A king and a father at the same time?
It seems the Lionheart holds a very significant place in their hearts…
However, as Alaric observed the magus's cooperative attitude, he quietly downgraded the Lionheart's importance in his mind.
"What about his strength? Has the Lionheart ever demonstrated his power to you? Or, is he a Servant?"
Even after playing the Fate Grand Order, Alaric knew very little about the Lionheart, who had yet to appear—whether it was his Noble Phantasm or the possible classes he could assume.
This, of course, was based on the assumption that the Lionheart had manifested as a Servant. If he were alive, the situation would be different. Though he wouldn't have the enhancements of being a Servant, his abilities wouldn't be restricted. For instance, he would have unrestricted access to weapons and Noble Phantasms.
"The King is noble, but I can sense that he's not a Servant—"
The magus, as if letting go of her reservations, divulged information about the Lionheart without hesitation.
Not a Servant, but alive?
Though Alaric didn't have detailed information about the Lionheart, he still knew the general time period when Richard the Lionheart was active.
742 to 814 AD.
Considering it was now 1272 AD, that's a gap of several hundred years! Not everyone is like the Lion King, who merged with the Holy Lance to become a divine spirit and gain an extended lifespan.
This made Alaric even more suspicious of this so-called Richard the Lionheart's identity.
Leaving aside the mystery surrounding the Lionheart, Alaric was more interested in understanding the current scale of the Crusader remnants.
Just as he was about to inquire about the state of the Crusaders, Alaric's gaze paused on the magus's face, which was identical to Alaika's.
"How long have you been alive?"
Staring at the familiar face of the magus, Alaric suddenly asked.
Judging from the magus's adept use of magecraft and her command over familiars, she didn't seem like a novice. The same could be said for Alaika, who also appeared to be a seasoned magus.
Alaric wasn't sure if the Crusaders had a method to rapidly develop such skills, but if they could indeed fast-track abilities, he was curious about the Crusaders' capability for mass production.
The ability to mass-produce artificial lifeforms, equipped with high-level skills and magic circuits, would allow them to quickly raise a powerful group of magus or warriors.
"Three sunrises ago—"
The magus responded cooperatively to Alaric's question, only answering what was asked and never offering more than necessary.
Three days?
Hearing this, Alaric raised an eyebrow.
Honestly, this timeframe was within Alaric's expectations, but it still left him somewhat amazed.
"How many others were born with you?"
If there was one Alaika, then there could easily be two or three more.
Having confirmed the strong connection between the magus and Alaika, Alaric preliminarily categorized them as sisters.
"I belong to the second batch. Including myself, there are only seven of us left."
The magus's eyes seemed to focus as if she were speaking about something important to her.
The second batch, born three days ago.
Then the first batch couldn't have been born too long ago, either—
Alaric stroked his chin, curious.
"Do all of you look the same?"
"We were created from the same template, so naturally, we share the same appearance."
The magus spoke with a hint of nostalgia as if recalling a memory that brought her some comfort.
The same template? So, there's an original Alaika?
Alaric immediately understood the connection between Alaika and the magus, though new doubts surfaced.
"How did you manage to reach this level of strength in just three days? Or are your other sisters the same?"
"Through basic training, we were able to access the knowledge embedded within our bodies."
The magus explained.
Embedded?
Alaric gasped at this strange explanation, recalling the template she mentioned earlier.
If the original Alaika was used as the template for large-scale cloning, then it wouldn't be far-fetched for them to be born with knowledge.
Realizing his limited knowledge of magcraft wouldn't allow him to fully understand, he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he pressed on:
"What role did Maggie Friedman play in your creation?"
Before the words even left his mouth, Alaric's eyes took on a jewel-like hue. He had activated his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
The death lines on the magus's delicate body were visible to Alaric.
Having killed Maggie Friedman the previous day, who had been able to remotely control Alaika's body seamlessly, Alaric couldn't be sure if there were others in the Crusaders capable of the same feat.
From what the magus had said, both she and Alaika were from the second batch, with a total of seven. The first batch likely numbered around the same, or perhaps even fewer. The survival rate seemed low.
Even so, the ability to create a dozen or so powerful magus, controlled like puppets and used in suicidal battles, was formidable. This also made Alaric wary of the risks involved in communicating with these artificial lifeforms.
Just like with Maggie Friedman—if Friedman hadn't taken the risk to speak for herself, Alaric might never have realized that Alaika had already been replaced.
Thus, Alaric activated his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to check for any death points on the magus similar to those of Maggie Friedman.
The result was that Alaric found no abnormalities in the magus.
"Maggie Friedman? She was nothing more than an insignificant breeder who followed the King's orders. She couldn't even withstand a simple curse."
The magus described her dismissively, as though she were a mere bystander—a figure who, despite creating their lives, remained a nobody in their eyes.
Even though she was their creator, in their eyes, Maggie Friedman is still just an insignificant breeder, while the Lionheart is revered as their father, a figure who commands their loyalty.
Alaric glanced over at the magus. Despite being created from the same template, aside from their identical appearance, there seemed to be no other similarities between her and Alaika. The differences were particularly stark in how they handled sensitive information.
"Now that Maggie Friedman is dead, do the Crusaders still have the ability to produce more lifeforms like you?"
"The template is dead. I am both the second and the last."
Hearing that the template had perished, Alaric suddenly recalled an overlooked question.
"So, does the knowledge of Heroic Spirit summoning come embedded in you as well?"
Unlike other types of magical knowledge, Alaric was well aware of the intricacies of Heroic Spirit summoning. It's not something a single magus could manage—it's a grand summoning ritual, just like the one in Jerusalem where someone had to rely on the Holy Grail to summon Ozymandias. Only someone as powerful as the Lion King could sustain the summoning ritual alone.
Moreover, summoning a Heroic Spirit isn't something that can be done casually. The complex techniques behind it require an extremely powerful medium to support.
The magus didn't possess such capabilities.
"That summoning ritual was a gift from the King. It wasn't part of the template's knowledge."
The magus shook her head.
"Then how did you perform the summoning?"
"By using the ley lines to supply the magical energy needed for the summoning and to sustain our activities."
The magus obediently revealed the Command Seals on the back of her hand. The crimson lines intertwined, emitting a strange aura.