Chapter 2: Health Check
[The class period is PE Class, and once again it's time for the monthly Health Check.]
[Normally, a Servant's parameters are basically fixed—there is no birth, aging, sickness, death, or changes due to growth—so it doesn't seem like a Health Check is truly necessary. However, students at the academy often secretly modify their Spirit Origin in order to wear Summer Swimsuit, adapt to seasonal activity changes, or even "mold" a few Personal Skill out of nothing.]
[For that reason, the regular monthly Health Check remains extremely important.]
[Although a Servant's data hardly changes, there are still those who quietly look forward to their own growth…]
"Artoria Caster, it's your turn."
"Yes!"
Standing in front of the Automatic Health Check Machine, Artoria felt a bit nervous and swallowed.
She carefully stepped onto the Chaldea examination device and began measuring her weight, height, and the stability of her Spirit Origin.
"Umu, all parameters unchanged, no fluctuations in Personal Skill, Spirit Origin is also very stable…"
Finn-sensei flipped through the old records while taking notes.
"Caster, your body data is the same as before—weight 42kg, height 154cm."
"Still the same?"
Disappointment that was hard to conceal surfaced in Artoria's voice as she lightly pouted.
"This machine doesn't seem very accurate. What if it miscalculated and shorted me by one centimeter? I request a re-measurement!"
"Ha ha, my lady as gentle as a lilac flower, a petite figure is actually quite charming in its own feminine way."
Finn-sensei smiled kindly.
"Um, even if you say that, sensei…"
She looked unwillingly toward Barghest not far away, who stood nearly one meter ninety tall. The other party not only had a tall, sturdy, and voluptuous figure, but also radiated a strong, mature, and seductive feminine aura. In the entire class, she truly stood out like a high-quality female ideal.
So annoying—what a body that makes people jealous!
"It's fine, Wild Boar-chan,"
Eikou, standing beside her, rubbed her head and comforted her:
"Judging by how much you eat every day, sooner or later you'll grow into a Tall Onee-san. I can tell at a glance that you're the type with great future potential."
"Really?"
Artoria seemed to regain her confidence.
"Umu. Besides, height isn't actually important—what matters is the height of one's soul!"
He said loudly.
"Look,"
the two Knights of the Round Table beside them put their hands on their hips and said,
"that sounds nice and convenient, especially coming from Sir Eikou, the shortest boy in our class."
[After Artoria Caster finished her Health Check, you also went through an inspection.]
[Your parameters always show changes, especially your Personal Skill.]
[But what truly astonished Finn-sensei was…]
"Height: 1.76 meters?"
Looking at the freshly printed report, Finn-sensei couldn't help but be shocked.
"Last check, your height was only 1.73 meters. What's going on here? You grew a full 3 centimeters in just one month?!"
"That, I'm not too sure about either,"
Eikou crossed his arms over his chest, his expression thoughtful as he sighed.
"Maybe it's because I've been constantly improving myself lately. Especially after surviving life-and-death adventures in the Singularity—those experiences caused major changes in both my body and mind."
"Still, Sir Eikou really does look noticeably taller today."
Tristan spoke up.
"Ha ha ha."
Eikou laughed heartily.
Finn frowned, carefully examined him from head to toe, then finally sighed:
"Do you think my Clairvoyance is just for decoration? Hurry up and take out the height-increasing insoles from your shoes and measure again properly."
"Tch."
Hearing that, Eikou had no choice but to obediently take off his shoes, pull out the insoles inside, and measure again.
"Height: 1.73 meters. This time it matches."
"Can't you just write a few extra centimeters for me? Among the boys in the class, I'm the only one who's the shortest. Honestly, I do care about it a bit."
Eikou said, looking both embarrassed and annoyed.
In truth, a height of 1.73 meters couldn't really be called short. Unfortunately, the boys of Britain Class averaged over 1.75 meters, and the Knights of the Round Table all started at at least 1.80 meters.
Even Oberon, who wasn't particularly tall, was already 1.74 meters.
By the time he came to his senses, Eikou realized—
He was the shortest one in the entire group!
"It's fine, Sir Eikou. You can use insoles to… raise the height in your heart."
Gawain smiled and gently patted his shoulder.
"You mashed-potato Gorilla, what kind of nice-sounding nonsense are you spouting?!"
"Sir Eikou, don't worry,"
Tristan also spoke up to comfort him,
"according to my many years of research, married woman not only like men younger than themselves, but being sufficiently short can also stimulate the other party's maternal instincts and possessive desires. If you don't believe me, just look at Miss Barghest beside you."
They saw Barghest beside them excitedly wipe the corner of her mouth, her beautiful heterochromatic eyes clearly forming heart shapes.
"So Eikou is only 1.73 meters tall? Umu, that actually sounds pretty nice…"
Barghest, why are you getting excited about this?!
[The two Knights of the Round Table closest to you: Gorilla Gawain is 1.80 meters tall, while Chicken Tristan reaches an astonishing 1.86 meters.]
[As for Percival in their club, his height even reaches the shocking figure of 1.95 meters!]
[Your self-esteem has taken a heavy blow.]
[However, in the next published parameter chart, your Strength slightly surpasses Gawain's (B+), and even exceeds Tristan's by a full rank (B).]
"What?! Sir Eikou's Strength is actually A?!"
Gawain and Tristan both revealed looks of disbelief.
He clearly looked like a gentle, scholarly youth, yet his actual physical strength was not inferior in the slightest to the tall, powerfully built Knights of the Round Table?
"That's true…"
Eikou said proudly.
"Don't judge me by appearances. I've always had to endure Scathach's Hell Training. My Strength not long ago even increased from B+ to A. I'm already an existence that surpasses you guys now, you strength-deficient shorties!"
"No, no, no, Sir Eikou, you're thinking too simply…"
Tristan shook his head, suddenly opening his sharp golden eyes.
"The data on paper and actual strength are very different. I've heard that even with Strength only at E, the Russian Princess can still carry Ivan the Terrible in Mammoth form with her bare hands, and Abigail even has higher Strength than Emiya. Can you believe that? The numbers written on paper aren't accurate at all!"
"Give it a rest, Tristan. You're just jealous because I'm stronger than you."
Eikou replied indifferently.
"It's not jealousy, it's maintaining a serious attitude and facing reality. Perfect timing that this is PE Class. If you don't believe me, let's compete and see who's stronger in practice!"
"Fine, then let's compete. I'll show you what it means for reality to verify the truth!"
[The three of you refused to back down, and thus decided to test your strength right in PE Class.]
[What was originally just a playful comparison unexpectedly became the beginning of today's nightmare…]