We arrived in Kuoh City te in the morning.

  The car slid seamlessly from the realm of Beelzebub into the human world, as if the act of crossing between dimensions was nothing more than taking another step. One moment, the magical weight of the demonic pne pressed against us; the next, we were coasting through the outskirts of Kuoh City, the ndscape mundane yet strangely refreshing. The Underworld had a build-in circle of night and day, since it was the only way of preventing reincarnates from going insane. But it wasn’t ever really night or day—there was no sun, it was not real light, and you could tell. No matter how long you stood outside, you skin would never grow warm. And no matter how much the sky changed colors, the temperature wouldn’t go up or down at any particur hours—seasons never came and never went. The Underworld was… stale, lifeless, on a perpetual state of “comfortable” peace.

  I hadn’t realized just how much I hated it until I took my first breath in the human world again. Deep down, in spite of everything, I was still human.

  A new life awaited us here, one we all needed time to process. Kira’s memories were still too raw, fragile like gss on the verge of shattering. For now, pying it safe was not just the smart choice—it was the only choice. Any trigger could send her spiraling into a mental episode, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. Fortunately, the dark-tinted windows and steady hum of the car offered enough of an illusion to soothe her mind for now. We were just going from one city to another—simple enough.

  The car eased to a stop before the outer walls of our new home. Behind the walls, the garden stretched before us, wild and overgrown, bdes of deep-green grass swaying in the breeze. It hadn’t seen a caretaker in months, maybe years. The house itself loomed rge, too much for my taste, its front a relic of the past century. But appearances had to be kept up. If I was going to py the part of a Devil of importance, certain things were non-negotiable. At the very least, it had enough space to set up defensive wards—and an underground chamber where I could continue my experiments without prying eyes. Both necessary precautions and expected luxuries, only well-off families would ever move into the human realm.

  “C’mon, slowpoke! You’re the man—carry the bags or something! I’m gonna go check my room.”

  Kira’s voice was already fading as she dashed towards the house. I watched her disappear inside, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. At least she was settling in quickly. Fortunately, most of our belongings had been teleported here ahead of us. Super strength had its advantages, but I couldn’t just throw a freezer over my shoulder in the middle of the street.

  “Master, should I assist with the bags?”

  Artoria’s voice came by softly, cool and distant. She stood beside the car, her expression as unreadable as her tone. To say she hadn’t warmed up to me was an understatement. For now, she had accepted her second chance at life, but there was a wariness about her, a reluctance to engage beyond what was necessary. Like a wounded cat, quietly observing, pretending to have the energy to run away.

  I hadn’t expected her to trust me, not yet. But that didn’t make the tension between us any less real.

  “No need. Just take care of the car, then take a break,” I said, waving her off. “Are you hungry, Saber?”

  “This body does not require non-magical sustenance,” she replied, precise and formal.

  I sighed. “Well… let’s go to the market anyway. There’s a difference between not needing food and not needing to eat.”

  “Understood.”

  Kuoh City is surprisingly rge for a random fantasy town thrown away in the middle of bumfuck Japan. At least technology’s advanced enough that I don’t have to wander around like a tourist until we just find a shop, and convincing Kira to toss her bags onto the bed and join me for a shopping trip was easy enough.

  Now, here I am, pushing a cart down the aisles, tossing random things into it and wondering… what the hell am I doing? Cooking? Really? I’d never bothered to learn. But how hard could it be? Alchemy with food. And at least when you mess up cooking, the results won’t try to kill you. Probably.

  “Nyx, Nyx! Can we have chocote milk?!”

  “Yes, Kira—”

  “Yeeeeeeeeey.” She appeared, dumped the carton in the cart, and went away just as quickly.

  I stared at the half-crushed milk carton and sighed.

  We probably need eggs too. And chicken. Maybe I should just get a chicken. A chicken’s basically a meat machine that converts pnts into tiny dinosaur seeds. How many chickens would I need to bring back the dinosaurs? A lot, probably. But how hard can it be?

  “Nyx, Nyx! Can we have Trix, Trix?”

  “Only if Saber wants them,” I called back.

  “Of course she does!” she yelled, tossing the box into the cart.

  After gncing down at the colorful cereal box now added to the growing pile of questionable groceries, I grabbed a cooking book from the nearest shelf and began flipping through the pages, pushing the cart, forcing the old wheels to squeak forward.

  Who did kill the dinosaurs, anyway? God? And why? What was God trying to hide?

  “Master.”

  Saber appeared beside me, head down, hood on. I gnced at her, amused. She was trying hard to blend in, but… it’s not like anyone’s going to recognize King Arthur reincarnated as a girl in a supermarket. People would probably freak out more from watching someone materialize out of thin air than from spotting a lolita-knight shopping for groceries—especially in Japan.

  I smiled to myself, closing the cooking book. “Well, Saber, any requests?”

  “I shall refrain from unnecessary matters, Master. I merely observed that you seemed… inappropriately distracted. We do not know what kind of mages lurk in this city. It would be wise to stay alert—we cannot take decency for granted.”

  Ah, so that’s what hanging out with Kiritsugu does to someone, huh? Well, at least she’s worried for me, not about me.

  “I know you had it rough, but you should try to rex a bit. I’m not saying we’re completely safe here, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. For now, let’s just enjoy ourselves. We start school tomorrow, and I might need your help to go through the politics.”

  “Do you intend to negotiate our standing with the local lords?”

  I chuckled. “In a weird way, yeah. But, things here are… a little different than Camelot.”

  Back at the house, I gathered all the ingredients and set out to cook. After a quick search, I had found a cookbook that actually had full instructions—no mysterious little bit or pinch nonsense. It was just about following clear steps. Simple enough, right?

  "Two and a half hours at 275 degrees…"

  I’ll admit, I wasn’t prepared to spend half the afternoon waiting for a meal. There’s definitely something wrong with human ovens. How does anyone live like this? Most of the time was spent watching the damn thing bake, waiting for any excuse to do something other than sit around while making sure it wouldn’t suddenly burn everything to a crisp. I got so bored I ended up whipping up my own BBQ sauce, cleaned the entire first floor, and even fortified our magical defenses, all before the oven’s arm finally went off.

  Mental note: Make better oven—but that was a problem for another day.

  At least the kitchen had been remodeled, making it easier to move around. If I had to use a stove, dinner would have been white rice. But soon enough, the heavy, savory aroma of roasting meat filled the house, thick and satisfying. And the broom came in handy—not just for cleaning, but for swatting Kira away from the kitchen every time she tried sneaking in.

  As the sun dipped and the night’s cold stepped in, I began setting the table. The dining room had this enormous, dark wood table that looked like it belonged in a medieval hall—rge enough for a dozen knights, and far too empty for just us. After a moment of contemption, I decided to move dinner to a smaller room off to the side. It seemed like an old pyroom for children, scattered with puffs and futons, centered around a cozy, heated kotatsu table.

  By now, the brown tomboy was practically breathing down my neck. It was a small miracle I managed to set the ptes down twice without losing a finger.

  "Saber? You there?" I called out.

  She preferred remaining in her spirit form, avoiding the physical drain of staying manifested for too long. It made sense—less visible, less waste of magical energy. But still, it did make the house feel even emptier and her presence all the more distant.

  After a moment, she materialized again, respectfully standing at the other side of the table.

  "Seibaaaaaah! Down, down! Give him what he wants, or he won’t let me eat!" Kira whined, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.

  Saber closed her eyes, a quiet sigh escaping her lips as she gracefully sat down. "If those are my orders."

  I gestured to the food on the table. "I just made some ribs and potato sad. Don’t expect anything worthy of a king, but the math worked out, so it shouldn't be too bad."

  In truth, I was pretty happy with my own work. The ribs were tender, the sad decent enough. Sure, compared to the eborate dishes they served back at the manor, it was pretty much dogshit, but considering Ajuka only hired chefs with at least two centuries of experience, I figured I wasn’t doing too badly.

  "Oi! These are… like, good good! When did my little brother learn to cook?" Kira excimed between bites, her eyes lighting up with genuine surprise.

  Ah, yes. That part of the story. Ajuka's idea, of course. Since we were going to be living together and I clearly wasn’t particurly interested in Kira, he figured the easiest solution was to make her my "stepsister." In Kira’s mind, we had moved to Japan after she'd received an offer to join Kuoh Academy’s sports program. It still felt weird hearing her call me brother, but given that we couldn’t locate any of her family and even Saber hadn’t objected to the mindwipe—probably because of her own experience with “bed abuse”—I’d learned to live with it. It wasn’t like I was getting the worst of it.

  “Sai-bah,” Kira mumbled through a mouthful of food. “Ho-isit?”

  “I’ve… never cared much for food,” Saber admitted, eyes narrowing slightly. After a brief pause, she sighed and gave in, albeit reluctantly.

  She reached for a rib, handling it delicately at first, then tore into it, stripping the meat from the bone as if taking of a silk glove. A slight cough escaped her afterward, but her expression remained cold. Moments passed in silence before she moved on to the next rib, cleaning it just as thoroughly, facing down as it to hide her shameful enthusiasm.

  I wasn’t really hungry myself, and truth be told, the food wasn’t anything special. But watching them enjoy it stirred something warm inside me.

  “Nyx! Mwar!”

  “Going, going…”

  Eventually, I was done with my meal and began gathering up the empty ptes. As I moved behind Saber, I noticed she wasn’t quite ready to part with her portion yet, still nibbling quietly on a bone that had long been stripped bare, making sure it was thoroughly defeated. Without thinking, I smiled and reached out, giving her a soft pat on the head.

  Her reaction was sharp, almost violent. She jerked back and pulled, gasping, eyes wide as she looked up at me, startled.

  “Excuse me, Master.”

  Without another word, she disappeared, retreating once again.

  ?

  Retreating for the night, I decided to make myself busy.

  There wasn’t enough time to resume my experiments on soul summoning. And even if the idea of digging deeper into Saber’s spirit origin tugged at the back of my mind, tonight didn’t seem like the right moment. Her stability was something I couldn’t afford to ignore forever, as she still hadn’t accepted to be reincarnated as my Queen, so we had no way to know how long she could exist in this world with a Servant’s body. But some tasks demanded patience, and this was one of them. I couldn’t just order her to open up to me.

  And besides, there were always other things I could occupy myself with. There was always something to be done.

  This time, I decided to take a page from Ajuka’s handbook and craft my own cognitive spell. Essentially, it was an imaginary engine designed to mirror my reasoning—and eventually think for me. It would absorb ideas, following the trail of conclusions I fed it, until it could form reasonings on its own. In the short run, it wouldn’t be all that useful; right now, it was nothing more than an empty mind with shallow access to my immediate thoughts. But at the very least, I could use it as a second yer to check my logic. I’d need all the help I could get for my first day at Kuoh Academy, especially when it came to dealing with new people. First impressions were always important.

  Being a Devil meant I was naturally more productive at night. Skipping sleep was hardly unusual. But even so, my human brain still required rest from time to time. Eventually, I conceded and y down, giving in to the inevitable need to recharge before the day ahead.

  But it was never that simple to really rex in a foreign bed. That sense of being out of pce lingered—like when you spend a single night in a cheap roadside hotel before quickly moving on. The room was nice enough, but despite its cleanliness, the furniture seemed deliberately chosen to invoke an air of antiquity, as if someone wanted me to py the part of the cssic, pompous bloodsucker. Heavy wood, dark tones and clothes embroider with flowers—everything screamed of a forced, outdated elegance.

  I didn’t mind being a vampirid, but that didn’t mean I needed to embody the tired cliché. There were already enough Tepes wannabes in the world.

  As I shifted beneath the covers, rolling over in search of comfort, a knock interrupted my thoughts.

  “Master, may I come in?”

  “Yes, Saber. Come in.”

  The door creaked open, and the knight stepped into the room. I sat up, surprised but curious. “Is there a problem?”

  “I believe I might have insulted you,” she said as she knelt before me. “I must therefore apologize. My previous master did not care much for my presence outside of combat, and even before that, I was never... handled in such a way during my previous life.”

  “I see...” I exhaled softly. “What was your previous life like, Saber?”

  For a fleeting moment, surprise passed through her eyes before she composed herself once more. “I believe I lived a good life,” she began, her tone thoughtful. “Though recently, I’ve found myself questioning those beliefs.”

  “Do you think you failed?”

  She seemed to contempte my question, her fingers brushing against the hilt of her sword. Slowly, she unsheathed it. “Ever since I obtained Caliburn... and ter, Excalibur, my body ceased to age. I could rest with others, but sleep became unnecessary. I could share in feasts, but hunger was foreign to me. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. But now, I ask myself—did I ever truly manage to connect with those around me?”

  “Do you?” I asked quietly.

  Saber tilted her head, confusion on her face. “Master?”

  “We can never fully understand each other,” I expined, “but when you trust someone, you need to believe they can see who you truly are, even if only for a moment at a time. No one can connect with another person every day, but to say you never did…”

  She lowered her head further, her jaw tightening as she wrestled with my words.

  “We could find him,” I suggested.

  “Him?”

  “Lancelot. If you want another chance to speak with him, to hear how he truly feels, we can search for him. Arondight must be somewhere in this world. We only need to find it.”

  That seemed to strike something within her, but it still wasn’t enough to dispel her uncertainty.

  “I still need to decide if I will remain in this world,” she said firmly.

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Is death really a better option than putting up with me?”

  She flinched, her composure momentarily cracking. “T-That’s not what I said!”

  “I know, I know... and I don’t bme you. Your wounds are still fresh. And I get it, I'm a Devil. Charity isn’t exactly my strong suit. But I still hope we can make a deal that serves us both before your time runs out.”

  Her fingers clenched onto her skirt, knuckles turning white. “How long do I…?”

  “I’ve got no idea, to be completely honest. A month at most. Even less if you fight. Maybe I could find a way to sustain you with magical energy, but that wouldn’t make sense if you don’t pn on sticking around me anyway.”

  She hesitated before speaking again, her voice quieter. “May I ask, Master... why did you choose me as your most important piece? I understand my name and my bde carry weight, but if you’re aware of my failure... then—”

  “The multiverse, as I see it, is infinite,” I interrupted. “Your life would’ve ended if I hadn’t intervened. You would have been summoned into more Holy Grail Wars, but that Saber wouldn’t really be you. This instance of Saber—you—would cease to exist the moment you return to the Throne of Heroes.”

  Her eyes widened and her brow furrowed in frustration. “Then why me?! Why the one who failed?!”

  “Because,” I began, stepping away and opening one of my suitcases, pulling out the fragment of Excalibur, “I can only summon people who are initially weaker than me. But I need someone who can grow stronger once I do, because I will. And I know you can too.” I held Excalibur Rapidly in front of her, letting its soft glow reflect in her eyes. “Summoned souls are... malleable, and I pn to use that to my advantage as much as I can.”

  I could see the conflict in her eyes, but I pressed on. “If I’m right, I can use this fragment to unlock your abilities as a Rider Servant. That’s why I needed you as my Queen. It’s the only piece that embodies the aspects of all others.”

  She stayed silent, her gaze locked on the bde, her expression torn between doubt and understanding. I knew the very fact that I had pns for her unsettled the knight.

  “I can’t offer this second chance for free,” I said. “I don’t have the luxury to give without expecting something in return, I can’t afford it. If you’re going to walk by my side, I need to know you’re willing to rise to the challenge. You’ll need to grow—to match the size of my enemies, which, I promise you, will be many.”

  “What will we fight for?” she asked sharply.

  “For the same thing you did in life. To rule.”

  She frowned. “Why?”

  “Because someone has to,” I replied, without hesitation. “And trust me, I’ve seen the other options. They’re not better than us. I refuse to be ruled, so I have to rule—there’s no other choice.”

  Saber’s gaze flickered with a trace of bitterness as she sheathed her sword, rising to her feet with a grace that belied the weight of her words. “I was born to rule, and I failed miserably. I will give you my answer once you prove you can do better.”

  She turned to leave, but I stopped her with a single word. “Wait.”

  Saber froze, tension rippling through her frame as she turned back to face me, her eyes wary.

  “There’s one more thing,” I said, my voice dropping. “You haven’t received your punishment yet.”

  Her eyes widened, panic flickering across her face. “Punishment?” she echoed.

  I allowed a small smirk to form. “Well, you did admit you insulted me before, didn’t you? You know what I want—on your knees.”

  For a brief moment, she hesitated, her pride warring with the command. But then, begrudgingly, she sank to her knees once again, biting back a grunt as she settled into the humiliating position. “Is this truly necessary?” she asked, her voice tainted with a mix of defiance and resignation.

  “Of course it is,” I replied. “You’re my Servant, and I will make use of you as I please.”

  She looked away, unwilling to meet my gaze as I moved to sit on the bed directly in front of her. Her refusal to look at me hardly mattered; I knew well enough that beneath her stoic exterior, a part of her awaited for this, whether she admitted it or not. Without hesitation, I leaned forward, pcing my hand firmly atop her head, and began to scratch gently through her hair.

  “Do you like that?” I teased, testing the waters.

  A blush crept across her face, staining her cheeks a light pink. “M-Master, this is incredibly inappropriate, and I must ask that you stop such shameless behavior!” she stammered, her words a blunt contrast to the way her body remained obediently still under my touch.

  I chuckled softly. “Oh? But isn’t this what you wanted when you came to my room so te at night? Kira’s not here... no one will know if you enjoy it.”

  Her lips pressed into a thin line, her silence betraying her anger. She didn’t pull away, didn’t resist. So, I continued. My fingers traced softly through her golden hair, weaving through the strands with delicate touches, each stroke deeper than the st as I unraveled her delicate appearance. Slowly, her rigid posture melted, her breath coming in soft, heated sighs that clouded the cool night air.

  By the time I finished, she was leaning into my hand, her body pliant and rexed, her proud exterior melting before me like warm cy. Her breath now escaped her lips in soft, shallow puffs, the tension in her shoulders giving way to something softer, something surrendered. And as I looked into her eyes, those clouded, vitric eyes—I knew that sight was for me, and only for me.

  I cupped her face gently in my hand, my thumb tracing slow, deliberate circles over her cheek, giving her a moment of rest. “Did you enjoy that, Artoria?”

  She shifted with a mixture of embarrassment and reluctant acceptance. “N-Never in my life have I felt so humiliated,” she whispered.

  I tilted my head, my smirk growing. “And you loved every second of it.”

  There was no answer. Instead, she leaned forward just slightly, pressing the lightest of kisses against my hand, a silent acknowledgment. Then, she rose to her feet, bowed once more, and left the room without another word.

  As for me… now I really was hungry.