Unlike every Singularity before it, Ritsuka found herself not only in a modern city but without Mash—the partner who'd stood at her side through everything. There was no being ambushed the moment she arrived, no meeting a local contact, no brawling her way to an alliance or having someone swoop in to help mid-fight, no convenient place to stay materializing on its own.
"My name is Ritsuka Fujimaru. I have a reservation here—please check." She held a round fluffy bundle under one arm while applying suggestion to the hotel's front desk clerk.
The room was secured without incident.
She'd rented a mid-range room. Ritsuka collapsed face-first onto the bed. "Pretty comfortable. And the best part is not paying."
"In the magus world, suggestion on civilians is perfectly standard," Dr. Roman said helplessly, "but it's best not to overdo it—other magi will notice..."
"Mrr?" This person called a Master was very strange. She could generate several different voices at once.
Because of the cross-timeline nature of the contact, Dr. Roman's voice was heavily distorted, and the signal cut out entirely more often than not.
"What else am I supposed to do? I don't have a cent that works in this era. Rayshift is off the table. Rob a bank?"
"Joking aside—if a magus made a scene like that, the local Church and the founding families wouldn't ignore it. The Tohsaka family's Servant is powerful and... not easy to reason with, from what I know. So this method is actually..." El-Melloi's voice seemed to trail off. His face had gone slightly red.
Ritsuka set down the round creature Yimi had curled herself into and flipped through a calendar on the desk.
"As expected—the Fourth Holy Grail War." Lord El-Melloi II let out a slow breath.
"That many in a city this small?" Dr. Roman was baffled.
"Not quite... How to put it. If this is the one in my memory, I can offer informed analysis—this particular War does have structural problems baked in, which would explain a Ruler's appearance. My only doubt is that in our timeline the Counter Force never intervened directly. That gives me pause."
Following El-Melloi's train of thought, Ritsuka looked at the small bundle that hadn't moved since tucking in its limbs.
Why turn into a cat? Because Yimi couldn't spirit-form, and this world—unlike the last—wasn't full of oddly-shaped people who'd let her walk around with cat ears and a tail without comment.
Ritsuka and the others didn't underestimate her for her size. Whatever her true age, anyone who'd become a Heroic Spirit had left behind a legend worthy of the title.
Heroes in human history who could transform into animals weren't rare—mythology east and west alike had its cat spirits. But a cat who could hold the Ruler class was another matter entirely.
Then there was Yimi's Status Panel—even Ritsuka, bound to her by proper contract, could see only the basic figures.
Yimi
Class: Ruler
STR: E | END: E | AGI: E
MAG: EX | LCK: EX
Class Skill: [True Name Discernment]
"MAG at the top and everything else at E—looks more like Caster stats. Do you want to set up a workshop first?" Ritsuka reached toward her, then remembered this wasn't Fou.
"A territory?" Yimi's ears shifted. She unfolded back into girl form, perching on the bed and bouncing lightly.
Ritsuka held up one finger. "Or—do you have any magecraft you're confident in? We'll be together for a while—mutual trust and understanding are both necessary."
"Magecraft?" The cat's face went blank. The class knowledge covered the Holy Grail War well enough, but actual magecraft was another story.
"Stats aside—the point is your class. It's hard to imagine a Ruler who can have a Master in a regular Holy Grail War." El-Melloi's voice went serious again. "Ruler appearances are rare. I have limited documentation. But the records indicate a Ruler should possess a class skill allowing direct Command Seal authority over participating Heroic Spirits. You truly don't have that?"
"Lord El-Melloi—didn't you say Rulers are saints without wishes? Even if she had that skill, would a Ruler really use it for anything underhanded?" Ritsuka pointed out.
Yimi had gone very still after hearing El-Melloi's words.
A Ruler could have something that useful? Why doesn't she have it?!
She checked the freshly expanded entries on her Status Panel.
Personal Skills:
Mana Burst A+
Innocent Monster E
Golden Rule C
Divinity EX
Miracle A+++
Materialization of the Soul (?)
Noble Phantasms:
[Unjust Scales] A++ — Type: Anti-Unit
[God-Slaying Spear] A++ — Type: Anti-Divine
[My Lord Is Here] EX—Type: Barrier
...
The Doom-shroom and the squirt gun didn't count as Noble Phantasms.
The answer to why she'd been able to learn Haki in the last world was right there on the panel. Whether it was the power of Miracle or of her Stand, everything she'd gained had been converted into this world's system—Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki translated into something called magical energy, and Yimi herself had gained Magic Circuits outright.
Reverting was easy enough in theory—but converting all that magical energy back into Haki while holding the Soul Materialization skill would be catastrophically unwise. The skill was precisely why her Mana had broken the scale.
Its origin was obvious: the soul-soul fruit ability taken from Big Mom in the last world, naturalized in the strange space she'd passed through on arrival.
The System had issued no quests for this world. Fortunately, accumulated energy from previous worlds sat at around 225%—enough to portal out immediately if she chose. But the cat was curious about this Holy Grail. The class knowledge identified it as a product of the Third Magic, some kind of wish-granting device.
If it could grant wishes—could she just wish her way home?
Yimi's little mouth pressed itself into three neat sections.
Incredibly cute.
Ritsuka stared at that face and quietly made up her mind: when she got back to Chaldea, she was going to try summoning this one.
Yimi raised a paw toward her. "Let's go steal the cup!"
"That's the spirit!" Ritsuka pumped her fist.
"Is that really something a Ruler should be saying?! Ritsuka, stop encouraging her!" Dr. Roman protested loudly. "And wasn't she just saying Rulers are saints without wishes?!"
"Nonsense." The cat crossed both arms over her chest, wearing the same contemptuous expression she'd used to put little boys in their place in the dating-sim world.
Think about it carefully. What was the Holy Grail?
A manifestation of the Third Magic. A wish-fulfillment artifact. Made by the Einzbern family.
But what was its origin?
Grail legends were numerous, but the classic was Jesus at the Last Supper, producing a cup and declaring the wine within it to be his blood. That cup had long been attributed miraculous properties.
So: roughly speaking, the Holy Grail belonged to a saint.
Rounding up one more time: the Holy Grail should be hers.
Meaning the Holy Grail War was seven random people fighting over the cat's treasure. Outrageous!