If Shinji knew what Kiritsugu was thinking, he would wake up laughing in his dreams.
He asked Scathach to rescue Kenneth not to disrupt Kiritsugu's thinking, but simply because he had intentions towards Kenneth. He didn't expect that Kiritsugu would bring himself into trouble.
Scathach's route tonight was to drive from the city to the foot of the mountain near the Einzbern Forest, and then hike up the mountain. As soon as she found Caster's location, she received a message from Shinji, asking her to go and confirm the condition of Justisa.
When Scathach arrived at the back mountain, Justissa was fighting with Kotomine Kirei, and was not at a disadvantage.
After Shinji got the news, he finally let go of the heavy stone hanging in his heart. He was worried that Justisa would encounter a Servant. Justisa had no job template and no combat experience in her life. Even if she developed a new combat magic, she would not be able to match the Servant. (This is limited to this Holy Grail War. If it is a non-combat Servant like Andersen or Shakespeare, Justisa still has a chance of winning.)
But if the opponent is Kotomine Kirei, Shinji won't be worried.
Although Kirei has strong combat power and rich combat experience, he has not exceeded the limits of human beings after all, and his fighting style based on Black Keys and Bajiquan has not exceeded the response range of "Thousands of Knots" and "Thousands of Changes". Even if Yustiza cannot win, it is not difficult for her to escape, and this judgment is also recognized by Scathach.
After confirming this, Shinji made a prompt decision and changed the target once again, letting Scathach go to the castle. This led to the scene where he later rescued Kenneth in front of Kiritsugu, doing a favor for Lancer and gaining Saber's favor.
Irisviel didn't have as many thoughts as Kiritsugu and Shinji, and her view on this matter was also very simple: "Should we contact the main family? Maybe the master (Ahad) knows something."
Kiritsugu seemed a little hesitant when he heard his wife's suggestion.
There was nothing wrong with the suggestion itself. Kiritsugu and Irisviel's understanding of Einzbern could not possibly compare to that of Ahad, the humanoid terminal created by the Energy Central System. Any answer obtained from asking Ahad would be a clue.
However, the conservative and closed nature of the Einzbern family made it extremely difficult to contact the family. The Einzbern family did not have any modern communication equipment, and only Yahad had the communication device made by alchemy, and it could only be used at fixed times and at fixed nodes, which did not include the Einzbern Forest in the Far East.
Kiritsugu had to go through three transfers to contact the main family. First, he had to contact his own intelligence personnel, then transfer to one of the few outlying bases of Einzbern, and then go to a specific node from this outlying base - several nodes were not equipped with modern communication equipment, and they completely adhered to the tradition of the Einzbern family. Only through the alchemy device of the node could the head of the family, Yahad, be contacted.
The process of contacting Yahad alone would take three to six days. If we also take into account the time it takes for Yahad to look up information and give a reply, it would probably take ten days to half a month. By that time, the Holy Grail War might have ended, and it would be useless to ask for an answer.
Apart from the difficulty in contacting, Kiritsugu was also a little worried about the reaction of the mysterious woman. Although the woman was related to the Einzbern family, from all her performances, she was not on the same front as the Einzbern family, and even had some conflicts with the main family. If Kiritsugu rashly contacted the main family, it would be very likely to anger the woman, and if she was pushed to the opposite side, it would be bad. Regardless of whether she had any connection with Assassin, the fighting power she showed alone made Kiritsugu have to be cautious.
Finally, Kiritsugu shook his head: "Forget it."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Since her husband has made the decision, Irisviel will obey without even asking why. This is the tacit understanding between them.
"Saber, the safety of the castle is in your hands. I will go after Kayneth."
After saying that, Kiritsugu left the restaurant without waiting for Saber's answer, walked out of the castle through the messy gate, and disappeared into the night. Even if Assassin rescued Kayneth, he would not give up. In order to achieve that goal, he would do whatever it takes.
Saber wanted to say something, but looking at Kiritsugu's resolute back, she could only swallow the words on the tip of her tongue and lowered her head in annoyance.
Irisviel saw all of Saber's behavior. She turned around and asked the young Knight King, who was very close to her, "Why don't you tell me? What do you want to do to defeat Caster?"
"Because I need to keep you and Miss Maiya safe."
Saber lowered her head and looked at her left hand, which was covered with a silver ring that was used to fix her unconscious thumb. If her left hand was intact, Caster would be dead by now.
"It's not safe here anymore. Miss Maiya cannot move. You need to take care of her. If an enemy invades while I'm away, you'll be in danger, especially the man who injured Miss Maiya..."
"Kotomine... Kirei..." Irisviel subconsciously uttered the name that made Kiritsugu feel terrified.
"I checked Miss Maiya's body. More than half of her ribs were broken, and her internal organs were ruptured to varying degrees. Only two strikes were enough to cause such injuries. This man is very strong." Saber gave a very high evaluation of Kirei's Bajiquan.
"Very strong? Even you, Saber, say so?" Irisviel clenched her hands unconsciously and looked very nervous.
"Yes, he is very strong." One of the knight's rules is fairness. Saber will not belittle the other party just because he is an enemy. "According to the knowledge given to me by the Holy Grail, there are not many humans who are stronger than him. However, Irisviel, don't worry. I am talking about humans, not servants. I can easily defeat him even with my left hand."
The last sentence instantly changed Irisviel's worry into joy: "Really?"
"I swear on my knight's honor." Saber lightly punched her left chest with her right fist. She would protect the woman in front of her no matter what.
"I trust you, Saber." Irisviel walked up to Saber and held her hands. "Miss Maiya and I will be in your care."
"Yes, I will." Saber's serious expression and upright posture were worthy of her title as the Knight King, but... this benchmark posture of a knight was destroyed by an unconcealable "grunt" sound.
Saber's face flushed red, and she stammered, "This... that... I'm sorry, Irisviel, I don't feel particularly hungry, but my body seems to need nutrition."
"Okay, okay, I got it." Irisviel's lips curled up unconsciously, "After a big fight with Caster, it's inevitable that you'll be hungry. Sit here for a while, I'll go get you something to eat."
"Thank you so much, Irisviel!"
When she heard there was food, Saber's eyes lit up. The three contrasting expressions of heroic, shy, and excited mixed together made her look particularly adorable.
Seeing Saber like this, Irisviel felt even better.
"What should I make today? Salamander soup? How about adding some wasabi, which is a favorite of Japanese people?"
That’s right, what Irisviel excels at is the legendary dark cuisine!
PS: Kirei's fighting power that rivals that of a Servant must be enhanced by the Command Seals. In "Fatezero", Kirei's final battle against Kiritsugu, Kyon personally commented that both sides had to cheat to reach the Servant level.