"There are plenty for everyone, so please eat as much as you like."
Mash Kyrielight. The leader of A-Team and a Demi-Servant. She's also Master Rikka's main Servant.
...Personally, I think she's the one holding it together the most. Just six months ago, she barely had a sense of self—she was almost like a doll. Now, she's become a Demi-Servant and fights on the front lines.
That fact alone is far from normal. A young girl who six months ago knew nothing of battle, let alone ordinary life, transformed into a Servant and is now out there fighting off threats.
Even I can tell. Mash is still terrified of combat. She's scared. She isn't used to hurting anyone. In fact, she'll probably never get used to it. That's just the kind of girl Mash Kyrielight is. Knowing nothing about war, she's still standing her ground today.
To repay her Master, Rikka. Pushing herself to be of use, using her shield to protect everyone.
...Her attitude is another major reason why we, the Chaldea staff, keep pushing forward. It's not complex or twisted like our feelings toward the Director. It's simply: 'We can't be complaining when we see what she goes through.'
When there's a girl out there fighting on the front lines despite being scared out of her mind, those of us in the rear can't afford to live lazily, right? In the end, while we think we're supporting Mash, we're actually the ones being supported by her.
"Meuniere~! Don't you want one? Are you saying you can't eat my cookies?!"
Protesting with a pouting, puffed-up face is the representative of our group and the strongest Master of humanity, Fujimaru Rikka.
"Sorry, sorry! I'll eat it! Just spare me the Pankration!"
"I won't! I only use violence against enemies or evil!"
I can say this with absolute certainty: the strongest human alive today is Rikka right here. Superheroes like Superman, Iron Man, or manga protagonists don't hold a candle to this hyper-woman.
Vitals and physical abilities trained by Achilles, Heracles, and Chiron; a katana imbued with the spirit of Japanese samurai; blessed endlessly by Greek goddesses to receive a divine bow; a cloak gifted by the First Head of the Islamic Assassins; a pirate hat from Blackbeard; a shield, a cape, and top-tier Magic Circuits from the Director; a 100% Rayshift aptitude. You couldn't even stack this many absurd tropes onto a novel protagonist if you tried! It's beyond ridiculous.
But... that's not where Rikka's true charm lies. Her charm and strength come from...
"Here, Meuniere. Get some proper rest, eat a cookie, and go to sleep. Don't stay up too late watching late-night anime."
"I know, I know. Thanks, Rikka."
"Tell him more, Rikka! Meuniere sneaks onto his favorite websites every chance he gets."
"While the King's policy permits laziness as long as results are delivered, I believe there is a limit, Meuniere."
"Meuniere is working hard!"
Exactly. It's the fact that she treats every single person without discrimination. Whether it's a former Mage like Silvia or a discarded geek like me, she speaks to us with a smile, treating everyone equally.
...Back in high school, being a geek meant being treated like a creep. Naturally, the cute girls were all taken by the quarterback of the rugby team, and a geek like me couldn't even dream of romance. Ah, "geek" just means otaku, by the way.
But Rikka was different. She talks to a guy like me normally, shows concern, and acts friendly. She smiles and interacts with us because we're comrades, because we're family.
She always says she lacks "girliness," but honestly, real women are often the ones wearing heavy makeup and pretending to be nice while looking down on people behind their backs. If that kind of horrifying cunning is what counts as "girliness"—if being good at flattery and knowing how to open your legs for men is what makes a woman...
Then isn't it completely normal for Rikka, who is far removed from that nonsense, to lack that kind of "girliness"? I catch myself thinking that quite often... and her reason for wanting to gain "girliness" in the first place is, well...
"If I was born a woman, I don't want to throw away being a woman. I want to polish myself as best as I can, so that someday I'll have the strength to support a husband, protect a home, and grab the happiness of raising children."
That's way too cool! What is this, is she some smooth bad-boy protagonist?! How can someone have that much pride in themselves? Is she really just a high school girl?! Her resolve is insane!
...Because she lives every day with that mindset, all the Heroic Spirits naturally look up to Rikka as their Master.
...Rikka isn't a normal Master. To put it bluntly, she might not even be a normal human anymore.
'Beast of Humanity.' The Doctor mentioned that she's a potential Beast of Humanity—something Goetia foresaw with his Clairvoyance and manipulated to turn the arriving Rikka into a self-destruction mechanism. She is undeniably not a normal human.
Not even loved by her family, raised in an environment where she couldn't make proper friends... I can't even imagine what kind of life turns a person into something that terrifying. When I was her age, I didn't think about anything. Just "this is annoying" or "that's a hassle."
...She wasn't even allowed to utter those weak complaints. The moment she arrived at Chaldea, the entire future of humanity was shoved onto her shoulders, forcing her to fight.
To be frank, Rikka is probably something other than human now. Smiling even when the world is destroyed isn't normal.
Can you believe it? Until human history was restored, she didn't utter a single weak complaint. She never said she wanted to run away, nor that she wanted someone to replace her. Not a single word.
Calling someone like that an "ordinary person" is troublesome—because then what does that make someone like me? ...Yet at the same time, Rikka is by no means a traditional hero.
A villain. Yes, a villain. Evil that hurts and strikes down others. 'Because that role was forced onto her by everyone.'
Nobody envies Rikka. Nobody is jealous of her. Think about it—who would want to save a world that persecuted, alienated, and mistreated them? Rikka isn't a hero. She's a villain who has every right to hate the world. Anyone in our shoes would think:
[It deserves to perish. Serves them right.] I'd definitely think that too. ...But Rikka was different. The role forced onto her by everyone—the power of a villain forced onto her by humanity—she wielded it like a hero.
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