"...You made this cigar into the Lesser Grail?"
Zuke widened his eyes, looking at the cigar on the table emanating golden light, and couldn't help but repeat what Waver had just described.
That's right. What Waver wanted to tell Zuke was that he had successfully researched the method of manufacturing the Lesser Grail and had already successfully created a "Lesser Grail" vessel.
But the problem was that the vessel for this "Lesser Grail" that Waver had made was precisely this cigar placed on the coffee table.
Because it had become the "Lesser Grail," even the cigar's appearance looked somewhat different—after being infused with magical energy, the cigar's surface reflected golden radiance.
Thinking about it carefully, the "Lesser Grail" vessels of the first three Holy Grail Wars were inorganic objects with holy relic abilities, so it didn't seem impossible for a cigar to become a vessel.
After all, this cigar wasn't an ordinary cigar either, but one of Waver's few "Mystic Codes"—an auxiliary tool used to cast magic.
And holy relics themselves were a type of "Mystic Code," so Waver's cigar, being the same type of Mystic Code, could of course serve as the "Lesser Grail" vessel.
"I didn't expect it to go so smoothly either. I succeeded on the first attempt."
Waver also held his forehead. After thoroughly studying the Einzbern technique for manufacturing the Lesser Grail, he had just tried copying it and unexpectedly succeeded directly.
Originally, his idea was to use this cigar as a consumable to get a feel for it, purely as practice.
"However... although the shape might be rather strange, there are no problems with its function as a Lesser Grail vessel."
Seeing the strange look Zuke gave him, Waver couldn't help but cough twice, easing the embarrassment in his tone, and said as seriously as possible.
"So what does Mr. Zuke think? Should we just use this cigar as the Lesser Grail vessel, or should I make a new one?"
Although making a Lesser Grail vessel with a cigar made even Waver unable to keep a straight face, this also happened to show that manufacturing the Lesser Grail vessel wasn't some complex process.
From the Fourth Holy Grail War onward, the Einzberns making the Lesser Grail vessel into their family's homunculus was largely just for better control of the Lesser Grail.
To put it bluntly... the difficulty in creating Irisviel and Sitonai lay in the homunculus technology, not in the technology of manufacturing the Lesser Grail vessel.
Otherwise, Matou Zouken in the original work wouldn't have been able to create the "Makiri's Cup" with the same function as the Lesser Grail himself.
"...No need to make a new one. Let's just make do with this thing."
Zuke thought about it and felt there was no need to insist on getting a new Lesser Grail vessel—a cigar was a cigar. At the end of the day, it was just a somewhat perfunctory shape.
Anyway, after collecting enough Heroic Spirit souls, this cigar would also transform into the Lesser Grail's appearance. By then, no one would be able to tell that golden cup was transformed from a cigar.
"Maybe we should make a new one after all. Otherwise, thinking that my soul will be stuffed into a cigar later still feels really awkward."
However, although Zuke expressed approval, Heroic Spirit EMIYA in the corner of the living room still couldn't help but complain.
His body remained in a frozen state, with only his head still exposed and able to speak normally—it seemed he had completely given up resisting.
Now he had accepted that he would be killed by Zuke and become Grail fodder, but he didn't expect this Lesser Grail vessel to be so perfunctory?
In his memory, the Lesser Grail vessel should be Sitonai... but now Sitonai seemed to have already been taken by Zuke to some place the Grail couldn't contact.
So Zuke needed a new Lesser Grail to replace Sitonai's function.
"Stop talking nonsense. You have no right to point fingers at the Lesser Grail vessel."
Zuke glanced at Heroic Spirit EMIYA and calmly told him to shut up—seeing Zuke's expression, Heroic Spirit EMIYA also very tactfully stopped talking.
Because he was very clear that if he continued speaking, his mouth would probably be zipped up again the next moment—that feeling was really unpleasant.
After making Heroic Spirit EMIYA shut up, Zuke also didn't immediately start dealing with the Heroic Spirits in the house, but instead looked at Waver and asked:
"Speaking of which, where are Reines and Sakura? Where did those two go?"
Every time he entered the Fate/Stay Night world before, he couldn't avoid being welcomed by Reines. He didn't expect that this time with Reines absent, he was actually a bit unaccustomed to it.
"Hehe..."
Waver also seemed to notice Zuke's expression and showed a knowing smile, then answered.
"Reines and Miss Matou went to find the Holy Grail War's supervisor, saying they had an idea to test... I don't know the specific content."
"The Holy Grail War's supervisor... Risei Kotomine?"
Zuke nodded. He hadn't met Risei Kotomine yet and had no interest in meeting that old priest.
However, Reines and Sakura Matou actually went to find Risei Kotomine... thinking about it, the "idea" they mentioned was definitely related to Sakura Matou's Stand ability.
"Does Mr. Zuke want to go find them?"
Waver looked at Zuke and asked curiously.
"No rush. Let's test whether this Lesser Grail's functions are normal first."
Zuke narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Risei Kotomine wasn't some very powerful character. The various protective measures on Reines were already sufficient to ensure they wouldn't have any problems. He wasn't in a hurry to find them either.
Moreover, Sakura Matou had awakened a Stand. The one who really needed to worry should be Risei Kotomine instead.
"Testing whether the Lesser Grail's functions are normal... in other words?"
Hearing Zuke's words, Waver immediately understood what Zuke wanted to do, then cast a sympathetic look at Heroic Spirit EMIYA, as well as Hassan-i-Sabbah who was completely frozen beside him.
Because testing the Lesser Grail's functions was nothing more than testing whether it could contain Heroic Spirit souls... if so, then they'd inevitably have to kill a Heroic Spirit.
Sure enough, the next moment, before Waver and Heroic Spirit EMIYA could react, Zuke pointed a finger at Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture.
Although separated by a distance, the power emanating from Zuke's finger still instantly shattered Hassan-i-Sabbah's ice sculpture directly.
Hassan-i-Sabbah burst open like shattered fireworks. Countless dark red ice fragments fell to the ground, looking full of uncomfortable evil intent.
Immediately after, with Hassan-i-Sabbah's death as a Heroic Spirit, the "Lesser Grail" reacted—the cigar's surface seemed to become slightly brighter.
"Hmm?"
Originally just wanting to test the Lesser Grail's functions, but with Hassan-i-Sabbah's death and the Heroic Spirit's soul returning to the Lesser Grail, Zuke suddenly felt something different.
He looked at that cigar—that is, the "Lesser Grail's" vessel—his face showing a trace of interest.
"This feeling..."
To be continued…