, they needed access to it, and the Lesser Grail was the only key.

The technology to create the Lesser Grail was exclusive to the Einzbern central system. Neither Justeaze nor Irisviel knew how to make one, and the original body of Justeaze, who could have served as a sample, had been completely obliterated by Artoria's Excalibur—well, almost completely. A small fragment had been kept as a relic of Tohsaka Tokiomi, and it was this very fragment that led to his death.

In other words, for Shinji to achieve his goal, he needed to first secure the current Lesser Grail, whether in human form or some other state. According to the Einzbern family's usual practices, the Lesser Grail should be with the current Master, so finding the Master meant finding the Lesser Grail.

Artoria didn't disappoint Shinji; she nodded.

"I saw him."

"Describe his features. Was he carrying anything?"

"He wasn't carrying anything. His features were quite distinct: like Irisviel, he had red eyes and long white hair. However, he was male and appeared to be around seventy years old."

"Wait, male? And elderly?"

Wasn't the Einzbern family known for creating young, beautiful female homunculi? When did they start making men? And not the Muzik family's (like Goldolf's) obese men either. Unless—

Shinji frowned and looked toward Irisviel, who exchanged a strange glance with Kiritsugu.

"Could it be—?"

"Yes, it must be him. Only Acht fits that description."

"It's him?"

Acht was an honorific. His full name was Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the eighth head of the Einzbern family. He had lived for nearly two centuries, leading the family since the days of the Holy Grail's creation, and was the sole authority within the family, having overseen four Holy Grail Wars.

Up until now, he had only ever directed strategy, never participating directly in the battles. Why would he do so this time? Was it because they had lost Illya?

The Einzberns had never been known for keeping backups. They always placed all their cards on the table, only ever creating one Lesser Grail, without thinking to make a spare.

With Illya gone, their only Master lost, and the interval between Holy Grail Wars shortened from sixty years to ten, perhaps they hadn't had time to prepare a new Master and had no choice but to send out their elderly, experienced patriarch.