"Perhaps I should call you, Hundred-Faced Hassan?"
When Guinevere revealed the other's identity in one glance, he could clearly feel the air around Hundred-Faced Hassan turn a few degrees colder.
However, due to the opponent's inherently weak combat ability, Guinevere wasn't particularly concerned. He simply waited, mysteriously, for a response.
"You know me?" Hassan asked coldly. "So you mean to say you already knew of our operation and were waiting for us here in advance?"
"Heh, thinking a bit too much, aren't you?" Guinevere shrugged. "I just happen to recognize you, and know a bit about your spirit origin info. But lying in ambush for you? Honestly, with your level of strength, you're not worth that kind of trouble."
"In that case—"
Upon hearing this, Hassan's expression shifted beneath the mask. He wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Guinevere:
"But regardless, since I've run into you, I can't just leave things be."
Guinevere's gaze finally fell on the woman sleeping soundly on one of the black-clad men's backs.
"Put down the person you captured, and then you can leave. As for the supplies you stole, I'll pretend I didn't see anything. How's that?"
…Hassan curled his lips, thought for only a moment, then agreed to Guinevere's proposal.
"Fine! But you have to promise us that once we let this woman go, you won't trouble us further!"
"Boss?" His subordinates panicked at once. This was the target they had risked their lives to steal. How could they give her up so easily?
"Shut up." Hassan shot the one who spoke a glare. "You think we have a choice?"
The enemy had called out her identity directly, which meant she knew Hassan's capabilities inside out. Add to that the fact that she had fought off a group of Sphinxes—by all rights, they shouldn't even stand a chance of survival if she truly wanted them dead. Whether they could leave alive or not depended entirely on her intentions. Who would dare to push their luck further?
"Let's hope you keep your word."
With that, Hassan gestured for his men to put down the woman they had painstakingly extracted from the temple. Then they quickly left. True to her word, Guinevere did not hinder them any further.
"Guinevere-senpai!"
At that moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others—who had been waiting nearby and hadn't moved while Guinevere negotiated—finally approached.
They had originally planned to rush over and call for Guinevere to flee with them, but upon seeing that she was already talking with the enemy, they chose to trust her judgment and stay quiet until now.
"Oh, good timing."
Seeing the Chaldea crew approach, Guinevere pointed at the still-unconscious woman and smiled.
"I was wondering… Even though I beat the Sphinxes down, would the temple residents see it as an act of hostility? But now it seems a third party has delivered us a favor. Finally, I can relax a bit."
Though he said that aloud, inwardly he cursed his own miscalculation.
His knowledge of the 1.6 storyline was supposed to be much greater than that of 2.6. After all, when he first played FGO, he hadn't yet become a "cloud player." But too much time had passed; he had forgotten many details of 1.6—including the fact that the Sphinxes weren't meant to be fought in the first place. Soon, Hundred-Faced Hassan and company would appear and dump tour guide Nitocris into their arms anyway.
Still, upon seeing the new message pop up on his system interface, he decided that a fight wasn't such a bad thing after all.
[Ding! You performed excellently in battle against a group of Sphinxes whose strength far outclassed yours. Fighting spirit rises! Victory count +1. Current total: 2.]
[Ding! Fighting Spirit bonus activated! Your Magic stat increased. Current rank: C.]
The boost wasn't huge, and it was to the stat he used the least, but hey—progress was progress. Besides, attribute upgrades were always welcome.
It was just a pity that the Sphinxes' Divinity wasn't high enough to meet the B-rank requirement. Thus, his Elden Lord awakening condition—"Defeat Six Demigods (0/6)"—remained unchanged.
Just then, with Da Vinci's assistance, the previously unconscious Nitocris stirred.
"…Nn, no, Pharaoh, if you keep tugging my hair like that… It may look like ears, but it's actually a magical catalyst symbolizing Horus… definitely not because I slept poorly…"
Guinevere was about to retract his earlier words. Looks like she hadn't truly woken up yet.
He had even thought Hassan had managed to knock her out and kidnap her somehow. But now it seemed she had simply been sleeping far too soundly and got carried off.
Moments later, Nitocris finally awoke fully and found herself staring wide-eyed at Da Vinci, who had called to her.
"Ah?"
After half a second of confusion, she suddenly leapt to her feet.
"Who dares! Such insolence! To treat me, Pharaoh Nitocris, in such a barbaric manner! An affront beyond forgiveness! Since that's the case—"
Seeing the situation veer inevitably toward "let's fight first and talk later," Guinevere swiftly swung her sword's sheath and knocked her on the head.
"Are you incapable of telling right from wrong?"
"Ow!" Staggering from the blow, Nitocris clutched her head, her anger only growing. "How dare you! I'm furious! Mirror of the Underworld, reveal—"
*Bonk!* Another strike from the sheath interrupted her incantation.
"You insolent—!" Nitocris glared but quickly began chanting again as she retreated.
"Mirror of the Underworld—"
*Bonk!*
"Mirror of—"
*Bonk!*
"Miro—"
*Bonk!*
"Sp—"
*Bonk!*
"Sphinxes! Where are the Sphinxes?! Someone stop this brute!"
After several successive blows, Nitocris finally abandoned the idea of fighting back. She crouched down, holding her head, tears welling as she pleaded.
Guinevere said nothing, only pointed grimly toward the pile of Sphinxes she had already beaten unconscious and who were still recovering nearby.
"…What kind of savage strength…?" Nitocris was dumbfounded.
"You… You actually defeated all the Sphinxes sent by Pharaoh to patrol this area? Such irreverence—!"
Guinevere raised her sheath again, and Nitocris immediately ducked her head.
"Wrong, wrong! Don't hit me! I admit defeat, I surrender, just spare my poor head! If this keeps up, I'll be knocked stupid!"
"Oh? So you weren't stupid already?" Guinevere arched a brow mockingly. "Given how poor your judgment is, I thought you might be."
"I—" Nitocris began to retort but paused, glancing warily at the sheath. Only after confirming Guinevere didn't seem ready to strike did she speak.
"How am I the one with poor judgment?!"
"You totally are," Kotomine Koyanskaya interjected. "Our partner just saved you from the assassins who captured you, and you still want to fight us. If that's not poor judgment, what is?"
"Even so! It doesn't change the fact that you saw me in such an undignified state…! No, wait!" Realizing she had said too much, Nitocris quickly corrected herself: "I mean, without proof, why would you help me? Just by coincidence? Helping someone whose name you don't even know? Nonsense! In this land of endings, no one saves others for free!"
Guinevere fell silent for half a second, then raised the sheath again. Startled, Nitocris hugged her head instinctively.
Fujimaru immediately signaled to Mash, who rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Guinevere, stopping her from striking again.
"Please, Mr. Guinevere, calm down. I know what she's saying is infuriating, but hitting her won't make her believe us."
Seeing this, Nitocris finally relaxed and added, "Exactly! No more hitting! You can't just beat people into agreeing! Convince me with words instead, alright?!"
Though she shouted, she no longer looked ready to unleash her Noble Phantasm. She merely muttered from behind Mash's protection, starting to believe they might not be bad people after all.
After all, given Guinevere's striking speed and the heap of defeated Sphinxes, Nitocris could sense that his strength far surpassed hers. If he wanted to, he could have knocked her out mid-incantation and taken her by force. The fact that he hadn't—and instead tried to reason—meant he probably wasn't an enemy. Just… incredibly irritated.
Still… though she knew she was partly at fault, being bonked on the head so many times and humiliated like this was embarrassing. If the Sun King ever heard of it, she'd never live it down…
While Nitocris silently pondered how to save face, Fujimaru stepped forward with an apologetic bow.
"Miss Nitocris, I'm terribly sorry. My companion here just spoke a little too bluntly. We didn't mean to offend you—we truly came with good intentions…"
"…Even if you say that…" Nitocris frowned slightly but inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Still, she wanted to save face, maybe argue a bit more—when suddenly, she heard Mash shout:
"Oh no! Miss Nitocris, run! I can't hold Mr. Guinevere back much longer!"
Nitocris instinctively looked over and saw Guinevere breaking free of Mash's grasp, sword in hand, charging toward her—and looking ready to draw it.
Panic-stricken, she blurted out like a machine gun: "OK! I get it! I was wrong! I believe you're good people! I misjudged you! I'm sorry!"