To become a king and a magician

Through the power of the Sea of ​​Life, a part of an individual is modified, and on this basis, it is multiplied and transformed to create a completely new individual.

Essentially, it's the same as transforming humans into magical beasts, but since the raw material is a part of the Servant's body, the power of the magical beast that is ultimately created will be something to look forward to. In addition, Tomoe Gozen seems to have some non-human bloodlines mixed in with her body. With the combination of the two, a powerful magical beast with power even greater than the second-generation magical beasts might be born.

If it were then deployed to the battlefield, it would certainly be another huge blow to Uruk.

It's a pity that Tomoe Gozen, who could have been brought back whole, managed to escape despite being surrounded and seriously injured. If she had been brought back and placed in the Sea of ​​Life, perhaps an even better individual could have been created.

Submerging the humanoid chunk of flesh in her hand into the Sea of ​​Life once more, the Beast Goddess looked at Kingu: "How are you feeling, Enkidu? You've been in poor condition for the past few days, haven't you?"

"Thank you for your concern, Mother. My health is perfectly fine now."

"Really? That's good."

The goddess of war folded her wings and returned to the Sea of ​​Life.

"Continue to send the monsters to collect corpses and humans, Enkidu. I hope that by the tenth dawn, we can gather 100,000 second-generation monsters and completely destroy Uruk."

"Of course, Mother. Please rest assured, the monsters have been collecting corpses, and I will try my best to find any that have escaped. You can rest peacefully here and prepare for the day of the final battle."

After saying this, Jingu left the deepest part of the temple.

......

There are still ten days until the true attack of the Warcraft Goddess.

44. I'm awake, but not fully awake.

Tomoe Gozen woke up in a bed.

The moment I opened my eyes, all I saw was a yellowish-brown ceiling.

"What am I doing...?"

"Are you awake, Miss Ba?"

A somewhat familiar voice reached my ears.

Tomoe turned her head slightly and saw that Merry, dressed in a white robe, was sitting next to her, smiling at her.

"Lady Meryl, where is this place?"

"The bedroom on the second floor of the Chaldea Embassy in Uruk. Because there was a shortage of space in the wards, I moved you here. Anyway, ordinary treatments are useless for Servants, so after giving you a simple bandage, I brought you here to heal you with healing magic. Does your abdomen still hurt?"

abdomen?

Tomoe Gozen touched her stomach, and the events that had happened before gradually came back to her mind.

(By the way, I got injured while fighting a monster... no, I should say I got injured while hesitating.)

At that time, while Ushiwakamaru and the others readily accepted Natsukawa Torata's order to retreat, Tomoe Gozen was the only Servant who hesitated.

She hesitated at the time about whether she should retreat.

One reason for her hesitation was the demon blood within her. Prolonged battles on the battlefield, stimulated by the blood and ferocity of demonic beasts, significantly affected her sanity—a problem that had plagued her since her death.

On the other hand—

"Did I... ultimately survive?"

Unlike the relief and joy of surviving a disaster, Tomoe Gozen's tone contained a hint of loneliness, regret, and shame.

It was as if she didn't want to live like this.

Meryl raised an eyebrow: "Abba... I think it's okay for you to call me that, right?"

"Ah... okay, no problem."

This is a name that Tomoe Gozen somewhat fondly remembers.

Meryl cleared her throat: "So, Aba, do you think it would be better for you to just die like this?"

"Some, I suppose."

Tomoe Gozen explained, "Tomoe is just a servant, a temporary visitor in this world, and one day she will quietly disappear from the world."

This was also the reason why Tomoe Gozen hesitated to retreat. At that time, in addition to retreating, she had the idea of ​​sacrificing herself and taking a large number of monsters down to hell with her by self-destructing.

After all, she was just a servant, and no one would care about her life or death. Similarly, she herself didn't care.

“Hmm…then I really shouldn’t have saved you.” Meryl sighed helplessly. “Although it was His Majesty the King’s order, if that’s what you think, Aba, I didn’t really need to use healing magic or dream illusion on you. I could have just left you here half-dead to fend for yourself.”

Waste, waste—that was the meaning behind Merry's expression.

Tomoe Gozen's face immediately showed a strong sense of guilt: "I am really sorry to have troubled you with someone like me, Lady Meryl."

"So, are you going to commit seppuku?" Meryl asked with a smile. "I used to watch Japanese Taiga dramas, and it seemed like the samurai and soldiers would commit seppuku if they felt guilty. You know about that, right, Aba? After all, you're Japanese yourself."

"Also, do you want someone to help you with the second? It seems like just committing seppuku would be a very painful death. Someone can help you with the second so you can die more quickly."

As she said this, Mary waved her staff and conjured a lightsaber similar to the Star Sword out of thin air, holding it in her hand as if she were quite eager to try it out.

"......"

Tomoe Gozen, whose mind was a little slow to catch up with Meryl's thoughts, fell silent for a moment, completely unsure of how to respond.

After playing with the lightsaber in her hand for a moment, Mary quickly threw it away: "Well~~~ just kidding. If you died, I would be a little upset. After all, His Majesty the King gave me a death order to revive you. If he comes back and finds you gone, he will definitely hang me from the ceiling and whip me hundreds of times."

"Also, please don't tell him what you just said."

"Ha... Ah..."

Tomoe Gozen nodded somewhat blankly. To be honest, she had no idea what Merry was trying to say. Just a moment ago, she seemed very serious about giving her a second and making her commit seppuku, but in the blink of an eye, she said it was a joke, without the slightest hint of unnaturalness in her eyes or tone.

Could it be that what I said just now was really a joke?

(No, no, no, I'm serious.)

Seeing Tomoe Gozen's puzzled expression, Merry smiled gently: "Speaking of which, what are you planning to do next, Tomoe?"

"Return to the Warcraft front and continue fighting against the Warcraft invasion."

Now that she had been rescued, Tomoe Gozen was not going to let the kindness go to waste.

"And then, carrying with you your self-sacrificing thoughts, go and perish together with mere monsters?"

"..."

In the phrase.

Even though she was rescued, Tomoe Gozen's thoughts remained unchanged. If she were simply left to return to the North Wall, she would probably resort to self-destruction to solve the problem should another major situation arise.

Mei suddenly felt that Tomoe Gozen might have something in common with Akuta Hinako.

but--

“You’re really putting us in a difficult position,” Meryl said with a worried look. “Aba, you think it doesn’t matter whether you live or die, but the problem is that my king hates it when someone dies in front of him. If you try to self-destruct, he’ll definitely slap you unconscious, or kick you in the butt to interrupt your self-destruct cast.”

"Well!"

Tomoe Gozen instinctively covered her buttocks: "Isn't this a bit... Lord Natsukawa wouldn't do such a thing, would he?"

Mary shook her head seriously: "No, he will. Although he seems to be surrounded by ladies and admired by girls wherever he goes, he is actually a cold-blooded man who shows no mercy to women."

"Huh?"

“He used to tie people up like caterpillars and hang them on an electric fan for a whole day and night. Also, before that, he would smash people against the ceiling as soon as they met. Look at that hole over there, that's what he made.”

As she spoke, Meryl pointed to the hole in the corner not far away—that was the hole that Natsukawa Tiger punched when he first arrived and smashed Meryl into the ceiling, and it still hadn't been repaired.

"Besides, there have been many other incidents in the past, such as kicking Aoko dozens of meters away, beating cute girls with his fists, setting traps to ambush strange women... and so on."

As Merry recounted Natsukawa Torato's glorious deeds, Tomoe Gozen's face gradually paled.

"In addition, he is the kind of person who can't stand seeing his comrades die in front of him. So if Aba tries to self-destruct, our guy will definitely rush over at the speed of light and kick you in the butt, sending you flying and physically saving you—after that, he'll probably have to work overtime to deal with you."

"You don't want to get your butt kicked, do you?"

Tomoe Gozen, who was completely intimidated by Merry, nodded slightly.

Meryl laughed and said, "Then, in order not to get kicked in the butt, stop thinking about self-destruction. Find a goal for yourself and live a good life. Just treat it as enjoying this hard-won second life."

"The target... even if you say so, I can't answer that right now..."

"【To avoid getting kicked in the butt!】—isn't that a great goal? We girls must protect ourselves when we're out and about!" Mary clenched her fists and waved them. "But if we're talking about a proper goal... 【To live for the tiger】, how about that?"

"Huh?"

Tomoe Gozen was taken aback.

Living for Lord Natsukawa?

"This... although it happened before he died, I have already decided to be loyal to Lord Yoshinaka and serve two masters..."

“I didn’t say you had to betray the original owner,” Meryl explained with a smile. “It’s only for this one time in this world. You should say it’s about repaying a debt of gratitude. Although I was the one who saved you, I wouldn’t have saved you if it weren’t for Tiger’s orders.”

"Consider it as repaying Tiger for deciding to save you. This is only for this one time in the real world. You fight for Tiger, how about that? In Japan, this is quite normal, isn't it? Following someone to repay a life-saving debt."

Indeed, Tomoe Gozen, who was born in Japan, was well aware of this situation, which was quite common in various eras.

After thinking in silence for a while, Tomoe Gozen took a deep breath: "I understand, Lady Meryl. Since it was Lady Natsukawa who asked you to save my life, then for this one time in this world, Tomoe is willing to fight for Lady Natsukawa."

"No, no, it's not 'war'." Meryl crossed her arms. "It's 'life', you have to be careful about that."

"Yes, Ba understands."

"Yes, very good!"

As she said this, Mary snapped her fingers lightly.

.......

I woke up slowly in bed.

The moment Tomoe Gozen opened her eyes, what came into view was a yellowish-brown ceiling.

"I...this is..."

"Are you awake, Aba?"

A somewhat familiar voice reached my ears.

Tomoe turned her head slightly and saw that Merry, dressed in a white robe, was sitting next to her, smiling at her.

"Welcome back, Aba."

Did you have a good dream?