Chapter 9: The Queen of Egypt
"No... it's not like that...!"
Mash tried to explain, but Hundred-Faced Hassan cut her off.
"That doesn't matter. For us, as long as we're still alive, that's victory."
"The goal this time was to capture the Queen. As long as that woman is here, Sphinxes and the like are simply—"
Before Hundred-Faced Hassan could finish, her subordinate spoke to her, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"Um... Master Hundred-Faced, that mage over there... she..."
Da Vinci, who was holding the unconscious woman with brown skin, chimed in at this moment: "I'm right here~ but I'm not a mage, I'm a genius! And there wasn't a single flaw in my approach. I'll be taking this kidnapped woman now~"
Hundred-Faced Hassan glared at Da Vinci in extreme frustration.
"Damn it... who exactly are you people?! Are you subordinates of Ozymandias!?"
Gudako spoke up at this moment: "I am Gudako. May I ask who you are?"
Perhaps not expecting Gudako to state her name so readily, Hundred-Faced Hassan was stunned for a moment before answering somewhat coyly.
"Ah... I am Hundred-Faced Hassan, leader of the West, one of the Old Men of the Mountain."
The conversation seemed to be reaching a climax, but the sandstorm began to blow again at that very moment.
"Master Hundred-Faced! A group of Sphinxes is coming! And they're being followed by a strange creature wearing a cloak!"
Hearing the panicked voices of her subordinates, Hundred-Faced Hassan quickly said sternly: "Fools! That is a Medjed! Don't make eye contact with it, or you'll be cursed!"
Picking up her mask and putting it back on her face, Hundred-Faced Hassan's tone was filled with reluctance.
"Damn it, a failure this time too! Retreat, everyone! Don't you dare lose the food we snatched! And that girl with the shield over there, and that woman holding the staff... in short, that Servant with the staff, the strange boy, and that human who looks so stupid and clumsy! All of you, remember this—I will not forget this humiliation. Sooner or later, I will make you pay it back many times over!"
After delivering her parting threats, Hundred-Faced Hassan and her subordinates vanished in a flash.
Gudako, recalling Hundred-Faced Hassan's words, looked left and right at Shirou and Da Vinci, then suddenly her face flushed red. Like a bristling kitten, she began to wave her claws around.
"Who did she call stupid and clumsy!!!"
Mash patted Gudako's shoulder comfortingly.
"There, there, Senpai, don't be sad."
Mash's words only made it worse; as soon as she said them, Gudako dove into the girl's arms and began to " sob sob sob ".
"Anyway, let's take a look at the woman we just acquired," Da Vinci said, gesturing toward the woman lying at her feet as if showing off her spoils of war.
"Now, let's untie the ropes and remove the gag."
Shirou followed Gudako and the others as they observed the woman, who still seemed to be fast asleep.
She was dressed in clothing made of gold with a heavy ancient Egyptian style, with large areas of skin exposed to the air. That wheat-colored skin and excellent figure formed a magnificent combination. Her pitifully beautiful face revealed the aura of an Egyptian Queen even in her sleep.
Nitocris, Queen of the Sixth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the mage-queen who reigned briefly.
She shared the same name as the ancient Queen of Babylon. In legend, the power-brokers of the time murdered her beloved brother. After she succeeded in her revenge and drowned them all, she immediately ended her own life.
Although she was a Queen pushed onto the throne as a puppet, she also possessed a clear self-awareness of being a child of the gods, and at the same time, a Pharaoh who was essentially a demigod.
"Hey, hey, you don't intend to wake up yet? A rare genius is right before your eyes, you know?"
Da Vinci patted Nitocris's body, and seeing that the other party remained unmoved, she tugged on her ear.
"Uwu... who... don't touch there. Although this looks like an ear, it is actually a magical catalyst symbolizing Horus. It is absolutely not because of my sleeping habits, okay..."
Nitocris woke up mumbling, only to see Da Vinci's smiling face, which was filled with a hint of excitement.
"You're awake~"
"Y-y-you... who are you!?"
Nitocris's entire body stiffened due to the strange situation.
Then, her consciousness quickly returned from her sleep. She scrambled to her feet in a panic, forcing herself to adopt a posture of immense majesty.
"You rude lot, who in the world are you!? Are you lowly subjects who do not know the name of this Pharaoh, Nitocris?!"
"Oh, she's quite an ancient one!" Gudako exclaimed in amazement.
Da Vinci nodded in agreement.
"That's right, although she has absolutely no majesty, this is a powerful Heroic Spirit possessing the mystery of two thousand years B.C.!"
Nitocris found the whispering of Gudako and the others unbearable.
"Hey! Sneaking around and whispering over there, are you mocking me!?"
As Nitocris recalled her earlier sleep-talking, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she glared shamefully at Shirou and the others: "No, it seems you are definitely treating me as a laughingstock! Not only that, you drugged me and took me outside the temple! Such brutality is beyond the scope of forgiveness. Although I should have asked whether you were willing to submit to the Sun King, but... the fact that you have reduced me, Queen Nitocris, to this humiliating position with such rough conduct..."
Nitocris's shoulders trembled slightly, and a staff materialized in her hand.
"Appear, Mirror of the Underworld! I will pay back the humiliation you brought upon me a thousand times over!"
"Wait, we are not—"
Gudako hurriedly tried to clarify the misunderstanding, but Nitocris had already unleashed her Noble Phantasm.
"It's Nitocris's Mirror, Senpai! She's preparing to fight us!"
"Ah... seriously...!" Gudako felt quite helpless at Nitocris's behavior of completely refusing to listen to an explanation.
Shirou spoke up at this moment: "It looks like we are almost there."
"Eh!?"
Gudako and Mash looked toward the front of the ship of light upon hearing this. They had already exited the area where the Sphinx group had appeared and were drawing ever closer to the Sun King's territory.
Seeing this, Nitocris was stunned.
"You... you're completely ignoring me...!"
This situation left Nitocris, who had intended to fight to wash away her shame, feeling an unbearable sense of humiliation. Her eyes even misted over with tears from her indignation.
"The one who kidnapped you was Hundred-Faced Hassan; we happened to run into you, so we saved you," Da Vinci explained to Nitocris.
"What..."
Nitocris's eyes widened in disbelief.
But hearing Da Vinci say this, she gradually drifted out of her angry state and returned to calmness.
This situation was easy to understand with a little thought; after all, who would be so bold as to openly kidnap the Queen of Ancient Egypt and then bring her into her own territory? If that were truly the case, it would be far too arrogant.
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