(19) Teacher

'How could I forgot such an important thing!'

His talk with Romani reminded him of the quest that Allan gave him... His sole reason for staying in this universe. This gave him some urgency to hasten his plan... which was to summon a new servant using the True Holy Grail.

'I need to inform Tamamo first. Anna, do you have any idea where she might be?'

("...I'm not familiar enough with your retainers to fully understand what they are thinking. But I do know a method for you to track your servant's locations.")

'Oh? and that method is?'

("It's quite simple actually. You could use your bond with your servant as a guide to their location. Just concentrate and focus their image in your mind. If your desire were strong enough, a long invisible thread will appear. All you have to do now is follow it and it will lead you to their location.")

He followed what he was told as he closed his eyes and began imagining the face and voluptuous figure of Tamamo. He waited for a while but unfortunately, nothing happened.

("Your desire is not strong enough, let your emotion and desire drive you.")

He nodded as he tried once again, this time, he let his lust control his mind. He began to imagine a naked body of Tamamo in bed as she begged-

("It works!)

That beautiful fantasy was ultimately shattered by Anna's reminder.

Opening his eyes, he saw a floating red thread that is tied to his ring finger. The thread was very long, as it continues to float and stretch down the corridor. Not wasting any more time, he followed it.

As he follows the thread, the direction where it leading him was extremely familiar to him. He becomes surprised when the thread leads him was his library.

Tamamo, who was peacefully reading a book, notice Alexander's arrival. She was startled at first but she recovered very quickly. Before she greeted him, she put down the book she was reading on the table.

"Good Morning, Master. I'm sorry for using your library without your notice."

"No, it's okay, I came here because I wanted to talk to you. Is that okay?"

"Of course, whatever master's wishes, I'll do my best to fulfill it."

Hearing her bold claim, Alexander thought of the lustful fantasy he imagines earlier...

"Master? What's the matter?"

"No, it's nothing." He quickly shook his head to remove such lewd thoughts before changing the topic soon after.

"Anyway, I have something important to discuss."

"I'm listening, Master."

"I'm planning on summoning another servant using the same method I used to summon you. I want you to be there to welcome your new companion. Do you have the time to be there?

"I do, I'll gladly join you."

"That's great. I hope which heroic servant I summon, the two of you would get along."

"Of course, Master." She then follows up with a murmured, "But I do wish it was not a woman..."

Alexander doesn't know if she did it on purpose for him to hear it or she just forgot that he has an amazing hearing, nonetheless, he ignored it for now.

"Then meet me in front of my room 40 minutes from now."

After telling her the time and place for their rendezvous, they parted.

*********

Exactly at 11 am, everyone arrived in pairs. Mash with Ritsuka, Da Vinci with Romani, and lastly, Alexander with Tamamo.

"So, what's the special occasion, Alexander? Are you perhaps throwing a welcome party for me? Aww, you don't have to do that." Da Vinci teased said.

"Yeah... no. It's more important and serious than that. But knowing you, you would probably love to see it."

"Oh, my! You do know how to catch a woman's attention. You got me an interest in your little gathering."

"I know you guys have a lot of questions, but you should see it with your eyes."

Without further ado, he let everyone entered his room.

"Wow! This room looks so fancy. Did you decorate it on your own?" The self-proclaimed genius asked.

"Yeah, I did. Anyhow, you guys just need to watch from the sideline, and please, don't touch anything..."

Without waiting for any response, he summons the True Holy Grail from his inventory. Soon, the golden cup appears in his right hand which caused a commotion from his companions.

"A holy Grail?!"

"Such pure magical energy... This Grail is in a completely different league from the grail we saw in Fuyuki..."

'Anna, activate the grail.'

("On it.")

What happened next was similar to the previous summoning...

A large quantity of mana was sucked out from his body. This time, Alexander was prepared for the dizziness. He was able to recover faster so he remains perfectly standing. The Grail then greedily absorbs the visible mana. Everyone watches in dismay as a blue circle appeared below the golden cup as it slowly rotates clockwise as it did in the past. Then what comes after was the familiar bright light similar to that of the sun illuminated the whole room.

As the light slowly vanished, there, standing like a goddess that descent from the heavens, was an extremely beautiful woman with long purple hair that reach her thighs. She has the same blood-red eyes as Alexander. What caught Alexander's attention was that she was wearing a full-body outfit that highlights her voluptuous body.

As a young man, he couldn't help but admire her body. He only stares at her body for a split second though as his eyes linger around the red spear In her right hand. It was the same weapon he usually wielded, Gáe Bolg.

In the memories he inherits, there is only one woman in Celtic mythology that wields the legendary curse spear, she is none other than the queen and the gatekeeper of the land of the shadows, Scáthach.

Everyone stared at her with widened eyes. Not only she was extremely beautiful, but the aura she emits made everyone in the room feel like they were facing a formidable enemy.

"Tell me, are you the one who will bring the death that I seek?"

Her voice was ambiguous as it was deprived of any sort of emotion, and yet, it contains so many emotions at the same time. What Alexander and Tamamo felt was the deep sadness and longing hidden beneath the indifferent facade of her voice.

Hearing what she request, Alexander was at a loss for words. He opened his mouth as he tried to come up with a proper answer. But it seems the words got stuck in his throat as no words come out, he was hesitating.

If she was who he thinks she is, then, she was the perfect candidate for teaching as she was a famous legend who taught legendary heroes of the past. Cu Chulainn was one of them.

But the reason why he was hesitating is that he finds it a bit of a pity that he would have to kill such a beautiful woman. He was aware that it was a stupid reason to hesitate. But in the end, he only just felt that. If that was what she really wanted, he would do everything in his power to do so.

"If that was the reason why you answer my call, then yes. I would do my best to fulfill that wish of yours."

She didn't respond, she only gazes at his eyes trying to find any sort of deception or trickery. But it was proven futile as she saw that Alexander was serious about his promise. She then nodded.

Everyone finally relaxed as the tense atmosphere in the air dissipate. That was proven a mistake as the woman disappeared, only then to appear a few meters in front of Alexander with the tip of Gáe Bolg approaching his heart at fast speed.

Since Alexander was caught off guard, he would have not expected that the first action of his second servant was aiming at his life.

Out of instinct, he leans his body to the right. Thanks to that, the spear that was aiming for his heart was now approaching his left shoulder. He grits his teeth as he waited for the pain...

Seconds passed by but the pain didn't come. The tip of the spear halted a few millimeters away from his clothes.

""Alex/Master!""

"You're way too open. Never let your guard down even for a single moment."

"That... was that a test?"

"Yes," She answer as pulled her spear away. "And you failed miserably. And you," she then faced turns towards Tamamo who is standing beside Alexander, staring at her with vigilant.

"You also failed, the fact that your reaction was even slower than your master is disappointing."

Tamamo grips her hand into a fist. She wanted to argue but she knows that the woman was correct. She let her guard down which almost cost her master's life.

"But you can be at ease. The reason why you called for me is to fix that weakness of yours, to train you into a powerful warrior, am I correct? Master."

"...that's right."

"Well then, will that girl also join us?" She pointed at the pink-haired kouhai.

Mash, who change into her battle outfit was bewildered when she was included.

"M-me?"

"Yes, you. I could see the potential for you to become a powerful warrior."

"What do you think, senpai?" She looked at Ritsuka and asked.

"I think you should join them, Mash, you want to be strong right? I think this is a good opportunity. That's what my guts are telling me."

"I-i see, alright then, please take care of me." she then bows.

"Eto, I'm sorry for the interruption. But, could you please tell us your Identity?" Romani, who have been standing on the sidelines, asked.

She again did not respond, she only observed from top to bottom.

Romani was nervous. Although the one eyeing him out was a beautiful woman, but that woman was also very dangerous. Like a beautiful flower full of thorns.

Who knows, maybe she will test him as she did to Alexander. Thankfully though, she didn't do anything as she only observed him from a distance.

"You don't have to worry, everyone in this can be trusted," Alexander said.

"I'll be the judge of that." She argued. Alexander could only shrug at her response.

She then began to observe everyone in the room one by one but found nothing suspicious. It was awkward for everyone but thankfully, it only takes her for a minute to finish what she was doing.

Seeing that nothing was out of the ordinary, she announced, "Very well. I'm the queen of the land of shadows, Lord of spirits, Scáthach."

"Scáthach? the one in Ulster Cycle?"

"Ulster cycle? Scáthach?"

"You don't know her, senpai?" Mash asked in a whisper.

"Um, no..." He shyly replied.

"Hm, from what I could remember, Scáthach is a legendary warrior and a Queen from Celtic Mythology, Ulster cycle. She was a famous figure for she was a teacher of great heroes, Cu Chulainn that we met in Fuyuki was one of them."

"Ah, I see, Thank you, Mash."

"You're Welcome-"

"Are the two of you done talking?"

"Eek!" They yelped in surprise, "We're sorry."

"Now, now, no need to scare them." Da Vinci spoke.

"That wasn't my attention, but, forgive my bluntness but who are you people?"

"Oh, my. We forgot to introduce ourselves now, do we? I'm Leonardo Da Vinci, a heroic spirit summoned by Chaldea, at your service."

"Chaldea?"

"I'm the head doctor of Chaldea and its temporary director, Romani Archaman. Chaldea is..."

Romani then explain the location, purpose, and facilities in Chaldea and the current state of the world.

"I see, so the world is finally reaching its end..." Scáthach mumbled to herself.

"Let's talk about that later, for now, you should get to know at least the name of everyone in this room."

Everyone then proceeded with their introduction one by one...

After listening to everyone's introduction, she then turns her head to faced Alexander and asked, "Then, master, would please enlighten me for what did you do to this body?"

Her question caught everyone's attention. Looking at her, they could not find anything out of the ordinary excluding Da Vinci. She instantly notices the abnormalities with Scáthach.

"Are you referring to your body that is made of flesh and blood rather than Ether?"

(Ether is one of the Five Great Elements. It also is called the Fifth Imaginary Factor. It combines itself with any of the other four Elements in order to actualize the mysteries of Thaumaturgy. - Wiki)

"Huh? wait, hold a second, you mean that Alexander summons an actual living being rather than a spirit?!" The doctor shouted in shock.

"You only notice that now? She is not the only one, In fact, miss fox over there is also the same. I'm guessing this is the reason why you bring us along with you?"

"Hm." Alexander nods.

"...Is that even possible?" Romani who was still in a state of shock, asked.

All eyes then shifted their attention to Alexander.

"The Grail that I used to summon both of the girls is very special. As you may have noticed, their bodies are made of tissues similar to that of an ordinary human." Alexander explained. "But if you're looking for an answer, then sorry to disappoint you, even I do not know."

He, of course, lied. The reason for so is that he naturally knows how valuable the grail is. As the grail gives the owner to build a temporary connection to the root.

If the magus association found out this, they would send all their powerful magus to steal the grail from him as for a magus, their number one goal is the root and the grail will be the answer to their unachievable dream.

Although the world may be fucked right now, then what about the future? What if after saving the world, someone would sell the information to the association, or an enemy that could read minds, etc.

Thoughts like this made Alexander hesitate to disclose such information to everyone. It's not that he didn't trust them, it's more a countermeasure to prevent such situation from happening.

"Eh? really? such a bummer... Oh!" a lightbulb then appear above her head as she clapped her hand as she said, "Then let me experiment on it. I'm curious as to what other functions that golden cup hide."

Hearing her suggestion, Alexander hesitates for a second before he conceded. Since it was Da Vinci who asked, knowing her from their small interaction, he knows that she is the type of person who mostly does things out of curiosity, she has an unbelievable amount of knowledge inside that head of hers, so he was not afraid that if she discovers the function of the grail, she would disclose it to anyone. But if the thought ever crosses her mind, he would not hesitate to eliminate her before anything could have happened.

"Great!" she celebrated with sparkles in her eyes, "When do I start?"

"Later, for now, everyone should rest in their room. I wanted to rest for a bit since the summoning took a toll on my body."

"Yes, that's a good idea, master. Your face is quite paled for a while now. Are you okay?" Tamamo asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. A good rest is all I need..."

"Hm, since your condition is not advised for training, you will be excused. The two of you, however, will be not."

"Wait, we're going to train right now?"

"Yes, the earlier the better..." She argues. she then turns her head towards Romani and asked, "Romani, was it?"

"Um, is there anything I could help you with?"

"You briefly mentioned earlier that you have a training facility, am I correct?"

"Yes, we do."

"Then could you lead me to it?"

"Of course, it will be my honor."

"Thank you, then the two of you should come as well."

"But..."

"The both of you should go, don't worry too much, I'll soon join you after I'm done resting."

After hearing Alexander's words, they finally nodded as the four of them left the room.

"Then what about the two of you?"

"I'll join them since I'm a bit worried about Mash."

"I see, then what about you?" He asked the brown-haired woman.

"Since the party is already over, I'm going back to my room now. Don't forget your promise, m'kay?"

"Yes, yes, now move along." He said as he shoos her away.

She giggles as the both of them left the room as well.

Finally being alone, Alexander lay down on his bed and release a long sigh.

'Scáthach, huh. She is an interesting fellow...'

The beautiful figure of a purple-haired woman was the last thing on his mind before his consciousness enters into a deep sleep. What Alexander didn't know is that, that same figure will become the source of his nightmares in the future.

(An: I notice that a lot of readers complain that the Mc is not ruthless or not too serious enough to be called a serial killer, to which I understand. But you have to remember that the Mc wondered in Allan's domain for billions of years. Do you really expect him to have the same mentality that killed without remorse? I'm not saying that Mc is not ruthless, there will be moments in the future that will prove that he is indeed a serial killer and ruthless, but that will be for the future and not right now. I don't want to create an Mc that is emo 24/7. You guys would hate that shit, you feel me? I hope this clears things up and I'll see you guys in the next chap.)