บท 61: Chapter 60: Wine
"Oh? I didn't expect to see you drinking alone, Kirei."
Later, in Kotomine Kirei's room, he retrieved a bottle of red wine from the cupboard and sat alone on the single sofa, sipping the wine when he heard someone greet him in this manner.
Without looking up, he already knew who it was—a person who had transformed from a spirit into a physical body and was now leisurely leaning on the sofa, speaking to him.
It was Gilgamesh.
Faced with the golden Servant's teasing, Kirei did not respond but simply stared at the red wine in his glass without saying a word.
"Hmph, it looks like you're in trouble, Kirei." Gilgamesh picked up the wine bottle, poured it into the empty glass, and gently shook it. "No problem, just tell me. I have nothing to do right now, so listening to your troubles is just a way to kill time."
"Nothing to do?" Kirei found it a bit strange. "Tatsuya Suzuki summoned all the Masters and Servants who participated in the Holy Grail War and announced such a major event. Don't you plan to do anything?"
Gilgamesh took a sip of the wine. "Purifying the Holy Grail? The more I listen, the more boring it seems. A cup stained with evil is perfect for drinking. The only downside is that it smells a bit bloody."
"...If you're not satisfied, why don't you object?" Kirei asked.
"Because, although the plan is dull, the person is very intriguing." The Hero King commented with a sneer, "With just a few words, he aligned the interests of those bastards, reached the consensus he needed, and pushed everyone toward his goal. That guy has no self-awareness at all."
Regarding Tatsuya Suzuki, Kirei had some personal connections with him because they had worked together before, so he was sure the man could take care of Caren.
But Kirei didn't really know Tatsuya and could only say that he was very practical in his dealings and never aimed too high.
For that reason alone, Kirei felt it was enough to give Tatsuya a high evaluation.
As both a magus and a human being, he was far more normal than Kotomine Kirei.
"What exactly is this so-called self-awareness?" Kirei asked.
"Don't worry about it. It's just a topic irrelevant to the present." Gilgamesh seemed to know many things, but he was too lazy to explain them all to Kirei. "Let's get back to the question at hand, Kirei. What exactly is it that piqued your interest in drinking? Is it that guy you're obsessed with?"
Kotomine Kirei fell silent.
Previously, in order to deal with Gilgamesh's words and cooperate with Tohsaka Tokiomi's actions, Kirei had tentatively followed the latter's request and ordered Assassin—Hassan of the Hundred Faces—to gather information on the other Masters participating in the war.
However, after all the busy work, Kirei didn't obtain anything valuable. Only Gilgamesh, out of interest, had asked more about Tatsuya Suzuki.
"I don't know." Kirei took another sip of wine.
Originally, it was only due to the arrangement of his father and master that Kirei hid in the dark and listened to the meeting.
Emiya Kiritsugu gave up his covert actions and showed up here, most likely because Tatsuya forced him to. Kirei could guess this.
After all, with all the other Masters present, it was hard not to wonder if they would reach a consensus to eliminate Artoria's camp first.
But more than the fact that the Greater Holy Grail was contaminated, what surprised Kirei was Kiritsugu's reaction.
The Greater Holy Grail's contamination meant that wishes couldn't be granted normally, nor could it perform its function of reaching the Root.
Because the facts were clear, everyone present had to accept it, more or less—except for Emiya Kiritsugu, whose reaction was too intense.
Even though he refuted Tatsuya and Berserker's words as insults to Einzbern and denied their entire motives, Kirei could see that Kiritsugu's reaction was a sign of extreme hesitation.
That man must have something that could only be placed on the Holy Grail, which is why he couldn't accept the truth at all.
Just realizing this, Kirei, who didn't know who Emiya Kiritsugu truly was, already felt a kind of incomprehensible excitement.
Thanks to this, even the wine he had always considered boring and merely collected suddenly became flavorful.
Thus, Kirei had to drink something to quell this emotion.
"...Whenever I think of Emiya Kiritsugu's outburst at the meeting, the taste of the wine starts to change endlessly." Kirei frowned, and although he understood the immorality of his mentality, he could not suppress this feeling.
Or maybe it was just to cover up his inner disappointment with it all.
"Seeking a dream beyond one's capabilities, only to find that the means to achieve it are futile..." Gilgamesh laughed playfully and offered his evaluation, "Listening to the sound of dreams shattering, even this King finds it quite pleasant. Kirei, it's understandable that you would have such a reaction. From this perspective, Artoria and her Master are really the same kind of fools."
"But this… what's the point…" Kirei was still deeply troubled.
He wanted to deny that he was taking pleasure in others' pain, which went against the moral values he had built up so far.
"Meaning?" Gilgamesh finished his glass. He seemed to be planning to explain it to Kirei but suddenly changed his mind. "If there is any meaning, then use your own eyes to confirm it. If even that doesn't work, why not ask the contaminated Holy Grail directly?"
Kirei widened his eyes and looked at the King of Heroes in confusion.
"If you don't want to be in such pain for the rest of your life, then hurry up," Gilgamesh reminded Kotomine Kirei with great pleasure, "Otherwise, it will be too late for both the man you're obsessed with and the contaminated Holy Grail."
At this point, the priest had already realized what the King of Heroes was hinting at.
"You mean... there's a high possibility that Tatsuya will take action against Artoria's camp tonight?" Kirei did not doubt Tatsuya's efficiency at all.
Kirei knew, to some extent, that Tatsuya had been forced to participate in the Holy Grail War from the very beginning, so he would definitely seek to end everything as soon as possible to avoid any complications.
"Perhaps," Gilgamesh replied noncommittally. "At least in my opinion, Artoria and her Master are no match for that man, not to mention that he has a fairy following him."
Kotomine Kirei put down his wine glass.
He still didn't know what he should do or what he could do.
But if he could witness Tatsuya Suzuki killing Emiya Kiritsugu and see the look of despair on Kiritsugu's face before his death, perhaps it would be worth rushing over there under the cover of night.
Rushing to the Einzbern Forest.
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