In the afternoon, the pedestrian paradise in front of the shopping mall at the heart of Snowfield City bustled with people. A gentle breeze swept through, carrying a trace of the desert's unique sumr heat. After finishing cake with Tiamat, Matou Yuu stood up at once and prepared to leave with her.
"Tiamat, it looks like you've finished eating too. Shall we head back?"
The mont he spoke, Tiamat's small ahoge drooped. She silently lowered the hand that had been propping her chin, disappointnt written all over her face.
"…Is there anywhere else you'd like to go?" Matou Yuu noticed the shift in her mood and asked gently.
"No." Tiamat shook her head. "It's just… I don't really want to go back yet. The outside world is so lively and fun."
With that, she hopped down from the bar stool without hesitation, walked over to Matou Yuu, and tugged at his sleeve. "Don't worry about it… let's go ho."
Where the hell is this damn guilt coming from…?
Matou Yuu smiled. "Actually, if you want to stay outside a little longer, it's completely fine."
"Given your current position in this fake Holy Grail War, no Servant should be able to threaten you."
"But it's dangerous." Tiamat Lily looked up, her expression more serious than usual. "You can't just run around… let's go ho."
She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him away, yet no matter how hard she tried, but she couldn't budge him. She could only stare up at him with teary red eyes, confused.
"If you really don't want to go back yet, we can stay a bit longer. If not, I'll wait at the hotel."
Matou Yuu smiled again. "Don't forget—I'm your Master. If we run into real danger I can't handle, there are still Command Seals on the back of my hand, right?"
Even after hearing that, Tiamat Lily showed no joy. Instead, she hugged his arm tighter, buried her face in his sleeve, and shook her head like a rattling drum.
"No. I have to stay with you."
"Being alone is so lonely," ca her muffled voice from inside his arms. "Especially… in a place this lively."
He had only ant to be kind, yet the logic baffled him. "If you feel lonely, why say you like the outside world?"
"But when I'm with you, I'm not lonely," Tiamat cut him off calmly.
He found himself staring into her eyes. They reflected the gentle afternoon light—bright, clear, and utterly cloudless. From start to finish, he had sensed no violent emotional swings in her tone. Yet within those calm words he clearly felt a clumsy but sincere weight that pressed heavily on his chest. For a mont, he was speechless.
So that's how it is…
He sighed inwardly. She had once cruelly abandoned, trapped in the imaginary sea where no light reached, and had endured loneliness for a long ti. That was why, when she was born into this world in such a small form, she overflowed with childlike curiosity toward the colorful outside.
But Tiamat did not belong here. Standing alone on the streets of a lively city, surrounded by people who had nothing to do with her or unconsciously rejected her, must have felt even more suffocating than drifting in the sea of imaginary numbers. Only when Matou Yuu—the sole child in the world who had contracted with her and accepted her—stood beside her and held her hand did everything around her feel aningful and interesting.
She was curious about human society, yet she did not like the bustling city itself. She simply liked the person who held her hand and showed her around.
Just as Matou Yuu's emotions churned, lines of text appeared on his retina. A familiar chanical notification echoed in his mind.
[Crunch!]
[The Erger from the Deep Sea has been confird to possess an extrely strong desire to explore the surface civilization of the current dinsion. Host trust level has exceeded the critical point.]
[Current Mission Activated: Imdiately guide the Deep Sea Larva to the city's largest "Large Centrifugal Force Dizziness Suppression · Dopamine Forced Secretion Entertainnt Center." To maximize emotional module satisfaction, have the Spirit experience attractions including the "High-Altitude Gravity Potential Energy High-Speed Conversion Device" and "Multi-Axis Irregular Rotation tal Cockpit."]
[Mission Reward: Free Attribute Points 2]
Matou Yuu stared blankly for a few seconds before his lips twitched. Large-scale centrifugal force that suppresses dizziness while forcing dopamine secretion… an entertainnt venue? In plain terms—wasn't that just an amusent park?
Stimulating, fun, novel… the perfect place to satisfy a "Deep Sea Larva" who had only just encountered modern civilization and was bursting with curiosity.
He took a deep breath and dismissed the system panel. Turning his gaze down the street, he spotted a tall billboard in the distance advertising various rides—Ferris wheel, cartoon characters, roller coaster.
"Want to check that out?" He pointed.
Tiamat followed his finger. The mont she saw people on the roller coaster with arms spread wide and smiling faces, her previously dull red eyes lit up.
"I want to go…!" She nodded hard; even her ahoge stood on end in excitent.
He hesitated for a split second, then gently patted her head. "You don't have to worry so much. If you want to go, then go."
Tiamat had joined this cruel war under the title of "Servant," yet she belonged to no heroic throne. She was a heretic, an exception to the rules. The Holy Grail had granted her no common sense or knowledge of modern society. Precisely because of that emptiness, she could feel and experience every beautiful thing in the world like a newborn.
Reason told Matou Yuu that taking her to a crowded amusent park where countless eyes would be watching was terrible for keeping the Holy Grail War secret and might invite unnecessary trouble.
But so what?
Sotis, to put a smile on the face of a girl who had been lonely for tens of thousands of years, a Magus didn't need to weigh risks or benefits.
He wrapped her soft little hand in his own.
Let's go.
Bathed in sunlight, the black-haired young man smiled brightly at her. "Today I'll take you to every tourist spot."
…
In a remote abandoned factory on the outskirts of Snowfield City, afternoon sunlight pierced the iron bars and lit the dim interior. A black supercar—a Lykan HyperSport, one of only seven in the world, its entire body armored in carbon fiber—sat quietly parked.
A man nad Bazdilot Cordelion rested one foot on the hood and lit a special Cuban cigar. He took a deep drag, exhaled smoke, and cast an utterly indifferent gaze at the subordinate kneeling before the car.
"Is your information reliable? Hero King Gilgash defeated, and even Enkidu—who rivals him—chose to 'retreat'… Where the hell did you get that secret intel?"
"Correct, Lord Bazdilot. This was intercepted at great expense by a spy we planted in the police departnt's cybersecurity division—internal communication frequencies…" Enrico replied humbly.
"I see. So it's police intel…"
Bazdilot muttered thoughtfully, then without warning drew a black pistol from inside his suit and aid it straight at the subordinate's forehead.
"Thinking that way, the accuracy seems beyond doubt."
The fawning smile froze. Cold sweat poured down the man's face. "Lord Bazdilot—!"
Bang!
A muffled gunshot echoed through the empty factory. A vivid red flower blood between the man's brows. He collapsed straight into the spreading pool of blood.
Bazdilot didn't spare the corpse a glance, only let out a cold laugh.
"Considering Orlando's thods, if he hadn't deliberately set a trap, how could he have obtained last night's top-secret information by noon today?"
The trusted aide beside him swallowed hard. "Lord Bazdilot, now that we know they're setting a trap and using us as pawns, what should we do next?"
"If politicians want others to do their dirty work, we'll play along." Bazdilot exhaled a smoke ring. "Ti to bring out our trump card."
He slowly lifted his gaze to a nearby surveillance monitor. The screen showed a terrifying figure that would chill any Magus to the bone—a giant over two ters tall, powerful body casually wrapped in a single cloth like a burial shroud, gripping a massive, nacing bow.
A monster that had cast aside all glory and divinity, fallen from the noblest hero to the purest avenger.
"The greatest hero in Greek mythology… and at the sa ti, the most terrifying avenger."
"Fight to your heart's content."
Bazdilot stared quietly at the eerie subordinate on the screen and spoke the true na that would freeze any Magus's blood.
"Alcides."
…
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