The Prince Of Magic

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Her musing was interrupted when a familiar voice appeared in her head.

'Hello? Can you lot hear me?' Her Master's voice said.

All retainers present blinked in surprise, looking at one another as they realized what happened.

They all heard their Master's voice inside their minds, and they heard it at the same time.

Scáthach then realized that the mind link that allows for them (the servants) to speak to their Master telepathically was opened.

It was not something new, seeing as their Master had done it before in the past. First with Arturia in the grail war, then with the others and so on.

In fact, all Masters in the grail war had some telepathic link that they used to talk to their servants via thought, what with their contracts acting as the anchor to make it possible.

In their Master's case, the Moon Cell Automaton acted as the anchor, which was more convenient than other types of spells related to mental interference.

Kieran and Scáthach were the exception to this rule since they were not summoned by Hadrian.

Kieran had been a Rogue Servant that was not summoned by the Automaton, while Scáthach herself was more of an independent Divine Spirit rather than a Heroic Spirit.

Her contract with Hadrian was more or less the same with the others, but was deemed as a kind of partnership by her Master. Which was something that often annoyed her since it caused Hadrian to give her less of his attention.

Scáthach preferred that Hadrian would lean on her for help most of the time instead of taking everything upon his shoulders by his lonesome.

Granted, there were his other servants, but she also wants to help him more, just as much like the others. Scáthach wished she knew what was preventing him from being comfortable around her.

Of course, in respect to their privacy, only the active thoughts they have would be shared with the others in the 'room'.

If Scáthach were to compare the experience to something, it would be similar to an online group chat, except the one they have was more versatile and safe from being hacked into.

'Master?' Astolfo called out.

'That you, Boss?' Yan asked next.

'Yes, it's me. Since you guys are far away at the moment, we will have to resort to this type of communication again.' Hadrian stated.

A round of voiced acceptance from all retainers were heard in the group mind link, with none were protesting to his words.

'Before you all set off, I just wish to tell you guys to be mindful of your actions. You're all in the Spider's nest now, carelessness would be the last thing that any of us would want to happen. So, please avoid using attacks that requires a great amount of magical energy. I don't wish to have an angry Ultimate One disturbed from its sleep.' Hadrian implored gently.

'We know and we'll try, Master.' All retainers, sans Dia and Kieran (that c.o.c.kroach, she thought), answered simultaneously, almost bored since they already discussed it earlier.

Their Master can be a worrywart sometimes. In hindsight though, given their current situation and location, his concern was justified.

'I'll be providing support for you guys here, so do your best to follow through with the plan. Oh, and one more thing, keep a lookout for any spawns of the Spider.'

The retainers blinked, turning to look at one another as if they just heard something ridiculous.

'… Spawns?' Charles said, almost hesitant to speak.

Back at the underwater headquarters, Hadrian resisted the urge to chuckle from hearing the cheeky retainer's tone of voice.

It was as if Charles was spooked by what he said. Then again, as Hadrian looked at the monitors and saw his retainer's expression, he supposed that Charles was feeling scared at the moment.

Cheeky the retainer may be, it would simply be disrespectful if Hadrian let his amus.e.m.e.nt show. Probably after this was over, but he would have to hold it in for the moment.

'The Chief Director has recently informed me that the Spider made smaller duplicates of itself over the years it had lived on the island. Said spawns were used as servants to search for food on the isle and as its watch guards. Fortunately, they are currently asleep for a week and still are. He also said that they might wake up if you guys cause too much ruckus, so avoid using the fireworks please.'

By 'fireworks', Hadrian meant the retainers' 'Noble Phantasms'.

The retainers do not need an elaboration on what he meant by that, seeing as he often uses the term enough to describe their Noble Phantasms in the past.

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