Type-Moon: Card Servants

"But first, you must defeat the other five Servants before I can hand the Holy Grail over to you." Mikaela smiled and spoke with utter sincerity.

...This guy is no simple matter.

The King of Conquerors' smile gradually faded. He stared at Mikaela, as though trying to see through the thoughts hidden in her heart.

Because of what she had just said, the King of Conquerors could clearly sense that she had spoken from the heart! There had not been a single lie in her words.

Speaking from the heart? Who was she trying to fool?! If she truly had the strength to defeat five Servants, there would have been no need for her to come and speak with Saber. The moment the Holy Grail War began, she could have simply driven her ox-cart around and swept aside all those heroes from history.

Mikaela maintained her smile. She did not think the King of Conquerors was some muscle-brained fool. Since he had become a king, he must have had a glorious history of his own.

Before him, Mikaela had no intention of lying. Instead, she would speak the "truth." Every word she said was true. She acknowledged him as a king and promised that if he truly defeated five Servants, she would hand the Holy Grail to him while taking something else for herself.

There was not a single lie in that—only "sincerity."

"Hahahahaha! Once I defeat five Servants, Saber, you will offer the Holy Grail to me!" The King of Conquerors laughed heartily, as if he truly believed Mikaela would hand the Holy Grail over to him.

"Of course. You are the renowned King of Conquerors. I would never lie before you."

Mikaela continued smiling as she looked at the King of Conquerors, who stood a head taller than her. She sighed inwardly. Ever since using her transformation, she had been getting shorter and shorter.

She had clearly been quite tall before, yet after constantly using her transformation ability, she had only grown shorter while becoming stronger and stronger.

"Then I am quite pleased. If that time truly comes, I hope you will not go back on your word~" The King of Conquerors reached out and, right in front of Irisviel, patted Mikaela's little head. He lowered his voice. "However, if you lie, I will not let you off so easily."

The air froze for an instant.

Waver trembled. He really wanted to kick his own Servant. Hadn't they agreed not to provoke the enemy?! Wasn't this just threatening her?!

There might not have been anyone around, but if they really started fighting, the commotion would be enormous!!!

It was still noon!!! There were lots of people around!!!

"Do you think I am lying?" Mikaela raised her head, her dark eyes meeting the King of Conquerors'. She did not mind others touching her head, because that gesture meant the King of Conquerors was trying to reclaim the initiative.

But unfortunately, everything Mikaela had said was true. There was no way he could reclaim that so-called "initiative."

"No. Sometimes, the truth is more terrifying than lies." The King of Conquerors withdrew his hand. The smile had vanished from his face as he stared calmly at Mikaela. "For example, those thirty pieces of silver."

Mikaela's pupils contracted slightly. Then she turned her head away, her voice turning somewhat sinister. "I know what you mean. I am not that man."

"That is true~ If that man had been such a cute child, I believe even God would have forgiven her." The King of Conquerors seemed to have found what he wanted to see and smiled again, though the gravity in his eyes had deepened.

As a king, he would not simply believe what others said. He was better at using his own eyes and ears to see and hear everything he wished to know.

"Then, would you like to take a little walk for now? This era has quite a lot of good wine." The King of Conquerors silently took a few steps back, pointing toward the place selling alcohol ahead. He smiled. "That is truly fine wine."

"I am underage. I cannot drink." Mikaela returned to her usual composure and replied flatly, "My wife is underage as well."

Chapter 58: Young Judas?

"Huh? Underage?"

The King of Conquerors looked at Mikaela and Irisviel in surprise. A hint of confusion flashed through his wide eyes; he clearly had not expected the two before him to be "underage."

"I am fifteen. She is nine." Mikaela pointed at Irisviel and said calmly, "We do not drink, so it seems we cannot accept your invitation this time."

"Huh?"

The King of Conquerors stared at Mikaela and Irisviel in astonishment. Waver, however, looked entirely unsurprised. Although his foundation in magecraft was poor, he had read an enormous number of books and naturally knew that the Einzbern family's homunculus technology ranked among the very best in the world of magecraft.

"Fifteen? Nine??"

The King of Conquerors looked at Mikaela with a strange expression. She looked very young. Though she had manifested as a Servant, there had been talented people in ancient times who died young. Perhaps she really had died tragically at fifteen...

She denied being Judas earlier, yet showed quite an "abhorrent" expression. This one... The King of Conquerors narrowed his eyes slightly. His question had seemed casual, but he had long intended it as a test.

Waging war was not about relying on mere bloodlust to defeat powerful enemies one had never seen before.

Only by gathering vast amounts of intelligence, uncovering the enemy's weaknesses, then exploiting them with one's own advantages could one crush powerful foes like a breaking wave. If a powerful enemy had no weakness to be found, then only one method remained.

"There is no need to be surprised. My wife is a homunculus; age does not limit her in any way. We shall take our leave first."

After saying that, Mikaela seemed ready to leave with Irisviel. They could have continued talking for a while, but to avoid suspicion, Mikaela did not wish to have too much contact with them.

"Well then, if you cannot drink alcohol, how about a cup of coffee? I heard Little Master mention that stuff. It sounds rather good." The King of Conquerors laughed heartily. He felt he could still have a deeper conversation with Mikaela, seeing as the sun had not yet set.

The other party seemed to have a rather good temper. Talking a little longer should not cause any trouble.

"Coffee?"

Mikaela shook her head slightly and replied blandly, "I do not like coffee. Other than bitterness, I cannot taste anything else in it."

"Well, that is..." The King of Conquerors scratched his head. He had not expected his casual suggestion to be shut down so directly.

"Then, farewell." Mikaela gave the King of Conquerors a slight nod before leaving the street with Irisviel.

She did not know whether her earlier words had misled him in guessing her identity, but since she had said them, she needed to slightly "imitate" the persona he had imagined.

After Mikaela and Irisviel left, the King of Conquerors' beaming smile finally began to fade.

"Did you discover anything, Rider?" Waver could clearly see that his Servant's repeated attempts to keep them there had not been for the sake of having a pleasant conversation.

He had wanted to find flaws in their words to verify some of his own ideas. Yet judging from Rider's expression, he apparently had found nothing.

"I did discover something. There are two possibilities in my mind now. If she was not deliberately revealing information about herself, then this enemy is no simple matter." The King of Conquerors watched Mikaela and Irisviel's departing figures, his expression grave. "She may very well be a young Judas."

"A young Judas?"

Waver's expression was a little strange. He really wanted to complain—wasn't Judas a man?! But last night, he had indeed seen that the other party's Noble Phantasm was a cross engraved with ancient patterns.

Historically, there were very few people who used a cross as a weapon. Likewise, no one would use the name "Judas" to describe a cross.

A Noble Phantasm was a crucial item that could reveal a Servant's true name. Two days had already passed since the Holy Grail War began, and the only ones whose true names had truly been exposed were probably Diarmuid, Gilles de Rais, and the idiot beside him.

"There are two possibilities." The King of Conquerors spoke very seriously. "The first is that the maid was Judas in her younger days. At that point in her life, she was probably when she admired Jesus the most..."

Before the King of Conquerors could finish, Waver refuted him, "At that time, Judas probably didn't even know Jesus. When Jesus first began preaching, nobody knew who he was."

"Can Servants be judged the same way?" The King of Conquerors looked at Waver speechlessly. "Even in her childhood, she could possess the memories of her adult self. Don't use modern history to assess Servants."

"Besides, wasn't the historical King of Conquerors supposed to be short?"

The King of Conquerors used himself as an example. While that gave Waver a terrible stomachache, it also left him momentarily unsure what to say.

"Ha ha ha ha! Still, if I had learned what I would look like as an adult during my childhood, I probably would have been troubled too." Seeing Waver's pained expression, the King of Conquerors could not help laughing loudly. To keep his Little Master from becoming too withdrawn, he began talking about what he had looked like as a child.

"You as a child?"

Waver looked at the King of Conquerors as he was now, then imagined a muscular little boy. Eugh! Just the image was enough to make goosebumps rise all over him.

"What kind of expression is that? I was quite cute when I was young." The King of Conquerors scratched his head. Seeing Waver's disgusted face, he helplessly shrugged. "But you won't get the chance to see me as a child. Otherwise, the younger me would probably have enjoyed spending time with you."

"Forget it. I've already had more than enough of you as you are."

Compared to the unknown child version of the King of Conquerors, Waver still thought the red-haired muscular man before him was better. After all, people were full of fear toward the unknown.

"Ha ha ha! Let's go have some good wine. There are so many fine wines in modern times—once you finish one, there's another."

"Hey, hey, hey!!! This isn't the time for drinking! Didn't I tell you?! We're investigating!! Investigating!!! Go collect water samples from nearby!"

"Haven't you heard the saying? If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it first."

"What kind of nonsense is that?! Servants don't need to eat!! Your body is made of mana!!!"

"Ha ha ha ha, don't fuss over such minor details. Come on, come on, let's drink. Your little body should drink more too. If you don't drink, how are you supposed to grow taller?!"

A pillow for my big sister.jpg

A pillow for my big sister.jpg

In a dark sewer, the wanted Caster, Gilles de Rais, and his Master, Ryunosuke, were admiring the art before them.

"AAAAAHHHH!! No!! This art cannot be offered to the Evil God!!"

Gilles de Rais seemed to have fallen into a frenzy. He clutched his head, and perhaps because his emotions were too turbulent, he had directly torn off part of his scalp. Blood slowly ran down from his head, yet he himself did not feel the slightest discomfort.

Before him were more than a dozen humans who were still conscious. There were men and women, children, youths, burly men, bald middle-aged programmers, and toothless old people.

As if they wanted to create a special sense of ritual, Gilles de Rais and Ryunosuke had spent a long time last night specifically capturing these people. If it had been before, these people would have long since become feed for summoning Sea Demons.

But now, Gilles de Rais did not want to waste so much material merely summoning some Mooks. He had a far loftier ideal.

That was to create the finest offering! An offering to the Evil God who had already descended upon this world!!!!!

"My lord, this is already our limit." Ryunosuke, who had worked all night, waved the little knife in his hand and looked helplessly at Gilles de Rais. He did not understand why his lord was dissatisfied with the "art" before them.

They had worked all night. Gilles de Rais, who had originally disdained to carve things personally, had now picked up a small knife and begun working on the "art" alongside Ryunosuke.

According to Gilles de Rais, the Evil God could see through everything. If they did not put their hearts into making the offering, she would definitely notice. Then not only would they receive no reward, they would also suffer divine punishment!!!

In short, carving the offering with their own hands would make it easier to obtain the Evil God's reward.

"No, no, no, no!! Ryunosuke! Limits are meant to be surpassed!! An offering like this cannot be given to the Evil God!!" Gilles de Rais placed both hands on Ryunosuke's shoulders and said in an extraordinarily agitated tone, "You understand too, don't you? If we cannot carve the very best, it is not only disrespectful to the Evil God, but also a question directed at art itself."

"Can't we do better?! No!!! We can do better!!! We simply need to let the Evil God see our determination!!"

At that moment, Gilles de Rais was like a madman. He felt as though his brain were trembling. The thought that his offering might be inadequate and that the Evil God might mercilessly abandon him made him unable to suppress his fear!!!

No!! He had been summoned in order to revive Jeanne d'Arc!! Jeanne d'Arc!!! Since God had not stepped in to save you, then I, Gilles de Rais, will offer a sacrifice that not even the Evil God can refuse, and bring you back to life.

Let the world see Jeanne d'Arc's valiant form once more. She was not the witch slandered by the Church—she was the saint, Jeanne d'Arc!!!

"Determination, huh..." Ryunosuke scratched his hair with his bloodstained hands and said helplessly, "Actually, I think art is something that gradually improves. If we truly want the gods to see our determination, then it seems we can only use our own bodies as art."

In Ryunosuke's view, offering his own body to a god would allow that god to see his true determination. After all, life only came once. If a person was killed, they died.

If he offered himself as a sacrifice, then those so-called gods would probably be very pleased.

But Ryunosuke did not want to do that, because he had yet to see something truly beautiful. So he did not want to die. If one day, he found what he sought—

Then death... did not seem like something to reject.

"..."

Gilles de Rais fell silent. His goldfish-like eyes stared at Ryunosuke, and the air seemed to freeze in that instant.

"What is it, my lord??" Ryunosuke looked at the suddenly silent Gilles de Rais in confusion. Had he said something wrong?

"Ryunosuke, what did you just say?" Gilles de Rais slowly opened his mouth. His goldfish-like eyes stared fixedly at Ryunosuke, and a light called "hope" shone from within them.

It was like falling into despair after finishing in the bathroom and discovering there was no toilet paper, only for a hand holding a roll of paper to reach through the crack in the door the very next second.

"Ah, I said that art is something that gradually improves. If we truly want the gods to see our determination, then we can only use our own bodies as art and offer them to the gods." Ryunosuke honestly repeated himself to Gilles de Rais. He did not think there was anything wrong with what he had said.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Genius!!! Genius!!! Ryunosuke, you really are a genius!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Suddenly, Gilles de Rais seemed like a different person. He turned around and crazily slammed his forehead against a stone pillar, making Ryunosuke's mouth twitch. He had no idea what had happened to his master.

"I see, I see!!! All I need is to use myself to let the evil god see my resolve."

Blood streamed down from Gilles de Rais's forehead. He wore an utterly exhilarated smile; the problem that had plagued him for so long had finally been solved.

"Sacrifices! They're completely unnecessary!" With a grand wave of Gilles de Rais's hand, the sea demons lurking nearby devoured all the prepared sacrifices.

"Wait!"

Ryunosuke tried to reach out and stop it. He had spent ten whole hours carving those sacrifices!!!

But even with his hand outstretched, he had no way to match the sea demons' speed. By the time he tried to stop them, the dozen or so people had already been eaten clean.

"Hahahahaha, Ryunosuke, tonight I... ah, no!! The sooner the sacrifices are offered, the better. I must act right now! Ryunosuke!!!" Gilles de Rais could no longer restrain his emotions. He wanted to offer himself to the evil god immediately.

"Wait!! Master, if you want to sacrifice yourself, don't you need a grand ritual?!"

"Oh!! Ryunosuke, I really almost forgot. Without a grand ritual, even I, as the sacrifice, would be unqualified. Thank you so much. I was so focused on offering myself that I forgot about the evil god's twisted tastes."

Release Announcement

First of all, thanks to Sister Nanxi for sparing me.

And thank you all for your tremendous support. Tomorrow, I'll work hard on writing and aim for five updates in one day, with more chapters as well.

Also, this book will not become a gender-bender marriage story. The protagonist will be feminized, but it definitely won't become a gender-bender marriage story. Lastly...

Once I finish making up the 19 owed chapters, I'll open the reward campaign!!!!!

That's all, then. See you all tomorrow.