"Come to think of it, this feels very different from riding a horse."
Having confirmed that [Revelation] was temporarily ineffective, Jeanne stopped fretting over it. As she watched the scenery continuously flow by with the movement of the car, feeling the sound of the wind rushing past her ears, she couldn't help but feel a bit curious.
But compared to dematerialization, this is still too slow.
Thinking this, and looking at the completely darkened sky, Jeanne asked the old man, who was humming a tune, through the small window:
"Grandpa, how much longer until we reach Trifas?"
"Still about 12 hours to go."
The old man, who was very fond of this young girl—who looked about the same age as his granddaughter yet dared to travel far from home alone to visit relatives in Trifas—answered with a smile.
"After all, this old partner of mine is getting on in years and needs to rest too, you know."
Saying this, the old man patted the steering wheel, indicating that his "old partner" was this old pickup truck.
"I see. It is quite like a horse after all."
Hearing this, although a bit helpless that it would still take so long, Jeanne—who was unable to dematerialize and cross space due to her unique summoning circumstances—could only nod.
Although she had to eat and rest like a normal person because she was summoned through Spiritual Evocation, fortunately, when she took damage in battle, only her "layer" as Jeanne d'Arc would be hurt, not the physical body of the young girl Laetitia.
Her current state wasn't so much like Pseudo-Servants such as Mash or Zhuge Liang (Lord El-Melloi II), but rather like two personalities sharing one body with Laetitia; their essence was extremely unique.
Well, in reality, it's just a bizarre setting that the miraculous Higashide inexplicably came up with, comparable only to Siegfried's heart.
Anyway, back to the main topic. Since it would still be so long until she reached her destination, what should she do right now with nothing else to do?
After thinking for a moment, Jeanne somewhat hesitantly took out an Advanced Mathematics textbook from her backpack.
This was Laetitia's textbook. Perhaps acting out of the nature of a good student, she had inexplicably brought this thing along when leaving France.
"Should I... try doing some problems?"
Looking at the text on the schedule, which held both temptation and dread for her, Jeanne hesitated.
As a village girl who didn't even know how to read in her previous life, Jeanne had always held a very respectful attitude toward learning and knowledge. Although she could understand the meaning of some words this time due to the Holy Grail, something like mathematics was both novel and highly tempting to her.
If I had known mathematics in the past, would I have done a better job handling military affairs and the distribution of tasks?
Harboring this thought, the Holy Maiden ultimately picked up the pen with hesitation.
Half an hour later, after confirming that she didn't know how to do it—and that even when she prayed to the Lord to teach her how to solve the problems, the Lord remained silent—Jeanne finally gave up on this thing called mathematics.
"This is way too hard!"
Feeling dizzy and exhausted, her eyes feeling like they were turning into spirals, Jeanne collapsed dejectedly in the truck bed.
"Hm?"
Right at this moment, the car suddenly began to slow down, finally pulling over to the side of the road.
Just as the Holy Maiden curiously sat up from the truck bed and looked forward, she found a young man of similar age chatting with the old grandpa.
"Is that so? You accidentally got separated from your church teacher while sketching in the forest, so you'd like to ask me to give you a ride back to Trifas?"
"Eh, of course, that's no problem. No need to be shy, little priest."
"However, my passenger seat is full of stuff. Would you mind making do and sitting in the back? There's also a hitchhiking young girl about your age back there. You young folks can keep each other company, haha."
"Then I shall trouble you, Grandpa."
Accompanied by the young man's soft chuckle, Jeanne saw a blue-eyed youth dressed in clerical cassocks climb up into the truck bed in the darkness and sit across from her.
After the young man settled in, the pickup truck started moving toward Trifas again.
Seeing the young man sit gracefully in front of her and then flash her an amicable smile, Jeanne's gaze carried a hint of surprise and vigilance.
"Nice to meet you. Hello, Miss."
Souya smiled while evaluating the Holy Maiden before him.
As expected, changes only occurred in specific areas. The Ruler this time is still Jeanne. This also shows that the plot still has some use for me.
Thinking this, Souya didn't get an answer from Jeanne, but instead heard the Holy Maiden's somewhat guarded voice.
"The Master of the Red Caster. Instead of staying in the safe Red Faction camp, why did you come looking for me? Furthermore..."
As she spoke, Jeanne's gaze evaluated various parts of Souya's body.
"Why are you the only one here? Where is your Servant, Caster?"
Using the insight exclusive to her role as the referee Ruler, she surprisingly couldn't detect a dematerialized Servant following beside Souya. This immediately made Jeanne's delicate brow furrow slightly, unable to figure out what Souya's purpose was.
"Don't be so vigilant, Ruler. As you can see, my purpose for finding you has nothing to do with the Holy Grail War."
Souya wasn't surprised that he was recognized, or rather, he had no intention of hiding it. He didn't even try to hide the six-winged Command Spells on his hand.
Saying this, he shifted his body forward so he could lean completely against the truck bed. Then he smiled and met Jeanne's gaze. The blue and golden eyes reflected the figures of the Holy Son and Holy Maiden respectively.
"Then what is your purpose?"
Hearing this, Jeanne was slightly stunned. But seeing his relaxed posture and sensing that his Servant was indeed not around, her tone instinctively softened.
But this softening vanished entirely upon hearing Souya's next sentence.
"My purpose is, of course, you."
The black-haired young man said this as his hair fluttered in the wind.
"Ah? A-Ah?!"
Caught off guard by these terrible words, Jeanne instantly became flustered, a tinge of crimson inevitably dyeing her cheeks.
"What do you mean by that, Master of Red! Even if Ruler won't attack you, you can't act like this towards a girl!"
Seeing the Holy Maiden's flustered appearance while trying to forcefully maintain her composure and scold him, Souya couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Should I say, as expected of a village girl who doesn't understand anything? Just a slight, ambiguous remark was enough to throw her into a panic.
But he didn't intentionally tease Jeanne. Regarding this character he had once liked, this Saintess who now shared the same "Holy" identity as his own "Holy Son" status, he truly wanted to interact with her more.
This wasn't just his own idea; it was also the [Revelation] given to him by the Pigeon.
So Souya said:
"You seem to have misunderstood something, Miss Jeanne."
"When I said my purpose was you, I didn't mean that. I meant that I wanted to chat with you."
Hearing this, Jeanne froze slightly, her originally flustered mind stabilizing.
But she quickly realized something and looked at Souya again.
"How do you know my True Name? And what do we have to chat about?"
"As for that, naturally, it's because I received a [Revelation], through which I learned your name, as well as when and where you would appear."
Saying this, Souya suddenly stood up in the truck bed. Facing the evening breeze, he unbuttoned his cassock, revealing his muscular torso densely covered in scars. (I have worn a cassock before; it's very tight and secure. It's impossible to expose the back of the neck without unbuttoning it.)
"Hey! You..."
Seeing this, Jeanne's face instinctively felt a bit hot again. But when Souya turned around, revealing that crimson mark on the back of his neck, Jeanne was instantly stunned.
The aura and meaning concerning that mark appeared in Jeanne's mind almost instantly.
At this moment, she finally understood the identity of the young man before her, and why she had inexplicably felt a sense of intimacy towards him, to the point of showing shyness just now.
The reason for all of this was that the young man before her, just like her, was a chosen one selected by God and bestowed with the Lord's gaze.
Namely, a Holy Son.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kotomine Souya. I am an Executor of the Holy Church, a believer who carries out the Lord's will, and also... a Holy Son."
"Nice to meet you for the first time, my fellow traveler."
Thus, the Holy Son and the Saintess had their first meeting.