Crossover Anime: Picking up Medea at the Start

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"Just admit it already, you care about Roland's relationship with other women, and you might even have some messy thoughts yourself—it's one thing to put on an act of being a rich young lady in front of others, but who are you trying to impress in your own heart?"

"To quote what I saw online, if you keep going like this, you're going to become a loser!"

Hearing Ishtar say that, Rin Tohsaka gave a soft hum, her tone softening considerably.

"I was online while you were surfing the internet, stop lying... I don't remember ever seeing the term 'loser dog'..."

"Then just consider it as something I created—anyway, you understand?"

"I..."

For a moment, Rin Tohsaka didn't know what to say.

Ishtar sighed again at this moment.

"Alright, it seems I can't count on you."

"Since you can't do it, then let me do it. You can't stop me from doing it if you don't want to, can you?"

"But the two of us..."

"No, didn't you just say that our ways of thinking are different? So you can say that I have no right to force you to do something, but just like the contract we signed, you also have no right to stop me from pursuing something."

Rin Tohsaka remained silent in response to Ishtar's statement.

Ishtar is her servant, so if Rin Tohsaka really doesn't want to, then there's nothing Ishtar can do.

But the fact that Ishtar didn't feel restricted says a lot.

Rin Tohsaka is just being stubborn!

However, Ishtar never expected Rin Tohsaka to do anything proactively from the beginning, so she just wanted Rin to acquiesce.

But Rin Tohsaka still has one last hurdle to overcome.

“Ishtar... but if I remember correctly, in the mythology, you had a husband, didn’t you?”

"Myths also anthropomorphize mothers, so don't believe everything in myths, or you'll only get hurt."

Ishtar was somewhat helpless.

"You and I have known each other for quite some time now. Do I have any similarities to those described in myths?"

"In our time, the relationship between gods was just so-so. Even the concept of reproduction evolved from the power that the water god demanded."

"When we were born, there was no such concept, so there was no such thing as husband or wife."

Ultimately, it was the people who recorded the myths who needed to subtly imply certain things through them, which is why they were written down in the end. But once it reached your hands, it was misinterpreted and misused.

This is the version that has been translated and revised countless times.

"So when it comes to myths, you just need to focus on what the people who wrote them wanted to express, and don't actually connect the so-called myths with us."

"If they could really make contact with everyone, then Gilgamesh shouldn't be the strongest Heroic Spirit in Uruk. The strongest Heroic Spirit should be the guy who wrote the myth on clay tablets—his Noble Phantasm, Mesopotamian Mythology, is far more powerful than the Gate of Babylon!"

Hearing Ishtar say that, Rin Tohsaka finally understood.

It was at this time that Ishtar took over Rin Tohsaka's body.

"Alright, stop thinking about all that nonsense, just don't try to stop me!"

Ishtar successfully took over Rin Tohsaka's body, and after waiting a while, she realized that Rin hadn't regained control. She pursed her lips and almost burst out laughing.

And you say you have no ideas... then why don't you take back control of your body!

Loser!

When Roland brought Artoria to Rin Tohsaka's side, Illya, Bazett, and Aya had already arrived.

The five of them, plus Rin Tohsaka, make a total of six people.

"Roland~"

Upon seeing Roland, Ilya smiled and ran over to greet him.

Bazett and Yuuka weren't as enthusiastic as Ilya, but they still followed behind.

"You're back. Did you go to see Medea?"

Bazette said this after seeing Roland, while Roland shook his head slightly.

"No, she'll be leaving soon after she gets back, and she also has her own things to take care of."

At this point, Roland smiled.

"...But I left something for her at home, so she can see it when she gets back."

The house Roland was referring to was the one Medea had been managing. This puzzled Zhu, who came later, but it seems that it was Artoria and Bazette who were talking about the house when Roland mentioned it.

Then you'll know where you are.

So Bazete nodded.

Yuzhu didn't ask any further questions about this matter, but simply greeted Roland expressionlessly upon seeing him.

Then...

"Thank you."

Although Yuzhu was also a member of the God Group, she and Aoko were the kind of members who weren't very familiar with Roland. So when she learned that Roland had a chance to reach the Root and thought of her, Yuzhu was a little surprised and grateful.

"There's nothing to thank me for. After all, you're also a member of the God Group—even if we don't usually interact, the moment I invited you to join the God Group and you agreed, we became comrades."

Upon hearing Roland's words, Yuzhu stared at Roland for a while, as if she were trying to etch Roland's image deeply into her mind.

She and Qingzi joined the group mainly because of Chengzi.

It was as if they had joined a magic society or a mysterious organization—even if the organization was a bit large and magical, Aoko and Aoko still had that feeling to some extent.

However, now that Zhu has heard Roland say this and understands Roland's thoughts, she has begun to take the relationships between the members of this divine group seriously.

She doesn't like having her things taken away by others, nor does she like owing anyone anything.

So if Roland thought this way, and even considered that she needed the opportunity to reach the source to complete her own magic and directly gave herself the opportunity, then Youzhu could no longer feel the same way about the gods as before—otherwise she would only owe more and more, and it would be far beyond what she could make up for by working for the gods.

She needs to pay more attention to some things.

"...Yeah, I understand."

Seeing Yuzhu's expression, Roland smiled but didn't say anything more. He simply walked over to the device that looked like a giant gemstone.

Just then, the door to the equipment opened, and with black smoke billowing out, Rin Tohsaka, her face dark with rage, crawled out.

Seeing Rin Tohsaka like this, Roland helped her up.

"Are you alright... and is this device really reliable?"

Rin Tohsaka, supported by Roland, leaned against him and made a sound only when she brought her face close to his ear.

"There's a slight problem with the setup, so Roland, come in and give me a hand, okay?"

....

155. Rin Tohsaka: Your turn is over!

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

Inside the jewel-like shuttle, Roland and Rin Tohsaka sat side by side in the middle row of three seats.

This device resembles a small train carriage, specially treated to provide excellent sound insulation. With windows that allow visibility from the outside but not from the inside, it's perfect for anything from discussing something private to staging a locked-room murder.

"Ah, there was a problem with the barrier design, that's why I asked you to fix it."

Rin Tohsaka said with a smile, but Roland shook his head slightly.

“Rin wouldn’t actually come to me for things like this—just like Medea wouldn’t come to me if she had problems with potions or machine god research, or if Touko needed help with dolls or life creation. Rin is the same way.”

“They each have their own proud areas in magic, and if they are short-handed in those areas, they can allow others to help out. But they cannot allow an equally skilled magician to interfere with the difficulties they encounter in their area of ​​expertise—unless it is an elder.”

At this point, Roland and Rin Tohsaka's eyes met.

"So Ishtar, stop beating around the bush, you've come to me because you have something to say, right?"

Roland saw through Ishtar's act, and she stopped pretending. The perfectly elegant, well-behaved smile that suited the Tohsaka family's young lady was gone, replaced by an expression that was neither confident nor arrogant, befitting a goddess.

“There is something going on... but what I’m really curious about now is how you recognized me—after all, even though you gave a whole bunch of reasons, you obviously recognized me before that, when you helped me up. You just realized I had something to discuss with you, so you were just playing along.”

When Ishtar asked that question, Roland shrugged.

"There's a saying that no two flowers in the world are exactly alike, so only careless people who only look at faces can't tell the twins apart."

“You and Rin share a body, so you are indeed more unified than twins in this respect. But there are still big differences between you and Rin. You are you, and Rin is Rin. We have known each other for so long, so I can still tell the difference.”

Roland's tone was calm, and he spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world, which made Ishtar very happy.

Ishtar and Rin are indeed quite different, at least that's what they both think. So, among their few points of agreement is that they hate it when others mistake them for each other.

However, since they share a body and their personalities switch quite smoothly, even the perceptive Golden Wolf Beo often mistakes one for the other. Therefore, Ishtar is well aware that although Roland makes it sound simple, it will still take some effort to accomplish this.

But instead of showing her happiness, she directly questioned it.

"You probably didn't include acting skills in your statement. I do have acting skills, though. I'm not like Rin. She's just a tsundere loser who can't hide anything. But my acting skills are still pretty good, right? I think I acted very similarly to Rin!"

Roland blinked.

Who gave you your confidence?