76

Fate in Denial c76

April 12

Jeanne panicked. What does it mean they are going to meet again?

"Master, what do you mean by meeting again? You can't be serious! That man is dangerous! He nearly ended the world!" The saint wanted to reason with her Master as she thought he would summon the fake priest.

"I am not going to summon him. I don't need to. He is a Hero recorded in Throne of Heroes. The world itself will summon him again at some time." Ren explained to her as he knew what his blonde Saintess was thinking.

"Oh."

"Yes, just relax and don't think beyond a certain point, as you will only get more anxious thinking about pointless things that may or may not happen." He explained what it means to worry about the future. As someone who wields time, he knows the best not to bother about extras like she does.

After all, he has a witch for his wife, who has been around for a long time. Morgan stopped bothering about such things as she realised how pointless it was. It's more fun not knowing what will happen.

And Ren agrees to some extent. He knows the general future, but the rest? He is going along like it's some sort of amusement park for the Magician.

"As you say. I will follow your lead." Jeanne simply sighed. All she can do is try to mitigate the damage.

"You need to relax. Being uptight like this makes it extremely easy to startle you," Her Master explained.

'That's because you keep on doing crazy things! Because of your actions, I must be aware of such things constantly!' The Ruler-class Servant pouted internally. She would have an easier time if he were less flippant about his actions!

"As you wish." That's all she could say. But, at that moment, his finger went on her cheek and poked her. 

His actions made her take a step to the side, but it was pointless as he simply rearranged the space so that she could not move the way she wanted. Seeing that he is using his powers even for such minuscule things makes her eyebrows tremble.

"See, for a second, you thought that I would do something~"

"And you did!"

"But, not what you expected~"

Her cheeks started to inflate, but Ren ignored that as he continued to have fun with his Saint.

One thing is certain: having the Saint here makes him quite happy. He has another source of teasing. His Knight is slowly evolving into getting over those teases, but Jeanne is still fresh on that front.

However, the fun eventually ended when his Servants returned to him. Atalante and Sabers returned to him as they cleared up the remaining stranglers.

"Well, this was fun." The necromancer carrying the fat blonde man got the attention of the Sorcerer. 

The Ex-Master of Saber of Black is tied up like some baggage.

"Oh, you caught him. Not bad." Ren walked over and inspected the prey bounty hunter had.

"That reminds me." With hand motion, a gold cup appeared above his palm.

"For playing along, I shall remove the curse you have on your family crest." The cup glowed, and Kairi's crest briefly heated up. This reaction happened so fast that the bounty hunter didn't even have time to react.

"...Thanks?"

"Don't mention it. It was the least that I could do. You help me, and I help you, even if this help is to save your own skin." He shrugged as the cup disappeared.

"I see."

"That trolling you did on the fake priest was worth it." Ren chuckled while recalling what Kairi had said to Shirou. That alone was enough. That priest spends hours trying to think about Mordred's identity.

"...Oh."

'To think he saw that too. Damn, these Magicians. They see everything.'

The Necromancer had chills going down his back.

"Yes, anyway, have fun with your hunts, Kairi Sisigou." Ren shook his hand for a second before returning to his Servants. He could see how Atalante and Jeanne were looking at him.

They had just seen the grail in action. Jeanne never considered that he could casually use it like that while Atalante's tail went from one side to another. She was excited that he would use that cup to fulfil her wish.

"Yeah, See ya."

It was strange, but Kairi had a grin on his face. His family crest is fine now! It was what he wanted! 

Holy smokes!

As the Necromancer was leaving, the fat man tried to struggle and beg, but everyone ignored him as if he didn't exist.

As the pair were gone, Ren looked at his selection of blondes.

'Now that I think about it, I only have blondes.'

Even Atalante was greenish blonde. The only exception is Melusine, who is white-haired. Even Gray is blondish-platinum. 

"What is it?" Artoria asked him as she was confused by his peculiar look.

"Nothing. It would seem I have a thing for blondes." 

He said that they all looked at each other, inspecting their hair.

"That's just your luck." Alter said with crossed arms while looking away. Is he complaining about them!?

 "Good enough for me," he replied with a smirk, which made Alter roll her eyes at him.

…

…

…

Following Ren's guidance, the group walked back to the castle and arrived at one of the workshops.

It was underground where mana could easily saturate and don't leave easily. 

Morgan had set up her 'shop' here. She was using her magecraft to create a hollow Rhongomyniad.

"...What is that?" The pair of Sabers noticed the object in the Fairy Queen's hands.

It was glowing in a peculiar light, illuminating the whole stone room.

"Rhongomyniad is a form of magecraft. She is using it as an item, with which she can hold a piece of land inside a replica of the lance," Ren explained to her.

"That's how she kept her lands from getting pruned even when the anchor was no longer there," The Magician explained to her.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Just how absurd her mastery over the lance has become?" Artoria thought with a frown. To think that her older sister's fairy counterpart could reach such mastery over an item which should not even be considered a style of magecraft.

"One can achieve high levels when you spend hundreds of years practising something.

There is a reason why people call immortality a curse and a blessing.

When you treat it as a blessing, you can achieve things like you see before you." Ren explained to her.

"Or you can just cheat with time manipulation." Alter dropped her two pieces. She remembers how he decided to create King of Heroes Noble Phantasm as if it were another afternoon in Ren's household.

"Or you can just cheat." The Magician smiled at Alter as he agreed with her.

"I am not going to comment." Jeanne doesn't even want to start with any of this. She is sticking with her crystalised legends.

"Don't be a spoilsport. You should see what Master did when he was just a simple Magician of one True Magic." Alter grinned as she looked at Jeanne.

"Hmm? What did I do?" He tried to recall anything important besides summoning his wife and acquiring his other two Servants.

"The fact you nearly drove me mad? Or that my previous Master almost went insane, too?"

"Oh, that. If you are wondering, it was not my intention. I simply wanted to win the war." Ren now recalled that Alter was a regular Saber back then.

"...What did he do?" Saber was now curious.

"Nothing big. I think Morgan drove her to despair, to the point that she inverted. Still, to this day, we wonder how such a thing happened. But I think it's related to the Sword."

Some sweat appeared on Saber's forehead. For a second, she wondered how intense Alter's despair was for this to happen.

"Nothing big… you say nothing big!?" Jeanne felt that she needed to defend a fellow Servant.

"Hey! I don't need Goody-two-shoes to step up for me!" Now Alter felt like she had gone too far if Saint stepped in.

"But—"

"No butts! Just go rescue cats from trees or something!" Alter pushed the blonde away.

Just like that, the theme switched to something weird as the Servants split up to do something else while Morgan continued to work on her magecraft.

Around early morning, everyone left the castle as the Fairy Queen finished with her artefact.

A greenish-blue light consumed the castle, leaving behind a large chunk of missing land. It looked like someone had taken a bite out of it.

"That was quick." Atalante was surprised by the speed of this. These Fairies are dangerous.

"Yes, well, it was a quick work." Morgan wasn't that proud of her handiwork.

"Someone is itching to return to our cruise?" Ren chuckled, realising why such a rushed creation.

"Of course, we still need to marry somewhere again—preferably at a wedding of a different culture." Morgan simply can't forget the promises they made from a date to another wedding. The quicker they return to their timeline, the better.

Atalante and Jeanne looked confused for a second. They were married, so why another marriage? It felt like a waste of time.

Only Melusine looks excited as she can finally see the ceremony properly for the first time.

"As my Fairy Queen wishes. I suppose we could do a Chinese-style one—red robes, with Phoenixes and Dragons." Ren suggested this to his wife, who walked over to his side.

The beauty grabbed his hand before starting to hug it.

"We could. Once we are back on the ship, we can discuss this in more detail," Morgan pondered in a happy voice.

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~

"You did well. The major timeline branch is secure. The consequences of this are unknown. But as promised, you have access to the Counter-Force." A female, emotionless voice spoke directly into Ren's head. The magician looked at the Ocean before him from the moving ship.

'That's fine with me. I won't use this anytime soon, '  Ren replied.

"It's the travelling powers which you wanted. I suggest visiting the Grand Order timeline with which you are familiar." 

'You have been snooping around, didn't you?' 

"We might have been."

'At least you are not lying.'

"That's a human thing to do. We are a system."

'Who behaves like a woman. Yes, I know.' Ren sarcastically replied to Gaia and Alaya. Both were trying to speak to him. It was like a feeling that the twins were trying to use a single PC to chat with him.

"Your Human humour is alien to us." Even though they said it like that, he could feel some anger behind it.

"Whatever, I will consider your suggestion. At this moment, I have an attention-hungry wife to deal with and a Saint to tease." Ren waved his hand and threw the connection away. He had no patience for a system that wanted to milk him for more power.

"Are you done with those two?" Morgan pushed her sunglasses down and looked at him, who walked back to her.

"Yeah, they already suggested my next trip." He replied with an eye roll.

"To think that my 'mother' is such a slave driver." The Fairy Queen sarcastically called Gaia her mother.

Ren snorted when he heard that. He went over and lay on the sunbathing bed beside his wife. The witch placed another pair of sunglasses on him and then proceeded to snuggle.

"Gah! Why do I have to show things around!?" Ereshkigal complained as she saw those two detach from the rest of them!

"You are my student, so do your thing." Ren 'ordered' to instruct the newcomers.

"...Damn it all! First, I don't fight, and now I am stuck as a guide!?"

The Goddess-turned-Servant wanted to complain about where justice was in this.

"I am sure you will do a great job!" Jeanne always tries to motivate, but to Erishkigal, she looked far too bright even to her.

"I am more impressed with these artefacts. They can hide my tail and ears." Atalante commented on her lack of tail and ears. It's nice, in a way. She felt like in her old days when she was just a huntress and not a hybrid.

"Can I join them instead?" Melusine pointed at the pair of Artorias who were waging war on each other with water guns. To the Dragoness, it looked like nice shooting practice.

"Ugh…" Ereshkigal wanted to bang her head.