Shirou Emiya and Mordred's meeting didn't last long. After all, they remained enemies. Even though they could speak amicably by day, once night fell, their swords would inevitably clash.
When that moment came, both Mordred and Arthur would fight at full strength. To hold back would dishonor both sides.
Naturally, Shirou learned the name of Mordred's Master—Kairi Sisigou. Aside from that, no other useful information changed hands. Despite Kairi's goodwill toward Shirou, he had no intention of betraying his allies' secrets. Not that he knew much—apart from a single Assassin.
As for revealing Arthur's true name, neither Mordred nor Kairi seemed particularly concerned.
"Parallel worlds… Maybe that's what this place is," Shirou muttered quietly. Though barely audible, Arthur still overheard—never underestimate a Servant's keen senses, especially one of Arthur's caliber. Even faint whispers were clearly audible to him.
"Master, you aren't from this world either?" Arthur asked softly. Even he didn't fully understand why he'd been summoned into a Holy Grail War in a different world.
Logically, Shirou Emiya should have summoned this world's King Arthur, not one from another reality entirely.
Arthur could sense a familiar presence within Shirou—Avalon. But Avalon was always bound to his own sword, Excalibur; it couldn't possibly have found its way into this young man's body.
From the very start, Arthur suspected he'd entered a different world. What surprised him was discovering that Shirou Emiya himself also didn't belong here.
"Yeah," Shirou admitted simply, nodding. Since Arthur had already overheard, there was little reason to hide it. Besides, it wasn't exactly a sensitive secret. Revealing it wouldn't change anything.
But a question still lingered deep within Shirou's heart. His call with Fuji-nee proved that his original world was indeed parallel to this one. But if that were true, why hadn't his counterpart appeared here? When he'd asked Fuji-nee, he'd learned no one named Shirou Emiya even existed in Fuyuki City. That puzzled him greatly.
Though unable to visit Fuyuki City at the moment, Shirou could only bury these doubts inside him for now.
Yet, it wasn't that Shirou Emiya had no counterpart in this world. Rather, his counterpart simply didn't bear the name Shirou Emiya.
This counterpart never experienced the devastating fire that destroyed Fuyuki, never became Emiya Kiritsugu's adopted son, and had certainly never learned magecraft.
---
"Fuji-nee, I've finished organizing these documents."
In Homurahara Academy's high school section, a young man with bright red hair placed a stack of papers onto Taiga Fujimura's desk.
"Thanks for your help! If every student at Homurahara was as helpful as you, my job would be a whole lot easier," Taiga said cheerfully, patting the boy's shoulder with a broad smile.
"By the way, I hear your cooking's gotten pretty popular with the students lately. Maybe you could make me a bento next time? Ever since I tasted your cooking once, I've been craving it nonstop!"
"Of course, Fuji-nee!" The boy rubbed the back of his head shyly, clearly pleased by Taiga's compliment.
"I'll head back to the student council now; there's some electronic equipment there that needs fixing."
With a quiet creak, the boy quickly exited, closing the door behind him.
"That voice sounded familiar for a moment," Taiga mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully with a pen. "Oh well, who cares! Now, what should I have for dinner tonight?"
Smiling to herself, Taiga returned her pen to the desk. Ever since that helpful young man appeared, her workload had lessened dramatically, even allowing her to leave work early.
No matter which world he occupied, Shirou's core nature would remain the same.
---
"That explains a lot," Arthur murmured, nodding thoughtfully. He wasn't talking about Shirou's original world, but rather the reason why he, an Arthur from another timeline, had responded to Shirou's summon.
Because the summoning had crossed between worlds, the request itself had likely traversed parallel realities, reaching him specifically.
Perhaps this world's King Arthur had also sensed the summons, but Arthur had accepted first, becoming Shirou Emiya's Servant. Had he hesitated even a moment, the outcome might have been entirely different.
The summoned Arthur might then have been this world's own King Arthur. But events had already unfolded this way, and Arthur held no regrets.
After all, it had been his own decision.
"What explains a lot?" Shirou asked curiously, glancing toward Arthur.
Arthur quickly explained his reasoning to Shirou, who nodded in vague understanding. After all, even Shirou himself still didn't grasp how that strange doorway between worlds had functioned.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
A sudden harsh cry filled the air, and a black crow swooped down, landing abruptly on Shirou's shoulder.
Instinctively, Shirou reached out to the crow, half expecting it to be delivering a mission from the Demon Slayer Corps.
Instead, a brightly glowing screen materialized in front of Shirou and Arthur, revealing Darnic seated behind a desk, hands folded neatly in front of him as if preparing an important announcement.
Shirou stared in shock. Apparently, even familiars could project video calls now, giving him a whole new appreciation for magecraft's capabilities.
"Members of the Mage's Association have appeared near Sighișoara, not far from Trifas," Darnic announced solemnly. "The Holy Grail War will soon officially begin, and preliminary skirmishes to test the enemy's strength are inevitable."
Darnic carefully explained the situation to Shirou and Arthur. He had no intention of risking his own Servants just for reconnaissance. After all, infiltrating enemy territory posed considerable risks, and potentially losing a Servant merely to gather intel was unacceptable to him.
But now, with Shirou Emiya and Arthur available as powerful allies, Darnic could comfortably assign them to this dangerous reconnaissance.
Arthur's abilities as a top-tier Servant provided ample reassurance, and even if they were defeated, Darnic wouldn't particularly mourn their loss.
Normally, having a powerful Servant like Arthur should've been an ace up his sleeve, not something to be casually risked on a mere scouting mission. But the Command Spells on Shirou's hand couldn't be transferred, and he remained outside Darnic's direct control. In other words, Shirou was nothing but a ticking time bomb.
Rather than wasting energy constantly keeping guard against him, better to quickly extract as much value as possible. Just as Shirou had brought valuable intel—the Red Saber's true name, Mordred—an ally was only useful if he generated further value.
---
T/N:
"Mm. If you've read this far, I suppose you're at least a little invested."
"If you want to support the translator, there's a Patreon here: patreon.com/wisetl. It's optional—think of it as tossing a few extra coins on the counter. Early chapters are just a bonus side-effect of that support."
"This place also has its own strange currency… Powerstones. For every 100 Powerstones the story gets, you'll receive 1 bonus chapter. 100ps = 1 chp, 200ps = 2 chp, 300ps = 3 chp… you can do the math."
"If you'd rather talk than throw money or stones, there's a Discord: discord.gg/wisetl. Go there if you want to complain, theorize, or poke the translator for more updates. Just don't expect me to mediate your arguments."
Say thank you to Maomao guys