She was dreaming.
Since Servants don't require rest—as long as Gilgamesh's Mana supply remains uninterrupted, a Servant can keep fighting—Tomoe had not rested once since being summoned half a year ago.
If "rest" meant eating or recovering after a battle, that did happen. But true rest, where she could let go of all thoughts and sink completely into sleep, had never occurred.
Yet this time, she fell asleep.
And for the first time in a long while, she had a beautiful dream.
Kiso Yoshinaka.
The lord she served, the lord she should never have been able to meet again, the lord whose face had begun to blur in her memory—she dreamed of him now.
Memories of childhood together, memories of fighting side by side with him as adults… If this was a dream, it was too vivid and profound, as if every deepest part of her memory had been unearthed and presented before her.
There was a feeling that all her secrets had been laid bare.
But honestly, Tomoe loved this dream. She would be happy to have dreams like this again and again, even if it meant paying a certain price.
"Ugh~~~"
Her consciousness began to stir.
Her body slowly woke from sleep. Tomoe sat up and rubbed her sleepy eyes, looking around with slight confusion.
It was Uruk-style architecture.
"I…"
After sorting through the overly chaotic memories in her mind, Tomoe quickly recalled what had happened earlier.
She had accepted Naoki's invitation and returned to Uruk for dinner, but because Merry forced her to drink too much alcohol at the table, she accidentally got drunk and passed out.
"How dare I be so careless… Next time, I absolutely must not drink any alcohol."
After slapping her face in frustration, Tomoe carefully surveyed the room again.
The once-messy table was now completely clean, and Leonidas I, who had gotten drunk from excessive drinking just like her, was fast asleep on the table. Since it was late at night, there were no lights in the room, only the clear moonlight shining in from the window.
Standing and walking to the window, Tomoe gazed at the moon in the sky. Judging by its position, it was likely around two or three in the morning.
"If I leave now, I should be able to return to the Northern Wall before dawn."
With that thought, Tomoe turned to the cabinet near the dining table, preparing to find something to leave a note saying she had left. After all, she had received care from Naoki and the others, so it would be impolite to leave without a word.
However, as she turned, the sound of footsteps descending the stairs came from nearby, and soon Rei appeared in front of Tomoe.
Seeing that Tomoe had woken up, Rei adjusted her slightly wrinkled clothes: "Good evening, Miss Tomoe. You're awake at this hour. I thought you wouldn't wake until morning after getting that drunk."
"Good evening, Sajyou-san." Tomoe greeted simply. "Though I was drunk, Tomoe is fundamentally a warrior, so it's natural that I can wake up on my own. Since you're here, Sajyou-san, let me inform you. I'm preparing to return to the Northern Wall now. I'm very grateful for the care you and Natsukawa-sama provided tonight. Tomoe will prepare a return gift later."
After saying this, Tomoe bowed deeply and prepared to walk out the door, but Rei grabbed her hand.
"There's no need to rush back, Miss Tomoe." Rei smiled. "Lady Ushiwakamaru, Miss Nobunaga, and Master Musashibō have already returned to guard the Northern Wall. You and Master Leonidas should rest well here tonight. This is also King Gilgamesh's wish."
Rei briefly explained Gilgamesh's rest rotation order and its reasoning to Tomoe.
After listening, Tomoe let out a soft sigh.
"Since it's King Gilgamesh's order, Tomoe will accept this kindness."
"Yes, that's good. My Master will escort both of you back to the Northern Wall tomorrow morning. Until then, just relax." Rei said.
"Thank you very much, Sajyou-san."
After bowing in thanks again, Tomoe sat back down in her original seat and began searching for a topic: "By the way, it's already so late, and you haven't slept, Sajyou-san."
"Hmm?"
Rei, who was pouring water, smiled: "Oh, because it's not my rest time yet. Although I don't generally need sleep, tonight is a bit special. It's like a shift change now."
"Shift change? Like a night watch?"
"Something like that. Sometimes you can hear certain sounds, right?"
Sounds?
Prompted by Rei, Tomoe focused and listened—and then she heard noises coming from upstairs.
(That's Merry's voice… Ugh, this is…)
From the content of the sounds, Tomoe vaguely guessed what was happening upstairs, and her cheeks flushed for a moment.
Night watch meant this kind of night watch.
"I was on duty for the first half of the night, and Merry is 'on watch' now, but it's the second half of the night, so we've switched shifts. In about an hour, we'll switch again until morning." Rei said with a smile. "Merry's stamina is terrible. Since she locked herself in Avalon for thousands of years and barely exercised, she's a complete physical weakling. She'd give up in seconds in front of Master."
"I-I see…"
(So Natsukawa-sama and Merry have that kind of relationship… That's surprising.)
Tomoe hadn't interacted much with Merry. After all, Merry rarely left Uruk over the past six months. In her own words, "What if something happens after I leave? It'd definitely trigger the end of the world."
Since Gilgamesh agreed with this statement, Tomoe had accepted it at face value.
(In the end, Merry just wanted to slack off…)
It was just a gut feeling, but Tomoe felt it was true.
And as she sighed about it, her gaze briefly caught Rei. She wondered if she had seen wrong, but she felt Rei's face looked strikingly similar to her own. Moreover, she hadn't noticed before, but Rei's previously blonde hair had now turned snow-white.
"Sajyou-san, your hair color…"
"Hmm? This? It's a bit of Magecraft. Master really likes mixing different hair colors, so I specifically learned Magecraft to change my hair color."
As she spoke, Rei instantly changed her hair color to red, then blue, purple, and green, leaving Tomoe mesmerized.
Magecraft could truly do anything and was incredibly convenient.
At the same time, the faint sense of similarity Tomoe had felt vanished without a trace.
(It must've been my imagination. There's no way two people in this world could look almost identical.)
"Remarkable Magecraft, Sajyou-san."
"Just a small trick. Almost any Magus can do it—the difference is only in the method used." Rei smiled, quietly relieved in her heart.
(I was a bit careless. Since there are usually no outsiders, I got used to maintaining my disguise afterward. I need to be more careful in the future—causing misunderstandings wouldn't be good.)