Night's Hidden Undercurrent Duel! /Mo-chan Wants to Protect Her Mum's Spot!

"..."

Mordred's words woke Ian up.

She was right.

After Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's injuries healed, following Mashu-san's example, he should indeed bring her and Mordred back to his room.

However—

If he did that, it seemed like things would get a bit complicated.

After all, in a sense, these were all girls closely related to him.

"Master?!"

Mordred's voice brought Ian back to reality.

Appearing in Chaldea in a form "similar" to Artoria, she was looking at her father beside her with her bright green eyes full of anticipation.

"You should be very happy to have me and Ritsuka back, right?"

"..."

Ian was taken aback for a moment.

He considered himself a person with little conscience or moral bottom line, and he didn't like making unnecessary responses because of other people's expectations—it was too troublesome.

But only when facing Mordred did he always feel like he couldn't refuse any of her requests.

Or...

Was it that he still felt indebted to Artoria in his heart?

"Of course, I welcome you," Ian said softly, a gentle smile on his lips.

"Without Mo-chan chattering by my side, I'm actually a bit unaccustomed to it."

"Eh?"

Mordred was stunned for a moment.

"Master, what did you call me just now?" she asked, her green eyes wide with surprise.

"Mo-chan," Ian replied, his gaze towards Mordred softening. "Don't you like that nickname?"

"That's not it!"

Mordred's eyes brightened even more.

"I love that nickname!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with delight.

After saying these words, she threw herself into Ian's arms and rubbed against him affectionately.

The man didn't say much, gently stroking her head, letting her act like a spoiled child towards him, and then said softly:

"Mm, as long as you like it."

"By the way, why hasn't Akuta Hinako-san come back yet?" Mordred asked in a low voice.

"She had something to do and left first."

And so—

After Olga Marie-san's surprised "Huh?", Fujimaru Ritsuka-san was granted the right to move into room 049 (Mordred didn't need to report since she was a Servant).

The originally relatively quiet room suddenly became lively.

However, Mordred, who had returned here, was not only not excited, but had become vigilant.

Because she knew that during the time she was taking care of Fujimaru Ritsuka-san, Mashu-san had been living together with her father.

She rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, seemingly wanting to find some evidence.

As Morgan's biological daughter and Artoria's adopted daughter, she had to defend her father's bodily integrity!

Ian wasn't nervous—because all the "evidence" had either been eaten by Mashu-san or hidden under her clothes by her.

No matter how much Mordred searched, there wouldn't be any traces of what he had done in this room.

But what the confident man didn't know was that a "secret" meeting was taking place.

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san, like a crab, took small, sideways steps, slowly moving towards Mashu-san.

She gently nudged the pink-haired girl beside her with her elbow, and then whispered:

"Mashu, I think it's very necessary for us to call a truce for a while."

"Truce, truce?" Mashu-san, turning her head, looked a little confused.

"Yeah."

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san nodded, her gaze falling on Mordred and Ian before her.

Mordred, tired of searching for evidence, had directly made a big "X" shape on the bed, her tongue sticking out.

And Ian was smiling as he stroked her head, looking very gentle.

"Don't you think... Mordred and Ian's relationship is very unusual?"

"It's no longer just a simple Master-Servant relationship, right?"

"Eh, this..."

Only when Fujimaru Ritsuka-san said this did Mashu-san realize that the situation seemed to be exactly like that.

Although she usually called him "Master" every other word, Mordred's behavior had completely exceeded the boundaries of their contract.

She would not only proactively hold Ian's hand, but also often hug him without any restraint.

This was indeed... a bit strange!

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san put on a very serious, decisive expression.

"If this continues, maybe only Mordred will be able to sleep by Ian's side tonight."

"What?!"

If what she said before were just some fancy moves, Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's words at this moment were a direct hit to the vital point!

Was the chance to get close to Senpai going to disappear?

No!

Absolutely not!

As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Mashu-san, who had been "competing" with Fujimaru Ritsuka-san in the dining hall earlier, suddenly stood on the same side as her.

"Then... what should we do now?" Mashu-san asked, her voice filled with concern.

"We can only take some necessary measures."

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san put on the look of a commander, leaned close to the pink-haired girl's ear, and began to explain in detail.

"Mashu, my plan is like this..."

"I see, I understand," Mashu-san replied, her eyes widening slightly.

A few minutes later.

The girl who had finished taking a bath sat on the bed.

Mordred looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka-san and the cards in her hand, her expression a bit puzzled.

"Ritsuka, you said you wanted to play a card game with me at this time?"

"Isn't this a bit bad... if Master finds out, he'll think I'm not doing my job properly!"

"No, no, it won't!"

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san looked at Ian, who was being "restrained" by Mashu-san on the other side, and waved her hand.

"He won't be angry." "Because this time, all three of us are playing together."

"And—"

"This isn't a simple card game, you know!"

"Ah?" Mordred scratched her cheek. "If it's not a card game, then what else could it be?"

"It's a competition to win a spot."

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san shuffled the cards in her hand and explained to Mordred before her.

"Tonight, your Master, which is Ian, only has two spots on his left and right, but there are three of us here now."

"..."

Hearing this, Mordred suddenly understood.

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, her green eyes widening.

"Ritsuka, are you saying... we're going to use a card game to decide who gets to sleep next to Master tonight?!"

"Exactly!"

A sly light flashed in Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's eyes.

"You don't have to worry about not knowing how to play—because this time, we're playing the same game we played in the sickroom before."

"It's super simple!"

"..."

Mordred licked her lips, a look of interest appearing on her face.

The flames of battle burned in her eyes.

That's right.

She really should compete for such a thing.

Since Mother wasn't here—!

The position next to Father would be fiercely protected by her in her stead!

Watch me, Father!

I will definitely win against these two shameless bad women in the card game under your watchful eyes!

A few hours later.

"How could this be..."

Mordred looked at the paper with the score sheet, an unbelievable expression on her face.

"I didn't win even once all night?!"

"How is that possible?!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with disbelief.

"Maybe it was just bad luck~" Fujimaru Ritsuka-san shuffled the cards and then stacked them into a pile.

"But—"

"It's over, the first place is me, the second is Mashu, and Mordred you're third."

"Y-yes, it's over," Mashu-san echoed Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's words.

However, her expression looked quite unnatural, even a bit guilty, as if she was afraid of something.

Ian noticed this.

But he didn't say it out loud, choosing to remain silent instead.

And Fujimaru Ritsuka-san turned her head at this moment, looking at the man with a smile.

"The competition is over."

"Ian, it's time for us to go to sleep, right?"

"..."

Ian nodded.

"Okay," he replied softly.

The lights went out.

The room gradually quieted down.

Time slowly flowed into the deep night.

Fortunately, the beds that Chaldea provided for the Masters were quite large, so even if they were squeezed together like this, it wasn't completely impossible to sleep.

On the bed, everyone looked a little different.

Mordred, located on the far right, was fast asleep, snoring softly. She occasionally smacked her lips, looking like she was sleeping very soundly, having completely forgotten the pain of losing the card game.

And Ian kept his eyes closed, his body motionless, also seeming to be asleep.

Only Mashu-san and Fujimaru Ritsuka-san on his left and right were wide awake at this late hour.

And both of them took action at this moment.

First was Mashu-san on the left.

Her fingers, like those of a burglar, slowly moved across the bed towards Ian's location.

She touched him.

The moment her hand made contact with Ian's, Mashu-san's face flushed red—even though she knew he was asleep.

She really liked the feeling of holding his hand like this.

And above that, the feeling of him stroking her head was also really wonderful.

So—

In this deep night, using his hand to reminisce a little,

It shouldn't be a big problem, right?

Compared to Mashu-san's sneaky appearance, Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's movements were much bolder.

After all, after learning that Ian was single, her previous concerns completely disappeared.

He didn't have a girlfriend;

She didn't have a boyfriend;

Wasn't that just a perfect match?!

Having such a protective boyfriend was better than anything else.

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san didn't realize.

Her behavior was less about finding a boyfriend.

Rather, it was because the helicopter incident had left her with psychological trauma, and she urgently needed someone who could guarantee "as long as he's there, there won't be any problems" to accompany her.

However—

There was one thing Fujimaru Ritsuka-san was very clear about.

That was that the competition around Ian would definitely be fierce.

He didn't proactively come to her;

Then she would proactively go to him!

With such thoughts in mind, even though Fujimaru Ritsuka-san knew that the so-called magic check might be a trap, she was still very willing to have some unexpected contact with the man.

She wasn't stupid.

Thus, Ian's other hand was taken for such a reason.

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san also hoped to do something with his hand.

But to the surprise of both girls, they were pulled back by the other party shortly after they picked up Ian's hands.

The man's voice sounded faintly:

"Ladies, it's sleeping time now."

Ian wasn't asleep!

Mashu-san immediately tensed up.

And Fujimaru Ritsuka-san didn't know what to do—after waiting for so long, she hadn't expected Ian to be awake.

But Ian didn't seem to intend to hold them responsible at all.

"Shhh—"

"Don't be so loud."

Ian pulled the two girls closer to his side.

"It wouldn't be good to wake up my Mo-chan."

The already quiet Mashu-san and Fujimaru Ritsuka-san became as silent as if they had been muted.

Seeing this, Ian continued:

"I'm very happy that you're willing to think about how to sleep next to me."

"But I'm very dissatisfied with the way you ultimately chose to do it."

"She would be very angry if she knew she lost the card game because you two teamed up to cheat."

"Senpai... I'm sorry," Mashu-san apologized almost instantly.

"I shouldn't have done that."

"No, it's my fault," Fujimaru Ritsuka-san said softly. "Mashu, you didn't even think you could do that."

"I was just being clever."

"That's not true! It's my fault!"

"It's me!"

"Me!"

"No, it's me!"

Seeing that Mashu-san and Fujimaru Ritsuka-san were about to fall into another strange argument, Ian, fearing that they would wake up Mordred, directly stopped them.

"Alright."

"Let's end the argument about who's right and who's wrong here."

"Actually, if you really wanted to arrange the sleeping positions like this... you could have just asked me."

"Doing it this way really made me very unhappy."

"So—"

Ian held Mashu-san and Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's hands tightly.

"This time, I have to give you a little punishment."

"Punishment?" Mashu-san asked with some worry.

"Are you going to kick us out of bed?"

"No."

"Since you both have such thoughts," Ian continued, a playful smile on his lips.

"Of course, I won't ignore them."

Ian took their hands and placed them on the waists of the girls on his left and right respectively.

However—

The direction was reversed.

Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's hand and Ian's hand went to Mashu-san's side.

And Mashu-san's hand followed the man's to Fujimaru Ritsuka-san's side.

"So—"

"You will use my hand as a weapon to bring each other to mental satisfaction, and then admit defeat."

"But let me say this first, the loser won't be able to sleep in this position."

Mashu-san and Fujimaru Ritsuka-san looked at each other.

Neither of them spoke again.

They knew this would be a very cruel "battle."

"Looks like everyone's ready."

"Then let's begin~"

Dawn.

Looking at Fujimaru Ritsuka-san and Mashu-san, who were exhausted and had fallen asleep in the blankets beside him, Ian couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration.

Although the battle was fierce, neither of them had admitted defeat in this duel to bring the other to mental satisfaction.

They both collapsed only at the very last moment.

Both were winners, and both were losers at the same time.

However—

Ian didn't actually intend to kick any of them out.

Even if he didn't really love them, he understood the principle of taking good care of his toys.

Tonight's battle was just a pure indulgence.

Oh... the real indulgence was yet to come.

Ian reached out and picked up the phone on the nearby table.

He sent a message to Ophelia-san.

"Could you prepare the principle of that magic that doesn't require bringing anything for me?"

"Also—"

"I'll bring someone to see you later—she wants to summon her own Servant."