Shinji Matou At Your Service

In this Holy Grail War, Jeanne d'Arc was summoned as Ruler. She carefully inspected the forest where the second battle took place, involving Red Berserker, Black Berserker, and Rider, as well as the skirmish involving Red Rider and Archer, Black Saber, Assassin, and Archer. Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The only damage was to the trees knocked down during the battle. Moreover, the destruction didn't affect a large area of the forest. Of course, if Red Lancer—Karna, the radiant great hero—had joined the battle, the forest might have turned into a scorched wasteland.

Jeanne didn't witness the battle firsthand because she couldn't arrive in time. Although her perception is tens of times that of ordinary Servants, the ordinary Servant's perception range is only about a hundred meters. Tens of times that is only a few kilometers, and beyond that, she couldn't do much except roughly detect through the scattering of holy water.

When she sensed the entry of three Red Servants and the departure of six Black Servants from the castle to intercept them, she immediately left the church where she was staying and rushed to the outskirts. Unfortunately, the battlefield was a deserted wilderness, and the Saint had no means of transport other than her legs.

Despite having A-rank agility, which gave her car-like speed, running at full speed would exhaust her body before she reached her destination. Therefore, she had to move at a speed her body could endure. By the time she covered the dozens of kilometers, the battle was over, and both sides had returned to their bases. All that was left for Jeanne were two battlefields that didn't need cleaning.

Based on the traces left at the scene and her perception before arriving, Jeanne roughly reconstructed the situation. The Black side's main force intercepted Red Berserker, while Saber and Assassin intercepted the supporting Red Archer and Rider. In the end, Red Berserker was captured, and the other two retreated. This battle concluded with a loss for the Red side.

"All in all, it was a very ordinary battle," Jeanne concluded. Although there were many Servants, there was nothing suspicious at the scene.

Despite this, a lingering cloud of unease remained in her heart.

Red Lancer Karna was a hero of high virtue. The only reason he would try to take her life would be a command from his Master.

Indeed, the problem lay with the Red Masters. She needed to find a way to contact them.

Unfortunately, neither side's Masters seemed to appear in this battle. The Black side was entrenched in Millennia Castle, and the Red Masters, who should have been attacking, were also nowhere to be seen. Considering that this war was still in its early stages, this situation was understandable. Most Masters in the Holy Grail War are magus, who are often less knowledgeable about warfare and more fearful of death than ordinary people. They might be observing from a safe place, just like the Black side.

In any case, tonight's battle was over—just as she thought this, she felt a wave of exhaustion. It seemed she was already "very tired."

Technically, it wasn't Jeanne d'Arc as Ruler who felt this fatigue. The one truly needing sleep was the body of Laeticia. It was now late at night, and after running for dozens of kilometers, though most actions were carried out by the "Jeanne" vessel, Jeanne was still relying on Laeticia's body, so feeling tired was natural.

That said, since Servants don't need sleep, Jeanne found this long-forgotten feeling somewhat novel. However, this novelty couldn't resist the body's demand for sleep.

"No, I can't... not now..."

Rationally, she knew she should return to the city, to the church, and sleep in the bed in the attic room, but her eyelids grew heavier.

She pressed her hand against a tree trunk to support herself, but it wasn't enough. In desperation, she pinched her cheek hard, the pain sharpening her consciousness a bit.

What an inconvenient body. Due to the incomplete summoning, although she could maintain this state for a while, once she exceeded her limits, she might lose consciousness as if a switch had been flipped.

How to deal with this problem would have to be considered later; now, she needed to use holy water to locate the Servants. If there were no issues, she could end the day.

Four Black Servants and one Red Servant were inside the castle. The Red Servant seemed to be Berserker, who had successfully swapped Masters. This wasn't against the rules; Master and Servant exchanges were quite common—wait a moment.

"Are there not two Servants missing...?"

There should be six Servants residing within the fortress. So, where did the other two go?

Expanding the search area—

Found them, moving in the opposite direction from me. The two are acting together, perhaps on patrol.

At that moment, another small dot representing a Servant appeared in the scattered holy water.

This is—!

The seventh Servant of the Black faction, yes, it's Black.

All the Black faction's Servants are present?

Confirming this, Jeanne shook off her drowsiness. She needed to meet the last Servant of the Black faction.

As a referee, it's necessary to gather information on every Servant. If she missed today, the next opportunity might not come so easily.

As she stepped forward once again, little did she know that her judgment was completely wrong. The two Black Servants were not on patrol but in battle, and the newly appeared dot was Astolfo, who was fleeing with Sieg.

◇◇◇

With the help of the Hippogriff, Astolfo and Sieg's escape speed increased by dozens of times. The distance that previously took dozens of minutes to walk now flew by in the blink of an eye.

"Wahoo~~~~" Astolfo shouted excitedly, flying freely in the sky for the first time since being summoned. "I've wanted to do this for so long. How about it? Isn't my Hippogriff awesome? What do you think?"

This "you" naturally referred to the homunculus Sieg sitting behind Astolfo. Never having seen such a vast expanse, the homunculus was so stunned by the scene that he couldn't speak, only nodding woodenly until his chin hit Astolfo's neck, bringing him back to his senses. He mumbled, "Um, ah."

Astolfo turned around, patted Sieg on the shoulder, and gave him a bright smile:

"This won't do at all. You're already free now. In the future, you'll see many more people and many more beautiful scenery. You have to enjoy your life. Hmm— I remember there was something called an airplane in this era. It seems it can fly higher than my Hippogriff. You should try it if you get the chance."

"Airplane...?"

The knowledge he was given included such things, but it was just knowledge; he had never truly seen one.

Can I really? Can I really try an airplane? Sieg felt his mind in turmoil.

"Yes, you can." Seeing Sieg's bewildered expression, Astolfo encouraged him, "But before that, you need to be stronger and more assertive—come, shout with me, wahoo~~~~~~~"

"Wa—hoo—" Sieg opened his mouth, trying to imitate Astolfo, but only managed an awkward exhale.

"Can't do it?" Astolfo turned his head, seeing Sieg's flushed face, and patted his shoulder helplessly, "Never mind, you'll get better with practice—We've arrived, Hippogriff."

Responding to its master's call, the Hippogriff let out a short cry, drawing an arc in the sky and spiraling down to land.

"Heave-ho." Astolfo hopped off the Hippogriff's back and then helped Sieg down. "I can only take you this far. You'll have to walk the rest of the way on your own. These two paths lead to different villages, both quite remote, so there shouldn't be any magus. The last path leads to a city called Sighişoara, much larger than Trifas. It's also a good choice. Well, this crossroads seems to be a new chapter in your life."

This place was on the outskirts of the Trifas region, dozens of kilometers from the battlefield where Astolfo and Sieg flew from. It wouldn't be sensed by Servants, had no detection-bounded fields, and couldn't be seen by golems. Astolfo had "secretly" found this perfect spot on the map in Shinji's room, under the watchful eyes of Shinji and Chiron.

"Um, aren't you coming with me?" Sieg tugged on Astolfo's red cloak.

"I can't. I'm a Servant, and I have to go back. Once I return, my Master will force me to reveal your location and might even use a Command Spell. Ahhh, it's so annoying! Why do Command Spells have to exist?" Astolfo angrily shook his pigtail.

"In any case, I can't defy my Master's orders, so I can't take you to a safe place. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? Rider, you didn't do anything wrong."

"Ahahaha, that's true."

One innocent, one natural—their interaction was simple.

"Although there shouldn't be any danger here, you must be careful on the road. Conserve your strength and mana, and be ready to use magic at any time."

"Okay, got it."

"I'm still a bit worried. How about I lend you a Noble Phantasm? Let me see, 'Trap of Argalia'; 'The Book of Universal Magic'; 'Hippogriff'; and—"

Astolfo mumbled as he began to manifest his Noble Phantasms.

Sieg quickly stopped him: "No, no need. These are your Noble Phantasms, you need them to fight, and I can't use them anyway."

"Oh, right. The sword I could have given you was already given to Lancer. Next time, I'll ask Assassin to make some items for you. He seems quite good at that. Ah, right, take this." Astolfo said, pulling a seashell from his pocket.

"And this is—?"

"This is an item made by Assassin. If you inject mana and break it open, you can communicate with us. Once you find a safe place, make sure to let us know."

"Okay! Thank you, Rider." Sieg nodded firmly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Astolfo showed a slightly sad expression, then slowly shook his head.

"—No, there's nothing. You've already been freed from this battle and you're now free, so just live according to your will."

Astolfo smiled gently, like a girl, covering his cheeks with his hands. Then, as if moved, he pulled Sieg's head close and gently brushed his hair with his hand.

After a moment, Astolfo finally let him go.

"Alright, you should go now. I'll figure out how to deal with things on my end."

Hearing these words urging him to leave, Sieg nodded and started to step back. Although his movements were slow, the distance between them gradually increased. Astolfo waved at him reluctantly at first, but then decisively nodded and leapt back onto the Hippogriff, slowly ascending.

"Rider! What should I do now?" Sieg shouted at Astolfo, who was getting further and further from the ground.

Astolfo leaned down and shouted back with a big smile:

"Do whatever you want! Now, you can do anything! You can meet all kinds of people in the city, like or dislike whoever you want, and live a joyful life of your own!"

I see, that does sound like a joyful thing—Sieg thought. Although there was still a thin layer of discomfort somewhere in his heart, he tried his best to avoid thinking about it.

Astolfo sighed contentedly.

Ah, that homunculus can now walk on his legs. Although his body is still fragile, one day he will become a true man. That should be good enough.

"But what should I do? Once I go back, my Master will tie me up—well, it doesn't matter. I'll let things take their course."

Instantly putting such "boring" thoughts behind him, Astolfo guided his Hippogriff back towards Millennia Castle.

On the ground, Sieg walked forward slowly.

His feet stepped strongly forward, leaving shallow footprints on the frozen ground. Yet, even so, his steps seemed somewhat sluggish. With every step he took, he would look up at the gradually receding figure of Astolfo. Even after he could no longer see the Hippogriff, his steps remained slow and halting.

"Ugh, why is this happening?"

Even though he had learned to walk, even though he had decided to go to the village, even though his body was functioning perfectly, why were his feet so difficult to move?

"I should have asked Rider how to move my feet..."

As he said these words, the homunculus realized that he was once again alone. At the same time, he understood that he would never see Rider again.

"...Ugh."

It felt as if something was tightly constricting his chest, causing a sharp pain. But he still tried hard to ignore this pain and forced himself to move forward.