For the next couple of hours, we just walked around the Fuyuki shopping district. Okita was in absolute heaven, treating the whole supply run like a legitimate date. We grabbed some snacks, bought a few essentials, and I even bought her a crepe, which had her beaming like she had just won the Holy Grail right then and there.
While she was happily eating, my mind wandered back to the war. I had Kariya and Berserker on my side, which was a massive advantage, but relying on just one ally in a Holy Grail War was a huge risk. I needed to figure out who else I could ally with. Approaching Waver could actually work since she seemed just as stressed out as her canon counterpart, but negotiating meant dealing with Medb again—and after I flashed the Queen of Connacht last night to short-circuit her brain, diplomacy was going to be incredibly awkward.
Suddenly, a commotion down a nearby alley broke my train of thought.
It sounded exactly like two female voices. One voice was practically purring in what sounded like straight-up, aggressive sexual harassment, while the other voice was squeaking in absolute, mortified embarrassment, begging the first one to stop.
"Master, wait," Okita suddenly whispered, her playful demeanor instantly vanishing. She stepped slightly in front of me, her hand resting on the hilt of her katana. "I sense an enemy Servant just around the corner."
I nodded, keeping my guard up as we carefully peeked around the brick wall of the alleyway.
Sure enough, it was Queen Medb and her Master.
Medb had a very tall, incredibly muscular civilian guy backed flush against the brick wall. She was leaning in close, a predatory smirk on her face as she twirled a lock of her pink hair, completely invading his personal space. Standing a few feet behind her, wearing her oversized velvet cloak and clutching her face in absolute, red-faced embarrassment, was the female Waver Velvet.
"Rider, please stop! You can't just do this in broad daylight!" Waver squeaked, looking like she wanted the earth to swallow her whole.
Medb completely ignored her Master.
"C'mon, big guy," the Queen purred, running a hand down the terrified civilian's chest. "A strong, strapping warrior like you shouldn't be wandering the streets all alone..."
"P-Please back up, miss!" the buff guy stammered, his voice cracking an octave higher in sheer panic.
Before Medb could push her luck any further, the guy completely snapped. He shoved past the mythical Queen with a burst of desperate adrenaline and sprinted out of the alleyway as fast as his legs could carry him.
"I HAVE A BOYFRIEND!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs, disappearing down the street.
Medb just stood there, blinking in surprise as her target completely vanished, looking genuinely offended that her charm had failed. Waver, meanwhile, just groaned and buried her face in her hands, entirely done with this Holy Grail War.
I just watched the guy run away, crossing my arms. Honestly? I had nothing but absolute respect for him. Getting cornered by a literal mythical Queen of Thirst and still booking it because he was fiercely loyal to his partner?
That was a top-tier man right there.
Waver spotted me first. She gasped, taking a hurried step back until she bumped into the brick wall. Her face was flushed, but her eyes were wide with genuine wariness. "Y-You! You're the one from the docks... you trapped me in some kind of Reality Marble!"
Medb spun around, her whip-sword materializing in her hand on pure reflex. But as she took in my face—and likely remembered the sheer scale of the silver treasury I had unleashed against Caster Gilgamesh last night—her hostility morphed into something else entirely. She didn't just see a threat; she saw my ceiling. Her pink eyes traced over me, practically licking her lips as she recognized the raw, untapped potential I was sitting on.
"I'm going to be blunt," I said, stopping a few feet away. "I want to form an alliance."
Waver blinked, her panic momentarily overridden by sheer confusion. "An... alliance? With us?"
Medb, on the other hand, absolutely loved that answer. The whip-sword vanished, and she immediately closed the distance, her hips swaying as she leaned right into my personal space. "An alliance? Oh, I like the sound of that. A strong, mysterious Magus and the Queen of Connacht... we could forge a very deep partnership, you and I..." She reached out, trailing a manicured finger down my chest.
"I'm not going to have sex with a slut like you," I said flatly, completely unbothered.
Medb froze, her finger still resting against my shirt. Her jaw dropped as if I had just slapped her across the face with a brick. Okita, meanwhile, let out a highly satisfied, muffled snort of laughter from behind me.
Ignoring the flabbergasted Queen of Thirst, I stepped right past her and walked up to Waver. Before the young magus could scramble away, I gently but firmly grasped both of her hands in mine. Waver squeaked, her face instantly exploding into a brilliant shade of crimson at the sudden, direct physical contact.
"My Lady," I began, my voice carrying a smooth, resonant cadence that felt entirely natural yet strangely foreign to my own modern sensibilities. I looked deeply into her eyes, my thumb gently brushing the back of her hand. "To find a magus of such undeniable beauty, possessing a heart so fiercely strong amidst this senseless bloodshed... it is a rare and profound honor. It is precisely because of your resilient spirit that I wish to entrust you with the truth."
The young magus let out a strangled squeak. Her entire face and neck turned the color of a ripe tomato, and I could practically see the steam whistling out of her ears as her brain short-circuited from the sudden, overwhelming wave of princely charisma.
"I seek this alliance not out of desperation, but out of necessity," I continued, my tone shifting from gentle praise to absolute seriousness. "The Holy Grail we are fighting for is a poisoned chalice. My goal is to locate the vessel before the war concludes and destroy it completely."
That snapped the girl out of her flustered daze. "Destroy it?!" she gasped, pulling her hands back in shock.
Her Servant frowned, stepping closer with her hands on her hips. "What do you mean, a poisoned chalice? How can the omnipotent wish-granter be corrupted?"
"During the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family tried to cheat the system," I explained thoroughly, keeping my voice steady. "They summoned the anti-hero Angra Mainyu—the embodiment of 'All the World's Evils'—under the Avenger class. When he was defeated and his soul was absorbed, his absolute malice tainted the Grail's core. It turned the wish-granting mechanism into a malicious monkey's paw."
The young magus's eyes widened, the gears in her head instantly turning as her intellect processed the magical theory.
"To put it simply," I warned, looking between the two of them. "The Grail will only grant wishes through methods of destruction. If a victor were to wish for something like 'world peace,' the corrupted Grail would determine that humanity is the root cause of all conflict. It would grant the wish by exterminating all human life on Earth."
A heavy silence fell over the alleyway. The girl looked genuinely terrified, wrapping her arms around herself. But beneath the fear, her analytical mind was calculating the variables, realizing the sheer catastrophic logic of what I had just told her. She bit her lip and looked up at her pink-haired Servant.
"Rider... what do you think?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly but laced with a newfound resolve.
Rider crossed her arms, her pink eyes locking onto mine. The Servant clearly didn't care much about the fate of the world, but she cared very much about getting what she wanted. She smirked, her haughty confidence returning full force.
"I'll agree to this little crusade of yours," Rider purred, leaning forward so her cleavage was front and center. "But only under one condition. You have to sleep with me, handsome."
Okita immediately tensed beside me, her hand gripping her katana so hard her knuckles turned white.
I didn't flinch. I just looked down at her, my mind rapidly weighing the options.
"I'll offer you a wager instead, Rider," I said smoothly, a confident smirk playing on my lips. "If you can manage to make me genuinely blush, get visibly flustered, or become physically excited... I will willingly submit and become your personal servant in every sense of the word."
Medb's crimson eyes flashed with pure, wicked delight the instant the challenge left my mouth.
"Deal~" she purred, voice thick and hungry.
She closed the distance in a single fluid step, hands sliding up my chest as she tilted her head and crushed her lips against mine.
Chu~
The kiss was immediate and demanding. Her tongue pushed past my lips without hesitation, hot and insistent, tasting me like she wanted to devour every reaction I gave her. I didn't close my eyes. I kept them open, staring straight into hers — golden locked on crimson — refusing to break contact even for a second.
Medb noticed. A low, thrilled mmmh~ vibrated against my mouth as she realized I wasn't backing down. Her hands roamed greedily, sliding under my hoodie, nails scraping lightly over my abs, palms mapping every ridge and line of muscle like she was memorizing a treasure.
I explored her right back. One hand slid around her waist, pulling her flush against me, the other tracing slowly up her side, feeling the curve of her hip, the dip of her waist, the soft, heavy swell of her breast through the thin fabric of her dress. I squeezed gently, exploratively, thumb brushing over the hardened peak.
Slurp… chu~
Medb arched into the touch with a muffled, needy moan, her body pressing harder against mine. She was savoring me — tongue tangling deeper, hips rolling slowly in a teasing grind as her fingers dug into my back, nails scraping down my skin.
I kept my eyes open the entire time, watching every flicker of lust and surprise in her gaze. The intensity seemed to drive her wild. Her breathing grew heavier, more ragged. She broke the kiss just long enough to nip at my lower lip, then dove back in even deeper, tongue sliding wetly against mine while her hand boldly palmed the growing hardness through my pants, stroking slowly.
Mmmh… slurp~ chu~
I didn't hold back. My fingers traced the underside of her breast, then slid lower, cupping her ass and pulling her even tighter so she could feel exactly how my body was reacting. Medb shivered, letting out a soft, needy ahn~ against my lips as she savored every deliberate touch.
The alley was dead silent except for the wet sounds of our mouths and the occasional soft gasp from Medb. Waver stood frozen a few feet away, face burning crimson, unable to look away. Okita's presence behind me was like a storm cloud — her jealousy so thick I could almost feel it pressing against my back — but she stayed silent, obeying my earlier order even as her hand clenched white-knuckled on her katana hilt.
Time stretched. Five minutes felt both endless and far too short under the heat of her mouth and the greedy press of her body.
Then — I pushed her back.
My hand planted firmly on her shoulder, creating space between us. Medb stumbled half a step, lips parted and glistening, breathing hard, eyes dark with lust and surprise.
"Five minutes are up," I said, voice calm and steady, still holding her gaze without blinking. "You didn't manage it."
Medb licked her lips slowly, a breathless laugh escaping her. "Didn't I? You felt plenty excited to me—"
"The alliance will happen," I cut her off, tone firm and final, "but on my terms. You will follow my utmost command. No exceptions. Understood?"
Medb stared at me for a long second, chest still heaving, lips slightly swollen from the kiss. Then a slow, dangerous smile curved her mouth.
"…Understood."