Early the next morning, they set off on the road toward the royal city of Uruk.
Along the way, Ritsuka chatted idly with Quetzalcoatl—and nearly jumped out of her skin when she learned Quetzalcoatl already had a Master.
"What? Miss Quetzalcoatl, you mean Mr. Tarnished is a Master?"
"Yes. Little brother is big sister's little Master."
"Is that true, Mr. Tarnished?"
Still unconvinced, Ritsuka looked toward the front, where the Tarnished was walking while teasing Fou.
"Yeah. It's true."
Noticing her gaze, he answered casually, then pulled off his glove and revealed the crimson Command Spells on the back of his hand.
The thing was, it was weird.
The day after Quetzalcoatl swore herself to him, this strange tattoo had simply appeared on his hand out of nowhere.
Even now he still didn't know what it was actually for.
All he knew was that it formed a faint, intangible connection between him and Quetzalcoatl—and that his own magical energy, or perhaps something closer to "focus," was constantly flowing into her.
As for the amount, it was basically nothing to him.
But what truly surprised him was the fact that his power could be transmitted to Quetzalcoatl at all.
So even across worlds, it still worked…
"Seriously…"
The moment Ritsuka saw the Command Spells, her whole body seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon.
She'd been planning to coax this amazing big sister back to Chaldea.
Instead, someone had already beaten her to it…
"Then… Miss Anna isn't also your Servant, is she?"
Mash added the question from the side.
"No. Anna isn't. She's a lone Servant without a Master."
"Huh?! Miss Anna doesn't have a Master?!"
Ritsuka was shocked all over again.
"By the way, Mr. Tarnished… in this era, besides Senpai and you, are there any other Masters?"
"Honestly, I don't really understand this era that well. Go ask Merlin."
In the blink of an eye, he neatly dumped the problem onto Merlin, who was loitering around doing absolutely nothing.
As far as this era went, the Tarnished only knew the mythological surface-level stuff.
Anything deeper—like the King of Magecraft, Goetia, the Holy Grail, Masters—he understood none of it.
While Mash turned around to question Merlin, the Tarnished, bored out of his mind from walking, opened the chat group.
He immediately ran into someone else who was equally bored: Chika Fujiwara.
Chika Fujiwara: Ugh… I'm so bored… can someone go live or something…
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Miss Fujiwara, did you resolve things on your friend's side?
Chika Fujiwara: Ah! Mr. Tarnished! Of course Kaguya's situation is handled! The process was a bit rough, but it worked out pretty smoothly in the end.
"Rough" was putting it mildly.
It was only thanks to her silver tongue that she'd managed to talk Kaguya into accepting it.
And as for the details…
Everyone had unanimously agreed to bury it forever.
Chika Fujiwara: By the way, Mr. Tarnished, could you start a live stream? I'm seriously dying of boredom.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Sure, I can. But I'm just traveling right now, so it'll be pretty boring on my side too. You sure you want to watch?
Chika Fujiwara: Of course! No matter how boring yours is, it can't beat mine!
As a top student, Chika Fujiwara believed that attending class without watching a stream was one of life's greatest regrets.
Besides, the chat group interface was only visible to her.
Skipping class openly like this was even more thrilling.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Alright, then.
[Group Notice: Group Live Stream has been activated.]
Chika Fujiwara: Yay! I love Mr. Tarnished the most!
At the same time, Tony—in the middle of modifying his beloved old car—saw the group notification too.
Curious, he tapped into the live stream.
Dense jungle.
A fortress rising like a wall.
He frowned.
"Are they filming a movie?"
He didn't think much beyond that, closed the page, and went back to working.
As far as he was concerned, the chat group was something to smile at and ignore.
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Ahem… when the sun comes out, I bask in the sun. When the moon comes out, I bask in the moon~
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Yo! Good noon, everyone. Eaten yet?
Chika Fujiwara: Hu Tao! You're free to chat today—are you done with work?
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Hehe, not really. I just snuck out to take a break. You know… stealing a little leisure from a busy life.
Chika Fujiwara: Hu Tao is saying things I don't understand again…
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Hehe, forget that. Mr. Tarnished is streaming right now?
Chika Fujiwara: Yep, that's right!
Chika Fujiwara: Ah! What's that?! It's so cute! @Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife
On the stream, Fou suddenly jumped from the Tarnished's shoulder into his arms.
It happened fast, but Chika's absurd dynamic vision caught it perfectly.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: This?
He carefully lifted Fou up in front of the camera.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Its owner calls it Fou. But it also has another name—something like Cath Palug.
That was what Merlin had called it, so he probably remembered correctly.
Chika Fujiwara: Cath Palug? That's such a weird name. Fou sounds much nicer.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: …
Reading that, his eyebrow twitched.
Did women's taste really work like this?
Cath Palug sounded way better…
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: What, what? Something cute? Let me see!
Sitting on the stone steps in front of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Hu Tao nearly sprang to her feet the moment she heard "cute."
She looked at the stream—and a tiny, snow-white creature came into view, making little "Fou" noises.
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Mm, yeah. Very cute. Just as cute as my Da Mi and Er Mi.
Chika Fujiwara: Hu Tao, you keep cute pets too?
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Of course! Da Mi and Er Mi have fur that's a bit stiff, but they're still fluffy. And if we're talking about presence—no cat can beat Da Mi and Er Mi!
Chika Fujiwara: Huh? Then… can you go live and show me sometime?
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Absolutely. Once I'm done with this busy stretch, I'll show you!
Chika Fujiwara: Yay! Love you, Hu Tao.
Chika Fujiwara decided her next stream was officially secured.
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Hehe… oh, right, I almost forgot something. @Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife Mr. Tarnished, did you handle that thing from last time?
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Yeah. I asked about it already. Once this mission is over, I'll go back and do it.
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Then you need to hurry. Yin and yang each have their order, and fate is fickle. Death is hard to predict, but it has its rules. Remember—no matter when, no matter where, no matter the reason, people shouldn't casually provoke the matter of "death." Only by recognizing it and respecting it can you understand the value of being alive.
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: Uh… got it.
He didn't understand the huge paragraph Hu Tao had just typed, but agreeing was probably safest.
Chika Fujiwara: Hu Tao is really strict about this stuff.
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: Hehe, of course. This is not something you can be sloppy about. And besides—when someone entrusts you with something, you see it through. People of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor take the living's money and send the dead on their way. That's double responsibility. We have to satisfy both sides—this world and the next.
Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor: And my grandfather always told me—born at the moment of birth, gone at the moment of death. Follow your heart, and do what must be done. Our line of work is special. How could we be careless?
Chika Fujiwara: Sounds profound, even if I don't understand it.
NorthernNorthernNorthern: Sounds profound, even if I don't understand it.jpg
Tarnished Who Wants to Save His Wife: …
It all sounded very reasonable.
But… what did any of this have to do with what they were talking about?
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