Waver's roar—naturally changed nothing.
He was the Master, true, but the Servants and Masters present could all see who actually called the shots in Rider's team.
Waver Velvet might have some small ambitions and ideals, but being immature, his negotiations clearly gave Artoria and Emiya Kiritsugu the impression that he was unreliable.
Of course, if this simpleton were in charge of the Waver/Rider pair, the two of them would have felt much more relaxed.
No need to elaborate on that; elaborating wouldn't be very chivalrous. Those who know, know.
But now, the ally before them, besides the rookie magus Waver, was another Servant—Iskandar, or perhaps he should be addressed as 'Alexander the Great'.
This king had revealed his True Name with incomparable boldness, but that didn't mean he was truly a brainless brute.
If a man known as the 'King of Conquerors' had no brains at all...
If Iskandar really gave off that impression, Emiya Kiritsugu and Artoria felt they would have to be even more careful.
As long as they weren't anomalies like incompetent kings or puppet kings, anyone who could reach Iskandar's status was a shrewd individual.
Just like now. Although Iskandar displayed a magnanimous and heroic attitude, he used his words to easily and traceably reject some of the unreasonable tentative terms proposed by Emiya Kiritsugu and Artoria.
In their view, Iskandar's actions were partly a warning: "Don't think we're easy to fool."
Of course, analyzing it from another angle, Iskandar's attitude also conveyed a sense of: "I'm being open and honest about terms and can't be bothered to play mind games with you; you can rest assured in cooperating with us."
But feelings aside, some clauses were still necessary.
As for Waver, caught between these three, he felt a bit bewildered in the wind.
What? Alliances have this many rules and regulations to follow?
Although I'm also worried about being sold out by the Magus Killer, isn't Rider being... a bit too cautious?
"Then, it's settled."
After both parties signed the contract, Iskandar spoke to his new allies with incomparable heartiness.
"After we deal with those enemies, let us decide the victor between us, King of Arthur."
"Ah, it's a promise, King of Conquerors."
With the contract complete, both sides began to move toward their respective bases.
On the way back, Emiya Kiritsugu frowned slightly.
A lot had happened today. Only now did he have the mind to stop and organize the intelligence he had gathered.
He had been focusing on the unseen Caster and that man, but thinking back carefully now, the other teams also had some peculiarities.
Leave Matou's Berserker aside for a moment. A Berserker should have lost their combat skills, yet that Berserker...
"Saber, if you were to fight Berserker, what are your chances of winning?"
"It's hard to say... Your prana isn't enough for me to use my sword a second time in a short period, so facing him, I could only try to suppress him in close combat. But..."
Recalling the scenes she saw today, Artoria fell into deep thought.
"His sword skills gave me a strange feeling... and purely in terms of technique, Berserker's skills after going berserk aren't inferior to mine."
"And seeing that he can seize the opponent's Noble Phantasms, I also have to be careful about him seizing mine for his own use. Just looking at these two points, this Black Knight is already extremely difficult to deal with. Furthermore..."
"He hasn't released his Noble Phantasm yet. Is that what you want to say?"
"Yes. aside from the exited Lancer and Archer, Rider and I have released our Noble Phantasms to varying degrees. Rider seems to have another Noble Phantasm capable of instant spatial transfer besides the chariot. As for me, after revealing my sword, my identity isn't hard for the remaining enemies to guess."
"But Berserker very likely hasn't released his Noble Phantasm yet. Judging by the class, his Noble Phantasm might be more powerful than I imagine... thinking about it this way, I feel our chances of winning are lower."
"And looking back, there is one piece of intelligence we cannot ignore."
"Assassin undoubtedly died at Archer's hands that day. But the black-robed Servant who just appeared nearby was undoubtedly Assassin as well. From that angle... there may be more than one Assassin."
"If we follow this line of thought, Assassin hasn't exited yet, and we don't know how many clones they have... when fighting other Servants, we also have to guard against Assassin launching a surprise attack on you. Kiritsugu..."
Unnerved by Artoria's gaze, Emiya Kiritsugu spoke with immense firmness.
"Don't expect all Masters to have that man's combat ability. The fact that he could successively defeat Archer and Lancer of the Three Knight Classes in frontal combat proves he already possesses the strength of a top-tier Servant."
"I am just an ordinary magus. Facing a Servant, death is inevitable; the only difference is dying sooner or later."
"I suppose expecting that was too much."
"Please do not harbor overly strange fantasies about me, thank you."
Moreover, there was a more serious problem.
It seemed Kotomine Kirei faked his exit. Yet under these circumstances, Father Kotomine Risei chose to let him stay within the protection of the Holy Church.
Heh, he had suspected this before, but he didn't expect them to pull this shadowy move right from the start.
The fairness the Holy Church spoke of didn't exist from the beginning, so future actions would require a bit more caution.
The idea of directly blowing up Caster's workshop should be discarded for now, after all...
As long as they revealed a weakness, they might be labeled a 'rule-breaking team' by the Holy Church, leading other teams to crusade against them.
If things reached that stage, they would truly have a headache.
...................
Meanwhile
"I say, Rider, was it necessary to be... so strict with those terms just now?"
On the way back to the base, Waver looked at Iskandar, whose expression was completely different from before, and finally couldn't suppress his internal question, asking the Servant before him.
"Why does it feel like you're so... in these aspects..."
"I say, little Master, do you think those two guys opposite us are good people?"
"Good people? Emiya Kiritsugu definitely doesn't count, but that little girl... um, if our deduction is correct, she should be the King of Knights, [Arthur Pendragon], right? Even I am very clear about the good name of the Knights of the Round Table, so King Arthur who led them..."
"Heh, she certainly can't be a naive little girl."
Interrupting Waver's deduction, Iskandar directly gave his conclusion.
"At first, I thought the whole 'King Arthur is a little girl' thing was a bit ridiculous. But judging by her and that Master's words later, aside from having the body of a little girl, her logic and worldview are at least mature, regardless of whether they mesh with mine."
"Since the beginning, the three of us have been constantly probing each other with words. And based on the results, those two are definitely not to be trifled with. As for the good name of knighthood... heh, little Master, don't forget what actually happened just now."
"Just now... you mean the matter of Saber releasing her Noble Phantasm?"
"Exactly. King Arthur, holder of the title King of Knights, actually released a Noble Phantasm with the intent of sending them and us two bystanders off together, despite two warriors engaging in a fair one-on-one duel—do you think a Servant who would do such a thing really cares about 'chivalry'?"
"Now that you mention it—is it really okay for the King of Knights to be this despicable?"
"Give me a break. Although the legendary Arthur Pendragon has the title King of Knights, there are also rumors like [Failing to follow chivalry causing the Sword of Selection to shatter], [Messing around with a sibling sister and birthing the illegitimate child who destroyed Britain], [Squeezing a village's grain reserves dry to win a battle, leading to the village's decline], and [Being scolded by subordinate knights that 'King Arthur doesn't understand the human heart']."
"Although King Arthur being a woman is a bit weird to me, even if half of these rumors are true, it's enough to prove King Arthur isn't that 'pedantic'. We Servants answer the summons of the Holy Grail essentially to fulfill a wish. Then..."
"Even for the [King of Knights], choosing to ignore some things to fulfill a wish is perfectly normal, isn't it?"
................
After bringing Raiden Mei back to their temporary base, Aaron looked at the still anxious Mei and felt the situation was tricky.
Herrscher awakening was a big deal, yet not entirely catastrophic. At least after experiencing the initial awakening, even if Raiden Mei had control of her body seized by the Herrscher of Thunder later, she wouldn't [passively] trigger a large-scale Honkai Eruption again.
From this point of view, Fuyuki City was temporarily safe from being nuked, but... it would still be troublesome if the Herrscher of Thunder woke up.
Based on inferences from the original plot fragments, the Herrscher of Thunder didn't take down Kiana with a baseball bat in a short time during the first awakening. But the second time, waking up after Kiana was heavily injured, she could directly suppress the Hyperion attacking at full power...
Okay, saying suppress was flattering the Hyperion. Comparing 1380 HW to 3200 HW, was the Hyperion suppressed?
It was basically crushed.
The performance of the Herrscher of Thunder when she first awakened last time was obviously much stronger than the version stalled by Bat-Kiana in the original work.
If the Herrscher of Thunder woke up again this time... and this HoT was reinforced by a Servant template, Aaron really couldn't say what would happen later.
Previously, Aaron thought that even if Raiden Mei's body control was seized by the Herrscher of Thunder, he could suppress it in time. But now, looking at the girl's uneasy expression, Aaron realized something else.
This time the Herrscher of Thunder would be stronger. In that case... would he still have the ability to hold back in battle?
[Although not discarding your brain is a good thing, this System needs to interrupt you now, Tester 233.]
Heh, popping up on your own initiative? Does that mean my guess about the hidden mission was correct?
[Correct. Now, as per custom, let this System spout some nonsense.]
[Ding! Detected that Tester 233 killed Servant (Lancer—Diarmuid Ua Duibhne) and Servant (Archer—Gilgamesh). Hidden mission activated.]
[Hidden Mission—Servant Killer.]
[Defeating a Servant rewards 1 mission point. Killing a Servant rewards 3 mission points. Repeated defeats are invalid. If a Servant is killed after 1 mission point has already been calculated for their defeat, 2 mission points will be awarded on top of the original points.]
[Once points reach a certain stage, this System will distribute rewards.]
[Hidden Mission—Servant Killer current progress: (3+3/???).]
[Initiating reward distribution—Tester 233 and Tester 233's teammate have reached the first stage of hidden mission completion and will receive a Normal Reward. Both of you please choose from four options. I'm too lazy to pad the word count with the specifics; I will explain it to Miss Mei.]
At the same time, having listened to the System's explanation, Raiden Mei temporarily suppressed the worries in her heart and asked Aaron.
[Caster, about these options... which one do you suggest I choose?]
[My suggestion... let me think.]
First, ban Raiden Mei's self-skill enhancement. Aside from that un-upgradeable skill like Kiana's, she probably only had cooking and the Hokushin Itto-ryu, which wasn't a very powerful sword style.
As for templates... she wasn't an 'Empress of Luck' (Ou Huang). The probability of a gambler crashing and burning by drawing some low-tier trash was high.
The equipment side was the same. Things like a sewing needle weren't much better than a trash template.
[Sigh, if you want to play it safe, choose to draw a new skill.]
.......................