A hotel in Sighișoara.
A girl with silvery-white hair sat on the edge of the bed, staring anxiously at the clock as the second hand ticked slowly onward.
It was 8:00 p.m.
Well past the time they had agreed on.
"Is Saber okay...?"
The battle had started half an hour earlier, and Manaka had sensed the commotion in the streets the moment it began.
Saber was fighting someone.
His opponent was formidable. Even in this Great Holy Grail War filled with brilliant stars, Lancer's overwhelming strength was in a class of its own.
Manaka desperately wanted to rush out and see what was happening, or help her Servant.
She wanted to, but she couldn't.
Before he left, the two of them had agreed that no matter what happened, Manaka would not leave the inn.
And so, the girl spent roughly half an hour caught between unease and anxiety.
The streets had gone quiet again. The battle outside had ended some time ago.
Manaka Sajyou folded her hands over her soft chest. Her deeply furrowed expression finally eased, replaced by relief.
She could still feel it, the Mana thread connecting her to Shirou, more important to her than life itself.
He should be back any moment now.
With that thought, Manaka Sajyou quickly got up and began tidying the room.
As she busied herself, she thought.
To keep his own Master locked up in a room, what a selfish, tyrannical king he is.
Manaka pouted resentfully. But that's exactly what I love about him. I even love that part of him.
But...
If that's how it is, then I'll have to take proper measures too, the girl thought.
That's right.
As a reward for being good tonight and obediently staying in my room... Shirou has to pay up.
So...
Once he gets back, I'll have to make him stroke my hair.
No, no, no... I'm not a child anymore. A simple head pat won't be enough!
The moment the word "satisfaction" appeared in her mind, Manaka Sajyou's cheeks heated up at once.
What exactly had she imagined? A bewitching, mature gleam shimmered in the eyes of the pure, innocent girl.
"Ugh... a kiss on the cheek is still too much. I'm not mentally prepared for that yet...!"
Manaka Sajyou cupped her flushed cheeks and gave her shoulders an adorable little shake.
"So, um... a kiss on the forehead... should be fine, right?"
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Shirou was back!
The girl hurried to the door, first taking a deep breath, then composing her expression before finally opening it.
"You're back, Saber..."
Halfway through her greeting, Manaka Sajyou's smile froze. Her beautiful eyes, which seemed to reflect the stars, turned into black holes.
Standing in the doorway was the boy she had been longing for. But he was not alone. There was another woman with him.
Her blonde hair was neatly arranged into three braids, and her refined beauty and fair skin gave off an air of nobility and purity.
She seemed to be wearing a school uniform. The simple, fresh outfit could not hide her well-developed figure.
Her full bust, impossible to imagine from such a slender waist, was a summit far beyond Manaka Sajyou's reach in shape, volume, and firmness alike.
"Saber, who is this?"
Manaka Sajyou stared at Jeanne d'Arc, her voice trembling as she asked.
"I met her on my way back. She's the Ruler overseeing this Holy Grail War. She is Jean..."
The blonde girl suddenly stepped forward, nudged Shirou aside, and introduced herself before he could mangle her name.
"You must be Artorius's Master, right? Nice to meet you. My True Name is Jeanne d'Arc."
"Ar... Arthur?"
Manaka Sajyou's face turned even paler.
Why would a Ruler she had just met address Arthur so intimately?
In truth, Shirou had kept deliberately mispronouncing Jeanne's name, so in retaliation, she had used True Name Perception to see through Shirou's True Name, Artorius Pendragon.
Manaka did her best to steady herself before asking.
"W-why is Ruler with Saber?"
Jeanne glanced at Shirou. This sort of thing would be better explained by him.
Of course, their wordless exchange did not escape Manaka's eyes either.
"What, now you remember I'm here?"
"Come on, just explain it already."
Shirou explained the situation to Manaka.
Ruler had only just arrived in Sighișoara that evening and found herself with nowhere to spend the night.
Since it was peak tourist season, every inn in town was fully booked.
That was why she had asked Shirou for help, hoping to stay here temporarily until she found proper lodging.
"Just to be clear, allow me to state my position. In this Great Holy Grail War, I have no intention of assisting either the 'Black' or 'Red' faction. I came here solely because I need a temporary place to stay."
Jeanne spoke in a serious tone. "As for the lodging expenses, I will pay them properly."
"What's with the formal act?" Shirou muttered.
"Artorius, did you say something just now?" Jeanne asked with a bright smile.
"You said you'll pay. Do you even have money?"
"I do... of course I do! How else do you think I got to Romania? I paid my own way! My own way!"
As she spoke, Jeanne pulled the plane ticket from her pocket and slapped it against Shirou's face.
She said she had paid her own way, but to be precise, she had bought the ticket with Leticia's allowance.
Just thinking about applying to the Holy Church or the Mage's Association for reimbursement afterward made her feel deeply depressed.
"So you want to stay here because you don't have anywhere else to go?"
Manaka's voice brought Jeanne and Shirou's bickering to a halt.
"Ah, um, yes."
"Really?"
The girl's brows drew together slightly, her eyes filled with suspicion.
Her instincts were not wrong.
No matter how carefree Jeanne might be, she would not approach one side of the Holy Grail War for a reason that flimsy. It would be a clear dereliction of duty.
The real reason she had approached Shirou was to make surveillance and investigation easier.
Although Manaka Sajyou had not seen that far into her motives, she could vaguely sense that this woman had some ulterior motive for getting close to her Saber.
"!"
Jeanne jolted and quickly straightened her back.
As a result, her already very eye-catching, ample bosom swayed right in front of Manaka's eyes.
Manaka: "..."
Jeanne: "?"
The Holy Maiden sensed killing intent for no apparent reason.
"Manaka, I'm counting on you too."
"Huh?"
Shirou's voice brought the girl back to herself.
"Can Ruler stay here?"
The pleading note in Shirou's voice surprised Manaka greatly.
She had never seen Shirou ask her for something so seriously before...
Saber, do you really want this woman to live with us that badly?
Jeanne bowed deeply. "I'm counting on you as well."
Manaka Sajyou bit her lip, then finally nodded.
"...All right."
She was extremely unwilling, but in the end, she still could not refuse him.
"Wonderful! Thank you, Manaka-san!"
Jeanne happily opened her arms, and those two weighty masses pressed toward Manaka Sajyou.
"I look forward to getting along with you from now on~"
"Heh... hehe."
Manaka Sajyou wanted nothing more than to shove this woman away, but for Shirou's sake, she could only bite her lip in humiliation.
...
When Shirou Kotomine arrived, the "Red" Assassin was seated on the throne, reprimanding Lancer for failing to win his first battle.
Not only had he failed to complete the mission of intercepting and eliminating Ruler, he had also been forced onto the back foot in battle against the enemy. In the end, she had no choice but to expend a Command Spell to forcibly teleport him back...
This left the Assassin especially displeased, her beautiful face pale with anger.
Faced with her rebuke, the "Red" Lancer, Karna, remained indifferent, standing there without the slightest change in expression.
Thanks to the self-regenerating effects of his golden armor, the wounds he had sustained in his evening battle with Shirou had already healed completely.
"All right, that's enough."
Shirou Kotomine interrupted Assassin's lecture and walked to the side of the throne like an attendant.
"Master, you're here."
The woman immediately suppressed her anger, then shot Lancer a fierce glare.
"You worked hard tonight, Lancer. That will be all. You may withdraw."
After the young Father Kotomine ordered Karna to leave, he turned to Assassin and asked, "How is the situation?"
Shirou Kotomine noticed a gray dove perched on Assassin's shoulder.
Assassin. Her True Name was Semiramis, the world's oldest poisoner.
The one she had poisoned to death was her husband, King Ninus, the man who had taken her from her first husband, Onnes.
After poisoning her second husband, she ruled Assyria for decades as Queen of Assyria.
Legend says that Semiramis was abandoned by her mother not long after birth and raised by doves.
Manifested as a Servant, she could bring all the pigeons within a nation under her sway and use them as familiars.
That was because, although she was an Assassin, she was also a Caster.
The "Double Summoning" possessed by Semiramis was an exceedingly rare Class Skill that allowed her to hold both the Assassin and Caster Classes at the same time.
"We've received word. It seems our Berserker will soon arrive in Trifas. Archer and Rider are also ready to follow as the second wave."
Semiramis said, "Of course, Ruler has also detected Berserker's movements. She will likely go there tonight as well. What shall we do, Shirou? Shall we continue with the plan to eliminate Ruler? That useless Lancer failed, but with Archer and Rider... Setting Archer aside for the moment, Rider certainly won't agree, so when the time comes, we can force him with a Command Spell."
"No need." Shirou Kotomine shook his head.
"No need?"
Semiramis was somewhat surprised. After all, Shirou Kotomine had always regarded Ruler as his greatest enemy.
But she did not know that in the young priest's heart, there was now someone he needed to be even warier of than the Holy Maiden Jeanne d'Arc.
"Yes. Our most urgent task right now is dealing with the rampaging Berserker."
Though he said that, what surfaced in Shirou Kotomine's mind was the figure of the red-haired youth.
...
After dinner, Shirou and Jeanne left the inn separately.
Of course, they were not acting together.
After all, Jeanne was only staying there as a guest. It would be a problem if anyone mistook her for unfairly supporting Shirou's side.
Most likely to avoid that very suspicion, she left the inn without saying a word.
Half a day earlier, Jeanne had already sensed it through her Ruler's Privilege.
The "Black" Berserker was marching toward Trifas.
Tonight, the Berserker would likely reach the city outskirts, and naturally, Yggdmillennia would be there to intercept him.
Jeanne did not know why Berserker's Master was doing this.
But considering that the opponent was a Berserker, irrational and impossible to reason with, the girl felt she had to go there tonight to maintain order.
After all, protecting uninvolved people from being caught up in the Holy Grail War was also one of Ruler's sacred duties.
"Why did you follow me?"
Jeanne stopped on the forest path.
Her brows drew together slightly as she looked at the red-haired boy who had followed her all the way from Sighișoara to Trifas.
Shirou shrugged, unconcerned.
"It's not like anyone said I couldn't follow you, right?"
Jeanne said in frustration, "If you do this, people will think I'm acting unfairly!"
If anyone saw Ruler together with a Servant, she would never be able to clear her name, even if she threw herself onto the stake.
"What does your innocence have to do with me?"
"...Stop following me!"
Shirou raised an eyebrow and lifted his chin. "Hm? Is that how the Holy Maiden asks someone for a favor?"
"Ugh."
Jeanne's brow twitched. After struggling with herself for a while, she lowered her head and spoke with a look of humiliation and resentment.
"I-I'm sorry... Artorius-sama, please stop following me."
"Hmph, that's more like it."
Shirou nodded in satisfaction. That was enough teasing the Holy Maiden for now.
He watched Jeanne disappear into the depths of the forest.
"All right, I should get down to business too."
The reason he had followed Jeanne to Trifas was certainly not to make things difficult for the Holy Maiden... well, that was one of the reasons.
Even someone as dense as Shirou had noticed that Manaka Sajyou seemed gloomy tonight.
So, to bring a smile back to his Master's face, he had decided to achieve some results.
Since the battlefield was a forest late at night, Shirou did not think it was a suitable place for a Master to be moving around, so he had her stay at home while he went out hunting alone.
Although Manaka looked as if she was about to cry when she heard Shirou was going out with Jeanne, he was sure she would understand his sincere intentions.
While Berserker was causing chaos, it would be nice if he could easily pick off a head.
With that thought, Shirou soon met his fated Boy Meets Girl (?) in the forest.
"Yahoo! Good evening! The moon is beautiful tonight!"
The owner of the clear, lovely voice stood on a tree branch, greeting Shirou with spirited enthusiasm.
Wrapped in a white cloak, dressed in a knightly outfit, and wearing a miniskirt even shorter than the Holy Maiden's, the girl had a head of adorable long pink hair.
But why...
Even though she was a peerless beauty whose cuteness rivaled Manaka's, Shirou's Mystic Eyes gave him the impression of "♂."