"This doesn't count as a kill by Mem, yet it still drops?"
Caelus looked at the golden Holy Grail in his hand. After defeating King Arthur earlier, he had remained standing there, and one reason was to check the loot.
[Material: Holy Grail; Usage: Break through Servant level cap; Source: Dropped by the final boss of every Singularity.]
"It's mainly because Mem provided the key crowd control, which gave you the possibility of the kill, so in this judgment, there can be loot."
"Oh, so that means in the future, if I have Mem deploy her Memory to stop time in the surrounding area, and then I'm responsible for quickly landing the finishing blow, that could be considered a farming strategy?"
"Sure, you can even do that when fighting the final boss. At most, the probability of loot and the drop rates might be slightly worse."
"Understood. However, Mem hasn't reached her level cap yet."
"Uh, the 'break through level cap' here refers to using the Holy Grail to perform a max-level breakthrough after reaching the standard max level."
"The drop rate for Embers is really quite low..."
Caelus said this while opening the notification that popped up from the system after returning to Chaldea, which informed him that the second stage of the main quest had been completed.
[Second stage main quest: Clear Singularity F, completed. Reward: 3,000 system currency.]
[Third stage main quest: Kill the Foreigner; Target: Kill the hidden Foreigner located within the First Singularity; Reward: Memory Crystal.]
"Foreigner, are they an outsider like me? I just don't know if they are an outsider to this planet or an outsider to this universe."
Caelus remembered how others referred to him, and he also knew that if he descended into this world as a Servant Heroic Spirit, he would appear directly as a Foreigner.
He just didn't know what kind of abilities this Foreigner, who was like him, possessed.
Caelus temporarily stopped thinking about these things. Sitting on his bed, he closed his eyes and began to bring Equilibrium to the nothingness and memories within him.
Meanwhile, Mem lay on the bed, propping her head up with her hands, flipping through the heroic epics and mythological stories that Caelus had recorded.
This quiet and peaceful atmosphere lasted until someone came knocking.
The door opened, and Dr. Roman, his face full of exhaustion, walked in. Seeing Caelus sitting cross-legged on the bed, seemingly in meditation, he said, "You haven't been sitting on the bed meditating ever since you got back, have you?"
Caelus opened his eyes and looked at the weary Dr. Roman, who was carrying a sealed box, and asked, "How long have I been meditating?"
"It's been over 24 hours. If Fujimaru hadn't mentioned you while eating in the cafeteria, it seems no one would have realized that you hadn't shown your face all this time."
Dr. Roman sighed, pulled over a chair from the side, and sat down. Looking earnestly at Caelus, he said, "I know, perhaps because the Director wasn't saved, you think the people at Chaldea might have some issue with you, or perhaps it's because you yourself have regrets about this matter, which is why you haven't been willing to interact with everyone."
"But everyone, including Fujimaru and Mash, understands you. Although I don't know why you were called an Assassin by King Arthur, you fought that King, who was empowered by the Holy Grail, for so long, and even deployed a Reality Marble in the end. By the end, you were likely just barely holding on to prevent Lev from interfering with Fujimaru and the others' return, and you even managed to obtain some intelligence from him."
"You've already done enough. Everyone understands you. If not for your help, Chaldea probably wouldn't have been able to continue, and we might not even know who we are fighting against."
Dr. Roman's face wore a kind smile, and his tone was full of comfort and persuasion.
"Caelus, you don't need to blame yourself, nor do you need to feel that everyone will have an issue with you. You don't need to shut yourself in your room alone. Trying to communicate and interact with others is actually very good for your mental health. You haven't eaten in a long time, right? I have a leftover strawberry cake here, please have it!"
Caelus looked at Dr. Roman, who was worried about him, and at the box he was handing over, which contained a strawberry cake.
"Regardless, even if you don't care about what I just said, you still have to eat. After finishing this strawberry cake, go to the cafeteria to have some food! Although supplies in Chaldea are a bit scarce right now, we definitely won't be short of food for you! You are the heroes who are going to save the world, how can we let you go hungry? Besides, for Chaldea to replenish supplies later, we'll have to rely on you to go and explore those Singularities to collect them."
In the end, under Dr. Roman's relentless gaze, Caelus accepted the strawberry cake. He opened the box and began to eat the strawberry cake inside.
It was still as bland and tasteless as ever, and he couldn't taste any so-called care in it, but Caelus ate the cake bite by bite until it was finished. He put down the plastic spoon in his hand, looked at Dr. Roman, who had been watching him eat, and after a moment of silence, said, "Dr. Roman, thank you for your concern, and for this cake. If there is anything you need my help with in the future, just ask. I will help you unconditionally once."
"Well, it seems this cake didn't go to waste!"
Dr. Roman smiled, then stood up and said, "Make sure to eat well. I must head back to work, I need to hurry and help everyone repair the infrastructure, at least to ensure there won't be any communication issues for the next Singularity. When it comes to the next Singularity, collecting various supplies will still be a trouble for you and Fujimaru."
After saying this, Roman hurried away. Just as he said, they were really busy right now due to the shortage of manpower.
Mem flew up from the bed. From start to finish, Dr. Roman had not seen this little pink sprite lying on the bed.
"He really is a good person. I could feel that when you, Partner, ate that strawberry cake, he had a very reluctant feeling in his heart. That might have been the last strawberry cake in all of Chaldea."
"Mm, that is precisely why I agreed to fulfill one request for him."
"I saved a portion, you eat it."
By using the method of Void concealment, Caelus had saved more than half of the strawberry cake. Anyway, Caelus couldn't taste anything and couldn't savor the sweetness this cake brought, so it was better to give it to Mem, who could taste it.
Mem happily picked up the fork, completely unbothered that Caelus had just used it. She speared a small piece of the cake and put it into her mouth, her face full of the joy of eating something sweet.
"This cake is so delicious! So why do I have to unfold a Reality Marble before I can turn into the appearance of a beautiful girl! In this current form, it's so inconvenient to eat cake with claws."
"Mm, then unfold the Reality Marble. I will help you conceal it with the Void. As for the energy consumption of the Reality Marble, it's not even worth mentioning."
"That's right! In the existential memories I obtained from the Archer named Shirou Emiya, the understanding of Reality Marbles has always been that it's a high-energy-consumption decisive battle method, which led me to subconsciously avoid using it. I forgot that you and I don't seem to be lacking in this regard."
Mem had a look of sudden realization. Then, accompanied by the sound of turning pages, the Reality Marble unfolded once again, and Mem changed back into the appearance of Cyrene.
Cyrene held the cake, then sat in Caelus's arms and happily started eating it.
Caelus wrapped his arms around Cyrene, who was sitting in his lap, feeling the breeze blowing through this small world and the warmth transmitted to him by the person in his arms.
(To be continued.)