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Haru sat on the sofa in the luxurious hotel suite, glancing at the young girl huddled fearfully in Aoi Zenjou's arms, then turned his gaze to Kokabiel, who was kneeling on the floor.
"You brought this little one here from the Tohno estate? As a—plaything? Haru's voice was laced with a mixture of amusement and—something darker.
"Yes, my lord!" Kokabiel quickly confirmed.
Knowing Haru's aversion to harming young girls, a command issued after Haru noticed that the female protagonists in the Fate world seemed to be—underage, Kokabiel had spared Akiha Tohno, bringing her to Haru instead.
Haru, learning the girl's origins, recognized her instantly.
This was Akiha Tohno, one of the heroines of Tsukihime. She looked to be about four or five years old.
And it was precisely because he knew her identity that Haru's expression was so—complex.
Killing Akiha's father, then taking her in—was that a bit—much, even for him? But the thought of raising her—a thrill of excitement coursed through him. Such an—interesting opportunity…
...
Akiha Tohno, her sapphire eyes fixed on the groveling Kokabiel, her face impassive, then turned her gaze towards Haru.
Haru, sensing her stare, turned and gave her a warm, reassuring smile.
Akiha flinched, burying her face in Aoi's chest like a frightened ostrich.
"Are you sure about this, Haru? Adopting her?" Aoi asked, gently stroking Akiha's head, her voice filled with uncertainty.
She'd witnessed Makihisa Tohno's attack, and Ravel's quick, unscathed return had spoken volumes. Adopting the daughter of the man they'd just killed—it felt wrong.
Haru, seeing Aoi's conflicted expression, understood her hesitation. "She's just a child, Aoi. If we don't take her in—she'll have to be—dealt with."
Aoi's eyes widened. She looked at Akiha, then, after a moment, her expression softened. She lifted Akiha into her arms and carried her towards the bedroom.
Kohaku and Hisui were jumping on the bed, giggling.
Aoi, her maternal instincts amplified by her pregnancy, felt a surge of protective warmth towards Akiha. Even knowing that Akiha, upon learning the truth, might one day seek revenge, she was determined to raise her, to give her a loving home.
"It's—to make amends for what we did," she murmured, carrying Akiha into the room. "We'll raise her as our own. After all, you're the one who ordered—his death. You made her an orphan."
"Sure," Haru replied, his voice soft, as if agreeing with Aoi's reasoning.
He felt a pang of guilt towards Akiha, but it was the guilt of leaving a child without parents, not for ordering Makihisa's death.
He'd seen it as an act of virtue. A man who forced himself on a young girl—deserved to die.
...
In a remote location in Germany, hidden beneath a layer of permafrost, protected by powerful barriers, lay the ancestral home of the Einzbern family, a mage clan whose history spanned millennia.
Though their name wasn't widely known among ordinary Magicians, they were infamous among the noble houses.
They were a reclusive clan, avoiding contact with other Magicians, yet their lineage had endured for over a thousand years—a feat that inspired both awe and suspicion.
But the truth was, there were no true humans among the Einzbern. They were all—homunculi.
At the heart of Einzbern Castle resided a magically created artificial intelligence—Golem Jubstacheit.
Created by the original Einzbern, this AI was responsible for creating all subsequent homunculi.
And even after its creators' deaths, it continued to carry out their final wish—the completion of the Third Magic, Heaven's Feel.
Lacking a personality of its own, the AI had created humanoid terminals capable of independent thought to assist it.
The current terminal, the eighth generation, was named Acht, following the Einzbern naming convention.
Acht had been created before the Second Holy Grail War, tasked with overseeing its execution. He'd made the key decisions for both the Second and Third Wars.
During the Second War, due to his decision to place the Lesser Grail, the vessel connected to the Greater Grail, outside the Einzbern's protection, it had been damaged, and the war had ended in failure.
Learning of the Second War's failure, Acht had been devastated. After painstakingly summoning a powerful Servant, they had lost before the war even truly began, all because of his decision.
So, for the Third War, he'd changed his approach, utilizing the Einzbern's homunculus technology to implant the Lesser Grail within a homunculus—Illyasviel von Einzbern.
And to further ensure the Einzbern's victory, he'd attempted to summon a Avenger-class Servant—Angra Mainyu, the source of all evil in Zoroastrianism.
But due to Alaya's intervention, which forbade the summoning of true Gods, the ritual had been disrupted, resulting in the summoning of—an ordinary villager who happened to be mistaken for Angra Mainyu.
This—villager—had been swiftly defeated by a passing Servant on the fourth night of the war, much to Acht's dismay.
Once again, his decisions had led to failure.
Now, with only eight years remaining until the Fourth Holy Grail War, Acht, undeterred by his past failures, knew it was time to begin preparations.
But after two centuries of relentless effort, he'd learned a bitter lesson: the Einzbern, as researchers and creators, were no match for the cunning and ruthless Magicians of the outside world.
So, despite the shame it would bring upon the Einzbern name, he made a decision—to recruit a Magician from the outside world to assist them in the upcoming war.
And with that decision, the Einzbern's—marriage proposal—reached the ears of the world's Magicians.
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