UWTD 365: Matou Family?

“Hey kid… What’s your name?” Grayfia asked, standing before the purple-haired girl.

“Matou… Matou Sakura.” The girl looked up and answered in a voice devoid of any emotion.

“I want to help you.” Grayfia knelt to match the girl’s eye level.

“No…” Sakura shook her head.

“You don’t want me to help?”

“No… no one can help me.” Sakura’s body trembled as the flood of memories came in. “Un… Uncle tried… but…”

The memories didn’t come in for no reason. Grayfia dug through them to better understand the situation. Given away by her father, brutally trained to become a puppet, watching the only person who showed a shred of care die before her eyes, and violated by magic worms.

‘Humans are worse than devils…’ Grayfia wasn’t pleased in the least.

“I can help you, no… I will help you.” She said, using magic to suppress Sakura’s fear.

“Y… You will?” Sakura asked again, and the fear that weighed down her shoulders vanished for the first time.

“Yes. But I can’t help you for free.” Grayfia had become a part of the Wish shop, so the rules applied to her too. She couldn’t change the world without a contract, as a devil it wasn’t anything new in a sense, just more restrictive.

“…What do you want?” Sakura already understood that only a fool would expect help for free. If anything, she wouldn’t want help for free, because it could never be for free.

Instead of an answer, Grayfia handed her a contract. She already knew how to use it, a special contract made through her and only for her.

“I have to be a maid?” Sakura tilted her head as the woman in front of her was a maid herself.

So, would she be a maid’s maid?

“Not my maid, but my master’s. It is only through his grace that I can help you. So, you must know who you work for.” Grayfia's contract varied a lot from Adam’s. The Wish Shop’s system and Grayfia’s tendencies gave birth to such a different contract.

Although it looked simple on the surface, Grayfia’s idea of a maid varied far from normal people’s understanding of it. It wasn’t something a young girl like Sakura would understand, but the sudden mental clarity and the beacon of hope before her took all of her attention to give it further thought.

“I accept.” Sakura placed her thumb on the contract and sealed the deal.

“Very well, now let’s take care of your matter.” Grayfia threw the groceries in spatial magic and picked up Sakura.

“Wai…” Before Sakura could even finish the word, the two had arrived at the Matou house.

The house itself had a regal feel with the tall western style mansion in the middle and vast garden with all sorts of flowers.

However, Grayfia’s nose scrunched up at writhing malice beneath the mansion and the stench of death. A wave of ice spreads out from her feet and encroached on the entire property. Screams of anguish and showers of blood painted the windowsill as the property soon regained its calm under the frost veil.

“…Who are you?” A shrivelling voice came from the right.

Sakura’s body trembled at the mere presence, but Grayfia looked at the snivelling old man before her. His right arm and left leg frozen and shattered into pieces, only the walking stick kept him upright as the frost gauged out his wounds.

“I am but a maid loyal to her Master.” Grayfia raised her hand.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Zouken Matou grimaced, the ancestor of the Matou family, the one who took part in the creation of the Holy Grail war, the one who brought about the system of Masters and Servants, that great magus turned tail and ran. At least he tried.

A crystalline blue magic circle hovered in the air. No matter how much he ran, Zouken could never exit its radius. Even if he reached the ends of the earth, the circle would be above him, that’s what he felt as the white snow descended.

“Nifelheim.” A cold, detached voice rang in his ear as the world transformed before his eyes.

The modern building crumbled to dust, the green trees and grass withered away, and the fertile soil froze solid in a mass of pure white.

“Wha… What is this? Where am I?” The frigid air reminded Zouken Matou, nay Makiri Zolgen, of his homeland, Russia. However, the cold snow here was much more brutal.

“Wai… No… No!” He shouted as the freezing air dug into his body, his skin and eyes burned as if he rolled over fiery coals.

He had become a frozen statue as the ice reached his bones, and even his soul wasn’t spared, yet his mind could feel the searing pain of every nerve and cell. And he would continue to feel that pain till his mind broke, and then his body and mind would be reshaped so he could go through it again and again and again till the end of the world.

This was the world-level ice spell, Nifelheim, that Grayfia had found in the library. A spell that was once called the Eternal Tomb of Gods in the world Adam was Isekaied to. A spell specifically designed to torture the ones who wished for eternal life.

“It is over. He won’t cause any trouble for you again.” Grayfia said.

“Will he be like that… the whole time?” Sakura saw what happened to Makiri.

“Do you not want him to?” The question had the little girl lower her head.

As much as others would think of being forgiving and letting go, the girl shook her head in defiance.

“…I want it to be worse.” A fire had returned to the dull violet eyes.

“If you learn well as a maid, I’ll think about it.” Grayfia placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder with a small smile.

“I will, but I have a question…” Sakura looked up at Grayfia and asked in a small, ant-like voice. “Where is… Master?”

“He is away at the moment for work, so we must ready an excellent residence and be at our best to serve him when he returns in every way possible. That is why, I won’t go easy on your training.” Grayfia guided the young girl into the Matou residence. After through cleansing and rebuilding, she prepared to prepare this house for Adam.

“Ok.” Sakura nodded, accepting the coming days.

At that moment, the thoughts of the 600-year-old woman and the 9-year-old child coincided.

‘I want to see Master soon.’ The maids were truly devoted in a different sense.