73

With a thud, Chiron's body dropped to the ground. There was an arrow in his forehead.

Atalante smugly smiled at her latest kill. That was her greatest kill by far. She has hunted down the Great Sage! The trainer of heroes. A trainer who trained the likes of Hercules and Achilles!

"What cruel lioness you are. Was it necessary to disable all the limbs before taking his life?" Ren asked her as he walked over with Jeanne and Saber Alter.

"You have a problem with my style of hunting?" She asked with a frown.

"Not at all; your style is your style. But in that happiness, you forgot that he was wasting time. In other words, he allowed you to hunt him down like this.

By this point, his Master is twenty miles away from here."

At that moment, her eyes widened for a second. She recalled that when she was using her seven arrows, Chiron was carrying a girl, but by the time they returned to their duel, that girl was gone.

"...Master, I thought you would take care of her." Atalante pouted at him.

"Me? Darling, you said that you would take care of it. And both of them fought you innately."

His response made sense to her. But she will not accept the simple fact that a prey escaped her.

"...then I will hunt her down." She was about to leave, but Ren stopped her.

"It's fine. I don't care about the Masters in the first place. We are here for that fake priest, and Morgan is already in the castle. She will take care of the Greater Grail."

As Ren explained, he got oddly close to her, and his hand moved towards her head.

Atalante TRIED to move away from him, but his hand ended on her head as he stroked her hair. He was touching those lion ears.

Her whole body twitched as her tail got very stiff.

"W-What are you doing!?" She tried to complain. If this were anyone lesser of a being, he would have chopped that person's hand.

But her aggressiveness only asks for more 'extreme' actions, so she is trying not to react with anger.

"Praising my lioness for her impressive achievements."

"I-I don't need such a thing!"

"As if I care about such minuscule things. If I took everything at face value, all my Servants would be gone ages ago, as they don't need 'things'.

Isn't that right, Alter?"

The pale blonde crossed her arms and looked away.

"I love seeing a 'tough' face before it melts away."

He smirked while saying that.

Regardless, Atalante tried to move away; she was starting to feel strange!

"You damn sadist! Let go of me!"

The Archer started to complain with an embarrassed look.

"Oh my! Is my Huntress opposing my good gesture?"

"Damn! Let go of me!"

Before she can complain more, a good feeling washes her over!

"Aghh~~~"

A moan escaped from the Huntress' mouth; this shocked Alter, who was enjoying the struggle of the Chaste Huntress.

"Hnnn~ What did you do to me!?"

"Hah, you noticed? I used my true magic to make your experience several times more warm from my hand."

"...Y-You are a crazy man!!!" Atalante was horrified that he would use his powers for such a petty thing!

Before she could complain more, Ren moved in, hugged her from behind, and started to whisper something interesting.

"How about this? I have something interesting for you. What about slaying a Saber for me?"

"...Saber?" For a second, Atalante forgot about her circumstances and focused on his voice.

"That's right. Mordred is having difficulty facing Siegfried, who can't be slain normally. But there is a way~."

"...his back, where Fafnir's blood never touched, thanks to a leaf." Atalante realised that after recalling what she got from Grail.

"Indeed. So you can snipe him from the back. What do you say?" He offered to her. He was hugging her tightly.

"...F-Fine."

Hearing the all-clear, he let go of her.

"I-I am not some house cat you can tame!"

Ren smiled with amusement since she knew she couldn't get violent with him. It only leaves tsundere-like behaviour.

"I know, My Lioness in a lion, you shouldn't compare yourself to a house cat."

His Archer blushed hearing that; she nearly stomped her foot.

"After this, I request a foot race! If you win, you can do whatever you want with me! Before that, no more random touching!"

After that, she jumped on a branch before dashing away.

"...So that's what a cornered lion looks like." Saber Alter casually commented.

"Do you need to do that to her?" Jeanne complained. At the same time, she didn't like what Atalante did to Chiron. There was no need for him to embarrass her like that.

"What are you saying, Jeanne? Should I do that to you instead?" He asked with a 'confused' look.

"...Umm…"

"Hah! He got you there. You shouldn't complain in the first place, MS Goody-two-shoes saint!" Alter snorted at the Ruler. She knows that her 'good' side is very similar to this Saint. It just makes her want to smack her just for that.

"Is just that—"

"Don't worry, Jeanne. If you want attention, just tell me. I can give you a couple years' worth of attention any time of the day."

Her mouth opened wide for a second. No!

"N-No, I am fine! Don't mind me!"

*Snort*

"She just remembered that you alter time any way you want." Alter grinned while seeing that panicky look.

"Happens. Now let's go; I want to see Atalante blush again."

~~~

"...Hmm, this is not bad, but not good either; this castle is very basic; I don't sense any enchantments on the walls. Same with flooring and ceiling.

If I were a buyer of this castle, I would give it 4 out of 10. However, it has a Greater Grail and Homunculi creation chambers. I would push it up to 5 out of 10." Morgan explained to the pair.

"Right…" Artoria was perplexed; she had no idea what to say. The concept of 'buying' a castle is new to her. No one used to do that in her era.

Castles are meant as a fortification of an area. To keep invaders at bay and slow them down.

It's not like some sort of a house or a flat. Her Camelot was another form of power.

Yet— ugh!

"Do you have any plans for this place, Your Grace?" Melusine asked curiously.

"Perhaps? I could place it inside Rhongomyniad and improve it over time. A place worthy of a Queen, such as myself."

The Dragon girl nodded her head a couple of times.

"It will be a child's play. You used to keep Fae Britain in a lance. It will be nothing if we talk about this place."

'These two are on a page I can't even grasp.' Artoria decided to stop talking and just listen. Maybe she will understand what they are talking about.

Or it's a Fae thing?

…

…

…

"...Oh, what do we have here?" Morgan's voice made the brown-haired teen stop in his tracks.

"I was wondering who was walking in my castle." The Fairy Queen said with an indifferent voice. Her indifference was hiding something cold.

"...Umm…this is Yggdmillennia Castle—"

"You mean it was." Morgan interrupted sharply.

"...Umm— I… " The brown-haired teen, still wet from head to toe, didn't know how to respond.

"...let me collect my stuff, and you can have the castle; what do you say?" He was pulling the straws by this point.

"Fine, get to it then."

With a nod, he rushed to his room; the trio could see that he was in quite bad shape. Not that they cared.

"You do realise that he is still a Master? There are two command seals on his hand." Artoria commented as she noticed black command seals on his right hand.

Since they are black, this means he is a Master of the Black faction.

"What of it? It's not like his Servant can do anything. The most dangerous Servant of this faction is dead." Morgan brushed her fingers through her hair.

"Even if they can do something, Melusine will care of them." The Fairy Queen pointed out the obvious outcome.

"...I guess."

"No guess—hard facts."

Morgan motioned for them to move. They still needed to explore more.

~~~

"What the hell!" By this point, you should be barbeque! Why can't I cut you!?" Mordred is getting pissed by this point.

"It's his myth; Siegfried bathed in Fafnir's blood, making him nearly invulnerable." The Necromancer said with a knowing look. He was getting annoyed as he still needed to hide from remnant Golems and Homunculi, who rushed out from the Castle.

'I thought those freaks took care of the small fry!'

With a Sorcerer and Fairy Queen in the area, all these should have been removed by this point!

"Ha! You think another Saber can take care of my Saber!?" The fat blond man had some of his courage back. He realised that Siegfried's weak spot was hard to get hit!

"Dream on Mercenary! I am the one who created the Homunculus of Yggdmillennia! They are mine! Now surround this punk and kill him!"

The albino people rushed out and tried to surround the necromancer but suddenly, a green streak of light slammed into Siegfried's back.

"Hiii!!!"

The blonde fat Master squeaked when he saw that.

His Servant just collapsed on the ground. Mordred looked confused by this as well.

"Huh? What the fuck? Why did he collapse like that?" The Knight of Rebellion walked over and kicked the corpse of fellow Saber.

"His weak spot! Someone sniped his weak spot!" Kairi said after killing another homunculi.

Second later, Siegfried ceased to exist as he was dead.

Seconds later, more arrows descended as all of them, Homunculi and the Golems, were killed.

"What the hell is going on!? An Archer!?"

Second later, Ren with Saber Alter and Jeanne arrived; the next second, a lion girl jumped down and landed behind her Master. She was holding a bow. This detail made Mordred realise what was going on.

This lion girl killed her prey!

"Oi! That was my opponent!"

"You are too slow. Besides, you couldn't kill him either way." Atalante said with an almost bored tone.

"Why you! Are you saying I can't do my job!?"

"No, but if you insist, then—maybe?"

Red lightning started to crack around Mordred as she was ready to kill.

"Calm yourself. How about a game?" Ren interrupted the pair.

"Hmm?"

"What do you mean, Master?"

The pair looked interested.

"Caster of Red is still around. He looks like a nobleman, a scribe; kill him, and we will have a winner. What do you say?"

"Heh! Interesting! Fine! I am in!"

"So do I! I am on a kill streak! This will be my fourth Servant kill!" Atalante nodded as she summoned her bow.

"Good, then he is in the area. Try to look for him." Ren explained with a smile.

"This will be easy! With my Mana Burst, I will catch up with him." Mordred jumped on the castle walls and looked around.

Same with Atalante, who elegantly ended up on the Gatehouse roof looking around.

"There is no quiet moment with you around." The Necromancer said to the Sorcerer.

"Just trying to entertain my favourite Lion," Ren said with a casual shrug.

By that moment remaining, Golems and Homunculi tried to surround them. This was to allow the fat blonde man to escape.

"It appears the several ants are still around."

Saber Alter commented as she summoned her sword.

"If you are interested, you can take care of them."

"Fine."

"Then I will find the Master; Yggdmillennia's people have a bounty on their heads. I can get some extra cash." The Necromancer casually commented as he loaded his gun.

"Suit yourself, but there still should be a Black faction member with a Servant."

"...Hmm, you are right. We haven't seen an Assassin."

"That too."

"...Huh? So that's two then?"

"Pretty much."