Chapter 30

Kuzuki cleaned up the blood with efficiency and stowed away the cleaning implements back into the shed, before heading to the room that Artoria was in. Once in there, he knelt on tatami mats and waited for her to appear.

With a shimmer of light, she appeared in front of him, sitting cross-legged. The staff was placed besides her on the right.

"Is it safe to talk here?"

"Don't worry, the monks rarely come out from their meditation unless there's a major disturbance on the temple grounds."

She nodded after he gave the explanation. Clearing her throat, she looked up at him with her emerald eyes.

"Ahem, so let me introduce myself properly. My name is Artoria Pendragon, and I'm not a human." She waited for him to ask questions. When he remained silent, she pressed on.

"I'm part of a magic ritual taking part in this city, called the "Holy Grail War", that involves seven spellcasters fighting over a powerful wishing machine, using summoned beings called "Servants" as their main weapons, while they act as "Masters" for the "Servants". As you may be able to guess, I'm a Servant, a limited copy of someone famous from history, etched into legend by humanity. I possess higher than average physical abilities, and also some other magical powers and skills. The ritual ends when all six Servants are defeated, leaving the final Master-Servant pair as the victor. That's the basic gist of it." She paused, letting the information sink in.

"So, do you have anything you want to ask me?"

"So you're aiming to win the Holy Grail War?"

"Yes."

"And with me as your Master?"

"Mhm."

"Then I shall endeavour to provide as much assistance as possible to you."

"I'm glad to hear that! But, aren't you curious about anything else?"

"Hmm, I suppose since we have to face combat with mages, I'll need to know about their capabilities."

"Yeah, that's true. I'll fill you in on what they can do later.. Anything else?" She nodded, then stared back at him for anything else.

"No, that is all."

"Alright, I see then we're done here-not! You're not even curious about the existence of magecraft and familiars? You won't even ask what a battle royale-style magic ritual is doing in Fuyuki? And you just casually ask me how to fight mages? What is wrong with you, are you out of your mind? I'll be the one doing the fighting here you know!" Her words burst out in a stream as she listed out everything wrong with his reactions just now, doing a decent straight man routine.

"While I doubt I would be of use against these "Servants", perhaps I might be able to take their Masters by surprise. I was trained to be an assassin, and those skills may now prove useful." He said all this without blinking, an impassive face maintained throughout the conversation.

"Sure, sure, I guess I can buff you with magic-wait what?! You were trained as an assassin? Are assassins simply that common nowadays, or do you just have to play Ass*ss*n's Cr**d to become an assassin?" How did the random guy she met turn out to be a trained assassin. Well, he didn't look like he was bluffing at all though. The look in his eyes also supported his words.

"I doubt assassins are that common, though I knew many trainees when I was young. As for this Ass*ss*n's Cr**d, I have not heard of it before." He was deadly serious, and Artoria resisted the urge to smack her face in exasperation.

"Alright, then I'll go into detail about the specifics of the Holy Grail War. Prepare yourself for a lecture by Prof. Pendragon!"

Standing up, she went into detail about the history of the Holy Grail War and the Three Families, courtesy of knowledge given to her when she was summoned. The Clock Tower, the nature of Servants, and numerous examples of mages were given. She explained in detail how the various systems of magecraft worked, and provided him with some visual representations with her illusion magecraft as well. She also went into full detail regarding her abilities, and they figured out their strategy bit by bit. Near the end of the long conversation, the sun had already started to touch the horizon and dazzle the land with it's brilliant rays. The warmth touched the cold land and transformed the winter night into a pleasant daybreak.

"Muuuaaaaa, I'm kind of exhausted. I'm going to rest for a bit…" She yawned cutely and stretched her arms above her head, closing her eyes tight as her mouth opened wide.

"Ah, by the way I forgot to ask you, why did you decide to help me last night?"

She was curious, why would he help a suspicious complete stranger, with their clothes drenched with blood too.

He was about to rise, and head for work at Homurahara Academy when she asked him. Pausing in thought as he looked at the sunlight hitting the wooden doors, he gave his answer.

"Because I felt like it."

With that, he opened the doors and walked out into the crisp morning air, not a trace of fatigue on his face. Arturia tried to process his answer, but failed to.

"Mooouuu, what does that mean? I don't understand at all."

But then she looked back at where he'd left.

"But I guess we all have those moments where we feel like we absolutely have to do something, even with no logical reason to motivate us." She smiled self-deprecatingly.

"A young village girl trying to become king and save Britain is pretty hard to understand as well." Then she shot up when she remembered the body at the foot of the mountain.

"AH! I forgot to take care of it, crap!"

It would be seriously bad if a pack of dogs or crows started gnawing on his corpse. She could already imagine Atrum glaring at her from the afterlife as his body was eaten by animals.

"I'm sooorryyyyy!"