"How do you feel?"
"Like I had a wonderful dream, but my head is pounding like I'm hungover."
Gudako pressed her knuckles against her temples to relieve the throbbing headache, but the discomfort lingered stubbornly.
"You're not even twenty yet, right? I thought you weren't supposed to drink alcohol in your country. How could you possibly come up with such a description?"
Jiang You handed her a cup of warm milk to help her calm down. Warm milk can soothe the nerves and alleviate some stress, though it's unclear if it has any effect on mental pollution.
"It was just a figure of speech, a metaphor," Gudako said, speechless at how rigid-minded Jiang You was. She lowered her gaze to the porcelain cup in her hands. The warm milk inside emitted a faint milky aroma, bringing her a strange sense of reassurance. "Thank you."
After draining the cup, Gudako felt her agitated nerves gradually calming. Now, she finally had the mental energy to recall what had happened earlier.
"By the way, the enemy... have they already reverted back to Chaldea? Jiang You, did you resolve the situation?"
"Mm, it's resolved."
Though it wasn't exactly a resolution. Someone had come looking for him, and the situation had simply spilled over here.
"Abigail wanted me to apologize to you all on her behalf. Her 'naughty child' act went too far. She originally intended to talk to you properly, but you were too wary, so she had no choice but to knock you unconscious."
"Is that really true?"
Gudako's eye twitched. She couldn't forget the massive creature Abigail had summoned—its ability to defeat opponents in a single turn was terrifying. Even Jiang You, her strongest known servant, didn't possess such an overwhelming trump card. Could something like that truly be a servant summoned through normal means? Doubts flooded her mind. Had she even woken up at all? To test her reality, she reached out and pinched Jiang You's cheek.
Jiang You had a fairly standard build, retaining some muscle from his gym days in school. Though he didn't strictly diet, he rarely overindulged, keeping his facial muscles firm. Gudako fumbled a few times before finally getting a grip on his cheek. Jiang You merely shifted his gaze to the direction where his face was being pinched, showing no other reaction.
She pinched harder—no response.
She pinched even harder—still no response.
She tugged with all her might—still no response.
"As I thought, I'm still dreaming..."
Gudako sighed. Though she had immense faith in Jiang You, she knew their opponent was likely far stronger. Even using Jiang You's Noble Phantasm might not be enough to overcome them.
"So, are you the Jiang You from my dream, or has the real Jiang You also been defeated?"
"..."
Jiang You didn't answer. Instead, he pinched her cheek back in the same way. Though Gudako was usually boisterous and boyish, her body was still that of a healthy, nearly-adult young woman—much softer than a man's or a grown-up's. Jiang You easily pinched a chunk of flesh and squeezed slightly.
"Ah, ow, ow, ow! I was wrong, I was wrong! Let go!" Gudako yelped, begging for mercy. Only then did Jiang You release her.
"If you want to check if you're dreaming, pinch yourself, not me," Jiang You said, looking smugly satisfied after his successful retaliation. "Besides, even though the Dreamlands is a dream, it's still a real place. Feeling pain there is perfectly normal. Abby must have used some method to connect it to your dreams."
"If it wasn't a dream, why didn't you say so earlier? And how come you can't feel any pain?" Gudako complained, clutching her reddened cheek. Jiang You's such a petty guy, she thought.
"If I can't handle a little pain, how can I even be a Servant? You need more training."
Jiang You wasn't particularly pain-tolerant; he was just an ordinary person with no real combat instincts. The reduced pain perception was the only thing helping him. Against someone like Gudako, he barely felt anything at all.
"Now that everything's settled, where's my milk?"
A hand stretched out in front of Jiang You, demanding the milk. He turned to see Hakuno, the female protagonist from next door, had also woken up. She looked like she'd been awake for a while already, since Gudako had long since finished her milk.
"You're certainly not holding back," Jiang You remarked, but he still conjured a warm glass of milk with a flick of his hand and handed it to Hakuno.
In truth, Hakuno's symptoms were far milder than Gudako's, as she hadn't been directly exposed to Bubble. Abigail had also shown restraint, after all, she was still nominally a Chaldea servant, not here to cause trouble.
"Being polite gets you nowhere. Besides, if you didn't give me any, that would be preferential treatment. You'd be the one in the wrong."
In this regard, Hakuno was far more mature and assertive than Gudako.
"I've been meaning to ask—where do you even get these things?"
Gudako often saw Jiang You pull out bizarre items, sometimes even a sofa or a fruit platter, like the Gate of Babylon itself. Logically, such things shouldn't be so casually stored.
"Noble Phantasm: Wish-Fulfilling Bag!" Jiang You declared, pulling out a shopping bag and spouting nonsense with a straight face. He had never hidden his Inventory, but no one had ever asked about it. Jiang You had assumed they were used to it, so he was surprised when Gudako suddenly brought it up.
Hakuno nodded knowingly, her expression clearing.
Gudako, however, was livid, dark lines darkening her face. "Isn't that just a Walmart Shopping Bag?!"
"Who says a shopping bag can't be a Noble Phantasm?" Jiang You retorted, unrepentantly making things up in the relaxed atmosphere. After all, someone had once used a rice bucket as a Noble Phantasm, and it was even EX Rank.
"Don't underestimate this shopping bag. It embodies the very concept of 'supermarket.' Anything related to daily life, from food to household appliances, can be pulled out of it. See? I'm clearly not a Heroic Spirit from the past, right? As a Heroic Spirit from the future, isn't using a Walmart Shopping Bag as my Noble Phantasm perfectly logical?"
To further support his claim, Jiang You even pulled out a Simmons mattress.
"That... actually makes sense," Gudako nodded stiffly, finding Jiang You's explanation strangely logical. Then he burst into unrestrained laughter, and she immediately realized he was still spouting nonsense, making her leap up in anger.
"But I do have a Noble Phantasm that's like a pocket dimension," Jiang You explained, dodging Gudako's attacks. "It can store things inside, preserving them exactly as they were when they entered. I have not only hot milk here, but also iced milk. So everything that escaped just now was collected from other worlds. I dare say, I'm the essential servant for any adventure, home or abroad!"
"Is that something to be proud of?!" Gudako couldn't resist the retort. While other servants were renowned Heroes or Kings, Jiang You was acting like some kind of entertainment package. But since he had steered the conversation this way, and his demeanor was noticeably different from before, it would be rude not to ask.
"Jiang You, have you finally discovered your True Name?"