The infirmary was filled with the deathly white glow of fluorescent lights and the steady electronic beeping of machines, including the heart monitor.
Yaiba had been laid in a special private room about the size of a single-patient ward, with two beds set side by side.
And in the bed right next to him was the last Master of Chaldea, a girl with a slightly younger face than his.
Fujimaru Ritsuka slept peacefully, breathing evenly through an oxygen mask.
Even while monitoring things from the control room, Romani had been deeply bothered by that arrangement the entire time.
As a doctor, it put him on edge to have Chaldea's last pure and decent hope lying right beside that loathsome mastermind who radiated the grotesque curse of being rejected by the world.
But because of Olga Marie's terrifying order, he did not dare object.
At Yaiba's bedside, operating all kinds of cutting-edge Magecraft diagnostic equipment, was Chaldea's only resident Servant and genius inventor, Leonardo da Vinci.
"...Hmm. There really doesn't seem to be any physical abnormality or damage to his Magic Circuits."
Da Vinci muttered as she flipped through the chart.
Over her shoulder, Shuten and Baobhan Sith watched every step of the examination with murderous eyes, as if they might tear out her throat at any moment.
"It's just the shock of having his Magic Circuits opened, the strain of his first Rayshift, and physical exhaustion all hitting him at once. A few days of rest with nutrient fluids, and he'll be perfectly fine."
"Obviously. Who do you think our husband is? Like something this minor could ever bring him down."
Shuten snorted and gently stroked Yaiba's cheek. Baobhan Sith, meanwhile, kept glaring at Da Vinci with open suspicion, baring her teeth.
"Why should I trust that result? Who knows what you people might do to our Master? If you've mixed something strange into that IV, I'll tear you to pieces with my own hands."
"My, my. What frightening girls."
Da Vinci laughed it off lightly, but deep in her eyes was a sharp wariness toward all three of them.
Like Romani and the staff, Da Vinci could not objectively trust the existence known as Yaiba.
An ordinary civilian whose Magic Circuits had never even been opened had suddenly appeared in the middle of Singularity F while commanding multiple top-class evil spirits.
He had even brought back Director Olga Marie, whose death had already been confirmed, as some unknown divine-spirit-class Servant.
"No matter how you look at it, this man is either the true mastermind behind the Singularity incident or a dangerous element who brought in a disaster on the same level. And those overwhelmingly evil Heroic Spirits obey him that blindly..."
Clicking her tongue inwardly, Da Vinci hurriedly gathered her medical tools. She had no desire to remain in this suffocating room any longer.
"The examination is over, so I'll be going now. Let me know the moment he wakes up."
Just as Da Vinci opened the infirmary door and stepped into the hallway—
She passed Sasaki Kojiro, who had been coming back from the kitchen with some simple drinks and porridge for Yaiba.
"..."
The two Servants' gazes met briefly in midair. Da Vinci forced a faint smile, but she could not hide the instinctive caution and suspicion coming off her.
Watching her retreating back, Kojiro clicked his tongue softly, tray still in hand.
"Good grief. Even after Master wakes, this castle called Chaldea is going to be quite the thorny road. And it isn't as though I can simply cut down their distrust."
Meanwhile, the control room, which had been left in ruins, was gradually being restored.
Once the shattered fluorescent lights had been cleared away and emergency power restored, the staff finally let out their breath and began glancing nervously at one another.
All eyes turned toward Olga Marie, who stood before the main console in silence, staring at the monitor's pulsing data.
Her clothes had changed from the attire of the President of Earth U-Olga Marie back to the outfit the original Olga Marie used to wear.
Romani cleared his throat and cautiously approached her.
"Director... we've mostly finished cleaning things up, but..."
He chose his words again and again, then finally asked with a grave look in his eyes.
"What exactly happened in the Singularity? And your appearance now... what is that abnormal Magical Energy pouring out of you?"
At Romani's question, every member of the control room held their breath.
Olga Marie slowly turned her head from the monitor and looked at him. Her golden eyes were steeped in a heavy, profound sorrow the usual Olga Marie never would have shown.
She let out a short sigh.
"...I am Yaiba's Servant now."
"What?!"
Romani cried out in shock, but Olga Marie's expression did not waver. If anything, a bitter, self-mocking smile spread across her face.
"No. To be precise, I always was his Servant. The kind of being who fought beside him across battlefields for a very long time... and swore loyalty to him."
There was no point trying to explain to them, in detail, the chain of causality created by memories of a previous life and the system. Lightly touching the horn that had sprouted from her forehead, Olga Marie continued calmly.
"Then... what Heroic Spirit descended to grant you that enormous power?"
"Another possibility of myself."
Cutting off Romani's question in a single stroke, Olga Marie pressed a hand to her forehead as if exhausted.
"I'll explain the details later. My thoughts are a mess right now too, and I need time to sort them out. You've all worked hard, so leave only the minimum personnel on duty and rotate your rest shifts."
After giving the order, Olga Marie turned without hesitation and left the control room.
Listening to her footsteps fade away, Romani clenched both fists tight.
"The director's mind has been completely corrupted. Togabito Yaiba... he must have altered her in the Singularity with some unknown power and brainwashed her into becoming his puppet Servant. There is no other way to explain something this absurd..."
The suspicion in Romani's eyes was already hardening into certainty.
He swore to himself that even if he had to stay up all night, he would analyze the director's physical data and the Rayshift logs and uncover the horrifying truth of what Yaiba had done.
Naturally, the place Olga Marie headed after leaving the control room was the infirmary.
In the hallway outside, Kojiro, who had brought drinks from the kitchen, was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, waiting.
Hearing Olga Marie's footsteps, he slowly opened them.
"Why are you standing out here instead of going in, Sasaki?"
At her question, Kojiro shrugged and lifted the tray.
"The two fierce vixens inside kept snapping at me. They said I looked too dreary and told me to stand guard at the door instead. Though to be fair, I too found it rather awkward to wedge myself in among them."
He looked her up and down, then smiled faintly, gently.
"Will you be going in?"
"...Why wouldn't I? I'm his Servant. Making sure my Master's safe is only natural."
When Olga Marie answered with forced bluntness, Kojiro gave a small laugh, stepped aside, and opened the infirmary door for her.
"Indeed. Our lord walks a harsh road, after all. Having a powerful shield like you at his side would be reassuring. Go on in."
Olga Marie gave him a small nod and stepped into the infirmary.
Inside the pure white hospital room.
Her gaze lingered for a moment on Ritsuka, sleeping soundly in the next bed, but soon fixed on Yaiba, who lay pale-faced with an IV in his arm.
"...And where did this fishy little woman crawl in from now?"
Shuten, seated beside Yaiba's bed, spotted Olga Marie and cast her a cold, serpentine look. Baobhan Sith also showed her hostility openly.
"Get out. Master needs rest. There's no room here for a disgusting woman like you who hated him and kept tearing him down."
It was a sharp, venomous rebuke. The usual Olga Marie would have flared up at once, but she silently endured the accusation and stopped at the foot of Yaiba's bed.
As if finding that attitude interesting, Shuten rested her chin on one hand and asked in a lazy, sticky voice.
"Right. You were the one screeching abuse with your own mouth and tearing our husband's heart to pieces. So what, now that you've seen the truth, do you regret it?"
At the mocking question, Olga Marie slowly nodded, unable to take her eyes off Yaiba's pale face.
"...I do. Enough to want to bite off my own tongue."
At Olga Marie's calm reply, openly admitting her own disgusting behavior, Shuten let out a short laugh.
"So then. What are you going to do from here on out? Keep wearing that little director's crown of yours while living under a debt you'll never repay to our husband?"
At Shuten's provocation, Olga Marie's golden eyes flared fiercely.
They were no longer the eyes of the weak woman crushed under the burden of being Chaldea's director.
They were the resolve of a Servant who had made a contract with him, moved toward the future with him, been saved by him, and loved him.
"I'll stake everything I have... and do anything for him. If the world calls him evil, then I will gladly become a devil to protect him. A title like Director of Chaldea isn't worth even a single one of his smiles."
The declaration was so absolute that Baobhan Sith clicked her tongue.
"Hah. Easy words. I'll be watching to see how long you can keep that resolve."
"Leave it be, girl. She's stronger than we are, so what can we do? Isn't it an oni's rule that the stronger woman wins?"
Shuten shrugged with an easy grin.
"Well, whether our husband accepts her or not is up to him. But if you really want to atone... then from now on, you'd better serve him well at night with that lewd, shameless body of yours."
At Shuten's teasing, sultry joke, Olga Marie's heavy expression instantly turned red as a tomato.
"W-Who are you calling shameless?!"
Olga Marie stammered and whipped her head away, but she could not hide the fact that even the tips of her ears had turned red as she muttered in a voice barely above a whisper.
"...I-if he wants that... then I will."
At that innocent yet devastating answer, Shuten let out a helpless laugh and pressed a hand to her forehead.
"Good grief. We've really picked up one more troublesome rival in love."
She grumbled, but there was a pleased smile at the corner of her lips.
After all, for Yaiba, who was hated by everyone in the world, gaining such a dependable and powerful ally was deeply reassuring to them as well.
"When Master wakes up, apologize properly first. Got it? If you try to mumble your way through it, I won't let it slide."
Baobhan Sith snapped at her, and Olga Marie, still red-faced, silently nodded.
In that cramped infirmary, three overwhelmingly dangerous women had gathered around a single boy.
In the heart of Chaldea, where the world's misunderstanding and distrust closed in on him, a fortress wall of blind, unwavering love was rising at Yaiba's side—stronger than any shield in the world.
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