Chapter 176: Iris: Otaku Are Truly Disgusting
Chapter 176: Iris: Otaku Are Truly Disgusting
Hearing Artoria's sudden roar, Soji, who was planning to continue persuading her, was taken aback. However, she soon felt relieved.
It was good; she had merely made a casual remark, and Artoria's fighting spirit was already ignited. Soji didn't know the reason behind Artoria's strong animosity towards Merlin, but she thought it was perfect. Tomorrow, she could rely on Artoria to defeat Merlin, and then she would use the hidden explosives in the racing car to blow Artoria away.
In this way, she would defeat two enemies in one go. Soji named this plan a win-win situation, a "I win twice!" No, she should call it "Qin Shi Huang touching an electric wire, Qin Shi Ma!" It might make her seem very devious, but since she had already thought of it, she couldn't turn back. How could she face herself after losing her dignity so shamelessly?
It was somewhat similar to someone losing money in gambling and continuing to bet recklessly to pay off their debts. The reason was the sunk cost; they couldn't let go of what they had already lost. In Soji's case, she couldn't salvage her lost dignity, so that was her sunk cost. She could only continue down the path of losing her dignity recklessly!
"Very good, you look spirited!" Soji was pleasantly surprised, giving Artoria a big thumbs-up and rejoicing in her fervent battle spirit. "Rest assured, the racing car will be delivered to you tomorrow."
"Now, the only thing you need to focus on is how to defeat Merlin in tomorrow's battle."
"No need to say more..." The red-eye effect gradually disappeared from Artoria's eyes, but her intent to kill Merlin couldn't be hidden. Lowering her head to look at the sword in her hand, the Excalibur, which was now only a palm-length blade, she could almost be called a Dagger of Promised Victory. Artoria's anger towards Merlin had reached its critical point.
"Merlin, you shall meet your end tomorrow noon!"
Artoria stood up, declaring Merlin's death with a gaze full of killing intent.
In the Fuyuki hospital corridor, Merlin suddenly felt an itch in his nose and couldn't help but sneeze.
"Ah, Ahh~" Walking in the corridor, Merlin rubbed his slightly itchy nose and mused to himself, "Who's thinking of me again? Am I really such a sinful handsome man, attracting so many boys and girls?"
Hearing Merlin's extremely narcissistic remark, Iris, who was walking beside him, couldn't help but poke fun with a skeptical expression, "Really, is there anyone thinking of you?"
"Of course! You should know that I'm a famous virtual YouTuber!" Merlin replied, turning his head to look at Iris on his left and proudly pointing to himself with his thumbs up.
Iris was puzzled by the unfamiliar term, "Virtual YouTuber? What's that?"
"Well, it's like real people streaming with the identity of a paper-cut character," Merlin pondered for a moment, not sure how to explain it properly. He decided to give a simple explanation to satisfy her curiosity, "Like me, my channel is called MagiMari."
"You? A girl?"
"Well~ as long as I use a voice changer, no one would know I'm a guy. Especially my top fan, he gives me a lot of donations every time I stream!" Merlin raised his head proudly. Whenever he boasted about fooling people with his cross-dressing and becoming the top Caster-class, he felt extremely satisfied.
Although that person was no longer at the top and had become an ordinary person, did that matter? It didn't matter!
"Let me tell you, I love being a virtual YouTuber," Merlin exclaimed.
Iris was somewhat surprised and covered her mouth with one hand, "Huh? Isn't that something only otakus like?"
"??? What are you saying!" Merlin's expression changed instantly.
"Huh? Was that offensive? I heard people say that only otakus like guys who dress as girls. Since you like cross-dressing, you must be an otaku, right?"
Stopping in his tracks, Merlin asked with a 'friendly' expression, "Who told you that?"
"Well, it was Kiritsugu who told me. Since I've been staying in the castle, all the information from the outside world comes from Kiritsugu," Iris replied.
Upon hearing this, Merlin nodded knowingly. So, it was his own Master who said that, huh? Just don't sleep too soundly, eh?
"Ah, Kiritsugu's room is right ahead." Iris had planned to continue the conversation, but upon seeing the familiar room number, she halted the discussion. Carrying the fruit basket, she hurried to the room and knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock, knock."
After a moment, a slightly weary voice came from inside the room, "Come in."
The door creaked open, and Iris entered, setting the fruit basket on the bedside table before taking a seat next to the bed. "Kiritsugu, I've come to chop you up."
Looking at Kiritsugu lying on the bed, wrapped up like a dumpling, with only his face uncovered, Iris couldn't help but feel distressed.
In truth, Kiritsugu didn't have such severe injuries originally. The reason for his current state was his reaction upon receiving the news that the Holy Grail War had ended from the Holy Church. He burst into tears, wailing loudly and uttering phrases like Baka Yaro,' with his actions being so intense that he triggered a diaphragmatic spasm. As a result, the bones that had just been set were broken again. The previous treatments were almost in vain, and he ended up even more seriously injured than when he arrived at the hospital. It was quite tragic.
Since he couldn't move his head, Kiritsugu had to turn his eyes sideways to see his wife. "You're here, Iris."
Merlin also approached, casually greeting, "I'm here too, Master~."
Seeing his Servant, Kiritsugu's mood, which had slightly improved upon seeing his wife, once again took a downturn.