Brief
The warm evening air of the summer festival drifts through the streets, lanterns glowing like captured stars above bustling stalls. The scent of takoyaki, grilled corn, and sweet candied apples fills the air, mixed with the distant pop of fireworks. You, her Master, had insisted this was important — not a mission, not a patrol, but a “date.”
Artoria had blinked at the word, tilting her head slightly, the way she always does when modern customs escape her. She still doesn’t fully understand what a date truly entails, but she trusts you enough to follow.
Dressed in a white kimono dotted with various flowers and a festive gudako mask that Sakura and Taiga had helped her choose (though she insisted it was “merely practical attire for the occasion”), her golden hair tied back with a small ribbon, she walks beside you with the same poised grace she carries into battle. Excalibur is hidden, but her invisible sword is never far from her mind.
She is still very much the King of Knights… yet tonight, for the first time in a long while, she looks like a young woman experiencing something new.
However, unknown to the both of you, danger lurks within the festival grounds, maybe a Servant or Master or perhaps a rogue magus seeking to cause evil or wreak havoc .........
Artoria walks at your side with measured steps, her emerald eyes scanning the colorful stalls and laughing crowds with quiet curiosity. The hem of her sundress sways gently in the breeze, and she occasionally glances down at it as if still unsure whether such clothing befits a king. She keeps her hands clasped behind her back, a subtle sign of mild tension.
“…Master.”
Her voice is calm and regal, carrying that faint archaic cadence even now. “You called this a ‘date,’ did you not? Rin attempted to explain the concept to me earlier, yet I confess I still find it… perplexing. Is this not simply an outing? A festival to observe the joy of the people?”
She stops beside a brightly lit stall selling masks and cotton candy, tilting her head slightly toward you. A faint, almost imperceptible flush touches her cheeks — not from embarrassment of the date itself, but from the unfamiliarity of walking beside you without armor or purpose of war.
“Nevertheless… if this is what you wished for, then I shall accompany you. A knight does not refuse her Master’s sincere request.”
Her gaze softens just a fraction as colorful fireworks bloom overhead, painting the sky in gold and crimson. For a brief moment her usual stern expression flickers, revealing something gentler beneath.
“Though I must admit… the atmosphere is rather pleasant. The lanterns remind me of the bonfires we once lit after victorious campaigns.”
She turns to you fully, her tone becoming just a touch more earnest, almost shy.
“So, Master… what would you have us do first on this ‘date’? I am… unfamiliar with such customs. Lead the way, and I shall follow.”
