Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King's Personal Knight

After regaining her composure, Da Vinci paused for a moment, quickly forming a hypothesis.

If the timeline was correct, then the issue must stem from the only anomaly—as a figure from 1000 BCE, Ramses II could not possibly appear in 13th-century Jerusalem, in the year 1273 CE!

"Have you met Ramses II?"

Reorganizing her thoughts, Da Vinci regained her radiant smile and casually posed the question.

"Hm? Of course, I've met him. I'm on my way to meet the Sun King, Ramses II, after all. Running into you, Miss Da Vinci, was just an unexpected surprise," Alaric replied matter-of-factly.

"As for how I know about Ramses II, naturally, he told me himself."

As Alaric revealed this information about Ozymandias, Da Vinci's eyes gleamed with intelligence. She swiftly followed up with another question.

"To you, is Ramses II a living person, or is he like me—a Servant?"

"Of course, he's a Servant—

He summoned a pyramid and relocated his domain of ancient Egypt to this land through a chain replacement.

This is undoubtedly a feat befitting a divine king."

Alaric nonchalantly shared this critical information.

"I see. So, upon manifesting, Ramses II replaced this area of the 13th-century Middle East with his domain from ancient Egypt. The Rayshift wasn't wrong; rather, the location was overwritten by another layer of phenomena.

It seems that this sandstorm is also his doing—"

Having extracted enough information from Alaric, Da Vinci, with her keen intellect, pieced the situation together almost immediately.

"By the way, what is your name, Sir Knight?"

Da Vinci suddenly asked, even though the focus should have been on Ramses II.

"Oh, right! We don't know your name yet!"

Mash, seemingly reminded by Da Vinci's question, gasped and instinctively covered her mouth, her expression a mix of fluster and apology.

This made Alaric, who hadn't introduced himself earlier, feel a small pang of embarrassment. However, since Da Vinci had already brought it up, he decided not to withhold the information.

"My name is Alaric. A wandering knight?"

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka were both taken aback and simultaneously let out puzzled exclamations.

"A wandering knight, huh—"

Da Vinci drawled the word meaningfully, her beautiful eyes carefully scrutinizing Alaric.

"I ended up here by accident and couldn't return, so I found a job and have been working here for six months," Alaric explained casually, omitting his identity as a Knight of the Round Table and the involvement of the Holy Grail. In his view, it wasn't yet time to fully disclose everything to Chaldea.

These six months of experience had matured his mindset, allowing him to weave such stories effortlessly.

"I also know that you, Miss Fujimaru, belong to the Organization for the Preservation of Humanity—Chaldea and that you've come here to resolve this Singularity.

Of course, this is something Holmes told me. Beyond that, I'm not in the loop."

Alaric spread his hands as if to cut off Mash's introduction, interrupting her.

Mash, who was about to speak, had to swallow her words. Beside her, Fujimaru Ritsuka clapped her hands together.

"Well, since you've heard about us from Holmes, Sir Alaric, that makes things much easier to explain—

Sir Alaric, would you mind taking us to meet the Sun King Ramses II?

You're heading to see him anyway. Would it be possible for us to travel together?"

Having listened to the exchange between Da Vinci and Alaric, Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly picked up on the unusual nature of the Sun King. From her experience with multiple Singularities, she deduced that the root of this Singularity's problems likely lay with Ramses II.

Da Vinci's subsequent explanations only strengthened her conviction. They had to visit the Sun King's location!

"Please, Sir Alaric!"

Not only Fujimaru, but even Mash chimed in with a firm tone, moving closer as she spoke.

Interrupted by the two, Da Vinci shot Alaric a glance and playfully winked.

"Pretty please, handsome knight!"

Seeing their unanimous stance, Alaric, who had no real reason to refuse, nodded and agreed to take Fujimaru and the others to the Holy City in the sand to meet Ozymandias.

Once preparations were made, with Da Vinci having adjusted Fujimaru's Mystic Code, Alaric led the group toward the Holy City in the sand, where Ozymandias resided.

On the way, Alaric suddenly asked,

"Miss Fujimaru, why do you only summon a single Servant for combat?"

This piqued his curiosity. With Chaldea supplying Fujimaru with mana, it shouldn't be difficult for her to summon multiple Servants for battle. Doing so would not only increase individual strength but also create a synergy far more advantageous than single combat.

Such a scenario would undoubtedly be more troublesome for someone like Alaric to deal with.

"Hm? Oh, I feel that for sparring, Mash and Siegfried are probably enough. Plus, summoning more Servants is a bit taxing on me—" Fujimaru smiled sheepishly, as if embarrassed about not summoning more allies for their earlier encounter with Alaric.

"And Miss Mash? Was that your full strength back there?"

Hearing Fujimaru's response, Alaric turned to Mash.

From his perspective, the strength Mash displayed during their earlier fight was still insufficient. Despite having survived six Singularities and grown considerably, she still seemed unprepared for this one's challenges.

"Yes, Sir Alaric, I was using my full strength," Mash replied with a soft smile, her gentle demeanor unwavering even toward someone who had just soundly beaten her.

Reflecting on the one-sided nature of the battle earlier, Mash admitted, a bit self-consciously,

"Perhaps I'm just not mature enough yet to fully harness the power of the Heroic Spirit within me—"

Mentioning the Heroic Spirit residing within her, Mash's expression turned somber, as though burdened by guilt over her inability to unleash that power.

"Galahad, huh..."

Hearing this, Alaric's gaze flickered, but he decided against revealing Galahad's true name, sensing it wasn't the right time.

Mash, seemingly prompted by his question, grew curious in turn and asked,

"Sir Alaric, why do you fight? Was it to test our abilities?"

Having spent some time with Alaric, Mash no longer felt the dark aura she had sensed earlier. Though her inner Heroic Spirit's hostility remained, Mash found herself conflicted.

After interacting with Alaric, she felt he was a good person—kind-hearted, much like others they had met in previous Singularities. Perhaps that dark aura was just a mistake?

"Oh, that—"

As if stumped by her question, Alaric thought for a moment before offering a simple answer.

Before he could speak, Fujimaru, who had unknowingly drawn closer, looked up with wide eyes, clearly curious about Mash's question as well.

After all, Alaric's restrained fighting style seemed too much like a test. But why? Fujimaru couldn't understand his motives.

"I just wanted to see how strong you were," Alaric replied straightforwardly.

"After all, you're humanity's last Master. If your abilities weren't up to par, it wouldn't be much fun, would it?"

His reasoning was so direct that neither Fujimaru nor Mash could argue against it.