"Where were you just now?"
Impatient with how slowly Medea's Skill progress was advancing, Jiang You had slipped away to play another Script for a while, taking the chance to search for Kiritsugu's whereabouts in the Fourth Holy Grail War. Upon returning, he was immediately grilled by Ereshkigal.
"Don't you have the ability to teleport? Why did you need someone else's help?"
Seeing that Medea's progress bar was still far from completion, Jiang You grabbed Ereshkigal and whisked her away to the modern Fifth Holy Grail War.
"Instead of explaining, it's better if you see for yourself."
"Wait, huh?"
Before Ereshkigal could react, she found herself in a completely different place. Gone was the dark, lifeless Underworld; now she stood in a bustling modern city, alive with traffic and chatter. In disbelief, she touched the cold glass of a nearby shop window, the tactile reality sending a shock through her. "I... I actually made it out?"
"Of course. Didn't I tell you before? I can travel to other places. That's how I form bonds with other servants. And you're no different."
Seeing Ereshkigal staring intently at the plush toy in the display window, Jiang You immediately bought it for her. Let's not dwell on the source of the funds—everyone knows where it came from.
Eresh happily accepted the doll, something completely impossible to find in the Underworld.
"Don't we need to prepare some kind of ritual or something?" she persisted. It was common knowledge that powerful sorcery required extensive preparation. This defied her understanding; even gods couldn't casually breach the barriers between timelines. In fact, gods were typically confined to their own timelines.
"Just like that? This is Grand Magic that transcends timelines... oh wait, spell, I mean. And you're even bringing someone else along!"
"If you prefer, we can make it more ritualistic. We could go to the restroom, chant some gibberish, and then I'll pull you through." Jiang You shamelessly borrowed someone else's idea. If there's no need to maintain an air of Mystery, keeping things simple benefits everyone.
"What the hell is a restroom?" Eresh naturally had no idea what Jiang You was talking about, but she could tell he was joking.
"Of course, this state isn't without its costs."
Eresh hadn't reached her third Ascension yet, so Jiang You wasn't maintaining her existence through a cost-free summoning method.
"We haven't formed a contract yet," he explained. "Maintaining your existence requires my magical power (actually, Illya's here). With our current reserves, we only have about an hour left. Maintaining a god's Spirit Origin consumes a tremendous amount of energy. Let's make the most of this time and explore while we can."
With limited time, Jiang You could only take Eresh on a casual stroll through the streets, buying plenty of street food along the way. One of the benefits of this simulated reality, where taste was accurately replicated, was that they could eat as much as they wanted without worrying about overindulging.
"So, you like it out here? If you stay by my side, you can experience all this all the time."
Jiang You had already secured some scraps from Eresh's Affection Reward, a promising start. As he munched on takoyaki, he pressed his advantage while the iron was hot.
"Mmm..."
Eresh, completely absorbed in the delightful flavors, desperately wanted to agree immediately. But it was only their first day meeting Jiang You—wouldn't agreeing so easily make her seem too unreserved? She'd appear even more promiscuous than Ishtar. She had discussed this with Medea before: signing a contract with Jiang You was essentially selling herself to him. While his commands weren't overly coercive, he'd keep dangling carrots, exploiting her weaknesses, and being generally cunning.
However, Medea had helped Jiang You confirm certain truths about himself. He was, in fact, someone with an overwhelming sense of compassion, incapable of wantonly slaughtering humans or letting the world be destroyed. The only problem was that no one could ever figure out what he was thinking.
Eresh felt it was still necessary to observe Jiang You for a while longer. "Let's wait until the situation in Uruk settles down. I still can't be sure how much of what you've said is true. Look, the Human Order here hasn't been affected at all. The destruction of a single Timeline means nothing to you. If you can fulfill your promise, I'll agree to make a pact with you for the future."
"An evaluation? Sounds like a blind date," Jiang You quipped.
As a new mission popped up in his task list, Jiang You knew he had won Eresh over. All he needed to do now was defeat Tiamat and restore the Singularity, and Eresh would join his party—an additional Affection Reward for completing the Tiamat quest.
"You... y-y-you! What are you saying?!"
Realizing the ambiguity of her earlier words, Eresh frantically tried to explain.
"I meant..."
"If it's you, I wouldn't mind."
Jiang You immediately launched his offensive. After all, even touching someone's abdomen in this buggy game triggered a red warning from the System. The marriage system was almost certainly nonexistent, and even if it did exist, it would likely just be a black screen cutscene. Jiang You figured teasing Eresh a little wouldn't hurt.
"I've told you before—I really like you."
In truth, Jiang You liked all straightforward servant types. No matter how strong their cards were, he'd make sure to obtain them. Take Morgan, for example. His ultimate goal with Fairy Tristan was to conquer Morgan, then use Morgan's authority to find Melusine. And then there were the "Four Outside-the-Shield Girlfriends," though the "four" had already swelled to double digits. Still, everyone knew the "Four Heavenly Kings" always had at least five members.
"B-but we've only known each other for less than a day!"
Eresh had never faced such a direct assault. A normal woman might have already slapped Jiang You across the face and yelled, "What a pervert!"
"Playing quite the smooth game, aren't we? Already talking about marriage? No wonder I couldn't find you lately—you've been here dating someone else!"
Suddenly, a small hand landed on Jiang You's shoulder, pressing down with all its might. Yet even with her knuckles turning white from the effort, she couldn't budge him an inch.
"Illya?!"
Jiang You turned to see the person he knew best—his nominal Master—and Illya's nominal mother, Minamoto no Raikou.
Illya glared at Eresh, her face darkening. "Explain yourself! Why are you getting involved with Rin Tohsaka? Are you dissatisfied with me? Are you planning to change Masters?!"
"But she's not..."
"I know you can't lie to me, but I don't want to hear your excuses!"
Illya was beyond reason. Rin Tohsaka and Jiang You had never even interacted. How could she possibly have lost to Rin? "Kill her now, Berserker!"
-
Underworld.
Medea was meticulously constructing a teleportation array.
"This node needs thirty percent more magical power, and this connection needs to be rebuilt... Hmm, that should link it to the teleportation array in the Midnight Workshop."
Medea finally completed the construction of the teleportation array. She exhaled deeply, ready to share the good news with Jiang You, only to discover that both he and the God of the Underworld had vanished.
"Where did they go?"