"Ah...I'm really sorry, Miss Thrúd."
"Please, don't apologize, Your Majesty," Thrúd replied gently. "It's understandable to be distracted since I happen to resemble your friend."
Shirou smiled at her. "You're very kind, Miss Thrúd."
Gazing at her lovely, charming face again, he still marveled to himself - she looked uncannily similar to Gilgamesh. Like a maternal, gender-swapped version of his friend.
And that striking resemblance was exactly why he had frozen up on first sight of her. Though, he did wonder what kind of expression that jerk Gilgamesh would have if he ever met her. Would it send him into a rage? Or would he be amused?
He felt a twinge of curiosity at the thought.
"Thank you so much, Eternal King and Lady Artoria, for taking down that black dragon that broke into Midgard."
Salter waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, I didn't do anything. His Majesty here took it down all by himself."
"You have my gratitude regardless," Thrúd thanked them again.
"It was no trouble," he said amiably. "We could hardly ignore it once it appeared."
"Truly the deeds of legendary Heroes!" Skadi declared admiringly. A perplexed look then crossed her pretty face. "But...wait, aren't you two Alter Servants?"
Shirou's heart skipped a beat. With a casual smile, he said, "Indeed, our Master messed up the ritual, so we ended up being summoned as Alters. But don't worry, we won't make trouble or they'd never let us hear the end of it."
"Master? So you two were summoned by Chaldea then?"
He smiled. "What else could it be, Miss Thrúd?"
Oh no, Salter thought. He's lying again!
She lowered her head, hoping no one would notice her.
Even as an Alter, Saber was still Saber deep down. Lying didn't sit well with her noble spirit, but she knew deception had strategic value for a king. So she stayed silent, fading into the background so as not to be questioned.
"I see, so you were summoned by Chaldea," Thrúd heaved a sigh of relief and asked, "By the way, where is your Master, your Majesty?"
"We got separated," he shook his head with a gloomy expression. "When our Master first summoned us, something went wrong with the ritual because of a powerful mana blast. It caused us to get split up from our Master."
"Interference from a powerful mana blast?"
"Yes," he nodded, gesturing at the sky. With a serious face he went on, "Wasn't some powerful Noble Phantasm used yesterday? It was the massive energy from that which messed up the summoning, separating us from our Master..."
Salter raised her head slightly, watching him spin lies with a straight face. She couldn't help twitching her mouth.
He'd casually altered their whole experience and turned it into backstory about being summoned?
And he sounded so smooth and believable...
Lying clearly came naturally to him!
Just how good was he at deceiving people?!
"I-Is that so..." Thrúd turned pale.
Oh no! The thing that attacked and separated them from their Master...was Lady Skadi's Great God's Declaration!
If they found out...it could provoke more hostility! Thinking of this, Thrúd's complexion grew even more unnatural.
"What's the matter, Miss Thrúd?" he asked. "You don't look well."
"N-No...I'm fine." She waved a hand awkwardly. "I just haven't recovered from the battle...I'll be alright soon, don't worry about me, Your Majesty."
"Is that so?" He eyed her suspiciously.
She nodded over and over like a pecking chick, thinking frantically, Can't make more enemies! If these powerful Heroic Spirits turn against us, Lady Skadi will have a meltdown!
Just then, the green-haired Valkyrie behind Thrúd spoke up stiffly, "Big sister is actually worried His Majesty will find out Lady Skadi fired that Noble Phantasm yesterday.Valkyrie C 11475 smiled as she spoke."
Shirou raised an eyebrow. So it was Skadi who attacked them?
The red-haired Valkyrie gazed hollowly at her sister. "You revealed big sister's inner thoughts. She's going to kill you now. Valkyrie B 224 worriedly reminded in a small voice."
"Sister Thrúd won't... mmph..." she couldn't speak anymore as Thrúd hastily covered her mouth.
Still muffling her sister with one hand, Thrúd gave him a forced smile, "Please excuse my silly sister and her jokes, Your Majesty! Lady Skadi values Chaldea's Heroic Spirits greatly. It's absolutely! Absolutely! impossible she would attack you for any reason. Hahaha..."
She laughed awkwardly, then dragged the green-haired girl away and began some loving education.
The redhead gazed hollowly after them. "Will sister Thrúd silence Model C permanently? Valkyrie B 224 was very worried and said in a small voice."
Shirou walked over and patted the redhead's shoulder, smiling gently. "They're just joking around, no need to worry."
She looked back with hollow, stiff eyes. "Meaning unclear. Initiating search...no definitions found. Uploading incomprehensible phrase 'joke.' Uploader: Valkyrie B 224."
Shirou glanced at the other Valkyries, then said nothing as he stepped back.
"They're very similar to me," Salter remarked.
He turned his head slightly to look at her.
"Don't give me that look, Eternal King. If the Saber of your time went through what I did, you'd understand. I'm not human, but an ideal vessel for the perfect King made by humans. The red dragon protecting Camelot."
"She's different from you. Her name is Artoria Pendragon. She's not King Arthur - she's my woman."
Salter's body shuddered, a faint smile touching her delicate face. "Yes...I really want to meet her. The me who is not king, but woman."
"Actually, you've already seen her long ago."
"When did I see her?" she was puzzled.
"Aren't you Artoria Pendragon yourself?" He gazed into her golden eyes. "There's no difference between you two. She learned to enjoy what she protected. You still exclude yourself from that joy. Once you open yourself to it - that's when you'll meet her."
She smiled. "Are you lecturing me or deceiving me?"
"What makes you think I'm deceiving you?" he asked strangely.
"Because I just found out you're rather good at fooling people."
Shirou laughed. "Well, you caught on quicker than most. I've always been good at lying. Some might say I'm the world's biggest liar."
He glanced over at the green-haired Valkyries. Unlike Thrúd, these Valkyries looked and behaved as if they had no self-awareness or emotions.
Salter was right - they were just like her. These Valkyries were not real goddesses. Rather, they were high-level robots or puppets imbued with divinity.
It seemed Thrúd had sternly warned her to be quiet - the green-haired Valkyrie made no sound this time.
"Please excuse my little sister's rude remarks, Your Majesty," Thrúd said with an elegant smile, hoping to gloss over the other Valkyrie's tactless remarks.
Though she spoke calmly, inwardly she was panicking, mentally pleading "Please believe me, just believe me!" over and over.
"No problem. I understand," Shirou replied with an easy smile, keeping his real thoughts to himself.
Noting his ready acceptance of her apology, she exhaled in relief.
She could sense his sheer power. Mana fluctuations were just an indicator of how big someone's mana reserves were, not how strong they actually were.
According to the Valkyrie network readings, Shirou's mana levels registered at 2.7 million. But in terms of might, he rivaled even Skadi.
No doubt about it - he had to be a Grand Servant, Thrúd thought. Even with some kind of restrictions holding back his full power, Grand Servants were forces to be reckoned with. The way he took down Nidhogg so easily was proof enough.
So when he took her words at face value, it came as a huge relief to her. She turned around and ordered the Valkyries to fan out and track down the other six who were still missing.