Humanity's Last (Master) Counsellor

by Morii Hikikko

Chaldea safeguards the world from all kinds of threats however, with the surge in the number of Servants, it became clear that the biggest danger at the moment are the relationships between these Heroic Spirits. In order to avert this crisis, Humanity's Last Master is assigned a new mission. New cover by my good friend criselda.

5. Chapter 5

Spoiler Alert: This chapter occurs somewhere before the Solomon Singularity. Future events in FGO's story as well as other Fate franchises will also be referenced/hinted.

Furthermore, the Interludes that follow the Main Story do not necessarily take place in the same timeframe.

You have been warned.

---

Chapter 5: One-And-The-Same

Know yourself.

Depending on who you ask this phrase could either be a way of life or a piece of advice said to them by their friends and family. As it turns out, this simple expression can be traced back from the time of Socrates himself. Naturally, as an avid reader himself and with him being a loner, Hachiman Hikigaya is not too unfamiliar with the phrase… But in Chaldea, where Heroic Spirits from different timelines are summoned for the sake of saving the world, even something like this can have a much much broader meaning.

That was especially true when this self involved more than one person.

In the Special Counselling Room in Chaldea, four individuals who share a similar appearance were seated around a circular table that took an inspiration from their land of origin.

Needless to say, the one seated at the middle of this gathering could only be Hachiman Hikigaya himself.

"Let's begin with some introductions first, shall we?" he stood from his chair, brought his right hand to his chest and bowed. "As you all know I am the presider of this gathering, Hachiman Hikigaya, rookie Magus and Humanity's Last Master. I am joined by none other than…"

His right hand gestured towards the bespectacled young girl with short purple hair standing next to him, cueing her to speak.

"I-I-I am M-M-Mash Kyrielight... I shall be serving as Master's secretary for this session," the Shielder Demi-Servant bowed. "Though I am aware that I am inadequate i-i-in many ways, I-I-I will try my best to fulfill my role," she finished in a much louder voice than when she started, clearly showing how nervous she was.

The uneasiness that his kouhai unconsciously displayed was starting to become contagious so for both of their sakes he forced himself to smile.

"Now would our guests be so kind as to do the same?" he quickly inserted that suggestion before said guests could even begin to think about scolding Mash.

Instead of answering out loud, one of the four other people that were seated stood up and took the initiative.

"I am Artoria Pendragon," a voice that was both charming and soothing rang out, reminding one of flowers just about to bloom in the middle of spring. She wore a royal blue dress highlighted with gold lines on the edges and a skirt that was wide enough that it wouldn't look too out-of-place even in the halls of a palace. Underneath said large skirt were metallic greaves of a gray hue. Her blonde hair seems to reach a level below her shoulders but it was currently fixed into a bun on the back of her head with a blue ribbon so it was hard to say if that was really the case. Green eyes that could not bear to tolerate even the smallest acts of injustice threw a passing glance to the other occupants of the room. The regal air she was trying to exude however was dispelled due to the smug smile she flashed just a second before she continued. "I am the King of Knights."

Without even wasting a single second after Artoria sat back down to her seat, the next person stood up.

"I am Artoria Pendragon," an enveloping warmth like that of the sun on a lovely summer day could be felt from every word she spoke. Not only did she possess the same name as the first speaker, she also bore a great resemblance in their appearance though she was more developed in the height department as well as, uh, personality. Both the tinge of their hair and the shade of their eyes however were exactly the same. Their outfits also share a similar theme although the skirt of this second Artoria only opened from the back instead of radially, a likely adjustment for making it easier to ride a horse. Those not in the know would come to the conclusion that they were mother-and-daughter or perhaps a pair of siblings but make no mistake, these two are absolutely, one-and-the-same. "I am the King of Knights."

Following the momentum, the third person took the instant that the second Artoria was done as her cue to introduce herself.

"I am Artoria Pendragon," her voice was as cold as the breeze that blew in to the gaps of your scarf in an early autumn morning. In contrast to the royal blue worn by her two other counterparts, her dress was as black as a starless night sky though aside from the color, the form of her dress does resemble the first Artoria's own. It was not only the dress but they also seem to be around the same age though there were some differences in their appearance. The lustrous golden shade of her hair dulled into a hue closer to that of platinum, her skin looked paler and in the place of her kind green eyes were golden irises gleaming with ruthlessness. It would not be farfetched to think that the first and the third were identical twins or even half-sisters but these two as well as the mature second from earlier are without a doubt, one-and-the-same. "I am the King of Knights."

With that, it was now the last person's turn to speak.

"I am Artoria Pendragon," her intonation was blank and lifeless like a field of crops on the dead of winter season. She looked like an amalgamation of the second and third Artoria. She is around the same age at the former but she shares the latter's platinum-like hair, paler skin and golden irises. In other words, just like how the second looked like a more mature first, the fourth is similarly, a more mature third. Her garments however were vastly different. While her three other counterparts wore a dress, hers was much closer to battle armor, although some areas were not exactly what one would call protected but that's beside the point. It did however share a similar color scheme to the third's dress though the metallic parts appear like they were made from dragon scales, giving it a more sinister impression. Nevertheless, she, along with the former three, are still in fact, one-and-the-same."I am the King of Knights."

A standoff between the four identical Kings then came next. It was as if they couldn't stomach the idea that there exist others who could be on the same level as they are but in this case, since they shared the same identity with the other party, they reluctantly tolerated it.

Hachiman had to consciously stop himself from grimacing while looking at the current development.

As anyone would expect, the quartet was not only similar in appearance but in attitude as well.

Artoria Pendragon being competitive was already a well-established fact in Chaldea but as things stand, that attitude of hers extended to herself as well, in more ways than one.

Yep, maybe starting off with introductions when all four have the same name is not a good idea.

He mentally noted for future reference.

Thankfully, him surviving from a consultation with another pair of Kings taught him a valuable lesson…

And that was none other than to always seize the initiative in the discussion before things got any more heated.

"To avoid any confusion, is it fine if I address each of you as Saber-san, Lancer-san, Saber Alter-san and Lancer Alter-san, in that exact order?" his gaze moved towards each individual Heroic Spirit as he asked. "Of course, it will only be for the duration of this session."

"I permit it," the quartet of Artorias answered in unison before they all stared at their alter egos with a look of annoyance.

Such a thing was likely to happen throughout today's session and Hachiman felt like he would get cold sweat every single time.

Then again, it's not like he could just call it quits now when the die has already been cast.

"But before we start," one of the four voices continued to ring out. "Do you mind if we ask you a question first, Master?" surprisingly, this selfish inquiry came from Lancer Alter who has been exuding a disinterested air all this time.

"You!" Saber glared at her counterpart who is also called the King of the Wild Hunt. "Do you realize that what you're doing is a disrespectful act to the person who holds the highest authority on this table?"

Even with his heart pounding over his head from nervousness, Hachiman still forced himself to intervene.

"It's okay, Saber-san," he then made a gesture with one of his hands to plead his Servant to calm down. "I don't mind."

"But…!"

"It's fine," he nodded determinedly in response to this Artoria's insistence.

It took a short while but Saber finally decided to let her frustration go and settled down on her seat.

"If Master is truly okay with such an act, then there's no reason for me to say anything else."

"Thank you very much for your consideration," Hachiman bowed slightly from his current seating position before turning his attention back to Lancer Alter. As someone who's been fighting alongside Saber for the longest time, he could easily tell that she was sulking but in his current position, giving either of these girls any special attention is a bad idea so he'll have to ignore her discontent for now. "Now what was it that you wanted to ask, Lancer Alter-san?"

"Hmm…" Lancer Alter closed her eyes in deep thought. "I seem to have forgotten while I was listening to your conversation. Forgive me," she lowered her head ever so slightly before she reopening her eyes. "You would probably have a similar question, yes?"

The one she addressed was the Artoria who looked around the same age as her but had golden hair and green irises instead.

"I can't say for sure," the edges of Lancer's lips curled slightly upwards. "Personally, I don't really care about the reason why. If Master gives us an order, we simply follow," she made a passing glance on the other Artorias before continuing. "Is that not what we Servants are supposed to do?" before anyone else could retort however, Lancer decided to pass the baton to the only Artoria who hasn't spoken since her introduction earlier. "Would you happen to have any idea?"

Saber Alter cast an unamused glance at Lancer and Lancer Alter before speaking.

"If we judge based solely on appearance, aren't you two supposed to be the more mature ones? Why are you acting so childish?" she sighed. "Well, no matter, the question I, no, we wanted to ask should be pretty obvious to you, Master," her golden irises locked on to the onyx orbs of Hachiman. "Why have you gathered us together today?"

The fact that it was Saber Alter between these four who was speaking the most amount of sense was a slight cause for concern but Hachiman set that thought aside for now in favor of sating their curiosity.

"The reason is simple," he joined the fingers of both of hands and let it rest on the table. "King Arthur is one of the Servants in Chaldea who has already been summoned in many different forms and it is quite possible that something like that will happen to the others in the future. Because of this unique trait, Chaldea is trying to gather as much data about you four as possible for future reference, with your similarities and differences as the reference point," Hachiman made sure to alternate his gaze on his four identical Servants as he spoke. "While I think it's impossible for an alternate version of a Heroic Spirit as noble as King Arthur would ever cause trouble once they are summoned to Chaldea," the second, third and fourth Artorias all looked away after their mutual Master made that statement. "We unfortunately can't make any exemptions."

"It seems that sophistry is a skill that you're quite proficient at using, Master," Saber commented in a mean-spirited manner. It was a jab intended not only for Hachiman but to her alter egos as well.

It was obvious that she was still upset from the earlier exchange with her Master but even if he understood that, Hachiman had to feign ignorance for now.

"If treating my words in that manner will make you believe them, then feel free to do so."

"That still doesn't mean that you have to ask us together like this," Lancer easily pointed out the part that Hachiman left unanswered.

As expected from an individual who dealt with nobles and the like in her past life, King Arthur was not so easily deceived. Then again for this Artoria in particular, it was quite likely that her wisdom as a Divine Spirit came into play.

"As for that part, then it's really nothing more than realistic constraints on Chaldea's end," Hachiman shrugged before continuing. "We don't exactly know when another Singularity or the like will pop out so I'm trying to cram as much of these sessions as I can with our limited time. I sincerely apologize if this has caused any of you some discomfort but it would really help me a lot if you can all cooperate."

Hachiman bowed without any regard for the fact that he is supposed to be the Master and the other party was his Servants.

As a side note, although there were no lies in Hachiman's statement by no means was it the complete truth as well so this act of asking their forgiveness was not only for this session but also for deceiving them. Whether or not any of the Artorias noticed such a fact however was a different matter altogether.

"I see. Well, I'll leave it at that for now," Lancer nodded in understanding.

"Let's begin with the first question then," the Master cleared his throat while one of his fingers navigated the portable terminal on his side of the table. "What is your favorite food?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

The four Artorias looked at their Master as if he had lost his mind.

Mash Kyrielight on the sidelines was even trying to hide her blushing face using her own portable terminal from secondhand embarrassment.

"Master, are you even taking this seriously?" Lancer Alter asked imposingly.

Hachiman tried his best to maintain a poker face despite the pressure.

"We can't possibly start with a question that is too difficult to answer right off the bat so please consider this as a terrible attempt from my side to break the ice."

That was supposed to be the purpose of the introductions from earlier but seeing as how that went down, Humanity's Last Master had no other choice but to try again.

This time around however…

"Hmm… Picking just one is downright impossible," Saber mumbled seriously while bringing a hand to her chin.

…His plan appeared to be working.

Well, the topic was on food after all.

Although King Arthur is known in legends as a Virtuous King, he or rather she, was a human at the end of the day and with that came her imperfections, specifically her vices.

Anyone whose known her for a while could easily figure out exactly what they are.

In particular, two major flaws stand out.

With how she usually carried herself one is obviously Pride while the other is…

"I concur," Saber Alter nodded while adapting a similar expression to her counterpart. "Would it be fine if we answer with our most recent preferences instead?"

…To no one's surprise, Gluttony.

"Are you okay with that, Mash? I'll warn you beforehand that this might make your job a tad more difficult," Hachiman turned his head to his secretary who has been wordlessly carrying out her duties.

"I-I-It's fine," she cleared her throat in a vain attempt to gloss over her mistakes. "It's only n-n-natural that a King would have more than a few f-f-favorites after all."

Hachiman would be lying if he didn't feel like he lost a few hours of his life while Mash talked but since it didn't look like any of the Artorias were bothered, all was good, at least for now.

"In that case, I'll have to go with anything that goes well with rice. It's kinda strange given how I'm from Britain but strangely enough, I really feel at home when I'm holding a pair of chopsticks with one hand and a bowl of rice on the other while sitting in seiza," Saber nodded to herself repeatedly while closing her eyes.

To Hachiman, it looked like she was reminiscing about days long gone but given their current situation, this was not the best timing for him to pry.

"Fastfood for me. Burgers, Hotdogs, French Fries and Cola. All the good stuff," Saber Alter raised a finger on her hand as she enumerated her favorites. "I like how easy they are to eat even on the go. Also, since it's impossible for Servants to get fat, there are basically no downsides," she puffed her chest out and placed both of her hands on her hips as she proudly declared though Hachiman found it strange that Saber Alter's puffed out assets could not even compare to what the next speaker was packing.

"Food is not a necessity for us Servants," Lancer Alter stated matter-of-factly before her cold expression somewhat softened in the next second. "But if I were going to have some anyways, I'd prefer for it to be hot and filling like stew or curry."

Hachiman couldn't stop his lips from inadvertently curling upwards after getting that unexpectedly positive answer from Lancer Alter. Carrying that same vibe, he turned his gaze to the only Artoria among the quartet who has yet to speak her mind regarding this inquiry.

"Lancer-san, how about you?"

"Nothing in particular," Lancer responded in a very similar fashion to her Alter counterpart. "Although, I am a little surprised that no one said anything about sweets or the like."

The smile on Hachiman's lips inadvertently became more prominent.

"It seems that you have a little sweet tooth Lancer-san," Hachiman teased playfully only to get a stern look from his blonde Servant in response, making him freeze.

"Not necessarily," she answered almost instantaneously. "I just thought baked confections are relevant enough that it needs to be mentioned," she then cast a passing glance to the rest of the seated Kings. "I'm sure my other selves share the same opinion."

No, the more you try to deny it like that, the more it becomes obvious that you really like sweets.

But there was no way he could say such a thing out loud, especially after hearing the thoughts of the other Artorias in the matter.

"Once in a while is fine."

"It's hard for me to imagine that there exist people who hate sweets.

"I don't dislike them."

Came the opinions of Saber, Saber Alter and Lancer Alter respectively, reminding Hachiman of the simple fact that all the Artorias are essentially the same person.

He had half a mind to laugh at this surprising revelation but ultimately refrained from doing so as being too lax this early on brought him no merit.

So you all like it but are too embarrassed to say it out loud. I see.

This was most likely a byproduct from her history of posing as a man. She had to limit her consumption and inclination to desserts so as not to make her subjects think that the King has childish taste.

Needless to say, the people living that time were less open-minded than those living in the 21st century.

I should ask the kitchen staff to whip up something sweet more occasionally.

"At any rate," Lancer coughed in a deliberate attempt to change the topic. "I think whatever that Red Archer is cooking seem to always taste good."

"I concur," Saber Alter nodded. "He could even replicate the taste of all kinds of fastfood," her expression then warped into a pout. "Although he occasionally does unnecessary things like decrease the oil content or substitute the ingredients for something healthier but the positives vastly outweigh the negatives so it's fine."

"Mhm, he even seems to know how my preferences change depending on my mood like how I prefer my soup to be savorier on a busy day and mellower when I'm not," the cold expression of Lancer Alter softened. "It would've been nice if I got him to work as my castle's chef back in the day."

"I don't know why but I always seem to find his cooking to be nostalgic," Saber commented while tilting her head. "Needless to say, I meant that as a compliment."

With that, Hachiman Hikigaya was able to give himself a pat in the back as things were going way better than a particular session which involved a different pair of Kings. Then again, it was pretty difficult to surpass that when it pretty much started with both of them trying to find reasons to kill him.

"Next question," he tried to conceal his grin by bringing his portable terminal closer to his face. "Supposing a mission of ours required two amongst you to cooperate, will you be willing to do so?"

"No," all four Artorias answered instantly and at the same time. "Me alone is fine," they then went ahead and glared at each other.

While it is normally reassuring to hear that the four are in the same page, the meaning behind their replies however made Hachiman feel conflicted instead.

If they each had their respective weapons on their hands, he was pretty sure that they'll be threatening to unleash their Noble Phantasms at this point.

As such, Hachiman Hikigaya had to hold himself back a little by asking the safer and more basic questions for a short while.

Things like their preferred color, the kind of hobbies that they've adopted recently and what things in the 21st century that they've taken a liking to or not.

Both Alter versions ended up saying black while gold and blue became the premier choices for the remaining two.

As for new hobbies, music or art did not seem to interest them and instead they've taken the habit of sparring with some of the Heroic Spirits whom they share the same Servant Classes with. They also occasionally participate in hunting contests with others to see how much monsters they can kill in a given timeframe. Of course, eating was also on top of the list for all four of them.

As a side note, said hunting contests was something Hachiman himself came up with as a way to relieve the stress of the more hotblooded Servants while making them gather much needed materials. It was like hitting two birds with one stone and sometimes even three or four if the hunt involved multiple rare monsters.

When it came to the 21st century, all of them found the technological advances to be convenient, perhaps a little too convenient, especially when it came to the likes of military. As they come from a time where knights had to train for their entire youth in order to even take a step into the battlefield, they felt quite conflicted when they were told that new soldiers can just be fielded within a few years.

Eventually, Hachiman Hikigaya exhausted all the lighthearted questions listed on the portable terminal. With just one glance, he could already tell that the last few remaining ones spelled nothing but trouble for him.

Then again, what else could he really do but just get things over with?

"What do you think is needed for an ideal country?"

As expected, the moment that question was tossed into the air, the tranquility that Humanity's Last Master tried so hard to maintain all but collapsed.

The four Artorias were once again looking like they were about to commit murder any second from now.

"Of course, it's…!" the quartet exchanged looks, clearly feeling offended that someone else was trying to interject at the same time that they wanted to speak but after a short instance of that stare-off, the four decided to just answer at the same time.

"Love."

"Prosperity."

"Order."

"Power."

Were the answers of Saber, Lancer, Saber Alter and Lancer Alter respectively.

After hearing all four of them, he felt his stomach churn in anticipation of a potential bloodbath. This was exactly the reason why he left this question out until a little later.

Smiling through the pain, Humanity's Last Master racked his brain desperately to come up with something to salvage the situation.

"Now I won't tell you not to disagree with each other but I would like to ask each one of you to give me a short explanation. Please."

And the only method he could come up with at the moment was to try to make them convince the others using their own words. It was a double-edged sword for sure but this is so much better than just waiting for them to go at each other. At the very least, this allowed him to buy some time.

"Love for yourself, Love for your family and Love for your country. Without such a factor, how can your people ever be inspired to work towards a better tomorrow?" preached the idealistic Saber. Due to the nature of her answer, it felt like she was uttering the lines from a script written for a theatre play with a romantic theme.

"In the end, the people will not be happy if they are not living comfortably. In other words, the most basic of necessities are not out of their reach and such a state would be impossible to achieve if the country is lacking in terms of resources," came the reasoning of the pragmatic Lancer. It might sound a little weird that someone like her who is close to being a Divine Spirit is concerned about material things like money but perhaps this is just her way of trying to empathize more with her subjects.

"If there is no order, the country will just collapse by itself hence, there must be one person at the top who should have all that power to their self," the dictator-like declaration came from Saber Alter. It felt like it would be part of an opening speech a revolutionary would share to the masses just before they execute their plan to overthrow the current government and establish a new regime after seizing victory.

"Power is essential. Whatever foundation you establish will just be toppled over by it. It is as simple as that," the words of a conqueror were uttered from Lancer Alter's lips. Even though she was alone, it felt like there were thousands of soldiers around her who saluted to her speech.

While he listened to each of their respective explanations, somehow Hachiman Hikigaya could tell that although the four had different answers…

It didn't necessarily mean that they disagreed with each other.

No, the whole situation felt more like a stalemate. It was like pitting off an unstoppable force against an immovable object.

The root cause of it all was none other than Artoria's Pride.

The long and short of it is that they could neither commend another Artoria as that would make them feel inferior nor blatantly disagree because it would turn into a self-inflicted insult.

Calling it complicated was an understatement.

Hachiman Hikigaya was already having a migraine just thinking about it.

Given the situation, the best thing he could do…

Was not to agree or disagree with anyone in particular.

"While I did ask what was needed for an ideal country," he forced himself to smile once again, like how a section chief would assign additional work to the corporate slaves who wouldn't dare to refuse. "I never said to constrain yourselves with only one answer so wouldn't you agree that all four of you are correct?"

These four Heroic Spirits still share the name of King Arthur after all, putting one above the other was definitely not a good idea.

"That's true but…" Saber Alter began as her brows furrowed in frustration

"I don't like it," supplemented the other Saber who held similar sentiments.

Listening to her other selves' grumbles, gave Lancer an idea.

"In that case, how about you rank all of our answers in order then, Master?" a hint of playfulness was on her face while she made that suggestion.

"Hahaha," Hachiman forced out a laugh as he raised the portable terminal on his hands to hide his face. Given what he was going to ask next, he was quite sure that they were going to forget about this issue entirely. "I have one last question," his expression darkened a little as he continued. "Artoria-san," he deliberately called them by the name they shared instead of their class, signifying that he wanted all four to pay attention instead of only one. "If I order you with a Command Spell to do something you abhor," at this instance, Hachiman's eyes looked even more lifeless than usual. "Would you resent me?"

The room instantly became silent. Very much so, that it wasn't difficult to hear the grunts of each individual Artoria who were racking their head trying to come up with an answer to this question…

Except for one.

"What nonsense are you even speaking, Master?" Lancer Alter rebuked Hachiman aggressively.

"Eh?"

"Master, do you see this form?" she stood up and spread both of her arms outwards, monopolizing the attention of all the room's occupants to herself. "This is the result of all the countless atrocities I've done in the life that I once led," she lowered her arms and relaxed her voice a little but by no means did she sound any less threatening. "So before you ask me something like that again Master, ask yourself this first," her golden eyes gleamed. "Do you really think you can give me an order absurd enough to surpass everything that I've done in the past?"

Although that was arranged into a question and delivered like a threat, what Lancer Alter just said was actually a set of encouraging words for her pessimistic Master but before Hachiman could respond in any way, another Artoria interjected.

"You are fighting for the survival of an entire race. With stakes that high, it's only natural to have a few sacrifices," Saber Alter smiled provocatively after making sure that she was in the line-of-sight of both of her forms that were left uncorrupted. "And in my opinion, morality is a small price to pay."

The two golden-haired Artorias did not take her bait however.

"After fighting with you for so long Master, I know you're not the type to make that kind of decision without considering all the other available options first," Saber's expression at this point resembled the one a female childhood friend would make when encouraging the main character. Sadly, it was something Hachiman has only seen in popular media and not through real life. "If it comes to that then I'm sure it was a matter of circumstance rather than by your own personal choice."

"You heard them. Now although there are some parts that I don't necessarily agree with, their point still stands," Lancer smiled. "So Master you don't have to waste your precious Command Spell on something like that. Rest assured, I or in this case we, will be sure to carry out all your orders."

Suddenly, what was supposed to be a counselling session somehow ended up with Hachiman being encouraged by his very own guests. It was a shameful display but perhaps it was exactly what you would expect from an inexperienced Master like him.

"Everyone, thank you."

This was most definitely a good part to end today's session. While Hachiman could easily think of making a couple more questions, seeing as how everything almost became a disaster earlier, he shouldn't act too greedy today.

And with that, we're done!

Were the words Hachiman meant to say before he got interrupted.

A singular second of hesitation from his side was all it took for another one of the Servants of the room to seize the initiative away from him.

"Master, may I answer the same question as well?"

That Servant in question turned out to be Mash Kyrielight.

"Yes?" Hachiman accidentally blurted out in his confusion.

On her end, Mash misunderstood such a response to be something along the lines of yes, I allow it when it was supposed to mean yes, what did you mean?

After receiving permission from her Master, Mash turned towards the four Artorias next and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I am well-aware that I am speaking out of turn so I'll apologize beforehand but I would also like to say," she raised her body and locked her gaze with Hachiman's own. "Regardless of how I feel about Master's orders when he uses a Command Spell," Mash's purple eyes blazed with the light of resolve. "I will never turn my blade against him."

Because of this unexpected development, Hachiman was left speechless for a couple of seconds so it fell on to the shoulders of the multiple Artorias to respond.

"There is no need to apologize, Mash," Saber smiled magnanimously. It was a picture-perfect expression of what a magnanimous King would look like. "After all, I consider it an honor to bear witness to a pledge made by a Heroic Spirit as loyal as you."

"T-T-Thank you, Your Majesty," Mash brought a hand to the left side of her chest and bowed, before getting down on one knee. With her current position and how her long her bangs are, it was difficult to see exactly what kind of expression she was making after hearing those words.

"You don't really have to act too respectfully towards me, Mash," Saber spoke while scratching one of her cheeks. "While that Heroic Spirit you house may have served me in the past but right now, we are simply Servants serving the same Master. Didn't we already have this kind of talk before?"

"Oh, that's…" the short-haired Shielder stood up in panic and began averting her eyes away from Saber but because there are four Artorias in this room, she always ended up making eye contact with at least one of them.

"Wait, Mash. Haven't you been acting a little strange since earlier?" Lancer's observation made both Hachiman and his kouhai break in cold sweat.

"Now that you mentioned it, since it's Mash, shouldn't she be saying shield here instead of blade?" even Lancer Alter was now casting her doubts on Mash.

"Uhh… Umm… Pardon me, Your Majesty. Th-Th-That was just… A slip of the tongue, yes."

Not good.

As much as Hachiman did not want to admit it, that defense from Mash only served to aggravate the Artorias' suspicions. It didn't help that she ended up addressing the quartet as Your Majesty once again.

Without much conscious input, Hachiman's body moved.

*clap* *clap*

He lured everyone's attention by clapping his hands in the air.

"Alright, we'll end things there for now!" he forced himself to smile. Among the five looks cast on his direction, four were of surprise and one was of relief. Given the situation, it was obvious who was wearing which. "Thank you very much for your cooperation, everyone," he bowed, during which he took a second to calm himself down while thinking of the best way to get out of this sticky situation. Thankfully, one subject from this talk of theirs provided him with an easy way out. "As a show of appreciation, I've asked the kitchen staff to cook up a few dishes for your consumption, please help yourselves."

"Okay but before that…" Saber Alter began but Hachiman refused to let her finish.

Overbearing is definitely not a word that you can use to describe Hachiman Hikigaya but desperate times call for desperate measures so he couldn't afford to be too picky with his methods.

"Ah, did I forget to mention that it's an all-you-can-eat buffet?"

It took a short while before the four girls who shared the same face understood exactly what Hachiman just said but when they did…

"Please excuse me, Master!"

…They immediately bolted out of the room with no questions asked. The dignity of a King that they tried so hard to preserve until now seems to have been chucked to the window altogether.

While Hachiman was the one who incited the quartet even he was a little surprised at how swiftly they reacted when food was mentioned.

Then again, who was he to complain when this last-ditch plan of his just bailed him?

"That was way too close for comfort," he wiped a bead of sweat that formed on his forehead before locking eyes with the only remaining Servant in the room. "Are you okay, Mordred-san?"

At the instant that Hachiman Hikigaya uttered a different name aside from Mash Kyrielight, a breeze filled with flower petals surrounded the figure of his kouhai and in the next second, standing in front of him was not the short-haired honor student wearing the Chaldea uniform but an active blonde girl wearing denim shorts, combat boots and a white sleeveless crop top underneath a red biker jacket.

"I guess so," Mordred answered after a shrug.

"You sound a little disappointed, is something wrong?"

The reason for today's counselling session was not only for understanding the differences between four identical Servants but it was also to make Artoria and Mordred interact indirectly by making the latter pose as Mash during the entire time.

As to why all four of them were invited at once then that was to mislead King Arthur.

Even without aid from her Instinct skill, Artoria Pendragon is a sharp Servant but if her wariness is redirected to someone else, in this case, her other selves, then it was not impossible to fool her… Such a dangerous idea was concocted by none other than Hachiman himself.

On a side note, the intense nagging that he got from Mash forced Hachiman's hand to deceive her.

Right now, she was occupied with something else as he carried out this risky operation on his own… He was so going to get it later once she finds out.

In any case, Hachiman could somewhat guess Mordred's concerns but he felt like there was value in hearing it directly come out from her mouth so he asked her anyways.

"Master, why didn't you ask any question related to the Knights of the Round Table?" her emerald-like irises locked on to her Master's onyx orbs.

Needless to say, the knights here referred to none other than herself. Unbeknownst to her, it was because Hachiman already got one of the Artorias' thoughts on the matter back at that time where they got stranded on a deserted island and because they are essentially the same person, the other three would most likely have a similar opinion…

But there was no way he could say that kind of thing with this timing.

"Today's session focused more on Artoria's relationship with her alter egos instead of with other Servants in general. Rest assured, another schedule will be arranged to address that," Hachiman reasoned while keeping his voice steady.

What he said wasn't technically a lie as that was indeed today's objective. It was more like he didn't quite answer the question Mordred asked.

"Will I have to act as Mash again when that time comes?"

"Not necessarily as you're more than welcome to appear as yourself if you're up for it," Hachiman joked before he decided to preemptively add a clarification in the end to prevent any misunderstanding from his Servant's side. "Of course, I won't force you to do it or anything."

It took a few seconds before Mordred finally responded.

"I'll think about it," she murmured in a voice just loud enough for her Master to hear before moving herself close to the door. "I'm going now, Master."

Hachiman wasn't sure if the joke went through or if he ended up offending her. Whichever case it was, the best move he could make at this point was to do a little aftercare.

"Ah Mordred-san before I forget," he stood up and positioned himself in front of the blonde knight before bowing. "Thank you."

"Uh, Master, what is this for?" the perplexed female knight asked.

Seeing how uncomfortable she was getting; Hachiman was also hit with a wave of embarrassment.

"Uhh… Having faith in me, I guess?" Hachiman said the first thing that popped on his head while scratching his cheek and averting his eyes.

Mordred's face became crimson to the point that her Saber of Red alias can be taken literally.

"I-I-Isn't this much only natural? You're my Master after all. S-S-Stop making it sound weird," she said while turning her head to avoid eye contact. "Anyways, I'm heading out for real this time, Master!" she didn't even wait for a response from Hachiman's side before finally getting out of the room.

"Yeah, thanks for the hard work."

Once the doors of the room closed and he was left to his lonesome a somber expression clouded Hachiman's face.

"King Arthur calling the Knight of Betrayal loyal of all things," Humanity's Last Master did not bother hiding the irony in his smile since he was the only person remaining in the room. "Even as a bad joke that's still a little…" he winced in pain as if he applied some disinfectant on an open wound.

Without a doubt, a follow-up session for both Father/s and Son was most likely going to be required.

"I should really think of a way to apologize or cheer her up, huh," at that moment, a bizarre idea popped up on his head. "If only I can summon a King Arthur who wouldn't mind spoiling her…" For the first time in his entire life, Hachiman Hikigaya did not mind if what he just said would raise a flag… But before that. "Yeah, let's write a letter of apology to the kitchen staff first."

If they were not careful, a food crisis will end Chaldea first before they even find Solomon.

…

In order to maximize Chaldea's space, the personal rooms for each Servant had to be situated right next to each other. In other words, the only thing separating their respective personal sanctuaries was a wall although there are some exceptions for Servants not in a humanoid shape and others that required a separate room for their own workshop, the point still stands. It is because of this close proximity that personal visits made by one Servant over to another one's chambers was information that would easily spread around the entire institute like wildfire.

How much more would it be if it was the Master of all people who would be making such a special visit? And the last thing that Chaldea needed was infighting among Servants who would most likely misunderstand such visits by Humanity's Last Master as one of them being favored over the other.

In order to prevent such a disaster, various procedures had to be cooked up by the Chaldea staff for such an occasion and in order for the more troublesome Servants to not catch wind of such methods, some of the more cooperative Servants were asked to participate in such secret maneuvers.

On the same night after the consultation with the Artorias, one Hikigaya Hachiman was heading over to the vending machines for a sip of his favorite drink just like he always does when he was not camping out for the night in the wilderness of a Singularity or the like. It was one of the few bad habits he kept from before his days as a Magus.

Upon his arrival, he witnessed the figure of one of the few Servants that he has been taking some extra lessons with.

It was a boy who looked around the same age as Hachiman himself. That being said, since he was a Servant, he was far stronger than he looks. He has red hair which covered his eyes. Normally, that would give the impression that his vision is compromised in battle but it in fact helps to deceive his opponents since they would have no idea where he was looking. His entire outfit is composed of a sleeveless gray garb which looked baggier on the legs and was fastened by a black sash. Although he may look to be plain in comparison to the other Heroic Spirits, that is in fact his most dangerous aspect.

Not every Servant's main armament has to be seen by the naked eye. After all, the Throne of Heroes is a place that welcomed warriors of all kinds, be it knights, samurais, wizards, madmen… Even the likes of ninjas were fair game. And among these warriors who fought behind the shadows, the one in front of Hachiman is one of the few who struck fear to enemies and allies alike.

He is Fuuma Kotarou. An Assassin Class Servant hailing from Japan.

"Good evening, Master," the younger-looking ninja greeted while bowing his head slightly. "Sure is chilly tonight, huh? Make sure you keep your blanket wrapped snugly around you when you sleep."

Hachiman nodded promptly before responding.

"Good evening, Kotarou-san. Thank you for your concern. Make sure you do the same yourself."

Whether it was because he was happy that his Master was also concerned for his wellbeing or that he was able to accomplish his mission, regardless, a smile was plastered on the young clan leader's face as he answered.

"Yes. Then, if you'll excuse me."

Though the two were waving goodbyes to each other just like usual, this was actually the first step of the procedure that allowed Hachiman to secretly visit one of his Servant's rooms.

Hot green tea means fourth booth from the entrance of the toilet on the west side of the corridor huh…

It was a secret code.

Each kind of drink (e.g., coffee, tea, soda, etc.) corresponds to a booth number in the washroom while how hot or cold the beverage was designated which among the many booths should the Master head to.

Of course, to make things appear more natural, Hachiman had to grab a drink from the vending machine first and finish it before making his way to the instructed place.

When Hachiman opened the booth mentioned in the secret code, yet another Servant was already there, as if he was expecting his arrival.

As awkward as it may appear, this in fact proves that he was on the right track.

He is a Servant that can be described as green, in the literal sense as he is dressed from head to toe with said color. Rather than fashion, the reason for that is because of utility. Most of the battles he had in life occurred in the forest so blending in with foliage surrounding him helped not only for escaping but also for conducting ambushes as well.

He is an Archer Class Servant. True Name: Robin Hood.

"Sorry for the wait, Robin-san," Hachiman apologized almost instinctively. "I'll be counting on you for tonight as well," he said while bowing in appreciation.

This dialog too was also part of the procedure. With some of the Servants having the ability to make illusions or even transform, secret key phrases like these were the quickest and easiest ways to verify the true identity of the other party.

"Please don't do this too often, Master," Robin scratched the back of his head while saying so thereby ruffling his shaggy orange hair which is the only part of his body that wasn't green. "I'm not sure how long this guise of mine will keep working against the others who always have their eye on you."

"I promise you this will be the last time in a long while," Hachiman asked while bringing both of his hands together.

Robin raised one of his brows in doubt. "Need I remind you who was distracting a certain Assassin Class Servant who is obsessed with killing Sabers since a few hours ago?"

"Right, I'm sorry about that," he brought his hands together again. "I promise you this really will be the last time in a while."

Looking at the figure of his pleading Master could only make Robin sigh in resignation. Somehow all the complaints he was just thinking about vanished into nowhere after hearing his Master's request.

"Well, it's fine. These kinds of jobs suit me more than fighting Demon God Pillars anyways," he smiled before getting out of the toilet booth and taking the role of being tonight's bait.

"I appreciate it, Robin-san. Really."

Robin acknowledged his master's gratefulness by raising his arm without looking back.

People with similarities tend to not get along with each other but that did not seem to be the case with Hachiman's relationship with this chivalrous thief as well as another Archer Servant in red. He wasn't exactly sure why either but since it played to his favor, it was better not to question it. Even if some people would say otherwise, the toilet is not an ideal place to think about complicated stuff. Right now, there was something more important he needed to do first.

Which Heroic Spirit assisted Hachiman today also signified another code. Depending on who it was, he needed to invoke a different kind of Magecraft from one of those slotted into the Chaldea Uniform Mystic Code.

In the case of Fuuma Kotarou, it was…

"First Aid…"

Hachiman felt something like static electricity was running around his body as his magic power surged through his Magical Circuits.

Although there was technically no target for this spell, Hachiman was only required to cast it as the person from the other side can already detect him at this point.

In the next second, the walls of the toilet chamber surrounding Hachiman Hikigaya looked like it melted into wax before it reformed into a different wall that appeared more ancient than modern.

What greeted Hachiman's eyes afterwards was the darkness of a room with not a single source of light nearby.

Rather than the bathroom changing into a different room, it was Humanity's Last Master himself who was moved from the bathroom to… Wherever this place is.

The prime evidence of this was the minor headache he was having which he used to get during his earlier Rayshifts.

"Are you sure no one noticed you?" asked a hooded figure whose lips were the only feature that could be identified because of the darkness. Since the speaker's features were obscured from his vision, things like how her voice sounded low for a woman but not quite deep enough for a man and how an exotic aroma, which wouldn't be too surprising if it was poisonous or hypnotic, lingered around them stood out more for Hachiman.

"Not a chance," he answered confidently. "Robin-san and Koutarou-san are both keeping the Stalker Trio, as well as all other concerned parties distracted…" but that façade of his did not even last a minute before he ended up sighing. "At least, that's what I want to think."

The woman finally pulled out the hood covering her face to reveal lilac-colored hair parts of which were curled into a braid, as well as eyes which shared a very similar shade. While those were indeed conspicuous features, nothing stood out more than her sharp ears which are akin to how modern media portrayed elves.

Her True Name is Medea.

She is a Caster Class Servant hailing from Greece and is one of many Servants here in Chaldea that passed on their knowledge in Magic to their Master, Hachiman Hikigaya.

In her case however, she is limited more to teaching the Master how to be prepared against certain spells as given Hachiman's innate magical aptitude, learning Ancient Greek Magic is a pipe dream.

After she revealed her face, the candles mounted on the walls lit up one-by-one granting the illumination that Hachiman's eyes severely needed.

"The last thing I need is for those stalkers of yours to consider me as another rival," her glove-clad hand started massaging her temple due to her inadvertently imagining that scenario.

"No no no, that's not going to happen. Relax, Medea-sensei," Hachiman tried to reassure Medea but she only ended up narrowing her eyes in doubt.

"Anyways," a trace of excitement manifested itself on the serious face of Caster. "Did you bring the goods?"

"Heh," Hachiman smirked before fishing out a brown envelope from his back pocket. "All in the highest resolution possible. Only the best for you, Medea-sensei."

Medea opened the envelope and briefly checked its contents before nodding in satisfaction.

What was inside were pictures of the several expressions a certain blonde Saber made during today's counselling session earlier.

Chaldea needed photos of the Servant Counselling Session for documentation so consent was asked from all participating Servants beforehand. Just for today however, Hachiman took a few copies as a bribe… Uh, reference material for a different kind of purpose, namely Medea's brand-new hobby of making figures, with her favorite model being none other than Artoria Pendragon herself.

"Very well, these will do nicely," she stashed the envelope somewhere inside her cloak. "You should be at least willing to do this much for me when I'm keeping him in my workshop. What will the others think once they find out that a woman like me is spending my time alone in a room with a man that isn't my husband?"

In the most deadpan manner possible, Hachiman Hikigaya presented the Greek Witch a solution. "Isn't it fine if you think of him as less than human?"

"Hey! I can hear you; you know!"

The voice came from the far end of Medea's room where a magic circle composed of various characters that Hachiman could barely recognize was inscribed on the floor.

Currently being imprisoned inside it was a man in a white robe whose long hair would appear to have the colors of the rainbow on them if it was on direct sunlight.

He is the Magus of Flowers. Caster Class Servant Merlin.

A Heroic Spirit who, despite not actually dying, managed to turn himself into a Servant through… Various means.

Even if his Spirit Origin may arguably be superior to Medea's because he is a Grand Servant candidate, since his current form did not quite fit that criteria, Ancient Greek Magic was still able to have an effect on him.

At any rate, the reason why he is currently captive is because… Well, simply put, Hachiman Hikigaya doesn't trust him.

For a man claiming to be a spectator to have suddenly lent his direct aid in the last Singularity just before they had to face off against Solomon, Merlin reeked of suspicion from head to toe and that's not even counting the things he did during King Arthur's reign. If he had to list them all out, it might be enough as grounds for execution on some places.

In any case, Hachiman Hikigaya refused to take any chances this late in the game.

"Now that Master has mentioned it, I never thought about that," the Greek Witch nodded in understanding.

"Don't start considering Master's words now, Medea-san!"

Hachiman walked towards the magic circle and approached the eloquent prisoner.

"Merlin-san, there is something I want to ask you today."

"You do know that I won't be able to cast another Illusion spell while I'm inside here, right?" the wizard sarcastically spat.

Of course, what he was mentioning here was none other than the same spell he used to disguise Mordred into Mash.

Hachiman smirked. "Don't worry. It's something you can do while you're still stuck there."

"What will you if I don't feel like cooperating?"

Underneath Hachiman's confident demeanor, he was actually very nervous for this faceoff.

After all, the one in front of him was a person who is used to dealing with the numerous scheming ministers of Camelot's court. There was such a huge gap in experience between the two. It was like he was facing off against that virtually perfect Onee-san and her mother at the same time.

"Sure, Master," the wizard smiled. "Start talking then."

Even though it was Merlin who was currently imprisoned, Humanity's Last Master did not feel like he held the advantage at all.

"Did you have any idea about how bad the relationship between Artoria-san and Mordred-san is?" Hachiman's lifeless eyes became as hollow as the edge of a bottomless cliff.

"Supposing I said yes," the Grand Caster Candidate lowered his body and sat in a cross-legged manner on the ground. "What will you do, Master?"

Yep, this is exactly how those two women would act.

Hachiman internally grimaced.

Now normally, he would point out how rude it was to answer a question with another question but at the moment, he found it more important to advance the topic rather than nitpick about manners.

"I'll assume that you know then," he sighed before lowering his body to meet the white-haired Caster on the same eye level. "Why didn't you do anything about it?"

"It's an issue between Parent and Child. Outsiders should not intervene."

The frivolous answer from Camelot's Court Wizard made a vein pop on Hachiman's head.

"Weren't you technically Artoria-san's foster father? That's doesn't sound like just an outsider in my books."

This time around, it was Merlin's eyes that suddenly became empty.

"Master, why do you even care so much about this anyways?" the blunt manner of asking that the Mage of Flowers adapted, took Hachiman by surprise. "It's not like this will change the events of the past plus when everything is over, they will all forgot about this anyways."

Regardless of the fact that these Heroic Spirits were summoned to save Humanity or whatnot, Servants are essentially tools needed to serve a purpose. There was no need for the Master to go out of their way and do something like this.

In other words, this was an illogical affair, something a Monster of Logic like Hikigaya Hachiman should not concern himself with or even think about in the first place.

It was Merlin's way of trying to divert his Master's attention from his true purpose.

However, because that manner of leading him in was so similar to a certain Onee-san Hachiman knew way back then he was able to see it coming.

You're avoiding the question, huh? But two can play in that game…

"I am not obliged to answer."

"Touché, Master. Touché," Merlin smiled shamelessly. "But no matter how much you try, I doubt you're going to get anything from me or Artoria."

Both Master and Servant were locked on a staring contest for several seconds before Hachiman Hikigaya himself decided to withdraw.

"Medea-sensei, please let him go."

"Are you sure?" Medea looked at her Master as if he was the stupidest person in existence.

"Yeah," he nodded. "It doesn't seem like we're going to get anything from him if we keep this up anyways."

"Well, if you say so."

With a snap of the Witch's fingers, the circle that bound Merlin was instantly erased.

"Is this that kind of thing? When pushing doesn't work, you pull back instead?" Merlin cautiously asked after standing up and patting the dust that was on his robe.

"If only it was that easy," Hachiman smirked. "By any chance, do you feel like telling me anything right now?"

"Nope, not at all," Merlin didn't even try to sugarcoat his words though the cynic did not even find that response to be surprising at all.

"Of course not," he shrugged before turning his attention towards the other Caster Servant inside the room. "Medea-san, can you send him back now?"

"Sure."

As soon as she said yes, Medea immediately began casting the spell to teleport away from the room.

During that slight interval…

"Master, this isn't another trap, right?" Merlin asked with doubtful eyes.

"No, it isn't. Just what kind of person do you take me for?" Hachiman tried to reassure his Servant but the male Caster's skeptical glance did not look like it was going anywhere.

"The kind of person who would order his other Servants to imprison me when I'm still technically locked inside Tower of Avalon."

That was the truth after all so there was nothing that Hachiman can say against that.

"I was also the same one who let you go just now so let's just let bygones be bygones, yeah?"

"Wait a minute…"

"Master, the spell is ready," Medea asked matter-of-factly just in time to interrupt Merlin.

"Yes, send him back then."

"Understood."

"Hey, listen to me…!"

The Mage of Flowers' cries however were left unheard as Medea promptly sent him away.

"You're far from done with him aren't you, Master?"

"Not by a long shot," Hachiman smiled brazenly. "Let's just say that I let him win this time around."

"So? What do you plan on doing?" Medea asked while chanting various spells to move around various objects inside the room including a pair of teacups and a kettle. In no time at all, tea from the kettle was being poured on two cups and was positioned opposite two chairs on one of the tables inside the room.

It firmly reminded Hachiman that before this place became Merlin's dungeon, it was initially a Witch's Workshop. Two large shelves were on opposite sides of the room, one for grimoires and the other was for glass jars filled with what looked to be ingredients that people were better of not knowing their names or origins. A cauldron was mounted close to the latter shelf though it was empty at the moment. Hachiman and Medea were closer to the bookshelf, making the loner think that this was the table his Servant used when she was reading.

On a side note, Hachiman was discreetly looking around for where Medea kept her models but it was nowhere to be seen. It was probably either hidden on this room through Magic or on her personal quarters instead. Even as an Ancient Witch, one still needed to keep up appearances after all.

It was only after mouthing off a thank you, sitting down and taking a sip did Hachiman finally answer.

"Well, I haven't really thought about the nitty-gritty parts just yet but the long and short of it is that I plan to make his life even more stressful then El-Melloi-sensei."

"Hoh, so you're going straight towards the power harassment route, huh? I don't remember teaching such a bad student," Medea commented while sipping from her own teacup. As a former princess, her etiquette and form were elegant to the point it even reminded Hachiman of a certain girl in the past that he used to drink tea with often, unfortunately that was through a daily club activity and not a rendezvous between just the two of them, although the latter did happen at least once.

"Now now, Medea-sensei, since you know about my plans already but you still didn't stop me, that would mean you're pretty much an accomplice." Hachiman smiled dastardly.

"I guess so," she didn't even flinch after hearing the various implications of her Master's words. "Might I suggest getting assistance from the Knights of the Round Table too? I'm sure that most of them will be more than willing to lend you a hand or even offer their own ideas to you."

"Oh, I like the way you think, Medea-sensei!" Hachiman raised his cup slightly in the air as if it was a mug filled with beer. "Here's to hoping that we'll continue working together in the future."

"Well, if you need me to do something for you Master, you already know what to give me," she mirrored her Master's move and raised her cup as well.

If they had been drinking alcohol instead of tea together, then they would have clinked their glasses together in the air after happily shouting out a cheers.

The calm brought about by drinking the warm beverage couldn't stop Hachiman Hikigaya from getting distracted with a particular idle thought.

A King is not someone who has everything but rather someone who sacrificed everything to become King. [1]

Following that train of thought, being a Father was possibly one of the many things that Artoria Pendragon threw away in her pursuit to be an Ideal King.

It was similar to how bigtime celebrities or major company owners barely have any time to spare for their family.

In the countless iterations that could potentially exist in the realm of possibility, was there perhaps a King Arthur who was able to fulfill the responsibility of being both a parent and a ruler at the same time?

Even more so than before, Humanity's Last Master wished that his thoughts would raise a flag.

---

Interlude IA: Killer (Husband) X Target (Wife), Target's Side

During the lull period after a mission is completed, Chaldea's cafeteria always ends up as a secondary common area for the staff members and Servants alike.

Because of such a fact, this ended up being the place that received the greatest number of renovations in the entire facility.

It is now divided into several sections that catered to the different tastes of the Heroic Spirits which hailed from not only various lands but also different time periods.

In other words, it is currently a family restaurant, café, oriental teahouse, bar, fastfood restaurant, diner, steakhouse and any other food establishment known to Man at the same time.

It was not only the appearance that changed too.

Thanks to the assistance of a certain Red Archer, Queen of Victory and Fox Miko to name a few, the chefs behind the kitchen were all able to prepare food from various cultures in the highest of standards. Had Humanity's future not been put into jeopardy, this place was most likely going to end up as a tourist attraction with record-breaking numbers.

In the Japanese section of the cafeteria, two women seated opposite each other while in seiza. The room had a tatami mat flooring and Japanese-style sliding doors separated each table from each other. The interior was also decorated with a mini sand garden, bonsais and even calligraphy works on the walls.

The guests themselves however looked completely out-of-place in relation to the room's design scheme.

One of them was a woman who had long silver hair and was wearing a white garb which made her look like a nun, a saint or even a queen.

Caster Class Servant Irisviel von Einzbern.

The other was a woman with short orange hair who wore a formal attire composed of black slacks and a black dress shirt that exposed her cleavage underneath a black coat. In contrast to the noble-like air exuded by the former guest, this woman gave was giving off the impression of a capable female gang leader.

Lancer Class Servant Jaguar Man.

Several minutes has passed since the two met up like this but not a single word has been exchanged between them just yet. The only sound that could be heard in this room at the moment was from Irisviel preparing tea for the two women. Contrary to the silence however, the atmosphere was extremely strained similar to how two great armies in the middle of war are just waiting for the other side to make the slightest of overextensions.

In this case, that specific sign turned out to be when Irisviel passed Jaguar Man's cup to her side.

"Good day, Jaguar-san," Irisviel finally made eye contact with the beastlike Heroic Spirit in front of her. "To not waste any of your time, I won't be beating around the bush," her ruby-like irises narrowed. "I noticed you've been eyeing my husband a lot lately; can you tell me something about that?"

Jaguar Man took the teacup with one hand and let her head rest on the other.

It was like she was saying that all this pressure being applied to her did not scare her at all.

"Well well, Caster let's calm down first. Believe me when I say that I don't intend to cause you any problems," she placed the teacup back on the table with a soft clang after taking a large sip from it. Because of her aloof actions, it didn't make her sound sincere at all. "But even if you ask me, I'm not really so sure myself," she put a hand to her chin while thinking. "Hmm… Maybe this vessel of mine has some sort of connection with him?"

"I see so that's what it was," Irisviel nodded in understanding but by no means did it mean that she was just going to let things slide. "In that case, you can just easily abandon this pursuit, right? After all, the vessel and you are two separate beings."

"I suppose that's true. Well as a woman, I can understand where you're coming from so I don't see any issue with heeding this request of yours."

In spite of the cooperative words that the feline beast was spouting, Irisviel knew that there was more to it than that as even the slightest nuance or gesture can drastically change the meaning behind spoken words and it was up to the listener to discern them all correctly. Such were the battles between women after all and felines if anything, are opportunistic creatures.

"Not for free, I assume."

Jaguar Man smiled like a beast.

"It's good to know that you're quick on the uptake, Caster," she leaned her upper body towards the center of the table. "What I want to ask from you is a deal."

"A deal?"

"Yes," the Servant originating from Central America suddenly sat upright. "You should know about that blonde Saber Servant who has been summoned in many forms right?"

"Of course. Everyone in Chaldea knows about her."

Irisviel did not see any reason to reveal to Jaguar Man that said Saber and Irisviel herself has another connection besides being in a pact with a common Master.

"If for some reason another version of that red-hooded Assassin will be summoned here in Chaldea," the feline predator licked her lips in excitement. "I hope you wouldn't mind if I take him for myself."

"My~ my~ I never thought about that…" the most serene expression imaginable graced the gentle features of Irisviel… On the surface, at least. "But if there's another version of Kiritsugu out there then I'm not sure my corresponding other self would just let him be," she feigned an expression of worry. "I'm sorry for acting a little blunt but I suggest that you just give it up."

Jaguar Man leaned even closer towards Irisviel to the point that their foreheads were almost touching.

"So you won't mind, right?"

Even in the midst of an apex predator's gaze, Irisviel von Einzbern maintained her composure.

"Do what you want," the Terminal of the Grail solemnly said. "In the end, it is up to Kiritsugu himself to decide," the edges of her lips then curled into a relaxed smile. "Though I will say that I find it hard to imagine him not picking me in the end."

"I admire the confidence, woman!" Jaguar Man stood up while still wearing the same excited expression from earlier. "If you don't mind, may I know your name?"

"I am Irisviel von Einzbern," the white-robed Caster bowed gracefully while still seated. "Please feel free to call me Iri."

I see, Iri, huh? I'll be sure to remember it. Now because you gave me your nickname, I should think one for myself too. Jaguar Man is too long after all. Hmm…" she started rubbing her chin in thought. "Then, call me Taiga instead!"

As the elegant lady that she was, Irisviel stopped herself from asking why Jaguar Man would like to be called with a name that signified another kind of animal.

"I understand," this time, it was Irisviel's turn to stand up. "I hope we have a long and lasting friendship together, Taiga-san," she extended her pale hand towards the other woman in front of her.

"Likewise!" Taiga accepted the handshake and childishly tried to make Irisviel flinch by gripping on her hand too tightly only for the latter to smile it all away.

It was almost as if the two already forgot about their promise of sharing a long and lasting friendship together.

---

Interlude IB: Killer (Husband) X Target (Wife), Killer's Side

The rule-of-thumb is that a Heroic Spirit is summoned at the peak of their strength.

As such, even if a Servant were to appear in their prepubescent years or even younger, that didn't mean that they were actually a child…

At least that was how it was supposed to be if the Grand Order was just like any other Holy Grail War.

For reasons that have not been determined as of this point, there have been numerous cases of where the Servants actually ended up being a child in both mind and body. Even if they possessed power beyond ordinary adults courtesy of being Heroic Spirits, it still felt wrong to leave a couple of children on their own devises no, it was exactly because they weren't just ordinary kids that adult supervision is required.

Today's guardian ended up being the red-cloaked mercenary who had all of his weapons temporarily confiscated for the safety of the children.

Assassin Class Servant Kiritsugu Emiya.

A bastion for children was probably the last place you'd look for someone with bloodstained hands like him but there was underlying reason for that.

As it turns out, today's assigned guardian as well as his substitute and the substitute of the substitute all had something urgent to do and the only one with free hands coincidentally turned out to be Kiritsugu Emiya.

In other words, it is one of the many schemes concocted by both Hachiman and Irisviel to bring Father and Daughter closer with a side benefit of potentially melting this Emiya's frozen heart with the wholesome sight of children just playing around to their hearts' content.

On a side note, the children's playground could not be described as ordinary. From the slides, swings and others, each one was built using materials that could withstand a significant amount of physical strength and magical bombardment. The purpose of which was of course, to let the children play around to their hearts' content.

Unbeknownst to the adults however, the children have also made up a way to have one of them act as a distraction to the guardian which is decided by the most impartial method known to Man.

Rock-paper-scissors.

After the kids duked it out with each other, the one who ended up with the most losses must take on the role.

And today's loser ended up being Chaldea's resident mahou shoujo who bore a striking resemblance to a certain Terminal of the Grail.

Caster Class Servant Illyasviel von Einzbern.

With this odd string of coincidences, Father and Daughter, although technically from different timelines, are now seated on the same bench.

By now, two hours or so has passed by already.

While the other children were playing around, these two were just glued to their seats the entire time.

It was only after Illya finally mustered the courage to talk did their awkward situation change.

"Uhm… Kiritsugu-san?" Illya called out to the man beside her in a shy voice but because of how he honed his senses to the limit on the battlefield, Kiritsugu was able to easily pick up on it though he felt a slight pang on his heart for some reason.

"Yes?" he answered with a very faint trace of loneliness on his voice.

"That is… Uhm… I think… I've did it several times before but I would like to ask for your opinion now while I still have the chance," the little girl looked more and more embarrassed as she spoke. "Is it really okay if I call you, P-P-Papa?"

After he heard that request, Kiritsugu Emiya finally understood the uneasiness he just felt.

He disliked the sense of distance he felt when Illya decided to call him with something else although Kiritsugu himself was not quite sure of the reason why.

"Feel free to call me with whatever you find most comfortable," his voice remained neutral despite his confusion.

"T-T-Then…" Illya kept playing with her fingers while alternating her glance between Kiritsugu's face and the floor. "I'll call you Papa, okay?"

It took half a second before the Assassin could reply.

"…Sure."

"Yay!" she threw one of her hands in the air due to excitement.

The happy smile on Illya's face made Kiritsugu feel like smiling as well… If he was able to do such a thing deliberately.

An interval of silence followed after that though it was not the same awkward one like earlier.

It was the kind of silence where the people involved simply enjoyed each other's company.

Kiritsugu Emiya quietly watched over the kids whereas Illya was just humming along while swishing her legs around back and forth since it didn't quite reach the floor from where she was sitting.

"Illya."

Surprisingly, this time around it was Kiritsugu himself who broke the silence.

"Yes."

"Are you getting along fine with everyone?"

Illya was taken slightly aback from the parent-like inquiry that came from Kiritsugu's side but she later found herself answering him like it was the most natural thing in the world for her to do.

"Yes!" she smiled from ear-to-ear. "Not just the other kids close to my age, everyone else has been taking very good care of me too!"

"Is that so? That's good," he spoke slightly faster and louder than usual but the difference was so minute that it could barely be noticed.

"Ah! Speaking of other Servants, something weird happened before," Illya tilted her body such that it faced Kiritsugu's side. "While I was walking on the hallway, Artoria-san, who came from the direction of the cafeteria greeted me…" her face warped into a frown as if recalling the memory itself was already painful enough.

"Is there something wrong with that?" he asked in mild confusion.

"No…" Illya shook her head before her expression turned grimmer and grimmer. "But then… Another Artoria-san came out and then another one… And then another one…" she held her shoulders with both hands and shivered. "I knew there are several of them here in Chaldea but I never would have expected to meet them in that kind of manner. All four of them were releasing an intense amount of pressure too. I wonder if something happened."

"I see," Kiritsugu was tempted to pat the little girl's head but ultimately settled on just comforting her through sharing a piece of advice. "Well, you don't have to worry about that kind of thing too much as that only happens to a select few Servants."

Illyasviel listened to his words while tilting her head cutely.

"Papa, is it possible for other Mamas to also be summoned here in Chaldea?"

Hearing that statement from Illya was perhaps Kiritsugu Emiya's last clear memory of the day. The next thing he knew he was already staring at the all-too familiar ceiling of his assigned quarters unable to get even a wink of sleep. He truly couldn't imagine himself dealing with another Irisviel and he was doubtful if the other Kiritsugus were going to fare any better.

In that cornered state of his, there was only one method that he came up with that could potentially save him from this predicament.

"Should I just go and die?"

---

Author's Note:

I'm back. It took a while, I mean, a long while but I'm back.

Here is the long-awaited and most requested Artoria X Mordred chapter.

Now I know it might not be what most of you expected but that is simply because I did not want to make the same mistake that I did with the Kiyohime interlude where I just solved her entire problem in just one sitting. I wanted to take my time and resolve this issue while simultaneously trying to get as much of the other Servants involved.

Anyways, I plan to stop limiting myself with Servants in the Solomon arc starting the next chapter.

The reason is that, well, let's say I planned to write an Ishtar chapter, it just wouldn't feel right if I don't include Ereshkigal on it or something like writing a chapter about the Knights of the Round Table and only including the Camelot released ones when Gareth and Percival are also already out or like how I kinds wanna inclue Godjuna when I write about Karna and Arjuna. So yeah, something like that. Of course, if I feel like a second part of the story is needed for certain characters involved then I'll do that instead. I just wanted to tell everyone here so that no one would get too surprised come the next chapter.

Oh yes and before I forget, to all those who were expecting that the next chapter will be about the Gorgon sisters, I'm very sorry but unfortunately that is not what I'm planning to write next.

Hopefully, this will serve as a late Holidays present to all of you.

I'll be focusing more on updating this fic moving forward so to all Platonic 2 readers, I'm very sorry but I hope you'll all understand.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all, my dear readers.

Let's have another wonderful time together again next year and here's to hoping the next one won't take too long to be uploaded.

As always, if you ever have any suggestions on which Servant/s you want to be featured next, feel free to write them on your review, I'll be sure to take that into consideration for the coming chapters.

Now with that out of the way, time to get on to the reviews from the previous chapter.

Glodenboy1: You're welcome also I'm not quite sure what you're really trying to say here, can you please elaborate?

Steppe14: I completely overhauled Marie's interlude so if you haven't already checked that out please do. Thanks for pointing out my mistakes by the way. As for your request of adding in more male Servants then please remember that Chapter 4 was based on the first Summer Event so the roster of Servants was already decided in the first place now while there are other male Servants there as well, I figured that trying to focus on too many Servants in one chapter might give my readers some information overload. I personally think I was pushing it with nine but since you guys seem to like it, I guess that was fine. Also, I'm pretty sure this is the only chapter where I highlighted potential romance as the first few ones did indeed involve a different kind of Servant-to-Servant interaction so I'm pretty sure I've got this part covered already. Finally, thanks for your concern, I did get a little burnout from writing Chapter so I might shy away from writing chapters with more than 20K words in the future.

IsekaiFanBoi: Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you figured out the link that I used between Kiyohime and Hachiman to write about that specific interlude.

TaidaNaeko: Here's the Artoria X Mordred chapter you requested. Unfortunately, I'm saving the Gorgon sisters for later.

Soulbow109: Thank you very much for the overwhelmingly positive response to the previous chapter. Words can't express how happy I am for your praise. Hopefully, this chapter will invoke similar sentiments from you.

adv: Thank you very much and sorry to keep you waiting.

DrackNath: Don't worry, I'm not pressured to write or anything, I'm doing this for fun also. Well, I guess the fact that it took me four months to make another one should be more than enough to serve as proof. As for your P.S., I'm pretty sure you're thinking too deeply about it but hey if Ritsuka did have a death flag in the actual game then let's just say that this is me foreshadowing that just in case.

0: Hi, I'm glad to see that you're enjoying what I write.

Saif Omar: Before anything else, I would like to say that I am not trying to come up with any excuses nor I am in any way offended by your words. In fact, I find reviews of this kind to be the most helpful to me. Everything really boils down to my inexperience as a writer. Fate as we all know is a franchise whose storytelling is out of this world. The reason why I didn't want to make Hachiman stray too far away from Ritsuka's actions is because I don't want to warp FGO's entire story as even the smallest change in nuance may alter everything. If I wasn't afraid of that, the fanfic that I would've written would be to make Hachiman go through the main story but instead here we are now. This is also my first time in writing a nonlinear story. The reason why Hachiman's attitude varies from one chapter to another depends on which time period he is at that specific chapter which is indicated by the notes I write before the chapter. Of course the Hachiman I wrote would be different from the Hachiman someone else wrote, that's just how it is. Hopefully, this helps clear up some things.

nightcore000: Thank you.

Raijinmaru: Thank you very much. Here's to hoping you will enjoy this one as well.

A Reverse Weeb: No need to hold back on your reviews at all. I'll read it even if it ended up being as long as the chapter I wrote. Hahaha! To be honest, I did feel like you held yourself back around your comment about the Mordred Interlude. In any case, I really don't mind it if you continue recommending Servants to be sent to the counselling, I mean I'm the one asking for suggestions in the first place.

bluecookie420: Thank you very much. As much as I want to ask you to read Platonic, I also wouldn't want to keep another reader hanging since that series will be on hiatus so it's all up to you to decide.

Niralam: I'm happy to hear that you liked it.

daalrece23: Here's a little surprise for this new reader of mine.

To everyone else who takes the time to read this fic, a huge thank you to all of you as well.

That's it for this chapter.

I hope we meet again in the next one or in another story of mine.

Reviews, follows and faves are all very much appreciated.

Until next time...

May everyone's good wishes and realities intersect.

Morii Hikikko

References:

1 – A line said by Oda Nobunaga from the Mysterious Job Called Oda Nobunaga