Chapter 25: Need to Find a Way to Snatch Her Over Too

"Picked up on the road?"

Her voice rose noticeably; Miss Tohsaka wore an expression of utter disbelief.

"Yeah, picked up on the road..."

Xia Zhi nodded calmly, looking perfectly justified — after all, he hadn't lied; wasn't that exactly picking someone up on the road?

Though, to be honest, even he found it rather unreal; he had merely come up with an all-or-nothing breakthrough plan, rushed to Yuan Cang Shan overnight to eat dirt, and somehow a blind cat stumbled upon a dead mouse?

——Who could have imagined that, in the dead of night, a Servant would inexplicably stagger to the foot of Yuan Cang Shan and collapse there, half-dead?

——What is this? A new-concept waiting-by-a-tree-stump-for-a-rabbit?

He found it subtle too, but after deep consideration, he still decided to pick up this Caster miss from the road.

After all, striking at this frail miss held no actual benefit — no upgrade EXP, no treasure chest drops — and even if he did nothing, judging by her half-dead state, she would soon dissipate naturally.

And then?

Nothing would change.

Reducing one opponent does not mean the Holy Grail War's pressure lessens; on the contrary, it may accelerate the war's progress, making it more intense and driving it to its conclusion faster.

"You... you... this fellow, can't you be serious for once..."

Miss Rin Tohsaka opposite also wore a speechless expression, shifting her gaze aside, subconsciously muttering: "How could one possibly just casually pick up a Servant on the road..."

However, despite those words, across her line of sight, that female Magician draped in a dark purple robe was sitting sideways on the ground, her frail posture revealing a quiet attentiveness, silently watching the two's conversation.

Although the magical energy fluctuations she emitted were near zero, as if they might dissipate into invisibility at any moment, Rin Tohsaka could still accurately judge that this woman was undoubtedly a Servant.

That's why this is so absurd.

She had already gone to bed early from a day's fatigue, only to be urgently woken in the middle of the night by her own Servant — Rin Tohsaka was naturally aggrieved — but she never expected to witness such a scene —

That troublesome fellow came back from fooling around outside, and actually brought another woman back, openly intending to bring her into his home...

No no, what am I thinking such messy nonsense!

The girl, just woken and still muddle-headed, hurriedly shook her head hard, re-sorted the situation before her eyes — meaning, her own Servant went out to act in the evening, and now brought back a new Servant for her?

Th-this... Assassin's efficiency is this high?

She didn't know how to evaluate for a moment; although someone said he would act under cover of night, in truth she didn't hold much hope, more a devil-may-care mindset.

Yes, Assassin should have that positioning, should approach the Holy Grail War with that thinking.

But what use is that? Miss Tohsaka frankly didn't really count on him achieving anything, let alone successfully assassinating other Master-Servant pairs — just hoping to perhaps glean some valuable intelligence would be enough to satisfy.

Yet right now, the most absurd result happened.

This fellow really went out for one night and directly assassinated a Master?

Rin Tohsaka subconsciously thought so — after all, she truly felt it unlikely to just casually pick up a Servant on the street; it should be that her own Servant successfully eliminated the enemy Master and persuaded their Servant, bringing them back.

Such battle results were a bit unreal, making the girl feel as if in a dream.

Her feet felt light and floaty, as if treading on cotton.

Once she fully sorted out the situation and reconfirmed the fact, Rin Tohsaka's eyes instantly shone, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

Eliminating a competitor was already a fine achievement; if she could simultaneously add an ally to her side while eliminating a competitor, that would naturally be even better!

Though she didn't know how this fellow persuaded this Caster, the fact was before her eyes — as long as she signed a Contract with the other party...

【33】 【sic】 【Note: Source has duplicate 【33】, but we translate each line as given.】

When the time comes, holding two Heroic Spirits, this season seems to have a ranking-up opportunity again.

"Caster, I roughly understand the situation, so..."

Taking a deep breath, suppressing her leaping excitement, the black-haired pigtail girl looked seriously and earnestly at that female Magician.

"Are you willing to sign a Contract with me and rejoin this war?"

"..."

"..."

Caster scrutinized the girl before her; although in her eyes, modern Magicians were mostly not worth evaluating. However, setting aside prejudice, this girl's potential was undoubtedly quite outstanding.

At the very least, compared to that dull Master she had only recently shaken off, this girl was clearly superior by more than a notch — though green and unripe, that was precisely her malleability, also allowing herself to more easily control such a Master...

"Naturally, Master..."

The corner of her mouth curved up in a faint smile; she gave an affirmative answer, and unintentionally glanced sideways at the youth beside her.

She would naturally agree — after all, being summoned once was rare; as long as she had the right to choose, she wouldn't easily give up this Stage. Otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to follow this strange Servant back.

If she truly wished to retreat, she only needed to do nothing — she would fail to maintain the Mortal World due to magical energy dissipation and return to the Throne of Heroes.

"Then I'll go prepare first..."

Miss Tohsaka also knew that since the other party willingly followed her Servant back, she surely had such intention — but upon actually hearing her agree, she still couldn't help a surge of elation.

"Right, what is your True Name?"

"Medea, Witch of Greece, happy to serve you..." The female Magician in deep purple robes parted her lips lightly, her gaze intently capturing every shred of emotional change on her new Master's face.

"Medea of Greek Mythology... Excellent! From now on, you are my Caster!"

Rin Tohsaka's eyes instantly brightened; she nodded vigorously in confirmation, that seriousness just short of slapping her not-exactly-bountiful chest in guarantee.

People only get picky when they have choices; her mental journey was the same — from "I must draw Saber," to "If not Saber, at least a Three Knights," to "As long as it's not Caster or Assassin"...

As for now, her attitude had become very pragmatic.

Any Class works — anyway, she has two Heroic Spirits now; that's a huge advantage!

As for the other party's reputation, that's even less scary — after the blow from the previous Servant, Miss Tohsaka now only fears a Servant with no fame, not one with fame; ill fame or good fame both work — at least it proves a Heroic Spirit with pedigree!

——Huh?

Medea didn't know what her new Master had experienced, so she found the girl's revealed attitude slightly surprising.

She had thought the other party would instinctively show wariness, vigilance, rejection upon hearing her name.

After all — "Witch of Betrayal" — is truly not a pleasant title.

Seriously observing Rin Tohsaka's expression, confirming the girl wasn't feigning sincerity, Medea fell silent for a moment, then slowly revealed a smile — different from the previous one, a touch more sincere.

The black-haired pigtail girl excitedly ran back upstairs.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of this moment, Medea also turned her head to look at the youth beside her, pondered slightly, and finally spoke with a sigh: "It seems you were right, you do indeed have a good Master..."

"I think so too..."

Xia Zhi smiled faintly, as if basking in reflected glory, speaking with a touch of pride.

Of course, eating her food, living in her home, using her things, and still able to pull tricks behind her back — such a good big scapeg... cough cough, such a good Master, where else could you find one?

Naturally, in front of Medea he still had to maintain his persona, playing the part of a Servant loyal to his Master.

"Still, thank you for saving me... from now on, we'll be working together." Medea said seriously, also with some doubt, "But why were you there at that time? Were you tracking other enemies?"

"Right, I thought Yuan Cang Shan was also a good spot, suspected others might choose it as a base, so I went to investigate specifically, and happened to run into you collapsed there..."

The youth gave this explanation calmly, without batting an eye.

He would never easily expose his past secret of eating dirt.

Medea nodded thoughtfully: "That place is indeed good, has great advantages as a Magic Workshop..."

If she were choosing, she would also pick that place to set up a base.

Thinking of this, this Caster couldn't help but look toward the Living Room — that ruin-style mess all over the floor, and the big hole in the ceiling were extremely glaring.

After all, during the Holy Grail War, Rin Tohsaka had no mood to hire people to clean and repair the Western-style Mansion, so it was temporarily maintained in this state. But in Medea's eyes, this was another scene entirely — this looked like a fierce battle had already taken place.

This Western-style Mansion is clearly unsafe, why not...

After signing the Contract, persuade the Master to move out, start from scratch?

Anyway, "Territory Construction" is Caster's specialty, and the correct way to go about it.

————

————

Next morning.

Rin Tohsaka, yawning, stepped through the School gates again.

She still felt very sleepy, her body somewhat heavy. After all, supplying magical energy to two Servants isn't exactly easy, even with her excellent Magecraft aptitude, the burden is still considerable.

Also thanks to Medea having been weakened by her previous Master.

Otherwise, the magical energy consumption would probably be even higher.

According to Medea, her previous Master, after summoning her, fearing her power, used a Command Seal's absolute order to restrict her magical energy below human level... simply a genius-level brain circuit.

Hearing this news, the Tohsaka young lady was naturally both angry and conflicted.

Angry because she felt her Caster should have had stronger abilities, yet was weakened by the previous idiot using a Command Seal, simply cutting her own flesh, heartbreaking to hear...

Conflict because she suddenly felt if that Master wasn't so brain-dead, her Assassin wouldn't have assassinated them so easily, and Caster wouldn't have become disaffected, decisively choosing to defect to her...

Naturally filling in the blanks and rationalizing the whole ins and outs, Rin Tohsaka didn't know whether to curse that idiot or praise their miraculous play.

"Is it really necessary to come to school, just for these few days..."

Maintaining Spiritualization, Xia Zhi rested his hands behind his head, following closely behind his Master's footsteps, with Medea similarly maintaining Spiritualization at his side.

He actually just wanted to act alone right now, then find a chance to eat dirt.

"I can't just stay home waiting for you to send back battle reports — if the Holy Grail War were that easy, that'd be great..."

Rin Tohsaka said, yawning. Probably because the youth's first move last night yielded extraordinary achievements, her attitude had also changed noticeably, her tone softening a few degrees.

"And if going out to act, the School is actually a good destination too — think about it, the war must be conducted in secret, a crowded school is actually safer, generally won't be attacked..."

Her words cut off abruptly, her footsteps also stopped, her expression frozen, looking quite remarkable.

The air ahead felt off.

Some kind of Bounded Field had quietly risen, enveloping this deserted Campus where, because it was still early, not many students had arrived.

"..."

"..."

"Assassin, find a way to investigate..." Pulling at the corner of her mouth, Rin Tohsaka felt her luck truly wasn't good.

I knew it...

Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow, sighed, assessed his own magical energy quantity, but still felt it wasn't enough.

Although Servants are in a sense magical energy beings — the higher their magical energy reserves, the stronger they are — he still felt he was at most third-rate level right now; eating dirt for one night, he'd barely surpassed the average level of Lower Fairies in the Fairy Kingdom.

Even reinforced by Medea's Magecraft, he probably couldn't face those monsters head-on, right?

Because he'd never come into contact with other Servants before, the recent Caster was a weak sewer-tier Class to begin with, and a Servant specifically weakened to the extreme by a previous Master using Command Seals — presumably not much reference value.

So he had absolutely no intention of underestimating those hypothetical enemies, always subconsciously imagining them at the high end.

"I can only do some investigation work, head-on combat I definitely can't match others..." Thinking it over, Xia Zhi decisively gave the girl a preventive warning, and decided if they really had to engage enemies, he'd just run away first.

After wandering around the Campus a few times, Xia Zhi quickly found the Bounded Field's anchor points.

They were red-purple characters openly carved on the rooftop, seemingly invisible to ordinary people, and there appeared to be many of them.

He didn't do anything, instead choosing to mark them one by one, planning to go back and deliberate further. Acting prudently is fundamental; being able to play it safe is a win; reckless action never has good results.

Only when finding the last mark's anchor point did a slight unexpected situation occur...

Vivian?

Looking at that girl on the opposite rooftop, bending down to examine the carvings on the roof, that familiar appearance caused Xia Zhi's spirit to tremble slightly.

— She came too?

— Could it be, my situation isn't an exception, she was also summoned?

Wait, who's that red-haired kid next to her?

Could he be the Master who summoned Vivian in this Holy Grail War? Subconsciously forming this guess, Xia Zhi narrowed his eyes slightly, looks like he'll need to find a way to snatch her over too...

(Chapter End)