Atalante's request for a liaison could be said to be quite direct.
It was the level where, if he agreed, they could immediately start doing it right there.
As a healthy man, Ian certainly wasn't so detached that he had no interest in such things.
But he was definitely not the kind of person whose upper body would shut down and malfunction once his lower body started running.
The man first pulled his hand back from Atalante's flat chest, then took a small step back, maintaining a safe distance from the catgirl.
"Your deal does sound quite tempting," Ian admitted, his gaze unwavering.
"But—" he continued, his brow furrowed slightly.
"It also sounds very dangerous, so please forgive me for refusing," Ian stated firmly, shaking his head slightly.
Ian's reply stunned Atalante for a moment.
Clearly, she hadn't expected the other party to choose to avoid her in such a situation.
"What's dangerous about it?!" the catgirl said anxiously. "It's just asking you for a favor!" she insisted, her green eyes wide with urgency.
"I know," Ian replied calmly.
Ian's thoughts didn't become chaotic due to Atalante's anxiety.
He accurately grasped the important information in her words just now.
"But you clearly said... you wanted me to help save the children of Châlons, right?" Ian pointed out, his gaze sharp.
"You—" The man's eyes became sharp as he spoke.
"Did you perhaps know beforehand that they would be harmed?" Ian asked, his voice filled with suspicion.
"..." Atalante's tail stood up straight—she realized that what she had just said seemed to have revealed too much information.
This very obvious change was naturally seen by Ian.
He knew his prediction was correct.
"Tell me the truth—" the man looked directly at her. "If you really want to ask me for help," he urged, his gaze unwavering.
Atalante's cat ears drooped down.
That was the expression she only showed when her weakness was completely exposed.
Her throat moved slightly, and after a long while, she stammered out a sentence.
"It was... when you and Master... were taking a bath together."
"Hmm, at that time, and then?" Ian prompted, his voice calm.
"Then... I eavesdropped outside," she confessed, her green eyes looking down in shame.
"..." Honestly, Ian wasn't surprised at all by Atalante's answer, and could even find it reasonable.
The reason was simple.
The Black Jeanne had just left the bathroom, and Atalante had rushed in right after.
If there wasn't something going on, he wouldn't believe such a coincidence.
But if that was the case—
New questions also arose.
"So you heard the whole process from outside?" Ian finally pointed out the key point.
"..." Atalante's cheeks flushed red to the extreme in an instant.
Her mind echoed with the sounds of her Master and the strong man before her entwined in the bathroom.
Those were lewd sounds that would make anyone's imagination run wild just by listening from the outside.
"Can I not answer that question?" Atalante said, her face flushed with extreme embarrassment.
"Of course," the man shrugged. "But if that's the case, I'll leave now," he stated matter-of-factly.
"I don't want to waste time on someone who isn't even willing to explain the situation clearly," Ian added, his gaze unwavering.
"..." Atalante finally understood what it meant to be at someone's mercy.
Her lips trembled for a long while, and finally, she was forced to say the simple one-word reply.
"Hmm," Atalante mumbled, her green eyes looking down in shame.
After admitting such a thing, Atalante directly lowered her head.
She had already imagined how disdainful the man before her would look at her—after all, this situation was indeed a bit too much.
However, the subsequent development of events was completely different from what the catgirl had imagined.
She did hear a voice from the man.
But—
It was just a casual command.
"Atalante, raise your head and look at me," Ian commanded gently, his gaze unwavering.
"..." The man's words had no hint of disdain, nor any reproach for eavesdropping.
Atalante's two cat ears twitched slightly, and finally, she slowly raised her head.
What entered her eyes was the man's slightly pitying gaze.
In an instant, the catgirl blushed again.
But this time, she didn't blush because she thought of those things between a man and a woman—but simply because her heart beat a few times faster at that moment of eye contact.
However—
This feeling of accelerated heartbeat didn't last too long.
Because the man's next sentence was also a command.
"I think your purpose shouldn't be wanting to deliberately listen to that kind of thing," Ian said, his voice calm.
"Then—" he continued, his gaze searching.
"Tell me your deeper thoughts," Ian urged gently.
The man was clearly digging into a deeper layer of her thoughts, but Atalante had a feeling of wanting to obey.
Her throat moved slightly, and then she explained her deeper thoughts:
"Master... she has actually burned down cities more than once," Atalante confessed, her green eyes looking down in shame.
"But she never tells us when she will do such a thing, and you seem to be an exception," she added, her voice soft.
"So—" Atalante felt ashamed and didn't continue speaking, but this was enough for Ian to understand her meaning.
"Simply put, you want to get information from me about when she will act," Ian summarized, his gaze unwavering.
"And you think that as long as I'm willing, I can achieve this, right?" he asked, his voice calm.
"...More or less," the catgirl, whose level of shame had reached its peak, bit her lip tightly. "Isn't that how it is?" she mumbled, her green eyes looking down.
"But isn't that very problematic?" Ian walked forward a bit, proactively returning to the original distance he had just created.
"She is your Master," Ian stated, his gaze unwavering.
"And you are her Servant," he added, his voice calm.
"Then—" The man's gaze fell on Atalante, still with a hint of caution.
"Shouldn't you just follow her lead in whatever she does?" Ian asked, his brow furrowed in thought.
"..." Atalante was a little embarrassed by what he said, so she turned her head away, proactively avoiding the other party's gaze.
"In theory, that should indeed be the case," Atalante admitted, her voice soft.
"But—" she continued, her green eyes looking down.
"As a Servant, I also have things that I care about," she confessed, her voice filled with emotion.
"Like children?" Ian asked, his gaze gentle.
"Hmm," Atalante nodded. "I can't accept children dying in a sea of fire because of Master's actions," she said, her voice filled with sorrow.
"But I can't bring myself to talk to her about this... can you understand what I mean?" she asked, her green eyes looking at him with a plea.
"...Hmm," Ian nodded thoughtfully.
"Then why do you only want to save the children? Aren't the adults in this city important to you?" Ian asked, his gaze sharp.
"..." Now that things had come to this, Atalante knew that her thoughts had been almost completely dug out by the man before her.
It was impossible to hide her initial motive anymore.
She felt like she might as well just give up and tell him everything.
"The thing is..." Atalante began, her voice soft.
In the next few minutes, Atalante told the man before her about her past.
This included how she was abandoned by her king father and queen mother, who hoped to have a son, and then how she survived to adulthood with the help of the people in the forest.
These were all true stories that had happened to her.
So every time she spoke of some sad parts, Atalante, recalling the past, would look somewhat lost.
And Ian would very gentlemanly offer her his shoulder at this time, gently comforting the catgirl's emotions.
The distance between the two became closer and closer during this process.
After the story ended and Atalante's emotions stabilized, the man spoke again:
"So it's because you experienced something like this yourself... that you don't want other children to experience it too?" Ian asked gently, his gaze filled with understanding.
"Then in that case—" he continued, a soft smile on his lips.
"Atalante, you're quite kind," Ian concluded, his gaze unwavering.
"Is that so?" The catgirl, hearing this, was a little shy. "I just feel like I have to do this," she said, her green eyes looking down slightly.
"Otherwise, wouldn't I be letting down the kindness of those who took care of me?" she wondered aloud, her voice soft.
"You're right," Ian nodded, indicating his agreement with Atalante's statement.
However, he quickly seemed to remember something and asked again:
"Speaking of which—" Ian began, his brow furrowed in thought.
"I don't think I know your Class for this summoning yet, could you let me know?" he asked, his gaze unwavering.
Having had that conversation just now, Atalante had also opened her heart to Ian.
She naturally agreed to this simple request without hesitation.
"Hmm, I understand," Atalante replied with a nod.
After making such a promise, a large amount of magical energy began to gather in the catgirl's hands—Ian knew that this was a process that Servants inevitably went through when summoning their Noble Phantasms.
This also further verified the man's initial guess.
The Singularity in France was essentially a Holy Grail War.
As long as this Holy Grail War could be ended, then perhaps this Singularity could be repaired.
After the magical energy gathered, a black-handled, gold-inlaid bow and arrow appeared in Atalante's fair hand.
She held it tightly, then showed it to Ian.
"This is the Bow of Heaven (Tauropolos)," Atalante declared, her green eyes looking at him intently.
"The Bow of Heaven (Tauropolos), huh," Ian nodded. "Then it seems you're an Archer," he concluded, his gaze unwavering.
"Hmm," Atalante responded with a nod.
Responding to the man, Atalante waved her hand.
The Bow of Heaven (Tauropolos) disappeared from their sight.
"What about you, what's your Class? Can you tell me?" Atalante asked, her green eyes looking at him with curiosity.
Realizing that Atalante before him seemed to really regard him as one of the Black Jeanne's Servants, Ian didn't plan to change her mind.
He used his ability of Memory Projection to transform the Revolving Sword of Victory (Excalibur Galatine).
Although it was essentially a fake, it was already late at night, and with the lack of light, it would be relatively difficult to discover.
"So you're a Saber?" Atalante nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly seemed to realize a very essential question.
"Oh, right... you're also Master's Servant," she pointed out, her green eyes looking at him intently.
"Asking you to do this kind of thing is equivalent to asking you to betray her, isn't it?" she asked, her brow furrowed in concern.
"How could I have forgotten such a thing... what a fool I am," Atalante muttered to herself, her green eyes looking down in shame.
Hearing the catgirl's muttering to herself, Ian couldn't help but find Atalante a bit cute.
Her personality was a typical case of being cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
Before getting familiar, even saying a word would take a lot of effort.
But once you got to know her, you would know that she was actually a very considerate person.
But this wasn't surprising.
If she didn't have this kind of personality, she wouldn't have considered the children's problems at all.
Ian looked at the catgirl before him for a long while, then suddenly asked a strange question.
"Atalante, where is your room?" Ian asked gently, his gaze unwavering.
"...Next to Master's," Atalante replied softly, her green eyes looking down.
Hearing this, the man immediately bent down and picked her up in his arms.
"Eh?!" Atalante, who had been picked up in a princess carry, was a little at a loss.
"Ian, what are you doing?" she asked, her green eyes wide with surprise.
"Shh—don't talk," Ian whispered, a soft smile on his lips.
"..." Although she didn't know what the man wanted to do, the catgirl in his arms found that this seemed quite comfortable, so she really stopped making a sound and stayed in his arms like a little cat.
Tap— Tap— In the silent building late at night, Ian carried Atalante forward, finally returning to her room.
With a soft thud.
The catgirl was placed on the bed—she began to feel that things were getting a little bad.
Was he going to...?
However, Atalante's wild thoughts were quickly shattered by the man's next words.
He said:
"Regarding your request, I accept," Ian declared, his gaze unwavering.
"However—" he continued, his brow furrowed slightly.
"I hope you don't just save the children, but get everyone out of here," Ian urged gently.
"After all, just saving the children and leaving them without anyone to take care of them would just mean another death for them," he explained, his voice filled with concern.
"Eh?" Atalante was stunned for a moment—she realized that he had agreed to her.
"Then what are you planning to do?" Atalante asked, her green eyes looking at him with curiosity.
"It's not what I'm planning to do," Ian said, sitting down beside the catgirl and taking her hand.
"It's what you're going to do," he corrected gently.
"What I'm going to do?" Atalante asked, her green eyes looking at him in confusion.
"Hmm," the man nodded. "It's absolutely impossible to stop Master from burning down the city," Ian stated matter-of-factly.
"So—" he continued, his gaze unwavering.
"We have to change our thinking, and that is to stall," Ian declared, his voice firm.
"I can probably stall until noon tomorrow... this period of time is your opportunity to organize the others to leave, understand?" Ian explained, his gaze unwavering.
"..." Atalante understood what Ian meant by stalling—to entangle with Master Black Jeanne after she woke up until noon.
And she herself had to use this time to get these people to leave!
This was a plan that used his own body as a tool!
But it must be said that it did indeed have the possibility of being executed, and might even be the most effective way at the moment!
Atalante thought for a while and nodded:
"It should be possible," she replied, her green eyes filled with determination.
"That's good," Ian said, standing up. "It's getting late, you should rest, I'm going back," he said gently, turning to leave.
"Eh?!" Watching the man prepare to leave, Atalante hesitated for a moment, then reached out and grabbed his hand.
"What's wrong?" Ian turned back.
"..." The catgirl looked at the man before her, her face slightly red.
"Aren't you going to... play with me?" she asked, her green eyes looking at him with a hint of anticipation.
"We agreed it was a deal," Ian replied, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"..." The man showed a faint smile.
He touched her head and said,
"Playing is definitely going to happen," Ian said gently, stroking her hair.
"But it's my first time encountering a catgirl I can play with... so give me a little time to think about how I should train you," he added with a playful smile.
"Now, get some sleep," Ian instructed gently, tucking her into bed.
Only the catgirl was left alone in the room.
Held tightly in the blanket by the man, she was exhaling hot air, and her hand was slowly moving towards a certain place.
So hot...
I really want to be with him...
In the darkness, a fountain bloomed.
A certain attribute of the girl was completely developed on this night.