"Eh?"
Miku was startled by Roy's sudden loud voice, trembling as she looked at him.
"D-Disappear? I don't really understand... Miss Okita is still sleeping in my room now..."
Still sleeping in your room?
Roy instinctively found that impossible.
Because the Holy Grail War had already ended!
The Greater Grail had disappeared from the real world, now being purified in the imaginary space deep inside his soul, held by Tiamat!
Miss Okita had neither a physical vessel nor a large source of magical energy. How could she still remain in this world?
No, in fact, theoretically, her soul should have already been taken by the Greater Grail on the night of the final battle!
"Take me to see her!"
"Ah, yes!"
Miku hurried ahead, leading Roy to her room.
Inside.
On a modest single bed lay a girl who looked no older than fifteen. Though young in appearance, her features were delicate and flawless—too beautiful to be mortal.
Especially now, she wasn't even breathing, which made her seem even less human.
That's right.
Roy approached to check. It was definitely Okita Souji—the very one he had personally brought back, who had fallen unconscious after transforming into the Okita Souji Alter, thus never appearing in the final battle.
More importantly, Roy realized she wasn't just unconscious—she wasn't breathing at all. Her chest showed no rise or fall; there was no sign of breath at her nostrils.
If not for her body still having a normal human warmth, Roy would have thought she was a corpse.
Though Servants themselves were basically no different from corpses.
"Has she been sleeping here the whole time?"
"Yes..."
"Has she breathed at all?"
"No."
Miku shook her head very firmly.
For these days, she had shared a bed with Okita. She had personally touched—no, tested—Okita, confirming she hadn't breathed a single time since that night.
This state was less like unconsciousness and more like time had been stopped for her.
"Hm?"
Suddenly Roy noticed something.
Underneath Okita's hair was a small piece of paper.
Roy raised his eyebrows in surprise and took out the slip.
"Why is there a note?"
Miku looked utterly confused.
She was certain there hadn't been any note under Okita's hair before!
Roy looked at the small characters on the paper.
"Newbie Reward."
"..."
Roy fell silent.
He recalled.
When he was at Outside of the World before, the Root had said it had given him compensation—and also a newbie reward.
So that was it.
The compensation was Tiamat, and the reward was Miss Okita?
No offense.
Wasn't that a bit too much credit for Okita?
Though Roy was Okita's Master, he had to admit she was a bit of a rookie.
Even with Roy strengthening her, she barely reached the threshold of a first-rate Servant—and that was just her melee capability. Her Noble Phantasm was nowhere near Red Archer's level.
More importantly, she didn't even have a single magical cannon.
"No, wait—that might actually be an advantage!"
Roy suddenly realized this and fell into thought.
Miku quietly stayed by his side, not daring to disturb him.
After all, since the Root had given him Okita, it must be to bring her along when venturing into other worlds.
If that's the case, having a magical cannon would actually be a hassle. Or rather, all Servants who rely heavily on magical combat would be trouble, because their use of mana could attract the attention of the World Consciousness.
The World Consciousness might not always react harshly, but being noticed by it was definitely not good.
Okita?
She was weak.
But surprisingly, she hardly depended on magical combat.
Almost all her strength was in melee—whether it was her natural mastery of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, Sakuchi, her Mind's Eye, even her Noble Phantasm Lightless, Three Stage Thrust and her haori, they barely consumed mana.
Her Flag of Sincerity, which could call to people, probably wouldn't work in other worlds.
As her Master, Roy basically only needed to supply mana to sustain her existence.
A type who didn't rely on magical combat was definitely suitable to assist him.
Though making her adapt to the rules wouldn't be difficult... but was Okita even still alive now?
Was her soul still in that body?
Roy couldn't sense it.
Their connection had already broken at the end of the Holy Grail War, so he had no idea her body hadn't dissipated.
"Having no soul might not be so bad."
Roy suddenly became thoughtful.
He started preparing a kind of ritual magecraft centered on Okita.
Familiar magecraft.
Okita, without consciousness, was basically dead—a perfect candidate to become a familiar.
Make Okita a familiar, and when there's trouble, Okita goes out, while Roy remains safely in the back. His survivability instantly increases greatly!
Maybe that's what the Root meant when it left Okita to him.
As the only pioneer, the most important thing when exploring new worlds wasn't running wild in different worlds or adapting and investigating their rules—but preserving himself and surviving as much as possible.
As long as he was alive, there would be countless chances to grow stronger.
Roy maintained the familiar magic while opening the imaginary number pocket, pulling out a golden, shining Holy Grail.
It was a lesser grail, made by Irisviel ten years ago, taken from Saber Alter. During the final battle, the eight souls inside escaped, opening a passage to outside the world. The Holy Grail itself was then retrieved by Roy—a good item that must not be lost.
Roy took out the lesser grail and placed it inside Okita's body.
That way, even if they left the Type-Moon world, Okita could rely on the Grail's mana to sustain herself, without extra mana consumption from Roy.
Soon the familiar magecraft was complete.
The moment it was done, Roy felt two lines formed between him and Okita: a contract line and a mana line.
This contract was undoubtedly unequal—precisely a complete Master-Servant contract.
Roy was the Master, Okita the Servant.
After all, Okita was like a corpse and had no room to resist.
In fact, usually a Servant must be killed to become a familiar under such a contract.
At the moment the contract was completed, Roy suddenly felt a headache.
A massive flood of information poured from Okita through the contract line into Roy.
The information was enormous—far more than what should have been transferred by the contract.
And it wasn't power.
It was memory.
Memories of Okita's entire swordsmanship training from childhood.
***
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