"Hehe~ You say no, but you're just shy, aren't you? Artoria smelled good, didn't she? Didn't my king enjoy it last night~?"
Merry grinned wickedly, entirely unbothered by Arthur's emotional state.
Arthur's face flushed crimson in an instant.
"D-Don't… don't tarnish my innocence! I didn't… enjoy anything!"
To be honest, though… it had been quite enjoyable.
Unlike the voluptuous and aggressive Morgan, Arturia's shy fumbling created a completely different atmosphere—an innocence that could not be faked. The scent of lavender, the soft trembling, the nervous muttering... it was a new and dangerous temptation.
But Arthur's moral compass refused to bend. He had sworn not to cross that line.
Still, when facing Merry, he somehow felt even more ashamed.
His words faltered.
"…Tch."
"Well, well. No need to be so defensive, my king." Merry scratched her cheek with mock sincerity, then quickly shifted topics. "But I assume you didn't call me here just to discuss Arturia's educational progress, right? If there's anything troubling you, leave it to your beautiful big sister. Tasks, schemes, or even yourself—Big Sis will gladly take it all. I'm different from that loser Merlin! Even the parts of me you can't usually see are just as exquisite~ Like flowers in bloom~☆!"
She struck a seductive pose, her hands cradling her cheeks as she gazed up at him dreamily.
It was almost admirable—how consistent she was in her shamelessness.
Arthur, however, was not moved.
Tch. What a filthy woman.
He drew a long breath, purging the mental image Merry had so gleefully planted.
"I did call you here for something," he said, voice regaining its usual cold clarity. "It's about Rome—and about Heroic Spirits. Even in this era, they're too unfair. Ordinary people can't fight back."
His tone darkened.
"Merry. I want you to explain how Servants… and Heroic Spirits, actually exist."
In his past life, Arthur had only known the surface-level explanation from the Fate franchise. In the real Type-Moon system, however, the mechanics were layered, obscure, and rooted in complex magical theory—summoning permissions, affinity, causality, leyline density, spiritual cores, job class compatibility…
He needed a real answer.
"Oh? So you don't want Big Sis to tease you today? That's disappointing." Merry pouted, but her curiosity was piqued. "Hmph. Fine. Heroic Spirits, huh? In short, they're the souls of heroes—legends crystallized after death. If a god isn't worshipped, they'll fade away and cease to exist. But heroic spirits… they persist, not through divinity, but through memory."
"They are… constructs?" Arthur frowned.
"Mm. Constructs recorded by the world, shaped by legend and belief," Merry said more seriously now. "They're not 'alive,' but they aren't ghosts either. You could say they're a type of eternal data."
"…Could you make that less abstract?"
"Well," she rolled her eyes, "think of it this way: Heroic Spirits are information entities. They exist outside the timeline, which allows them to be summoned in any era. But they themselves never leave the Throne of Heroes. What people summon are Servants—copies of the original, instantiated through magical contracts."
"Skip to that part, then," Arthur said, massaging his temples. "Talk about Servants."
He understood the theory well enough—but lacked the magical vocabulary to parse the finer mechanisms. He had no circuits, no access to the Root, and he couldn't perform even basic magecraft. His knowledge was intuitive at best.
"So impatient~ Outsiders are always like this."
"One more word and I'll have Manaka glue your mouth shut."
"Ahem! Then I'll be serious." Merry cleared her throat dramatically. "Servants are data projections—partial recreations of Heroic Spirits. They copy fragments of the Heroic Spirit's essence and load them into a vessel composed of a [Spirit Core] and a [Class Container]. That's what we call a Servant."
Arthur's brows furrowed slightly.
Her explanation was clearer than expected.
But one word kept repeating in his mind:
Information.
What does "information" mean in this context?
Memories? Skills? Combat techniques? Personality? Or the soul itself?
From what he understood, the Servant's presence in the world was independent of the Heroic Spirit's "true self" in the Throne. There was no direct interference between the two. The connection was like a wireless signal—one-way.
If that's the case…
"Merry," Arthur said slowly, "can you… transfer a Servant's information into another person?"
Merry blinked.
"…That's an interesting idea," she said, licking her lips thoughtfully. "Technically… yes. But it's not simple. A normal human body would collapse under the load. You'd either need to possess an overwhelming will to suppress the data, or the Servant would have to voluntarily relinquish control."
"In that case, you could create a Sub-Servant," she added.
"No," Arthur shook his head firmly. "That's not what I want."
He knew the type: Mash Kyrielight, the Shielder. A fusion of human and Servant, but unstable. Powerful, yes, but not the full capacity of the Heroic Spirit—nor reliably controllable.
"I'm not looking for a hybrid," Arthur said. "I'm interested in something more fundamental. You said Servants are just information, detached from the soul. Then if that information is pure, shouldn't it be possible to rewrite it?"
Merry's eyes widened.
"Oh my~ My king, that's a terribly bold idea."
She laughed softly, but her tone held a tremor.
She knew what he meant.
He wasn't just trying to understand Servants—he was planning to edit them.
Intercept, modify, reprogram—like data in a terminal.
And she already knew who'd be asked to do it.
Ugh. This trouble is definitely coming back to bite me.
She discreetly glanced at the three blonde girls hiding behind a curtain.
One wore twin-tails and scowled like a kicked puppy.
Another had her arms crossed, face full of disgust.
The third silently observed, eyes sharp with calculation.
Merry shivered.
Maybe it was time to go on vacation.
"Normally, rewriting Servant data is impossible," she said. "But~! As the transcendent and mysterious Flower Magician, I can perform a rough equivalent. Still—what exactly are you planning?"
Arthur didn't answer directly.
Instead, he asked:
"Sword Emperor Lucius has only summoned one Servant so far, right? The others haven't appeared yet."
"Yes. Only the Lancer has been confirmed," Merry replied. "The other six are still unaccounted for."
"Then it's simple," Arthur said, rising from his throne. "When Lucius summons the rest, I want you to intercept their information at the moment of manifestation. Capture it. Bring it back."
Merry blinked. "Wait. Intercept it?!"
That was far more ambitious than she'd expected.
This wasn't just hacking into a summoning ritual.
It was snatching the very essence of a Heroic Spirit mid-transfer.
Madness.
And yet—
Subconsciously, Merry glanced toward the corner again. Three blonde heads peeked out.
She shivered violently.
"…Understood! Leave it to me! Big sister will make it happen~☆!"
-End Chapter-
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