Comforting the Madam

When Zuke entered this time, the system no longer displayed a prompt about insufficient play attempts. He smoothly appeared in Rin Tohsaka's room.

It was around two or three in the morning—deep in the night. Logically, as a child, Rin Tohsaka should have already been asleep.

However, when Zuke appeared in the room, he saw her sitting on the bed with a sullen expression, clearly not in the mood for sleep.

"Berserker?"

Upon seeing Zuke, Rin abruptly raised her head, revealing a heartbroken expression.

As if finding her pillar of support, she rushed forward and threw herself into his arms, crying out:

"Berserker! My father... he was killed by Kariya Matou!"

"Huh?"

Zuke was stunned, shocked to hear such explosive news from Rin.

Kariya Matou was someone he had personally let go. While he anticipated that Kariya might pull off a self-destructive act in his final moments, he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly—and so effectively.

In one swift move, Kariya had managed to take out Tokiomi Tohsaka—a feat he hadn't achieved even in the original story.

In the original, Kariya faced Tokiomi as an enemy with Berserker by his side, which naturally made Tokiomi vigilant and prevented Kariya from getting close.

This time, however, without Lancelot as his Servant, Kariya met Tokiomi alone under the guise of forming an alliance. This disarmed Tokiomi's suspicions entirely.

Compounded by Kirei Kotomine's betrayal—someone Tokiomi thought would intervene to stop Kariya—all these factors culminated in Kariya successfully killing Tokiomi.

As Rin recounted the events, her voice was full of hatred for Kariya. Although he had once treated her and her mother kindly, the enmity of a murdered father far outweighed those small acts of kindness.

"Kirei Kotomine told us. He said he couldn't protect Father…"

In Zuke's arms, Rin sobbed and haltingly described what had happened. These details had been shared with her earlier that day by Kirei.

"Berserker, is the Holy Grail War… really this cruel?"

Zuke hugged her small frame, gently patting her head. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

He knew that, at times like this, words wouldn't mean much. Rin was a strong child—she would recover after crying it out. She didn't need much from him.

What concerned him more was the change in the Holy Grail War's dynamics following Tokiomi's death.

"Looks like Gilgamesh might end up as Kirei Kotomine's Servant… Gilgamesh is a hedonist, after all, and he and Kirei share a lot in common."

Zuke speculated inwardly. In the original story, Kirei's twisted enjoyment of others' suffering had been slowly nurtured by Gilgamesh.

But now, it seemed that the drama between Kariya and Tokiomi had already awakened Kirei's warped nature ahead of schedule.

Otherwise, how could Kariya, with his subpar skills, possibly kill Tokiomi right under Kirei's nose?

Kirei was an Executor of the Church and a practitioner of Bajiquan—there was no way Kariya could overpower him.

Still, Tokiomi's death wasn't entirely bad news for Zuke. With Tokiomi gone, Zuke no longer had to consider Rin's feelings when it came to eliminating Gilgamesh.

Now that Tokiomi was out of the picture, Rin couldn't possibly stop him from taking down Gilgamesh—especially since Gilgamesh and Tokiomi didn't share a particularly close bond.

In fact, Gilgamesh had always looked down on Tokiomi. By eliminating Gilgamesh, Zuke would even be avenging Rin.

The only concern was whether Kirei could handle supplying mana to two Servants by himself. Wouldn't he get drained dry by them?

After a while, Rin finally stopped crying and pulled away from Zuke's embrace, her eyes red and puffy.

"Sorry, Berserker. I lost control of my emotions…"

"It's fine. After all, you're still just a child. It's normal."

Zuke didn't think there was anything wrong with Rin crying in this situation. She was just a kid—how could he expect her to remain unaffected by her father's death?

"I'm not a child!"

Rin seemed upset by Zuke treating her like one. She stomped her foot and pouted in protest.

But seeing that Zuke wasn't going to retract his comment, she sighed in resignation and said,

"Berserker, I've accepted this, but my mother still hasn't… She's been crying nonstop."

"I see. So that's why she's still crying."

Zuke understood. His enhanced senses, amplified by his mastery of Ki, allowed him to hear the sound of a woman sobbing in a room downstairs.

It must have been Rin's mother, Aoi Tohsaka, mourning Tokiomi's death.

As for how deeply Aoi loved Tokiomi, Zuke doubted it was profound.

Their marriage was largely arranged for the sake of magecraft. While Aoi had dutifully played the role of a wife, their relationship had never been particularly deep.

Her tears were likely more about uncertainty regarding the future. After all, she would now have to shoulder the responsibilities of the Tohsaka family.

"Berserker, can you go comfort my mom?"

Unlike Zuke, Rin couldn't hear her mother crying downstairs.

Still, she knew that if things continued, her mother's mental state might deteriorate. So she asked Zuke to help.

As for how he should help, Rin hadn't thought that far. After all, she was just a child. Faced with such a major upheaval, all she could do was turn to the one person she could trust the most—Zuke.

With Tokiomi gone and her mother drowning in grief, Zuke was her only pillar of support.

Her request was entirely reasonable.

However, Zuke couldn't help but think of certain awkward implications. He pointed to himself, hesitant.

"Me?"

This didn't seem appropriate.

Tokiomi had been dead for less than a day, and he was being asked to comfort his widow… Wasn't that a bit too soon?

To be continued...

Thank you to everyone for supporting and comforting me in this time of crisis. I was very busy because of the death of a close family member, which is why I was not able to post on a regular basis, but worry not, I will try my best to update the fic on a regular basis In Sha'Allah. Once again, thank you so much, everyone!