Chapter 253
Kiriya took a moment to check the condition of his chakra reserves.
He still had roughly sixty to seventy percent left, with most of the earlier consumption having come from the Lightning Release: Super Rasengan Railgun he had fired at the Hanging Gardens.
His stamina was another matter.
He had burned through somewhere around half of it over the course of his consecutive battles, but thanks to the additional support provided by Sage Mode, his body had not suffered nearly as much lasting strain as it otherwise would have.
Given his current constitution, Kiriya estimated that he would recover from the exhaustion fairly quickly.
If there was one thing he had to admit, it was that the sage body he had obtained by cashing in his accumulated potential was ridiculously useful.
Both his health pool and his chakra reserves were enormous, and the recovery rate of each was equally outrageous.
Without that foundation supporting him, Kiriya would never have been confident enough to challenge top-tier Servants like Achilles and Karna one after another, especially when there was still Semiramis waiting ahead—a magus capable of reaching EX-rank levels of power while fighting inside the Hanging Gardens.
"Hm... better give myself a little insurance, just in case."
After thinking it over, Kiriya created another Shadow Clone and sent it away with the Flying Thunder God Technique to a safe location, where it immediately began gathering natural energy and refining senjutsu chakra.
The Queen of Assyria had far too many tricks up her sleeve to take lightly, and she was effectively a summoner on top of everything else.
If she suddenly pulled some enormous monster or other absurd trump card out of nowhere, Kiriya wanted enough reserves prepared to answer it properly.
Once that precaution was in place, he sensed the positions of Jeanne and Astolfo through the Flying Thunder God marks he had left with them, then disappeared from where he stood.
...
Elsewhere within the Hanging Gardens, Jeanne and the others had been stopped by an unfamiliar voice.
Their first assumption was naturally that another enemy had found them, and weapons had very nearly been drawn before the man hurriedly identified himself and prevented the situation from turning into a fight.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I’m the Master of Saber of Red in this Holy Grail War. My name is Kairi Sisigou."
The middle-aged man with three vicious scars running across his face raised both hands to show that he had no hostile intentions.
With his rough appearance and imposing build, the gesture did little to make him look less intimidating.
"Saber of Red?"
Astolfo immediately pointed at him.
"You mean that really scary armored girl? Then you’re obviously the enemy! She even fought Master earlier!"
Chiron and Jeanne remained considerably calmer, but both regarded Kairi warily.
"The Master of Saber of Red," Jeanne said. "What business do you have with us?"
"Relax. At the moment, we aren’t enemies."
Kairi gave them a bitter smile.
"We may technically belong to the same Red faction, but that priest and I were never on the same side to begin with. He tried to take my Command Spells as well, but fortunately I noticed something was wrong early enough that he never got the chance."
He glanced deeper into the Hanging Gardens.
"And now he’s taken possession of the Greater Grail itself. No matter how you look at it, that priest has become my biggest enemy too."
Kairi lowered his hands.
"So for the time being, our interests actually line up."
"Really?"
Astolfo hugged his lance protectively against his chest and narrowed his eyes with exaggerated suspicion.
"I don’t believe you. Not unless you bring that scary Saber over here and make her apologize."
"I’d love to bring her over."
The bitterness in Kairi’s expression deepened.
"Problem is, she can’t get out right now. She’s fighting Assassin of Red, and she’s been hit with some extremely nasty poison. At this rate, there’s a good chance she won’t make it."
His gaze shifted toward Jeanne.
"That’s why I came looking for you. Work with me, Ruler."
"You help me get Saber out of there alive, and in return, Saber will fight alongside you with everything she has."
"Ohhh..."
Astolfo suddenly gave Kairi a strange, knowing grin. He walked around the scarred mercenary, looked him up and down, then reached up and patted him on the shoulder.
"So that’s what this is about. You’re just a weird old guy worried sick about his daughter! Hahaha!"
Kairi’s face immediately reddened, and the cigarette hanging from his mouth dropped straight to the floor.
"Hey! Don’t say weird crap like that!"
He pointed accusingly at Astolfo.
"And what the hell is with that laugh? You know how creepy you sound?"
"Sure, sure."
Astolfo nodded several times, though the expression on his face made it obvious that he had taken none of the criticism seriously.
Jeanne and Chiron exchanged a glance.
Then both nodded.
"Very well."
With that, the two sides temporarily formed an alliance.
One question remained, however.
"You said Saber was poisoned," Jeanne said. "How exactly do you intend to save her?"
"I have a way. All you need to do is help me get inside."
Kairi had brought a powerful antitoxin made from a preserved sample of the Hydra.
Only two doses had ever been produced.
He had already used one on himself before entering the Hanging Gardens so that Semiramis’s poison would not incapacitate him the instant he stepped into her territory.
The second dose was being reserved specifically for Mordred.
He did not explain that part.
It was not that he distrusted the legendary Saint standing before him.
Rather, years of working as a mercenary had ingrained certain habits too deeply for him to abandon.
Keeping one or two cards hidden was simply instinct.
"In that case, there’s no problem."
Jeanne and Chiron raised no further objections and immediately began moving forward.
They had only taken a few steps when the air in front of them distorted.
A figure appeared without warning.
"Huh...?"
Astolfo blinked several times.
"Master!"
Once he confirmed that he was not hallucinating, his face lit up and he launched himself straight at Kiriya with a joyful shout.
Bonk!
Naturally, what greeted him was Kiriya’s merciless hand chop.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to throw yourself at me every time you see me?"
Kiriya looked down at the writhing Rider with an expression of complete exasperation.
Did this guy seriously have no idea what his own face looked like?
Combine that ridiculously pretty face with the habit of enthusiastically launching himself into Kiriya’s arms, and anyone watching from a distance could easily arrive at some extremely misleading conclusions about Kiriya’s preferences!
He was a perfectly healthy, red-blooded man.
His tastes ran toward beautiful girls—preferably sweet and adorable ones, though gentle, mature women or dangerously gorgeous older beauties were perfectly acceptable too.
What he did not want was a boy.
Even if that boy happened to be prettier than half the women he had ever met.
"Waaaaah!"
Astolfo rolled around on the floor clutching his head, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
Combined with his delicate features, the sight was pitiful enough that most people would probably have felt guilty.
Kiriya was not one of those people.
"Kiriya!"
Before he could say anything else, another figure suddenly rushed toward him.
Kiriya instinctively opened his arms and caught Jeanne against his chest.
The armor covering her chest was somewhat uncomfortable where it pressed against him, but beneath the cold metal he could still feel the unmistakable softness and warmth of the girl herself, while her familiar fragrance immediately reached him. For a brief instant, even Kiriya’s heart skipped.
"You’re all right..."
Jeanne’s voice trembled.
"I’m so glad you’re all right."
Her tears finally spilled over.
One after another, they soaked into the front of Kiriya’s clothes as she clung tightly to him.
During the collision between Kiriya and Karna’s final attacks, Jeanne had clearly sensed Kiriya’s life force burning away at an unprecedented rate.
For those few terrible moments, she had genuinely believed that he was sacrificing everything and that she would never see him alive again.
Now that Kiriya was standing here in front of her, warm, breathing, and unmistakably alive, the tension she had been forcing herself to suppress finally broke.
Relief overwhelmed her, and with it came an emotional reaction she could no longer hold back.
"I’m fine."
Kiriya’s voice softened immediately.
One hand came up and gently stroked Jeanne’s back.
"Sorry I made you worry."
"..."
Astolfo stopped rolling.
Still lying on the floor, he stared at the two of them with tears in his eyes and slowly realized that, compared with the treatment he had received five seconds earlier, this was outrageously unfair.
His face crumpled.
Then he started crying even louder.
This was blatant favoritism!
He was Kiriya’s Servant!
Shouldn’t he be the closest and most treasured companion here?!
Kairi crouched beside him and gave his shoulder a sympathetic pat.
"Give it time. It’ll get better."
Astolfo immediately looked up at him with renewed hope.
"You mean Master will eventually start treating me more gently?"
"No."
Kairi took a drag from a fresh cigarette, his answer devastatingly calm.
"I mean eventually you’ll get used to it."
Astolfo’s tears flowed even harder.
"Ahem."
Chiron finally cleared his throat.
"Although I am also very pleased to see that Kiriya-dono has returned safely... perhaps the reunion could be postponed for the moment?"
His expression remained perfectly polite.
"We are, after all, still in the middle of a war."
There would be plenty of time for hugging once they were off the battlefield.
Jeanne’s entire face immediately turned scarlet.
She hurriedly pushed herself away from Kiriya, her eyes darting anywhere except toward the people around her as embarrassment overtook the relief that had carried her into his arms.
"Y-Yes. Of course."
Kiriya, meanwhile, straightened his clothes and immediately adopted an expression of perfect seriousness, as though he had not been happily holding Jeanne only moments earlier.
"Chiron’s right. We should keep moving."
With that settled, the group immediately prepared to press deeper into the Hanging Gardens.