Day and night blurred together as they hurried onward with barely any rest.
Following the guidance of Revelation, the two at last reached a small village near Lyon.
Though the settlement was rundown, it was surprisingly lively—quite a few people still lived here.
The villagers were wary of strangers. After a long round of questioning, Jeanne finally obtained some information from a small child.
After thanking the boy, Lin Qi hesitated for a moment, then took two pieces of candy from his pocket and handed them to him.
"Huh? What's this?"
The boy accepted the candy curiously.
"Candy. You can eat it."
"Candy that looks like this?"
The child blinked, suspicious, then unwrapped one and popped it into his mouth.
"Mmm! It really is candy—and it's delicious!"
His eyes lit up, pure joy spreading across his face.
"Um… big brother, do you have any more of this? Just two pieces isn't much… I have a few friends who've never even tasted regular candy before…"
The child spoke hesitantly, fidgeting as he asked.
Seeing this, Lin Qi simply handed over all the candy in his pocket.
Of course, since he'd come from Chaldea alone, he hadn't been able to bring much—barely a dozen small pieces at most.
The boy accepted the candy gratefully and hopped away, humming as he went.
"Let's go. If Revelation isn't mistaken, the person we're looking for should be in that cottage over there."
As the child's figure receded into the distance, Jeanne turned to Lin Qi.
Though the villagers had been reluctant to talk, the two had still managed to piece together the rough outline of recent events.
It seemed that several—or perhaps a dozen—days ago, the village had been attacked by wyverns. Just as everyone had fallen into despair, a burly man clad in strange armor and wielding a massive sword appeared.
With just a few swings of that sword, he had driven off all the wyverns.
The man, however, had been grievously wounded. He had stayed in the village since, occasionally helping the villagers fend off stray wyverns and skeleton soldiers. Seeing that, many passing refugees had decided to settle here as well.
After all, even if the warrior looked half-dead, this place was still safer than most.
The villagers did their best to care for him—but his condition hadn't improved. No one knew how much longer he could last.
They approached the cottage and knocked on the door.
"Cough… come in…"
A frail cough came from within.
They carefully pushed the door open.
Inside, a tall man with long silver hair rested against the headboard. He wore heavy knight's armor, though his back was unprotected.
His body was covered in wounds, but the most striking were the two fatal piercings through his chest—no blood flowed, only golden spirit particles seeping endlessly from them.
It was clear: this dragon-slaying hero stood on the very brink of disappearance.
"A Master, huh? Looks like you're allies… good."
Seeing the red Command Seals on Lin Qi's hand, Siegfried relaxed. His tense grip on the sword Balmung loosened.
The two could only watch in silence, their hearts sinking.
They had hurried day and night to get here—yet they were still too late.
"Can you still hold on?"
Jeanne asked, clinging to a fragile hope.
"Cough, cough… cough…"
Each cough made the golden light around Siegfried's body waver and fade faster.
"I'm sorry… you've come too late. As you can see, I've only enough strength left… to speak with you for a little while longer…"
He forced a faint smile, his words faltering between breaths.
Indeed, his wounds were far beyond recovery. Besides the visible gashes, a powerful curse clung to his body—and, most damning of all, there was even a wound on his back.
Though small, it was enough. With the power of the legends binding his existence, that single injury had sealed his fate.
Like a certain legendary hero's heel, once struck, his strength was crippled—his life now flickering on the edge of retreat.
To have endured so long under such conditions was nothing short of miraculous.
In Jeanne's view, unless Saint George himself appeared before them at this very moment—and the two worked together swiftly to purge Siegfried's curse—there was no hope of saving him.
But how could that happen? Neither she nor Lin Qi even knew where Saint George was.
So, Lin Qi's earlier words of despair had proven true after all.
"…There may still be one way."
Siegfried's gaze turned toward the two of them, pausing on Lin Qi. After a brief hesitation, he spoke.
"What way?"
"…I can sense a peculiar power in this Master—faint, but capable of harmonizing with a Servant's Saint Graph. If I transfer my Saint Graph to him before I fade, you might… have a little time to find a way to break the curse bound to it."
"Cough… and once the curse is lifted, even if I can't fight at full strength, as long as you have my Noble Phantasm, there may yet be hope…"
So it's true… Cu Chulainn's power appearing in me wasn't coincidence, huh?
Lin Qi thought to himself, realization dawning.
That strange air Cu Chulainn gave off back in Singularity F—he must've seen something in me even I didn't understand, and crafted his plan around it. Guess he really was a sly one…
He didn't dwell on it. Back when he'd been playing the game, fans had all sorts of theories about this kind of thing, but there'd never been a clear answer.
Right now, what mattered was surviving the moment before them.
"…But judging from Siegfried's condition, taking in that Saint Graph won't be easy, will it?"
Siegfried wasn't one to hide his thoughts—his hesitation was obvious even to Lin Qi.
And Lin Qi certainly didn't think the power of a Heroic Spirit was something he could just accept lightly.
"…You're right."
Siegfried gave a faint, rueful smile, as though at peace with himself.
"As I said, when the Saint Graph is transferred, the curse will come with it. That means the pain I'm enduring now will weigh on you exactly the same…"
"In fact, if you don't find a way to lift it within two days, the growing curse will crush you entirely before time runs out."
"Tell me—are you prepared for that?"
Golden particles continued to drift from his body as he looked up at Lin Qi.
Prepared? When had he ever had the chance to prepare?
Thrown into this strange world without warning—who had given him time to ready himself for anything?
Even so, there was no bitterness in his heart.
Was there really any need to hesitate? From the very beginning, hadn't he made a promise—to do everything he could, no matter how hopeless the path ahead?
"Let's do it."
Under Jeanne's worried gaze, Lin Qi extended his hand toward Siegfried. All the thoughts swirling in his mind sank into the depths of his subconscious, leaving only one will behind.
No need to think about consequences—just move forward.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the girl beside him.
No matter what happened, at least for now, he wasn't walking alone.
…