Pure white snow blanketed the earth, a silver mantle adorning the bare birch and walnut trees, painting a unique landscape across this icy expanse.
And in this sparsely populated place, one could glimpse a castle standing amidst the wind and snow—incredibly grand, ancient, and steeped in history. Covered in ice and snow, this vast castle resembled a 'City of Snow.'
"Oh my... This is quite something."
Gazing at the youthful face with silver hair and red eyes reflected in the mirror, the girl sitting on the spacious four-poster bed, chin in hand... No, given this body's age, she should probably be called a 'little girl' or 'child,' right?
With eyes as translucent as red agate slightly open, she let out a sigh that didn't quite match her appearance.
"How should I put this? I knew it was a new body, but isn't this age a tad too young?"
Scrutinizing herself in the mirror, Jiang Qiao, who was well aware of the nature of this young vessel he was currently using, felt a mixture of helplessness and amusement.
Illya—Illyasviel von Einzbern, a reserve Lesser Grail from the Einzbern family.
According to her birthdate in his memories, she had just turned eight this year.
Eight years old... Isn't that basically a bona fide elementary school kid?!
"Sigh... A bit young, but it doesn't matter."
Gently exhaling, the silver-haired girl... little girl, after superficially absorbing the information gleaned from this body, relaxed.
Although the [Illya] model was indeed a bit small, Mr. Jiang Qiao, a veteran pilot, had used young bodies before—like Bronya and Seele, who were only four or five years older than Illya.
Being a bit young wasn't a problem at all!
However...
"This timeline..." The child's abundant plasticity allowed him to quickly adapt to this body. Leaning against the bed, [Illya] gazed thoughtfully at the snow outside the window. Based on the memories belonging to the body itself in his mind, he roughly figured out the details.
"...The Fourth Holy Grail War?"
Eight years old. According to the memories, a few days ago, this body's parents, Irisviel and Kiritsugu Emiya, had boarded a private plane to the battlefield of the Holy Grail War—Fuyuki City in Japan.
As for the outcome of this war... Mr. 'Cut-a-Cake' achieved the final victory, then chopped up the Grail, ending up with nothing in the end. His wife was gone, and his child... [Illya], due to Kiritsugu's actions being considered a betrayal, was chosen as the vessel for the next Holy Grail War and subjected to inhumane modifications.
Afterward... Although 'Daddy' desperately tried to save his precious daughter, unfortunately, the Magus Killer's methods might be effective against individual magi or even against someone inexperienced like Kayneth, but against the Einzbern family, who specialized in alchemy and knew exactly what kind of person Kiritsugu was... it was completely ineffective.
Moreover, due to the Einzbern family's nature, even threatening methods like 'camping their doorstep' were pointless. After all, this eccentric family were hardcore shut-ins. Apart from fulfilling their ambition of achieving the Third Magic, everything else was expendable.
Locked out and unable to do anything, Kiritsugu eventually met his end, passing his warped beliefs onto Shirou, the boy he rescued and adopted from the Fuyuki fire.
"A complete tragedy."
Easily recalling all of this, [Illya] sighed.
Normally, this war wouldn't have anything to do with him.
But...
"Hmm... So that's how it is..." Sensing something, the girl raised her small, fair, and somewhat chubby hand, feeling the impatience emanating from within her body, and instantly understood.
It was [Illya], after all.
Although just a child, because he had glimpsed the extremely tragic future awaiting [Illya] through a method similar to 'future sight,' the resulting anxiety, unease, and impatient desire to change things were only natural for him, currently being 'Illya.'
"Well then, let's take a trip to Fuyuki."
Although this body wasn't a participant in this war, [Illya], who was always driven by whim, didn't care about that at all. In fact, from Jiang Qiao's perspective, he had always held a certain interest in this 'hidden war.'
It was like Guan Yu fighting Qin Qiong. Witnessing heroes shining with human brilliance, recorded in human history, clashing against each other... Even if he didn't participate, coming to this world and not witnessing it would be filled with regret.
He didn't need a reason, but having one, having a goal, would be better. Driven by this thought, the childlike [Illya] became full of motivation and anticipation.
However, it was clear that some preparations were needed beforehand.
Feeling the frailty of this body, having already Ascended and lost the original 'copy-paste' ability that came with swapping—or rather, that byproduct was something Jiang Qiao now considered less than a toy. In this situation, if he didn't utilize his own power, this body, just like its appearance, would be a genuine, weak elementary school student.
Getting punched once would probably make her cry for a whole day.
His own power... Glancing at the snowy scenery outside, [Illya] thought for a moment and then abandoned the idea. Although he never shied away from using power, nor did he think power would diminish the fun, but... his own power was ultimately a bit too much for this world.
Even though becoming an enemy of the world wasn't a problem, barging into someone's house and then beating them up... it was better not to do such a thing unless necessary.
Yes, acquiring some local power should be enough.
"magecraft..."
Dressed in thin clothing, [Illya] muttered the word. The characteristic of the Type-Moon world was nothing more than magecraft powered by magical energy and mysterious Mysteries. There should be quite a bit of information on that in the Einzbern library.
Humming a Prussian folk tune from her memories, she didn't bother putting on shoes, pushing open the door and walking out barefoot.
While there were many books in Illya's room, they were almost all fairy tales that her 'mother' used to coax her. If she wanted to find information on magecraft, she obviously had to go to the Einzbern's grand library.
"Take me to the library." Seeing the Einzbern homunculus appear before her, dressed in uninspiring German maid attire, [Illya] didn't pay much attention, casually stating her request.
These artificial lifeforms of the Einzbern family had very little vivid self-awareness... They were decent as servants, but as people... Well, the Einzberns never considered them as such when creating them.
They were merely 'property,' 'tools,' or something of the sort.
In the end, that's what magi were like.
Hardly commendable.
"Yes, Lady Illya." Although Kiritsugu and Irisviel had left the Einzbern Castle, they were still the Einzberns' hope of winning the Holy Grail War. Coupled with this [Illya] being a Lesser Grail candidate, that old geezer Jubstacheit wouldn't mistreat this body—though surveillance was tight.
[Illya], remaining here, was, to some extent, a hostage of Kiritsugu Emiya against the Einzbern family.
Following the maid, [Illya] walked for an unknown amount of time before finally seeing the Einzbern's incredibly vast and expansive library.
"Oh, Illya, what brings you here?"
An aged but vigorous voice rang out beside her, instantly recognizable to [Illya]. Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the eighth head of the Einzbern family... Although he appeared human, he was essentially a perpetually active automaton created to fulfill the Einzbern family's ambition, responsible for creating and managing all the homunculi and operations of the Einzbern family.
In its eyes, as an artificial intelligence, [Illya]'s behavior was undoubtedly unusual—after all, she had never set foot here before.
"Kiritsugu and Irisviel are gone. I want to read books on magecraft."
"I see."
Jubstacheit understood, but didn't think much of it. As the core of the workshop, after being created, it only considered how to achieve the Einzbern family's long-cherished wish. As long as Kiritsugu Emiya could fulfill that ambition, he had little interest in [Illya]'s existence.
As long as it didn't affect the fulfillment of their ambition, there was no problem.
That being said, he didn't mind accompanying and teaching her. After all, no matter how thorough their preparations for this war, there was always the possibility of unforeseen circumstances. Therefore, cultivating a new participant in advance was a form of contingency planning.
"The library holds magecraft books collected by the Einzberns from all over the world, covering thousands of spells and all kinds of magecraft knowledge. You are free to browse."
"I personally recommend you focus on alchemy, as it is the foundation of our Einzbern family."
Any long-standing magi family possessed a terrifying amount of magecraft knowledge. However, for mage families, the true essence lay in the excavation and research of a single type of magecraft.
Learning too much, while not necessarily a bad thing, would only result in being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Being beaten like a dog by other magi was commonplace.
Jubstacheit wanted to stay and guide [Illya], but unfortunately, Mr. Jiang Qiao wasn't interested.
She waved her hand dismissively.
Although puzzled, Jubstacheit didn't force the issue and left, leaving [Illya] alone with the vast collection of magecraft books.
Ten minutes later.
Casually tossing aside the rudimentary "Beginner's Guide to Magecraft," [Illya], having accomplished her goal, left the library.
Jubstacheit, who had been observing, shook his head at this sight.
This child... seemed not very promising.
She ran off after only ten minutes of reading about magecraft.
As expected... just a whim?
He felt a little disappointed—but it quickly disappeared. After all, Jubstacheit hadn't held any expectations for this child in the first place.
Only the Holy Grail War about to begin in Japan, and Kiritsugu Emiya, on whom the Einzberns had placed most of their bets, represented their sole hope.
Returning his attention to managing the workshop, Jubstacheit no longer paid attention to [Illya].
And she leisurely strolled back to her room.
"magecraft is pretty easy, huh?"
Casually weaving a butterfly from the magical energy pulled from the air, [Illya] nonchalantly glanced at the terrifying amount of magical energy, enough to make any skilled magus tremble with fear, and felt quite relaxed.
Although Mr. Jiang Qiao wasn't using his true power, even so, after a simple, cursory understanding of this world's 'magecraft' system, as a veteran pilot, he still relied on his superb skills, using the frail body of [Illya], to master a level of magecraft art unimaginable to ordinary people in an extremely short period of time.
For example, the butterfly created by this simple thread magecraft in her hand—although its power was limited due to the amount of magical energy, its essence was already approaching that of the ' Phantasmal Species ' that only existed in myths.
If the magical energy supply were sufficient, this thread butterfly alone would be enough to make most second- or third-rate Servants break out in a cold sweat.
It was a pity that the magical energy wasn't sufficient...
There was no helping it.
After the Age of Gods faded, modern magi couldn't use the Greater Grail like they could in the Age of Gods. They had to switch to using small sources known as Magic Circuits. This, to a certain extent, limited the development of modern magecraft. After all, how could individual power compare to that of the world?
Without using special external magical energy sources, the amount of magical energy in this little girl's body did feel insufficient to [Illya].
Even though her body's qualities, before being modified into a Lesser Grail, were already outstanding—outstanding enough to warrant a sealing designation from the Mage's Association.
"Forget it~ I'll just use it sparingly~"
[Illya] didn't care much about it.
After all, wasn't the Holy Grail War supposed to be fought by 'Servant-mon'?
If it became some kind of 'Mortal Kombat,' it would be somewhat bullying.
'magecraft' and such, just make do with it when needed.
The important thing was 'Servant-mon'... Gotta use 'Servant-mon' to fight 'Servant-mon'! And speaking of Servant-mon...
"Alchemy magecraft," she chanted casually—actually, chanting wasn't necessary, but for the 'sense of ritual,' out of respect for 'rituals,' she still chanted a bit.
In an instant, the small teddy bear on the floor disappeared, replaced by an incredibly intricate magecraft circle drawn with mercury in place of blood.
—Servant Summon.
In the eyes of [Illya], who had already grasped magical arts, it was a fairly simple spell.
However, looking at this magecraft circle, Mr. Jiang Qiao did encounter a slight difficulty.
Because she could sense, through this [Illya] body and its connection to Irisviel, who was the Lesser Grail, that the seven Servants had already been summoned.
In other words, the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki seemed to be full.
In this case, if she wanted to summon another, she'd have to go for an irregular class like Avenger.
While that wasn't impossible...
[Illya] glanced at the mercury magecraft circle, lost in thought.
...Should she modify it a bit?