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"Ha... what do you mean, better than this? Bullshit..."
It really was a strange feeling. Why, you ask? Because we were falling straight out of the sky over France. The cold air of the atmosphere swept across my entire body, and somehow it felt cooler than air conditioning. Anyway, while we were falling like that, the girls beside me were screaming for help.
"Aaaah!!! Shit!!!"
"Senpai!!!!!"
Ritsuka was flailing around in a panic beside me, while Mash was holding her hand to calm her down. Tonelico, Yoslott, and Kriemhild were letting their bodies ride the air as they glided down. Then the communication line opened, and Romani’s flustered face appeared in hologram form. He immediately bowed his head to us and apologized profusely for what had happened.
"S-sorry!! I messed up the Z coordinate by accident!! I’m sorry, but please survive on your own!!"
"Ha... I told you to check the coordinates carefully in the first place..."
When Director Olga said that, he sounded aggrieved as he replied to her in a helpless voice.
"I-I’m sure... it was fine when I checked earlier..."
Hearing his excuse, Mash, who was completely furious, shouted at him and cut the communication.
"Doctor~! You’re really dead later!"
"Yeah~! Yeah~!"
"I’m really sorri..."
Click.
'Ha... this is seriously insane... when we get back later, I’m smashing the Doctor’s computer...'
Anyway, once we were close enough that there wasn’t much distance left to the ground, I immediately turned to Yoslott, Tonelico, and Kriemhild, who had been silently falling beside me, and ordered them to help with our landing.
"Yoslott, take care of Mash. Kriemhild, Ritsuka. And Tonelico, help me."
At my command, Yoslott and Kriemhild each went to Mash and Ritsuka, preparing for landing. First, Yoslott caught the falling Mash at once, then tried to descend even faster in a straight vertical dive toward the ground.
"Be careful not to bite your tongue off!"
"!!!"
Then Kriemhild immediately grabbed the falling Ritsuka with one hand and dropped straight into the dense forest below, landing safely soon after. Finally, when it was my turn, Tonelico used magecraft to lift me slightly into the air just before I hit the ground, then set me down safely.
"Phew... thanks..."
"This is basic stuff!"
After landing safely, I immediately went looking for the girls who had fallen nearby, and before long we were able to meet up. Then we fixed our hair, which had been messed up by the fall, and once that was done I immediately contacted Romani again. He looked as if he was thinking, 'They're alive...,' and I said to him right away.
"Romani."
"You’re all safe!! Thank goodness... I really messed this one up..."
"Save the apologies for later. For now, can you send us the locations with Servant responses in this Singularity?"
"Hmm... just a moment..."
For about five minutes, he marked the Servant responses on the map, and I studied it carefully. Seeing that I was thinking, he kept sneaking glances at me and finally asked what I was going to use the map for.
"But what are you going to use something like that for...?"
"I have plenty of use for it."
After unfolding the map so everyone could see it, I pointed out the Servants at the locations with one to three responses and asked them to bring those Servants to this coordinate.
"Leave it to me!"
"Yes, I’ll bring them back no matter what, in the name of Tonelico!"
'No... you don’t need to stake your name on it...'
Yoslott said that, then shot up into the sky and took off to find the Servants, creating a sonic boom as she went. Tonelico used her specialty, the water mirror, to transfer the Servants over. After confirming that the two of them had left, I lay down right there and waited for them to bring the Servants back. Then Mash and Ritsuka came up to me with expressions that said they couldn’t understand a thing, crouched down beside me, and asked,
"Um... Juhwan-senpai... what are we supposed to do, then...?"
I closed my eyes for a moment, felt the wind of Orleans, and said to her,
"Like me, just relax and feel the wind of this ancient France."
When I said that, she looked at me in disbelief and said,
"W-what... does that even mean...?"
While we were talking like that, Servants began dropping one after another from the water mirror Tonelico had activated. Once they came to their senses, they started looking around. Then, seeing me lying there comfortably, the Servants looked my way in disbelief and said,
"...Did you call us?"
"...Looks like it... Marie."
"...Did you summon me?"
"...Mm. Nice to meet you."
"...Hm. Did you call us...?"
"You are... Anchin-sama...?"
Marie Antoinette, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joan of Arc, Georgios, Kiyohime, and finally... [Shiki]...?
'Wait... a lot of this is different...? No, where did our dragon steak go, and why is Saber Shiki here? You’re supposed to show up in the Kara no Kyoukai collab...'
While I was thinking that, Kiyohime immediately started walking toward me, and I sold out Ritsuka in order to survive.
'For now, I have no choice if I want to live...!'
I politely pointed at her with my palm and said to her that I wasn’t the real Anchin, but the one over there was.
"It’s not me. It’s her, miss."
"J-Juhwan!?"
"Sorry... I’ll buy you a meal later..."
The moment Kiyohime saw her, hearts appeared in her eyes. She walked up to Ritsuka and said,
"So you are Anchin-sama... ♥♥"
Ritsuka said quietly, looking terrified.
"You... have the wrong person..."
"Anchin-sama♥!!"
"Eek!!!"
As if she had instantly realized the person she had longed to meet was right here, she looked up at her with a near-crying face and said,
"Anchin-sama~ I’ve missed you...!"
'Thank you... you’re the hero of our Chaldea...'
And right after that, Yoslott landed, carrying Siegfried in a princess carry, and set him down on the ground. Then Siegfried came toward me, about to ask whether I had called him, when...
"Y-you...?"
"Y-you are...!?"
Just as I was about to describe it as a moving reunion, she suddenly strode over to the injured man with a sharp look in her eyes and touched his wounds with her hand.
"W-what on earth are these injuries...?"
"T-this is..."
She immediately ignored his excuse and began scolding him at machine-gun speed.
"What are these wounds supposed to be!? How on earth did this curse spread to your body!? How can a magnificent hero like you come back in such a wounded state!? What exactly have you been doing until now? I demand a full explanation!!"
"S-sorry..."
After hearing his apology, Kriemhild still didn’t seem to have calmed down at all, and proceeded to lecture him for a good hour.
"You... just how little did you care about yourself for it to come to this..."
------------------------
At that same time, in Paris. Jeanne d'Arc Alter, who had turned Bishop Cauchon to ash, was once again in a very good mood, riding a wyvern around and slaughtering people. Then, just as Chanson returned after finishing reconnaissance and whispered something into her ear, she turned to him in alarm and said,
"What do you mean by that!? Chanson!?"
"Exactly what I said. The Servants scattered across the area have all vanished at once with some kind of lake-like magecraft..."
'That makes no sense!?'
Her expression said it all, and Gilles de Rais stepped forward to calm her down.
"D-don’t worry~... Jeanne... maybe they all just disappeared at once~?"
She listened silently to his words, then pressed a hand to her temple and said to him,
"Ha... I wish that were the case... I have a really bad feeling about this..."
After saying that, she skewered a French soldier who had been trembling beside her with her spear, then tossed him to the ground and said,
"Well... it doesn’t matter... For now, Gilles. Let’s return to the castle. I’m tired..."
Noticing that her expression was grim, Gilles de Rais immediately ordered a retreat, and they returned to Paris. And after they got back, they gathered up the Servants rampaging across France again, but that’s a secret.
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"Ha... so, about this operation..."
After Kriemhild finished her hour-long lecture, we quickly exchanged greetings and, after pitching our tents in no time, were discussing how to defeat the witch Jeanne d'Arc. The plan this time was very simple. Namely.
"How about this? Doesn’t it seem doable?"
Romani, who had been listening silently to my explanation, thought for a moment, then said to us with a serious expression as if he had made up his mind.
"A full-scale assault seems a bit too risky, doesn’t it? We’re fighting a war for the Human Order right now. If we act this recklessly and fail, then..."
Hearing him, Tonelico immediately began to object.
"But while defeating them one by one is fine, wiping them all out at once isn’t bad either. It’s a method I used a lot in my homeland."
"Then what about hidden enemies? If we accidentally walk into a trap right now, then..."
I listened to him quietly, then cut him off and turned on the communication line.
"Yoslott, how’s the situation over there?"
When I brought up the screen, I could see her high in the sky, watching the enemy situation. Soon she pointed toward the ground and began explaining.
"The Servants who were slaughtering people all over the place are all heading back to Paris at once. I don’t think there are any hidden enemies..."
"Right, good work. Come back carefully."
When I said that, she smiled happily and replied,
"Mm! Got it. I’ll come back safely!"
After hearing her answer, I immediately cut the communication and looked at Romani.
"They say there aren’t any hidden enemies."
Romani seemed to have gathered his thoughts by then, and after a sigh he said,
"Ha... fine. If there are no hidden enemies, then I’m in favor..."
"Good... then let’s start planning the operation...!"
With Romani’s approval, we immediately began devising the plan.
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