Guest 1: Archer's tactics are based on Perseus' tactics. Needless to congratulate him, this battle plan was created by Athena and Hermes, he was content to follow the original battle plan.
Guest2: Thank you.
Guest3: No Archer doesn't want to save everyone.
Guest4, 5, and 6: Hypocrite? No... more like a renunciation.
Author's Note: This chapter is a transition chapter. A one-year time leap separates this episode from the previous one. It will give us an opportunity to learn what has happened since Shinji's defeat and also to prepare the new trial of Artoria and Shirou. And yes, even if Angra Mainyu was defeated, he is far from having renounced his plans... The new Arc will give us the opportunity to see a very dangerous, manipulative, relentless, cruel and cynical adversary... someone who loves nothing more than to feast on the suffering of the innocent.
The Totem
The war against the Orcs had just ended a year ago. Its toll had been appalling, more than fifty thousand civilians and military killed, two hundred villages and towns razed to the ground, thousands of farms reduced to ashes.
Few people were lucky enough not to lose loved ones and many families mourned the victims of the conflict. Some scars left by the conflict would take time to heal.
Yet...
A visitor who did not know High-Rock before the war would have been surprised by the few traces left by the Orc invasion. Even in Menevia, the kingdom most affected by the occupation, hamlets of new houses had replaced the razed villages, farms built with the help of imperial commissions of reconstructions were already surrounded by ripening wheat.
One year after the end of the conflict, the Bretons had already turned the page, focusing resolutely on the future.
For such was the vitality of the inhabitants of High-Rock.
Daggerfall Castle, Kingdom of Daenia, Middas second day of Second Seed 3 E 420
The castle of King Gothryd of Daenia was an archaic fortress surrounded by high ramparts lined with moats and guaranteed at the corners by powerful hexagonal towers in dark gray granite. The citadel had two dungeons that rose on either side of the paved alley that connected the exterior drawbridge and the building housing the royal apartments.
In contrast, the royal residence was a charming manor house with tall windows lined with small tiles sealed in lead sheets. A balcony provided air, and two towers framed the main body.
The throne room occupied a large room on two levels with a ceiling supported by high and gracious columns. The platform occupied by the throne of King Gothryd and that of his wife, Queen Aubk-i, was massive and pierced at its base of doors that led to apartments, but also to the kitchen of the castle.
In one of these pieces, a conversation was taking place that would have a great impact on the future of High-Rock.
Cyndessa was a young Breton woman with long, square-cut brown hair. Her eyes were narrow and oblique and her skin was unusually dark. She wore a long, bright red skirt, a brown bustier, and a white blouse with a puff sleeve, leaving her shoulders bare. As for the basket of dirty clothes that she pressed against her hip showed, she was one of the castle maid... precisely the personal servant of Queen Aubk-i.
She was listening to a younger woman, dressed in a red turtleneck sweater adorned with a white cross, and a black skirt. Rin Tohsaka... of course. Pushing back with one hand one of the twintail that fell on her shoulder, the young Magus questioned Cyndessa.
Some step behind her stood Shirou Emiya. The Amber Eyes' Blacksmith wore his usual black leather armor, under a hooded coat with a red color even brighter than the servant's dress.
"Cyndessa" asked Rin "Do you remember this letter from the emperor? It must have arrived at the castle a few days after the death of King Lysandus."
The servant shook her head, trying to remember:
"That was 17 years ago!"
"Make an effort. It was a letter from the Emperor of Tamriel. It's not that frequent, and according to the knight who was tasked with delivering that mail, there was an error on the person. This letter was intended for the wife of King Lysandus, Queen Mother Mynisera. But because of the death of the late king, it was your mistress who received it because the mail was addressed to the "queen of Daggerfall"! "
Cyndessa flinches:
"Oh yes, I remember now. Her Majesty was deeply troubled by this mail. But... if you want me to tell you more, Miss Tohsaka, well... if you want me to scratch your back, you'll have to scratch mine first. Deal?"
Rin seemed surprised, but replied with a slightly false smile:
"Oh, but I think we'll avoid the impossible quest you're about to impose on us."
Before she could ask the maid to look her in the eyes, Shirou put a hand on her shoulder:
"Rin, there's nothing wrong with helping someone who needs it."
Rin stiffened and her face froze briefly, she waved her hand:
"Wait, I can simplify this and save us a lot of trouble."
Shirou massaged the back of his skull:
"I still want to listen to her." Then he turned to the handmaiden, "You have problems?"
While Rin she breathed an exhausted and resigned sigh and grumbled at something incomprehensible about "incurable naivety", Cyndassa smiled:
"East of Daggerfall, on the road leading to the cenotaph of King Lysandus, but before the fields of Cryngaine, you will see a circle of stones raised on a hill. This cromlech is called Wormhenge. There's a gate that leads under the hill. It's access to the Wormhenge dungeon. I want you to go there and kill a werewolf... deliver this poor thing from the curse of his life."
Shirou blinked his eyes:
"Kill him? Wait, why?"
"I want to deliver him," replied the servant.
The Blacksmith with the Eyes of Amber turned to Rin. But she looked at the scene with her arms crossed and cold eyes, like saying, "You're the one who insisted on helping her. Figure it out."
"We can't deliver him? Really deliver him, I mean without killing him!" Questioned the young red hair.
But Rin shook her head and lifted up an imperious finger, like a teacher giving a lesson to a pupil:
"Lycanthropy is a "gift" offered by Daedra Prince Hircine. A priest of the Nine can deliver an individual who has been bitten by a werewolf. But once a person is completely transformed, there is no deliverance possible... except death. And again, dead, a werewolf joins the kingdom of Hircine, the Hunting Ground."
"Can't we do anything?"
"No... Do you know what the Coldharbor Compact is?"
As Shirou glanced at her with incomprehension, Rin sighed again, and resumed her lesson:
"It's an agreement between Sotha Sil - one of the living gods of the Dunmers- and the Daedras princes. This agreement limits the power of the princes of Oblivion over Nirn. According to the Coldharbor Compact, the soul of this werewolf now belongs to Hircine, because he did not seek treatment after being bitten. Which means that he accepted, even willed, this destiny. To seek to deliver it... is to trample the power of a god. This gives him the right to revenge. No one will come to help you."
Despite the years and experience, Shirou still did not accept that not everyone could be saved. As he kept the determined and naive air that Rin found both adorable and unbearable, the Magus raised her arms to heaven:
"Well, you will discuss it with him when we meet him. After all, you are the one who accepted this quest. I am sure that this werewolf will listen to you carefully... he will have plenty of time while he tries to rip your head off!"
The same day, Tournelle Castle foothills of the Wrothgard Mountains, the kingdom of Menevia.
The castle of Tournelle occupied a strategic position, located in a strong and defensible place. Near the mountains, the castle was next to the main road of Stormheaven which crossed the plain of Menevia. Not far away, passed other routes serving Alcaire, Gastemarch, and Gavaudon as well as numerous paths that radiated towards all the good cities of King Eadwyre.
More than a century had passed since a king's predecessor had ceded the castle to the Meaumont family. Then a marriage made it the property of de La Roche. The recent war had erased this family from the armorial, no representative had survived.
Since then, the castle had once again changed its owners.
The "count" Artoria Pendragon (she insisted on the masculine) rode a magnificent white horse with the same blue bard as her dress-armor. Saber prance on top of a high hill, from where she could discover the reconstruction's site. A year earlier, at the end of the war, the fortress was nothing more than a heap of crushed and burnt blocks. Most of the buildings had been gutted or even razed to the ground. Only a roofless tower still dominated the ruins.
Here as elsewhere, the teams had set out to rebuild with enthusiasm, transforming the ruins into a human anthill. The masons had erected their scaffolding against the walls to raise the fortifications. Even at a distance, we heard the rumor of hammers and saws, the conversations of the line handers, the songs of the workers who were pulling blocks of stone on the ramps.
This was an aspect of the work of the lord was a change more than appreciable for Artoria. Indeed, she preferred to build than to destroy. Her previous life had, alas, been almost entirely devoted to war.
As she watched the construction site, a gurgling like thunder was heard. The young woman blushed and looked around... fortunately, she was alone. No one had been able to hear this embarrassing manifestation of her appetite.
Artoria had a discreet smile and shook the reins of his horse. The horse stamps and quickly descended the hill, thrown at a half-gallop. Saber liked to push her stallion to feel the wind in her hair. It is true that there was no motorcycle in this world and that she lacked this leisure.
The horse broke out of the forest that covered the slopes of the hill. Then, the path joined a road where wagons and riders passed. Several inhabitants greeted their lord who had slowed down. Most of the travelers belonged to the building of the castle. They brought with them blocks of sandstone from nearby quarries, trunks which they took to the sawmill to be cut into planks or transformed into beams. Others carried sand for mortar or limestone for lime kilns. There were also border guards dressed in green. They patrolled the roads around Tournelle and up to the borders of the Northern Orc tribes.
The area was dangerous, besides the Orcs and Goblins, Trolls lived in the mountains. The forest was no more welcoming. Illiac spiders were weaving webs between trees, capturing animals and careless humanoids. Clans of centaurs drank of the stale beer made by the Goblins and abducted the women from the villages for... well let's say the centaurs were known for their interest in humans women. In shrines deep in the woods, druids and dryads worshipped the goddess Kynareth, woe to him who would violate the secret of their ceremonies. And let's not forget by the harpies, these crazy creatures' half-women, half-vultures who abducted people to devour them. No, the area was not safe and the reconstruction of Tournelle Castle was more than necessary to bring some peace.
Peace, Artoria sighed, was still a distant dream.
The former Servant of the Grail War was not so naive as to believe that the end of the war had brought peace to High-Rock. Certainly, the Orcs had been forced to lift the siege of Wayrest because they had suffered a military defeat. Nevertheless, peace was not the absence of war. True peace was not a simple truce between two conflicts, it required more than a treaty like the one the emperor tried to have signed by the Orcs as well as the lords of High-Rock. You had to have trust.
And unfortunately, in wanting to discover the reason why the ghost of king Lysandus haunted Daggerfall, Rin and Shirou had conducted an investigation that fed the pessimism of Artoria. While visiting the "castle" Necromoghan (an underground fortress), her two friends had found old letters and archives belonging to the mother of king Gothryd, queen-mother Mynisera.
Shirou and Rin had discovered the loneliness of the Queen Mother, whom her husband King Lysandus had never loved and forsook for a younger mistress. They had mainly discovered letters damaged by the passage of time, dating from the youth of Queen Mynisera. Her father, Prince Klaius, at the time was leading a chase with a very special game... of the Orcs. The nobles of High-Rock attacked the Orc villages as if it were a game, and even massacred the children.
The hatred between the inhabitants of High-Rock and the Orcs of the Wrothgar Mountains dates back millennia, each group blamed each other for horrors and cruel massacres. Emperor Uriel Septim VII may have wanted peace, but only his legions could compel Orcs and Bretons to suspend the clashes. At least as long as the imperial armies interpose themselves between the two peoples. But the Empire of Tamriel spread over a whole continent and the hotbeds of unrest were too numerous to count them: the Wood Elves and the Khajiits made war regularly, the Dunmer Houses dreamed only of independence, The slavers of the House Dress attacked the Black Swamp to capture Argonians, necromancers and Daedric cults threatened everyone, not to mention the bandits. Perhaps the worst place was the imperial court. After all, Jaguar Tharn - the emperor's own war mage- had taken the appearance of Uriel Septim VII before imprisoning him in Oblivion and taking his place during the ten years of the Imperial Simulacrum.
For how long could Uriel Septim maintain the legions in Hight-Rock before another war requires them to be sent elsewhere?
Crossing the village at the foot of the peak where the castle stood, Artoria entrusted the reins of her horse to a guard before jumping ashore. A large wooden house had been one of the first buildings built in the ruins of the village of Tournelle. Until the restoration of the castle was complete, it served as a residence for Saber and her friends.
Before she reached the door, it opened. Sakura Tohsaka appeared at the door. On her white dress, the young woman wore a white apron. She held a pan in one hand and a large wooden spoon in the other.
Rin's younger sister had a shy smile:
"Welcome back to the house."
As an appetizing smoke rose from the kitchen, Artoria felt salivate. A new roar of thunder sounded and the woman-knight coughed in her gloved fist of metal:
"Thank you, Sakura."
The young woman masked her mouth with one hand, laughing softly:
"Dinner will be ready soon, come in Saber."
The King of Knights hung her long cape on a coat hanger, and then made her armor disappear in a whirlwind of blue particles. She appeared in a white dress decorated with ribbons.
Following Sakura, the knight entered the large dining room. A counter separated it from the kitchen... the exclusive Shirou estate when it was there. Unfortunately, it had been absent for almost two months. Emissaries of the emperor had come to join him, asking him to return to Daggerfall... and to resume his investigation into the death of King Lysandus. On that subject...
"Any word from Rin and Shirou?"
Sakura, who had stood in front of the furnace, turned around:
"The pendulum (1) delivered a message this morning. My sister and Shirou went to search a dungeon. "She laughs again." Rin said it was Shirou's idea... he always wants to help everyone."
Saber shook her head with an amused look but sighed with resignation:
"Shirou..."
Artoria couldn't get angry, this kind of behavior was so common with him. Hearing a noise, the King of the Knights turned around. Medusa Gorgon began to set the table. She was dressed in a black skirt and a purple sweater, her long hair was braided. She wore glasses that filtered her glare capable of turning people into stone. Saber greeted her with a rather dry nod:
"Rider."
The serpent-woman replied in the same way:
"Saber."
In fact, the two women tolerated each other... at best.
As Shinji's former Servant laid three plates, Artoria turned to the youngest of the Tohska's sister:
"Archer is not here?"
Still busy in the kitchen, Sakura replied without turning back:
"He left early this morning. Border patrol officers found traces of Trolls in the Direnni ruins to the northeast."
The young woman-knight nodded her head. For some reason, Archer often disappeared. He had become accustomed to tracking down the monsters and brigands of the region. However, it seemed too much of an excuse to stay away from her. Saber dared not question him. Even after a year with him, the former Servant remained sarcastic, solitary, and secret. In fact, he was the only Servant of the Fifth Grail War who still had not given his real name.
He was hiding something, you don't have to be a genius to figure it out.
Mechanically, Artoria shrugged her shoulders. The most amazing thing was that - since their first encounter- she often had the impression that Archer knew her. However, the reciprocal was not true. One could imagine that Archer had lived at the time of her reign. Certainly, Artoria did not know all the inhabitants of her kingdom and a person whom she had never met could recognize her. However, Archer was far too good a fighter to go unnoticed. Had he really lived in her time, she would have asked him to join the Round Table. Saber furrowed her eyebrows, unless, of course, he was an enemy.
No, it didn't make any more sense. She doubts that Agravain would "forget" to notice such a dangerous opponent.
Where did she meet Archer?
Artoria had the strange impression that she should have recognized him at first glance...
Wormhenge, kingdom of Daenia, Middas fifth day of Second Seed 3 E 420
"Neun, acht, sieben... Stil schießt, Beschießung erschießen!"
Rin Toksaka threw a handful of soul gems at the Giant who was attacking him. The crystals burst into tiny fragments, which fell upon the colossus armed with a club, before wrapping on it and suddenly growing, enclosing him in a crystalline prison.
Behind her, Shirou was facing two adversaries; the first was a Centaur brandishing a stone-tipped spear and dressed in shabby furs, beside him was a harpy. The creature cried, and the wind began to blow in the immense cave with a grey marble wall veined with red.
The Blacksmith with the Amber Eyes folded his eyes and concentrated. When the Centaur threw himself on him, Shirou Emiya dodged one step aside... then...
"Trace One!"
A Blade of dwemer's metal had appeared in his hand, surrounded by flames. Suddenly splitting forward, the young redhead struck the spear from bottom to top. Violently repelled, the centaur neighs of pain and surprise, but Shirou was already attacking without giving him time to recover... the bronze-colored metal sword whistled with skill drawing bows of flame in front of the half-man, half-horse creature.
Luckily for his opponent, Shirou was less interested in hurting him than in frightening him. However, as he made his demonstration, the harpy howled again. Out of her claw came a whirlwind that rushed upon Shirou...
But the redhead's lips moved again and a silver shield materialized on his arm. The knight's shield radiated a gentle, peaceful light. The original was kept in the Emperor's armories, one of the numerous weapons ready to serve against the Daedras. The Iron Virgin Shield was enchanted to protect against magic. Even if Shirou's Traced copy was degraded, it stopped the attack without difficulty.
"Fixiering Eile Salve !"
A Gandr Shot burst into the air, striking the Harpy and the Centaur with the power of a machine gun. The magic projectiles were curses so powerful that they took a tangible form, drops of darkness wrapped in a blood-red aura. In an instant, it was over, the monsters lay on the ground in a pool of blood.
Rin lowered her hand and passed the young redhead sighed... he hated killing smart monsters.
But her friend glared at him with colds eyes:
"We don't have time to play! So, which way?"
It was a good question and the Amber Eye Hero looked around him. It was the second underground level of the Dungeon. In fact, the first room on this level... it was huge and too regular to be the result of nature. In fact, the room looked like a well in the center of which was the elevator that had allowed them to come down here. The floor was approximately square with a door in each wall. As the exits were identical, the young man randomly pointed to one:
"This way!"
The Magus shrugged, seeming to say that this direction was worth another.
On the other side of the door, they discovered a corridor that extended to the right and left. As Rin raised an eyebrow with an interrogative air, Shirou smiled with a puzzled air, pointing to the left, always at random.
They reached a staircase and went down, but when they reached the bottom of the stairs, Shirou found himself facing a beautiful woman almost naked. The vision left him with his mouth open... completely dry... it took him a moment to see that the "bikini" of the female monster consisted of three large leaves, that her hair resembled grass were some flowers grew and especially that... her skin was green, with consistency reminiscent of wood!
Less disturbed by the presence of the lovely creature, Tohsaka was already reacting:
"A Dryad!"
She had already raised her hand to attack, but the Dryad cast a spell on Shirou. Suddenly, his vision was replaced by complete darkness, the vegetal creature having cast a spell to blind him. An instant later, she threw herself on the male warrior to plant her wooden claws in his chest. He barely managed, to protect himself with his shield...
Rin sighs:
"These boys, unable to stay focused in front of a girl scantily dressed..."
Once again the Finn Shots flew out of her hand, projectiles of darkness wrapped in a blood-colored aura. The Dryad cried out of pain and rolled down the steps before curling up on the ground. The flowers and the grass growing on her wooden body withered. After the last spasm, she stopped for good
"This way?"
Rin shot a murderous glance at Shirou. They had been wandering around Wormhenge for several hours... and had made many unpleasant encounters. Especially a wereboar, an ice golem, and a giant scorpion... Tohsaka wondered what the latter was doing in this Dungeon, because it was a Hammerfell creature from the desert of Alik'r.
The worst was that the last two levels of the maze were flooded with water. Fortunately, they had discovered an "Aquatic Breathing Crown" in the room guarded by the wild wereboar. But the last level was entirely aquatic and closed by countless gates... it was necessary to swim in flooded corridors in search of levers to lower and raise until finding the right combination to open a passage.
Of course, Dreughs, Lamias, and Carnivorous Fishes lived in the flooded maze...
Wet, exhausted, clothes torn, Tohsaka was in a very bad mood and Shirou rubbed the back of his skull before looking up the stairs to the upper floors. He shook his head and pointed to a wooden door:
"I think this is it."
Cautious, Rin pushed the door slightly and passed the head... and immediately returned it when a strange cry sounded:
"A Dragonling!"
The little creature looked like a miniature dragon, but it was spitting flames. As the creature took its breath, the Magus stepped back:
"Feuerwiderstandsfähigkeit"
A luminous aura surrounded Rin who found herself protected from the flames launched by the pseudo-dragon. Shirou had arisen beside her, having summoned two Ayleid swords inlaid with pale gems. She retained a smile. Again, he was trying to protect her... too cute...
However, as they entered the room, Rin only had time to discover that the room was on two levels with a gallery connected to the ground by two monumental stairs. Stone coffins and statues often damaged by time ran along the walls.
But, all this was secondary... a werewolf was running down the right stairs on all fours. Finally, it was the creature they were looking for. Rin pointed it out to her boyfriend:
"I'll handle the Dragonling, take care of him!"
"Okay," Shirou replied.
Luckily, his elven metal blades were able to hurt the lycanthropes. Because the monster was fast and the Faker would have had no chance to trace any more blades before it was on him.
Fortunately, fast and strong, the half-man half-wolf monster was content to strike furiously.
Shirou ducked, careful not to give all his speed so that the blows would miss him only by a hair. With a grunt of anger, the monster gave a violent blow but the Amber Eye's Blacksmith took a rapid side step as the monster's paw blocked its vision.
The Lycanthrope no doubt had the impression that Shirou had vanished into thin air because he immobilized stupidly, looking ahead. The Amber-Eyed Hero took advantage of his surprise to strike. The two blades sank simultaneously into his hip and the monster howled with pain and anger...
Shirou hesitated, but although seriously wounded, the monster sought to stand up. There was not an ounce of reason in its eyes and its mouth was foaming with rage.
He couldn't save everyone... especially those who didn't want to.
Ayleids swords whistled... opening the throat of the lycanthrope in an X's wound.
Rin joined Shirou who watched the lycanthrope return to its human form. She had easily gotten rid of the Dragonling.
"He looks like Cyndessa..." she whispered.
The young redhaired man raised his head:
"Like a young brother..."
He sighed... Now they knew why Queen Aubk-i's maid wanted to liberate the lycanthrope.
Three days later, Tournelle Castle foothills of the Wrothgard mountains, kingdom of Menevia.
Artoria was sitting next to a strange device called "Magical Energy Conductor". It looked like an ancient phonograph with a bronze pavilion. Rin's voice came out of it:
"... after we returned, Cyndessa taught us what we were looking for. I believed that the "private" mail the emperor had sent to Queen Mother Mynisera must be something "private", perhaps a testimony of a... personal relationship between the two sovereigns."
Saber nodded her head:
"And that's not it?"
There was a pause:
"Have you ever heard of the Numidium?"
The former Servant frowned:
"I don't think so, no."
"It is an artificial god created by the Dwemer, a huge automaton animated by the Heart of Lorkhan."
Lorkhan? The "drum of destruction?" If Artoria remembered well, he was the god who had incarnated mortals on Nirn... or something like that. But he had been killed by another god, Magnus, one of the Aedras. The god of magic and logic had ripped his heart out and thrown it on the island of Vvardenfell, in Morrowind. The impact had given birth to a new volcano, the Red Mountain. There were many legends, but in the end, we didn't know much. All this had happened during the Merethic Era, long before the beginning of the human history...
"The letter was about the Numidium?"
"Not exactly," replied Rin. "When Tiber Septim conquered Morrowind, he obtained from the living gods of the Dunmer that they gave him the Numidium. The Heart of Lorkhan had long since disappeared and the Numidium was only a metal dwemer's statue, unable to move. But the War Mage of the emperor Tiber found a way to animate the Numidium through a spiritual gem called the Mantela and to allow the emperor to control it through the Totem. The letter said the Totem had resurfaced..."
"Where?"
Rin grumbled:
"That's the problem, Cyndessa didn't know about it... and the letter was subsequently stolen. You'll never guess by whom!"
"I'm not even trying, Rin. Don't make me languish."
"I doubt it's a coincidence, but the Thieves' Guild member, who stole the letter from Queen Aubk-i, was hired by... Gothwog, King of Orsinium!"
(1) Magic version of the fax machine, seen in several episodes of the Fate saga.