The new house Shiomi had mentioned was roughly the same size as his previous one. The only real drawback was the lack of a backyard.
On the other hand, the front yard was spacious enough that even if a Servant invaded and a battle broke out, there'd be ample room to fight without feeling cramped.
He'd already hired a property management company to take care of things, so after completing the formalities with Morgan, they could move in and collect the keys immediately.
"Excellent choice, my husband."
Morgan returned to the living room after setting up a barrier in the yard and addressed Shiomi with a pleased tone.
The entire layout of the house felt like it had been tailor-made for her Magecraft. Without any prior scouting, she had been able to select and deploy the most effective barrier spell purely on instinct.
"You could say that. I picked this place with Sakura in mind too. If she were to move in, she'd need a defensive barrier just the same," Shiomi said, setting a tea tray beneath the house's eaves.
It ran in the family. If it suited Sakura, then it would suit Morgan even more.
"That said, I've basically turned this place into a fortress now," Morgan said. "If any fools come knocking, I might just get to enjoy some good old-fashioned trench warfare. It's been ages—I'd like to see if I'm still sharp."
"Jeez… You really are bloodthirsty," Shiomi said with a faint chuckle.
Morgan picked up her teacup and glanced at him.
Shiomi had set up a whiteboard in the living room and was busy sketching on it. A closer look revealed notes and diagrams detailing various Masters and Servants.
On the nearby television, the news was playing in the background.
"...In our next report: early this morning, a call came in from Miyama Town. A resident was found dead in their home. According to sources, the victim had been alone, and police suspect this murder is linked to the earlier homicide in Shinto..."
"What are you working on?" Morgan asked, eyeing the whiteboard. "Compiling intel on the Holy Grail War?"
"You heard the news, didn't you?" Shiomi said. "It's just like ten years ago. As soon as the Holy Grail War starts, the serial killings begin."
If this had been his first time, maybe he wouldn't have made the connection—but it wasn't. Shiomi couldn't help drawing on past experience, linking these incidents to the Grail War.
"But do you think this will be a repeat of last time, my husband? Another clueless Master with no idea what the Holy Grail even is?" Morgan asked.
"I can't rule that out." Shiomi turned away from the whiteboard, arms crossed. "Each Servant's base stats vary. It's entirely possible a Master is trying to boost their Servant's strength by harvesting souls."
To Magi, ordinary lives held little value. As long as they kept their actions veiled in secrecy, even the Mage's Association rarely stepped in.
"So you're using process of elimination to figure out which faction might be behind this?" Morgan asked.
Shiomi nodded. "Exactly. So far, the only viable suspects are the unidentified seventh Master and the Matou family's representative."
"Let's set that unknown Master aside for now. The Matou family hasn't been able to produce a proper Magus in years. You really think they have someone capable of fighting?"
"What if Zouken Matou himself entered the fray?" Shiomi replied, folding his arms. "After the last Holy Grail War, I paid him a visit. But the old man had hidden himself too well—what I found was just a puppet body made of insects."
Morgan grimaced. "That's more than enough reason to want him eliminated immediately."
"And after that, I dug deeper into the Matou Magecraft system," Shiomi continued. "Originally, they specialized in water-element Magecraft. The insect manipulation was a later development. According to what's in the Clock Tower archives, this technique can forcibly alter someone without training or magical aptitude into a usable Magus."
But the effectiveness was severely limited. No matter how much time you invested, anyone created this way was ultimately nothing more than cannon fodder for the Holy Grail War.
"Sounds like it fits the profile—killing civilians, absorbing souls for power," Morgan said, agreeing with Shiomi's analysis.
"It makes sense. Lacking strength and turning to dark methods for compensation—that's very much in line with how some Magus operate," Shiomi replied, turning to the whiteboard covered in names of Masters and Servants. "But we don't have enough proof yet. We'll need to look into it."
If he could help it, he didn't want Sakura to deal with a Magus like that.
Even if she won—as he was sure she would—it would still leave a bad taste in her mouth.
Just then, Shiomi's phone rang from the table.
In the new century, phones had evolved rapidly, becoming smaller and more efficient. Everyone in the Shiomi household had one—even Morgan used hers with ease.
Unlike most Magi, who scoffed at modern tech, Shiomi had always embraced it. If science ever surpassed the Magecraft of the Age of Gods, he'd gladly abandon Magecraft for advanced technology.
"Hello... I see. Got it."
After a brief conversation, he closed the phone.
"You look like something's come up. Trouble with the Grand Roll?" Morgan asked.
"No, nothing like that," Shiomi said, sitting down. "That was Caren. She passed along a message from the Clock Tower. One of the Mage's Association personnel sent to monitor the Holy Grail War has gone missing."
In addition to dispatching two Magus, the Association had also assigned personnel to supervise the situation.
"Think they were one of the serial murder victims?"
"Hard to say. They're just listed as missing." Shiomi glanced toward the TV, which had moved on to other news. "And the person who vanished was the one overseeing Bazett Fraga McRemitz."
Regardless of the motive, eliminating a supervisor before the war sees any real casualties makes it easier to shift suspicion onto other Masters and Servants.
Maybe it was to prevent the Association from uncovering secrets. Bazett came from an Irish Magus family—the McRemitz line had always kept its distance from the Clock Tower. In fact, Bazett herself was considered an outlier.
"So the Clock Tower... or rather, that old hag wants something from you again?"
"Unluckily, no. This time it's a request from Lord Trumbellio, relayed through Caren," Shiomi said. "He wants me, now that I've returned to Fuyuki, to look into the circumstances behind the disappearance of the supervisory personnel."
The request was just to gather intel, but looking into Bazett's situation aligned neatly with what Shiomi had planned anyway.