Reborn in Type-Moon: Starting by Adopting Sakura - Chapter 52

The summoning had gone smoothly, and Waver had genuinely hoped to end the day riding high on his success. For once, something had actually worked out according to plan.

But—

"…How did it turn out like this?"

In the sharp winter wind of Shinto's civic park, Waver sat hunched on a bench like a lost child, his thin frame trembling. His teeth chattered as much from nerves as from the cold. He pulled his coat tighter around himself, but it didn't help much against either the weather or the crushing weight of his situation.

He still couldn't wrap his head around what had gone so spectacularly wrong to turn his careful plan completely upside down. Everything had been calculated, researched, prepared down to the smallest detail.

The summoning had worked. Perfectly, in fact. When the ritual completed and the light faded, the Servant's status had flooded into his mind like data downloading directly into his brain.

Class: Rider.

Not one of the three knight classes, sure, but with base parameters sitting well above average—definitely a strong Servant. No question about that part.

Waver knew the theory. He'd studied it extensively. Heroic Spirits summoned by the Grail could manifest not just as spiritual bodies but with fully materialized physical forms. He'd expected that much.

What he absolutely had not expected was that the figure materializing before him would be a towering mountain of pure muscle that seemed to radiate menace just by existing. The guy looked like he could bench press a car without breaking a sweat.

Waver hated big, intimidating men. Always had.

Especially the muscle-bound type who looked like they solved problems with their fists.

“Well, the contract’s done. Now, boy—take me to your library.”

Waver nearly jumped out of his skin. The sheer volume of that voice made his bones vibrate.

"H-huh?" The word slipped out before his brain could engage, sounding exactly as stupid as he felt.

"I said library." The man crossed his massive arms. "Books."

"If you're a magus, you've got a library or two, right?" The giant gestured impatiently. "Take me there. This is part of our battle preparations."

“B–Battle…?”

Until Rider mentioned it, Waver had completely blanked on the fact that he was supposed to be fighting in the Holy Grail War. The whole reason he'd summoned a Servant in the first place.

Unfortunately, “magus’s private library” wasn’t an option when you were just squatting in a regular family’s house with a few well-placed hypnosis spells. Which was how he found himself escorting Rider to the public library instead.

Fuyuki Central Library sat in the still-growing district of Shinto, tucked inside a civic park.

The walk there was… tense. Night streets were already unnerving, but walking beside a man who looked like he could crush a watermelon between his hands—accidentally—didn’t help. Every step felt like being shadowed by a moving wall.

Thankfully, they crossed the Fuyuki Bridge without running into a single person. Waver pointed toward a sleek, modern building in the distance. “Books… there. Plenty of them.”

The crushing atmosphere around him suddenly lightened as Rider seemed to shift into spirit form and disappeared through the library walls.

Left sitting alone on this freezing bench for over half an hour now, Waver finally had space to think without that overwhelming presence breathing down his neck.

“…How did it end up like this?”

He dropped his head into his hands, remembering how pathetically he'd stammered and flinched earlier. This was supposed to be his Servant—a legendary warrior bound by contract, with him calling the shots as Master.

On paper, he held all the cards. He was the one supplying magical energy. He had the Command Spells. The whole system was designed to put him in control.

But in reality? That giant had completely dominated him without even trying.

His Servant's true name was Iskandar—Alexander the Great. A name that every person on the planet had heard at least once. At twenty, Alexander had inherited the throne of Macedon and led Greece's entire campaign against Persia. In less than a decade, he'd pulled off the impossible eastern expedition, sweeping through Egypt and India like some kind of unstoppable force. A king who'd literally founded an era defined by Greek culture—a genuine King of Conquerors with a capital K.

Even knowing all that, even understanding exactly who he was dealing with, the fact remained that as a summoned Servant, Iskandar should never be able to defy his Master. That was how the system worked.

Waver had the tools to enforce that rule. The magical energy supply. The Command Spells. Everything he needed to keep control.

And yet, remembering how he'd basically cowered like a scared kid, the shame made his whole face burn hot despite the freezing air.

When that Servant came back, Waver was going to lay down some ground rules. Firmly this time. No more getting pushed around.

He was still rehearsing his stern Master speech when a thunderous crash exploded behind him.

"What the—?!" Waver spun around so fast he nearly fell off the bench.

The library's entrance shutter—the one that had been securely locked and sealed for the night—was now a mangled wreck of twisted metal. And stepping through the destruction like he was walking through his front door was his Servant, looking absolutely unbothered by the carnage.

A second later, the security alarm started shrieking into the night.

Waver's heart shot straight into his throat. "Are you insane?! You smashed the shutter?! What is wrong with you?! Why didn't you just go spirit form on the way out like you did going in?!"

Rider looked genuinely pleased with himself. He held up two books like trophies. "If I stayed in spirit form, I couldn't carry these."

One thick hardcover, one thin paperback. Apparently his legendary Servant had just committed breaking and entering for some light reading material. This was supposed to be Waver's partner in a deadly magical war, and the guy was acting like a common criminal.

"Stop standing there! We need to run!" Waver's eyes darted around the park. No security guards yet, but that alarm was loud enough to wake half the city. "Come on!"

"This is beneath my dignity." Rider frowned. "Scurrying away like guilty thieves makes us look pathetic."

"Are you kidding me?! We ARE thieves! That's literally what just happened!"

The frown deepened. "Completely different. Sneaking around under cover of darkness is what petty bandits do. Marching away in triumph is the rightful plunder of a King of Conquerors."

Waver realized with growing horror that trying to reason with this man was completely hopeless. Worse, as long as Rider was holding those stupid books, he refused to dematerialize, just strolling along the street like some kind of delusional cosplayer.

Out of pure desperation, Waver lunged forward and grabbed both books from the giant's hands.

"There! Happy now?! Now disappear! Right this second!"

"Ah, so you'll be the one carrying them?" Rider nodded approvingly. "Try not to drop them."

And with that helpful advice, he finally vanished into thin air.

"Ugh! Why… why does everything go wrong for me?!"

That had to be his twentieth miserable groan of the night. Waver bolted just as flashlight beams started sweeping across the park, his thin legs pumping harder than they ever had in his life.

—And every second of his humiliation was being recorded in crystal-clear detail.

The surveillance camera perched on a nearby tree had military-grade optics, the kind of expensive gear that could pick up a person's facial features even in near-total darkness.

Serenity had been tracking this Master-Servant pair since the moment her sensors picked them up, keeping her camera rolling the entire time just like her Master had ordered. She'd watched the whole library disaster happen, followed the panicking kid all the way back to his temporary hideout, noted the exact address, and slipped back to report her findings.

She hadn't made any attempt to kill him. Not yet.

As much as she wanted to eliminate other Masters, her Master’s current mission came first. Her personal desires would have to wait.