Shinji Matou At Your Service

At dawn, Jeanne arrived in Trifas and immediately encountered an unforeseen difficulty: finding accommodation. As the old man had mentioned, Trifas had no tourist attractions to speak of, which perhaps explained why there were only three inns in the area, all of which were fully booked.

"We're experiencing this for the first time as well... We're sorry."

Ignoring the apologetic innkeeper, Jeanne scanned the laughing and chatting men and women in the lobby. There was a faint magical presence, suggesting they were magi. Most likely, they were magi from Yggdmillennia. It seemed they were all staying in the inns of Trifas.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Do you know of any other places to stay?"

"How about the church?"

Of course, the church. Jeanne felt a bit ashamed for not thinking of it sooner. It seemed she had been outwitted by modern knowledge. Normally, one would first seek refuge in a church.

After asking the receptionist for directions to the church, she set off. Perhaps due to overhearing her conversation at the inn, she noticed a few people following her.

"I wish you'd conduct your information exchanges through proper channels. After all, I'm not a magus; I'm a Servant."

It must have been because of her civilian clothes. Due to her incarnation, she couldn't dematerialize as a spirit, which was rather unfortunate.

Regardless, her plan to stay at the church was now known. And for the sake of her body, she wanted to avoid sleeping outdoors.

With no other choice, Jeanne headed towards the church. She knocked on the door of the modest wooden church and requested to stay for a few days. The nun kindly agreed.

"The only available space is the attic room. Is that alright?"

Given her current situation, Jeanne couldn't afford to be picky, nor did she need luxurious accommodations.

"As long as there's a place to rest, that's enough. Thank you very much."

The nun introduced herself as Alma Petresia. She carried herself with grace, a woman born and raised in this modest town, seemingly content with nothing but God's grace.

"Well then, please follow me."

Jeanne followed Alma up the stairs leading from the second floor to the attic.

"Are you here for sightseeing?"

"No, I'm here to study the history of medieval Romania."

"In that case, Sighisoara would be a better choice. While there are some medieval buildings here, they don't hold much historical value."

"Someone is already conducting research in Sighisoara."

"Oh, I see. Indeed, no one has explored Trifas yet."

The creaky stairs led to the attic room. According to the nun, it was rarely used. However, the bed and nightstand were spotless, indicating they had been diligently cleaned.

"If you don't mind, I can also prepare meals for you."

"There's no need. My meal times are very irregular, so please don't trouble yourself."

Jeanne was grateful for the nun's offer. However, considering that she might sneak out in the middle of the night, she felt it would be inappropriate to impose on her.

"No problem. Just reheat it."

"Reheat it…?"

Seeing Jeanne tilt her head in confusion, the nun asked in wonder, "Don't you have a microwave?"

"Ah, a microwave. I see, that makes sense."

There was no need to go through the trouble of lighting a stove just to reheat food.

"Ah, but if I could join you for a meal, I'd be very grateful."

After thinking it over for a moment, Jeanne decided to accept the nun's kind offer. They agreed that if the nun called her and there was a response from the attic, they would eat together. If there was no response, the food would be placed in the refrigerator. This way, it wouldn't be a hassle.

"So, um… oh dear, I forgot to ask something important. What's your name?"

"Ah, you can call me Jeanne."

She straightforwardly gave her name. It didn't matter if it was disclosed, as unlike the Black Saber, she didn't have any obvious weaknesses.

"Jeanne, that's a lovely name."

"Thank you very much. I have another request. Could I pray in the church until it's time to eat?"

"Yes, of course. That's what the church is for."

After settling her belongings in the attic, Jeanne knelt before the altar. She clasped her hands tightly, bowed her head slightly, and closed her eyes.

The feeling was just like it was in her previous life. The moment she began to pray, it was as if she was cut off from the world, drifting beyond the past, future, and reality. This wasn't done with any purpose, but simply to pray to the Lord. Each time she did this, her heart naturally clarified what she needed to do.

For her, prayer was as essential as breathing. She couldn't go a single day without it. In her previous life, as a saint born into a farming family, Jeanne didn't know many prayers. Despite her efforts to memorize them, she seemed to lack a natural aptitude for reading and writing.

At best, she could only sign her name. Although she struggled with this, she eventually concluded that as long as she prayed to the Lord, it was enough. It's said that her comrade-in-arms, Gilles de Rais, once laughed heartily and assured her, "Being able to write just that is sufficient."

"Jeanne?"

Coming back to her senses, it seemed she had been praying for a long time. The nun apologized with a concerned look.

"Sorry to interrupt your prayers."

"No worries. When I pray with full concentration, I lose track of time. I wouldn't want to faint from hunger."

"Then it's a good thing I came to get you. Dinner is ready, please come."

"Thank you very much."

Alma led her to the dining room. The oak table and chairs were simple and old-fashioned, perfectly matching the small church.

"Where are the others?"

"Ah, this church only has me. Since Father Răcusta passed away five years ago, no successor has been appointed."

Originally, Trifas was just a small city with a population of around twenty thousand. Now, with other churches also being established, the only visitors to this small church were the elderly living nearby.

A church for prayer didn't need to be large, Jeanne thought.

"Let's say a prayer together."

"Alright."

Alma, who had prepared the meal, and Jeanne sat facing each other and silently offered their words of gratitude. By the time the prayer was over, Jeanne's hunger had reached its limit. She picked up her knife and fork, cut into the steaming stuffed cabbage, and stuffed a piece into her mouth.

"How does it taste?"

"It's delicious."

With this vague response, Jeanne dove back into her dinner. With each bite, her contracted stomach expanded, making her feel even more hungry—an endless cycle of hunger and fulfillment.

"There's more if you'd like."

"Thank you, I will."

She answered without hesitation. Jeanne, originally a farmer's daughter, had a voracious appetite that could compete with even the roughest of soldiers. The simple, home-cooked Romanian food was far more appetizing to her than any fancy aristocratic cuisine.

Seeing Jeanne's blissful expression as she savored the meal, Alma, who had cooked the food, couldn't help but smile. Afterward, Jeanne borrowed the bathroom to thoroughly clean her dirty body from head to toe.

At nightfall, the magi and their Servants would begin their activities. Jeanne's true duties would start from that time.

◇◇◇

The sky was an unchanging gray, and according to the weather forecast, there would be some rain around midnight. Kairi Shishigou and the Red Saber walked through the streets of Trifas. Of course, they weren't sightseeing but rather scouting for suitable and unsuitable places for combat.

However, even suitable combat locations couldn't be used directly. Trifas was effectively under the control of the Yggdmillennia clan. Not only were the streets filled with their spies, but there was also a high possibility that suitable combat locations had already been rigged with traps—just like the battle the previous night. Sure enough, the places they investigated were filled with numerous detection-bounded fields and visual deception enchantments.

"I've had enough of these."

"It looks like you're struggling, Master."

Mordred called down from the wall to Shishigou, who was on the ground, searching for ways to break the bounded field. Her tone lacked any sympathy.

Shishigou sighed and quickly decided to abandon this location. It wasn't worth the effort to secure such a well-guarded place.

"Saber, do you find it easier to fight on open ground or in the streets?"

"Hmm… let me think. Open ground, I think. As I mentioned before, my Noble Phantasm is an anti-army type. The more open the ground, the more I can unleash my full power. It's very advantageous."

"In that case, it's better to avoid fighting in the city and move to the outskirts."

"The outskirts?"

Part of the city of Trifas was surrounded by the Millennia Fortress. Outside the city walls were buildings that had gradually increased over the past three hundred years. The fortress was located at the northernmost end of the city. To the east of the city spread vast forests and grasslands. However, the cliffs beside the forest made it difficult to infiltrate the fortress directly, but—

"Then let's lure them out of the city and fight them."

"I see. For me, fighting outside this cramped city is much better."

"Because Trifas's houses, built around the sixteenth century, have their eaves all touching each other. If you plan to blow up entire buildings, that's another story."

"No, no, that would be a problem."

"Well, ultimately, whether it's the enemy or us, we're all willing to do whatever it takes to win, even if it means doing something like that."

Magus are beings unbound by human ethics. No matter how many civilians are sacrificed, as long as they can uphold the principle of secrecy, it's not an issue. That said, everything has its limits. If one person dies, at most their close ones will mourn. But if ten or a hundred people die, public institutions will get involved. Eventually, the situation escalates to a level where it's beyond one's capacity to conceal, prompting the Mage's Association to take action. Therefore, battles should be fought at night, and bounded fields to disperse crowds should be set up beforehand.

However, this time it was the Holy Grail War. Summoning heroes from myth and legend and letting them run rampant—sacrificing an entire street might be seen as an unavoidable consequence. Moreover, every blade of grass and tree on this street belonged to the Yggdmillennia.

Noticing that Mordred had suddenly fallen silent and seemed bothered, Shishigou turned around and saw a blatant expression of displeasure on her face.

"What's bothering you?"

"I'm pissed off at how this will end up sacrificing civilians. Why don't magus have such a basic sense of ethics?"

Saber spat out these words with clear disdain.

"They can't help it; that's just the way magus is."

"Hmph, it's disgusting. I hate that kind of thing, Master."

"Alright, alright. I'll try my best not to involve civilians, Your Majesty."

The swinging feet of Saber, who was sitting on the wall, suddenly stopped.

"Just now, what did you call me?"

"Huh? I called you a king. Because just now, you referred to civilians as 'people,' didn't you? Using the term 'people' is a privilege of great figures. And besides, isn't becoming a king your wish? Since you'll achieve it someday, calling you that now shouldn't be a problem, right? Is it?"

Saber's expression froze.

"…No, nothing wrong with that."

"In any case, your basic principle is to avoid involving civilians too much. Is that alright?"

After coughing twice, Mordred returned to her usual demeanor. She stood arrogantly on the wall, looking down at Shishigou, and said:

"Exactly. Attacking ordinary people to replenish mana is also prohibited."

"Got it, got it. So, that's our basic principle."

Shishigou was a fairly skilled magus. He had considered these two methods as extreme measures in his tactics. But if the crucial Servant rejected them, then there was no helping it. If the Servant proactively wanted to attack civilians to replenish mana, that would be one thing. But if she didn't want to, then it was best to give up on that idea. Shishigou's approach was not to manipulate Saber according to his ideas but to prioritize letting Saber act according to her own will.

In a typical Holy Grail War, since you have to face six opponents, both Master and Servant must inevitably entrust their lives to each other, regardless of their bond. But this time, the probability of a Master dying while the Servant survives was quite high. To put it bluntly, even if they defected to join an enemy Master who had lost their Servant, it wouldn't be a big deal.

In other words, for a Master who hasn't established a relationship of trust with their Servant, what awaits them is the blade of betrayal. Especially, this Red Saber views the relationship between Master and Servant as a mere alliance. If there's a disagreement that she believes compromises her interests, she is likely to abandon her Master.

That isn't betrayal, but abandonment. This is an essential quality for a king.

"Am I being played?"

"That's paranoia. Alright, nothing more to see here. Next—"

Hearing the sound of wings flapping and a bird calling, the two of them looked up at the sky. A pigeon dropped a piece of paper at their feet before flying away. There was no doubt that it was from their... mutual interest holder, Father Shirou's group.

"Communication..."

As soon as Shishigou read it, his expression tightened. It was probably bad news, Mordred thought, jumping down from the wall to glance at the paper.

"Berserker has gone berserk and is attacking the fortress?"

"Hey, keep your voice down."

Shishigou hurriedly tried to stop her. This wasn't something to be shouted out in broad daylight. But Mordred responded indifferently:

"Even if someone overhears, they'd just think it's self-talk. So, what's this about going berserk?"

"Ah... I'll explain it to you back at the workshop."

"Explain now, now."

Shishigou sighed openly at the persistent Mordred. However, she paid him no mind.

"It's said that Berserker's level of madness is quite special. Because he can converse, at first glance it seems like you can communicate with him, but in reality—"

Shishigou spread one hand.

"It seems he can't understand what we're saying. No matter who speaks, Berserker won't change his combat objective or stop. So, to achieve his goal, he rushed out."

"Hmph, so what is this so-called goal?"

"Most likely fighting. What else could it be? This is troublesome."

"By the way, why does it trouble you?"

Shishigou looked at Mordred, dumbfounded.

"In a seven-on-seven battle, if one stands out, that means death. At that moment, the battle turns into seven-on-six. Since there are no replacement combat forces for Servants, this is an absolute disadvantage."

Avoiding piecemeal deployment of forces is fundamental. Especially when reinforcements are unavailable. However, Berserker had started his rampage. Since there was no way to rescue him, it was almost certain that Red Berserker would be killed.

This was truly troubling information for Shishigou, who was on the Red side. On the other hand, Saber, already familiar with the situation, seemed completely uninterested.

"Isn't this great? A mere Berserker is just a Servant who will die sooner or later once the fighting starts. Just ignore him, ignore him."

Saying this, she took a bite of the apple Shishigou had bought from the market, immediately furrowing her brows. Then she handed the apple back to him.

"Tastes bad, here you go."

"...You are heartless. Ugh, this is awful."

Shishigou also bit into the apple and wrinkled his brow.

...

Late at night, while Alma was sound asleep, Jeanne left the attic and went outside. The night in Trifas was truly enveloped in a "deathly" silence. However, the eerie wind, the stench of corpses, and magical energy were undeniable evidence that a Holy Grail War was taking place in this city.

Jeanne soaked her right hand in holy water from the church and then sprinkled it into the air. The water glowed faintly, moving smoothly, and began to outline a three-dimensional map of the city. This was one of the privileges granted to the Ruler-class Servant, the ability to explore the area.

The result of the exploration—only one Red Servant was confirmed to be in Trifas.

"...Hmm."

Puzzled, she expanded the scope of her exploration. In the Millennia Fortress, there were six Servants gathered, marked in black.

"Six Red Servants missing, and one Black Servant?"

Understanding that Trifas was entirely enemy territory, it seemed the Red faction had distanced themselves from the city and were observing the situation. It was likely that the lone Red Servant was a scout. But—

Does that mean the lone Black Servant was also out scouting? The Red faction was probably stationed in the nearby city of Sighișoara. Strictly speaking, the Holy Grail War had to be conducted within one city. Thus, stationing in Sighișoara could be considered a breach of the rules.

"However, given the current situation, this strategy might be unavoidable."

After all, Trifas was under the control of Yggdmillennia. Unlike Fuyuki, which maintained some level of fairness due to the presence of the three founding families, Trifas was under the absolute monarchy of Yggdmillennia.

Moreover, the city's scale was very small. It was a city that seemed to have long resisted development. Unlike Fuyuki, places for outside magus to hide were very scarce. Conversely, Yggdmillennia merely entrenched themselves in the strong and strategically important Millennia Fortress.

No matter how much they secured the Greater Grail, this was too unfair. Stationing in a city outside Trifas should be forgiven to some extent.

The city was so peaceful it was almost terrifying. If this were a regular Holy Grail War, there should have already been a few skirmishes...

"Since the Red faction isn't making a move, the Black faction doesn't plan to act either."

So, would tonight be a peaceful night?

As if to betray Jeanne's assumption, the Servants within the fortress all moved out at once, but not towards Trifas. Instead, they headed outside—

"Towards the forest?"

Jeanne changed the exploration range, directing it towards the Ideal Forest spreading to the east of Trifas. The response from the Red Servants was confirmed—three of them.

The city market seemed calm; it appeared they intended to battle in the outskirts.

"Well, it's good that the residents are safe."

But natural destruction was also troubling.

Hoping the situation wouldn't escalate to the level where the forest would be burned down like what happened with Red Lancer, Jeanne raced towards the forest.