Chapter 6: "I Came; I Saw; I Naked." - King Gilgamesh.
"Who are you trying to fool, this is obviously Roland from the neighboring class, isn't it?!"
Tristan could not help but spit out sarcastically.
"Tristan Tristan Tristan, it's just that your squinty eyes are too small so you didn't look carefully enough. Look properly— isn't this person unmistakably the genuine Hero King?"
He acted as if nothing was wrong, patted the blond man standing beside him, and then introduced him to Tristan.
"You should know that every Servant gives birth to different aspects based on different versions of their legends. The one I found this time is Hero King Gilgamesh — after his 'White Moonlight', Enkidu, ran off with another man, due to the extreme pain and resentment of being heartbroken, he awakened a strange hobby called [Naked]."
"Isn't this straight out of the legend in The Song of Roland, who the hell would want a cuckold Hero King like that?!"
Tristan roared.
"Aiya, why won't you just believe it. Come on, Roland… ah no, Your Majesty Gilgamesh, please hurry and say one of your classic quotes for him to hear."
"Very well."
Only to see Roland swing his arm vigorously and shout loudly in a resounding voice:
"People die when they are killed!"
"What kind of Hero King is this?! You already picked the wrong role the moment you came on!"
"I came; I saw; I naked."
Roland immediately corrected himself.
"That's a Roman Emperor's line, and don't casually alter other people's famous quotes."
"Enkidu..... my love."
"Why is this the only line you're copying correctly, what kind of aphorism is this even supposed to be?! Just what kind of being do you think the Hero King is, anyway?!"
Bang!
"Ah, I am truly grief-stricken!"
Tristan slammed his fist hard into the wall beside him, really wanting to vent all the speechless frustration in his heart.
As expected, he knew things could never go smoothly.
Thinking about it carefully made it obvious— if Eikou's connections were really strong enough to invite King Gilgamesh, then he wouldn't be so dirt-poor every single day.
"Enough, enough,"
Eikou spread his hands helplessly.
"I also tried to look for several other Goldies, but unfortunately during the negotiations I rolled great failure several times. They scolded me as a mongrel and directly kicked me out. In that case, there's nothing to be done. Since I couldn't invite the original, I could only invite someone who looks kind of similar."
It just so happened that Roland and Gilgamesh had fairly similar builds, and both were blond and fair-skinned, so he simply had him impersonate the Hero King.
Although he didn't look very reliable, in such a rush there really wasn't anyone more suitable than Roland.
Moreover, Roland's next period was physical education, which allowed free movement, so secretly running over to the Britain class to sit in on the lesson wouldn't be a problem.
"Isn't the difference between them a bit too big? A teacher would know it's fake at a glance."
Tristan said worriedly.
"It's fine, I still have the skill [Curse Art]. With a bit of make up for him, it'll be enough to fool them."
"Then there's really no other way..."
At this point, they could only leave it to fate.
"Huh, Gawain still hasn't arrived?"
Eikou swept his eyes around once, not seeing the Gorilla's figure anywhere.
Open Class was about to begin, yet he still hadn't shown up?
Both of their hearts sank a beat.
Could it be that something really went wrong over there?
Leaving Gawain alone to repair Babbage was, indeed, still too much of a stretch...
"No, at a time like this, we can only trust our monke brother until the very last second!"
Eikou said seriously.
"Attendre et espérer! (Wait, and hope)"
Roland suddenly spoke up.
"Just which King are you playing now, exactly, Count of Monte Cristo counts as a King too?!"
Time ticked by second by second, and there was less than one minute left before Open Class.
Gawain still hadn't returned.
Tap tap tap.
At this very moment, when everyone was almost on the verge of despair, a burst of rapid and powerful footsteps suddenly rang out from the far end of the hallway.
The three of them turned their heads to look, only to see a tall blond Knight carrying a robot as he strode over.
It was… it was that reassuring Gawain!
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting."
Gawain broke into a hearty smile and quickly ran over to their side.
"The thing you brought with you is..."
Tristan looked toward the robot he was carrying.
Gawain pointed at the robot beside him, smiling with full confidence: "Babbage-sensei… I've finished repairing him!"
Oh...
"That's impressive, Gawain-dono, you really managed to fix it."
Eikou praised calmly. "It looks exactly like how it was before."
"Not at all, not at all,"
Gawain said modestly, "Sir Eikou is the truly amazing one, to actually manage to invite a Hero King."
"Wait a second, shouldn't you two at least complain about each other once?! This thing has absolutely nothing to do with Babbage-sensei, okay!"
Tristan couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out, "Isn't this just Shinji-kun from the kitchen area dragged out to pretend to be Babbage? What exactly did you even repair?!"
"Ha ha..."
Gawain scratched his blond hair a little awkwardly.
"Well, fixing it all by myself really was too difficult, so I went to the home economics room and borrowed a Shinji-kun for the time being. At a glance, they look kind of similar, right?"
"They're completely different, okay..."
Tristan rubbed his forehead, utterly lacking any strength left to complain.
Damn it, what kind of absurd substitute fiction is this, anyway!
As for Eikou, he checked his dice again—there were only two left. If luck was on their side, it might still barely be enough to bluff their way through.
"There's no time left to go back and fix Babbage-sensei properly, let's just grit our teeth and go all in like this."
"Is this really okay?"
Tristan still couldn't believe it.
"A dead horse has to be treated like a living one—say it like we still have a way out."
The class bell was about to ring.
Eikou waved at them, preparing to enter the classroom together.
"Roland, hurry up and come in with us, class is about to start... eh, Roland?"
"..."
"Roland, what are you doing?"
"..."
All three of them looked over, only to see Roland not far away pulling his hand into his sleeve, pretending to be a disabled person who had lost his right arm, then suddenly stepping back while loudly shouting:
"I shall grant you this... At this moment, you are powerful!"
(Note: Gilgamesh vs Shirou)
"You're even copying this part too?! Aren't you afraid some hardcore fans will see this and hack you to death?!"
[The class bell rang at this exact moment.]
[Your hearts were pounding with unease, but holding onto the resolve to gamble with everything, you strode straight into the classroom.]
[Just as you expected, the students were already all seated, and the teachers who came to observe had also arrived early.]
[Queen of the Land of Shadows Scathach, King of the Lostbelt Arjuna Alter, as well as your homeroom teacher, Finn.]
[Upon seeing this imposing lineup, you couldn't help but feel your hearts thumping wildly.]
[You could feel the gazes of the entire class converging on you, continuously evaluating Roland and Shinji-kun standing beside you.]
[In short, think of every possible way to survive this Open Class.]
[Alright, your performance begins!]