"Jeanne... No matter how hungry you are, eating raw hearts isn't good. You need to prepare and eat them properly to avoid trouble."
"Um... I thought it would be fine since I'm a Servant... For some reason, my spiritual core is incomplete, so I wanted to replenish some mana..."
"Even so, what will you do if you eat hearts! Ah, my blood pressure... As a cook, this makes me grab the back of my neck, Jeanne. If a wife shows such an impoverished state, it pains the husband's heart."
"I'm sorry..."
"There's no help for it. Seeing this, I feel the heartbeat I had forgotten... The heartbeat from those days when everyone was hungry...!"
"What are you talking about, Berserker?"
"Back in the old days, when a typhoon hit the Demon Realm and we couldn't get food, I remembered Medb starving. The time when I broke through the typhoon that could tear even magical beasts to get food comes to mind. I can't stand seeing hungry people...!"
Thud...!
I immediately create a kitchen. And then I start preparing the meal.
"Today's menu will be Roman-style lasagna."
"Ooh, Roman-style!"
"Actually, it's Italian-style."
Crash! Bang!!!
"Hmm... When Berserker is serious, the sound of cooking isn't like the sound of fighting, you know?"
"I've actually destroyed a kitchen before... During a cooking battle, though."
"Hmm, to that extent... So it wasn't serious for you, Fergus?"
"Umu, for me too..."
"Then, for me, show that seriousness..."
Bang...!!!
"Here, it's complete. Roman-style lasagna filled with the spirit of Ulster. The savory flavor of baked cheese, added to the volume of meat and vegetables, the full refreshing taste of tomato sauce is exquisite, and the sweet white sauce that seems to gently wrap it, with chewy fresh pasta becoming one...!"
The meal made with all my heart was complete, and I served it to everyone, starting with Jeanne.
"Enjoy your meal. From now on, don't eat strange things."
"Yes... Thank you, Fergus. Umm... uun, très bien~! Very delicious! It's the best among the meals Fergus has made!"
"I made it instead of a regretful reunion, not a moving one. Please savor it as you eat."
As they ate the love-filled meal I made with all my heart, everyone exclaimed how delicious it was. As for calories, I can't guarantee...!
As everyone continued eating during the meal time... Perhaps because we were relaxed, a question arose.
"Hmm... Artoria. You, even now, if you pull out the Artorium (fool's hair), do you turn into Alter?"
"Uhp...!? Gulp... Well, I haven't really tried it for 1500 years... I don't know if it will work or not. But why suddenly that?"
"Alter is you but also not you, right? I want to serve this to Alter as well. I'm also curious."
"Um, is that so... I don't know, but she probably would."
"That seems good too. They say delicious things are tastier when eaten together."
"No, what are you two talking about?"
Nero, caught between Artoria and Jeanne, looks bewildered, but Artoria immediately pulls out the Artorium (fool's hair) and gives it to Jeanne, who promptly sticks it in her own hair. At the same time, the two shine with a black light.
"What in the world...?"
"!?"
"Heh, what exactly is Saber's fool's hair...?"
Soon, the two turned into Alter. So even a saint can become Alter...
"Um, delicious... One more bowl, Fergus!"
"Me too, one more bowl. It's unfair to eat only among yourselves."
"Yes yes, here you go~"
I give one more bowl to the two Alters, and Nero is flustered between them.
"W-what is this...?"
"That fool's hair, you see?"
"Umu?"
"It's called Artorium, and if you pull it out or stick it in, certain people turn into Alter like that."
"Yes yes, I understand. Anyone would have that reaction, right? Isn't that so, Illya?"
"No... What kind of energy source is Saber's fool's hair?"
"Yes, that's exactly it."
"No, why is that for real...!?"
"I don't know what it is... but I want one more bowl too!"
"Sometimes it's better not to understand. Here you go, Olga."
Everyone enjoys the lasagna, and Nero, alone feeling cognitive dissonance, touches her own fool's hair while fiddling with her head. That is also Artorium, isn't it? Soon, Nero pulls out her fool's hair. And then she just grows into her Beast form.
Come to think of it, Nero the Beast Emperor loses her fool's hair...?
"... It's just growth, isn't it!"
"Isn't it close to Alter in practice?"
"No, how is this possible with just one strand of hair...? By what principle... Even I, who have realized the truth of beasts, don't understand."
"That is the principle of the universe. In the universe, Artorium is used as an energy source."
"No, why does such a thing exist... I don't get it."
Nero gives up on understanding and sticks the fool's hair back, returning to her original form. It's interesting that Nero can do it too.
"Don't worry. I don't understand either."
"Umu... You, you've changed in a really peculiar way, haven't you?"
"It's nothing more than a reversal, not a different transformation. I am me."
"Right, you haven't changed much? But you, that form earlier... was quite cool?"
"Hoh? You know something, don't you? Namely, the Beast Emperor! Nero Draco! I'd like to show you again, but since we're eating, I'll show you later."
"Beast Emperor... That's cool. I wish I had some title too. Originally, I'm the Saint of Salvation, so... Hmm, what would be good? Witch of Salvation? No, too cliché..."
"How about something like Dragon Witch?"
Illya throws out the words while eating without much thought, but Jeanne Alter, hearing it, seriously contemplates and seems to like it. Is this how chuunibyou awakens...? Black Jeanne is another matter, but this is a real problem.
After the meal, as if by tacit agreement, Jeanne Alter immediately pulls out the fool's hair and gives it to Artoria Alter, who sticks it in her own hair, and the two return to their original forms.
"Huu~ I ate well. As expected, Fergus's cooking is the best."
"I'll keep doing it for you from now on, Jeanne."
"Huhu, that really makes me happy~"
"Honestly, I wanted to eat more..."
"Artoria, then we'd have to stay here for 3 hours."
"..."
It was said as a joke, but it seems it really is to that extent. Look at her avoiding my eyes. I'm worried about the food supply when we go to Chaldea... Thus, having finished the meal, we set out on the road again.
"Another me? An Alter me?"
"Umu, I was surprised too. At that time, the one who fell from the dragon was undoubtedly Alter you."
"Is that so... An Alter me. That's really, the me on this side probably has no experience with Fergus, I feel."
"That's truly pitiful. That Jeanne is really unfortunate."
"... I also think that a little. Hehe, a me who doesn't know love, it's regrettable."
For Jeanne to say such a thing... If she knew that she's not the real one but essentially a clone-like being, what reaction would she have... I'm the only one who knows that truth, and I don't know when to tell her.
"But hey, then the mastermind of this singularity is Alter Jeanne, right?"
"Probably, right? It's France, and the era is right after my death. Perhaps, the enemy summoned me and appointed me as a general, I think."
Half right. Jeanne Alter herself isn't the mastermind; Gilles de Rais is the mastermind. As expected, Jeanne has good intuition. Even without intuition, isn't it?
"Over there, something is flying towards us again?"
We spent nearly 2 hours on the meal. But now, another swarm of wyverns was flying towards us. Is Fafnir hard to summon again?
Jeanne Alter, fearless and coming again, and her Servants. Even if they know the difference in power, do they want revenge?
Thud..!!!
Soon, Jeanne Alter and her Servants land on the ground riding wyverns. The Servants are Vlad III, Chevalier d'Eon, Camilla, and Martha, right... Wait.
... What is that.
Martha... Alter?
Saints cannot have Alters. Jeanne Alter is a very special case, originally something that shouldn't happen. But... an Alter of a saint, moreover a saint who welcomed the Savior as a disciple...? It doesn't make sense?
Perhaps, did they modify her after summoning her with the Holy Grail? With Gilles de Rais's magic book, it might not be completely impossible... No, I faintly sense the mana of a Demon Pillar. Indeed, I understand...
They implanted the Demon Pillar from the Holy Grail of France into Martha. The size of her spiritual core isn't that of a normal Servant. I understand that among the summoned Servants, Martha is the strongest. Unlike Lev, you're quite capable, aren't you?
So, Growth Naberius or something? Quite capable, Naberius. Using Martha as a vessel.
If it were Martha herself, perhaps, but as a Servant, there should be limits. With the compulsion of the Holy Grail and Command Spells, plus Gilles de Rais's true magic book from another world... It might be possible. It's just speculation, though.
Will she use Tarrasque with her fists...? I'm seriously curious...
"What, there's even a fake me? How absurd. To side with such tasteless beings. It suits a country girl!"
"... Hey, I am from the countryside, but I'm not a virgin, you know?"
"........ Huh? What are you saying."
"Hmm... I'm not good at this kind of talk, so I should hand it over to her."
Jeanne reaches out her hand to Artoria, and Artoria pulls out the fool's hair and hands it over. Soon after sticking the fool's hair in, Jeanne becomes Jeanne Alter.
".... Huh?"
"Really, what a foolish face? Another me."
"W-what is that outfit! It's cool, but it exposes your navel!? No, more than that, how...?"
"I don't know the principle either, so let's skip that... Really, a me who doesn't know love can be this foolish... Right? Fergus... my husband."
Jeanne Alter places her hand on me and leans her body against me. To play along, I wrap my arm around her waist.
"That's right, Jeanne. The Jeanne on this side is a pure and innocent virgin. A Jeanne who doesn't know love... Ah, how pitiful."
"That's right... A me who doesn't know love is really pitiful."
"Me, husband...? W-what are you saying...!? That pretty boy, me, husband...!?"
Jeanne Alter, excited, points at me with a red face, stumbling over her words.
"Ah, yes. My lovely hus・band♡ Ah, for me, the happiest moment was... undoubtedly, when I gave my virginity to him on our first night? Really, thinking about it makes my heart race...? I want to get pregnant with his child... Ah, you wouldn't know, would you? Since you're a child."
"W-who are you calling a child!? And, pregnancy...? What, what is that...?"
""....?""
Except for me and Jeanne, even Jeanne Alter's Servants momentarily doubt their ears.
"Ah, that's right... Back then, I didn't even know what pregnancy was until I received knowledge from the Grail... Since it was the Incineration of Humanity, perhaps it was unnecessary information..."
"What is pregnancy!?"
"Hmm... Jeanne Alter, do you know how babies are made?"
"Of course I know! I know! When a loving man and woman hold hands, they are born from pumpkins in a pumpkin field, right!"
""...........""
Everyone looks at her with pitying eyes, and Jeanne shyly buries her face in my chest.
"Why, why is everyone looking at me like that!?"