"Wow! Amazing!"
Amidst the swirling yellow sands, Gudako excitedly patted the giant snake hundreds of meters long beneath her, letting out exclamations of wonder.
Cleopatra, seated on a throne atop the snake's head, pointed proudly at the tens of thousands of troops lined up neatly in the sand and said to Rin.
"See that, Rin? My ace army! I have hundreds of thousands more of this caliber!"
Just then, a fast horse carrying Cleopatra's general galloped to the snake's head. The general nimbly dismounted and knelt, shouting.
"Great Pharaoh, the troops near Cairo have finished assembling! The armies from Lower Egypt and across the country have been notified and are boarding ships for Iberia to rendezvous with us! However..."
The general began to hesitate, stammering as if he had something to say but didn't dare.
Annoyed, Cleopatra grabbed a copper cup from a table filled with fruit and wine and threw it at the general, cursing.
"Baka! Say what you want to say! Do you want to make me lose face?"
Struck in the head by the wine cup, the general's forehead reddened. With a weirdly blissful smile, he moved forward two steps on his knees, seemingly wanting to be closer to Cleopatra.
"Great Pharaoh! Our occupation of the Iberian Peninsula has been short; I fear the grain there won't support the consumption of an army of 200,000!"
"Baka! Then transport it from the mainland!"
"But the warships are all being used to transport personnel, horses, and equipment. We can't muster enough grain ships in such a short time!"
"Aaaaah! Are you trying to kill me with anger! I don't care! You bakas find a way!"
"Yes!"
Rin's mouth twitched as she looked at the general, whose face was flushed as if he had reached a climax. He seemed to have come specifically to be scolded. 'Is this the oldest Kugimiya disease patient? But to be fair, it does seem quite stimulating!' Thinking this, Rin's gaze also became a bit strange.
After this interlude, the army gathered in the sands finally reached the Port of Alexandria before sunset and boarded warships bound for Iberia.
Thousands of warships formed a massive fleet on the Mediterranean Sea. In the center of this sun-blocking fleet was a magnificent galley that shouldn't have existed.
This huge galley was about 300 meters long and 110 meters wide. On its deck stood a golden five-story palace. Several giant snakes, fitted with special harnesses, pulled this ship—which theoretically shouldn't move at all—through the waves.
This giant from an era it shouldn't belong to was Cleopatra's personal vessel. However, whether the cost was too high or Cleopatra feared Rin, the "mouse in the rice jar," would bankrupt her, the decorations on this golden ship were actually copper plated with thin gold leaf, and 99% of the gems, agates, and corals were fakes.
Rin grumpily stuffed a glass gem she had pried from the wall back into its crack. Under Cleopatra's snickering gaze, she gloomily followed her to the viewing deck on the top floor of the galley.
"This place should satisfy you! It's open enough!"
Rin looked at the viewing deck, which was about half the size of a basketball court, and nodded to Cleopatra.
Then Rin and Gudako began to draw the Magic Circle needed for the Fate Summoning on the viewing deck.
Cleopatra waved away the maids and guards, closed the door to the viewing deck, and walked over to Rin and Gudako, who were drawing the Magic Circle on the floor, studying it with interest.
"Oh! A very complex Magic Circle! It has elements of our Egyptian magecraft and even elements from a small place like the Celtic regions! Wait! These are the strange runes Moses and the others used! No, the runes Moses used should have been completely destroyed! Besides our Egyptian royal family, how could anyone else know them!"
Gudako, who couldn't focus as intensely as Rin, looked up in admiration at Cleopatra, who had easily identified more than half of the summoning circle's components.
"Pharaoh, you know so much! This fate system's summoning circle was completed by Master and the others long ago when Chaldea was first established. I can draw it, but I don't understand most of it!"
Gudako scratched her head bashfully.
Cleopatra, who loved beautiful things and hated ugliness, finally noticed Gudako, whose presence was overshadowed by Rin.
'How dazzling!' Cleopatra couldn't help but praise in her heart. If Rin in her Ishtar state, with her 'Manifestation of Beauty' skill, was like a scorching sun of beauty, then Gudako was a brilliant star that still shone under that sunlight.
"Did Rin create it? If it's a god, then it's not surprising! By the way, your name is Gudako, right? Would you like to come to my bedchamber tonight..."
Cleopatra paused, realizing her words could be easily misunderstood. She quickly waved her hand at Gudako and explained.
"Gudako, don't misunderstand. I mean, if you're willing, you can come to my bedchamber tonight, and I can teach you some magecraft knowledge you don't understand over the next few days!"
"This..."
Smack!
Having finished the drawing, Rin slapped Gudako on the head while she was hesitating.
"What 'this'? Did you forget what I said? Knowledge is the most powerful thing in this world. Don't waste an opportunity to gain it. You follow Cleopatra and learn well these next few days!"
Gudako clutched her aching head, her eyes teary as she nodded to Rin, then turned to bow to Cleopatra.
"Pharaoh, then I will be in your care for the next few days..."
After Rin expertly sold out her disciple, she clapped her hands at the two who were talking.
"Alright, you two step back a bit. I'm going to begin the summoning!"
With a look of pain on her face, Rin took out five saint quartz and reluctantly placed them beside the magic circle.
Cleopatra's eyes lit up as she saw the saint quartz for the first time. Although she was a noble Pharaoh of Egypt and had seen countless treasures of gold and silver in her life, it was the first time she had ever seen a gem like saint quartz, which radiated immense magical power and shimmered with iridescent light.
"Gudako, what are these gems of Rin's?"
Hearing Cleopatra's voice by her ear, Gudako quickly turned around and whispered.
"Pharaoh, this is saint quartz 2.0. Master created it by combining her jewel magecraft with saint quartz manufacturing technology and saint graph manufacturing technology. According to Master, the attributes and saint graphs of Heroic Spirits summoned with this will be stronger. Moreover, it can serve as an emergency mobile mana source to replenish magical energy!"
As she spoke, Gudako pulled three saint quartz from her bosom and displayed them in her palm before Cleopatra.
While Cleopatra was being stunned by Gudako's words, a smile curled on the lips of Rin, who was preparing for the summoning. She thought to herself, 'Gudako has grown up quite a bit!'
Indeed, Gudako's performance just now was entirely a double act with Rin, with the goal of obtaining those Egyptian secret arts in the hands of the last Pharaoh of ancient Egypt!
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