"... I'm not sure whether to call it cruel or ingenious. I really don't know."
"Call it ingenious~"
Jeanne d'Arc was left speechless watching Dumpty pit Atalanta against her mirror match. An act that could only be called cruel, done as if it were nothing.
Atalanta Alter, resting her head on his lap as he sat on the sofa, had a languid expression. Dumpty used a brush to groom such Atalanta Alter's tail.
"You're quite attentive."
"This is about all I can do for everyone. Extraordinary Servants and a not-so-extraordinary Master. If what everyone desires is my affection, then I have no choice but to give affection."
"...."
Dumpty's face looked somewhat regretful. Watching him, Jeanne d'Arc seemed to be pondering a bit about how to evaluate the person named Dumpty. While convinced he wasn't an evil person, she also felt he wasn't a good person either.
"What's with that look."
"I was just lost in thought. Did something about my demeanor bother you?"
"... I just don't like it, that's all."
"Don't get angry~ Getting angry is bad for your skin, they say~"
"If Master says so..."
Atalanta, fundamentally having a disposition that doesn't match Jeanne d'Arc at all, holds a certain degree of hostility no matter how much time passes. Jeanne d'Arc misinterprets why she acts that way towards her, thinking it's just because she's wary of Dumpty.
"By the way, it seems the Mage's Association sent a few Masters. I guess it's the butterfly effect of me getting involved? Probably because they couldn't contact anyone except the Saber's Master."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"It's a secret for now. As long as you don't trust me, I can't tell you everything either."
"... I see."
"You know it too, right? Trust is hard to build. On the contrary, destroying it is easy~"
"That's right. We basically don't trust anyone our Master doesn't trust, even if they're family."
"That's not true... There might be those like that, but not everyone..."
"Is that so, my apologies."
Atalanta Alter's statement was mostly correct. Dumpty himself and Jeanne d'Arc also thought it would be mostly true.
After finishing grooming Atalanta's tail and head, he got up from his seat and stretched.
"Next is dinner out with Saber and the shorty~"
"Did you schedule it?"
"It's more convenient this way. Focusing on a few is better than focusing on many, so I can do it better. Just as leading a few is easier than leading many. Or not~"
Dumpty waved his hand and went outside. Atalanta Alter showed a disappointed reaction and immediately jumped into bed.
"The others said he is the entirety of their lives, is it the same for you? Miss Atalanta."
"Don't ask the obvious."
"First of all, the very fact we are here is all thanks to Master. And, if anyone hurts our precious Master, we are the ones who will crush them even if they are O.R.T. We are willing to throw away our lives for Master again and again."
"... I see."
"How about you come along as an observer tonight."
"Observer, you say?"
"Yes. Master will be going out tonight as well. Will you follow and watch then?"
"... I'll do it."
Jeanne d'Arc waited until evening like that, satisfactorily ate the meal Tamamo prepared, and followed Dumpty. The roof of a dark building. All she had to do was watch the town from there.
"That is... a Servant?"
A woman and a girl were walking on the deserted night street. Jeanne d'Arc immediately used True Name Discernment to confirm the girl's identity.
Soon, mages appeared before them.
The moment the girl tried to move, the mages were slaughtered in an instant.
"Huh...? That's strange."
"This is..."
The two were baffled by this, when a girl appeared, slaughtering the last remaining mage.
"As expected~ Dismembering is fun~"
"... Us?"
"Jack, two...?"
Jack the Ripper. Another Jack the Ripper had appeared, and Jack quickly moved, rushing towards the Black Assassin.
The surroundings became thick with fog, and the Black Assassin took out her knife while protecting her Master, Rikudou Reika.
Clang!!! Clangclangclangclangclangclangclangclang!!!
"Fa, fast! It's us, but so much faster than us!"
Jack, freely traversing the fog at an incredible speed while attacking. The Black Assassin was bewildered by Jack, who was the same as themselves yet so much faster and with more powerful attacks, when soon the knives she threw were knocked from the Black Assassin's hands. She immediately took out another knife to fight, but...
Kagagagakang!!!
"Ugh...!"
The Black Assassin was overwhelmingly outmatched even in the fog, her home ground. She couldn't land a single hit.
Her attacks were on a level that didn't connect at all. No matter how hard she fought, she couldn't inflict a single wound on Jack.
"Boring~ It's us, but weak~"
"...."
Jack now didn't even move, just yawned. Frowning at this, the Black Assassin threw a knife while simultaneously drawing a new one and lunging.
"Let's stop now."
"!?"
*Swoosh*...!!!!
"Ah, ahh..."
Jack the Ripper, who exists as one of Chaldea's top two strongest Assassins. Jack the Ripper, who has received enough affection to reach level 120 and possesses corresponding strength.
In an instant, the Black Assassin was defeated and fell to her knees. Jack approached her and placed a hand on her head.
"It's okay. You're not dying. You're coming with us."
"... Mo, mom."
"..... Yes, you're going to mom."
Jack gave a faint smile, and soon the Black Assassin was absorbed into Jack.
"Jack..."
Reika cautiously called Jack's name while watching her. Jack looked at Reika and gave a faint smile.
"Thank you, mom. Thanks to you... it was fun. We will never forget you....!"
Jack gave a bright smile, then immediately ran off into the fog, her figure disappearing.
Soon after, Reika fainted and was transported back to the house she originally lived in.
"In the end, it ended easily. Now it's Noble Phantasm level 5, right?... Congratulations, Jack. And, are you satisfied?"
"Yes, our previous mom didn't die. This is enough."
"I see. That's fortunate, good work, Jack."
"Hehe."
Dumpty hugged such a Jack and patted her head. Watching him, Jeanne d'Arc felt a truly strange feeling. A man completely different from her first impression. He seemed like a layabout and the worst kind of debauched man... but a person who gives his people sincere, abundant affection and cherishes them.
She began to understand, at least a little, why the Servants liked him.
"Well then, I'm tired, so shall we head back to the lodging~"
"Um, Mr. Dumpty."
"What is it? Jeanne d'Arc."
"... I'm sorry. I was misjudging you as a person. I held preconceptions and prejudices and thought you were the worst kind of human. I apologize for my rudeness until now."
Jeanne d'Arc sincerely bowed and apologized to him...
"Have you been drinking? You didn't happen to fall from a persimmon tree, did you? There's no way the virgin saint known for pregnancy would say something this normal... I thought for sure it was the kind of mass-market novel development where it goes more sweet potato, then at the last moment cries out for help..."
As expected, this man was the worst.