"This one will do."
"Rin, there's no need for this."
In a department store in Fuyuki City, Rin pulled Artoria—dressed in a white one-piece dress—over to a full-length mirror. The legendary King of Knights looked visibly uncomfortable, her cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment.
After the conclusion of the Holy Grail War, everyone had temporarily returned to a more peaceful daily life. Rin and Saber had grown increasingly close. Deep down, Rin had always held onto a certain wish: she had originally wanted to summon Saber herself.
Although she hadn't achieved that goal, now she had the real, famed King Arthur at her side. Upon discovering that the King of Knights was a woman, she immediately got the idea to dress her up.
Unable to resist Rin's enthusiasm, Artoria had no choice but to let herself be dragged to the mall. Clothing didn't mean much to her—what truly mattered was food. In her time, even as a king, she hadn't had much access to good food. It had been a limitation of the era.
Modern cuisine, however, she enjoyed immensely—especially when she could eat without restriction.
"You look beautiful."
Despite Artoria's embarrassment, Rin enthusiastically made her try on outfit after outfit, finally settling on several dresses and even a few suits.
Artoria in a suit was incredibly striking. For certain well-known reasons, her wearing a suit looked completely natural.
"She really does look a lot like Fu Hua."
As Rin and Saber browsed clothes, Daniel stayed on the sidelines, avoiding the women's department. When he saw Artoria step out in more gender-neutral clothing beside Rin, he couldn't help but think of Fu Hua. In some ways, the two were almost identical.
"What are you thinking about?" Artoria's expression darkened as she followed Daniel's gaze. No matter how knightly she might act, she was still a woman and cared about such things.
Back among the Round Table, it had been one thing—she always wore armor. But now, with Rin beside her as a comparison, she was more self-conscious.
"Nothing." Daniel quickly looked away and shook his head.
"It's about time. We should go."
"Mm."
Besides shopping for clothes, the group had another reason for going out today: Rin wanted to visit her parents' grave and tell them she had avenged them.
After killing Kotomine Kirei, she destroyed the sword he had given her—the one she had used to slay him. It was a bit of a shame. If it had remained and gathered more legend, that mercury sword might have become a true anti-Master Noble Phantasm.
Many Heroic Spirit Noble Phantasms were materializations of legends from their lifetimes—like Heracles's Twelve Labors, which manifested from his trials.
"Sis!"
"Sakura!"
At Shirou Emiya's house, Sakura happily greeted Rin as soon as she arrived. The sisters' relationship had grown much better.
"Shirou, I'll leave this to you." Daniel headed into the kitchen and handed the groceries to Shirou, who was busy preparing a meal.
"Shirou, is it ready yet? I'm starving!" Illyasviel called out loudly from the side.
"Almost done," Shirou responded quickly.
After the Holy Grail War, Daniel arranged for Illyasviel and Shirou to meet. Although she had once thought about killing her younger brother, it had only been a passing thought.
After they finally met and had a good conversation, their relationship improved quickly. Since then, Illyasviel had frequently visited to "mooch meals" from her brother.
As for her Servant and two maids, they remained at the Einzbern Castle. The two maids in the Fifth War world were combat-type homunculi, fundamentally different from the ones in Illyasviel's original world.
"The Einzbern alchemy, the Third Magic… when you think about it, the Matou family really has no prestige among the Three Founding Families."
The Tohsaka family was connected to the Second Magic, the Einzberns to the Third. Only the Matou family had no ties to any Magician.
After the war, besides dismantling the Greater Grail, they also had to deal with Illyasviel's condition. Her body had been modified to serve as a Lesser Grail and would only last another year at most.
To fix it, Daniel and Illyasviel visited the Einzbern ancestral home and took all their alchemical knowledge. Then they sought out Irisviel from Illyasviel's original world and asked about her daughter's condition. Finally, Daniel and Da Vinci worked together to seal the Lesser Grail within Illyasviel.
Unfortunately, even though her body was stabilized, her height could not be changed—probably due to the extensive alterations done to her magic circuits earlier in life.
Afterward, Daniel, accompanied by Rin and Artoria, began researching Einzbern alchemy. While the family specialized in creating homunculi, their skills in other fields of alchemy weren't lacking.
Daniel learned a lot from their archives and finally understood how the Holy Grail War truly worked: it was all about the Third Magic—Materialization of the Soul—realized through a vast amount of magical energy.
To Daniel, the most important takeaway was indeed this Third Magic. With soul materialization and effectively infinite mana, it would drastically amplify his power.
"Though I could do it myself eventually, using the Grail would save a lot of time."
Daniel had always been progressing toward soul materialization. His advancements in the world of Shinigami had been steps in that direction. But achieving a perfect result still required years of cultivation, with no real shortcuts—except in the Nasuverse, where a wish on the Grail could skip the grind. Assuming, of course, the Grail was functional.
"How are you feeling?"
After staying in Fuyuki for a while, Daniel, Rin, and Artoria traveled to the Clock Tower—not for class. Daniel didn't need to attend lectures anymore. As for Rin, she would need to study there in the future to revive her family, but only after she graduated from high school.
Conveniently, she would enter the Clock Tower as a university student. The institution even issued formal degrees.
This time, they were visiting so Artoria could revisit her homeland. She was deeply curious about modern-day Britain and quite satisfied with modern life—though some of the legends about her left her speechless.
Modern society had countless myths about King Arthur. One case Daniel helped Second investigate involved the "Wild Hunt of King Arthur." While it wasn't truly about her, the modern version pointed straight at her.
The strength of a Heroic Spirit and the power of their Noble Phantasms were tied to their legend. Artoria had so many different classes, she could practically fight an entire Grail War against herself—directly related to how many versions of her story existed.
"Mash, Ritsuka—initiating Fate/Grand Order."
After a few days sightseeing with Saber in Britain, Daniel brought her and Cú Chulainn to Chaldea. After training Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash Kyrielight, they were ready to begin fixing Singularities.
They should've started sooner, but Ritsuka had been a total newcomer to the world of magecraft. In the original timeline, he had been thrown into it unprepared. But this time, Olga Marie had survived, and Chaldea had received abundant resources. There was no need to rush.
To ensure the success of humanity's restoration—and their own safety—Mash and Ritsuka had undergone brutal training.
Olga Marie personally taught Ritsuka the fundamentals of magecraft. With her strict instruction and the aid of dragon blood potions, Ritsuka now surpassed many of the Clock Tower's mages in terms of raw power. Psychologically, however, he was still just a normal person—something even Marie couldn't fix.
"Yes!"
Ritsuka and Mash stepped into the transfer chamber as Marie explained the Singularity's setting: the Roman Empire, 1st century AD.
"Reverse summoning system online. Commencing spiritron conversion. Preparing for transfer."
As the system activated, a brilliant light engulfed the pair, and they vanished from the chamber.
"Mash, Ritsuka—are you there? Have you reached the target destination?"
Immediately after the transfer, Marie rushed to the console, urgently calling out.
"Director, we're not sure if this is the right place. There are no signs of human activity. One side is grassland, the other is hilly terrain. Fou? What are you doing here?"
Mash's voice finally came through. At her last sentence, Marie's face darkened.
Unable to undergo spiritron transfer herself due to her lack of Master aptitude, it was her eternal frustration—even dying once hadn't changed that. And yet now, even Chaldea's mascot had managed to transfer.
Fou, the mysterious creature of Chaldea—no one knew when it had arrived. It had simply always been there. Normally, an organization like Chaldea wouldn't allow a "pet," but for some reason, Marisbury had never stopped it. With his tacit approval, no one else dared object.
"This little guy's amazing. But Mash is pretty amazing too."
While Marie stewed in silent frustration, Daniel was speechless. He'd clearly seen Fou emerge from inside Mash's chest. Both of them were impressive in their own way.
"Strange. They should've appeared near the capital of Rome. Why is this happening? Ritsuka, Mash—scout the area and determine the exact location and time period."
With Marie silent, Romani took over. While Chaldea's transfers theoretically couldn't miss, Mash's report of no humans nearby raised concerns. Even if Romani didn't know much about the Roman Empire, he knew a capital city couldn't possibly be invisible.
"Understood, Dr. Romani."
Ritsuka nodded, and the pair began exploring. Romani turned off the video feed, keeping only the audio channel open.
"Director, Doctor—we've found fighting! Both sides look like soldiers."
About fifteen minutes later, Mash's voice came through the comms.
"What's going on? Describe it."
"Yes."
Mash described the scene from atop a hill. Thanks to her Servant-enhanced body, she could see clearly even from a distance. The two groups wore similar armor, but with close inspection, their differences were apparent.
"The smaller side is being led by a young girl in a red dress with a red sword. Despite their smaller numbers, they're holding off the enemy."
This time, Ritsuka spoke. While he didn't have Mash's vision, he had magecraft. Using an Eagle Eye spell, he temporarily boosted his eyesight.
"Do you sense any Servants?" Romani asked.
"None, Doctor. What should we do?"
They didn't know why the two sides were fighting. Staying out of it was an option—but if they wanted information, they had to engage.
"A red dress... red sword... that must be Nero. She should still be human at this point."
Though they hadn't seen her yet, Daniel recognized the description immediately.
"Let me think..." Romani hesitated. Picking a side here was crucial—choosing wrong could have major consequences.
"Help the girl in red. If I'm right, she's Nero."
"Nero? A girl? That's impossible!"
Olga Marie cried out in disbelief, and the others in the room stared at Daniel. Everyone knew the infamous tyrant Nero. Now you're telling us she's a girl?
"Don't look at me like that. Have you forgotten who this is?" Daniel gestured toward Artoria. If King Arthur could be female, why not Nero? As for the tyrant part—legends often twisted the truth.
"Mash, Ritsuka—do as he says. Oh, and no killing. Like last time—use the back of your weapons."
"Doctor, I'm using a shield. There is no 'back.'"
With that, Mash and Ritsuka charged down the hill. Their sudden intervention threw the larger army into chaos. Seizing the opportunity, the red-dressed girl raised her red sword and signaled her troops to charge.
The battle ended swiftly. Despite being outnumbered, the enemies were no match for Mash's Servant-level physique.
"Master, be careful—there's a Servant's presence!"
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