True Magician

Chapter 48

Kyoto.

The next day.

Well, the conversation wasn't rescheduled after all. However, we had time to settle things last night.

The churchmen were confused about the fused Excalibur being in Artoria's hands. Of course, I wasn't about to hand over the sword, which I told them to their faces. Strangely enough, the straightforward and stubborn Zenobia did not object to me, though it was probably because of the revelation of my identity. Irina simply looked at me like an idol and silently absorbed my every word.

In contrast, Griselda said what I already knew: destabilizing the balance of power, the loss of weapons against demons and so on. I just waved her off and asked her to tell Michael directly that I now had the sword. She had nothing to say about it. That was the end of it.

Now about the Pendragons.

During that time, which, I should say, was no more than ten hours, Mordred managed to resolve her issues with Artoria. Of course, with shouting, poking with a sharp stick, and even the use of Noble Phantasm, but still.

Plus, she started calling Archer 'Mother' basically without embarrassment or anything like that. To this, Emiya himself first raised an eyebrow and then accepted the situation with Artoria accepting Morderd's attitude with a calm face. And now Queen Shirou had truly become 'Queen'.

As for Morgan and the local Pendragon descendants, they are the easiest to deal with - they all moved in with me. Could I have objected? Nope. The Fey Queen had simply put me to the fact, and her axe staff she held up as if to hint at the consequences of a possible refusal. Arthur, on the other hand, fell under Artoria's wing, and Le Faye was taken care of personally by Morgan. Well, the Pendragon house maid that Arthur had fallen in love with was now living in Emiya's residence as well.

Now Tia and I were having a nice time walking around the cultural capital of Japan, or rather the supernatural part of it. Of course, the duo of dragon and human auras attracted attention, but not so much that it interfered with our date. I was dressed in my usual Romani outfit, and Tia was wearing a blue, non-warm sweater and a long white skirt.

Well, I could tell that Tia loves to eat. We visited almost every food stall that came our way. And at the moment, I was relaxedly sipping my favorite coffee while watching Tia enthusiastically devouring her fifth udon.

We were in a small cafe with a long counter along its entire area and tables for a maximum of two people. And the only employee of the place was some elderly yōkai with wolf ears, who was probably also the owner.

At some point, the doorbell rang, which I didn't pay attention to at first. But then I felt a stare from the entrance, and interest did take over.

There were three people standing at the door, two of whom I knew well: Yasaka, Kunou, and some other teenage girl of about fourteen in a school uniform. What was notable was that the teenager had a divinity about her that was as bright and warm as....

Оh? I hadn't expected SHE to look like that.

Noticing my gaze, a cheeky grin appeared on the girl's face, and then she waltzed over to the counter where Tia and I were sitting and sat down next to us. Yasaka silently and meekly followed her, as did Kunou, looking at Tia with childlike interest.

- "Udon, please!" she shouted cheerfully to the youkai and, receiving a short nod, turned to me, "It's nice to meet you in person. I've heard a lot of good things about you, especially from a decrepit old man, magician."

Heh. How open-minded. Given her attitude, she's counting on me to guess her identity, which is actually already done. But what if we play around a bit?

- "It's not polite to call those who are several decades older than you 'decrepit old men', young miss. You should respect the older generation," with a cute smile on my face, I said and started pinching her cheek.