Journey to Find Heroic Spirits

Martha's forehead was covered in black lines. How did she end up with such a subordinate, it was utterly embarrassing.

A flash of light appeared in the living room, and a dimensional gate opened. Yuxian stood up from the sofa, ready to welcome the children home.

"Welcome back..." Before he could finish speaking, he saw a voluptuous woman pulling another, even more voluptuous woman, appear before him.

He was a little stunned; this was not what he had expected.

"Master, long time no see!" Martha stepped forward to greet him when she saw Yuxian frozen in place.

"Ah, it's Miss Martha! How did you get here?" Mash asked in surprise.

"Mash, you're here too? I met Jack and Gretel, and we came together."

Gretel jumped through the dimensional gate and immediately started seeking praise: "Yes, we found Sister Martha, shouldn't Master reward us!"

At this moment, Yuxian also reacted. He was happy to see Martha and agreed to Gretel's request, saying, "I'll take you to the amusement park next time."

"Yay!" The little ones cheered immediately.

"I am Elma, please take care of me!" Elma greeted them politely.

However, she quickly sniffed the air, her eyes lit up: "I smell Tohru's scent, she's nearby, I'm going to find her!"

Bang!

Before she could take a step, Martha punched her on the head, warning, "Don't cause trouble!"

Elma, hit hard, curled into a ball, covering her head in a defensive crouch, tears almost streaming down her face.

Seeing this, Yuxian's scalp tingled. The Iron Fist Saintess was indeed not ordinarily tough. He warned himself that he must never provoke her in the future.

Can't afford to provoke her, can't afford to provoke her.

After Kanna returned, she politely said goodbye to everyone and went home. Martha and Elma stayed at Yuxian's place. Elma looked very reluctant, but she couldn't resist Martha's tyranny and could only agree to the arrangement, silently grieving by herself.

She felt like she had fallen into the hands of a formidable person, and her future life was bleak.

Section 73, Chapter 13: Watching the Excitement Without Minding the Trouble

After greeting Yuxian, Martha began chatting happily with Mash, like sisters who hadn't seen each other for years, whispering intimate secrets.

"Master still dotes on those children as much as ever!" Martha sighed softly.

Mash nodded in reply, "Everyone in Chaldea knows that, Miss Martha, it's not the first time you've known."

"These children are becoming more and more lawless. If Abby and the others were added, they would be even more unruly," Martha expressed her concern.

Mash asked, "Miss Martha, are you going to use your Iron Fist Divine Punishment to discipline them and make them obedient?"

Hearing this, Martha feigned anger, "Are you going to mock me too, Mash?"

"No, no! I'm just thinking of a solution," Mash quickly denied. She didn't want to offend Martha. Just look at the poor Tarasque; offending Martha never ended well.

"Mash, you should be more assertive. You've been by Master's side for so long, and you've always been too submissive. Be careful he doesn't dump you someday, and you'll have nowhere to cry."

Martha lectured Mash like an experienced person, though she herself lacked such experience. She just couldn't stand Mash's tendency to always obey Yuxian.

"Senpai isn't like that!" Mash was very displeased with Martha's evaluation of Yuxian. She had always trusted Yuxian immensely and absolutely did not believe he would do such a thing.

"Sigh..." Martha sighed. Seeing Mash's expression of defending Yuxian, she didn't know what else to say.

In the end, she could only remind her, "Mash, Master won't abandon anyone, but you must know that there are too many outstanding girls around Master. If you don't strive to win them over, won't others try to?"

Martha spoke with a tone of disappointment, "If you don't seize the opportunity now, it will be too late when Kiyohime, Tamamo, and Soji all gather around Master."

"This... this..." Mash twisted her fingers, unsure how to answer.

She had never considered this issue before. In her heart, she was content as long as she could stay by Senpai's side. At this moment, Martha's words made her have some other thoughts.

Seeing Mash lower her head in silence, Martha knew she couldn't say any more. She patted Mash's shoulder and said earnestly, "I have the highest hopes for you, that's why I'm telling you this. If those guys knew I was instigating you, they'd definitely fight me."

"Of course, I'm not afraid of them either." After saying that, Martha turned and left to tidy up her room.

As soon as she entered the room, she poked her head out again and said to Yuxian, "Master, isn't it your birthday today? Do you want me to lend you Tarasque for a drift nearby? Or we could go for a walk in the sky."

"Forget it, forget it, I'm afraid of heights!" Yuxian politely declined the offer of Tarasque. This dragon, with the blood of Leviathan in it, was only controllable by Martha, and he had no desire to go for a ride on Tarasque.

If it were Kanna-chan, that would be another story...

The next day, early in the morning, Mash woke up with red eyes to make breakfast for everyone. She had suffered from insomnia after Martha's lecture last night.

By the time Little Jeanne woke Yuxian up, breakfast was already laid out on the table.

Elma reluctantly walked out of her room. When she saw the food on the table, she was instantly captivated. She suppressed her urge to lose her manners and only started eating after everyone was seated.

The delicious food made her instantly forget her dissatisfaction with being supervised, and a look of enjoyment appeared on her face.

What a easily managed dragon.

Martha ate elegantly but quickly, finishing all the food in front of her with a swish swish swish.

She slowly wiped her mouth and said with satisfaction, "Mash's cooking is getting better and better. Emiya will have an easier time in the future."

After breakfast, before Yuxian could even relax on the sofa, Siegfried stood before him again.

"How did it go yesterday?" Yuxian asked curiously.

Siegfried replied, "After you left, we found it boring and left too."

"That's not like you. That was Fafnir! Fafnir is the evil dragon you killed. Maybe his blood could even make your weakness disappear."

Yuxian purely enjoyed the drama and felt their hasty departure was a bit anticlimactic. However, if Siegfried were to have a life-or-death battle with Fafnir, he would be troubled again.

"It's just the same name..." Siegfried saw clearly that his conflict with Fafnir was purely due to mutual dislike, unrelated to anything else. He didn't have to slay every dragon.

"Then why are you here so early today?" Yuxian continued to ask. "Oh, right, Martha's here. Want to chat with her?"

Siegfried shook his head. He had other matters to attend to. While he was happy to find Martha, that wasn't the reason he came to see Yuxian.

"I'm sorry, Master, I need your help again..."

When Yuxian learned he was here for help, he didn't refuse.

Yuxian knew that yesterday's help was a planned surprise for his birthday. So why today?

With such anticipation, he followed Siegfried back to the delivery warehouse.

Opening the door, Yuxian was greeted by a mountain of packages, roughly double the number from yesterday.

He turned to look at Siegfried, "So, you're saying..."

"I'm sorry, today is really busy..."

Yuxian wailed. So, yesterday's workload was actually Fei Ge's normal workload. He had thought it was the busiest time.

Since it was genuine help, any anticipation he had was completely gone...

Siegfried explained, "There's a shopping festival recently, so there are more packages."

Damn shopping festivals! Don't people go out anymore? Is it that hard to buy things at the mall? It's all just an excuse for laziness!

Yuxian complained inwardly, not realizing that he himself was someone who could stay on the couch all day without going out. What right did he have to complain about others?

After a busy day, Yuxian and Siegfried finally finished delivering all the packages.

According to Fei Ge, today's work couldn't be postponed to tomorrow, otherwise, there would be even more work tomorrow.

In this regard, his self-discipline was clearly far superior to Yuxian's.

By the time Yuxian returned home, it was already late at night. The little ones had already gone to sleep. Mash had left him a note and some food on the table, so he wouldn't go to bed hungry.

Yuxian hastily ate a few bites, barely filling his ravenous stomach. He dragged his exhausted body, swaying unsteadily, into his room. Not wanting to think about anything, he collapsed and fell into a deep sleep. The entire day had exhausted him completely.

Section 74 Chapter 14: Summer Means Going to the Beach

In the following days, Yuxian continued to help Siegfried deliver packages every day.

After Martha arrived, there wasn't even a proper welcome ceremony for her, nor was there time to form a contract.

In the end, the "Lazy Master Rescue Squad" had basically achieved its goal, something no one had expected beforehand.

After the shopping festival ended, Yuxian, who had been busy for so many days, finally had some free time.

He and Martha completed a simple contract ceremony.

Currently, Yuxian hadn't encountered any Heroic Spirits unwilling to re-establish a contract with him. Whether he would encounter any in the future was uncertain, but Yuxian was very willing to respect their wishes.

It was best if they were willing to form a contract; if not, he wouldn't find it problematic.

After forming a contract with Martha, the Command Spell system changed again.

Command Spells: Can be used to issue special commands to Servants by consuming them. Consumed Command Spells will recover 1 segment at 0:00 AM each day.

Effect 1: Strengthen. (LV3)

Effect 2: Restore. (LV3)

Effect 3: ???

Current Contracted Servants: 10

The number of contracted Servants reached 10, and Command Spells: Strengthen and Command Spells: Restore both upgraded to LV3.

Yuxian speculated that this level was related to the number of contracted Servants. It had upgraded once when he reached 5, and this time it upgraded upon reaching 10.

Based on this, he could infer that the level likely increased every 5 contracted Servants.

As for how much the effects would improve after leveling up, that would require actual use to determine. Yuxian currently had no opportunity to test it.

In essence, Command Spells were a form of restraint on Servants. Yuxian would not use them lightly unless absolutely necessary, only using them as a means to increase strength during combat.

However, Yuxian's most anticipated Effect 3 still displayed as ???. This unknown function made him itch with curiosity.

Based on his many years of gaming experience, the more mysterious an ability was, the more powerful it often turned out to be.

Perhaps this would be an incredibly powerful, game-breaking function, making him even more eager for the mystery to be revealed.

The weather had turned hot, and summer had arrived in the blink of an eye.

This was the season for beach trips, and Kobayashi and the others happened to have this plan. They came to invite everyone for a seaside vacation.

Since the children were also on vacation, Yuxian changed the previously promised trip to the amusement park to surfing at the beach. Everyone was fine with this.

Martha had just arrived, and he hadn't had a chance to celebrate her yet. The beach was also a place Martha really liked, so she was very pleased.

This was the second time Yuxian had broken his promise about the amusement park.

He found Illya and said apologetically, "Illya, we can't go to the amusement park this time either. You're not mad, are you?"

Illya shook her head understandingly. Last time in Fuyuki, there were extenuating circumstances, and they couldn't make it to the amusement park. This time, going to the beach made Illya very happy in the first place.

Her eyes darted around, and a smile as angelic as possible appeared on her face as she said to Yuxian, "Master, it's okay. It's fine if Illya doesn't go to the amusement park! As long as Master agrees to one small condition for Illya. A very, very small condition!"

Illya gestured with her hands, indicating that her request was minuscule.

Yuxian instinctively prepared to nod in agreement, feeling guilty and thinking that it wouldn't hurt to grant Illya's small request.

Just as he opened his mouth to agree, he saw a sly glint flash in Illya's red pupils. The alert Yuxian immediately closed his mouth again.

Seeing Yuxian about to agree, Illya's joy was about to surface, but at the crucial moment, Yuxian suddenly stopped talking. Her little face immediately fell.

Witnessing Illya's sudden emotional shift, Yuxian knew exactly what she was up to.

Having spent so much time with the little ones, he had become very sharp through countless battles of wits, yet he had almost fallen for it again.

He couldn't let his guard down for even a moment.

A triumphant smile spread across his face, and he thought to himself, You're still too green to play these games with me.

He said to Illya, "The holiday is still long, and we'll have plenty of chances to go to the amusement park. Don't worry, I promise I won't break my word next time."

Illya reluctantly agreed and turned away, no longer paying attention to Yuxian. Although going to the amusement park was something she was looking forward to, she couldn't feel happy at all right now.

Mash witnessed this silent battle. She patted Yuxian heavily on the back and said with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, "Senpai, you're becoming more childish. Do you get a sense of accomplishment from teasing children?"

"I do not!" Yuxian immediately denied. "Don't you know that these little ones are sly as foxes? If I don't show some strength, they'll get too full of themselves."