Fate: How About a New Savior?

[Now that you have done this, you shall be cursed, more t]han all beasts and birds. You shall wander, with no place to call home.]

Suddenly, Tenkei Shiomi woke from his sleep and saw Olga Marie lying on the hospital bed.

The battle at the Third Singularity had been incredibly grueling. Perhaps the King of Magecraft had sensed Shiomi's presence, because the singularity the Director's team entered showed a level of combat strength far beyond the projected value for human history stabilization.

In the end, while everyone made it back alive, both Olga Marie and Ritsuka suffered varying degrees of injury.

Olga Marie, in particular, had been hit by the shockwave from Hector's thrown spear while trying to shield Mash. The moment she was removed from the coffin after Spiritron Transfer back to Chaldea, she collapsed.

It had been a week since the Third Singularity was repaired.

Though Olga Marie regained consciousness the next day, Romani and the entire medical team insisted she remain in the infirmary for rest.

Shiomi had come to visit her today. After chatting for a bit, she had fallen asleep again.

That unfamiliar body of hers must've been under too much strain from such an intense battle, Shiomi thought.

Thankfully, her vitals were stable, so there was no need to worry too much.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. He had dozed off himself, having a vague dream filled with cryptic words.

Maybe it was time for him to rest too.

With that thought, Shiomi reached out to gently smooth Olga Marie's bangs, then prepared to contact the control room to see if someone could take over his shift.

He'd heard Ritsuka had mostly recovered in the past couple of days. Though she still had some bandages on, she'd been eager to visit the Director.

Maybe he should let Ritsuka come today? Shiomi mused.

Ssshh...

The infirmary's automatic door slid open, and someone walked in.

"Doing that to a little girl... not exactly something I can condone," came Scáthach's voice.

Shiomi pulled his hand back. "Don't make it sound like I'm doing something weird."

"I've heard she really looks up to you—sees you as a father figure," Scáthach said with a teasing smile, resting her hand on Shiomi's shoulder. "Even if you did adopt and raise two girls, you can't afford to be careless, my dear disciple."

"Careless?" Shiomi blinked.

"For humans, when someone of the opposite sex who isn't related by blood fills the role of a parent, it's easy for those feelings to shift without either side noticing," Scáthach said, her hand still on his shoulder.

"I didn't think you were so well-versed in human psychology. I figured you'd left all that behind in the Land of Shadows," Shiomi replied.

Scáthach let out a self-satisfied hum. "I was the reference sample. The conclusion was easy."

"...Uh..." Shiomi was left speechless.

Even though she hadn't actually raised him during their time in the Land of Shadows, to someone with no memory of his past or place in the world, a mature woman like her could easily end up triggering something like an Oedipus complex.

"Oh? Is that really what you think?" Scáthach looked genuinely surprised. "So in your eyes, besides being your master, your lover, and your most trusted comrade... I've also become something like a mother to you?"

"No..." Shiomi weakly denied it.

While there were similar emotions involved, it had never reached that point—and never would.

"No need to be so shy." Scáthach chuckled, ruffling his hair like it was some amusing little treasure. "I was only joking. To you, this child is probably like Sakura or Caren—someone you care about just as deeply."

Shiomi nodded and gestured to the chair beside him.

"Master, have a seat. Isn't it tiring to stand like that?"

"I'll sit when I feel like it." Scáthach remained behind him, running her fingers through his hair strand by strand.

"Alright," he replied with a helpless smile.

"The final stage of the Third Singularity happened just after I arrived at Chaldea... This girl fought desperately to protect Mash," Scáthach said.

Shiomi sighed and began to explain Olga Marie's situation. "It was probably out of guilt. As you know, Mash is a test-tube child born from an experiment led by the previous director. But Marie didn't even know that until after Marisbury died—"

The shock of learning the truth had hit her hard. For a whole month after that, she suffered from psychogenic anorexia and became thirty percent more hysterical than usual.

Losing the father she admired so suddenly was already a devastating blow. Adding on the cruel truth—one even a Magus would struggle to accept—it was, for someone like Olga Marie, downright terrifying.

"'Mash is definitely going to take revenge on me! I'll be brutally murdered in some bathroom! It's only natural!' Out of sympathy, I went to check on her. She was practically on the verge of death from not eating, surviving only thanks to her Magic Circuits and Crest. She kept repeating things like that," Shiomi said. "But even so, she never tried to avoid Mash."

After discovering her hysterical state, Shiomi began visiting her every day, bringing meals he cooked himself.

Simple things—like porridge or noodles. At first, Olga Marie refused to eat. But when she realized Shiomi would just sit silently in the room, staring at her if she didn't, she eventually gave in.

Like a harsh old father pressuring his stubborn child.

"It took some work, but she pulled through in the end." Shiomi rubbed his forehead. "And it's thanks to her that Mash was treated as a human here at Chaldea, and given the freedom to live."

"So you visit her every day out of a sense of parental care?" Scáthach asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm just meddling. At her age, Sakura and Caren didn't need me fussing over them anymore." Shiomi shrugged with a wry look.

Then he leaned back and slipped free from her hands, looking up at the master who had just messed up his hair.

"Getting used to life in Chaldea, Master?"

"There's nothing to get used to. I came here because I wanted to. After all, there's a certain idiot disciple even harder to leave behind than Cú Chulainn." Scáthach stared deeply at Shiomi, her eyes flicking down to the space between his neck and collar.

From there, she could just see strawberry-like marks... and faint bite marks.

Wounds like those could've healed in an instant. The fact he hadn't erased them meant someone had forbidden him from doing so.

With that thought, Scáthach lowered her head. Their faces now overlapped—only their lips remained aligned.

"What are you doing, my husband?"