Familiar.
Way too familiar.
Rowan looked at the stumbling woman for a few moments and finally recognized her.
Wasn't this Medea from the Nasuverse? The princess of Colchis from Greek mythology, wife of the great hero Jason, disciple of the goddess of magic Hecate, and the legendary Witch of Betrayal.
So the world he had connected to this time was Fate?
The Fifth Holy Grail War.
Tsk. What a shame. If it had been the Fourth Holy Grail War, he could've saved Sakura and dealt with the worms. By the Fifth Holy Grail War, it was already a little late.
When Rowan and the others saw Medea, Medea also saw the air door, as well as Rowan's group standing within it. Especially when she saw Rowan, she froze for a moment.
"Huh? A Shinigami?" Medea showed an obviously startled expression. "Since when do Shinigamis fight the Throne of Heroes over souls?"
This wasn't the first time Rowan had been mistaken for a Shinigami. The last one to think that had been Brook.
By now, Rowan was already used to it. He smiled and stepped out through the air door, walking up to Medea.
"That's right. I really am here to steal someone. Would you like to come with me, Miss Medea?"
Rowan slowly extended his hand toward her.
If Rowan remembered correctly, during the Fifth Holy Grail War, Medea's original Master was some rich man. Not only did he verbally abuse her, he also used children as magical batteries.
Medea first tricked that idiot into using up all three Command Spells, then killed him without hesitation.
After that, Medea, having lost her Master, wandered through Fuyuki City and accidentally ended up near Ryuudou Temple. Just when she was about to disappear, she met her next Master.
Souichirou Kuzuki, a silent, taciturn teacher and assassin.
The two formed a contract and entered the Holy Grail War together, putting on a genuinely moving love story.
However, judging from Medea's miserable appearance right now, she had probably already killed her original Master, but had not yet reached Ryuudou Temple or met Kuzuki Souichirou.
In that case, Rowan wouldn't be polite about cutting in.
This was a witch from the Age of Gods, a disciple of Hecate, goddess of magic.
Handing her over to Kuzuki Souichirou would be a waste. She might as well follow him.
It was a bit unfair to Kuzuki Souichirou, sure, but Rowan was taking this chance no matter what.
Faced with Rowan's invitation, Medea carefully sized him up.
"You're strange. You're clearly human, so why do you carry the aura of a Shinigami?"
"Probably because I'm from another world?" Rowan made no attempt to hide his origins.
"Another world? Are you sure?"
Medea was surprised. The Fate world did have the concept of parallel worlds, and the Second Magic among the Five True Magics could interfere with parallel worlds.
But a person from another world? This was the first time Medea had seen one.
She had never even heard of such a thing before.
"Of course. When have you ever seen a human who could grow over four meters tall?" Rowan pointed at Smoothie standing behind him. Her four-meter-tall body and two-meter-long legs were indeed very persuasive evidence.
"If you're from another world, why do you know my name?" Medea was puzzled.
"Because Miss Medea is far more famous than you imagine."
That made Medea laugh.
"I never expected my name to be known even by people from another world. What an honor."
"So, Miss Medea, would you like to form a contract with me?" Rowan said. "You wouldn't want to exit this Holy Grail War in such a miserable state, would you?"
Medea nodded. She truly did not want to leave the Holy Grail War like this.
And Rowan knew exactly who she was, yet still invited her. There was no disgust in his eyes because she was Medea. Instead, he looked almost overjoyed.
That gave Medea a small bit of goodwill toward him.
"Since you've invited me so warmly, how could I refuse?"
So she formed a contract with Rowan. But before the contract was completed, she asked him one question.
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Just call me Rowan."
After they exchanged names, the contract was successfully formed. The iconic Command Spells of the Holy Grail War appeared on Rowan's hand.
Medea also used Rowan's mana to stabilize her body.
"Oh, right. Everyone, come here. Let me introduce you to our new companion."
Rowan beckoned, calling Hashirama, Smoothie, and the others over.
"This is Medea, princess of Colchis from Greek mythology, disciple of Hecate, goddess of magic. She's a genuine master of magic."
"This is Hashirama Senju, from the Naruto world."
"This is Nico Robin, from the One Piece world. She is currently my deputy."
"This is Yamato. Like Nico Robin, she comes from the One Piece world. She used to be with the Beast Pirates and is currently rolling with me."
"This is Charlotte Smoothie, also from the One Piece world, from the Big Mom Pirates. She's also currently with me."
"And this is Serie, a genuine elf from the world of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. She is a great mage who has lived from the Age of Myth to the present, second only to the Goddess."
Hearing that, Medea couldn't help looking at Serie.
Serie also looked at Medea.
Both of them were very interested in each other, because among this group, they were the ones who used magic.
One was a disciple of Hecate, goddess of magic.
The other was a great mage who had survived since the Age of Myth.
Both wanted to know what the other's magical system was like.
"Your ears are strange. Do you have elven blood as well?" Serie stared at Medea's pointed ears. They weren't as sharp as an elf's, but they also weren't like a normal human's.
So Serie suspected Medea might have elven blood.
Medea shook her head. In this world, elves were classified as phantasmal species. She herself had no elven blood.
Serie gave a small "oh" and didn't care much, then took the initiative to start discussing magic with Medea.
Seeing that this wasn't really a good place to talk, Rowan brought everyone back to the One Piece world. In the banquet hall of Wano's shogun's palace, he briefly explained the Fate world to everyone.
That included the Mage's Association, the two Counter Forces, the Holy Grail War, Heroic Spirits, and so on.
Medea added some supplementary explanations from the side.
Everyone gained a rough understanding of the Fate world.
When Nico Robin heard that the Holy Grail War could summon legendary heroes, her eyes lit up, and she asked, "In that case, can we recruit all the summoned heroes?"
Rowan thought about it and said, "In the Fifth Holy Grail War, Caster is Medea. Archer is Heroic Spirit Emiya. Lancer is the Hound of Ulster, son of the sun god, Cu Chulainn. Berserker is Heracles. Saber is the King of Knights of Britain, Artoria. Assassin is Sasaki Kojirou. Rider is Medusa."
"These people are actually all possible to recruit."
"But there's only one person who absolutely won't work."
"A Heroic Spirit left over from the previous Holy Grail War, one who has already gained a physical body—the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh."
"That guy was contaminated by the Grail's black mud during the last Holy Grail War. He's always going on about 'mongrels' and 'mongrels,' so there's no way to recruit him."
"Especially since he hates gods to the extreme."
"With the way I am now, if I run into the King of Heroes, he'll attack me the moment we disagree. There's basically no chance of reconciliation. So that guy has to die."
Medea looked at Rowan in surprise.
"Interesting. Master, you seem very familiar with the Fifth Holy Grail War."
Rowan smiled. "Of course. I'm not just a little familiar with the Fifth Holy Grail War. Let me put it this way—do you know how many Fate anime I've watched?"
"Anime?"
"Ah, right. In our world, Fate is an anime."
That answer shocked Medea even more. Fate was an anime? What did that mean?
When she was summoned into this era, she had been granted modern knowledge, so she naturally knew what anime was.
But she couldn't believe she was a character in an anime.
"Can I watch this anime?"
"Of course."
Rowan returned to his own world, brought over a television, and started playing the Fate anime he had downloaded.
There were several Fate anime.
They were divided into the Fate route, the Unlimited Blade Works route, and the Heaven's Feel route. The plots of the three routes were all different.
So the anime studios had adapted each timeline separately.
Rowan played all of them.
After Medea and the others finished watching, they all fell silent.
A long while later, Medea finally came back to herself. She did not continue obsessing over whether she was an anime character or not.
The more powerful an existence was, the less likely they were to doubt their own reality.
If their world were false, they would have discovered it long ago.
The reason their story had become an anime was probably due to some other cause. As for what that cause was, only heaven knew.
But that wasn't the important part.
The important part was what happened in the story.
Medea stared intently at Rowan.
"Master, don't you owe me an explanation?"
"An explanation? For what?" Rowan looked at her in confusion.
"Souichirou Kuzuki," Medea said. "If you hadn't appeared, I would have met him, wouldn't I?"
"And then you would've been shot full of holes by Goldie along with him, right?"
Medea: "…"
Rowan spoke earnestly. "Stop being such a romance-brained woman, Medea. Our goal is the stars and the sea. What is mere love compared to that?"
"Listen to me. Souichirou Kuzuki is too gloomy. You can't handle him."
"Isn't it better to follow me, eat and drink, have fun, admire the scenery of countless worlds, and taste the food of every world?"
Medea: "…"
She had never seen someone so shameless.
Her Master's skin was truly thick.
But she didn't keep arguing with Rowan. After all, the two of them had already formed a contract.
And she had no intention of going back on it.
Souichirou Kuzuki might have been good, but this Master of hers wasn't that bad either.
At the very least, she saw not the slightest disgust toward her in his eyes. Instead, they were full of trust.
And that trust alone was enough to move her.