Chaldea is a strange place where heroic spirits from all across history gather to protect the world. Master Ritsuka Fujimaru wakes up one morning to find their pillow missing, the cafeteria transformed into a battlefield, and Dr. Roman cheerfully announcing that there's absolutely nothing scheduled for the day.
A free day. Finally.
Except it really, really isn't.
Artoria Pendragon shows up with a deadly serious expression to request that Ritsuka 'guard the cake.' Emiya starts cooking lunch fo
A Lively Day at Chaldea - No pillow! Chaldea wasn't peaceful today either
There was no pillow.
It was such a small thing, but for Fujimaru Ritsuka at 6 AM, it was a fatal problem.
The moment his eyes opened, he realized there was nothing under his head. The bed springs were pressing directly against the back of his skull, and his neck ached with a dull throb. Ritsuka stared at the white ceiling for a while. White ceiling. Pale blue lighting. Mornings at Chaldea were always like this.
"……Where'd it go?"
He said it out loud, but of course the pillow didn't answer.
He threw back the blanket. Nothing. He peered under the bed. Nothing. He checked under the desk. He checked anyway, even though he was sure it wouldn't be there. It wasn't.
Fujimaru Ritsuka, eighteen years old. A normal human with short black hair and deep brown eyes, slender build. He had the title of Chaldea's only Master, but what that actually meant was getting dragged around by Servants every single day, with almost no time to himself. He had a habit of carelessly pushing his bangs back, and right now he was wandering around the room with a vacant expression. The white shirt and black slacks he was wearing were the same ones from yesterday—he hadn't even found time to change.
While searching for the pillow, Ritsuka thought absently.
This was Chaldea. The official name was the "Human Order Continuation Guarantee Organization, Chaldea." A facility built at 6,000 meters elevation on a snowy mountain in the Arctic Circle, almost completely isolated from the outside world. Three floors above ground, five below. About 200 staff members, plus thirty to fifty Servants—past heroes called by that name—stationed here at any given time. There was almost no way to leave; the only way in or out was by private helicopter or Rayshift, a space-time transfer technology.
Which meant if someone had stolen his pillow, the culprit was somewhere in this facility.
"Well……I'll look for it later."
His stomach was empty anyway. Food took priority over a pillow.
Ritsuka left his room.
The moment he stepped into the hallway, cold air touched his skin. Chaldea's corridors were supposed to be kept at 22 degrees Celsius, but for some reason they always felt a little chilly. White walls stretched endlessly, blue lights spaced at regular intervals. A long 200-meter passage with branches leading off to the left and right—Servant quarters, the cafeteria, and other sections.
Ritsuka glanced out the hallway window.
Pure white.
A blizzard. Beyond the glass was nothing but snow, ice, and rock. The nearest human settlement was 300 kilometers away in a straight line. The outside temperature was probably around minus 40 or 50 degrees. This place was completely like the edge of the world.
That's why the warmth of the hallway mattered so much, and that's why he'd wanted to make sure he had a proper pillow, Ritsuka thought as he walked.
The cafeteria was on the east side of the first floor. It opened at 6 AM, so it should have just opened.
He stopped before the door.
No sound came from inside. Usually the voices of Servants and the clinking of dishes leaked out into the hallway, but this morning it was quiet.
"……?"
He tilted his head and opened the door, and what greeted Ritsuka's eyes was——
An overturned table. A fork buried deep in the wall. A spoon embedded in the ceiling. Three chairs stacked neatly in the corner.
Ritsuka stared at it for a while.
"……Good morning."
"Good morning, Master."
A voice came from the back. One of Chaldea's cooking staff—a man in his thirties wearing glasses, holding a mop with a tired smile. Dark circles under his eyes.
"This……"
"Last night, sir."
The staff member sighed.
"The Servants gathered in the middle of the night. A meeting to decide the strongest breakfast menu, apparently."
"……A meeting?"
"Yes. On their own initiative. Over thirty of them gathered without anyone asking, and none of them would back down from their positions……and well, this is what happened."
Ritsuka looked up at the spoon in the ceiling. How was he supposed to get that down?
"Since the Servants are made of spiritual matter, even a slight miscalculation in their strength……"
"Yeah, well……I guess that makes sense."
Ritsuka figured it was only natural. Beings who could barely be scratched by normal weapons, talking about breakfast in a normal cafeteria—this was the inevitable result. He'd been surprised by things like this at first, but now he was used to it. This kind of thing happened daily at Chaldea.
"Sorry about the mess."
"No, I'm used to it. It's just another day with the Servants……"
The staff member said it with a genuinely practiced smile and kept mopping. Ritsuka found one table that hadn't been flipped over, pulled out a chair, and sat down. A few pieces of bread had miraculously survived on the cafeteria counter. He took one and chewed it absently.
It was quiet. Only the sound of the staff cleaning.
He'd almost forgotten about the pillow.
Then his communication terminal in his waist pouch vibrated.
Ritsuka checked the screen. It was from Romani Archaman.
Romani was the medical director—basically Chaldea's doctor. He managed the Master's health and checked the Servants' spiritual foundations. He had a gentle, slightly unreliable demeanor, and to Ritsuka he felt like an older brother. He always looked a little sleepy.
He opened the terminal. There was a voice message.
"Hey, Ritsuka! So about today's schedule……no Singularity repairs! No system maintenance! Completely free! Get some rest, okay!"
At the end of the message was an added note: "Really, there's nothing, so don't worry!"
Ritsuka stared at the terminal for a while.
Then he set the bread down on the table.
……A day off. Today was a day off.
Something deep in his chest loosened, just a little.
How many days had he actually gotten to rest since coming to Chaldea? Singularity repairs—going into places where history had warped with the Servants, coming back battered and broken after fixing them—that was basically his job. There were days between missions where he could rest a little, but he usually got dragged into something with the Servants anyway.
Today, there was none of that.
"Yes."
When he said it out loud, the staff member cleaning looked back. Ritsuka felt a little embarrassed and pushed his bangs back.
"I'm going to take it easy today."
"You've worked hard, Master. Please do rest."
The pillow thing could wait until later. He'd go back to his room, lie down, and just relax. That was all. Simple. That was fine.
Ritsuka finished his bread and left the cafeteria.
He walked west down the hallway. His room was on the second floor; the stairs were just ahead.
He turned a corner and stopped.
There was a notice on the wall.
Written in careful handwriting on white paper:
【Chaldea Goodwill Grand Sports Festival—Coming Soon! Seeking Executive Committee Chair! ※If suitable candidate not found, responsibility will be delegated to Master】
Ritsuka stared at the notice for three seconds.
"……Didn't see that."
He muttered quietly and looked away. He walked faster. Today was a day off. It didn't concern him. Even if he read a notice on his day off, he could pretend he didn't see it. That was a rule the world had. Probably.
As he walked, those words kept flickering in the corner of his mind.
《Seeking Executive Committee Chair》
《Will be delegated to Master》
"……What does 'delegated' even mean?"
He muttered it, then shook his head. Don't think about it. Today he wouldn't think about anything. Just go back to his room. That was all.
He collapsed onto his futon.
"……Haa."
He looked up at the ceiling. White ceiling. The same as always. Today he could just lie here and look at it peacefully.
His neck hurt.
"Oh right, the pillow."
There was no pillow. The back of his head was pressed directly against the futon. The angle was slightly off.
Ritsuka pulled out a towel and rolled it up. He placed it under his head. ……The height didn't quite match. He needed something a little higher. He tried adding another towel. Now it was too high and his neck felt like it was floating.
He changed positions. He turned on his side. He tried lying face-down. He rolled back onto his back.
Nothing felt right.
He opened a drawer and pulled out some clothes. He rolled up a shirt. The height was just right, but the shape was weird and it gradually collapsed. After five minutes it was completely flat.
"……Why is a pillow so important anyway?"
Voices came from the hallway. Servants laughing. Then shouting. Something fell to the floor. More laughter. Chaldea's mornings were loud even when it was a blizzard outside.
Ritsuka tried to close his eyes with the towel as a pillow substitute.
He couldn't sleep.
The voices in the hallway didn't stop. Footsteps running. Something hitting a wall. Servants tended to forget about force control even in hallways.
Ritsuka opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling.
Could he actually rest today?
He was thinking that absently when——
——The entire floor shook with a heavy THUD.
Just one impact. But it was enough to shake the whole building. The blue lights in the hallway rattled, and a book that had been sitting on top of his small refrigerator fell with a soft thud.
The direction was toward the basement first level. The training grounds—the Simulation Room.
Ritsuka stared at the ceiling for a while.
"……It's not my problem today."
He said it quietly, like he was convincing himself.
"Today's my day off, so it's not my problem."
He said it again.
But his eyes were still wide awake. The hallway was still loud. The towel still didn't feel right. And in the back of his mind, those words from the notice kept flickering.
《Will be delegated to Master》
Ritsuka closed his eyes and exhaled quietly.
He didn't feel like he was going to get any rest today.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.