"Here, have something warm to drink and relax."
Shiomi pulled out a spare cup from his bag and poured the girl a cup of coffee.
Her name was Gray, one of the villagers—but her identity was far more complicated than that.
Flustered by her earlier blunder at the door, Gray hurried to help pick things up and neatly stacked them in a corner. Only after that did Shiomi persuade her to sit and rest with a cup of coffee.
After a brief self-introduction, Gray took the cup he offered, head lowered, while sneaking glances at Aesc.
The reason was obvious—now that her hood was down, Gray's face looked almost identical to Aesc's.
That resemblance alone disrupted Shiomi's already troubled thoughts. For a fleeting moment, some strange ideas even crossed his mind. Unfortunately, before he could say anything, Aesc silenced him with a jolt of electric Magecraft.
More accurately, Gray didn't just resemble Aesc—her appearance was exactly like Artoria Pendragon.
"Is that your original face?" Aesc asked.
Caught peeking, Gray flinched and nearly spilled her coffee.
"N-No... I started looking like this about nine years ago," she said, clearly upset. "One winter day, my face suddenly began to change... and eventually settled into this."
Nine years ago—that was during the Fourth Holy Grail War in 1994.
In that context, her face turning into a mirror image of Artoria's made perfect sense.
"Let me take a closer look."
Aesc's interest was piqued. She handed her coffee to Shiomi, walked over to Gray, and gently touched her forehead with a fingertip.
"Eh?" Gray blinked in confusion.
She was overwhelmed. She hadn't expected to meet someone in this remote village who looked so much like her.
When this woman had arrived, she too had worn a cloak and kept her face hidden beneath a hood.
Their matching appearance and attire sparked an instinctive sense of kinship in Gray when she saw Aesc's face.
Could this woman have gone through the same thing she had?
Aesc's palm lit up. The light surrounded Gray, but she didn't feel anything unusual, so she quietly waited.
She remembered Bersac mentioning that these visitors were Magus from outside—maybe they could lift the "curse" that had befallen her.
"I see..." Aesc withdrew her hand as the light faded. "So they've been cultivating potential heirs just to wield the Holy Lance."
"Holy Lance?" Shiomi raised an eyebrow. "You mean Rhongomyniad?"
One of the Noble Phantasms said to be wielded by King Arthur—Rhongomyniad.
Aesc had explained once that its true nature was a tower, bridging the surface of the world and what lies beyond.
And among the four branches of her Magecraft, "Tower" was the one derived from her mastery of that Holy Lance.
"Hehehe! Lucky you, Gray!"
A sharp, slightly grating voice suddenly rang out, echoing through the hunter's cabin.
"Hm?" Shiomi looked up.
Gray's face turned awkward. She fumbled under her cloak and pulled out a cylindrical, lantern-like cage. Inside was a cube-shaped Mystic Code. On the side facing them were what looked like eyes and a mouth.
The Mystic Code's eyes were locked directly on Aesc.
"N-No—didn't I tell you to stay quiet, Add? Seriously..." Gray sounded exasperated, but her tone was more like someone scolding a close friend for breaking a promise.
Add? A nickname for the Holy Lance? Shiomi wondered silently.
Only after voicing her complaint did Gray realize something was off. In the village, she was the only one who could hear Add's voice. But just now, she'd instinctively assumed everyone else could hear it too.
Was it because of how Mr. Shiomi reacted? Or was it because this woman—like her—bore the face of the King?
"Oh? Now that's an interesting design."
Aesc casually took the cage from Gray's hands, lifted Add up, and met his eyes directly.
After a few seconds, she let out a quiet sigh.
"The core uses a different technique, but the external processing... that's something else entirely."
She set the cage down on the table and snapped her fingers lightly in front of it. Add began to tremble, then quickly settled down again.
"So, care to chat for a bit?" Aesc asked, her tone light and a little teasing.
Add responded. It was the same voice, yet deeper now—calmer, more mature.
"I don't think there's anything to discuss. Since you've returned to this village in person, are you here to complete the final ritual yourself?" he asked.
"That's not certain," Aesc replied coolly. "You've misunderstood the causality from the beginning. In fact, I might do the exact opposite. As a constructed persona created by 'this side'—no, more accurately, as the seal of the Holy Lance—would you resist what I intend to do?"
Add fell silent.
Even this brief exchange left Gray feeling overwhelmed. She couldn't make sense of Add's sudden shift in tone, or how this woman seemed to understand everything about the village without hesitation.
"Do as you wish."
With that, Add fell into hibernation.
"That's it?" Shiomi scratched his head.
He'd expected some kind of dramatic confrontation, but that was all?
"Best not to get your hopes up too much, my husband." Aesc returned to her seat by the bed. "It's only because the seal was partially created by the same person that I'm able to handle it so easily."
Shiomi simply smiled and shrugged, tacitly approving of her actions.
"Um... will Add be okay?" Gray asked anxiously.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine." Aesc's tone was gentle, tinged with sympathy. "In a way, your situation is partly my responsibility too."
She turned to look at Shiomi. "Seems this trip may turn out to be more meaningful than I'd expected."
"I'm just here to help someone scout the area—and watch his back while he's on the move," Shiomi said with a casual wave. "If you've got something planned, go ahead and do it. I'll be right behind you, backing you up."
He then turned to Gray.
"But your 'friend' wasn't wrong, Gray." Shiomi gestured toward Aesc with a slight nod. "Her coming here might just be the luckiest thing that's happened to you."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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