章 1698: 13
Chapter 13: Chapter 9 Day 4
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shortly after Mordred has signed on to White and he has officially exited the War, Kairi excuses himself to go check on his daughter. With Mordred and Artoria stuck in some silent staring contest that I don't want to intrude on, I decide it's time for…dinner? breakfast? I'm not sure what exactly the meal would be- it's 'technically' morning, but it'd still be night-time outside. Though my prior pattern of "active during daytime, sleep at night" is probably not going to be all that relevant anymore.
It's as I'm thinking this, moving towards the kitchen, that I can feel the world around me pulse gently, and Reinhard's true power comes into play. The "Divine Protection of Sleep Immunity" certainly solves the potential future issue of day and night delineation- now I don't have to sleep and will always be perfectly rested. The immunity to magical sleep is a nice side effect, but it was already covered in by my Magic Resistance Protection.
Now…let's see. A meal large enough for, what, five or six people? Probably should make that eight given Artoria- she might not vacuum up food as much as the memes had her, but so far she hasn't exactly shown a limit to how much she could eat. Atalanta would probably like apples and pork, so apples and roast pork seems the most obvious. Even as I come to this decision, behind me I can hear chairs push back as Artoria and Mordred stand simultaneously. A glance behind me shows that both are beginning to armour up, but from my link to both I can tell neither are enraged or wanting the other dead so…
"If you're going to spar, do it in the dojo out the back."
"Yeah yeah, Master."/"Of course, Master."
Just as I'm beginning to turn back, I catch Atalanta exiting the corridor into the living room, casting a curious glance at the backs of the two Sabers.
"I take it things went well?"
I give a small shrug. "Worse than I hoped, better than they could have gone. At the very least Artoria is willing to give Mordred a chance."
Atalanta slips past me, taking a seat on one of the stools on the counter, and watches me silently as I begin to assemble the ingredients on the kitchen counter as I internally thank whichever branch of my employers decided that a constantly stocked fridge should be included in the housing. Apples, onions, potatoes, herbs, spices, butter, and a large slice of pork belly all make for a pretty large pile. I move to preheat the oven before turning back to the ingredients and, pulling a knife from the knife rack, get to work.
Cooking while Atalanta is watching is an...experience. There's the temptation to show off, but also, you know, not wanting to obviously show off. Eventually, I settle on just cooking as good a roast as I can manage. I make incision along the pork belly, before flipping it and seasoning its base with salt, pepper, and some sage leaves. From here, I roll up the pork belly, secure it with a length of string, and then place it in the tray, with onions and sage leaves forming a platter to rest the pork on. A drizzle of cider has the meat ready for the oven, so it's time to turn to the potatoes and apples.
As I begin to skin and mash the apples, I lose myself in the preparation, guided along by my various acquired skills, which causes Atalanta's voice beside me to almost make me jump.
"So, apples again, huh?"
She's there, sticking her finger into the mashed apples. I lightly bat at her hand. "Hey. That's for later- don't just take it."
"Food is supposed to be taken, right? You take what you need to eat, otherwise you don't eat."
"Ok, that might have its place at times but you're going to get this food no matter what, and anyways it'll taste better when it's done."
Atalanta doesn't quite sulk away, but I can see her ears twitch. I sigh. "You can have the apple skin if you want."
I gesture to the skin I have peeled off the green apples. An instant later, the skin is off the table, and she's lowering it into her mouth. I manage not to let myself get distracted by the sight and finish up the cooking, sliding the meat into the oven and getting the potatoes ready. This done, I take a step back and turn to face Atalanta, who has been silent the whole process, clearing thinking about something. Minutes tick by, and eventually she speaks.
"About my Wish…"
"Yeah?"
"Any idea what might work?"
Oof, that's a serious question, though not exactly an unexpected one.
"Gimme a sec- Ok."
I take a seat by the kitchen counter next to Atalanta. There's silence for a bit, as I consider where to start, which should probably be the very foundation of the wish.
"So, it comes down to what you want."
"I want a world where every child is raised with love. It shouldn't be hard. It shouldn't need a wish at all."
I pick up the last sentence, despite Atalanta's voice dropping in volume. A thought, and paper and pen appear on the counter before me. I write Atalanta's wish at the top, 'A world where every child should be raised with love', and then look to her.
"Right, but we need more specifics. Looking at this, three words jump out instantly- "child", "raised" and "love". Can you give me more there? What counts as "child", for example?"
Atalanta swivels her chair to me. "How do you mean, children are children, right?"
"Like, would you consider homunculi children- they might have grown bodies, but their mental and emotional development can be-"
Atalanta shakes her head. "No, I'm only talking about human children- those who would grow up to be adults and have children themselves, who they'd go on to treat properly."
"Ok, sure. And what do you mean by children specifically- how can they be differentiated? Can we use age, or is there something else?"
That causes a moment's pause, before she replies. "I believe a child becomes a youth at around seven years of age, when they begin to lose their first teeth."
I nod, and add that to the paper, where under the overall wish there now is a sentence; 'A world where every [human] child [up to the age of seven] should be raised with love.' Once that's done, I turn back to Atalanta.
"And raised? That implies the Wish would be limited to parental and other figures- children might still suffer from random chance and strangers and the like."
Atalanta grimaces at that as she responds. "I…obviously would prefer it if it were not so, but can you honestly tell me even the Grail would allow for such a wish?"
...No. No I can't. Honestly, the more honed the Wish can be the better, given the various bullshit built into the very setting that can't (yet) be changed. She can feel my emotions through our link, and so doesn't need to wait for my verbal response.
"After you told me of the limits of the Grail, I accepted that "a world where children would not suffer" might be impossible. I hated it but accepted it. My wish focuses on raising because there's no excuse for that not to come to pass- acts of the gods, and moments of misfortune may be unpreventable, but the intent behind raising children should not need qualifiers."
There's an edge in her voice towards the end that makes it clear just how much she's already having to clamp down on her emotions and desires. She had signed up for something better than this and was having to chip away bit by bit at her original dream, but here she was going to stand- on the ideal that even if suffering might not be preventable, children should at least be cared for by those that raise them. With nothing needed to be written down, I place my hand on Atalanta's shoulder in support for a moment before withdrawing it and taking a breath.
Here comes the big one.
"And finally, for now at least, what do you envision when you say, 'with love'?"
"Is it not obvious? Parents should care for their children."
"Right but is caring for all that- a parent can care for their child but still be forced to harm them. Consider; a single parent is forced to raise three children while only having the resources for themselves and two children. As the only breadwinner, if they don't consume their share, eventually all will die."
Atalanta's eyes are on me now, gaze hard.
"You do not believe 'with love' is correct."
I wave my hand from side to side. "Not…quite. I just don't think that'll give you what you're after. Even if you mentally rewired all parents to love their children, there would still be suffering in the raising process." Not to mention that directly interfering to change human nature itself was one of those things that might cause a Timelock.
Atalanta's fingers tap on the counter's surface. "And you would suggest?"
"To begin with, I'd say any changes to human nature are probably a bad idea- Not necessarily for the reasons Ruler argued but keeping the direct interference to humans low would probably help minimize the possibility of the Wish ending the worldline."
Atalanta makes a face at this but gives a slow nod.
"Also, you might want to try and limit the impact by making it so whatever changes you make can't and won't be noticed by ordinary society."
This causes Atalanta to reply. "Why? Wouldn't people knowing children are being helped help?"
I draw in a breath with a hiss before speaking. "I'm not sure how the things work exactly, but I feel that if human society knew for sure that children were effectively blessed, society would warp and change in ways that might impact it's progression. Keeping the causality of the change secret would mitigate that."
"Maybe, but I want that warping to happen. I want children to grow up loved and cared for, and so love and care for their own children."
I mean, it's a good wish, but… fuck I don't know enough about the QTL stuff. I only know what I know through internet osmosis; my experience with the lore of those Dynasty Warriors Fate games was basically 'in one ear and out the other', and I never played FGO.
"Ok. I can try to work something out, but we might need to contact a specialist in this beforehand. We'll probably need to revisit this a few times."
Atlanta glowers, and I raise my hands defensively. "I'm not trying to stall or anything- I just only know the general mechanics of the timelocks. I know altering human nature is almost certainly a no-no, and that making it so progress can't be made is definitely a no-no. But what I don't know is if a degree of social change would work, provided the change didn't make progress impossible."
"I have no reason to think think you're pointlessly stalling; I was angry at the world itself, not you."
"Thanks." And I honestly am grateful. "Going back to "Love", it might be better to section off parts of the wish to deal with various situations of parents; caregivers who wish to raise their children well but lack the resources would have a different solution than caregivers who are intentionally malicious towards their children, for example."
"That makes sens-"
Behind me, there's a crash as the dojo comes apart in a blast of wind, gold light and red lighting. Atalanta stops mid-sentence, and I can see Kairi poke his head around the door to his room, before seeing nothing serious is wrong and pulling back. I facepalm and take a few steps out of the kitchen and turn left to see the damage.
Artoria and Mordred are surrounded by pieces of debris, looking…well, there's an attempt by Artoria to look innocent as if it had nothing to do with her, and Mordred is trying to play the thing off as if it was no big deal. Which, to be fair, it isn't, I suppose- the dojo is self-repairing. As soon as the pair gingerly step outside the charred skeleton of the dojo, there's a weird…skip in the universe, as if it had glitched out for a second, and the dojo is once again standing there, repaired. Both Artoria and Mordred move to head back in, but…
'Food is nearly ready, if you two are up for that rather than any more property damage.'
'Food, you say-'/'Right away, Master!'
Those seem to be magic words for Artoria, who spins on her heel away from the dojo and back towards the house. Mordred stands there, taken aback at having been cut off so quickly, casting a strange expression to Artoria's back.
Atalanta, meanwhile, has departed with a shake of her head down the corridor to where Kairi's room is, and she shortly emerges with Kairi. They all take their seats, and a few seconds later I'm placing the pork roast with apple sauce and mashed potatoes on the table. There's some minor shuffling as everyone begins to serve themselves and while Mordred and Kairi pause to stare at their slices, neither Atalanta nor Artoria stand on ceremony. Seeing this causes Mordred to start eating quickly, as if to catch up to Artoria's rate and Kairi gives me a shrug.
"I guess let's see what all the fuss is about."
As he puts the slice in his mouth and his scarred face morphs in wonder, I can tell I've got another satisfied customer consumer.
-
As the meal is wrapping up, I pick up the sound of soft movements away from the dining table. I turn towards the sound, towards the room Kairi had been holed up in, and as I do I notice Atalanta's head swivel that way also. Artoria and Mordred don't notice, busy with their own thing as Mordred has gotten the last of the apple sauce and is holding it hostage for some of the last of Artoria's meat, but Kairi notices our movements even if he didn't hear it himself.
As I move to stand, both he and Atalanta are already out of their seats, Kairi seeming to move almost as fast as the Huntress in a dash down the hall. Mordred and Artoria pause their squabble at the explosion of movement, and both Sabers move to my side- Artoria casting a look down the hall while Mordred, the last of the food hanging from her mouth, speaks to me.
"You aren't going?"
"No. No I'm going to hold back meeting her for a bit- I want to limit my interactions with her as much as possible, until she and Kairi can make a decision regarding the future. I've tried to minimize how much my connections have any kind of bleed-through, but…" As I say this, I can begin to make out words from the room and drop my hearing to avoid eavesdropping, even as I reach out mentally to Atalanta.
'Atalanta, how's it going in there? I'm going to avoid meeting her directly for a bit so…'
'She has awakened and seems well, though right now she's confused about the appearance of her father.'
What, she's confused that he's there? Oh. The other meaning of appearance. Right, Kairi had grown his hair out and had collected his signature scarring afterwards. Is there a solution to that? Water magic might be able to fix that, but I wasn't goo- The world again twists, and I get the strange feeling of the World giving me another blessing. This time It seems I've collected Ferris' Divine Protection Of Water, increasing my healing Water Magic skill.
'If you find the time, you might want to let Kairi know I can fix the scaring if he'd like. No bindings or anything involved, just standard magic.'
There isn't a verbal response, but the general positive burst back through the link is good enough.
Well. That about wraps things up here for now. If that's going to be going on for a while, I might as well get other things moving.
"Artoria, Mordred. Mind heading out with me? I want to move the portal back to the park, and now seems as good a time as any."
As I say this, I again contact Atalanta.
'I'm going to move our location back to Trifas proper, probably with Artoria and Mordred. If Kairi's daughter is hungry, there should be stuff in the kitchen that she can have- fruit, cheese, bread and so on.'
Three positive responses later, and we're off, taking the upper corridor away from the room where Atalanta, Kairi and his daughter are.
-
The three of us exit the house into the catacombs, but the sight before us takes me aback. Rather than the relatively neat collection of bones, mostly stored away in their indents, the bones and stonework is strewed around, thin but brutal gashes covering most of the catacomb internals. What. As I'm looking around and Artoria remains close to me as if to guard me from an unexpected attack, Mordred bends down and inspects one of the gashes, then takes a few steps back into a pair of boot prints that have been left in the earth.
"This was done with a short spear- look at the groves, and how the slash goes forward to here. A spear with a cross-tip is what I'm seeing."
Mordred is pointing at a gash going from floor to distant wall, but it's her first bit that catches my attention.
"A short spear, you say. Artoria, you agree?"
Artoria gives a slow nod. "Yes. And I believe we both know whose spearwork this was- it seems Rider of Red has been here, likely shortly after we departed."
Yeah, I figured once Mordred said it was a spear with a cross tip. I guess Shirou saw our clash and tried to send his fastest Servant to help 'his' Saber- and from the lashing out here I have a feeling that Shirou used a Seal or two on Achilles. I let out a breath. That's…a problem for future me. Nothing to be done about it now, and it's all the more reason to get the base out of the one place Red knows I've operated from. Thankfully, Reinhard's instincts are telling me that there isn't an ambush up ahead, and so I'm confident stepping towards the exit, but we should still move fast in case Red returns.
"Right. Let's get out of here and back to Trifas ASAP."
It's only when we get out from underground and see the dark night sky that I remember that traveling through Trifas at night isn't going to be a simple walk in (or rather, to) the park. Artoria must have felt my realization through our link because she turns to me.
"Master, I believe we have two options in our return to the park; firstly, we might return the way we left. This has the advantage of speed, but if our opposition has placed forces to intercept us, they will likely be stationed there. The second is that we might take a somewhat longer path, circling around the city and entering elsewhere."
It's not a hard decision at all, at least for me.
"I want to keep homunculi casualties as low as possible, and they're going to be the ones stuck on the front lines. We can take a few minutes to cut around and be subtle about this."
"Very well, Master." Here, she takes a pause. "I will scout ahead to ensure we will not encounter ambushes from either Red or Black, and make sure there would be no mundane witnesses to our passing. Mordred, I am trusting you with our Master's safety."
An olive branch, or a test?
'You sure?'
Artoria's telepathic reply comes instantly, even as I feel Mordred behind me startle to attention, clearly unprepared for being addressed.
'If not now, then when? And in any case, I have confidence in your capabilities if, once again, Mordred betrays my expectations.'
"Of course, my liege! I won't let you down!"
Artoria doesn't verbally respond but does at least give Mordred a nod of acknowledgement before turning and bursting away. Mordred and I stay silent until she's out of sight, then Mordred heaves a sigh as if a weight has left her shoulders. She glances from me, to where Artoria had left, back to me, and I can feel her desire to ask me something over the bond.
"Mordred- you want to ask me something?"
"Right. So. Was Father always like that. Physically, I mean."
Oh, right. Even right to the very end, only a few knights knew Artoria's secret.
"If you mean was Artoria always a girl then yeah. She hid it because she didn't think people would follow her if she wasn't a man."
There's a pause, as Mordred squats down a few meters away from where the hydra dagger's poison burnt a hole in the grass. Speaking of, where is that-
"So, how was I born? Did Mother lie again?"
Oh. Oh for fuck's sake why am I stuck explaining Merlin's bullshit.
"No. No she told the truth then. Probably. At least part of the truth. On Artoria's and Guinevere's wedding night, Merlin…gifted Artoria…a way to do her duty."
"Merlin gave Father a dick?"
Air leaves my nose in a blast. That's what I get for trying to dance around the issue, I guess.
"Yeah, though just for that night. Anyways, Morgana infiltrated the wedding night and took advantage of the situation, and that's how you were born."
There's more silence, as Mordred processes this, and I take the opportunity to practice my earth magic, crumpling the contaminated earth up into a compressed ball that I pocket, while spreading the rest of the earth over the patch. I don't know how dangerous hydra venom leftovers are, but it'd just be…irresponsible not to at least stop some poor schmuck accidentally getting killed by the venom. I still don't see the dagger, though, and a review of my memories confirms that it was definitely here when I'd returned here after the fight. My only guess is that Achilles grabbed it on his way back, which meant…I'm not sure. Semiramis could probably do some poison bullshit to it, but she definitely already had hydra venom at her disposal, and I assume that she knew I was poison immune from our meeting at the Church. The worst I could think of is that she would now know for sure I was immune, but even that…
"-Master. Hey, Master."
I shake my head, realizing Mordred's been trying to get my attention.
"Sorry. Lost in thought. Could you repeat what you said?"
"I was asking if Merlin also was the one who kept Father's gender hidden. Like, did he maintain the immortal-boy-king illusion while she looked like…ya know. That?"
Whelp. This is the second time I've had to say this to, but at least she was going to be the last.
"No, Artoria stopped aging. I'm not sure exactly when, but it was either when she drew Caliburn or when she took up Excalibur and Avalon. How she looks now is how she'd have looked if she'd aged properly; it's one of the things that came with my summoning."
"Huh. So, it's like that."
"It's like that."
"And her…inhumanity? Was that also something like that? Thrust on her like youth?"
"No. No, that was all her. To be the perfect king, she made that decision that she couldn't let herself be biased. Though now that those responsibilities are lifted she's in the process of learning to drop that and, I guess, being human again."
There's more silence, and then Mordred stands and stretches, signalling the conversation is over. With that, I look around the graveyard and touch up some of the more obvious acts of magic, like the hill I'd raised, or the grave-mine Kairi had set off. It's as I'm clearing up the second that I feel Artoria's returning presence, and I assume Mordred also feels it give how she springs to attention and faces the gate.
Seconds later, there Artoria is. Seeing me unharmed, she gives a nod and reports back.
"I have found us a route that should allow us over the wall while encountering minimal resistance."
"Thanks." I then turn to Mordred; "Just to confirm something- in my vision, you were unarmored when you entered Trifas and ran into Black's response force. Did that happen here?"
Mordred tilts her head. "No. Master was worried about you guys, and so I had to stay in spirit form until he ran into the patrol. I fought while armored, and then was back in spirit form until we reached here."
Which meant that Black shouldn't have any idea about Mordred's details. A minor thing, but still something. "Right. Would you mind traveling in spirit form? We're going to try and avoid running into Black, but having you be a secret trump card might be useful." And here I turn to Artoria. "You too- I'd like to keep this as small as possible."
The two Sabers nod and dissolve into spirit form, Mordred slightly more hesitant about it than Artoria but still going along with the plan. Right then, let's head back to Trifas.
-
I bound across the rooftops of Trifas both spirit-form Servants behind me, using instinct and my magic senses to avoid the trapped roofs between Trifas' outer wall and our goal. We hadn't been entirely silent; the city walls themselves had been enclosed with a total barrier that, I assume, acted as a warning system we had had no choice to activate. Well, we could have blown a hole in the walls, but that would have been both needlessly rude and also alerted Black just the same. Still, even after that forced activation it was proving easy enough to dodge Black's various defences. The stationary fields on the street were easily avoided, and Black's patrolling Golems and homunculi were simply too slow to even catch a glimpse of us. The only homunculi I had had to engage with at all were the first two I had seen, a pair of guards on the wall near our entry-point, but it had been a simple matter for me to just blitz behind them and put them to sleep with a touch- Reinhard's ability to induce sleep via mana-draining touch coming in handy.
The real aggravation was the airborne eyes littered through the night sky- I could dodge patrols and dance around the fields all day, but flying scouts weren't so avoidable. Thankfully, the airborne scouts over Trifas were lifeless golems, and so I had no problems with just blasting them before they could get a look at me. Speaking of- as I land on the next rooftop I fling out my arms in opposite directions, fingers on both hands splayed.
"El Jiwald."
A laser erupts from each of my digits, and there's a single instant where ten of Yggdmillennia's aerial observation golems are simultaneously pierced. Rather than just eliminating the ones between my entrance and the park, I'd been shooting down golems all over the sky. Behind me, still in spirit form, Mordred lets out a telepathic 'whistle'.
'Huh. That ain't bad. You're pretty good at this, Master..'
I pause for a second in confusion, before realizing that Mordred had yet to actually grasp that I wasn't just a 'Master who was better at combat than Kairi'. Before I reply, I hear Artoria's 'voice' turn almost-smug.
'You are easily impress-'
Nope. 'Come on, we're almost there.'
With that, I skip across the next rooftop that looks down on the park, and then make the leap down into the park, the Pendragons following behind me. As I touch down, though, I feel an approaching presence. As I recognize it, I feel my face scrunch up but...whatever. It wasn't like things had really broken down between me and Jeanne. I contact the two Sabers as I move towards the clearing we'd been using as a meeting place and portal base.
'Heads up both of you. Ruler incoming.'
Moments later, Jeanne appears- not out of breath, but clearing having rushed here. Her eyes flick from Artoria, to armored-Mordred, to me, and she visibly takes a breath before speaking.
"I greet you, Master and Servants of the White Faction."
No more 'technically not a faction', I suppose. "Hello, Ruler."
Again, her eyes glance back at Mordred. "I had wished to contact you in order to investigate the clash that occurred tonight, as well as discuss your official entry into the War. Would it be alright if we talked?"
A small burst of magic and four simple earth seats again rise in the clearing. I gesture at the one nearest Jeanne and take a seat myself. Artoria also sits on her chair, but Mordred holds back for a moment, helmet turned to face Ruler as she evaluates her. As Jeanne sits, though, Mordred takes her seat.
'Mordred, would you mind collapsing your helmet? It'll probably speed things up.'
'Do you trust her, Master? You just talked about how having an unknown Servant ace in the hole might be advantageous.'
'I have my disagreements with her, but I trust to follow the rules of the War as she interprets them. She isn't going to be blabbing anyone's identities without cause.'
With that, there's a clanking sound as the Secret of Pedigree falls away, and Mordred's face is revealed to Jeanne. As her True Name Discernment kicks in, her eyes widen and then she nods, as if having gotten the solution to a puzzle.
"Ah, things make more sense. I understand why you were reluctant to speak of the identity of Saber of Red."
"Right. You noticed when Archer switched to White? Shortly after, Mordred challenged Artoria and I to a fight, which was the clash that you probably noticed. The outcome of that is as you see."
"And the previous Master of Mordred? Is he alive, or dead?"
"He's alive. I engineered a ceasefire of sorts by granting the Wish he was after. From there we talked, and he agreed to pull out of the War while letting Mordred sign up with us."
"And the reason I cannot sense him is…?"
"He's in the portal-house at the moment, which is cut off from the world proper. I couldn't use my Servant-Master link between house and world, back when we first met," And again I test it here, trying to contact Atalanta with my standard Master Servant telepathy, with no success, "so I assume he's cut off because of that."
"My last question on this topic, then. You all guarantee he is being treated as a guest, free to leave at any time?"
"Yeah."/"I give you my word we have no intention of harming him."/"He's fine; I wouldn't have joined White otherwise."
Jeanne gives us a small smile at our replies. "In which case, I appreciate your mercy. Granting the wish of a competitor in order to have them resign of their own will is an act of unusual kindness."
She continues without pause, in a more serious tone. "I assume you know I will have to correct my report to the Black Faction? I had previously assured them you were not participants in this. However, as you have officially joined the War I cannot allow them to operate on misleading information I provided as Ruler."
"I expected as much. Not going to try and tell Red?"
She shakes her head. "No, though I believe that would be unnecessary- after all, their haste in trying to move against you tonight indicates they view you as opposition."
That's all fair enough. Losing the element of surprise against Black wasn't a big deal, as I had a feeling that both Darnic and Vlad would have been assuming White was hostile in the first place. In any case, my plan didn't require surprise in the first place, and that was made before a second Inexhaustible Mana Bursting high-grade Saber had signed on.
"In regard to your actions thus far, you have not broken the rules of the Grail War, and thus far have been operating properly. There is no need for me to censure you for your actions thus far."
"Thanks. I've always wondered though, what are the rules of the Grail War? Like, I don't actually know any formal rules, and I'm fairly sure the founding families were all going to cheat as much as they could, so building in unbreakable rules, or a neutral party to enforce said rules in seems…off."
My question causes Jeanne to pause as she brings her finger to her mouth and speaks. "As you say, there are no formal and unbreakable rules built into the Grail War. Rather, the Grail summons a Ruler when actions that threaten the authority of the Grail itself are felt; in this case, it was likely the Black Faction's attempt to control all the Servants of the War that guaranteed a Ruler would be summoned, even without the circumstances of Red. Once summoned, it is up to our interpretation as to how to best safeguard the authority of the Grail. We are also tasked with preserving the separation between mundane and supernatural, though the details are again left to our discretion."
"Well, I'm not planning on threatening the Grail itself, and I'm fine with trying to keep things as low-key as possible. I assume you've decided that mass collateral would go against your final task as Ruler?"
"Correct. I believe the unnecessary mass death of humans would threaten the separation and so must be prevented."
I can tell that's…definitely stretching the intent, in a Lawful Good way- I don't believe there's any way the founders cared at all about mass collateral or the like. Still, I'm not going to object to that; it wasn't like I'd be allowing any such actions to happen if I could prevent them, nor would Artoria. Even Mordred, back in Apocrypha itself, made it clear she wouldn't use her Noble Phantasm if it'd catch "her subjects" in its blast. The Servant most likely to be ok with collateral to achieve their aims was probably Atalanta of all of people, provided the collateral were adults anyways.
"Ok. I wasn't going to do that, so…"
"My only warning about your conduct is as follows- the purpose of a Grail War is for it for the victor to make their wish, and for the Grail War to conclude. If you plan to recruit and incarnate every Servant in this War, you would be challenging the authority of the Grail and I would be required to step in."
I meet her gaze.
"I know. I'm not planning on incarnating every Servant; to begin with; White has a Wish we're aiming for. As things are, at least five more Servants have to be defeated to make that Wish."
As soon as I bring up how White has a Wish, Jeanne's face becomes visibly pained.
"I take it it is the same Wish?"
"Yeah. Though…steps are being taken to limit free will infringement. As things are, it's probably going to be more mass coincidences than mass brainwashing. We're still ironing out the exact details, though."
"Well, I am glad my worst fears are not likely to come pass, though I still believe the reigns of progress should only be grasped by the mankind of the present."
I can't help but throw up a quote at the last bit. ""The reins of history, back in the hands of man" eh? I still can't agree- even more-so given I know that you believe incarnated Servants are to be counted among the living."
"Incarnated Servants have still died, and as such I believe their time should be over. Still, I cannot see either of us budging on this issue and while I have my personal disagreements, I will not stop you fighting for such a Wish."
Artoria is still silent on this topic, having heard most of this already, but I can feel Mordred's confusion over our link, and so I'm not surprised when she speaks up. Jeanne is, though, as until now Mordred has been content to stay silent.
"Wait, hold on. You think Servants shouldn't make wishes after the War because we've died? What'd be the point then? We signed up for our Wishes, and there was nothing about a sort of Wish that was objectionable."
Jeanne shakes her head.
"You misunderstand. I do not object to all Wishes of Servants, merely those that would dictate the course of the living. A wish to incarnate, or a wish to regain something they had lost are all appropriate."
Mordred lets out a bark of a laugh. "Just for the future, you shouldn't go around saying that- people might think you're going to make yourself their enemy. A lot of Servants don't have small and selfish Wishes like you seem to think we have. Heroes have bigger wishes than ordinary people- we want to rule a kingdom, to change history, to enact large changes across the world."
Jeanne meets Mordred's almost contemptuous gaze steadily.
"And what of your Wish? I must assume that you have thrown it away in joining White, given how Atalanta's wish is White's objective- do you believe your Wish lesser than Atalanta's, or did you find new meaning that you had not acknowledged before beyond your Wish?"
"You bi-!"
As Jeanne continues to impassively remain seated, Artoria's hand springs out, cutting between Mordred and Jeane as Mordred half-rises from her seat as if to leap at her. The scene is held for a second, before Mordred pulled herself back onto her seat and her helmet clacks back into place. As this happens, Jeanne turns her eyes to Artoria, who meets her gaze with an expressionless mask.
"In this case, you are correct in that Mordred's wish turned out to be personal" and isn't that word said with some venom despite the lack of expression "but I do have to agree with him that many Servants would not have purely personal wishes. Your belief that simply being a Servant disqualifies one from making a Wish that a Master would be able to seems…questionable."
"I do more clearly understand that my position is less instantly universal than I had thought. I still hold my position, but as I said before I will not enforce a ban on such wishes."
"Non-interference is all we would ask of you, Ruler."
And Artoria's words, I feel, about wraps this all up. At the very least, this conversation has made me less hostile to Ruler, even if I still can't bring myself to agree with her. We all stand, and she gives us each a nod of acknowledgement that Artoria and I both return but Mordred doesn't, and then she turns and leaves the clearing as the sun begins to come up. With her exit here's a silence among, until Mordred's helmet collapses down and she spits to her side.
"I'm glad you don't get on with her, Master. She's a pain."
"Do not be angry because she judged you accurately."
Artoria's harsh reply cuts in before I can respond, and again the clearing is filled with an awkward silence as Mordred shifts uncomfortably under Artoria' gaze. Time for me to step in again to get things to cool off.
"So, Mordred. I have plans for all of us tonight, but don't have anything lined up for the day. Do you have anything you'd like to do? Black doesn't have True Name Discernment and they probably haven't spotted you out of armour so you might be able to tour the city if you wanted, though it isn't that interesting."
"I don't really have plans, Master. Just being able to head out in the day is better than before. What have you guys been doing?"
Hmm. "Atalanta only joined us right before you sent us the challenge, but Artoria and I haven't really had much downtime. Most of our time has been heading place to place to talk to people or to prepare for other stuff- other than sparring with Artoria I haven't done that much yet."
"You sparred with Father?-"/"There was the time you took me out into the city to court me, Master."
There's silence as Artoria bursts into the conversation with all the grace of a wrecking ball, landing a direct hit on the topic I'd been planning to bring up more gently. Both I and Mordred turn to Artoria in disbelief, although the source of our disbelief clearly comes from two different places. It's when I see Artoria's smug expression that I realize that she did this on purpose, to have something to rub in Mordred's face. Mordred, meanwhile, manages to pull her gaze from Artoria to me with a…complicated expression on her face.
"You…want to court Father?"
Might as well rip this bandage off now, I guess. I keep my eyes on Artoria's face and raise my eyebrow to her as I reply. "Yeah."
A strange, strangled sound fills the clearing- a sound I only identify as Mordred dead-eyed laughter when I turn towards her and see her face.
"Ha. Hahahaha. Why would you want that, Master? You must know Father's history of romance, right?"
Artoria's face clearly shows the offense she takes to that statement.
"And what do you mean by that?"
"Just look at how your relationship with Queen Guinevere turned out, though given your nature I guess it's no surprise that that fell through. I'm telling you, Master; getting romantically involved with Father is a mistake. For your own good, stay away-"
"While I will admit that, due to the falsehood built into the foundation our marriage, Guinevere was forced into a life of misfortune I will take issue with your insinuation that I have no hope in succeeding at romance!"
"Do you even know what romantic feelings are, oh King? Because from what I know you were a poor partner who drove your Que-"
Oh, that's too far.
"Ok, that's more than enough Mord-"
I'm cut off as silver-white gauntlets touch the side of my face and turn and pull it down, and soft lips envelope my own. Oh. Well then. My right arm moves behind Artoria's thin waist, and I pull her closer, deeper into the kiss and almost raising her off the ground. Prodding metal reminds me that Artoria is still in full armour, but a thought is enough to dismiss the breastplate and, as the kiss deepens, I can feel her soft body press up against mine.
My mouth opens, and my tongue presses against her lips for a moment before she opens them, and our tongues dance against each other for what must have been only a second or so but what feels like an age. I can make out a choking sound coming from next to me, but that isn't important now. Eventually, though, we do have to break apart and Artoria turns to my side with a triumphant expression.
"I believe I understand the concept well enough." And then her gaze flickers back to me. "But maybe I do need more prac-"
I'm almost yanked off my feet as a sharp gauntlet digs into the back of my jacket and tugs. I step back and turn to find Mordred, face red and eyes glaring at me.
"You said you sparred with my father before, right? That sounds great! I want to do that with you. Right now!"
Is…Is Mordred trying to do a "concerned family member with a shovel" bit right now? That seems more than a little ironic given how that all shook out.
"Come on! Clap your hands and make the portal already! Unless you want to figh- spar out here!"
I'm not sure the expression of mirth that I can feel covering my face does anything to calm Mordred down, but…well, she probably does need a proper demonstration of what I can do for her to go along with my plan. Might as well get that done now, before we go over our plan against Black again. With a gesture, the portal home opens and Mordred tries to drag me through it. I catch Artoria's gaze and give her a shrug which she responds to with a burst of telepathy.
'Do not hold back on my account, Master. This could be a teachable moment.'
'Sure. And we'll come back to the topic of our 'practice' afterwards.'
Her slight smile at my reply is infectious, but is probably the reason why Mordred's tugs intensify.
-
The dojo fills with the members of White- Kairi and his daughter steering clear, but Atalanta decides to come and watch alongside Artoria. I step towards the center, where Mordred is waiting, helmetless but otherwise armoured up. In her hand is one of the training swords, currently held behind her head- I guess for all her…everything right now, she isn't going to use drawn steel against me, not without warning. I'd also picked up a similar sword from the wall, and it's dragging along the ground as I advance fairly casually.
"So, how're we doi-"
"Too slow!"
And with that, Mordred bursts forwards, mana erupting from her body in arcs of lighting as she jets towards me, blade coming down in an arc. Still, Reinhard's full prowess makes it easy enough to pivot out of the way of the charge and past me she goes.
"Am I just using a swor-"
She spins out of her charge, and I can see the white arcs of her swing flash out as she tries to bring the blade into my side. Again, I slip away, dodging that swipe also.
"Use whatever you like, Master! I'm still gonna crush you!"
Another flurry of attacks lashes out, and again I avoid them without needing to block with my sword. Reinhard's full potential makes Mordred feel, despite her visible use of Mana Burst, like she's moving in slow motion. Feeling the wall behind me nearing, I turn away and again let Mordred's new charge carry her past where I'd been standing, into the weapon racks behind me. The weapons on the wall go spilling into the-
The sword Mordred had been using cuts through the air towards me, though Arrow Avoidance causes it bend away at the last minute. Still, it pulls my attention away from Mordred for a second who launches herself towards me, a wooden staff in one hand and a new sword in the other. The staff is launched as a javelin mid-charge and Mordred's sword arrives only a moment after the staff also twists away mid-air. For the first time, I don't just dodge and block with my own practice sword. Both blades splinter apart from the head-on block and- hold on, is Mordred really already going at that level? With our blades reduced to stubs, I drop mine and she flings the hilt into my face while punching out with her other hand. Ignoring the hilt, I slip to the side and around the punch, one hand coming up below Mordred's outstretched arm and the other catching her torso before I push and twist, flipping her over my shoulder. Thank you, Blessing of Unarmed Mastery.
Mordred doesn't fly the very far into the air, but she does skid quite a ways away from me. When she springs to her feet, I can feel her outrage and embarrassment. With a yell, she scoops up another of the weapons that she'd previously knocked free and lobs it at me again, and again it twists away from me.
"He has some kind of automatic protection against ranged attacks! You aren't going to hit him like that!"
Thanks, Atalanta. I appreciate giving her advice. Mordred's face twists in anger at that and she turns, likely to show her appreciation for 'advice', but as her head turns towards Atalanta her eyes pass the other member of the audience and Mordred's face pales. Artoria is standing next to Atalanta, with what looks to be a blank expression on her face. However, through my link I can feel Artoria's…not glee, but definitely she's taking some enjoyment from this. Seeing her father there, watching, causes Mordred to visibly pull herself together and turn back towards me. She gives me another glance, more seriously evaluating rather than expecting an easy win.
"Master. You seriously can fight on this level? This really hasn't pushed you yet?"
"Yeah, I can. I already explained I'm not a standard Master."
"Right then, let's do this more seriously. I, Saber of White and bearer of Clarent, Mordred Pendragon, challenge you! I won't use my Noble Phantasm, but otherwise I'll treat this like a real fight. You do the same, right? First to land a proper hit wins."
As she says this, she unsheathes her real blade. In response, I grab Reid by the hilt and raise it similarly, sheath and all.
-
As her Master and Mordred raise their blades, Atalanta almost steps forwards to intervene. It was fun watching the sparring match and seeing someone else frustrated by their Master, but if either side was seriously injured the War would be in jeopardy. She only stops herself when she hears the words of the woman next to her.
"Do not be afraid. As long as I possess my scabbard, our Master will be in no danger from anything less than Mordred's Noble Phantasm. And I suppose if Mordred is anything, he is tough."
As the True Saber of White says this, there's a bust of motion in front and Mordred and their Master clash for real- the blows tearing through the floor of the dojo, wind from the exchanges sweeping up the scattered practice weapons and throwing them around in a storm.
"How did this even happen, anyway? I left you guys alone for less than an hour and she comes back dragging our Master here to have a duel."
True Saber's mouth twitches up before she speaks. "My Master and I are courting. Mordred took…exception to this."
Ugh, Artemis save her from romantic drama. Atalanta rolls her eyes before turning back to the fight, just in time to see their Master catch a downwards swing of Clarent with his blade with one hand. The block causes a shockwave through the room, and both sides shift to take advantage of the sudden lock. Mordred brings her other hand to Clarent's hilt, trying to force the swing through but before Mordred can manage, their Master's free hand glows white for a brief moment. An instant later, faster than anyone can process, Mordred's shoulder has been impaled by a trail of light- cutting through the armour and flesh of the Servant and piercing through the wall of the dojo. The (itself shockingly low) shock she feels at their Master overpowering the top-class Magic Resistance of a Saber and actually winning the match almost makes her miss the soft words that slip from the person besides her.
"That brings back memories; I remember that happening often. They really are more similar than-"
But there, the final sentence trails off into silence. Meanwhile, the wound is already healing, as their Master's inexhaustible mana supply allows Mordred to channel it into her shoulder. At the same time, their Master brings up their left hand to the shoulder, glowing blue with mana. As the wound disappears, their Master holsters his blade and extends his right hand to Mordred. There's a moment of silent communication between the two that Atalanta can't catch, likely telepathic, and then Mordred gives their Master a small, slow nod and accepts his outstretched hand.
Notes:
A (relatively) low-key chapter this time, with only a little bit of action. Hashed out some more details regarding formatting Atalanta's Wish (Atalanta's 'age of children' thing comes from Solon's 10 Ages of Man and his definition of what a child was), while Jeanne and White at least begin to patch things up- there's still (and probably always will be) disagreements, but with Rein toning down his rhetoric and Jeanne willing to at least step back regarding enforcing her views also things are better on that front. Jeanne is also a little too perceptive regarding Mordred, and so makes an enemy for life (Mordred is contentious) there's some new negativity there.
Mordred acting as both accidental wingman and then offended family member who doesn't think Rein is good enough for their daughter father was fun. This does not go as Mordred planned, with Mordred pushing Artoria's competitive buttons and Artoria already knowing how Rein feels towards her, and so (finally) progress on the romance front (which was also the time I had to work out the relative heights of the cast). As for the end of the duel, Artoria's line is about how Merlin apparently (according to the Babylonia anime) used to use the "block, hold and then beam" trick on her over and again when she was learning from him, and so Rein pulling that stunt on Mordred made Artoria nostalgic.
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