A short while later, the pillar of light slowly faded and disappeared, leaving the Holy Grail of Uruk to fall gently onto the rooftop ruins.
Silence once again enveloped the area.
But a moment later, nine different voices simultaneously entered Kuro's mind, overlapping with one another without any discernible order.
"Master?"
"Umu! So you're my Master? How interesting!"
"…Where is this?"
"Ah… so the connection has been established."
"Master-dono?"
"Hooh~ This place is interesting."
"..."
"Fufu~"
"This…"
"Hey, Master!"
Kuro immediately curled up, both hands clutching his head.
"…plz."
"…One at a time."
"My head hurts."
The faint voice came out with almost no strength.
For several seconds, all nine voices fell completely silent. Not because they did not want to speak, but because that one simple sentence was enough for them to understand the condition of the person who had summoned them.
Silence.
Within that silence, the nine consciousnesses that had just "awakened" seemed to collide with one another in a cramped, directionless space, gradually restraining themselves so they would not speak over each other again.
Some of them had wanted to speak, to make sure everything was alright, to understand the situation.
But none of them said a word.
Too many questions at once would only make their Master collapse again like he had moments ago.
So they waited, as though the nine presences had silently agreed to remain quiet.
***
In the distance, standing atop a sidewalk in the upside-down cityscape of the Mirror Dimension, was a young man with white hair that appeared almost translucent beneath the strange light of this world.
His gaze was sharp, like a blade of steel that had never dulled with time.
He wore black clothing with thorn-like golden armor covering both his arms and legs, while his chest was left exposed, revealing a red jewel embedded within it.
A fur-lined cloak floated gently over his shoulders, seemingly defying gravity while radiating a warm aura that contrasted with the coldness of the surrounding world.
"Master," he said calmly. "I understand your condition. Rest and prioritize recovering your energy."
He paused for a moment.
"I will search for the others."
On the other side, Kuro, still enduring the lingering effects of the previous ritual, responded through the same connection.
"…Thank you?" His voice sounded uncertain. "But… who are you?"
The young man closed his eyes for a moment before looking straight ahead once again.
"Servant, Lancer. Karna," he answered calmly. "I shall remain by your side, Master."
"…Ah!" Kuro immediately reacted. "So it really worked…"
"Worked?"
Karna's tone remained flat, though there was a slight pause, as if he were assessing the situation.
"Yes," Kuro replied. "I was actually intending to summon you. But it seems I accidentally summoned several Servants at once. That was what caused my body to experience an overload."
He paused for a moment before adding in a lighter tone,
"It's nice to finally meet you… even if it's only through a telepathic connection like this."
"There is no need to think too deeply about it," Karna replied calmly. "As long as we can communicate with one another, that is sufficient."
After saying that, Karna walked away from the location where he had manifested rather than taking flight with his flames, considering the current condition of his Master's Prana.
***
At the same time, Kuro had returned to sitting on the rooftop, his back slightly leaning against the wall.
His eyes gazed at the distorted sky of the Mirror Dimension while his mind was still trying to piece together the situation that had just unfolded.
"If Karna was successfully summoned…" he murmured quietly. "Then what about Astolfo?"
A moment of silence followed.
He could have used Sha Naqba Imuru to confirm it, or rather, allowed its Clairvoyance to operate at full capacity. But for now, he chose not to.
It was almost as though he wanted to leave room for uncertainty—a rarity for someone like him.
He took a light breath before focusing his thoughts once again, activating the telepathic connection that remained linked to the summoned Servants.
"Is any of you named Astolfo?" Kuro's voice rang clearly through the connection. "If so, answer me. Everyone else, please stay quiet for now."
"…I'm Astolfo!"
A voice immediately exploded into the connection, overflowing with energy and completely lacking any filter.
"Astolfo of the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne! Wow, so there really is a Master who summoned me to a place this cool!"
His tone was so cheerful and lively that it felt as though the concept of "holding back" simply did not exist in his vocabulary.
Kuro remained silent for a moment before the corner of his lips lifted slightly.
"…Acknowledged."
He slowly exhaled before continuing in his usual calm tone.
"In that case, I'm honored."
There was a brief pause.
"For the time being, feel free to explore wherever you want. Karna is currently searching for the other Servants. I'll tell him that he doesn't need to look for you and can leave you alone."
"…Eh? Really?!"
Astolfo's voice immediately exploded through the connection again, this time with even more enthusiasm.
"I can explore?! By myself?! In a place this cool?!"
There was a brief pause, as if he were genuinely trying to restrain himself from immediately running off.
He clearly failed.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… this is amazing!" Astolfo exclaimed rapidly. "I never even dreamed I could be summoned to a place like this! It's like I've fallen into a dream where the whole city is upside down!"
Kuro chuckled softly through the connection.
"…Don't destroy anything."
"I won't! I won't!" Astolfo replied immediately, although his tone somehow sounded even less reassuring. "I'm just looking around!"
The next second, for some reason, Kuro could hear the sound of light footsteps through the connection—or perhaps it was the sensation of movement far too fast to be called ordinary walking.
"Whoa… this is really weird! The buildings can stand in the sky?! How does that even work?!"
"…Astolfo," Kuro said with slightly more emphasis, "don't go too far."
"Eeeh? But I haven't seen everything yet!"
Despite his complaints, his tone showed absolutely no intention of stopping.
If anything, he sounded like someone who had just been released into a playground without supervision.
"I'll be careful!" Astolfo continued cheerfully. "I'm a Paladin, you know! A Paladin should be able to explore with enthusiasm!"
Kuro fell silent for a moment.
"…That's not what being a Paladin means."
"Really?!"
"…Really."
"Wow, I learned something new!"
Before Kuro could respond any further, the connection was filled with Astolfo's increasingly enthusiastic exclamations as he explored every corner of the Mirror Dimension that caught his attention.
"This is so cool—!"
"This is cool too—!"
"Eh?! This one can spin?!"
Kuro closed his eyes for a moment and severed the telepathic connection, allowing Astolfo to enjoy his adventure.
"…Alright. Next, let's take attendance."
A brief pause.
His eyelids opened again.
"Right. Before that, I should inform Karna."
After sending Karna a brief message regarding Astolfo's little adventure, Kuro began checking on the Servants one by one through telepathy, almost like a teacher taking attendance before starting a class.
And the result made him almost want to massage his temples.
Nine Servants.
Nine.
No wonder his body had felt like he had just touched an exposed electrical cable. Among them were: Medusa Lily (Lancer), Kashin Koji, Yang Guifei, Medea, Sasaki Kojirou, Tomoe Gozen, and Miyamoto Musashi (Lostbelt).
As the list continued to grow in his mind, Kuro suddenly thought of Chaldea.
At first, it was merely a name that briefly crossed his mind.
But gradually, it developed into a chain of interconnected ideas.
"Hmm… what facilities did Chaldea have again?"
Kuro frowned as he tried to remember.
"If I remember correctly, there was SHEBA, the Rayshift system, the Spirit Origin Database… what else?"
He paused for a moment, piecing together fragments of knowledge stored within his mind.
"Oh, right. Before all of that, I need to think about the location first."
Kuro's gaze returned straight ahead.
The idea of building a headquarters sounded interesting until he began thinking about the most troublesome part: where to build it.
"I can't build a headquarters in worlds like One Punch Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or Type-Moon. Even another world or the Mirror Dimension wouldn't be a good choice."
Every option that came to mind was immediately crossed out by his own considerations.
It felt like trying to find an empty piece of land in the middle of a chessboard where every square was already occupied by gigantic pieces engaged in some kind of conflict.
Kuro let out a long sigh.
"…Damn."
Building the facility itself might still be possible with money, technology, or the assistance of the Servants.
But finding a location that was safe, stable, hidden, and unlikely to attract some kind of cosmic trouble from multiple worlds was an entirely different problem.
"…This is going to be a very troublesome job."
He stared at the sky for a while.
Then a simple realization occurred to him.
Perhaps building Chaldea would be much easier than deciding where Chaldea should actually be built.
Ding!
A holographic screen suddenly appeared before him.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Host has triggered a Side Mission.]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[House of Heroic Spirit]
Objective: Determine the territory that will serve as the location for the construction of the main headquarters.
Reward: ???
Bonus: The more unusual the chosen territory, the greater the possibility of obtaining additional rewards.
Status: Incomplete
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"Huh?" Kuro was quite surprised. "Even the system considers this a mission now?"
After saying that, he fell silent for a moment before finally closing the notification screen in front of him.