That evening.
In the wide clearing before the cabin, two enormous summoning circles imbued with the light of mana had been drawn.
While Merlin swung her staff and gave the spell formulae in the magic circles one final inspection, I stood beside her in light clothing.
At my side, as always, Artoria clung tightly to me with her arms wrapped around mine.
"Brother, do we really need to summon more Servants? We’re already strong enough with Barghest, Ushiwakamaru, and Lady Medea here."
Artoria pushed out her lips in displeasure. Her thoughts were obvious.
She was fretting that if more women gathered around me, her share would shrink.
"Of course the current members are each worth a hundred men. But once you draw the [Sword of Selection], we’ll have to range across all of Britain. To deal not only with Vortigern’s army, but also the traitors cooperating with him and even Phantasmal Species, we need more Heroic Spirits with the ability to command troops and use a variety of tactics. And for your protection as well, strong Servants need to stay by your side."
"If it’s my protection, you can do that yourself, Brother. And I’m not weak either."
"There are always variables on the battlefield. If you get hurt, I’ll go mad. Do you want to see me like that?"
At my firm yet affectionate words, Artoria’s ears turned red. She nodded as if she had no choice and hugged my arm even tighter.
Our biggest problem right now was manpower.
If Artoria drew the [Sword of Selection], word would immediately reach Vortigern and the kings who followed him. No matter how elite our small group was, the enemy had numbers on their side.
On top of that, some of them would surely wield Noble Phantasms, and there was no telling what variables might arise. No matter how confident I was in our strength, letting our guard down was forbidden.
"Preparations are done, Arthur. You can start the incantation."
At Merlin’s signal, I walked forward to the first summoning circle.
As the chant flowed from my lips, fierce mana from my dragon heart poured into the circle.
Fwoosh!
A blinding crimson light shot upward like a pillar, and with the smell of gunpowder, an arrogant laugh rang through the clearing.
"Hahahaha! So, you have called for me! I am the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Oda Nobunaga! Are you my Master, then?"
A heroic woman with long hair stood there boldly, her black military uniform and red cape fluttering. The instant she appeared, she ran her red eyes over me and curled her lips into a grin.
Oda Nobunaga.
The most famous warlord in Japan, and the true conqueror of the Sengoku era, the one who had all but reached the point of unifying Japan herself, with Hideyoshi doing little more than adding the finishing touch to the foundation she had laid.
More importantly, why had another Japanese one shown up in Britain?
What was this, had the land itself fallen under imperialist influence?
It had been the same with Ushiwakamaru. Setting nationality aside, did this mean Servants like them were simply the ones best suited to my disposition?
In a way, a mighty commander who loved innovation and Western culture might suit me well.
Or was it because of the whole being betrayed by one’s subordinates thing? Though if that were the reason, there were kings betrayed by their followers everywhere.
Caesar was a prime example, and history was overflowing with rulers who had suffered rebellion.
Even in [Three Kingdoms], there were countless warlords betrayed and overthrown. There were more than enough of them even within a single age and a single stretch of land.
Well, whatever the case, she was a good card to have. Anti-Mystery specialization, and using guns in this era.
Though, of course, if you went even further back to the age of Greek mythology, it had been an era not of guns but of robots.
"Welcome, Nobunaga. I’m Arthur, Arthur Pendragon. I think you and I will get along well."
"Hahhahaha! Is that so? So you’re the one called the Knight King? My, my, I’ve been summoned to a rather interesting place. I look forward to working with you, Master."
Grinning, she grabbed my hand roughly.
With her charisma added to our side, it looked like keeping our internal order in line would go smoothly.
"So you are Lord Oda Nobunaga!"
"Hm? Oh, from the look of you, you seem to be from the same homeland. Who might you be?"
"I am Ushiwakamaru! Minamoto no Yoshitsune!"
"Right, Yoshitsune—eh?"
Nobunaga made a blank, foolish face for a moment as she found herself standing before a hero from far earlier than her own age.
Though more than that, I suspected she was dumbfounded because that Yoshitsune had turned out to be such a half-naked slut.
Wearing a satisfied smile, I immediately stretched out my hand toward the second magic circle.
"Next."
Vmmmm.
This time, a faint violet, enchanting mist wrapped around the magic circle, and a girl boasting the overwhelming beauty unique to a goddess of the Age of Gods descended lightly to the ground.
"Ufufu, to manifest a goddess into the present world. You were born with quite an interesting fate, weren’t you?"
The Greek goddess, and eldest of the three Gorgon sisters, Stheno.
She was a goddess of temptation who treated men like toys.
Approaching with a seductive smile the moment she was summoned, she lifted her glowing violet eyes to me.
"A pleasure to meet you, future king. I wonder... what sort of road will be walked by the one who summoned a goddess?"
"If you’re that curious, then stay right beside me and keep watching."
"Hmm~ Such confidence, such arrogance. It reminds me of the heroes of Greece. I like that insolence. Take care of me, Master."
Like a true goddess, she smiled faintly, as if she could see the fate I had been born with.
"To think you summoned a Divine Spirit, and a Greek one at that."
"Hm? Oh my~ You’re a child of the gods, aren’t you? Let me see, those eyes and ears... not Circe, then. Medea, right? A grandchild of a god who doesn’t carry divinity herself, yet has become a case where that divinity was given form—that sort of thing is rather well known. Granddaughter of Helios and Oceanus."
"Ah, yes."
"This is going to be quite interesting. Let’s get along, shall we?"
As someone from Greece, Medea seemed uncomfortable around Stheno.
Since Stheno was the embodiment of beauty itself, perhaps she disliked her all the more because she brought Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, to mind.
"A Servant on Ushiwakamaru’s side, and a goddess too. This is a little overwhelming."
Steeling herself, Artoria stepped forward before her own magic circle.
Repeating the same incantation I had used, she carried out the summoning.
Just in case some unpleasant lot might show up, I had specifically asked Merlin to adjust things so that absolutely no one from Britain or France would appear, and thanks to that, the preparations had taken quite a long time.
With Artoria’s cry, two Servants revealed themselves.
"I am Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons."
Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, appeared with a massive iron mace raised high.
And beside her, a bronze-skinned warrior holding a golden spear emerged.
"Lancer, Caenis. A Divine Spirit! But what is this place? It feels kind of similar to Greece."
Caenis, the hero who had reached the rank of a Divine Spirit through the blessing of the sea god.
Two Greek heroes.
Since Britain and France had been excluded, had the summoning reacted to the next strongest connection, Rome, or rather Greece?
But why?
Why were only Greek Heroic Spirits appearing, not Roman ones?
If I had to make a rough guess...
Artoria was a hero once called the War God Artorius. Perhaps that epithet of war god had called forth a child of the war god.
And since she was a king, and a woman, perhaps Penthesilea was a natural fit as well? Though by that logic, Hippolyta could have appeared too, so why Penthesilea?
Most likely, it had something to do with her ill-fated connection to Greece—in other words, Rome.
A queen who had warred against Greece, and a Knight King who had warred against Rome.
But Caenis really was a mystery.
Hmm. Artoria, blessed by the Lady of the Lake, could walk upon water. And similarly, Caenis too could walk on water and bore the blessing of the sea.
And then there was the fact that she had been thought to be a man, while in truth being a woman. Was that it?
Of course, unlike Artoria, Caenis had actually become a man, at least once. Though now, while her mind was male, her body was female.
If I forced a connection, I could make one.
"You. Are you, by any chance, a Greek man?"
At that moment, Penthesilea approached me, glared up at me, and spoke.
Hm. Had hanging around Medea made me smell Greek to her?
"I’m not Greek. If anything, you could say I have a bad history with Greece... or Rome."
"Hmm~ Is that so. You don’t react like someone lying. Still, that blond hair is irritating. It reminds me of that bastard Theseus and the armor of Achilles. Don’t worry, I won’t turn hostile for that reason alone. But if you are to be a comrade fighting beside me, then I pray you do not behave like a Greek man in front of me."
As expected of a Berserker, she was vicious as hell. What absurd reasoning.
Well, I’d let it pass for now.
"Penthesilea, if I remember right—"
"Hm? You, are you from Greece? I can feel the mana of the Greek Age of Gods from you."
Her attention soon shifted to Medea.
"Ah, that’s right. I’m Medea."
"Medea, I see. The princess of Colchis. So you were not from Greece."
Colchis was around the region of Georgia, so no, it wasn’t Greece. It belonged to the same mythic and civilizational sphere, but like Troy, it was another country within the same cultural world.
"I heard you fell in love with a Greek man and were ruined for it. Well, it was the curse of a god, so it couldn’t be helped. Once your life becomes entangled with a Greek hero, it is bound to be destroyed."
"That... yes. Yes, that’s true."
"I’ve heard the man called Jason was a pathetic one. What sort of man was he?"
"...Somehow, I feel like you and I will understand each other very well."
Had they bonded over insulting a Greek man, namely Jason?
Well, to be fair, both of them had suffered in all sorts of ways because of Greek men.
"Medea, huh? So that little brat grew up like this. I can definitely still see your old face in there."
"Ah, it’s been a while, Caenis. This is the first time since the Argonaut expedition."
"That bastard Jason never had any intention of meeting me, after all."
Caenis and Medea, who had once sailed together on the Argo, knew each other. Though from the look of it, they did not seem as close as, say, Atalanta and Medea.
"...Well, uh. You’ve had it rough."
"Yes. Thank you."
A princess raped by a Greek god, and a princess whose life was ruined by the curse of a Greek goddess.
Perhaps Medea had served as the catalyst.
Had Ushiwakamaru perhaps vaguely served as a catalyst too, leading to Nobunaga’s appearance?
If Barghest had acted as a catalyst as well, then excluding the Britain side, perhaps because of the fairy connection she might have drawn in Clytie—in other words, Gogh.
Ugh. A menhera bomb.
It wasn’t that I disliked her, but just imagining it made me tired. I felt like I’d suffer in all sorts of ways.
"You lot! From the look of it, the one who summoned me and you are siblings, right?"
"That’s right. He’s my twin older brother."
"Hmm~? Is that so? Judging by how many Servants you’ve summoned, it looks like there’s going to be one hell of a fight. So where’s the enemy?"
"This entire country."
"Kuhahahah! Is that so? I’ve been summoned to a pretty interesting place. Fine, I’ll take my time learning about you lot. As long as the great Caenis is here, there will be no defeat, so you’d better look forward to it."
She really was reassuring, that much was true.
Though hadn’t she gotten wrecked by a centaur, beaten with wood, buried in the ground, and suffocated to death?
Though depending on the version, there was also the story that she fell into Tartarus and died there.
"You just thought something weird, didn’t you?"
"You’re imagining it. Just imagining it."
"For the record, if you treat me like a woman, I’ll kill you."
"That depends on how you act."
"Ha! You’re a funny bastard."
When she laid bait out like this, it made me want to corrupt her into a female in heat.
I knew I shouldn’t be thinking like that, but I felt like I could understand Poseidon’s heart.
Of course, I had no intention of forcing myself on her. This would have to be a proper conquest. Probably the highest difficulty among all of them. Maybe it would only be possible after Vortigern was defeated.
And if not, then not.
"They all have strong personalities, Brother."
"They do. At the very least, I don’t feel like we’ll lose the battles ahead."
Now then... soon.
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