Chapter 19: The hound is back

Since the first night of all these series of events, I have not seen this man again. Not even heard of him, but I really did not try to enforce to meet him. Lancer is back and he has rammed his spear very deep into the ground. He seems very angry and upset, although he takes the spear back. The crimson red spear is as shiny and threatening as last time. Of course, everyone has heard it and now here we are all standing. Standing and seeing said Spearman.

"Lancer?", Tohsaka asks irritated.

He lifts his spear and aims it at Tohsaka. Lancer does not seem like he is in the mood for fun. No, he carefully observes Tohsaka and glances over to Sakura as well as Rider. He then rests his eyes at Archer who holds his swords in his hands.

"I still don't get it, what kind of Archer carries these?", Lancer asks Archer pointing at the two twin blades.

"Maybe you should first tell me why you are here? As you can see, you are outnumbered three to one"

"Three? I only see two persons here capable of competing with me"

"He is also worth considering your attention", Archer responds while pointing at Straw Hat, "as he was able to dodge your initial attack and I am sure that you know no ordinary human is able to do something similar"

"This brat? He dodged it?"

Lancer does not believe that Straw Hat might be a danger, but maybe he is right. Meanwhile, the man with the hat gets up again and glances at Lancer.

"Hey, why did you just try to kill me? Can't you just use the front door like a normal human?", he barks at Lancer.

"Didn't intend to pierce you; was simply the easiest way to enter and besides you still live, right?", Lancer calmly answers.

"What do you mean? You almost would have killed Shirou or me!"

"Ah, do you have a problem with this?", the man in blue angrily yells.

"Perhaps", the man in red angrily yells.

"So, why did you come here now?"

I have to intervene or else these two might find themselves again in a fight. Luckily, Lancer turns around and redirects his attention. The atmosphere is still tense- after all, an enemy has appeared out of nowhere.

"Right, you're the boy that I tried to kill. Twice. And survived. Twice"

He means the night when I witnessed him fighting with Archer. I somehow escaped death there, but he attacked me again when I came back home. However, I somehow summoned Saber and she defended me. Maybe, it is the right time to repeat it, but I struggle to use my Command Spell. We still do not know where Berserker is.

"Where is Berserker?"

"Berserker? What do you mean? Have you invited someone else to this meeting?"

"Well, we didn't expect someone like you", Straw Hat mentions.

Weird, usually he is always good with new people and he always radiates his naive friendliness.

Sakura clears her throat and asks Lancer: "You still haven't answered why you are here… Lancer, was it, right?"

She appears much more composed than usual, also weird. Still, Lancer smiles at her request.

"Well, can't turn down a question like this from a young lady like you"

Lancer looks down on the ground and I can clearly see that something is troubling him. As he raises his head again, he begins to speak.

"My Master is gone"

"What, what do you mean?"

"He's gone as I said"

"You mean, he disappeared out of nowhere or what?", Straw Hat questions.

"If you accuse someone from here to have seen your Master or even kidnap him, you are at the wrong address, Lancer", Rider interrupts.

She openly distrusts Lancer and it is understandable. However, I think it is the best to try not to escalate the situation.

"If you would have really suspect us kidnapping your Master, you would have had already invaded the house and searched for them, am I right?", Tohsaka says.

"Partially right, haven't expected that you'd pick up new folk"

Lancer especially looks towards Rider and Sakura.

"But yes, I think that something is utterly wrong with this Grail War"

"So far we know as well", Archer points out.

Indeed, I have never witnessed a Grail War before, but I am pretty sure this time it is different. Interestingly though, a Servant shares this opinion as well.

"How do you know that, Lancer? I think if we want to understand what is going on here, we must gather as much intel as possible to understand what is going on here"

"Well said, youngling. I think that we should… cooperate for the time being. A lose alliance as long as I don't find my Master. What do you say? I can see that you are not unfamiliar with forging alliances"

Lancer is offering an… alliance? This is not so easily to process, because he still tried to kill me. Twice.

"And why should we trust you? Any particular reason we should consider your proposal?", Tohsaka claims.

Lancer takes his spear and lets it fall down. It rolls towards Sakura and Rider who quickly grabs it. He smirks at Tohsaka.

"I'd like to have you as my Master. Well, maybe in another life"

"What do you want to imply, Lancer-"

Tohsaka is cut off as Archer lays a hand on her shoulder. Archer also approaches Lancer, although he remains very cautious.

"Archer?", Lancer asks surprised.

I quickly look over to Straw Hat who does not seem to intervene. If it was really dangerous, he would have acted. It is fine, then. Archer stops right before Lancer and they look at each other. Those are not the looks of good friends but fierce enemies that have a long agonizing history.

"I can't simply trust you, Lancer. Give me a real cause that reassures me you won't raise your spear when I turn my back"

Lancer inspects Archer very carefully. They obviously do not like each other.

"Hey, don't you think it would be better if-"

Lancer raises his right hand to stop me, thus I step back.

"I actually don't really like the idea of rescuing my Master. To be frankly, I absolutely hate him. Still, I have some honor as warrior left. I actually don't mind if he dies, even though it would be a shame losing the Grail, but I can't really consider this as a win with this Master. When he dies and I haven't tried to at least seek him, it would be even more of a shame than losing the Grail War"

Archer stares at Lancer and remains ready for a fight.

"Your pride has and will lead you to your downfall", Archer states, "you should strip it away as long as you can"

"Archer!", Rin rebukes him.

For a short period of time, Lancer's eyes widened at what Archer said, but it quickly turned into a look of detest.

"You know, this is the very reason why I despise you, Archer. You are neither Heroic Spirit nor a true enemy"

"Humph, does it pose a problem I am not like the other Heroic Spirits?"

The situation is about to escalate between those two as both of them are desiring to once again engage in a combat like back then in the first night. To my surprise however, Sakura steps in and separates them both.

"So, you said you have some interesting information you would like to share? We could reassess your proposal for an alliance if you'd share said information"

"Sakura?", Tohsaka murmurs surprised.

Sakura looks over to Tohsaka and nervously smiles. She is indeed quite tense between those two who would eagerly like to raise their arms at each other right now.

"Yes, she is absolutely right, we should share our information openly to increase trust! Name's Straw Hat and I want you to join us"

What, did he not almost get in a fight with Lancer a few moments ago as well? Besides, he is way too open! Straw Hat smiles while offering Lancer his hand. Reluctantly, Lancer accepts and they shake their hands.

"Are you really that strong?", Lancer asks.

"Well, at least I know I am not weak"

"Fair enough"

Rider throws the spear back to Lancer who catches it effortlessly.

"What do you know about what is happening here?", Rider demands.

Lancer's spear fades away as he ponders over it.

"My Master vanished and that incident at this school made him wonder if something is odd"

"You know of it as well?", I ask him.

"Sure, it's not that hard to miss it. Man, those mages from… the Clock Tower, right? They are trying their best to convince everyone that it was just a lack or something"

This means, Shinji told the truth after all. Seems like the Mages Association is actively intervening in the War.

"Can't your Master simply summon you with a Command Spell? Or give you any hints where you could find him?", Rider further questions.

"That is what concerns me the most- he never tried it. It is especially weird, because I was certain he almost called me, but then-ARGH"

Lancer suddenly almost falls over but regains his composure, although he still holds his belly with his left hand while facing the ground as he is hunched over. He seems like he has seen a ghost. Yes, Lancer looks kind of irritated and horrified.

"Are you alright?", Sakura mentions.

"Y-yes… yeah, everything is alright. But you know, seeking him for so long has partially drained my strength. On top of that…"

"Sure about that? Are you truly okay?", Straw Hat asks him concerned.

Lancer appears to be troubled. Nonetheless, he raises his head again and takes a deep breath to begin his sentence anew.

"On top of that, I had no real connection to my Master anymore… to receive magical energy"

"Are you sure?", Tohsaka instantly wants to know.

Lancer looks at her rather distressed but nods.

"Yes, it is… true"

"Then, it is truly a big problem", Archer throws in.

"Why, is it so bad?", Straw Hat asks.

"Severing the ties with the Servant is something that shouldn't be so easily possible. Especially, without the Servant actively noticing"

"But isn't lack of energy an active notifier?", I also ask Archer.

"Not this way; a real active signal. A Servant would notice it if the Master somehow cuts the ties"

"Therefore, we have to take this serious, Emiya-kun", Tohsaka elaborates, "as it could lead us to whoever or whatever is the cause for all these events"

"You hope for the one who caused that incident at the school?"

"Exactly"

However, Archer slowly turns around to Tohsaka and grabs his blades even tighter.

"What's wrong, Archer?", Lancer inquires.

"Someone is around here"

It must be Illya! It cannot be anyone else, hence I quickly take the initiative and sprint back to the house.

"We must get away from here, before Illya enters the garden! Fighting her here would not only destroy my home but cause major damage for nearby people!"

They nod as a sign of understanding the circumstances and- with the exception of Lancer- they start moving.

"I can't quite follow, who is-"

"Berserker is coming, make yourself ready to fight him. Our alliance is granted by the way", Tohsaka advises Lancer.

"Wait, Shirou!", Straw Hat wants to warn me.

In my need to hurry however, I run towards to the front door and open it. I look back to see after Straw Hat.

"Later, we can discuss the future later!"

"Sounds quite serious"

A shiver runs down my spine and I do not want to face it. In spite of that, I slowly turn around and look down, just to see Illya- silently smiling. I wished for once, it was a tax collector.