章 80: Chapter 80: Einzbern's Doubt (Part 1)

The night still shrouded the Einzbern Forest, dark and silent.

Traces of intense battles were visible everywhere. The castle, specially brought from their homeland and tidied up by the maids, was heavily damaged in the battle between Emiya Kiritsugu and Kenneth Archibald. Even if they wanted to make repairs, the maids responsible for such tasks had already returned to their country.

Irisviel sighed as she walked through the corridors, doing her best to ignore the scene of this ruined place.

Fortunately, a few bedrooms had not fallen victim to the chaos, and Maiya was resting in one of them. Although Irisviel had already used healing magecraft on her, Einzbern's healing magecraft was already a significant burden for the injured. It originated from alchemy, not regenerating the physical body but rather transplanting newly formed tissues through magical power.

If the target was an artificial human, there would be no problem. But now she was treating a human, and from the perspective of modern medicine, it was equivalent to a major operation like organ transplantation. Maiya, exhausted and on the brink of collapse, was currently in a state of deep sleep. It would take a considerable amount of time for her to regain consciousness and freely move her body.

Having just finished the treatment, Irisviel had no time to rest. Emiya Kiritsugu and Saber were waiting for her in the dining hall.

The dining hall, serving as a temporary meeting room, had an oppressively heavy atmosphere.

Emiya Kiritsugu sat at the long table, maintaining his firearms, while Saber stood opposite him, her hands behind her back, motionless like a statue.

Irisviel was accustomed to such a scene. The relationship between these two, master and servant, had always been strained due to their differing ideologies. Emiya Kiritsugu believed that the King of Knights was naive and idealistic, while the King of Knights thought of Emiya Kiritsugu as despicable. Irisviel had tried to mediate a few times but with little effect.

Now, she only hoped that the two wouldn't start any conflicts. That would be enough for her.

The atmosphere in the dining hall eased a bit with Irisviel's arrival. She was Emiya Kiritsugu's beloved wife and the "princess" that Saber was willing to protect. Her innocence and strength could touch people's hearts.

As usual, Irisviel sat across from Kiritsugu, closest to Saber.

"When will Maiya be able to move?" Kiritsugu spoke, causing Saber to furrow her brows.

"What does he mean by 'able to move'? She's a person, not a weapon you hold in your hand!"

However, Irisviel didn't dwell on Kiritsugu's tone. After spending this time together, she had already sensed the inexplicable bond between her husband and Maiya, which outsiders couldn't understand. She simply responded truthfully, "She won't be able to move for the next day or two."

"I see. I'll proceed alone from now on. You two stay here on standby." Kiritsugu closed the case containing his sniper rifle and was about to get up and leave.

"Hey, Kiritsugu, do you think Acht sent another Master to participate in the war besides us?" Hearing his wife's question, Kiritsugu's cold expression finally showed a hint of fluctuation.

"Why are you asking that?"

"Well, I encountered someone before. She drove away Kotomine Kirei and saved me and Miss Maiya... She looks exactly like me, so she must be another artificial human of the same model as me."

Silence fell upon Kiritsugu, who took a moment to confirm with doubt.

"You're saying someone who looks exactly like you saved you and drove away Kotomine Kirei?"

"Yes, that's right," Irisviel nodded.

"Give me a detailed description of her appearance, attire, and the sequence of events from when she appeared to when she left. I want to know every detail."

Kiritsugu had a feeling that an invisible hand was reaching out to them.

...

"Someone who looks exactly like you wields a special line as a weapon, and can manipulate metal wires. It seems she is indeed an artificial human from the Einzbern family. Irisviel, have you taught anyone else about the 'Form of the Soul'?"

"I haven't told anyone except Illya," Irisviel replied. Even Kiritsugu didn't know about her development of combat magecraft, so there was no way she would have told anyone else. "And I feel like she is much better at manipulating the threads than me. If possible, I would like to learn from her for a while."

Indeed, being able to drive away Kotomine Kirei proves that her magical skills and combat experience are top-notch, but it doesn't make sense.

Kiritsugu had lived in the Einzbern family for nine years, and he was very familiar with the family. In his opinion, this incident itself was full of doubts.

The first doubt was the extraordinary combat power of that woman. The Einzbern family was truly not skilled in combat, and as long as he was prepared, Kiritsugu was confident in destroying the Einzbern family alone.

Initially, Kiritsugu thought it might be someone in disguise or his wife being under an illusion, but he quickly dismissed those possibilities. It's easy to disguise appearance, but it's much harder to mimic the nature of magecraft. The chances of Irisviel being under an illusion with the protection of the bounded field were extremely low. Everything confirmed that the woman came from the Einzbern family.

This fact itself was the second point of doubt.

Kiritsugu had previously reviewed the information on the Einzbern family. The manufacturing process of the Lesser Grail type of artificial humans was complex, and the cost was extremely high. Even the wealthy Einzbern family couldn't afford to manufacture multiple units at once, nor was there a need for duplicate production.

Acht had stated that there was only one Irisviel, the Lesser Grail, and she must be protected. Acht wouldn't lie, and there was no need for him to lie. Since he said so, there must be only one Lesser Grail type of artificial human, Irisviel. So where did that woman come from? Was she an earlier model of Irisviel? Or was she a discarded failure?

Setting aside the question of her origin, why did this woman save Irisviel?

Sisterly affection was impossible. They had never even met before, so how could there be any emotions between them? Furthermore, apart from Irisviel, who was an exception, the artificial humans of the Einzbern family were hardly distinguishable from machines. Did they understand what emotions were?

Leaving aside these two unanswered questions, for now, another matter concerned Kiritsugu—the actions of the Assassin.

It was not surprising that Assassin could evade the detection of the bounded field. The Assassin class itself was characterized by stealth and agility, and the Queen of Shadows was the highest-level warrior and magus who could easily break through such a barrier. The question was, why did she appear together with that woman?

A coincidence?

Kiritsugu didn't believe it. That woman was likely connected to Assassin in some way. This would explain why Assassin's Master ordered him to assist Saber last night, and it would also make sense for that woman to intervene and drive away Kotomine Kirei tonight.

But if that were the case, it couldn't explain why Assassin prevented Kiritsugu from killing Kirei. Assisting Irisviel on one hand and saving Kenneth on the other? Wasn't that contradictory? It couldn't be the same, as Lancer helping Saber once, then Saber helping Lancer once. This was war, not a game, and the Queen of Shadows was not a knight.