Chapter 239
Semiramis was already pushing the Hanging Gardens forward at full speed, but when it came to sheer travel time, she still could not compete with Kiriya.
After all, one side was honestly flying through the sky.
The other was practically cheating with spatial teleportation.
In an instant, Kiriya and Jeanne appeared inside his room at Yggdmillennia Castle.
"So this is Yggdmillennia’s castle?"
Jeanne immediately expanded her senses and grasped the general situation around them.
"See? Told you I wasn’t lying."
Kiriya raised his chin rather proudly.
"It’s one of my signature techniques."
"Yes. I believe you."
Jeanne’s cheeks turned faintly pink as she looked down at the hand still resting against her waist.
"So... could you let go of me now?"
Kiriya’s hand was warm, and the heat seemed to seep through her clothes and into her body, leaving her strangely restless.
’What is wrong with me lately? This is getting weird...’
Jeanne was beginning to feel genuinely embarrassed.
"Ahem!"
A loud cough suddenly rang through the room, startling both of them.
They turned around.
Another Kiriya was lying on a lounge chair, staring at the pair with the expression of someone who had just spotted his sworn class enemy.
No.
More accurately, he was glaring at Kiriya.
"Two Kiriya-kuns?"
Jeanne looked from the Kiriya beside her to the one lying across the room, thoroughly confused.
"You came."
The Kiriya on the lounge chair spoke first.
"Yeah. I came."
"You shouldn’t have come."
The Wood Clone practically ground the words through his teeth, his gaze locked firmly onto the original Kiriya’s arm around Jeanne’s waist.
If looks could produce heat vision, that arm would already have been reduced to charcoal.
He had spent all this time trapped in a castle full of calculating magi and emotionless homunculi while Astolfo assaulted his ears at every opportunity.
Life had been miserable.
Meanwhile, the original body had apparently been out on a date with a beautiful girl, holding hands, touching her waist, and perhaps enjoying even more exciting developments.
The difference between them was practically heaven and hell! Jealousy was truly an ugly thing.
"But I’m already here."
Kiriya treated his clone’s murderous stare as nothing worth worrying about.
In fact, the arm around Jeanne’s waist tightened ever so slightly.
He was outstanding.
Of course other people would be jealous, it was completely understandable.
BOOM!
Kiriya thought he heard an explosion somewhere outside.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
He calmly removed his hand from Jeanne’s waist, cleared his throat, and immediately deployed his tried-and-tested method of changing the subject.
"Wow, it sounds pretty noisy outside."
"Did something happen?"
The Wood Clone’s expression twisted.
’Who the hell knows? Probably your idiot Rider causing another disaster.’
He was just about to say exactly that when his eyes shifted and a smile suddenly appeared.
"Actually, tonight has been pretty eventful."
"Want to know what happened?"
The original Kiriya immediately looked interested.
"Go on."
The clone wasted no time.
He walked over, extended a fist, and bumped it against Kiriya’s.
The next instant, his body reverted into a piece of wood and disappeared.
His chakra returned to the original along with all of his memories.
Kiriya immediately understood why the clone had looked so irritable.
Astolfo was simply too much.
The guy had the temperament of an overexcited husky.
His curiosity was limitless, and he spent practically the entire day wandering through the castle in every direction, proudly calling it his "great adventure."
If that had been all, Kiriya could simply have ignored him.
Unfortunately, Astolfo was also incapable of shutting up.
Every time he discovered something even mildly interesting, he would rush over and launch an endless barrage of questions directly into Kiriya’s ears.
The constant chatter had made his clone’s temples throb.
Several times, the clone had restrained Astolfo with Wood Release, wrapped him up like a cocoon, and even sealed his mouth in hopes of getting a little peace.
Somehow, Astolfo always found a way to escape.
Eventually, the clone’s patience completely ran out.
Ignoring Astolfo’s pitiful puppy-eyed expression, he delivered a firm knuckle sandwich straight to the top of Rider’s head and finally subdued him.
Only then did the castle become peaceful again.
And that had been after just one night.
If this continued, heaven only knew what kind of disaster Astolfo would create next.
So the clone’s foul mood was entirely understandable.
Now that something was happening outside, Kiriya instinctively reached the exact same conclusion.
"No need to guess."
"It has to be Astolfo."
Jeanne suddenly activated her perception.
Her expression changed.
"Saber of Black’s presence..."
She looked toward the distance.
"It’s fading?"
Kiriya froze.
He expanded his own senses and immediately confirmed it.
There was no longer any time to complain about Astolfo.
Kiriya grabbed Jeanne’s hand, jumped through the window, and raced toward the forest beside the estate.
...
"I’m telling you, that was Saber’s own decision!"
Astolfo waved both arms frantically as he argued.
"It was what he wanted!"
"That boy was only the one who received it!"
He spread his arms protectively in front of the weak homunculus boy behind him.
"You can’t blame him for losing Saber!"
The atmosphere was unbearably tense.
Vlad III, Darnic, Roche, Caster, Celenike, and several others had gathered around them, their expressions varying between anger, frustration, and disbelief.
They had all known that Rider had been wandering around the castle for the past couple of days.
Considering Astolfo’s personality—and, more importantly, the fact that Kiriya was now his Master—they had simply pretended not to notice.
None of them had expected Rider to quietly cause such an enormous disaster.
First, the previous night, he had secretly stolen away one of the homunculi being used as a magical-energy battery and hidden him.
Then tonight, he had deliberately caused an explosion to create confusion and tried to use the distraction to smuggle that homunculus out of the castle.
Had the Masters and Servants not remained alert, Astolfo might actually have succeeded.
"And you still have the nerve to say that, Rider?"
Celenike’s expression was dark.
"You’re a Servant, yet you stole property belonging to the family that summoned your faction, then caused an explosion that damaged our castle."
Her eyes narrowed.
"What gives you the right to lecture us?"
"Well..."
Astolfo fidgeted awkwardly, his face turning red.
"I know I did something wrong."
"I’ll take responsibility for whatever punishment comes from that."
Then his expression became firm.
"But this boy... please let him go."
"Impossible."
Darnic’s voice was ice-cold.
"He is a homunculus created by Yggdmillennia."
"His life has belonged to this family from the moment he was produced."
"What we choose to do with him is an internal matter of Yggdmillennia."
"You have no authority to interfere."
"Hey, you can’t say that!"
Astolfo pointed toward the homunculus boy.
"He has his own thoughts!"
"His own wishes!"
"He’s alive!"
"He isn’t some doll you can use however you want!"
"Enough childishness, Rider." Caster finally spoke.
His gaze settled upon the homunculus boy with unmistakable intensity.
"Do you understand what a homunculus possessing an independent will represents?"
His eyes burned with excitement.
"An ideal core for my Golem Keter Malkuth: Royal Crown, the Light of Wisdom."
The homunculus boy instinctively shrank back.
Caster continued,
"Our faction has already lost Saber, one of our greatest assets."
"Do you also intend to make us abandon another potential trump card?"
At those words, Vlad III finally lifted his head.
His gaze moved between Astolfo and the homunculus boy, carrying a heavy emotion that was difficult to read.
There were many things the former ruler of Romania could disregard.
Victory in this Holy Grail War was not one of them.
The outcome concerned the land beneath his feet.
His homeland.
His people.
For that reason, he could not simply allow a valuable advantage like this homunculus to be thrown away.
Seeing Vlad’s expression, Celenike’s lips curved into a vicious smile.
At last.
That infuriating Rider had finally handed her something she could use against him.
Let’s see him escape this one.
"Ugh..."
Astolfo’s face scrunched up as he realized that everyone opposite him was united.
He glanced back at the weak, confused homunculus boy.
Then he gritted his teeth and raised his spear.
He would not compromise.
His sanity might evaporate on a daily basis, but there was one thing Astolfo had never abandoned.
His sense of justice.
"On the honor of the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne..."
Astolfo planted himself firmly between them and the boy.
"I won’t let you hurt him!"
"..."
The Masters and Servants stared at him as though he had completely lost his mind.
What the hell was wrong with this guy?
They were supposed to be on the same side.
Why did Rider seem determined to sabotage his own faction at every possible opportunity?
They had originally been reluctant to make things too ugly out of consideration for Kiriya.
But Astolfo was apparently determined to run headfirst into a wall no matter how many times they warned him.
At that point, they could hardly be blamed for getting rough.
Besides, Kiriya did not exactly seem particularly attached to Rider anyway.
"A disobedient child needs proper discipline."
Celenike smiled like a demon.
"Wouldn’t you agree, Darnic?"
"One who refuses orders must be punished."
Vlad III had also exhausted his patience.
"Then do it."
Caster’s only concern lay elsewhere.
"Just don’t damage my material."
Astolfo tightened his grip on his spear, preparing to fight them all if necessary.
But before anyone could move—
A relaxed voice came from behind the group.
"Yo."
"What exactly are you planning to do to my Servant?"