"...Mmm."
When Shirou opened his eyes early the next morning, he found his entire body so sore that he could barely move. The moment he tried to prop himself up, his abdominal muscles felt as though they were being torn apart.
Yet despite the state the rest of his body was in, one particular part of him stood proudly erect, even more energetic than on most mornings.
"You'd better not move around too much yet. That's what happens the first time you have your essence drained. Your body should adjust in a few minutes."
Following the voice, Shirou looked over at Natalia, the Succubus Mixed-Blood responsible for his current condition.
The scantily clad huntress was sitting at the head of the bed with a lit cigarette between her lips.
The scene looked very much like the "aftermath" of an intense night between them, but in reality, all they had done was sleep in the same bed until dawn.
Natalia had successfully absorbed a large amount of vital energy from Shirou and converted it into Mana. Her complexion was much healthier than it had been yesterday.
"Hmm?"
The silver-haired huntress glanced at Shirou. Her gaze first settled on his face, then swiftly moved downward before finally stopping on the tent below his waist.
"As expected of a young man. You're certainly full of energy." Natalia grinned wickedly. "Did you enjoy yourself last night?"
"Not even a little!"
Shirou hurriedly covered himself with the blanket.
He really had slept poorly the night before. After all, there had been a woman he had only just met sleeping right beside him.
Since they were staying in a single room, the bed was also extremely narrow. The slightest movement from Shirou would press his skin against Natalia's.
To make matters worse, Natalia was a terrible sleeper. No matter how hard Shirou tried to avoid her, he had still ended up being thoroughly manhandled by her in her sleep.
During the latter half of the night, Shirou seemed to have had several dreams.
He could no longer remember the details, but they had probably been those kinds of dreams...
Shirou recalled the sex-dream Lady Avalon had given him as a reward during the Fourth Holy Grail War.
A Succubus draining vital energy was fundamentally an act of consuming the human spirit. That was why they induced dreams to assist with the absorption.
The good news was that Natalia was a Mixed-Blood whose lineage had become extremely diluted, so she could not see into Shirou's dreams.
Sharing a bed with a woman he had only just met was bad enough. If she had also seen the depths of his heart, it would have been a complete disaster...
"By the way, who's Rin Tohsaka? Is she your girlfriend in Japan? Sakura is her younger sister, and Aunt Tohsaka is their mother?"
"You looked into my dreams?!"
Shirou screamed, but Natalia merely laughed.
"You were just muttering those names a moment ago."
After lying weakly in bed for around ten minutes, the soreness gradually subsided and Shirou regained the ability to move.
"Hurry up and get dressed!" he grumbled, tossing the pants from the floor to Natalia, who was still wearing nothing but her underwear.
She began pulling them on with obvious annoyance, then spoke in a thoughtful tone.
"Kid, this was your first time having your essence drained. That's why the side effects are so severe."
Shirou stared at her speechlessly. "What else would it be? Normal people don't experience things like this."
Natalia's Mana had been nearly exhausted, so she had shown Shirou no mercy the night before.
Shirou's aptitude as a Magus might have been mediocre, but he had trained diligently since the age of eight. An ordinary person would have been drained dry long ago.
"But... didn't you say you were raised by a Succubus?"
"Well, that's true."
The cheerful face of the Magus of Flowers surfaced in Shirou's mind.
Lady Avalon...
During that forgotten period of his past, she had been his teacher. She had also been the woman who found him and raised him, making her something akin to a mother.
"Now that you mention it..."
Shirou nodded thoughtfully. Lady Avalon did not seem to have drained his vital energy even once.
"Hehe. That person must have cared about you very much," Natalia said with a smile.
Shirou pursed his lips. "Did she? I always thought she just treated me like a convenient errand boy."
Natalia shook her head firmly. "That isn't true. No matter how you look at it, draining someone's essence is an act that harms them. That person must have treasured and adored you deeply. Even if it meant suppressing her natural urges, she refused to do anything that might hurt you."
"..."
Shirou scratched his cheek, slightly embarrassed.
"What's that supposed to mean? You don't know anything about her, but you're already jumping to conclusions."
"I'm not jumping to conclusions."
Shirou looked over in surprise and found that Natalia's gaze and tone had become especially gentle.
"I once had someone... who was like family to me."
Once...
"Is that person no longer around?" Shirou asked.
Natalia nodded, then answered as casually as if it were nothing.
"He died."
So that was it. No wonder...
The question that had been troubling Shirou was finally answered.
Why had Natalia entered the enemy's stronghold alone? No matter how much of a loner she was, it was still a reckless and dangerous thing to do.
She must once have had a companion she genuinely trusted.
Perhaps that person's death was what made her come to dislike working with others.
"When I first met him, he was a brat even younger than you. It was a real headache when he said he wanted to join me in my work. That kid was incredibly stubborn. No matter how much I talked myself hoarse, there was no chance he would give up."
"I thought you'd be a colder person," Shirou said.
Natalia gave a faint, self-deprecating smile. "Of course I'm cold. If I weren't a cold, selfish woman, I could never drain the essence of an underage brat like you, could I? Still... I did put a great deal of effort into raising him. After all, fighting was the only thing I knew how to teach a child."
Natalia turned toward Shirou.
"Hehe. It's rather funny when I think about it... For some reason, the moment I saw Shirou-kun, I suddenly remembered that brat. So many years have passed that I can barely even remember what he looked like. Could it be because you were also raised by a Succubus?"
Shirou did not know the answer either.
But after hearing Natalia's memories, a strange feeling suddenly arose within him.
Natalia's problems no longer felt like hers alone. He could not simply abandon her.
"...For a very long time, I lived a bloody life all by myself. So long that I forgot I was even alone. That feeling of living and fighting alongside someone who feels like family... I suppose I miss it a little."
Then, without warning, Natalia asked, "Shirou-kun, once this incident is over, would you like to come with me?"
Shirou fell silent.
A single glance at his reaction was enough for Natalia to understand his answer.
"I see. Forget I said anything. Sorry for making you listen to me wax sentimental first thing in the morning..."
Natalia stretched her arms high above her head with a long, "Mmm~~~"
Her loose white tank top pulled taut, further accentuating the youthful, sensual curves of her body.
"People tend to grow sentimental as they get older. I may not look it, but I'm actually quite old, you know? I'm old enough to be Shirou-kun's grandmother. It's only because of my Mixed-Blood heritage that I've kept this appearance."
Natalia leaned back against the pillow and spoke lazily.
"If Shirou hadn't happened to show up this time, I definitely would have died here. I really am getting old. In that case, perhaps it's about time. I've decided. I'm retiring after this job!"
Shirou broke into a cold sweat. "Hey, that's a death flag."
"Haha! It'll be fine. Shirou-kun, your face says you intend to protect me until the very end."
Natalia smiled as she studied the red-haired boy's face, then murmured gently, "That's one thing you don't resemble him in... You're quite the man."
"...What do you plan to do after retiring as an Enforcer?"
At Shirou's question, Natalia tilted her head in thought.
"If I'm unemployed... Hmm, I suppose I really will have to take on the role of a mother. But at my age, being a mother doesn't feel quite right. That's it... I'll be a grandmother! I wouldn't have to worry about educating the children or making ends meet. A carefree life where all I have to do is watch my grandchildren grow up every day would suit me perfectly~"
"You don't even have a son yet," Shirou retorted.
"That's true." Natalia narrowed her eyes with a smile.
...
"What's going on? You both look unusually refreshed."
Caren coldly studied Shirou and Natalia.
Unlike the awkwardness between them the previous night, the two now seemed to have opened their hearts to each other, radiating a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
Could they have done something last night...?
"Let me make this clear. It's nothing like what you're imagining," Shirou said, cutting off the girl's fantasies.
"..."
Caren snorted and decided not to pursue the matter.
She had spent half the night with her ear pressed to the wall, and she really had not heard any sounds that should not have been made.
"So what do we do next? Do we have a plan? How are we supposed to find the enemy's location without alerting them?"
"Mm, I've thought of something."
Natalia looked at Shirou and gave him a knowing smile. "You're the one who inspired me, kid."
A few minutes later, the residents wandering through the streets spotted a woman staggering along at a run.
As she ran, she loudly shouted the name "Heinrich Zepter."
It was not long before armed people appeared in the street.
Some drew their bows and fired arrows at her.
Others pulled the triggers of old-fashioned rifles.
And just like that, it was over.
An arrow struck the woman's shoulder and a bullet pierced her abdomen. She slowly collapsed to the ground.
The villagers rushed forward and crowded around the woman's body.
"She's dead, right?"
"Yes."
"Take her to the doctor."
"The doctor isn't here."
"Mm, but Arach is."
"No facilities here. Leave her with Arach."
"Agreed."
"Let's carry her away."
Her consciousness sank into the abyss. Her breathing stopped, and her heart ceased to beat. Natalia had quite literally "died."
It was a state of suspended animation achieved through Magecraft, but her hearing continued to gather information.
Deep within her consciousness, she reacted to the word "doctor," considered its meaning, and reached a conclusion.
The doctor was "the person who treated them." That could be no one other than Heinrich Zepter.
In that case, go ahead and carry me away.
Take me to Heinrich Zepter.
"...Phew."
Watching from the inn's window, Shirou sighed in relief and lowered the black bow he had been holding in a sniping stance.
It looked like she had passed their test. They were fortunate Natalia had not been dismembered on the spot or subjected to some similar atrocity.
"She's reckless... Though I'm hardly in any position to criticize her."
When Shirou first met Natalia, he had deliberately allowed himself to be caught in her attack so that she would reveal her true nature.
Inspired by that, Natalia had now used the same method to approach the enemy's leader.
The rest was Shirou's job.
First, he had to determine where Natalia's Mana was being taken.
She was, after all, a woman who had slept beside him for an entire night. Shirou could clearly sense her Mana.
"I'll leave the inn in your hands."
After giving Caren his instructions, Shirou activated "Presence Concealment" and left through the inn's back door.
Meanwhile, the villagers carried Natalia, still in her state of suspended animation, to the "doctor's" residence.
Prediction: The villagers did not carefully confirm my death, but Zepter is unlikely to be equally careless.
Prediction: Zepter will attack the instant he sees me.
Prediction: Therefore, I must act before Zepter sees me and subdue him as quickly as possible.
Prediction: The villagers said the "doctor" wasn't here. Is he out? That's a great help. It gives me time to prepare a trap.
Question: Who is "Arach"? The doctor's stand-in? Then he must be either an apprentice or an assistant. Whichever he is, if he inherited the doctor's Magecraft, I'll have to eliminate him as well.
Hope: I hope the villagers leave immediately after carrying me into the doctor's residence.
Click.
A door opened somewhere.
Creak.
Someone stepped across wooden floorboards.
"Arach... brought you material."
"Just leave it over there."
The person called Arach appeared to be a man with a strong accent.
Along with his footsteps, Natalia could hear something metallic scraping.
She decided it was still too soon to open her eyes.
The villagers left at once.
Their footsteps gradually receded into the distance. The last person, presumably, closed the door with a creak of its hinges.
Several seconds after confirming they were gone, Natalia activated her vision.
Without moving her head, she surveyed her surroundings with only her eyes.
Just as she had predicted, there was not a single object in the room that belonged in a doctor's residence. Instead, the walls were covered with various Magecraft implements, along with axes, daggers, cleavers, and other tools used for dismemberment.
Inside a glass jar on a cabinet, a fetus with five arms and fangs stared at her with round eyes.
Countless expensive magic tomes lay piled carelessly across the floor.
This was a textbook Magus's Workshop.
Natalia was certain.
This was Heinrich Zepter's residence.
"...What's this? You're still alive?"
The instant Arach spoke, Natalia sprang from the medical bed.
She activated her Magic Circuits and snapped the stunned man's neck in a single motion.
"Urgh..."
Only after breaking his neck did Natalia notice that the man's face was as grotesque as a piece of French abstract art.
Even with his neck broken, Arach remained alive.
"You... What are you doing?!"
His broken head hanging limply to one side, Arach raised a cleaver stained with dried blood and rust.
Natalia nimbly evaded him, concentrated Mana in her arm, and brought a knife-hand strike down on his neck.
As a descendant of a Succubus, she was not merely a huntress who relied on firearms. She possessed another ability, the power to rapidly expend all her stored Mana at once.
Mad Enhancement.
For a short time, Natalia's body could produce explosive power beyond human limits, drastically enhancing all her physical abilities.
The vital energy she had drained from Shirou had been stored for precisely this kind of battle.
Natalia's knife-hand strike split the man vertically in two.
She leaped back to avoid the spray of blood, certain that the attack had finished him.
Whether the man before her was a Magus, a ghoul, or some other kind of monster, having his heart torn apart should have caused every function in his body to cease.
And yet...
"How... is this possible...?"
The bisected corpse writhed and rose to its feet, spilling blood and entrails onto the floor.
"It... hurts... It hurts... so much..."
"What kind of research produces something this pointless? The thought alone makes me sick."
Natalia let out a long, disgusted sigh and kicked Arach away when he tried to attack her.
"Can't... take it..."
"Where is the 'doctor' who created you? Tell me, or I'll chop you into mincemeat."
Natalia seized the cleaver and held it against the man's body.
"The doctor... there..."
Arach raised a trembling finger and pointed at the bookshelf.
Natalia assumed there was a hidden entrance behind it, but there did not seem to be one.
"T-TV... the television..."
Arach pointed alternately at the television and the bookshelf.
The shelves held magic tomes too complex for an idiot to understand, what appeared to be the villagers' medical records, and...
"Videotapes...?"
A television and videotapes?
...
Shirou had become highly proficient with "Presence Concealment."
He effortlessly slipped past the watching eyes and found the house Natalia had been carried into.
"Oh, you're here?"
For some reason, Natalia was sitting on a sofa watching television.
"What are you doing?"
Shirou was about to complain when his attention was drawn to "that thing" piled in the corner of the room.
"What is that?"
"Apparently, his name is Arach. He seems to be Heinrich Zepter's assistant or apprentice."
Shirou was about to take a closer look when Natalia called him over and pointed at the television.
"Zepter...?"
"Yes. Kid, it looks like this is a love letter from hell."
A long-haired man appeared on the television screen.
Half his face was hidden beneath a thick beard. Within his deeply sunken eyes, there was neither madness nor emptiness, only the light of reason.
"To the Association's hounds watching this recording, my name is Heinrich Zepter. I am the man you have been hunting."
Shirou sat down beside Natalia.
"Regardless of when you are watching this recording, I departed this world in 1978."
It was now 2002.
Shirou clicked his tongue.
This man had already been dead for more than twenty years...