103.1. Mission Completed and Return
Gilgamesh, arms crossed, overlooked the city from the top of the Divine Tower. His gaze fell upon his people, the survivors of the calamity, bustling about in preparation for the grand celebration that would be held that evening, marking the end of six months of arduous battle.
Today, the top of the Divine Tower was deserted; even Siduri was involved in preparations for the celebration.
As for work, there was none. Just as Gilgamesh was gazing at the city, lost in thought, footsteps suddenly echoed atop the tower.
Without turning around, he already knew who it was.
The footsteps reached his side, and a golden cup appeared in the corner of his eye.
Gilgamesh glanced at it; it was the reward he had given to the magician who protected Uruk.
The Holy Grail.
"That guy didn't dare come himself, so he made me bring it to you to see if you still wanted it. If you didn't, he'd take it," Xiling said casually, handing the Holy Grail to Gilgamesh while eating food he had bought in the city.
Gilgamesh glanced at it and then ignored it. He continued to focus on his city, speaking in a calm tone.
"Is he looking down on me? What I bestow, I will never take back. In the past, I would have chopped off his head. But now, considering his great service, I'll spare his life."
"Then I thank you on his behalf, although as I initially thought you wouldn't take it back." Xiling tossed the Holy Grail into the Starry Cloak.
Then, while eating, he looked at the city and asked, "What are your plans now?"
A city that should have been destroyed, people who should have perished, had their predetermined fate reversed by a few visitors from another world. Their destinies were altered, and they gained entirely new lives. Xiling was curious about what their future would hold. So he asked Gilgamesh, the king who could see the future.
"Who knows what the future holds?" Gilgamesh replied calmly.
"Huh?" Xiling turned his head in surprise.
"You can see..."
"Fool!" Gilgamesh interrupted Xiling, his voice still cold.
"Let the future write its own story. A future that can be seen is ultimately just a projection among countless possibilities. Is that truly the future?"
"What kind of future Uruk needs is not for me to decide alone! The right to choose the path belongs to the people of Uruk! Let them decide where they will go with their own hands!"
"...Very well."
Gilgamesh turned to look at Xiling, his voice calm.
"Are you going to see that person?"
Xiling rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Oh ho, I thought you were planning to seal those eyes completely!"
"Hmph, fool. That's just a deduction based on basic logic."
"Uh, is that so? I guessed wrong." Xiling turned his head away awkwardly, but quickly turned back, his previous embarrassment gone.
"We really should go see him. After all, we found some of his things, and it would be impolite to take them without asking."
Gilgamesh snorted coldly.
"Those were things he abandoned himself to; why bother asking him?"
"After what happened, he should know that things shouldn't be thrown away carelessly. We should still ask."
Gilgamesh fell silent, clearly losing interest in the topic. Xiling, understanding the situation, didn't say anything more, brushing the remaining food crumbs off his hands and smiling at him.
"Then I'll be going now. See you at tonight's event."
As Xiling turned to leave, a faint whooshing sound came from behind him.
Without turning around, Xiling casually reached behind him and caught the flying object steadily in his palm. Looking down, he saw a finely polished, dark-colored stone slab.
Xiling turned around in confusion, looking at the figure with his back to him.
Gilgamesh didn't turn around, his voice calm.
"No matter what era I live in, or what form I take in this world, as long as you possess this—this certificate inscribed with the friendship and covenant of Uruk… I will answer the call and lend a helping hand."
Having said this, Gilgamesh remained silent, his back to Xiling.
Xiling's lips curled into a smile as he turned and left the Divine Tower.
—
The Chaldea Central Control Room, even after the restoration of humanity, still retained the bustling atmosphere of the final battle.
Romani slumped in his chair, feeling utterly exhausted. Even though the mission to save the world was over, his workload had multiplied several times over. But what could he do? He was currently the head of the organization, and he had to fill in by compiling a file for the Mage's Association before finally finishing his busy work.
"Ah...I want to die..." he sighed, sounding almost like a groan, then muttered wistfully, "No, no, I want strawberry cake — the freshly baked kind, with a big pot of black tea, and then I can just lie down all day...no, a week!" Work...it would be so much better if it all disappeared..."
Just as he was indulging in this wonderful fantasy of laziness, trying to dispel his fatigue...
Romani felt something suddenly darken. He opened his eyes in confusion and saw a smiling face above him.
At that moment, the bright light overhead seemed to...diminish slightly?
"Uwah—!!!"
A terrified scream almost lifted the dome of the control room. Romani sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, the chair legs screeching against the floor in his panic. He lost his balance and was about to crash awkwardly onto the cold, hard floor.
However, the feeling of falling lasted less than half a second before an irresistible force shoved him back into his chair.
"What's wrong? Am I scary?" Xiling leaned against the table, looking at Romani with a puzzled expression.
As if he couldn't understand why the other party looked so frightened upon seeing him.
But was that really the case? Clearly, Xiling wasn't doing it on purpose!
The atmosphere had reached that point; if he didn't scare him, wouldn't he be doing himself a disservice?
Romani was panting heavily, clearly still shaken from the earlier fright.
When he recognized Xiling, he asked incredulously, "Mr. Xiling, why are you at Chaldea?"
How could the other person be here? The FATE Summoning System hadn't been activated. Although he didn't know why the other party was here, Roman wasn't afraid, because he had a feeling the other person wasn't a bad person.
"I came all this way just to ask if you still want this stuff?" Xiling reached out, and nine items automatically flew out of his Starry Cloak.
There were nine rings.
The nine rings worn by the Demon King Goetia; these were the last pieces of equipment he dropped.
Romani—Romani Archman, the former Magic King Solomon—his pupils suddenly contracted, and the color drained from his face instantly.
Xiling held out his hand to him.
"Here, take it back. Do you want it or not?"
"Huh?" Romani opened his mouth, instinctively trying to force a smile to hide the turmoil within him, but his expression was stiff and twisted, looking more painful than if he were crying.
"This...this..."
Seeing the other party's reaction, Xiling said irritably, "What's this? You're Solomon, the Magic King. You act like I don't know your identity! I know all your dirty secrets! Now, let me ask you, do you want this thing or not?"
"You...you really know my real identity? I mean..." Romani lowered his head, his voice somewhat dejected.
"Know him, of course, I know him."
Xiling snapped his fingers crisply, as if providing background music, teasingly saying in an almost rap-like tone:
"Solomon, the Magic King, an ordinary man in the Holy Grail War, who would have thought his corpse would be possessed, creating an eternal tragedy~ Don't you think my lyrics flow smoothly?"
"Huh?" Roman was completely dumbfounded.
The expected accusations and questions all failed to materialize. The other's reaction caught him completely off guard, and the heavy feeling of being exposed was instantly diluted by absurd astonishment.
"Alright, stop spacing out there. Who knows if your corpse will end up being used by a body collector? Nobody wants that to happen, right?" Xiling shrugged and handed the items in his hand to Romani again.
"This belongs to you. Do you want it? If not, I'll take it. Besides, once I take it, even if you want it, it'll be hard to get it back."
Romani didn't look at the ring so close to his face. Instead, he looked up at Xiling blankly.
"Don't you… have anything else you want to say to me? Like… accuse me of not handling my affairs properly after my death, causing such a huge disaster… or… something else?"
He seemed to be waiting for some judgment, some opportunity for him to atone for his past sins.
Hearing this, Xiling mentally stroked his chin, seemingly pondering for a few seconds before tentatively asking, "Uh... remember to cremate your body properly next time?"
Cremation, my ass.
Romani felt the heavy, sorrowful, and self-blaming emotions he had just built up deflate like a punctured balloon.
He was about to retort, "What the hell is all this?!" when Xiling spoke first.
"And you, don't think about it so much. Living a good life is more important than anything else. So, do you still want it or not?"
Hearing Xiling ask him so many times whether he still wanted the rings or not, Romani couldn't help but ask, "Why are you so hung up on whether I want it or not?"
"Nonsense! If you don't want it, I'll take it, so you don't have to leave it lying around. If you want it, I'll give it back to you, so that I can slip away. As for your little problems, who cares! I've taken care of everything!" Xiling gave him the middle finger without any politeness.
Romani was speechless for a moment after being rebuked. Then he asked, "So, tell me, should I take it or not?"
"My suggestion is—take it," Xiling said seriously.
"...Why?"
"For Ritsuka, for Mash, and for Chaldea."
Xiling spoke under Romani's questioning gaze.
"The great feat of saving the world certainly deserves everyone's respect, but once the world no longer needs this savior, then the power you possess will pose a threat to them. Do you understand what I mean, Romani?"
Xiling looked directly into Romani's eyes.
"Even if you can't achieve the great feat of the past with ten rings, to a human magus, you are still comparable to a god, perhaps even more invincible."
"You mean..." Romani's voice was uncertain.
"Shh," Xiling put his hand to his lips.
"If it's not conducive to unity, let's not talk about it. Being prepared is always the best policy."
"...You're right." Romani reached out and took the ring from Xiling's hand.
If the things he didn't want to see really happened, perhaps Ritsuka would only have himself to rely on then.
"Alright, I'm leaving now that I've delivered the item. Goodbye." Xiling stood up and walked towards the door without hesitation. After waving goodbye to Romani, he disappeared at the doorway in the blink of an eye, leaving Romani standing there clutching the rings.
...
The evening's celebration.
"Holy crap, that's incredible!" exclaimed a certain hero.
"Amazing! Amazing!" the warrior clapped repeatedly.
"Is it really that amazing? I think it's just average," said a certain oblivious great magician.
"How much do you think I could sell this for back in our world?" asked a certain witch whose eyes were practically shaped like gold coins.
"Hard to say," the savior young lady replied earnestly, looking at the items in the witch's hands.
"So delicious, so delicious! Everyone should try some!" A foodie young lady was enjoying the festival's delicacies.
"I wonder if those two will like this," the former wheelchair-bound young lady said, holding up several items to take back to her friends.
Dan Heng was also picking out local specialties; after all, coming to a new world, it would be a shame not to bring something back.
As time passed, the festival was drawing to a close. The chat group watched as the two goddesses were worshipped.
One proudly puffed out her chest.
The other smiled at the crowd.
As the festival ended, the two goddesses, surrounded by the crowd, returned to their seats.
The festival thus came to a close.
Just before returning, Xiling took out a camera and smiled at everyone.
"If we're talking about keepsakes, photos are definitely the best."
Everyone was already used to Xiling pulling out all sorts of strange things.
Just then, the two girls from Chaldea arrived and were invited by Xiling to take a picture. No sooner had they said that, a certain Magus of Flowers appeared, and then Gilgamesh also suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Finally, a photo of 12 people and a beast together appeared, and everyone got a picture.
After the two Chaldea girls thanked them again, everyone in the chat group returned to their own world.
[Mission completed.]
[Everyone received 20,000 points.]
[Sent as a reward from the mission world—personal reward.
[I Don't Want to Be a Hero Anymore: Inherent Skill [Star Pioneer]
[Fire Moth Warrior]: Inherent Skill [Sun's Blessing]
[Great Magician Tarnished]: Inherent Skill [Innate Wisdom]
[Wheelchair Sniper]: Noble Phantasm [Mecha Unit {Athena}]
[I Am a Witch]: Magic [Second Magic]
[I Am the Savior]: Inherent Skill [Revelation]
[I'm Not a Foodie]: Noble Phantasm [Songstress's Performance]
[I'm not Him]: Noble Phantasm [Eternally Flowing Cup]]
—