"...Urgh!"
The intense suffocating sensation made Mordred clutch her chest.
"Are you all right, 'Red' Saber? Is this a lingering effect of the 'Gale Force Hammer'?"
"Urgh...!"
Not "Little Mo" or "Mordred," but "Red Saber"?
The girl felt as if another dagger had been stabbed into her chest.
She wanted to demand why he refused to acknowledge himself as King Arthur.
She wanted to berate him for refusing to acknowledge his own daughter.
She wanted to rush into his arms and act spoiled and playful, just as she had in the past.
But Mordred could do nothing.
Having obtained everything in life, she was simply too afraid of losing it all.
"Oh... Oh! No wonder you can use Father King's armament. So you're that 'Black Knight Artorius'?"
Mordred forced herself to rally and shook the other person's hand in return.
Hearing her say that, Shirou looked surprised. "You know me?"
He wondered if this wasn't a setting he had just made up.
Mordred nodded.
"Of course. The Holy Grail granted me the appropriate knowledge, and naturally, I also received this world's Mordred's memories.
Your existence was among the memories I received... Though I don't have much of a sense of reality about it."
"...I-I see."
Shirou was startled. Could there really be someone called 'Black Knight Artorius'?
Am I stuck now? Do I have to make up countless lies to cover one lie?
"How long are you planning to hold my hand?" Mordred asked, frowning unhappily.
"Sorry."
When Shirou released her hand, the "Red" Saber glared at him viciously.
Urgh, Father King's hand...
Just as slender and sturdy as before...
I want that hand to pat my head... Guh!
After that, Shirou contacted Sajyou Manaka through telepathy.
As expected, Aika accepted an alliance with the "Red" Saber faction.
For her,