51 End of the Meeting, Deciding on a Servant

It was far too quick and sudden for Reines El-Melloi Archisorte, one day she was part of the branch house of El-Melloi, next day she was the Heiress of El-Melloi main house!

Before she could even react, people were already fighting over her family's wealth!

When she was about to think of something she was called by one of the Wizard Marshalls.

This was where she was nervous, as far as she knows her brother was associated with the First Magic user.

So she has no idea what will happen, those True Magic users are eccentric, to say the least. She won't even think it's strange that he has decided to strip all her family wealth and make her work from the bottom to climb back up just to see if she is capable.

'Maybe that's just my anxiousness making things up…'

Once she was in the parliament-like hall, she could see him sitting there like a King, though they aren't supposed to have a King.

Her eyes went to the blond girl standing next to him, this girl had red eyes, which radiated power, this was not a regular human. 

'A Servant? Didn't he contract the Fallen version of King Arthur and Morgan? Those two are exceptionally powerful in England…'

"You wished to see me? Lord Ashwell?" The blonde Magus girl greeted him like a proper lady with a small bow.

"Yes. Since you are underage, Clock Tower wants to strip you of your inheritance. So, instead of allowing this to happen, I am giving you a chance, if you can run your family as it is for a couple of months you can keep your assets, if you fail I will strip them."

"...I understand. I will try my best."

"Good. Let's see how you will navigate these treacherous waters." He said with a smile, this made Reines gulp nervously.

"Umm… Lord, can I have some sort of help?"

"It's your choice, If you can get someone to help you run things then do it." He casually shrugged, the True Magic user didn't care about her methods.

"Then I have someone in mind."

"Good."

Yes, she has a certain someone in mind, Waver Velvet, the same one who stole her older brother's catalyst and participated in the last Grail War!

She then decided to ask something important.

"And…who murdered my older brother?"

His gaze went to the side. Reines followed his gaze, she saw a red-haired young adult look nervous.

'Sophia-Ri family? But…'

The girl's brain quickly caught up, she realised something.

"The Lancer of Last Grail War had a love spot curse, you are smart enough to know what this means."

His explanation was the last bit of information needed for her to fully connect the dots.

"If this is the case then I need compensation and justice for what has happened!"

"J-Justice!? Your brother has summoned a familiar which has brainwashed my sister!" The red-haired heir of the Sophia-Ri family quickly found a scapegoat.

"Then she was weak-willed to fall for a basic curse like this! If I can't get justice for my older brother then I want my family crest."

"Fair enough."

That moment Reines felt pain wash her hand over.

*Hiss*

"You have it." Ren Ashwell said with a casual tone.

"T-This!"

The blonde girl inspected her hand, it was her family crest! All of it!

"Lord Ashwell you can't just—"

"Can't what? Last time I checked my Noble Faction did more to Clock Tower than any other faction or department combined. I even stabilised the decline of Magecraft, so tell me what I can't do." He pointed out with a sharp tone.

The politicians quickly squirmed and shut up.

"..."

'Those were from the Pro-Democracy faction.' Reines thought as she looked where the voice came from. Those were the ones who opposed the Noble faction for many years.

And they will be her biggest opposition as well.

"Thought so. We still have issues with a dead Lord." 

"In that case, you should sort this on your own."

The other parties proceeded to leave, they realised they won't be getting anything from this. 

'Vultures…'

Once people from other factions were gone, only the Nobles left. One of them was the redhead of the Sophia-Ri family.

"Reines, now that we have them gone. You need to remember that they will be looking at you closely. The moment you slip they will start looking to get something from you."

Ren explained to him.

"Yes. I understand Lord Ashwell, you have eternal gratitude for helping the Archibald family."

"You might be seeing this way, but I don't. Me helping you right now is helping myself in future." He said with a casual hand wave.

"...I see…"

"You might understand one day what I mean." As he said that he then looked at the Heir of the Sophia-Ri family.

"Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, your sister has killed Lord Archibald, how are you going to pay back for that?"

"L-Lord Ashwell…"

"He was important to me because he organised things for me, and now your sister took an important person from my faction." 

"...This…"

'He did? My older brother was useful to Lord Ashwell!?' This was the first time Reines heard about this!

"Hmm, I have heard that your family has a selection of Catalysts for Servant summoning." The True Magic User pointed out this small detail which made the redhead Heir twitch nervously even more so.

*Gulp*

"Y-Yes…we were thinking of selling some of those to you."

"Truly?" Ren Ashwell hummed with a smirk.

"This is the first time I hear that."

Bram paled for a second, did this Magus try to hide these catalysts from a True Magic user who can see the future and past? Are these people this dumb?

'Unless of course, they didn't know that he can see the future and past? He after all should only have Denial of Nothingness and Heaven's Feel…'

Reines knew that he had something similar to magic blue which allowed him to see the timeline, but this was because her brother told her…

So there is a chance these people don't know it.

"T-Then I will give you a list of catalysts my family has and you can pick one for free! The other one will be for sale with a discount."

"Fair enough, though you will give one to Reines for free as well."

"...Fine."

"Wonderful, what do you think?" Lord Ashwell asked the blonde magus.

"I accept. While this won't bring my brother back, this meeting went better than I thought." 

"Indeed, in the meantime for protection purposes, I will assist you in summoning a Servant. One of Artoria's knights would be a good bodyguard for you."

Reines' eyes widened for a second, this was unexpected, and a certain amount of giddiness washed her over!

"...I-I gladly accept such a proposition! Though…I don't think I will be able to maintain one."

Her concerns were waived off by Lord Ashwell who didn't see it as an issue.

"Don't worry. My previous mistake was not paying attention to my faction. You could say I paid too much attention to what is far ahead and what is not in front of me."

"...I understand."

"Good."

By that point, Bram already sneaked out as Lord Ashwell was answering the question asked by the future head of Archibald's family.

~~~

"Which of your knights would be best to serve as bodyguard to a Magus girl around 11 years old?"

Ren asked Artoria, the King of Knights for a second, looked confused but then she thought seriously.

"Ser Gawain? He is one of the greatest Knights?"

"I thought the same thing."

"Ugh…isn't that knight my Panhuman version's son?" Morgan asked from the side as she was watching TV.

"He is…"

"Ugh…at least I won't be seeing him much?" 

"You barely go to the Clock Tower anyway. So I don't see any reason why you should bother about it."

"Fair point. I don't like all those humans looking at me like I am their Queen." Morgan said with a small grimace.

"And you are not?" Artoria asked with disbelief. She is not declaring herself their Queen!?

"No…why would I care about human subjects like that? I am a FAIRY Queen, at this moment I am my Husband's Wife-Queen."

'This is too complex for me…' Artoria thought to herself, Morgan is changing her Queenly status at the moment of notice…

"Indeed." Ren casually accepted what his wife said. As he then summoned some tea and biscuits.

"As my husband said he should be a good bodyguard as he is after all my panhuman version's son, so he should have some skills.

Why the need for a Servant all of sudden?" Morgan asked as with a burst of dark blue light she was sitting on her husband's lap and used her gate to summon some tea as well.

"You two should remember Lancer of the Previous war, the fourth Grail War?" 

"Yes. The Irish Hero?"

"Diarmuid of love spot?"

The pair remembered the knight, especially Artoria who vividly remembered the knight's chivalry. 

"Yes, you see Artoria the fourth war in this timeline went differently, Lancer's Master survived and returned to Clock Tower, however, the damage was done, and Lancer's curse affected Lord Archibald's Fiance, she killed her fiance, and now 11 year old is taking over all of Archibald's holdings."

Artoria deeply thought about this, she remembered how she dealt with Diarmuid and his Master, it was…disgusting. Kiritsugu was ruthless to the extreme.

"Wasn't he the one who manages all the minor things for you Husband? So we have lost a steward." Morgan frowned deeply.

"Exactly, it was my fault for looking too far ahead and didn't notice the hanging axe over my steward's head," Ren explained with a sigh.

"This is why you want to summon a Knight to protect this girl?" Morgan asked him as she understood the full picture.

"Yes, she is smart enough, I saw her future." Ren nodded at her as he knows how crafty the girl is in future. She will make a good steward in future with Waiver as the work mule.

"Since she will be useful then summon Gawain." Morgan agreed.

"Yes I agree, but Master, how will you summon Ser Gawain specifically? Don't you need specific possession which belonged to him?"

Morgan and Ren smiled at her at the same time.

"We have something better."

"You do?"

"Yes, it's you."

"Me?"

"You are his King, your voice in chant alone will flock all your knights towards you." The True Magic User explained with a small smile.

"Oh, you're right. I never thought of that."

'That's how you summoned the majority of your knights to Camelot Singularity.' Ren thought that part to himself as he remembered that particular event.

"By the way, where is Alter?" Only now he noticed that his Dark Knight is missing. He knows Ereshkigal is doing her thing, but where is his Saber?

"Oh, she is raiding a place called McDonald's, I think?" Morgan casually mentioned that as she tasted our new tea.

"Where does she have money for that?" He asked with a small frown.

"I gave her a briefcase full of money. It should last for a while."

"...briefcase? Is she planning to buy the whole restaurant?" Ren asked with a baffled voice. 

"Don't think so, she is planning long-term expenditures." 

"Right… just don't inflate the economy for no reason." He warned them.

"Don't worry, she is my human counterpart sibling, she is responsible enough," Morgan said with a confident tone. 

'Well, at least she developed some trust in others, though trusting in Alter of all people when she is close to a fast food is a bad choice.'

"I still don't understand how she can eat that cheap food," Artoria said with a frown as she is disturbed by her Alter form's fascination with that food.

"That's your inversion. Your likes and dislikes are inverted to a certain degree. This is why when she doesn't like certain things you like them."

Artoria stiffly nodded, regardless, she will need to get used to seeing someone who has her face eat that junk.

~~~

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