Fate/Gamer Alternative

Chapter 15

Fuyuki at night is absolutely in the dark, especially in the rural areas away from the city. The lack of streetlight reflect in how nobody bothered going outside once the sun had settled down

The eerie silence of their surrounding would have unnerved any other Master, but not her

She stepped out into the street. All was quiet. Assassin landed on her side with barely a sound as the girl's eyes flickered to him momentarily

"Did you catch it?"

In response, the Hassan stretched out his hand and opened it. Several corpses of crows fell out, landing on the ground with a spatter of blood

She look down at them

Familiars. Animals which has been bound to a Magus, tasked to do menial jobs for them. They aren't normally used for combat purpose. So there is only one explanation

"Someone has been monitorting our movement"

"I tried to trace down their source, but these seems to run on an independent track of Aura. Whoeever did this covered their track well" Assassin added as an afterthought

Less than two days and they've already been spotted. How lucky

"It's almost like whoever did this must have known our identity beforehand, but that's impossible right?"

"The Grail's candidate are chosen in mysterious way. I think it is indeed unlikely to figure it out"

"Unless it's Caster"

"There has always been an exception to the rules" Her Servant admitted "But we still can't be sure. These familiars seems too simple to have been their work"

So whatever means that was used, their tailer had now grasped the Master's identity in the palm of their hand

A normal Magus with such knowledge had basically taken one step toward victory.

"For the time being, I suggest we hide ourselves in the forest until other course of actions could be taken. Avoid further confrontations altogether"

"No. That makes their action unpredictable. Sticking to the usual routine is our best bet"

The logic may sounds contradictory, but keeping your enemy closer to your ally has their own merit

They are unlikely to attack somebody who they're sure is the smaller threat. Additionally, limiting your actions makes them predictable.

She knows where their tailer will strike. The only problem is to decipher when. Sakura closed her eyes

"Onii-chan. What would you do?"

In times like these, she could only rely on her brother's wisdom, trusting that he would provide a solution, no matter how bizarre, that would end up working perfectly fine in the end

Just like with her grandfather and the chasm between her and Rin. He'd been there to solve the matter without once asking for anything in return

But that person is no longer with her, and so Sakura found herself attempting to repicate the thought process of one Shinji Matou.

What would such a person say, were he to face the same situation as her?

"I have the weakest Servant class in the war. My identiy is compromised. Not to mention one of the participants is my sister. The natural course of action would be..."

To run away? To sacrifice her Servant and take a safehouse within the Church's confine? Just like a coward that she is?

No. Shinji wouldn't do that. He would calmly assess the situation, before coming to a conclusion befitting his intelligence. And that's exactly what she did