To become a king and a magician

The holy sword suddenly pierced through his chest.

Natsukawa Torato looked at Sajou Aika, whom he had penetrated.

"Have you made enough of a scene? Time to go back to the dark room—"

"Ahhh~~~Saber~~~Are you back?"

As if yearning for something, Aika Sajou trembled as she reached out and touched Torato Natsukawa's face.

"Saber, Saber, Saber, I knew you would come back for me, my Saber, my beloved Saber..."

"..."

There was no answer; Natsukawa Torama simply gripped the Holy Sword and stared at Sajou Aika.

"Saber, I love you, Saber..."

Holding Natsukawa Tora's head, Sajou Aika, whose body was already half-disappeared in the light, embraced him with incredibly gentle movements.

"Welcome back, Saber."

"..."

Silently letting Ayaka Sajou hug him until she completely disappeared, Natsukawa Torara sighed softly, "I'm not your Saber. You've mistaken me for someone else, you little girl blinded by love."

47. Just like not getting distracted in math class.

Aozaki Touko felt that her sense of time might be slightly off.

She remembered that she had gone to investigate the series of fires with Ryougi Shiki the day before yesterday, and that she was ambushed and killed by a very strong Death Apostle during the investigation.

There are no problems up to this point.

After that, the other self she had been preparing for automatically woke up and, after understanding the situation, immediately rushed towards Misaki City.

However, in the two days she was gone—no, to be precise, in just yesterday—first, a large-scale fire and bizarre attacks occurred at North Exit Station, resulting in numerous casualties. Then, the fire triggered a small earthquake, causing the ground to collapse and bury the station. Even more shockingly, a headless giant as tall as a building and a gigantic black serpent hundreds of meters long appeared!

It's only been one day, or even just one night! So many things have happened in one night. Is Misaki City cursed by some evil god? Is this place even habitable?!

The people who personally experienced or resolved these incidents are now sprawled out on the sofas, looking utterly exhausted and too lazy to do anything else.

"Ah~~~ So tired... I don't want to move... Grey, feed me an orange."

"Okay, come on, brother, open your mouth."

"Me too, I just want to lie here all day. Little Grey, I want to too."

Looking at Natsukawa Tora and Aozaki Aoko, who were starting to give up, and Gray, who was taking care of them like a servant, Aozaki Touko couldn't help but sigh, "It's just that you fought several times in a row last night, is it really necessary to be like this? You've recovered after a night's sleep, right? Gray, you shouldn't keep spoiling these two, you've ruined them."

"Teacher, it's easy for you to say that when you're not the one suffering from the pain."

"Stop talking nonsense, Orange. If you're so capable, go and experience what happened last night." Aozaki Aoko glared at her older sister. "First, that bastard Flov lost control and burned down the North Exit Station. After finally defeating him, Roya suddenly appeared and ambushed his junior, causing the great demon inside his junior to be released. It's the kind that can't be killed no matter how hard you try."

"And when I came back, I had to suppress Arcueid so she wouldn't be consumed by the bloodlust. In the end, I was called away by Ayumi to discuss with the church how to explain things to the world... It made me feel like I had three heads instead of one."

Incidentally, the incident at North Exit Station seems to have been covered up by the explanation of "underground fire + substandard building quality + minor earthquake + mirage," and the cause of the fire was attributed to the all-powerful gas explosion.

That's what the TV news said, but I don't know how many people actually believed it.

"Well, the cleanup is all handled by the church. They did practically nothing last night, so they'll have to take on all the troublesome cleanup work." Aozaki Aoko shrugged. "By the way, junior, how's that thing inside you? Is it sealed properly?"

"It was just a leak of power to begin with. The seal itself wasn't damaged. Once we eliminate her, everything will be fine. Besides... I think she won't be causing trouble for a long time afterward."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well... should I say I've fallen into self-doubt, or have I fallen into a breakdown and become withdrawn?"

Although Natsukawa Torato in his Heroic Spirit Armor form was mistaken for Arthur at that time, Sajou Aika quickly regained her senses afterward.

Then she started crying uncontrollably.

She kept saying things like, "I'm sorry, Saber, I didn't mean it, it's all the vixen's fault"... It seemed that mistaking someone else made her act strangely, but even so, she still put all the blame on Natsukawa Tora.

Even now, if Natsukawa Tora concentrates on feeling her presence, he can still hear her continuous sobbing.

"Speaking of which, where's Shiki?" Aozaki Touko suddenly asked. "Was she out wandering around again?"

"No, Shiki is probably still dealing with Arcueid's matter. Suppressing the vampire urge for eight hundred years is not so easy to resolve."

That being said, in Natsukawa Torato's plan, Arcueid's vampiric impulse should have been "killed" with just one strike from Ryougi Shiki, but it's been a whole day and it's still not resolved?

Is it possible that the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are no longer of any use?

"Um... what will happen to North Exit Station after that?" Gray asked curiously. "After such a huge disaster, will it need to be rebuilt?"

"Well, we'll have to see what the mayor thinks first. That old man is still in the hospital, apparently suffering from acute heart disease and stomach pain. People really do get sick when they get old."

That's probably not because of poor health.

"Ring ring!"

Suddenly, Xia Chuanhu's phone rang; it was an email.

After taking a look at who sent it, Natsukawa Tora stood up from the sofa: "Teacher, Grey, and Aoko, you can chat here for now. I'm going out for a bit; someone is looking for me."

"Huh? Looking for you? Who is it?"

Arcueid. She said she wanted to meet me in the park.

"Then go ahead, but remember to bring me dinner when you come back."

"I... I can make dinner, Miss Aoko, I'll go right now!"

Glancing at Gray who had run to the kitchen and Natsukawa Torato who had left through the entrance, Aozaki Touko turned her gaze to her younger sister: "Aoko, did the boy just call you by your first name?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"What happened while I was gone for the past two days? No, I should say, what did you do to my innocent young man?"

Aozaki Touko's eyes sharpened instantly: "It might sound a bit boastful of me to say this, but the boy is generally the kind of man who is very polite to women. He always uses honorifics when addressing women he's not very familiar with. He called you 'Miss' before too."

"But why are you suddenly calling me by my name now?! Tell me the truth, what did you do to my son?!"

"Nothing much." Aozaki Aoko, who wasn't feeling very motivated today, was too lazy to argue with her sister. "It's just that last night, in a somewhat urgent situation, he called me by my name directly. I thought it was okay, so I let him call me that."

"That's good. Even I really don't want to treat my student like a brother-in-law. But then again, I doubt the young man would be interested in an old lady like you."

Aozaki Aoko, who had been listless, was instantly energized by those words!

"You really dare to say that, Orange. What do you mean by looking down on an old aunt like me? I'm not even thirty yet! You're the one who's over thirty! Oh right, you haven't even had a single relationship yet? There's no way anyone would be interested in you, right? It's so pathetic, you're so old and no one wants you."

"You yourself have never been in a relationship! What's there to be proud of about being just as bad? If you're so capable, go find one yourself!"

"Go ahead and look! It's not like I can't find someone. Over the years, plenty of people have confessed their feelings to me!"

"You're already daydreaming before the sun has even set? Can't you be a little more mature, my silly sister?"

"Who are you calling a daydreamer?!"

----------------------

In the kitchen.

Are those two sisters close or not? They both seem hopelessly silly. But to be fair, the dynamic is kind of cute. Someone please take these two beauties in!

"Yard, don't say things you shouldn't say."

Grey believed that if Ad had heard what he just said, there would be nothing but scrap metal lying in the cage right now.

48. I will launch an attack in my Tsukihime form!

The park is less than two or three minutes away from Natsukawa Tiger's apartment, so it's a quick walk.

When Natsukawa Tora arrived, Arcueid was sitting on a park bench, looking up at the gradually darkening sky.

Arcueid.

"Ah, you're here, Torakawa." Arcueid smiled, shifted her position, and gestured for Torakawa to sit down. "Sorry for calling you out, because there's something I want to talk to you about. Please have a seat."

Is there something you want to say?

Xia Chuanhu thought for a moment: "Are you going back to Thousand Year City?"

"Huh? How did you know? Can you read minds?"

“You could guess that with a little thought,” Natsukawa Tora sighed. “Roya is truly dead. Unlike before, this time even his soul has been completely annihilated, and he won’t be reincarnated again. You came here to kill him, and now that he’s dead, there’s no need for you to stay here any longer, is there?”

"Tiger, you're really smart. You've guessed everything I was thinking."

If this is considered clever, then there are far too many clever people in the world.

Swinging her legs, Arcueid looked up at the sky and laughed, "That's right, Roya is dead, and I'm the only True Ancestor left. I no longer need to carry out my mission, and there's no longer any use for me, so I will return to the Thousand-Year City and fall into eternal slumber."

"To suppress the urge to drink blood?"

“That’s alright now,” Arcueid laughed. “Shiki has killed my vampiric urges, but according to her, she only killed the vampiric urges that I’ve accumulated so far. The vampiric urges themselves haven’t disappeared from me. It’s like restoring a game save to the very beginning.”

"Although I know that Shiki can definitely kill the blood-sucking urge completely, Shiki can't do it now, and [she] doesn't seem to be showing up, so I'll still have to use 70% of my power to suppress the blood-sucking urge in the future."

The root cause hasn't been addressed.

However, it's already good that she eliminated her eight-hundred-year-old vampire urge in one go. At least for the next eight hundred years, Arcueid certainly won't have to worry about her falling into depravity.

"So, you called me out just to say this?"

"That's only part of it. What I really wanted to say... is, thank you, Tiger!"

Standing up and approaching Natsukawa Tora, Arcueid smiled and thanked him, saying, "Although we haven't spent much time together, I feel like I've caused you a lot of trouble in these past few days, and you've been helping me in every way."

"Whether it's piecing my dismembered body back together, healing my wounds with Avalon, helping me deal with Nero, helping me fight Floff, and completely killing Roya and eliminating my vampiric urges... you've helped me in so many ways that I can't thank you enough."

"So, I really, really, really, really thank you. It's so great to have met you on this trip, Tiger!"

This was her heartfelt gratitude.

Natsukawa Tora smiled and said, "No need to thank me. I personally don't feel like I've done anything that you should thank me for. Even without you, if I had encountered Nero and Flöf, I probably would have taken care of them anyway. It was pretty much inevitable, so you don't need to thank me like this."

"Really? I see. Tiger, you're that kind of person. Hmm."

Arcueid blinked as if she understood something, then placed her hand on her chest: "By the way, speaking of gratitude, I should give you a thank-you gift, right? That's the custom here in Japan, isn't it? When you express your gratitude, you have to show sincerity."

"A gift? That's unnecessary."

"No, this is absolutely necessary! And it's not just a gift, it's also a testament to my friendship with you, Tiger!"