"I refuse. These people can't be trusted. Joining forces? That's utter nonsense. I'm only sparing your lives because we're in front of the villagers, so be grateful for that. Don't expect any hospitality. Our village is starving; we don't even have enough food for today. The villagers have been surviving on just a bit of water and salt for the past two days. We have nothing to feed you."
Hassan, with his face uncovered, glared at Fujimaru and Mash and said.
".....No.....To think he'd threaten us even by showing his face.... Ritsuka-sama, what on earth happened? Hakuno is indeed gloomy, stubborn, and holds grudges, but he's the most calculating of the Hassans. He should know that your support is invaluable; I shouldn't have to tell him that...."
At Juwon's question, Fujimaru muttered briefly.
"Fate is unknowable...."
"Hey, don't talk like it's all over! Because of you, I suffered a lot!"
Hakuno, speaking like that, said that the plan to kidnap Nitocris had failed, his face was exposed, and he was humiliated by being saved by his enemies, showing no intention of cooperating with us at all.
"Hahaha, it's like seeing my past self. This is hard to persuade—huh? Kang Yuseong-nim, what are you doing now?"
"What am I doing? Can't you see? I'm taking out rice."
"?...Wait, rice!?"
Juwon was shocked by my words, looked at the rice I had taken out, and made an expression of disbelief.
"Among my abilities, I have one that summons desired items in exchange for coins. With that, I took out about 10KG of rice. If it's not enough, just say so, and I'll give you as much as you want—"
"Thank you! Really, thank you! I don't know how to express this gratitude."
Juwon tightly grasped my hands and kept saying thank you sincerely, even trying to bow.
"It's fine, we're comrades, right? So I should do this much..... Ah, now that I think about it, this isn't the western village, right~"
Ugh...
At my words, Hakuno gritted his teeth momentarily.
"I heard earlier that the villagers have only had a little water and salt for two days? That's a pity~ If you cooperate, I can add another 10KG of rice to what's here~"
Grr!!
At the sound of teeth grinding stronger than before, I chuckled and said.
"Additionally, we have a lot of meat left here, vegetables, fish, and if you need items to treat wounds, I can support you as much as you want, but only for cooperators..."
At my words, Hakuno's eyes started moving rapidly as he began calculating gains and losses.
"We defeated Mordred, the Traitor Knight of the Round Table, and with omniscient power, we have extensive information and many other abilities. So, what do you say? Still not going to cooperate?"
"Ugh... Give me a moment to think...."
"Bullshit~ Just choose quickly... Cooperate or not? If not, I'm taking all this rice back."
"Wait! Just a real moment to think.!!"
"5"
"No! Just a moment is enough—"4"—Ah! Really!!!"
I lightly ignored Hakuno's urgent words and continued counting.
"3....2.....1—"
"I'll do it...."
And at that moment, a very faint, ant-crawlingly small voice came from Hakuno.
"Huh? What? Too soft, can't hear—"
"I'll do it!!! I said I'll do it!!! You bastards!!! Is cooperating enough!?"
Eventually, for the village, for the residents, for the future, Hakuno, who had set aside his grudges and pride, spoke, and I chuckled.
"Should have done that sooner."
Immediately, I summoned clones recklessly.
"Let's start cooking! Be prepared, today, I'll let all the villagers eat until they're stuffed."
""Oh!!!!""
Soon, our cooking began.
"Here! Eat and drink to your heart's content!! It's a festival!! Festival!!!"
""Oooooh!!!""
Thus, the suddenly started festival in the western village.
"There's a ton of delicious food!!!"
"It's delicious! So delicious! How long has it been since I had a proper meal!"
"This and that, it's all the best, right!?"
As soon as my cooking started, the villagers appeared from somewhere, smelling the aroma, and when the food came out, they all ate like possessed, crazily, and were happy.
"This... how long has it been since a proper meal...."
"Ooh! An incredible taste..."
Hakuno ate his portion of food while feeling slightly awkward, and Juwon continued his meal, marveling at the taste.
"Hey, deliver these to the eastern village and come back."
"Okie dokie!"
Some of the completed dishes were shared with the residents by clones that opened aurora curtains, going back and forth between the eastern and western villages.
"While I was briefly asleep... what is this..."
"What? It's Bedivere? Perfect timing, you come and eat too!"
"Huh? No, wait—"
It was truly a festival, even grabbing Bedivere, who had just woken up and hadn't grasped the situation yet, and feeding him.
"Everyone looks happy...."
Mash, tasting her portion of the meal, looked at the happy villagers and muttered.
"Munch munch.... It's tasty...."
And our Fujimaru Ritsuka was eating meat without a thought.
'Ah~ I want to roll the Saint Quartz gacha.'
No, it seems she wasn't without any thoughts.
"Hey, Juwon, now that I think about it, is it the Hassan of Serenity? Isn't a Hassan by that name captured by the Round Table?"
"How do you know that.... Ah, now that I recall, you said you have a book with omniscient power..."
"Huh? Uh, yeah, right, while searching through information about the Round Table, I found info that the Round Table has captured the mountain old man called Hassan of Serenity, so I was going to ask if I should help?"
"Hmm... I'd be grateful if you help, but... to receive more help here..."
"It's fine because I want to do it, and since we're going to rescue anyway, it's better to go quickly... It seems that one of the Round Table knights, Agravain, is heading to the fortress where Hassan of Serenity is."
At my words, Hakuno and Juwon were shocked and said.
"Is that true!? That's a big problem!!"
"If that's true, we need to go rescue as soon as possible."
Soon, the two began discussing with the Chaldea side and quickly finished preparations to rescue Serenity.
'The personnel to be deployed in the rescue operation are me, Mash, Fujimaru, Hakuno, up to Juwon, Bedivere should rest a bit more, and Arash is in charge of defense here.... Hmm... this should be enough, right?'
Soon, we began moving to rescue Serenity.
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