One hour later, at the Matou residence, in the dining room:
Everyone in the Matou household stared in stunned silence at Arturia Alter, who was sitting at the table devouring hash browns like they were dumplings, swallowing them whole one after another.
"Hahahaha! What's happened to the King of Knights?!"
Gilgamesh burst into laughter the moment he walked into the dining room and saw the scene.
"Shinji, have you been pushing the King of Knights so hard that she's buckled under the pressure and ended up like this? Hahaha, that's too funny! Hahahaha!"
"Shut up, King of Heroes," Arturia Alter snapped. "I'm sitting right here, you know!"
"Tch," Gilgamesh clicked his tongue as he took his seat. "So you summoned another version of the King of Knights? Now this is interesting."
"That eating style… it's way wilder than the original King of Knights…"
Archer (EMIYA) muttered, his face dark with disbelief.
If anyone had the right to feel upset about Arturia Alter's appearance, it was definitely Archer.
Not because he disliked this darker King of Knights, but because the household already had one voracious eater, and now they had to take care of another one.
Who did Arturia Alter's arrival place the greatest burden on? You'd think it'd be Shinji, the one providing magical energy to his Servants.
No, no, no—it was Archer, the overworked housekeeper of the Matou residence.
Just imagining the scene of two King of Knights simultaneously demanding food sent a wave of stomach pain coursing through Archer.
Shinji, would you consider letting me take a long vacation?
Shinji, could we summon a second Servant who's a professional chef?
Shinji, can you ask your assistant to lend a hand in the kitchen more often?
If he had the chance, Archer would gladly deliver a triple plea to Shinji.
Unfortunately…
Archer knew Shinji had no plans to summon another Servant anytime soon. In other words...
Maybe I can talk to Shirou Emiya. We could convince Shinji to let that kid work part-time in the Matou kitchen?
As they say, past selves are meant to be exploited. Archer didn't mind most things, but there was no way he'd slave away while Shirou lazed around.
He wouldn't stand for it!
As Archer plotted how to drag Shirou into the mess, Arturia Alter, who had just finished a massive plate of hash browns, knocked on her now-empty plate.
"Hey, more."
Her tone was imperious and impatient.
"Y-yes, right away."
Perhaps it was the overwhelming aura she exuded, or maybe it was just the commanding tone in her voice. Either way, Yan Qing found himself playing the role of a temporary waiter as he took her plate to the kitchen.
"Oh, Your Majesty!"
Lancelot dropped to his knees, gazing at Alter with a face full of reverence.
"A King so majestic… I can die without regrets!"
Tears streaming down his face, Lancelot appeared ready to cling to Alter's legs.
"Gross."
Alter was clearly unimpressed, swatting dismissively at Lancelot with her hand.
"Shoo, shoo. You're not even my knight."
"What?!"
Lancelot turned ashen gray in despair.
"Even my king denies me… I truly am a worthless knight…"
Lancelot's devastated expression made Alter sigh in exasperation. She turned to Arturia, her gaze asking, What's wrong with your knight?
That's when she saw Arturia herself, also crying.
"Don't be discouraged, Sir Lancelot! You will always be my knight!"
Alter's lips twitched. "Are you two playing some kind of comedy act?"
"Here, your hash browns."
Yan Qing returned with a fresh plate of steaming hot hash browns, placing them in front of Alter.
"Ah, thanks."
"No problem… wait, why am I even doing this? And what's going on here, anyway?!"
Yan Qing's belated realization made him glare at Shinji. "Hey, Master! What's the deal with this situation?!"
Shinji snorted coldly. "Why's everything always my fault? I'd like to know where this dark-clad weirdo came from too!"
Biting down on a piece of hash brown, Alter smirked coldly. "Isn't this just your own mess coming back to bite you, vinegar seaweed?"
"Vinegar seaweed?!" Shinji's face twitched. "First it was wakame, now it's vinegar seaweed... You've got some nerve for an unruly Servant!"
Indeed, Shinji could clearly feel the contract between himself and this blackened King of Knights. In other words, she was his Servant.
"Oh, you don't like vinegar seaweed? I recall you're a fan of Chinese cuisine, right? How about I call you Chinese kelp instead?"
Munching casually on another hash brown, Alter grinned impishly.
"Pfft…"
The other Servants turned their heads away, stifling laughter.
Shinji's temple throbbed visibly.
Nicknames, after all, are about compatibility. Anyone familiar with Dota knows that building Shadow Blade on an Antimage is foolish, but even the staunchest Dota fans wouldn't object to the nickname Invisible Ant for someone like Sakurajima Mai.
Likewise, while the nickname Chinese kelp wouldn't fly for most, it seemed to stick with Shinji in the eyes of the Servants—except for Shinji himself.
"Don't push your luck! Even Rin never teased me like this!"
Shinji rolled up his sleeves, revealing the Command Spells on his arm.
"Well, Alter, you should know what these mean, right? With these Command Spells, I can make you do anything I say."
Shinji's grin turned dark. "For example, I could command you to dance ballet on the streets while shouting 'Cu Chulainn is a filthy mutt.' How about that?"
"Brother, where did you even learn to act like a villain?!" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief.
"Master, there's no need to crush someone's spirit along with their body."
"Let Cu Chulainn go; he's already pitiful enough as it is."
Shinji ignored the jabs from others, planting one foot on the table as he declared:
"Enough chatter! This is the first time a Servant has dared to look down on me like this. I need to show them who's the Master and who's the Servant!"
"Hmph."
Arturia Alter let out a disdainful snort.
Then, without warning, she materialized her black holy sword and cleaved the table clean in half, sending Shinji crashing to the ground.
"Ah! The dining table!!"
Archer let out a heart-wrenching scream.
Arturia Alter showed what it truly meant to be a woman of action. With one foot resting on the remains of the table, she looked down at Shinji, her tone dripping with contempt.
"Master, huh? It seems I need to make it clear who's really in charge between the two of us."
She pressed the tip of her sword to Shinji's throat, a cold smile curving her lips.
Despite the blade being only 0.1 cm away from his throat, Shinji remained unshaken.
Instead, because of Alter's lifted leg, his gaze was entirely filled by the underside of her skirt.
Black… suspenders… lace… black lace…
"Ahem!"
Shinji coughed heavily, tearing his gaze away to glance at her. "Well, this is much more exciting than I expected. Maybe the reason I'm not interested in you is because of your wardrobe."
"Master! How can you be joking about this at a time like this?!"
Alter slammed her palm onto the remaining half of the table, shattering it into splinters—causing Archer to figuratively die on the spot.
"Tch."
Realizing her slip-up, Alter calmly lowered her leg. Although she appeared unbothered, the faint blush on her cheeks betrayed her thoughts.
"Well…" Shinji cleared his throat, speaking in a serious tone. "I think you should wear shorts under your skirt. That way, you won't have to worry about incidents like this again."
"Hm."
Arturia Alter nodded slowly, accepting his suggestion.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."
With an air of nonchalance, Shinji stood up and casually walked out of the dining room.
Once he was outside, in the backyard of the Matou residence, he collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air.
"Damn it, that scared the life out of me. I really thought that woman would slice me in half."
Pulling at his collar, Shinji muttered in lingering fear.
"Ohohoho…"
A sinister laugh suddenly came from behind him.
"Grandpa! Stop scaring me like that!"
Jumping up in shock, Shinji saw that it was Zouken Matou and plopped back down.
"What's with that laugh? Are you trying too hard to play the villain? Don't laugh like that—it'll get you arrested as some shady mastermind."
Smack!
Shinji's head was promptly thwacked by Zouken's cane.
"You little brat, is that any way to talk to your grandfather?!"
"Tch, Grandpa, that black Arturia is your doing, isn't it?" Shinji grumbled, rubbing his head.
"I teamed up with the Einzbern girl and the Tohsaka boy to run a little experiment. Turns out it worked."
"So it was you!" Shinji exclaimed, stomping his feet in frustration. "Do you even know how dangerous that was? That woman nearly wiped out the Matou bloodline! Ow!"
Zouken whacked him again.
"Stop exaggerating. I know you can handle her."
With that, Zouken's tone turned serious.
"That Saber Alter was just a test. The primary goal was to see if we could summon a special variant of an existing Servant, tailored to your needs. It was also a trial run to determine if the stories you've created could influence the Throne of Heroes and manifest as real Servants."
Servants are strange entities. While a hero becomes a Servant upon death, their existence is far from static. Their legends continue to evolve, and with these changes, the heroes themselves can take on new forms.
Summoning Arturia Alter this time was to test whether a simple 'What if?' scenario could, through sufficient propagation, be recorded in the Throne of Heroes.
"This successful summoning means it's possible to call forth unique-class Servants now. You must be thrilled, huh?" Zouken chuckled.
"Grandpa, I get the theory, but why did it have to be that black woman? Don't you think things around me are chaotic enough?"
"A few more women, and you're calling it chaos? This is good fortune! Your Grandpa is rooting for you."
Zouken chuckled, patting Shinji on the back (as his height only allowed him to reach so far).
"With all this luck with women, hurry up and pick a nice wife for yourself."
"Grandpa… what you call good fortune feels more like a disaster."
Hours later, Shinji sat in his office, staring at Ryougi Shiki, who was smiling at him with an air of mischief.
"This… this is definitely no fortune—it's a curse," Shinji muttered, exasperated.
<+>
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