Liberal Arts Berserker

Astolfo had asked the question everyone present had been wondering.

Shirou smiled somewhat smugly. "I can tell you. It's just that our fields of study are different! The one you have in mind is a Science Berserker, while I'm a Liberal Arts Berserker. Yep, that's all there is to it."

The moment he said that, everyone present felt as though their intelligence had been insulted. They all wore expressions that said either, "Are you messing with me?" or, "I may not have read much, but don't try to fool me."

We could barely accept an Archer fighting in close combat, but what the hell was a Liberal Arts Berserker supposed to be?

Was he trying to start the Cultural Revolution?

"Hey, hey, why do you all look like you've been hit with monkey-style intelligence subtraction? Does a Berserker have to wield twin battle axes, stand at least three meters tall, wear a string of skull beads, sport a ring of curls, and make bellows-like noises with every normal attack to count? Don't look down on me just because I'm a liberal arts student. Push me too far, and I can still handcraft a Light Cannon to teach you illiterates what reason is, what logic is, and what truth is!"

Shirou rattled off a whole string of words. The others all reacted differently.

Most of them looked as though they had seen a ghost.

What the hell? You weren't studying liberal arts—you were studying crosstalk! A ring of curls and skull beads? Are you sure that's a Berserker and not Sha Wujing?

Shirou's words made Astolfo clutch his stomach with laughter. He had always been cheerful, but now he seemed even more delighted. "Hahaha! What is this? You're really interesting!"

Caules poked Fiore, who was seated beside him in her wheelchair. "Sis, I think I'm starting to believe him. He does seem to have EX-rank Madness Enhancement, though its expression is a little different."

Meanwhile, Vlad III, seated upright on the high platform, let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! Berserker, then you must be quite strong?"

"Correct!" Shirou, still caught up in his own nonsense, grinned. "Masters, you can use your authority as Masters to inspect my parameters. I guarantee that, as a Servant, I'm absolutely first-rate!"

After Shirou said that, Caules did as instructed—and was thoroughly stunned by someone's dazzling parameters.

Strength B+

Agility A+

Endurance A

Luck C

Mana EX

Noble Phantasm A+/EX

Caules practically shouted the last two parameters. Aside from Luck, whose purpose he did not understand, all the other parameters were close to A-rank or had reached A-rank and above. Two had even reached the exceptional EX-rank. Caules had undoubtedly drawn the best card among everyone there.

If they spoke purely in terms of parameters, then even Vlad III, the Protector of Romania who benefited from the fame boost on Romanian soil, could not compare to Shirou.

"What happened, Caules? What Saint Relic did you use to summon someone like this?" Gordes, the fat middle-aged man, asked. As he spoke, he glanced at the Saber beside him. Could Saber defeat such a monster? Fortunately, they were allies for now.

Caules scratched the back of his head and smiled shyly. "Hehe, I wanted to try my luck, so I didn't prepare any Saint Relic at all."

"Come to think of it, the Saint Relic Caules used was actually himself!" Shirou interjected. "We had a decent connection. In another worldline, I once taught a class at the El-Melloi Classroom, and Caules was among the students. Since he was the biggest problem student in the classroom, I remembered him very clearly."

"Uh..." At this point, the other Masters could only feel envy. But envy was useless. Even if they were from different worldlines, Caules had an opportunity they did not have. Nothing they said would change that.

And he had summoned this Servant with himself as the catalyst. Setting aside those absurd parameters for the moment, purely in terms of compatibility with his Servant, even everyone present combined might not match Caules.

"By the way, since we'll be comrades fighting side by side from now on, how about we exchange our true names?" Only Astolfo, whose rationality had clearly evaporated, could come up with such a foolish suggestion.

Hearing Afu's idiotic words, Shirou could not help rubbing his forehead. Honestly, he very much wanted to encounter a Servant like Afu in a Holy Grail War—but only if Afu was on the opposing side.

If Astolfo appeared in the enemy camp, Shirou might even fire celebratory fireworks. But if he had summoned Afu himself, Shirou would absolutely use a Command Spell to order him to kill himself. Unfortunately, he was not Afu's Master. That freakish mage, Celenike, was.

Shirou wanted to get Afu killed for no other reason than that the guy was simply too much of a liability. In the original Fate/Apocrypha worldline, he had gotten Siegfried, Black's main fighting force, killed. Shirou was afraid of getting dragged down with him.

"Rider, do you realize what kind of stupid thing you're saying?" Shirou said to Astolfo in a tone of exasperation, while also reminding the Masters present.

"Revealing my true name doesn't matter much to me. After all, I'm just an obscure killer, taking part in this Holy Grail War as a third-rate nobody. But for Heroic Spirits who have already died, if their true names are exposed, their Noble Phantasms and even their weaknesses can easily be deduced. That means we'd already be at a disadvantage. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Ah, I understand," Afu said carelessly.

That utterly unconcerned expression darkened Shirou's face. No, you don't understand anything. I knew this rationality-evaporated bastard never listened to what people said!

"But everyone here is on our side, so it should be fine, right? Besides, if we're going to become companions anyway, wouldn't exchanging our names improve the efficiency of our cooperation?"

For a moment, Shirou's face was as dark as Red Archer's. Okita Souji looked at that somewhat familiar face and seemed to understand something.

"Then I'll go first," Astolfo said, ignoring Shirou's pot-bottom-black expression as she introduced herself. "My true name is Astolfo, one of Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins. My class is Rider. Make sure you remember it!"

After speaking, Astolfo moved in front of Chiron, Archer of Black. "What about you?"

Chiron was an honest man—god. Seeing that Afu had already introduced himself, he felt too embarrassed to keep hiding and revealed his true name as well. "Servant, Archer. My true name is Chiron."

"Amazing!" Astolfo gave a completely meaningless compliment, then looked toward Shirou. "What about you, Berserker?"

If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author. It may have simply been renamed!