Chapter 383

Chapter 383: Chapter 383

Caster took out Rule Breaker: Destroyer of All Spells and severed the contract between Illya and Berserker, transferring the Master’s authority to Kiriya.

However, unlike when he had acquired Caster’s Command Spells, Kiriya noticed that hardly any additional energy was being drawn from his body. Puzzled, he turned toward Medea for an explanation.

Caster parted her lips and explained with a faint smile.

"I made a few modifications to the contract. You still possess the Command Spells and complete authority over Berserker, Master, but the responsibility of supplying him with magical energy can be left to that little girl."

She glanced toward Illya.

"After all, she possesses magical aptitude of the highest caliber. It would be a terrible waste to leave such extraordinary reserves unused."

"You can actually do something like that?"

Kiriya looked genuinely surprised.

"Of course!"

The corners of Caster’s lips curved upward, and she displayed the calm confidence of someone speaking about a subject in which she possessed absolute expertise.

"Don’t underestimate a Magus from the Age of Gods, Master."

The Holy Grail system might be extraordinarily sophisticated, but at its core, it was still a product of Magecraft.

Given Caster’s knowledge and mastery of the subject, identifying loopholes in its structure and exploiting them was hardly an impossible task.

In fact, she had already developed this particular modification during her research the previous night.

Her original intention had been to establish a reliable magical energy source, allowing her to support a powerful Servant should she eventually obtain one.

But after the warning Kiriya had given her earlier, she had instinctively decided to reveal the technique and put it to use on his behalf.

Even Caster herself had not noticed that her resistance toward Kiriya was steadily weakening, while her respect for him—and her willingness to trust his judgment—continued to grow.

"That works too. Nicely done."

Kiriya offered a rare word of praise before placing his hand on Caster’s head and gently rubbing her hair.

And surprisingly enough, the witch’s hair felt rather pleasant too.

"M-Master! You... please conduct yourself properly!"

Caster’s voice trembled slightly, but despite her protests, she remained exactly where she was and made no attempt to avoid his hand.

Her words and actions were in complete disagreement.

The sight brought peculiar expressions to the faces of the other women.

Rider, in particular, felt a powerful premonition that she was about to gain yet another competitor.

"Berserker..."

Illya, meanwhile, could still sense the magical connection between herself and Berserker.

Rather than objecting to the arrangement, she relaxed and smiled with unmistakable relief.

At least she had not been completely separated from him.

Even though she was no longer his official Master, the connection between them remained, and they had not been reduced to complete strangers.

If that had happened, Illya would genuinely have felt as though she had lost her final anchor in the world.

"All right, we’ve accomplished quite a lot today."

Kiriya clapped his hands to attract everyone’s attention.

"Let’s get some proper rest. We’ll continue tomorrow."

"Agreed. Getting some rest sounds like an excellent idea."

Esdeath immediately wrapped both arms around Kiriya’s and began pulling him toward the bedrooms.

Before leaving, she glanced toward Ryuu and Jeanne and silently mouthed a single word.

’Relax.’

Both women understood her meaning, and faint blushes appeared on their faces.

Sakura noticed the exchange as well.

She felt both embarrassed and a little envious, but in the end, she could only sigh helplessly.

’I still need an opportunity.’

Illya, meanwhile, remained largely oblivious to the implications of the adults’ behavior.

With Berserker accompanying her, she was finally able to relax and return to her own room for the night.

...

Late that night, Rider sat alone in the living room, grinding her teeth in frustration.

’Six hours! It’s been six whole hours! Just how much longer does that bastard intend to keep going?!’

She had originally planned to repeat her previous strategy and initiate another session of dream-based mana replenishment.

Unfortunately, reality had proven utterly uncooperative.

She hadn’t even been given an opportunity to begin.

Because Kiriya simply refused to sleep!

Immediately after everyone retired for the night, Esdeath had dragged him into her room for what she called a private session of magical energy adjustment.

That lasted two entire hours.

When they finally finished, Rider thought her opportunity had arrived.

But Kiriya didn’t go to bed.

Instead, he briefly cleaned himself up before using the Flying Thunder God Technique to appear inside Ryuu’s room, where he immediately began a second round of magical energy adjustments.

Another two hours passed.

Then he went to Jeanne to discuss matters of magical energy compatibility.

Apparently, Kiriya was determined to distribute his attention equally among the women, ensuring that nobody felt neglected.

Rider watched the entire process with growing envy—

No, anger!

She was furious!

’Pah! Shameless womanizer!’

Rider subjected Kiriya to the harshest possible criticism inside her mind.

At this rate, after wasting so much energy elsewhere, how much would he possibly have left to replenish the magical reserves of his actual Servant?

As a Master, shouldn’t he have at least some sense of resource management?

What an irresponsible man!

Rider sat with her face pulled into a rigid expression, though her thoughts were anything but calm.

The occasional sounds reaching her ears and the things she could perceive through their magical connection left her increasingly restless and uncomfortable.

She could hardly sit still.

Finally, the activity inside the bedroom came to an end.

Kiriya quieted down at last, pulled Jeanne’s soft body into his arms, and gradually fell into a deep sleep.

Rider observed the two of them practically curled together and silently cursed.

After hesitating several times, she finally gritted her teeth and activated her dream-entry Magecraft.

...

Inside Caster’s room, the Witch of Betrayal was staring intently into a crystal ball.

Her beautiful face had become so red that it looked as though it might start dripping blood.

Actually, her nose already was.

Caster had never imagined that a moment of idle curiosity could lead to something like this.

Earlier that evening, she had grown curious about the enthusiasm with which Esdeath had dragged Kiriya into her room.

On a sudden impulse, she had activated her crystal ball to observe what happened afterward.

And once she started watching, she had found it almost impossible to stop.

It was merely an intimate little scene between two people.

The setting was uncomplicated, the conversation straightforward, and nothing about the arrangement seemed particularly elaborate.

Yet somehow, it was completely captivating.

As the night progressed and Kiriya continued his energetic efforts to attend to the women around him, Caster remained glued to the crystal ball.

Before she knew it, most of the night had passed.

After remaining so excited and mentally alert for hours, she was beginning to feel physically exhausted as well.

’No. This is terrible for my health. If I keep watching things like this, I’m going to exhaust both my mind and body.’

Like someone hopelessly addicted to online games, Caster repeatedly warned herself that she needed to stop.

Unfortunately, her body refused to cooperate with her better judgment.

She remained beside the crystal ball, eyes fixed on its surface, until the activity finally came to an end.

"..."

For a while, she simply sat there in silence.

Eventually, she shook her head.

’All right. Enough. I absolutely have to get some sleep now.’

Caster was about to put the crystal ball away when she suddenly detected an unusual fluctuation of magical energy.

Her expression sharpened immediately.

’This is... dream-entry Magecraft?’

’Is someone attempting a mental intrusion?’

She concentrated on the magical signature and quickly recognized it.

’That energy... it’s the snake woman!’

Then she identified the target.

’Wait. She’s going after... him?’

Upon confirming that Rider was attempting to enter Kiriya’s dreams, Caster’s expression became decidedly strange.

She hesitated.

Part of her knew perfectly well that she should mind her own business.

Unfortunately, curiosity was a powerful thing.

After struggling with herself for a moment, she finally gave in and quietly cast her own spell, slipping into the dream as an additional observer.

What she discovered there was even more astonishing than the scenes she had witnessed through her crystal ball.

It also introduced her to a remarkable amount of unfamiliar knowledge.

By the time she had watched for a while, Caster felt that her understanding of certain subjects had advanced considerably.

...

"Hm? What’s she doing here?"

Deep within his mental world, Kiriya sensed another visitor entering the dream and immediately adopted a peculiar expression.

The newcomer clearly believed she had concealed herself with exceptional care, and her method of infiltration was indeed rather sophisticated.

Unfortunately for her, Kiriya possessed the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

His spiritual power had reached such an extraordinary level that even a skilled Magus could not easily deceive his senses.

No matter how carefully Caster attempted to hide her presence, her movements were as conspicuous to him as a blazing torch in the middle of a dark night.

’Good grief. She’s actually gotten addicted to watching.’

After observing her behavior for a while, Kiriya was genuinely speechless.

Then a thought occurred to him.

His eyes shifted slightly, and an amused grin appeared on his face.

After all, the new arrival was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. Being admired by someone like that wasn’t exactly a loss.

And if he handled the situation properly, perhaps he could even gain another close companion.

It could only be said that as Kiriya’s strength continued to increase, he was becoming increasingly willing to acknowledge his own desires instead of pretending they didn’t exist.

With that realization, the young man’s enthusiasm grew even greater, and his performance as a gallant knight became more spirited than ever.