Archer, Gilgamesh, withdrew on his own, claiming he'd "had his fun."
Rider, Iskandar, raced over from the Tohsaka residence in Miyama Town, driving his Noble Phantasm.
Back when the battle with Gilgamesh first broke out, Shiomi and Artoria had already retreated into the forest and activated a magical communication device.
It was a small tool crafted by Morgan before they set out. Just a tiny bit of mana was enough to trigger it, alerting the other party—no matter how far away—that something urgent had happened and help was needed.
That said, from the sheer magnitude of the mana surge when the Excalibur clashed with Enuma Elish, Shiomi figured Morgan, back at home, had probably sensed it too.
When he saw the familiar ox cart descending slowly and caught sight of Iskandar and Waver aboard, Shiomi finally let out a breath of relief. His grip loosened, and Artoria slipped from his arms. He hurried to catch her, and the two of them collapsed to the ground together.
He had already spent the last of his strength. Even though Iskandar arrived quickly, Shiomi had been about to use a Command Spell to summon Morgan.
"Hey, kid, can you still hold on?" Rider asked seriously as he jumped off the cart.
"I'm fine. It's not too bad," Shiomi replied quietly, putting away his red spear.
Rider didn't waste time. "Hey, kid. You can use healing magecraft, right?"
"Uh… well…" Waver looked awkward. His magecraft skills weren't yet good enough for proper healing spells.
A minor cut or scrape was doable, but Shiomi was covered in injuries and looked like he was on the verge of collapse—that was way beyond what Waver could handle.
"It's fine. I've got this," Shiomi said, raising a hand to stop him.
As if to prove it, the runes on his body began to glow, and his external wounds started healing at a pace visible to the naked eye. Waver guessed that within another minute or two, Shiomi's internal and external injuries would be fully healed.
Still, this kind of self-activated healing spell couldn't compare to the efficiency of a Magic Crest passed down through a Magus Family.
"Seriously? If you had a trump card, you could've said so. Got us worried for nothing," Waver grumbled, arms crossed now that things had calmed down.
Shiomi just gave a silent smile as Waver got a light smack on the head from Rider.
"I'm fine, but Saber's not in great shape," Shiomi added.
"No… I'm alright," Artoria said, her eyes dim. She tried to speak evenly, even politely, but her voice was clearly weak. "Thanks to your magecraft."
She had been the main force in the Noble Phantasm clash, but if Shiomi hadn't acted in time to deploy a defensive spell and reduce the impact of Gilgamesh's attack, her injuries would have been far worse.
"This isn't the time to act tough," Shiomi sighed. "I'll use Runes to treat you for now. Your Spirit Core isn't damaged, but since you can't go spirit form to recover, we'll have to deal with the rest back home."
"Thank you," Artoria said with a faint smile before closing her eyes to receive the healing, conserving her strength.
With both of them stabilizing, Rider and Waver finally relaxed.
The moment they got the emergency signal, they'd rushed from the Tohsaka residence using Rider's Noble Phantasm, fully expecting to face off against Gilgamesh in a brutal fight.
"But it really is strange—Gold-glitter actually ran off on his own." Iskandar didn't think the guy was deliberately avoiding a fight. "I thought we'd end up using our Noble Phantasms to go head-to-head."
"Who knows. Archer always does whatever he wants and tends to underestimate his opponents," Shiomi offered his thoughts. "Maybe he thought it wasn't worth it and wants to wait until we're back in peak condition to take us all out in one go."
Waver pursed his lips. "Not sure if that counts as arrogance or something else…"
"Either way, we've come up empty on our end. All we know is that the Church's Overseer, Risei Kotomine, was killed," Shiomi said, using the healing downtime to share intel. "From the looks of the scene, it was likely someone he trusted who struck him from behind while he was completely off guard."
Still, Shiomi hadn't expected Kirei Kotomine to actually commit patricide. But now he understood—if they didn't stop Kirei, the situation would only spiral further once the tainted Holy Grail ended up in his hands.
"Same on our side. No sign of that Tokiomi Tohsaka guy," Rider said, stroking his beard.
Waver, leaning on the ox cart, added, "But the Tohsaka family's barrier was practically inactive. Whoever maintained it must have been taken away. We searched every room and only found a small bloodstain in the study."
"Judging by the amount of blood, it definitely wasn't fatal," Rider noted. "If someone meant to kill him, they wouldn't clean up right after. Looks like they stopped the bleeding immediately after striking."
For a Servant familiar with the sight of blood, judging whether a victim died on the spot wasn't hard.
"Then Tokiomi Tohsaka is probably still alive," Shiomi said, recalling what Kirei had mentioned the night before at Einzbern Castle. "He took the core of the Einzbern Lesser Grail, saying that as long as he had the core, it didn't matter what happened to the vessel…"
Waver's expression shifted. "You mean… Tokiomi Tohsaka was used as the core of the Holy Grail?"
"I'm afraid so."
Shiomi nodded.
As the treatment wrapped up, he had mostly recovered, and Artoria's condition had stabilized as well.
"We'll need to squeeze into Rider's ox cart for the trip back," Shiomi said.
"No problem." Artoria, never one to seek comfort, naturally accepted the situation.
The King of Conquerors proudly patted the cart's front seat. "Don't let the cramped space fool you—once this baby takes off, it's better than any modern ride."
Shiomi gave a quiet smile and moved to lift Artoria, who quickly tried to push him away.
"I can walk on my own. Besides, what kind of ruler lets themselves be carried like that?"
"As a ruler, you should listen to your physician," Shiomi said. "You're more badly hurt than I am, King of Knights."
One sentence was all it took to silence her. Artoria reluctantly let Shiomi carry her up onto the cart. Rider watched, clearly amused.
"You're pretty good with women."
"No, I'm just good with kings," Shiomi replied as he settled Artoria onto the cart.
Though not serving as her vassal, he had spent more years by that queen's side than he could count...
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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