"Hey, hey, Saber-chan, Rider-chan, is the food I made delicious? How does it compare to what you had last night or this morning?"
Sautéed potato with shredded pork, pickled vegetable and vermicelli soup, Mapo Tofu with a normal spice level...
Guinevere had prepared ordinary Chinese home-style dishes. Of course, to help Saber remember the taste of her hometown, she had specially made an extra dish: Stargazing Fish.
"Hmm, it's delicious."
Rider wouldn't touch a heretical dish like Stargazing Fish, where the fish head pointed to the sky. After eating a few bites of the home-style dishes, she smiled at Guinevere and unceremoniously drank the wine Guinevere had brought, sharing some with Saber, who didn't really want to drink.
After taking two bites of the Stargazing Fish and confirming it truly tasted like her hometown, Saber-chan didn't take any more. After all, she had eaten better food.
"Between you and Emiya, your cooking skills are a cut above, but the dishes you make belong to different systems, so each has its own merits."
Now that she had made up her mind, confirmed that Guinevere was truly Guinevere, and figured out what she wanted to do to her, Saber-chan was actually less agitated than before.
If Guinevere wanted to see her in a shameful state, Saber-chan wouldn't mind using this to apologize to Guinevere.
And Guinevere wanted to correct her...
She accepted the challenge and believed that her ideals would not change.
"Guinevere, did you also learn these dishes in the previous Holy Grail War?"
"Yep, yep."
She nodded along, pretending to agree, yet she was actually patching up the lies she had told Sakura and Rider.
For example, the other world where she adopted Sakura was the Holy Grail War she participated in, which happened to be another Fourth Fuyuki Holy Grail War.
"Archer is the King of Heroes, Saber is still you, and I'm Caster, you know. But the you in that other world likes girls, so the Rebellion of the Round Table never happened!"
Guinevere's explanations were truthful, but she didn't go into detail. Because if she kept talking, she'd be easily exposed as a Servant from another world who had borrowed this world's Guinevere's Spirit Origin.
Keeping the truth about her identity hidden would be more advantageous for participating in this Holy Grail War.
"A world... where the King of Knights achieved her ideals?"
Is that me in another world? A past world rebooted by the Holy Grail, is that still my world?
In that instant, Saber-chan thought about many things, but she still shook her head, her wish remaining unchanged. She also thought that Guinevere's truthful words were very likely fabricated to deceive her.
Because she was the most skeptical of herself; if the one who became King was still herself, then she could never achieve her desired utopia.
Moreover, she had memories of this world's Fourth Holy Grail War, and she didn't believe that Guinevere and another version of herself could defeat the King of Heroes in a direct confrontation.
"Wait, this wine..."
Her mind was in turmoil, and Saber-chan finally drank the wine. She then realized she had drunk this wine once before in this world's Fourth Holy Grail War, and it belonged to...
"That's right, this is wine I got from the King of Heroes. He survived this world's Fourth Holy Grail War to the present day. His Master is..."
"Kirei Kotomine..."
Crushing the glass wine cup, she let the shards and wine splash everywhere. This name had also left a deep shadow on Saber-chan, and it reminded her of the Irisviel she had failed to protect.
"Sakura said last night that she would take us to the Holy Church to report tonight, but it seems we won't need to go."
The broken glass cut Saber-chan's fingers, and then her hand was grabbed by Guinevere, who used a little bit of healing magecraft she knew.
After the wound healed, Saber-chan looked seriously at Guinevere and Rider, hoping that the story Guinevere told was true.
She hoped that they could truly defeat the King of Heroes in a direct confrontation. Having fought him once, Saber-chan understood how strong and troublesome he was.
Furthermore, a surprising thought crossed Saber-chan's mind: she wanted to change Masters.
Shirou Emiya had a good personality, but that couldn't change the fact that his skill as a magus was extremely poor.
However, this thought flashed through Saber-chan's mind for only a moment. She was a Knight, and she had acknowledged this contract, so she should offer her loyalty until it was no longer possible to continue.
Drip, drip... Time passed.
Clink, clatter, the sounds of chopsticks and plates colliding echoed. While the three were lost in thought, the food on the small dining table was swept clean, and the extra rice Guinevere had specially cooked was also gone without a trace.
Only then did Saber-chan finally look seriously at Guinevere and say,
"You went to the trouble of making all this clear just because you want me to accept forming an alliance with you, right? Tonight, you can stay and sleep together."
The wine was the most concrete evidence, worry was an undeniable reality, and through the story, Guinevere had become an ally that could no longer be ignored.
As for what would happen if they slept together tonight? It's not that Saber-chan lacked the knowledge an adult woman should have.
They were King and Queen after all. Whether Guinevere wanted to tease her or truly desired her, she didn't mind; right now, Saber-chan only wanted victory.
And hearing these words, Rider secretly curled her lips. As the saying goes, the bystander sees most clearly. Last night, when Shirou Emiya first saw Saber, she had accurately captured the endless admiration Shirou showed.
As Sakura's Servant, she deemed it her duty to consider Sakura's interests.
"Saber, Assassin, can I assume that our three... no, our four families are now allied? Assassin, are you planning to introduce the Servant whose presence appeared beside you at school yesterday?"
"Rider, you actually noticed?"
"At that moment, the straight-line distance between us was probably less than a hundred meters."
The wine served to Rider was still more than half full, but she didn't drink it. She seemed to want to save it for Sakura or Shirou?
After hearing her words, Guinevere smiled and said:
"Indeed, at such a short distance, I shouldn't have assumed you wouldn't sense it, nor should I have assumed other Master-Servant pairs wouldn't notice. Therefore, I accept the alliance, but I will not stay overnight after all. I'll return to Caster, who summoned this body of mine.
Well, telling you both this should be considered sufficient sincerity, right?"
At this, Saber and Rider fell into thought, perhaps still communicating with their Masters.
From this point of view, Guinevere clearly had sincerity, but...
"Heretic! Guinevere, have you fallen?!"
Saber was still an upright King, especially since she now understood what Sakura and the others were doing at school today, and they guessed that the Bounded Field draining ordinary people's life force was Caster's masterpiece.
"Therefore, I am not worried that some people will think we are colluding."
As her voice fell, Guinevere launched a surprise attack on Saber-chan. She patted Saber-chan's slender waist revealed as she sat upright, making her body go limp with a familiar weakness, and then Guinevere directly burst through the roof and ran out.
Even now, she still did not want the four sides to form an alliance and immediately become the target of everyone.
At the same time, at the exact spot Guinevere had just been sitting, a small slip of paper gently fluttered down.
"Since you think the King of Heroes is a great enemy, try launching an attack on him tonight. However, the King of Heroes will likely refuse to fight. I drank him under the table last night, and he might not have even woken up yet."
"But, the Lancer of this Holy Grail War also belongs to Kirei Kotomine."