Chapter 28: Fifth

Haruki dodged Semiramis’s questions about his tiny transformation. Both of them had realized his race being non-human, but he didn’t care much. Dragons only lived on the reverse side of the world, so they had no way to prove he was a dragon. He had no wings, no scales, or fangs. He looked like any other human.

Accompanied by Semiramis in her spiritual form, he sprinted all the way to the school. It was a breeze for his current stats. Since there was still half an hour left, he snuck onto the rooftop and leaned on the balcony. Gazing at the orange sun in the distance, he sighed.

‘I miss mom.’

He wanted to return home to confirm Medea’s words. That might lead to him missing Shirou. Knowing Shirou, he would probably stay over at the Archery Club to do odd jobs. With Rin and Archer around, he needed a third person to guide Shirou to the temple.

“Semi, I need your help.”

Her name was too long for him, so he effectively cut it in half.

Semiramis squinted. “That name.”

Only her second husband used that affectionate name. As scummy as he was, the General spoiled her rotten with every luxury he could afford. It became his downfall after Semiramis poisoned him.

“Is something wrong with it?”

Revealing a bright grin, she said, “No. You can use that.”

Though he felt something was off, he didn’t question further. “I want you to brainwash a kid.”

“Oho. My master is quite the evil person for your age. Who is it? The girl with Servant? You want to defile her and steal her servant?”

Haruki gave her a blank stare. “It’s a boy.”

“So Master—”

He covered her mouth. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”

Semiramis giggled, her golden eyes glinting with sultriness. Her charm stunned him for a second. Sharp pain in his palm ended his daze. Semiramis dug her teeth into his flesh and sucked his blood.

Haruki quickly pulled back his hand and wrapped his handkerchief around his hand. He glared at the woman with a bloody mouth. “Woman, what is wrong with you?”

Semiramis wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “A fine delicacy.”

As a witch, she had learned every kind of witchcraft in her era. Some of which involved blood rituals of both male and female blood. This was the first time she had tasted blood this sweet and rich with magical energy. She felt like a few drops of his blood would replenish her entire magical reserves. She couldn’t confirm as her magical energy was already full before drinking his blood.

Semiramis stepped forward, bringing her aroma with her. The nails on her palms vanished as she reached out and cupped his cheeks. “My nonhuman master… let’s make out.”

Haruki pulled down her hands. “Sorry. I don’t plan to betray the girl I love.”

As if he was going to fall for her tricks and end up braindead in some alley. Unless she was out of magical energy, he wasn’t going to have sex with her. Well, if she truly fell for him, he’d change his mind.

Semiramis didn’t look disheartened from the rejection. On the contrary, she was flashing a wide smile. “Who do you want to brainwash? Let’s finish this, so I can move into my home.”

“Sure.”

He returned to the class, using his sickness as an excuse. Rin stared at him, a little shocked to see him return right now. He waved at Rin and pointed Semiramis to Shirou, urging her to finish this quickly. Shirou’s protagonist luck could flip the situation if they pushed him too hard.

The class soon ended.

Rin walked up to his seat, carrying her bag in her left hand. “Ready?”

“Always.”

Rin frowned, noticing his reluctance to meet the Sadist Priest. The class turned noisy, whispering things about him and Rin being a thing. Her brows twitching, she hardly resisted the urge to explode at the imbeciles.

He chuckled and dragged Rin out of the classroom.

‘Your coast is clear.’

“My master, why are we doing this?”

‘I’ll tell you later.’

He hadn’t told her about his decision to summon another servant—King Arthur, or rather Queen Artoria. The tyrant queen and the legendary king of knights will surely have friction between them. She might tell him to summon a different Heroic Spirit, which he wasn’t going to do. It was better to deal with her after the summoning than right now.

“You are being secretive, my master. I hate when people hide important things from me.”

Semiramis stayed back to lure Shirou out to a different place. Haruki raced down the stairs. In the hallways underneath, he bumped into Sakura, who was carrying a stack of assignments to the faculty.

Her sullen face regained a cheery smile. “Senpai.”

Seeing him holding hands with Rin raised a flag in her heart. Haruki released Rin’s hand and took the stack of papers from her.

“I told you to not push yourself.”

His worried expression wiped her suspicion clean. It wasn’t like she could do anything if Haruki wanted to be with Rin.

‘Rin Nee-san is too beautiful and elegant. She can get any man in the world… she wouldn’t fall for the only man I love… right?’

Unaware of her possessive desires, Sakura led Haruki to the faculty. She requested to tag along to the church, to which Rin agreed. Haruki would have rejected Sakura if not for Rin’s agreement. He had no servant if they were attacked by another servant. It was a different case for Rin. Even if she had the habit to hide her feelings, she would never let someone hurt Sakura or anyone from her family even if she had to fight a servant by herself.

After Sakura took her bag from her class, they left the school premises. Shinji’s eyes stalked him from a distance. He lightly chuckled, gaining a look of curiosity from the sisters walking on each side.

“A flower in each hand,” Arch commented, her voice sharp. “Having fun, aren’t you?”

‘Indeed.’

Haruki’s joy was short-lived as he saw a young man with golden hair approaching. His hand tucked in his pocket, he walked briskly without a care in the world.

‘Fuck.’

Haruki hoped to go unnoticed, but Gilgamesh stopped before Sakura, a neutral look in his eyes.

“Hurry up and become the fifth.”

Saying his piece, he walked away. From start to end, he had never glanced at Haruki or Rin. Haruki’s core had kept his Od from leaking, but Rin was still releasing faint Od. Every Master, no matter how good they were, couldn’t stop this from happening. After all, a part of their magical energy was being provided to their servants. Unless they were Caster, the class with maximum control of their magical energy.

Sakura was clueless. “Senpai, what did he say?”

Haruki clenched his fists. “Just a weirdo. Don’t pay any attention to him.”

Sakura could tell he was lying. Even Rin saw through his facade. Sakura took her handkerchief and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. The fear of a fight breaking out made him sweat. None of them would live if Gilgamesh struck now. Even Semiramis and Medea. Thankfully, Gilgamesh was only here to tell Sakura to become the fifth Lesser Grail, the same thing he might say to Illyasviel later.

“Senpai, I’m not a little girl anymore. You understood what he meant. I won’t pester you to tell me… but—”

“I’ll tell when the time is right,” he said, ruffling her hair. “Besides, I never thought of you as a little girl.”

Except when she was like six. His tiny lie made Sakura smile. Rin made weird faces from the side. From mild curiosity to utter disgust at their open flirting. Her ability to pull off so many expressions in a second was beyond his comprehension.