Dawn was breaking.
After a long night of flight, the evil dragons finally reached their destination at this moment, just before sunrise.
*Poof*.
Atalante jumped off the dragon's back, then stretched languidly on the ground.
She had been on guard the entire way, and now that they had finally arrived at the Demon King's castle, she could finally relax a little.
Her tail began to sway from side to side.
However—
Before Atalante could enjoy even a few minutes of relaxation.
She was made to blush furiously by the scene before her eyes.
On the most powerful evil dragon, her Master was passionately kissing the Servant she had taken a liking to.
It was a scene exactly like the kiss on the city wall, but now it seemed to have become even more indecent due to the lack of restraint.
The Dragon Witch, who was usually cold and ruthless in front of others, had turned into the most cutest little girlfriend in front of him.
The look in her eyes was filled with the words "desire," as if she would start fulfilling the Master-Servant relationship with him right there on the dragon's back.
No—
Atalante's gaze shifted slightly downwards.
To be precise, they should be fulfilling the Master-Servant relationship again.
Watching this scene, the cat girl suddenly felt very thirsty.
Her throat was slightly throbbing, and strange images began to flash through her mind.
If—
The one kissing Ian on the dragon's back right now wasn't the Master, but herself.
How wonderful that would be...
The moment she realized this, the cat girl's pupils widened slightly, and then she raised her hand and slapped herself.
Atalante! What are you thinking!
That's the Servant the Master has taken a liking to, they really have a relationship that has crossed the line!
Her own secret and impure relationship with him was already too much.
Now she was even thinking about doing that kind of thing for her?!
No!
Absolutely not!
She absolutely couldn't go that far!
Atalante shook her head, trying to directly throw out the thought that had just been born.
However, she quickly realized that it wasn't as easy as she had imagined.
At least—
It was definitely impossible right now.
And during the time the cat girl was reflecting, the Black Jeanne had also enjoyed a joyful time on the dragon's back.
Already as soft as a cream puff, she hooked her arms around the man's neck and exhaled a soft breath of hot air.
"Carry me down~" she whispered in his ear.
Clearly.
The Black Jeanne probably didn't realize at all that what she was doing was no different from a girlfriend acting spoiled.
She simply felt that she could get something she wanted from it—that was enough.
However, Ian didn't intend to say much about it either.
After all, simply carrying her down was a very easy thing to do.
"...Okay." The man held the Black Jeanne—she was much lighter than he had imagined.
He jumped down from the dragon's back, landing quite smoothly on the ground.
The cat girl also managed to barely calm her emotions at this moment.
She put away her Bow of Heaven (Tauropolos) and walked towards the two who had landed.
"Master, and Ian." Atalante greeted them, her golden eyes looking at the pair.
"Atalante." The Black Jeanne, still being held, responded softly—she seemed to be quite enjoying the feeling of being held in Ian's arms.
"You must have been... tired keeping watch the whole way," the Black Jeanne said, her red eyes looking at Atalante with appreciation.
"It was nothing," the cat girl shook her head. "Protecting the Master is the duty of an Archer."
"However——" A hint of doubt flashed in Atalante's eyes.
"There's one question I've been wondering about the whole way and haven't been able to figure out," she admitted, her tail twitching slightly.
"Hmm?" The Black Jeanne's gaze fell on Atalante, who had spoken those words.
She frowned slightly.
"Question? What question?" she asked, her red eyes narrowed in curiosity.
"It's just..." Atalante's expression looked somewhat complicated. "I... don't understand why we retreated."
Just as the cat girl had confessed.
Although both Jeannes had suffered considerable damage after Ian's Sword of Promised Victory (Excalibur Morgan) was released.
However—
Atalante, with her keen senses as an Archer, quickly judged that their side still had an absolute advantage.
Even if the Radiant and Brilliant King Sword (Clarent) and the Sword of Promised Victory (Excalibur Morgan) continued to fight to a draw.
She would definitely have the upper hand when facing that clearly inferior Shielder.
No matter how she looked at it, it was an excellent opportunity to attack, but it had turned into nothing because of a retreat.
Atalante, who was born a hunter, naturally couldn't understand such a thing.
However—
Completely opposite to the cat girl's confused state, the Black Jeanne completely knew why she had done this.
She looked up, and in front of Atalante's eyes, she lightly kissed Ian, then spoke of the reason with some of the warmth she had received from him.
"Of course we had to retreat." The Black Jeanne declared, her red eyes looking at Atalante with a hint of amusement.
"Because——"
"I'm going to come back here with him to get married," she announced, her voice filled with joy.
"Wh-what?!" Atalante couldn't have imagined in a million years that the reason the Black Jeanne gave would be this.
Her Master gave up the attack because she was going to come back and marry her Servant?!
That's impossible, right?!
...No.
Other Masters might not actually do this, but for her, it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
After all—
The way she usually looked at Ian wasn't right at all.
That wasn't the attitude a Master should have towards their Servant.
This had already been verified by the various overstepping of boundaries between them before.
Immediately giving up the fight for the sake of marriage was indeed something she could do!
Having completed her logical reasoning, Atalante's gaze fell on Ian, who was holding the Black Jeanne.
A hint of cautious probing appeared in the cat girl's eyes.
And Ian completely understood the meaning contained within—she was asking him if what the Black Jeanne had just said was all true.
There was nothing to hide.
The man nodded directly.
"..." A hint of disappointment flashed across Atalante's face in an instant, but she quickly concealed it all.
She thought she was being flawless, but she didn't know that Ian had already seen this change in his eyes—he just hadn't said it directly.
"I see... I understand." Atalante said softly, her golden eyes looking down slightly.
"Then——"
"Master, when are you planning to hold this wedding?" Atalante asked, trying to sound neutral.
"I haven't decided yet," the Black Jeanne replied rather happily. "But it shouldn't be too long."
"Once I ask Caster how to do it, I'll take action immediately," she added, her red eyes sparkling with excitement.
"However——"
"Before that, there's one more thing I must accomplish," the Black Jeanne said, her tone becoming serious.
She turned her head to look at Ian, a hint of a little girlfriend's cuteness appearing in her eyes.
"Darling~" she called out sweetly.
"Put me down," she requested, her red eyes looking at him expectantly.
Although Atalante looked very calm on the surface when she heard this address.
Her tail stood up at this moment—it was the most instinctive reaction of jealousy.
And although Ian noticed this, he could only follow the Black Jeanne's wishes and put her down on the ground first.
The Dragon Witch, back on solid ground, immediately carried out the next step of her plan.
She returned to her cold state and spoke in an extremely clear tone:
"Although I really want to get married, knowing that the other side has so many people——"
"I definitely have to do something more."
"I want to let them know... that all their efforts will be in vain," she declared, her red eyes burning with determination.
Promising this, the Black Jeanne conjured the Holy Grail and the Dragon Witch Banner.
She began to draw something within the Demon King's castle according to a certain pattern.
Having studied magic to some extent, Ian quickly recognized what she was drawing.
It was the Dragon Witch's summoning circle.
Through it, she would be able to summon Heroic Spirit Servants from various eras to her side.
Atalante had probably descended in this way as well.
However—
Ian was still a bit curious about how the Black Jeanne had mastered such a summoning circle.
After all, she herself didn't exist in the history of the Hundred Years' War between England and France, but was an Avenger who had come here in response to the Holy Grail.
Could it be that she had mastered this on her own without any teacher?
But no matter how he thought about it, it was a bit too exaggerated.
And speaking of which—
If she knew about this summoning circle, she should have used it before, right?
The more he thought about it, the stranger it became.
However—
Compared to these things that required a lot of time to think about seriously, Ian knew that there was something more important he should be doing at this moment.
A little cat was still anxiously waiting.
He took advantage of the time when the Black Jeanne was focused on the summoning circle and had forgotten everything else, and leaned close to Atalante.
The man's hand went around her back and gently kneaded her firm buttocks.
"Eh?!" Feeling the cat girl being played with by the man, Atalante immediately panicked a lot.
"What... are you doing?" she whispered, her golden eyes wide with surprise.
"Hmm?" The man's hand exerted a little more force. "Isn't this form of address a bit off?"
"..." Until the man hinted at something, Atalante glanced at the Black Jeanne, whose attention was completely focused on drawing the summoning circle, and her heart began to waver.
In the end, the cat girl, who had already been completely trained by the man, lowered her head and obediently changed her address.
"Master~" she purred softly, her cheeks slightly flushed.
"That's right," Ian affirmed Atalante's actions. "That's my good kitty."
"But speaking of which——"
"Are you very opposed to me marrying Master?" Ian asked, his gaze gentle.
"..." The cat girl looked at the man beside her, her expression somewhat surprised.
She probably hadn't expected him to bring up this matter so directly, and for a moment, she didn't know what the best answer was.
"That's not true!" Atalante shook her head quickly.
"How could I possibly oppose Master and Master getting married?!" she exclaimed, her golden eyes looking at him earnestly.
"Really?" the man asked again, his gaze unwavering.
"...Really," the cat girl's voice was a little softer.
"I'll ask you one last time, is it really true?"
"..." Realizing that if she answered in the way she had just done, it would likely end there.
Atalante hesitated for a long time, and finally shook her head.
"It's not true."
"I... care a lot about Master and Master's wedding," she confessed, her eyes looking down shyly.
"You finally told the truth," Ian said, looking at the cat girl beside him.
"So——"
"Are you worried about a lot of inconveniences after the marriage?" he asked, his voice gentle.
"Yeah," Atalante nodded without any pretense.
"Then——" the man said.
"You don't have to worry about that kind of thing."
"Eh?" A hint of surprise appeared in the cat girl's eyes—of course, she wasn't concerned about his actions, but about what he had said.
"Master... what do you mean by that?" she asked, her golden eyes wide with curiosity.
"It's complicated to explain," Ian said, looking at the Black Jeanne before him. The hand behind Atalante's back became even more unrestrained, causing her to almost cry out.
"Anyway——"
"The 'marriage' she understands and the 'marriage' you understand are not the same thing," Ian explained, his gaze knowing.
"And..." The man pinched the most elastic part and held it firmly in his hand.
"Didn't she already say it?"
"You can join in when we do that kind of thing too," Ian whispered, his lips close to Atalante's ear.
"..." Atalante's fair cheeks became quite flushed in an instant.
Her legs were trembling slightly.
She asked softly:
"Is such a thing really allowed?"
"..." Seeing that Atalante still looked like she couldn't believe she could participate.
Ian thought for a while and decided to persuade her from another angle.
"Then——"
"Even if it's not allowed, are you really not planning to do it?" Ian asked, his gaze teasing.
"..." Atalante glanced at Ian, then shook her head shyly.
"No." The cat girl could no longer escape the feeling of being played with.
"Then that's all there is to it, right?" Ian's hand became even more audacious.
In the blind spot where the Black Jeanne couldn't notice, the man's hand reached the magical energy replenishment area.
He was preparing to let this little cat girl experience what it meant to be unable to stop from feeling ashamed.
However—
The man never expected that just as his hand reached its destination, a chill would already have been transmitted.
He looked at the little cat girl beside him, a hint of amusement in his tone.
"You're..."
"..." Knowing that the man had discovered the indecent state of her body, Atalante was quite embarrassed.
She explained with no persuasiveness, like a child who had been caught doing something wrong.
"This isn't my fault..."
"Who told... Master to keep doing it with Master on the dragon's back..."
"I can't control myself whenever I think of that scene..."
"..." Ian laughed.
"I see."
"Then it seems like tonight will have to be arranged then," Ian said with a smile.
"Tonight?" The cat girl couldn't imagine what she had just heard.
"Yeah..." the man said with a smile. "If you don't think it's okay, we can do it later."
"No!" The wet Atalante quickly spoke up.
Then she realized that this seemed a bit too lewd, and her voice immediately lowered a few decibels.
"I mean... tonight is just right."
"..."
"..." Finding that this seemed even stranger, Atalante was eager to explain.
But just at this moment, she saw a figure walking over.
"Eh——? It's Caster." Atalante exclaimed, her golden eyes widening slightly.
"Caster?" Ian asked, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Yeah!" Atalante pointed to the other side.
"It's over there."
Before she could finish speaking, Ian suddenly trembled violently.
Because he felt a familiar magical energy flowing in the air.
Could it be... Yokotobi-hime is here?!