"Liar! That's a lie!" Astolfo glared at Darnic and retorted, "Although Loss of Reason is indeed troublesome, I can still tell whether something is a product of my imagination or not. After all, I fought against a witch who was an expert in deception during my lifetime!"
"So, Rider, is this the reason you, a Servant of the same faction, betrayed us and tried to sabotage the completion of my Noble Phantasm?" Caster Avicebron asked, watching Astolfo from behind his mask. "You, a knight who betrayed his comrades."
"Eh?" Hearing this, Astolfo averted his gaze, feeling a little guilty.
Although he could rightfully claim it was to assist the homunculus boy who wanted to survive, he still felt a bit guilty when facing the victim.
"Rider." Astolfo's master, Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia, watched him with a twisted expression. "Don't force me to use a command spell to compel you."
"Eh—" Astolfo glanced at Chiron with dissatisfaction.
The response he got was a shake of the head.
Treating the homunculus boy without informing anyone was already the limit of what he could do.
He did not intend to betray his own master.
"I understand." Astolfo obediently dissipated his lance, then returned to his master's side with his hands raised.
But he didn't intend to give up just yet.
There would be plenty of opportunities. As long as he didn't die and the homunculus boy hadn't been taken by Caster to fill the furnace core, he still had a chance!
Besides, at worst, he could just go directly to the Ruler and ask for help. The Ruler wouldn't just stand by and watch… would she?
Surely not, right?
"Caster." At Vlad III's command, Avicebron immediately understood his intent. He pointed his finger at Astolfo's raised hands, and soil and gravel were immediately extracted from the ground, condensing on his hands to form a stone orb prison that trapped Astolfo's hands.
The group set off in a grand procession, and returned in a grand procession.
The homunculus boy was carried on Avicebron's shoulder, looking as if he was afraid someone would snatch him away.
"Um, what exactly is going on?" Jeanne asked, frowning as she looked outside from the window.
Ever since just a moment ago, she had been receiving images transmitted to her by Revelation.
One moment it was the battle between the Black Faction's Berserker and Rider, and the next it was the image of the Black Faction's Rider being restrained by Caster.
It was all very cryptic.
If she hadn't remembered her agreement with Daniel, she probably would have been unable to suppress her curiosity and followed them.
"It's their own internal problem, don't go interfering," Daniel glanced outside and reminded her.
"The only target you need to focus on is Amakusa Shirou Tokisada. Please don't forget that."
Upon hearing this, Jeanne pondered for a few seconds, then obediently left the window and sat back down on the sofa.
Although she didn't know why Daniel was so wary of her interfering, he made sense.
It was better not to be too meddlesome, lest her own duties be neglected.
In the clairvoyance screen, the chaotic slashing between Kriemhild and Siegfried had finally stopped.
Perhaps because the pent-up resentment had been vented during that flurry of slashing, Kriemhild was finally able to communicate properly with Siegfried.
But Siegfried didn't seem to have realized what he should do yet; he just kept apologizing.
The resentment began to gather again on Kriemhild's already pale face.
"This is what you call a dense guy, right?" Artoria sighed helplessly. "At a time like this, just apologizing will only make things worse."
"Kriemhild doesn't want a few 'I'm sorry's'."
"What they both need right now is probably an opponent who can force them to fight side-by-side," Daniel said, rubbing his chin. "Of course, for Kriemhild, it would be an opponent that could make Siegfried fight alongside her out of a desire to protect her."
"Alright, let's stop here for now." Daniel began to contact Kriemhild.
If he let the two continue to interact in this state, it might provoke new anger in Kriemhild.
So Daniel planned to have Kriemhild and Sanzang return first.
"Lord Siegfried, it won't end just like this." Kriemhild glared at Siegfried with red-rimmed eyes, then spirit-formed and left with Sanzang.
Siegfried was left standing there alone, looking up at the sky with a bewildered expression.
Isn't this Holy Grail War targeting him, Siegfried, a bit too much?
Astolfo was locked up in the dungeon inside the castle for imprisonment.
Although he kept insisting that he hadn't betrayed them, no matter how he argued, he had acted in a way that was no different from betrayal, so Vlad III had him temporarily detained.
As for when he would be released, that would depend on when the war with the Red Faction began.
As for the homunculus boy, he was sent back to the homunculus manufacturing center.
After all, he was an unfinished product that had broken out of his tank and run away; the manufacturing process wasn't completed yet.
Adjustments had to be continued first.
And during this process, Caster would be following along the whole time.
After all, it was the furnace core that best matched his Noble Phantasm, so he had to participate in adjusting the homunculus boy to his optimal state.
Back in his office, Darnic looked at the figures on the financial report with a livid face, his heart twitching.
If those few from the Ruler Faction kept eating like this, by the time the Holy Grail War ended, it might be time for his Yggdmillennia Clan to declare bankruptcy.
After all, the expenses during the preparation period for the previous Holy Grail War had already caused the Yggdmillennia Clan's finances to show a deficit.
Gordes' homunculus production project was no different from burning money.
This was also the reason why Darnic had tolerated Gordes so much before.
But if you added this bunch of rice buckets from the Ruler Faction, it could almost be said to be the last snowflake that caused the avalanche!
"…How about selling off some projects that aren't needed for the time being to exchange for some money?" Darnic pondered with a troubled face on how to obtain funds to continue maintaining the operation of the Yggdmillennia Clan.
He had even thought of the buyer.
Although the Clock Tower was now a hostile force, the inside of the Clock Tower wasn't exactly an impenetrable iron bucket.
He could very well find some up-and-coming nobles who didn't have such severe hostility toward the Yggdmillennia Clan to discuss cooperative projects.
After all, his side's homunculus project already had finished products.
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