Irisviel laid the green-haired woman on a bed in one of the rooms and treated her. I did not have anything else to do, so I left the room to look for the princess, but...
"Guardian, I was mistaken. Attacking you was bad enough, but I even tried to take your life with a surprise attack. I have no excuse. I, the King of Knights, Artoria Pendragon, will surely repay this debt."
Saber followed me out and apologized for misunderstanding me. I accepted it. If someone arrived with blood on their hands and was touching your Master, that was a reasonable reaction.
But still.
I charged a tiny amount of lightning into my finger and flicked her forehead. Even a Heroic Spirit ought to feel that. Why was there smoke coming off her, though? Had I hit her too hard? Her eyes looked a little watery.
"Ngh! What was that for?"
"My. Neck. Revenge."
"Tch... Fair enough. It is only right that I take responsibility. But since you hit me, I will no longer repay my debt to you."
What a petty king.
When I wrote that she was petty, she snickered and said that since I had already hit her, there would be no taking it back. What a small-minded king.
"Then, Guardian, when the time comes, let us cross blades. Your swordsmanship is certainly formidable, but I will not be defeated so easily."
I nodded, bade her farewell until next time, and left the castle.
As for my Master...
"I'm up here, Ruler."
She had been on the roof.
Taking a moonlight bath, apparently.
"I have accomplished my objective. What will you do now, Ruler? If you intend to remain, then I will remain as your Master as well."
"Liar. Drooling."
A little drool was already slipping from her mouth.
What excuse was she trying to make?
She had threatened Alaya into letting her come along.
For now, there was nothing to do, so perhaps we should go into town and find something good to eat.
This called for an escort.
What Mari taught me never went to waste.
I slightly bowed and held out my hand to show that I intended to escort her. Her expression twitched for a moment, but she took my hand in acceptance. Her clothes then changed through Imaginary Materialization into a winter coat similar to the one Irisviel wore.
"Ha. You finally look like a proper Servant. Now then, shall we see where there is to go?"
We spent the entire day wandering through town in search of food. At first, she said she did not need meals and refused to eat, but she eventually gave in to my repeated urging. She must have liked it, because after that, she ate with me whenever we entered a restaurant.
Her mouth was so small that she could only take tiny bites, though.
"Knowing something and experiencing it truly are different. Today was a valuable experience. Now, please give me some blood for dessert."
I pushed the approaching princess away and fell into thought.
More importantly, where was this supposed omen of destruction? This place was so peaceful.
Besides, as far as I knew, antiheroes were not supposed to be summoned in a Holy Grail War.
The man from the forest last time, who had summoned that squirming thing, was impossible to see as a pure hero.
Could he have been the sort to be misunderstood, like me?
But that octopus thing had been made from children...
Was the Holy Grail War itself the problem?
Or was the Holy Grail the problem?
I needed to inspect the Holy Grail first.
Hm?
While pushing the princess away, I spotted a girl with black twin tails entering a dark alley.
Was she a mage's heir? Just looking at her, it was obvious there was something going on.
Following her was easy. I had learned the arts of assassination, and the princess left after saying she wanted to enjoy more moonlight and would see me that night. I followed the girl down into a basement, where a commotion had broken out.
When I entered, several children were being held captive, and the twin-tailed girl was being chased by an orange-haired man.
No matter how I looked at it, this was not a misunderstanding, was it?
I threw the door open and drew everyone's attention. Then I shattered the man's artifact bracelet by blasting the air at it. Hypnosis magecraft on children? It reminded me of that bastard who talked about making a "binding vow."
Once the bracelet broke, the children were freed from the hypnosis, and I sent them all outside. I knocked the orange-haired man unconscious, grabbed him by the collar with one hand, and took him out of there. Just as I was about to cut off his head, the twin-tailed girl grabbed hold of my pants.
"Hey! He's a bad man who kidnapped my friends! I'll call the police first, so please keep holding him! Please!"
Ah.
How could I ignore a child asking me for help?
Fine.
The girl, who introduced herself as Tohsaka Rin, called the police. They arrived, protected the children, and took the unconscious orange-haired man away.
Could I really let him go like that? Of course not. I had seen the Command Spell on his hand. He was a Master, and his Servant could not possibly be sane either.
After the police left, I followed them, pulled the man named Ryunosuke out, and ran all the way to Einzbern Castle. Once we entered the forest, he woke up and started causing a scene, calling me brother. So I knocked him out again, but then a mass of tentacles erupted behind me. As expected, he was Caster's Master.
I sliced through every tentacle with the edge of my hand. In that opening, Caster emerged and gathered the tentacles around himself, so I drew the Bastard Sword and sent a vacuum slash imbued with lightning at him, cutting Caster to pieces. He must have panicked when his Master was captured.
Caster was dismissed while still in pieces. Then I cut off Ryunosuke's head, set his body alight with a prayer, and burned the corpse away. He caught fire quickly.
But apparently, he had not been my target.
Later, while heading toward Einzbern Castle to gather information, I ran into the princess. As we continued toward the castle, the Brass Dagger began to glow.
What was this?
"Someone is calling you using that dagger as a catalyst. Since each side possesses the same thing, they seem to be resonating with one another."
What?
Only two people had received one of these from me.
Ritsuka. Mash!
Mari, wake up!
This is urgent!
[What? I know someone is trying to summon you, but why wake me up?]
After I woke the sleeping Mari and explained, the princess broke her contract with Alaya and returned, saying she had no business here anymore. I accepted the summons.
When I was summoned there, Ritsuka stood before me with a shield in her hands, facing off against some strange man.
"Saber..."
"So the one they summoned is the knight who defeated the white giant god? But it is already too late! My Master has exhausted her mana summoning you and can no longer summon another Servant."
"Tch."
"And unlike when you faced that giant god, you are not even a Grand-class Servant now. Once I kill you and then that remaining Master, victory will be mine."
"Saber, Mash is dead... sob"
From the situation, the shield Ritsuka held belonged to Mash, but I could not sense Mash anywhere nearby.
Mash would not leave her shield with Ritsuka, her senior, and go elsewhere. Nor was Mash's body anywhere around.
Mash was a Demi-Servant, so her body would not simply disappear. Only her shield remained.
That bastard must have used his Noble Phantasm. Mash had protected Ritsuka and melted away.
Inhale.
So...
This was sudden, but...
"Fight with me, Saber. Help me land one good hit on that bastard."
That bastard melted my senior, Mash?
It had been a while since my head felt this hot.
And he had made my friend cry, too. I needed to do something about this.
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