When the Sand Sculpture Trial Comes to Yokohama

Matou Kariya looked confused: The Holy Grail War has not officially started, and no one has attacked him yet, so why is he not the Master all of a sudden?

Aren't his followers still standing behind him?Such a big follower!Such a big follower with "Mie" written on the back! ?

"Impossible!" Kariya Matou refused to believe what Kotomine Rizheng said, "My follower is still here!"

Yan Fengli was also very confused at the moment.

As the supervisor of this Holy Grail War, he Yanfeng Rizheng actually has other small ideas in mind.He has always been friends with the Tosaka family of magicians who are closely related to the Holy Grail War. In this Holy Grail War, he also intends to secretly help Tosaka Tokiomi, the head of the Tosaka family, win the victory.

That being the case, all players other than Tohsaka Tokiomi are enemies.Kotomine Rizheng didn't want others to win at all.

But he didn't expect that the Holy Grail War hadn't even started yet, another player from the Matou family, another family of magicians, lost even the command spells!

[System prompt: Yanfeng Lizheng's palpitation value +500]

***

After hearing Matou Kariya's words "My follower is still here", Kotomine Ri was subconsciously looking at Minan Rinka behind Matou Kariya.

Xiao Hua, who was wearing the uniform of the Ghost Slayer Squad, was standing behind Matou Kariya without embarrassment, and when he met Yan Fengli's eyes, he greeted cheerfully: "Have you eaten yet?"

Yan Fengli was led away by Minan Linhua for a while, and he replied "eat, eat" before regaining his senses.

Heroic Spirit doesn't need to eat at all, so how can he just say "Have you eaten?"?

[System prompt: Yanfeng Lizheng's palpitation value +199]

While Kotomine Ri was observing Minan Rinka, Minan Rinka was also quietly observing Kotomine Rizheng.I saw this old man wearing a priest's attire visually estimated to be about [-] years old, with a head of slightly long silver hair neatly combed back, with the length of the hair reaching shoulders.The old man was tall and burly, with bare eyes, he was obviously a practicing family.

Just when the two were looking at each other, Yan Fengli said calmly: "It stands to reason that there is only one reason why the command spells disappear in an instant, and that is - the death of the summoned servant. At the same time, you can Archer is the only servant who breaks away from the Command Seal contract and acts alone, so this servant is not Archer, right?"

If you can take advantage of this opportunity to directly eliminate the servants of the Matou family on the grounds of violating the rules, even if Matou Zouken knows about it, you can't say anything...

Kotomine Ri is saying what Matou Zouken also said back then: "Is this person standing behind you... really a Servant? Mr. Matou Kariya, you might as well consider using a heroic spirit that can bear it, but a human being But I can't resist the attack."

Minan Rinka: "..."

As the master of Ihonmaru, she is willing to be a follower, but why are these guys trying to destroy her secret observation plan one by one?

Give the command spell if you give it, if you don't give it, don't give it.Why are these people screaming and killing when they meet each other?

Minan Rinhua sighed melancholy, and decided that if she did it again, she would never forget it: "What are you going to do?"

It was as if something similar had happened before.After realizing this, Yan Fengli began to hesitate.

The old priest glanced at Kariya Matou.Matou Kariya understood what he meant, and quickly said: "The head of the Matou family also tried Berserker with the swarm of winged blade insects. Berserker defeated the swarm with one move."

Matou Zouken to test this heroic spirit?Hearing this, the old priest hesitated for a moment, thinking that if this heroic spirit has passed the level of Jiantong Zouyan, it should... be a real heroic spirit, right?

Before the war started, the Master lost the Command Seal inexplicably, and there was no phenomenon that the Command Seal was transferred to the new Master.According to the rules, this incident was an accident, and it should indeed be corrected by him, the supervisor of the Holy Grail War.

Kotomine Risei, who was standing on Tohsaka's side, didn't want to give the Command Seal.But if he resolutely refuses to give the Command Seal, it will make the Matou family doubt the impartiality of his supervisor.

Moreover, if the three command spells are lost in the usual way, the contract between the master and the servant will be terminated, and the only servant who can move freely is the bow soldier Archer, and the heroic spirit summoned by Matou Kariya is not Archer. Can move freely.This is equivalent to reverse proof that his Command Seal disappeared because of some kind of bug...

In addition, since Matou Zouyan already knew about this situation, taking the opportunity to eliminate the Matou family now, not only would he not be able to blame poor fellow Matou Kariya, but Matou Zouyan, who had no hope of winning the Holy Grail, might It becomes an unpredictable variable.

Kotomine Ri was comforting himself: at least, after this incident, he would know information about Matou Kariya's followers, and this information might help Tohsaka Tokiomi win.

Under the moonlight reflected through the stained glass window, the old priest pulled up the black sleeves of the priest's robe.On the exposed arm, there are more than a dozen bright red lines of Command Spells intertwined, like a large area of ​​tattoos.

"There are so many..." Matou Kariya was stunned, he felt as if something was stuck in his throat, and subconsciously swallowed, "Why..."

"These are the Command Seals that the Master could not use up in the Holy Grail War in the past. They are all kept by me, the supervisor."

Yan Fengli was covering Matou Kariya's hand with his palm.The latter only felt a burning pain in the skin on the back of his hand.The old priest read the incantation aloud.Soon, the same three radial scarlet Command Seals reappeared on the back of his hand.

After regaining the Command Seal, Matou Kariya finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much." He bowed towards Kotomine Rizheng.

"This is the responsibility of the Holy Grail War supervisor." The old priest said with a smile, "You don't need to thank me. I hope you can continue to be active in the Holy Grail War as a master and fight for honor."

Matou Kariya clenched his fist, turned and left.

Honor... This kind of thing is already far away from him.If he really had the honor, he wouldn't just watch the woman he likes marry the head of the Tohsaka family, and then watch the Tohsaka couple adopt their daughter Sakura to the Matou family, and let Sakura live in the Matou family. Under Yan's control, he was tortured...

Over the past year, whenever I think of Matou Sakura who has endured all kinds of tortures, the place where the engraving worms were planted in her body feels a dull pain.

He needs victory more than glory.

But right now, victory doesn't seem out of reach.After all, he has acquired the powerful heroic spirit Berserker who can cast teleportation magic out of thin air...

Thinking of this, Matou Kariya turned to look for Minan Rinka...

Where did he Berserker go! ?

[System prompt: Matou Kariya's palpitation value +739]

"Berserker!" Matou Kariya panicked, and quickly turned around, only to find Minan Rinka still standing in front of Kotomine Rizheng, staring at him.

Minan Rinka's eyes slowly fell on Kotomine Risei's chest.There, a huge cross was shining faintly.

Minan Lin thought to herself that this cross is not bad.Hasebe's battle uniform is a priest's uniform covered with armor, but he doesn't seem to be wearing a cross.

This kind of cross, the press-cut Hasebe should like it.

Minan Rinka wondered if she asked Yakiri Hasebe to stay in Honmaru to do her homework for her, and it would be unreasonable not to bring some small gifts back to him when the time comes...

"What material is your cross made of?" Minan Rinka asked.

Why did you suddenly ask about the material of the cross?Yan Fengli was a little puzzled, but still replied subconsciously: "It's covered with gold."

"That's pretty good." Minan Rinka nodded, "Where did you buy it?"

"This is not a commodity, it's the only antique." Yan Fengli shook his head, "This is the only one on my neck in the whole world."

"Oh." Minan Rinka said, "Did you just want to attack me when my Master didn't have a command spell?"

Old priest: "???"

When he first found out that Matou Kariya had lost the Command Seal, but Berserker still existed, Kotomine Rizheng really had such an idea.But after learning that Matou Zouken had already tried the insect tide once, he gave up the idea.

Now that the heroic spirit just mentioned this, what else could it mean?Didn't he just fall in love with his cross, threaten him not to hand over the cross, and tell Jiantong Zouyan that he wants to eliminate the Jiantong family's players?

So this Heroic Spirit has already seen through that he is biased in this Holy Grail War?How dare you take the opportunity to blackmail him...

As expected of a berserker, how crazy!

[System prompt: Yanfeng Lizheng's palpitation value +900]

A small leak will sink a great ship.Isn't it just an antique cross?Yan Fengli took off the cross around his neck without saying a word, and handed it to Minan Linhua.

At worst, in the Holy Grail War, he just stared at this Berserker to catch the pigtail, and when he caught the pigtail, he changed the rules and let other followers encircle her.

Minan Rinhua was taken aback.She did mean to ask for a cross on the grounds that she was almost targeted just now, but she didn't know Kotomine Ri was thinking so much, and even thought she had discovered his plot.

Why did the priest's heart palpitations jump to 900 all of a sudden?At that moment, Minan Rinhua realized: This old man is very bad, there must be ghosts in his heart.

But the antique cross that comes to your door is not for nothing.So Minan Rinka happily took the cross, stuffed it into her pocket very naturally, and said, "What? You want to give this to me as an apology? Oh, it's so embarrassing, it's too expensive Oh... Hey, why are you forcing it into my hand? All right, then I'd rather be respectful than obedient. I don't have anything else to return, so I wish you an early year..."

You are the one who threatened me, yet you still say such a long series of words?

Yan Fengli was complaining all of a sudden: He has lived a long life, but he has never seen such a person!

[System prompt: Yanfeng Lizheng's palpitation value +500]

Kariya Matou, who was watching from the side, was also stunned: What's going on?Why did his Berserker pass away the cross of the old priest in a few words?

[System prompt: Matou Kariya's palpitation value +333]

***

After leaving the church, Matou Kariya was still in a daze because of what happened that night.

"Next, I plan to go back to Matou's house. Although I don't like that place, once the Holy Grail War starts, the contestants will start killing each other. There are a lot of bugs in Matou's house, so staying there is relatively safe." He decided Calm down, say to Minan Rinka.

"Okay, then I'll send you there." Minan Rinka nodded, "But I won't stay at Matou's house anymore, I still have one thing to do."

Unexpectedly, the matter of the Holy Grail War tossed most of the night.Minan Rinka also wants to join Edogawa Ranpo and Yosano Akiko sooner.

"Where are you going?" Matou Kariya asked subconsciously.Unknowingly, he has already begun to rely on him, a servant who is too powerful, even though she always makes him palpitate...

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I should be able to go back soon." The surroundings of the church were remote, and Minan Rinka directly used the teleportation compass to send Matou Kariya to the house of Matou's family.

Seeing Minan Rinka's figure disappear with a burst of white light, Matou Kariya still stared at the place where she stood for a long time with sour eyes.

After that, Kariya Matou turned his head and walked towards the gate.His footsteps were getting faster and faster, and the heavy emotions that had been pressing on his heart like a mountain for a year finally showed signs of loosening.

He wanted to see Matou Sakura, and wanted to tell him that he seized the opportunity to save her.As long as he can win this Holy Grail War, Matou Sakura will not have to stay in the worm warehouse as a secret weapon of the Holy Grail War in the future, but can have a beautiful bedroom, soft dolls like ordinary little girls, and be able to sleep when the weather is fine. Go out and play, make lots of friends at school...

Matou Kariya pushed the door open, but most of the emotions that were boiling in his chest cooled down when he saw the person inside the door.

The head of the Jiantong family, Jiantong Zouyan is standing at the door at this moment.Hearing the sound of the door, he turned his head, his frightening eyes rolled slightly, and looked over.

"Where did you go?" Matou Zouken turned around, and there was a rustling sound like insect wings rubbing against the shaking of his clothes, "What did you go for?"

Matou Kariya subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

You can't tell Matou Zouken that you lost the Command Seal once, otherwise, he might think that he is not a magician who is not qualified to participate in the Holy Grail War.

Matou Kariya tried his best to calm down his expression.At this time, he was a little thankful that the left half of his face had become numb, so that he would not reveal his inner emotions: "I took Berserker to the church and met with Father Kotomine Risei."

Matou Zouken was a little surprised: "Why do you want to go there?"

"Let him confirm whether the berserk spell is effective." Matou Kariya's words became smoother, "The priest has already met Berserker. He recognized Berserker's identity."

The second half of the sentence is true.

Matou Zouken's eyeballs sunk deeply in his sockets flickered.

In fact, he did have doubts about Minan Rinka's identity. After all, he has never seen a follower who can maintain his sanity after a maddening spell.And what kind of nonsense is "Lancelot lost his way"...

But since Kotomine Ri, the supervisor of the Holy Grail War, recognized Berserker's identity, he naturally had nothing to say.Just think of her as a new breed of berserker...

Unknowingly, there was a great misunderstanding between Matou Zouken and Kotomine Risei: Kotomine Risei thought that Matou Zouken thought Minan Rinka was the real Berserker, and thus recognized her identity; Tong Zouyan thought Kotomine Ri was confirming that Minan Rinka was the real Berserker, so he no longer doubted it...

***

At the same time, in the conference room of the Fuyuki City Police Station.

"So that's how it is... There have been four burglary and homicide cases in Fuyuki City, and at each crime scene, there are patterns painted with the blood of the victim..." Edogawa sat cross-legged on the table in the conference room, looking Mumbling to a huge whiteboard filled with various photos and post-it notes from the scene.

"Yes, there are four in total, and the patterns appearing in each scene are the same." The police officer in charge of the reception pointed to the photos pasted on the whiteboard and asked cautiously, "The pattern drawn by the prisoner with blood seems to be It's some kind of magic circle. Could it be that he killed people to draw a magic circle, and the purpose is to sacrifice to the cult..."

Edogawa Ranpo didn't answer, but slowly took out the black-rimmed glasses in the cloak, caressing the frame with his fingertips.

"Mr. Edogawa?" Seeing that Edogawa Ranpo did not answer, the police officer asked suspiciously.

"It's about to start." Yosano Akiko raised her hand to stop the police officer's next questioning.She folded her hands on her chest again, and said in a low voice with a smile: "To give a detective the quietness that represents awe. Super reasoning... will appear soon."

Edogawa Ranpo raised the corners of his lips and put on his glasses.

"Super-reasoning..." he whispered, his eyes that were often squinted behind the lens opened slightly, and a rational chill appeared in the green irises.

After a moment, he put down his glasses.

"I see." Edogawa Ranpo narrowed his eyes again, and carefully put away his black-rimmed glasses, "First of all, it is not true that this person killed people in order to draw a magic circle with human blood and intend to perform a cult sacrifice." Not true. Drawing a magic circle should be just a sideshow after the murder."

"There were four murder cases in Fuyuki City, but this person is already familiar with murder." Edogawa Ranpo said, "This person should have committed many crimes before committing the first case in Fuyuki City. I suggest that the police should call out unsolved homicides and disappearances across the country with the same type of victims, and I believe that the murderer of this case must be among them."

"Secondly, the murderer is an adult male with a height of about 1.7 meters five. Even in the current hot weather, he is accustomed to wearing at least two layers of clothes. His age should not exceed 30 years old. He is not an official member of the company, but A freelancer who often changes part-time jobs and rotates day and night shifts chooses a part-time job that has a lower daily salary but allows him to get in touch with a large number of people. At the same time, the murderer has a higher IQ and a strong affinity, which is consistent with He’s doing cheap work that doesn’t feel right.”

Edogawa Ranpo jumped off the table and drew a circle on the map on the whiteboard, "His next crime location should be here, and the time will be between tonight and tomorrow morning. Given that the murderer has a rich murder history With experience, I hope the police will send out a SWAT team."

The police officer standing by the whiteboard was taken aback, and hurried out.

"Mr. Ranpo, how did you find this information?" Yosano Akiko asked with great interest.

"I found it with my ability 'super reasoning'." Edogawa Ranpo smiled.His gaze fell on the area of ​​the map he had circled.

It was a residential area in Miyama-cho, Fuyuki City.

***

In Miyama Town late at night, the street lights are dim and the night is misty.On the street, a young man in a T-shirt and a purple shirt with short orange-red hair walked briskly forward.

When he was working at a convenience store during the day, he met a young woman who came to buy rice balls and bento boxes, and got her information out of the conversation.

It was a single mother living in Miyama Town. After divorce, she lived alone with her son who had just entered elementary school.In order to make money to support herself and her son, this single mother has to work for a long time every day, even after returning home from work, she often falls asleep and does not even have time to cook.That's why she walked into the convenience store when the orange-haired youth was on shift to buy onigiri and bento boxes for lunch.

Such orphans and widows are the best prey.

Just some time ago, he dug out an ancient book from the warehouse of his hometown, which recorded magic circles and spells that were said to be able to summon ancient souls.Some time ago, he used blood to draw the magic circle several times, either because he drew the wrong details or because he chanted the wrong spell, nothing could be summoned.This time I found a suitable prey, and I just took this opportunity to draw again.

I don't know if the magic circle drawn with the blood of the mother and child can work and summon powerful demons.

Thinking of this, the orange-haired man smiled.He walked towards the prey's house step by step, the plastic bag in his hand rattling.

Wait a minute, foreword retracted.The best prey is not orphans and widows who live alone, but weak girls who are wandering alone in the street late at night——

A faint smile appeared on the face of the orange-haired man, and then he ran forward quickly.

Closer, closer - the slender girl in front is within reach.And the orange-haired man did stretch out his hand and grabbed the girl's shoulder.

"Miss sister, why are you walking around the street alone in the middle of the night?" He stretched out his hand with a smile, trying to pull the girl into his arms, covering her mouth and nose.

As a result, he tried hard, but he didn't move.

[System prompt: Yusheng Ryunosuke's palpitation value +100]

Yusheng Ryunosuke doesn't believe in evil anymore.I saw him grabbing it hard again, but he still didn't move...

[System prompt: Yusheng Ryunosuke's palpitation value +200]

Minan Rinhua was silent for a moment, then turned her head.

Xiaohua's shoulders are not something you can just put on...

"Can I be called walking on the street?" she said, "I am not called walking at all. Come on, let me tell you what is called walking on the street..."

As soon as the words were finished, Rinka Minan slapped Ryunosuke Yusheng's hand on her shoulder away with a slap.

At that moment, Yusheng Ryunosuke only felt a huge force coming.Minan Linhua slapped him down, and he spun five or six times like a spinning top, and finally stopped when he hit a tree.

This is the real "turning on the street"...

[System prompt: Yusheng Ryunosuke's palpitation value +500]

At this moment, I saw Minan Rinhua standing in front of him, silent for a moment: "Do you know how to describe this scene?"

Yusheng Ryunosuke knocked his forehead on a tree, and now he is still a little confused: How can I describe it?

He opened his mouth and asked with some difficulty: "How to describe it?"

I saw Minan Rinhua brewing for a moment, then said: "One person turns..."

[System prompt: Yusheng Ryunosuke's palpitation value +600]