Chapter 68: Boar Princess
[The two of you have mistakenly eaten Circe's barley porridge.]
[Receiving a gift from a witch usually comes with a price...]
"Artoria, why did you turn into a wild boar?!"
Eikou was stunned at the terrifying scene before him.
The once cheerful and lively Artoria had turned into a fierce, wild black boar!The only proof of her true identity was the single ahoge on her head.
"Eh, Eikou-san, why did you turn into a pig too..."
Artoria stared blankly at him, looking utterly confused.
"Wait, I think I also..."
Eikou suddenly felt something wrong with his body.
His field of vision was much lower than usual, his limbs clumsy, and he could even understand the snorting sounds of "Boar Artoria."
The two of them turned their eyes toward a polished reflective surface in the room.
In the reflection — a little pinkish-black piglet with a single blue forelock (Mochizuki Eikou),
And a black wild boar with sharp white tusks and a single ahoge sticking out from its head (Artoria).
It's over. We both turned into pigs!
"Damn it, we let our guard down. We shouldn't have eaten that porridge…"
Eikou regretted it bitterly.
"What's wrong with that porridge?" Boar Artoria asked in confusion.
"Of course there's something wrong with it! That's the barley porridge 'Kykeon' made by the Greek witch Circe. Anyone 'invited' to eat it turns into a pig!"
Eikou hurriedly explained,
"Listen carefully, Artoria — witches like her are terrifying. You must never accept anything from them. If they set their eyes on you, you're done for!"
…Wait, why did that line sound so depressingly personal?
Come to think of it, I really do keep getting involved with witches like this, don't I.
"Why is it like this..."
Boar Artoria looked as if she had suffered a heavy blow,
"Why did you, Eikou, turn into a cute little well-behaved pig, while I turned into a ferocious sharp-tusked boar? This beauty gap is way too big! Don't tell me even after turning into pigs there's still a hierarchy? This is too much!"
…You're concerned about that? Isn't the fact that we turned into pigs hundreds of times more serious?!
"Uuu… if someone sees me in this form, they'll definitely call me the fairy of the boar clan..."
"Relax, with how you look now, it'd be weird if anyone could even recognize you."
Artoria glanced at him, then looked at her own reflection in the mirror.
"So annoying… so handsome guys are still the popular pigs even after turning into pigs, huh?"
"Even if you praise me like that, it doesn't make me feel happy at all..."
Eikou hurriedly jumped down from the chair.
"Anyway, we have to think of a way to break the curse fast. Like this, forget going to class—halfway there we'd probably be captured by those Servant chefs and thrown into the pot! I don't want to end up as soup stock in the Throne of Heroes!"
Midterm exams are coming, how could something like this happen now.
"So what should we do? Looking like this, we can't even talk normally to anyone..."
Artoria began to panic.
No, actually, there were still a few ways they could try.
The first way was to find the culprit — Circe — and force her to undo the curse.
The second way was to find Servants who possessed the skill Animal Communication, ask them to help translate, then solve the problem together.
And if both ways failed… the only option left was to lie still and wait, praying the "pig transformation" effect would wear off on its own, but the chances of that were extremely low.
"To be honest, we don't really have the right to choose any method. We can only head out and ask whoever we run into for help."
Eikou said seriously, then stepped out of the library door.
"Let's go, Princess Boar."
"What's with that ridiculous nickname!" Artoria immediately protested.
Thump, thump...
Just as the two "creatures," one pig and one boar, were about to set out, heavy footsteps echoed from outside.
A tall figure — who looked like a giant from their perspective now — was slowly approaching.
"Hou hou… I can smell the scent of trouble brewing..."
Suddenly, the two of them heard a deep, calm, magnetic voice.
That voice… it was familiar… it was Kirei Kotomine's!
Run!
Artoria was still calm, but inside Eikou's heart, there was only one word: fear.
Because last time, during the retake of the home economics class, he was the reason Kirei got brutally wrecked by a bunch of enemies — and now, there was a high chance he came to settle the score!
What a disaster. Just after turning into pigs, running into this Servant first is literally the worst scenario imaginable!
The tall figure in black finally stood imposingly in front of the two little pigs…
Both pigs trembled on the spot.
"I followed the aroma of food here, yet what greets my eyes are two little piglets still wet behind the ears?"
Kotomine Kirei spoke slowly.
Standing in front of Eikou and Artoria,
was a giant demon boar in red and black, with a priest's scarf draped over its body!
Wait, what the hell is he supposed to be? Is he really Kotomine Kirei!?
"Father Kotomine, why did you turn into a pig too!"
Eikou shouted loudly at the demon boar before him.
"Why is he the only one who turned into a demon boar? Don't tell me the type of pig changes depending on the person?" Artoria said angrily.
"What's this… these voices… don't tell me you are…"
Demon boar Kotomine Kirei stared at the two of them in astonishment,
"One of them is a student who just transferred to the Britain class — Artoria Caster, then the other student must be…"
Kotomine Kirei looked toward Eikou and shouted loudly:
"Mapo Tofu!!"
Why is it that when you introduced Artoria, it was so detailed, but when it's my turn, you only remembers Mapo Tofu!? Is that seriously my only defining trait!?
Eikou let out a helpless sigh.
He had thought Kotomine's appearance might bring a bit of hope, but in the end, the only thing that happened was that the number of pig victims increased by one.
"So, Father Kotomine, you also accidentally ate Circe's barley porridge? Where is she now?"
"I don't understand what you mean…"
Demon boar Kotomine Kirei shook his head,
"I was driving when the spicy aroma of Mapo Tofu lured me in. I went through a dark, endless tunnel and ended up in a deserted town full of food. I helped myself to the Mapo Tofu there without permission, and when I realized it, I had already turned into a demon boar."
"Why are you the only one who encounters an incident straight out of Spirited Away? Can you explain just how the hell you escaped from there!?"
Eikou spat out his sarcasm.
"'Not picking up things lost on the road' is supposed to be a sign of an honest and decent community. I trusted that kind of place would be safe, so I let my guard down. And in the end, I was cursed and turned into a gluttonous pig. Their stingy behavior is truly disgraceful…"
"You're a priest who secretly ate someone else's mapo tofu—you're the one who should be ashamed!"