Does a Doll Deserve to Live a Happy Life? (Patreon)

Chapter 40: Prelude to Grand Order

There was silence for a moment before it was broken by Artoria.

“I knew there was a reason why I liked you, Sieg.” Artoria said as she stood and looked at me with a determined smile, even if it was slightly ruined by the bit of food stuck to her cheek. “As a Knight, it would be my pleasure to help you in this noble endeavor.” She declared, placing a hand over her heart.

“My spear will always have your back, Sieg,” Scáthach added with a small smile.

“I’m guessing that this Saint of yours can be found at one of these locations you mentioned?” Tamamo asked, tilting her head.

“Thank you, you two—and yes,” I said with a nod, not hiding that information. “She can be found in the first… or technically second Singularity.”

It suddenly hit me that after all this time, my reunion with Jeanne was literally right around the corner. The thought brought both a wave of nervous anticipation and one of dread.

‘Would Jeanne, who was raised as a devout follower of God and followed His teachings until her death, really be okay with me having a harem?’ I wondered.

The worry only lasted a moment before I shook it away, remembering Jeanne’s smile and her confession in the Reverse Side of the World.

“I am in love with you~”

Those had been Jeanne’s last words to me before I woke in my Demiplane with two different sets of memories in my head.

‘I owe it to her to at least try,’ I resolved, my fists tightening at my sides.

“Haah, you really are a dumb lizard, aren’t you?”

Illya’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up to see her letting out an exaggerated sigh.

“Here you are, surrounded by beautiful girls on all sides, and yet you still somehow aren’t satisfied and are thinking about another girl. Truly hopeless,” she lightly mocked, only to freeze as several glares were suddenly directed her way.

“Now that you mention it, Sieg,” Kiara spoke smoothly, inadvertently saving Illya from the death glares she was receiving from Sakura, Tamamo, Scáthach, and—surprisingly—Eri, though she looked more adorable than threatening. “You’ve never really told us how you came to meet the Saint of Orléans.”

Blinking, I realized she was right. While I had told them Jeanne was someone important to me, I had never gone into detail about what happened during the Grail War.

“I really haven’t, huh? Very well, would you like to hear it?” I asked, scanning the table for their reactions.

At the mention of a story, Eri immediately threw her hands into the air.

“Story time~!”

I smiled at her enthusiasm. The others looked curious as well, even Illya, who, despite facing away, clearly had her eyes trained on me. When I glanced toward Irisviel, I caught her winking at me while giggling behind her hand, silently informing me she was fully aware of her daughter’s tsundere behavior.

Tamamo and Sakura, however, were far more serious. Their curiosity was unmistakable, but so was their focus on the girl who had first captured my heart.

I drew in a slow breath.

“Very well… it all began in Germany…”

I spent the next thirty minutes recounting the events of the Great Holy Grail War. Unlike the regular Holy Grail War, a free-for-all between seven Servants, this time there had been a total of fourteen Servants, split between the Red and Black factions.

When I explained about the Servants, I noticed Artoria and Lancelot, who was standing in the back after already finishing his meal, react when I mentioned Mordred.

While Lancelot only showed a small frown and closed his eyes in regret, Artoria visibly flinched, a clear frown forming on her face at the mention of her “son.”

Her expression didn’t improve when I recounted my fight with Mordred and how I had come dangerously close to dying by her blade.

I continued regardless and told them of my status as a Homunculus, and how I had nearly been killed before being saved by a combination of Astolfo and Siegfried, someone I would also be meeting in the First Singularity, now that I thought about it, along with Vlad, Atalanta, and Lancelot.

I was sure that would be… an interesting experience.

Moving on, when I mentioned my near death, I felt Tamamo’s and Sakura’s grips on my arms tighten drastically before relaxing a moment later. The murderous looks on their faces, however, told a different story.

I had a feeling that if they ever met Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia, or any version of him, they would kill him without hesitation.

From there, I explained my meeting with Jeanne and the events that eventually led to me stealing the Holy Grail by transforming into Fafnir and taking it into the Reverse Side of the World, where Shirou’s wish would become useless.

I finally ended my story by recounting my last memory of Jeanne, of waiting countless years for her, of our reunion…

…and of her confession.

When I finally looked up, I was met with several teary faces, Kiara, Irisviel, Eri, Rin, and even Illya, who, upon noticing me looking at her, quickly blushed and covered her face with her hands.

“After that, I remember waking up in my Demiplane with two sets of memories, one of them being Sieg’s, and you know the rest,” I said, leaning back in my seat as Tamamo and Sakura quickly snuggled closer to me.

“That was… so romantic~” Irisviel suddenly exclaimed, still teary-eyed as she dabbed at her nose with a tissue and then looked at me with startling intensity.

“Sieg! You have to meet her again. She’s waiting for you, I’m sure of it!” Irisviel continued passionately. “Both of you waited countless years for each other without knowing the other’s feelings, holding onto nothing but the promise of reuniting one day. Your life is literally a tragic love story! You can’t give up now! I’m sure she’ll accept your feelings, even if she has to share you!”

She finished her rant with blazing conviction in her red eyes, as if personally ordering me to see this through.

“…Right,” I muttered, blinking, not entirely sure how to respond to that level of enthusiasm.

“…Hmph. I guess you’re not so hopeless after all,” Illya muttered quietly, still refusing to look directly at me.

“Hahaha, what a life you’ve lived, Sieg,” Scáthach let out a soft laugh, shaking her head as she regarded me with clear approval. “Truly worthy of a Hero. Whenever you get the chance, let’s share a drink, just the two of us.”

I simply nodded before turning to Artoria, who had risen to her feet once more.

“So that’s why any mention of the Holy Grail War always agitated you,” Artoria said in quiet understanding. She then met my eyes and gave a firm nod. “Thank you for sharing your story with us, Sieg. As I stated before, both as a Knight and as someone who views you as a reliable partner and friend, I will support you in this endeavor.”

“Thank you, Artoria.”

Just then, I felt movement under the table and blinked as Eri’s head popped out from beneath the tablecloth.

“I always knew Sieg-san was a Hero!~ So that’s why I want to help him meet Miss Jeanne too!” Eri declared with determined eyes and an adorable grin.

Smiling at her earnest expression, I leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.

“Thank you, Eri-chan. I’m sure with your adorableness, you’ll win Jeanne over in an instant.”

The only ones who didn’t say anything were Tamamo and Sakura, who were still cuddled into my sides, but one look at them eased my worries.

Instead of anger or jealousy, both wore determined expressions as they silently communicated with each other.

“Well, with my story out of the way, I also want to make some purchases that will really help us out when we get there,” I said, causing the others to blink at the sudden shift in topic.

“Hm, what did you have in mind?” Tamamo finally spoke, looking up at me curiously and breaking her silent exchange with Sakura.

“I was thinking…”

=====

A Few Days Later

After discussing it with everyone, we finally settled on which purchases from the Company made the most sense.

The first decision was returning the Stamp binding method and trading it for the Shroud of Power.

Since I couldn’t afford to wait the full three days the Stamp required to take effect inside a Singularity, the Shroud of Power would be essential for capturing Servants at a much faster rate.

Along with the base Shroud, I purchased all of its upgrades:

Three-Piece Suit ×2, Elemental Shroud (Luminal), Prismatic Shroud (Umbral, Volcanic, Xeric, Pelagic, Storm, Primal, Jungle, Burial, Cyber, Astral, and Dream),

After that, I bought ten instances of Complimentary Colors for Kiara, Tamamo, Sakura, Rin, Irisviel, Illya, Artoria, Scáthach, Eri, and Aoi, strengthening them and granting each an Elemental Shroud best suited to them.

To finish the Shroud upgrades, I added:

Conjunction, Apportation, Grand Tapestry, Elemental Loom, and Deep Weave.

For our Demiplane, I purchased:

Grand Manor ×2 — expanding our already large home into a massive estate

Warehouse District — providing replenishable supplies

Rainbow Bridge — allowing pedestrian or vehicle access between any world we travel to and our Demiplane

Next came several quality-of-life upgrades:

Universal Calibration, Fertility Calibration, Normalcy, Time-Savers ×2, I Want Out, Trajectory Agreement, Gone and Forgotten, and Refresh Your Brain.

The last one was especially important, as it downloaded key events of whatever world we traveled to directly into my phone. Preparation would be critical, especially since my knowledge of Fate/Grand Order was spotty at best. It’s hard to keep up with a gacha game when you’re blind.

Unfortunately, after all my purchases, I was once again broke, with only twenty credits left to my name. Still, the investment had been worth it, and we could always earn more later.

“It seems it was the right idea going after those villains back in the MHA world. If not for that, we wouldn’t have had enough points for this,” I muttered, glancing at my Company Phone before putting it away.

Looking at my remaining balance was just depressing.

“Hihihi, so those jerks ended up helping you after all~ I knew they would,” Tamamo giggled happily beside me.

We were currently gathered in the portal room, preparing to enter our new world. There were a few things we needed to handle, finding housing, establishing an identity for myself, and figuring out how to get recruited into Chaldea in the near future.

With everyone working together, and with the help of the former homunculus maids like Sella and Leysritt, the process of moving the girls and getting them settled into the Demiplane went by quickly.

The larger house had definitely helped. With so many maids now, the burden on Kiara and Lancelot to keep the place clean had eased considerably.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked, turning around to face those gathered.

Since there wouldn’t be any fighting involved yet, everyone would be accompanying me. If I was being honest, it would be cruel to disappear on the girls again after they had already gone ten years without seeing me.

“Ready, Senpai,” Sakura said softly as she stepped up beside me, already dressed in a beautiful white dress paired with a pink sweater.

Everyone was dressed casually, and I had to actively stop my eyes from lingering too long on the dresses Scáthach, Tamamo, Irisviel, and Kiara were wearing.

“Let’s get going already!” Illya exclaimed, unable to hide the excited grin on her face at the chance to visit another world.

“Can I pick the house, Sieg-kun?” Tamamo asked with a cheerful chirp, looking up at me hopefully. “I promise that if you let me, I’ll choose a beautiful little Japanese den just for us~”

“You mean for everyone, right, Caster?” Artoria said with a small roll of her eyes as she happily munched on a parfait in her free hand, leaving a bit of yogurt at the corner of her mouth.

“It needs to be somewhere we can set up a proper workshop if we’re going to be spending any real time there,” Rin added, clearly just as excited.

“Fufufu, it’s nice to have everyone together again,” Kiara said with a warm giggle as she stepped up behind me.

Speaking of Kiara… ever since her and Sakura’s confessions, both of them had been making a clear effort to grow closer to me. It had worked, to a degree, though Tamamo was still doing her absolute best to monopolize my attention.

Still, I could say with confidence that we were closer than before.

As if to prove the point, Kiara gently leaned her head against my back and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“Alright then, let’s move, everyone. We have a lot of work to do, so we’d best get started,” I declared.

Without further delay, I stepped toward the portal, followed immediately by the rest.

We arrived in an alley somewhere in Japan, which thankfully hid the fact that we had just appeared out of thin air.

As we got our bearings, Rin and Illya immediately walked out of the alley with excited looks on their faces and began looking around, only to frown moments later as we caught up to them.

“What’s wrong, you two?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, since I didn’t sense any unusual presence nearby other than the humans walking around us and shooting our large group strange looks.

“…Are we really in another world? This looks exactly the same as Japan,” Rin said slowly, a doubtful expression on her face as her eyes swiveled around.

“Yeah, what’s the deal, Sieg?” Illya exclaimed with a frown, even forgetting to call me a lizard or dumb dragon and actually using my name. “This doesn’t look any different from back home!”

At their questions, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

A moment later, I was joined by Artoria, Kiara, Scáthach, and Tamamo, basically those of us who had already visited another world.

“What’s so funny, jerks!?” Illya demanded, an embarrassed blush growing on her cheeks.

“Sorry, Illya. I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just… I couldn’t help but find it funny that both you and Rin looked so excited, even though I clearly explained that this was a parallel world to the one we came from.” I smiled teasingly. “Meaning everything should still look relatively the same, since we only jumped about ten years into the future.”

That only made Illya blush harder and Rin join her.

“You two were so cute looking all excited like that~” Irisviel chimed in with a giggle, which only worsened the girls’ situation.

“Don’t worry, though. I promise that when all this mess is over, we’ll visit a world completely different from this one,” I finished with a reassuring smile as I stepped forward and patted both of their heads.

With my Sticky Fingers Lure, my headpats had become a weapon in their own right. Rin and Illya instantly melted under my hands for a brief moment—

—before they realized what was happening and hurriedly slapped my hands away.

“K-Keep your hands away from me, you perverted dragon!” Illya exclaimed, face bright red.

“D-Don’t think I’ll fall for you as easily as Sakura!” Rin shot back, pointing an accusing finger at me, completely undermined by the tears at the corners of her eyes and her flushed cheeks.

I only smiled and nodded. “Sure thing, girls.”

=====

Almost A Month Later

Looking at the letter in my hands stamped with Chaldea’s seal, a bubble of anticipation grew in my stomach.

Wait for me just a little longer, Jeanne.