To Love a Sword Chapter 31: Sephie Michaela Deviluke + Bonus (Patreon)

Beta read by Paragon of Awesomeness.17 freaking K words! Longest Toloveru chapter by faaaar and perhaps the second longest chapter I wrote, first one being 18k words. I'm tired and sleepy, gnight. ...-???-The concept of a fantasy adventure game like this one having a final boss was frankly to be expected. He did not need to be an avid player of video games to understand this. From the first moment he arrived in this digital world, he’d always expected something along these lines to happen. Perhaps they would be facing a quintessential demon king with elven-like facial features, the standard large goat-like horns, bat wings that spanned several meters, red fiendish skin, minotaur legs, and holding a flaming greatsword to be waiting for them at the end of the adventure inside a foreboding castle surrounded by an army of monsters that they would need to cut through in order to take down their dark lord.Or perhaps the final enemy would turn out to be a god-like being that is destined to destroy the world which they would need to seal away instead of killing it, and that would be considered a win. In any case, there were multiple scenarios in his mind on how this might turn out, and what the demon king would look like. But never in his wildest imagination did he ever so much as entertain the idea of the demon king or whatever the final boss was going to be… “Waaaaaah! I lost all of my authority and minions in a single day! I didn’t even treat her badly or anything! She had a luxurious room and all the necessities she would ever want, and all I asked her to do was wait for a few days as the princess that the heroes were supposed to come and rescue! And then she backstabs me out of nowhere! Uuuuuuuaaaaaahahahaaaah!”Well, he never imagined the final boss to have originally been a crybaby magical girl in skimpy bikini armor… ‘Then again, they did mention that during this game’s creation, they were influenced by several factors from this world. I should have taken into account that they would have mixed up some things during its creation.’ "Do you have any idea how terrifying it is flying through dark forests all day with monsters trying to eat you? And now my magic doesn't even work anymore!" wailed the girl, who he recognized as Kyouko — that same teen idol his siblings and Lala obsessed over from their favorite TV show.“Why didn't you just use the teleportation altars scattered across the map to get to the main town?” Well, it was true these features existed in the game, but none of them had used them in their journey because they needed to earn more experience points and didn’t want to skip right to the end of the game where they’d be all but sure to fail. “So that's what they were! I thought those things were just random temples with some loot…” the young celebrity exclaimed with wide eyes, her reaction making him shake his head as he was starting to worry that their group was going to have to deal with another idiot. “In any case, you need to help me defeat the princess!” Kyouko begged. The entire time his eyes were focusing on the labels above her head which clearly stated, ‘Demon Lord’ for everyone to see. “Our sister tricked you and stole your role? That doesn't make sense, she shouldn't even be able to do that.” Even Momo and Nana were confused by the entire thing, looking back and forth between each other and Kyouko. “And why were you searching for Emiya again?” “Ah, right, after I was betrayed and chased out of my castle, I heard she was planning something big, and before she took over she mentioned your name a couple of times, Emiya. I figured perhaps I could try to find you and see how it goes.”“In other words, it's just a shot in the dark and potentially has nothing to do with me,” Emiya said with a dry tone, yet not completely dismissing her words since this was Lala they were dealing with. If she was planning something with him in mind, then it would fit Lala’s way of thinking. “Well, let's say even if we wanted to help you and immediately run towards the final boss, which in this case is Lala, we are severely under-leveled for the task.”He immediately pointed at the number above his head which displayed his level, Kyouko slowly turned her head upwards and it seemed like the meaning of the number finally dawned on her for the first time.“L-Level nine?” She whispered with shock in her tone, sounding as if she could not believe what was in front of her. “I am pretty sure we all entered this game at the same time. It has been, what? Barely two days in this game since we started? You can't really expect us to be in the higher levels so quickly.”A look of embarrassment fell upon her face and she chuckled awkwardly. Kyouko then took a deep breath and regained a somewhat sheepish composure. ”Hahahaha… I guess you're right. This is a bit embarrassing. I thought you were powerful enough given you kicked me in the face when I approached you. And even made me lose six HP.” “Whenever you meet a new woman it always ends with you being rough and hard with them, Emiya,” Momo commented with a sly smile. “Maybe our sister should be careful about gaining more competition. We should also be looking out for any future weird cases.”“You're overthinking it,” Emiya commented dryly, turning his attention back to the newcomer who had calmed down a bit. “I’m a bit surprised that Momo was able to get you to participate in this game, and even make you the demon lord. Or were you just dragged into this before you knew what was happening?” “You're making me sound like a bad person, Emiya~! Kyouko has always been interested in playing the role of a villainess, but her show's producers never let her do it. So we decided to offer her the chance to be included rather than use an NPC that just looks like her, and she was up for it. It was also supposed to be a surprise for Onee-sama since she loves Kyouko-san’s show…” “Hold on just a moment,” he brought his hand up and stopped the third princess of Deviluke from continuing for a minute. “You two know each other?” "Of course! Our family used to make diplomatic visits to her home planet. We actually ran into her a little while back — imagine our surprise seeing a Flamian hanging out on Earth of all places. And not just any Flamian, but one who managed to become a TV star! Talk about defying expectations."Nana nodded her head, “We happened to cross paths with her during that incident where we were chasing Celine across the town, and we hit it off.”Homeworld? Flamian? This sudden revelation caught him by surprise, he turned his attention to the black-haired girl and waited for her to elaborate on this. Mikan and Rito did the same, none of them having expected that the star of the most popular show on air to be an alien. Being at the center of attention, Kyouko felt slightly shaken but quickly shook her head. “No no no, I'm only half-Flamian, the other half of me is human! I've been on Earth for my entire life. I’m a natural born Earthian!” She quickly explained herself, giving them a brief resume of sorts of her life and how she got to star as a magical girl on TV. A flame lit up the tips of her fingers as she showcased a couple of tricks to everyone present. “The director is also an alien like me, so when he found out about my abilities, he made me an offer which I happily agreed to. Thanks to my pyrokinesis, we managed to save a lot of money on special effects, and quickly rose to the top of the ratings board.” The more he listened, the more he started to realize just how abundant and integrated the presence of aliens was on this planet. At first, he was under the impression that they had just discovered this planet, with Mikado and a small handful of others being the only ones who lived here in secrecy. Yet Kyouko's story made it clear that there were far more than he’d suspected, they had been here for many decades and were even blending in with the locals to the point that some were having children with them, giving birth to hybrids who could still use their special abilities. And if Kyouko was any example, these hybrids were now becoming adults. “So you can create and manipulate fire, anything else?” His curiosity got the better of him, and he wondered just what else she could do. “Hehehe, sorry, but other than powers related to fire and heat resistance, I can't do much else.” “Are you kidding me? Those are amazing powers to have!” Mikan exclaimed. “I was always curious as to how a TV show like yours managed to get the budget to make such realistic-looking fire on the special effects with how often there are fighting scenes. You're amazing!” Rito joined in as well. “Exactly! That scene where you destroyed the snake king by breathing fire down his throat was awesome!”A blush formed on her face being on the receiving end of the compliments thrown by his siblings, but Emiya had noticed something else. ‘Those flames… was it from an ability given by her class, or is it because of her Flamian heritage?’Now that he thought about it, even Yami was able to use her hair as a weapon even though her class was a playgirl. But despite killing several monsters, she still had yet to level up, and it became apparent that it was impossible to gain experience by using abilities that aren’t part of the game’s system.“Do you have any idea why Lala betrayed you? She's a huge fan of you and your show, so I honestly have a hard time seeing her do such a thing out of the blue,” he asked, wanting to get back to the main topic, and trying to understand what was going on here. Kyouko shook her head. “I don't know, at first she was very excited to see me, and we spent the entire first day talking to one another and sharing stories. It was quite fun and I already kind of miss talking to her. But as time went on, she started to look more down by the hour for some reason. When I tried to ask her if something was wrong, she would just say that everything was fine. Then out of nowhere when I woke up, she used some kind of device to take away my class and change it to a regular magician.” “That does not sound like her,” Emiya frowned, trying to make sense of this. Something strange was definitely going on here. “What topics did you discuss with her? Maybe we can find a clue from there.”“You.” “Eh?” “She would only talk about you, nothing else. Even when I tried to change the subject, it would always lead back to you somehow.” Kyouko answered whilst holding back a chuckle. “But it was fun to hear everything she had to say. I am surprised that we never heard of there being a magician in Sainan this entire time. How did you even beat one of the emperor's best swordsmen in the first place!?” “It's a long story.” Honestly, at this point, it would not even matter if people knew about his ability to use Magecraft given the amount of weirdos that were living in Sainan alone. “Did you hear Lala mention that she's going to attack this place with an army of demons?” “No, when I was leaving, I did see her gather every creature that was once under my control back to the castle. It was clear she was preparing something major, which is why I rushed here to find you. But since you're just a chef… ““What's wrong with being a chef?” he asked, tilting his head in her direction with slight amusement, having taken a genuine liking to this class rather than being disappointed with it. “I'll have you know that I can make dishes with various special effects that can vastly increase your attack power and restore a great amount of health.” “How will that help us defeat the demon queen… as someone who once had that class, we need a hero more than anything else.” He raised his eyebrow and shrugged. “Then go searching somewhere else, there’s no hero here.”“We can always level up,” Mikan proposed. “From what I gathered, the next village is in an area with higher-level monsters and more difficult quests. We can grind for a few days and be strong enough to challenge Lala. She only just became the demon queen, so I don't think she’ll be able to launch an attack so soon.”“Then let's go right now! The sooner we do this the more time you save!” Right as the group was geared up and ready to go on a small journey today following their time in the village, they all suddenly came to a halt as an audible ping sound ringed in everyone's ears. “What's that?” Rito explained with a shocked face as he pointed upwards seeing several fireworks exploding and illuminating the sky above. Visible throughout the entire city and even in the dark forest several hundred miles away. And from those fireworks a few words were shown for a brief moment, making the boy read them aloud. “Special event? Wait… Is that Lala!?” He explained with clear surprise when a figure made of light took shape in the sky, spanning several hundreds of meters in length like a giant flying over the city. The feminine body coupled with the pink hair floating behind, didn't make it hard for people to guess who it was.“Hello everyone~!” Lala shouted out loud, waving her hand excitedly as it caught even the NPCs’ attention. “I am the new demon queen, Lala Satalin Deviluke! It is nice to meet all of you!” The girl was obviously filled with pep, making one even ask how this cheerful girl could be a demon queen in the first place. Even her attire consisted mostly of the kind of dress that belonged on a benevolent princess, with a red jeweled golden crown on her head that added to the look. “Just what is she planning right now…” Emiya mumbled, his arms crossed as he gazed curiously at the figure above. It was a projection from the looks of it, like a pre-recorded message if he had to take a guess, or maybe something of a broadcast that she was doing live. His words were confirmed by what she said in the following. “To all the citizens across the kingdom and the many brave adventurers who came upon this land to pursue greatness, I would like to propose to all of you a challenge!” Waving her hand, another projection appeared beside her, which resembled a literal Roman Colosseum but several times bigger. Floating in the air so everyone could marvel at the sight. “I know some of you may be wondering where the old demon lord went, and I want to let you all know that unfortunately she had to take a break and decided to go on a short vacation!”“Liar!” Kyouko shouted, pouting at the lies coming out of the princess' mouth.“So of course, as her biggest fan, she allowed me to take control and passed the crown to me! Isn't that amazing!? Now I am the ruler of tens of thousands of demons and monsters who all obey my every word. And to celebrate this occasion, I have decided to invite everyone to my castle in order to participate in…”He raised an eyebrow the moment he heard drum rolls in the background. If there was one thing he had to give the woman credit for, it was that she had a flair for presentation at the very least. “The highly anticipated Demonic Super Ultra Battle Royale War Smash!” The ridiculous title appeared in the sky with bright colorful letters and several instruments playing in the background. Trumpets and horns were being played loudly with her joyful laughter reaching everyone's ears. He even let out a wry smile the moment he noticed a small and very cute fairy flying around the title that bore a suspicious resemblance to Celine while waving little flags. Did Lala and her sisters get her involved as well? “The Demonic Super Ultra Battle Royale War Smash is to celebrate my ascension as the new demon queen! A tournament where the best fighters in the land will face one another, with the victor at the end getting the best prize you could imagine, a single wish for whatever they want!” “…”Okay, now things were starting to get a bit too familiar for his liking.This setup was hitting a bit too close to home — the tournament, the wish-granting prize... It was like someone had taken the Holy Grail War and dressed it up in fantasy game clothing.Then again, maybe he was reading too much into it. His siblings had shown him enough anime and games to know these kinds of magical tournaments and prizes were pretty standard fare in entertainment. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that Lala had somehow gotten her inspiration from his own past experiences.“Everyone from all walks of life and every adventure regardless of their class is invited to participate, and the show will also be broadcast everywhere! And we will also have two special friends of mine who have agreed to offer commentary for the event as well!” From the looks of it, this was not something she could have come up on the spot and put together within just a day or two. They all joined the game together. Most likely the girl had such a plan from the beginning and was just waiting for the right moment to put it into action. He was not sure whether to be impressed or very wary of the girl. "A tournament? It's quite surprising that our sister would be interested in competitions. Even back home, she never seemed the type to participate in these events organized by Father.”“It is suspicious.” He agreed with Momo's observation as both of them watched the spectacle in the sky continue with several other kinds of creatures and music being shown. “Maybe we should just ask her what she's planning. You did say we could ask or wake up anyone from the game safely right?”“Eh? Well yes, we can do that. She should be in her room now.” Taking his advice seriously, the youngest princess opened her menu and from the looks of it went to log out from the game and ask her sister directly what was going on. Yet several seconds passed and she remained there standing, tapping her fingers on the menu screen calmly at first before he started to notice her eyes slowly widening in surprise, and her movements getting more and more hasty. A bad feeling crept up in his mind. “Momo, tell me what the problem is,” he said, not even entertaining the idea that it was something small given her reaction. The pink-haired princess slowly turned to him, a horrified expression plastered on her face. “The logout option is gone.”“What!?”“What did you say!?”“No!”This revelation sent the group into a frenzy. Everyone frantically searched their menus for the logout button, only to find it missing. Panic set in as the realization dawned that they were trapped. As if anticipating their reaction, the figure in the sky spoke again, her voice casual, "Don't worry, the logout option has just been temporarily disabled for the duration of this event. And only a few minutes will actually pass in the real world by the time this is all done," her nonchalant reply only fueled the growing fear. Mikan, her face pale, sank to her knees with deep regret etched onto her face. "Damn it! I knew I should never have watched that show with her!"Emiya, unfamiliar with whatever TV show she was referring to, remained relatively calm. Lala had mentioned this was only temporary, but the panic around him was palpable. "Just how long is she going to make this event last?" Nana exclaimed, frustration evident in her voice as she discovered the main console was inaccessible. "She’s locked us all in here!" "At least she's taking her role as a demon lord seriously," Emiya remarked, earning him several disapproving glares. "Not the time for jokes, Nii-san! How can you be so calm?" Rito yelped in distress.Emiya shrugged. "Not the first time I’ve been in this kind of situation. Panicking won't solve anything. Let's think this through carefully. Unless you can force control away from her somehow, which I doubt any of you can do." He paused, "Oh, she's not done yet."The figure in the sky continued, "Of course, after the tournament concludes, you'll all be free to log out and return home, fully satisfied with your experience. I'm so excited! Can't wait to see you all there!" The lights dimmed, and the event title crumbled into dust, followed by Lala's smiling figure. Just as she was about to vanish completely, she snapped her fingers. "Since I don't want to delay this event, I'll bring everyone here now." White light erupted beneath their feet, forming a makeshift teleportation circle. Before Emiya could react, he was whisked away, leaving behind the shouts of those demanding Lala and the twin princesses find a solution.“Woah, wait, she actually teleported all of us to the coliseum!?” his brother made that remark, several bars in the group were equally as stunned while he was wearing something else. “Momo, just how many people did you invite to this game?” he asked with a creeping dread rising within his guts — especially when the next moment a certain class representative rushed straight at him and grabbed his collar. With surprising strength, even lifting him up from the ground with little to no effort from the looks of it. Not even a hello was exchanged between them.“This is your fault… isn't it…” not even a question but a full-on statement given with a low tone of voice that sounded more menacing than anything else. But there was fear, hidden deep within those eyes clouded with anger. “I don't want to die in real life when I die in the game or get stuck in here for two years! Tell Lala to stop this!” “Nice to see you too, Yui,” he barely managed to offer his casual reply in between her shaking him. “Ah, she also watched the show,” mentioned Mikan from behind his back, watching her brother get shaken back and forth without any worry. “You know… from what I heard from Momo and Nana, she could change the time flow and trap us here for two whole centuries, and at most a week would go by in the real world.” That he was not aware of and it sounded like a unique form of torture, he did not even want to imagine how much that would mess someone up in the real world. Thankfully, it was clear his sister's aim was mostly to scare rather than inform, which worked out in her favor. “Aaaaaaaaaahh!” Yui got further erratic, looking like she would crumble at any moment with Rito having a similar reaction. “Can you put me down? Mikan is just messing with you, we won't be stuck here for two hundred years or anything close to that.” “R-really? How do you know that?”Her desperate face seeking some form of assurance from him was interesting to see, the urge to tease her a bit more surfaced but was quickly pushed down. So he began to focus on other things, more importantly, her current appearance which consisted of some kind of short qipao. “Lala has her faults and is impulsive, but she is not someone who would pull such a stunt when it affects so many people she cares for. I don't even think a normal person's brain will be able to withstand living two hundred years worth of time within a single week and not end up in a lengthy coma.”“That sounds even scarier!” But it was the truth. In any case, several more people approached them as soon as they spotted his group, and one of them happened to immediately attract his brother's attention. She was wearing rather revealing clothes compared to what she usually wore in real life and the giant greatsword hanging behind her back was as tall as her. “You're here as well, Haruna?” He was surprised to find her also present in the game, but upon thinking about this further and how close she was to the princess, it made sense. But it was not just her, several other faces from his school, including but not limited to a certain blonde heiress who was hastily looking around for a certain someone despite already having two loyal attendants at her sides. “Emiya-kun?” A hand waved in front of his face, bringing his attention back to Haruna, who looked worried. “You should have told me you were in the game as well, I would have joined you and Yuuki-kun.”“It's nothing, just… wondering what class you got.” Her face lit up, twirling around showing off her cape and large sword behind her back, and revealed that her class was that of a heroine. Even though this was a game, the moment his eyes landed on the blade on her back a stream of information flowed into his mind, and it was enough for him to once more get taken aback by a particular discovery.But before he could say anything, a loud buzzer sound came from the castle near the colosseum, everyone turned their attention upwards and spotted Lala standing on the balcony waving at everyone whilst wearing a red dress and fake swirly horns on her head. Somehow she instantly spotted him amongst the crowd. “Hi, Shirou! I became a demon queen in my free time! Don't I look co—” Bang!A burst of sparks flew everywhere as a chef's knife shot straight for her heart, but got blocked by some kind of forcefield. “Tch.” He got several people’s gazes turn to stare at him with shock. “What? I had to try. If the demon queen is defeated then we’d win.”“—ol!? Ah, I knew you would do that, you’re just so brave and awesome like that after all! Luckily for the event though, I was prepared. Also, can you please tell Kyouko that she forgot to take her favorite legendary armor from the bathroom when she gave up the throne to me?” Lala spoke so cheerfully, her image heavily contrasting with the dark surroundings, the gothic castle, and armies of flying imps. This image was further twisted by a raunchy translucent bikini she was waving in the air. Something that seemed more suited for an intimate moment in a private room than to be worn like an armor of all things… It looked far more riské than even the set Kyouko was wearing now.“D-Don't look at me with those judgemental eyes.” Kyouko curled up into a ball, getting further embarrassed when more sets of eyes turned to her. “I-I just had it in my inventory… so I threw it away. The stats were not as good as the set I have on now!”He did not even need to ask anything more, with Lala continuing to shout in the distance.“It’s a bind-on-wearing set of equipment, so only Kyouko can use it since she already put it on!” The mortification on the Flamian hybrid’s face for having such a secret announced in front of hundreds if not thousands of people was enough to make her go ghostly pale. She promptly began using his back as a shield to hide herself from the outside world and make sure as few people as possible would spot her. “…”Now he was definitely judging her very much. She apparently wore it often enough for Lala to call it her favorite set, after all.“…I-It was only the two of us girls in there at first, and… w-well… I got curious about the s-stats.” Her voice reached his ears, and he decided it would be best not to comment on it and further embarrass her. “Oh my, I didn't expect that you would have such tastes, Kyouko~.” Of course, just because he didn’t see the need to humiliate her further didn’t mean everyone felt the same. Not wanting to miss the opportunity to tease the teenage celebrity, Momo inserted herself into the conversation with a large smirk on her face. “We should go shopping together sometime. I'd like to try on something like that as well, and it looks like you’d be able to give me all kinds of advice.” “Pervert superstar.” And then there was Yami, who’d stayed mostly quiet the entire time but had to give her own two cents on the matter. “It's not like that!” Kyouko whined.While his group continued to tease the unfortunate short group, he turned to see Lala clearing her throat and once again making something appear above in the sky.“Now that I have everyone's attention, I will explain the rules. Listen carefully because they are a bit complicated, and in this tournament, everyone will have to fight an opponent if they want to not get disqualified and have a chance at winning the ultimate prize!” A small golden star floated above her hand releasing a rainbow of different colors and attracting everyone's attention. “The winner will be able to become anything and everything they would have ever wanted in the game. You can wish for infinite money, become a king, gain every power-up you desire, and all the delicious food that this amazing game can offer! Amazing right?”“…”The people's reactions were mostly stale, to say the least, not everyone seemed to be that interested in the prize that would only work inside the game, as he expected. But knowing the kind of person Lala was, Emiya started to worry she would notice it and do something drastic to stir up excitement for her tournament.“Eh? No cheers? Hmm, this won't do!” Lala became flustered at the lackluster response from the audience, grabbing some kind of note from her pocket and rummaging through the pages as if trying to find the answer. “Not this… this one is boring… oh this—! …Wait, maybe not, Shirou will get angry if he finds out. Oh, this one! I can do this.”“I don't like her reaction,” he said, seeing her eyes start to sparkle. “She better not offer to make an invention of the winner's choosing.”That was just asking for trouble.“The winner of the tournament will also be given a real-life cash prize of five hundred million yen and become an important character in the super popular TV show, Magical Girl Kyouko!” “—!” “How many millions!?” Instantly, the crowd went crazy the moment they heard the prize announced. Even he was caught completely off guard by the ridiculous sum she just spouted out, his and his siblings’ mouths hung open in disbelief while someone else inside the group had a completely different reaction. “Wait! I never agreed to have someone join the show! Especially not a recurring character! That's up to the producers!” Yet no matter how loud the Flamian hybrid shouted in protest, her voice was drowned out by the sea of cheers coming from the people around them. Their eyes had turned green from greed And everyone was suddenly very motivated to emerge as the winner. “Since when did she have so much money to offer up?” Mikan asked, counting something with her fingers. “With that kind of cash, I could retire before even finishing my studies, or completely renovate the house.” “You're actually considering this!?” Emiya looked at her with disbelief, the one he hoped to be the most level-headed had also succumbed to her lust for wealth. “Mikan, please tell me you're not serious…” “Think about it, Shirou! We could expand the kitchen and have it turned into those professional ones you typically only see in five-star restaurants! We could buy out the neighbor's house and demolish it to build a huge pantry stocked with every kind of produce you would want! And Celine would also benefit by having a garden way bigger than her current one, not to mention all the produce we could grow ourselves!” “…”She had a point. Those were very compelling arguments that managed to sway him ever so slightly, but the logical part of his brain prevailed and immediately squashed the side of him that was being tempted, thankfully. He hoped at least Rito would be of the same mind as him. But the moment he turned his attention to the boy, he found him doing the same counting gesture as their sister!“I could buy a new house, and impress Sairenji with all the things she likes.” He was thinking about impressing Haruna even at a moment like this? And with a new house? Emiya didn't know whether to be disappointed in his brother or impressed at the sheer dedication he showed to making the girl he liked happy. Nonetheless, his hope was dwindling, and in his desperation, he turned to the last remaining level-headed person he knew who would definitely not fall for such a thing. Yet he quickly saw that even the girl he was counting on to be the last bastion of reason present other than himself had her own plans for the prize money. He was not sure what was going through her mind but preferred not to know what it was.But as he turned to look at Yui, her whispers reached his ears. “I’ll be able to buy out the school, reform it into the best one in the country, and finally kick that shameless principal out… or put him in jail.” And with that, the last embers of hope were instantly extinguished within his heart. Worst of all, he could see where she was coming from and her desire to improve the school made perfect sense — admirable almost.“Hehehe, that's more like it!” Pleased with everyone’s reactions, Lala regained her prior vigor. “The tournament will have all of you fighting one another inside the arena as a group of three against another team. At the end when only a single team remains, you will have to face one final challenge before being declared the winner!” Then why the hell even call it a battle royale if it wasn't one? The man suppressed a sigh with how arbitrary everything was here.A series of conversations spread across the crowd below. The rules were pretty simple and it seemed to be a tournament in the more traditional sense with brackets as opposed to a battle royale. All the same, he honestly did wonder about his chances in this thing given the class he got, seeing as it was not particularly suited for combat. Not that it mattered much, since his own skills remained intact even if they would not net him any experience points. “I don't think I should participate in this event,” Rito held a similar sentiment. “At least Nii-san can fight with his chef knives, but I don't even have anything like that as a florist.” “There is no rule stating that we cannot form alliances between teams. And from the looks of it, the others have deduced that as well. I doubt anyone will be participating all by themselves in this tournament, they wouldn’t last for long otherwise, so you don't have to worry, Rito.” He advised his brother, patting his shoulders to give him some form of encouragement. “Hope everyone’s ready, because the Demonic Super Ultra Battle Royale War Smash will be starting in three… two… one… Go!” As soon as she finished her countdown, a similar teleportation circle from before appeared beneath everyone's feet, and the next second they all vanished from their spots and reappeared inside another space entirely. Emiya found that the coliseum in question was nowhere to be seen and instead, they were all standing on top of some kind of enormous arena surrounded by a translucent wall, the purpose of which was to keep them from running away most likely.Already he could see spectators sitting outside, villagers, and other types of NPCs. He recognized some of them as the villagers he’d fed, but they were easily in the minority.More important though was the fact that he had been separated from his group. “Shit, so it's random. This is going to be tricky.” He needed to find Rito first, as Mikan was more than capable of handling herself in a fight given the class she got. The same could not be said for his younger brother who still struggled against the more basic monsters. “Hm?” While he was planning his next move, Emiya noticed some kind of mechanical eyeball flying in the sky staring right at him. Its iris in particular turned out to be a camera that was capturing everything within its field of view. “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first ever Demonic Battle Royale War!” a familiar cheerful voice came out of the device which immediately drew his attention as a single name emerged in his mind when he identified it. “I’m Risa, and I will be your faithful commentator for this tournament alongside my ever-so-trusting and reliable friend, Mio! I hope everyone is excited for what’s to come!” For some reason, he was not surprised in the least that these two represent within the game as well and took the position of commentators doing such an event. “Oh my, who is this handsome fellow? I recognize that muscled figure anywhere, challenger Emiya has entered the ring~! What is this!? A chef!? I suppose that makes sense, he certainly works all kinds of wonders in the kitchen.” The eyeball floated around him, almost like it was having fun seeing him in such a situation. “Don't stand around all idle, you need to find your teammates before you get ambushed by the opposing team and lose!”“I do wonder how he will even be of assistance,” Mio’s voice came right after Risa's. “Other than a simple chef's knife, he doesn't have any good weapons or armor.”“Let's wait and see then! You never know what surprises might lie in wait!” Finally flying away and observing him from afar, he sighed and started to walk towards the center where out of nowhere two more figures dropped in front of him, like a beam of light that quickly took the shape of two familiar individuals. It was not expected that he would end up in his team.“Emiya?”The shock on her face upon seeing who was teamed up with her was quite amusing, and for the most part, he got pretty capable teammates. “I ask you, are you my teammates for this fight?” The two he’d been teamed up with ended up being a hand-to-hand fighter and a playgirl who could use her hair as a weapon. He gave them a curt bow, which seemed to have done the trick since Yami let out a small huff of confidence. “We got this.” From the looks of it, she had already accepted participating in this forceful event and was ready to be done with it as soon as possible, not even worrying about the inability to log out, unlike their third teammate. “Wait wait wait! This is happening too fast! I'm only level seven! What happens if we die? Do we also die in real life!?” At this point, with the amount of stress and anxiety Yui was showing, he half expected her to lose her hair by the end of the day. “What should we do!?”He raised an eyebrow and acted clueless, “Why are you asking me these questions? I'm just a chef and Yami here is a playgirl. Obviously, neither of us is made to participate in combat, So you will have to take the lead, Yui.” Golden Darkness did not say anything, other than giving him an inquisitive stare for a few seconds before looking back to Yui and nodding. “I am useless, please take care of us, level seven-senpai.” Her stoic face did not help with that kind of response. This was further worsened by her pointing at the number above her head showing level one clearly to everyone else.Yui’s entire body was shaking, “T-This… neither of you can fight? Why did you not just choose another class rather than stay with these useless ones!?”“I like my class.”“Too expensive.” Both of them gave nonchalant answers, which was the truth after all. There was an option to reset one's class but it required a substantial amount of loveroons which neither of them had. Working at a tavern for such a short amount of time only gave him enough money for the journey and buying a few supplies.“This is hopeless…” Having lost all hope, Yui fell to her knees. “We will lose in the first round.” Perhaps he let this go for long enough, not wanting to see her grovel to the ground any longer, he decided to give her a bit of motivation. Walking right up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, an action which immediately drew her attention to him. “Listen, you may be at a low level but so are the others. Remember, we all joined the game around the same time so don't expect to face someone that is much higher level than you. As for how I am level nine, I mostly got them by doing simple quests tailored to my class rather than fighting strong monsters. Also, I thought you'd be more confident than this, Yui. If you don't keep up your image in front of the other students present here, then they will start to look down on you as the head of the disciplinary committee.” “Y-You really think I can handle this on my own?” “Who said you would do it on your own? While we may not be suited for combat, as support classes we can still help by providing you with buffs. Isn't that right, Yami?” he asked the diminutive blonde, who didn't waste words agreeing with him in favor of a simple nod. “What's your class' special ability?” Now that he thought about it, they had been traveling together for so long and she had only relied on her natural abilities so far. No wonder she never reached level two.“I can cheer.” “…”“That's it?” He got another nod as an answer. Well, it wasn't much, and given she was still level one, then there was not much more they could expect from this. As he was about to suggest another approach, the robot came back with Risa’s voice booming throughout the arena. “Now that our chef has managed to calm down one of our lovesick classmates—” “Risa!” “—it's time for our second team to appear on the battlefield! Everyone, please give them a round of applause!” On command, much of the audience cheered. It was becoming hard to tell whether they were true characters in the game or real people. In any case, they were not important right now and he was curious to see who would appear. This question was answered the next second when three figures appeared on the other side of the arena bathed in light. The first notable site was the giant white shield and armor with gold highlights. A towering figure to say the least, one that wore a knight helmet which covered most of his features. The two other boys behind him had equipment which made it easy to guess their classes. A pointed hat and a staff for the second person wearing a robe, and finally a bow and arrow held by the third person garbed in leather armor. The next thing he saw was Yui's face filling his vision, her eyes full of rage as she grabbed him by the collar once more and pointed at the three individuals in front of them. “Does that look like people who only spent two days playing the game!? I can't even see their levels!” Well, it certainly was a curious sight to behold. His group had spent most of their time killing plenty of monsters and yet they never reached such a point of owning high-leveled armor. And most importantly, he could feel some kind of hostile gaze coming from the paladin in the front. He couldn't really tell who it was with the helmet. “Appearances can be deceiving, Yui. Just because they have impressive-looking armor does not mean you cannot win. So just calm down and look me in the eyes.” Even though he said that, the girl was doing everything but looking him in the eyes and even whenever he tried to get her to focus on him she would immediately look away. “S-Stop that… It's indecent in front of so many p-people.” “How is looking at my face indecent? I am just trying to give you a pep talk.” This girl was very easy to tease, whether it be through simple contact or even a few words. But right now he needed her to focus and not get distracted by such things. “He's looking at us.” The paladin who seemed to be the leader, walked forward and planted his shield on the ground with a loud thud. “Yo, Emiya. Are my eyes deceiving me or did you get a weak class? Ha! How ironic! You're no longer so high and mighty in this game. Don't think for even a second what happened in the past will occur again here. Today I will finally make you pay for what you did to me!” There was an abundant amount of anger within his voice, he sounded like he could barely restrain himself from just rushing over and punching him in the face. “Is that so? Hmph, you wouldn’t be the first one to think that.” Emiya tried to recall if he even knew this person based on his voice alone. But nothing came up and the former Counter Guardian started to believe this was perhaps just one of the many boys in the Anti-Emiya Alliance that he fought at school on the day Lala first became a student. “Humph, still trying to act cool in front of the girls, how pathetic. Do you see this armor? This stuff is made from pure high quality steel and has been enhanced with magic by the best enchanter in town! Do you have any idea what lengths I went through to get this? And now I finally get to test it on you! Haha, this will be fun!” “Watch what you're saying!” Yui stepped in, her prior fear completely gone now replaced with the righteous anger of one who always sought justice. “How can you say such words in the first place? This kind of delinquent conduct cannot be tolerated and you should be more respectful to your classmates!” “Respectful? Tell that to him, Kotegawa! He broke my most precious possession when I had my back turned because I made the mistake of trusting him!” The paladin’s anger rose considerably, and his companions at his sides boisterously voiced their support. “What he said! This time we will be the ones teaching him a lesson! Stand aside, Kotegawa! This has been a long time coming, on behalf of everyone in the Anti-Emiya Alliance!” declared the archer.“I will take my girlfriend back from you!” the mage screamed.“…”Well, the reasons for their grudges were definitely not a shared sentiment between all three. Especially the last one which made his eyelids twitch, knowing some fools still believed he was responsible for their failed relationships. He frankly found such opinions to be utterly pathetic, reflecting a highly immature mindset that would rather shift the blame to someone entirely unrelated than take responsibility for their own failings.“What did you do to that paladin, Emiya? He practically looks like he's about to murder you!” Yui asked, clearly taken aback by the amount of vitriol coming out of the central figure. “To be completely honest with you, I have no clue whatsoever. I don't even know who he is.”The paladin in question heard what he said and scoffed. “Stop trying to act dumb, Emiya, I know you remember me! Or maybe you need something to jostle your memory a bit.” His hands went to grab his helmet before taking it off, revealing to everyone his smirking face. His light brown spiky hair came into view, revealing gray eyes, and a generally handsome face. “So, does seeing the face of the person you so wronged finally make you want to confess your crimes? If you get on your hands and knees to apologize and beg me for forgiveness, I may not humiliate you in front of everyone!” Emiya's eyes narrowed and he stared at him in silence for a few seconds. Both Yami and Yui were doing the same, which for some reason made the man puff his chest out even more. Only for that confidence to be immediately gone when he heard the very same person he swore to destroy mutter, “…Who are you?” ...Where once existed arrogance and pride was soon replaced with disbelief and shock, his mouth hanging open as fury returned soon after. “…Ha!? What kind of question is that!? It's me, Motemitsu Taizo, you bastard!”“Taizo? …Oh right, that Taizo.” That name made a spark appear within his mind, followed by a stream of memories surrounding this boy in particular. With everything that had been happening in his life, he had not interacted with him at all for a very long time, and for a time even forgot about him entirely.“What the hell is ‘that Taizo’ supposed to mean!? That’s it, no more holding back! Also, my previous offer for mercy is off the table! Don't tell me you even forgot how you destroyed my most sacred possession for no reason at all and ruined years of hard work just because you were jealous!?” Emiya scoffed. “Jealous? I think you are twisting the facts into something else entirely to suit your own narrative.” Sure enough, memories were coming back to him concerning this boy, namely those of their last interaction when he found him on top of the rooftop during the girls’ swimming class. Yui meanwhile looked at him with a frown. “What's he talking about, Emiya? You do know that breaking the personal belongings of another student on school grounds is not permitted and is punishable by suspension, right?” “Trust me, you would not be saying that if you knew what it was that I broke.” Now that he understood who this person was, he really was not that worried anymore. “That person over there is called Motemitsu Taizo. He is a second-year student and a member of the photography club. I caught him… a few weeks ago? Or was it months? Anyway, I caught him secretly taking pictures of Lala during the girls’ swimming class. In his camera, I also found a wide collection of pictures of girls in their underwear or swimsuits, all taken without their consent. So I took the memory card and snapped it into pieces.” “…Are you serious?” Yui was taken aback by the truth. This was very different from what she had imagined. Her blooming suspicions immediately vanished and she now looked at the opposing team with a high amount of disgust. “Alright, I'll permit it. You were protecting the student body's privacy.” “Wait, so he's the person who has been taking pictures of us since way back then!? I told you, Mio! I knew I heard a camera shutter in the changing room all those weeks ago!” Risa's voice rang from the device. “Kick his ass, Emiya! I don't know how you will actually do it but still, kick his ass for me and all the other girls he peeped on! Better yet, teach him a lesson, Kotegawa!” “KILL HIM!” Mio was far more bloodthirsty from the sound of it.“T-That’s a lie!” Taizo shouted but got no reprieve from either one of the girls on commentary, and even his two teammates had looked away to start whistling innocently. “Y-You're just trying to ruin my image even further with baseless slander! Those were just pictures from students m-modeling!”Seeing that peace talks had broken down, Taizo and his friends readied their weapons, which immediately made the once-wrathful Yui feel overwhelmed. The glowing light coming off of their armor and the slight ringing noise sounding from their weapons made any kind of confidence within her die down in an instant “S-Stay behind me, you two. I'll buy you some time to get as far away from here as you can. Or better yet, we can just surrender!” “Here, have this.”“Mmmph!” Opening his inventory, he grabbed an item and instantly stuffed it inside Yui's mouth. This got the girl to bristle in place while trying to speak, but his hand covering her mouth made any protest impossible. “Just chew, it's a small pastry I made a few hours ago while testing the abilities of my class. How is it?” Following his words, she managed to calm down once more and started to chew. Her eyes grew hazy and he found it weird how she started to take deep breaths whilst managing to keep eye contact with him for the first time. The blush on her face grew even darker until the girl's entire face turned into a tomato.“By your reaction, I suppose it's good enough. Don't choke, I used plenty of rare ingredients that I scavenged along the way.” He removed his hands, seeing Yui chew a few more times before swallowing. “My body… feels weird, Emiya…” Weird? Strange, he tested it on himself and there were no side effects like this. “Oooh! Do we have a spicy scene going on? Get a room, you two! As much as I would like to see where this goes, we still have a fight happening here!” “—!?” This seemed to shake her back to her prior self, Yui pushed herself away and sent him a seething glare. “Don't do that in front of everyone next time.” “It looked to me like you were losing your cool, at least now you're back. Remember what I said before, just because they have visually impressive equipment doesn't mean they are strong enough to give you any trouble. Just trust me, and attack him. Yami over here will be cheering for you, which should provide some good buffs.” “Cut them apart.” The playgirl in question just pumped her fist robotically and gave her encouragement in a monotone voice, which sounded like the complete opposite of a cheer. Yet it clearly had an effect as a slight blue aura surrounded Yui's body. “It worked!?” she asked in wonder.“Of course it did, now go over there and teach them a lesson. After all, who else will protect us? Someone like Taizo will not know anything about swinging a sword properly, so if you get close enough quickly, he will most likely just go for an overhead slash. Sidestep the attack and punch him as hard as you can in his guts, that should take him out. Don't worry about the armor, your gauntlets should be good enough.” Those parting words were more than enough to raise the girl’s fighting spirit and she wasted no time in turning her back to her companions and rushing forward into battle. “Okay, stay put, I'll protect you two!” She shouted loudly, putting her fist up and going straight for Taizo without any fear.“She's very gullible,” Yami observed, both her and Emiya taking a seat on the ground and casually spectating the fight. Honestly if by the end Yui was still not convinced, then both of them would have taken the lead, and Yami alone was more than enough. “What did you give her?” “This.” A small meat bun appeared on his hand, a faint red glow coming out of its surface. “I used several ingredients from that bear we killed last time. Upon checking the kind of meat it has, I found several interesting effects that would be very useful during combat if properly prepared by a chef.”[Earth Bear's meat bun.Effect 1: Upon consumption, grants a 50% increase in physical strength for sixty seconds. Effect 2: Harness the faint bloodline of the Lava Ursine and gain bonus fire damage in unarmed combat for thirty seconds.Rarity: Very Rare.Value: 5 Silver Coins/25000 Loveroons]The results spoke for themselves, and just as he predicted, Taizo raised his greatsword the moment Yui managed to bypass the arrows shot by his friend and punched through the fireball spells. Already panicking, he left his front completely open, giving her a clear opening to wind up her arm and punch as hard as she could at the center of his armor. Crack!What was once an impressive piece of equipment that was apparently enhanced by the best magician according to Taizo shattered into pieces. His body was lifted off the ground entirely as her fist continued to dig into his guts, and Emiya was pretty sure he heard something that wasn’t metal snap. [Critical Strike][+50 Fire Damage!][-300 HP!]And just like that, the leader of the first team had his entire HP get brought down to zero in a single attack. His body disappeared into shards of light while his comrades looked at Yui as if she were some sort of monster. “Can I have one of those meat buns as well?” asked Yami, no longer watching the fight in favor of staring at the tasty-looking treat in his hand. “No, you don't need it. I'm saving my rations to test them on her.”“Oh…”With clear disappointment and several sounds of painful moans coming from the other side along with more armor getting destroyed, the opposing team was brought down in an instant and the eyeball device came rushing down. “And with a devastating opening move with the help of her support-class teammates, Yui the Fighter utterly crushes her absolutely pathetic opposition, who turned out to be all style and no substance!” Mio announced excitedly.“A big round of congratulations for Team A! You are the winner of the first round of the Demonic Super Ultra Battle Royale War Smash!” Risa cheered. “Also, screw those losers extra hard!”He had to give it to Lala, this game was pretty well made. [Bonus part end]-Sainan-His eons as a Counter Guardian had on many occasions given Emiya the chance to encounter notable individuals from unique cultures across all manner of different periods. Even his many summonings in the Fuyuki’s fifth Holy Grail War often saw him facing Servants that were not part of the usual roster. Powerful individuals with unique personalities and abilities. This was on top of various Noble Phantasms, some of which summoned large structures or hordes of armies to fight in their stead. At other times, it was something more subtle, unseen to the eyes, and affected one's mind more than anything — yet they had the potential to be just as dangerous in his opinion. The concept of facing a Noble Phantasm that centered around personal charm and worked by alluring one's opponent was not a foreign concept to Emiya, and he had been on the receiving end of such abilities a few times. Not all interactions went the same, and many times, the outcome did not play out in his favor. Regardless, individuals with charm abilities were people he preferred to avoid. Tricky to deal with and they always knew how to use words in the most effective way possible even against a superior foe in combat. The eldest of the Gorgon sisters came to mind, and unfortunately, her sisters were even more proficient with that particular power. Other instances were nothing but clouded memories of the distant past. Yet here he was, serving his own homemade food to an individual who possessed a similar charm ability whilst wearing his clothes just to top it all off. The woman who gave birth to the troublesome eldest princess who thankfully did not possess her allure abilities, and Gid's wife — Sephie Michaela Deviluke. The Empress of Planet Deviluke.A person who could be described as a carbon copy of Lala in terms of appearance, albeit physically more mature. Even if she had her veil on right now, it did little to hide some of her traits.“Mmmmmnn! I’ve never had food that tasted this wonderful, no wonder my daughters all love staying here so much~!” The same person who caused Zastin to faint on the kitchen floor he just cleaned this morning, foaming at the mouth. Somehow his brother was unaffected… that was a question for another time. “Glad you think so as well, my siblings helped me with the preparations.” He spoke curtly, neither being too formal nor informal. “…”“…”Of course, Mikan and Rito remained silent the entire time, focusing all their attention on their plates while letting him do all the talking. They couldn’t be more obvious about how nervous they were feeling.The same applied to the twins as well, anxious and uncertain, especially Momo who had become completely silent the entire time whenever she was near her mother. The eldest sister was the only one unaffected by the empress’ presence from the looks of it. “See? I told you Shirou is amongst the best in the entire galaxy! If you keep eating his meals, you will want to stay here forever!” Please don’t tempt fate, he very much did not want that outcome to happen. Three princesses were dangerous enough, but an empress? That was just begging for all sorts of trouble. “You shouldn't be loitering around the house all without doing anything to help, Lala. Especially since this is your fiancé’s house”“I help around the house whenever I can! Tell her, Shirou!” Well, he could not deny her words. Other than using alien technology to make chores easier for him, she also helped Mikan and Rito with various personal things as well. “She’s doing good, I wouldn't have let her stay here for so long if she was nothing but a burden to us, even with Gid’s decree. Now if you don't mind me asking, is there a reason why you decided to visit?” Not wanting to beat around the bush, he asked the one question that had been swimming in his mind for the past hour. “Ara, well it's obviously to come check on my beautiful little angels.” Her hand went to caress Nana's hair, the latter immediately leaning against her mother, seeking more of the comforting gesture. Momo was quick to do the same, albeit with a bit of hesitation as she kept glancing back and forth between him and Sephie for some reason. Lala on the other hand was more than content sitting next to him as she usually did. “It has been very quiet inside the main palace these past few weeks. It gets depressing living in such a large castle with no one to talk to about things outside of work. Gid meanwhile has been very busy conquering other worlds, squashing rebellions, and dealing with foreign affairs. So, since I found I could leave managing the empire’s government to its ministers for a time, I thought I’d come to visit you all on Earth and see how you were doing.” That explanation made sense to both Rito and Mikan who were more than happy to welcome Sephie and even applauded her for making the time and effort to come all the way out to the space boonies simply to see her daughters. “Lala has been living here for a while now,” said Mikan with a smile. “So I’m glad to see that her parents take enough of an interest in her life to come to see how she's doing and check up on her. Now that Momo and Nana also practically live here, then your visit makes even more sense.”“From what I understand, you came a long way to arrive at this planet.” Emiya accepted her reasoning, even though he was pretty certain there was something else to it. “I hope you did not bring your husband along with you. My previous conversations with him have already left a bad taste in my mouth.” As soon as he said that, she let out a melodious chuckle, “Don't worry about that, Gid won't be coming over to cause any trouble for you anytime soon. I made sure of that.” The way she said it so confidently with a smile on her face made him wonder at the kind of person she really was, to be so confident at being able to deal with a person like Gid. “Still, I’ve heard so much about you from both him and my daughters that I’ve been quite excited to see for myself. From some of the tidbits I can recall, it's almost hard to believe that you are a human~!” Sephie said cheerfully, to which the twins nodded in agreement on either side. “Lala has found herself a most interesting fiancé, and I couldn’t be happier for her. Now, seeing as we’re all going to be family soon, let's be sure to get along well and make many happy memories together.” Her words sounded genuine enough, there was nothing deceptive about her as far as he could tell. But that was the issue with people holding charm magic like her; they were astonishingly good at deceiving others, to the point that not even he could tell for certain if she meant anything she said. Then again, having gained an understanding of Lala's personality, she gave him no reason to believe her mother had something to hide. Though Momo looked particularly tense for some reason. Afterward, the dinner went along smoothly without any further incidents. He could not let Zastin continue lying on the floor and salivating all over the place he cleaned just the other day, so the Devilukian bodyguard was dragged away by his men who came to pick him up at Sephie’s instruction. Sephie and her daughters took a few moments together to bond and talk to one another in the living room while he stayed in the kitchen cleaning up, while also keeping an eye on them from afar. “I’ve never seen anyone close to being as beautiful as her,” Mikan whispered in awe, a statement he did not find himself immediately disagreeing with. The woman was indeed extremely beautiful, but he was certain a large part of what his sister had to say about said beauty was heavily influenced by that charming effect of hers. Unfortunately, trying to use his Magical Energy and send a small pulse throughout Mikan's body to purge the influence was not an option. Thankfully the charm’s effects were minor for now, merely making the woman appear more physically attractive and giving her words a little more weight than they were perhaps due. “Even with that veil on, I can tell she is easily the most beautiful person I have ever met — I can't imagine how she looks without it. No wonder Lala is so pretty, she got everything from her mother. Who knows, when she grows a bit older she will look even more like her. You're quite lucky, Shirou.”“Wait, you didn't see her face?” He asked, feeling a bit of confusion. In response, his youngest sibling tilted her head slightly. “What do you mean? Of course we haven’t seen her face. Peke mentioned how she is the last of her kind, a species called Charmians, and went so far as to explain some of her abilities that she can and can't control. Nana also told us about the dangers of her incredible beauty, where if her bare face is revealed, an entire population could fall completely in love with her to the point that they become animals since she’s all they can think about. His hands went still at that statement.He was pretty sure upon his arrival that Sephie had taken the liberty to show her face around to the others. If not… “You didn't see her face?” “Heh, nope! But veil or no veil, it’s obvious to anyone how much of a beautiful woman she is.”“Wait, so then why was Zastin passed out on the floor?” He was pretty certain upon returning home that the man had lost consciousness after seeing his empress’ face. But now the explanation he was getting was completely different from what he had in mind.“Him? Oh, he was just trying to help out around the kitchen and ended up spilling some juice which he then slipped on, and knocked himself out from banging his head on the counter as he fell. Personally, I’m just glad he managed not to break anything in the process.”That… sounded exactly like the sort of thing that would happen to Zastin. He did not want to be surprised at this point, yet the man’s clumsiness kept surprising him again and again. “What are you going to do about her?”“Nothing,” he replied honestly. “It's best to just sit back for now. I can't really do anything for that matter, she hasn't done anything that would create trouble and she's been much better than Gid already in the time she’s been here.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Sephie spending time with her daughters and watching TV. Without taking into account her title as an empress, she looked more like their eldest sister from a stranger's point of view. “For now, let's just get done with this.” Mikan nodded at his words and they finished with the cleanup soon after. By that time Rito had joined the girls in the living room and thankfully he was there to stop any unfortunate incidents from happening. Emiya feared that by looking away for a single second he would find the boy falling towards Sephie and have his hands make their way inside her clothes somehow. Even Nana was standing guard around her mother. “Mau!” In Celine's case, she had taken a liking to the woman. Whether it was because of her weakened charm or just her maternal nature he could not tell. Either way, the little plant girl happily snuggled into her embrace for the rest of the night as he sat with everyone in silence. It was… peaceful, strangely enough. Sephie differed greatly from the kind of person he had in mind for the wife of Gid.{Break}(Next morning)The morning sun bathed the bustling streets of the shopping district, casting a warm glow over the lively market. Sephie, radiating regal composure even when garbed in casual attire, walked ahead with Lala, Momo, and Nana in tow. She acted the same as she did the evening prior with her daughters, behaving as if the fact that he saw her face last night did not happen.Rito had to do his homework and so did Mikan, leaving only him free to accompany this small group of beautiful alien royalty.Emiya trailed behind the four women, his arms laden with shopping bags that had already been entrusted to him.As for Momo, she had been unusually quiet, her gaze flitting back toward him every few moments. Then her pace began to slow down, and soon her steps were in line with his own.“Alright, Momo, what’s on your mind?” Emiya asked with a sigh, finally turning to face her as her sisters and mother paused outside a boutique and began to gush over the many outfits on display before heading inside.The pink-haired princess crossed her arms, her tone laced with suspicion. “You saw her face… didn't you?”“So?” Emiya replied curtly, rolling his eyes. “Not like it's an impossible feat to remain unaffected. I bet even Rito would be able to keep his cool if he saw her face… maybe.” The boy was almost painfully shy when around real women — especially for how frequently he had clumsy accidents of a perverted nature — and he could not see him have any deviant thoughts about another person, not even Sairenji whom he had a massive crush on. But then again, he could not be certain when charm abilities were at play. Momo’s frown deepened. “So you say, But her charms have affected even the most righteous of gentlemen in the galaxy. And in our galaxy’s history, there have been wars on a galactic scale because the leaders of powerful factions desired the beauty of a single Charmian for themselves.”“So what? If I remember correctly, your own father is stated to be immune to her charms. It's not that big of a stretch to assume there are other individuals like him in the world who could resist her charm, and she just had yet to meet another one until now.” “Maybe…” Momo hesitantly admitted. ”Honestly, I am fine with you having more women fawning over you, Emiya, but my mother is not someone you can handle. For one, Papa might start a war if he becomes suspicious that you’re eyeing his wife.”This girl and her wild imagination, “You make it sound like I am building a harem, and that I’m even planning on stealing other people’s partners in order to do so. Don't listen to what Mikan says about my relationships with the girls at my school. We are purely friends. You can also rest assured I don't have any feelings for you or Nana.”“What if I want you to have those feelings?” she suddenly said, making him stop in his tracks and turn to look at her fully. The girl did not meet his gaze, hands held behind her back as she gazed at her surroundings. “I have come to notice that there are a surprisingly large number of girls who are very interested in you. Even if you say that you are only friends with each and every one of them, that does not seem to be the kind of relationship they all want to have with you.” “If there are indeed multiple people who want to be my girlfriend then I'd decline them, simple as that.” He gave her his honest opinion on the matter, as he truly was not looking to establish any kind of romantic relationship currently. “But why?” she asked, genuinely confused, finally looking him in the eye. “If you decline any of them, much less all of them, then people will be sad. Everyone will be sad. I don't see that being worth it. So why not just choose the easiest solution where everyone is happy?”“By making a harem?” “Yes, a harem.” She nodded her head. “Ah!” Only to get a gentle tap on her head from his fist, like he’d rapped his knuckle against a door. "That's not just a bad idea — it's outright destructive. Even if everyone agreed to it at first, it would fall apart and hurt them way worse than being turned down. A harem means splitting your time and attention between multiple people. Nobody gets enough in the end. And let's be honest, it's just selfish to string multiple people along like that."” Knowing how stubborn Momo was, he preferred to actually give her an explanation rather than a simple refusal. “A lover tends to be possessive of the person with whom they want to spend the rest of their life. You can imagine they would not want to share someone precious to them with so many other people.”He hoped that she would understand. “What if it's the girls who want such an outcome?” Momo asked again. “What if that is exactly what they want to achieve, and they are all willing to share so they can all be happy together?” “You might feel that way, Momo, but can you really speak for everyone else? That simply is not something that can happen. Even if there are cases of functioning harems, they are not built on anything that could possibly be called genuinely loving relationships between equals, and so I have no interest. Also, why would I even want to make a harem when I myself am not interested in starting a romantic relationship at this moment?”“Will you consider loving someone in the future then?” He shrugged. “Maybe, right now I just want to live as I currently am. I don't want to rush, as I can tell this peaceful part of my life will not last forever… I want to cherish it as much as I can while I still have it.” “…Are you perhaps more interested in mature women?” The girl whispered quietly, looking at herself and squeezing her chest. “These are not as big as Onee-sama’s or Mama’s, but I still have room to grow, you know…”“Did you say something?”“Nothing. I'm just wondering if I should change my way of approach. As long as it does not change your current lifestyle, and the relationships are between loving equals, huh…” She admitted with hesitation, though all it earned from him was a dismissive hum. “Just don't go around spreading any kind of misunderstanding.”Heading inside the boutique, they saw Lala and Nana darting toward a display of accessories, leaving Sephie and Momo to linger by the racks of dresses. Sephie’s elegant fingers skimmed the fabric as she examined an array of gowns, her every movement exuding grace. Thankfully, they only spent around an hour inside the shop, and before the clock hit noon they were on their way out and heading to get lunch. “This was fun. While this planet is several centuries behind Deviluke in terms of technology, there are still plenty of wonderful things to do here! Even on our homeworld, it is hard to find clothes as pretty as these, yet here they’re available to everyone.” Well, she was certainly very different from her husband, and so far had not caused him any trouble. It was a welcome turn of events, one where he finally felt he could enjoy the tranquility of the moment, and not have to constantly be looking over his shoulders for fear that something stupid was about to happen and ruin everything the moment he let his guard down. “Oooooooh! What a beautiful woman! Even with your face hidden, I can feel the well of beauty and sexiness coming from you!” He spoke too soon. “What the hell is that fat pig doing here!?” Emiya watched in disbelief as the man who he used as a wrecking ball not that long ago and subsequently should have been hospitalized for the better part of two months was now walking the streets. However, he was somewhat glad to see that the old pervert was still covered head to toe in bandages and holding an IV fluid bag with a tube still attached to his arm. “Hahaha! I knew my senses were not lying! Now please, fair lady, let us enjoy each other's embrace and share our warmth!” That man escaped from the hospital because he somehow sensed Sephie's beauty!? That didn't make sense! “…Should I just kill him? No, too many witnesses… I can make sure he will no longer be able to get aroused at least.” As much as the first option sounded ideal, It was too much of a grisly sight to present in front of so many people and the girls. But if he continued with such behavior even after having his manhood crippled, then at that point he would have no other options. For now though, a well-placed thrust was all he needed. It didn’t even need to be sharp, just the right amount of blunt force trauma would get the job done. With a metal pole ready in his grasp, he rushed in front of Sephie and prepared to strike. “Oh my, what a passionate person. It would be admirable of you to channel this much energy into something that benefits the world around you and the people living in it more than anything else. With enthusiasm like yours, I’m certain you could bring some positive change to the world.” Suddenly, her voice rang from behind, and immediately the perverted principal came to a standstill right as Emiya was about to thrust with his improvised weapon. Much to Emiya's disbelief, the obese principal lost his perverted smile and adjusted his glasses. Turning around and walking away with the IV fluid still attached to his arm. “I see, you speak the truth. My current behavior has not been fair to the people around me. I should go back to the hospital and apologize to the wonderful people who took care of me before starting my new journey. Have a good day.” The crowd made way for him to pass through until his figure disappeared around the corner. “H-Huh?” Never in his current life did he ever dream of seeing such a drastic change in such a contemptible person. He would’ve put the same level of expectation on something like this happening as Alaya announcing that it was voluntarily freeing him from his duties as a Counter Guardian. An impossible scenario. But this miracle had happened right before his very eyes, and he did not know what to say. "What a peculiar man," Sephie mused with a gentle laugh. "Though I suppose everyone deserves a chance to better themselves. With that much enthusiasm, he might actually do some good in the world once he channels it properly." Those words were no different from those of an angel, and the way he viewed the woman behind him had changed completely. No longer did he see her as Gid's wife, empress of an empire spanning across the galaxy, or Lala's mother — but rather as the savior of this doomed city filled with twisted people like that disgrace of a principal. “You,” without so much of a thought, he approached Sephie and grabbed her shoulders. “E-Eh?” His action caught her off guard as well, But he did not care because she needed to hear this. “You are more than welcome to stay in my house as long as you want to,” he declared earnestly, having never been so certain about such a decision with any of her daughters in the past. “Emiya!?” “I knew Shirou would understand!” “Mama is off limits!”Three different reactions came from all three princesses. Spanning from panic, joy, and jealousy.(Several hours later)With the clock ticking by and evening turning into night, everyone went to bed one by one. Sephie mentioned she was going to stay over in her daughter’s room, and he didn't see any issues with that. Hopefully that meant Lala would not be sneaking into his room for at least this one night. Taking this rare opportunity where he could, kind of, be all by himself, Emiya went to his shed with a small child anchored to his head. One who refused to let go and showed no signs of drowsiness. In fact her eyes had practically turned into stars the moment he indulged her weird desire of going inside this place for some reason. “Oooooh! Maaaaauu…” He couldn't tell what she was trying to say exactly, but seeing the look of awe and wonder on her face — it was quite easy to figure out what was going through her little head. “Careful now, don't go over there.” The moment he placed Celine on the table she tried to walk towards the wall of swords, hands stretched out and a giant smile on her face. She stubbornly tried to reach them even when he pulled her back, and she ended up staring at him with puppy dog eyes while pouting cutely. “That won't work on me, especially not when you want to do something clearly dangerous. You'll get hurt playing around with those things. I don't even understand why a plant of all things is interested in blades. You're an odd little one aren't you…” “Mau!” she laughed, her tiny hands gripping his shirt, crawling upwards until she reached his shoulders and took a seat up there. “Mau… mau mau!”“Alright, I'll make you something. But nothing dangerous. Also, you’ll need to wear these,” he said, Projecting a small pair of earmuffs and a little visor. “Mau!” Celine smiled while he placed the protective equipment on her.Even though she could not speak any actual words for him to understand, somehow he felt he had a good understanding of what would make her happy. The fact that she then hugged his face and now looked like a ball of energy made it obvious that he was spot on. Maybe he was a bad influence on her, that she had such interests at her age. And so, despite the late hour, a series of sounds within the shed as hammer met anvil over and over again. Thanks to Lala's technology the sound never reached the house, leaving him comfortable to go all out if he wanted to. He was fully focused on the glowing piece of metal in front of him aside from periodically checking on Celine. She had gone completely silent the moment he started the process. But of course, at the end of the day she was still a child, so as time went on she sought to distract herself from the boredom of a task far longer than her attention span, she saw fit to entertain herself in other ways. “Stop chewing my ear, you're not teething as far as I know and they are not chew toys.” He quickly Projected a simple pacifier and gave it to the girl, which proved good enough to make her stop treating his ears as a toy. A few hours later, he was done with the final step as he set his engraving tools aside and gave a considering look at the tempered piece of metal. It was no weapon made to use for offensive purposes nor was it a piece of armor.“Alright, just hold still a moment.” With a simple braided string attached to it, he gently fastened it around the green-haired child's neck after exiting his forge. “Mau?” “See it for yourself. It's not a sword like you probably wanted, but I feel it’s close enough, don’t you?” He chuckled, seeing her grab the small necklace he made in the shape of a miniature ceremonial dagger. Dulled of course, and big enough that she’d have a hard time fitting it inside her mouth while also being made from a lighter metal so it wouldn’t be too difficult for her to wear. He’d also used this opportunity to work on his abilities in designing small and intricate details with small vine-like patterns etched onto its surface. A process that did not take as long as he expected. “Like it?” He got his answer with her jumping towards him and hugging his neck, excitedly rubbing her head against him as he held onto her. He was pretty sure this meant yes, that she indeed liked his small present. “I was not aware you were capable of forging jewelry as well.” A voice came from behind as he sat on the porch near the garden. Celine immediately perked up and left his grasp to run towards the newest arrival. “Mau!” “Oh my, something you want to show me, Celine? I see, it is quite beautiful I must say. I am very tempted to ask for one myself.” Even without looking at Sephie, her voice naturally dripped with honey, perhaps another aspect of her Charmian heritage. “Mind if I take a seat?”“Go ahead.” The woman came to a halt next to him, holding the Plantas girl in her arms and gently rocking her to sleep. It didn’t take long, Celine was already tired from staying up this late and he watched as her eyes slowly closed while sucking on the handle of the little trinket he made for her. “Never would I imagine that a species like the Plantas would be capable of taking such a form. It's strange, and it's not normal, that much I can say for certain. It’s not something that happens randomly. Either this planet is having a unique effect on her or the ones raising her are. Could it be related to what you feed her?”He hummed, “There is a chance for the first one to be the truth. Despite most aliens being happy to write Earth off as a primitive backwater, I’ve heard a few of them comment on the fostering nature of this planet. As for the food, it's just regular dishes I or Mikan would make, much like the ones you've had today. I don't see why or how that would have such an effect on her. Then again, I know nothing about alien plants.”“Yet here you are indulging her in the middle of the night in much the same way a devoted father would. You may not know much about them, but you certainly have taken a liking to her.”Well, that he could not argue against. By now, or more accurately since the moment he started feeding her before she transformed — the alien plant had long since become a part of the family in a way. He found himself worrying about her just like he would for Rito or Mikan. And the way she was now, it brought him back to the days when he would take care of Mikan as a child as well. Though Celine still wasn’t quite as clingy as his sister had been in her youth.“You can say that I suppose, if not us then I don't see anyone else being able to take responsibility.” “You could always entrust her to us if you wish. We have a city-sized garden back on Planet Deviluke, and I am sure Celine would enjoy liv—”“—No.” He shot down that idea as soon as it started to come out of her mouth. Staring at the woman in the eyes with a slight frown, he made his position clear. “She is perfectly content here, Celine does not need to live in a palace on an alien planet.”His answer only made Sephie chuckle fondly.“Fufufufu~ how protective you are of her. I can see now why Lala keeps calling you a softie. Despite your gruff outward appearance, you care a lot more than you let on. Can you say the same thing when it comes to my daughters?” she wondered, never breaking her gaze even behind the veil. He was once again faced with the reality of just how different this person was from Lala despite her face being nearly identical to hers. It was honestly a bit off-putting to imagine Lala ever becoming like this, as opposed to her easygoing, child-like self. “I made a promise with Lala. She knows she can stay here for as long as it takes for this entire fiancé candidate mess to end.”“Is that all?” Sephie tilted her head, her eyes narrowing playfully as her smile grew wider. “To me, it sounds more like an excuse. Were this fiancé candidate arrangement to no longer exist, I want to believe that you would let her live here regardless.”“For someone who just met me the other day, you sure act as though you know me well,” he said back, neither denying nor confirming her prior statement. The woman in turn hummed in amusement. “I don't know you as well as my daughters, I admit. But, a part of me now understands a bit more as to why my husband is also so curious about you. You have a few overlapping similarities with him, after all.”“Are you honestly comparing me to a warmongering ruler of a galaxy-spanning empire who destroys planets and conquers countless worlds out of boredom? No offense.”“None taken. And, no, maybe not that part, but you are one of the very… very few who did not have a reaction to seeing my face in all its beauty.” “Hm?” He raised his eyebrow, wondering just what he meant by that. However, he became wary the next moment when Sephie, on her own accord, took off the veil to show her face to him. Their eyes met one another for a second time with nothing obstructing them. The next few seconds passed in complete silence. “What are you trying to accomplish exactly?” he asked the woman, feeling like she was laying a trap for him. “When I first came to meet Lala, Momo, and Nana, we decided to have a bath together. While nowhere near as big as the royal bath back home, I had fun enjoying such a private moment with all my daughters somewhere where it was just the four of us. So much so that when I finally left, I completely forgot to put my veil back on. Then out of nowhere, you showed up.” So Mikan was telling the truth about not seeing her face after all. He just ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Remembering his luck, Emiya wanted to sigh but could only silently accept the hand fate had dealt him. "I was terrified, Emiya. Absolutely mortified that I let my guard down and allowed a man to see my face. My mind raced with the worst possibilities — that my daughter's fiancé would lose all control at the sight of my beauty. That you would force yourself upon me right then and there, tearing off my clothes with wild abandon as I futilely tried to resist before giving in. That you would ravage me mercilessly in front of my own daughters as I cried out your name in shameful ecstasy while you violated my body, running those rough, callous hands over my bosoms. That I would end up on my hands and knees while you take me from behind, begging for more like a common wh—""Enough!" Emiya cut her off sharply, his brow twitching in irritation. "You've made your point, quite vividly I have to say. Give me and the rest of humanity a little credit — we're not mindless beasts slobbering at the mouth, ready to pounce at the mere glimpse of a beautiful face." He crossed his arms and fixed her with a flat stare, clearly unamused by the unnecessary detail she had delved into with her imagined worst-case scenario.“Oh my, you really have no idea how that’s exactly what almost happens whenever men of any species have seen my face in the past and how much effort my bodyguards had to make to protect me. Even animals are affected. For humans who already bend their wills just to the allure of my voice, I saw no reason to suspect otherwise. Except for your brother, he was surprisingly suspicious of me during our first meeting, even after I introduced myself.”“He was?” That caught him off guard. With Mikan he could understand, but with Rito it was another story entirely.“Yes~! He even asked me if I came here to cause you any harm. My husband left a bad impression on everyone from the looks of it, how unfortunate. It warms my heart to see your brother care so much about you that it overpowered his other desires. Maybe.” “…”Though he did not show it, Emiya did feel some fondness at Sephie's words about Rito. For all his faults, Rito was a genuinely kind boy and it frustrated him deeply at times at how that aspect kept getting overshadowed by his supernatural perverted clumsiness in the eyes of many. He could not even blame them. “Are you not feeling the urge to claim me right now, even as you gaze upon my unparalleled beauty in all its glory? Despite knowing that I’m a wife and a mother?” The eye twitching returned, “What's with you asking such questions? And why do you have to phrase it like that?” “So I can get a headstart and run away as soon as possible if putting my veil back on does not help~!” Alright, his prior impression of the woman was wrong. She may behave more maturely than her daughters, but right now her behavior was no different from Lala and Momo in some aspects. “Trust me, I will throw you out of the house myself if your charms start to have any kind of effect on me or anyone else for that matter… Though I’m most concerned about how it’d affect my siblings.” He did not care if she used her abilities on others or even Zastin, they were not his concern. “But it would be a shame to lose someone who has the ability to change an unrepentant raging pervert into a gentleman.”“Oh my, the more you behave like that, the more I'm drawing parallels between you two.” “Hah… believe what you want then. I don't have the means or the need to change your mind, only the hope that you will see the truth with your own eyes.” “Why don't we do so right now?” She tapped the space next to her. “Come join me, I want to have someone to stargaze with. I cannot remember the last time I had someone other than one of my daughters or Gid keep me company like this. And I want to get to know just what kind of person my future son-in-law truly is and how he managed to make my usually impulsive and flippant daughters all fall in love with him.”“…”It was not an unreasonable request, so he entertained her for now. Going over and taking a seat next to her with the woman who in turn scooched closer to him with her body now almost touching his. But he noted she still kept some distance, perhaps still uncertain whether or not her pheromones would have any effect on him. He preferred it that way. He was not worried about her charm anymore since he still felt nothing; he didn’t even feel the need to cycle his Magical Energy to ward off the effects. Still, he preferred to have respectable boundaries between them.“The stars you can see from this planet are truly beautiful. The sky is different from the one on my homeworld, but it's just as beautiful,” Sephie whispered, wearing a gentle, genuine smile on her face. “You know, I have not given you my thanks for keeping my daughter happy all this time. While I did not particularly approve of how the fiancé candidate business was put together by Gid, I could see why he did so. Lala is… different from the rest of us. While she is still growing into it, I can tell she has inherited my beauty, Gid's strength, and great intelligence beyond either of her parents. But despite all of that, she is still terribly naive when it comes to many aspects of life. We were afraid that she would end up being taken advantage of if left alone sooner or later.”“And so you tried forcing her to marry random alien princes who have proven themselves to be willing to take part in all manner of deceit so they can have her as a prize was your plan? A rather terrible one I must say,” he commented, finding a great many flaws in their way of thinking. “You speak of truths most unfortunate, yet… I do not believe it’s quite as bad as you say. Gid believed that eventually, a candidate would emerge who would prove themselves strong enough to eliminate all of the treacherous competition and be someone who in turn would care more about Lala herself than whatever benefits or prestige that marrying her might offer. And I must agree with him on that.”“How am I wrong? It could have all too easily been yet another warmongering prince who got to her in the end. Lacospo is simply the most recent example that comes to mind.”“Yet just as Gid hoped, someone strong was there to halt his nefarious schemes and protect Lala along with everyone else. Someone who managed to attain great power through unknown means and is completely uninterested in Lala's identity as the crown princess of Deviluke. Isn't that right?” She turned her attention to him, a sly smile on her face as if he had walked straight into her trap. Emiya opened his mouth wanting to deny that, but realized that she was right. Even if it was a stroke of pure luck that Lala landed in his house of all places, it still went as Gid intended. “Had I not been here… things would have gone very differently, and not at all like what you're saying, Sephie.”“Call me Mother or Mother-in-law, Shirou.” “I refuse.”Her pout was exactly the same as Lala’s. Yet while she made such a face, her body was less tense and she looked more relaxed. Most likely she was starting to understand that her charms really did not have the effects she believed they would have upon him. He hoped Lala would not awaken such a power in the future… then he recalled the changes the girl showed when she used that device to accelerate her aging temporarily and grew very worried. “Please?” “No,” he rolled his eyes as even her voice started to become a tiny bit whiny. “Hmph, spoilsport,” Sephie muttered with puffed cheeks. “Lala and I are not seriously engaged with one another, this is just to play along with this fiasco you and your husband created. Otherwise he’s going to blow up my planet, need I remind you.” “Is that so?” She sounded unconvinced but did not continue insisting on the matter. In fact, in that moment he felt the woman lean her head against his shoulder and let out a soft yawn. “Well at the very least, I want you to know that I would like to have three grandkids per daughter.” “…I won't even comment on that.” “You drive a hard bargain, young man. Hmm… two grandchildren with each of my girls? It gets quite lonely in the palace. Celine already counts as one child between you and either Momo or Lala, after all, so you only have five more to go. Hopefully, the girls won't inherit their grandmother’s curse of perfect beauty. Plus I would love to see a few redheads running around the palace hallways.” Suddenly the idea of throwing her out of the house resurfaced in his mind, and this time it had nothing to do with her charm abilities. She was an empress, so booking a hotel for the night would not be hard for her. “About whether or not Lala would have found you regardless of the time and place. I cannot give you an answer to that. It is easy to ask an infinite number of ‘what if’ questions, to wonder about a past that could have been. But at the end of the day, what happened is that Lala found you, and so here we are. It does not serve anyone any purpose to wonder the kind of path life might have taken if you had not crossed paths with her. I also like to believe that one way or another, she would have found a way to break free from her chains — she is my daughter after all.” “…”“If it is of any value to you, know that I am most glad she found you, and so is Gid. We can rest easy at night knowing our daughters found someone who can protect them and give them a loving family.” He would have silently agreed with her had it not been for a single point she kept bringing up. “You make it sound like I am going to marry all three of them. What kind of mother is so eager to hand over all her children to a stranger she just met?”“…” This time, he was the one who did not get an answer. The silence continued and all he could hear was the sound of her breathing. A quick look showed him that just like Celine sleeping in her arms, Sephie had also dozed off with more of her weight leaning on him. Emiya shook his head, continuing to speak despite knowing she could no longer hear him. “You misunderstand, I know full well how Lala feels about me. But I am pretty sure the same sentiment is not shared with your other daughters.” With only silence as an answer, Emiya sighed at the realization that he would need to pick Sephie up and bring her to Lala's room. Plus there was the matter of putting Celine to bed without jostling her too much.He stayed there for a few more minutes, at some point the Empress and the Plantas duo managed to find their way to using his thighs as a pillow with Celine drooling all over his leg. “What is going on here?” “—!”Momo’s voice came from behind, awakening Sephie who immediately jolted back up while Celine just groaned lightly in her sleep, but thankfully did not wake up. Emiya saw Sephie look behind and found Momo staring at them suspiciously from the corner of the entrance. The empress most likely never intended to doze off like this and was panicking slightly, barely managing to put up a smile and get back on her feet. “Would you look at the time! You're still not sleeping, Momo? That's not good for your health, my dear daughter. Let's go to bed, we have a long day tomorrow. Good night, Shirou.” She quickly walked by, only to be stopped by Momo who grabbed her sleeves. “You forgot your veil, Mama.” She pointed at the piece of fabric that was lying on his lap, being chewed on by a sleeping Celine.“…”Sephie’s smile became even more strained, and she swiftly walked back to grab the partially wet fabric and almost ran away from the scene after putting it on and gently taking Celine in her arms, leaving him all alone with Momo who continued to stare at him. “I get the feeling that you are having a terrible misunderstanding right now, Momo.”Rather than answering, Momo strode over and dropped to her knees beside him, gripping his face between her hands as she stared intently into his eyes. "Look, if you're feeling frustrated, you can have your way with me instead — anywhere, anytime, however you want it. I'll happily expand the harem plans to add more girls so we can all work together to satisfy your desires, but Mama is absolutely off limits! Even I know that's a losing battle. No one could possibly measure up to that!"Clearly, Momo had conjured up some wild fantasy in that overactive imagination of hers that now involves her mother, while ignoring the fact that she’s married to her father."For the love of… Nothing happened and nothing’s going to happen! Get your mind out of the gutter, you troublesome girl!”