44: Odd Company
- Location
- Germany
[X] Hand him over to Kotomine.
[X] Receive visitors.
[X] Receive visitors.
Ida takes a moment to register his current state and then hops off the bed. If Koji can't notice her, there isn't any way for him to keep her interested. Instead her attention faithfully returns to where it belongs. "What do you want to do with him now, Elder Sister?"
"Not much. We'll bring him to the church and let Kotomine handle him from there."
"I see." Ida bites her lower lips. Her eyes flit around the room before settling back on you. "Does that mean you won't allow me to kill him?"
"Correct," you tell her bluntly, even your heart drops alongside her smile once she processes what you said. "Idasviel, you need to learn how to think ahead. What do you think is going to happen after we kill him?"
"I'm not sure. I suppose I'll kill whoever you want me to next?"
You can tell that she tried to think her answer through, but your point eludes her. A fact that makes her squirm with disappointment at herself for failing to please you.
"I am talking about the immediate consequences," you say. "Hänsel and Gretel are still afoot. If you kill Koji it'll either be the same as killing them as well, or giving them the opportunity to seek us out in revenge, at which point you'd have to kill them directly. Do you want that?"
"No. I'm sorry for being thoughtless."
"I'm not trying to blame you, but you should try to think ahead." You gather Idasviel into a hug to stop her from collapsing in on herself. She limply stumbles into you and lets her head drop on your shoulder.
"Are you sure? What if I come up with an idea you don't like?"
"You don't have to be afraid. After all, I'm perfect, which means so are the conclusions I come to. Even if you don't find the right answer immediately, I trust you to hear me out."
Ida slowly nods to herself and then returns your hug with renewed vigor, squeezing you like a grape. For the sake of her spirits, you refrain from reprimanding her for not holding back her strength more.
"Does that make me one of your students as well?"
"You even have the honor of being my favorite one." You gently run a hand through her hair and hum to let her soak in your presence. This isn't the first time that her mental state took a sharp turn for the worse, but if it's to get her smile back, you don't mind lending her your shoulder.
Ideally she'd be happy all the time, but as great you are, naturally so is the specter of your displeasure bearing down on her. It's the pressure mortals are bound to feel in the presence of the divine, as it ought to be. But then things also ought to be as pleases you.
It's Idasviel jumping out of your embrace that pulls you away from your thoughts before you descend into ruminating on the two conflicting ideals. With a wellspring of energy to make up for lost time, she hops back to the bed and hefts Koji over her shoulder. "There's a chance Hänsel and Gretel might try to rescue him, so if we don't want to fight them we should get rid of him as quickly as possible, right?"
"Indeed." The two of you share a smile at her efforts.
Then she rushes off to your car.
You drop Koji off at the church without much fanfare. Eliza Kotomine does make a fuss when she sees the state of the wretch you drag into her church, but relents when she learns that he's the Master of Avenger. However, she still doesn't feel the need to prostrate herself before you in gratitude, or reward you beyond 'letting' you keep the Command Seals you stripped from Koji. At least she accepts her role of clean up without complaining about the potential of having to deal with Hänsel and Gretel.
Soon you're on your way back home. Along the forest path—well outside the limits of the city proper—you find Amna and Annabella making the track to your castle. Upon spotting you, Amna hails you over like a common taxi. It takes a considerable amount of goodwill not to order Ida to simply drive past them in response.
As they climb into the back of your car, Amna gives you a simple greeting while Annabella silently slouches down into her seat. It's only after some prodding from Amna that she musters some of her usual extravagance.
"It appears that destiny has hastened our reunion for the sake of convenient traversal of this haunted woods. To think that the threads of fate would draw us together for comfort as well as strife."
You ignore her in favor of Amna. "Hello Amna. What brings you to me today?" It hardly comes as a shock that Annabella would be aimless after Krone's death, but you fail to see how either you, or Amna are involved.
"I found Annabella to be in a bad mood today. However, I am not proficient in raising people's spirits, so I thought I might turn to you for help."
Part of you wants to scoff at the idea. Cheering up an opponent is hardly your responsibility. However, you can hardly disagree with Amna's decision. Nothing in this world is a more plentiful spring of joy than your own presence. As such, you do not wish to rebuke her for a decision that is sensible in at least some regards. Very well, even if it denigrates you, play along you shall in return for your splendor being acknowledged.
"Annabella," you say, "consider yourself lucky that Amna has your best interest at heart."
"Truly! To think that there would still be a soul so pure within this world as to try to mediate our eternal conflict. My heart brews tears at the thought of her kindness, for it fears what ill fortune may befall her should my wicked eye gaze upon her unclouded." She accentuates her point by dramatically placing a hand on her eyepatch.
Even knowing that there's little substance behind her delusions, you have to suppress the urge to bristle at the implied harm. Instead you divert your attention to how fond Annabella seems to be of your fellow homunculus. "How do the two of you know each other in the first place?"
"The pact forged between us is one that defies-"
"I made her the same offer for non-aggression that I made you." Amna interrupts Annabella's tale matter of factly. "It was a matter of coincidence first and foremost that I encountered her before you changed my mind on the matter."
You drily chuckle to yourself. So the woman that insists on you being her mere equal happened to run across the fool with delusions of sharing your level of grandeur. Perhaps arranging such happenstance is the World's way of rebelling against your plans to attain True Magic.
"I see," you say. "You did mention something along those lines. So Annabella is who I'll have to defeat, while you take yourself the luxury of safely watching from the sidelines."
While Amna struggles to find a proper response, Ida uses the lull in the conversation to speak up. "Don't feel too bad about it Amna. I like having less competition for Saber."
"I propose a different covenant," Annabella says. "
"That does sound fair," Amna says, still slowly considering the idea with each word. "I don't exactly want to fight either of you, but I don't want to make you fight each other either. If we are the only Masters remaining, the two of you are as free to fight me as you are each other."
Ida's eyes flicker from the road to the rear view mirror. Given the hunger in her eyes, she might just be tempted to pounce on Annabella before you have a chance to agree to a temporary truce. Then she composes herself and focuses on driving.
"Your change to the terms is agreeable," you tell Amna. You turn in your seat to give her an approving smile. Then you address Annabella. "As for your offer, I fundamentally reject the framing of counting the two of you as goddesses alongside me. However, I am at least willing to consider the core of your proposal. You have this evening to earn my favor. Until then, I will at least extend you safety as my guest out of consideration for Amna. Naturally, that is on the condition that you don't start any trouble yourself."
"Hohoho! Fear not. The dark forces within me shall manage no mischief tonight."
"Good," you say. "Now then, that's enough with the formalities. Do you want to talk about what happened with Krone?"
"That…" Annabella's usual bravado trails off into inaudible mumbling. She has been putting up a brave face until now, but evidently your question was enough to push her to her limit.
Amna lacks your context on what happened, but Annabella's sudden silence is enough of a hint in itself. Unable to find a better solution, Amna tries to show support by placing a hand on the other woman's shoulder and giving it a stiff squeeze.
"There might have been a most foul betrayal." She eventually speaks up again, her voice regaining its usual vigor word by word. "My patron amongst the modern magi is not to be confused for an ordinary mortal. His temporary vessel might have been devastated beyond use, but the seed of his soul has already been planted anew."
"I see." You don't press her any further. Given her usual demeanor you aren't sure how serious to take her claims. She doesn't sound particularly convincing, but a magus using some kind of puppet instead of their real body is hardly unheard of. Regardless, Ajax is dead and Odysseus is still at large. Whether or not one of the Masters managed to fool the people around him to escape with his life is a secondary concern. You'd still rather know for certain, but you don't quite feel the urge to interrogate Annabella. "Then let's set the topic aside. We'll arrive at the castle soon. I'm sure we'll be able to hold a more pleasant chat there."
She gladly takes your cue to let the conversation trail off for the moment. Of course, at this point it only takes a minute, or two before you arrive at your temporary abode. The moment Ida stops the car, Annabella jumps out of it and excitedly skips towards the castle.
The three of you remaining exit the car in a more composed manner. It's now that you're out in the open that Kamehameha and Date Masamune decide to join you. The two Servants manifest near you. You've gotten used to seeing Rider match Amna's form of dress with a suit of his own, but aside from the matching eyepatch Saber was quite the contrast to his Master.
Where Annabella is once again wearing an elaborate dress, Masamune is wearing a light blue yukata, a fairly simple robe, with a pattern depicting dragon-shaped clouds. Despite it still being fairly cold, he wouldn't look out of place at a summer festival, except for the fact he's still wearing his crescent moon helmet alongside his more casual attire.
Of the two, Kamehameha is the first to greet you. "Thank you for welcoming us once again."
"You're welcome. My hospitality shouldn't be taken for granted, but I'm willing to open my doors to sufficiently reverent supplicants."
"I do consider myself lucky to have such a reliable friend," Amna says. Despite the usual presumption, you do have to grant her that she's rather considerate under her stoic exterior.
"On the topic of gratitude," Saber says and holds a small cloth wrapped bundle out to you. "It isn't much, but I hope you'll enjoy them with some tea."
You accept the package with an appreciative hum. A quick glance lets you tell that Annabella is already being ushered inside by Mel and well out of earshot. "I see you at least have some manners. Tell me, do you believe Krone somehow managed to survive?"
"He definitely had some failsafe prepared, but Odysseus did a good job of working his way into his confidence. If he learned what his master had prepared, I fully expect him to have found a way around it. What I can tell you for certain is that the contract between the two of them is severed. That being said, it'd be more convenient if Krone actually died, so I'm keeping my guard up for his survival."
"That strikes me as overly hostile towards an ally," Amna says.
"An ally to his Master perhaps," Rider says, "but also to some extent her superior, which is hardly ideal when he's ultimately still an opponent."
"Exactly," Saber says. "The situation isn't helped by me having to step lightly around the topic to avoid the risk of her using a Command Seal to stop me from potentially killing him. But let's not linger on a hopefully solved problem."
"Not having a Master you can fully trust to make the best decisions sounds miserable," Ida says. There's some genuine sympathy in her voice, but the adoring look she sends you speaks louder than words. She is right of course, the other Servants are unfortunate for having been summoned by inferior Masters.
"I'd say the same about only being capable of blind obedience," Saber says. The insult in his words is lost on nobody, except Ida. "Regardless, it's not like I dislike her. She merely needs to grow more considerate about her loyalties."
"In that case you've let her wait long enough by complaining." You affectionately run a hand through Ida's hair as you start to walk towards the castle. It is one thing if he needs to unburden himself of concerning his Master's inadequacies, but judging by the animosity he just showed to your sister you need to indulge him no more. "That is unless you'd rather I tell her that you canceled her plans of a temporary truce for her?"
"That won't be necessary. Sooner or later, I can deal with you all the same."
You suppose you don't disagree, even if you find him much too optimistic concerning your future battle. With enough barbs exchanged for now, you lead the others to the sitting room to which Mel has already shown Annabella.
"Ah yes, finally you join me within this parlor of darkness," your guest says. She has already made herself at home, now lounging in a plush armchair, while holding a teacup in front of her with the utmost care in an attempt to project grace. "A most exquisite locale you have picked to entertain me."
You refrain from reprimanding her for making such a big deal out of a simple room for Amna's sake and just take a seat yourself. "I am the most gracious host you'll ever find on the surface of this planet. Consider yourself blessed for being allowed inside my home. Now, is there any request you'd like to make of me?"
Annabella stops herself from saying something and grows pensive. Ultimately, she asks you a question. "While the full truth might elude your clouded eyes yet, how did you gain a glimpse of my mentor's fate in the first place?"
A mirthless chuckle leaves your lips unprompted. Over and over again, the usurpers competing for your inheritance show their own ignorance. "This entire ritual revolves around me. Why wouldn't I have the means to monitor what happens in it?"
You signal for Amna to let you finish before she has the chance to complain about the imaginary size of your ego. Informing your enemy isn't usually the most prudent course of action, but in this instance a better understanding of your importance is most likely to stop their hand from being laid on you with lethal intent. "Know that what you're competing for is my beating heart."
Annabella interrupts your explanation with an undignified squeak.
While you are perfectly happy to move on and dispel whatever misconception she has by setting the record straight, your sister can't resist the opening. "Please, do not think of my sister that way. Direct all your violent urges towards me. I may not be able to surrender my heart as long as my elder sister still has a use for it, but I'll gladly take all your affection and return it in kind."
"That… ah, I mean, your words once again show that you are but a temptress in the service of the
"That's uncalled for!" an indignant Ida complains. You're quite certain that the title alone was enough for her to take a special interest in the self-proclaimed Grand Duchess of Slaughter and seeing her grow flustered now is bound to only entice your sister more. "There's nothing false about my love. I think your sense of style is alluring and the earnestness that shows through beneath makes you absolutely adorable. I could spend all night paying you compliments, but know this. I see you in your entirety and I have found you to be deserving of my love. Therefore you shall have it and, if my Master permits, I shall claim your love in return!"
There is no response. The passionate exclamations have driven Anabella to sink as far back into her chair as is physically possible. As panicked as she looks, the blush on her face speaks more of embarrassment than terror at the earnest threat made against her.
Her Servant is more collected and lays a firm hand on her shoulder. "Do not answer her." Then he looks at you. "I think you haven't finished your explanation yet."
"Quite so," you say. Ida quickly shrinks back from pushing Annabella any further, once she's reminded that it's your turn to talk, so you continue to speak. "What I meant to say is that I function as the Grail that will grant the wish of the winner. Once defeated, the Servants pour into me to fuel the cup of heaven. Not much remains of them once they're broken down into the ether that comprises them, but I'm hardly going to complain about the knowledge I do manage to gather."
"I see," Saber says. "I take it you glimpsed Shielder's final moments then."
"Correct."
"Not the most dignified sight to behold." Masamune shakes the thought out of his head and, after a short moment of silence, moves on to the next topic. "What would happen to the Grail if I killed you?"
You give him a wry smile. "Then you would be punished for your insolence by rendering this Holy Grail War as yet another failed ritual. I'd proclaim it your just punishment, but frankly, I can not conceive a punishment severe enough for robbing the world of my lustrous self. In comparison, merely depriving you of a wish you never had any guarantee to attain in the first place is an undeserved mercy."
You aren't being entirely honest. A person with the necessary expertise could transplant your heart into a replacement vessel. It'd be a crude and unworthy replacement for you of course, but as long as they only need to persevere until the end of the ritual, most magi would suffice.
"Wonderful, at least that's convenient for one of us," Saber says. "Do you have any other advantages we should be aware of?"
"You mean besides my general superiority? But let's not waste our time on silly jabs. Whatever boons I get from my condition does come at a price. It is my heart after all, I'd loath to have to offer it up to somebody else."
"Don't worry, Elder Sister." Idasviel protectively drapes herself over your shoulders. "I won't let anybody lay a hand on you without permission. If you have no desire for love, I'll keep you safe and make sure nobody ever manages to hurt you."
You pull her even closer to yourself, giving her an opportunity to nuzzle her cheek against yours. "I'll trust you to do just that."
"I don't think we have to linger on this topic." Amna is frowning slightly, though you can only guess if what's bothering her are thoughts about your death, or that your conversation so far has done fairly little to cheer up your other guest. "Annabella, is there anything else you might want to request of Kari?"
Now that the attention is back on her, Annabella manages to gather enough of her wits to formulate an answer. "If I am to be granted an offering of my own choosing, I decree that the treat that best quenches my infernal craving is-"
[X] to temporarily leave this realm behind and instead immerse ourself into a world shaped by my will.
Translation: The group is going to play a tabletop RPG.
[X] access to a treasure trove of stories, so that I may find delight within the tales of otherworldly heroes.
Translation: She's going to have a look at Karisviel's library. Will result in Annabella trying to lend Kari some manga to spice up her collection.
[X] to unearth a secret that slumbers within these woods.
Translation: Somehow Annabella learned about the ruins behind your castle and now wants to explore them. This is a bad idea, but Amna already agreed in your place without giving you an opportunity to object.
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