Fate: How About a New Savior?

Tenkei Shiomi woke with a splitting headache.

It was the first hangover he could remember, and it felt as though even his Magic Circuits had been dulled by the alcohol—he couldn't ease the pain on his own. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he opened his eyes and found himself staring at the towering ceiling of the Divine Tower residence, easily over ten meters high.

The pristine sleeping quarters still held the faint scent of malt beer, a clear sign that someone had been drinking heavily the night before.

And he was definitely one of them.

After all, this was the distant, primordial dawn of civilization. Brewing methods for malt beer weren't so much crude as they were steeped in the wild, unrefined essence of the Age of Gods.

Shiomi had clearly underestimated its potency. It hadn't tasted strong at all—but after drinking too much, he'd still ended up completely drunk.

Not even Heroic Spirits were immune to its effects.

Now he sat slumped on the carpet at the foot of the bed, leaning back against it. Judging by his posture, he'd probably passed out like that last night.

His master was still fast asleep, using Shiomi's thigh as a pillow.

Behind him, Morgan was lying on her side in bed, draped in an intricately woven wool blanket. Her sleeping face was serene, almost beautiful.

His clothes were still in order, thankfully, which meant nothing had gotten out of hand. Shiomi quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Because he remembered—there had been someone else there last night.

Artoria.

But after glancing around the room, she was nowhere to be seen. From the garden outside, however, came the rhythmic clash of training—along with faint traces of magical energy.

It sounded more like a sparring match than actual combat.

After carefully lifting his master and settling him on the other side of the bed, Shiomi asked a maid for some water and a towel, washed up, and stepped into the small garden outside.

There, Mash and Gray were engaged in training. Gray continuously shifted Add's form—scythe, battering ram, compound bow, hook-lance, boomerang...

Even though the influence of King Arthur no longer manifested physically through her, the power she had inherited as Arthur's vessel still remained.

The Lion King had taken away the part of her that continued to change—but not her will to fight.

When Add shifted into a shield and clashed against Mash's own, Shiomi turned his gaze away and approached Artoria, who stood quietly at the edge of the garden.

She was watching their sparring match—or rather, overseeing it. Under her guidance, Mash and Gray were engaged in their usual training.

"Are you awake, Master?" Artoria turned her head at the sound of footsteps and greeted him.

"Morning..." Shiomi covered his mouth, trying to mask any lingering smell of alcohol. He was using Magecraft to erase the remnants of last night's drinking party.

"Last night was quite enjoyable. Your tolerance is remarkable," Artoria said with a smile.

Shiomi felt the taste in his mouth slowly fade. "It wasn't that impressive... Morgan and Master are still out cold. You're up early."

"Well, you got them both drunk before passing out yourself," Artoria chuckled. "I just happened to avoid the worst of it."

Then she recalled the final moments of the evening—Shiomi, originally the one being pressured to drink, had turned the tables and ended up pulling both Morgan and his teacher into the drinking spree. After putting the drunken Morgan back in bed, he collapsed on his way to help his teacher to bed.

"Ugh... sorry you had to see that," Shiomi said awkwardly, as the memories began coming back.

Acting so recklessly in a Singularity... he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"It's nothing. If anything, I was a little disappointed. Before passing out, you were still considerate enough not to push me to drink too much," Artoria said—somewhat unexpectedly, given her usual demeanor.

Shiomi felt a new headache coming on. "It's not like I was trying to keep you out of it..."

"I know." Artoria nodded with a gentle expression, clearly teasing.

"...So you're guiding their training now?" Shiomi shrugged and glanced over at Mash and Gray, who were still sparring.

"The others are getting ready to head out. Once Mash and Gray finish their morning session, High Priestess Siduri will arrive to assign their duties," Artoria explained. "I happened to see them training when I woke up, so I offered a bit of advice—hopefully something useful."

That reminded Shiomi of dinner the night before. It was clear Artoria cared about those two girls.

"They mean something to you?"

"Each of them shares a connection with me. It's probably instinctual." Artoria's gaze grew distant, her tone softening. "Especially the girl who inherited Sir Galahad's power..."

"We need to come up with a solution..." Shiomi leaned against a stone pillar in the garden, his expression clouding. "Everything we've done over the past year was to ensure humanity's survival. But if saving the world comes at the cost of a child like Mash..."

Artoria's voice turned airy, as if echoing from the Sixth Singularity. "With an incomplete Authority, all we can do is prolong her life..."

She didn't finish the sentence.

This time, Artoria wouldn't try to persuade Shiomi to accept the Throne of Gods or fully master the power of life.

Shiomi understood that. He could only let out a faint, almost inaudible sigh.

"Since you're awake, Master, please get ready to depart," Artoria shifted the topic. "The High Priestess stopped by earlier—His Majesty wants the investigation team to head for the southern city of Ur."

Siduri had already taken care of distributing the Chaldea personnel and reported the plan to the king.

Ur sat on the western coast of the Persian Gulf, south of Uruk, in the Mesopotamian basin.

It was more than half a day's journey from Uruk.

That area had transformed into a tropical rainforest, far removed from the lands of Mesopotamia. The two Servants Uruk had sent before had been lost there.

"That's pretty far. Should we prepare a carriage?" Shiomi wondered.

"If we take my warhorse across the plains and avoid the monsters, we can make it in less than half a day."

"But your warhorse... only seats two."

"Just you and me will be enough."

There was no mistaking it—Artoria was suggesting they leave Morgan and Scáthach behind and ride to Ur together.

It made sense from an efficiency standpoint, but it also posed some serious problems.

"King Arthur's plan sounds pretty solid. Why not go with that? I can stall them for you—let them sleep until nightfall," Mari suddenly cut in with a cheerful suggestion.

She had apparently been eavesdropping nearby for a while.

"Oh? That's an amusing idea. How about we lock you in the 'Garden' and have you perish along with the Singularity?" Morgan's cold voice rang out.

A Rune-based binding spell snapped into place around Mari—that was Scáthach's handiwork.

"If you're going to make a move, now's your chance, Morgan."

"Oh dear, what a shame."

...

(100 Chapters Ahead)

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