"Don't worry, sister, I'm fine. I'm not injured." Knowing that the girl before him must be very worried, a sense of self-blame arose in Rin Aosaki's heart. But he still showed a reassuring smile on his face, signaling her not to worry.
But what he found strange was that she had almost unbuttoned the shirt he was wearing inside, as if wanting to probe deeper. But the youth thought this might be due to his foster sister being overly worried about him, causing such a misinterpretation, so he didn't mind.
"By the way, why are sister and Miss Ritsuka and the others here? And how did you meet Bedivere?"
"This matter is a bit complicated. But thanks to the proactive help of these kind people from Chaldea, I was able to come here from Fuyuki City. And to help, everyone even specially had me sign a contract with a Servant to find you. You'd say so, right?" Manaka looked at the three from Chaldea with a sweet smile. Her gentle appearance, on the contrary, made Ritsuka and the others shudder, and they all thought to themselves at the same time.
What proactive help? It was clearly you who trespassed into Chaldea and said that if we didn't assist you, you would blow up the whole place, which almost caused Dr. Roman to collapse from a stress-induced stomach perforation. That's why we had to accompany you to this singularity...
However, although they were complaining in their hearts, Ritsuka and the others still showed a stiff smile on their faces and nodded. "Yes, Manaka-chan is right. Chaldea's job is to help people. Of course we wouldn't stand by and do nothing about such a thing. After all, Mr. Rei also disappeared while protecting the city."
"S-senpai is right! This is indeed our job!"
"Hehe, actually, even if Master hadn't said it, we at Chaldea were originally planning to do so."
...
Listening to the three from Chaldea talking one after another, although he felt their laughter was a bit strange, Rin Aosaki first expressed his thanks. "Although I don't know the specific situation, thank you all for taking care of my sister. Also, regarding the method you used to get here, can we discuss it later?"
"That's not a problem." Looking at the polite youth before him, Da Vinci found it hard to imagine that he was the younger brother of that natural-born magical girl. She immediately nodded.
And Rin Aosaki at this moment also came to the side of Bedivere, who seemed a bit dazed, helped him up and asked with concern about the original problem.
"...I'm fine. Although we were indeed pursued by the Holy City before, and even encountered Sir Tristan, with the assistance of these people here, the danger has been resolved. As for the wanderers... because I had to resist the enemy from the Holy City, I had them flee in that direction first. Calculating the time, they shouldn't have left too far."
Bedivere came to his senses and looked at the petite blonde girl with some fear. To be honest, if Rin Aosaki had arrived a little later, he felt his fate might not have been much better than Tristan's. But because he felt that Manaka's concern for the youth was sincere, and she must have acted that way out of urgency, and the people from Chaldea had also helped him indirectly before, after a moment's hesitation, he didn't say what had happened before, but turned to a more practical level.
"Lord An, although we are temporarily safe now, where should we go next? On the way to escape the pursuit, I have already observed that the bags everyone is carrying are not much. The amount of water and food will probably not last long. In addition, there are about four hundred wanderers in total. If a group of this size doesn't find a place to hide quickly, it's very likely they will be discovered by the Holy City again."
Rin Aosaki frowned and began to think about this very serious problem. And Sajyou Manaka at the side seemed to want to say something, but Nitocris, who had been observing the situation from the back of the sphinx, suddenly spoke up.
"Your worries, the great Sun King has long foreseen, youth. That king said, our territory can help you share a portion of the people. However, because those people are not citizens of Egypt, they can only become slaves. But in this way, that portion of people can also survive. How do you choose, youth?"
Slaves? Rin Aosaki blinked, not expecting that the Pharaoh had already estimated this step. But for the wanderers to have just escaped from the pursuit of the Holy City, only to become slaves of Egypt to survive, made the distress on his brow deepen.
And Sajyou Manaka suddenly gave an implicit, unhappy look at Nitocris, which made the female pharaoh's body inexplicably shiver. She looked around warily.
"I'm sorry, Miss Nitocris, this is not a decision I can make alone. Those people have the right to choose the way they want to live. After we catch up with them later, I will ask for their wishes. But in any case, thank you and Mr. Pharaoh for your generosity first."
Understanding that someone being willing to take in those wanderers was already a kind of tolerance, Rin Aosaki didn't push his luck and demand more rights for them in Egypt. Because for the citizens of Egypt to suddenly face an influx of outsiders, it would probably be a bit difficult for them to accept immediately. What's more, this increase in population might also affect the quality of life.
"Hmph, the king has also foreseen your choice." Nitocris couldn't help but admire Ozymandias even more, because that Sun King seemed to have seen through the youth's code of conduct, and even the words he had left for her beforehand were all used. "This is the final reminder from His Majesty the Sun King, youth. If you really don't want to go to Lord Pharaoh's territory, and don't want to risk going to the Holy City again, then go and find the People of the Mountain! That group of people should accept those wanderers. But what happens after that, you can only solve by yourself."
At the end of her words, Nitocris added again as if she were a little unconvinced, "Youth, although I don't know why His Majesty the Sun King is so tolerant towards you, you'd better not disappoint that lord, and don't do anything that would tarnish his glory."
"...I understand. I am very grateful for your and Mr. Pharaoh's help. After the matter here is over, I will go to the temple again to thank that king."
Feeling that he owed quite a bit of gratitude, Rin Aosaki promised seriously. He didn't know whose shadow the Pharaoh saw in him, but he really didn't want to fail the other party's good intentions and decided to do his best to guide everything to a good ending.
But unlike the youth's sincerity, Manaka's heart, on the contrary, rose with a bit of restlessness. Because it had only been a short period of not seeing each other, yet the youth had already formed bonds with many people she didn't know about, which made the girl who saw the youth as her "property" deep down feel a bit anxious.
—No, I must ask Ritsuka again later about the "seduction" she mentioned before.
—That's right, this is a necessary method to keep that child by my side and slowly cultivate him. It's... it's not a seduction!
....
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