" Musik, what are you doing?"
"I'm protecting my Servant's tactical intelligence!"
Gordes raised his voice, but immediately lowered it again, realizing that his volume had attracted Vlad III's attention.
"The other three Servant have already revealed their true names. Your Saber is the last."
Celenike's tone was as cold as a razor blade.
"You waited until everyone introduced themselves before jumping out to say you weren't willing to exchange. Musik, what kind of nonsense is that?"
Gordes started sweating again.
"This... this is my right as Master-- "
That's enough.
Darnic's voice wasn't loud.
But it was like someone flipping a switch on a boiling kettle; all the noise stopped.
He stepped out from beside Vlad III, his gaze sweeping between Gordes and Celenike.
" Gordes."
"Yes, yes!"
Are you willing to take responsibility for your decisions?
"Of course! This is my duty as the head of the Musik family—"
"Then do as you please."
Darnic abruptly cut off Gordes's long-winded explanation.
He turned to Celenike.
" Icecolle."
Celenike pursed her lips.
"... I see."
She went back.
But the look in her eyes as she gazed at Gordes clearly said five words: This is a debt.
Darnic is facing everyone again.
"Tonight's summoning ritual has now come to a successful conclusion. Master, please take your Servant back to your respective rooms to rest."
"Tomorrow afternoon, everyone will gather here to discuss the subsequent tactical deployment."
"Until then, please make sure you conserve your energy. The flames of the Great Holy Grail War will soon reach here."
Vlad III nodded slightly in his high-backed chair, which was a sign of his approval of Darnic's arrangement.
The crowd began to disperse.
Fiore maneuvered her wheelchair toward the exit, with Heracles following behind, the floor creaking painfully with each step.
Celenike had already hooked her arm around Astolfo's.
Astolfo didn't seem to object.
Gordes practically fled towards the door, with Siegfried following silently behind him, his steps steady, like a shadow that wouldn't disappear on its own.
Roche tugged at the sleeve of Avicebron's robe, and the two of them left the hall.
Mukuro Hoshimiya stood there, watching the crowd disperse.
Then she turned around and found the bespectacled boy standing next to the pillar, lost in thought.
Caules Vervigne, the Yggdmillennia.
Her Master.
This boy hadn't uttered a single word the entire time; he was the least noticeable of all the Master.
Like a random passerby photoshopped into a group photo, cropping them out doesn't affect the integrity of the image.
Mukuro Hoshimiya walked over.
Caules noticed her approaching and instinctively adjusted his glasses.
The two stared at each other for a second.
Then Caules took a deep breath, turned and walked toward the door.
"Come on, I'll take you to my room."
Mukuro Hoshimiya followed in his footsteps.
The corridors of the walled city were very long.
After walking for about a minute, Mukuro Hoshimiya suddenly spoke.
" Master."
Caules ' shoulders twitched. He wasn't used to being called " Master."
There's something I need to say.
"What's up?"
"If possible, please prepare a room for me as well."
Caules stopped and turned around.
Blue eyes looked at her through her glasses.
"I'm not used to maintaining Spirit Form for extended periods."
"So I need a place to stay, a place to sleep."
Caules nodded.
"I'll go talk to the manager. There are plenty of empty rooms in the fortress; this isn't a problem."
"Um."
They walked for about half a minute more.
Caules spoke again.
"Would you like to test your abilities tomorrow morning outside the fortified city?"
During the summoning ritual, you mentioned that you could provide long-range firepower support and physical enhancements, but I don't quite understand the specific effects and range yet.
If we're going to the battlefield later, as your Master, I need to understand your fighting style in order to make the right command decisions.
"Can."
Mukuro Hoshimiya said.
"Tomorrow morning it is."
Caules adjusted his glasses and nodded.
The two of them turned the last corner of the corridor.
We've arrived at Caules's room.
He took out his key from his pocket, opened the door, and glanced back at Mukuro Hoshimiya.
Mukuro Hoshimiya stood outside the door, her long, golden curls gleaming softly in the dim light of the wall lamp.
Goodnight.
"Good night."
The door closed.
Mukuro Hoshimiya stood in the corridor.
The rabbit ear headdress swayed in the night breeze.
She looked to her left.
I looked to the right.
All the stone walls and wall lamps are exactly the same.
I don't have my own room yet.
"... It really is still not very reliable."
The next morning.
Mukuro Hoshimiya was woken up by the tether of her hair.
She was enveloped in a giant golden cocoon by her long, flowing golden curls that reached her ankles.
It took me a full five minutes to break free.
Then she glanced at the full-length mirror in the corner of the room.
The creature in the mirror looked like a golden lion king that had just crawled out of a dryer.
"..."
It took another ten minutes.
The "unblock" function of the Michael directly unlocks and repositions all the tangled hair strands.
After tidying up, Mukuro Hoshimiya left her room and, following her memories from the previous night, found Caules's room.
Knock on the door.
The door opened.
Caules had clearly just gotten up, with several strands of his chestnut-brown short hair sticking up.
The two stared at each other for a second.
They all looked like they had just crawled back from the battlefield.
"... morning."
After breakfast, outside the Millennia Fortress.
A wide meadow, damp with morning dew.
In the distance, the outline of rolling mountains could be seen, while the gray stone walls of the fortress stood tall behind.
The air was cold and clean, with a transparent quality as if it had just been washed.
Caules stood in the middle of the grass, his hands in his uniform pockets, looking somewhat nervous.
Mukuro Hoshimiya meters away from him, his tin staff resting on the ground.
"Let's begin."
Caules ' voice was much steadyer than last night, perhaps because he had eaten something.
"First, could you demonstrate the long-range fire support and physical enhancement you mentioned last night?"
Mukuro Hoshimiya tilted her head slightly.
Which one should we look at first?
"Either is fine. It's up to you."
"Let's look at something interesting first."
Mukuro Hoshimiya raised the Michael.
"Open."
About three meters directly in front of her, the space seemed to have been opened up like a zipper.
From top to bottom, a bright golden slit appeared out of thin air and then spread out to both sides.
Suddenly, a portal that offered a view of the other side appeared in what was once an empty space.
On the other side of the door was the main hall of the fortified village.
The stone floor where the summoning ceremony was held last night, the Magic Crest on the walls, and the high-backed chair that Vlad III once sat in are all clearly visible.
Caules ' glasses nearly slipped off his nose.
"Is this a space jump?!"
"A spatial portal," Mukuro Hoshimiya corrected him, "One of the fundamental powers of the Michael. 'Open' means it can open a spatial passage to the location I know. People can walk directly through it."
Caules circled the floating portal once.
From the front, it looks like the main hall of the walled city.
The back view also shows the main hall of the walled city.
The edges of the door frame gleamed with a pale golden light, and it floated in mid-air without any supporting structure.
What about distance restrictions?
"I can drive anywhere I've been before or know the exact coordinates of."
"Basic?"
"I haven't tested the limits. I haven't encountered any situations where it wouldn't open."
Caules opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He processed this information in his mind for a while.
This single ability has already fundamentally changed the tactical mobility of the entire Black Faction faction.
Spatial transfer anytime, anywhere.
An attack can reach the enemy's rear in an instant.
A retreat allows you to return to the stronghold in an instant.
He pushed up his glasses and swallowed back the words, "That's too unfair!" that were on the tip of his tongue.
"Okay. I've noted this ability down. What's next?"
Mukuro Hoshimiya closed the portal.
She turned around, her staff pointing at Caules.
"This next one requires your cooperation."
"I?"
"Stand still. Don't move."
Caules instinctively tensed his body.
The tip of Mukuro Hoshimiya's staff lit up again, this time not in gold, but in a flowing silver-white.
"Put."
A silvery-white light shot out from the tip of the tin staff and flowed into Caules's body like water.
A sensation I had never experienced before spread from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.
strength.
"This is what it means to be relaxed."
Mukuro Hoshimiya's voice came from afar.
"Strength, speed, and agility will all be improved. The duration depends on your physical endurance. With your current physique... it will be about three minutes."
Caules looked down at his hands.
My fingers were trembling slightly.
"You can try moving," said Mukuro Hoshimiya.
Three minutes later, the silvery-white light faded from Caules' body.
The body returned to the normal state of an ordinary human being.
Caules stood there catching his breath for a few moments, then took out his notebook and began taking notes.
"Space Gate, global teleportation. Unsealed state, all attributes enhanced."
Caules finished writing and looked up.
"What about ranged attacks? You said you could provide fire support, but how far can it reach?"
Mukuro Hoshimiya was silent for a second.
She turned her head and thought for a moment.
I can't give you a specific number.
"About?"
"I should be able to hit him wherever I know the location."
Caules stopped writing.
"... Global attack?"
"Almost."
"You mean, as long as you know the coordinates, you can bombard any location on Earth?"
That's the theoretical idea.
Caules closed the notebook.
He felt there was no point in continuing to memorize it.
This goes beyond the scope of "long-range fire support".
This is practically a space-based weapon in the world of Magecraft.
However, there is a problem.
Mukuro Hoshimiya added.
"My attack lacks friend-or-foe identification."
Caules paused for a moment.
"What you fire doesn't care. Everything within its range will be affected, whether it's an enemy or a teammate."
Her tone remained calm, as if she were reading the disclaimer from a product manual.
"So if you really need my remote support, it would be best to get all of our Black Faction members out of the attack zone first."
Caules remained silent for about five seconds.
Then he wrote a line on the last page of the notebook.
Firepower Support: All-area, indiscriminate. Prerequisite: All friendly forces must have evacuated.
He closed his notebook and let out a long sigh.
The gray walls of the distant fortress cast long shadows in the morning light, and the outline of the mountains was gilded with a pale gold by the rising sun.
Caules looked at the small, quiet servant standing before him, his staff resting on the Servant.
He suddenly realized that perhaps Darnic's statement that he could "just summon whatever he could to make up the numbers" was fundamentally wrong.