"..."
The hotel room fell completely silent.
After a long while, Hassan of the Hundred Faces finally let out a stunned, "Huh?"
"So I'll handle Archer myself."
Shirou spoke with a completely serious expression. "Since no Heroic Spirit can defeat him, then I'll do it. I'm not a Heroic Spirit, after all."
"Alright, next topic. Assassin-onee-san, tell me more inside information."
Hassan of the Hundred Faces stood there, dumbfounded. Does this kid even understand the situation?
A monster even Heroic Spirits can't defeat. How exactly does he plan to beat him?
What he was saying was so absurd it should have been laughable.
And yet…
Watching Shirou's expression, she couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't speaking nonsense, but acting on some firm conviction.
What am I even expecting… how foolish…
With a bitter smile, Hassan of the Hundred Faces said, "I've told you quite a lot already. Shouldn't it be your turn now?
Boy, who is your Servant? What Class are they? You can at least tell me that, right?"
Shirou hesitated briefly before answering, "Well… I can't say."
"..."
The female Assassin froze.
After a moment of silence, she suddenly slammed her fist against the wall of the room.
"…To think I believed you would trust me. I really am a complete fool."
"No, that's not it. I do trust you, Assassin-onee-san."
Shirou quickly explained, "I really don't know my Servant's Class or her parameters.
The only thing I know is that she claims to be a Servant with an Extra Class."
"What?"
Hassan of the Hundred Faces was about to argue, but then recalled a recent conversation between the Kotomine father and son, and asked in shock:
"Could it be… you're the Master of that undetectable mysterious Servant?"
"Mysterious Servant?"
Hassan of the Hundred Faces nodded and explained the "Spiritron Disk," a magical device possessed by the Holy Church that can observe a Servant's parameters.
"So something like that actually exists…"
"Yeah. Tokiomi Tohsaka is searching everywhere for information on you. Thanks to you, 'we' have been incredibly busy."
Shirou was startled, a chill running down his spine.
If Hassan of the Hundred Faces hadn't told him, he wouldn't have even realized that Lady Avalon was already under close surveillance.
If he ever claimed his Servant was an Extra Class, he'd immediately become the Tohsaka faction's top target.
It was also fortunate that he had been wary of the Fuyuki Church from the beginning, and hadn't gone there to report or receive instructions after obtaining his Command Spells and summoning his Servant.
The idea of pretending to ally with the Tohsaka Family and betraying them later using Assassin was now completely out of the question.
Shirou had already become a thorn in Tokiomi Tohsaka's side.
That night, he stayed in Assassin's hotel room until just before dawn before hurriedly leaving.
Assassin returned to Kirei Kotomine's side, continuing to lie low and gather intelligence, occasionally passing important information to Shirou.
In return, Shirou promised to take care of Little Hassan while she was busy.
And so, a delicate and equal cooperative relationship was formed.
Before leaving, Shirou asked Hassan of the Hundred Faces for a skeletal mask and a black robe.
"Hmm~ Master, showing your face would be way more effective, you know~ especially on girls~"
Lady Avalon said.
…
With the Holy Grail War now officially underway, Shirou's first thought was to send Fuji-nee back to the Fujimura Group to hide out for a while.
But when he brought it up, his guardian flatly refused.
"Shall I use suggestion Magecraft?" Lady Avalon asked with a cheerful smile.
As if I'd ever allow that.
Shirou rejected the idea without a second thought.
That was one line he absolutely could not cross.
Suggestion Magecraft was simply too useful in everyday life.
It was like drug addiction or gambling addiction. Once you started relying on it, there was no going back.
To keep himself from straying too far from the path of being human, Shirou had already decided he would never use suggestion Magecraft on Fuji-nee.
There was no helping it. He would just have to keep raising the defense level of the Amamiya residence. It wasn't as if there were any downside, and Shirou himself would benefit from it too.
For that, he needed to prepare some new Magecraft materials.
There were still too few strategic supplies available in the local shopping district.
Over the past ten years, Miyama Town had gradually fallen behind the times, while large shopping malls and luxury hotels had sprung up one after another in the bustling Shinto.
Today, Shirou brought Makiri with him to Shinto to buy supplies. As for Lady Avalon...
After exchanging information with Assassin last night, Shirou's level of trust in her had risen a little.
Lady Avalon did not belong to the Seven Classes, and even the Church Overseers could not detect her. Every bit of information she had claimed about herself had now been confirmed.
Shirou entrusted the important task of watching the house to Lady Avalon.
"Mhm. Leave it to me, Master! I may not be able to help you build a workshop, but guarding the house is no problem!
This is my specialty. I won't let even a single Cath Palug slip in!"
Lady Avalon declared with both hands on her hips.
She claimed that although she was the little sister of the great sage Merlin and an all-purpose Magus of the Age of Gods, the one thing she was bad at was "Territory Creation."
"You see, I'm a free-spirited flower of travel. My whole thing is never staying in one place for too long.
I have absolutely no experience building workshops, so that part is up to Master-chan~♡"
Her tone and attitude still sounded fake as hell...
But this time, at least, she didn't seem to be lying.
Shirou took the train to the bustling commercial district of Shinto.
Lady Avalon was probably watching him through her crystal ball right now.
If he really ran into danger, she should at least be able to grasp the situation immediately.
"Although I absolutely won't lift a finger to help, teehee~☆"
The face of that frivolous female Magus rose in Shirou's mind.
No one expects you to fight, but at least give me proper Reinforcement and Support Magecraft.
Shirou sighed to himself.
I really did summon a weak, irresponsible, shamelessly nobody of a Servant from the roadside.
And because of her, I ended up making an enemy of Tokiomi...
Ah, Sakura had already made him my enemy back then, so never mind.
Well, regretting it now was pointless anyway.
Since this was the result of a compatibility summoning, all he could do was try to accept her.
That said...
Shirou remembered that when Lady Avalon first appeared, she seemed to have said something.
"I messed up. I didn't expect I wouldn't be able to refuse the summon..."
That was what she had said, wasn't it?
It wasn't that she had responded to the summon of her own will. Did I forcefully summon her instead?
The summoning ritual of the Holy Grail War followed the principle that the Heroic Spirit had to consent.
Only if the Heroic Spirit willingly accepted the summon could they manifest in the world as a Servant.
Which meant...
Lady Avalon had actually wanted to refuse my summon back then, but failed? Why?
The more Shirou thought about it, the more confused he became, and he shook his head.
Better to just look at the streets ahead.
At that moment, a pair of figures caught Shirou's eye.
A silver-haired woman in a pure white fur coat was strolling through the street, with a blond young man in a black suit walking beside her.
"That should be the Einzbern artificial lifeform, and the one next to her is... her yakuza copy bodyguard?!?"