To become a king and a magician

(That's Lady Meryl's voice... Hmm, this is...)

Tomoe Gozen's cheeks flushed slightly as she vaguely guessed what had happened upstairs from the sounds she heard.

Keeping watch means the same thing.

“I was on duty for the first half of the night, and Meryl was on watch, but it’s already the second half of the night, so we switched. We’ll switch again in about an hour until dawn,” Sajou Rei said with a smile. “Meryl has very poor stamina because she’s hardly exercised in the inner quarters of Avalon for thousands of years. She’s practically a weakling in terms of physical strength and would beg for mercy in front of her master in a heartbeat.”

"Oh, I see..."

(So ​​that's how Lord Natsukawa and Miss Merry are... That's quite unexpected.)

Tomoe Gozen and Merry didn't have much contact. After all, Merry had rarely left Uruk in the past six months. In her own words, "What if something happens to her after she leaves? That would definitely cause the end of the world."

Since King Gilgamesh seemed to agree with this view, Tomoe Gozen accepted it.

(In the end, it seems Lady Meryl just wanted to slack off...)

This was just a gut feeling, but Tomoe Gozen felt that her gut feeling was correct.

Just as she sighed and glanced at Sajou Rei, she wondered if she was seeing things, but she felt that Sajou Rei looked very similar to herself. In addition, she hadn't noticed before that Sajou Rei's original blonde hair had now turned completely white.

"Miss Sajou, your hair color..."

"Hmm? This is a little magic trick. My master likes to match different hair colors, so I specially learned how to change hair color."

As she spoke, Sajou Rei suddenly changed her hair color to red, then to blue, purple, and green, leaving Tomoe Gozen dazzled.

Magic really can do anything and it's incredibly convenient.

At the same time, the slight sense of similarity that Tomoe Gozen had felt also vanished without a trace.

(I must have been mistaken; there are no two people in the world who look almost exactly alike.)

"That's truly amazing magic, Ms. Sajō."

“It’s just a little trick. Any magician can do it to some extent. The only difference is the method,” Sajou Rei said with a smile, while inwardly letting out a slight sigh of relief.

(This was somewhat of an oversight. Since there are usually no outsiders around, I got used to continuing the pretense afterward. I need to be more careful in the future, as it wouldn't be good to cause misunderstandings.)

16. Kotaro and Amakusa, who still have no screen time.

When Xia Chuanhu woke up in bed, it was already noon the next day.

At the same moment he woke up and opened his eyes, Sajou Rei, who was lying next to him, also opened his eyes.

"Good morning, Master."

"It's already noon, Lingyi, or rather, noon."

Sitting up in bed, Natsukawa Tora glanced around: "Where's Meryl? Did she leave?"

"Yeah, they left when it was just getting light this morning. They said they were going to arrange work for Fujimaru and the others, and it seems like they won't let them rest all day."

"That's really... So she's not coming back all day?"

"probably."

After saying that, Sajou Rei licked the corner of her mouth: "So, Master, it's no problem if you want to have a fourth round. You're already very skilled at the gauntlet battle, right? With five hours, your stamina should have been fully restored."

The fourth round...

Natsukawa Tora gave a wry smile and pushed Sajou Rei away: "Forget it. If it were just the two of us, it wouldn't be a problem, but there are other people downstairs. Besides, it's daytime, not Chaldea. You should tone it down."

"Oh dear, the master has found out."

Just as Natsukawa Torama could sense someone downstairs, Sajou Rei could too. She had only made a small joke earlier. She jumped off the bed and instantly transformed into a new outfit before laughing, "Well then, I'll go downstairs to prepare lunch. Master, you should get up early too. Although Leonidas I has already returned to the North Wall on his own after regaining consciousness, Miss Tomoe Gozen is still waiting for you to take her back."

Has Leonidas I already returned?

"That's really his style. He clearly said he could rest today."

"After all, he was the King of Sparta. Even without the invasion of monsters, he would still be thinking about training soldiers to prepare for the battles to come."

Rather, now that we don't have to worry about monsters, it's more appropriate to train soldiers. The more they train, the higher their chances of surviving monster attacks—though not absolute, that's generally true.

After saying this, Sajou Rei quickly left the room.

After getting out of bed and stretching vigorously in front of the window, Natsukawa Tora let out a long sigh of relief: "Then I'll get up too. There should be quite a lot to do today, but before that..."

Turning around to look at the mess inside the house, even though he was mostly responsible for it and no one else had seen it, Xia Chuanhu still scratched his face a little embarrassed.

We need to clean and tidy up this room first. Luckily, we set up various protective barriers last night, otherwise the smell would have already spread outside, and we'd probably get complaints.

(No, probably not. It seems that such things are still quite popular in this era. There are even official shrines for women, and the temples and shrines themselves have professional women...)

Even in mythology, Gilgamesh single-handedly defeated the entire Uruk, accepting all comers regardless of age or gender, and in the end, only Enkidu was willing to fight alongside him until the very last moment.

Compared to that, Natsukawa Tora seems insignificant.

——————————————————————————————————————

Organizing the room didn't take much time, because with the manifestation of imagination, all the things in the room could be smashed to pieces and then recreated exactly as they were.

The idea of ​​a fantastical manifestation capable of altering the very fabric of the world being used in this way would probably leave Arcueid with mixed feelings.

Although she often uses it in inappropriate places.

After tidying up the room and taking a shower in the shower room he conjured from his imagination, Natsukawa Tora came downstairs feeling refreshed.

A fragrant aroma immediately filled his nostrils.

"It smells so good! What should we have for lunch today?"

"Ah, Mr. Natsukawa, good afternoon."

Tomoe Gozen, who was setting the prepared dishes on the table with Sajou Rei, quickly looked up and smiled, "Since you treated me to a meal last night, I originally wanted to make you breakfast as a return gift, but you didn't get up, so I'll prepare lunch for you now. It's just some simple food, I hope it suits your taste."

Tomoe Gozen lived during the turbulent Kamakura period. Considering the historical context, there really wasn't much to gourmet food in Japan at that time. By today's standards, the lunch Tomoe Gozen prepared was indeed simple and plain.

But Natsukawa Tora didn't care. He had survived by running a convenience store back then, so he didn't care about the taste, as long as he could eat it.

"Thank you for your hard work. There's really no need to prepare a return gift."

“No, a meal and a lodging are a debt of gratitude that must be repaid; it is the most basic courtesy.” Tomoe Gozen was quite insistent on this point. “In addition, after arriving here, I also learned some local dessert-making methods from Miss Siduri. I am making a butter cake, and I hope you will try it later.”

"They also helped."

Sajou Rei smiled and made a peace sign, then patted the spot next to her: "Alright, Master, come and eat quickly. You still have things to do today, don't you?"

"Eh? Is Lord Natsukawa heading out?"

Xia Chuanhu nodded: "I am preparing to go out for a while, or more precisely, to the outskirts of Uruk. There are some things I want to confirm."

The Warcraft Front is temporarily safe because of the Icefield, which also means that the Warcraft Goddess is temporarily safe as well. However, Uruk faces more than just the Warcraft Goddess as its enemy.

Hidden in the dense forest is the South Asian goddess Quetzal Koyatl, and in the underworld is the goddess of the underworld, Ereshkigal.

These two goddesses were originally supposed to become allies after their battle, and provide great assistance in the fight against Tiamat. Now that Natsukawa Tiger is here, he wants to see if he can bring them to his side in advance.

We can't exactly have Fujimaru Ritsuka perform another "This is the mindset of humanity!" again, can we?

To be honest, if she dared to be so reckless, Xia Chuanhu would be the first to kick her.

"In that case, please allow me to accompany you."

After hearing what Natsukawa Torata said, Tomoe Gozen volunteered.

“Even if Lord Natsukawa is exceptionally strong, it would be dangerous for him to travel to the enemy’s headquarters alone. Please allow Tomoe to accompany him… Also, Tomoe would like to investigate the other two Servants who have not yet returned.”

The two Servants who have not returned?

Fuma Kotaro and Amakusa Shiro?

Natsukawa Tora remembered that the two of them went to the dense forest to investigate after being summoned, and then were both sent back to the Throne of Heroes by the leopard man.

(Leaving aside Kotaro Fuuma, as for Amakusa... meeting him would be somewhat awkward.)

After all, in the parallel world, he was able to completely ruin Amakusa Shiro's plans. Considering that Jeanne d'Arc here has the memories of Jeanne d'Arc from the parallel world, then perhaps Amakusa Shiro also has his memories from the parallel world.

It might be a bit inappropriate to say this, but thankfully he has most likely already sent it, otherwise there would probably be some trouble.

"I understand. Let's set off after lunch."

"Yes! Please guide me, Lord Natsukawa!"

17. No matter how omnipotent you are, you can't have children.

Now, in this land of Mesopotamia, monsters are no longer limited to appearing only near Uruk.

Wherever there are people, there will be monsters. If you have to say, monsters are wild beasts now.

Therefore, even in the wilderness far from Uruk, monsters still roam, though not in large numbers, posing a significant threat to travelers, especially scattered nomadic dwellers. Travelers should be aware of this as well.

But given Natsukawa Tora's situation, there's no need to worry.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle—!"

Without even moving his hands or feet, Xia Chuanhu simply walked forward naturally. The demonic beasts that attacked him shattered into countless fragments when they entered within ten meters of him. The blood that splattered out was instantly swept up by gusts of wind and blown into the sky.

It's basically a fully automated way to clear out enemies and clean up the battlefield.

Behind Natsukawa Torata, Tomoe Gozen, who had initially prepared to fight the monster when they first encountered it, was now completely stunned.

Before setting off, she vowed to serve as Xia Chuanhu's bodyguard to repay the kindness of a meal and a place to stay. In the end, she was the one who was protected, and she didn't even have a chance to fight.

"You are indeed very capable, Lord Natsukawa."

Tomoe Gozen couldn't help but sigh.

Xia Chuanhu, who was walking ahead, chuckled upon hearing this: "It's alright. Rather than saying I'm strong, it's more accurate to say that my ability itself is a bit excessive. The ability to materialize imagination is basically an all-powerful ability that can do anything. If you take that out of the way, my strength is only on par with King Gilgamesh."

That's an understatement. In reality, their strength was probably 5.5 to 4.5, with Natsukawa Tora being 5.5—provided they didn't use the Mystic Eyes.

(Is his power equal to that of King Gilgamesh?)

For Tomoe Gozen, this was already a power she couldn't even begin to match. You must know that King Gilgamesh was the oldest hero king of mankind, one of the few Servants who could compete for the strongest position on the Throne of Heroes, and even more powerful in life than in his Servant form.

Is this just "just" level in Natsukawa Torato's eyes?

Tomoe Gozen couldn't help but give a wry smile.

At the same time, arriving at the edge of a cliff, Natsukawa Tora looked down: "This should be it, the territory of the Forest Goddess closest to Uruk, Ur."

Goddess of the Forest.