True Name: Jeanne d’Arc Alter
Class: Avenger
Gender: Female
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Strength: A
Endurance: C
Agility: A
Mana: A+
Luck: E
Noble Phantasm: A+
“What’s going on now?”
Megumi asked Gojo in a low voice.
Ritsuka and the Servant she had summoned—named Jeanne d’Arc Alter—were lagging far behind the group, whispering and discussing something in hushed tones.
He and Nobara had wanted to eavesdrop, but Gojo had stopped them.
“I’m not too clear on it myself,” Gojo replied with a cheerful grin.
Then, with a hint of regret, he sighed, “Though I was hoping she’d summon that Ryougi Shiki.
What a shame.”
He had been unable to stop thinking about that being who could break through his technique and harm his actual body.
If Ritsuka had summoned her this time, he had fully intended to have a serious match against her.
As for the other Servants, he wasn’t particularly interested.
As far as he was concerned, if they couldn’t hurt him, they were no different from anyone else.
“Who’s Ryougi Shiki?”
“Wait, so you do know something?!”
Megumi and Nobara exchanged a glance and immediately grabbed Gojo by both arms, one on each side, intent on forcing him to spill the secrets he was hiding.
From the moment Ritsuka had summoned that Servant called Jeanne d’Arc Alter, they had sensed something was off.
Because Ritsuka was clearly deeply familiar with her.
And from what they could see, the two were extremely close!
That kind of behavior was plainly unusual.
Furthermore, both of them had keenly noticed something: throughout the entire summoning ritual Ritsuka had performed, not a single trace of cursed energy had emanated from her.
There were two possibilities:
One: Ritsuka possessed a Heavenly Restriction that left her with no cursed energy at all.
They couldn’t sense her cursed energy because she simply had none.
But that was clearly impossible.
How could someone without cursed energy activate a cursed technique?
Two: Ritsuka possessed a freakish level of cursed energy control, allowing her to precisely regulate its output during the execution of her technique without wasting a single drop.
Hence, no visible leakage of cursed energy.
This wasn’t impossible.
In fact, a living example stood right beside them—Gojo Satoru.
The Six Eyes, a unique trait passed down through the Gojo clan, one of the three great families of the jujutsu world, granted its bearer a 360-degree, ultra-long-range field of vision that could not be obstructed.
Moreover, the Six Eyes allowed for superhumanly precise manipulation of cursed energy, minimizing consumption during technique use to the absolute lowest level. The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
Combined with natural cursed energy recovery, this produced an effect approaching infinite cursed energy.
But could someone really achieve that level of operational precision purely on their own?
Megumi couldn’t say for sure, but he couldn’t rule it out either.
Beyond these two possibilities, there was actually a third:
That what Ritsuka used wasn’t cursed energy at all, but some other, unknown power.
However, this conjecture was simply too absurd.
Neither of them had seriously considered it.
Even if the thought had flickered across their minds for an instant, they had dismissed it just as quickly.
In any case, judging by the way both Ritsuka and Gojo were acting, there was clearly some tacit secret between them.
And that had thoroughly piqued the curiosity of both Megumi and Nobara.
“Hahaha, alright, alright.
Let go of me.
Hear me out first.”
Though Megumi and Nobara’s methods couldn’t really affect him in any way, Gojo very cooperatively raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
The two released him, but their gazes remained locked firmly on him.
Gojo motioned for them to lean in closer and lowered his voice.
“I’m only telling you two this because you’re my adorable students.”
“There really are some little secrets between Ritsuka and me.
However—”
He paused, watching their curiosity successfully dangle on his hook, then grinned with wicked amusement.
“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the details for now.”
“Ehhhh—?!”
“But!”
Just as Nobara was about to explode, Gojo’s sudden “but” choked her words right back down her throat, leaving her immensely frustrated.
Gojo raised a single finger and smiled.
“Although I won’t say anything, I’ll allow you to investigate.
The condition, of course, is that it must be done discreetly.
No one else can know.”
“I’ll also add one more reminder.
Whatever secrets Ritsuka might carry, she really is your ally.”
“So, get along nicely, okay~”
“I thought you were going to say something serious.
Isn’t that obvious?!”
Nobara answered with resolute certainty, earning another thumbs-up of approval from Gojo.
“That’s the spirit!
Nice reaction!
And you, Megumi?
Nothing to add?”
“Yeah, yeah.
Got it.” This story is hosted at g.com.
Megumi nodded dismissively, his expression thoughtful, as if he were pondering something.
He had a nagging feeling that what Gojo had just told them held more than just its surface meaning.
There seemed to be some hidden implication.
What could it be?
On the other side, after a swift, private exchange, Ritsuka had thoroughly briefed Jeanne Alter on the current situation, instructing her to mind her words and actions going forward to avoid exposing their true circumstances.
“So that’s how it is,” Jeanne Alter said, comprehension dawning.
“I was wondering why I couldn’t find you anywhere…
ahem, why I seemed to never run into you lately.
So that’s what happened.”
“Though, how should I put it…
because it’s something happening to you, it kind of feels like ‘surprising, but not unexpected’?”
“Hey, you make it sound like I’m constantly getting into accidents…”
Ritsuka grumbled indignantly.
Jeanne Alter merely cast her a sidelong glance.
“Aren’t you?
Maybe it’s about time you developed some self-awareness?”
“…”
Ritsuka was rendered utterly speechless.
A critical hit, instant knockout!
Fine.
Maybe it was time she accepted her fate.
“Anyway, as long as I don’t bring up anything from our side, I can just act like normal the rest of the time, right?”
“That’s right,” Ritsuka nodded with a smile.
“I’ll be counting on you from here on out, Jeanne Alter.”
“‘Counting on me,’ huh?”
Jeanne Alter couldn’t help the slight upturn at the corner of her lips.
She lifted her chin and declared in full tsundere fashion, “Hmph!
Who said I’d accept being counted on by you?!
Just be good and stay by my side.
If you get caught up in something and get burned to ashes along with everything else, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Hearing this familiar tsundere rhetoric after so long, Ritsuka couldn’t help but sigh with emotion, “You really are Jeanne Alter!”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?
Was there some subtle nuance in that remark just now?!
…I swear I’ll burn you!”
“Mm-hmm.”
With Jeanne Alter now by her side, even though she was still stranded far from home, Ritsuka felt a long-absent sense of security.
As expected, as a Master, she was only truly whole with a Servant at her side!
With their reunion concluded, Ritsuka led Jeanne Alter over to where Gojo and the others stood and proudly introduced her.
“This is the Servant I just summoned—Jeanne d’Arc Alter!”