"Eh? It's already realized?" Medusa looked down at her body, a puzzled expression on her face. "But my figure right now..."
Eriri chuckled and nodded. "That's right. You haven't fully understood the traits of your new body yet. If you want, you can switch between a loli form and an adult form at will. Just take some time to study it—I believe you'll figure it out quickly."
Since Eriri had known about Medusa's wish beforehand, she had built this feature into her body when she created it, similar to how she had designed the bodies of Arifureta and Shinobu.
Others with similar traits included Jibril and the Lala triplets, though for them, it only happened involuntarily when their internal energy was exhausted—they couldn't control it at will.
Eriri did this purely to fulfill Medusa's little wish—not because of any personal preferences.
"Is that so? Then let me try it." Medusa's face lit up with anticipation, and she immediately closed her eyes to sense the changes in her body.
Just as Eriri said, after a brief moment of sensing, Medusa quickly understood how to change her form.
Before everyone's eyes, Medusa instantly transformed from a tall, voluptuous big sister into a petite girl who looked about ten years old, barely 130 cm tall.
Because her body shrank so suddenly, her clothes now hung loosely over her like an oversized robe.
Eriri casually waved her right hand, and Medusa's clothes instantly transformed into a purple dress that neatly wrapped around her small frame.
"So this is the form Medusa wished for? How adorable!" Irisviel said in amazement, looking at the doll-like Medusa before her.
Medusa's beauty was truly top-tier. In her adult form, she was sexy and alluring; in her loli form, she was irresistibly cute.
Although she still couldn't quite compare to rare existences like Eriri and Arifureta, she was certainly on par with girls like Megumi Kato.
After a few seconds, now more familiar with her new body, Medusa opened her eyes again.
Now fully aware of the changes, a heartfelt smile spread across her face.
"My wish... really came true." Medusa stood up from the sofa and lifted her arms to admire her body.
It had been so long since she felt this way—her heart filled with satisfaction and fulfillment.
Then she walked over to Eriri, her face full of gratitude. "Thank you, Eriri."
"No need to be so formal. It was just a small thing," Eriri said casually, waving her hand dismissively.
However, in the next moment, her tone shifted, and a playful smile appeared on her face.
"But if you really want to thank me, let me hold you for a while."
Spreading her arms wide, Eriri waited for Medusa to fall into her embrace.
Medusa didn't hesitate. Having been often 'bullied' by her older sisters, she didn't think of hugs between girls as anything strange.
Hearing Eriri's request, she simply opened her arms and embraced her.
Thus, for a good while afterward, Medusa spent her time snuggled in Eriri's arms.
...
At Fuyuki City's Kotomine Church—
As a branch of the Holy Church, the Kotomine Church served as the supervisory institution for the previous Holy Grail War.
Back then, the supervisor was the then twenty-something Risei Kotomine. Now, he was once again the supervisor for this Holy Grail War.
After a Master's defeat, for their own safety, they could seek refuge at the church. At the same time, their remaining Command Seals would be collected by the church and kept under the supervisor's care.
Thanks to the previous Holy Grail War, Risei Kotomine had amassed no fewer than ten Command Seals, giving him a tremendous advantage compared to ordinary Masters who only had three.
In the original story, Kirei Kotomine was able to stir up chaos during the Fourth Holy Grail War precisely because Risei transferred those Command Seals to him.
Inside the church's grand hall, the expressionless Kirei Kotomine stood casually alongside his father, Risei Kotomine.
"I didn't expect the youngest daughter of the Tohsaka family to survive the Matou family's destruction," Risei said in slight surprise. "Not only that, she's become the final Master participating in the Holy Grail War—and she's even allied with the Einzbern family. Could it be that the Einzberns were behind the fall of the Matous?"
However, Risei quickly dismissed that theory.
"That's unlikely. As one of the Three Great Families, the Matous' foundation wouldn't have been weaker than the Einzberns'. They couldn't have been wiped out so quietly."
Since Eriri hadn't made any special efforts to hide their movements, their group's lineup was known to Kotomine Church and the other three Masters.
"I have a strong feeling that there's something off about this Holy Grail War. Whether it's the Matou family's collapse or Caster and his Master's early elimination... Kirei, go and remind Tokiomi Tohsaka to stay vigilant. If possible, have him recruit his daughter. That would significantly increase his chances of winning."
In his younger days, Risei had forged a deep friendship with the then-head of the Tohsaka family, maintaining a close relationship ever since.
Thus, in this Holy Grail War, Risei Kotomine was secretly supporting the Tohsaka family. His goal was for Kirei Kotomine to assist Tokiomi Tohsaka in winning the Holy Grail.
Unfortunately, his son turned out to be a traitor. Not only did Kirei fail to achieve this goal, but he also personally murdered Tokiomi.
"Understood," Kirei Kotomine responded indifferently, his face devoid of any emotion.
At this stage, Kirei had not yet accepted his true nature—the pursuit of 'pleasure' under Gilgamesh's influence. Thus, with no desires of his own, he obediently cooperated with his father's plans.
"By the way, Kirei, did you learn from that child who killed Caster?"
"It seems that child has forgotten everything that happened that day. Even using special means, we couldn't retrieve any information from his memory."
"So, the killer remains unknown..." Risei murmured, the unease in his heart growing stronger.
"Yes, Father."
After Kirei's reply, silence fell over the grand hall.
About half a minute later, Risei finally spoke again.
"Kirei, go ahead and carry out that plan tonight. Then tomorrow, visit the Tohsaka house and pass along my suggestion to Tokiomi. As for investigating Caster's killer, we'll have to try some other methods."
"Understood. I'll take my leave now." Kirei nodded and turned to leave the church.
Meanwhile, hidden in a dark corner of the church, Rin Tohsaka had been secretly listening to the entire conversation between Risei and Kirei.
Although, in her eyes, the strength of Risei and Kirei was no different from that of insects, her goal wasn't simply to kill Kirei outright.
To avoid exposing herself and alerting her father, she carefully concealed her presence and silently followed behind Kirei.
She would wait for him to reveal his true nature—then deal with him without mercy.
Although Rin Tohsaka had never liked Kirei Kotomine to begin with, he was still, nominally, her senior apprentice. It felt a bit wrong to take action against him just because of future events.
In the end, Rin was still a little soft-hearted. She couldn't be as decisive and ruthless as Eriri when dealing with things that displeased her.
Because of her hatred toward the Matou family, Rin's impression of Risei Kotomine had originally been very poor.
However, after overhearing the conversation between Risei and Kirei, Rin's view of the old man improved somewhat—at least he wasn't as detestable as she had thought.
"Hehe, you'd never guess that the one who killed Caster was me, Rin Tohsaka," she thought smugly to herself as she quietly left the Kotomine Church.
However, she decided not to continue monitoring Kirei.
After this period of observation, Rin realized it was pointless.
Besides, since Eriri and the others had already arrived in Fuyuki City, it meant the Holy Grail War's conclusion was not far off. Rin didn't want to waste any more time.
So she hurried toward the hotel where Eriri and the others were staying.
...
When Rin arrived at the hotel suite, she was greeted by quite the scene.
Eriri and the others were gathered around a long rectangular dining table, which was piled high with a feast.
Judging by the sheer amount, it was easily enough to feed over a dozen adults—yet only six people sat at the table, and three of them were little girls.
Still, this wasn't particularly surprising. After all, none of them were ordinary people, so having big appetites was perfectly reasonable.
Irisviel, Illya, and Sakura were eating their food carefully and gracefully.
Meanwhile, Eriri was feeding Medusa, who sat on her lap, bite by bite with chopsticks.
Of course, none of that was what truly shocked Rin.
What stunned her was Artoria's behavior at the table.
Artoria was rapidly devouring the food in front of her without the slightest care for maintaining the image of the dignified King of Knights.
She didn't even react to Rin's arrival, continuing to tackle the feast with great enthusiasm.
It wasn't that Artoria had poor vigilance. From Eriri and the others' reactions, she had already judged that Rin wasn't an enemy.
If another Servant had shown up instead, Artoria would have immediately switched to full combat readiness.
"Little Rin, since you're here, come eat quickly! Otherwise, Artoria's going to eat everything," Eriri said with a laugh after popping a piece of fish into Medusa's mouth.
"Ah, okay!" Rin snapped out of her daze and hurried over to an empty seat.
Hearing Eriri's comment, Artoria looked up and glared at her.
"How rude! I would never finish all this food by myself."
"But based on your performance, you're not very convincing, Artoria," Irisviel said with a teasing smile from across the table.
"Food is important to knights! I'm simply replenishing my energy to maintain peak condition. Besides... the food tastes really good," Artoria said self-righteously, though her voice grew softer by the end.
Seeing her reaction, Eriri burst into laughter. "Looks like the last part is the real reason, haha."
"Artoria's adorable like this too," Irisviel quickly chimed in with a smile.
Eriri and Irisviel's teasing made the usually composed Artoria blush. Without responding, she simply buried her head and continued eating.
The meal lasted for nearly an hour before it finally ended. In the end, more than half the food on the table had disappeared—mostly into Artoria's stomach.
During the meal, several small incidents occurred, such as Medusa shyly asking Eriri to stop feeding her.
Of course, Eriri flatly refused.
Left with no choice, Medusa endured her embarrassment and let Eriri do as she pleased. Deep down, she didn't really dislike the affection.
"Eriri-nee, who is this onee-san?" Rin asked, looking at the girl sitting in Eriri's lap like a doll.
She had been curious about Medusa's identity ever since she sat down. Although Rin had guessed that Medusa was likely a Servant summoned by her sister Sakura, she had never seen her in the memory images, so she wasn't sure.
Before Eriri could answer, Medusa, still in Eriri's arms, spoke up.
"Hello, I'm Sakura's Servant, Medusa."
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