A Task Not Suited to a King
I glare at the priest after he makes his impudent suggestion. “Fool, do you honestly think that the King of Heroes would stoop to be a spy? A simple observer to look on and do nothing? It's as if you don't even know who I am!” I stand up from my chair in the basement of the church, and start to leave the room with heavy steps. I know Kotomine isn't one to give up so easily, though, and just as I suspected, he tries to bargain with me.
“Archer, it is most wise to follow this order. Without Servant Lancer, I require someone else to examine the battlefield forming once more in this city.”
It had been two, maybe three days since he walked into the church without the Servant he had wanted to acquire. In that time, I had done nothing. Oh, certainly I had walked around the city once or twice, but that was just to stretch my legs as it were, and examine this city from a peasant's perspective, leaving the confines of this church. It felt good, I'll admit that much, but it was still boring to me, and so I continued to return here, listening to Kotomine's inane sermons every day and night. Despite my disdain for staying inside for such a long time, though, Kotomine's order still stung me yet made me wonder what made him think that a simple order worded as it was would move me to do his bidding. Such a shame for him, really.
“Archer.” He commands again in a low, threatening tone. “I demand obedience to my will, regardless of who you may be.” I ignore him, and ascend the stairs out of this stagnant basement, letting his words trail off behind me, unheard.
I hear his footsteps rapidly advancing to catch up with me, and I deign to turn around, and generously give him my attention for whatever pointless attempt he may be making. This time, though, he has a sort of sly smile on his face, almost mocking me, but I've seen that expression enough to know that he does have a plan, maybe one that may convince me to follow his order, or so he likely believes.
His smile grows as I stand in the middle of the hall in the church. “I see that you are not satisfied with my order.” I glare at him as he understates the obvious, as usual. “Then perhaps it would interest you especially if I mentioned that I know now of another notable Servant... a Saber, in fact. Her master came to me for... advice, of a sort a relatively short while ago, and though they likely thought I didn't know who they had brought along and kept outside, well, they were quite wrong. I could see the three of them when they crested the hill to this church, the Master, a girl, and the Saber, who was hooded in some disguise meant to avoid attention from ordinary people.”
My eyes widen, and I too have a grin on my face. I know what he's getting at, and I would curse his persuasiveness if I didn't enjoy this as much as I did. Saber, in this war as well, and so it seems that my possessions do happen to return to me in time. My patience of these last ten years has rewarded me with the greatest prize of all.
“I know what you want me to do, Kotomine.” I tell the priest, frowning now. “You're too clever, truly, and if you with for me to be your dog to send spying, then so be it, as long as you give me a very long leash. Is that too unfair for you?” He's outmaneuvered me, and thus I have no choice but to cede to his demand and try to salvage what terms that I can.
It is his turn to walk past me. “Then it is settled, Archer. Do not return here until you have found another Servant and their Master. I do not care how long you are gone or what you do, you simply need to keep me informed in this War. I want to know who may stand the greatest chance in this wonderful game, and I hope the outcome will be one that can fulfill my growing interest."
Kotomine, that bastard. Without a word I snap my fingers and my golden armour, attire for a king, makes way for the clothes the priest had given me to blend in with this mundane human society. At worst I will seem like a strange foreigner, since without using any of my power and dressed as one of my own subjects I do not give any impression of being a Servant, or anyone who could attract too much attention. It is a rather small price to pay to entertain myself at the expense of this idiotic Grail War, and to once again meet a King worthy of my desires.
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The darkness is inconsequential to my eyes. I walk down the hill from the church leisurely, and make my way through this dull town. I know all its depths and all its prime locations after these ten years, and while some are... memorable, most are merely places to travel through. In this Fuyuki City I know there are two halves, split by a river. I chuckle at the pitiful resemblance. “What a horrible mockery of the original!” I say to myself, and it's terribly true. How sick that these people have the gall to imitate true beauty, instead of creating something for themselves. It's only one example of how far humanity has fallen.
Across the bridge is the half of the city I more rarely visit, simply because it's far away and I have to reason to strain myself walking so far. There is a school to properly educate these mongrels in modern idiocy, and a number of little houses making way for those of the rich and powerful. If anywhere, that is where I would find a capable master. I wonder if he who commands Saber in this war is strong willed and a true magus, or some weakling who had the fortune of being in the right place to undeservedly be granted control of someone so far beyond them.
At some small junction that separates locally-styled huts from the more elegant ones, I sense what can only be a Servant, one that exudes power simply by existing. A smile crawls across my lips as I think of the many possibilities that can arise from this, and just as soon I am interrupted by a most interesting sight: a section of entirely ruined pavement, splotched with still wet blood, and that tingling sensation of intensely concentrated prana, fading fast. There's the smell of violence lingering in the air, and it excites me. The thought of a battle here tonight tears every fragment of boredom from my mind and puts me in a heightened state where I am no longer merely strolling around the city. Now, I'm hunting.
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A/N: Still a rather short chapter, a little longer than the last one though. As I said before, I wanted to stop it at this point so that it has a good ending but that the same time doesn't require me to write thousands of additional words, since what I've got planned for the next chapter will definitely be longer.
Anyways, I hope this update has been enjoyable.