Confused and muddled.
Feeling groggy.
Half asleep and half awake, the door opened with a creak.
Two women, one tall and one short, who looked like sisters, walked into the room. The tall one was holding a basin of water, and the short one was holding a towel.
Shinji noticed the movement and raised his eyelids reflexively: "It's you."
Although the sound was very light, it did not escape the ears of the two people because the room was very quiet. They quickly put down the things in their hands and gathered around.
"Ah, Master, you're awake."
"How are you? Are you feeling unwell?"
"How long have I been unconscious?"
After performing the Illusion Collapse using the Ishtar Spear, Shinji, with both his magic power and physical strength exhausted, fell into a coma and lost his perception of the outside world.
"Three full days." Altria replied.
"Three days?"
Shinji supported himself on the mattress with both hands and sat up. He found that his physical injuries had healed. However, his physical injuries had healed, but his mental injuries had become more severe as time went by.
"It's been three days. Has anything happened during this time?"
Jeanne shook her head: "No, we are concentrating on reorganizing the situation in Mirenia City, and the aerial courtyard is parked on the sea."
"Is that so? That means they didn't do anything? That's really weird."
"Strange? What's strange about that?"
"Isn't it strange? It's been three days. Three days. Even I can collect enough Servant Souls to activate the Greater Holy Grail, let alone that guy."
"Master!"
Hearing Shinji's sarcastic words, Artoria's expression darkened.
"How can you say such a thing? Do you also want the world to be destroyed?"
"Ah." Realizing his mistake, Shinji slapped himself hard in the face, "Sorry."
"Assassin, what's wrong with you? This is not like your usual self."
Staring at him with Jeanne's calm and peaceful blue eyes, Shinji's frenzy subsided a little.
"Perhaps I just can't accept the reality. I've done so much, calculated so much, but in the end, it's all in vain. Doesn't this mean that everything I've done before is meaningless?"
"No, what you did was not meaningless."
Jeanne leaned over and gently held Shinji's hand with her own.
"If it weren't for your efforts, we might have died. If it weren't for your efforts, the Greater Holy Grail might have been activated. If it weren't for your efforts, we might not have had a chance to counterattack at all. All this is because of you. So, you don't need to blame yourself like this, really."
Normally, if Jeanne treated him like this, Shinji would have jumped for joy, but now, having lost Justisa, he could only force out a smile:
"Thank you for your comfort, Jeanne, thank you."
"That's not comforting."
Altria held Shinji's hand in the same way as Jeanne, her eyes burning.
"We mean it. The world has not ended, thanks to your efforts, Master."
"But I didn't do anything."
"No, you—"
At this time, the door was pushed open again, and a third face carved from the same mold poked its head in.
"Father, ruler, Miss Fiore, please—Ugh!"
He had barely finished speaking when the door suddenly exploded.
Amid the surging red thunder, the brilliant and shining king's sword was summoned out, accompanied by a roar full of anger.
"You bastard!!!"
The man and two women in the room were startled by the sudden outburst, and Arturia immediately turned around and glared at the intruder in annoyance.
"Mordred, what do you want?"
"You, you... He, he... You, you..."
Mordred's speech was incoherent. Her body always moved faster than her mind, and she drew her sword but hadn't thought about what to say.
"We, what happened to us?"
The natural Altria had a bewildered look on her face. She looked at Jeanne beside her, who also had a bewildered look on her face. Mordred suddenly realized that he was really stupid.
"Hands, your hands!"
"What's wrong with your hand? Shaking hands is a normal modern etiquette. Do you want to try it?"
"I want to, I want to!"
Mordred nodded hurriedly, happily put away the king's sword, and handed over his hand.
"Hey hey hey."
The moment Altria held his hand, Mordred smiled like a child, and even Shinji, who was heartbroken, was moved.
"Poor child - Mordred, what are you doing here?"
"Ms. Fiore asked you to go over there. She said there seems to be something wrong with the 'Little Holy Grail'."
"Small Holy Grail? Why is there a Small Holy Grail?" Shinji was stunned. Isn't this thing fixed to the Greater Holy Grail
"I don't know the details, please ask your Master yourself."
Because of the physical contact with his father, Mordred forgot about being angry with Shinji.
"Well, now that we're awake, let's go take a look together."
Seeing that he seemed to have cheered up a little, Artoria and Jeanne smiled at each other and walked in front to lead the way.
Because Semiramis had previously attacked them with the aerial courtyard, the king's room high up in the castle was obviously no longer safe, so the successor head of the family, Fiore, moved the meeting hall to the original underground restricted area, where the altar of the Holy Grail was stored.
Not only were all the masters and servants of the Chikaiju clan present, but also the red servants who had broken with Amakusa Shiro. In other words, except for the Amakusa camp, all other masters and servants were gathered together.
This is understandable. Amakusa Shiro's camp has strong combat power and mobility, and needs enough Servant Souls to activate the Holy Grail. If they don't want to be defeated one by one and become sacrifices to realize his ambitions, then sticking together is the best choice.
When Shinji followed Altria out of the corridor, everyone's eyes were focused on him.
"Assassin!" Fiore clenched her hands unconsciously.
"Here I come." Chiron said with a smile.
"You can sleep really well." Coles winked.
"Huh, he's not dead." Achilles whistled.
Although the rest of the people did not speak, most of them expressed goodwill.
Feeling so much concern, Shinji's nose felt sore. The lower he was, the more precious these sincere emotions became.
"I'm sorry for making everyone worried." Shinji bowed deeply.
"I'm glad you're okay."
Fiore tilted her head, and her voice was as clear as ever, like a mountain spring.
"I have a lot of things I want to ask you later."
"Well, don't worry, I won't hide it this time."
At this point, there is no need to hide anything anymore.
"Before that, I would like to ask what is the Holy Grail?"
It turned out that three days ago, after Danic left alone, Fiore followed his order and took people to the altar for refuge. Not long after stepping into the altar, a golden light fell from the sky and hit Fiore at the edge of the altar.
At first, Fiore didn't know what it was, but instinctively felt that it was a very important thing, so she kept it carefully. It was not until Jeanne returned with her injured and exhausted group that she recognized that it was the vessel that contained the souls of the servants, that is, the Holy Grail.
As she spoke, Fiore raised the vessel in her hand. The color of the vessel was exactly the same as the alienated body of Justisa in the center of the Holy Grail.
Shinji couldn't help but stretch out his hand, and the moment his fingers touched the rim of the Holy Grail, a familiar pulse swept through his body.
"This, this is!!!"
PS: The door: Damn it, I was forgotten by you ruthless guys? I have a sentence to say, I don’t know if I should say it.