Tomoe woke up on the bed.
As she opened her eyes, she saw a brownish-yellow ceiling.
"Where… am I…?"
"You're awake, Miss Tomoe?"
A somewhat familiar voice reached her ears.
Tomoe turned slightly and saw Merry, dressed in a white robe, sitting beside her, smiling as she looked at her.
"Merry-dono, what is this place?"
"The bedroom on the second floor of the Chaldea Embassy in Uruk. Since the medical ward was extremely short on space, I brought you here. Besides, standard medical treatment doesn't work on Servants, so after bandaging you briefly, I brought you here to heal you with Healing Magecraft. Does your abdomen still hurt?"
Abdomen?
Tomoe touched her stomach. Memories of what happened earlier slowly came back.
(Right, I was injured while fighting the Demon Beasts… No, I should say I was injured because of my hesitation.)
At that moment, when Ushiwakamaru and the others promptly followed Naoki's order to retreat, Tomoe was the only Servant who hesitated.
She was deeply conflicted about whether to retreat or not.
The reason for her hesitation was twofold. On one hand, it was the Oni blood within her. After fighting on the battlefield for so long, the Oni blood, stimulated by the blood and ferocity of the Demon Beasts, greatly affected her sanity. This was an issue that had plagued her since she was alive.
And on the other hand—
"I… survived in the end?"
Unlike the relief and joy of surviving a disaster, Tomoe's tone carried a hint of sorrow, regret, and shame.
As if she hadn't expected to survive so easily.
Merry raised an eyebrow: "Gozen… may I call you that?"
"Ah… yes, that's fine."
It was a name Tomoe somewhat missed.
Merry cleared her throat: "So, Gozen, are you thinking it would've been better if you had died?"
"A little."
Tomoe explained: "I'm just a Servant, a temporary wanderer in the human world, destined to quietly vanish from it one day."
This was also why Tomoe hesitated about retreating. Besides retreating, she had considered sacrificing herself, blowing herself up along with a large number of Demon Beasts to go to hell together.
After all, she was just a Servant. No one would care about her life or death. Likewise, she herself didn't care.
"Hmm… then it seems I shouldn't have saved you." Merry sighed resignedly. "Although it was an order from the King, if Gozen feels that way, I didn't really need to use Healing Magecraft and Dream Illusion on you. I could've just left you here half-dead to fend for yourself."
Wasteful—Merry's expression seemed to convey that sentiment.
Tomoe's face immediately showed deep guilt: "I'm truly sorry for troubling you, Merry-dono, for someone like me."
"Then, want to commit seppuku?" Merry asked with a smile. "I've watched Japanese period dramas. It seems samurai and warriors in them would perform seppuku if they felt guilty. You know about it, right, Gozen? After all, you're Japanese."
"Also, shall I help you with kaishaku? Seppuku alone seems like a very painful way to die. I can assist with kaishaku to make your death quicker, you know."
As she spoke, Merry swung her staff, conjuring a light sword resembling the Holy Star Sword in her hand, looking quite enthusiastic.
"..."
Tomoe, whose thoughts couldn't quite keep up with Merry, fell silent for a moment, completely unsure how to respond.
After playing with the light sword in her hand, Merry quickly dismissed it: "Well~~~ Just kidding a bit. If you died, I'd be in a bit of trouble too. After all, the King gave me an absolute order to save you. If he came back and found you gone, he'd probably hang me from the ceiling and whip me a hundred times."
"By the way, please don't ever tell him what I just said."
"Ha… ah…"
Tomoe nodded stiffly. Honestly, she had no idea what Merry was trying to convey. One moment, Merry seemed deadly serious about helping her with kaishaku for seppuku, but the next, she said it was just a joke, with no trace of pretense in her eyes or tone.
Could it really have been just a joke?
(No, no, I was serious.)
Seeing Tomoe's confused expression, Merry smiled gently: "By the way, Gozen, what are you going to do next?"
"Go back to the Demon Beast Front Line and keep fighting the Demon Beast invasion."
Having been saved, Tomoe had no intention of wasting others' kindness.
"Then continue with your idea of sacrificing yourself, dying alongside the Demon Beasts just like that?"
"..."
Right on target.
Even though she had been saved, Tomoe's mindset hadn't changed. If she were allowed to return to the Northern Wall and faced another critical situation, she would surely consider blowing herself up to solve the problem again.
Merry suddenly felt that Tomoe might have some similarities with Hinako.
However—
"If you're like that, we're the ones who'll be troubled." Merry's face darkened slightly. "Gozen, you might feel that life or death doesn't matter, but the problem is our King hates seeing anyone die in front of him. If you try to blow yourself up, he'll probably slap you unconscious or kick your butt to cancel your self-destruct countdown."
"Uh!"
Tomoe instinctively covered her backside: "W-Would… would Natsukawa-sama really do something like that?"
Merry shook her head very seriously: "Oh, he would, you know. Though he seems like a guy adored by many girls and admired wherever he goes, he's actually a cold-blooded man who doesn't hold back when dealing with women."
"Eh?"
"I was once tied up like a silkworm and hung from a ceiling fan for a whole day and night. Also, recently, the moment we met, he punched me into the ceiling. See that hole over there? That's from when I crashed into it, you know."
As she spoke, Merry pointed to a hole in the corner not far away—it was the mark from when Naoki punched her into the ceiling upon arriving, still unpatched.
"Besides that, things like kicking Aoko dozens of meters away, punching a sweet, beautiful girl with his fist, setting traps to ensnare foreign women… and more."
As Merry listed Naoki's "noble deeds" one by one, Tomoe's face grew paler.
"On top of that, he's the type who can't stand seeing comrades die in front of him. So, if you try to blow yourself up, Gozen, the King will probably zoom in at lightspeed, kick your butt, and literally save you—after which, I'd probably have to work overtime to treat you."
"You don't want your butt kicked, do you?"
Tomoe, thoroughly stunned by Merry, nodded slightly.
Merry smiled: "Then, to avoid getting your butt kicked, don't ever think about blowing yourself up again. Find a purpose for yourself and live well—think of it as enjoying a hard-earned second life."
"A purpose… even if you say that, I… can't just…"
"[To avoid getting your butt kicked!]—Isn't that a great purpose! We girls have to protect ourselves when we're out and about!" Merry clenched her fist and swung it. "But, if we're talking about a truly serious purpose… [Live for Naoki], how about that?"
"Eh?"
Tomoe froze for a moment.
Live for Natsukawa-sama?
"This… although it's something from when I was alive, I've already dedicated myself to serving Minamoto no Yoshinaka-dono. Serving two masters…"
"I'm not asking you to betray your former master." Merry explained with a smile. "Just for this manifestation. It should be called [repaying a debt]. Though I'm the one who saved you, if it weren't for Naoki's order, I wouldn't have done it."
"Think of it as repaying Naoki's kindness for deciding to save you. For this manifestation only, fight for Naoki—how about that? It's a normal thing in Japan, right? Following someone to repay a debt for being saved."
Indeed, Tomoe, being from Japan, was well aware of this. It was quite common in various eras.
After thinking in silence for a long time, Tomoe took a deep breath: "I understand, Merry-dono. Since Natsukawa-sama ordered you to save my life, for this manifestation only, I'm willing to fight for Natsukawa-sama."
"No, no, not [fight]." Merry crossed her arms. "It's [live]. You need to pay attention to this."
"Yes, I understand."
"Mm-hmm, excellent!"
As she said that, Merry gently snapped her fingers.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Tomoe slowly woke up from the bed.
As she opened her eyes, she saw a brownish-yellow ceiling.
"I… this is…"
"You're awake, Gozen?"
A somewhat familiar voice reached her ears.
Tomoe turned slightly and saw Merry, dressed in a white robe, sitting beside her, smiling as she looked at her.
"Welcome back, Gozen."
"Did you have a sweet dream?"