The Thirsty Girl's Guide To Summoning (Fate/Isekai)

Chapter 15

Since they didn't yet have enough chairs, they all sat on the kitchen floor to eat.

"Pretty good cooking, my lady," said Cú, leaning back against the table leg as he finished his fourth rabbit pancake. Jack had already eaten six, while Ritsu worked on her third, feeding bits of pancake to her foxette. Ren had limited herself to two, confident that everybody there except Merlin needed the energy more.

Merlin himself had also taken only two, but he'd had a small bite of one and then stopped, leaning his chin on one hand as he watched everybody else enjoy their food. When at last every other pancake and piece of rabbit had been devoured, Cú cast his gaze over Merlin's uneaten portion. "Are you just going to waste that?"

"Hmm? Oh, this? I'm afraid Miss Ritsu's pancakes just don't appeal to me. But you all liked them quite a bit, and that was nice. Everybody's satisfied now... well, except for Ren." Merlin cupped his hand to his ear. "I'm pretty sure her stomach's still growling."

Ren jumped and looked around guiltily. Her stomach wasn't growling at all, but she wasn't exactly full, either. "I'm fine."

Cú gave her a narrow look. Don't be stupid, his gaze seemed to say, and Ren flushed. "Look, if Merlin doesn't want his, I'll totally eat them. But I'm fine no matter what."

"Let's hear your plan first," said Merlin. "I bet you'll enjoy them more after you've gotten that off your chest."

Ren hesitated and then squared her shoulders. "I'd like Cú and Ritsu to defend the fortress. If the enemy manages to seal the portal, we lose, so we can't let that happen. Meanwhile, Jack, Merlin and I will bring down Artoria." She allowed herself only the briefest look at Cú's expression, and couldn't determine his reaction at all.

But it didn't matter. She'd made her decision. If they could win, she'd have opportunities to field him properly later. She just hoped—

"How are we going to do that?" asked Merlin, and Ren forced herself to focus.

"Top level overview: I'll distract her while you disable her magic and Jack delivers a killing blow."

"Distract her," said Merlin flatly. "How?"

Ren scowled. "I'm going to walk into their camp and talk to her."

After staring at her for a moment, Merlin said, "Hey, Lancer, I don't think our lady wants these pancakes after all. Do you?"

"Ah..." said Cú, sounding conflicted. "I wanna say yes, but it's you offering, you know? Besides, she clearly needs more food if she's coming up with a plan like that."

"You haven't even heard the details yet," said Ren sharply.

"What details are going to sell me on you just surrendering to your enemy?" asked the magus sweetly.

"Hey, you're the one who started teaching me to defend myself by telling me to attack you."

"Yes, because you were terrible at it," Merlin said patiently.

Cú sighed. "What are these details, my lady?"

Ren looked around at everybody. Jack had her arms clasped around her knees, watching her with those intense green eyes, while Ritsu held her foxette to her chest like it was her baby. Merlin still lounged on one side, while Cú had straightened from his comfortable position against the table leg.

Ren held up her hand with the Command Seals. While she'd used two earlier in the day, she still had the remnants of them, as well as the third one. "Tora's supposed to capture Summoners, not kill them. I'm pretty sure she'll talk to me if I show up alone."