Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Ai Ge squinted her eyes happily.

"Hmm, but that won't work."

Shirou spoke his true opinion with a serious expression.

Try to explain the right path of humanity to Aigo as if you were teaching a child.

“This is wrong… I don’t want you to do such a cruel thing.”

Shirou recalled that he had once subtly taught Fujino that "killing is wrong."

However, the topic now is completely different from that one.

Is this "murder"?

This is "inhumane".

The girl tilted her head slightly, her platinum blonde hair swaying in the breeze.

"Saber is so gentle."

"Love song."

“But it’s alright, Saber doesn’t need to worry about me.”

Ai Ge's expression was also very serious: "I'm willing to do anything for you."

I didn't listen at all.

They wouldn't listen at all.

Shirou had given very earnest advice, but the two were simply not on the same wavelength.

How to do?

Shirou had a premonition:

Even when he sternly reprimands her, saying, "Murder is wrong!", Aika will still answer, "Why?"

Their values ​​are completely different.

What should I do to get her back on the right track?

Or should we just leave it alone, since admonishing the Master is not the Servant's duty?

"........."

Shirou suppressed the anxiety rising within him, gritted his teeth, and spoke.

"In that case, Aika shouldn't do anything that I hate."

"........."

Sajo Aika's smile froze.

"Saber...do you hate me?"

"No, but I really hate what we were talking about earlier."

"understood."

Sajou Aika hesitated, then gently bit her lip.

then--

In order to prove to his Master that he could handle the Holy Grail War, Shirou took her into Thurifas.

He displayed overwhelming fighting power, and thought he could gain Ai-ge's reassurance, but the girl seemed even more worried.

In the end, was everything I did meaningless?

"Hehe, I was just joking."

Sajou Aika suddenly looked at him and said.

“I’ve figured it out. While it’s important to bring Saber victory, it would also be very painful if you hated me, Saber.”

It's not that it's "not worth the effort" or "putting the cart before the horse," but rather that it makes you feel uncomfortable.

This shows that in Aika's mind, "sacrificing herself for Shirou" is still a higher priority than "not wanting to be disliked by Shirou".

But... it can be considered a kind of progress.

Shirou paused for a moment, then asked to confirm, "Do you really understand?"

"Ah."

“Thank you, Aika,” Shirou said.

Sajou Aika leaned closer to him and asked curiously, "Saber... why do you look like you're about to cry?"

"Idiot, I didn't cry."

Shirou turned his face away.

In the past, he had never imagined that successfully correcting a girl's mistake would bring him such a sense of accomplishment.

"Ready to go."

"Oh...Saber?"

Shirou put his arm around the girl's waist and evacuated Tulipas before the "Black" faction's Servants arrived.

……

……

"That being said, even if something is abnormal, there should be a limit, right?"

On a flight from France to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, a blonde girl with elaborate braids rests her chin on her hand, gazing at the sea of ​​clouds outside the window.

She is the Ruler of this Holy Grail War—Joan of Arc has finally appeared on earth.

However, it's unclear whether the unexpected situation arose because this was the largest Holy Grail War in history, or if there were other reasons...

The Arbiter was not summoned like a typical Servant, but instead possessed the body of a 17-year-old French girl attending a Catholic school.

Joan of Arc's consciousness entered the body of the young girl Leticia, manifesting as the Judge.

Rather than a so-called dual personality, this situation is more like two personalities merging into one, with Joan of Arc even inheriting most of the girl's memories.

Perhaps because Leticia was so emotional and had such deep faith, she completely accepted the saint residing within her body.

Joan of Arc felt uneasy about the major accident that occurred before the mission had even begun.

Of course, the enormous iron block she was currently riding in, which she called an "airplane," also made her quite uneasy.

After spending several hours praying that the plane wouldn't crash, Joan of Arc began to sort through the available intelligence.

The two sides in the conflict are the Clock Tower and the Yggdrasil Clan, and the war between their fourteen Servants.

Even the aftershocks of a fight between two Servants can cause devastation to surrounding buildings; the sheer scale of a seven-on-seven war is enough to make one incredibly depressed just imagining the extent of the damage it would cause.

Perhaps this is the reason why I appeared in the world as an adjudicator?

Because of its immense scale, the Greater Grail, fearing something unexpected might happen along the way, summoned itself...?

It's uncertain; it's probably too early to draw conclusions.

But there was something else that Joan of Arc cared about very much.

While investigating the "Black" faction, she discovered that one of the Servants' classes was a bit off.

That was not one of the seven classes in the traditional Holy Grail War, but rather a special class (Extra Class) similar to himself, the arbiter.

Even if you can fool the Master's eyes, you can't fool the Ruler, who is the underlying logic of the Holy Grail War.

Jeanne did not obtain any further information about that class from the Greater Grail.

The saintess frowned slightly: How should this be interpreted?

English was not Joan of Arc's native language, so it was a little difficult for her to understand.

protector?

Manager?

No, shouldn't this be... a Keeper?

In the end, Jeanne still didn't understand what the Keeper class was, what abilities they had, or why they were in this Holy Grail War.

But one thing Joan of Arc is certain of—

This Servant, whose true name she herself cannot even recognize, is the person she must prioritize contacting immediately.

"...Thankfully, the plane didn't crash."

Including transfers, waiting, and hitchhiking, Joan of Arc spent nearly two days before finally arriving at her destination, Sighisoara.

This is Keeper's current location, and also the stronghold of the "Red" faction.

On the way, she noticed a dozen pigeons that looked like magicians' familiars following her, so she glared back at them fiercely.

……

……

Upon noticing that Ruler had entered Romania and was heading directly in his direction, the "Red" assassin was immediately confused.

In any case, at this point in time, it is absolutely crucial to prevent Ruler and Shiro from making contact, otherwise their plan will be exposed.

But this doesn't really matter, because the "Red" faction originally planned to have Ruler removed from the game from the start.

Since they've entered our territory, it's like they've delivered themselves to our doorstep.

Assassin then contacted Lancer, informing him of Ruler's whereabouts and issuing the kill order once again.

After receiving the note from the familiar pigeon, the "Red" spearman ambushed the entrance to the city.

Ruler will definitely pass through here after entering the city; we just need to launch an attack then.

Karna was a pure warrior to the extreme; he did not consider whether the orders he received were good or bad, nor did he deliberately consider how these orders would change the course of events.

For him, the most important thing was to obey his Master's orders.

Nevertheless, he was perplexed by the killing of the neutral arbitrator.

I will still obey orders—

When the blonde girl he was targeting appeared and spoke to him, Lancer launched an attack without hesitation.

The divine spear unleashed an incredibly powerful magic, leaving even Ruler speechless.

In terms of numerical values ​​alone, "Red" Lancer should be second only to "Black" Lancer after the home-based buff among the 14 Servants.

But this treasure—

Lancer had no intention of engaging in combat; instead, he planned to directly unleash the true name of his Noble Phantasm.

He wanted to kill himself, and he certainly had the power to do so.

Before Joan of Arc could exercise her adjudicator's privilege, it would become a rust stain on the lance!

Ruler can change her outfit with a single click, and a majestic silver armor envelops her body.

Just as Jeanne d'Arc was preparing to unleash her Noble Phantasm—

A torrential rain of swords and halberds fell from the night sky.

"Hey?"

For a moment, Joan of Arc doubted her own eyes.

Accompanied by the distortion of space and a whirlwind overflowing with magic, dozens, even hundreds, of sword blades shot out and attacked Lancer.

While it certainly can't compare to the divine spear in Lancer's hands, the combined magical power of hundreds of Noble Phantasms is still quite astonishing.

If it were an ordinary Servant, they would undoubtedly be annihilated in this attack, leaving not even a trace.

However, the great heroes of Hindu mythology would certainly not be flustered by something like this.

With extreme composure, he swung his spear and knocked down several longswords before leaping back to the ground.

"You are--"

The "Red" spearman spoke in a cold voice, looking at the red-haired boy who appeared in front of him.

Joan of Arc was also taken aback.