Early Preparations for "The Garden of Sinners"

Even without the white-haired elementary school student and her kind-hearted older brother, everyone continued playing music and dancing as usual.

If there's any difference, it's naturally between Artoria and her shadow Artoria. They've opened their stomachs today, ordering a ton of food and having their old lady, Red A, cook for them.

The reason Artoria Alter started eating is simple: she lost to Archer in <Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya> today, so she naturally wants to regain her balance elsewhere.

As for why Artoria herself wanted to join in the fun...

Although Artoria Alter played Saber in * Magical Girl Illya *, in the eyes of outsiders, that person is Artoria herself!

"You're making up so many excuses just so you can freeload, aren't you?"

Red A slammed his rice scoop on the table with a bang, his face turning ashen as he demanded, "I'm begging you, please have mercy, there's no food left in the kitchen!"

"Oh wow~"

Artoria Alter raised her eyebrows, picked up a bag of potato chips from the table, and handed it over.

"You can mix natto and yogurt together as a sauce, I'll use this to dip my potato chips."

"I've never heard of such a request in my entire life!"

Red A almost spat out his drink. "What kind of deadly culinary disaster is that?! Can you even eat that stuff?"

Artoria Alter tilted her head. "Didn't Shinji mention a way of eating pudding with Japan soy sauce to mimic sea urchin? My natto yogurt chips shouldn't taste too bad either."

Red A rubbed his temples. "You can't even make that kind of weird dish that I've never even heard of?"

Artoria Alter retorted confidently, "My seasoning is terrible, you just need to perfect the sauce and bring it on."

"... Who knows how to make this kind of bizarre dish taste good? Or are you deliberately making me taste that weird stuff beforehand as punishment?"

Red A was speechless. He really wanted to drag Shinji was away on a business trip, into the kitchen and yell in his ear, "You're the one who called it a culinary disaster! You make it yourself!"

"Forget it, don't blame me if it tastes bad."

Red A glanced at the three idiots in the distance and sighed helplessly.

As for making smeared dishes and such, I guess I should just accept my fate. At least these two King of Knights didn't make me cross-dress.

That's right. After Gawain face and plastic surgery embarrassed the Knights of the Round Table, Artoria and Alter punished the three idiots by making them dress up as women. They even thoughtfully gave the three of them nicknames: Gawain, Tristi, and Lancelot.

Fortunately, thanks to Shinji's efforts, the three girls' cross-dressing wasn't too outrageous; they were wearing Maid outfit from the Einzbern family, the same outfit Sera wore in <Fate/kaleid liner Sella>.

This is not because Shinji kind-hearted.

On the contrary, this guy is far more ruthless than the King of Knights who came up with this punishment.

"If she wears overly revealing clothes the first time, what will happen if she makes the same mistake again? The punishment has to get progressively harsher, and the women's clothing has to get more and more outrageous!"

Shinji thought, Mash wasn't even here yet, so why bother with the dangerous beast set? Let's wait until Lancelot, that damn camel, turns into a doting father!

The three idiots, of course, knew what their master meant— Shinji hadn't hidden it, so they didn't thank that guy, but just stood in the corner with their heads down, admitting their mistake.

"I said, Miss Gawain."

Lancelot spoke through gritted teeth to the golden gorilla, whose eyes were beginning to glaze over.

"What is it, Miss Lancelot?"

The golden gorilla asked without even looking up.

"How long do you think we'll have to stand here as punishment? It seems our My King has completely forgotten about us."

"How should I know? Do you dare ask if they've paid their dues?"

"No..."

Lancelot slumped his head, utterly dejected.

"When I went to the practice room today, that Teacher Satomi came looking for me."

"Um?"

Upon hearing a certain name, Gawain finally refocused his attention.

The Teacher Satomi that Lancelot mentioned is a member of Johnny & Associates's Entertainment's operations team. The lessons he teaches the three idiots are mainly related to public relations.

He said, "We can try to move on to the next stage of our publicity campaign, and it would be best if we... could improve our relationship."

"Um... do we really have to do this?"

Gawain's expression was a little stiff.

The next step in the Teacher Satomi mentioned refers to Lancelot.

Of course, it was only 2006, far from the point of exploiting homoerotic tension. Johnny & Associates's Entertainment's strategy was to cultivate the two individuals into rivals and teammates who were also friends.

As for why they kicked Cui out, it's because Johnny & Associates discovered that Cui was the most reliable of the three, at least his IQ was within the normal range, so they made him the captain.

However, Lao Cui's position as captain was meaningless; he couldn't control his own gorillas and camels at all.

"Tsk tsk, the thought of having to smile at you from now on makes me want to vomit."

This statement clearly conveys a sense of disgust and mockery.

"I say, Miss Lancelot, do you want to rebel?"

"It's just history repeating itself, Miss Gawain. How about we have a competition to see who has more fans this time?"

"I have absolutely no such thoughts. When it comes to seducing women, you are far more professional than I am, Miss Lancelot."

"I said, can you two please stop using this sarcastic and unfriendly way of speaking?"

Old Cui's helpless voice rang in their ears.

"Awkward?"

The two looked up at their captain at the same time, and then spoke in unison.

"How come I didn't feel anything at all, Miss Tristi?" *2

"You two, stop your foolish actions and get ready! Our My King is about to leave!"

Old Cui's unexpected reminder immediately silenced the two of them.

Gawain and Lancelot stopped arguing and turned their attention to the television.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Archer, or rather the Heroic Spirit Emiya, has always been very popular among Fate fans.

A man who exudes charisma just by standing there will always be popular in any work.

What's interesting is that in Fate, a series where fans discuss combat power to the point of practically challenging each other to duels, the combat power of the highly popular Red A has always been a mystery.

In terms of potential, Red A's alt Shirou Emiya could even defeat Gilgamesh. Although Golden Flash was careless and didn't use his full power, no one denies that even without using his full strength, Gilgamesh is someone that ordinary Heroic Spirit cannot afford to offend.

But if we're talking about the lowest possible level, wouldn't FSN being nearly wiped out by Saber's sword at the start count?

In fact, in the FSN where gods clash, Red A's record is really not good.

If Gilgamesh who can't beat anyone, then Archer (Red A) is someone who can't beat anyone.

In terms of sheer strength, Red A is probably only slightly better than Assassin.

Even if it Rider, Sakura would still easily defeat him if she were the Master.

But no matter how the page says it, Red A's fans will never think that their white-haired, dark-skinned guy is a weakling.

Even those who aren't fans of Red A wouldn't consider this guy weak.

Because this guy is a real master of pretense; his swagger rivals that of Agul, surpassing even the Grand Emperor. Even if Super Saiyan Vegeta were here, he might not have the same background to pull off such a convincing act.

When it comes to scenes of showing off, the two most popular plot points are either pretending to be weak while actually being strong, or pretending to be strong while actually being strong and getting eaten by weaklings.

Generally, the first option is given to the main character, and the second option is given to the second male lead.

Vegeta, Sasuke, Agul—they all follow this path.

Even though he's not the main character, he acts all high and mighty, like he's the best in the world.

Such a character is bound to often suffer setbacks.

Red A's performance is like his Reality Marble [Unlimited Blade Works]: undeniably cool, but his battle record is truly disappointing.

Despite being nicknamed "Little King of Wealth," his actual achievements in the Fifth Holy Grail War Shirou Emiya.

As for the animation team's original plot where Berserker uses UBW to kill Berserker with five lives, it can only be taken as a reference due to Nasu Nasu's own attitude towards the 2006 anime version.

But how should I put it, whether a cat walks in a straight line or not depends entirely on the mouse, just as a character's fighting power depends on their popularity.

Aside from the author's favorite characters, the changes in the positioning of many characters during long-term development are naturally closely related to their popularity.

As long as enough commercial value can be created, making its combat power off the charts is not a problem at all. Even if the creator cannot do it, they will find ways to cheat to increase its combat power.

Red A is a prime example; he caught a lucky break.

The so-called "Alaya Little Lolita" [Emiya Collection] is actually more of a reflection of the fans' wishes.

Although Type-Moon loves to tease and release suspense, if they only released suspense and never actually implemented it, FGO would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Red A, originally conceived as a third-rate Servant, has seen his combat power continuously increase since FSN, thanks to his immense popularity among fans.

Of course, Sakurai-san is an exception.

Although the character's combat power has remained unchanged, Type-Moon has subtly enhanced his combat power through the creation of various storylines.

That's right, I'm talking about the battle between the red-clad [Illya] and Saber that's currently being broadcast on TV.

Regardless of whether Red A) can defeat Artoria according to the official specifications.

At least in the anime series <Magical Girl Illya>, the impression given is that Archer is stronger than Saber.

Especially the final duel between the two, the Black Excalibur and the Projection Excalibur.

Although Shirou Emiya famously said, "There's no such thing as a fake that can't beat the real thing," no one ever imagined that the Projection Excalibur would actually beat the real thing.

As Saber vanished in Golden Radiance, the expressions on the faces of the Servants sitting in front of their televisions were indescribable.

Then--

"Ah! My King--!!"

"Your Majesty!!!! My Lord!!"

Before the parties involved— Artoria and Artoria —could react to the plot, the Knights of the Round Table rushed in.

They held their Lord's skirt and wept bitterly, oblivious to their own plight.

"Your Majesty! You don't need to be sad!"

"That's right, that's right! We'll help you get revenge!"

"It's just one failure, not something to be so heartbroken about!"

Seeing the three of them being so persistent, Artoria snapped.

"I haven't even said anything yet, and you're already exaggerating like this. Are you hoping I'll get killed and sent back to Hall of Heroes?!"

"You three cross-dressing idiots! Take this! Ex-Calibur--!!"

That night, Fuyuki City was once again ablaze with golden fireworks.

Chapter 309 Preliminary Preparations for <The Kara no Kyoukai>

In a Western restaurant in Tokyo, Azu cuts the steak on her plate while reminiscing about the latest episode of <Magical Girl Prisma Illya> she watched that day.

Unlike the previous episode, which consisted of a full-length battle, this episode only spent half its time showing how Illya defeated Saber.

The remaining half of the episode consists of mundane daily life scenes, about Illya developing a fever due to overuse of magic and taking a day off to rest at home.

After discovering that Miyu was working as a maid at Luviya's house, he forcibly brought her to his own home, and then various yuri-themed stories unfolded.

Fortunately, Shinji Matou knew that "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya" was a children's program airing on weekends, so although it offered a lot of yuri (lesbian) content, it wasn't too excessive overall.

However, among the group of young Magecraft like Azu, Shinji Matou's eccentricities were on full display.

After all, what respectable person would know so much about Maid outfit?

Not only do they know the detailed classification of Maid outfit, but they also know the specific function of each component of the clothing like the back of their hand.

This isn't some kind of "Magical Girl Illya"! It's basically a "Maid Lecture: Clothing Chapter"!

How did that man know so much?