Preparing a banquet of that scale naturally required much more time.
After leaving Jeanne Alter's room, Arthur headed straight for the kitchen.
One glance was enough to reveal the chaotic yet perfectly organized scene before him. Tamamo seemed to have multiplied herself into three or four versions, each handling a different part of the meal, moving with such speed and precision that it was difficult to follow her movements.
Tamamo-no-Mae's culinary skills were simply exceptional. She might have even surpassed Arthur by now.
"Need any help, Tamamo?" Arthur asked as soon as he entered the kitchen.
"No need, Master. I can handle a banquet like this on my own."
As she spoke, she finished one dish, placed another in the oven, stirred a pot, and prepared ingredients for another recipe almost simultaneously.
"The other girls offered to help too, but I turned them down."
She placed one hand on her waist and pointed her thumb at herself with a confident grin.
"Normally, when Chaldea's staff sees us, it's because we're heading out on an important mission. To them, we probably look like a bunch of battle maniacs who only know how to fight."
She puffed out her chest proudly.
"Hmph! This time, I'll show them I'm unbeatable in another field too!"
As she said that, she crossed one arm in front of herself and rested the other hand on her shoulder, striking an overly confident pose.
Arthur couldn't help smiling.
Just by looking at her expression, he could already guess that someone had provoked Tamamo.
And he had a very good idea who the culprit was.
"This is Da Vinci's fault, isn't it?" he asked.
Tamamo looked away for a moment.
"...Maybe she made one or two little comments."
"Something like, 'Tamamo only knows how to cook because she thinks she's a housewife,' I imagine," Arthur said.
The fox girl immediately puffed out her cheeks.
"She said my cooking skills were predictable! As if that were a flaw! Today she'll learn the true meaning of domestic devotion!"
Arthur chuckled softly.
"In that case..."
He picked up a small plate of pasta Tamamo had prepared and took a bite.
"...This is delicious." He nodded to himself as he spoke.
The fox girl's ears perked up happily.
"Hehe... of course it is."
"Then I'll leave everything to you." Arthur said as he patted her head.
"Leave it to me, Master!"
Tamamo gave him a thumbs-up.
"No one will ever forget this banquet! Just relax and take care of your other business. The kitchen belongs to Tamamo!"
Arthur nodded and left the kitchen.
Naturally, his next destination could only be one place.
Leonardo Da Vinci's laboratory.
...
"Alright, that's basically it."
Arthur crossed his arms as he looked at Da Vinci across the table.
"So please stop making those kinds of comments. If they start affecting the team's morale, who's going to take responsibility?"
"The Servants' morale isn't something that's easy to build. I've spent far too much time creating this atmosphere for someone to joke about it."
He continued without changing his tone.
"Besides, not everyone has the same personality as Tamamo. Some people can laugh it off. Others can't."
"A careless remark can turn into a completely unnecessary problem."
Da Vinci remained seated, resting her chin on her hands.
"...Did you really come here just to lecture me?" she yawned.
"Yes."
"..."
"Anything else?"
"Of course there is," Arthur replied.
The artist let out a long, tired sigh.
...
Two hours later.
Da Vinci finally managed to escape.
During that time, she had tried several times to leave, change the subject, sneak out through the back door, and even call for help over the internal communicator.
Unfortunately for her, Arthur found her every single time.
She even went so far as to erect a temporary barrier to keep Arthur from entering again.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long.
Arthur simply walked through it.
After that, Da Vinci concluded that resisting would only prolong her suffering.
When she was finally released, she practically ran through Chaldea's corridors.
Only after checking several times to make sure Arthur wasn't following her did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"...Isn't Arthur a little overprotective of his girls...?" Da Vinci asked.
Romani, who had watched the entire scene from a distance, smiled helplessly.
"I think the problem started with you, Leonardo," he replied.
Da Vinci crossed her arms.
"Hey, Romani."
"What?"
"If you keep this up, you'll never get a girlfriend."
"..."
Romani immediately looked away.
He clearly preferred to pretend he hadn't heard that.
---
A little over an hour later, the banquet finally began.
"Alright, Master... didn't you say in the kitchen that you'd meet me later at the banquet?"
Tamamo appeared before Arthur with a radiant smile. In one hand she carried a steaming bowl, and in the other, a spoon carefully filled with soup. Naturally, she brought the spoon toward his lips.
"Here's my exclusive creation. I made it especially for you. Please try it, Master."
Arthur simply smiled and nodded. This wasn't the first time Tamamo had done something like this, so there was no awkwardness. He simply tasted the soup.
As soon as the flavor spread across his mouth, his eyes widened slightly.
"This is really good, Tamamo. You've improved a lot since last time," he praised.
His compliment made Tamamo's fox ears twitch happily.
"Of course. If it's for Master, I always have to improve."
She subtly raised her chin and cast a triumphant glance toward the other girls.
That smug smile on her face was enough to make several of them react almost simultaneously.
Jeanne Alter crossed her arms and began twirling a lock of her hair around her finger.
"...Show-off fox."
Kiyohime narrowed her eyes, maintaining a polite smile that somehow looked even more dangerous.
"What intimacy... Master really seems to trust Lady Tamamo very much."
Elizabeth crossed her arms and snorted.
"Hmph! Showing off a bowl of soup... Anyone can cook!"
"You managed to burn water last night," Mordred commented without even looking at her.
"SHUT UP!"
Richard burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! This place is far more entertaining than any theater!"
Ayaka let out a resigned sigh.
"Richard... try not to encourage this madness."
"But I didn't even do anything!"
Meanwhile, Artoria remained completely focused on the bowl of soup.
Her eyes followed every movement of the spoon as though she were observing an extremely dangerous enemy.
"..."
Arthur noticed her gaze immediately.
"...Do you want to try some, Artie?"
Artoria looked away for a moment.
"...Not particularly."
Her stomach answered for her with a quiet growl.
Mordred, who was leaning against Artoria, couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Huh? I think you just lost to a bowl of soup," she said.
"Who lost?" Artoria shot Mordred a cold glance.
"No one."
"That's what I thought."
Even though she answered with as much dignity as possible, her eyes remained fixed on the bowl.
At the back of the hall, Mash watched everything alongside Ritsuka.
"...Senpai... I think Senpai Arthur just created a complicated situation."
Ritsuka chuckled.
Olga, on the other hand, massaged her temples.
"I know that look... whenever they all start looking at Arthur like that, someone ends up destroying part of Chaldea."
Farther away, Rin and Sakura quietly watched Arthur.
Rin crossed her arms.
"...He really can cause trouble just by existing."
Sakura smiled gently.
"I think that's an amazing quality."
Ishtar noticed Rin's slight stiffness and immediately appeared beside her.
"Don't start, Ishtar."
"Ohohoho! Start what?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Rin scoffed.
"Perhaps."
The two continued arguing quietly.
Irisviel watched the scene with a warm smile.
"He's still exactly the same..."
Illya nodded enthusiastically.
"He always manages to bring everyone together."
Hisui quietly approached Kohaku.
"It seems the banquet is proceeding normally."
Kohaku smiled in her usual way.
"If by 'normally' you mean 'about to turn into a battlefield,' then yes."
Fujino covered her mouth with one hand to hide a laugh.
"They haven't even finished the appetizers yet..."
Caren merely watched everything with her usual calm expression.
"...The sin of gluttony tends to be contagious."
Hippolyta analyzed the room as though studying a military formation.
"A simple meal was enough to raise everyone's morale."
Jack gently held Atalanta's hand.
"Mommy... can we try some too?"
Atalanta stroked her hair.
"Once Tamamo finishes serving Arthur, we'll ask for a portion."
Tamamo heard that and immediately replied,
"Of course! I made plenty!"
That comment, however, had an unexpected effect.
Jeanne Alter took a deep breath before stepping forward.
"Not one more step."
At the same time, the real Jeanne d'Arc noticed the movement and grabbed her arm.
"What are you planning to do?"
"What does it look like? That fox has monopolized his attention for long enough."
"You're not going."
"Oh yes, I am."
"Using my face to do something like this? Absolutely not!"
"Your face? It's mine too."
The two immediately began arguing, drawing the attention of practically everyone nearby.
Mash blinked several times.
"...They're arguing too."
Ritsuka answered without the slightest surprise.
"You know that was inevitable."
It was precisely at that moment that Artoria noticed Tamamo was distracted after getting involved in the argument between the two Jeannes.
She glanced at the bowl, then at Tamamo, then back at Arthur in the span of a second.
Taking advantage of that single moment of distraction, she grabbed the bowl and took a full sip.
"...Excellent."
Tamamo froze.
"..."
Slowly, she turned her head.
"...Artoria."
Artoria returned the bowl with all the composure she could muster.
"I was merely confirming the quality of the meal."
"I see..." Tamamo said. A gentle smile appeared on her face as she quietly assumed a fighting stance.
Artoria did the same almost instantly.
In less than ten seconds, half the women present had already chosen a side.
While Tamamo chased Artoria over the soup, Mordred jumped into the fray simply to support her father, Jeanne Alter argued with her original counterpart, Elizabeth and Kiyohime took the opportunity to resume their usual quarrel, Ishtar laughed at the chaos while Rin tried to stop her from adding even more fuel to the fire, Richard cheered everyone on as if he were watching the greatest tournament of his life, and Olga Marie practically shouted for nobody to destroy Chaldea's banquet hall.
Arthur simply watched everything with a smile on his face.
Having such a large family certainly had its benefits.
(End of Chapter)
A/N: And with that, I conclude the FGO arc, and we most likely won't have another arc set in the Fate universe for a very long time.