Spending peaceful days. Perception blocking was standard procedure.
"It's raining today."
"Yeah... Artoria, did your chest really have to grow that much?"
At my words, Artoria covered her chest and shouted.
"I didn't get big because I wanted to! Do you think I'm some creature that can control its growth? Even if I possess a dragon's heart, I am strictly human!"
"Okay, okay... But have you let go of your lingering regrets as a king?"
"Yes, I let go of those a long time ago. While the final ending wasn't good, I realized that the people were moving forward... And now, I am simply living as a girl."
"I see. Are you happy?"
"Hmm, I don't know about happy, but this feeling isn't bad either. I taught Shirou swordsmanship, and although Lancelot took over later, it seems like a decent life."
Hmm, Lancelot... the neutered Lancelot.
"By the way, if the Knights of the Round Table were to appear, would they recognize you?"
"Groan... They would recognize me if I showed my Noble Phantasm, but if I met them in this body, perhaps they might not? Sir Lancelot has aged quite a bit too, so I suppose he's quite different from how he used to be."
"Yeah... Come summer, I think we'll have to go to France."
At my words, Artoria expressed doubt.
"Why?"
"A Holy Grail..."
"Why are those damn Grails so common?"
"I don't know. Did every cup Jesus touched turn into a Holy Grail?"
Suddenly, a sun shower began to pour down.
"Ah, a sun shower... I hate this."
"Oh dear, we've gotten wet."
In a short moment, the rain poured down, soaking my shoes and pants.
Conversely, perhaps because of her large range, Artoria's chest was visibly wet.
And her pants... were partially wet too.
"Hmm, aren't you being too conscious of my chest?"
"Hmm... wait, this isn't a Caster route, is it?"
"What?"
"Ah, never mind."
Normally, Medea should have appeared, but now Tamamo-no-Mae had shown up.
Considering she could get a fame boost as a Heroic Spirit, she was good, but with only one or two of her nine tails, she belonged to the weaker side.
The rain and a bit of fog made it hard to see ahead, but as we went on our way... Casko (Tamamo) was lying on the ground, covered in blood.
"Wow? It's Tamamo..."
"Indeed. Huh? Tamamo? Why is a Servant here?"
"It looks like she killed her Master. Caster's Master seemed like the type who thought money solved everything and treated human lives as consumables. Plus, magecraft and witchcraft aren't exactly compatible categories, right? Seems she killed him?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but are you going to save her?"
Currently, Casko was on the verge of elimination.
There was a trace of a spear wound on her shoulder.
Considering the reversal of causality that ensures the heart is hit, Tamamo is a witch, a specialist in curses of a sort, so deflecting the blow from her heart would be simple for her.
"Whimper... Can I not even achieve my wish...? To think I'd be summoned by someone with a rotten soul from the start. By the way, who are you?"
"Hmm, it looks like you're fading away. Want to contract with me?"
"Are you a magus? Your soul is quite... dirty, isn't it? No, wait, its shape keeps changing?"
It seems having eyes that can see souls is treated as a violation of privacy too...
I think Goldie mentioned something about a being that rejects fate as well. It's been so long, I don't remember.
"I announce. Your self is under me, my fate is in your sword. In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer. Follow me and answer my question. Will you dedicate that fate to me or not!"
"On the name of Caster, Tamamo-no-Mae, I accept that vow. From now on, you are my Master! ♡Mikon!"
As the mana path connected, Tamamo immediately began to patch up her injuries with witchcraft.
"Hmph, I really didn't want to use this, but I have no choice."
And Tamamo turned into a fox.
"Akira, do you really intend to take her with us?"
"Huh? Well, it's not like I've been bewitched by a fox. I was actually debating between Medea and Tamamo during the 4th War but put it off. It's Tamamo with the fluffy fur, after all~"
At those words, Artoria held her head.
"Sigh, whatever Tiamat says to you, I won't be involved."
"Got it."
Well, she was injured, so it seemed best to ask Medea to heal her later.
『It's not that I want to change into a different form, but I did this to make it easier for you to carry me. Don't enjoy it too much.』
True, it's one of the abilities Tamamo hates, but I don't know why she used it despite her PTSD.
Well, dragging a human body would be too heavy, so being able to carry her with one arm was convenient.
"Artoria, shall we go?"
"Let's. The group keeps growing."
"Isn't it good that it's growing?"
"That's not what I mean. What are you going to do if a situation similar to Kiritsugu's arises in a different sense?"
"I won't end up like Kiritsugu~"
"Considering how the numbers are increasing, I don't trust you at all!"
Listening to Artoria's nagging, I hugged the fox-form Tamamo and headed to our home.
=========
"Lancer, what about Caster?"
"Tsk, she must have summoned a sun shower or something. We should consider Caster lost."
"Hmm... the money we received... we'll have to return it, right?"
"What's the point of returning it to a dead Master?"
"Groan... the mission failed, so keeping it feels a bit..."
"Master, shouldn't you do something about those trembling pupils before you speak? You don't look trustworthy at all."
"Lancer, isn't this because you didn't do your job properly?"
"Hah? I used my Noble Phantasm as a thrown spear, but Caster is the problem for having a mysterious ability to divert the reversal of causality to a different body part, Master!"
"Sigh, what should I do with this money..."
Lancer's Master was agonizing over whether to keep the money, thinking he hadn't fulfilled the request.
With the paltry salary given by the Clock Tower, securing funds directly had become a daily routine for Lancer's Master.
"Lastly, any traces of Caster?"
"Tsk, her strange ability made her a pain to track, but it seems she avoided elimination. It looks like another Master picked her up... For now, we'll have to watch and see."
At Lancer's words, the Master grabbed the back of his neck.
Wondering if he should trust this foolish man, and with a conscience unbefitting a magus, he stared at the check and agonized.
"By the way, I haven't heard news of Kirei dying in the 4th Holy Grail War, but his daughter has been registered as the Grail Supervisor... I don't know if I should be happy about this or not..."
The Master had actually met Kirei's daughter.
She gave him fear and shock upon their first meeting, an S-class girl who grasped his weaknesses and toyed with him, and he remembered her as having a sharp tongue.
"Kuh, to think I'd succumb to money..."
In the end, Caster's Master's request was essential for the Servant war, and he accepted the request in the process, but he had received the advance payment first.
For reference, he had been hit with a 90% commission fee in the process, but it was still a large sum.
The result was that Caster's Master died, Caster fled, and although Lancer pursued, he unexpectedly lost her because her witchcraft was a rare type, neither odd magecraft nor runes.
Since the path to her Master was severed, she was scheduled to be eliminated due to lack of mana, but the possibility that Caster luckily formed a contract with another Master was not zero.
"Phew, let's aim for the next opportunity, Lancer."
"Yeah, I'll definitely finish it this time."
===============
And so, we arrived at the mansion.
『What on earth is this... Who are you people?』
Tamamo spoke as if flustered by the overflowing mana of the building.
"A survivor of the 4th Holy Grail War, and shall we say, a Grail owner?"
『...That's insane. Isn't this place on the level of another world?』
Just then, Medea appeared.
"Akira, you're ba... You picked up a Heroic Spirit."
"Ah, this kid's name is Tamamo-no-Mae. She's a nine-tailed fox, but this is Tamamo with two tails."
"Hmm, a nine-tailed fox... that's interesting. Anyway, shall we treat her first?"
"Yeah, please."
Eventually, yelping and whining sounds were heard during Medea's treatment, but I ignored them.
Medea was so kind that even Tiamat was afraid of her, so I had no choice but to nod.
After the treatment was finished. Tamamo spoke in human form.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Tamamo-no-Mae. What is your name, Master? I heard it already, but consider this part of the introduction process. Mikon!"
"I'm Akira."
"Akira, no, Master? For now, you said you were a Holy Grail War survivor, right?"
"Yeah. And for now, Tamamo, don't turn into a human."
"Why? Is it because I'm a beauty?"
It was because of Tiamat's gaze behind Tamamo.
A beauty? That's fine. Artoria is a beauty too. Medea also belongs to the beauty category.
It's just that their chests and bodies are different, and now that I'm used to it, I don't get excited or have my heart pound.
Well, starting with Tiamat meant everyone was pretty, but seeing the jealousy and bloodshed of men before applying perception-blocking magic, rather than my heart pounding, I was just praying not to become a "Nice Boat." So, love was a structure that couldn't be realized for me.
"I plan to raise Tamamo as a fox, you see."
"Mikon? What is this? What is this atmosphere of picking me up like a stray cat and saying 'Butler, raise me'?"
Then Tamamo shouted in annoyance at the gaze she felt from behind.
"Could you stop staring at me with that annoying look from before...?"
And confronting the Divine Spirit in front of her, Tamamo froze.
It felt like she was being cursed, but let's move on.
"...To be cursed from the start... what on earth is this... Even for a living Divine Spirit, isn't this too much?"
"You see? Mama doesn't want Akira to be with a Beast."
Ah? Come to think of it, Tamamo also belonged to the Beasts. Koyan became a Beast, but one could guess that Amaterasu might also be a Beast, and her existence could be interpreted as a living Holy Grail.
Although 9 Tamamos were born as the 9 tails separated, all the Tamamos have never appeared at once.
There's the Rider Little Tamamo, the Assassin Tamamo Vitch Koyanskaya who loves humans too much, the Casko who wants love, and Summer Tamamo, but that's a total of 4.
Casko and Summer are unified as one, and the personality was centered on Casko, so I actually only knew 3 Tamamos.
In the end, Tiamat and Tamamo ended up in a staring contest, like D-Class personnel facing SCP-173 from the SCP Foundation game.
To be precise, she was just casting a curse that prevented movement in an infinite loop, but Tamamo didn't give in and resisted the curse, or so they say.
After that, until mealtime, Tamamo couldn't move and had to play the staring game against Tiamat.