Watching the scene after the summoning was complete, Tohsaka Rin hesitated for a while before regaining her composure. "You... are my Servant?"
"Yes." The girl, who called herself Atalanta, nodded. "Master, you don't need to look so disbelieving—I am indeed the Archer you summoned."
"..." Tohsaka Rin's mood was somewhat complex at this moment. That's right. The Atalanta before her was indeed a genuine Archer. But—this was far too different from what she had expected. Aside from anything else, wouldn't this seemingly un-mighty appearance really cause her to struggle in combat? Tohsaka Rin fell into deep doubt.
But Atalanta seemed to read Tohsaka Rin's thoughts and quickly spoke: "Um—if my feeling is correct, Master thinks I look too weak, right?"
"..." Tohsaka Rin pondered for a moment, then finally shook her head—she wouldn't go so far as to show a dispirited attitude in front of her Servant. That would only have an adverse effect on their relationship. But Atalanta, as an Archer, had judgment far beyond that of ordinary people. She had already confirmed that although her Master hadn't directly admitted it, her inner perception was indeed that. She decided to prove herself a little.
"Tauropolos!" Atalanta shouted towards the sky, instantly scaring away the cat that had disturbed the summoning. Then, a bow with a black grip and golden inlays appeared in her hand!
"Master. Give me a target."
"..." Tohsaka Rin wasn't a slow person either. She quickly realized that Atalanta had still sensed her dissatisfaction—she desperately wanted to show off her skills. Tohsaka Rin decided to give her that chance.
"Are there any restrictions on this target?"
"Yes." Atalanta drew the bowstring fully, then closed one eye, entering an aiming state. "Only within my line of sight. If that condition is met—no matter what, I will hit it for you to see."
"..." Listening to Atalanta's declarative tone, Tohsaka Rin realized she wasn't joking. This was a confident display, genuinely believing she could do it, which was why she answered that way! Tohsaka Rin was already a very confident girl, and naturally, she liked Servants with such a personality. So—she gave a target.
"Archer, if you say so—" Tohsaka Rin pointed to a distant tree. "Aim for that!"
"Understood."
Swish!
The bowstring of [Tauropolos] was released by Atalanta. A verdant light flew forward, striking the trunk of the tree Tohsaka Rin had just pointed to, without deviation. To be precise, it pierced through three leaves before embedding itself in the tree.
"..." Tohsaka Rin was somewhat surprised—she thought this performance was indeed very powerful. However, it could also just be a coincidence. Of course. More likely, Atalanta herself possessed the skill. But to be safe, Tohsaka Rin issued more commands.
Once;
Twice;
Thrice.
Just as Atalanta had promised from the beginning, no matter where Tohsaka Rin pointed, she could perfectly add three leaves and hit the target along with the arrow! At this point, Tohsaka Rin was genuinely impressed. She realized she had indeed summoned a powerful Archer!
But there was still one problem that needed to be resolved. That was—Tohsaka Rin's gaze subtly shifted to Atalanta's cat ears. When she was shooting arrows just now, those two cute cat ears kept twitching, each movement tugging at Tohsaka Rin's heartstrings. She already loved cats, so naturally, she couldn't resist such a thing.
"How was it?" Atalanta, having hit all targets, turned to look at her Master, Tohsaka Rin. "I should be stronger than you think..." The catgirl Archer stopped mid-sentence. Because she noticed her Master's unusual gaze.
"Master, what's wrong?"
"Why are you looking at me with such a strange expression?"
"I... haven't I already completed the targets you gave me?"
"Eh, well..." Atalanta's reminder made Tohsaka Rin realize her behavior was somewhat improper. She reined in her engrossed gaze and brought the conversation back to the crucial point.
"Ahem, Atalanta. I'm very satisfied with your performance—you are, so far, the most formidable Archer I've ever seen!"
"Is that so?" Atalanta smiled slightly. "If that's the case, then that's excellent. By the way—" The catgirl Servant's gaze swept around. Possessing "Knowledge Correction," she had a considerable amount of modern knowledge in her mind. "This is clearly a school plaza, isn't it? Why did you choose to summon me in a place like this?"
"..." Tohsaka Rin found it genuinely difficult to answer this question at the moment—she couldn't possibly tell Atalanta that she summoned her here because she didn't have time to choose another location, could she?
"It's complicated to explain," the girl stammered. "But—please consider it a matter of absolute necessity."
"..." Atalanta didn't seem to accept such vague explanations. However, she didn't press further.
"Understood. If that's the case—" Atalanta continued to ask, "Master, what do you intend for me to do? I can execute your commands alone." As an Archer, Atalanta possessed a common characteristic of her class: "Independent Action." This ability allowed Archers to operate independently without constant assistance from their Master, enabling highly concealed solo combat. Overall, Archer was a very independent class.
"Well..." Although she sensed Atalanta's eagerness to contribute quickly, Tohsaka Rin truly hadn't thought about what she wanted her to do. Or rather, it was the conversation with Misaya, and the early appearance of the meteor shower, that led to this result.
"Not yet, for now," Tohsaka Rin shook her head. "Let me think about it tonight."
"..." Atalanta looked up at the sky—the meteor shower had ended by now, leaving only the vast dark curtain. The catgirl Servant nodded thoughtfully. "Understood. Time is indeed late—so Master, let's go back to your place."
"Mm." Tohsaka Rin had just agreed when she realized another problem. "Wait a moment. Archer, if you come back with me like this, won't it seem strange to people?"
"It's fine." Atalanta smiled slightly. "I have a way to reasonably explain this. Also—" Atalanta transformed her [Tauropolos] into blue particles, then stored it away. Immediately, she struck a bending posture, gesturing for Tohsaka Rin to get on quickly.
"Huh?"
"Archer, what do you mean by this?"
"Nothing special," Atalanta's lips curved slightly. "Just wanted to prove my abilities to you a bit more. Besides—isn't it good to get home early?"
"..." She still had hidden skills? Tohsaka Rin had completely lost the disappointment she felt when she first summoned Archer. Instead, she felt immense excitement—after all, Atalanta's abilities were right before her. Now, she finally had the confidence to face other Masters! Thinking this, Tohsaka Rin no longer hesitated and directly climbed onto Atalanta's back as requested.
"Hold on tight—!" Atalanta carried her Master and immediately ran forward. After bursting out of the school gate, at a suitable spot, she leaped directly onto a rooftop. Then—Atalanta began to perform extreme leaps, using the rooftops of houses as her platforms.
Tohsaka Rin couldn't handle such exhilaration. She immediately cried out. "Atalanta, why are we going this way?! Isn't there a road below?"
"That way, we'd have to avoid vehicles, it's too slow." Atalanta casually replied to her Master while performing extreme leaps. "Compared to that, rooftops are much faster."
"But it's dangerous!"
"No." Atalanta leaped over another rooftop. "I can even jump across cliffs; this kind of place is child's play."
"But you haven't carried anyone before, have you?!"
"Oh, right..." Atalanta replied belatedly. "Never mind, that's not important. As long as you hold onto me tightly, there won won't be any problems."
"Are you serious?!" Ignoring Tohsaka Rin's protests, Atalanta continued to leap over obstacles.
A few minutes later. Tohsaka Rin was brought back to her mansion by Atalanta at a speed she could never achieve normally. The former leaned against the wall, panting heavily after landing. The latter stretched, as if she had just finished a light warm-up.
"Master." Atalanta gently patted Tohsaka Rin's back. "You're quite weak, aren't you? I only ran this short distance, and you're already exhausted?"
"Is this considered a short distance?!" Tohsaka Rin exasperatedly scolded her Archer. "From beginning to end, you were flying across rooftops, weren't you? If I could really handle that, I'd be a Servant by now!"
"Alright~" Atalanta shrugged. "I'll be more careful next time. However—" The catgirl Servant's gaze fell on the building in front of them, her eyes showing a hint of envy. It was the Tohsaka family's luxurious mansion. As the actual holder of the land ownership in Fuyuki City, the mansion was quite grand—at least in terms of area.
"So, Master, your place is this nice?"
"...It's alright."
"No," Atalanta shook her head. "It's really good. When I was a child, I lived in the forest."
"..." Feeling that her Archer seemed somewhat concerned about this. Tohsaka Rin patted her shoulder: "It's fine, you can live here too later. Oh, and call me Rin, by the way. I don't want to expose our relationship too early."
"Okay." Atalanta nodded. "Then Rin, let's go inside."
"Wait a moment!" Tohsaka Rin stopped Atalanta. She asked with some concern: "I don't want to doubt you. But are you sure you can really make others not suspect you? If you can't, we have other options."
"Don't worry, Rin." Atalanta replied seriously to her Master. "I wouldn't say it if I wasn't confident."
"Then at least tell me how you plan to do it, right?" Tohsaka Rin pressed.
"You'll find out in a moment. Rin, let's go."
Because Atalanta had performed quite well just now, Tohsaka Rin didn't ask further. "Alright, I'll trust you one more time."
Ding-dong, ding-dong—
The doorbell rang. Soon, the inner door of the mansion opened. Tohsaka Sakura emerged from inside and came to the iron gate outside.
"Sister, you're back?"
"Eh..."
Tohsaka Sakura's gaze fell on Atalanta standing beside Rin. Clearly, she noticed something special about her. Or rather, no one could ignore Atalanta's ears and tail—they were her most charming features.
"This is..."
"Arcadia." The catgirl Servant reported her homeland's name as her alias. "It's a... cosplay."
T/N: Why!!!! couldn't you come up with a different name(╯▔皿▔)╯...(*￣０￣)ノ
"..."
"..."
Let alone Tohsaka Sakura. Even Tohsaka Rin didn't expect Atalanta to give such a modern explanation. Cosplay was a hobby of using various decorations to dress up as other characters. But—this excuse didn't seem so hard to accept; in fact, it even felt subtly reasonable. Tohsaka Rin secretly observed her sister's reaction.
As expected. Facing Atalanta's "explanation." Tohsaka Sakura not only didn't suspect anything but instead showed a surprised expression.
"So... this is cosplay?"
"Sister, is she your friend?"
"Uh... yes." Tohsaka Rin nodded. "She's a friend, and also a classmate. We just happened to meet on the way. So—I brought her over to our place."
"Oh... I see~" Tohsaka Sakura nodded, then introduced herself to Atalanta. "Hello, Arcadia, my name is Tohsaka Sakura." The girl carefully pointed to her sister. "I'm her younger sister."
"I see, you're Master... Rin's sister." Atalanta nodded. "Yes."
After introducing herself, Tohsaka Sakura gave a friendly smile. "Um—I still need to go help Mr. Ian cook, so I'll leave the tour of the place to Sister."
"Okay, Sakura, you go ahead." Tohsaka Rin watched Tohsaka Sakura leave, then looked at Atalanta beside her. She had to seriously tell this catgirl Servant one thing—that she absolutely couldn't use such risky methods again! What cosplay?! That was too far-fetched!
However, what Tohsaka Rin didn't expect was—when she looked at Atalanta, she noticed the catgirl beside her had a slightly puzzled expression.
"Archer, what's wrong?" Tohsaka Rin immediately asked. "Are you uncomfortable?"
"No, nothing like that." The catgirl Servant shook her head. "I just feel... that name your sister just mentioned, it sounds a little familiar to me."
"What?!"