Once again, Broly kicked a sea demon to pieces, but he was starting to grow irritated.
No matter how many times he kicked these strange creatures, they kept moving, and they could even regenerate on their own.
Just as Broly raised his little hand toward a sea demon in the middle of reforming itself, preparing to blast the thing clean out of existence with an energy blast—
“Don’t bother with these familiars.
The one controlling them is over there.
You need to take out the controller if you want to deal with these things.”
Emiya Kiritsugu walked over, raised his hand, and pointed toward Caster as he spoke to the terrifyingly powerful child.
Broly looked in the direction he was pointing and saw even more sea demons, so he aimed his little hand over there instead.
But Artoria was still there, locked in battle with the sea demons.
She split one of them open with her sword, and her figure flashed briefly into view.
At that moment, the Crystal Palace in his mind gave him a notification:
[Capture target discovered: Artoria.
Current Happiness Value: 0]
That made Broly lower his hand.
Bang~
The concrete ground was crushed directly beneath his bare little foot, and the shockwave he kicked up sent the nearby man falling onto his backside.
“Damn it~”
Over there, Artoria was just about to swing her sword and cut down another sea demon that had closed in on her again, when a tiny figure rushed in ahead of her and shattered the creature with a flying kick.
After landing, Broly leapt up again and struck another sea demon with a flying knee, smashing its head into bits.
Then he raised his hand to block a tentacle that one of the sea demons swung at him.
Taking advantage of the momentum, he grabbed the entire creature, lifted it into the air, and swung it around like a tilted windmill.
A continuous series of papapapa sounds rang out, and just like that, the sea demons surrounding Artoria were cleared away.
The whole sequence looked somewhat flashy, but in reality, it had all happened in an instant.
Artoria had thought a Servant had come to assist her, and only after thanking him did she realize that the one who had landed beside her was merely a little boy who barely reached her waist.
“There is the scent of my magecraft on you.
Are you the one who killed my Master, Uryu Ryunosuke?”
Gilles de Rais sensed traces of his own magecraft on Broly and questioned him directly.
“Uryu Ryunosuke?”
Broly furrowed his little brows.
He had never heard that name before.
But if they were talking about someone he had killed, then today there had indeed been one guy, aside from these strange creatures, whom he had kicked to death.
And the guy he had kicked to death had also been the bastard responsible for lowering the Happiness Value of another one of his desk-mate wives.
The moment Broly thought about the Happiness Value he had lost—his happy water—his anger began to grow stronger and stronger.
Adding to that the fact that Fujimura Taiga’s Happiness Value had dropped earlier, he immediately raised his little hand toward Gilles de Rais, who had just spoken.
“What are you doing?”
Artoria did not understand the boy’s actions.
Gilles de Rais did not understand either.
However, the strength Broly had displayed was truly terrifying, so he quickly retreated back into the swarm of sea demons.
At the same time, he rapidly cast various enhancement spells, reinforcing the sea demons around him.
“Why did you hurt my friend and take away the happiness that belonged to me?”
Broly asked.
“What?”
Gilles de Rais did not understand what he meant.
“Disappear.”
Broly answered his confusion with an energy blast.
Gilles de Rais, who had come seeking revenge, was directly reduced to ashes beneath the brilliant energy blast released by Broly.
The slight resistance offered by his magecraft was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; it was utterly meaningless.
The energy blast did not lose momentum.
It wiped out more than half of the remaining sea demon army along with him, then continued blasting forward.
Assassin, who had been hiding in the shadows of the street, suffered a stroke of terrible luck.
Before he could even react, he was caught in the terrifying beam of energy and was eliminated along with everything else.
The entire street was swept clean.
As far as the eye could see, everything was empty.
Only the scorched air and the remains of a few sea demons on the far end of the energy blast’s trajectory, their bodies dispersing because they no longer had magical energy to sustain them, proved that the vanished army of sea demons had not been an illusion.
“…”
Artoria had been the closest to it, so she had felt it more clearly than anyone else.
The energy blast Broly had released gave her the impression that its power was no weaker than her own Noble Phantasm at full release.
Now that the enemy had been destroyed, Broly’s anger gradually faded as well.
He turned his head and looked toward the King of Knights beside him.
Artoria instinctively grew tense, but her vigilance was met only by the boy’s little hand.
“Hello.
I’m Broly.”
Broly introduced himself.
Introducing oneself to unfamiliar people was a basic form of etiquette he had learned after arriving in the civilized world.
“King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon.”
Seeing that Broly showed no hostility, Artoria quickly lowered her guard as well.
She lowered her invisible holy sword and reached out to shake the boy’s hand.
“Shake hands, and we’re good friends.
This means that from now on, you’re my best friend.”
Broly said this with great seriousness.
It was new knowledge that Tohsaka Rin had only taught him tonight.
“Eh?!”
Broly’s words startled Artoria a little.
But seeing the boy’s serious expression—and considering that he had just helped her out of danger—she did not refuse.
Truthfully, Artoria had never really had a friend.
As a king, she had subordinates and comrades-in-arms by her side, but no friends.
What?
Merlin?
After getting acquainted with yet another wife, Broly walked back.
Looking at the empty street, then at the boy walking back as if nothing had happened, the members of the Fujimura Group all subconsciously stepped backward.
Those sea demons were monsters.
And the boy who had wiped out an entire swarm of sea demons and used some unknown method to directly cleanse an entire street—wasn’t he a monster among monsters?
It was only natural for people to fear what they did not understand.
Only Fujimura Taiga, after seeing Broly return, took the initiative to walk toward him.
“Broly, so you were actually this amazing all along?”
The boy had stepped forward earlier and kicked down one little monster after another.
It had looked just like something out of a movie.
As for what happened after he rushed over there, she did not know exactly what had taken place.
But a strong green light had suddenly appeared, and then both the monsters and the guy controlling them were gone.
Even the entire street had been cleaned out.
It was ridiculously cool, all right?
Please forgive her.
Fujimura Taiga was still only a middle school student.
In her daily life, she often fantasized about being a wandering samurai who upheld the path of chivalry and possessed extraordinary martial skill.
So, after personally witnessing power that surpassed the ordinary, it was only natural that she would feel somewhat excited.
Of course, she was also capable of distinguishing danger.
When the others, who did not understand Broly, retreated one after another, she did not feel that Broly would hurt her.
That was why she took the initiative to approach him.
Looking at Broly, she felt both amazed and fond of him, because Broly had saved her grandfather, as well as the other members of the Fujimura Group.
“Oh, right.
What was that green light just now?”
After checking Broly’s body and confirming that, aside from some monster blood on him, he was not injured, Fujimura Taiga asked him.
“It was an energy blast.”
Broly answered honestly.
“How do you do it?”
Fujimura Taiga pressed further.
“You just raise your ki and gather it in your hand.”
As Broly spoke, he raised his little hand to demonstrate.
The moment green light began to glow from his palm, the group of people immediately scattered far away with a whoosh.
What a joke.
The street over there was still empty as far as the eye could see.
No one wanted to end up like those monsters and be evaporated into thin air.
“That’s amazing.
Can I touch it?”
Fujimura Taiga asked as she reached out, seemingly wanting to touch the energy blast gathered in Broly’s hand.
“You’re too weak.
You can’t touch it.
You’ll get hurt.”
Broly hurriedly drew the ki of the energy blast back into his body.
Even he now clearly understood just how weak the people of this world were.
The others did not matter, but he could not hurt those who treated him well.
And among the people he could not hurt, Fujimura Taiga—who had given him food, clothes, a bath, and even bedding to sleep in—was undoubtedly ranked No.
1.
“Well, I really am too weak.”
After seeing the boy display such overwhelming power, Fujimura Taiga had no choice but to admit that.
Then she pinched her nose and looked at Broly with a bit of disgust.
“You stink of fish.
You need to take another bath.”
Broly sniffed himself and realized that she was right.
Now that the sea demon blood had been sitting on him for a while, it was giving off the distinct fishy stench of seafood.
It certainly was not as foul as the bodily fluids of a Vampa spider, but now that Broly had experienced being a clean child, he could not help furrowing his little brows slightly.
“I’ll take you to wash up.”
Fujimura Taiga picked Broly up and prepared to head back into the Fujimura residence.
After all that chaos just now, she had also worked up a sweat.
“Wait.
There’s still something I haven’t said.”
“What is it?”
“Put me down first.”
Fujimura Taiga put Broly down.
Then she saw the boy run over to someone else’s Hummer.
Under the wary gaze of the man named Emiya Kiritsugu, he reached his hand out toward the red-eyed, white-haired Irisviel and said,
“Hello.
My name is Broly.”
“Uh, I’m Irisviel.
Is there something you need?”
The homunculus woman, who had been created and had only nine years of actual life experience, responded to his introduction.
She reached out, shook his little hand, and asked him that.
“You’re my best friend now.”
Having completed the process of getting acquainted with another wife, Broly left those words behind and ran back to Fujimura Taiga’s side.
Only a group of utterly dumbfounded people remained where they stood.
“What is with that child?”
Irisviel asked, half amused and half bewildered.
“I don’t know.”
Emiya Kiritsugu shook his head, completely failing to realize that his wife had just been targeted by someone.
He is not a Servant.
He has no magical energy on him, and he is not a magus either.”
“Then what exactly is he?”
“I don’t know.
But I think ‘monster’ would be an appropriate way to describe that kind of existence.”
“Will he become a threat to us?”
Emiya Kiritsugu did not answer, because he still was not sure.
However, after hearing from Artoria about the conversation between Caster and the boy, he realized something: tonight, he might very well have been dragged into this whole mess simply because of that child.
“Should we relocate our base?”
“We haven’t prepared a third safe house.
Moving recklessly would be worse than staying here.
For now, we’ll remain where we are and respond to whatever comes.”
After taking one last deep look at the boy being carried back into the Fujimura residence by Fujimura Taiga, Emiya Kiritsugu said this, then drove the Hummer—now missing half of one door—back to the residence they had been using.
“I’m going to check the destructive power of the move he used to annihilate Caster.”
After sending Irisviel back inside, Emiya Kiritsugu headed out again, intending to investigate the situation at the far end of the street.
That trip took him a full three kilometers.
At the end of the path destroyed by the energy blast, Emiya Kiritsugu saw a mighty, imposing man with an ox-drawn chariot.
Beside him stood a delicate-looking young man with refined features.
Who else could they be but Rider and his Master?
“Master…”
Artoria walked up from behind him, watching the Rider pair with vigilance.
“Yo, King of Knights.
Good evening.”
Iskandar greeted her.
“You caused quite the commotion tonight.”
He said.
“That was not—”
Before Artoria could finish speaking, Emiya Kiritsugu interrupted her.
“Caster came to trouble us again.
We had no choice but to strike back.”
“That makes sense.
I simply did not expect that the King of Knights, with an injured left hand, would still be able to unleash such tremendous power.
It seems I was a little rude last night when I said she was only a little girl.”
The King of Conquerors took the initiative to apologize.
Power did not represent everything, but possessing power proved that Artoria was no mere little girl.
“Rider, did you come here just to say that to my Servant?
Or are you planning to take advantage of the situation and attack us?”
“Master of Saber, although I know you are trying to provoke me into not attacking, my decision not to attack has absolutely nothing to do with your strategy.
A battle between kings ought to be open and honorable.
I have no intention of taking advantage of someone’s misfortune.”
After saying this to Emiya Kiritsugu, Iskandar looked toward Artoria.
“King of Knights, I look forward to the moment we have our decisive battle.
Also, congratulations on your great victory tonight.”
Leaving those words behind, the King of Conquerors, Iskandar, drove away with his little Master.
And his reaction gave Emiya Kiritsugu an idea.
“What?
You want to take credit for eliminating Caster?
No, I do not agree.
The one who eliminated Caster was not me.”
After returning to the residence, Artoria immediately rejected the idea Emiya Kiritsugu proposed.
For a knight, falsely claiming another person’s achievement was nothing less than an insult to one’s own chivalric path.
After all, among the eight virtues of knighthood were honesty and honor.
“I understand what you mean.
But the problem is that the person who eliminated Caster is neither a Master nor a Servant.
He might not even have anything to do with the Holy Grail ritual at all.
And the bounty placed on Caster was aimed at the Masters participating in the Holy Grail War.”
“That still is not a reason to take credit for someone else’s accomplishment.”
“Listen, Saber.
You are not taking credit.
Although you were not the one who eliminated Caster, you were the only Servant who participated in the battle against him tonight.
According to the rules, we are qualified to receive the Command Spell offered as a bounty.”
“But this…”
“You don’t need to worry.
I will truthfully report the actual course of events regarding Caster’s defeat to the Holy Church.
Whether the Holy Church acknowledges our role in the subjugation of Caster is their decision.”
…
“Last night, our side was attacked by Caster and his army of sea demons.
With the assistance of our Servant, Saber, in battle, Caster and his sea demon army were eliminated by an overwhelmingly powerful force.
Mm.
That is the battle report submitted by Saber’s Master regarding last night’s engagement with Caster.
It has already been confirmed that Caster has been eliminated.
That terrifying beam, which almost pierced straight through the old district, was also captured by road surveillance cameras.
Even one of the Assassin bodies my son sent to observe the situation was caught in the aftermath of the battle.
It was destroyed before it could even send back a detailed report.”
Through the gramophone, a magical communication device, Kotomine Risei discussed the situation with Tohsaka Tokiomi.
The main point of their discussion was whether or not that bounty Command Spell should be awarded.