"Father, look at this!"
Artoria couldn't help but feel embarrassed by Mordred's innocent and guileless appearance.
The only saving grace was that it was a private plane; if it had been a commercial airliner, she might have committed suicide from shame.
'Mordred isn't a child…. Although she's a homunculus made using my genes, was she actually a child?'
In the past, Artoria didn't pay much attention to Mordred's age and didn't have the time to, so she didn't know Mordred's age.
"Mordred, as a knight, doesn't it feel like you've come out from a backwater place?"
"Well, because I'm on a plane with Father…. I couldn't help it. Hehe///"
At those words, Artoria let out a deep sigh, closed her eyes while recalling the past, and patted Mordred's head.
"Come to think of it, I've never paid much attention to you, Mordred."
"……."
Mordred suddenly became quiet, so Artoria slowly opened her eyes at Mordred's silent behavior.
"…… Did she die?"
Indeed, Mordred had stopped as if her body, eyes, and heart had completely ceased.
Artoria, wondering if Mordred had died, pressed her ear to Mordred's chest.
Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump!!!!!
The tremendous heartbeat made Artoria panic.
'What on earth is this symptom?'
She was panicking at the rapid heartbeat, wondering if Mordred had caught some disease.
Her heart was beating 3 to 5 times per second.
During that process, Artoria checked Mordred's pulse, praying she hadn't caught a disease, and could only wait for the plane to land.
Later, it's said Mordred set a new record of 10 beats per second.
During that process, unable to endure it, she also had a nosebleed… but it's said it happened because she didn't have Artoria's endurance.
And by the time Artoria realized the truth, her evaluation of Mordred had lowered.
===================
I was waiting near the airplane landing area. The plane landed, the stairs opened, and afterwards, I could see Artoria and Mordred coming down the stairs.
"We've arrived."
"Indeed. I think I showed Father a too embarrassing sight."
"I won't take you next time… absolutely."
At those words, I could see Mordred flinch.
"What happened between you two?"
"No. Nothing happened."
"Anyway, if you called me for a useless reason…. It seems like I could just turn around and go back. Heheh."
"Mordred, you take a separate plane back."
The atmosphere is somehow strange.
Mordred was emitting a pinkish atmosphere, while Artoria was producing a dark, gloomy atmosphere.
What on earth happened?
"Anyway, welcome. Shall we rest at the Clock Tower for now?"
"Good. Although I'm mentally exhausted because of Mordred, is there any food?"
"Benienma will cook, so don't worry. Artoria, you're still all about food, huh."
"Is eating delicious food a sin?"
Artoria said with a slightly reddened face, but I chuckled and spoke.
"It's not a sin… I said it because you're cute."
"Cu, cute! Instead of talking nonsense, let's go to the Clock Tower right now!"
Then, Mordred was looking at me murderously.
"I don't like it."
Mordred's gaze felt filled with feelings of rebellion and jealousy.
In the end, I patted her head.
"Hey, I'm not a kid!"
"Compared to Artoria, you are."
"That's obvious!"
I used Artoria's name to prevent her from refuting being called a kid.
From Mordred's standpoint, if compared to Artoria, she can't refute it, so I made her unable to deny being a 'kid'.
"For that reason, you're a kid."
"Ah, really!!"
And so, Mordred, venting her anger by stamping the ground, headed toward the Clock Tower.
"Shall we go then?"
"Yes."
By the time we arrived at the Clock Tower, I could see Benienma cooking meals for students in the dining hall, and El-Melloi II and Tamamo, who were reinforcing the bounded field and preparing for enemy intrusion.
"El-Melloi II? You know this isn't free, right?"
"Cough, you must think I'm a mage without a conscience."
Why are you clutching your chest and saying that? Saying that removes the mystery about your conscience?
"One hundred thousand dollars~"
"Isn't that too expensive?"
"The cost of the students' meals~"
"Still expensive…"
"The cost of the plane~"
"Expensive…"
"Survival expenses for the 4th Holy Grail War?"
"Fine, I give up…. It's a shame I can't squeeze money out of you."
"Obviously a joke. But don't ask me to do it for free. I'll accept it at El-Melloi's conscientious price."
"Conscience… I wonder if I, a debtor, can match that price…."
"It seems like you're destined to never escape being a graduate student anyway… I can also accept items, not just money~"
Perhaps my words were a critical hit, as he was just clutching his chest in agony.
"Kuh, for now, request it later. I'll help within the limits of what I can do."
"Good. I'll concede for that much."
"You leave no openings."
"Please think I said that without any particular thought."
"……."
El-Melloi II just looked at me with a gaze that seemed to say he couldn't trust my words.
"Honestly, you have a lot of money and overflowing funds, so it shouldn't really matter, right?"
"Sigh, I can only pray you don't get involved in political elements."
"Stop abusing the fox…. Tamamo's life is now zero."
"You worked hard. This much should be fine."
And so, carrying the human-form Tamamo on my back, I headed to my assigned room.
"Snore… z z z Z"
It seems Tamamo also fell asleep from exhaustion.
Well, attaching hundreds… thousands of talismans and making traps must have taken a lot of time, and the accumulated mental fatigue must have made her fall asleep.
Tamamo's tail was swaying gently, and there was a comb nearby.
It seems someone forgot and left it there.
'Shall I groom her tail fur?'
Even animals with a lot of fur need to be groomed with a comb once.
I've never seen a Heroic Spirit shedding fur, but I still wanted to try it.
And so, I brushed Tamamo's tail.
"Huff♡~"
It seems the tail is sensitive.
'That aside, a lot of fur is caught in the comb. It's a human-use comb, so it doesn't groom fur well, but it's still doable.'
After doing it about ten times, one, two, three times over, a furball was formed.
I made the furball into a ball-like shape and placed it in Tamamo's hand.
"Ehehe, Tamamo's heart still isn't prepared…. Mew…."
I don't know what kind of dog (fox) dream she's having, but let's go for now.
And so, I headed to the dining hall to check if Artoria and Mordred were there.
"Munch munch, one more bowl, please!"
"I'll have one more bowl too!"
Those gluttons are trying to clear out the food supplies; I could already see 10 bowls.
"Sparrow-san, I'll have one more bowl too! It's more delicious than I thought!"
"Chirp, understood…. I don't know why only gluttons have gathered!"
And among them, I could see a girl quietly looking at me, accompanied by a maid made of mercury.
"Are you the one who ended the Holy Grail War?"
"Ended… If by ended, that's correct, but in reality, it was more about retrieval and recycling than ending."
"Right, I don't really understand, but I can tell you're not a mage. I'd like to designate you for sealing, but your achievements are too great, and we have to deal with the Servants too. No one can touch you, you see. The Church is just staying silent."
I roughly guessed the Church's silence, but considering the mages were defeated so effortlessly, I knew they couldn't do anything about it.
"Well, I don't think such a conversation is necessary. Are you someone related to El-Melloi II?"
"Bingo. I'm the adopted younger sister of Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. You can think of me as Kayneth's niece. You can call me Reines."
"Then, why did Waver Velvet become a lecturer?"
"Well, the massive debt left by the academic faction was passed to Waver. Kayneth is still flirting, and I don't know if he's given up on the path of a mage or just abandoned it, so he dumped everything on Waver. But Waver is a necessary and competent mage in every situation, so we have to use him to the end. He's a talent we must definitely go save if he's in a life-threatening crisis."
"Then, next question. Are you thinking of feeding Waver Velvet a rejuvenation potion?"
Then, Reines spoke with interest.
"That's interesting. If we feed Waver a rejuvenation potion, it seems like we could see an amusing scene~"
That expression looked similar to Kirei Kotomine enjoying a scene.
Or perhaps she resembles Karen?
"Anyway, the reason you sought me out?"
"No, well, I came to see my brother's face while I was here."
If she didn't come to find me, it seems there's no need to think deeply about it.
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