I don't own HSDxD and gain no profit from this writing.
Chap 14
'I see, so the sewer is important for every town in terms of hygiene. It would affect the health and mind of everyone living inside the town.'
Lancer noted that down, hoping that it could be used to improve the quality of life when she returned to the past. She would need to consult with Merlin since it wasn't possible to just use the technology back then to replicate the sewer she read in the book.
'Increasing trade routes with the Roman Empire should also help us, but it would be difficult since Camelot is on an island. We would need more ships to carry goods, and we would also need to produce goods according to the demand of the Empire. The sad thing is we couldn't increase the amount of crops enough for trading. Perhaps we could trade with the Pict? No, they were too different from us..."
Lancer took a break from studying, she glanced at Issei who was sleeping soundly. Where did it go wrong? She wondered.
Originally she wanted to object against the idea to save Akeno's mother, checking on whether she was alive or not even. There was no reason to risk themselves that much to help Akeno, especially when she wanted to borrow the hands of the now dead Berserker and Rider to eliminate Lancer from the war just a few days ago. However Issei was still young, his head was full of naive ideals. He believed that it was his duty to help others despite the fact that they were enemies.
However if she declined Issei would still try to convince her, or find another way to do it behind her back, which was something Lancer wanted to prevent.
So the King looked it another way, and she reached the conclusion that the result ultimately benefited her regardless of what it was.
If this was a trap, and the Himejima clan would ambush them when they arrived then it would be a harsh lesson for Issei. He would learn to discard his heroic ideals, and to see Akeno not as an ally but an enemy. He would listen to her and process as she planned.
If they could rescue Shuri for real, then Akeno would withdraw to run away before the Himejima could capture them. The clan wouldn't be able to move their main fighting force to attack Issei and her either, as Saber would be there to support them. Additionally the Mage Association along with the Vatican would prevent the Himejima from doing so when they were in the middle of a grail war.
It was supposed to be a win-win situation for Lancer. It should have been, yet the result took her by surprise. Lancer had made a mistake to assume that Shuri was alive, she didn't expect said woman had been killed years ago.
So the trip didn't teach Issei a lesson, and it didn't remove Akeno from the war. A loss for their side. Issei even made it worse as he declared that he would tell the truth to Akeno instead of letting her handle it. In time like this his stubbornness had proved to be… a problem. Already she knew Akeno wouldn't be able to continue the war with a clear mind when she was crushed by the news of her mother's death.
'If this keeps going sooner or later we would find ourselves in an unfavorable situation.'
Real life is cruel. It doesn't permit you to make mistakes, because too many mistakes means loss and death, which could have been prevented if one acted differently. The naive ideal of Issei must be held back, and Lancer must be the one to do so for the sake of victory.
It would be a matter of time before their alliance was done for when Issei failed to bring Shuri back. Akeno and Saber would be making their moves soon, and Lancer wanted to be able to respond to them when they turned their blades against her. Issei had no excuse not to fight them now.
It had been an exhausting day for Issei so he woke up late in the morning. She could see that he was depressed. Regardless he still went to the dining room with her behind. Lancer had a bad feeling about this. There was no way Akeno would be alright to prepare breakfast after what happened last night, and if she did then it would be a scheme.
"Excuse us…" Issei slid the door sideway.
Food had been put on the table, and Saber was there, alone in the dining room. Akeno could be heard working from the kitchen behind. However Lancer knew they were no longer allies. It was carefully hidden, but she definitely could feel the killing intent from those empty eyes of Saber.
'The food likely is poisoned too.'
Lancer had never fought a warrior from the east back when she was alive, but due to the knowledge from modern age she understood that a Japanese swordmaster could attack in the sitting position. In other words Saber had entered an attack stance from the beginning, she had gotten the ambush advantage. Her blades were ready to be drawn.
One more step from Issei and he was in Saber's range of attack. Thanks to her Instinct Lancer could see that Saber wanted to cut his left arm-which was where his command spells were. Yet the moment Saber made said attack she would leave her guard open, allowing Lancer to pierce Saber's throat with her lance… No, Saber should be fast enough to move her head slightly to dodge such an attack, and she could always use her other katana to block or deflect Lancer's lance. To kill Saber Lancer would need to attack through a blind spot, which was Issei's left arm, to ensure that Saber wouldn't be able to react. As for Saber she would need to wait until Issei entered her range of attack. Lancer doubted Saber would show her blades if the conditions weren't met, likely she would let Issei and Lancer eat the poisoned food to weaken them.
For the King, trading an arm for a life of a strong enemy is an acceptable price. Lancer would start the attack before Saber by thrusting her weapon through Issei's left arm. Without a proper armor Saber wouldn't survive a direct hit. Akeno would pose no threat once Saber had been defeated.
For the Knight, allowing her master to lose his arm like that is simply unacceptable regardless of the benefits. Besides that Issei was depressed, if he lost an arm now he could snap and made even more mistakes in the war. The two command spells were important resources which could turn the table in certain circumstances too. Therefore her answer was clear.
Lancer used her left arm to pull and throw Issei behind her, while at the same time she lunged her lance at Saber who also drew her katana. The dining room was destroyed by the shockwave created when their weapons clashed. Instantly Lancer had her armor on and thrust her lance at Saber, targeting her forehead, throat and chest, yet all of them were repelled by Saber. She could see the directions of Saber's counters as she tried to cut her eyes, neck and shoulders, yet her armor withstood the onslaught after the force of the attacks had been reduced thanks to the lance.
'Looks like it's not possible for me to summon my steed.' The space was too small for her to ride her horse, so Lancer would have to fight Saber on foot.
The two of them switched their battlefield from the dining room to the bathroom, and then various places. Nothing could stay intact when Lancer and Saber kept throwing their attacks at each other. Before Issei's body touched the ground over a hundred blows had been exchanged, and neither Lancer nor Saber intended to decrease their rate of attacks.
If Lancer was the unstoppable storm, then Saber was the persistent cyclone. Lancer's blows were heavy and fast, while Saber's slashes were skillful and precise. Their battle dragged on, and only slowed down when Akeno began to attack Issei.
They both knew the inexperienced Issei stood no chance against Akeno in combat, so Lancer had to look out for her master. But Issei's Sacred Gear was proved to be dangerous and unpredictable so Saber too had to look out for Akeno. Their frequent rate of attacks decreased since they had to look back and forth, but that didn't mean they had no intention not to kill their opponent.
Between the clash of iron Lancer could see Saber's faint smile, as if she were enjoying their fight. Lancer too was glad she could test her full power against a rival from another land of another time. Originally they wanted to have a spar fight to gauge each other's strength and skills. Perhaps they would laugh if the circumstances led to their battle was better. At last no such thing could happen now, for each of their attacks carried the will to finish their opponent.
They were finally back at the dining room again to observe their masters better. The shrine was ruined by their fight, but they understood that neither would be using this place as a base anymore after today.
The flow of battle changed when Issei was hit by Akeno's curse.
"Master!" Lancer could feel the drop in mana. The curse had shown its effect, now Issei couldn't properly support her. Even though Lancer had Mana at A rank it would rapidly decrease the more she spent on fighting Saber, who was her peer. Not to mention there's no telling how many battles against other servants after this. She might not have a chance to use her noble phantasm due to how close they were and how fast Saber was, but she definitely needed to be able to use her trump card at least once.
'What do I do now!?'
Saber was increasing her pace after Issei was cursed. Akeno wouldn't miss this chance to siege Issei's command spells. If Lancer became Akeno's servant she doubted she would be allowed to achieve her wish.
Lancer tried to turn her head slightly, but Saber didn't let her have a shot at killing Akeno.
In the sink or swim situation Issei made his call.
"By this command spell, I order you to get us out of here!"
Power surged through Lancer's body, she disengaged and rode her horse to where Issei was to grab him. Saber swung twice in their route but she could only scratch the lance and the armor. Akeno tried to launch a barrage of explosive charms but they all missed. With one dash the horse carried them out of the shrine, leaving Akeno and Saber behind.
They continued to run until they reached the outskirts of the town. Lancer couldn't sense Saber nor any familiar so she dismissed her horse. Exhausted and hungry, both master and servant sat down to catch their breath under a tree. Lancer also unequipped her armor and weapon, she had to save mana now.
"Well… I should have expected our little alliance to end this fast..." Issei let out a sigh.
"Are you okay? Does that curse hurt you greatly?" Lancer looked at her master.
"I'm fine as long as I don't fight." Issei answered after checking his body and touching his left arm, his Sacred Gear had been unsummoned. "It still hurts though, but not that much."
"We need to move. Staying out in the open like this will make us a target for all of them." Lancer said, yet they had nowhere to go. They couldn't return to the shrine nor Issei's house as Akeno obviously would send her familiars there.
"Hm… Nope, I don't have enough to rent a hotel." Issei said after checking his pocket. "I leave my wallet at my room. Not that it's full anyway."
"Should we go for another horse race?" Lancer asked. "That seems to be the fastest way to get money in your era."
"Sorry, I can't afford train tickets to the neighboring town with my current money." Issei shook his head.
Lancer couldn't use her horse to get to another town either due to the cost of mana. Just when she was confident of winning due to the amount of mana Issei got they were back to square one.
"Let's see… Akeno is our enemy now, so is Archer. Ms Suzaku might have promised us that Archer and his master wouldn't harm us, but there's no telling now that Akeno has decided to take revenge. The church side is obviously our enemy, Rider and his master won't help us unless we manage to remove the geas." Issei scratched the back of his head. "Oh shit we have to tell Caster now that Himejima might want to speed things up so she would attack her!"
"We can join Caster." Lancer proposed. "The shrine side has Saber and Archer, the church side has Rider and Assassin. So we can only survive if we join force with Caster."
"Will they accept us? With our current status we would just be a burden to them."
"They have no choice but to accept us because the other option is getting ganged up on by multiple servants. Speaking of which we can ask Caster to remove that curse on you. It is crucial for us to be ready in combat now that we have been put in this state."
Regardless of the true identity of Caster she should have the knowledge to either neutralize or cancel the effect of the disruption curse Akeno put on Issei.
"Alright, then let's go to their base." Issei stood up.
The pair began to walk toward the hill where Caster and her master made their base. They both kept silent the entire time. Issei couldn't even afford a snack or drink at the vending machine on the way. Fortunately for them Saber and Akeno didn't chase after them. By the time they reached their destination afternoon was almost over.
"Geez, remember what you promised us? Now you come here with a tail between your legs but no means no." Sneered the fox. "You are but a burden for us."
It was not difficult to understand. Since Lancer was weakened it didn't matter if Caster allied with them, Saber would be able to beat her in this state and team up with Archer to kill Caster. If they were by their own it would take time for Saber and Archer to hunt down Lancer and Issei before going for Caster, they would also have to look out for Rider and Assassin's surprised attack.
"You do know that you alone cannot match other servants, let alone a pair of them." Lancer tried to convince the fox. "If you could remove the curse on my master we would stand a better chance."
"Oh please, how do we know that you are not tricking us to let you into our base so that you can attack us from the inside and outside with your friends?"
Lancer bit her lips, what the fox said was true too. It didn't matter what they said, Caster and her master wouldn't trust her and Issei enough to help them.
"Get it? We have no place for a couple of losers so shoo shoo! Go away!"
Lancer considered attacking Caster now, but they still didn't know her true idenity, and without proper support from Issei it would be too dangerous.
The pair of master and servant had no choice but to leave the hill in a bitter mood. Having walked the whole day with nothing in their stomach took the last bit of their mental strength.
"See? I told you so, we wouldn't be in this situation if you just let me handle Akeno." Lancer complained.
Issei's left eye twitched at her words.
"Have you finally seen that your naive ideal is hurting us more than it should be? This is what happens when you run around trying to be a hero. You think that you could end the war without bloodshed? That you are capable of helping everyone with a childish ideal? Look at yourself, you can't even beat Akeno despite having the power of Y Ddraig Goch, and Caster flat out rejects you when you ask for help."
"... I'm sorry that I'm weak, but so what? What's wrong with wanting to help others? Not everyone is an evil enemy that deserves to die. Don't you have any pity for Akeno when she has no clue that the person she loves the most has been killed years ago? Why would anyone want her to continue to live under a lie?" Issei gritted his teeth. "I'm not treating people like objects unlike you just because it's more advantageous for us that way."
"That is the reason why we are in this helpless situation. Because of your selfish desire that, instead of having Saber as our ally, now we have to fight her and possibly Archer in a condition where you cannot supply me with mana. You just decide to tell the truth to Akeno without considering what would happen to us." Lancer said coldly, but it was hard to hide the anger in her voice. "You who have not gone through suffering, you who have not once lived through hardship, you who is sheltered the entire life think that you know how life works? How war works? You, a civilian, do not understand how to win a war."
"Yeah I don't know about all that war and shit alright!" Issei spatted. "But you king is so great, that's why Camelot went to shit because it was ruled by a great king who thinks she knows everything!"
"... What did you say?" Lancer could feel her blood boiling by Issei's words.
"Am I wrong? I saw it, I saw how you tried to bring Lancelot back and forgive him for what he had done! How the hell did you even come up with that decision!?"
"Because we need all the manpower! Camelot was under attack by multiple sides, I could not afford to lose Lancelot whose prowess and army were critical for the sake of our island! The Knights of the Round Table were irreplaceable for the war effort!" Lancer retorted.
"That does not mean it is the right thing to do! I… I know it's a tragedy for three of you, but the choice you made goes against the nature of man! What kind of king would just let the one who stole away his queen go unpunished like that? How could any man possibly trust your decisions if you overlook the culprit who committed one of the worst crimes!?"
Issei argued back loudly.
"You are an insufferable king who only does what you think is the best for others, have you ever considered what they actually want?"
"The people wanted a perfect king, and the knights demanded a good commander! I have become what they ask for, I have become the very ideal being that they desired, what do you know about it!?"
"Perfect king? ...Yeah! You got that one right. From the very beginning you had to shut yourself inside a cover of 'perfection'... No, you were enslaved to the 'ideal' of that age, devoted to it with everything you got to please your people. You were so rigid that they could not see you as a human. In the end it was your precious ideal that killed you and ruined your kingdom."
Lancer's heart went cold at those words.
"People of that age only accepted a 'man', hence you had to make up a facade when you took the throne to hide your true identity, and it was also the reason why you had to marry a spouse… which eventually led to the demise of Camelot when Lancelot started the affair since you weren't capable of pleasing your queen, then you had to leave Camelot in Mordred's hands who gathered the opposed factions to rebel against you. That was how your kingdom was destroyed! Because of a lie!" Issei threw everything at her. "No matter what achievements you had done for them, they would just pin the blame on you! All because you are a 'woman'!"
Lancer's hand moved before she realized it. Issei fell on the ground, two of his teeth flew out and lost among the grass.
"Think. Before you speak." Lancer spitted the words on Issei who was struggling to stand up, a trail of blood could be seen on his mouth.
"Cool down your head, since we can't join Caster we will need to find another way to remove your curse. I will find us a shelter, you meanwhile try to gather as much food and resources as you can. I don't care if you have to steal it. We will meet again later."
Lancer quickly walked away, she knew if she continued to remain there it wouldn't end with just a slap.
'How dare he…! A brat who only thinks with his bloody wiener dares to insult me, a king, like that!'
Lancer punched through a tree.
'If he is not my master and the inheritor of the Welsh Dragon's power I would have broken his bloody limbs! That wanker!'
She kicked another tree and brought it down.
'Has he ever considered how foolish and useless he is!? Why would he just decide things by himself when I am the one with more experience and has led my army against all odds to victory for a decade!? How can someone who lives in an era of peace ever think he can order those who lived in the age of strife!?'
Another row of trees was cut down when Lancer swung her lance.
'How come he is no different from them!? How could they not see that Guinevere was genuinely happy when she was with Lancelot!? The knights too, they demanded retribution from the man who only wanted to comfort the woman he loved! They didn't even care about why we needed Lancelot to keep Camelot from chaos or that my decision was the most efficient one!'
A large crater was created when Lancer brought down her lance.
"Hah… Hah…"
Lancer wiped the sweat on her head. There was only the sound of insects and occasionally wild animals around her. For an hour Lancer stopped thinking, she just sat there and let the wind blow pass her.
"What have I done…?" Lancer shook her head.
She didn't understand why she got caught up in the argument like that. Both her and Issei were tired, so it was natural that they would let their emotion go loose. However as the older person Lancer should have stayed calm, she could have averted the topic instead of responding to Issei's words. There was no point in arguing over such things.
Issei was still a teenager. He didn't understand the harshness of life, so that was how he reacted to things he hadn't gone through. With his stubbornness the only thing that can teach him to understand is to let him experience it himself. There is no other way around it.
Lancer took a deep breath. She needed to return to Issei to protect him. Regardless of what he said he was still her master. Lancer knew that Issei would be the first one to apologize to her thanks to what she had seen in the dreams. So she would let him do that. More than ever Lancer needed to retain the strong image in his head. In case he said nothing then they would just forget this.
'Besides, back then Issei could have got out of this war the easy way if he just gave up his command spells. Instead he chooses to stay with me while knowing that there's a chance Akeno might take his parents hostage. I shouldn't disregard his bravery.'
Lancer closed her eyes.
'There is something I need to confirm with him too. We also need to figure out how to remove the curse. In the morning Akeno said that the curse could last for a month, but hiding ourselves for a month is definitely not a good option.'
Lancer stood up, she opened her eyes, gripped her lance hard and turned her head to the north.
"... Show yourself."
Lancer pointed her lance at the pair of man and woman who slowly stepped out of the dark. Earlier when she was thrashing around she didn't notice them, but they definitely had watched her for some time.
"Easy there Miss Lancer, we mean no harm." They both raised their empty hands.
The man was in a thick grey coat while the woman was in a rather provocative red coat with a mini-skirt.
"Oh, where's my manner? My name is Dohnaseek, and this is my comrade Kalawarner." They slightly bowed to Lancer.
"What do you want?" Lancer knew that these two were non-human, and for unknown reasons they reminded her of Akeno, despite the appearance of westerners. Through a check at their magical energy she was confident that she could beat them 2v1 in a fight with just her lance.
"We have… seen how incompetent your master is. Not only he does all of these stupid things without considering your opinions, but the fact is that he is too young for such an important war. Untrained and impulsive, he is not a suitable master for such a strong warrior like you."
"Therefore, we have an offer for you." Kalawarner continued after Dohnaseek.
"You two want me to become your servant." Lance went straight for it.
"Correct." Dohnaseek smiled. "We can assure you that we can provide virtually unlimited mana for you to fight in this war, and we will consult you on the aspect of tactics and strategies."
"The only thing you need to do, is to forge a contract with one of us."
"You want me to kill my master?" Lancer said in monotone.
"Why not? He has proved to be useless and a hindrance for you. Well if you want him to live you could just take away his command spells or force him to cut the contract." Kalawarner shrugged. "There's nothing he could do now since he's weakened."
"Please, think about our offer. I believe it benefits us the most if you change your master." Dohnaseek then pulled out a crystal from his coat. "This item here will keep you alive for some time even if you cut the contract with your master. Treat it as a gift from us."
He then threw the crystal to Lancer.
"We await your answer Lancer. It would be great to have you by our side." They both disappeared into the thickness of the forest after that.
"Hm…" Lancer looked at the crystal, she could see that it was a thick lump of mana. If she kept it close to her body she should be able to absorb the mana inside. She was certain that even if she canceled the contract with Issei she would still be able to fight for at least an hour, and if she was to conserve her mana she should stay in this world for a day.
Lancer turned her head to where Dohnaseek and Kalawarner were again, she was sure that they were still watching her through magecraft. She could also sense that there was a third person with them. She turned her gaze back to the mana crystal again. It made her recall a memory.
"Certainly there are things I can do if I am not subjected to the command spells." She muttered out loud.
A plan formed inside her mind, but for that to happen it would depend on the other party.
"Now what to do...?"
AN: Thank you for all the support.