"Are you... courting me?" Irisviel asked the foolish question subconsciously, her face immediately flushing red like a ripe apple.
"Pfft—!"
Saber, who was drinking water to calm her nerves nearby, spat it out instantly.
"Irisviel! What are you saying!"
Saber stood up in a panic, blocking the space between the two, looking like a little tiger guarding its food: "This guy definitely doesn't have good intentions! Protection, my foot. I think he's just lusting after... lusting after your..."
Saber stammered for a long time, unable to bring herself to say the word "body".
Hansen straightened up, looking at this adorable pair of master and Servant, feeling in a great mood.
"If you're referring to that question just now, that depends on how you perform, my lady."
Hansen did not deny it, only leaving behind an ambiguous smile.
He dispelled the barrier and turned to walk out of the dining room.
"I'll be staying here tonight. Arrange a room for me—preferably close to my lady. After all... I need to provide close protection, don't I?"
"In your dreams!" Saber roared at his back. "I will guard Irisviel's door all night! You won't take a single step further!"
"Suit yourself." Hansen waved his hand without looking back. "As long as you're not afraid of me eating you as a midnight snack too."
Watching Hansen's silhouette disappear at the end of the corridor, Saber stomped her feet in anger, the silver fork in her hand twisted into a pretzel by her sheer force.
"Irisviel, you absolutely cannot trust that man!" Saber turned around and said to Irisviel with a serious expression. "He is too dangerous, and... he's full of lies!"
Irisviel, however, was staring at the doorway, lost in thought.
After a long while, she revealed a somewhat forced smile.
"Saber, what if it's true?"
"What?"
"If... Kiritsugu is truly destined to fail, if that Holy Grail is really a curse..." Irisviel gripped the fabric over her chest tightly. "Then Mr. Han Sen might be our only hope."
Saber fell silent.
She looked at the pitch-black night outside the window; it was a snowy night in Fuyuki City.
For some reason, she suddenly felt that the chill in this castle was more bone-piercing than ever before.
And in that endless darkness, it seemed that only the back of that man in black was burning with the only light.
Although that light looked more like demonic fire capable of devouring everything.
"No matter what..." Saber took a deep breath and held Irisviel's hand. "I will protect you, I swear it on the honor of the King of Knights."
"Even if the enemy is that monster, I will never back down."
This night, the Einzbern Castle was destined to be sleepless.
And for Hansen, this was merely the first pleasant night he had spent in this new world.
After all, what could be more interesting than dismantling their ideals bit by bit right in front of them, and then claiming their treasures as his own?
Joy.JPG
...
...
A guest room in Einzbern Castle.
The wind and snow outside the window continued, but the fireplace inside was burning brightly. Hansen lay on the large goose-down bed with his hands behind his head, listening to the faint sound of metal clashing outside the door.
That was Artoria fulfilling her promise.
This King of Knights was wearing her silver and blue armor, holding her invisible holy sword, guarding the door like a statue.
Even though she didn't need sleep, this rigid persistence made one find it somewhat amusing.
"The King with the ahoge is truly easy to fool."
Hansen muttered to himself. He rolled over and sat up, his black trench coat automatically draping over his shoulders.
Just now in the dining room, he had already locked onto another dark place in this world.
In that gloomy and ugly place, an unfortunate girl was suffering.
Matou Family.
Hansen pushed open the window, and the biting cold wind instantly poured into the room, blowing the curtains wildly.
He didn't use the main door; instead, he leaped out, his figure turning into an almost non-existent afterimage in mid-air, instantly disappearing into the wind and snow.
Saber Artoria, guarding the door, tilted her head in confusion, yet her perception detected nothing unusual.
"Hansen..."
Silently reciting that man's name in her heart, Saber felt conflicted, and that inexplicable sense of unease grew even stronger.
...
...
Fuyuki City, Miyama Town.
The Matou mansion was located at the end of the street; this old Western-style house appeared eerie and terrifying in the night.
The surrounding vegetation was withered and decayed, and the air was filled with an unshakeable stench of rot.
Hansen landed on a withered tree in the courtyard, his toes lightly touching the branch.
In his vision, the entire mansion was wrapped in a magical barrier composed of countless sticky, tiny insects.
That was Matou Zouken's—that old bug who had lived for hundreds of years—masterpiece.
"Truly a disgusting smell."
Hansen walked forward, pressing his palm vaguely against the heavy door.
There was no magical decryption, no flamboyant spell patterns appearing.
Boom—!
Only a domineering and majestic white-gold divine power erupted instantly, the terrifying force pushing outwards in an extremely brutal manner.
Those [Crest Worms] that claimed to devour all intruders, upon coming into contact with this extremely high-level power, couldn't even let out a whimper, directly disintegrating into the most primitive particles.
The door shattered.
Hansen walked into the front hall nonchalantly.
Countless black beetles crawled out from the gaps in the floor tiles, surging toward the intruder like a tide.
"Get lost."
Hansen spat out a single word.
An invisible shockwave swept out with him as the center, the originally hard floor being ripped up directly.
The dense swarm of insects was crushed into blood mist in an instant.
"Where did this stray dog come from, daring to run wild in my mansion?"
A hoarse and grating voice came from the shadows, sounding like countless shards of glass rubbing against each other.
An old man with skin wrinkled like tree bark, body hunched, walked out of the shadows on the second floor, leaning on a cane.
Matou Zouken.
His cloudy, yellow eyes flashed with a venomous light, and a nervous sneer hung on the corners of his mouth.
But the moment he saw Hansen, the old bug's laughter stopped abruptly.
As a Magus who had lived for too long, Matou Zouken's perception of danger was extremely keen.
On the man in front of him, he couldn't see magic power, couldn't see a saint graph.
He only saw death.
A sense of destruction more ancient and primitive than his own decaying body.
"You are... a Heroic Spirit of which class?" Matou Zouken's voice carried a hint of trembling.
"Insecticide class." Hansen smiled faintly, and in the next second, his figure vanished instantly.
Matou Zouken's expression changed drastically; countless Crest Worms crawled out from his sleeves and collar, attempting to form a defensive wall.
Crack—
Hansen's palm accurately clamped onto the old bug's skull.
"This kind of rotten soul doesn't even qualify to be nutrients."
White-gold flames spread down along Hansen's fingers.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
Matou Zouken let out a shrill scream.
His body, composed of insects, began to disintegrate under the burning of the divine fire.
Countless tiny insects attempted to escape, burrowing into floor cracks and corners.
"Still want to run?"
A fierce light flashed in Hansen's eyes as he raised his hand and grabbed at the void.
[Myriad Phenomenon Force Field]!
In an instant, the gravity within a thousand-meter radius reversed!
All the insects attempting to escape were forcibly dragged back into mid-air; under the illumination of the white-gold firelight, they had nowhere to hide.
"I am eternal... I am the Matou Family..."
"No, you are trash."
Hansen exerted force with his palm.
Bang—!!
Matou Zouken's skin-suit exploded completely, turning into a pool of foul-smelling black water.
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