Aozaki Aoko Case File

Credits: placid

The Holy Grail War had finally come to an end, and Aoko and Artoria returned to Misaki Town.

With only a few days left of Tokyo University's winter vacation, Aoko used the time to help Artoria obtain proper identification.

 It could only be said that in the Aozaki family, as long as there was enough money, they could accomplish almost anything. If something couldn't be done, it was simply because there wasn't enough money.

Alice was somewhat displeased that Aoko had spent so much time on what she saw as a trivial magical ritual. However, Aoko had been prepared for this and brought back plenty of gifts from Fuyuki City to placate her, easily defusing Alice's irritation.

"She seems a bit like my elder sister," was Artoria's evaluation of Alice.

 Aoko had initially expected Alice to be upset upon hearing such a comment. After all, Morgan's reputation in general human history wasn't exactly stellar.

Surprisingly, Alice was quite pleased with Artoria's words. Perhaps it was because she felt a sense of pride in being compared to a famous witch from history by none other than Artoria herself.

Alice had always taken great pride in her identity as a witch, inherited from her mother. If someone were to call her an ordinary girl, that would probably infuriate her. After all, a witch should maintain the dignity of a witch.

Artoria, with her honest and straightforward personality, seemed to get along well with Alice. Upon learning that Alice was a witch with ancient British bloodline heritage, Artoria became very excited and often sat with her to chat about all things related to Britain.

When Alice first discovered that King Arthur was a woman, she was utterly shocked. But she quickly came to accept the fact and was quite pleased with Aoko's decision to bring the resurrected King Arthur home. It was a bit like the joy one might feel upon receiving a rare and precious toy from their mother.

Alice pulled Artoria aside to ask her all kinds of questions about Morgan, delving into the loves, hatreds, and intrigues buried in historical truths. Both Alice and Aoko listened with great interest.

Unlike other Heroic Spirits, Artoria was summoned while still alive through a contract with Alaya. This meant her memories hadn't been altered by death, nor were they influenced by human beliefs, as was the case for some phantasmal spirits born from legends. In other words, the history in Artoria's memories was pure fact.

Aoko was particularly intrigued by the strange circumstances surrounding the materialization of the wielder of the Star's Holy Sword in the modern world. She considered consulting the Wizard Marshall Zelretch about the matter, but he seemed to be intentionally avoiding her, so the issue was put on hold for the time being.

The Star's Holy Sword, Excalibur, was most famously used in the battle 14,000 years ago against the vanguard of the celestial bodies—the white giant Sefar.

 In that battle, the gods, who were extensions of the planet, suffered heavy losses. This directly led to the decline of the Age of Gods and possibly set the stage for the eventual outcomes of the Land of Steel.

In other words, the Star's Holy Sword was designed to combat external enemies of Earth or threats to humanity. Aoko couldn't help but wonder: would she, as a potential Foreigner-class entity upon summoning, fall within the sword's anti-threat range?

Could it be that Gaia and Alaya, unable to deal with Aoko directly, had placed a wielder of the Holy Sword by her side as a contingency plan?

Some things were better left unexamined. In a world full of conspiracies and schemes, overthinking often led to unnecessary trouble—especially now that Aoko had obtained enough power to flip the metaphorical table.

If pushed too far, she could always blow everything up and see who would end up worse off.

Meanwhile, Touko was still in Germany handling the affairs of the Einzbern estate. It was said that Acht wept upon seeing her and willingly allowed himself to be sealed.

The clone Irisviel who had accompanied Touko to Germany officially took over as the manager of the Einzbern castle. In Aoko and Touko's absence, she was responsible for overseeing and managing the estate.

Illyasviel, upon learning that Kiritsugu Emiya had been killed by Aoko, was heartbroken and withdrew into herself for a time. However, with the encouragement of her new mother, she eventually came to terms with it.

After all, Illya hadn't spent much time with Kiritsugu, and she was currently much younger than even Caren. If asked to choose which parent was more important to her, she would undoubtedly pick Irisviel.

As for her new sister Caren, Illya generously shared her toys with her. However, she seemed to sense something odd about her new sibling. While Caren wasn't malicious, she seemed to take a peculiar delight in Illya's misfortune—though this was probably just a misunderstanding.

Once all arrangements had been made (including the installation of teleportation circles Aoko had prepared in advance), Touko temporarily bid farewell to Irisviel and the others. Once the teleportation circles were stabilized, she would bring them back to live with her.

Sella and Leysritt remained at the Kuonji residence as professional maids to look after Alice.

For some reason, Kohaku and Hisui, who were studying magic under Alice, were very fond of Sella and Leysritt. They seemed to view them as fellow twin sisters and respected them as senior role models in the way of the maid.

The two little ones imitated Sella and Leysritt's outfits and behavior. In addition to learning magecraft, they diligently practiced all the skills a maid of a noble young lady should have.

Aoko speculated that they probably adored Alice. After all, Alice was a genuine noble lady and a fairy-tale witch, which perfectly aligned with the interests of young girls. It would be strange if they didn't like her.

Regarding financial matters, Aoko boldly brought out the gold and stored it in the Kuonji residence.

Compared to the villa she had built herself, the Kuonji estate, refined over generations of research by Alice's mother and herself, was far safer and more reliable. Aoko also added numerous protective measures using magical networks. Unless someone of Zelretch's caliber intervened, sneaking in would be impossible.

She converted part of the gold into cash and handed it to her father, asking him to set up an investment company. This company, managed by a professional team under her father's supervision, would periodically distribute dividends to the Aozaki family (including Alice) to cover various expenses. If funds ran low, Aoko would provide additional gold to inject more cash into the company.

As for Marisbury Animusphere, Aoko had her father register a foundation overseas to liaise with the Aozaki investment company and handle investments in the construction of Chaldea.

Aoko's generous funding left the wheelchair-bound Marisbury deeply moved, filling him with hope for Chaldea's bright future.