Interlude ~ The Deal.
"Welcome! The catalog is right here!" the hostess sang.
Da Vinci-chan's workshop was crammed with all sorts of magical artifacts. Picturesque chaos reigned everywhere, as if she were trying to recreate the atmosphere of Leonardo da Vinci's studio.
"Ah, it's you," she grumbled, noticing the guest. Her face didn't show any added joy.
"What kind of cold reception is this? Don't I deserve VIP service? It's just 'amazing'!"
"Yeah, the worst possible VIP client. Anyway, why have you come?"
Work is work, so Da Vinci-chan still sat down at the table and addressed Deadpool. The mercenary's answer was brief:
"That deal you mentioned. Is it still on?"
"Ah, you mean that?"
She rummaged through the desk drawers and laid out a device before him, disassembled into dozens of small fragments. It was the very space-time displacement device that, according to Deadpool, "some idiot in green armor" had smashed to pieces back in Fuyuki.
"Can you fix it? If you're really the Leonardo da Vinci."
"Ha-ha! Doubting my talents? If you were a regular employee of Chaldea, I would have already accepted your resignation. Too bad that won't happen."
Tension hung in the air. Da Vinci-chan was not one to be easily intimidated, and their characters constantly clashed, sparking like two flints. Well, or maybe Deadpool just wasn't thrilled with feisty "big sisters"...
"It can be fixed. But it's just 'can be,' nothing more."
"What does that mean?" Deadpool frowned.
Instead of answering, Da Vinci-chan unfurled a hologram with a list of necessary parts.
"One hundred and thirty-four Mortal Bones, five hundred and ten Infinite Gears, eight hundred and twenty Octagonal Crystals... and one Aurora Steel."
Deadpool had never heard of such ingredients. One thing was clear: if this unbearable girl wasn't trying to mock him, then her demands were simply astronomical.
"Are you kidding me? You want me to collect all this?!"
"Ritsuka-chan is already busy developing her Servants, so I don't mind if you take something from her. But you'll have to run around quite a bit."
Her whole demeanor said: "Well, go on, try." Damn old woman... But she wasn't lying. There wasn't a drop of deceit in her words—only dry truth.
"You just want to exploit me until the very end of 'restoring humanity'!"
"Watch your tongue. You're the one who set the conditions in response to my offer. Even if it was... forced. But I never lie."
There was nothing else to do.
He'll have to, gritting his teeth, get everything she demanded...
"Hey, kid! Where are you?! We need to talk!"
Deadpool kicked down the door to the bedroom where he expected Ritsuka to be. The visit was so sudden that the startled guy, who was chatting with Mash, recoiled in horror, and they both looked away in unison.
"Snap out of it! This isn't a dating simulator, it's a mobile gacha without a guarantee! Get up, quickly!"
Deadpool unceremoniously yanked Ritsuka to his feet while he blinked, not understanding what was happening.
"Mister Pool! Where are you taking Senpai? Senpai needs to rest..."
Mash tried to intervene, but Deadpool had already made up his mind.
"Mash, you're coming too. Let's go farm some resources!"
As he left the room, he felt someone's presence and glanced into the corner where another Servant was hiding.
"Hey, snake princess! You're coming with us too, don't fall behind!"
It was Kiyohime. After order was restored in the First Singularity, she had somehow managed to form a forced contract with Ritsuka and had been hanging around Chaldea ever since.
"Why would I go anywhere? I only obey my dear husband!"
Kiyohime coquettishly covered her mouth with a fan, but Deadpool, making a monstrous face, stepped right up to her.
"Shut up. You're just a silver-level Servant of the first tier, obtained as a reward for the first chapter. If you don't come willingly, I'll drag you to the old woman's workshop and melt you down for mana."
He wasn't joking. Her powers had significantly weakened in Chaldea, and now their roles with Deadpool had reversed compared to what they were in Orleans.
"U-u-u..."
In the end, the trio, driven by the mercenary, went for an endless farm.
◇
"Resources! Resources! Why aren't they dropping?!"
"Stop it! Wade, his life bar is already at zero!"
Deadpool lost track of time. Ritsuka could barely stand, and Deadpool was forcibly feeding him golden apples, preventing him from falling unconscious.
"The others... the others are already unconscious!"
Before Ritsuka lay the exhausted Mash and Kiyohime. Mash, having no class weaknesses, was still holding on, but Kiyohime, as a Berserker taking double damage, was on the verge of death.
"Silence! We'll work until I die! To hell with restoration, to hell with burning, to hell with everything!!"
Deadpool, relentlessly beating monsters, seemed to have fallen into a state of "Mind's Dissipation" himself.
After some more time, among the mountains of monster corpses lay the barely alive Mash and Kiyohime. Ritsuka lay in a coma, foaming at the mouth.
"Why... why..."
The culprit of this massacre trembled, looking at the meager pile of resources in his hands.
"Why is the drop rate so low?!"
His scream echoed over the mountains of corpses.
"Damn octagonal 'crys-ta-a-als'!!"
Number of restored singularities: 1.
Remaining singularities: 6.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan