"Seriously. I sensed Grand Magecraft being activated inside just now and was about to go in and check. How are you already coming back out?"
Scáthach sat perched on a tree branch outside the cave, looking down as she teased her beloved disciple, who emerged one after another with Touko.
"If nothing happened, couldn't you at least wish me some luck…" Shiomi muttered with a pout. "If the whole mountain collapsed, there'd be no hot spring trip left to talk about. Didn't I ask you to keep watch? How did you let someone slip inside?"
Artoria shook her head.
"We didn't see anyone other than Tenkei and Touko. If someone entered through this cave, then there must be another hidden entrance."
"Hahaha… there really is another passage."
Aoko, who came out after them, let out an awkward laugh as she explained. "Once Alice realized she couldn't get in from this side, she switched routes."
"So you're Aoko Aozaki, Touko Aozaki's younger sister?"
Skadi stood beneath the shade of the trees, her gaze sweeping over Aoko from head to toe.
"It's hard to imagine the two of you are sisters."
"Well, we're four years apart and not twins," Touko said with a shrug. "It'd be strange if we did look alike."
"So she's the Magician from the rumors—the wielder of the Fifth Magic, named after the Third Magic once reenacted by Morgan?"
Artoria looked genuinely stunned. Before going inside, Touko had already shared some information with them.
"That's… more or less accurate…"
Aoko nodded along, then suddenly froze.
"Wait. Who did you just say reenacted the Third Magic? Morgan? As in that Morgan? The great witch from British legend? The one who's supposedly way stronger than Alice?"
Alice lowered her gaze, seemingly unfazed.
"Leaving aside how deliberately dismissive that sounded, if we're only talking about that feat, then the only possible candidate is the legendary witch Morgan. There's no one else."
"But I heard the Third Magic was passed down through the Einzbern family in Germany," Aoko shot back.
Having traveled the world as a Magician, Aoko's understanding of the Magecraft community had grown deep enough that she could casually bring up secrets most people never learned.
"It's too much trouble to explain," Shiomi said quickly, waving his hands. "Let's just leave it at that. Anyway, since we didn't fight, I'll count the demon extermination at Hell Hall as one point for me. Fair?"
At that moment, Scáthach lightly descended from the tree branch five or six meters above the ground.
"Let's not do that. A witch is not permitted to fail. It's better to call this a draw," she said calmly. "Consider it a favor. No need to turn a minor disagreement into a life-or-death feud later. Don't you agree, my disciple?"
"I feel like you're taking a subtle jab at someone who isn't even here," Shiomi said, shoulders slumping as he laughed lazily. "Fine. If Master says so, I'll leave everything to you."
"Then I'll decide," Scáthach replied with a gentle smile.
"Right, right. This Master really understands witches," Aoko agreed with an easy grin. "Calling it a draw will save us a lot of trouble later—"
She stopped halfway through her sentence.
By now, Aoko was certain of one thing: the man traveling with her sister, along with his companions, possessed strength far beyond the ordinary. At the very least, Alice stood no chance against them.
If they could form a cooperative relationship, resolving the problems in this place would become much easier. For the sake of what truly mattered, unnecessary prejudice and friction had to be set aside.
And yet, once again, her words came to an abrupt halt before she could finish.
"Wait. What did you just call her? Master?"
Aoko's gaze flicked back and forth between Shiomi and Scáthach.
Touko pushed up her glasses, looking a little embarrassed. "That jumpy habit of yours… no wonder you're still on your own."
"That has nothing to do with this!" Aoko shot back. "And besides… this person is your… um… master, right?"
She couldn't bring herself to say the word boyfriend. Admitting that would mean acknowledging how completely she'd been surpassed by her sister, so badly she couldn't even see Touko's taillights anymore. Instead, she chose a vague substitute, clinging to it as proof that she hadn't truly lost.
"Master? Then could it be…"
Alice froze, recalling how Shiomi had introduced himself earlier inside the cave.
Shiomi cleared his throat, then nudged the three women beside him into a neat line. With unmistakable pride, he began introducing them one by one.
Alice Kuonji, who was usually so expressionless, now stared wide-eyed. Aoko was no better, her mouth hanging half open in shock.
Scáthach, the Queen of the Land of Shadows from Celtic mythology.
Skadi, the goddess of ice and snow from Norse legend.
And at the very center of Arthurian legend itself, King Arthur.
…And King Arthur was a woman?
Aoko felt her understanding of historical myths cracking at the seams.
More importantly, she knew about the system of Heroic Spirit summoning, about reducing those legendary beings into Servants, familiars meant to fight in the so-called Holy Grail Wars.
Yet the presence these three gave off was clearly not that of Servants.
It felt like… their true forms.
Her intuition grasped the abnormality before her rational mind could catch up. For once, even Aoko felt her thoughts lag behind her astonishment.
"So, like I explained on the way to the inn," Touko said, flicking the burnt-out cigarette into a portable ashtray and snapping it shut, "we're all part of an organization called Chaldea. A Magecraft organization tasked with preserving human order and correcting Singularities that appear in human history."
"To be precise," she continued calmly, "we don't belong to this era. These Heroic Spirits and Divine Spirits whose names are engraved into human history chose to assist us because they acknowledge Chaldea's work."
"Chaldea?" Alice's eyes narrowed slightly, unconvinced. "I've never heard of such an organization within the Mage's Association. Aoko, have you?"
"Me neither," Aoko replied frankly, narrowing her eyes in thought.
Shiomi rested one hand on his hip. "Of course you wouldn't. In 2001, Chaldea is still struggling due to lack of funding, so its progress is slow. Ah, right. I don't know how much you know about the Clock Tower, but Chaldea was founded by the Animusphere family for their 'Grand Order'—a mission their lineage has carried since before the Common Era."
"Grand Order…" Aoko murmured, momentarily at a loss for words.
"So it's a Magus Family that exists solely for a single purpose," Alice said flatly, sounding uninterested, yet clearly understanding what Shiomi meant.
Revealing this much was already unusually forthright by Magus standards. Going any further would mean touching on secrets in the truest sense.
That was territory no outsider could be allowed to tread.
Witches and Magicians were no exception.
"In any case," Shiomi said, spreading his hands, "we have our reasons for being here. Whether those reasons conflict with your position is another matter, but we're confident in one thing."
"We won't do anything that harms the world."