I curse them.
May my curse haunt CHALDEAS!!
Do you really think you can restore the Human Order after throwing me into this death trap!?
Are you lot really the last hope of humanity!?
Hey, did Lev betray you because he was just sick of your crap!?
…Alright, enough nonsense.
I had to think seriously.
I never dreamed that I’d be Rayshifted into thin air, only to plummet straight into the hideout of Jeanne d’Arc Alter, the main villain of the First Singularity.
Actually, being Rayshifted into the sky was fine.
If I had hit the ground instead of landing on top of Jeanne Alter, it might have hurt, but I could have laughed it off later as a funny story.
But this?
This was no laughing matter.
I was wrapped tightly in iron chains.
…Fortunately, it seemed they were completely looking down on me.
I could easily break these chains using my Transmutation Magecraft.
However, the chains weren’t the problem.
The chains were a physical manifestation of Jeanne Alter’s intent not to let me go.
They were my shackles, but also my safety net.
The moment I broke them, I would become someone they wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
Well, staying in these chains wouldn’t change much in the long run.
It was just buying me a tiny bit more time.
“Now then, stranger who fell from the sky.”
Jeanne Alter looked down at me, her words laced with a certain flair.
…Landing on her was a stroke of divine luck.
If I hadn’t, I probably would’ve been seriously injured.
And she was very soft.
I might sound like a pervert, but the volume I felt… wow, it was insane.
For someone like me, who had zero luck with women my entire life, it was a literal shock to the system.
I finally understood why people say a well-endowed woman is the best.
Honestly, though, the scary one right now wasn’t Jeanne Alter, nor the Berserk Servants.
It was the true mastermind, Gilles de Rais.
That madman might try to turn me into some kind of ‘art.’
Jeanne Alter slaughtered in the name of vengeance, but her goal was usually a quick death.
Gilles de Rais, however, was the type to blatantly torment, torture, and meticulously break a person while ensuring they didn’t die.
Unlike in the Zero era, Jeanne Alter was acting as a sort of brake on him, but that was ultimately meaningless.
After all, Jeanne Alter herself was a fan-fiction character created by Gilles de Rais.
“He looks like an ordinary mortal.
He seems to possess some peculiar power, but he doesn’t look like he could defeat even a single weak Servant.
Gilles, does he look like he has any combat capability to you?”
“No, even to my eyes, I feel not a shred of strength from him.
In fact, he is so weak that he stands out.
It is a rare sensation, like seeing a tiny crucian carp swimming among sharks!
Hmm~ perhaps it would be good to use this man to prepare an offering for my Jeanne!”
What the hell is this crazy bastard planning to do with me?
And if there’s a carp among sharks, do you really think it’s just a carp?
They say the most terrifying thing is an ordinary human standing calmly among monsters.
Of course, that wasn’t me.
Their assessment was 100% correct.
I could be beaten to death even by that flag Jeanne Alter was holding, which looked like it had zero offensive capability.
No, she could probably crack my skull and kill me with a full-power flick of her finger.
In the world of Servants, I was basically a sunfish—fragile as hell.
Even if I had cleared Fuyuki and defeated that Saber, it didn’t mean I had suddenly become strong.
The fact that I was absolutely weak remained the same no matter where I went.
In the game, characters were ranked by stars and performance, but in reality, they were all monsters who had etched their deeds into the shadow of the Human Order.
Jeanne Alter was a fictional creation, but I recalled her abilities being almost identical to the real Jeanne’s as her copy.
I have to survive somehow.
Escape… How do I escape?
Escape by getting past Jeanne Alter, Gilles de Rais, and all six Berserk Servants?
No matter how many times I simulated it, I could only see a future where my head gets blown off.
…And that Berserk Berserker has been glaring at me like he wants to kill me for a while now.
That bastard… he’s not getting excited because my blonde hair reminds him of the King of Knights, is he?
N-No!
I’m not her!
We have nothing in common except hair color, so what are you getting worked up for?
…First, let’s talk.
Even if Gilles de Rais is the true mastermind, his deepest desire is for ‘Jeanne to take revenge on France.’
In other words, he basically won’t refuse Jeanne Alter.
Gilles was the one who needed to be defeated, but Jeanne Alter was the one I needed to talk to right now.
Besides, trying to reason with someone suffering from Mental Pollution is a fool’s errand.
“Jeanne d’Arc, huh… Surprising.
To think the woman history calls a Saint would be destroying her own country like this.”
“…History!
Indeed, Jeanne!
This man must have come from the future!
Normally, you were destined to die without resurrection!
Your rebirth in this world has turned it into a world that has deviated from the proper history!
This man has surely come to correct that!!
Ah, it has been decided!
Your fate!!
You weak, pathetic man!!
You nameless man!!
Your fate, your life ends here!
By the hand of Gilles de Rais!!”
“Gilles, be quiet for a moment.”
Gilles de Rais had a face that looked ready to kill me at any second.
‘Ah, I’m dead…’ Just as I was screaming internally, Jeanne Alter raised her hand to stop him.
What?
Why is she saving me?
It’s not like she’s interested in me.
The logical conclusion is that she has something she’s curious about.
Jeanne Alter walked slowly toward me and looked down at me.
They say if someone looks beautiful even when you’re looking up at them from below, they are a true beauty.
Whether it’s a man or a woman.
…She was definitely a beauty.
That body of hers was aggressive.
For someone like me with zero resistance to women, her face alone was too overwhelming to look at.
In the game, people called Jeanne Alter’s art a ‘stamp’ and said she had an Artoria-face, but seeing her in person, she was definitely different.
…And I am absolutely not talking about her figure.
I’m not, King of Knights.
“You came from the future—is Gilles right?
Your lifespan will be determined by your answer.
…Think carefully before you speak.”
I felt an intense killing intent radiating from Jeanne Alter’s eyes.
Can all Servants use this kind of technique?
Come to think of it, the Ruler-class Jeanne Alter in Chapter 1 had a low-rank Charisma skill.
If I hadn’t risked my life fighting the King of Knights twice, I might have been trembling in fear right now.
…No, I was still scared.
Even if Jeanne Alter’s eyes were made of falsehoods, I could feel an indescribable, murky, burning emotion within them.
It constricted my heart and rooted my feet to the spot.
I felt her intent to forcibly break my will and extract an answer.
…King of Knights, I’m not exactly grateful, but thanks to you, I didn’t break before this woman.
As I stared back at Jeanne Alter while shivering, her eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and then she grabbed my hair tightly as if she found me interesting.
Hey!
It’s going to fall out later anyway, but this is a bit much!
“Ho, despite being so weak… with a frail body that looks like it would die from a single punch, you glare back at me?
I intended to carve fear into you to make you honest.
I see, you truly are a stranger from the future who came to conquer me.
I’ve slightly reconsidered you.
But I wonder what anomaly occurred to make you fall right in front of me.”
“…Ha, haha.”
When I laughed at her leisurely mockery, Jeanne Alter smiled back as if she found it unpleasant.
I didn’t even know why I was laughing.
I felt like I was going crazy.
…But I have to survive here somehow.
No matter what Gilles de Rais, the true mastermind, thinks of me, it doesn’t matter.
What mattered was that Jeanne Alter was now interested in me.
There was no telling when the flames of vengeance she was made of would flare up and provoke her.
I had to make Jeanne Alter perceive that ‘I shouldn’t be killed just yet.’
In other words, I had to bullshit my way to survival.
If I died and just ended up back here anyway, it would be meaningless.
Besides… setting aside the fact that I was using my body like a tool, the sensation of death is indescribable.
Deep down, I truly rejected the idea of taking my own life.
I didn’t want to do it; my mind crumbles every time I die.
Ignoring the sensation of being broken beyond repair, I stood my ground.
If I didn’t have to die, I didn’t want to.
I didn’t want to kill myself either.
“What’s so funny?”
Use your brain and let your mouth do the work.
My next words would decide my life.
Even if I couldn’t persuade Jeanne Alter, I had to make her think I was at least worth considering.
I had to get her to ‘put me on hold’ at the very least.
Otherwise, once Jeanne Alter lost interest, she would say, ‘Gilles, do as you wish with this weak man,’ and I would surely be turned into a lump of meat in the name of ‘art,’ suspended between life and death.
“It doesn’t feel bad as a man to be highly evaluated by a beauty like you, but is it really okay to value someone like me that much?”
“Ho… Indeed, there’s no way you’d be doing the work of correcting historical distortions alone.
You’re saying there are others working in the field besides you, right?”
There are.
It’s just that they’re all… well…
Just sleeping in a cold place.
They aren’t dead, but they aren’t exactly alive either.
When I remained silent, Jeanne Alter seemed to fall into thought for a moment.
It would be troublesome if she became too calm because she thought too much.
I thought the same thing with the King of Knights—you must never let the opponent stay calm!
Never!
Letting an overwhelmingly superior opponent remain composed is a stupid move!
I have to make her confused, make sure she can’t stay composed!
If I can’t, I’m the one who dies.
“The organization I belong to, Chaldea, is the only organization of its kind even in the future, created for the purpose of saving the Human Order.
There’s no way I’d hold a high position in such an elite group.
I’m just an employee who didn’t even make the cut for the candidate list.
To put it simply, I’m a low-level grunt.”
“Why would an inferior grunt who didn’t even make the candidate list be sent here?
Even in the future, jumping through space-time shouldn’t be an easy task.
I don’t see the reason for specifically sending an inferior grunt like you.”
I’m the one who said ‘grunt,’ so that’s fine, but did you really have to add ‘inferior’?
Since it was a fact, I kept my mouth shut.
It wasn’t because I was scared, but because I couldn’t argue with the truth.
…Damn, my fingers are shaking.
“Do you think France is the only place where history is distorted—what we call a Singularity?
Jeanne d’Arc, Singularities are occurring in the past to a degree that would make even your eyes go wide.
Distortions are happening even in the Age of Gods, and the history known as the Human Order has been completely overturned.
Naturally, we’re short on manpower.
That’s why Chaldea sends grunts with zero combat experience but a bit of aptitude to places they objectively judge aren’t that big of a threat.”
You have to mix truth and lies appropriately.
It wasn’t that big of a lie.
Looking at the Singularities as a whole, France wasn’t that high in difficulty, except for Fafnir.
Compared to the Sixth or Seventh Singularity, the First Singularity was quite simple.
This was true not just for game difficulty, but for the actual story difficulty as well.
Jeanne Alter furrowed her brow with a very complex expression.
The Fafnir outside was hard to miss now.
I didn’t see it while I was falling, but now I could see it just by turning my head.
And despite seeing Jeanne Alter herself, Gilles de Rais, six Berserk Servants, and a legion of Wyverns, I called it ‘not that big of a threat.’
Jeanne Alter might find that insulting to her pride, but since there was no contradiction in my words, she might have accepted it as truth.
And this, in turn, leads to the natural suspicion that if they kill me, Chaldea might judge France to be a bigger threat and send someone stronger.
As expected, Jeanne Alter wasn’t that stupid.
Even if she was only ‘one year old,’ her reasoning seemed to be on par with an adult’s.
“Jeanne!!
You must not listen!!
He is trying to bewitch you!!
You must not forget your duty!
Nothing else matters!!”
“Right, your revenge on France.
…But wouldn’t it be a bit much if I died here and someone stronger came and interfered with your revenge?
If it’s something you have to do anyway, it’s better to do it comfortably.
No matter how strong you are or how much military force you gather around you, our Chaldea has a top-tier elite unit called Team A, and they are true monsters.
If they are dispatched, even you won’t survive.
You can be sure of it—even Fafnir won’t be able to handle them.”
It wasn’t a lie.
If it was Kirschtaria, he could probably do it.
He was surprisingly airheaded, but he was a genius beyond comparison to me.
I thought about it even after receiving this godforsaken ability.
If Kirschtaria had been the one with this ability instead of me, he would have been able to proceed much more easily.
Instead of being captured and struggling pathetically like me, he might have walked through the enemies with dignity.
No, that’s not what’s important right now.
“I’m just a grunt, but despite appearances, I cleared a Singularity recently.
With only two Servants, I faced and defeated a Servant you might know as the ‘King of Knights.’ Ah, there were also heroes from myth and demonic beasts of tragedy.”
“You cleared a Singularity?
You?”
“Yeah, even someone like me, who looks like he’d die if you just tapped him, is a member of Chaldea.
A Singularity doesn’t necessarily have to be cleared by crushing it with brute force.
What we do is correct history, not destroy it, and certainly not flaunt violence.
Besides, I’m a truly incompetent guy who was pushed to the back but ended up participating in the Singularity because I’m somewhat close with the Director—the leader there.
Even someone like me can clear a Singularity.
If you just know the proper method.”
“…”
Please, think about it!
You have to!!
Save me!!
Ah, I don’t want to die!
Please believe that Chaldea knows the ‘method to clear Singularities’ rather than just having power!!
I didn’t lie!
I did clear a Singularity!
I fought the King of Knights!
I fought Heracles and Medusa too!!
It’s also true that I cleared it with two Servants!
And calling myself a grunt isn’t a lie if you think about it!
I was just Staff Member A, not even a Master candidate, let alone Team A!
And the ‘method’ isn’t a lie either!
Our goal is to calm the historical distortion, not use force!
Technically, if I sincerely thought about holding hands with Jeanne Alter and getting along, history wouldn’t be distorted, so even if she didn’t disappear, the Singularity would.
In this case, Gilles de Rais was more of the problem than Jeanne Alter, though.
Anyway, there’s no need to solve everything with force alone.
It’s just that force makes it easier.
I spoke of a theoretically possible problem as if it were a natural certainty.
Jeanne Alter became wary of me.
Fragile-looking me had already cleared a Singularity, and this fragile-looking man was a grunt among grunts, a substitute among substitutes, an inferior employee who came because many Masters were deployed to clear other more dangerous Singularities and this one was judged to be low-risk.
She might have no interest in anything other than burning France, but she wouldn’t want her revenge interrupted before she could finish.
According to my story, Chaldea had many monster-like Masters.
…They did have many, it’s just that they were all currently in a state of frozen tuna.
“Hmm, we can prepare the military force on our side, but… I wouldn’t be pleased if my goal of destroying France was interfered with.”
That’s it!!
Keep going!!
Just like that!!
“Jeanne!!”
“Shut up!
…It is certainly troublesome.”
Whoosh!!
Suddenly, Jeanne thrust her flag toward me.
“We have you.
…Send a report to that Chaldea place.
Tell them the Singularity is more complex than expected and will take time.
If you send such reports periodically, they won’t have high expectations for someone as incompetent and weak as you, and if they don’t see France as a big threat yet, they’ll believe the report.
If they’re so short on manpower that they have to send a substitute’s substitute, they won’t be able to waste much time on a single report.”
Her plan was to have me send false reports to delay the next employee from coming to France.
…Oh, my.
…This is even better!!
What I needed was time.
Anyway, if the result was that she wouldn’t kill me here, that was enough.
What I had been aiming for was for her to take me as a hostage and negotiate with Chaldea.
That’s why I even mentioned being close to the leader of Chaldea.
I really am close, after all~
Though the Director would deny it.
Anyway, when I gave a faint smile, Jeanne Alter seemed to judge it as a nervous chuckle that came out involuntarily, and she continued excitedly.
…Easy girl.
“In the meantime, we will burn France and further bolster our forces.
And in the end, we can use this grunt as a hostage.
If we replenish our strength and then take control of the flow using a hostage, it won’t be easy even if someone else from that monstrous Chaldea comes.
Even if someone else comes, if we drag it into a long war, we can burn all of France.
I will surely complete my goal.
I don’t plan on dying quietly afterward either, but before that, I must prepare a solid foundation to achieve my goal.
It is best to avoid uncertain factors as much as possible.
Gilles, do you have any complaints?”
“No, if that is the Holy Maiden’s decision, I shall say nothing.
However… is there really a need to keep this man alive?
I believe it would be sufficient to kill him and then send a false report.”
I’ll just come back even if you kill me, so stop it!!
More importantly, don’t throw cold water on this when my ‘persuasion’—or rather, my gaslighting—is almost finished!!
“I don’t think those people from the future who cross space-time would be fooled by a false report.
It doesn’t hurt to be careful.
Besides, this weak man can’t do anything anyway.
Look at his face—he’s completely paralyzed with fear, doing nothing but spitting out information.”
“That is true, but.”
Gilles de Rais’s eyes turned toward me.
His gaze felt like it was licking me, and goosebumps broke out all over my body!
My teeth chattered, and my body felt like it was freezing.
“For a man who has raised the white flag and surrendered all information, he has a face full of hope.
…You must not trust the enemy’s words too much, Jeanne.”
“If it’s a lie, so be it.
It doesn’t hurt to be prepared either way.
And if what he said just now is a lie…”
This time, Jeanne Alter looked down at me.
…It seemed these two were determined to give me a heart attack.
With someone with Mental Pollution and someone with Charisma glaring at me simultaneously, I broke into a cold sweat.
My hands were damp and clammy.
That body could move at any moment and punch a hole through me.
She could grab my head and crush it.
I could really die from just a casual movement of theirs.
My breathing automatically became heavy.
Looking down at me with amusement, Jeanne Alter spoke.
“Indeed.
It might be good to turn him into my chair while he’s still alive.”
Wait, is that a reward?
“I’ll leave the crafting to Gilles.”
Never mind.
“……”
Gilles de Rais gave me a suspicious look but seemed to back off for now, saying, “Understood.”
Gilles probably thought I wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he also judged that I wasn’t a big threat myself.
In fact, the chains binding me were just ordinary chains, and their body search was so superficial they didn’t even take my Craft Essences.
I was very grateful that they were underestimating me so much.
I learned in Fuyuki that the arrogance of the strong is a great opportunity for the weak to trip them up.
Even without Caster-bro, Charlotte and I managed to buy time against Saber and even damage her Spirit Core.
I would use that survival strategy of the weak here as well.
Rather, I had to.
“I am heading out now.
Berserk Assassin and Berserk Lancer, follow me.”
“Is it alright to leave that man like that?
I could apply a stronger restraint…”
“It’s fine.
I’m leaving the other Servants behind anyway.
…And if he escapes and we meet again, wouldn’t that be something to look forward to?
Let’s go, to kill the hypocrite.”
“Ha, haha…” I laughed awkwardly, breaking into a cold sweat.
Jeanne Alter seemed to like that smile, as she turned around and walked away without hesitation.
…She probably judged that I was paralyzed with fear.
Well, she wasn’t wrong.
But unfortunately, if I had stopped moving because I was paralyzed with fear, I would have already been finished in Fuyuki.
You’re definitely scary, but you’re less scary than Saber.
Therefore, I could move.
Maybe it was because we hadn’t actually fought yet, but unlike Saber, who made me freeze just by looking at her, this was just a slight tingling sensation.
I didn’t know if I had grown more gutsy or just become numb after being hit by Excalibur and turned into dust.
‘First, let’s wait… Let’s wait for a chance.’
I watched Jeanne Alter as she set out, riding Fafnir and leading a swarm of Wyverns.
Setting out… to fight, to fight?
…She took Berserk Assassin and Berserk Lancer with her.
That lineup felt strangely familiar, and I quickly tightened my mind, which had relaxed slightly.
…Wait?
I’ve seen that lineup somewhere.
No, more importantly, she said she was ‘heading out.’
Going to fight… a hypocrite?
Jeanne Alter called them a hypocrite.
My body, which had relaxed after escaping immediate danger, stiffened again.
Who would Jeanne Alter personally denounce as a hypocrite?
Once that thought hit me, I took a sharp breath.
‘Holy crap!!!
I have to get out of here right now!!
I have to escape and catch up!!
If she meets the real Jeanne in this sortie, it’s the worst-case scenario!
In the original, she had a Master and Mash, but they aren’t here!!
If Jeanne gets eliminated right then and there!!
It’s not funny!
It’s really not funny!!
Dammit!!
I was being too complacent!
I was so focused on surviving that I missed the most important thing!!
I forgot for a second that my brain is an idiot!!’
My peace of mind vanished in an instant.
I scanned the room quickly.
Berserk Archer, Atalante, was nowhere to be seen.
Berserk Rider wasn’t there either.
The only ones present were Berserk Berserker—commonly known as Berserlot—and Berserk Saber, Chevalier d’Eon.
The others were gone.
They might be somewhere else in this building, but at least in this room, it was just those two.
I have to get out of here quickly, no matter what.
I must prevent Jeanne’s elimination.
Besides, Jeanne’s elimination wouldn’t just end with her.
We need to gather the Saints to heal Siegfried, but if Jeanne is gone, we can’t save Siegfried either.
In other words, we’d lose two major combat assets at once.
Absolutely!
I have to avoid that!!
‘But…’
D’Eon was leaning quietly against the wall without even holding their sword, but I could feel their intent to cut me down the moment I moved.
…Save me.
And for a while now, Berserk Berserker Lancelot had been growling at me as if he wanted to kill me.
I’m not your King!
We just have similar hair colors!
Is everyone with blonde hair the King of Knights to you?
Do you want me to give you a timeout!?
Besides, I’m a guy!
The King of Knights was a woman who looked like a girl despite her male disguise, so what part of me looks similar enough for you to be huffing and puffing at me!?
Or is it like they say about mad dogs—can you smell the Saber I fought in Fuyuki on me!?
If that sortie was just a minor one and she didn’t meet Jeanne, it wouldn’t matter.
But what if she does!?
What if she defeats her and comes back!?
Even if I’ve bought time, Jeanne’s elimination would mean the difficulty of this Singularity would skyrocket.
…Phew.
I took a slow breath.
More than half of their forces are gone.
Fafnir is gone, and so are the numerous Wyverns.
Come to think of it, there’s no need to wait.
There’s no better chance than right now.
When it’s time to move, you have to move.
When else would such an opportunity come?
Jeanne Alter seemed to think that because I was paralyzed with fear, I wouldn’t resist.
But if you want to break my will to resist, you’d better bring some holy sword from somewhere.
…Actually, don’t.
‘I’m escaping.’
I could only see endings where I die no matter where I go, but I had to escape.