Artoria sat at the entrance of a dessert shop located in an alleyway, far removed from the bustling downtown area. In front of her were exquisite desserts and beverages radiating a cool chill. The small cake featured strawberries, with mango pieces interspersed within the cream, emitting a fragrance unique to milk.
Since this dessert shop focused on creativity, there were many mint-lemon ice chips atop the uppermost layer of cream and within the filling. It had to be said that taking a bite of such a cake in the summer allowed one to enjoy a refreshing coolness while savoring the sweetness of the dessert.
The apple sparkling water to the side also contained fruit pulp and a touch of alcohol. While this gave it more flavor, it also made it more suitable for adults. That faint taste of alcohol made Artoria feel somewhat relaxed and intoxicated.
A white dress paired with some European-style lace designs added a touch of nobility to the otherwise plain dress. At the same time, the sun hat on her head carried a hint of seaside scenery styling. Paired with her exquisite foreign features and the golden long hair cascading behind her, Artoria, sitting in the not-so-lively outdoor area of the dessert shop, became a scenic view herself.
This shop was quite unique. On one hand, it was not established in the downtown area; on the other hand, it was quite expensive due to its focus on specialty products. Also, to emphasize the outdoor dining experience in summer or winter, special air conditioners were installed in the custom-made pavilions, blowing cool air in summer and warm air in winter. From this perspective, it looked like a shop opened by a rich second-generation heir out of interest.
It should be known that to date, this dessert shop's monthly revenue has been in the red. However, none of this concerned Artoria. She was merely a "gourmet" here to simply enjoy the food.
"What a wonderful era. Compared to Sir Gawain's mashed potatoes, this is truly an indescribably delicious treat..."
Speaking of which, she seemed to have tasted the mashed potatoes of this era as well. Did potatoes become delicious after 1,500 years, or was her own knight's craftsmanship simply too poor? No... I shouldn't blame Sir Gawain.After all, Gawain must have brought the best available food to me back then.
One could imagine that the ones who should truly weep over the food of that time were the remaining Knights of the Round Table. Or perhaps, if her past self had been willing to hire a chef in the castle, life would have been much improved.
However, at that time, educated by Merlin, she believed that the King and the subjects were in a certain opposition. The harder the life of the subjects, the better the King's life; conversely, if the King's life was difficult, the subjects' lives would surely be happy, right? It was precisely because of this that the entire castle of Britain was in a state that appeared magnificent but was essentially barren.
The massive white castle did not use expensive magical beast skins to cover the interior to ensure the warmth of Camelot. Nor did the entire city of Camelot use any special gemstones.
Of course, even if she realized that some things in the past were mistakes to a certain extent, she was merely a necessary sacrifice of that era. After seeing some records of this era and discovering the yield of potatoes, Artoria wore an expression like the "old man looking at a phone in the subway" meme. How should I put it?If Britain couldn't be saved even with such high-yield food.... then Heaven truly wanted to destroy me.
However, those distant matters had already passed. Now, with no battles to fight, she should just properly experience the cuisine of this era. But after a short while, Artoria looked up in a certain direction. There stood a girl wearing a cloak, and the girl's condition did not seem very good.
Gray didn't know why she chose to come here either. Clearly, her physical condition was destined to deteriorate faster when approaching King Arthur. But inexplicably, after sensing a reasonably familiar aura, she chose to proceed in this direction.
Although daytime was a time for the magi to call a truce, this did not mean her teacher, Lord El-Melloi II, and the supervisor of this Holy Grail War, Caren, could relax. They needed to re-edit the previously filmed videos. In addition to commentary, they had to discuss opening some prediction-related events to earn more money.
After all, since they had decided to make money, they naturally had to make a fortune. Both of them could be considered people in need of money. Moreover, whether it was the Church or the Clock Tower, both seemed to want to commercialize this Holy Grail War to allow it to continue developing.
If that were the case, being in charge of the Holy Grail War would be a lucrative position. The El-Melloi family would not let this opportunity pass. If he performed well in this event, the next Holy Grail War might also be handed over to him to manage. Even if he were 80 years old by then, he could still be the general manager even if he couldn't go into battle personally.
Whether to gain more say in the Clock Tower or for the sake of his current students, Waver had to gradually align himself with the type of people he once detested. How should I put it?This could be considered the helplessness of being an adult. On the Church side, Caren's situation was similar, perhaps even more precarious.
Waver at least had the El-Melloi family backing him now. For Caren, her elders had truly passed away. If not for the fact that this territory had always belonged to her family, she would likely have been nothing more than an ordinary exorcist for the rest of her life. Now that she had the possibility of turning things around, she naturally had to do her best and silence all those who had reasons to trouble her.
Caren had not thought about the issue of her descendants or family. Right now, her priority was to ensure she could live more safely and live better. If she could use this opportunity to latch onto a powerful figure in the Church, that would be even better.
Under the premise of self-preservation, coupled with their somewhat shared experiences and the drive to make this Holy Grail War a success, the two, having crossed a certain age threshold, cooperated quite happily.
Furthermore, since the two of them were currently in the Church, this special safe zone, there was no need to worry too much. After all, there were surveillance cameras here. If any magus dared to attack this place... then they could wait to be hunted down by the entire magus world. Therefore, Gray was temporarily on leave. Originally, she should have rested well during the day, but Gray really wasn't in the mood to sleep.