As I moved toward the church, I continued practicing [Projection Magecraft] and [Reinforcement Magecraft].
By now, I could perfectly copy jewels to the point where no one could tell the difference. However, when I observed them with [Eyes], I could see that the atoms were gradually beginning to collapse.
So a fake is a fake after all?
Shirō, who had been watching me practice, looked at me with admiring eyes.
"Wow, amazing. I didn't expect you to practice so passionately. It seems you're already better at [Projection Magecraft] than I am."
"No, I've still got a long way to go. And speaking of [Projection Magecraft], I found out while practicing that it's also possible to project Noble Phantasms.
The funny thing is, by reading the memory of the Noble Phantasm, I can also copy the fighting style of its original owner."
"I-is that true?"
"Yeah. So keep practicing steadily. [Projection Magecraft] is definitely not useless. And it synergizes well with [Reinforcement Magecraft] too."
"I see…"
That was probably enough hints. Actually, in the original story, this role was meant to be taught by the 'future Shirō' who would become Archer, but since I was here instead, I had to do that part.
"Oh, and just in case, learn some swordsmanship too. You have a good teacher right beside you, so it should be easy to learn."
Saber nodded in agreement with my words.
"He's right. If the Master also becomes strong, your chances of winning will increase."
Shirō looked at Saber and said, "By the way, Saber, instead of calling me 'Master,' could you just call me Shirō?"
"Very well, Shirō."
Saber looked at me and asked, "By the way, Jin, what is your class? I haven't seen you use a weapon, so I can't tell."
"I'm Caster."
I immediately took out the 'Staff of Hecate' from my inventory and held it up.
"Oh~ So that's why you learned magecraft so quickly!"
Shirō said, believing that naively. Seeing this, Rin said,
"Come on, stop joking. Jin is probably Archer."
"No, I'm Lancer."
I put the staff away, took out Gáe Bolg this time, and swung it around.
"What in the…"
"Actually, let's just say I'm Saber."
I took out the Overlord symbol 'Cheat Sword Blade' and swung that around. Saber looked at me seriously. A master recognizes a master.
"Your swordsmanship is extraordinary. What exactly are you?"
"Me? I'm a multi-class, an ATM machine, and Tōsaka Rin's boyfriend! Hahaha!"
At that, Rin approached me and hit me on the back of the head.
Thump!
"Ugh!"
"Aish… you're hopeless! You're probably Archer."
"R-right…"
Saber seemed to think for a moment, then said, "An Extra Servant? I'm glad we're allies, but… winning this Holy Grail War is going to be difficult."
Hearing that, Rin asked Saber, "What's an Extra Servant?"
"Basically, the Servants we know are Saber, Archer, Rider, Lancer, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin, but I've heard there are other classes besides those. I don't know the details, but they have special abilities that can turn the tide of battle in an instant."
I didn't know what Saber was mistaken about, but I decided to go along with it.
"Ah~ my, have you finally seen through my true nature? The Black Flame Dragon slumbers within my right hand. Hohoho~"
Then Rin approached me and this time hit me on the back.
Slap!
"Ugh!"
"Aish! Just shut up and follow!"
"Yes, ma'am… Rin's palm also contains a Black Flame Dragon…"
And so we arrived at the church. Saber and I stayed outside while Shirō and Rin went into the church to hear about the Holy Grail War from the priest, Kotomine Kirei. I already knew it all, so I just passed the time.
Bored, I struck up a conversation with Saber.
"Saber, why did you participate in the Holy Grail War?"
"I wish to undo my past mistake."
"So you need the Holy Grail."
"Yes."
Saber's wish could never come true. The Grail was already corrupted.
"Your true name is King Arthur, isn't it?"
"I don't know how you knew, but yes."
"May I read your memories for a moment? I might be able to help."
Saber hesitated for a moment, then allowed it.
"Very well. I will trust you."
I placed my hand on Saber's head and read her memories. While doing so, I fiddled with the strand of hair that stuck out like an antenna.
"Isn't that enough? Why are you touching that?"
"Ah~ my apologies. I just wanted to touch it."
Britain is an old name for England. Due to the 'End of the Age of Gods' event, where ancient gods and fantasy creatures departed from reality, the ether on Earth disappeared, and the land of Britain began to grow barren.
This reduced the amount of arable land, the people began to starve, and various problems arose. Eventually, it led to civil war, and King Arthur's kingdom collapsed.
"Hmm… you regret becoming king. You want to undo having pulled the holy sword from the stone."
"You read my memories correctly. Yes. I thought I ruled well, but in the end, all that remained were the corpses of my people. If a better king had ruled, many more people might have survived."
"No, I don't think so. You were a good king. Because you protected Britain, the barbarians and Rome dared not touch it. If you hadn't been there, the people of Britain would have lived as slaves long ago."
"That's not entirely true. It was a result achieved by sacrificing a small number of people. Because of that, even my subordinates left me."
"But in the end, you protected Britain, didn't you? It must have been painful, but as king, you made the right decisions for your kingdom. Even I can't think of a way to prevent more sacrifices than you did."
"Thank you for saying that."
That was the truth. Morally problematic, yes, but in a situation with no margin due to numerical disadvantage, she had saved the kingdom with minimal sacrifice. From the perspective of a king who must consider the entire kingdom, it seemed an unavoidable choice.
"I don't know how much history you know, but the survivors of that rebellion eventually built another kingdom and lived on. And they built a brilliant empire. That was all possible because you laid the foundation by holding back the barbarians and signing a peace treaty with Rome. You weren't wrong."
I showed her a video of present-day, vibrant Britain on my phone and spoke.
"That's why King Arthur is still a hero remembered by people."
Saber couldn't take her eyes off the video I showed her.
"This is Britain now… Are you saying my actions weren't truly in vain?"
"Yes."
Saber looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.
"Haah… So I was stubbornly clinging to a pointless wish…"
"Yeah. If you had given up on being king, the Britain of today wouldn't exist."
We were quiet for a while. Then Saber asked,
"Jin, why did you participate in the Holy Grail War?"
"Me? I joined because there was something I wanted to obtain, but now it's gone. I've already gotten everything I needed."
That was not a lie. Since I had already obtained everything I could in the Fate universe, I was just here to earn points and have fun.
There was still the Jeweled Sword, but it looked like an item bound to the Fate universe. It would be certain, as I'd read the description that it draws power from parallel worlds.
"I see. I've lost my goal. I don't know what to do anymore."
"How about you protect your Master until the Holy Grail War is over, and since you're here, just enjoy yourself? Eat delicious food, go out. You've been too hard on yourself all this time."
"That's a good idea."
Saber said with a smile. Just then, I saw Shirō and Rin coming out of the church.
"It seems their talk is over."
When Shirō and Rin arrived, Saber asked, "Shirō, is your discussion finished?"
"Uh… I've decided to fight as a Master. Will you accept that I'm your Master, Saber?"
"Since I was summoned here, you are my Master."
Huh? Her line is shorter than in the original.
Saber didn't say things like she would become her Master's sword. Her mindset seemed to have changed. At any rate, Saber and Shirō shook hands, asking each other to take care.
We started heading back home. Then I felt a gaze from afar and turned around. Kotomine Kirei was looking directly at me from the church. Even when I looked back, he didn't avert his eyes.
Does he know that I'm the one who eliminated Lancer?
"What are you doing? Let's go."
"Yeah."
We walked toward home. As we were passing through the cemetery attached to the church, I sensed something ahead.
"Rin, we have guests."
"Huh?"
A huge person and a small child were visible ahead. It seemed to be Berserker and Illya.
"B-Berserker?"
Rin seemed quite surprised to see Berserker.
"Hello, big brother. This is our second meeting, isn't it? And nice to meet you too, Rin. I'm Illya. Illyasviel von Einzbern."
I approached Illya and said with a smile,
"Oh~ what a cute little girl? Shall I give you some candy, little sister?"
Then Rin hurriedly called out to me. "Jin!"
Illya frowned and said, "Candy? Handsome big brother, it seems you don't understand the situation, do you? Berserker!"
"Grr!"
Whoosh~!
Thump!
Berserker tried to strike me with his sword, but I lightly caught it with one hand.
"This guy is your bodyguard? Well, the world is a dangerous place these days."
Berserker was sweating and putting in all his strength, but I just stood there casually, holding the sword with one hand.
"B-Berserker?"
With my other hand, I took a Chupa Chups from my inventory, used [Telekinesis] to unwrap it, and put it into the stunned Illya's mouth.
"It's late, so go straight home, okay?"
"Uuph!@#%$^$@#$!!!"
Illya took the candy out of her mouth, threw it away, and shouted angrily,
"Aish! Just you wait!!! Berserker, let's go."
For some reason, it reminded me of Team Rocket's ending lines.
"Grr."
I released Berserker's sword. Berserker then picked up his sword and followed Illya back.
"Wh… what was that just now?"
Shirō seemed unable to understand what had happened.
"I just sent a little girl wandering around at night back home."
"Th… is that what that was?"
"Yeah."
"…"
We returned to Shirō's house. Throughout the entire walk home, Rin and Saber stared at me with strange looks.
"Jin, what on earth are you? Don't joke around and tell me."
"I'd like to know as well. Even for an Extra Servant, you're far too strong."
I wondered how to explain this, then decided to mix in reality.
"Hmm… fine, I'll tell you. Who was the first human in this world?"
"Hmm? Adam?"
"I'm the opposite."
"You don't mean… the last person to survive until the end of humanity?"
"Yeah. That's why I can use all of humanity's scientific knowledge and several powerful magics."
Hearing that, Shirō was astonished and asked, "What? All of humanity will be destroyed?"
"Yeah, but it's far in the future, so don't worry about it."
"Why does that happen?"
I told him the same story I had told Rin.
"I see… This isn't just about the Holy Grail War anymore!"
Shirō said the same thing Rin had said.
"Then can't we use the Holy Grail to stop it?"
"Impossible. That destruction is beyond the power of the Holy Grail. Global warming was accelerated by humanity, but in a way, it's part of the Earth's natural cycle."
"How can that be…"
"Don't worry too much. Everyone knows the Earth will eventually be swallowed by the sun, but we don't worry about that. Just think of it the same way."
"…"
Rin asked me, "Then what was your reason for participating in the Holy Grail War?"
"Collecting DNA."
"So you mean you're thinking of reproducing humanity?"
"Yeah. Since everyone's dead, natural reproduction is impossible."
Wow~ Even I thought this was a killer excuse.
Ding~!
[(E) Liar has been promoted to (D) Liar.]
Hmm…
Maybe I had lied a bit too strongly, because everyone had thoughtful expressions.
"Anyway, it's late, let's go to sleep."
"Yeah…"
We washed up and went to our respective rooms to sleep.
The next day, I woke up early and prepared breakfast. As everyone gradually woke up and gathered around the living room table, I started serving the dishes.
"Oh~ As always, there are lots of dishes I've never seen before."
Saber, as expected, was delighted and polished off three bowls of rice starting from breakfast. After the meal, before everyone got ready for school, I placed a gold bar on the table. Shirō saw it and asked in surprise,
"Wh-what's this?"
"Since there are more people living together now, use it. In the future, I was alone, so it was useless."
Seeing that, Rin quickly snatched the gold bar and put it in her bag.
"Rin, that wasn't for you."
"I'll exchange this for money and contribute to the household. Besides, I'm the only one who knows precious metals and jewels well."
She seems to have dollar signs in her eyes… I think she's even drooling.
Everyone looked at Rin with bewilderment, but it was also true that Rin was the only one who could easily convert gold bars into cash.
The Tōsaka family primarily uses jewels for magecraft; if they make a mistake, they could ruin the family, so from childhood, they are thoroughly educated first in economic concepts. But maybe it was a bit excessive.
After school, Rin and I exchanged the gold bars for cash and returned to Shirō's house. Fujimura Taiga was there, lecturing Shirō.
Taiga was an English teacher and homeroom teacher at Homurahara Academy, which Shirō attended, and she occasionally came to Shirō's house to take care of him, so she was quite close to him.
From the conversation, it seemed the problem was that Shirō had decided to take a short break from school until the Holy Grail War was over, and that young-looking women were now living in the house, so she was lecturing him.
"So I told you, there are guys too, Fuji-nee!"
"Nice to meet you."
When I greeted Taiga, she looked at me, hesitated for a moment, then returned the greeting.
"Wow! A really handsome guy! Nice to meet you. Do you have a girlfriend by any chance?"
Taiga was blunt. I pulled Rin to my side and said,
"Yes, I do. Hahaha."
Rin was flustered, but her face just turned red and she didn't say anything.
"Aish! This dirty world where all the handsome men and beautiful women are already taken!!"
At any rate, Shirō managed to get past the issue by using the excuse of Sakura's house burning down and his father.
"Alright! So, you'll definitely come back to school starting two weeks from now?"
"Got it."
From that day on, Shirō trained in both magecraft and swordsmanship simultaneously. Rin also continued training in [Projection Magecraft] and [Reinforcement Magecraft]. I too was practicing [Projection Magecraft] while holding Gáe Bolg.
"Wow, Jin, look at this. I did it too."
Rin proudly showed me something vaguely resembling a jewel. When I looked at it with [Eyes], the shell looked decent, but the inside was a mess. Still, she had made something, so I praised her.
"Good. Now with more practice, you'll be able to store magical energy in them too. Well done."
"All right!"
That day passed without incident.
From the next day, to give them practical experience, I used my [Skeleton Warrior] ability to have them fight. I continued practicing [Projection Magecraft] and [Reinforcement Magecraft].
I was constantly checking the Noble Phantasms with [Eyes] and practicing until I was satisfied. Sakura and Rider were in charge of preparing meals.
"Shirō! To your right!"
Thump!
"Ugh!"
When it looked dangerous, I ordered the Skeleton Warriors to stand down.
"Fighting more than three at once still seems difficult for you."
"That's correct. Additionally, your fundamentals are still somewhat lacking. Shirō, back to basic training!"
Saber pushed Shirō hard, but he seemed exhausted.
"No, let's stop swordsmanship training here for today. I'm completely exhausted. I need to eat now and then practice magecraft."
I approached Shirō, healed him, and made some adjustments to his Magic Crest. There were a few dormant Magic Crests that hadn't been activated, so I was fixing those.
"Hmm… done."
"Wow~ my body feels so much better. Thanks."
That day passed like that. About three days passed like that, I think. During that time, I trained hard and raised both [Projection Magecraft] and [Reinforcement Magecraft] to A-Rank. Now I could easily copy even Gáe Bolg.
Shirō was also able to handle up to five Skeleton Warriors at once, and Rin had trained hard and, while she still couldn't store magic in them, had started making decent-looking jewels.
Just then, we heard a knock at the gate.
"Who is it?"
Shirō stopped his magecraft training and went to the gate to open it. There, a woman with red eyes, covered in blood and wearing a white maid outfit, was collapsed on the ground. From the maid outfit, it seemed to be 'Sella'. Shirō hurriedly approached Sella and checked her condition.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes. More importantly, I have a message…"
Shirō quickly carried the maid inside and laid her down in the living room. The commotion brought everyone in the house to the living room.
"The young lady is in danger."
"What young lady are you talking about?"
"The young lady Illyasviel von Einzbern."
Hearing this, Rin frowned and said,
"So you know that young lady over there attacked us the other night, and you came to ask for help?"
"I am aware. But this is not just the Einzbern family's problem. The supervisor representing the Holy Church has broken the rules and is currently attacking Einzbern Castle with a Servant I've never seen before.
He is so overwhelmingly strong that Berserker can do nothing but buy time. I escaped alone to come and request help. I believe he is after the Lesser Grail within the young lady's body."
At that, Tōsaka Rin, with a very surprised expression, asked again,
"What did you say!!??? Kotomine Kirei is participating in the Holy Grail War!!??? And as a Master?"
"Yes, that is correct."