"L-Like this?"
"Yep. Just hold it like that, pierce the food, and eat."
During dinner, I was teaching Asterios how to use utensils. He had never used them in his life, having lived only in the Labyrinth, so it must have felt unfamiliar.
I showed him the simple way to use a fork. It didn't seem too difficult for him, but he still looked awkward.
"He may be a great hero with a physique rivaling the Flying General, but he's a child at heart. It's a bit of a predicament. Of course, as long as it doesn't interfere with his combat abilities, I suppose there's no issue."
"Hmm, hearing Lord Asterios's story, as a fellow Greek king, I feel a great sense of pity. There are no words to describe the foolishness of King Minos."
"I agree. I can only imagine what his own parents must have felt. It's truly a tragedy."
"That's humans for you. Kouhai, get me another yakisoba bread."
"Okay~"
Yu Miaoyi, using her 'senpai' status to boss around her 'kouhai'. Well, if anything, it was reassuring to see the Yu Miaoyi I knew, so I was fine with it.
I went to the kitchen and keyed in the order for yakisoba bread on the machine. Just then, Ritsuka walked in.
"You look happy."
"Ahaha, do I? Well, it's a positive change, isn't it? Chaldea is livelier now, and we have more good people. It finally feels like a place where people actually live. I was a little worried before, about whether we'd be able to summon any normal people. But it seems to have worked out well."
If things continued like this, I could let go of some of my worries. Just seeing everyone gathered in the cafeteria made me feel good.
Yes, this was the kind of Chaldea I wanted. Not that pigsty reeking of depravity.
"What about you, Ritsuka? How do you like this Chaldea?"
"I don't know. If you like it, Sho, then I like it too."
"I was asking for your opinion, you know? It's not uncomfortable for you, is it?"
"It's not uncomfortable. It's just... so this is another way things can be."
Ritsuka glanced towards the cafeteria with a somewhat distant gaze. Was he perhaps bothered by the story I told him about the time before my regression?
"That's not going to happen. The worst-case future I told you about... it won't happen a second time. I'll make sure of it."
"... That's... reassuring."
Ritsuka gave a faint smile. It looked as if he was forcing himself to. He must be anxious inside. Worried. I smiled and gently stroked his head.
"I'll protect you. I promised, after all."
That kind of future will never happen again. I won't let Ritsuka go through that a second time.
At that, Ritsuka smiled brightly.
*Chu*
Suddenly, Ritsuka kissed me on the lips.
"I like this side of you, Sho. I mean it."
After saying that, Ritsuka quickly ran out.
"…I really hope that wasn't a serious confession."
I want Ritsuka to date a much better man than me. Then again, is that too much to ask for in this world? It's complicated. I sincerely hope he hasn't actually fallen for me.
Was there anything about me to fall for in the first place? Ritsuka's mind is hard to read.
"For now, I'll just focus on becoming a dependable adult Ritsuka can rely on."
Seeing him like that, I can't afford to show a pathetic side of myself, can I?
=========================================
The next morning.
The day to depart for the French Singularity had arrived.
Everyone had finished their preparations for the trip.
"This is tight."
Sho seemed uncomfortable in the Chaldea combat uniform. It was a tight-fitting outfit that revealed his entire physique. While Ritsuka and Mash reacted as if they were used to it, Sho still couldn't understand the design of this suit.
"Is everyone ready?"
"Yes. We even packed lunches."
"That's not exactly the most important thing, you know."
"But Director, you helped prepare them too, didn't you?"
"That has nothing to do with this!"
We had also made lunches to eat in the Singularity. A handmade lunch box prepared by Ritsuka, Mash, and Olga Marie together. Ritsuka nudged it towards Sho and whispered.
"Excited to taste something made by the hands of beautiful girls?"
"I'm more curious about which menu item was made with 'special care'."
"Don't be curious about that! Anyway, is everyone ready?"
The members heading to the Singularity were the Servants, Sho, Ritsuka, and Mash.
Since Chaldea's situation had changed, Director Olga Marie decided to remain at Chaldea and fulfill her role as an operator.
Also present was BB.
And.
"Looks like everyone is properly prepared. I'm sure the results will be just as good!"
Leonardo da Vinci.
Also known as Gran Cavallo. She was a replica body created by the original Da Vinci before his fall to Ryuji, made as a contingency for an unforeseen event.
A replica with a physical body like a homunculus, she was an artificial Servant who inherited Da Vinci's personality, memories, and abilities. Normally, she would have never awakened, but BB made it possible.
"Go and give my worthless other self a proper scolding for me!"
"He'll be summarily dismissed."
"Fufufu, I look forward to it."
Da Vinci held great dissatisfaction and regret for the behavior of her other self, and she asked us to defeat the original Da Vinci. Sho gave a thumbs-up, promising along with Chen Gong to carry out the elimination.
Sho, Ritsuka, and Mash entered their Rayshift coffins.
Soon, the coffins filled with solution, completing the Rayshift preparations.
"Rayshift, commencing."
With BB's words, they Rayshifted to the French Singularity.
Sho closed his eyes and felt a sense of floating, followed shortly by the sensation of wind on his skin.
"Is this... France?"
When he opened his eyes, a green field stretched out before him. How long had it been since he'd seen a blue sky and green earth? Sho immediately looked up.
In the sky, just as he had expected, was a giant ring.
Sho was conflicted, unsure whether to be relieved that it was there or troubled by its very existence.
[Ah, has everyone arrived safely? My apologies to all of you who just got here, but we have hostile signatures approaching from a distance. It's a swarm of Wyverns and the living dead.]
Hostiles were approaching the moment they arrived. Realizing there was no time to relax, Sho immediately prepared for battle.
At that same moment.
In the French city of Bordeaux.
The city had been occupied by certain individuals.
It was a city where all the men had either been killed or driven out. The elderly were gone as well.
All that remained in the city were young women and children.
"Rayshift signature detected. I think it's from Chaldea."
A woman with heavy makeup sat with her legs crossed alluringly. It was Da Vinci, dressed in lewd attire consisting only of lingerie.
At her words, Ryuji, who was in the middle of raping the village women, flashed a sordid grin.
"Oh? They're a little early. I haven't even taken the next town over yet."
Tattoos resembling lewd crests were carved on the lower abdomens of the women he was violating, and they, as if already corrupted by him, were willingly sucking and licking his member clean.
"Distance?"
"They're on the complete opposite side, so it's very far."
"Tch. And Atalante?"
"She's playing with the children right now~"
"Honestly, what a pedo bitch."
Atalante, the first to fall to Ryuji in France, had her pure love for children twisted and distorted, turning her into a woman who lusted after them sexually.
In one of the city's houses, she was indulging in a decadent life, raping children regardless of whether they were boys or girls.
"Let her have her fun. The kids need someone to educate them, don't they?"
Ryuji used the children as slaves, offering them up as prey for Atalante.
Instead of Atalante, he called for another Servant.
"You do it. The living dead, was it? We have those soldiers made from the men we killed here. Take them and give our guests a little taste of what's to come."
"Yes, I understand, Master. Everything will be done according to my Lord's will."
The Saint of the Waterside, Martha.
Once a devout saint who had met the Savior himself, she had been corrupted by the man named Ryuji.
Her piousness had been defiled, and she now revered and followed Ryuji, daring to call him a reincarnation of the Savior, an incarnation of the Lord.
She had fallen so far that it was impossible to recall her former appearance as a holy saint. Smiling, she commanded the corpse soldiers made from the men she had killed and set off to find Chaldea as Ryuji had ordered.