Shinji Matou At Your Service

Chapter 396: Elopement

The scene shifts back a bit.

Astolfo used his Noble Phantasm, "Trap of Argalia," to knock down Spartacus and immediately leave the battlefield.

Knowing that Astolfo is a reckless individual who acts solely on emotion, Vlad III and Avicebron don't pay much attention to his strange behavior. The two Servants remained focused on capturing Spartacus.

Once out of the Servants' detection range, Astolfo quickly returned to Millennia Castle, to Shinji's room.

At that time, Sieg was practicing walking.

This was the first thing Chiron taught the newborn.

"First, you need to practice walking. Your legs are too weak. If you can walk, you might be able to perform magecraft. This way, the obstacles to your survival will be somewhat reduced."

The second thing was to think about how to survive. Although Sieg's life was short, with only three years left, not thinking about it would be no different from dying here.

After teaching these two things, Chiron handed Sieg over to Astolfo. It was Astolfo's responsibility from the moment he found Sieg and responded to his wish.

Although Astolfo complained, he did not refuse and was prepared to escape with Sieg. His plan was simple: take advantage of the Servants' complete deployment, escape the castle, and then use his trump card to leave Trifas in one go.

He didn't think about where to take Sieg afterward or what punishment awaited him for not severing the Master-Servant contract. He simply wanted to take Sieg away, and that was it.

With a slightly injured body, Astolfo smiled and extended his hand to the homunculus.

"Now's our chance. Let's run!"

The homunculus immediately understood the situation and grasped his hand, running together.

Perhaps because Astolfo was holding his arm, it was overwhelmingly easier compared to usual walking. Even so, due to his frail body, their escape was slow.

In the corridors of the castle, they narrowly avoided patrols of homunculi several times. None of them questioned them but silently watched them leave with cold eyes that held faint emotions. Their eyes showed sorrow and a slight hope.

But the stone golems, as another form of combat force, were different. Following Caster's advice, Roche dispatched improved surveillance-type golems to chase the two running on the cobblestone paths.

Of course, with Astolfo, a Servant, beside him, the golems wouldn't attack. First, they couldn't stop Astolfo. Second, the golems' programming was set that way.

Caster had no intention of personally pursuing them either. That was a task for others; he had more important things to do.

Panting heavily, the two finally escaped the castle. Through the eastern back gate of the fortress, a rushing river came into view. The torrential, muddy flow was set as a magical trap.

On the opposite bank lay a series of rugged mountains. Yet, there was freedom. Though it was a freedom filled with slight joy and harsh reality, at least it gave people the will to live.

"Mm... Don't let go of my hand from now on, okay?"

Sieg nodded nervously.

The area was filled with traps and barriers set by magecraft. While a Servant might manage, someone like Sieg, a flawed homunculus on the brink of death just from using magecraft, might not last ten minutes.

But the Black Rider—Astolfo smiled confidently:

"I've got this, ta-da—!"

He pulled out a heavy leather-bound book. Though the text and symbols on the cover were faint and unclear, Sieg understood that it was a magical item.

"Once, I saved a woman named Rosestilla. She gave this to me back then. Just holding it can break any magic!"

"That's amazing," Sieg exclaimed.

It seemed to be a Noble Phantasm as well. Astolfo, one of Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins, was known as an adventurer who embarked on various whimsical journeys, eventually reaching the moon. During his adventures, he acquired many strange and unusual Noble Phantasms.

"But there's a bit of a problem. Even though this is a Noble Phantasm, I've forgotten its true name."

Astolfo seemed quite embarrassed as he gritted his teeth and unexpectedly revealed this absurd fact.

"Ah, but it's fine. As long as I have it, it should work. At least modern magi shouldn't be able to harm me. If it's not a modern magus, that's a different story."

Or, the same might apply to something called a Reality Marble, which is almost akin to magic. But such magic couldn't be contained within a barrier and certainly wouldn't be activated just to chase after someone like Sieg.

"Um... what was it called again? Magic (Mana)... Universal (Break)... Manual? Something like that? It feels like that's the name, but maybe not..."

"Better remember it before a fight," Sieg advised. Losing just because you didn't know its true name isn't something that can be brushed off as mere confusion.

"You're right. Well, then let's go."

Astolfo held his hand tightly and jumped forward. In an instant, the river water spiraled up to obstruct them, attempting to entangle the two. But thanks to the book, it was naturally repelled.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?"

Sieg replied that he could manage a bit. Astolfo offered to carry him, but Sieg refused.

Sieg believed that until he couldn't walk anymore, he should use his own feet.

"Ah, Archer's teachings."

Astolfo grumbled a bit discontentedly. To him, it seemed unacceptable that Sieg would follow teachings from just a few minutes of conversation.

"Got it. I'll stay with you until you're safe."

They stepped forward. Although Sieg's feet weren't very painful, he was physically exhausted. Fatigue naturally slowed his pace. His heels and thighs began to creak and groan in protest.

"Are you okay?" Astolfo kept asking.

Sieg had been walking strong in front of Astolfo, but having stayed up all night, he eventually reached his limit.

An hour later, he couldn't take another step without leaning on Astolfo's shoulder.

"I think you've done well."

Astolfo comforted him while steadily moving forward on the dark mountain path. Even looking up at the sky, no stars were shining. It seemed they were under a disorienting illusion spell. A compass or map probably wouldn't be useful. However, Astolfo seemed to know the way. He walked straight along the forest path.

"Isn't it great being with me?" (Yes, you two should just stay together.)

A proud smile. The thought of not seeing that smile again tomorrow made Sieg somewhat reluctant. Astolfo would return to the Holy Grail War, while Sieg had to figure out how to survive.

The likelihood of his death was high, and there was also a chance that Astolfo might perish in the Holy Grail War. The probability of this being a parting due to death was significant.

Astolfo was a hero, an adventurer, and a Servant, summoned to the modern world to fight. Compared to Sieg, who was created just to be consumed, they were worlds apart.

"What's wrong? Are you deep in thought?"

Sieg gave a vague response, not wanting to reveal his worthless feelings of inferiority.

The forest, shrouded in darkness, was extremely quiet. Apart from the faint sound of leaves rustling in the wind, there wasn't even a bird's chirp. Was this a countermeasure against familiars? The forest was filled with barriers to a pathological degree.

"Ah, this atmosphere brings back memories... Did you know? I was once turned into a tree!"

Astolfo, looking up at the sky, talked about his past failures with a smile. It was said that Astolfo had made as many fatal mistakes as he had glorious adventures.

He lost every single time he participated in horse races, fell into magical traps multiple times, and even the reason he painstakingly gained on the moon evaporated without him noticing.

Yet, Astolfo never seemed to suffer from setbacks. It was as if he never considered failures and defeats as setbacks at all.

"For example, being turned into a tree was quite peaceful and unexpectedly nice. Birds would land on my hands without any caution, and animals, whether deer or wolves, would lean against me." (You should check out the manga; Astolfo looks even more enchanting as a tree.)

Probably only he would think this way. Normally, being turned into a tree would lead to despair. His innate optimism must have been the reason he led such a positive life.

"Hey, how do you want to live your life?"

Suddenly, Astolfo threw a difficult question at him. Although Chiron had asked him the same question, Sieg could only answer that survival itself was his goal right now, leaving no room to consider what kind of life he wanted to lead.

The pitch-black forest... Yes, his life was like this darkness. Aimless, without a goal, just like a forest where even surviving was difficult.

Astolfo's genuinely caring voice resonated with Sieg's small soul. Ah, it would be great if they could escape. If possible, Sieg wanted to talk freely and joyfully with Astolfo afterward.

Astolfo's steps came to a halt. He tightened his grip on Sieg's hand, which hurt a bit.

Blocking their path were Black Saber and his Master, Gordes.

It seemed they had anticipated their move and were waiting here. Sieg's expression was as emotionless as ever, while Gordes glared at them with visible displeasure.

Astolfo sighed and said, "Hmm, do you have some secret? Are you a Servant?"

"I don't think so," Sieg shook his head.

Astolfo knew this too but couldn't understand—why go to such lengths for a single homunculus? The castle was full of them, after all.

PS: Darnic: Because you could become the nuclear button.