To become a king and a magician

He hasn't told the truth yet; he's still hiding something very important.

Tiger Number Two

"Hmm? What's wrong, Mary?"

[You are actually Vortigern, aren't you? Or would it be better to call you Oberon?]

"..."

The words that came out of Meryl's mouth silenced the entire room once again.

43. Recently I've become obsessed with maid raising games.

Futigeng.

Oberon.

The moment those two names were uttered by Mary, everyone felt the air in the room change.

The atmosphere, which should have been one of joy at the reunion of old friends, suddenly became noticeably subdued.

"Oberon and Vortigern?"

Mordred and Grey chewed on the two names.

"Leaving aside the one before that... the next one is—the one from the Sixth Singularity?"

Why would Sister Meryl bring this up here?

No one present understood why Melly said that, because if we're talking about Furtigon, that was a disaster that had already been defeated in the Sixth Singularity in the Pan-Human History, and had also been defeated by Artoria in history, and should have been overcome.

Why is this being brought up again here?

This is just my speculation, a conjecture reached after eliminating possibilities one by one.

[Abba and Miyamoto Musashi may not know that beneath this island slumbers a monster that will destroy it, known as the Naraku Insect, which is the same being as the demonic dragon Vortigern from pan-human history.]

[In the past, it has manifested itself twice in this world to destroy Britain. The first time was 2,400 years ago, when it destroyed 20,000 killing machines across Britain. The second time was more than 1,000 years ago, when King Morse appeared during the Battle of Morse.]

Under normal circumstances, this should have already manifested for the third time.

[This is a portion of the memories I retrieved from Tiger's memories. He had previously come into contact with the Root and gained a great deal of knowledge, some of which is related to this.]

Mary explained.

[West of Salisbury, in the westernmost part of Britain, lies a forest known as the Autumn Forest, a gathering place for all the weaker insect fairies. Normally, Vortigern's third incarnation, the man who borrowed the name of Oberon, the fairy king of pan-human history, would be born there.]

This is something that will happen normally without any interference.

However, this situation may have changed due to Natsukawa Torato's intervention. Oberon, who was supposed to be the third incarnation, did not come into being. Instead, the person who took his place is—

"I."

Tiger Number Two said this.

“I see. That is indeed a very interesting conjecture. It’s not surprising that you came to this conclusion based on the part of your memories. You’ve always been very clever in this regard, Mary.”

"But you have no evidence, do you?"

[That's right, I have no evidence to prove you are Vortigern, but to borrow a famous quote from the detective—after eliminating all the wrong answers, the one that remains, however improbable, must be the truth.]

Meryl's words silenced Tiger Number Two once again, but this time he didn't remain silent for long before laughing again: "So, if I want to clear my name, the best way is to tell everyone I'm still hiding, right?"

It depends on whether what you're saying is indeed true.

“In that case, I can assure you, and swear by my soul, that I am neither Vortigern nor Oberon, but still myself, the embodiment of his past split off by Natsukawa Torato.”

Tiger Number Two said.

"I did lie a little in what I told you, and I did hide some things from you, but those were decisions I had to make because of the current situation. After all, we are all being monitored right now. If we really want to defeat the main body, there are some things that he absolutely cannot know."

"I believe you all understand this, just as you have also concealed some things from me when you were looking for reasons to explain myself."

"Then tell us at least one thing: how exactly did you slip away right under the tiger's nose? Was what you just said still a lie?"

"Huh? Do I really have to say it?"

Is this something that can't be said in order to defeat the tiger?

"Well... if we round it up, I guess so. If you don't mind the increased difficulty of the battles later on, I'm happy to tell you."

Grey and the others exchanged glances upon hearing this, and then nodded in agreement.

"Go ahead and say it. It doesn't matter how difficult it is anyway."

“Okay… To put it bluntly, it’s just a little trick.” Tiger Number Two explained, “My true self and I can be considered the same person to some extent. Therefore, I can interfere with the surveillance magic he possesses to a certain extent and temporarily block the surveillance on me. But this only applies when my true self doesn’t look for me. If he intends to look for me, I will be found by him immediately.”

This is the truth.

As someone who deals with lies all day long and is prone to spouting nonsense, Mary could tell that, at least in what he had just said, Tiger Number Two was not lying.

[A magical interference with specific conditions, huh? That explains it.]

"So this should lessen my suspicion a bit, right?" Tiger Number Two asked with a smile. "This is all I can say right now. If I say anything more, I really won't be able to defeat the main body."

I understand. I'll retain a certain level of trust in you for now.

"We are the same."

Grey and others said the same thing.

At that moment, Tomoe Gozen and Miyamoto Musashi raised their hands.

"Um... excuse me for interrupting everyone at this time, but could you please explain what you are talking about?"

"Hmm, hmm, hmm, Lord Ba and I have had absolutely no idea what you're talking about since just now? Besides this tiger, is there another tiger? Are you going to war with a tiger?"

【….】

"......"

Hearing Tomoe Gozen and Miyamoto Musashi say this, the Chaldea team members were somewhat stunned.

[Tiger Number Two, haven't you told them yet?]

"Well, I didn't say anything. I've been engrossed in raising maids lately, and since you guys aren't here, it wouldn't make a difference if I said anything. It's not like the three of us can just go and fight our way back, right? So I just haven't said anything."

【...】

Mary was silent for a moment, then spoke to Grey and Mordred.

[Grey, Mordred, could you two please give that bastard over there whose mind is currently only on maids a good whack? Really hard, preferably give him a concussion.]

"Huh? Why? Why are you suddenly going to hit me?"

"Shut up and take your beating! You bastard, Second Father!"

"Second Brother, please don't move around, or I won't be able to aim."

Under the terrified gaze of Tiger Number Two, Mordred, carrying the King's Sword, and Gray, manifesting a giant scythe, surrounded him from the left and right.

Then—

"boom!"

"Boom!"

44. I will definitely destroy this island.

After giving the irresponsible Number Two Tiger a good beating, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others explained to Tomoe Gozen and Miyamoto Musashi the Lostbelt and what the real Natsukawa Tiger wanted to do.

This includes the reasons for the formation of this Lostbelt, the events that occurred 2,400 years ago, the current state of this Lostbelt, and Natsukawa Torato's purpose.

"So, the tiger wants to destroy this island of pan-human history in order to protect it?"

After listening, Miyamoto Musashi made the following summary.

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded and said, "That's more like it. According to Ms. Meryl, the club president will do it in a year, and the reason we came here is to find a way to stop him."

"Huh? You already have a solution?"

Of course. After all, Tiger himself revealed all his weaknesses—the key being Tiger's own condition and his throne.

Two things are needed to carry out an island-wide spirit transfer.

One is the immense magic accumulated over two thousand years.

Secondly, there is Natsukawa Tora, who theoretically possesses unlimited magical power output.

The transfer of spiritual particles cannot be completed without either of these two elements. In other words, his goal will not be achieved if the throne is destroyed or Natsukawa Tora is defeated.

However, even if we choose to destroy the throne, we will inevitably face off against Tiger in the end. So, ultimately, the only way to stop Tiger is to defeat him—or rather, to free him from that state of infinite magic.

"So that's why you came to find me."

Having recovered, Tiger Number Two rubbed his face: "I thought you were worried about me."

[The one person in this world who needs constant worry is the one bearing the name 'Natsukawa Tiger'. Tiger Number Two, let's confirm one more time, you can restore Tiger to its original form, right?]

"Yes, of course." Tiger Number Two said as he took out the Holy Sword. "The reason why I have infinite magic power is because of the contract between me and the planet. As long as I hold the Holy Sword again, the contract will be voided and I will lose infinite magic power. That's what I said, but actually I don't necessarily have to make him actually hold it. I'm just using it as a metaphor. In reality, all I need to do is poke him with this Holy Sword."

Pierce Natsukawa Tiger with the Holy Sword?

Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others frowned deeply.

"This is indeed quite difficult. I don't think the minister will be so easily harmed by us."

"Of course, after all, he almost always has the upper hand in close combat. Even though he hasn't seriously fought anyone for over two thousand years, and he may have regressed in this aspect, his current strength is enough to make up for that regression. If we fight him head-on, we will be wiped out."

Tiger Number Two laughed, "So, we have to approach it from the side—you should know what to do, right, Mary? After all, this is your specialty."

What's Merry's specialty?

Upon hearing what Tiger Number Two said, everyone present felt a bad premonition. Apart from Miyamoto Musashi and Tomoe Gozen, who were strangers who didn't have much contact with Meryl, everyone present had been tricked by Meryl before and knew how vulgar, despicable, and varied her methods were.

Ah~~~~~ I see, that's the plan, yeah, I understand.

After a moment's thought, Meryl understood Tiger Number Two's plan.

Indeed, this is the method with the highest success rate we can take, but it's also the lowest. What if it fails?

"I'll be using Plan Two then. The details are confidential for now, but it's a plan I can complete on my own, so I don't need your cooperation."

【Hehe~~~ That's settled then. I'll finalize the details later. See you later.】