You call this a projection?

After the Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki, the mages of the Yggdmillennia clan utilized the power of Germany to intervene.

This caused information that had been intentionally concealed by the Three Families of Fuyuki to become thoroughly known throughout the mage community from that point on.

Or, to put it another way, if any mage were able to hold onto the temptation of the [Root] even at the cost of violating the principle of secrecy, they would likely be willing to involve the power of a modern, mundane army in the battles between mages.

It was also from that time on that, through various legal and illegal means, other mages from around the world who successfully obtained data on the Fuyuki Holy Grail War all desired to replicate its miracle.

This caused various ”sub-species” Holy Grail Wars to bloom across the globe.

But in the absence of the Fuyuki Greater Grail, these sub-species wars not only summoned Servants of insufficient strength—mere ”Shadow Servants”—but the final winner of these wars could not even have their wishes granted.

However, these sub-species wars did not include this Holy Grail War taking place in Romania.

Determined by the Mage Association, this Holy Grail War in Romania was undoubtedly authentic. The final prize, the Greater Grail, could truly grant the winner’s wish and allow a mage to reach the [Root]!

Yet, for a magical ritual sufficient to drive most mages into a frenzy, the Mage Association, after learning of it and obtaining the qualifications to participate, chose to push those qualifications away?

”Without a doubt, facing Yggdmillennia, who had prepared for decades, the Mage Association—which only happened upon this information recently—simply did not have enough time to prepare.

It’s not just the Mage Association; we Masters hired by the Association also find it difficult to surpass Yggdmillennia in terms of advance preparation.

Therefore, occupying both the home-field advantage and this resource advantage, Yggdmillennia only needs to dispatch these long-prepared weapons to probe for our intelligence.”

Combining the situation where the Yggdmillennia clan continued to track them with familiars after their first probe, and the constant dispatching of new golems and homunculi to attack, Kairi Shishigou easily deduced the strategy of the Yggdmillennia clan through their respective situations.

But this overt strategy—which clearly intended to wear them down through attrition—was precisely the kind of tactic that Kairi Shishigou could not counter, even after seeing through it. After all, a Servant’s true name and Noble Phantasm were critical pieces of information that had to be hidden until the very end.

”Although it is troublesome, Saber, if you truly go all out, you will fall right into the enemy’s trap.”

Seeming to notice Mordred’s dissatisfaction, Kairi Shishigou—who had gained a rough understanding of her personality during their time together—continued: ”Saber, you wouldn’t want to be played for a fool by the enemy mages, would you?”

”That, of course, I cannot accept!” Mordred replied without a moment’s hesitation.

And after stopping her restless pacing, she looked as disgusted with the Yggdmillennia clan as a ”Hakimi” (cat) that had morphed into an ankylosaurus. ”If anything, the fact that these wretched mages dare to play me for a fool!

But Master, if I cannot fight at full strength, you are going to have a very difficult time.”

Mordred thought of something and added: ”Although neither these golems nor the homunculi are a match for me—I can take them down with swordplay alone—they seem to have changed their tactics compared to how they were at the start.”

”Changed their tactics?” Kairi Shishigou looked at Mordred, puzzled.

”Master, did you not notice?” Mordred replied. ”The proportion of archery in the weapons used by those homunculi has increased, and those golems have shifted from trying to fight me in close quarters at the beginning to using rock-throwing tactics to pin me down.”

”Obviously, they intend to use this method to drag out the fighting time, so that you, Master, might find yourself in danger.

They are forcing you, Master, to use a Command Spell to summon me to support you, or to force me to use my Noble Phantasm.

However, this level of tactical change is, for me, no problem at all.”

Having said this, Mordred’s tone shifted, and she said confidently: ”As long as it is not an enemy Servant appearing, no matter how many of these golems and homunculi the enemy mages send over, it is impossible for them to hold me back for too long!”

’No wonder I didn’t feel that the Yggdmillennia clan had made any tactical changes.’

Aside from the successive battles that had strained his nerves to the breaking point and left him utterly exhausted, leaving him no spare consciousness to notice these details, there was also the presence of Mordred.

She made it so that he couldn’t even realize what role this tactical change was playing in their battles.

It was only at this moment that Kairi Shishigou could feel that what he had summoned was not just a slightly rebellious little girl.

She was one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table; she was a Servant.

Thinking of this, Kairi Shishigou, who had been a bit frightened by Mordred’s words, was stunned for a moment before smiling with a relaxed expression: ”If we truly encounter an enemy Servant, Saber, you naturally need not hold back.

After all, that would mean the enemy’s strategy has completely failed, forcing them to trade the information of their own Servant for ours.

Before that... since you have done so much, Saber, how can I, your Master, admit defeat!”

If he couldn’t handle this overt strategy of the Yggdmillennia clan with Mordred’s assistance, he would have died long ago while working as a mercenary on various modern battlefields to collect materials for his Necromancy.

”As expected of my Master, that’s the kind of resolve you need to have!” Mordred laughed.

Just as Kairi Shishigou and Mordred were preparing to meet the next round of attacks from the Yggdmillennia clan, suddenly, the wind changed.

It was not an ordinary weather change.

It was something more hair-raising, more stimulating to their spirits and instincts—much like how an opossum might choose to collapse and play dead when encountering a natural predator.

This powerful presence that suddenly appeared all around them was constantly sending instinctual warnings to Kairi Shishigou: ”Run! Run! Run!”

Kairi Shishigou couldn’t help but swallow his spit: ”...Saber?”

”Yeah. This is the enemy’s Servant!” Mordred, who had armed herself completely in an instant, followed the direction provided by her [Instinct] and quickly raised her sword toward the direction of this powerful presence.

She saw...

”...The, the King of Knights!?”

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