[X][Avenger] Explain the possible consequences of an Avenger being summoned to the others.
Everyone has a stake in not fucking up the grail.
[X][Conversation] Confront Akihiko about how he plans to atone for the way he tried to murder you.
We need to remind him of his error and extract suitable reparations. While his concession from the war would be ideal, we can always put him in his place later if what he offers is insufficient.
[X][Leaving] Leave the temple peacefully and go to the church to inform the supervisor, now that you have a better idea of what's going on.
[X][Avenger] Explain the possible consequences of an Avenger being summoned to the others.
[X][Leaving] Leave the temple peacefully and go to the church to inform the supervisor, now that you have a better idea of what's going on.
[x][Avenger] Explain the possible consequences of an Avenger being summoned to the others.
[x][Conversation] Compliment Ayano for having been at least marginally useful tonight.
[x][Leaving] Leave the temple peacefully and go to the church to inform the supervisor, now that you have a better idea of what's going on.
Bonding over the Avenger hunt. How romantic~!
Akihiko's not invited, though, not that he is anywhere in sight.
It's proper form won't appear until the container you're holding is sufficiently filled with the energy gained from the slain Servants. The thought makes your stomach clench with a dreadful sense of emptiness. A feeling that'll inevitably be drowned out over once the war reaches its conclusion.
[X][Avenger] Explain the possible consequences of an Avenger being summoned to the others.
[X][Conversation] Naoki looks terribly confused about everything that has just been explained to him, make sure he actually understands all of it.
[X][Leaving] Leave the temple peacefully and go to the church to inform the supervisor, now that you have a better idea of what's going on.
[X][Avenger] Explain the possible consequences of an Avenger being summoned to the others.
I can just imagine Karisviel shuddering and complaining about the possibility of being dirtied and tainted by Avenger.
[X][Conversation] Talk with Rider in an attempt to determine how much he knows about magecraft.
[X][Leaving] Leave the temple peacefully and go to the church to inform the supervisor, now that you have a better idea of what's going on.
Possibly unsurprisingly, getting the news about Avenger out won. On the other hand, we got a tie between Naoki and Akihiko. Although, given that Naoki was even mentioned as leverage to deal with Akihiko that draw should be easy enough to merge.
Also, as a heads up, because of some IRL stuff, the next chapter is probably going to take me longer than usual to get done. Not terribly longer when compared to my usual speed, but I still figured I should let you guys know.
[X][Avenger] Explain the possible consequences of an Avenger being summoned to the others.
[X][Conversation] Naoki looks terribly confused about everything that has just been explained to him, make sure he actually understands all of it.
[X][Conversation] Confront Akihiko about how he plans to atone for the way he tried to murder you.
[X][Leaving] Leave the temple peacefully and go to the church to inform the supervisor, now that you have a better idea of what's going on.
"None of you understand just how serious this is, do you?" you ask your oblivious entourage with a heavy sigh.
"Don't worry, Elder Sister, I understand," Ida chimes in. She almost jumps to her feet in an attempt to show her support, with only her unwillingness to let go of Naoki without your permission holding her back. Instead she settles on raising her hand.
"What's there to understand? Not knowing what exactly the Extra Classes' schtick are might be a pain, but in the end it all boils down to murdering the shit out of them," Ayano says.
"No! That's exactly wrong, you brute. I don't care if you want to beat your head against Shielder until one of you breaks, but do not—do not—simply kill Avenger," you tell Ayano.
Ayano, in her highly limited wisdom, simply scoffs in response.
"I'm afraid you'll have to educate us on the matter, Miss Kari," Naoki says.
"Hm, I suppose I can indulge that request when it's coming from one of my students, instead of a Master that falsely thinks they can stand as my equal." You hold out your hand to Ida and she quickly hands you your pair of teacher glasses.
"Okay… what is this about?" Akihiko asks.
"It means you should regret playing truant, young man," you reprimand him. "But the matter of your remedial lessons can wait for now. First the matter at hand, Avenger. It's a wretched thing, born not only from hatred, but from people's desire for a vessel that can receive their hatred in its entirety. Someone that is to blame for all the evils of the world for the sake of a ridiculous charade that lets the people pretend that they themselves are innocent of any wrongdoing. It's a wish as perverted as it is pathetic, yet tenacious enough to even blacken an omnipotent wish granter such as the Grail once Avenger's spirit core is absorbed into it upon his death."
"That sounds less like the description of a Servant class and more like you're talking about one specific Servant," Ayano says.
"They're one and the same in this case, or at least they used to be. The Avenger that could have been summoned into this war should have been an ordinary Servant altered by a vestige of the original Avenger to make them more competent killers. The result should have been both more powerful than Avenger himself and cleansed enough of his influence to not risk tainting the ritual. Naturally, the process is still precarious enough that it should be kept away from the hands of incompetents, which is why it was tied to a catalyst held by the Einzbern. Then somebody came along and figured it would be a good idea to lift the various restrictions on which Servants can be summoned."
"The alterations I made to the Grail weren't that far reaching," Akihiko says, unwilling to meet your eyes.
"Is that so? Then what happened? The flaw certainly wasn't in the original set up."
"How appropriate given the topic at hand," Caster mutters. When you turn to him, he simply carries on without giving you a chance to acknowledge his statement. "Being quite honest, I confess to being curious how you've learned about this Avenger in the first place."
"Research, of course. We Einzbern didn't just sit idly by waiting until this war, we used the smaller wars to prepare."
"That doesn't tell us what actually happened though," Lancer says. "There has to be a story, if this 'blackening' is such a big deal."
"There isn't much of a story to be told," you say and wave him off.
"Oh come on teach, I'm sure your family's exploits can teach us something," Ayano says with an oddly wide grin. Maybe she has finally come around to being in your good graces? If so, her lack of practice shows.
"I suppose there's no harm in telling you. The substitute war in question took place in Kyoto. It was a relatively small event conducted between us Einzbern, a representative of the Clock Tower and the magus designated as the second owner of the area. What my family attempted to summon was Angra Mainyu, a proper god. The Avenger that appeared before them instead was merely a martyr that had been hollowed out by all the suffering inflicted upon him, utterly useless as a Servant. He was instantly defeated by the Servant of the Clock Tower Master. I don't know whether he or the second owner won, but neither of them ultimately survived the materialization of the Grail. Whatever wish was made to the Grail, Avenger's corruption had twisted it so that all it produced was misery and destruction."
"And you simply unleashed something that dangerous in Kyoto?" Caster asks. He's hiding his expression between his shaku, but he's failing to properly veil the anger in his voice.
"No need to be concerned, your shrine wasn't damaged. With only two Servants having been sacrificed, the destruction was mostly limited to the workshop of the second owner. In fact, when ruins were dissected to salvage as much of his research as possible, they found traces of him having experimented with demonic possession and similar distasteful practices. Honestly, if you care about the city, you should thank us Einzberns for ridding it of such a menace."
"I'll do no such thing," Caster says. How ungrateful.
"Wait," Naoki interjects. "Does that mean he was experimenting on, you know, people? They didn't get killed in the destruction, did they?"
"Hm? Only the bodies of the two Masters were recovered, so if he had permanent test subjects, he likely disposed of them before the war started. Anyway, what you should be worried about is how disastrous the scale of destruction will be this time, if the Grail gets corrupted. With a dozen of spirit cores as kindling, I doubt the damage will be limited to Fuyuki."
"Can we just shut the Grail down before it has any chance of absorbing Avenger?"
Everyone turns to look at Naoki. With a question that outlandish, you can't even blame them for not paying attention to you.
"It's worth considering, I suppose," Akihiko mutters.
"No! It's not! Why would you even entertain such a ridiculous notion?" you admonish Akihiko. "The second greatest wonder of modern magi just returned to us, and you want to give up on it simply because you lack the confidence in safely detaining one aberrant?"
"She's right, you know?" Lancer says. "I do admire how you're concerned about other people's safety, Master, but ultimately that's quitter talk. Once a hero sets their eyes on a goal they never back down, come what may. Everything else is just an obstacle to burst through."
"That and once people figure out you ruined their chance to obtain the Grail, there'll be more angry magi out for your head than I want to think about," Mara adds. It goes without saying that you and Ida would be amongst them.
Naoki takes a long look at his two partners, who have returned to being voices of reason, then sighs. Having given up on his foolish idea he turns towards salvation. "Alright then, what's the plan, Kari?"
"Ah, well, there's two problems. The first is locating Avenger and the second is safely removing them from the war. I could perfectly take care of both, however, given the urgency of the matter, I'm willing to hand the responsibility over to Caster."
He looks to his Master for approval. This time, Akihiko does not bother to resist you. "It's close enough to why I summoned you in the first place."
"In that case I shall prioritize Avenger over our other quarry. I expect finding them will take me a day or two."
"Good," Akihiko says, turning back to you. "Caster will divine Avenger's location and exorcise whatever corruption may be present, but I hope you will at least help when it comes to actually capturing Avenger."
"Naturally. Just because you have your uses doesn't mean I'm comfortable leaving the matter entirely in your hands."
"I would expect more thanks, even from somebody like you," Akihiko says.
"Let us be clear, both of us are acting in our own best interest. Even if I normally would be generous enough to give praise for even that bare minimum of competence, you deserve nothing but scorn until you've made amends for attempting to end my glorious life."
"You can't expect you opponents to go easy on you, after you've knowingly joined the Holy Grail War," Akihiko offers as a petulant excuse.
"All I expect is you offering me the respect I deserve. It's not my fault that my greatness leaves prostrating yourself at my feet as you only moral choice."
"I don't even… Naoki, tell her she's being ridiculous."
"Sorry man, but I can't really take your side on murder being okay, even if it's some traditional wizard deathmatch. Seriously, just apologize and stop trying to murder each other."
Akihiko appears surprised at his vehement refusal to stand against you, as if whatever friendship they may have should mean anything in the face of his adoration for you. You on the other hand are simply happy for Naoki. Being able to stand up what is right—meaning you—even against social pressure is important for attaining true happiness in the form of your approval.
"Don't worry," Ida says. "I understand why you'd want to kill the Masters. It's just, no offense, but my elder sister is too good for you. I think it would be healthier for you to settle for a slightly less gorgeous woman that'd be much more receptive to your advances." At least she would always have a use for Akihiko, even once he becomes useless to you.
"Ida, I don't think that's appropriate right now," Naoki says.
"What do you-" Ida's eyes widen and she tightens her grip on Naoki. "Are you jealous? Because you shouldn't be jealous. That only hurts a relationship."
"Don't worry, I'm not jealous." Naoki soothingly pats your sister's head. "It's only that we wouldn't want embarrassment to distract Akihiko from his conversation with Kari, would we?"
"Of course not," Ida says softly while leaning into Naoki's hand. "I'm sorry Akihiko, we can talk more later."
"I'm afraid we will, yes." Akihiko turns back to you, like one would turn to the guillotine. "Karisviel, I admit that luring you into the range of Archer's Noble Phantasm was wrong and I apologize. For the sake of smooth cooperation, I hope you can accept that."
"Obviously not. That 'apology' was blatantly for the sake of Naoki and not myself, you didn't even bother with a modicum of artistic effort like bowing before me. What do you call it here in Japan again, a dogeza? Save your apologies until they're sincere. However, as long as you're useful in some regard, you don't need to worry about losing my aid. I am nothing if not practical."
"Master, I am afraid this is the best you can hope for," Caster says. "Any further effort would simply lead to disgrace."
"Right," he agrees. "Ayano, can we count on you when it comes to Avenger?"
"I guess," she says with a shrug. "This town isn't quite bad enough that I'd want it all to burn down. Anyway, looks like you two aren't going to rip each other's throats out tonight, so I'm gonna bounce."
"Just one thing," you say, earning you a raised eyebrow from Ayano. "I think you deserve some praise for your work with the Grail, you were an adequate assistant to me. That's more than I would expect from an average magus."
"Gee, I'm honored, teach. To think you'd lavish that much praise on a delinquent like me," Ayano says. She isn't exactly putting the amount of enthusiasm that you'd expect into her voice, but at least she's showing some gratuity for receiving your praise.
"We talked about this in class, remember? As your teacher, it's only natural that I would give you positive reinforcement. It's only the likes of Akihiko that have relinquished this privilege and your behaviour has not been nearly as lacking as his."
Ayano responds with a scoff that explodes into a burst of laughter. "Screw you too." While she seems content with letting that rude outburst stand as the end of your conversation and simply leaves, Rider at least has the decency to apologize for his Master's behaviour, before following her out of the cave.
Your hope that her attitude was improving leaves along with them. With a sigh, you turn to the pair of students that's at least willing to learn. "Do you still have any questions before we leave?"
"Some, although I think I at least got the gist of it. So, why specifically does a place have a second owner?" Naoki asks.
"That's because they're ultimately only managing the land for the mage's association. I'm sure your Tohsaka friend can tell you about the tedious details of the process, as his family is in charge of the local land."
"I see, I'll be sure to ask him later," Naoki says and looks over to Akihiko.
"Honestly, I don't think that's a good idea," he says. "Having you know about magecraft at all is already against the rules. Having you dig any deeper into our world is basically asking for the association to remove you."
"So basically they're another problem to be dealt with after we've won this war?" Lancer asks jovially, almost eager to have another quest lined up for himself.
The thought of him rampaging through the moonlit world certainly seems enough to make Akihiko tense up.
"Don't you think we should focus on the Grail War right now?" Naoki asks, showing no trace of being concerned by either the possibility of the association coming after him, nor that Lancer might needlessly drag him into that fight.
"You're not wrong Master, but you shouldn't ignore risks to your safety either," Lancer says. Judging by his sound of voice, you're quite certain that he's pouting under his helmet.
"One thing after another," Naoki says. "And right now we're in class, right?"
"True, but I hope none of you are insolent enough to think that a bit of knowledge will allow you to compete with me on equal footing?" you ask.
"Well, we can't really expect Lancer to bend his knee without giving him a chance to fight first, you know?" Mara says. She brings her hands together and lowers her head slightly. "Please indulge him for now."
You sigh at what basically amounts to a request to discipline their Servant for them and wave the matter away to be dealt with later. "I will grant that request. Now ask me your remaining questions, so that I can display my brilliance in hopes that it can illuminate your Servant's current ignorance."
"Right," Naoki says. "So, how are there even extra classes in the first place?"
"Classes act as vessels to hold a certain aspects of a Heroic Spirit. As there's no real limit on what aspects Heroic Spirits can have, there's technically an unlimited potential for classes. Although we've only been able to distill thirteen of them," you explain. "The seven standard classes are used as the default, because they're both versatile enough to allow most Heroic Spirits to fit into one of them and specifically designed for combat. They are however not the only aspects there are to Heroic Spirits. Some classes are rather similar in their conditions to the standard classes, if only designed for aspects that few heroes are properly tied to, like Shielder or Gunner. Others are meant for much more specific purposes, like Ruler. Then you get abominations like Avenger, that are simply too other to be contained in any class not meant for them."
"I see. Hm, if the standard classes are already the best suited for combat, why bother trying to summon any of the other ones?" Naoki asks.
"My family intended to gather every imaginable advantage in preparation for this war, even if it's only an element of surprise in having a non standard Servant class."
"I don't see a gimmick like that mattering much when compared to the raw quality of the Heroic Spirit summoned" Lancer says.
"I'm inclined to agree," you say. "I certainly don't need tricks like that and luckily they saw reason at the end and simply left the matter in the hands of myself and Idasviel. Not that I particularly blame them for accounting for the other classes when they were already working on repairing the Grail."
"About that," Mara says, excitement bleeding into her voice. "How did that damage happen in the first place? There had to have been more than just an attempt to steal it."
That… is a rather unfortunate question.
Before you can think of an appropriate answer, Ida speaks up. "All I know is that definitely nobody tried to eat it."
"...what is that supposed to mean?" Naoki asks.
"It means nobody tried to eat the Grail, because that's what didn't happen," you say, going with Ida's earnest attempt at deflecting the topic. "Really, it was an unfortunate clash of Noble Phantasm, one of which fundamentally disrupts magic. I have absolutely nothing more to tell you on the matter."
"Eh, you at least have to be able to tell us which Heroic Spirits were involved," Mara complains.
"I could, but I don't see how that is relevant to this war specifically."
"You know, I always assumed the Einzbern were the one that were at fault, but it's good to have confirmation," Akihiko says.
"That only goes to show how ignorant you are," you say. It was everyone else's fault for forcing your family to compete in earnest. "Anyway, if none of you have anymore questions related to the current Grail War, I think it is time to end class."
Naoki starts to say something, but falls silent again when his eyes fall on Akihiko. Mara shoots him a questioning look, but he only shrugs in response.
Unwilling to wait much longer to see if they'll break their silence, you take off your glasses, hand them to Ida and tell them to follow you as you leave. Ida reliably follows you as soon as she has the glasses stored away, giving Naoki no other option but to be dragged along with her. Not that you think any of them would refuse to follow you if given the chance, but if there's only one right answer, why even bother letting them choose?
Finding the way back is easy enough, even without Caster guiding you. It's only when you reach the bottom of the stairs leading you back down the mountain and out of Caster's territory that you order Ida to let go of Naoki.
She obeys, skipping away from Naoki and back to your side. "Goodbye Naoki," she says. "I don't like having to let go of you, but my elder sister's wishes come first and there's nowhere I'd rather be than by her side. I hope we meet again soon, so that we can be with her together. Of course the same goes for you too, Mara and Lancer."
"Actually," Naoki says, sounding unsure. "I think I do have another question after all."
"Oh? Has the desperation of not wanting to let us go given you inspiration?" you ask. "By all rights, the time for you to ask questions has passed when we left the cave, but I realize that having to part ways from me, even temporarily, is cruel enough. I shall grant you the time for a final question."
"Have you ever considered that somebody else might need the Grail more than you? Not deserve it more, obviously. Just, you know, that someone could be miserable enough that you should let them have the wish anyway?"
"Rejected!" Ida yells at him. "I need my wish to bring back Elder Sister after she becomes the Grail. Nothing could be more important than that."
Naoki rapidly blinks at you a couple of times, until he finally process what Ida said enough to ask a simple question. "What?"
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with," you say with a wave of your hand. "Me attaining victory is inevitable, so naturally I won't perish. If there's anyone's wellbeing you have to worry about, it's your own. At least, I assume you wouldn't have breached the topic, unless you have discovered a reason to beg me for salvation?"
"No… no, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me." Naoki may say that, but judging by the way he lets his head hang like a tree whose roots have rotted away, you doubt he's telling the truth.
In contrast, Mara seems almost cheerful, as she grabs his shoulders. "Come on, no need to get depressed already. I'm sure that we'll find a way to manage, in case we actually have a moral quandary on our hands."
"Right," Naoki says with a forced chuckle. "Maybe I let all that talk about Avenger get to me too much."
"That's all the more reason to get you home," Mara says and guides Naoki away from you. "Good night, you two."
You return her farewells and notice that Lancer is still staying back and looking at you. "Hm, are you entranced by my beauty, Lancer?"
"Not quite," he says. "I simply didn't expect to find many Masters quite this willing to put their lives on the line. It does make you shine more brightly, so it's a shame I'll have to snuff you out." With those words, Lancer turns to skip after his Master and dematerializes.
"The arrogance to think he poses a risk to my life. Can you believe it, Ida?" you ask.
"Don't blame him too hard, Elder Sister. I'm sure he's just in denial after falling heads over heels for you."
"Ah, yes. I suppose it was inevitable that my endless allure would lead our competition astray, not that it makes fighting me any more acceptable. I'll leave teaching Lancer the proper way of holding affection for me to you."
"It'd be my honor, Elder Sister. I'll carve the ways of love into Lancer's flesh until the pain burns everything else out of his mind," Ida looks up at you with her fist clenched and passion and dedication burning equally in her eyes.
"I have no doubt that I can rely on you," you say and pet her head. "Now come, different from Naoki's group, we still have something to do tonight. I want you to drive me to the church."
"Of course, Elder Sister. I'm sure the overseer is excited to finally get the honor of meeting you in person. "
Agreeing with your sister, you walk back to the car and set off towards your destination. Being quite truthful, you're curious to see if somebody that dedicated their life to the act of worship can do you justice.
Splitting the update here, both because IRL stuff took up even more of my time than I thought it would and because this segment ended up pretty long on its own. That means no choice this time around, but I figured showing another sign of life for the Quest is more important.
My family intended to to gather every imaginable advantage in preparation for this war, even if it's only an element of surprise in having a non standard Servant class."
"Wait," Naoki interjects. "Does that mean he was experimenting on, you know, people? They didn't get killed in the destruction, did they?"
"Hm? Only the bodies of the two Masters were recovered, so if he had permanent test subjects, he likely disposed of them before the war started. Anyway, what you should be worried about is how disastrous the scale of destruction will be this time, if the Grail gets corrupted. With a dozen of spirit cores as kindling, I doubt the damage will be limited to Fuyuki."
The collision of two worlds is always entertaining to watch. Kari's tone is very matter-of-fact when it comes to the atrocities the mages commit... while Naoki is concerned they may have killed people in the course of a Grail War, Kari decides to put his worries to rest by telling him they all got murdered beforehand.
It's funny how unwittingly reinforcing people's concerns works to our advantage better than if we tried to allay them. While Naoki would probably balk at putting the entire city at risk, the sheer fact that there is no convincing us to back down makes him cooperate so that the worst does not come to pass.
Before you can think of an appropriate answer, Ida speaks up. "All I know is that definitely nobody tried to eat it."
"...what is that supposed to mean?" Naoki asks.
"It means nobody tried to eat the Grail, because that's what didn't happen," you say, going with Ida's earnest attempt at deflecting the topic. "Really, it was an unfortunate clash of Noble Phantasm, one of which fundamentally disrupts magic. I have absolutely nothing more to tell you on the matter."
It is not a reference to any other Fate work and instead relates to the third Holy Grail War as it went down in this time line. The things that very definetly didn't happen will be elaborated on at a later point in time.
On which note, the point of divergence is also the third war (aka the war in which actually plot important details start geting specified). So while most of the lore and setting is in effect, the plot itself is fairly independent of what happens in any canon Fate instalment.
Yeah, the Third War seems to be the usual point of deviation for Fate works honestly. Spoiler for explanation (because uh, yeah, major spoilers. Old games/materials at this point, but...)
In the canon Fate/Stay Night universe, during the Third War the Einzberns cheated and summoned Avenger instead of one of the 'normal' classes. The result was pretty much what Kari describes, with Avenger polluting the Grail, meaning that any wishes made of it will be twisted to death and destruction. It's a major revelation and plot point for both Fate/Zero, and Fate/Stay Night.
The "sequel", Fate/Hollow Ataraxia also features some segments that showcase parts of the Third War.
In the off-shoot Fate/Apocrypha universe, during the Third War the Einzberns cheated (you may be noticing a pattern), and summoned Ruler instead of one of the 'normal' classes, so the Grail wasn't polluted... but Nazi's got involved instead. It was... a thing.
And Fate/Strange Fake also relates to the Third War, but then that's kind of a psuedo-sequel to the original, and bleh.
Basically, the Third War is the handy plot excuse for anyone wanting to say why their war is "different"; you can just say that events unfolded slightly differently and boom, different timeline.
(It also helps that, as I understand it, the Third War is the first that can actually be considered a proper Grail War, buuut that's more lore stuff)
But hey, 'lore stuff' is a great segueway to this:
Maaaan I love this post. I admit, I'm one of those weird people who enjoy getting exposition, so that might influence it, but still. That's a lot of very interesting lore drops and implications in there.
For one thing, I absolutely do not trust Kari's "it was just magecraft, don't worry about it" explanation; if it was such an 'unfortunate question', that was a very blasé answer. The fact that Ayano and Akihiko didn't challenge her on it means it's probably basically the truth. It's the 'basically' part that concerns me; if one of the Noble Phantasms disrupted magecraft, what did the other one do?
... hm, for that matter. Seran might have been selling catalysts, but the first line of this quest is that he was poking around the corpse of a miracle, which makes me wonder how much information Mara knows/has access to thanks to her father...
I also one hundred percent call the Kyoto stuff to show up again at some point down the line. No body, no death.
Seriously, I'm practically tempted to go through this line-by-line and pick out all the interesting little implications and nuggets of information we've received and just start speculating like mad. I've already dropped a rating, so I can't do it again, but I do wanna double down on the 'Like', because this was great and worth the wait.
Even better is that we're getting to the church. At long last, we get the chance to measure how evil this War's Kotomine is.
The trip to the church requires you to cross the entire city, making it as long as it is eventless. Your investigation of the Greater Grail and subsequent lecture were likely long enough that all the other Masters and Servants have already retreated for the night. A decision you can certainly empathize with. However, different from the common people, you still have an important task to complete. You'll have to deprive your bed of the honor of letting you rest on it for a little while longer.
When Ida finally parks your car next to the church, you take a quick moment to inspect it. By the standards of this town, it's a rather tall and elaborate building standing on top of the hill that overlooks the southwestern suburb of Shinto. Whoever built it must have wanted it to lord over the neighborhood in location as well as stature. Or maybe it is simply meant as a show of force for the Holy Grail War, given that it was constructed on top of one of the locations suitable to summoning the Holy Grail.
Regardless of what the intention behind the church's construction had been, it fails to elicit the desired reverence from you. Even when counting the height of its spire, it isn't even as tall as the small castle you're using as your base here in Fuyuki and comparing it to the vast expanses of the Einzbern Castle back in Germany would be utterly comical. Not that you're one to complain, it's only proper that the home that had sheltered you until now would be more impressive than the house of God.
In the time you considered the church, Ida has already moved over to the gate of the church and pushed it open for you. You follow her and make sure to praise her for her thoughtfulness. Overjoyed, she rushes over to the chapel proper and holds up its door as well. When you approach her, she offers her head to be graced by your silken touch.
It's a testament to how sublime your headpats are, that your sister takes more joy in being pampered by you, than you do in seeing her smile lit up with a brilliance that transcends the glimmer of all the world's riches. The world won't be a just place until everyone around you constantly smiles like that.
Moving into the chapel, you find it empty. It appears that the overseer, unaware that today is the day they finally get their chance to meet you in the flesh, has already retreated for the night. You signal for Ida to obliterate their ignorance, so that they might join in the light of your brilliance.
"Rejoice!" Ida screams towards the back of the church. "Karisviel von Einzbern, the personification of all that is good and beautiful in the world, has arrived. Not only will meeting her be more glorious than anything you have ever experienced before, but she also bears information relevant to your duty as the supervisor of the Holy Grail War. Truly you are blessed with great fortune. Now-"
"I shall be with you right away," someone calls out in a voice that's smooth, yet intent enough to subdue Ida's excitement. Shortly afterwards, the overseer emerges from a door behind the altar. She's a woman of great stature and presence and considers the two of you with a gentle smile that shows no sign of weariness despite the early morning hours. The brightness of her expression is framed by ink black hair that loosely falls on her shoulders, where it stands out like fine lines on the pure white collar of her otherwise dark robes. There's a grace in her step, as she approaches you, that Ida can't help but stare at mesmerized. You'd think that she's too used for your presence for anyone else to have that kind of effect on her.
"Welcome. As I'm sure you have already guessed, I am the church's overseer, Eliza Kotomine. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person," she says. She glances between the two of you before finally settling on you. "I take it that you're the Einzbern Master?"
"Indeed. It's good to know that the overseer can discern the obvious when it's right in front of them," you say.
"And your Servant would be?"
"My class is Lancer," Ida says and holds out a hand to the nun. By now she has developed a prominent blush. "My name is Idasviel von Einzbern, but you can call me Ida, or Darling, or whatever you want."
"I see…" Kotomine hesitantly grabs Ida's hand and scrutinizes her again. "I don't mean to insult you, but you don't seem like what I'd expect from a Heroic Spirit."
"That's because I'm only hosting one, so that I can be of more use to my elder sister. If anything, Elder Sister is the one that should be enshrined as a Heroic Spirit by human worship. Oh no, Elder Sister, do you think you could have summoned yourself? I'm not holding you back, am I?" Ida finally lets go of Kotomine and returned her full attention to you.
"Don't worry," you say. "You are, without a doubt, my ideal Servant. If it was possible, summoning myself might have been the winning move, but some things are simply not meant to be. After all, once the war is over, the Throne of Heroes will not get an opportunity to claim my soul."
"What an unusual pair," Kotomine says with her head cocked. "But then that's what I've expected from this position. At least it isn't endangering the secrecy of the war and you're upfront about it."
You hum in approval. Finally somebody knowledgeable that understands they shouldn't question you or the existence of your sister. Maybe Ida was merely that taken with her, because she could identify her as a fellow admirer of your person.
"Regardless, you've come to me for official business, haven't you? A request from you is a special occasion, given that my protection would be useless for the Master that has already been designated as a sacrifice before the first Servant was even summoned, so go ahead. I can hardly take a side, but I'll do what I can to help you."
"Kufufu. Thinking of me as a sacrifice, o ye of little faith?" You strike a magnificent pose by placing one hand on your chest and spreading out the other. You're willing to forgive that blasphemous underestimation of your person, as long as she recognizes this opportunity to marvel at your greatness.
Kotomine laughs. It's a bright and gentle sound, that she barely contains by holding a hand in front of her mouth. Seeing her softly shake with amusement, you can't help but think of an angel throwing themself into hell to escape salvation.
"I'm sorry, Miss Einzbern, but I don't think you should speak like that. It makes you sound.. well I suppose you are a heretic, but that's not something to take pride in."
"Tsk, just when I was starting to believe in your potential, you prove that you've been blinded by your faith," you say. "I can only hope that you're less of a disappointment as an overseer than you're as a human being."
Eliza attempts to say something, but before she can utter any shameful excuses, Ida rushes forward and silences her by putting a finger over her mouth. With the amount of strength she puts into the gesture, the nun is forced to take a step back.
"You should already be ashamed for dedicating yourself to anyone but my sister, but disrespecting her to any degree is unacceptable. Unless you plan to rectify that right this instance, all you should concern yourself with is redeeming yourself by being as helpful to her in your role as the overseer as you can be," Ida says deadly serious. Then she skips away from Kotomine and starts smiling again. "Maybe if you're useful enough, you can get my elder sister to approve of us spending time together. There's only so much we can do, given your position, but I'm sure we could simply enjoy each other's company."
Eliza straightens herself, appearing as calm as an untouched snowfield, even after having been stared down by your sister. "I assure you that I need no external motivation to perform my duty. Please, go ahead and state your business."
You signal for Ida to explain and she eagerly recaps your relevant discoveries. Ultimately she concludes with how you being unable to simply kill Avenger as you please is proof that they're a wretched evil that needs to be cleansed, so the power of love can bring them down.
"It appears this war truly is unfortunate," Eliza absently mutters, while processing the new information.
"Indeed," you confirm. "I hope we can at least count on you to organize the other Masters assisting us in safely eliminating Avenger."
"Of course, I imagine none of them would want for the Grail to be corrupted," Eliza says. "However, that does bring us to another problem I have been suspecting. I will not be able to contact all of the other Masters. Only seven of them actually contacted me in any way and while the second Master claiming to have summoned Saber could be blamed on… their particular oddities, I also had another Master claim to have summoned Rider just earlier this night. At least now I have confirmation of what is going on, before taking action."
"Oh? Do tell what you are planning to do," you say
"It's easy, isn't it?" she answers. "Normally, I would be satisfied with the Masters establishing minimum contact until they require my services. If they cannot be trusted to do so on their own, I'll have to insist on them letting me verify their Servant in person. For those that fail to do so, a penalty is in order. Given the misdemeanor in question, it only seems fair to publicise all information about the Master and their Servants that is brought to me by another Master."
"That seems like an excellent way for somebody to spread misinformation, especially if they're allied with one of the Masters still hiding their identity."
"There is no need for you to worry about that," the nun says with a smile that is filled with confidence that you can only hope isn't born from arrogance. "I have already considered this, especially seeing how there naturally needs to be an incentive for the rules abiding Masters to cooperate and there isn't much of value I can offer in exchange for sufficient information besides Command Seals."
That does get your attention. You don't need any advantages besides your inherent perfection, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be convenient. Even more so given that you're using your original three seals to suppress Brynhildr's mind for Ida. Having additional Command Seals means you could use them to strengthen Ida without the possibility of letting that control slip.
"You do not yet know anything about the second Lancer and their master, correct?" you ask. From the duplicate Servants she listed, you imagine that with everything going on Naoki did not find the time to contact Kotomine, or maybe Mara had simply failed to present the matter as particularly important to him.
"Correct. However, the other Masters should at least get a chance to react after the announcement has been made, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to sell them out."
That's fair enough. It's not like you're a heartless monster that would betray Naoki within a single heartbeat, even if you're confident that he would not mind having his home address openly published for your sake. And if he does, he's a thankless scoundrel and his opinion doesn't matter. Meaning you're fully in your right to sell him out either way and it's an act of mercy for you to do otherwise.
"If you are paying for information now, do you at least intend to reward me for bringing Avenger to your attention?" you ask.
"Miss Einzbern, you've been very clear that you want Avenger dealt with for your own sake. Do you expect other people to compensate you for being allowed to aid you?"
"...Yes?" a confused Ida answers in response to the Overseer's painfully obvious question. "After all, being allowed to serve my elder sister means that your life has finally been given meaning and nothing you do will ever be enough to adequately repay her."
"I assure you that I have already found meaning in my life," the nun claims, still ignorant to the truth standing in front of her. "Regardless, given that your investigation of the Grail seems to have been a collaboration between several Masters, I see no reason to reward you in particular."
"The idea that any of them contributed enough to deserve any of my credit is preposterous!" you say. You expel your frustration with a heavy sigh. "Forget it. My time is too valuable to waste it all on a doomed attempt to open a fanatic's eyes. However, you should take care not to withhold me what I'm due in the future. Let's go, Ida."
"I'm a woman of my word, should you inform me about one of the furtive Masters, you will be rewarded. Before you go, I do have one more question for you."
"What is it?"
"What is your wish?" Eliza asks.
"Yet another obvious question. I'd imagine someone in your position would know about the Einzbern's ambition to reclaim the third magic. The Cup of Heaven that can materialize souls and grant true immortality."
"That's merely you following the path set out for you, isn't it? What I want to know is, if you have a desire of your own, something that distinguishes you from a mere automaton."
"Hm, an interest in my person is more reasonable, but it still displays your lack of perspective. Once I attain the third magic, I fully intend to do the obvious and use it as I see fit."
"You… plan to have humanity transcend their mortality?" Eliza asks. You have to admit, it feels good to see her stunned by the dawning realisation of your miraculous splendor.
Still.
What a naive conclusion.
Your displeasure is mirrored by the heart wrenching screech of shock and sadness that escapes Ida. "My elder sister would never do something that… that unromantic. Never!"
"Of course not," you say and run a calming hand through her hair. "For as long as humanity has existed, there have been the few exceptional individuals that have strived for immortality. The heroes that, starting with the very first one, have to accept the inevitability of their death and the antagonists that cling to their lives in vain only for them to rot away and perish. And it's only proper that they were all fated for failure. Eternal life isn't a commodity to be peddled to any mongrel that desires it. It is meant only for individuals so virtuous and perfect that they'll never cease to improve the world with their presence, which is to say, me and the rare few I deem worthy to keep me company."
"Does that include me, Elder Sister?" Ida asks.
"Naturally, there is nobody I'd rather have by my side. Mel as well." You would not suffer through her leaving you too, even if you would not be able to bring back-
Ida throws herself at you in an excited hug, banishing the drab thoughts staining your thoughts. "Thank you, Elder Sister! I can think of no greater blessing for both the world and myself."
"Indeed. I shall become an eternal goddess for all of humanity to idolize. The ultimate ideal for everybody to aspire towards, so that one day they might earn their salvation and join me in utopia."
Again the nun laughs, this time her voice has a frantic energy to it. You'll permit it under the assumption that hysteria is overshadowing the awe that your revelation should have inspired in her.
"I see. I see," Eliza manages to say in between attempts to regain control of her laboured breathing. "I can hardly give my blessing to a wish like that, but it does more than suffice to acknowledge you as your own master. Go forth, prideful heretic, and I shall pray for your salvation."
"How pointless, I am salvation," you say. "For your own sake, I hope that you'll come to embrace that simple fact." This time she does not stop you and Ida from leaving and instead contends herself with seeing you off to your long overdue good night's sleep.
As you leave the church grounds, you consider leaving a message for Assassin.
[X] Write in a message for Assassin.
Interlude select:
[X] The True Heroine's midnight banquet of temporary alliances
[X] Naoki at Work
[X] State of the Matou household
[X] Sigmund's first night out.
"Naturally, there is nobody I'd rather have by my side. Mel as well." You would not suffer through her leaving you too, even if you would not be able to bring back-
I really like the reveal of Kari's plans for after the war, not least of all because the set-up (a group of immortal worshippers) is typically such a villain-coded goal... but the above paragraph also really caught my eye. Looks like our player character has some secret's she's not willing to share with the audience yet.
Anyway... man, these choices. I keep wanting to do all of them. So, I'm mulling them over. As much as I'm interested in finally getting to meet the False Messiah who pretends to be the True Heroine... I'm a little curious as to how Sigmunds first night out went., partly since that might let us get a read on the other masters in the war.
(and partly so I can work out how shippable Sigmund and Oliver are. )
As for Assassin... I think we should send him a message, but I'm not sure of what. Eliza is going to inform the other masters about Avenger and the duplicate servants, so that's a waste of effort on our part.
I'm inclined to tell him where Caster is set-up. I don't think Assassin will be reckless enough to try and off Caster, especially given how Caster had previously detected him at the Tohsaka mansion... but I also don't like Caster having set up shop directly over the Holy Grail, and havign Assassin (or his Master) keep tabs on what he plans on doing with the Grail seem's like the most straightforward option.
... though, the flip side of that is, if Assassin is busted, all the fingers will be pointed towards our group, and I don't think we've worked on Naoki and Ayano enough to get them to side with us over the Tohsaka's.
So... yeah, admit, I'm at a bit of a loss, and not sure where to vote. If anyone else has any suggestions, please help, I need it.
A request from you is a special occasion, given that my protection would be useless for the Master that has already been designated as a sacrifice before the first Servant was even summoned, so go ahead. I can hardly take a side, but I'll do what I can to help you.
I've been meaning to ask... how is this "designation as a sacrifice" supposed to work? Both from Eliza's perspective and from Kari's. What does Eliza expect to happen, and what is Kari's plan to ensure it does not?
I mean, we are the resident expert on the Grail here, so it can't all be bluster.
[x] State of the Matou household
Ayano has grown on me, even for what little we've seen of her. I hope we can help her open her eyes to our greatness.
I've been meaning to ask... how is this "designation as a sacrifice" supposed to work? Both from Eliza's perspective and from Kari's. What does Eliza expect to happen, and what is Kari's plan to ensure it does not?
I mean, we are the resident expert on the Grail here, so it can't all be bluster.
[x] State of the Matou household
Ayano has grown on me, even for what little we've seen of her. I hope we can help her open her eyes to our greatness.
Ah, sorry for not making that clear enough. Basically, as the Master of the Einzbern family, Karisviel also acts as the vessel for the lesser grail, which is what does most of the soul gathering and wish granting for the actual war, as opposed to the greater grail that takes care of the prep work before the war starts proper like administering the Command Seals and summoning the Servants. Between the strain of having to store the souls of the defeated Servants and acting as the conduit for a ridiculous amount of magical energy when the grail is actually activated, it is pretty much lethal. That's where Eliza's understanding of the situation effectively stops.
Kari runs on the assumption that whatever Servant she summons would come to realize that losing her is just too much of a sacrifice and spend their wish on saving her life (at which point she could incarnate them as a straight up immortal, so it's not like there isn't anything for them in the deal). Having Ida along admitedly makes that step much more reliable.
[X] The True Heroine's midnight banquet of temporary alliances
[X] Sigmund's first night out.
Couldn't decide, so I picked both. Multi-voting yay.
Thinking about it, maybe forgo leaving a message for now. Eliza's declaration to all the other Masters might actually provide us a bit of smokescreen if we do inform Assassin of Caster later, and in the meantime, it means we don't risk jeopardising our alliances.
Alright, christmas is over and the character sheets finally cleaned up a bit, so I should get back to actually writing this. Which means time for a coin toss to resolve the tie in the votes. 1 will be the True Heroine and 2 will Ayano.
When Ayano finally arrived home after the meeting at the ice cream parlor, she simply tossed her bag down next to her shoes. No way was she going to bother putting it away properly after just having had to deal with the Einzbern diva and her creep of a sister. It's not like anybody's home to hold a lecture about it anyway.
Without bothering to announce her presence, she walked towards the kitchen.
"Welcome back, Master." Rider's awfully cheerful greeting came before she could make it out of the hallway. Meaning her path was blocked by Rider materializing, as he stepped through the wall hiding the staircase leading to the basement. "With how long it took you to come home, I have been worried you decided to attend your archery practice after all."
"I ran into another Master at school," she said, brushing past Rider and bumping against his shoulder. She did her best to ignore the writhing of the worms burrowed under his skin.
Rider himself on the other hand didn't seem to mind at all, keeping the same overly familiar smile plastered on his face. "Ah, so did the Tohsakas survive last night after all?"
"Nah… well, yes. The suckers just didn't show up to school. The Einzbern Master showed up and decided to pull some kind of weird power play—by dressing up as a teacher—before pulling me aside to ask for my help in the most arrogant way possible."
"I take it that you didn't decide to work with them?" The disappointment in Rider's voice made it more of a judgement than a question.
"Oh, fuck off, or I'm going to break off the alliance just to spite you," she growled at him.
"That's great news, Master," said Rider, utterly refusing to acknowledge that he pissed her off. "What convinced you to work with them after all?"
Ayano side eyed her Servant, but decided there's little point trying to keep him in the dark. "A friend of mine also got dragged into being a Master and is too nice to tell her to stuff it. I'm mostly indulging him by going along with their little alliance for now."
"I see. Having to fight one of your friends would be a shame, but at least he appears to be a good influence for now. I profess to be curious what a friend of yours is like."
"You're in luck then." She had reached the kitchen by now, so she headed over to the fridge in search of something more filling than ice cream. "We're meeting up tonight to poke around the Greater Grail. Turns out that people fucked around with it too much and we're better off knowing just how much the war's broken as a result."
"That does indeed sound like a rather intriguing evening and I'm in no hurry to rush into combat. I take it that you won't stay at home today either?"
She only acknowledge that question with a grunt. More importantly, she spotted some ground beef that ought to be eaten today. Some burgers didn't sound that bad right about now.
"Master, how about you leave the cooking to me?" Rider offers.
"I'm not letting you anyway near my food, while you still have the worms inside of you."
"Ah yes, I forgot about that." Rider tapped against his bare chest and softly murmured a command, before shaking his arm out back towards the hallway.
The crest worms obeyed, digging their way out of his body without delay. She could have done without the sight of Rider's body being ripped open by the bloody maggots. The bulging of his skin that outlined the parasites violating his body. The moment they tore his skin open. The wet sound of broken flesh and scattered blood. All of that made her grimace in distaste.
It was seeing the worms themselves that made her feel nauseous.
Their mouths—filled with razor teeth that marked them as creatures more vicious than any actual worms could be—snapped at the air in an attempt to lap up as much blood as possible on their way out. Once free, wings stretched out from under their slick skin and started vibrating rapidly to hold them in the air. The swarm—two dozen of them, each twice the size of her thumb—hang in the air for a moment, filling the room with a noxious buzz. It gave her too much time to consider how much space they would take up inside a human body. Then they left the room, flying off towards the pathway on the second floor.
That's what the legacy of the Matou family looked like, a pit full of vicious parasites that devour their host's body and sanity, so that they can take the place of the nerves they destroyed and remold their victim into whatever their true master desired.
The one that created them was Zouken Makiri, a man that, instead of teaching his descendants, would simply torture them until their bodies had been turned into obedient breeding stocks for his ambitions of immortality.
It had taken five hundred years too long, but during the Third Holy Grail War his already decaying soul had been finally obliterated. A shame that even free from Zouken's grasp, the Matous kept clinging to the knowledge that had been carved into the worms.
When the Edelfelts acquired the remains of the Matou, they too made the typical magus decision of keeping the worms, to wring as much knowledge out of their new property as possible. At least her mother had abolished the practice of using the worms to train the family heirs. Not that it stopped a fine lady like her from pushing the task of handling them unto her daughter the moment she had deemed her old enough to slit the throat of the pet rabbit they made her raise and throw it's still warm carcass to the worms.
Despite that lovely start, Ayano had only grown more disgusted by the worms over the years.
"They're quite the fascinating creatures, aren't they?" Rider said, his constant smile slipping for once, as his expression grew wistful.
"Now now, Master, there's no need to be that harsh on the little buggers," he said, while walking over to the nearby kitchen sink and washing away the blood staining his already healed chest. "They might not live up to my own work, but then you're also not applying them to their full potential, are you? It's a shame I won't get a chance to talk with this Zouken fellow. I'm sure we could have had a stimulating exchange of ideas. Oh, but don't worry, Master, I don't mean to imply that I'm dissatisfied with you."
"Right, I'm touched," Ayano said in a monotone and tossed the meat onto a nearby kitchen counter. "Let's hope you have better taste when it comes to food than conversation partners."
Ignoring her Servant's assurance, she walked over to the living room and plopped down on the antique couch. She pulled out her mobile phone and turned it on, finding a missed call from Chiyo. The archery practice should have just finished, so Ayano called her back.
"Hey, Yanyan, how's it going?" Chiyo's bright voice greets her after only a couple of seconds.
"Eh, good enough. Some stuff came up though, so sorry for ditching practice on such a short notice." Ayano had fully intended to ignore Rider's demand for her to head home immediately after class and attend practice anyway. The fact that she ended up skipping it anyway because of Naoki and the war almost looped back into the amusing. Almost.
"It's fine. I had only gotten worried that you may have gotten shy after sitting through an entire class of mandatory sweet talk."
Ayano couldn't help but laugh at her friend's teasing tone. "Yeah, no need to worry about that. Since when do I ever back down from a challenge?"
"True. I do appreciate how hard you fought back."
"See? More seriously though, I'm probably gonna have to skip practice fairly regularly over the next couple weeks," Ayano said grudgingly.
"Shame. I hope nothing serious came up?"
"Meh, my parents decided that me having to take care of a relative that's staying over was a good excuse to ditch me, while they went on their vacations." That wasn't exactly the truth, but she could hardly tell her about Rider and lying about her involvement in the moonlight world barely registered as anything more than a necessity anymore anyway.
"Did I ever tell you your parents suck?"
"Not often enough, they'd even agree with you about each other. That's why mom is visiting her family in Finland and dad took a trip to the Philippines."
"Geez. Is the relative staying with you at least not horrible?"
Ayano made her opinion clear with a derisive snort. "Let's say I'm not the biggest fan of my uncle."
"Yeah, that figures. Anything I can help with?"
"Nah. He's a patronizing prick, but nothing I can't handle. Probably best if you pass on to the club to stay away from my family's side houses for a while though. I already got enough on my hand without having to bother cleaning up after another party or something."
"Sure. It's not like anyone wants to cause you extra trouble."
"Or deal with me chewing them out afterwards," Ayano added jokingly.
"Pfft, right. Anyway, make sure to tell me, if your uncle ends up causing you too much trouble. Worst case we can drum the club into action."
"And riddle him with arrows?"
"Sounds like a plan to me," Chiyo said with a slight giggle.
Ayano figured it'd be best to omit that it might become a serious consideration for her. Of course, using Rider for target practice would be useless at best, even though he wasn't a crazy masochist like Idasviel. Still, there had to be someone in this war that's satisfying to punch.
For now however, she decided to simply unwind by chatting some more with Chiyo. Most of it revolved around what Ayano had missed at practice and the weird new teacher. Ayano couldn't tell her friend all she knew about Karisviel, but man was it good to get a chance to vent about her at all.
"She didn't strike me as that bad," Chiyo eventually said after Ayano had finished her rant.
"You're too nice," Ayano stated simply.
"Come on now, you had fun during the lesson too, right?"
"After she left the room."
"That doesn't mean it wasn't a fun idea," Chiyo said.
"Neither does that make it a good lesson."
"It was her introduction class. You should at least wait until our next lesson with her before you judge her."
"What?" Ayano asked flatly.
"I mean, they're not just going to have a foreign teacher show up for one day and then send her back to Germany, right?"
Ayano took a moment to process what her friend said. She had simply assumed that the Einzberns crashing their class was a one time thing for the sake of the war. Having to deal with them showing up over and over again was something she had pointedly ignored.
Her silence was interrupted by a cough, not from Chiyo, but from Rider standing in the doorway. Instead of his mantle, he's now wearing a plain apron that's at least fully covering up his chest. Once he had her attention, he gave her a wave towards the dining room.
"And on that cheerful note," Ayano said to Chiyo, "I have to go. Seems like dinner's ready."
"Sure, no problem. See you tomorrow in class then."
With that, Ayano ended the call, stood up and walked over to Rider.
"I'm sorry about interrupting your conversation," Rider said.
"Not much you can do about the food being ready," Ayano curtly responds as she walked past him.
Rider seemed to light up at the fact that she didn't bitch at him, which implies a rather low opinion about how reasonable he considers her usual attitude. Right, it's not like all that noise coming out of her mouth could ever mean he's doing anything wrong.
"That may be, but I wouldn't want you to get the impression I'm stealing you away from your friend."
Ayano only shrugged in response. Once in the dining room, she was relieved to see only two plates on the table. The ground beef meanwhile has been turned into some kind of meatball dish. At the very least, it smelled good. She took her plate and-
"Come now, Master, at least let us eat together," Rider called out to her the moment she moved to leave the room.
"Fine, but you're not bringing your horse to the table," she said, as she grudgingly sat down at the table.
"Naturally, I simply wanted to make sure the two of you are acquainted with each other. It'll be only us today."
"Right. Let's talk business first then. Did you finish your set up in the basement?"
"It's as complete as it can be. The crest worms are ready and all that's left is for your gems to finish charging. I'm free to move on to the next project and given the attack on the Tohsaka's mansion, it seems like a good idea to prepare the two Edelfelt mansions in town as backups."
"Yeah, probably a good idea," Ayano admitted. Playing things slow wasn't exactly her thing, but it still beat out getting splattered by an enemy Servant several times over. "Talking about contingencies, don't show your hand too much tonight, when we're investigating the Grail."
"That is reasonable enough. Securing my wish is more important than satisfying my curiosity in the Grail's craftsmanship."
"Okay, I'll bite. Why are you trying to get the Grail?"
"I'm afraid my wish is a rather boring one." Despite his words, Rider visibly cheered up upon the conversation turning to more personal topics. "All I want is the same thing everybody wants now and forever. I want to live."
"So I at least won't have to worry about you screwing over the world."
"Not in the slightest. What about you Master, what is your wish?"
Ayano shrugged. "I didn't exactly sign up. I got picked as the representative for my family and I'm not about to turn tail and run."
"Is that so? I was given to understand that the Grail primarily picks magi as Masters that have a strong wish."
"Yeah, but the Grail puts priority on the three families and It's not like I'm going to turn down an all mighty wish granter. I just don't care much for grand scale stuff like reaching the Root. I can figure out the details once I actually have the Grail."
"That does sound like you, Master," Rider says with a chuckle.
"Tsk, as if you'd know."
Their meal continued with Rider doing most of the talking, regardless of how much Ayano actually wanted to listen. She'd really have to find somebody to punch tomorrow.
"Germany" (capitalized)
Also, all instances of the Grail (mostly at the end) should probably be capitalized, too.
Ayano is the kind of no-nonsense straight man to our comedy routine that I could like as a protagonist. Kari is fun to watch, but the constant superiority complex may get on my nerves just as it does on anyone else in-story, and Ida's constant overtures can get more than a little disturbing.
Seeing someone honest and brash enough to call Kari on her act is refreshing, even if she occasionally veers too far into being confrontational.
Which incidentally only makes her nickname even more amusing, and I want it to become a habit in our circle. Mmm, Yanyan.
Not sure what to make of Rider's personality. He comes off as a tempering presence at first, but him finding the worms fascinating and wanting to talk to Zouken sends mixed signals, especially in light of his wish. What was his work that the worms do not live up to? Why does he have them inside his body in the first place?
It didn't occur to me either that our teacher gig would be more than a one-time stunt... Then again, it is our best way to meet up with Naoiki and Ayano (and possibly Tohsakas if they decide to show up). I have to pity the students, though. Fun as they may be, our class activities are no substitute for proper chemistry lessons... even if they might have more practical use for everyday life. Kari and being practical, not a combination I would think I'd get to use often.
I want to see Ayano become more prominent in the story; I am quickly becoming a fan.
Ayano took a moment to process what her friend said. She had simply assumed that the Einzberns crashing their class was a one time thing for the sake of the war. Having to deal with them showing up over and over again was something she had pointedly ignored.
"Germany" (capitalized)
Also, all instances of the Grail (mostly at the end) should probably be capitalized, too.
Ayano is the kind of no-nonsense straight man to our comedy routine that I could like as a protagonist. Kari is fun to watch, but the constant superiority complex may get on my nerves just as it does on anyone else in-story, and Ida's constant overtures can get more than a little disturbing.
Seeing someone honest and brash enough to call Kari on her act is refreshing, even if she occasionally veers too far into being confrontational.
Which incidentally only makes her nickname even more amusing, and I want it to become a habit in our circle. Mmm, Yanyan.
Not sure what to make of Rider's personality. He comes off as a tempering presence at first, but him finding the worms fascinating and wanting to talk to Zouken sends mixed signals, especially in light of his wish. What was his work that the worms do not live up to? Why does he have them inside his body in the first place?
It didn't occur to me either that our teacher gig would be more than a one-time stunt... Then again, it is our best way to meet up with Naoiki and Ayano (and possibly Tohsakas if they decide to show up). I have to pity the students, though. Fun as they may be, our class activities are no substitute for proper chemistry lessons... even if they might have more practical use for everyday life. Kari and being practical, not a combination I would think I'd get to use often.
I want to see Ayano become more prominent in the story; I am quickly becoming a fan.
I can agree with ida being a bit disturbing, but then I think that's the point? We're seeing it from Kari's perspective, so it's an endearing character quirk, but anyone with even the faintest shred of self-awarness should be able to see how unsettling it is.
That's one of the things I kind of like about this, actually: we're the anime antagonist. Like, we get everything from Kari's point of view, but in pretty much any other version of the story, Naoki or Ayano are the protagonist, and Kari is -at best- the Illya for us to fight/befriend.
I have to say I am enjoying Kari's fantastic ego, buuuuut that might just be a character trope I tend to find amusing in anime anyway, so.
Ayano is fun though, and I can agree about her brashness, though I do like that her conversation with Chiyo shows that she is more than just a blunt archetype. So, kudo to Edgedancer; I'm definitely enjoying Ayano.
Rider's fascination with Zouken is very concerning though, as is his stuff with the worms... not to mention whatever it is he and Ayano have planned. Presumably she'll do whatever she can/need to to make sure that Naoki and Mara are safe... btu I feel like whatever she's charging her gems for, Kari might be the first target once the Avenger hunt is through.
(Also, since she mentioned the gemcraft, I have to wonder what the relationship between Ayano and the Tohsaka Twins is like in this 'verse. It didn't really come up much during our Grail Investigations...)
