"If that's the case, I feel reassured."
Amakusa Shirou Tokisada showed no displeasure at Semiramis's rebuke, his face maintaining its usual serene smile.
"Our success or failure now hinges entirely upon this gamble."
Saying this, he turned slightly to face Semiramis.
"No matter what happens, I leave this place in your hands."
With those words, Amakusa slowly walked toward the Greater Grail.
"Oh Grail, fulfill my wish—"
"Bring true salvation to all of humanity."
---
The homunculi were sorting through and preparing the ingredients brought by Emiya Shirou and Jeanne.
The magi were discussing spells that could potentially assist Astolfo.
Having learned the enemy Assassin was Semiramis, Sisigou Kairi busied himself preparing an antidote for hydra poison.
Astolfo's Master was diligently learning magecraft from the homunculi.
And Emiya Shirou—
—was helping Jeanne with homework.
…
Though it sounded unbelievable, this was exactly what was happening.
Within the entire Yggdmillennia villa, the magi had naturally only been educated in magecraft from a young age. While they did possess basic common-sense knowledge, they lacked deeper, academic understandings—especially in something as impractical for daily life as mathematics.
The homunculi, of course, didn't even require explanation; isolated from the outside world, their entire knowledge base was given by the Yggdmillennia.
As for Sisigou Kairi—well, expecting an adult magus to solve these problems would be too much.
It reminded one of that classic saying: "If I were still a high-schooler, I could solve this problem in three ways. But now that I'm in university, I'm lucky if I can even have three meals a day."
And since Kairi himself was a magus, he definitely had no interest or aptitude for these headache-inducing math problems.
Jeanne, though granted knowledge when summoned into this world, had only been provided common sense appropriate to the modern era—definitely not the intricacies of junior high or high school math.
Thus, Jeanne naturally sought out Emiya Shirou, the only one in the villa who had actually attended school.
Though Shirou couldn't fully understand why Jeanne was so fixated on solving these problems, he guessed it was perhaps a way for her to fulfill a lingering regret of never receiving formal education.
But then again, Shirou distinctly remembered Jeanne being illiterate…
Perhaps the Grail at least provided her with basic literacy when she manifested…?
Regardless, Emiya Shirou and Jeanne were, without a doubt, among the more leisurely occupants of the Yggdmillennia villa.
But the person with the most idle time on their hands was naturally the knight named Astolfo.
"Yo! Here you two are!"
Astolfo suddenly appeared behind Shirou, who was busy explaining a math problem to Jeanne, and energetically patted him on the shoulder.
Despite Shirou normally possessing sharp situational awareness, he hadn't sensed Astolfo's approach and was startled badly.
Even more surprisingly, Jeanne—who had been seated at the table with Shirou standing beside her—also jumped in shock, leaning back instinctively.
Considering Jeanne's Ruler-class senses could even detect Assassins, she definitely should have noticed Astolfo's presence. Yet she had been startled alongside Shirou.
The only reasonable explanation was that both of them had become too deeply absorbed in the math problem.
As a person known for his helpfulness, Emiya Shirou naturally found it easy to guide Jeanne through the problems.
While his grades weren't outstanding like Shinji's, merely average at best, he rarely refused when others came to him for help. Many of his classmates had often sought him out for explanations.
If Shirou could solve a problem, he would patiently explain it in detail. If he couldn't, he would first seek out a teacher and then relay the explanation back to his peers.
This habit had made Shirou experienced in explaining homework.
"Rider, why did you suddenly appear in my room?"
Shirou wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and sat down, turning toward Astolfo behind him.
"I was bored! I wanted to see if you had anything interesting going on. Also, your door was open."
As the most idle individual within the villa, Astolfo's restless personality inevitably led him to wander aimlessly in search of entertainment.
Naturally, he'd thought of Jeanne and Shirou, who also didn't seem overly busy.
Being a Servant himself, Astolfo had initially gone looking for Jeanne first, but upon not finding her in her room, he decided to check on Shirou instead.
When Astolfo saw Shirou's door slightly ajar, he assumed Shirou had left to train somewhere again.
Curiosity got the better of him, however, and Astolfo quietly entered the room anyway.
Thus, he discovered Shirou diligently tutoring Jeanne.
"What's this?"
Astolfo's eyes immediately fell upon the numerous books piled on Shirou's desk.
"A math textbook…?" Shirou answered uncertainly.
After all, besides a few spare clothes, Jeanne's luggage mostly contained textbooks and exercise books—even a book on advanced mathematics.
The Saint's suitcase: A paradise of mathematics.
Honestly, Shirou himself wasn't even sure about half of the books piled up on his desk. He couldn't understand them either.
Thankfully, Jeanne's mathematics ability was currently at elementary-school level, making tutoring manageable for him.
One had to start with small steps, after all—Shirou couldn't jump directly into advanced material without building a foundation.
Of course, the real issue here was that Shirou himself had barely experienced high school. After all, before even properly enrolling, he'd been whisked away by some mysterious door, and upon returning had only attended a single day.
In practice, Shirou had essentially never attended high school himself.
"What's this? Ahh—my eyes!!"
Astolfo caught sight of the endless numbers on the page in front of Jeanne and immediately became dizzy. After merely glancing at it, Astolfo collapsed dramatically onto Shirou's bed, as if struck by a critical blow.
Shirou could only manage a bitter smile.
Perhaps math textbooks are actually more effective than battles against Servants.
From now on, whenever I encounter a Servant I can't defeat, I should just wave a math textbook at them.
Shirou entertained that amusing thought privately.
---
T/N: 4 chaps meeting this weeks quota, last week it was 7dtd this week it was tomodachi life........ teehee
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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