The meal Guinevere and the King of Heroes shared was like a battlefield.
After the initial orders were devoured, the King of Heroes had the owner bring out every signature dish on the menu. Then, the two of them simply stared blankly at the table full of Mapo Tofu...
Until the King of Heroes packed up the remaining Mapo Tofu, paid the bill, and left first.
Something like Mapo Tofu was best left to those who actually enjoyed it.
"Hmm, he actually let me eat for free."
With the King of Heroes gone, Guinevere picked at her teeth, patting her full stomach. She was at a loss for where to go next.
Ryudou Temple was her own base, and she had entrusted the Matou family to the King of Heroes. That left only the Emiya household, the Tohsaka estate, and the Einzbern castle as the remaining Master-Servant bases.
"Oh, and the Holy Church in Fuyuki."
Her fingers tapped the table again. The shop owner was still not in the main hall. After some thought, Guinevere decided to visit the Emiya household first. If the residence was the Japanese-style dojo she remembered, and if the summoning magic circle from ten years ago remained in the shed, it would prove that the future had likely not changed for Shirou Emiya.
"Besides, at this time, Shirou Emiya should still be in school and hasn't summoned Saber yet. I shouldn't trigger a battle if I go there."
It wasn't a matter of strength. Guinevere simply didn't want to reveal her True Name so soon. She wanted to tease Saber before her identity was discovered.
"Speaking of which, Lia has already said she won't be coming. Does the summoned Saber still count as being related to her?"
I had originally thought that each parallel world had its own Throne of Heroes, and that my obtaining Guinevere's original status panel was purely a coincidence.
"But the King of Heroes in this world can actually inherit memories from my world and the Singularities of the FGO World. Does this prove that countless parallel worlds share a single Throne of Heroes?"
She pondered it, thinking carefully, and then Guinevere vaguely received an affirmative answer.
The Throne of Heroes existed independently of time and space, gathering the same person from countless parallel worlds into one place.
For example, Artoria of different Classes might just be different aspects of the same individual, or other possibilities of her in different worlds.
As she thought about this, Guinevere lost herself in thought, her finger tapping a hole directly into the tabletop.
If this were the case, then she might not have replaced the Guinevere of this world; instead, they might have always shared the same Throne of Heroes and the same True Name, just without being aware of each other.
And if this were true, although she and Artoria of this world did not know each other, they would eventually return to the same place and merge into a single entity.
Taking it a step further, one could say that even without knowing each other, they had already cuddled and clung to each other countless times.
"What the fuck!"
She tried not to use such coarse language, but Guinevere couldn't help but swear. She had long imagined countless Artorias and Guineveres cuddling together.
But after this possibility was further confirmed, her vision went black, then blacker. She could only decide to shelf this hypothesis for now and deceive herself into thinking it was utter nonsense.
Otherwise, she would inevitably continue to be consumed by self-conflict and wouldn't know when she could ever get up from the seat in this Chinese Restaurant.
Moreover, without realizing it, the time was already six o'clock in the evening. It seemed there was absolutely no need to go to the Emiya House first.
From far away, she could sense the anomaly coming from the direction of Homurahara Academy.
According to the timeline, if Shirou Emiya's plot didn't change much, then at this moment, he should still be in the school's student council room repairing home appliances, and later in the deep of the night, he'd encounter Lancer and Archer who had come here to investigate and were fighting because of their meeting while he was preparing to leave school.
The reason these two started fighting, however, was the Bounded Field for draining life force that Medea had set up in the school.
"This must be Medea's mistake, several Masters in this Holy Grail War are still high school students, and they noticed something was wrong as soon as they went to school."
In the end, Guinevere finally rose from the restaurant chair. She had spent too much time thinking here and had wasted time; now that she had snapped back to her senses, there was no need for her to keep delaying.
"First, I'll go check the school, then head to the Emiya residence to witness the famous scene of Saber's summoning, and finally go back to the Temple Gate to sleep."
Guinevere murmured in her mind. After stepping out of the restaurant, she couldn't help but sigh again as she looked at Fuyuki City, which had become exceptionally quiet after nightfall.
Ten years ago, in another world, Fuyuki City still had a large number of citizens wandering around late at night.
But ten years later, Fuyuki City, which should have been developing rapidly, was even more desolate. Half of this place had been destroyed by the Fuyuki Fire ten years ago, after which a large number of people moved away.
And not long ago, mass fainting incidents had begun to occur among the citizens in Fuyuki, and the government had stepped forward to claim that this was caused by improperly turned-off gas.
Thus, the citizens who had experienced the events of ten years ago suffered massive amounts of PTSD. They first sought the truth from the government, and after being told that the truth was indeed this...
Except for the citizens who were indifferent to this, a large number of people went out to travel. As for those who realized something was wrong but were unable to travel, they reduced their nighttime outings as much as possible.
Therefore, the Fuyuki City that had just fallen into night was truly exceptionally desolate.
"It seems I can only walk there, but fortunately, night has just fallen, and the grand play at the school hasn't yet reached the opening moment I know."
The night in Fuyuki was growing cold, and the streetlights along the road flickered, showing their age. This caused Guinevere to give rise to some kind of fantasy, for instance, the King of Heroes bumping into some Shadow on his way to the Matou House and being completely devoured in his carelessness.
However...
Whether the King of Heroes encountered the Shadow or not, Guinevere did not know. She only knew that at the end of the small slope ahead, on the path from the school toward the Emiya House, a purple-haired female passerby was slowly walking toward her.
She was wearing the Homurahara Academy uniform, her hands clutching the bag placed in front of her as she walked like a lady.
A mottled smell of mana, an unpleasantly chaotic feeling, but judging by her appearance alone, the current Sakura had completely matured. Even the school uniform, which did not account for her figure, could not contain her massive chest.
"Sigh."
It was a sigh, and this time Guinevere actually sighed aloud.
She had just told the King of Heroes that the reason she responded to the summons was to find her original intention of wielding the sword.
So, what was Guinevere's original intention of wielding the sword? Of course, it was to judge the fates of the characters she liked, letting them walk toward a better future.
As for what constituted a better future, that was decided by Guinevere's own perception.
What if the people she wanted to judge didn't recognize her "help"? Guinevere had always been someone who mostly talked to herself.
"Hey, if you don't want to die, come walk with me for a bit. Meeting you here must mean we're truly destined."
Not vaguely, Guinevere had already sensed the presence of other Servants. Though she didn't understand why, at this stage, Rider-class Medusa was still in Sakura's hands.
But regardless of her confusion, her gaze remained fixed on Sakura's hands carrying her bag, specifically on the other hand—the clean one covered by the first—that still bore Command Spells.
In an instant, Guinevere heard the rattling of chains and saw the blindfolded older sister who had already launched an attack against her.