My family runs an adventurer's guild.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Finally, let's talk about our protagonist, Phil.

"...Meow? What happened to me? When did I get back, meow?"

When Phil awoke from a deep sleep, he was astonished to find himself not in a dark, chilly underground parking lot, but in a small bed. Looking around, he realized he was back where he had been summoned to this world—Weber's temporary lodging at the farm on the outskirts of Fuyuki City. Looking out the window, he saw that it was already dark.

"...Oh, I see, it must be that little fairy Flor who used [Mount Summoning] on me..."

—Because cats are so small and have poor resistance to magic, and more importantly, cats need to sleep for sixteen hours a day, their ability to resist hypnosis is much weaker than that of humans… As a result, under the hypnosis of the [Lullaby of the God of Sleep], Phili lay on the ground in the underground parking lot of the Hyatt Hotel until late at night, and still couldn't wake up.

Finally, the impatient little fairy Flor used [Mount Summon] to pull him back.

"...It's already past midnight! Big Kitty! Where have you been wandering around all day?"

The tiny fairy knight Flor, only fifteen centimeters tall, fluttered her semi-transparent butterfly wings and pouted as she flew to Phil's side. "...I've sent you so many messages and you haven't replied. I can't see anything even when I use [Shared Vision] with you. Have you been sleeping the whole time?"

"...Your cat mount...it's probably been knocked unconscious by that large-scale hypnotic magic that broke out in the city this afternoon!"

Wearing sportswear, Weber walked in carrying a teacup. As he sipped his tea, he said to Phil, "...Did you find out anything before you fainted?"

"...Well, how should I put it? After we parted ways, I followed the Caster group and followed them into the Hyatt Hotel, meow. Then I discovered that part of the hotel had been converted into a magic workshop, which is very likely the base of another Master in this Holy Grail War, meow..."

Phil thought for a moment, glossing over some inexplicable "premonitions," and mumbled, "...and then I was hypnotized..."

"...So, you didn't witness any direct combat? You only identified the position of one group of enemies?"

Weber pursed his lips slightly, somewhat dissatisfied, but didn't dwell on it. "...Well, it's good to have gathered this much information after all. Wow, Fuyuki City is certainly lively today—fires, explosions, and even a magic battle made the news!"

Not to mention the wide-ranging hypnotic magic I experienced so clearly even in the suburbs; it's practically a miracle!

It's almost like a civil war by the end of the day, and I heard that over a thousand people have died!

They practically treated the Mage's Association's secrecy rules as worthless.

He sighed with deep emotion, "...Sigh, it's only the first day, and it's already such a bloodbath...Is this the Holy Grail War? Suddenly, Japan seems like a really scary place. I can't help but want to go home. What should I do?"

Ferry felt at a loss for words and could only tilt her head and pretend to be dumb, remaining silent.

Fortunately, although young Webber was thin and had a somewhat effeminate appearance, earning him the nickname "Princess," he was not the kind of sentimental, melancholic, literary girl. After only a few words of reflection, he began to announce the battle plan for the evening.

In short, it involves patrolling and reconnaissance within the Fuyuki City war zone to gather intelligence on the other Masters and Servants.

—Since Phil said she hadn't fully recovered from the hypnotic spell and her limbs were still weak, she couldn't walk. So the little fairy rode the cat, and the cat climbed onto Webber's head, their temporary caretaker, and thus began their night patrol in this strange "trinity" position…

The problem is that, apart from the gleeful little imp, both Webber with a cat perched on his head and the cat perched on Webber's head seem a bit awkward.

Damn, has this guy not washed his hair in days?

Why can't I just sit on a cute girl's head?

However, it seems that none of the Masters in the Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City were female, right?

There really was no other choice!

— Sensing the faint odor emanating from Webber's hair, Phil, the cat with a keen sense of smell, couldn't help but roll her eyes in disgust.

Then, just as they stepped out of the house, they saw a silvery light flashing in the distance, and a bright flame falling from the sky in an arc.

The spot where this silver flame landed was none other than the rooftop of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the tallest landmark building in Fuyuki City, with 32 floors.

"...Hmm? Could it be... that Masters have already started fighting each other? Using flames to bombard the Magic Workshop at the Hyatt Hotel?"

Gazing at the distant firelight against the night sky, young Waver stopped and remarked with interest, "...While it's spectacular, a real magic workshop isn't so easily destroyed... This level of external attack is just a warm-up... Holy crap!!!"

But the next moment, his tone could no longer remain calm and composed, and he even couldn't help but swear.

—Because, to the astonishment of young Webber, the tallest landmark building in Fuyuki City, the 32-story Hyatt Hotel, collapsed with a deafening roar after withstanding the blow, sending up a massive mushroom cloud of smoke and dust in the moonlight!

Young Webber: ⊙_⊙?! Who built this shoddy hotel? It's so fragile! It collapsed after just one fireball!

Little Fairy Flor: Oh wow! That's so exciting! It's like an epic battle! I want to play too! ヽ(??▽?)ノ

Feline the cat: I started digging at the corner of the wall this afternoon, and it collapsed by tonight?! I feel so amazing!!! (?o?o)??

Author's message

P.S.: I've been watching Marvel lately and discovered a really cute, overpowered character named Doreen, the squirrel girl. She's based on the author's daughter, and her power is commanding squirrels to rob nut shops. She looks weak, but she's actually a comedic main character who has easily defeated Thanos, the Mandarin, Doctor Doom, Galactus, and others. She's also Deadpool's archenemy (the little devil loves to torture her squirrels, yet they're impossible to kill). She frequently steals from Iron Man's house, even stealing his Iron Man suit, but Tony Stark can't do anything about it and is completely unable to defend against her.

In any battle that Squirrel Girl participates in, "reasonableness goes to hell." The villains automatically get auras of stupidity and weakness, and they fall in all sorts of impossible ways, such as being suffocated by the stench of garbage. So I'm wondering if I should write about this humanoid walking bug in the Marvel story. Her Marvel TV series "The New Warriors" is coming out soon.

The timeline is a bit complicated because Squirrel Girl is a nanny hired by Jessica Jones for her daughter, and Jessica Jones is Spider-Man's classmate. In other words, when Avengers: Infinity War happened, Squirrel Girl was still in elementary school... or probably a toddler before that.

Chapter 49, One-Hit KO?!

Late at night, Fuyuki City Church

In the solemn chapel, under the dim, flickering candlelight, with his back to the image of Jesus on the cross, and looking at the charred, mangled body of his old friend, Father Kotomine Risei, in the coffin, Tokiomi Tohsaka couldn't help but grip his carved cane tightly, his expression as somber as water.

Although he was a magician with an unusual temperament, at this moment, he couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy and sorrow.

—Just this afternoon, his discussions and arguments with Kotomine Risei about the Fuyuki Uprising still seem vivid in his mind.

Who could have imagined that just a few hours later, the two would be separated by death and become strangers?

Moreover, Kotomine Risei not only died in the helicopter crash, but was also burned to a crisp by the rampant fire in the city.

When the search and rescue team arrived, all they could see were a bunch of dark, unidentified humanoid objects. They even had to rely on magic to finally identify his body...

Tokiomi Tohsaka never expected that he would suffer such a heavy blow so soon after the Holy Grail War had just begun.

However, even though the supervisor, Risei Kotomine, who was involved in serious cheating, is dead, the Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City must continue.

After all, according to the calculations of the "Big Three," the spiritual veins flowing through Fuyuki City would need to accumulate magical energy for a full sixty years to activate the Holy Grail system even once. If Tokiomi Tohsaka misses this Holy Grail War, he will have to place his hopes on his grandchildren, or even his great-grandchildren.

—Just like many of his predecessors who shared the same surname "Tohsaka" but did not live to see the Holy Grail War.

However, Tokiomi Tohsaka was not content with living such a mediocre life and passing on his hopes to his descendants. Instead, he wanted to realize his family's long-cherished wish in his own generation.

Therefore, faced with such a rare opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime, Tokiomi Tohsaka was unwilling to give it up no matter what.

Moreover, according to Tokiomi Tohsaka, he still possesses a significant advantage as of now: an invincible silver dragon servant.

"...Kirei...um...I know you must be very sad. But even so, please accept my condolences!"

Tokiomi Tohsaka turned around and patted his apprentice Kirei Kotomine on the shoulder—as a magician who was completely immersed in the way of magic, he was not very good at interpersonal communication, let alone comforting others.

But even at this moment, Tokiomi Tohsaka managed to say a few more words, "...I am also deeply saddened by your father's death. However, the dead are gone, and we who are alive must continue our work..."

“…I understand, teacher…This Holy Grail War is still ongoing, and it’s only the first day…”

Kirei Kotomine, who had just lost his father, appeared expressionless, with only faint tear stains at the corners of his eyes. It seemed that he was so immersed in the excessive grief of his father's passing that he had become completely numb.

"...I've already set up a [Disperse Bystanders] spell at the exit of the Hyatt Hotel. The survivors remaining in the hotel were rescued by the police after I finished off the Caster group...Just in case, I also cut off the hotel's water, electricity, and gas supply..."

"...You did very well, Kirei...That's enough!"

Tokiomi Tohsaka nodded in satisfaction, then explained to Kirei Kotomine why he had taken the initiative to attack Kenneth, “...Although the initial source of this series of chaos and disasters in Fuyuki City today was Caster and his Master who openly trampled on the rules of secrecy and abused magic to kill people in public, the direct culprit who caused your father's death was ultimately Kenneth of the Hyatt Hotel.”

It was because this clock tower lecturer from England instructed his servant to unleash a skill in the afternoon, suddenly hypnotizing the entire city of Fuyuki, that Rissho's old friend was forced to fall from the sky in a plane crash...

As a participant in this Holy Grail War, I was originally an enemy of Kenneth; as the manager of the local spiritual veins, I could not stand idly by while an outsider acted so recklessly; and as a long-time friend of your father, I also had a duty to avenge him…”

In fact, as a traditional magician who appears elegant and composed, considers himself of noble lineage, likes to flaunt his gentlemanly manners, but whose actual qualities are quite mediocre and therefore lacks inner confidence, Tokiomi Tohsaka is not, in general, a very warlike person.

You could even say he's a rather timid person.

However, the lullaby played by the god of sleep this afternoon really startled him.

—Especially when Tokiomi Tohsaka discovered that even the magical barrier he had personally set up could not withstand that terrifying hypnotic magic.

This could not help but make Tokiomi Tohsaka feel deeply worried: as one of the "Big Three" families of Fuyuki City, the addresses of the Tohsaka and Matou families were, from the very beginning, open targets of concentrated attacks.

Under normal circumstances, any participant in the Holy Grail War should know where his residence is located.

This afternoon, the "Lullaby of the God of Sleep" was played during the day, and his residence was quite far from the Hyatt Hotel where the magic was unleashed. Therefore, Tokiomi Tohsaka barely managed to resist the hypnotic power of the "Lullaby of the God of Sleep" through sheer willpower.

But what if Kenneth sneaks up near his mansion after nightfall, releases "Sleep's Lullaby" again, knocking him and the silver dragon he just summoned down, and then swaggers straight into the Tohsaka family mansion?

Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't have enough confidence to withstand another "Sleepy Lullaby" at close range.

—Tokiomi Tohsaka had no idea that the "Lullaby of the God of Sleep" was indiscriminate in its hypnotic effects, even knocking Kenneth himself out.

Therefore, after some thought and hesitation, Tokiomi Tohsaka decisively abandoned the Tohsaka family mansion in Fukayama-cho, which had become a ruin and whose defenses had been greatly reduced, and moved to the vicinity of the church in Shinto, where he planned to set up a new temporary base.

At the same time, he also plans to take the initiative to challenge Kenneth on the first night of the Holy Grail War, and crush his arrogance.

"...But, having your servants directly unleash dragon breath to bombard the city...wouldn't that create too much of a commotion?"

Kirei Kotomine asked hesitantly, "...Even if a [Dispel Bystanders] spell is set up beforehand, people in the distance will still see it..."

"...There was nothing we could do about it. Who told Kenneth to choose to build the Magic Workshop in the city center?"

Kiri, we can't just keep our positions in the city center from attacking, can we?

How can you achieve victory if you keep hesitating?!

At this point, Tokiomi Tohsaka couldn't help but feel a surge of annoyance.

—Generally speaking, since magic in the Type-Moon world must remain secretive, traditional magicians' workshops are usually either located in the wilderness, such as the dilapidated Western-style mansion of "Fairy Tale Witch" Kuonji Aratsu in the deep mountains; or they are located in basements that are not visible to ordinary people, such as the underground insect warehouse of the Matou family and the basement magic workshop of the Tohsaka family.

(Alternatively, you can refer to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the sewers, as well as the underground secret bases of various quirky teams in Japanese anime.)

However, after arriving in Fuyuki, Kenneth set up his magic workshop on the top floor of the most prominent Hyatt Hotel in the heart of Fuyuki's bustling city center.

This makes anyone who wants to attack the Hyatt Hotel hesitant, fearing that if they use magic to attack the Hyatt Hotel, too many ordinary citizens will see it and they will be unable to kill them all, thus violating the Magic Association's ironclad rule of "ensuring the secrecy of magic" and causing all sorts of unpredictable disasters.

Tokiomi Tohsaka found this despicable kidnapping style, which involved using civilians to protect themselves, utterly contemptible—Kenneth, you are supposed to be a genius among traditional magicians, yet you have done such a vile and despicable thing! Where is your integrity and demeanor as a noble young master from a prestigious family?

(Kenneth said he hadn't thought that far ahead, but this luxury hotel was the only one in Fuyuki City that barely matched his aristocratic status.)

"...Since you've already made your decision, then I won't say anything more... To the public, just explain it as a time bomb left by terrorists at the Hyatt Hotel being triggered and detonated! But I still hope that you won't cause too much of a commotion."

Kirei Kotomine said helplessly, "...Because of the fire, plane crash, car accident, explosion and Caster's massacre, at least two thousand people have died, more than four thousand have been injured, more than nine hundred houses have been burned down, and more than seven thousand people have been left homeless."

And this is only the first day of this Holy Grail War!

If Fuyuki City were to experience any further major chaos, the Holy Church, the Mage's Association, and the Buddhist and magical communities of Japan would all be extremely dissatisfied. They might even intervene forcefully before the Holy Grail War is over…”

"...Don't worry, Kirei, Fuyuki City is my hometown after all, and I am deeply saddened by what has happened. But that's precisely why I must give Kenneth, this sinner, a stern warning and not allow him to continue to run rampant in this city."

Tokiomi Tohsaka patted his apprentice on the shoulder, reassuring him, "...Although Archer needs to bombard the Hyatt Hotel from a distance, I only plan to fire one or two rounds. For a magic master like Kenneth, this attack won't break through his magic workshop; it's just a white glove thrown out before a duel. As long as we force him out of the densely populated city center, Fuyuki City won't repeat the tragedy of this afternoon..."

As he spoke, he slowly walked out of the church and looked down at the night view of Fuyuki City from the steps outside.

The city of Fuyuki, shrouded in the darkness of night, was much less lit than the night before—due to the fire that had destroyed a significant portion of the transformers and power lines in the afternoon, many streets and houses were completely dark.

Several fire scenes were illuminated by searchlights, and vehicles were constantly moving in and out, seemingly indicating that firefighters, self-defense forces, and volunteers were clearing the rubble and searching for surviving injured people.

As for the city's tallest landmark building, the Hyatt Hotel, it was also completely dark at this moment. However, as a magician, Tokiomi Tohsaka could clearly observe the magical aura permeating most of the hotel's surface, as well as the almost tangible vortex of spiritual energy.

That represents a fairly advanced magic protection system, demonstrating the extraordinary skill of its creator.

"...Archer, prepare for long-range fire!" After taking a deep breath, he turned to his Servant and gave this order.

Lulutia, the little dragon girl who was lying on the open ground outside the church, raised her head upon hearing this. "...Okay! Tell me, where do you want me to hit?"

"...Target: Hyatt Hotel, the tallest building in the city. Is it difficult to aim at the top floor?"

"...No problem, such an obvious target is a piece of cake!" Lulutia confidently opened her dragon mouth, "...Roar—"

—Archer Class Skill: Long-Range Dragon Breath!

A silver fireball shot out from her mouth—thanks to the Archer class bonus, Lulutia's dragon breath range can now reach up to ten kilometers.

The location where she was spraying water, Fuyuki Church, is only about two kilometers away from the Hyatt Hotel.

As the tallest skyscraper in the city, the Hyatt Hotel has no obstructions to the view between it and the suburban church.

Therefore, the dragon's breath traced a parabola across the night sky and landed precisely on the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel.

Tokiomi Tohsaka stood silently under the night sky, his eyes almost fixed on the scene, eagerly anticipating the sight of the dragon's breath striking Kenneth's Magic Workshop and exploding into a dazzling display of fireworks.

Then, Lulutia's dragon breath struck the top floor of the Hyatt Hotel with perfect accuracy, sending sparks flying everywhere.

But what happened next left Tokiomi Tohsaka speechless and utterly astonished.

— Accompanied by a series of teeth-grinding creaks, the Hyatt Hotel began to tilt slightly, and the tilting became faster and faster.