Chapter 15 : Legends and Similarities
Bell swiftly jumped forward, and righted the elf from falling. A disgruntled sound came out from her mouth, but her expression of confusion and hostility quickly gave way to thankfulness once she spotted the crystal that she had tripped over.
"Thank you." came the soft voice of the elf, though for some strange reason her ears were tinged red. "Wait… what am I holding?" thought Bell as he looked down and realised that he was still holding her shoulders and so he jumped back, yelping in apology as he did so.
She giggled and responded, "No, it's all right! I don't mind people touching me by accident; I spent quite a while in the Education district you see! Anyway, thanks for your help, I'll see you at dinner, record holder."
"See Bell! Not all women are scary!" came the smug voice of the Crozzo Smith to which the white-haired boy looked over at him, derision etched on his face, "Welf, sometimes I wonder if you need a good hammering too."
The smith in question pouted in response, before muttering, "But I was right…" as they continued to walk in the direction of the main camp. A loud rustling sound came from above their heads, and so the pair looked above to see Arash on the tree, with an abashed pallum tucked under his left arm.
"Eh!?" was the reaction Bell gave, which was fairly understandable, but the smith responded with a much more appropriate "Bwahahahaha" as the Archer jumped down from the tree.
"Yo! Bell! Welf!" was the enthusiastic greeting from the Persian as he let Lily down, before scratching his head, "Lily somehow got stuck in a bog…" he trailed off as more sounds of leaves rustling came out from behind them.
It was a very haggard looking Mahari who quite literally dropped out of a bush, her entire arms covered in mud, and her aura exuding tiredness.
Arash continued, a smile on his face, "For being a 'reliable onee-san', Missy over here struggled quite a bit to help Lily out, though how the two of them even got into that mess… err…" he trailed off, his smile widening as he did so.
"Lily, are you okay?" came the concerned enquiry of Bell, to which the Pallum nodded, her face still red, "Yeah, I'm fine, Bell… just a bit dirty I guess."
"Apparently someone clumsily dropped a fruit inside the bog, and instead of letting it go, our Pallum here had the great idea to jump in after it. I had to create a few rope arrows to get her out." continued Arash.
Welf's eyes had glazed over at this, "A… rope arrow?" to which Arash smiled brightly, his hands on his hips, "Oh yes! An arrow isn't just meant to poke someone with; you can do quite a lot of things with arrows! Like making an arrow that punches people, a rope arrow, a pickaxe arrow…"
The atmosphere took a strange turn as the Persian archer continued reciting myriad uses of arrows that no normal archer could do. "Oh yeah! Arrows are even a safe and fast mode of transport! I can guarantee that!"
"Damn bro! Maybe you should give a course to all the smiths in Orario how to make these special arrows? I know atleast three familia members who'd eagerly lap up whatever you teach…. wait… did you just say you can use arrows as a mean of transport?" muttered Welf half-cheerily, though he was sweating quite suspiciously.
"Yeah! Arash Airlines has never failed! I could send you from Orario to Melen easily! I suppose I can't really do much inside the Dungeon, but I'll show you some of that outside!" was the quick response from the archer.
"Er… no! It's fine, Arash. I think flying would probably ruin my opinion of walking forever, so it's better I don't!" came the placating voice of Welf.
"Ho! Flight through the air! You've caught my attention, Mister Archer!" came a young voice through the air. All four standing turned to behold a short yellow haired boy, wearing a purple coloured dress smiling at them. Even the currently prone swordswoman jumped to her feet with surprising energy at the voice, and Bell had a sneaking suspicion it was because that it was an opportunity to make another young brother.
Her expectations would no doubt have been dashed for this was no boy, this was Finn Deimne, the unsurpassed General of Orario, and so Bell blushed as the pallum in question waved his greeting to the party.
Bell blushed as he waved back, for it was one thing to hang out with deceased heroes of another world, but to be in the presence of a living legend, the pinnacle of First-Class Adventurers was something he did not have much experience in. And no, the training sessions weeks ago with the Sword Princess were not the same.
"Ho! A new customer for Arash Airlines? Well, when we get out of here after doing in the Goliath, I'll make sure to give you your first trip for free, Mister Finn!" came the happy response of Arash.
"Haha! I'll be sure to take you up on your offer." was the friendly voice from the Pallum as he stepped forward. "It's nice seeing that all of you aren't tense and are taking it easy, but I suppose it's expected!"
He gave a conspiratorial wink in the direction of Bell Cranell, which made the boy remember that the Hestia Familia and the Loki Familia were now in an alliance with one another. Apart from his 'elder sister' perhaps the Loki Familia executives would be upper-class adventurers he could learn from, that is if they were so inclined as to help him to do so.
"Still, it's kind of strange for me you know. I didn't expect to hear that my goddess is dating a guy… but seeing him, I suppose it was only a matter of time she fell for him! Oh that aside, I'd like to thank you all for providing supplies, I'm told it's because of your foresight that we received the antidotes and supplies with such haste." was the grateful words that came out of Finn's mouth.
"Ah, it's nothing! I mean, Gil'd probably beat me up if I didn't look after his kids you know? So I told him about your circumstances and he jumped at buying potions." came the half-hearted response from Arash, clearly trying to deflect the praise heaped upon him.
"Children huh? Hmmm, well, I suppose we are children compared to you… ah… this is probably the first time I feel as young as I look." There was serious contemplation in that voice, understood by everyone except for Welf Crozzo, who did not know of the Servants' nature.
"Ah! Don't say all that! You'll make me feel old. Just treat Gil like that, I'm only thirty four! Besides, let's go! I'll show you how good paste made from chickpeas is between bread!" came the voice of Arash, eager to change the topic away from his age.
"Ah, I'm beat, I'll clean up a bit first, but I'd like to see Loki Familia eat Shalzard Specialties!" was the response from the former Maat Familia member, to which Arash responded, "I suppose you all need to clean up anyhow. Oh Bell; Lancer was searching for you, go check on him."
As his Familia split up in various directions, Arashs till remained standing besides the pallum, who asked, "Even when you're the ones who've brought the supplies… you still want to help in cooking too? Ah, I guess that's what a Heroic Spirit is supposed to do huh?"
Arash smiled, "Not at all. Those who don't work, don't eat! And I was serious about treating you all to some chickpea paste!"
His crossed his arms before asking, "That said, what are you really here for, Mister Deimne?" his eyes twinkling with curiosity.
"Ah… I apologise, but I was told that you can see the future?" came the response from Finn, coming to the crux of the matter in an instant.
"That is true… but I'm not a reliable fortune-teller; the future, it comes in flashes, sometimes big, sometimes small, it is the goddess Armaiti who decides what I can see, but she responds more often than not if I ask to see something." was the low response of Arash.
"Ah… I see, that said, you're investigating some sort of human-trafficking, and you found some documents relating to a strange cult that branched off from Evilus?" was the equally low response from the pallum, though Arash caught the strange tone Finn's voice had taken on at the mention of 'Evilus'.
"The burden you carry is heavy…. perhaps too much so" was the solemn response, to which Finn's eyes shot wide open, while Arash tapped his forehead, "This is called Clairvoyance… allows me to see all sorts of things apart from just the future, like reading minds. As the one who destroyed Evilus in the past, you're wondering if its destruction only paved way for an exponentially more catastrophic entity… Enyo?"
"I would be lying if I said it didn't. Indeed, did the removal of one head cause another to take its place? Would Enyo's thrashing about cause more damage than Evilus ever did? All these plague me somewhat." was the tired response from Finn. Much like all leaders, even Orario's best strategist second-guessed himself from time to time, and presented with the opportunity to seek clarity about his decisions, there was little he could do but jump at the chance.
"No. Enyo would have arisen, sooner or later, sooner I'd wager. I have no clear visions but this much I can say for sure, the destruction of Enyo will not lead to the rise of a more dangerous entity, and Evilus' destruction did not pave way for Enyo… some things just happen, Braver. It is better that you keep your head up, your command shall be needed if Enyo strikes with renewed force. You do not need to second-guess yourself… but self-assuredness should not turn into arrogance." was the response from Arash.
"I see… very well… I must admit that this lessens the weight somewhat… but."
"It is always there. And I'm not just saying that after reading your mind, we're alike in a fashion. You wish to bring hope to your race… I merely wished to bring hope to the people when I lived. The path you trod is not wrong, and the burden is merely what you must endure to see it to the end." interjected Arash.
"I see…. thank you then. The path I trod is not wrong… and so I shall see it to the end… to replace the goddess… no… the knights of Phiana." were the confident words that Finn spoke aloud, all self-doubt erased in less than a second.
"Knights of Phiana? Knights… of Fianna?" murmured Arash, having suddenly made a connection in his mind at the similar sounding names.
"Ah? Is something the matter, Arash?"
"Of the Knights of Phiana, could you tell me some of their names?"
"Oh! I guess I could, though the myths I learnt portrayed them as followers of the goddess, I suppose in actuality they would be the knights of the order." spoke Finn, with an undertone of curiosity in his words, "Diarmid, Lughaid, Cael, Cailte, Conan…" he recited the names he'd learnt as a young boy, a sense of nostalgia washing over him as he did so.
"I see. Even in a completely different world… some legends are shared… Finn…Fionn, I suppose I should have realised it earlier. But even Mac Cumhaill would have not expected that his counterpart would be born millennia after the equivalent order is no more."
"Huh?" came the intrigued voice of Finn, eager to find out who this Fionn mac Cumhaill was.
"Ah, I'll tell you about Fionn tonight, but let's just say that I'm even more confident that you can usher in a new, bright cycle for the Pallum race… a Finnian Cycle." and saying so the Persian archer smiled widely, and cheekily at having made that pun.
"Oh, I'll look forward to the tale, if it's something that makes you praise me that much, I'd like to know more about it! That said, I'd like to see the chickpea paste you spoke of." spoke Finn, a content expression on his face.
"Oh! Let's go!"
====================XeX====================
It was 'night' in the Eighteenth Floor, or rather, the approximation of the same that the Dungeon Crystals brought about, completely out-of-sync with the actual night outside the Dungeon. All those who had set-up their tents in the clearing were now seated outside a large campfire, waiting impatiently for the first taste of 'real food' after what were several weeks of unwilling abstinence.
"Everyone, please listen, we may be hosting the Hestia Familia tonight, but they were the ones who brought the supplies in the first place, along with the antidotes for many of us. I know I don't need to tell you all to be friendly with them, but I'd like to remind you to respect them as fellow adventurers while they're with us, we are in an alliance with them after all!" were the words Finn spoke aloud.
Finn continued speaking, standing as he was in the centre of the circle, subtly reminding all Loki Familia members to keep the nature of the Servants secret, while ensuring that the Hephaistos smiths were not clued in.
"A grand spokesman huh?" came the subdued voice of Lancer in the background, seated as he was besides Saber, and several more executives of the Loki Familia.
"Indeed, he would do well in the Senate… as a strong opposition to a wilful Emperor perhaps. And his commanding capabilities need not be described, perhaps he truly is Fionn writ small." came the impressed voice of Saber, a tad bit louder.
For two legendary generals to praise the pallum's spokesmanship, spoke volumes of the latter's wordcraft, and the Loki Familia members who over-heard it took pride in the assessment of their Captain.
All words were silenced for a second, for Arash, Lily and some other girls began doling out the various food items they'd prepared, ranging from pork chops to stuffed bread with dipping sauces. Many of the adventurers who had just recovered from their poisoning were positively salivating at the heavenly aroma emanating from the foodstuffs, and could barely restrain themselves from jumping at it.
What Lancer and Saber both found great amusement was in the fact that Gilgamesh, who was currently seated beside Bete Loga, was receiving several generous extra servings, offered by the Loki Familia girls, possibly as a 'thank you' for saving them from the flat goddess' molesting.
Ofcourse, the Sumerian King was unamused, but everyone who was 'thanking' him was his 'children' and so there was little he could do to rebuke them without compromising his own ideals.
"Chh, I suppose that useless goddess did a good thing in choosing a strong boyfriend, maybe now the weaklings won't dive away from Loki of all people." was Bete's growled reaction to the positive mound of food that was piling itself onto Gilgamesh' plate.
"Boy, I ask you, is that any-way to speak about thine divine mother?" came the flat response of Gilgamesh, his crimson eyes taking the appearance of bright flames as he did so.
"Thine!? Why are you speaking like a gramps, dude? That said… Loki's less a mother and more like an annoying cousin!" barked Bete, confused at the tone of the King's voice.
"Hmmph, I see, so that is the opinion of werewolves in general about the gods?" asked Gilgamesh, curiosity filling his voice as he did so.
"Nah it's just me, but what exactly's on you dude? Gives me a feeling of wanting to edge away and sit down quietly." murmured Bete, suspicion in his eyes as he did so.
"Oh, the armour I wear repels and suppresses Phantasmals, I suppose werewolves count as such, but far be it from me to discomfit my own children." and saying so the Sumerian King dissipated his set of armour, the golden motes giving him a heavenly glow as he did so.
"Heh, dude, children, you may be a spirit, but aren't you my age? Isn't it weird for you to say that?" asked Bete, slightly miffed by being treated as a small child.
"I spoke of this to Elgarm already, but as I am right now, I am fifty three years old, you are not so old that I cannot truly refer to you as a child, and besides, like Elgarm spoke, adding the age of my legend would perhaps make me outstrip some gods." responded Gilgamesh.
The werewolf seemed to muse this before he bit into the portion of steak on his plate, "I'm surprised to be honest, I thought you'd go all into the father act, those who're strong would generally do that."
Gilgamesh looked over, his crimson eyes staring into Bete's amber ones before he spoke, "I do not know you, and you do not know me Bete Loga, a king I may be, but there is nothing that says a king cannot read the situation around him properly."
Bete paused at this, but the First Hero continued, "I live for fighting, there is but one joy more splendid than that of the battle of heroes duelling to the death. That would be the radiant warmth that fills me so when I am graced with the splendid jewel that is Loki."
Bete's face twitched at the romantic 'drivel', though he uncharacteristically restrained himself, waiting to see where this talk would go.
"I may be taking the role of a father out of some sense of amusement and responsibility to my beloved, but to pretend that I truly am one…well, I do not fully know what it is that has latched onto your soul, but doing so would no doubt aggravate you despite my own strength, and Loki would berate me for that." spoke the King as he finished his plate, and placed it on the ground.
There was a moment of silence between the odd pair before the blonde stood up, crossed his armas and scoffed, "I wonder what your hatred for weakness' true nature is. Never cease being an amusing child, werewolf."
He took a few more steps forward before turning, "Hmmph, it pains me to say this, but even strength can be fleeting…." before he walked away. Bete clenched his fists, both aggravated and flummoxed by the strange Heroic Spirit, "What kind of bastard acts kind due to some faint idea that my clan is dead, but remains a total bastard when talking about my hate for fucking weaklings."
The answer to Bete's question would be the kind that was the King of Heroes of-course.
"Those youngsters are certainly havin' a good time in spite of it all." Gareth sat stroking his long beard from atop the seats of honor reserved for Loki Familia's elites. "They are, indeed," Finn responded with a laugh. Right across from them in their own corner of the circle sat Ais, Bell, and his companions, the four of them in high spirits as they went about their meal. Apparently, a fight for the fruits had broken out.
The pallum girl was red-faced, kicking the back of the young smith as she let out squeals of frustration while the oldest adventurer of the lot was trying to make her settle down. The smith, on the other hand, had made clean work of the piece of Honey Cloud in question, the cotton-like fruit nowhere to be found. Bell's face twitched as he watched the argument play out, while Ais and Lefiya simply stared on in bewilderment.
"It's nice to see Ais enjoy herself, I've always thought she needs more friends. Maybe this alliance is cut out to be more than just a mutual defense pact huh?" mused Gareth, seeing Ais giggle for half a second.
"That is perhaps the greatest part of it… as a Servant, well we live for our Masters, especially if there are no Grails to fight over, and it's good to see Bell enjoy himself too. Being a group of super-weapons that you can call on in times of need doesn't seem too bad when the one asking is Fionn writ small." mused Arash, his face going through a mixture of pensiveness and happiness.
"Ah, Fionn mac Cumhaill… you spoke of him, Arash, he is something like your world's version of me?" asked Finn, his curiosity peaked yet again.
Arash turned over, a small smile appearing on his face before he spoke, "Indeed, Fionn was the unparalleled leader of the Knights of Fianna, and I believe there's plenty of evidence that you're this world's version of who he is. Though you may not lead the Knights of Phiana, your skill Ail mac Midna is no doubt an over-arching nod to his defeat of the fallen fire-breathing Divine Spirit Aillen with the resistance to fire it gives.."
"Your skill with the spear correlates with his own, but his true potential would come with a sword. Your youthful appearance that is a by-product of your race is similar to his own youth that fairies stole away. You are regarded as the greatest strategic mind in Orario, he was similar, though his knowledge was derived from the Salmon of Wisdom. That said, Hell Finegas… well it maddens you and increases your strength, but Finegas was the fisher-druid who caught the salmon." continued Arash.
"Picking up a sword huh? I've never actually considered that, though I'm pretty adept in melee combat. Hmm… this seems interesting, the more you tell me about him, the more I see the similarities." responded Finn, verily intrigued.
"Do you bite your thumb?" asked Arash, curious, to which Gareth chuckled, "Aye, I've seen Finn here do that in particularly tough times, more often than not he comes up with some sort of crazy idea when he does that."
"That would work. Your name, Finn Deimne is also quite similar to both the names Fionn carried, his boyhood name of 'Demne' and Fionn itself… that said, do you have problems with women?" asked Arash, rubbing his head apologetically at the strange question.
"Haha, I suppose I do… I haven't found a wife that I can have a pallum child with, no matter how much I search… and though Tione's after me, I can never respond to that, cause our child would be an Amazoness and nothing else, did Fionn have his problems with women too?" spoke Finn, his voice a mix of derision and amusement.
"Yep… oh boy, a lot of problems… but that said, I'll give you some advice, who knows… it might help." and saying so Arash leaned over, "If you ever meet a pallum with a similar name to 'Sadhbh', I'd suggest you try your best to court her, though you might have to beat up a guy called Fear Doirich for that. Oh, if you ever run into a deer in a forest, don't shoot it, it might be 'Sadhbh' under a curse, bring her back to your house, the curse should wear off."
"Oh… well you did tell me Diarmid was part of the Knights of Phiana, millennia ago, but was there another knight called Grainne back then?" asked Arash, wondering if he could give more advice to the Pallum in question.
"Grainne? I don't really know…. wait, I think a knight like that was mentioned, but I don't really remember what he or she did." responded Finn, though he tucked the tidbit about 'Sadhbh' into the recesses of his mind, for the similarities between Fionn mac Cumhaill and Finn Deimne were enough for him to consider this a prophetic revelation.
"Ah, nevermind, just don't try to go after a girl named Grainne is what I'm saying. It wouldn't end very well. But eh you wouldn't do that either way, you aren't Fionn completely." muttered Arash.
"Heh, you've grasped what I'm like in so little time?" asked Finn to which the Archer simply smiled, the knowledge about mind-reading left unspoken, before he raised his glass of beer and downed it in seconds.
Riveria chuckled, her ears twitching as she did so, though her posture was still that of refined amusment "Well, it's hard for me to imagine you chasing after a woman if she says no, even if I know you want an heir that much."
However, she suddenly turned in the direction of the entrance leading to the Seventeenth Floor, in sync with the Persian Archer. Following their gaze, the Pallum and the Dwarf too turned, and beheled the shadows of several people stepping out of the darkness.
Arash seemed to focus on something before muttering, "Hermes Familia…. and Hermes himself? Saber won't like this… nor do I, I suppose." And saying so, he stood up and walked in the direction of the newcomers, Finn trailing behind him, a suspicious frown etched on his own face.
When they arrived, it was only second to Saber, who seemed to have taken the lead in interrogating the God of Messengers, "Lord… Mercury… if you were not suspicious before, I find that you are greatly suspicious now", and as his golden eyes flashed dangerously in front of Hermes, the executives guarding Hermes began to tense, hands on their weapons with a werewolf adventurer instinctually shivering.
But before the Veteran Demigod could growl anything further, a young, surprised voice came out, "Lord Hermes?", and hearing which, the God seized the opportunity, "Yo! Bell Cranell! It's been a long while! I'm very surprised that you even remember me!."
Bell nodded in greeting, a small smile on his face, though he paused when Saber telepathically communicated to him, "Bell, this god is suspicious… even if you once knew him well, I find that his motives are now in question. I advise that you be cautious as of now."
Bell nodded, for Hermes, Hermes...He was famous for his tendency to aid not only random strangers on the road but merchants, as well. He was also a god known for falsifying the levels of followers in his neutral familia. His skill with words was of an entirely different variety compared to Loki, who was no slouch herself.
Bell nodded before speaking, "I guess it's been a while… but what are you doing here? I thought the Dungeon gets very angry when Gods enter the Dungeon."
Hermes' eyes seemed to be calculating something when Saber's own voice interrupted, "Should I take this as you trying to endanger our parties, Lord Mercury? We might be camping with the no.2 Family in Orario… but they're exhausted, and the Goliath is on the verge of spawning… a safe zone this might be, but there's little doubt that the Dungeon would be aggravated enough by your presence to send monsters from both above and below right towards here."
Hermes was quick on the uptake, to no one's surprise, and so he raised his hands quickly, "My my, there's little reason to be so hostile, Saber. While I find it good that Hestia has such a diligent Captain, there's no need for such suspicion, I'm sure she's told you we've always been very good friends. I've come here on some Guild Business; you know how old Ouranos is… he'll even send Gods into the Dungeon if the matter requires it."
Finn seemed to muse this, before tutting, "I suppose the Guild providing such quests is not out of the ordinary… but we'll be discussing your presence on this floor in my tent, so would you follow me, Lord Hermes?"
"Of-course!" and saying so the Hermes Familia motioned to follow the Loki Captain, while Arash stood besides Saber and Bell. Once they were out of earshot, Bell asked, "What did you mean that Lord Hermes is suspicious, Saber?"
The old man sighed before he spoke, "I cannot speak of anything concretely, but he seems to have taken an undue interest in you, likely on behalf of someone outside Orario if my intuition is right. I suppose I'll head to the tent so as to ascertain all the details he's willing to reveal, whether they be true or false… don't worry Master, with us on your side, there's little anyone will be able to do to you."
Bell seemed to muse this, but he nodded before heading back In the direction of where he was seated. Arash spoke, "A moment, Saber." to which the demigod responded, an eyebrow raised, "Yes, hero? Has your clairvoyance told you something?"
Arash nodded slowly, his own eyes unusually pensive, "Even for a god, his mind is a particularly tough one to read… but that client you spoke of, I have little doubt that it's Zeus, no, I'm sure of it. Though I may not know why the God of Lightning is after Master, it is in fact him."
Saber nodded in response at this before sighing, "Ah, Jupiter… the greatest god of early Roman Paganism… replaced in importance by Quirinus first, and later mine own father… I wonder if my existence has somehow provoked him into taking an interest in Bell… but I do not think that is likely, this world is so different after all."
Arash remained mute at this, for there was little he could comment on the state of Roman Religious affairs.
====================XeX====================
"Though...I'm mostly worried about the thing with Ais," Tiona began slowly. The demi-spirit, for instance, what with its strength and its ability to cast magic, was entirely outside the realm of the ordinary. This powerful abnormality could easily surpass even the crimson-haired creature Revis, and her comrades.
The unspoken meaning behind her words was clear, that Ais Wallenstein seemed to be the target of the spirit for some reason, and it had even called her 'Aria', who was the great spirit from the story, Dungeon Oratoria.
"As I recall, Ais was the first to recognize that thing as a spirit." muttered Anakitty, but Lefiya spoke, "But that's not the only Spirit we know off…"
Alicia shook her head, "No, you as well as I know they're different, and that besides, she got all weird when she saw it, a completely different reaction than normal." and the Loki Familia girls nodded their head as they recollected Ais' face and quiet "I'm sorry…" every time someone asked her about what happened down there.
Tsubaki, the captain of the Hephaistos Familia hadn't really captured the meaning of the Spirits the Loki members were talking about, but she spoke, "By the other Spirits you mean the ones Hestia Familia's king-type dudes forged contracts with in their home-nation?"
Tione nodded, for she knew to keep up with the play unless otherwise specified. Tsubaki raised both of her hands in an almost bored manner, "Those spirits don't matter I should say… wherever their home is, it's a long way off, and besides, Ais has always been a bit of an odd duck hasn't she? Like out of place sorta."
"M-Miss Tsubaki!" Lefiya balked, miffed at the idea that her idol was being insulted, and steam positively bursting ahead from her nostrils.
Tione turned toward Anakitty. "You've known her the longest, right? You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?"
"Afraid not. Back then, Ais was even more of a recluse than she is today...I've asked the bosses about it before, but they just tell me she has her reasons." The black catgirl's shapely eyebrows bowed in apologetic futility.
"Aria, spirits...well, Dungeon Oratoria is where we've all heard that name… but does it even have any bering?" Tiona's eyes rose toward the tent's ceiling in far-off thought.
Tione, however, just frowned. "Then what, are you saying that Ais is a spirit or something? That legend's centuries old, from back in the Ancient Times, right? To think they'd have any connection is ridiculous."
"I didn't mean it like that..."
"It's true, though, Miss Tiona. Spirits aren't supposed to be able to have children...right?" Lefiya chimed in somewhat sceptically, though the business about the Throne of Heroes and the Grail's ability to incarnate Heroes made her wonder if Aria had been granted a physical body by a different Grail or power.
Even so that would not explain, how Ais was still so young a thousand years later if she was truly Aria's child, and imagining so, Lefiya shivered at the thought of her idol being an ancient crone swordswoman.
The fairy-tale-loving Amazon crossed her arms in deep reflection. "Hmmm...I guess not. Guess it's probably nothing after all..."
Aki and the others exchanged glances at this conversation. Almost all the stories they'd been told as children included this "spirit." But could that spirit of legend really have anything to do with Ais—some sort of link between humans and the offshoots of the gods that stretched beyond protections and blessings?
"Puttin' aside kids' stories for now...You do realize there is someone with spirit blood runnin' through their veins, yeah?" Tsubaki's question hit them like a ton of bricks.
Every head in the tent popped up with a simultaneous "What?!" wondering if the shared secret had somehow been exposed to the The Hephaistos Familia high smith who just laughed at the reaction.
"I guess that answers that, huh? Why don't I bring him here?" and saying so, the boisterous smith left the tent.
Anakitty gulped audibly, "Say… Lefiya… are you sure you didn't let on too much?" as her cat ears twitched rapidly as she turned to look the Elf in her eyes.
The elf gulped audibly, wondering if her words had somehow unintentionally exposed the secret they had been tasked with keeping. She did not want to envision what a Level 10 Adventurer who was a former Emperor would do to oathbreakers, whether unintentional or not.
Their fears were made unfound when Tsubaki returned, with two boys being dragged along by her.
"...Can I ask why I'm here?" the red-haired Welf Crozzo said incredulously from his position at the center of the tent. He didn't even try to disguise his malcontent, sitting cross-legged on the ground as his eyes took in the wide circle of girls surrounding him.
"As y'all already know, this whelp here is the smith in Bell Cranel's party. He's also one of the grunts in my familia."
The boy Tsubaki had brought back with her was none other than the young smith Loki Familia had picked up together with Bell Cranell, right under the confused nose of Lancer,
"What the hell is going on here, Tsubaki?!" the boy furiously responded, clearly irritated at being dragged here and not afraid to make his displeasure known, even to the captain of his own familia, though some of this confidence probably stemming from his items having now found a customer.
Tsubaki, however, ignored him, moving right along even as Lefiya and the other girls looked on in stunned embarrassment. "This kid's name is Welf Crozzo." she announced loudly, seemingly having forgotten that there were several elves among her audience.
"...Crozzo?" was the inquisitive murmur Anakitty gave out, her tail swishing side to side as she did so
"Why do I feel like I've heard that name before...?" Lefiya and Tiona cocked their heads to the side in simultaneous inquisition as they contemplated where their
Suddenly, Aki's tail stood straight up. "Wait, you don't mean, like...that cursed magic-sword smith Crozzo, do you?" she asked, realization dawning over her as she did so.
"The very same!" Tsubaki responded somewhat triumphantly. "The maker of the invincible swords of legend for the Kingdom of Rakia!...This kid's a descendant of that very smith nobleman." she announced loudly, her proud, perhaps feigned ignorance of the presence of several elves fully on display.
A shocked silence settled over the tent at this, for obviously the Crozzo Magic Swords were weapons of legend known not only throughout Orario but the entire world. Originally, magic swords were capable only of producing weak magic in exchange for not requiring chants to activate.
But the Crozzo weapons were, beyond a doubt, the strongest magic swords in existence, reputed to have the ability to light the sea itself on fire. And now, Lefiya and the others sat facing a descendant of that smith. All eyes were glued to the young man with the fiery hair, this Welf Crozzo, although he was glaring daggers at Tsubaki.
"Is...that all true?!" shouted a feminine voice, loud enough to make the shoulders of everyone in the tent jump in shock and fright at the silence being broken in such a vehement fashion
"But the Crozzo family, they...they're the ones who burned my home, so many other eleven homes! Dark Elves, Wood Elves, High Elves, not even Sea Elf tribes were spared by the damned Rakian soldiers! So many elven tribes have no forest, no village to return to thanks to his family!" screamed the elf Alicia, her face red with rage and her body tensing in anger.
Lefiya found herself at a loss for words. She, too, had heard of the terrible, destructive power of the Crozzo Magic Swords and their use in the Rakian War—stories of battlefields turned to wastelands with nary a blade of grass left.
Those flames had reached the forests of several elves, which were uninvolved in the war but deprived of their homes all the same due to Ares' desire for conquest. The number of elves who'd lost their villages due to the heedless embers of those magic swords and their careless wielders was almost uncountable, and those who sought revenge, just a snumerous
"M-Miss Alicia..." was the tone of Lefiya, attempting to placate her fellow elf, but compared to Lefiya, who'd grown up under the teachings of both her liberal home and the welcoming Education District and had developed a more open-minded way of thinking, Alicia could only be described as no less than a 'true' elf, an elf whose pride in her people was fiercely intact, an elf who would defend another elf over another species purely due to pride alone.
An in her elvish indignation, the young elf didn't even try to disguise her vehement rage at the smith, with a rabid expression twisting her expression to a great degree, the hate of those cursed magic swords, who'd brought such destruction to her land and her people's lands bringing her to this.
The relatively young Lefiya and Narfi held their breath at the drastic change in the normally calm, composed, and sisterly elf, with expressions of distraught appearing on their faces as Alicia marched ahead and leaned her enraged face forwards.
Welf, however, merely scowled at this, which only served to annoy the elf further, for she believed this expression to be one that lacked repentance or regret of any sort, and so at this the sudden tension in the tent seemed liable to explode at any moment, and Tiona and Tione stepped forward to quickly bring the situation under control, lest a fight break out between the two.
"Hold your horses, there, Alicia. Let me finish talking first." Even Tsubaki, the instigator, seemed to have not expected hostility of such a scale and seemed rather flabbergasted herself and so in an effort to right her wrongs, she tried to rein things in. She directed an open palm at the elf, whose green eyes blinked in response. "This kid actually disowned his Crozzo lineage, your anger's misplaced."
"He what...?" muttered Alicia, uncomprehending that such an 'unrepentant' expression could be linked with the abandoning of the Crozzo family lineage.
"For reasons I sincerely, honestly, and wholeheartedly can't fathom, little Welfy here loathes every bit of his own heritage. More than that, he despises his own abilities. Y'see, he can forge circles around me when it comes to magic swords, but he won't even touch one to save his life. Talk about wasted talent!" she muttered, the side of her that was a devoted smith coming out in half-indignation and half devotion at this fact.
Considering the fact that the Crozzo line had already fallen into decline and lost its ability to forge the magic swords of the past, hearing that there was someone more talented than a high smith at crafting weapons was shocking to hear for Tiona but Tione had not lost the inflection of 'magic' weapons mentioned by the Hephaistos high smith and so understood what was being implied.
"But when he was forced to make 'em upon conscription to that idiot Ares' army, he wound up leaving Rakia and his home behind after deserting the Rakian military. So you see, Alicia? He 'n' you may have more in common than ya think!" Tsubaki let out a childish laugh as Alicia simply stared in bewilderment.
The smith in question, on the other hand, only seemed even angrier than before, no doubt peeved that Tsubaki had dipped him into the fire only to pull him out when her own hands had been stung doing so. "Hey! Would ya let a guy speak for himself for once?" he barked in irritation.
"Just tryin' to clear up the confusion was all." murmured Tsubaki, a slight tinge of red borne out of shame colouring her boisterous face as she spoke.
"Yeah, confusion thanks to you and your big mouth!" he shouted with renewed zeal, taking opportunity of the fact that Tsubaki was backtracking on her words even when she should have had the common sense to know elves would not take kindly to his Crozzo heritage.
Alicia grew visibly uncomfortable as she watched the scene unfold, out of both a guilt at having misunderstood was happening, as well as indignation that Tsubaki had happened to make her angry with incomplete information, though Welf himself continued to ignore her and didn't even bother to spare her a retort.
What was clearly visible to several members of the Loki Familia was that Welf was a true craftsman, untroubled by trivial matters. Or at least that's what Lefiya made of the crimson-haired smith, watching him as she and the others in the tent gave muffled sighs of relief now that the trouble had seemingly passed.
"Goddammit...whatever! Just get to the point and let me outta here," Welf finally implored somewhat desperately, clearly fed up with Tsubaki and her aloofness, but having decided to not take out his rage on her.
To Lefiya it seemed like it was perhaps out of some fear that she, as a higher smith would bar his works or something similar, but the truth was the smith simply wished to peruse Lancer's book thoroughly so as to hone his craft and considered his situation right now to be a pointless waste of time and energy.
"Then I'm just gonna come right out and ask it, okay?" Tione began eager to defuse the situation. "... Do you or do you not carry the blood of a spirit in your veins?"
"...Just a second here." Welf's eyebrows rose as he immediately looked toward Tsubaki, clearly feeling some sort of betrayal at having this exposed… or perhaps it was surprise at how loud-mouthed Tsubaki was, Lefiya couldn't really tell.
"C'mon, it's fine, ain't it? You got nothin' to lose, and these folks here'd really like to know. You can tell 'em!" muttered Tsubaki, still treading cautiously so as to not rile up her junior again. Though it was an obvious fact she far outstripped him in terms of abilities, she disliked needless fighting.
Welf simply glared at her, his eyes narrowing in a look that screamed, "How much have you told them?!" Tsubaki responded with a somewhat nonchalant apology, "Sorry… just tell them."
The boy let out a long, sustained sigh before he nodded, at which identical expressions of shock crossed the faces of everyone in the tent. "...But you lot better not go spreading rumors! I hate people prying into my business," he warned.
"But...but how could the blood of a spirit...be in a human...?" Lefiya asked in disbelief, wondering if her theory about there being more than just one grail was true,
"...I'll skip straight to where it counts. A long, long time ago, back in the Ancient Times, Crozzo the First saved a spirit from a bunch of monsters. In doing so, he ended up badly wounded, and the spirit offered some of her blood as a way of thanks, as well, being a divine being, it had magical restorative properties and whatever." Welf explained succinctly.
"The spirits' miracle..." Tiona murmured, awestruck. By sharing her blood with him, the spirit was able to save the man's life. In doing so, she had also shared her magic, giving him the ability to use spirit-borne magic for the rest of his life, imbuing within him her blessings and endowing him with her miraculous powers, which in this case had to do with the forging of magical weapons.
"Then the Crozzo ability to mass-produce those ludicrous swords of his was..." Alicia began, her eyes widening at this realization.
"I'm sure you can hazard a guess." Welf's shoulders drooped as he spoke, clearly exhausted and annoyed. "A by-product of the blood of our ancestor…. though how it became cursed I don't know, maybe a different spirit was enraged by all the burning Rakia did and so cursed the blood."
Alicia nodded at this, but what was greater was that everyone's questions had melted away like cracking ice. Everything made sense. Those swords and their tremendous power, enough to set the very sea on fire, were made possible only thanks to the blessing of an ancient spirit.
This discovery, however, gave rise to even more questions. Why had Crozzo stopped producing his magic swords, for instance? Was Welf's theory that a different spirit had cursed them correct? But Welf was in no mood to explain further, replying to all questions they put forward with a disgruntled "Haven't I told you enough already?"
As he rebutted all of them, he kept giving sidelong glances to a Bell Cranell who was still very confused as to why he was there, though he considered that his mastery of several Spirits might be the case, not that Welf or Tsubaki knew that was the case, for the latter had only dragged him along as he was next to Welf.
Tiona, Tione, Alicia, and the others let out a set of awkward coughs, their faces red. It was true that they may have truly overstepped their boundaries. —But that didn't eliminate the fact that those with spirit blood could definitely exist.
And so the unspoken question was "Was it possible that Ais, too...?"
While the girls didn't voice such possibilities out loud, the question was plain in their furtive glances around the tent at one another. Ais's incredible wind power...could very well be another by-product of spiritual blood…After all; she had been the first to identify the demi-spirit down on the fifty-ninth floor. And the fact that she'd felt it in her blood reinforced the theory.
If they were to truly continue with this hypothesis, the only question left was how, where, and when Ais had inherited blood from a spirit…. and Lefiya yet again did not want to entertain the possibility that Ais was a crone in disguise.
The tent grew quiet, everyone falling deep into thought. "You wouldn't happen to know who Ais's parents are, would you, Aki...?" Tione asked, her voice low as they huddled around each other again, leaving a flummoxed Bell and Welf on the other side of the tent.
"Nope. I'd always kinda thought she was just some orphan dropped from the sky..."
"Miss Tiona, in that...legend...did it ever describe the spirit?" Lefiya spoke this time.
"Mmmn...I've never seen the real thing. Both the version of Dungeon Oratoria I read as a kid and the one we have back at the manor are just handwritten copies, so who knows what kinda stuff got changed over the years... and there's atleast dozens or hundreds of versions of that seein how old the story is…"
"There's also the possibility that things were edited purposefully..." Alicia mused.
Then Narfi added her own two cents. "Hmm, once we start throwing out ideas, we'll never stop… but don't the Heroic Spirits say that the Grail gives them knowledge about the world? I mean I understand that it won't provide them with omniscience even if it could, but providing them the original version of the events of Dungeon Oratoria doesn't seem too far off…"
"Can I go already?" Welf asked, clearly fed up as the gaggle of girls around him talked quietly among themselves, completely ignoring him.
"Welfy," Tsubaki started, gazing out across the group. "You wouldn't happen to know anything else about the whole 'spiritual connection' thing, would ya? These girls are specially interested in a spirit named Aria who appeared in the old legend."
"How the hell am I supposed to know? It was my great ancestor who had direct contact with that spirit, not me… do I look like I'm a couple thousand years old? I wouldn't look this good if I was." And at this, a certain blonde heroic spirit felt the urge to sneeze, which was very perplexing, considering Servant did not usually do so without some particularly noxious phenomena at hand.
"All I know is what I've been told," he replied sharply, as if trying to distance himself from his past.
"Hnnnnghh," Tsubaki growled, thumping the back of his head impatiently as her chest jostled within its cloth binding. "Man, you're seriously useless when something really matters! This is why I'm always telling you 'It's a decent weapon, but...' or 'This one's a major disappointment'! Remember somethin', goddammit!"
"What the hell is wrong with you? And what do my forging skills have to do with all this anyway?!" Welf spat back, red-faced, and it would seem that he had dropped the pretence of forgiving her and was really angry now. Having suffered one exorbitant request after another and even his pride as a craftsman now wounded, he shoved Tsubaki's hand away with an "I'm done here!"
Absolutely unwilling to stay there even a moment longer, he shouted at them once more. "If it's the legends you're so interested in, don't ask me! There's someone else who knows a lot more about them than I do!"
"...U-um...why am I...here?" came a soft, perplexed voice, for it was the white-haired boy's turn to be forcefully plopped in the middle of the women-only tent. He sat on his knees, sweat exuding from his every pore as their glares of curioisity peered through him.
"Ho-ho-ho. Bell Cranell. Welfy's done sold you out! You'd best prepare yourself." Tsubaki laughed nefariously, looking more and more like some kind of evil magistrate. Bell gulped, wondering, "Who is this lady… has she mind-controlled the Loki Members? Should I summon Arash? No, like Saber's said, it's better if I find out what's happening first… even though her laugh is so creepy."
"S-sold out...?!" Bell gulped, sitting there now as part of this Loki Familia emergency summons, surrounded entirely by beautiful women, he looked very much like a scared little rabbit with nowhere to run. His face had already blanched a lighter shade of white as he fidgeted nervously in his spot.
"We're not gonna bite, so you can calm down, okay? We ARE in an Alliance after all." Tione explained, keeping her tone cordial and neighbourly in an attempt to calm the jittery, wary boy at the center of their circle. This was news to Tsubaki, but not much, for she'd heard enough of Hephaistos' mutterings about Loki's new boyfriend and her own jealousy at the fact, along with the enhanced powers of the Hestia Familia members to piece two and two together.
Tione' smiling face was enough to ease the tension from Bell's shoulders and prevent him from using a command seal or telepathy to bring their 'Father' in the room to discipline them, and so he spoke, "All right, I guess… what is it that you want to ask?
And so the dam broke, "Eh-heh-heh...it's Little Argonaut! It's Little Argonaut!" came the voice of Tiona as she leaped forward like a monkey and sat herself in front of a surprised Bell Cranell, rocking back and forth atop her crossed legs as she eagerly eyed the young boy.
Her eyes glimmered with excitement at the prospect of playing with her new friend. "Hey, hey! Welf said you know a lot about the legends of heroes. Is it true? And I mean besides… err… you know….. Argonaut."
"I, uh...don't really know if it'd be considered a lot, but I did read them often as a child… and Saber tells me stories, so I guess I know a fair bit?" spoke Bell, having grasped her meaning quickly, though he winced at the double mention of Argonaut she had used.
"Then who's the lady who Sir Garrard saves, huh?"
"Queen Altis..."
"Then, then, where did Giorgio the Dragon Slayer kill the dragon?"
"Lake Sirena..."
"Then, then, then, what weapon did he use to kill it?"
"A spear-like holy sword...and a maiden's ribbon… but there's another version of the legend where he's called Georgios, and he uses both a lance, a holy sword called Ascalon, and rides a trusty steed called Bayard."
"Awesome! Though I've never heard of him being called Georgios before though, everything you've said is right!" Tiona cried out buoyantly, when Bell spoke, "I guess you wouldn't have… Saber told me about that version."
Her face flushed with excitement when she realised the Alliance might lead to more hero stories for her, not to mention meeting more heroes too before she leaned forward in visible anticipation. "Right, then, Little Argonaut! The story of Arcadia—"
"Ahh, put a cork in it already! We have more important things to talk about!" Tione cut in before her sister could steer things any further off track, though she was also intrigued, if ever so slightly.
Tiona grumbled with a little pout as the other girls chuckled to themselves at the fairy-tale-loving Amazon's antics. "Getting back to the topic at hand, do you know anything about a spirit called Aria?" Tione asked, moving right along to the crux of the matter.
"You mean the great spirit of the Dungeon Oratoria? The one closely connected to the life of Albert Waldstein the Great? That Aria?" asked Bell, wondering why the high level adventurer was enquiring about a character from his favourite storybook.
"Yeah, yeah! That one!" Tiona replied happily.
There were a fair amount of discrepancies in the stories and legends passed down among the different races, mostly as there was a tendency to put one's own race's heroes on a pedestal, not to mention the simple fact that both word-of-mouth and written legends tended to decay over time, and even have their legends distorted or mixed with other ones.
A hero in the Dwarven legends, for instance, could be nothing but a stubborn, bigoted coward in the holy book of the elves. And in Amazonian stories, it was one of their own warriors who slayed a legendary beast, while the beastmen claimed no, it was one of their thieves. Needless to say, opinions varied greatly.
Information on the legends ran rampant with bias, and there were few experts on the subject to begin with. The 'official' origin stories recognized by the gods were neither read nor acknowledged, as the races much preferred to believe in stories reflecting their own pride and dignity.
Stories could have entirely different characters and premises even if the general plot between two instances were the same, and that could be said of Dungeon Oratoria too, where the race of the main hero, Albert Waldstein changed from one source to another, though the 'official' one recognized by the gods said that he was a human.
Tione asked quickly, "So… did Aria ever share her blood with someone?" to which Bell mused, "So that's why they dragged along Welf huh? But Tiona should know this all…"
"Hmm..." For the first time, Bell appeared to struggle. He brought his hands to his head, brows furrowed in intense thought. "I don't think I've ever read or heard that one, no..."
"All right, how about Aria protecting an injured human? And that human going on to have descendants of their own?" Tione followed up in rapid succession.
"That… hmmm… I think I've heard something like that, but not exactly descendants..." Bell responded hesitantly. The eccentricity of the questions and lack of answers in his own memory seemed to be throwing him for a loop, maybe calling one of his Servants and relying on Grail-kun for facts would be a better option?
"To be more accurate..." The boy raised his head as though just remembering something. "I'm not sure about 'descendants,' per se, but...Albert the Great did supposedly have a child."
"What?!" Tiona burst out. "I've never heard anything about this!" Her eyes grew as round as saucers. "Did you read the original version?
"No… rather it was something my grandfather told me, and I don't know where he got that version… it may just be that he was adding details to impress me since I was a little kid… but I think it might be accurate."
"Hmm, adding details to impress a kid huh? I guess grandparents would do that… but did he say anything about what happened to the kid? Albert did take out the eye of the Dragon… before he suddenly disappeared… hmmm…. his disappearance might make sense if he retired to some quiet place to raise his child… I mean… he took the dragon's eye, but he probably got equally hurt or something and so he had to do that." asked Anakitty, her tail swishing side to side rapidly as this new tidbit made her interested.
"Hmm… I'm not really sure… even if he had a kid, the only candidates would be the Amazonian Empress Ivelda… and err…" he glanced at the two elves before motioning Tione to lean forward, a surprisingly bold move for the boy.
Tione seemed to understand the boy's need for a hushed tone and so she leaned forward, and so he whispered, "High Elf Queen Celdia."
"Hmm… no… that wouldn't be possible… even if Albert was an elf and not a man" muttered Tione, when Bell crossed his arms before speaking, "Hmm… then there was Aria herself… and the Sea Elf Noble Inarion."
"Sea Elf?" asked Tiona, for the Amazon had never heard of a Sea Elf in the story.
"Wasn't Inarion a guy though?" asked Lefiya, for even if she was an elf herself, the Sea Elves were the most distant kin she knew, for they had shunned forests to become mariners and enjoyed voyaging.
"Well… in the version grandfather told me, Inarion dressed both like a man and a woman at times… but Albert and the others never mentioned whether they were either… but…." he paused at seeing the conflicted, near-horrified expressions on Alicia and Lefiya's faces.
"Right… Inarion aside, Aria herself… well she was a spirit… and heroic or otherwise, I don't think it's possible for them to have kids… unless…" he mused when suddenly a gigantic lightbulb popped on in his head.
Tsubaki asked, "Unless?"
"Well… Grandfather told me about a legend about a magic goblet made by the Creator God that could grant wishes…called the Grail…" he spoke.
Tiona asked quickly, confused by Bell's sudden words, "But… isn't the grail story from Mister Saber's island? How is it related to Dungeon Oratoria?", which of-course was a clever-play on words to hide the truth about how they were summoned.
"No… I don't mean their grail story… it's very faint but I have a memory of Grandfather telling me about a completely different one… it might have been made-up… but it could explain how a spirit could have children if their wish was granted by such an object." spoke Bell, before thinking, "I guess we need to ask Grail-kun if he's the first Grail to enter the world…."
Lefiya's ears began to twitch; her theory of multiple grails seemed to have some merit, even if the basis was only a near-forgotten story told by the grandfather of the boy in front of her. And so they began to huddle to discuss the new facts once more.
"Hmm… that's interesting… thanks for that, Bell Cranell." muttered Tsubaki before she quickly ushered the confused boy out of the tent.
====================XeX====================
"My Lady…" came the soft voice of Samira, a Ishtar Familia executive, kneeling on the marble floor as she did so.
"Hmm? What is it?" muttered Ishtar, her voice full of disdain, and her cup filled with false Soma wine.
"It would seem Ganesha's after Astarte… they caught her trying to traffic people into the city… or so my contact tells me." she spoke.
"And this concerns me how? That fool was bound to get what's coming to her for being such an idiot, she has no tact… large-scale operations were doomed to fail." sniffed Ishtar, swirling around the wine in her glass as she did so.
"I…err… is not Astarte Familia one of the largest working under us? Should we do something about this, Mistress?"
"Hmmph, no… she's always got on my nerves, and besides, Astaroth was always looking for a way to replace Astarte, and so we have nothing to worry about." she spoke.
Samira nodded before speaking, "Very well, Mistress… also, Lord Dionysus has contacted us and says he wishes a meeting with yourself…"
Ishtar tutted, "I see, very well, relay the message that I shall meet him tomorrow." before dismissing her Familia member.
As soon as no one was in the room, Ishtar placed the glass on the table in front of her before muttering, "How much longer…. do I have to stay among these idiots? It was not so bad three weeks ago… but since then, this damned headache won't leave me be… and there's an image of a particularly blonde fly tormenting me in my sleep… should I be doing something? Hmmph… let's see what Dionysus has to say however… it's cute what he's trying to do in this city…. much less interesting than old Erebus however…"
She stretched her feet onto the couch before muttering, "Still… I wonder what Inanna is trying to do… going after the Knight of Knights…"
Sorry about disappearing for a month, had a real load of work, still have a huge bit right now, though a normal release schedule should be possible again. Also Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver has the best OST known to man, Yoshiya Ikeda deserves to be put on a pedestal and worshipped. Proto needs an Anime Adaption too. ASAP.
Will be revising this chapter a bit tomorrow, but there won't be many changes I guess.
All constructive criticism is welcome, both in reviews as well as PM.
Candidates:
Rider: Iskander, Ushiwakamaru, Georgios, Odysseus, Perseus
Caster: Proto Merlin, Alfia, Asclepius, Paracelsus.
Assassin: Regend, Semiramis, EMIYA (K), Li Shuwen (Old)
Berserker: Vlad III, Beowulf, Kiyohime.
Pseudo-Divine Spirit: Ishtar, Chiron.
