Knock knock!
As the two were speaking, the office door suddenly sounded with urgent rapping.
"Mayor, I have urgent matters to report!"
"Someone's coming, you need to hide!"
Hearing this, Rin's expression shifted slightly as she quickly whispered to Roy.
"Why?"
Roy's face was full of confusion.
Did she not want to be seen with him here? Was he some kind of embarrassing boyfriend?
Weren't they just being affectionate moments ago?
"No time to explain, just hide! Use your runes!"
Rin pushed Roy insistently.
Seeing her completely serious expression, Roy had no choice but to comply.
He initially intended to use runes to conceal himself, but his gaze suddenly fell on the space beneath the desk.
A mischievous grin spread across his face as he abandoned the rune idea and ducked under the desk instead.
Rin gave him a puzzled look but had no time to question it as she quickly took her seat.
"Enter!"
"Mayor, this is an emergency request for aid from Tokyo!"
The secretary from Zenjou opened the office door, her face tense as she approached the desk to hand Rin a document folder.
"Emergency request?"
Rin's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
Her previously distracted attention immediately sharpened.
She took the folder and opened it, preparing to quickly scan through the contents.
"Ah!"
Rin suddenly gasped aloud.
"Mayor?"
Zenjou looked at her in confusion.
What was wrong?
Was the document's content that shocking?
"It's nothing, nothing..."
Rin coughed lightly, pretending nonchalance as she set the documents down.
Zenjou carefully observed the mayor, noticing the faint pink flush gradually spreading across her dewy cheeks, her eyes carrying a strange, alluring glint.
As a woman of experience, Zenjou immediately understood.
There was no one else in this office besides the mayor herself—why would she be making such an expression?
Unless... oh dear!
Was the mayor performing silent water magecraft right now?
"Ahem... Mayor, I'll take my leave now. Call me if you need anything!"
Zenjou forced a professional smile before swiftly turning to exit, considerately closing the door tightly behind her to leave no gaps.
"You're going to die for this!"
The moment the door closed, Rin yanked her chair back and kicked at Roy still hiding beneath the desk.
Roy caught her ankle with an amused smirk.
Upon closer inspection, her thigh-high stockings were slightly damp with moisture.
"Why couldn't I show myself?"
"Just for this?"
Rin glared at him with flushed indignation.
"You disappeared with the Greater Grail. The Mage's Association knew the Grail was gone and has left us alone since. If you reappear now, what do you think the Association would assume?"
The Mage's Association had stationed magi in Fuyuki City primarily for the Greater Grail. During the previous Holy Grail War, Roy had vanished with it. Knowing they could no longer possess the Grail, the Mage's Association had remained unusually quiet, not even attempting retaliation.
Once Roy reappeared openly, the mages affiliated with the Mage's Association would likely swarm in like sharks smelling blood.
"Did you run into any magi on your way here?"
"Not a single hair."
"Then try not to show yourself. Wait until you have the power to overturn the Mage's Association before making an appearance."
"Those guys aren't really worth worrying about... but since you said so, we'll do it your way."
Roy agreed vaguely.
He didn't take the Mage's Association too seriously, but if mages swarmed in again, it would inevitably affect Fuyuki City—their base of operations. In that case, it might as well be done according to Rin's plan.
Since he intended to completely destroy the system of magecraft, the Mage's Association was an unavoidable hurdle—one he would have to annihilate sooner or later.
"Alright, let go of my leg already!"
Surely she'd made herself clear by now. Rin tried to pull her leg back.
Roy obligingly released his grip on her ankle, crawled out from under the desk, and with a sweep of his long arm, lifted Rin into his embrace. He sat down on the chair and placed her on his lap.
"Don't mess around—this is an office!"
Rin placed her hands on his shoulders, her face tense as she glanced at the door.
Someone could walk in at any moment!
"Relax, no matter how desperate I am, I wouldn't do anything here."
Roy wrapped one arm around the girl's slender, willow-like waist while using the other to open an imaginary pocket.
From it, he pulled out a giant robot over two meters tall.
The robot was pitch black, its appearance bearing a seventy percent resemblance to Alde from the world of Asterisk War.
However, since its core was made of ordinary mana-reactive ore, it was merely a mass-produced, inferior version of Alde, dubbed "Valiant" by Ernesta.
"This is something I acquired from another world..."
Roy briefly explained the origin and functions of this automaton to Rin.
"Not only is it incredibly strong, but it's also equipped with artificial intelligence—its computational power is quite formidable—"
"Wait, what's artificial intelligence?"
Rin blinked her large eyes in confusion.
"Is it like a telephone?"
"...Right, I forgot you're a tech idiot."
"Don't call me an idiot!"
Roy sighed and held down Rin, who was struggling in protest.
"Anyway, just think of it as a familiar with intelligence. It can fight, fly, and even help you with administrative tasks."
"Jarvis, boot up!"
At Roy's command, the automaton before them seemed to receive its orders, its eyes flashing with streams of green data.
"Master, Jarvis is at your service."
"It talked!"
"Exactly. Feel free to order it around."
Roy personally registered Rin as Jarvis's master.
Though Rin was a tech idiot, using artificial intelligence was no different from commanding a person—there was no difficulty at all.
After some cautious exploration, Rin quickly grasped this and relaxed.
Incidentally, "Jarvis" was Roy's little joke. In truth, this AI's level of intelligence wasn't inferior to Jarvis's—it was just that in this world without networks, its capabilities were far more limited.
"Amazing! To have such a convenient familiar—it's practically like a heroic spirit!"
Rin gazed at the automaton with a mix of unfamiliarity and delight. This versatile gift, capable of both scholarly and martial tasks, seemed to satisfy her greatly, as it could completely free her from tedious administrative work.
"By the way, are emergency requests for aid from Tokyo City common?"
Roy picked up the document on the table, skimming through it rapidly.
A sharp increase in cursed spirit disasters?
The tone is quite urgent.
They're asking for over a dozen magi at once?
How many magi can even be spared in all of Fuyuki City right now? Such an outrageous demand!
"No, it's rare—less than once a year. Normally, it's just a routine request for assistance. This situation is highly unusual."
Rin withdrew her gaze from the automaton and cautiously fixed it on the document in Roy's hands.
"Right now, Fuyuki City barely has any mages to spare, and those we do have are all swamped with work. There's no way we can send anyone to assist!"
Even if Rin wanted to help Tokyo, she simply lacked the means.
"I see…"
Roy murmured noncommittally as he read the details in the document.