They traveled day and night, resting only rarely.
Guided by the Revelation, the two finally arrived at a small village near Lyon.
Although the place was a bit dilapidated, surprisingly, quite a few people were still living there.
The villagers were very vigilant. It took a while of asking around before Jeanne finally got some information from a child.
After simply thanking the child, Takumi hesitated, then took two candies from his pocket and handed them to him.
"Hm? What is this?"
The child took the candy curiously.
"Candy. You can eat it."
"Is there candy that looks like this?"
The child blinked, a bit suspicious, then peeled off the wrapper and put it in his mouth.
"Mmh! It really is candy, and it's so yummy!"
The child's eyes instantly lit up, a look of pure bliss appearing on his face.
"...Big Brother, do you have any more of this candy? Two isn't really enough... I have a few good friends who haven't even tasted ordinary candy..."
The child hesitated, then shyly asked Takumi.
Seeing this, Takumi handed all the candy in his pocket to the child.
However, since Takumi had come from Chaldea alone, bringing a dozen or so small candies was his limit.
The child took the candy, said thanks, and skipped away.
"Let's go. If the Revelation isn't wrong, the person we're looking for is in that small house over there."
As the child walked further away, Jeanne turned to look at Takumi.
Although the villagers here weren't very willing to talk, the two could still piece together the general story from fragments of conversation.
Probably a few days or maybe ten days ago, the village was attacked by Wyverns. Just when everyone was in despair, a burly man wearing strange armor and holding a greatsword rushed over. With just a few swings of his sword, he repelled all the Wyverns.
The man seemed to be heavily injured, so he stayed in the village. Occasionally, he would stand up to help the villagers destroy invading enemies like Wyverns and Skeleton Soldiers. Seeing this, many refugees passing by the village would also coincidentally decide to stay.
After all, even though the man looked half-dead, didn't it seem pretty safe here for now?
For this reason, the villagers tried their best to take care of him, but the man's condition never improved. So now, no one knew how much longer this man could hold on.
Arriving in front of the house, they knocked on the door.
"Cough, cough... please come in..."
A weak cough came from inside.
The two carefully pushed the door open and entered.
They saw a burly man with long silver hair, wearing heavy knight armor—though his back was unprotected—leaning against the headboard. He looked at the two entering with weak eyes.
His body was covered in wounds. The most conspicuous were two penetrating wounds on his chest. Instead of blood, golden Spiritrons were constantly leaking from the wounds.
Clearly, this great dragon-slaying hero was on the verge of fading away.
"A Master? Looks like an ally..."
Siegfried saw the crimson Command Spells on Takumi's right hand. His tense nerves relaxed, and his hand gripping the demonic sword Balmung finally lowered.
The two watched this scene in silence, their hearts sinking to rock bottom.
They rushed day and night, but in the end, were they still too late?
"Can you hold on a little longer?"
Jeanne asked, holding onto a last shred of hope.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
As Siegfried coughed, the Spiritrons on his body dissipated even faster.
"...I'm sorry, you came too late... As you can see, right now I guess... I can only talk to you a little more..."
Siegfried forced a smile, speaking intermittently.
Indeed, the current Siegfried was too heavily injured. Aside from normal wounds, there was a powerful curse attached to him. The most critical issue was that there was actually a wound on Siegfried's back. Although it was just a small wound, due to the conceptual reinforcement of legends in the Type-Moon world, it was enough to make this dragonslayer lose his combat ability.
Just like a certain legendary hero's heel, once the weakness was hit, half of the person's ability was crippled. Directly fading away wasn't out of the question.
Rather, the fact that Siegfried could persist until now with such injuries was actually a bit exaggerated.
In Jeanne's view, unless Saint George appeared in front of them right now and the two saints worked together to quickly cleanse the curse on Siegfried, there was no other way to save him.
But was that possible? Neither Takumi nor Jeanne knew where Saint George was. How could he suddenly appear in front of them?
The disheartening words Takumi said at the beginning seemed to have come true.
"...Actually, there is one more way..."
Siegfried looked at the two, his gaze lingering on Takumi. He hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
"What way?"
"...I can sense a special power on this Master. Although not strong... it is compatible with a Servant's Spirit Origin. As long as I grant him my Spirit Origin before I fade away, you should have a little time to find a way to lift the curse on me..."
"Cough, cough... Then, once the curse attached to the Spirit Origin is lifted, even if you cannot unleash my full strength, as long as you have my Noble Phantasm, victory is not impossible..."
'So, Cú Chulainn's power appearing in me really wasn't a coincidence?'
Takumi suddenly realized.
'In that case, given Cú Chulainn's vague sense of mystery in Singularity F, he probably saw through this ability—which even I didn't know about—right from the start and formulated his plan accordingly. He really is cunning...'
Takumi didn't dwell on the past. Various netizens had speculated about this kind of thing when playing the game, but there was never a definitive answer as to what it actually was.
The most important thing now was to overcome the hurdle before him.
"But looking at Mr. Siegfried, accepting this Spirit Origin won't be easy, right?"
Siegfried wasn't someone who could hide his thoughts. Even Takumi could clearly sense the hesitation on his face.
Moreover, Takumi didn't believe a Heroic Spirit's power was something he could obtain easily.
"...Correct."
Siegfried smiled with relief. Clearly, he knew what kind of person he was.
"As I just said, as the Spirit Origin is transferred, the curse will also be attached to it... This means the pain I am enduring right now will be pressed onto you, without diminishing in the slightest..."
"Furthermore, if you do not find a way to resolve the curse within these two days, this increasingly heavy curse will crush you prematurely..."
"Are you... prepared to endure all of this?"
Siegfried finished speaking and looked at Takumi. Golden Spiritrons were still emerging from his body.
Prepared? Where would I get the preparation? Inexplicably thrown into this place, who gave me time to prepare?
Although he thought this, Takumi didn't actually complain in his heart.
After all, was there a need to think so much? Hadn't he already made a promise from the start?
—Do everything I can do, even if the path ahead is destined for failure.
"Come on."
Under Jeanne's worried gaze, Takumi extended his hand toward Siegfried. The thoughts in his brain were all suppressed into the abyss of his unconsciousness, leaving only a single will.
Don't think about the consequences. Just move forward.
From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the girl beside him.
No matter the result, at least during this time, I am not alone, am I?