Fate/Magus Path

189 Aqua

With Uruk still a short distance away, Merlin, Roy, Ana, and the Chaldea duo—forming a ragtag pilgrimage crew—were finally nearing their destination.

Normally, after wandering so long without finding the Tablet of Destinies, Merlin wouldn't dare return to Uruk empty-handed.

Having worked under Gilgamesh for ages, he'd sussed out the king's nature—far stricter than Artoria, with zero tolerance for slackers. Mess up or loaf around in his presence, and a scolding or punishment was inevitable.

If Merlin slunk back to Uruk and admitted to Gilgamesh he'd failed to find the tablet again, it'd be suicidal—like begging the king to vent his wrath on him.

He wasn't that dumb. Two fates awaited him if he did: a tongue-lashing followed by another eviction to scour Mesopotamia, or getting dumped on the Beast Front with a mountain of overtime, squeezing out his last drops of labor.

Neither appealed to him.

So, after fruitless searching, Merlin had loafed around the plains, tracking Roy instead. The tablet Gilgamesh tasked him with? Long forgotten.

And he was damn glad he'd done it.

Not only had he stumbled upon a lone Servant, Ana, in the forest, but he'd also teamed up with his pal Roy to take down the Beast Front's biggest threat—the fake Enkidu—bringing back Gilgamesh's dear friend's body.

With all these wins, even without the tablet, Gilgamesh surely wouldn't fuss too much.

He could strut into Uruk with his head high, no more jumping at shadows.

Maybe his stellar performance would even earn Gilgamesh's praise, sparing him overtime—who knows?

"Heh heh heh..."

Merlin's sleazy chuckle drew a blank stare from Ana and a swift kick to his backside from Roy.

"Idiot, wipe that creepy grin off your face."

"Fou~!"

Seeing Merlin get booted, Fou, perched on Roy's head, yipped gleefully.

"Ow! Roy, what the!"

Tumbled by the kick, Merlin's eyes widened, ready to complain, but he clammed up fast.

"Feel that?"

Suddenly, Merlin and Roy's expressions shifted. They glanced skyward, sensing something, then shouted to the group.

"Get out of the way!!"

Whoosh!!

No sooner had they spoken than a piercing sonic boom split the air, accompanied by a voice from nowhere.

"You down there, move it! Don't block my path, you nuisances!!"

"Huh?"

"Senpai, watch out!!"

The airborne object zipped at supersonic speed.

Luckily, everyone but Ritsuka was far from ordinary. Heeding Roy's warning, they dodged as something hurtled toward them.

Roy yanked Ritsuka aside, sparing her from a certain useless goddess's crash-landing, unlike the original tale.

The plummeting figure, thanks to Roy's tug, missed Ritsuka, face-planting into the ground with perfect precision—an intimate meet-and-greet with Mother Earth.

"Ow... ouch, ouch..."

As the dust settled, a dark-haired figure—having free-fallen from the sky—lay sprawled in an absurdly humiliating pose, stars swirling in her eyes.