Miracle Summoner

At that moment, Mash had only one thought in her mind.

But this wasn't difficult to understand, was it?

"I heard the King mention your situation. It seems you're not a true Servant but rather a Demi-Servant who has fused with the power of one."

Bedivere looked at Mash with great surprise.

"And judging by your reaction, Lady Mash, you don't know the identity of the Servant fused within you, do you?"

The meaning behind these words was already quite clear.

"Could it be... do you know who the Servant fused within me is, Sir Bedivere!?"

Mash's eyes widened slightly.

Seeing Mash's reaction, Bedivere confirmed his own suspicions.

"It seems you truly don't know the identity of the Servant within you." Bedivere sighed. "The King must have realized it, just as I have. The other Knights of the Round Table surely noticed it too, yet none of them told you."

Hearing this, Mash recalled the peculiar reactions the Knights of the Round Table had when they saw her.

She, too, had felt an inexplicable emotion whenever she saw the Round Table Knights or even the Lion King.

What did this signify?

It meant the Servant within Mash was closely tied to the Round Table.

Perhaps even...

"The Servant within me is one of the Knights of the Round Table...?"

Mash murmured involuntarily.

To this, Bedivere nodded solemnly.

"Just as you suspect, my lady," Bedivere declared firmly. "You are one of the Knights of the Round Table, or at least as a Demi-Servant, you have fused with one of the knights and gained their power."

This was why Mash felt mysterious emotions towards the Knights of the Round Table.

This was why the Knights of the Round Table treated Mash so strangely.

"I believe even your Master has already seen through this, hasn't he?"

Bedivere turned to Rozen, who had remained silent by the side, and addressed him.

Mash was stunned.

"Is... is that true, Senpai?"

Mash quickly asked.

Rozen's expression didn't change.

He only nodded.

"I suspected it long ago, especially after gaining mastery over the power of Heroic Spirit Summoning."

Rozen explained.

It was something that, upon reflection, seemed suspicious from the beginning.

"While Chaldea has an independent method of performing Heroic Spirit Summoning and possesses the Heroic Spirit Summoning System, summoning Heroic Spirits, especially multiple ones, isn't something so easily achieved."

Heroic Spirits are entities detached from the timeline, capable of being summoned across past and future eras. Only the world itself can summon the true body of a Heroic Spirit. Humans cannot summon the true body of a Heroic Spirit. Even summoning Servants, who are fragments of Heroic Spirits, requires the ultimate thaumaturgy to save humanity: Heroic Spirit Summoning. Humans reduced Heroic Spirit Summoning into the ritual of Holy Grail Wars, which allows summoning Servants by leveraging the Grail's power.

Without such modifications, human summoning techniques at most borrow a small portion of a Heroic Spirit's power to invoke miracles—such as embedding a summoned spiritual entity into the caster's body for certain functions—or borrowing the Heroic Spirit's abilities to gain specific characteristics. But summoning a Servant with a distinct personality is almost impossible without the ritual of the Holy Grail War and the aid of the Holy Grail.

Although Chaldea's system combined the Holy Grail War ritual with its own research, allowing the creation of the Heroic Spirit Summoning System, simply having the system in place wouldn't make summoning Servants—especially many Servants—possible without special circumstances.

Remember, before the explosion incident, Chaldea had nearly fifty Masters. If things had gone as planned, all fifty would have been sent to Singularities, using the Heroic Spirit Summoning System to summon Servants. If successful, nearly fifty Servants would've been summoned—a staggering rate. Such a feat couldn't possibly lack a special factor.

The Heroic Spirit Summoning System had only three successful cases before the Incineration of Humanity. Among them, one case remains unconfirmed to this day, and the second resulted in Mash's fusion as a Demi-Servant, who showed no signs of awakening before the incident. Only Da Vinci had been practically integrated into Chaldea's management systems.

In light of this, summoning nearly fifty Servants under such circumstances was implausible.

As someone who had mastered the miracles of Heroic Spirit Summoning, Rozen understood this better than anyone else.

Thus...

"Chaldea's summoning system must be based on the concept of an assembly of Heroic Spirits as a catalyst."

Rozen stated definitively.

"Only with this concept as a foundation could Chaldea's Heroic Spirit Summoning System succeed."

What sort of catalyst would suit the concept of an assembly of Heroic Spirits?

The answer was simple.

Wasn't the answer standing right here?

"The Knights of the Round Table earned their name because they were noble, virtuous knights who sat around the Round Table. In other words, the Round Table was the gathering place of heroes and Heroic Spirits."

Rozen looked at Mash.

"It can be said that the Round Table, renowned as a gathering of heroes, is the perfect catalyst. Only with such a catalyst could Chaldea's Heroic Spirit Summoning System be established."

This catalyst could not have been wasted.

"One of the three successful cases of Chaldea's summoning system must have involved using the Round Table as the catalyst."

In this case, excluding Da Vinci, the remaining two cases must include a successful summoning involving the Round Table.

This case was undoubtedly a genuine Knight of the Round Table.

And the catalyst—the Round Table itself—was in their possession.

Indeed...

"Your shield is a weapon forged from the Round Table."

Rozen said to Mash.

"The Servant within you is a genuine Knight of the Round Table."

This was something Rozen had previously only suspected. But upon arriving at this Singularity and observing Mash's peculiar reaction to the Knights of the Round Table, he became certain.

"Then... who exactly is the Knight of the Round Table within me?"

Mash placed a hand on her chest.

Seeing this, Bedivere's expression grew serious.

Even Rozen looked at Mash with a solemn gaze.

"Among the Knights of the Round Table, only one Servant is tasked with protecting and wields a shield."

Rozen spoke in a deep voice.

"He is the illegitimate son of Lancelot, the most perfect and ideal figure among the Knights of the Round Table."

Hearing this, Mash trembled.

Because she already knew.

After all, this was a name mentioned before.

"Yes."

"The Servant within you is the one recognized by the Holy Grail, who, being free of desires, returned the Grail to the heavens and ascended to the celestial realm."

"His true name is..."

"Galahad."