Shinji Matou At Your Service

The hazy moonlight was insufficient to illuminate the roads and signs, leaving the feel of the asphalt road as the sole guide for direction.

According to the pigeon's report, the Ruler had not dematerialized for some reason but instead hitched a ride, heading towards Trifas. Hence, there was no need to track her; ambushing on the road would naturally intercept the vehicle carrying the Ruler. The materialized Red Lancer had been on standby on the Transylvanian highway, ready to execute the order.

Lancer never questioned the morality of the orders he received; serving the Master who summoned him was his paramount duty. However, he harbored doubts about this order. It didn't target an enemy Master or Servant, nor did it involve consuming innocent humans to replenish mana. Instead, he was to eliminate the fifteenth Servant—the Ruler, who was supposed to act as the arbiter of this Holy Grail War. He struggled to comprehend his Master's command.

After all, the Ruler wouldn't favor any side. They would, at most, warn or punish those who violated the rules to prevent the Holy Grail War from becoming invalid. Perhaps eliminating the Ruler aimed to avoid punishment for breaking the rules, though this was a mere conjecture.

However, an order was an order. Red Lancer would not disobey; he didn't even entertain such thoughts. "Kill," if commanded thus—he would carry out the slaughter mercilessly.

A pigeon landed, delivering a paper with concise content—vehicle type and license plate number. These alone were enough to identify the target.

Lancer sat on a large sign on the highway, stretching out his legs, and waited intently for the Ruler to pass by. In reality, Lancer had almost no specific knowledge about what kind of person the Ruler was. Most likely, the Holy Grail had tightly concealed information related to the Ruler.

Ruler, assigned by the Holy Grail, bore the task of managing the Holy Grail War system. In punishing those who involved outsiders, the Ruler acted as the overseer of the Holy Grail War. However, their power was incomparable to that of a human overseer.

Importantly, the Ruler had the privilege of managing the "Holy Grail War" single-handedly. Defeating them was almost impossible. But precisely because of this, it was worth fighting against them.

On the distant horizon, faint lights from a car's headlights began to appear.

Lancer saw it.

◇◇◇

On the lonely, old truck driving along, the sparks between the young man and woman grew more intense, taking on a different meaning.

What kind? Just listen to a few snippets of their conversation.

Man: "What? You only know addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?"

Woman: "Yes, the Holy Grail only granted me these."

Man: "So you don't know about square roots or anything derived from those?"

Woman: "What's that? I feel somewhat familiar with the term, but not really."

Man: "Alright, how many digits can you handle with basic operations? Three? Four? Or five?"

Woman: "I don't know, it doesn't feel like a lot."

The man put his hand on his forehead. "You really only have basic living skills. Even if you're not illiterate, you're not far from it. The Holy Grail was stingy. Unlike Shishou who embedded some of her basic knowledge into the jewel left for Sakura."

The woman tilted her head. "Shishou? Sakura? Jewel?"

The man waved his hand. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. I understand now why you can't comprehend the textbooks. You completely lack a foundation in mathematics. It's no wonder you can't understand Advanced Mathematics. Even if I gave you an Elementary Mathematics book, you wouldn't be able to get it."

The woman didn't respond, her pouting face showing a bit of indignation.

Man: "Don't be upset. Let me introduce you to the modern mathematical system. Modern mathematics is divided into four levels: Elementary Mathematics, Intermediate Mathematics, Advanced Mathematics, and professional-level fields above that. These correspond to the modern education system—elementary school, middle school, university, and higher-level research and studies. This should be common knowledge from the Holy Grail, right?"

Woman: "Yes, I envy the modern education system; it's much better than in my time."

Man: "Society is always progressing. If things didn't keep getting better, humanity would have gone extinct by now. Anyway, do you know your level of mathematics?"

Woman: "Elementary?"

The man shook his head. "You're overestimating yourself. You don't even reach the elementary level. At most, you're at the level of a second or third-grader, depending on the country. You understand the concept of grades, right?"

The woman nodded. "Yes... But am I really that weak?"

The man nodded as well. "Yes, you are that weak. No need to doubt it. Although warfare and mathematics are not closely related, your math level can indicate your overall education. I'm starting to believe you received divine revelation—otherwise, I can't imagine how you managed to subdue those nobles or debate with the clergy, leaving them speechless. Divine intervention must be the only explanation."

Woman: "It wasn't divine intervention; I truly heard the voice of the Lord."

Man: "That's not surprising. God indeed exists, just not in this world anymore. As we approach modern times, it becomes harder for gods to interfere in the present world, even for someone as powerful as Yahweh. If the Hundred Years' War had occurred in ancient times, those nobles who judged you might have faced divine punishment. By the way, did you never hate those nobles? According to historical records, they did many excessive things to you."

Woman: "You know a lot about me?"

Man: "It's hard not to. This is Europe, after all. Your fame ranks you among the top ten, if not top five, heroes of all time."

Woman: "I'm... not that remarkable."

Man: "You are. There's no need to belittle yourself. You save your country. That's enough."

Woman: "That was... due to the Lord's revelation."

Man: "Heaven helps those who help themselves, and people help those who help others. Because of your perseverance, God favored you. Because you helped the people, they helped you in return, fighting alongside you."

Woman: "God loves all people, without distinction."

Man: "Nonsense. If there were no distinctions, why does it say that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, instead of saying that all people shall not perish but have eternal life? Sorry, I don't mean to belittle God or to debate theology with you. I don't deny God's greatness and I know He has done a lot for the world, but He hasn't reached the level of a monotheistic deity—He's not the only one with the qualifications to be a Savior. Anyway, let's talk about the present situation."

Woman: "Ah... okay..."

Unlike the man, she didn't have a strong sense of contention or victory. Since the man was unwilling to talk more, she swallowed her words. (Actually, it was because her theological knowledge was insufficient, and she didn't know how to refute him.)

Man: "Do you want to learn mathematics? If you do, I can teach you."

Woman: "You?"

Man: "What, you don't believe me? While I might not be at the level of advanced mathematics, I can teach you up to intermediate mathematics."

Woman: "I do want to learn, but why do you want to teach me?"

Man: "You're a beauty... Just kidding. You remind me of a friend of mine. I'll introduce you to her sometime. Also, we have a long way to go before we reach Trifas, and doing nothing is incredibly boring—so, in short, do you want to learn or not?"

Woman: "Yes, I do."

Man: "Alright, then let's start with the four basic operations."

And so, the man and woman became deeply engrossed in learning, unable to extricate themselves!