Section 5: Choice Between Day and Night

Good morning, Master.

I trust you remember what I said about my age?

Good. Even I have to admit it can be frustrating to deal with.

Exactly. I'm young by day, and old by night. Although even I have to admit it can be frustrating to deal with.

？！

Oh, also, now that I'm a Servant, it seems I can do things like this.

Yes?

？！

It's the older you!

You might have seen this in battle, but the Library of Alexandria holds my own Spirit Origin data, too.

So by accessing the library, I can switch between my Spirit Origins as I please, though only for a short while.

And of course, I'm only changing my appearance. My mind remains the same regardless of what I look like.

Granted, my vessel may influence my mind to some degree, but in general, you can think of me as a young man who sometimes inhabits an old man's body.

...

I'm afraid you'll just have to get used to it, much like the Sphinx's famous riddle.

Oh, so you know about it. Impressive. Yes, that's the riddle King Oedipus faced in Greek myth.

So you're not familiar with it? Well, that's no surprise. All right, let me give you a quick rundown of a classic Greek myth.

Once, a monster called the Sphinx took up residence in a key point known as Mt. Pelion.

This monster would present every traveler who wished to pass with a riddle. Those who could not answer properly, it would eat.

Once Oedipus, who was renowned for his wisdom, learned of this, he went to face the Sphinx himself.

？！

It's one of, if not the most, famous riddles in the world: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the daytime, and three legs in the evening?

Yes, that's the one. I see you are an educated lady. Anyway, when the Sphinx asked Oedipus this riddle, he answered it immediately.

He said that a baby crawls on all fours in the morning when they are born; a grown person walks on two legs in the daytimethe prime of their life...

...and an old person uses a staff to get around in the eveningthe twilight of their life. And so the answer is a person.

The Sphinx was so shocked to have its riddle answered correctly that it threw itself off a cliff, ending its own life.

Thus did Oedipus become famous, and won the favor of the queen... Though of course, that was the beginning of his tragedy.

？！

Oh, that? Greece and Egypt are actually much closer than you'd think, both historically and culturally.

There are even stories about the Greek gods running away to Egypt.

And that is one of the reasons I built my library; I wanted a place to keep stories like that.

But of course, that was my elderly self, so now that I'm in my youthful form, it's hard to believe I did that.

Oh, Master. You're up too, huh?

？！

Morning. I was just patrolling our perimeter with Sì Bú Xiàng.

Momomo! (Clearly happy)

I gotta say, it was a hell of a shock to wake up and see Ptolemaîos here all young and stuff.

？！

Oh, no worries. Here, this is for you.

？！

I was just doing some hunting. This is a weird Singularity, but at least it's still got living creatures.

And since you're a living creature yourself, you've gotta eat something to keep your strength up, right?

？！

Nah, it's just an old habit of mine. I can't help but hunt whatever prey I happen to see when out on patrol.

It's all the damn monks' fault for always getting on my case. Now I'm always on the hunt, even if I'm not actually hungry.

So, what's the plan now?

You need to ask? Now that our Heroic Spirit taming Master has two Servants to work with, we can begin our siege of the castle.

？！

Don't be scared, Master. This is the quickest way to get our hands on the Holy Grail.

The only question is, which one of me will you go with?

？！

Exactly. I'm sure you know this, but my daytime and nighttime selves fight fairly differently.

Not to mention the changes in the castle itself.

Oh, yeah. The castle itself doesn't change, but its atmosphere sure does.

I can already tell that sneaking in during daytime would be a completely different beast from doing it at night.

There you have it. From what I've been able to observe, there are fewer enemies about during the day than night.

However, night offers more favorable positions to us than day.

I'm sure Sugitani can handle either, so you should decide which best suits your own preferences.

Although to be honest, my old comrade would probably be better at mounting a siege than me.

？！

He and I always said we'd go to Okeanos together one day. But that is a story for another time.

That he was better at this sort of thing by no means says I am bad at it. Rest assured, you are in good hands.