RNP Page 20
Page 20
After walking down a street, Irisviel asked her own guardian knight.
"No, we can only confirm that the other party's Servant is definitely a king, but we have no other information," Altria replied.
She wasn't just eating; she was also observing the information on the other side, but she didn't make any valuable discoveries.
So he asked in return, "Alice, have you seen the other Servant's Status (status panel)?"
Chapter 27 Combat Meeting
Irisviel shook her head upon hearing this and replied regretfully:
"The opponent's Master has very strong magical abilities, which are well hidden. Not only can we not see his class, physical data, attributes, and skills, but we can only see five of his basic stats, excluding his Noble Phantasm level."
She wasn't idle either; she secretly checked Nero's data, but unfortunately, she didn't gain much.
Artoria nodded, not surprised.
Hiding important information about Servants is a fundamental aspect of intelligence work. No Master would allow others to obtain information about their Servants and then use it against them.
At least in the early stages of the Holy Grail War, it was an intelligence war in which both sides concealed their identities and probed each other.
What are her stats?
"Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated," Artoria, who deeply understood this principle, pressed on.
"Well, the order of strength, endurance, agility, magic power, and luck is: B+, B, A+, A++, A."
"Oh? That's quite a formidable opponent, as expected of Saber. But I won't lose to her." Altria raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by this ability value.
Keep in mind that her top five ability scores are only BAAAC.
Except for durability, the second metric, they were completely outmatched in all other aspects.
However, she was not discouraged by these things; instead, she was inspired to fight.
She was already quite eager to test her skills against him!
At the same time, they did not doubt the authenticity of the other party's rank.
After all, even Marne himself felt that his Nero's stats looked just like Saber's. If others didn't know Nero's true class, they would also think that he was one of the three Knight classes if they saw such a stat panel.
Seeing this, Irisviel smiled and nodded: "Yes, let's go back first today. That person should be waiting. We need to give him the information about the opponent."
"Hmm." Upon hearing this, Altria simply responded with a faint sound.
She wasn't interested in the person Irisviel had mentioned.
With her attribute of Order and Good, she simply couldn't get along with her Neutral and Good Master.
For various reasons, they even disliked each other.
If it weren't for Irisviel acting as a mediator between the two parties, and her own adherence to chivalric principles, she probably would have gone on strike.
The two on this side are rushing towards the castle on the edge of Fuyuki, while Ma En has already returned to the Tohsaka family.
Together with Nero, and also including Tokiomi Tohsaka and Gilgamesh, they held a small meeting.
Marne first recounted his encounter with the Einzbern group, and then continued:
“From Queen Gilgamesh onwards, to Lancer of Einzbern whom I just met, the situation has already deviated significantly from my expectations.”
"At present, we can only confirm that Rider's Master is a free agent, Lancer is in Einzbern, the Matou family is predicted to be Berserker because they represent poor aptitude, and Saber's Master will be Lord Kenneth of the Clock Tower."
"The first thing we can confirm is that the Servant is definitely Iskandar, the Conqueror. Kenneth had originally prepared his relic, but it was stolen by his student who had just obtained the Command Seals. That student was also unable to find any other relic, so he must have used that relic to summon him."
"The Einzbern family went to great lengths to find a Noble Phantasm-level relic, the Arthurian sword sheath, and indeed summoned King Arthur, but it wasn't Saber as I had expected; it was Lancer."
"So Saber went to Kenneth's side, and her identity is unknown. As for the Matou family, there was no movement at all. We can only guess that it was Berserker, whose identity is also unknown."
"Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility of unexpected situations."
Because they discovered discrepancies, Marx and Engels stopped hiding the information and shared it.
"Interesting. Besides myself, three other self-proclaimed kings have appeared at once. Very good!"
The woman, who was drinking, suddenly revealed an arrogant smile, and killing intent began to gather in her eyes.
"Shut up if you have no constructive suggestions," Lu said coldly, glancing at her.
If you're going to swear, just swear. Why do you have to make sweeping generalizations and drag your own people into it?
"Hmph!" Shan Shan snorted coldly, not bothering to argue, and said nothing more.
"We have three Servants, and the enemy has four others. Lancer has been confirmed, and Rider should be fine. The problem is the remaining Saber and Berserker."
Tokiomi Tohsaka processed the information and came to this conclusion.
Since that freelance student stole the artifact, he must have used it for summoning; otherwise, it would have been meaningless.
The remaining Kenneth and Matou families are currently the biggest uncertainties.
"Lord El-Melloi is on his way to Fuyuki. I've already informed Kirei and asked him to arrange for an Assassin to wait at the airport. We're sure to run into him then, and we might be able to gather information on someone who is suspected to be a Servant."
"Given Ma Enjun's familiarity with many heroic spirits, it shouldn't be difficult to know which hero someone is just by knowing their appearance."
"But things are a bit more complicated with the Matou family."
As Tokiomi Tohsaka analyzed this, his brows furrowed.
"Yes."
Ma En nodded and said, "Those outsiders don't understand, but as one of the three founding families, it will be much more difficult to obtain information from the Matou family smoothly. At least before the official start, if we use Servants to investigate, they may accuse us of violating the rules."
Don't be fooled by those Type-Moon fanfiction characters who always end up in Fuyuki City and have to run through the Matou family's territory, yet still manage to participate in the Holy Grail War peacefully afterward.
However, those operations were all annihilation-level. In addition to being handled very cleanly, the Matou family had not yet summoned any Servants at the time, which was the most important factor.
The fact that a Servant hasn't been summoned yet means that it's still uncertain whether they will participate in the battle.
At this point, if someone uses their Servant to wipe out the Matou family, even if others find out afterward, they can't really say anything because it's not within the rules.
But the current situation is that the Matou family has already summoned a Servant.
If you use a Servant to gather information or do anything to other participants at this point, depending on their attitude, they have the right to sue you for interfering with their pre-battle preparations, which is a violation of regulations.
What Tokiomi Tohsaka said earlier, allowing Hassan to monitor the airport, was still barely within the permissible range.
Since it's a public place, if you don't make your Servant spirit form more discreet, you can't say anything if others get information about it.
However, to investigate the Matou family, one would have to infiltrate their headquarters, which would be considered a violation of the rules.
Being accused of violating regulations is a minor matter, after all, Hassan is just a useless card in the Tohsaka family's camp.
They were only responsible for intelligence gathering and, when necessary, acting in roles; even if they were rendered useless, it wouldn't have much of an impact.
The problem is that this might prematurely expose the situation of the three-rider alliance, attracting the combined attacks of other Masters.
The number of people is the biggest advantage of the Tohsaka family's camp, but it is also their biggest hidden danger.
Apart from Gilgamesh, who had already been told that she would be the hidden ace and continued to leisurely drink without caring, the other three began to ponder.
Chapter 28 A Difficult Choice
After a moment's thought, Ma En spoke first: "Let's leave the Matou family aside for now and deal with them after we start. For now, let's focus on clearing up the other known obstacles."
Yes, obstacles.
In Marne's view, everyone else was an obstacle to Tokiomi Tohsaka.
He promised to help Tokiomi Tohsaka win the Holy Grail War, and he will definitely keep his word.
At the same time, it was also to avoid disappointing those two little ones.
A single sentence jolted the two who were still deep in thought. Ma En continued, "There are three known obstacles. The first is Kenneth, who is on his way. Let's leave it at that for now. It would be best if we could successfully gather intelligence, but we can't force it if we can't."
"Secondly, Kenneth's student, Servant, is also a king, so his strength should be quite formidable. However, to avoid any surprises, we need to confirm again whether the other party has truly summoned Alexander the Great."
“Send out ten Hassan clones to search, just to confirm from a distance. That guy is a two-meter-tall, red-haired, burly man, very conspicuous. His Master is a student, a frail big boy dressed in British style. The combination of these two makes him very easy to identify.”
"Third, the Einzbern family. The representative we encountered earlier had some issues. She was a bit immature and didn't match her appearance; she looked more like a child. If she really is a Master, then the Einzbern family has probably given up on this Holy Grail War."
"We've also sent five people here, to have Hassan monitor people coming and going around the castle in the suburbs."
Kiritsugu Emiya, the magician killer, is someone we have to be wary of. The best course of action would be to find an opportunity to kill him outright, lest this ruthless guy cause any trouble.
"As for the rest, let Kirei continue to hide himself, leave at least thirty Hassan clones who are skilled in assassination in case of emergency, and select ten cannon fodder. After the official start, go and test the Matou family that night and catch them off guard."
Tokiomi Tohsaka nodded upon hearing this: "Let's do as you say. I'll go and tell Kirei."
With that, Tokiomi Tohsaka left his seat, seemingly satisfied with the arrangements made by Mar and Engels.
While it may seem a bit too cautious, it is just right for the current situation.
"Not bad, Dao Hua. You even have the ability to command. I look forward to your future performance."
When the meeting ended, Mother Shanshan chuckled and stood up, offering a slight compliment to Ma En.
Ma En glanced at her and reminded her, "Remember to stay put and don't cause any trouble later."
The main reason he convened this meeting was to give his mother, Shanshan, a heads-up, so that she wouldn't run off to become some kind of streetlight king and disrupt his plans.
"Don't worry, as the ace, I will make my appearance on the grandest occasion." Flash crossed his arms and said with a delighted expression, as if he had thought of something.
"The more you say that, the more uneasy I become," En retorted speechlessly.
However, Niang Shanshan did not respond to him. She waved her hand and then vanished in spirit form.
After everyone had left, Marne got up and went back to his room, with Nero silently following behind him.
Upon seeing Nero follow him into the room, Marne knew that he couldn't avoid it any longer.
He turned around and pulled her into his arms.
"Oh, you're in such a hurry, I'm not ready yet."
The more resolute Nero was when she entered the room, the more shy she became now. But she didn't break free; instead, she happily leaned slightly against her beloved's chest, savoring the warmth within.
Ma En tapped her little head speechlessly.
"What are you thinking? I wasn't doing anything, just giving you a hug."
"Oh dear~~." Realizing she had misunderstood again, Miss Nero covered her face in embarrassment.