Ritsuka had trouble believing Mash when she was informed that Kay had subdued the approaching army as well as the Servant when she just saw him jump into the sky. However, to her grand surprise...

"I'm back. I also brought back a souvenir."

Kay returned a moment later, arriving from the sky as he landed a few meters away from them carrying the Servant, who was a strange horse... or centaur, she wasn't sure which one was better, as if it was some kind of luggage. At this point, Ritsuka decided to just go with the flow and accept that everything Kay may do will simply be the norm in this era, forgoing any kind of common sense she had left.

"So, this is the rumored Servant, he looks quite strong. Does he have a name?" Artoria asked as she looked in wonder at the Servant who let out a neigh when he was dropped on the ground before he stood tall and proudly puffed out his chest.

"Young girl, it seems that you have good eyes."

"It talks!"

"You asked for my name and you shall receive it! I am-"

"Basashi. From now on, your name is Basashi." Kay said suddenly, cutting the horse off in his speech, which made him look at Kay with wide eyes while she let out a snort.

'What kind of person would name a horse "horse meat sashimi"!'

"I thought that as your new owner, you deserved to be given a great name." Kay said as he nodded to himself, as if he congratulated himself for making a good decision.

Meanwhile, 'Basashi' just stared at his 'owner' with his mouth open, but nothing came out as he seemed too shocked to say anything.

"I see. Basashi, huh... It's kind of weird, but since it was chosen by Brother, I'm sure that it must mean something significant."

Ritsuka nearly let out a laugh when she saw Artoria nod to herself, knowing that the name was all but significant. She felt the need to inform her of the true meaning but she feared that she might upset her, knowing how much she valued her brother's words, so she decided to keep her mouth shut for now.

"Hey, Kay, why Basashi?" Merlin asked Kay as she leaned over him with an inquiring gaze while he simply shrugged his shoulders, a nonchalant expression on his face.

"Ah, there's no particular reason. It's just that I remember a horse being named like that, so I thought of doing the same with him. Well, my first choice was Epona but since he's a male, I decided against it."

"I believe Epona is a better choice. Imagine the reaction people would get if you were to show up in a battlefield, riding a horse with the name of a goddess, it would be hilarious."

"That's a good point... Alright, which name of the two would you prefer to be called?"

"Neither! I already have the proud name of Lü Bu Fengxian! I refuse to be named by any other name than this one!"

'Lü Bu? But Lü Bu didn't look like this when I met him in Septem... So, either he's lying or this is a case where his appearance changes according to his class.' She thought, thinking back of the giant Chinese Berserker that helped Nero during the second singularity, prompting her to look at the horse with suspicion.

"He's really disobedient. Perhaps a punishment is in order..."

"Nii! That's animal abuse!" The horse shouted in fear when he saw Kay approach him while cracking his knuckles, but when he saw Merlin walk towards Kay with a whip in her hands, he let out a loud neigh while tearing up.

'Well, whatever your name is, please rest in peace...' Ritsuka joined her hands in a prayer, believing that the pair would drive the horse insane one way or another. And then, from the corner of her eyes, she saw Artoria come out from the house and run in their direction with something in her hands.

"Hey, Basashi. You must be hungry, right? Here, I got some shredded carrots for you." She said as she laid out a plate full of shredded carrots much to the presumed Lü Bu who let out a cry of joy while salivating.

"Carrots!" And as he quickly took a shredded carrot and placed it in his mouth, he suddenly froze in place, eyes wide, causing Artoria to panic upon seeing his state.

"Basashi, are you alright?"

"This is… DELICIOUS!!!!!!" And with a loud shout, Lü Bu quickly snatched the plate away from Artoria's hand and brought it to his mouth, wasting not a single moment to devour everything on it like a savage beast.

And once it was over, Lü Bu, with a burp, put the plate on the ground before he kneeled in front of Artoria who blinked, a little overwhelmed by the scene happening in front of her.

"My lady. I swear, upon my grand name Lü Bu, that this halberd shall be your spear. Point me at whoever you wish and I shall pierce them with my Sky Piercer!"

"Oh… I see?"

"Is it me or did Artoria just steal my pet away?" Kay said as he looked at the kneeling horse with an incredulous expression while Merlin just chuckled, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Seems that way. But don't worry, I'm willing to become your pet if you want."

'Oh... So, those two have that kind of relationship...I should update my shipping list in my journal.'

[Excuse me for interrupting the moment, Senpai and the others, but according to the Saint Graph in our database, the Servant's True Name isn't Lu Bu but instead Red Hare, the horse he rode in his life.]

"Neigh?"

"So, it was a lie after all..."

"Excuse me, but can I ask what you are planning to do from now on? Shouldn't we start searching for the Grail and the one who possesses it?" Ritsuka asked the group as they headed to the nearby town's market after resolving their issues with Red Hare who was following them in his astral form. Even Artoria's dog, Cavall, was following them, his cute tail wagging.

Looking at the villagers, she was a little surprised to see how calm they were behaving and how peaceful the town was, despite the fact that there were skirmishes all over the country that kept escalating over time.

'It was as if they weren't concerned about the war at all… Is this part of Wales so far removed from the conflict that they don't feel danger at all?'

"Well, the thing is, we already have an idea of its location and were planning to go there before we found you."

"Eh?" She said dumbly as she was taken aback by Kay's laid statement, momentarily stopping her in her tracks before she quickly resumed her course, "What do you mean by that?"

"See that Bounded field in the sky? I tried to destroy it when it first appeared a few days ago, but even though I succeeded, it was quickly repaired by its creator. While it was a shame I couldn't destroy it completely, Merlin and I managed to detect the location of the one who erected that Bounded field as a result since he had to use an enormous amount of Magical Energy to repair something of that size."

"Seriously? In that case, why are we going to the market then?"

"Oh, we're just going to buy a carriage. Because of that field in the sky, we can't use our teleportation Magecraft and it's quite tiring to fly across the country, so now that we got a new pet, I figured out it would be great to make him work as a carriage horse and have him take us to our destination as soon as possible."

"Brother, when you say across the country, do you mean the culprit of this incident is located in the east of the country?"

"Yeah, to be exact, it's in Londinium."

Meanwhile, in Chaldea, Artoria frowned when she heard the name Londinium, the old name for Camelot when it was once the castle of her father and his murderer, her uncle Vortigern.

"Londinium... So the one who got the Grail must be Vortigern..." Artoria muttered as she frowned, an expression that was shared by Gawain who stood by her side, his gloves clenching hard enough for all to hear.

"I can't help but fear that, even if Kay is strong, this is going to be a difficult fight for them."

"Why is that, Sir Gawain?"

"During our King's campaign, Vortigern was our last enemy but also the most fearsome one. At some point during his life, he had drank the blood of the white dragon, Albion, which made him lose his humanity and become the very will and avatar of Britain." He started to say as his eyes started to wander, slowly remembering the events that happened in his life.

"The day of our confrontation, we were quite naive, or even worse foolish. After having cornered him in his citadel while fending off the foreigners he brought from outside Britain, as we made our way to the throne room where Vortigern was barricaded alone, we were already acting like the battle to be won, letting our guard down in the process. That action was a mistake as we were quickly overwhelmed by a single attack which nearly wiped out most of our elite knights being killed by it. If I remember correctly, only our King and I were left alive among our group."

"You're indeed right. Soon after, a hard fight followed as Vortigern, having become a dragon covered in darkness large enough to engulf the citadel of Londinium, which lasted for hours and it was only by miracle that we managed to win that battle." Artoria said before she looked at the group displayed on the monitor with eyes full of worry.

"However, while Kay is indeed stronger than ours by leaps, I don't feel like Merlin is going to support him at all, if she's the same as ours. And not to mention my younger counterpart, if she lived the same life as me, then she mustn't have much combat experience nor does she have my weapons, Excalibur and Rhongomyniad which were essential for my victory, let alone Caliburn."

"So, the only people capable of putting up a fight are Sir Kay and Red Hare..." Mash muttered as her complexion started to pale, slowly believing that the group were walking straight to death.

She would have liked to have her Senpai head to a leyline and summon a Servant, however, without her shield to act as a catalyst, she would not be able to use the FATE system created by Chaldea.

"Is there anybody in the country who could help them fight Vortigern? Is it possible that your living counterpart helps them?"

"I'm sorry, I should be a child at that period, so it won't be possible." Gawain said with regret evident in his eyes, causing Mash to look at Lancelot who shook his head.

"I was still in France at that time. It was only a few years later that I decided to go to Britain."

Mash then looked at both Bedivere and Tristan in desperation, both knights having trouble meeting her eyes.

"I... don't believe my counterpart is strong enough. I fear that he would only be a dead weight."

"How sad that we are useless."

After hearing their words, Mash could only feel helpless before she started to silently pray for Ritsuka and the others' safety.