Fate: Hammer Time

by TedTheRabbit

Shirou Emiya wanted to become a hero. That was clear to all who truly know him. For a long time though, he lacked the power to actually achieve that goal. No longer. No longer will he lack the power, now that the Hammer of the Odinson has chosen him as new wielder. Prepare for Thunder. ShirouxMultiple, Thor-Shirou.

34. In Germany

In Germany

---

Previously, on Fate: Hammer Time:

"Of course, this is only a possibility provided you are of use in removing the Meluastea." Lady Barthomeloi cautioned him, the corners of her lips curling ever so slightly now that she had found a way to influence him. "I expect your very best."

"Of course." Shirou agreed breathlessly. If he hadn't been motivated already to give his all in fighting these criminals, then he certainly was now.

"Good." Lady Barthomeloi nodded in approval. "You are dismissed."

---

Thirty minutes later

Shirou entered his dorm with a feeling of undiluted triumph, having just finished his highly successful meeting with Lorelei Barthomeloi and Mirei Montmorency.

It had gone well, despite its rough start. Very well in fact, as he'd managed not only to survive, but also to get a promise from Lady Barthomeloi that she wouldn't use people close to him again to manipulate him, as well as getting her to agree to take Rin on as her apprentice if everything went well, and he still got to go to Germany with a valid reason.

For Lady Barthomeloi's promise to not use people close to him anymore to manipulate him, well, she seemed like the type to keep her promises at least to the letter if not to the spirit, so this was probably the best he was ever going to get from her. He would have to depend on her pride preventing her from disgracefully breaking a promise.

It was no guarantee that others wouldn't try the same tactic to manipulate him, but he would deal with those people when they made their move. There was little else he could do about those who he had no knowledge of at the moment.

That she had agreed to take Rin as her apprentice was an incredibly lucky break, one that had come completely out of the left field, but was a most welcome surprise. Shirou didn't know much about politicking, but even he could see that Lorelei Barthomeloi was probably among the best that anyone could do in terms of sponsors.

He would have to check with Rin as soon as possible to see if she also thought so, but if she did, then he just needed to play his part in the upcoming operation to take down the Meluastea, and his mission to get Rin a good sponsor would be completed.

Further contributing to his feeling of triumph was the knowledge that he'd be in Germany in two days, and very close to the Einzbern castle to boot; a perfect opportunity for him to sneak off to scout and prepare for the rescue-operation. Best of all, no one would suspect anything was amiss.

No one would question his motives about going to Germany once it became clear that the vice-director had ordered him to. Very few people would suspect he had another agenda, and even fewer would dare to act on their suspicions.

The way in which it had all happened might be rather ominous, with one 'coincidence' following another, but Shirou didn't think he should complain about it too much. He got what he wanted, and whatever puppeteer was responsible for his sudden stroke of luck, he'd deal with them when the time came.

A rather passive approach, but realistically the only approach that was open to him. He did not have the faintest clue how to go about tracking the ones responsible for the weird string of occurrences, and he did not fancy fumbling around in the dark while he had far more pressing things to do.

Shirou wondered for a moment whether he'd start packing for the trip immediately or call the girls first to check up on them, but quickly settled on calling the girls first. He had skipped the call last night, when he was at the Fargo-estate, so it was only right that he would call them now to make up for the lost time.

Grabbing his phone and dialling his house's number, Shirou sat down on the sofa next to the hearth, listening to the slow beep of the phone going over, leaning back into a somewhat comfortable position.

It was only a few seconds later that the phone was picked up, and when the person on the other end started talking, Shirou realised two things.

One, the person who had picked up the phone was Rin, which had never happened before.

Two, Rin was utterly terrified and distraught.

"Shirou?!" She practically demanded to know, trying to project strength through her voice even though it was trembling and shaking. "Shirou?! Who is this?!"

"It's me! It's me, Rin." Shirou promptly assured her, switching to her first name as she did with him. "It's me, it's Shirou!"

"Shirou!" The relief in her voice was palpable, and the redhead had to consciously relax his hand to prevent himself from crushing the phone in his grip at the thought of whatever could have scared her so much that merely hearing his voice could comfort her so much. "Shirou, the Archer is still here! The Archer of the Fourth War survived!"

Shirou froze.

Everything went still. His body, his mind, even the very air around him stilled as his power went haywire for the shortest of moments, forcibly locking the air molecules in place and filling the room with static. For a few seconds, none of his muscles wanted to move as Rin's words entered his brain and registered there.

Then an insane amount of adrenaline was released into his system, and his metaphorical speedometer went from 0 to the red in barely a second. Shirou's mind raced into high gear, and he shot up from the sofa, his entire body now tense and prepared for battle.

"Gilgamesh is still alive?!"

"Yes!"

Shirou could barely believe it. He didn't want to believe it. He wanted to deny it and claim Rin must be mistaken, or lying even.

But Rin wouldn't lie to him. She didn't lie, especially not over things like this. If she made such a claim, then it had to be true.

Gilgamesh, the Archer of the Fourth Holy Grail War, was still alive.

That was a disaster of the worst kind! Not just because it meant a Servant was still walking around outside of a Grail War, implying that either the Grail was malfunctioning or something else had been done to make that possible, something that was likely morally repugnant considering what Magecraft was like, but also because it was freaking Gilgamesh!

Of all the Servants in that War, the only one who would have been worse to keep around than that golden tyrant was Gilles de Rais, the children-hunting, abomination-summoning madman of a Caster. Literally every other Servant would have been preferable to the King of Heroes.

Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights, and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, First Knight of Fianna, were honourable warriors who would make do with living in the modern world as best as they could. They would adjust their outlooks and behaviour, and would give their best effort towards not harming or disturbing anyone if it was at all avoidable.

Lancelot had the Berserker curse over him, but once that was removed, Shirou had no doubt he too was an honourable man, a knight, who would do his best to fit in with the rest of mankind in the twenty-first century.

Even Hassan of the Hundred Faces had been described as a generally pleasant figure, aside from his chosen job as professional killer, but considering there were thousands of those people around, not just in the Moonlit World but in the mundane world as well, that didn't make him supernaturally bad or anything.

Iskandar, the King of Conquerors, was less clear-cut than the rest, with his unhealthy fixation on conquering and starting wars to reclaim his territory and make it bigger, which, in the modern world, would have caused millions of casualties.

But even the King of Conquerors was leagues better than the King of Heroes.

Gilgamesh might not have been fixated on conquering, but that was only because he believed everything and everyone was already his. He was a monstrous tyrant, one who saw nothing wrong with killing scores of people over every slight, no matter how small or even imagined. He believed everyone had to obey him and derived a vicious pleasure from inducing misery wherever he went, usually on those who were already struggling with life. Someone who had even entertained the thought of raping both Irisviel and Kiritsugu's own Servant, Saber.

Kiritsugu had told him about that despot, and nothing of what Shirou had heard had been good in any way.

"How can he still be alive?!" The redhead demanded, his voice filled with frustration and anger. Seriously, how was that possible? The Greater Grail had been destroyed. The Grail War was over. The Great Fire should have been the end of it.

"I don't know." Rin responded, sounding just as frustrated as he. "All I know is that he is somehow still around. Sakura and Ayako encountered him this morning, and-"

"They met that monster?!" Shirou bluntly interrupted her, his heart almost stopping at the notion of his loved ones being anywhere near that tyrant. "Are they alright?!"

"They are! They are fine!" Rin quickly assured him, and it was clear she was holding up her hand on the other end of the line to motion for him to calm down. "They told me about the encounter themselves, just now, and they are right here, sitting on the couch, perfectly alright."

Shirou heaved a massive sigh of relief, his heart rate returning to a normal frequency. He hadn't meant to snap at Rin like that, but the possibility that his girlfriends could have been harmed by that demon of a man…

"They are acting like it's not a big deal." Rin sniffed, sounding incredulous at the behaviour of her sister and her friend. "They told me only just now, when I came to visit them, while it happened hours ago- what are you saying, Mitsuzuri? Yes, you should have told me immediately after it happened, not waited for me to visit you- But anyway, Emiya-kun, Gilgamesh is still here. Please help me convince these two that that is a massive problem."

"Alright, Tohsaka-san, put me on speaker." Shirou ordered, switching back to last names along with her. "I want to speak to the three of you."

It took some more instructions and a bit of fumbling, but eventually, he was on speaker.

"Heya, Shirou." Came Ayako's voice, sounding a bit perturbed but not nearly as shaken as Shirou had expected or indeed thought appropriate for the situation at hand. "Do you know what is going on? I mean, we met one of those Grail Ghosts today, and I suppose that's weird, but when we told Rin, she just flipped."

"Which is a perfectly normal reaction for this situation, Ayako." Shirou was prompt to say, feeling he should really make it clear just what Gilgamesh was. "That Servant is really bad news."

"Yeah, we already thought so, Senpai." Sakura commented, sounding like she took the matter a little more seriously than Ayako but still not nearly to the point Rin and Shirou considered appropriate. "He really seemed like a terrible person when we met him. Is that such a problem though? I mean, he hasn't done anything so far, right? Even though he has to have been around for at least eight years now."

"It is a problem. Gilgamesh is always a problem." Shirou answered without hesitation. "That Servant is one of the most dangerous creatures in existence, period."

The redhead then launched into an explanation about the King of Heroes. He told them that Gilgamesh was widely regarded as the strongest Servant, bar none; That he had a reputation for being arrogant to the bone and for being dismissive of every life that wasn't his; That he considered himself king of the world and that every person in the world were his subjects, even though his reign had ended at least five thousand years ago; That he considered killing and raping to be his rights as a king.

"In his kingdom, it was customary that he could rape every newlywed wife before her wedding night. He basically invented that notion, and he has not let go of it at all." Shirou tried to impress upon them the seriousness of the situation. "The only reason he didn't do so during the Grail War or at any time after is because he considers everyone who is alive today to be below him."

Which hadn't saved either Irisviel or Saber from his attention, as they apparently did meet his standards.

"…Wow." Was everything Ayako had to say once Shirou finished his explanation, sounding suitably impressed at last. "I knew that he was bad news when I saw him, but this… Wow."

"Ah, Senpai, what should we do about this?" Sakura asked, also finally sounding appropriately nervous for the situation.

"I don't know." Shirou had to admit. He wished there was something he could do, but he had to face the facts. "I cannot defeat the King of Heroes in battle, not yet, and talking it out with him will also not work. Every attempt to get him to back down or accept the fact that he is no longer the ruler of the world will inevitably result either in him ignoring you or in battle. All you can do now is to be extremely careful and hope he will ignore you. Try to stay in the house, under the Bounded Fields, as much as you can."

Those Bounded Fields had been made and strengthened with the help of Mjolnir. Even someone like Gilgamesh would find it difficult to break through without pulling out the big guns.

"But he was going to leave town soon." Ayako said quickly, her tone hopeful. "He told us that he would be leaving soon, when we met him. He was mostly going on and on about how we were interesting or some stuff, but he also said he wanted to talk with you when Fate allowed it, Shirou, but that he was leaving tomorrow or something, and that your meeting would have to wait."

"Not knowing where that guy is does not make me feel much better." Shirou replied, though the fact that the Archer would soon be far away from Sakura, Ayako, and Rin at least took away some of his fervent desire to immediately fly home to comfort and protect them.

"Right." Ayako mumbled, her tone going from hopeful to dejected. "I suppose that is true."

There was some rustling of cloth on the other end of the line, and Shirou got the sense that Sakura had hugged Ayako tightly, likely in an effort to comfort her.

"Who even summoned that guy?" The plum-haired girl huffed in annoyance after a few moments of silence, during which Shirou had to swallow his envy about being unable to hug Ayako, or Sakura for that matter, himself. "If it is so well-known that he is so problematic, why did they summon him in the first place?"

"Because he is the strongest Servant of them all." Rin replied in a tone that Shirou really didn't like. It sounded tired, broken, and disillusioned, and in desperate need of a big hug. "Because if you succeed in summoning him, your victory in the Grail War is almost guaranteed. That is why father summoned him nine years ago."

"Father?" Sakura squeaked.

"That guy again?" Ayako snarled in annoyance.

"…" Shirou had nothing to contribute as he tiredly closed his eyes. He'd already known who had summoned Gilgamesh, and what price Tokiomi had paid for it in the end. The punishment for his hubris of believing he could control the King of Heroes.

"Father summoned Gilgamesh, expecting to win the Fourth Holy Grail War quickly and easily. He told me as much during the last time I ever saw him. He had the strongest Servant after all." Rin explained slowly, her voice becoming detached as she recounted the events that had led to her becoming an orphan, her tone no different than if she were reading a grocery list out loud. "Having the strongest Servant did not help him though when that very same Servant turned against him and let him be murdered, nor did it help my mother when she was attacked, or even Kirei when his own Servant, Assassin, was defeated by the Rider while Archer just stood there and watched. All that bastard did was stand there and watch, all the freaking time!"

"Nee-san…" Sakura whispered, and Shirou could clearly hear the pain and conflict in her voice.

The plum-haired girl had distanced herself from her former family, with Rin as the only exception, but even if she wasn't sad about what had happened to her former parents, she could still feel terrible for her big sister's sake.

Ayako and Shirou were much the same. They couldn't really feel sad for Rin's parents –they'd never met them, and had only heard of them in the context of them abandoning Sakura—but they did feel bad for Rin's sake.

"But wait, I don't understand something." Ayako suddenly spoke up, her voice slightly confused. "You said that Gilgamesh 'let' your parents die. He didn't kill them himself?"

"No. He did nothing himself." Rin's tone was positively venomous as she spoke those words. "He just hung around doing nothing while proclaiming his superiority at every chance he got."

"…Then who did?" Ayako asked the question carefully, in a soft voice that indicated Rin did not have to answer if she didn't want to, and Shirou found himself interested as well, as Kiritsugu had never been able to find out quite what had happened during the later stages of the War.

"I don't know who is responsible." Rin admitted, her voice full of frustration and anger. "All information I have about that time comes from Kirei, as well as from my mother in the beginning stages of the War, when father kept her updated. After mother was gone though, neither Kirei nor I could ever figure out who was responsible for my family's ruin. I have tried to find out, believe me, but I just cannot track down the one who took my father and mother from me."

"If it was even the same person to begin with." Shirou honestly had his doubts about that. Some of the things Kiritsugu had learned never quite added up if you assumed there was only one culprit. "I think it is quite possible your father and mother were killed by different people."

"Mom isn't dead, but I understand what you mean." Rin agreed, casually dropping a massive bomb on the conversation, revealing something that had been completely unknown to Shirou before. "Father was stabbed to death by someone who knew what they were doing, but the doctors told me mother had been strangled by a madman until she ended up in a coma. The methods were so different that it cannot have been the same person."

"Your mother still lives?!" Shirou was only half a second ahead of Sakura and Ayako with asking that question, as three pairs of eyes turned towards the black-haired girl in stupefaction, though it was only metaphorical eyes in one case.

"H-Huh? Y-Yes, she does." Rin sounded taken aback by their surprise, as if she had expected them to know about it already. "S-She's in a coma, on continuous life-support. She's being kept in a hospital outside the city."

"Really?" Sakura sounded as gobsmacked as Shirou felt. "B-But you never told me."

"I-I assumed you knew already." Rin's voice had become a mix of grief, apology, and defensiveness. "Y-You already seemed to know everything else."

"I didn't know this." Sakura whispered, confusion prevalent in her voice. "I-I thought that… I don't know what I thought. How is she?"

"She is completely comatose, and the doctors don't think she'll ever wake up again." Once more, Rin sounded clinical as she shared the awful news, though this time she wasn't able to keep it up, as her voice started shaking as she continued. "She's just lying there, completely still. S-She hasn't shown a single sign of l-life in e-eight years, b-but I haven't been able to… to…"

To pull the plug.

Rin didn't say it, but it was clear as day to the other three that was what she meant.

"I… I just keep thinking that she might wake up one day, and that… that by pulling… That I'd kill her if I did that." Rin's voice broke at the last part, and though Shirou couldn't see her, she was clearly at the edge of bursting into tears.

There was again a rustling sound on the other end of the phone, signifying that Ayako and Sakura were embracing Rin, trying to comfort her.

Frankly, Shirou wished he could embrace the black-haired girl as well. It certainly sounded like she needed the love and comfort that had apparently been placed just out of her reach for all those years, having her mother around yet completely unresponsive to the outside world.

And man, Shirou had no idea how dad and he had missed that. Granted, gathering information on local Magus-families hadn't been their priority while they were living together –they'd been more focused on staying under the radar—and even if they had been gathering information, a comatose woman in a hospital outside the city was hardly a cause for concern.

Still, it was quite an oversight on their part.

It was especially galling because Shirou might be able to do something about it. If the only thing plaguing Rin's mother at the moment was brain-damage inflicted by prolonged strangulation, then Shirou should be able to fix that without too much effort, provided the damage wasn't so extensive that there was barely a brain left.

The redhead opened his mouth to give Rin the good news, before he quickly closed it again when he realised telling her now would do no good.

He wouldn't return for at least another month, which would mean Rin would be waiting for all that time in agonised impatience, and there was always a chance, no matter how small, that he couldn't help, which would break Rin all over again.

No, it was better to try his Healing on the woman when he got back and then only tell Rin he did that if he succeeded.

It was a bit underhanded, but Shirou really didn't want to give Rin any hope that might turn out to be false.

That would be a terrible thing for him to do.

"Do you…" Rin then started again, pulling Shirou's attention back to the phone. "Do you think it would be better to… to let her go?"

No! No, that wouldn't be better at all!

Shirou of course made to protest against that decision, as he couldn't help the woman if she was completely dead, but he was headed off when Sakura spoke up before he could.

"No, I don't think you should." Sakura's voice was strong and unwavering as she answered Rin's question, and Shirou could almost imagine how she stood there, her back straight and her head held high, as she reassured her suffering sister. "You said it yourself, Nee-san. There is still a chance she might wake up. You cannot give up now. You never know when a miracle might happen. It might heal her mind like it could heal a broken and infested heart."

The reference to Sakura's own heart, which had been infested by Zouken's worms, being healed by Shirou was clear enough, and the redhead knew the plum-haired girl was thinking along the same lines as he.

"If the money for her stay in the hospital is a problem, I can pay for it." Shirou offered, knowing that the upkeep of her mother was likely a drain on Rin's already struggling finances.

Japan might have a functioning healthcare service, unlike some places, that would normally pay for Mrs. Tohsaka's hospital stay, but in the case of coma patients, that healthcare system functioned by so-called JPS-scores, which was an abbreviation of 'Japan Coma Scale-scores'. If the patient scored too low on that scale, either the plug had to be pulled, or the family of the patient had to pay the full sum for the upkeep of said patient themselves, as the government would no longer do so.

Someone who had been in a coma for eight years without showing a single sign of life was absolutely scoring too low on that scale for the healthcare system to pay for her upkeep, meaning the bill was entirely Rin's.

"I… I cannot abuse your generosity any more than I already have." Rin nevertheless tried to refuse his offer.

"Nonsense. Sakura, could you arrange for the hospital's bill to be paid from our third savings account?"

"Of course, Senpai."

"Eh, sheesh, throwing around money like it's nothing. I wish I was rich like that." Ayako grumbled.

"Don't worry, Ayako. Once we're married, this money will be yours as well." Sakura was quick to assure her.

"Ah, I'll keep that in mind. Never thought I'd be marrying into money, but I guess that's just how things work out."

"Ugh."

Rin didn't sound happy at either the blatant talk about marriage or the gold-digger aspect of it, no matter how jokingly it was meant, but she didn't say anything in response. Instead, she bottled it up for release when Shirou returned, and she could properly shout at him.

At least it distracted her from her grief.

Shirou let out an inaudible sigh of relief when Rin no longer talked about letting her mother go before he had a chance to look at her, and then switched the subject back to the more pressing matter.

"Has Gilgamesh done anything else so far?" He asked the trio, really wanting to make sure that tyrant wasn't up to no good.

Well, he was probably up to no good anyway, but it should at least stay well away from his girls.

"Uhm, no, not as far as we can tell." Ayako replied, her tone ponderous but not hesitant. "He just appeared all of a sudden and then disappeared again."

"I find it rather concerning that such a being can be so arrogant and loud, yet so stealthy at the same time." Rin grumbled, before there were again sounds of motion. "You two can let go of me now by the way, I'm feeling better."

"Aw." Ayako made a disappointed sound.

"If you're sure, Nee-san." Sakura on the other hand sounded more hesitant to let go, in case Rin wasn't as recovered as she pretended, but since Rin didn't speak up again, Shirou assumed both his girlfriends had indeed let go of the black-haired girl.

"I wonder if I should tell that fake priest what happened." Rin then remarked, and Shirou flinched at the mention of Kotomine. "As a representative of the Church, he is entitled to all noteworthy information about the territory, and a surviving Servant is definitely noteworthy enough."

"Be careful with Kotomine. I think he already knows." Shirou was prompt to warn her. "Kotomine was Archer's Master at the end of the War."

"…What?"

Rin's voice had lowered in volume, yet it had become several times as dangerous, and Shirou could almost imagine how she was glaring at the phone with a neutral expression and eyes that were spitting fire.

"During the last part of the War, Kotomine and Archer faced off against dad and Saber." He quickly explained, almost feeling her burning gaze through the phone. "That is why I am certain of the identity of Archer's second Master. It was revealed to dad directly by said Master and Servant, and dad then told me."

"I see." Rin's voice hadn't become any less dangerous following his hasty explanation, and there was a grinding noise on the line, indicating she was crushing the phone in her grip. "I see now that the fake priest and I have a lot to talk about."

"A-Are you sure that is safe, Nee-san?" Sakura asked nervously, taking Shirou's side on the matter. "If Archer is indeed there and you start threatening them, they might hurt you."

"They might." Rin agreed, not sounding particularly impressed by that prospect. "But I think I am long overdue for some answers."

Oh dammit, Rin was serious. She actually was about to head for the church to demand answers, and she didn't care whether Gilgamesh was there or what Kotomine was up to.

That was bad. That was very bad. Kotomine was a terrifying individual, one of the few men who Kiritsugu had actually been afraid of, and Gilgamesh was just bad news for everyone and everything.

These were men who wouldn't flinch at killing thousands. Killing a teenage girl who had become a nuisance would be no different to them than wiping away a stain on their table.

If Rin started rocking the boat now…

"Rin, at least wait until I am back." Shirou implored her, almost crossing the line into begging her. "There is a lot more that I can tell you, and at least let me accompany you to talk with Kotomine before you start challenging him on his own turf."

"I have spoken to the fake priest many times before, Emiya-kun." Rin dismissed his words, her anger and grief clouding her mind. "I will be fine."

"Maybe you will." Shirou acknowledged, as she could indeed be fine if both Kotomine and Gilgamesh were in good moods when she arrived. "But maybe you won't, and it is the latter that I am concerned about right now."

"Rin, please listen to Shirou." Ayako added. The brunette still didn't quite understand what was going on exactly, but she did know that if Shirou was so adamant on Rin not going to the church, then Rin really shouldn't be going to that church. "That golden bastard was really scary. I don't think he would hesitate to kill you if he thought you were annoying."

"The priest is scary too." Sakura provided a contribution of her own. "I speak from experience when I say that he is really terrifying, with his creepy smile and evil aura."

"You spoke with the fake priest?" That little fact seemed to distract Rin for a moment, as there was a whoosh as she turned her head around, whipping her hair up. "When?"

"Soon after Zouken was killed." Sakura replied, happy she'd been able to divert her sister's attention. "I went to ask him about… about our father."

"…What did he say?"

"That father knew all about what was going to happen to me, and that he didn't care." Sakura's voice didn't falter, but there was no denying the immense pain and grief that the plum-haired girl still felt over it.

There was yet another rustling sound, but this time, Shirou wasn't sure who had hugged who.

"What about mom?" Rin asked in a small voice.

"I… don't know." Sakura admitted in a just as small voice. "I didn't ask, and the priest didn't tell me."

"Yet another thing to ask him about then." Rin's tone became stronger again, and Shirou had to resist the urge to facepalm in exasperation when the girl circled right back to visiting Kotomine.

At this rate, nothing was going to stop her from committing a massive mistake. Reasoning didn't seem to work with this stubborn woman, and Shirou was running out of arguments.

At this rate, he'd have to resort to blackmailing her or something…

Wait!

That was an idea.

He did have something he could 'convince' her with. It would be underhanded, but Rin wasn't listening to sound arguments, and he was getting desperate.

"Rin, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." Shirou said, making his tone hard. "If you go to Kotomine, I will no longer help you find a sponsor, and I'll inform the ones I have found so far that you are not interested anymore in attending the Clocktower."

"Huh?" That actually seemed to get Rin's attention, and the quiet anger that had been present in her voice since Shirou had revealed that Kotomine had been Archer's second Master disappeared instantly. "W-What? E-Emiya-kun, what are you saying?"

"I am saying that you can get hurt if you go to Kotomine now. In your state, you'll reveal that you know far too much, and he'll do whatever he thinks is necessary to keep you quiet. As such, I'll do whatever is needed to convince you not to go."

"The Fake Priest wouldn't kill me, he is-"

"He would! Rin, you know who my father was and what he did in life. Let me tell you, even Emiya Kiritsugu considered Kotomine to be the scariest, most dangerous man he had ever met."

"He… He did?"

"Rin, I really don't want you to get hurt. I like you, and you're a good person, who doesn't deserve to be harmed by those two monsters hiding in that church. I'm sorry, but if I have to blackmail you to prevent you from doing something foolish and getting yourself hurt, I will. I don't want to lose you, Rin!"

"…"

There were a few beats of silence on the other end, complete silence. Even with his enhanced hearing, Shirou could only pick up the sound of three girls faintly breathing, none of them saying a word or moving a muscle.

When the silence stretched on, Shirou began getting nervous, that he had pushed Rin too far, made her too angry, and that she would storm to the church anyway to prove him wrong. To show him that she wouldn't bow to blackmail attempts.

He was seconds away from imploring Sakura and Ayako to stop her, when Rin started talking again, or rather, started shouting.

"E-Emiya-kun… You- Y-You IDIOT!"

That didn't bode well, and Shirou pre-emptively held the phone further from his ear, anticipating more shouting, before almost missing the following part when Rin's next words were almost whispered.

"I-If it's really that important to you, I-I won't go to the fake priest." She mumbled, suddenly doing a massive about-turn that took Shirou by complete surprise. "I-If you three are that insistent, g-ganging up on me, I-I'll listen to you. B-But you better accompany me t-to the Fake Priest when you're back, a-and you better have found an amazing sponsor for me, or I'll be really mad at you, Emiya-kun!"

Shirou resisted the urge to laugh in relief, knowing that laughing would only set Rin off again, potentially ruining all progress they'd apparently made just now, and promptly gave her the answer.

"When I'm back, we'll go to Kotomine for answers. As for your sponsorship, if everything goes well over the coming weeks, then Lorelei Barthomeloi has agreed to sponsor you and take you on as her apprentice, provided you can match her expectations."

"Lorelei Barthomeloi?" Rin sounded confused by the name, perhaps having misheard him, or, more likely, not having really registered yet what Shirou had told her.

A few seconds later however, the redhead could almost hear the penny drop in that pretty head of hers, and held the phone away from his ear again when she began shouting in earnest. "WAIT! Lorelei Barthomeloi!? The Vice-Director!?"

"Yes." Shirou did laugh this time, her gobsmacked surprise truly amusing him. "I have no idea how it happened, but it did. As I said, if all goes well, Lorelei Barthomeloi, Vice-Director and Queen of the Clocktower, will be your sponsor and mentor when you want to enter the Clocktower next year."

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod." Rin rambled, her voice simultaneously wrought with nerves and deliriously happy. "Lorelei Barthomeloi! Lorelei Barthomeloi herself! Oh my god!"

"But only if you agree not to talk to Kotomine." Shirou repeated, making his voice stern as he laid out his condition again.

"Kotomine? Who's that? I never heard of him, and I sure am not going to talk to him before you're back!" Rin immediately accepted. "Not a word. I won't go to him, and if he calls or visits me, I'll act normally. He won't notice anything amiss, Emiya-kun."

"Thank you, Rin." Shirou smiled, though he was pretty sure everything he was saying now fell on deaf ears as the girl squealed in a mixture of incredulous horror and utmost delight over and over again.

"Oi, Rin, careful with the phone!"

There was a dull crashing sound, a few thuds, a muffled curse word, and then Ayako's voice sounded through the device.

"She dropped it. Man, Rin's really happy about this, isn't she? I mean, I guess I understand."

"As do I." Sakura agreed, sounding thoroughly amused by her sister's exuberance.

"Think we're going to get any sense out of Rin now?" Ayako asked in a playful tone, as Shirou could still hear Rin cheer in the background.

"No, I don't think we will." Sakura answered serenely, amused but also clearly very happy with how delighted her big sister was.

"Then let me ask you one more time, do you think you'll have trouble with Gilgamesh?" Shirou took the opportunity to return some seriousness to the conversation, and the girls' amused mood disappeared.

"I don't think so, Senpai. He told us he was only interested in you, and that he would be leaving the city soon as well."

"Yeah, what Sakura said. I don't think we are the ones who should worry. You on the other hand…"

"I'll be careful." Shirou promised them, before he switched the subject again. "I'll be travelling to Germany in two days. I'll still try to call every day, but considering what I'll be doing there, I might not always succeed in doing so."

He provided no further explanation, but neither girl on the other end of the line needed it. They knew perfectly well what he was going to do in Germany.

Save Illya.

That he didn't mention that he'd also be hunting a nest of criminal Magi at the order of the Vice-Director was more because it would again take a while to explain, and he really had to start packing now.

He'd explain it during the next call.

"Of course, Senpai. Good luck, and bring her back home."

"Bring us some souvenirs too!"

"Of course." Shirou agreed. "I'll bring it all home with me."

---

The small town Lykershausen turned out to be… average.

Not that Waver had expected anything else. Lykershausen wasn't even mentioned in most tour books or holiday guides, and it was only on very detailed maps of Germany that it was even shown. It was nothing but a residential area with a few restaurants, cafés, and pubs spread around for the locals who wanted to socialise with their fellow townspeople, or did not fancy cooking for themselves that evening.

The locals themselves also never claimed that their town was an interesting place. Their town was boring, and they were perfectly fine with that. It ensured peace and quiet. Anyone in search of a hustling, bustling life had long since moved away, to the big cities.

They almost never received tourists either, and the ones who did come by always left in short order. Waver and the others were actually drawing odd looks, having spent several hours walking through the small town already.

The closest big city, located at about an hour's drive away, was Frankfurt, which was also where Waver had booked the hotel in which he and his group were now staying.

They had arrived in Frankfurt that same morning, now several hours ago. After they had checked in at the hotel and left their luggage in their rooms, it was simply a matter of renting a car big enough for the seven of them, and then Lykershausen was, as said before, only about an hour of driving away.

Waver didn't even need to drive himself, as that was what Bazett was for. Technically, Fujimaru could drive as well, but he had no license, so Waver would rather not have him behind the wheel.

Anyway, they had arrived at Lykershausen easily enough, and were now calmly walking through the tiny town, which was barely bigger than a village in all honesty, looking around in search of clues that might lead them to the nest of criminal Magi they were hunting for.

So far, they'd had little success.

"There really isn't much here, is there?" Flat asked after they had walked through the town for the third time, casting a look at Fujimaru. "You picking up on anything yet?"

"No." Fujimaru replied absentmindedly, turning his head left and right as he sniffed the air, trying to detect any Magecraft in their surroundings. "I'm pretty sure by now that there is not a single Magus in this town except for us, and that no Magecraft has been cast here for a very long time."

"But Magecraft has in fact been cast here?" Ortensia wondered, looking up from the peculiar street stones that she had been studying. "Long ago?"

"The local church has some vague traces of Magical Energy on it, but those are from centuries ago, and quite benign, from what I can tell." Fujimaru replied, before looking at Waver. "We won't find anything here. We'll have to widen our search to include the surrounding areas."

"Then we shall do that." Waver nodded, looking his charges in the eyes one by one, before making a decision. "After lunch."

Those two words visibly did wonders for the moods of most people in the group. Bazett's expression brightened, Grey finally looked up from the ground, Svin smiled at the prospect of food, and Flat grinned, rubbing his belly.

Their behaviour was so childish that Waver couldn't help but feel like he was a father talking to his children, which was a feeling he wasn't sure he liked. Thank the heavens that he had Fujimaru and Ortensia with him. At least they behaved like somewhat proper adults, even if neither of them were actually over eighteen years of age.

"Lunch does sound good." Fujimaru nodded in agreement. "Especially since we'll have to leave town for the next part of the investigation, for who knows how long."

"And there are no places to get lunch in the countryside." Ortensia nodded, smiling her customary smile at Waver. "Lead on, my lord."

Even in a small town like Lykershausen, a café was found easily enough, and before long, they all had a drink in front of them and an order for food placed with the friendly waitress.

"So what's the plan, Waver?" Flat continued his questioning from before after downing half a glass of Pepsi. "Are we just going to drive around this town in bigger and bigger circles until our hound picks up a scent?"

Fujimaru gave no reaction to being called a hound, choosing to continue sipping his tea, so Waver didn't reprimand Flat for the insult, but answered him instead.

"For now, we lack any concrete evidence that might hint at the location of our target, so driving in bigger and bigger circles does seem to be our best bet at the moment." He accepted Flat's proposal, looking at the map, before holding it out to Bazett. "Think you can manage that? There are large stretches that aren't paved, so you'll mainly be driving over sand and dirt."

"You rented an amazing car, Lord El-Melloi, with a strong engine, and four-wheel drive." Bazett replied, nursing her pint of beer.

"Is that a yes?"

"It is."

"Good."

"What about the team of Enforcers though?" Svin finally raised the issue Lord El-Melloi had been expecting them to raise for a while now, the handsome boy's attention fully on the conversation and not on his untouched glass of spring water. "Are they not going to search with us?"

"No, they will not." Waver didn't have to think about his reply for a second. "Putting aside the fact that they have no sensors in their ranks and thus cannot be of any help, travelling in too large a group will only attract unwanted attention towards ourselves. Not just from our targets, but everyone else as well. We are already standing out with the seven of us, never mind if we numbered near twenty."

"I understand, but what will we do when we find the nest and we don't have the Enforcers with us?" Svin continued, as he finally picked up his drink to take a sip. "We cannot handle them ourselves, can we? I mean, those criminal Magi are probably way too strong."

Waver wasn't so sure about that. Svin, Flat, and Grey were impressive enough in a fight, Flat a bit less so than the other two, while Bazett had excellent fighting skill, and Fujimaru had already shown he had what it took to storm a heavily fortified base of Magi, Bounded Fields or not, and come out the victor.

But as he had no idea what could be waiting for them in the hide-out of these German Magus-criminals, he decided caution was the better part of valour here. He'd rather not lose a student, and for simplicity's sake, he included Bazett and Ortensia in the student-designation.

"As soon as Fujimaru can reliably determine the location of the nest, we will return to Frankfurt. Once there, we'll have the team of Enforcers join us for the assault."

Fujimaru didn't seem very happy with that plan –undoubtedly he would prefer barging into the hide-out immediately—but he didn't protest.

"Why would we need to return to Frankfurt?" Ortensia asked, opening her eyes wide in confusion as she looked up from her glass of simple tap water. "Can we not just call the Enforcers and have them join us at the site?"

"We could, but I do not want to spend any significant amount of time waiting near the hide-out for them to arrive. The longer we stay there, the higher the chances they'll spot us." Waver explained calmly, before glancing over at Bazett. "Bazett can confirm that Enforcers can take a long time to get ready for a fight."

"There's a lot of preparation to be done." The redheaded woman offered by ways of explanation. "Better a bit slow to get started than dead, which is what you'll be if you don't prepare properly."

"I understand." Ortensia closed her eyes in a wide smile, looking every bit the picture-perfect devout church woman.

Any further conversation had to be put on hold then, as the waitress arrived with their orders.

"There you go, sir. Please enjoy your meal." She chirped as she smoothly placed Waver's plate in front of him, and Waver made a mental note to increase the tip he was planning on giving her. Her good mood was quite infectious.

"But anyway." Flat continued the conversation after he'd taken the first bite from the fried chicken he'd ordered. "What you're saying is that we're just going to drive around until Fujimaru picks up a scent?"

"That is the gist of it." Waver nodded, before giving the boy a reprimanding glare. "Do not talk with your mouth full, Flat."

The chastised teen fell silent, rapidly chewing with a closed mouth, clearly not having finished speaking, but before he could swallow, Svin had taken charge of the conversation already.

"But that means there is no need for the rest of us to come, is there?" The only heir of the Glascheit-family didn't seem very enthusiastic at the notion of being useless cargo. "I mean, if Fujimaru is supposed to find our targets and the Enforcers will catch them, then we don't need to be here, do we?"

"No, you don't." Waver agreed, holding off on sampling his smoked salmon as long as the conversation continued. "I just took you along because I always do. If you feel dissatisfied however, I can-"

"No, no, that's not what I was trying to say." Svin quickly shook his head, his gaze flitting over to Grey for a split second. "I was just wondering if there was anything we could do."

"We can take it easy this time around, le chien." Flat laughed, having finished chewing now. "I quite like the prospect of hanging back and doing nothing, and you should too."

"I should?" Svin lifted a curious eyebrow.

"Of course. If you don't have to fight and instead can just hang around, you have all the time in the world to talk to miss Grey, no? Think about what you might be able to tell her, something like your infatua-"

"No!" Svin cried, reaching out over the table to grab the front of Flat's shirt. "Shut up!"

"Svin." Waver frowned at the display of aggression, and Svin promptly let his friend go again. "I will have no violence among my students. And Flat, do not vex Svin like that."

""Yes, sir."" Both teens replied obediently.

Waver sighed deeply, shaking his head at the rambunctious nature of the boys, while also noticing that Grey was looking saddened at the speed at which Svin had rejected the concept of talking to her.

He'd done it out of embarrassment of course, but she still seemed to think it was because he disliked her. A truly nonsensical notion, but one that remained stubbornly in her head.

"What will you be doing, miss Ortensia?" Fujimaru asked after a few seconds of silence. The question was likely asked to break the tense silence that had reigned since Waver had reprimanded the other two boys, but the redhead also managed to inject a fair amount of actual interest in his voice.

"I'll probably just sit back and cheer you on." The white-haired woman smiled as she quickly demolished her dish of roasted duck. "Unless you have a wraith, ghost, or demon for me to exorcise, I am not worth much in a fight."

"I'll look forward to your support then." Fujimaru remarked with a slight grin.

"Shall I wear a cheerleader uniform?" Ortensia asked teasingly, though it backfired when Fujimaru nodded with a completely serious face.

"That seems like an excellent idea." He accepted her offer with the utmost sincerity, before casting a look around and, when he had ascertained no one was looking, Projecting a red-and-gold coloured cheerleader outfit that seemed to be in Ortensia's size, though the skirt was scandalously short, with orange pompoms. "Here you go. If you could wear them, I would be most grateful."

Ortensia looked taken aback for a moment, but if Fujimaru had been hoping she'd back down from the challenge, he would be disappointed. The white-haired woman was not going to let herself be defeated in a teasing match that easily, and she rallied herself quickly.

"Oh, thank you." Her smile became even wider as she accepted the outfit, acting for all the world like she was planning on wearing it. For all that Waver knew, she might actually be planning to do exactly that. "I'll be sure to give the best cheerleading show you've ever seen."

"Sir." Waver's attention was drawn away from the by-play by a soft whisper from Grey, as the girl leaned in to have a private word with him. "Is there anything you would like Ad and me to do?"

"No." Waver had already given thought to that, and the answer had been obvious. "I do not doubt your strength, Grey, but this is a job for Fujimaru and the Enforcers. There is no need for us to interfere or help. Please stay back and take this opportunity to see actual Enforcers at work. Perhaps you'll learn something useful."

That last part was mainly thrown in to keep the girl occupied and make sure she wouldn't be sad that he had no job for her, and it seemed to work, for she sat up straighter in her chair, her eyes glittering slightly with pride.

"I'll pay very close attention to them, Sir." She said eagerly, and Waver patted himself on the back for handling that so well.

The rest of the conversation consisted of mostly idle chatter, and it wasn't long before the chipper waitress came over again to clean the table and present their bill.

It was a very reasonable sum, and Waver made sure to add a significant tip to the payment when he walked to the counter to pay.

"Thank you very much, sir." The woman professed when he handed her the money, before she gave him a curious glance. "Sir, if you would forgive my curiosity, why are you here, in Lykershausen?"

The sudden question was unexpected, but not so much that Waver couldn't spin a tale in the blink of an eye.

"We just wanted to see the countryside. We are staying in Frankfurt, but I heard from an acquaintance that this area is quite beautiful at this time of year. As such, we decided to visit."

"I see. Well, Sir, I hope you are enjoying your trip. You are really lucky with such an amazing family." The girl complimented him, and yes, he decided to take it as a compliment, no matter how wildly it misrepresented the truth. "Especially your daughter, the one with the hood over her head. She's so pretty."

"Oh, yes, I suppose she is." Waver agreed once he figured out that she was talking about Grey.

"Yeah." The waitress nodded enthusiastically, before she gave him another curious look. "But if I may ask, how is it that you have teenage children when you and your wife don't seem that old yourselves?"

"Oh, well, that is-"

"Adoption of course." An elderly lady sitting at the counter suddenly interrupted him, turning around from where she sat. It was clear the woman had been drinking, as her face was quite red and she held a pint of beer, but her eyes and her voice were still razor sharp. "I mean, what else can it be when a black-haired father and a redheaded mother, both European, have five children with wildly different features and ethnicities?"

"Oooh, you're right, Mrs Schneider, I hadn't even seen that." The waitress gasped, placing a hand on her forehead. "Silly me."

"Oh, Angela." The elderly lady shook her head with a sigh, before turning to Waver again. "I must say that I strongly approve of your choices, sir. Very few people adopt older children, and almost no one ever chooses teenagers. They all want little babies, often because they can't have any themselves, as if there aren't many older children who also need love and care. You and your wife truly are kind-hearted people."

"Thank you for your kind words." Waver nodded stiffly, again lamenting just how family-like his little group currently looked, travelling through Germany while pretending to be tourists.

He couldn't even blame the women for thinking Bazett was his wife, or that his students were his children, because if he saw a group like theirs, that was exactly what he'd assume.

"Can't always be easy though." The elderly woman was still not done talking, as she placed a motherly hand on Waver's arm. "I know from experience how hard it can be to raise children, even when you have thirty years on them. Being only, what can it be? Ten? Fifteen? Fifteen years older than them must be difficult at times. Almost like you're more of a big brother, eh?"

"I suppose that is so." Waver nodded, furiously hoping they were done talking now, because this was getting really embarrassing.

"But I won't keep you no more. Go back to your family, they're waiting for you. Angela, bring me another pint."

"Coming, Mrs Schneider!"

Waver did not have to be told twice, and, after politely saying goodbye to the woman, promptly headed back to the others, who were waiting for him at the door by now.

Bazett and Ortensia were animatedly talking with each other, as were Svin, Flat, and Grey, but Fujimaru…

Fujimaru was giving Waver an extremely amused look, his eyes sparkling in suppressed laughter, and even a glare from Waver did nothing to douse that amusement.

Curse that boy's excellent hearing.

---

"Miss Bazett, please stop the car."

Bazett immediately did as she was told, hitting the brakes, and bringing the vehicle to a swift stop to the side of the dirt track they'd been driving on for a while now.

She herself didn't notice anything off about the particular area they were in now, but then again, she wasn't brought along because she had amazing sensory abilities, she was just the driver.

If Fujimaru said that this place was where they needed to be, then she would believe him and act accordingly.

In all honesty, she was relieved they'd finally found something, because it was getting late already and Lord El-Melloi had been close to calling it a day after they spent hours driving around through the countryside, having to take unpaved roads more often than not.

Just in the nick of time however, just before Lord El-Melloi had enough, Fujimaru had picked up on something. He had described it as faint, but as Bazett drove in the direction he indicated, it became stronger and stronger, up to the current point where he told her to stop the car.

The group of seven exited the vehicle, and while Fujimaru turned his head from left to right again like a bloodhound trying to pin down a scent, Bazett took the opportunity to take a look around, admiring the scenery.

As she'd said before, it was quite late already. The sun was close to going down, and it would soon be dark.

For the moment however, there was still enough light to properly see everything around them.

They were currently standing in a patch of grassland, with beautiful green grass growing thick everywhere. The only parts that weren't green were the dirt track they had driven on, some trees scattered around, and several wooden fences that were meant to keep the cattle that were scurrying around here and there within their confinements and to keep predators out.

Other than that, it was a veritable grass sea.

Not that it was all that large. To the North, there was a treeline leading into a forest. To the South, civilisation began in the form of several houses, and to the West, there was the Rhine Gorge itself.

It was a mightily impressive river, even from as far away as Bazett was standing, and with the speed it seemed to be flowing, she knew she wasn't going to have a swim in there any time soon.

It all looked positively idyllic, and that image was reinforced even more when the sun started to set, bathing the world in a rich palette of colours the likes of which could never be fully captured in an image.

It was almost upsetting that those Magus-criminals had chosen this spot to build their base. That they performed their horrific experiments and their violations against the laws of nature in a place that seemed to belong to nature.

If Bazett hadn't been so certain that those kinds of people didn't care about nature in any way, she'd almost assume they had selected this place out of some sense of sadistic sarcasm. To taunt people with the fact that destroying the base might also mean damaging the landscape.

Of course, Bazett would still burn everything in a kilometre's radius down to the ground if she had to, but she would feel sad while doing so, that was for certain.

Not in the least because it reminded her of her home. It reminded her of the sprawling landscapes of Ireland, the rolling fields that surrounded the Fraga-manor, and the places where she used to play as a child, laughing and jeering as she ran around without a care.

It even reminded her a bit of her family. A family she had conflicting feelings for, to say the least.

Her father had been a hard, mentally scarred man whose various traumas and afflictions had taken their toll on him well before Bazett had been born. He had never been abusive, but he was demanding and extremely cynical, and had spared no expense or effort to prepare Bazett for the outside world, with the complete approval and help of her mother, who was just as hard as her husband.

They relentlessly trained her to fight. They taught her how to survive in various dire circumstances, such as deep under water, buried under snow or sand, or when taken captive by enemy Magi. They taught her every dirty trick they'd ever seen or used in their life, whether it had to do with fighting, negotiation, making contracts, or anything else.

Bazett had been given her first knife when she was four, and from that point on, her whole life had been nothing but training, training, and more training. Her parents were firm believers of the philosophy that the strong ruled the world, and they wouldn't rest until Bazett was one of the strongest.

They had done all that and more, not because they wanted her to be the perfect heir, or even a good Magus, but because they wanted her to survive the hellscape that was the Moonlit World. They wanted to have their daughter live a good life.

Bazett's childhood had been tough, there was no other way to describe it, but there was no denying that her parents loved her fiercely. Everything they did, they did to protect and prepare her for a cruel world, and with backgrounds like theirs, the redheaded woman could see where they were coming from.

Her father was not a Fraga by birth. He'd married into the family and was allowed to use the name, but he had been born in Yugoslavia, which had still been a country at the time, as a simple son of a carpenter, unaware of the very existence of Magecraft.

Yugoslavia had been a dictatorship at the time, and the father of Bazett's father, –Bazett's paternal grandfather— had been an outspoken opponent of the dictator, Josip Tito. When the latter's troops had come to arrest the family, they had fled to the border of Greece, when her father had been twelve years old.

Her father had been separated from his family during an attempt to cross that border, and he had been unlucky enough to be captured by Magus who had set up shop there, profiting from Tito's lax attitude towards the safety of his subjects to abduct people for his research.

It was as a prisoner of that Magus that her father had learned his first spell, one he'd copied directly from his captor, and after he'd broken out and killed the Magus holding him captive, he had stolen the man's research and taught himself more Magecraft, before systematically hunting down every Magus in the area.

He'd never bothered looking for his family after that, believing himself to be too tainted to be able to return to his previous life. Instead, he'd decided to travel the world on his own to build a new life for himself.

What had followed after that was a long, arduous path that eventually ended in the arms of Bazett's mother, who had married him and brought him into the Fraga-family. Together, they had started the healing process for them both.

Because yes, her mother's life had not been without pain and suffering either.

It was well-known that the Fraga were an unusual family. Blessed by a god from long ago, extremely proficient in Runes, and capable of making the World's last Noble Phantasm, they were widely respected in the Moonlit World.

But with that respect came envy, and every Fraga alive had at least one story of being attacked, or of almost being taken captive, or of being blackmailed by those who desired their skills and abilities for their own.

Countless Magi across the world dreamed of being able to do their foul research on a Fraga, and many among them were more than willing to try their hand at obtaining one.

Most of the attempts failed, with the would-be captors being slain or captured themselves, but sometimes, one succeeded.

Bazett's mother and aunt had been among the unlucky few who were successfully taken captive.

They were twins, and had been ten years old when they were abducted from a hotel where they had been staying while their father, Bazett's maternal grandfather, had been doing business in town.

Her aunt had not survived the torture and vivisection that followed, but her mother had.

Mad with pain and grief, she had flung herself at their abductor, and with her hands bound, had no other option than to tear the foul woman's throat out with her teeth.

Both her parents had suffered greatly, and it had made them determined to never let anything like that happen to their child. Even if their daughter would hate them, they would make her into one of the strong, someone who could not be harmed by the vile monsters creeping around in the Moonlit World.

Bazett knew all of this because her parents had never held anything back from her. They had been more than content to explain just why they were so insistent on making her strong.

It was for this reason that Bazett was always willing to accompany Lord El-Melloi whenever he went out to hunt for Sealing Designees and other kinds of criminal Magi.

The money was nice, but the chance to take revenge on those that were so similar to the ones who had hurt her parents was at least as nice, if not more.

"It seems young mister Escardos is rather taken by the view." Caren's whisper broke through Bazett's increasingly dark thoughts, and she looked at the white-haired woman, who pointed at the frail teen with sparkling eyes. "Far more so than the others, it seems."

"Yes, well, that is only logical." Bazett nodded, burying the dark emotions that had come to the surface earlier deep inside in her mind again, confirming for herself that Flat was indeed gaping in stupefied awe at their surroundings. "Unlike the others, he was born and raised in a city for all his life. Svin comes from the Nordic countries, where there is no lack of nature and idyllic views. Grey actually lived in a countryside like this before becoming Lord El-Melloi's apprentice, while I come from Ireland and you from Italy. Lord El-Melloi was also born and raised in a city, but he at least has travelled quite extensively. Fujimaru is an enigma to me though."

"Such a wide variety of people we have here." Caren remarked with a smaller, truer smile than before. "I quite like it."

"We are all quite different, yes." Bazett nodded. It might have been that Fujimaru was the only one of them to originate from somewhere outside Europe, but Norway, Ireland, England, Italy, and Wales were quite a variety all the same.

"I wonder if I should ask mister Fujimaru about his own experiences with such beautiful sceneries." A teasing glint entered Caren's eyes, one that promised nothing good for the redheaded teen. "As soon as he is done searching the area of course."

"Weren't you going to wear a cheerleader outfit?" Bazett remarked playfully, well aware that that particular set of clothes was still lying in the car. The Projected cloth lasted incredibly well, even though it had been quite a while since the spell had been cast. "To cheer him on?"

"Only during the fighting itself." Caren corrected her with an equally playful tone. "Right now, all I would do is distract him from his search with my cheering and jumping."

"So tomorrow, during the battle, you will wear it?" Bazett asked again, just to clarify.

"I will." Ortensia nodded, not a trace of doubt or hesitation present on her face. "Or, if there is no opportunity during the battle, then after the battle is finished and mister Fujimaru has a moment of free time."

"Damn, rather you than me." Bazett herself didn't even want to think about wearing such an outfit, but it seemed the little nun was committed to seeing things through after accepting Fujimaru's challenge.

"I will of course be depending on you to defend me from any unscrupulous men." Caren added, suddenly sliding up to stand right next to Bazett, clasping her hand in hers. "Who knows what they would do to me if you were not there."

"Eh? Oh, fine, just stick close to me." Bazett agreed.

Ortensia responded with a beautiful smile

It was at this point that Svin, Flat, and Grey came up to join the two of them, and all five turned their eyes towards the remaining two members of the group, Fujimaru and Lord El-Melloi, who had left the path at some point during Bazett's and Caren's conversation and were now moving towards the closest wooden fence.

"Should we follow them?" Svin wondered, already inching forward, but Grey shook her head in response, making him take a step back. "I guess not then."

"Sir and mister Fujimaru were just going to check something." Grey answered in a very soft voice, keeping her hood over her face as much as she could, and Bazett was willing to bet quite a bit of money that if she'd been able to see through cloth, she would have been able to see the girl squeezing her eyes shut as tightly as she could. "We aren't supposed to follow them. At least not until they call us over."

"Any idea when that would be?" Flat asked, when…

"Everyone!" Lord El-Melloi could just be heard over the blowing of the stiff breeze, as his voice carried over the several dozen metres they were separated. "This way!"

He accentuated his shouting by waving them over in large, exaggerated movements, and Caren turned towards Flat with a bright smile.

"Now, it would seem." Her smile only widened when Flat rolled his eyes at her in response.

By the time the group of five joined Fujimaru and Lord El-Melloi again, the latter two were busy examining the wooden fence that Bazett had taken note of earlier.

At the time, when she was at least half a kilometre away, Bazett had noticed nothing odd about that fence, but now that she came within less than ten metres of it, she could clearly feel the Magical Energy contained within.

It wasn't much Magical Energy –whoever had created this fence clearly cared more for secrecy than defence— but it was considerable enough that the redheaded woman was going to avoid coming any closer.

"I can detect several spells on this fence." Fujimaru told them once they were all within earshot. "Aside from the typical alarm spells that alert the casters when someone touches or climbs over the fence, there is also a Magecraft-suppressing quality to it, and something that can discern Prana, allowing the casters to know whether the person touching the fence is a Magus or not."

"Can you break the spells?" Was the first thing Flat asked, which got him an eye roll from basically everyone present.

"I could, but that would alert the people who cast them just as well as when I would ignore and trigger them." Fujimaru shot the suggestion down quickly and thoroughly. "If I wanted to get past it, I would need to somehow disrupt it without breaking it. That, or go over it at a sufficient height."

"Go over it?" Svin perked up, hearing an option that he was uniquely suited for, with his Beast Magecraft. He'd probably just mimic a kangaroo or something to power his legs and then take a jump.

"The alarm does not reach higher than eight metres." Fujimaru replied, rising from where he'd been studying the fence. "If you can jump higher than that, or fly, you can get past it without triggering anything."

"Isn't that rather careless?" Caren wanted to know, cocking her head to the side. "Can they not make better Bounded Fields? In a more dome-like shape that covers the entire area instead of a wall that can be crossed?"

"They probably can, but it wouldn't be wise." Fujimaru replied shortly, taking a few steps back until he stood next to Lord El-Melloi. "This alarm is already as good and thorough as it can be without becoming too obvious. Any more, and it will become too noticeable. They might as well place a sign saying 'secret hideout here' if they had done that."

"This alarm doesn't need to be better." Lord El-Melloi said bluntly, crossing his arm with a concentrated look on his face. "Remember, no one is supposed to know this nest even exists. They don't expect anyone to come snooping around. All this fence needs to do is warn them of any stragglers wandering through this area. Their best defence is, or rather, was secrecy, and now that they have lost it, they have no other recourse."

"Okay, then now what?" Flat asked, looking up to a point in the sky that was roughly eight metres above the fence. "Are we going to fly over that eight metre Bounded Field to find this nest?"

"No need, I have already found the entrance." Fujimaru pointed at a nearby tree that was standing on a tiny hill, located approximately fifteen metres behind the fence. "On the other side of that hill is a hatch, mostly hidden by the tree's roots. That hatch is the entrance of the nest."

Bazett's gaze shot towards the hill he'd mentioned, but no matter how good or long she looked, she saw nothing that even hinted at it being the entrance of anything.

Maybe that oak tree could be an entrance into the Faerie Realm, but that was probably not what Fujimaru meant.

"You can actually see such a thing from here?" Ortensia sounded impressed as well, as the white-haired woman peered at the hill with squinted eyes. "That is very impressive, mister Fujimaru."

"It's nothing." The boy shook his head, making a dismissive motion as he downplayed his achievement. "I am just lucky to have the necessary skills that allowed me to find it. More important right now is what we're going to do about it."

"For now, nothing." Lord El-Melloi replied, placing a hand on Fujimaru's shoulder as if to hold him back from charging in. "We shall return to Frankfurt and convene with the Enforcers. Then we shall decide on a plan of action. I do not expect anything to happen until tomorrow however."

"Because the Enforcers are slow, right?" Svin asked, to which Lord El-Melloi and Bazett both gave firm nods. "Yeah, thought so."

"Is there anything else here that you want to investigate or that we should know about?" Lord El-Melloi asked Fujimaru, before nodding when the boy shook his head. "Then let us leave. The longer we stay here, the higher chance we have of being noticed."

Lord El-Melloi herded them back to the car, not quite running, but certainly walking faster than the norm.

The rest of the group, Bazett included, was more than happy to leave the place, which had now gone from idyllic to very ominous. The only exception was Fujimaru, who seemed reluctant to leave for some reason.

Lord El-Melloi seemed to know what was going on inside the boy's head however, as he brusquely placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder again.

"One night won't make any difference, mister Fujimaru." He told the boy, his voice not unkind. "And by attacking with our full force, we have much more chance at being able to save everyone inside."

"…Of course." Fujimaru nodded after a moment, and with another pat on the back, Lord El-Melloi herded him towards the car as well.

---

"Mister Fujimaru?" Grey whispered softly once they were all safely inside the car and a good way away from the grassland, Bazett once more behind the wheel.

"Yes, miss Grey?" Fujimaru turned around to face her, and Grey hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea to actually go through with her question, and then went ahead anyway.

"What did the hide-out smell like?"

It was, she believed, a valid question. Mister Fujimaru had told them before that he tracked Thaumaturgy through smell, and that every type of Magecraft had a different scent. Usually, that scent could convey pretty clearly what kind of Magecraft they were dealing with, according to the redhead, and that was pretty useful information to have when dealing with spells from opponents and enemies.

Fujimaru remained silent for several more seconds, frowning slightly, before he answered.

"There were some hints of blood, as I had already expected." He began slowly, and Grey noticed everyone in the car was now paying attention. "There was something that smelled like cinnamon, strangely enough, and a scent that really reminded me of wet dogs."

"Wet dogs?" Flat asked, glancing at Svin from the corners of his eyes. "We have a wet dog ourselves here. You sure you didn't mistake where the scent was coming from exactly?"

Fujimaru didn't deign that question with an answer, and instead shook his head slowly.

"Those were only the smaller scents. The most noticeable scent was that of rotting corpses."

It became completely silent. It was as if everyone inside the car had decided to collectively hold their breath for a few moments, before Sir spoke up.

"Rotting corpses." He inquired, grimacing when Fujimaru nodded in confirmation. "I wonder what kind of Magecraft that could be."

"With scents like this, you have to take it pretty literally." Fujimaru explained, grimacing himself as well. "So rotting corpses probably means Necromancy, or perhaps the use of body parts in truly messed up rituals."

"Could it be Dead Apostle Research?" Ortensia wondered out loud, making Grey recall the fact she was coming along with them mostly because she was hunting the creators of the Mundane Apostles Sir had told her about.

"No." Fujimaru promptly denied it however. "Dead Apostles smell like Death itself, like graveyards and bitter grief. They do not smell like rotting corpses."

"I see." Ortensia replied, studying Fujimaru as if she was seeing him for the first time, her characteristic smile strangely absent. "Thank you for explaining."

"No problem."

"But Necromancy, hah?" Flat sighed, shaking his head with an almost nostalgic expression. "I had an uncle who dabbled in Necromancy. Pretty scary, seeing a zombie shuffling around all the time."

"Excuse me?" Sir seemed taken aback by the news, and really, Grey was as well. "Why have I never heard of this?"

"Because Uncle Enrique was executed years ago for making Charles the Zombie." Flat waved the matter away carelessly. "I heard some Enforcer bloke chopped off their heads, of both uncle and Charles. Poor Charles, he didn't deserve that."

"I… I see." Sir clearly didn't know how to respond to that, but since Flat didn't seem very distraught about the death of a family member, no one tried to console him. "So decapitating them is enough to kill… well, I mean, dispose of them?"

"Beats me." Flat shrugged, still looking quite nostalgic. "I'm just repeating what I heard from some family-gossip. All I know is that uncle made Charles, and that Charles got beheaded. What happened to him after that is not quite clear."

That clearly wasn't enough information to satisfy Sir, who pulled a face at Flat's answer.

Grey herself was becoming quite nervous at the continued talk about zombies, and she moved a hand into her robes to take hold of Ad, taking comfort in the presence of her weapon.

Technically speaking, Grey herself, having knowledge of Gravekeeper Secrets, including some aspects of Necromancy, should be a hard counter to the undead, but she had only ever fought against Spirits and Wraiths. She had no idea if her spells and techniques would work against animated corpses.

Bazett certainly seemed to agree that they had too little to work with, and she called out to Fujimaru.

"Oi, kid. I must admit I'm not much of an expert in zombies either. Would you happen to know anything about their weak points, or do you have any spells for dealing with them?"

"I assume fire should work perfectly well to destroy them." The redheaded boy replied, not looking concerned at all by the prospect of having to fight walking corpses, to Grey's astonishment. "And otherwise, I do have a spell that should be pretty effective against them."

"Long range, mid-range, or short range?" Svin asked, undoubtedly already trying to make a plan for the upcoming battle. "Or can it only be used in melee?"

"The spell I refer to can be used in melee, and for any of the three ranges." Fujimaru replied.

"Heh, how useful."

"Have you ever faced zombies before, mister Fujimaru?" Ortensia piped up again, asking the question everyone was wondering.

At least, Grey was pretty sure that was what everyone was wondering. She certainly was.

"I have not." Fujimaru was prompt to reply, rubbing the back of head with a ponderous expression. "But this spell has proven effective before against Dead Apostles. It works in a way that deals great damage to dark creatures."

"So it's just an assumption that it will work against the zombies?" Flat frowned, and Grey had to suppress a flinch at the insensitive remark.

"It is indeed nothing but an assumption, though I am pretty sure it'll work." Fujimaru answered the question as if it was a sincere one however. "But I suppose we'll have to see tomorrow. I might be wrong, in which case we'll have to resort to fire."

"Fire usually does the trick." Bazett agreed, still without turning around or taking her eyes off the road, which Grey was grateful for.

"I would really prefer not having to use fire though." Fujimaru grimaced, and Grey became concerned when Sir grimaced as well.

"Why not?" Svin asked.

"I second that why." Flat added.

"Because there are likely prisoners in that hide-out." Sir sighed, rubbing his face. "And burning everything down will kill them as well."

There was another silent moment, the only sound being the roaring of the car's engine.

"If my other spell works though, things should be fine." Fujimaru then spoke up again, trying to set them at ease. "And even if not, I can just avoid the zombies and rescue the prisoners before setting off the slightest spark."

"Oh? You can do all that?" Lord El-Melloi raised an eyebrow. "You seem to be under the impression that you'll be part of the attack-group."

"Well, yes." Fujimaru nodded, turning around to give Sir a surprised look. "Won't I be?"

"No idea. That is something for you and the Enforcers to hash out between yourselves. I will not interfere with it."

"I see. I'd better speak with them soon then."

"Indeed. Make sure to seek them out when we return to Frankfurt and make your case to them. Tell them the plan as well while you're at it." Sir nodded, turning to look out of the window at the night sky. "Or at least, try to seek them out. Knowing them, they'll be all over Frankfurt, feasting the night away."

"I will find them, Lord El-Melloi." Fujimaru promised, placing a hand on his heart. "And I shall inform them of the plan."

"Have them gather at our hotel at nine in the morning. Tell them to bring their own cars." Sir quickly laid out some more instructions. "I will handle everything else."

"Alright." Fujimaru nodded. "I will do that."

"Excellent."

It was remarkable how much Sir trusted Fujimaru already, giving him all these difficult assignments, and someone who looked at them with a fresh gaze might assume that it was Fujimaru who was Sir's first apprentice instead of Grey.

Grey herself had felt some envy about that at some point, fearing that Fujimaru might replace her as Sir's favourite apprentice, but the rational part of her had quickly and decisively dealt with those ridiculous thoughts.

Fujimaru might get difficult tasks, but who was it that stayed at Sir's side every day? Who did he share every single one of his secrets with, even the ones he never told anyone else? Who could he show his weaker side to? Who could he always confide in, no matter the subject or circumstances?

Certainly not Fujimaru, who wasn't interested in that.

The only one who could was Grey.

As such, the white-haired girl was feeling quite secure in her position as Sir's favourite apprentice, and she was confident there was no way that the redhead was going to replace her.

So if she sat up a little straighter in her seat, well, who could blame her?

"What about us, Waver?" Flat injected himself into the conversation again, pulling Grey's attention back to the others in the car. "What are we going to do?"

"Not much, as we had established already." Sir responded dryly. "You will come along at nine o'clock when we travel to the nest again, but once the battle begins, you will stick by my side. I would rather you not enter combat, none of you. Not you either, Bazett, I'll be depending on you for protection in case one of the criminals manages to flee the hideout."

"Yeah, yeah, that was not what I meant." Flat waved the answer away, before clasping his hands together as he gave Sir a wide grin. "I mean tonight, Waver. The night is young. Certainly, you don't expect us to stay in our hotel room the entire evening?"

"I agree." Svin spoke out in support of his friend, which, while not unprecedented, was quite uncommon. "We want to see Frankfurt, sir."

Sir opened his mouth to reply, closed it again, and hesitated for a few moments. Then, he opened his mouth again.

"You can stay out until eleven tonight." He acceded, leading to Svin and Flat fist-bumping each other in enthusiasm. "But not a moment later, and I want you all to stay in groups of at least two. None of you are to go anywhere alone. The only exceptions to this are Bazett and Fujimaru."

"What? That is outrageous! Unfair!" Flat spluttered in an irate tone. "Why are they exceptions?"

"Because Bazett is an adult and not under my care, and I am not under the illusion that I can control Fujimaru, who, by the way, hardly needs my care in the first place." Sir responded calmly, not impressed by Flat's tone. "And you." He turned towards Ortensia, who had been about to speak up herself. "Are definitely not allowed to go out on your own."

"Oof." The white-haired woman pouted, but she didn't protest.

Grey fully agreed with Lord El-Melloi. Caren Ortensia was much too pretty and pure-looking to be allowed to go out on her own. Unscrupulous men would undoubtedly try to attack her and her purity in various ways, and that couldn't be allowed.

"It'll be another half an hour or so before we arrive at the hotel." Bazett then reported, breaking off the conversation about the upcoming evening.

"Huh?" That seemed to confuse Flat. "But I just saw a sign that says it's only five minutes to Frankfurt."

"Frankfurt is a big city, Escardos. The remaining twenty-five minutes are needed to get through the city to the hotel."

"Right, I see."

True to her word, Bazett managed to get them all safely to the hotel in exactly thirty minutes. She dropped them off on the sidewalk and then drove off to park in the hotel's garage.

"You are free to go now." Sir told them, before holding up a finger. "And remember, always travel in pairs, remain on the busy streets, don't wander off too far, and be back here at eleven."

"What if we're late?" It was of course Flat who asked the question.

"Then I'll come and look for you, in case you are in trouble." Fujimaru assured him, giving them all a very kind, charming smile. "But if I need to do that, then you better actually be in trouble, or I'll be mad at you."

"Noted!"

---

Head Professor Edokas, leader of the German Meluastea-outpost, was working calmly in his underground laboratory, when he was suddenly shocked out of his research by one of the younger people under his command shouting in consternation.

"T-They can't be serious!" The young man spluttered in outrage, dramatically grabbing his head in his hands, his entire expression the very picture of surprised indignation as he dropped the package that he'd been studying seconds before.

It was quite a racket, and most Magi present glared at the boy from the corner of their eyes, but Head Professor Edokas looked at Lars, his third acolyte, with a patient and understanding expression.

It wasn't proper or Magus-like at all to shout in shock like that, no matter what you were confronted with. In fact, it was considered boorish and uncouth. Edokas however knew from experience that the boy was not boorish or uncouth, but simply a bit excitable and rash.

Far from being a dramatic windbag, which was what the other Magi clearly considered Lars to be now, Lars was a curious, quick-witted lad who always gave his full effort to learn whatever Edokas wanted to teach him. The boy had a lot of ambition, and he would be a very valuable ally to their masters, the Meluastea, once he had matured a bit.

It was Edokas' responsibility, and his honour, to make sure that Lars could actually do that maturing, at his own speed, unencumbered by laws or petty edicts that stiffened the Magi in the Clocktower.

It was admittedly quite difficult at times to give Lars the education he deserved here in this godforsaken corner of Germany's countryside, locked up in a hole under the ground with the nearest city, Frankfurt, more than an hour away by car, but Edokas had managed so far, helped in no small part by Lars himself, who had proven himself to be studious, responsible, intelligent, and talented, and never made any trouble at all.

Edokas had never had any children himself, or even a wife or lover, but he liked to think that if he'd ever had a child, they would be a lot like Lars.

So when the boy came running at him, clutching the file that contained their bimonthly update from the Meluastea, encompassing the briefings on important happenings in the Moonlit World as well as their new assignments for the coming two months, Edokas didn't punish him for the shouting or the running –as the other Magi clearly hoped he'd do— but calmly held out his hand so Lars could place the file it.

"Calm down, my boy." He said soothingly, placing his empty hand on Lars' shoulder. "Take a deep breath, take three deep breaths."

Lars did as he was told, taking a gulp of air, before slowly exhaling, and then repeating it two more times.

"Good." Edokas nodded approvingly. "Now, tell me, what has gotten you in such a state?"

"H-Head Professor." The boy stuttered, no longer panting or hyperventilating, but still having to lean his hands on his knees to recover from the sprint. "T-The file… T-There's something wrong with it."

"Something wrong with it?" Ignoring the dreadful physical shape his third acolyte was in –being cooped up in a hole didn't allow for much exercise, so he could hardly be blamed for his current state—Edokas focused on the bundle of papers, which indeed was much thicker and heavier than the previous files had been. "How odd."

"T-There's… There's…" Lars tried to continue, but Edokas motioned for silence, before he started paging through it himself, trying to determine what was so wrong about it that it had prompted his favourite apprentice to react so violently.

It did not take him longer than five seconds to discover just what had shocked Lars so.

"Is this their idea of a jest?" Edokas now understood. He understood why Lars had been so surprised by the file. Honestly, he too was surprised by it, and that surprise, that weakness, made him furious. "This file contains far more than we need to know. This file has not been vetted at all!"

Being an old, experienced Magus, Edokas didn't rage. No, he stayed perfectly calm. No matter how ridiculous this was, there was no need to take his anger with the Meluastea out on his innocent acolyte.

"I-It seems to contain just about every bit of information the Meluastea have." Lars agreed, straightening up again once he had recovered fully from his sprint. "There must have been a mistake made during the vetting. My lord, should we burn the file?"

Edokas grinned at the excellent suggestion, one that once more confirmed that Lars was his favourite student. If his first or second acolytes had been here, they would have stared oafishly, or put on a thick-headed smile, thinking that getting more information was good, or they would have muttered stupidly in confusion.

Lars didn't do any of that. From Lars, Edokas received nothing but a quick, rational decision out of someone who understood perfectly well that they were part of a massive illegal operation, and that compartmentalising information was the most important thing to do when trying to keep said operation a secret.

Lars was clever enough to know that having too much information could easily be a curse.

But alas, Edokas had to look at the bigger picture here, no matter how much he might have wanted to agree with his acolyte.

"No." He thus replied with a shake of his head. "I understand why you want to, and it is a good suggestion, but if the Meluastea sent this complete file for a reason, it would be most foolish of us to burn it."

"Wouldn't they have told us about something like this beforehand?"

"Maybe, though as we already concluded, this is an unprecedented happening. Maybe instructions will follow later."

"Are you sure it is safe to keep it though?" Instead of meekly accepting his teacher's words, Lars pressed him on his decision, showing some of that spine that he had in spades, but that Edokas' other apprentices so greatly lacked.

"Lars, my dear acolyte, I understand your worries." Even though this outpost had never been as much as approached before by uninvited people, there was always a chance an attack would come soon. Edokas knew that all too well. "But rest assured. No one here shall read the file until we have received instructions, and I shall keep it with me at all times. If we are attacked, I shall cast it into the flames immediately. I take full responsibility for it."

His words seemed to significantly improve Lars' mood, and he nodded happily, like a little puppy about to be offered a nice treat.

And who was Edokas to refuse him a treat? Lars had shown himself an excellent student, and he had grown enough over the past three months to be allowed to learn a new spell.

"Lars, I believe you have passed an important milestone in your education." The Head Professor and leader of the German outpost began, pulling the boy a little closer to him. "As such, I will show you a new spell. A curse I retrieved myself from a tomb in Mesopotamia. I shall teach it to you."

"M-My lord! Will you really?" Lars' mouth fell open for a moment, but then he began bouncing in place like the aforementioned puppy, and Edokas couldn't suppress an affectionate laugh as he nodded in confirmation. "Yippee!"

"Hahahaha! You have earned it. You are undoubtedly the best worker I have." Edokas said, meaning it completely. If everyone in this outpost suddenly became as efficient and quick to learn as Lars, they could double their output in two months and triple it in five. "Come, let us go to my office. We can check up on our projects on the way."

Their underground outpost was shaped like a string of balls. It was made up of several, large, circle-shaped rooms, the laboratories, that had been placed in a line, almost like a train, with small doors connecting the different compartments.

The 'train' was angled downwards, meaning that the first room was still relatively close to the surface, while the last room was the deepest underground.

The smaller rooms, which served as personal residences of the researchers at the site, were spread out around the main chambers like branches around a trunk, with small hallways connecting the smaller rooms to the laboratories.

Edokas and Lars had been standing in the first laboratory, the one closest to the surface. Edokas had been working, while Lars had just returned from the actual first room, a small space that served as the entrance of the outpost, located right under the hatch that led to the field above. It was there that he had picked up the file.

Edokas' office on the other hand was located in the deepest part of the outpost, at the very end of the train, beyond even the last laboratory, meaning they'd have to cross the entire underground complex to get to their destination.

It was a bit of a walk, but as Edokas had said, that allowed them to check in on their projects and their co-workers, which they would pass along the way in other sections of the 'train'.

The first project they came across during their walk through the outpost was one of Edokas' own. He had been developing small devices that could be placed under a person's skin, anywhere on the body, that would result in a magical paralysis that was nigh-unbreakable. It functioned by sending out paralysing waves of power that could travel through the entire body, freezing up nerves where it went, but couldn't penetrate the skin, meaning that, if the device had been placed under the victim's skin, the outside world was completely safe.

The downside of his devices though was that their effects of freezing the nerves also caused unbearable agony in the entire body, a pain that had been compared to being flayed alive. It was something he had been working hard on to fix.

There had also been several other relatively minor problems with the devices, such as their limited lifespan and the fact that they tended to knock the prisoner unconscious the moment they were activated, but those problems had already been fixed. Edokas' current test subject had been paralysed for more than a week now, but the upgraded devices showed no sign of breaking any time soon and the subject was fully conscious yet unable to move a muscle.

If only he could solve the constant agony-problem, which was still very much unsolved, then they would be perfect to sell.

The next project they passed was also one of Edokas'. It involved replacing body parts with magical prosthetics to increase efficiency and strength and decrease the natural limb-shaking that all humans suffered from. There was nothing more annoying than doing precision work, only to ruin it all at the last second because your hand suddenly shook a bit. A prosthetic might solve that issue.

This project hadn't been nearly as successful as the paralysation devices however. After the replacement surgery, his subjects could barely move anymore, never mind use the prosthetic, and they often died quickly after receiving them.

Even more frustratingly, Edokas still had no idea why that was. The prosthetics were perfectly fine in theory, yet something in the human body seemed to violently disagree with them for some reason.

It wasn't even a matter of having Magic Circuits, as Edokas' former fifth acolyte had died just as quickly as the mundane subjects after receiving a prosthetic, screaming in agony all the way to her grave.

Frankly, Edokas was close to abandoning the project entirely. The prosthetics weren't cheap or easy to make, nor was it a simple matter to graft them onto his subjects, especially since it required him to sedate them at least partially to prevent them from thrashing about, which took up a fortune in sedating agents.

And no, he wasn't going to use the paralysation devices, those were much too expensive and difficult to make to waste on subjects that were likely going to die very quickly anyway.

While Edokas was working on those two projects, Lars was tending to his own on the other side of the room, making a few measurements to see how the mice he had infected with cancer cells were faring.

Apparently, not well. One mouse almost had its jaw falling off, and another had lost three limbs already. The agonised screeching that sounded when Lars opened the cage was grating to the ears.

The people he'd done the same to weren't doing much better than the mice.

Several more projects followed, like the development of magical acid, an attempt to combine humans with animals to make really efficient Chimeras –that particular craft had once been the forte of Vincent Balefor, but that man had fallen into the hands of Lorelei Barthomeloi and was now either being tortured or already dead—the growing of flesh-eating plants with a taste for humans, and several comparable experiments.

Of course, Edokas and Lars were far from the only ones present in the outpost.

Arbus was diligently working on getting his female test-subjects pregnant in order to claim their babies in nine months, while Pauline was currently attempting to connect five human heads –all still alive and conscious despite having been removed from their bodies— together to create a magical version of a computer, and Robert was doing something vague with male genitals.

Edokas' other two acolytes, Cindy and Lilith, weren't around at the moment, and were likely still coped up in their rooms. They had just finished their main projects and were currently taking a break.

Frankly, Edokas was happy that they weren't around. Those daft girls would have assailed him with endless questions if they had been present, and he wasn't at all in the mood for that.

The fact that he was busy teaching Lars wouldn't have stopped them. They had always been jealous of Lars and would gladly sabotage his lessons as much as they could.

They passed through four more laboratories, each one of them filled with more than a dozen Magi working hard at advancing the noblest practice of Thaumaturgy, and Edokas couldn't suppress a feeling of pride each time that one of them showed him respect.

He'd come a long way over the past years. No longer was he a street rat who had to fish through bins for food, nor was he a pathetic homeless creep who had to go around begging for paid work. He was a Head Professor now, with all these nobles happily kowtowing to him.

It was a good feeling.

"Here we are, at last." Edokas sighed in satisfaction once they finally made it to his office. "Let me just put this file on my desk and then I'll teach you that curse."

"Head Professor… Lord Edokas."

"What is it, my boy?" Edokas turned around promptly upon hearing Lars address him in such an uncertain tone. "Is there anything wrong?"

"No, sir, nothing. It's just that… I wanted to say that I'm so happy that I have you as my teacher."

"Lars…"

"I mean it, sir. Back home, I was a nobody, a loser, even my own family hated me. But you took me in, taught me everything I know. I-I just wanted to say… t-that I think of you, and everyone here, as my true family."

"My boy-"

"And I'll do anything to prove that, my lord. I will become the best researcher ever, better than you even, a-and when I'm famous and rich, I'll make sure everyone knows that it was you who supported me and made me who I am."

For a moment, Edokas thought his heart might explode, that was how moved and how proud he was.

Unable to bear it, he pulled the boy into a strong, manly hug, partially because he really wanted to, and partially to hide the proud tear that was rolling down his cheek at that moment.

"Lord Edokas, you have always been like a father to me. I swear I will make you proud."

"Lars, my boy… My son, I am already proud of you."

It was a moving sight; a man and a boy having become so close that they had become a surrogate father and son, embracing each other as they expressed their familial love. Both of them having come from rags, and now making their way to riches.

The sight was only slightly sullied by the fact that the whole event took place accompanied by the sound of endless agonised screaming, as dozens upon dozens of people were tortured in ways too gruesome to imagine in the rooms just next to theirs.

---

Svin had never really left England before.

Of course, he'd been born in Norway, and had lived there for a while, but his family had moved to London when he was eight, and he had never left the United Kingdom's borders after that.

At least until now. Now he was in Germany, and Heavens, did he enjoy it much more than he thought he would!

Not the first part of the journey though. Sitting in a plane, finding their luggage in a strange airport, hauling everything to their hotel, and then spending hours searching the countryside had not been the most enjoyable experience of his young life.

But now that they had been granted some free time, Svin intended to have as much fun here in Frankfurt as he possibly could.

"Calm down, le chien, I am not that fast!"

Even having Flat following him around all the time did nothing to dampen his excellent mood.

Hearing the other boy's complaints, Svin slowed down to a calm walk, allowing Flat to catch up with him. In the meantime, the Norse boy looked around with wonder in his eyes, seeing thousands upon thousands of people walking around in all directions, over the beautiful streets and stately houses. He saw shops selling a plethora of items and foodstuffs. He saw people walking with children and babies. He heard them speak rapid German, or Deutsch as they called it themselves. He stared until his eyes were at risk of rolling out of their sockets.

"So… Are we just going to walk around all night, staring at stuff, or are we actually going to do something?" Flat then wanted to know, having recovered from being forced to sprint at his top-speed for a while. "I mean, we can go into a shop and buy some stuff if you want, or perhaps get some food from a stall? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry."

It was clear enough that Flat hoped to see Svin struggle as he tried to make it clear to a shop owner what he wanted in broken German, but what the difficult boy didn't know was that those shop owners often spoke enough English to be perfectly capable of selling things to Englishmen.

Flat's expression upon realising that even the street vendors spoke excellent English was priceless, and totally worth the cost of the potato pancakes Svin had just bought for them both.

"Thank you for your business." The man behind the cart grunted with only the slightest of accents, and Svin gave him a polite nod back, peering curiously at the snack he had just purchased. He'd never heard of pancakes made out of potatoes before.

"Come on, you should eat those before they get cold." He then told his pouting friend, who hadn't taken a single bite yet. Not that Svin had either, but he was planning on using his mate as a taste tester, and he couldn't do that if the boy continued to be petulant.

"Yeah, yeah." Flat groused, before he started eating, with Svin watching him closely for his reaction.

Flat's brooding expression disappeared quickly once the first bite had been taken, and the sheer joy on his face prompted Svin to have a taste of his own potato pancakes as well.

…Oh yeah, these were great.

For a while, neither boy said anything, too preoccupied with eating their delicious treats, and it was only when a known face emerged from the crowd that Flat shook himself loose again.

"Oi, Shirou!" He called out, excitedly waving his hand at the redheaded teen. "Over here!"

His shouting was unnecessary, as the other boy had spotted them sooner than they had seen him, but the redhead still waved back obligingly, giving them one of his signature kind smiles.

"Mister Glascheit, mister Escardos." Fujimaru greeted them once he'd gotten within hearing distance. "What a coincidence to find you here."

"Is it really, mister Fujimaru?" Svin asked, knowing very well how strong and accurate the Japanese teen's senses were, from his own admission no less. At first glance, it wouldn't seem all that odd, someone having a talent for scouting and reconnaissance, but for some reason, Svin could never escape the hair-raising sensation that the redhead was actually massively downplaying the strength and accuracy of his senses. That, combined with the fact he could always sense some kind of earth-shatteringly powerful static coming from the other teen, made him quite wary of his teacher's latest apprentice.

Svin's Beast Magecraft had massively boosted his senses and instincts, and when those instincts were crying out like this, they were usually right.

"It is. I might have noticed you a while ago, but I was not actively searching for you." Fujimaru shook his head, his smile never wavering. "I assure you that it is a coincidence."

"Hm, if you say so." Svin accepted the redhead's words, not in the mood to argue more. "How are you doing?"

"I am doing very well, mister Glascheit. What about you two?"

"Yeah, we're fine as well."

"Glad to hear it. Now, I have a question. You see, I have found most of the Enforcers already, but there are some who have escaped me thus far. You wouldn't happen to have noticed one or two Enforcers on your walk?"

"You have found most of them already?" Svin almost choked on his potato pancake when he heard that. It had barely been two hours since they'd returned to Frankfurt, yet Fujimaru had already tracked down most of the team?

"Indeed."

"Ah… Well, we didn't see anyone familiar or anyone who looked like an Enforcer, and even if we did, we wouldn't be able to tell you where they could be now." Svin wished he had some information to give, but he had nothing.

"Yes, I understand. I imagine there would be no way for you to know. A pity, but thank you anyway." Fujimaru nodded, before his eye fell on the potato pancakes Svin and Flat were carrying. "What are those? They smell amazing."

"Potato pancakes." Flat answered happily, pulling his own portion close to his chest. "They are available at a lot of stalls around here."

"Then I'll be sure to sample them myself." There was a glint in the redhead's eyes that suggested he was planning on doing more than just sampling them, but Svin wisely didn't ask.

"I won't keep you two any longer." Fujimaru continued, giving them a polite bow. "I must continue my search. Enjoy the rest of the evening."

"And the best of luck to you." Svin nodded. "Good hunting, mister Fujimaru."

"Ciao." Was Flat's contribution.

And then Fujimaru had disappeared again, melting into the crowd with a speed and natural ease that would have made professional assassins jealous.

It made one wonder just what kind of man Fujimaru really was…

But Svin quickly put those thoughts out of his head. It was none of his business, and besides, he was here to enjoy himself.

Together with Flat, he ate the last of his potato pancakes, threw away the paper kerchief they had been wrapped in, and continued the trek through Frankfurt.

Yeah, Svin was having a great time here, and there was no need to spoil it by brooding over the powers and abilities of a mysterious ally.

---

"That foolish, scatter-brained, dim-witted nun." Bazett hissed under her breath as she rapidly searched the streets of Frankfurt, doubling back on the road she'd taken before, looking in every nook, cranny, and side alley, frantically trying to track down her white-haired companion, who had disappeared a short while ago.

In hindsight, Bazett should have expected that to happen when Caren started mumbling about 'being among a large group of tourists while on busy streets wasn't being alone', but she had been too preoccupied with her own thoughts and hadn't really registered what the nun had said before she was gone, leaving Bazett to pull her hair out of her head in worry.

The fact that the white-haired goose of a woman was clearly planning on staying in busy areas provided some solace, but nevertheless, this was a large city, and Bazett would really like to have the beautiful, young, angelic-looking girl firmly under her wings instead of wandering the streets alone.

Who knew what would happen after all? Frankfurt had three quarters of a million inhabitants. It wasn't unthinkable that there would be at least a few madmen among them who would have no qualms about harming an innocent girl for their own enjoyment.

So Bazett continued her search, going as far as to use Runes to try and find the nun, though without much success. She had never had much of a talent for tracking and searching with Magecraft, and it didn't help that she had nothing to attune to either.

If she'd known this would happen, she would have taken a bit of Caren's hair, that would have made finding her a breeze, but she hadn't, and now she paid the price for her unpreparedness.

If only she had Deirdre with her; her cousin had been a natural at tracking and searching through Runes and other spells-

Bazett harshly put a stop to that train of thought. Thinking of her dear cousin, who had disappeared and was likely either dead or in some Magus' collection, would only bring her mood down even more, which was something she really didn't need at the moment.

There was no use in wishing that Deirdre was here. That was impossible.

But Bazett's efforts to suppress the memories of her dear cousin were in vain, as they forcibly pushed themselves to the forefront no matter what she tried.

In part, that was caused by Bazett's current surroundings. Not long before she disappeared, Deirdre had accompanied Bazett on a trip to Frankfurt. Their mission had been finished quickly, and after that, the girls had decided to spend some time in the city itself.

That week had been one of the best of Bazett's life, and it was only later that she'd realised it had been her cousin's way of saying goodbye to her, before disappearing out of her life forever.

So yeah, Frankfurt had many memories, all of them technically good, but soured and bittered now that Bazett knew what had come immediately after.

She had been able to hide it from the others, to the point where even Fujimaru and Lord El-Melloi hadn't really noticed anything off about her. In that sense, constantly having something to do helped a lot. Whether it was searching for the nest or for her dim-witted companion, it distracted her at least.

But no longer. Now she had to deal with those demons as well.

Which was why it was a relief to see Fujimaru emerge from a side street. Both because it was a distraction and because the boy had already shown he was significantly better at tracking people than she was.

Fujimaru had spotted her too, and before Bazett could blink twice, he was already in front of her, having practically phased through the crowd.

"Miss Bazett." Fujimaru greeted her happily, and she noticed he was holding a paper kerchief with some kind of pancakes wrapped in it. "How are you doing?"

"My health is fine, but I do have a bit of a problem." She groused, before pointing at the pancakes. "But first, what are those?"

"Potato pancakes." The redheaded boy replied happily, showing her one. "They are delicious, and I managed to get the recipe from one of the salesmen. I really had to press for it, and he charged me five hundred euros, but I managed to get it in the end."

"Sounds like you had a successful evening." Bazett huffed, slightly amused by his enthusiasm over a bit of food.

"Certainly, and not just because I have a recipe." Fujimaru's expression turned serious now. "I have found all of the Enforcers as well, and I managed to convince them to let me accompany them during the attack tomorrow. So yeah, I'd say my evening has been pretty successful."

"You have already found them all?" Bazett asked, blinking in surprise when the redhead nodded in confirmation. "Impressive. If you have time to spare now, could you help me find Caren?"

"She's gone?"

"The little doe-eyes disappeared on me." Bazett admitted, balling her fists in frustration. "I have no idea where she is, or even if she's fine. I swear, when I find her, I'll-"

Her rant was interrupted when Fujimaru resolutely handed her a potato pancake, practically shoving it into her hands, taking her aback enough for him to talk over her.

"Not to worry, miss Bazett. I'll go and search for her too." The redheaded boy promised, before quickly eating his own pancakes. "Between the two of us, we'll find her in no time."

"Right." Bazett nodded, before she glanced at the snack that he'd handed her and, with a shrug of her shoulders, began eating it.

"!? This is delicious!"

"Yes, but also so unhealthy." Fujimaru bemoaned, his gaze turning forlorn for a moment, but then he rallied again. "It's more than worth it though. You just shouldn't eat it too often. Save it for special occasions and all. Still, with our daily schedules, we can take in a few more calories than the average person."

"Uh huh." Bazett agreed, stuffing her mouth full. She got enough exercise to be allowed to eat unhealthy stuff now and then, especially with the energy burned from spells, and really, if the fat went to the right places, she wouldn't even mind it all that much.

The snacks were gone in no time, and with her mood lifted and her stomach full, Bazett resumed the search for the stray nun, going in one direction while Fujimaru went the other.

Fujimaru was right. Between the two of them, finding Caren shouldn't be a problem.

---

Grey was having the time of her life.

She was exploring a new city, one that wasn't London, in a country where she'd never been before, surrounded by people and cultures of all shapes and sizes, looking around with wide eyes as she tried to take in everything at once.

Unlike what her general attitude might suggest, Grey did enjoy visiting new places, and she did like discovering things she hadn't seen before. She generally was just too nervous to dare to go out by herself, and since Sir was always too busy and she could hardly ask Svin, Flat, or Lehrman to accompany her, there hadn't been any possibility of going out to explore.

In her life, she'd only ever been in her home in the countryside, in the Clocktower, and sometimes in London or the surrounding areas when Sir had business to attend to there.

She was content enough with her life of course, she certainly didn't want to complain or give the impression she was ungrateful for what she had, but the curiosity for the outside world lingered like an itch below her skin.

But now, she had every opportunity to scratch that itch. She was in a new place, having every opportunity for trying new things, with Sir walking right next to her, being a beacon of stability and calm for her to return to if she got overwhelmed by all the sensations that a big city could offer her.

She really was having the time of her life, and it was made even better by the fact that Sir was once more proving that he considered her to be his favourite and most trusted apprentice, that she was far and away the number one.

Yes, Sir might give Fujimaru the hardest assignments, and he counted on Bazett to protect him on missions, and it was Svin who would likely reach the highest rank in the Clocktower, but that didn't mean anything when the only one who Sir freely shared all of his secrets with was her.

She was the one who he kept close to him at all times. She was the one who he trusted with the most sensitive and potentially explosive matters. She was the one who he chose to accompany him every single time.

And as cherry on top, she was the one with whom he shared his concerns about Fujimaru.

"He is planning something, Grey." Sir sighed deeply as he combed a hand through his hair. "More so than usual I mean. I don't know how I know it, but he is not in Germany just to deal with that nest. He has another purpose, one he has gone to great lengths to hide from us, and I have no idea what it is or even what it could be."

"Hm." Grey made an understanding noise, knowing that he didn't expect her to reply.

"I mean, he should be free to do what he wants of course, as long as it's not too illegal, and I really don't think he'll ever hurt innocent people, but I can't help but worry all the same, you know."

"Uh huh."

"I noticed it back when I first told everyone that we'd be going to Germany. Everyone was surprised, but he seemed more… taken aback in a way that suggests it was a scary coincidence, if that makes sense."

"Yes." Grey hopped once in joy as she remembered that Sir had told her first about the upcoming trip to Germany. All the others in the group had been informed much later than she had been.

"I can't help but harbour the suspicion that he wanted to go to Germany long before Lady Barthomeloi gave me her orders, and that she played right into his hands."

"Umu." Grey nodded.

"The question now is, did he arrange any of this? I mean, I don't think so, that would be both out of character and would require years of preparation, but if I'm right, if he did somehow manipulate me, Lady Barthomeloi, and the criminals… That would be extremely problematic, to say the least."

"Hm."

"But perhaps I am just looking too deeply into this." Sir shook his head, placing a hand on his own forehead as he let out a short laugh. "I have been hunting Sealing Designees for too long. I'm seeing shadows and patterns that aren't really there. Perhaps I should just put it all on the backburner and just enjoy an evening in the city."

"Ahah."

"Yes, I think that's what I'll do. Let's just go to a café and have a drink while we talk about nonsensical things."

"Yes sir." Grey responded, jumping at the chance of spending some quality time with her mentor and teacher.

"Good." Lord El-Melloi nodded firmly, casting his gaze around to look for a place that met his fancy.

As they were in the tourist zone of Frankfurt, there were a plethora of cafés, pubs, bars, and restaurants to choose from, and before long, they were standing inside a cosy little café that had appealed to both Grey and Sir.

"Welcome, sir." The waiter greeted them with an easy smile. "A table for you and your daughter?"

"Yes." Lord El-Melloi nodded.

The fact that he didn't protest against the term made Grey feel… warm.

---

She was going to get into trouble over this.

Caren was certain of it. If Lord El-Melloi wouldn't be wrought that she had disobeyed his orders to always stay with someone else of their group, then Bazett would be mad that Caren had suddenly left her behind and made her worry. Even Shirou and Grey might be angry that she had taken such a risk for no valid reason.

She acknowledged that by the way. She acknowledged that she didn't have a valid reason for leaving Bazett behind. She had noticed earlier that there were tours going through the city, and she'd really wanted to join one, but if she'd asked Bazett if they could do that, the redheaded woman almost certainly would have just agreed.

There had been no need to disappear on her.

But, as always, Caren just had to make things as difficult as they could be. It just seemed to be in her nature to overcomplicate things and bother other people. For some reason, she enjoyed it very much to make others uncomfortable. It was something she'd probably inherited from her father, though she was very grateful not to have inherited the entirety of his affliction.

If she had, she might have had to kill herself the moment she gained the ability to think for herself.

Alas, all ruminations and regrets aside, what was done was done, and Caren found herself part of a tour group, numbering fifteen people in total, walking through the streets of Frankfurt, listening to a tour guide talk in rapid English as he described the various churches and bridges that they walked past.

The white-haired woman listened with great interest, enjoying herself quite a bit, and even the knowledge that she would be in for a thorough scolding once they tracked her down was not enough to put a damper on her good mood.

Worrying about said scolding was of no use, and her punishment would be the same regardless of whether she returned immediately or whether she'd only return after the tour was finished, so she stuck around, happily listening to the history of Frankfurt, as well as studying her fellow tourists.

The two men walking closest to her seemed to be from Eastern Europe, if Caren had read their accent right. They wore tracksuits and backpacks, and had a typical Eastern European face. Another notable feature was that they were both quite fat, though perhaps that was only to be expected, considering they had been shovelling some kind of pancakes into their mouths since the tour had begun.

The four French students were a lot more pleasant to listen to and look at, as their group consisted of two handsome young men and two beautiful young women, all of them history-students who specialised in the German high-medieval period. They were in Frankfurt mainly to do research for their graduation project, though taking this tour was more of a break for them.

The father and his two adult sons, who Caren presumed to be… Danish perhaps, hadn't said much, and really only interacted with the tour guide and each other. They were tall, dark-haired, and looked very grim, though their expressions didn't seem to be indicative of their moods, as their tone was pleasant enough whenever they spoke.

There was a single strange man in a suit and a top hat walking along with the group, as well as a middle-aged lady in Victorian getup. One would have thought they would be together, but it didn't seem like they were.

And lastly, there were two young parents with their child, their accent distinctly American. The parents couldn't be older than thirty, and they had great trouble trying to control their son.

"W-Why did we have to follow this tour?" Said child, who couldn't be older than ten, whined, looking up at his parents with tearful eyes. "It's boooooring."

"Jimmy…" The mother sighed, giving off the impression of a woman who had heard the words 'this is boring' ten thousand times already. "Please last a little longer. We'll get you some candy after this is over."

"But I want candy now!" Jimmy whined, his voice becoming louder as he stamped his feet. "Momma!"

"Now now." Caren smoothly cut in before the crying could actually begin, smiling down gently at the little boy. "That is not how proper young men should behave."

Faced suddenly with someone he didn't know, the boy stopped his whining, staring with wide eyes at Caren, who took the opportunity to continue.

"We are on an adventure." She told him, winking slyly as if she was revealing a great secret to him. "You cannot cry when we are adventuring. You are a big boy, aren't you?"

Jimmy nodded wordlessly, completely engrossed by Caren, as the entire group came to a momentary halt, everyone looking at the by-play between the child and the nun.

"Yes, of course you are. You are a big boy, and big boys don't cry when they are exploring a new city. You need to last just a bit longer, Jimmy, and then you'll be a real hero."

"A-A hero? Really?" Jimmy's eyes sparkled, and he quickly wiped away the tear tracks with his sleeves. "I-I'll be a hero?"

"Absolutely, little chap." One of the French students confirmed kindly, making Jimmy's awed stare transfer to him. "You'll be a hero, and a real man."

Faced with such an amazing reward, Jimmy puffed out his chest, his expression having become one of pride, and without another word, he continued walking, his gait far stronger than before. There was nothing left of the boy who'd been about to cry.

"Oh, thank you, both of you." Jimmy's mother professed, while Jimmy's father shook the French student's hand in gratitude. "I'm sorry for his behaviour, and that we couldn't do anything to calm him down ourselves. I just feel we're making so little impact on him these days. Thank you for your help, truly."

"It was no problem at all." Caren smiled. Helping people and being kind to others were the duties that Jesus and the Lord had bestowed upon their followers, and she had no intention of forsaking her sacred duties even once.

Her teasing didn't count. She always picked her targets carefully, making sure to select only those who could withstand her jabs and pricks easily enough, like Bazett, Shirou, or any of the overly proud agents of the Burial Agency. She would never bully the weak.

The parents then quickly ran after Jimmy, who'd marched several metres down the road, and the rest of the group followed suit a moment later, until Caren had been left slightly behind, along with the Danish father and his two adult sons.

"That boy should have been in bed by now." The elder of the sons suddenly commented, giving Caren a glance from the corner of his eye. "You have given him some energy –well done, by the way–but it won't last."

"Why did they even take him along anyway?" The younger groused. "Of course the kid is bored, this is not meant for children his age."

"Ha." The father scoffed, giving his elder son a push to the back of his head and the younger a firm shove in the side. "Hear you two talk as if you know everything. Those parents wanted to have a nice evening in the city, and since they can hardly leave their son behind, they needed to take him along. You cannot blame them for not wanting to stay cooped up in their room all evening."

"That doesn't mean it is not annoying, for that boy and for us." The elder protested, rubbing the back of head with an aggrieved expression. "I mean, he can hardly be expected to behave himself-"

"Indeed not. Children cannot behave themselves. To get angry at them for that is nonsensical." The father barked, before smirking in amusement. "Should I tell the lady nun here about your escapades when you were that age? Do you think you were so well-behaved back then? I seem to remember a certain boy, who really wanted to go to Disneyland, hiding under the table every time Mickey Mouse came by."

"Dad." The elder son flinched at his father's words and looked even more aggrieved when Caren placed a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. "That was years ago!"

"Back when you were the same age as that kid." The father nodded. "Rather proves my point, no?"

The trio then descended into outright squabbling, and after watching for a while, Caren decided to follow the rest of the group. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy their banter, she did, but she wasn't very quick in her robes, and it would be bad if she got separated too much from the others. If she lost sight of them, she would never be able to catch up, and that would mean she'd be walking the streets alone, exactly what she wasn't allowed to do.

Fortunately, the group had stopped at the end of the street, and Caren estimated she should be able to reach them in a minute at most.

And yes, it was quite annoying to have the Danish trio suddenly overtake her with their long legs, reaching the group before her, even though they had started walking several minutes after she'd already left.

All annoyance about her short size and stride disappeared however when Caren received some shocking news from the others.

"The guide ditched us." One of the Eastern European men complained, looking quite lost on what to do with that fact. "Said we were too slow for him, and that he had a train to catch. 'You can get back by yourselves', he said."

"What a tosser." The other swore, balling his fist at the sky. "I'm gonna give him a one-star review. No, I'll complain to the tour agency directly. This is ridiculous."

"We can get back though, can't we?" The younger Danish son wondered.

"Of course we can." The father rumbled, pointing to the East. "The tourist area is in that direction. If we simply follow the street, we'll be back in no time."

"Good."

"D-Did the mister leave because of me?" Jimmy asked, pouting as his eyes filled with tears again, though this time not out of boredom and petulance, but rather out of fear that he had ruined the adventure.

His parents and the French students were prompt to assure him it wasn't his fault, and that the guide was simply a bad man, but Caren ignored the boy this time, as she had a terribly foreboding feeling.

It was of course possible that the guide was simply an overworked man who didn't give a damn anymore about his job and saw nothing wrong with leaving a group of entitled tourists behind because he needed to catch his train, but that theory didn't explain why they had to be left behind in a rather quiet part of town, at a large distance from the bustling tourist area.

The street they were in was completely abandoned. They were the only ones outside for as far as the eye could see.

That, combined with the fact most streetlamps had been broken, painted a rather grim picture of the situation.

Caren realised too late that they had been lured here, one old bridge and stately church at the time. The guide had started out properly, remaining in busy areas, but as the tour continued, he'd led them further and further away from the city centre, only to then leave them behind.

He had brought them here in order to spring some sort of trap on them.

The fact that seven men, each masked and brandishing knives or steel pipes, emerged from the shadows soon after and surrounded them, not looking at all surprised that there were tourists in their territory, provided all the confirmation Caren needed to conclude her fears had been correct.

"Oh great." The elder of the two sons remarked with a frown when he saw the masked and armed men as well. "Now this."

"Cut the bravado and hand over your money and jewellery." The leading robber sniffled, his voice indicating he was grinning widely.

"You can keep your cards and stuff, but you'll hand over all the cash and shiners." Another continued, this one sounding far more serious and professional. "Come on, get it out, and no one has to get hurt."

"Don't bother, this lot ain't gonna cooperate." The third robber sniffed, marching up while brandishing his iron baseball bat. "They're just gonna try to keep cash back or run away. I say we give them a beating and take their stuff ourselves."

"Oh oh, I'll take the little nun." The fourth robber said eagerly, quickly turning to Caren. His eyes were hidden, but Caren could still feel his lecherous gaze on her, the hand holding the knife shaking madly, though whether that was from nervousness, perverted desires, or some kind of drug, she didn't know.

"I think not, you ruffian!" The Danish father made to advance to protect Caren, followed by his sons, but they were thwarted when two armed robbers faced off against them, turning the situation into a stalemate. The robbers had weapons, but the Danish trio was significantly larger and stronger, effectively neutralising each other.

The situation rapidly devolved into chaos, and several stand-offs took place around Caren, as the fourteen tourists decided not to take the robber's abuse lying down.

"Come on now, I'm not gonna hurt you." The lecherous robber sniggered, ignoring the chaos as he reached for Caren. "In fact, I think you're gonna like this. Little nun like you has probably never been touched by a man before."

"Leave her alone!" Little Jimmy shouted as he ran forward and resolutely placed himself before Caren, holding out his hands to shield her.

"Wha? Ugh, you stupid kid!" The robber seemed inordinately irritated by Jimmy's actions, probably feeling attacked in his fragile manhood. "I'll get you!"

Things had gotten really volatile, and it was beyond a doubt that Caren was in the most danger, but instead of adding to the chaos by running or trying to fight –both lost causes where she was concerned— she decided to do the only thing she realistically could at the moment.

"Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium." Caren began praying, placing her hands together and bowing her head as she appealed to the Lord and his Angels in Heaven for protection against the wicked. "Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, in virtute Dei."

"Huh? Ah, ahahahahaha! Look here, guys, she's praying." The lecherous robber roared in laughter at the sight, breaking the tension of the situation for a short while, quickly imitated by most of his fellows, who also started laughing, though the serious robber remained quiet. "Little nun is begging her sky-daddy for help. Bwahahahaha!"

"Praying? At a time like this?" One of the Eastern European men scoffed as well, sounding outraged, and though Caren couldn't see him, as she was facing away and had her eyes closed, she could imagine his pudgy face turning red.

"Miss nun, you should run." A female French student cried.

"Yes." The younger Danish son agreed, his voice placing him only just behind the French student. "They broke their own encirclement. Women and children first. We'll hold them off."

"Brave words, boy, but we'll easily get past you. We were just going to take your money, and the nun of course, but for your insolence, we'll take the rest of your women as well."

"You scum!"

"Bastards!"

"You pig!"

"In infernum detrude satanam aliosque spiritus malignos." Caren continued unabated with her prayer, unbothered by the robber's words. She had been in danger countless times before, danger far worse than rapist robbers, and the Lord had come through for her every time. She had no doubt He would do so again.

The prayer she spoke was a common and well-known one. It did not directly call for God's help, but rather for the aid of the Archangel Michael, the one who had cast down the Devil and was uniquely talented at defeating dark powers.

Caren's faith was strong. In one form or another, Michael would appear before her before she could be harmed. She was certain of it.

"Qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo."

"Ya know, I'm done with all the fancy Latin words." The lecherous robber stepped closer again, threateningly pointing his knife at Jimmy. "I think I'll strip some skin off this lad, and then I'll ruin little miss nun's pretty face. Ya hear that, little nun? I'll be the last man who ever fucks ya."

"No!" Jimmy cried, spreading his arms wide to protect Caren as much as he could, while his parents charged forward to protect their child, the Danish men attacked their opponents as well, the Eastern Europeans threw their weight in, and the French students surrounded the two robbers assailing them.

The situation had exploded, and the first bloody injuries were only seconds away when…

"Amen."

…Caren finished her prayer, and she lifted her head again.

The entire group, both robbers and tourists, froze for a moment after she finished. Everyone looked around, even little Jimmy, but just when it seemed things would remain silent around them, and just when the lead robber was about to start laughing again…

"Miss Ortensia!"

"Wha- AGH!"

…A red blur shot out of a side alley and felled the lead robber faster than Caren's eyes could follow.

"What's-"

"OI-"

"Agh!"

The red blur swiftly dealt with five of the six remaining robbers, brutally slamming them into the ground, taking barely a second to defeat them. Caren wished she could say more about it, but it happened too fast for her to process.

Six robbers had been taken down with relative mercifulness, but seventh robber, the one who had planned to rape Caren and maim Jimmy, got a sweeping kick against the back of his knees, hard enough to shatter his legs.

"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIHHH!"

The man fell to the ground, screaming his head off, before the red blur reached down, grabbed the back of his head, and slammed it down on the ground, silencing him for a good long while.

Just like that, it was over, and the red blur turned into a man, whose golden eyes locked with Caren's yellow ones.

It was Shirou!

"Miss Ortensia! I am so glad I made it in time." The boy professed, walking up to her and Jimmy, his relief palpable, no trace left of the brutal warrior who had just crushed a man's legs without mercy. "Miss Bazett was worried about you, and asked for my help in finding you, and Heavens, am I glad she did."

The group of tourists seemed entirely taken aback by the sudden happening, and Caren had to admit she too needed a second to regain her bearings.

Then she realised the Archangel Michael had come through for her yet again.

In her moment of need, he had listened to her prayer and sent her a valiant protector.

"Thank you, Lord, for sending your brave champion to protect me!" She proclaimed to the Heavens, before she strongly embraced Shirou, pressing her face into his chest, making her next words come out a bit muffled. "Praise be to the Lord and his Servants! Praise Be!"

"Wha? Miss Ortensia, what are you saying?!"

"Wow, God sends people like that if you pray to him?" One of the female French students whispered in awe.

"Seems like it." A male student nodded, the look in his eyes just as awed, before his lips shaped themselves into an unsure grin. "Do you think this brave warrior would accept a hug from me too? I want to… uh, 'thank' him as well."

"No, they already seemed to know each other. It's better if you don't get in trouble for sexual harassment."

"Heh, true."

"Holy Heavens! M-My Lord, my faith in you never wavered." The elder of the two sons mumbled, speaking more to the sky than to the group.

"Did that prayer-thing just really work?" One of the Eastern European men asked his friend, his mouth open in shock.

"It sure got miss nun her desired protector." The other huffed, before grabbing his belly. "Think I could become a Servant of the Lord with a body like this?"

"Ha? Why would you want to serve God?"

"Well, just think about it. If you get pretty nuns like that draped over you every time you beat up a few robbers…"

"What are you people talking about?!" Shirou demanded in an almost shrill voice, his hands hovering over Caren's shoulders, not sure whether to push her away or not.

Not that the white-haired nun was going to let go any time soon. She found she rather liked hugging him, and the fact that he was clearly embarrassed by it was only a plus as far as she was concerned.

---

The clock struck eleven, and with that strike, the evening in Frankfurt ended, at least for the group of seven Magi.

Standing in front of the hotel, having just sent the others to their rooms, Waver had to conclude that it had all gone a lot better than he had expected.

Svin and Flat had behaved themselves excellently, causing absolutely no trouble at all. He had honestly expected he'd have to reimburse at least one street vendor who'd had his stall smashed by those two rascals, but it seemed they had been perfectly civil the entire time.

He wouldn't have thought the boys could amuse themselves just by walking the streets and doing some window-shopping, but they had pleasantly surprised him.

That Grey had conducted herself perfectly was of course not a surprise at all. She'd loyally followed him the entire time and had not acted out even once. As he had expected, she had caused no trouble whatsoever.

But where those three had been perfectly well-behaved, Bazett, Ortensia, and Fujimaru had been a lot more difficult.

Granted, it had entirely been Ortensia's fault, while the other two just cleaned up her mess, but that didn't take away from the fact that Bazett had had the police called on her by people who were scared of the intimidating woman prowling the streets, while Fujimaru had caused a massive scene by beating up a bunch of robbers.

That boy always seemed to be beating people up, no matter where he was. Waver was starting to believe it was a hobby of his or something.

Anyway, the matter with Bazett had been fixed easily enough. It wasn't as if she had been doing anything illegal after all. The matter with Fujimaru had been slightly more complicated to resolve, but after a quick interview, the police officers on site had allowed him and Ortensia to leave before any reporters could arrive.

The evening hadn't been entirely free of incidents, but if this was everything, then Waver had nothing to complain about. He'd had far worse trips in his life. This didn't even make it to the top ten.

Waver took another drag of his cigar, which was the reason he was still standing outside while the others had already gone up. The hotel had a strict non-smoking policy, which had forced him to stay out for a moment longer.

But he'd had enough nicotine for today, so he extinguished the cigar, wrapped the burned end in a kerchief, and put it in an inner pocket. Then he dusted off his hands, coughed once to expel any traces of tar from his mouth and throat, and walked inside to head to his room.

On his way there, he took a moment to visit the others. Svin and Flat were settling in as well as could be expected, with their suitcases largely unpacked, only the absolute necessities having been taken from it. The girls on the other hand had already unpacked their luggage completely, and only then did they prepare to go to bed.

Back in his own room, Waver decided to follow Svin and Flat's example, and only grabbed his toothbrush from his suitcase, before heading to the bathroom.

"Lord El-Melloi, I have informed the Enforcers of your plan."

Fujimaru's voice made Waver's heart stop in shock, and it was only when he had jerked around to see the boy sitting at the desk that he remembered that he was sharing a room with the redhead.

"Ahem, good." Waver replied quickly, trying to cover up his oversight. "Then we shall awaken tomorrow at eight, so that we'll have some time to prepare. I have informed the others of this as well."

"Understood."

"And Fujimaru?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Please don't go snooping around tonight."

"…Sir?"

"Please don't act like you don't know what I mean." Waver sighed tiredly, rubbing his face with a hand. "I might not know what you intend to do, but I do know you are here in Germany for a reason other than dealing with the Meluastea's nest. I shall not ask what it is you are planning to do, but since there will be plenty of time to do that tomorrow after the raid, I'll ask again, please don't go snooping around."

"…Very well, Lord El-Melloi." Fujimaru nodded tersely. "Tomorrow then."

"Thank you." Waver nodded in turn, before heading into the bathroom for real. He'd just brush his teeth and then he'd go to bed.

Gods, he was tired.

---

And I think this is a good place to stop for now.

I know this chapter didn't have a lot of action, but I hope you guys could enjoy it anyway. I mean, some character development, right?

Shirou learns Gil is still around, but he and Rin are the only ones taking it seriously. He also informs Rin of the fact Lorelei is willing to take her on, which absolutely delights her and unnerves her to a stupid degree.

As for the thing about Rin's parents, let me explain. It was Kirei who killed Tokiomi, and it was Kariya, Sakura's and Shinji's uncle, who strangled Aoi, Rin's mother, though he's already dead. No one except Gil and Kirei know the truth though, especially since Zouken is dead now.

Shirou and Rin now definitely suspect though, and Rin is going to confront him about it. Shirou will not stop her from that, he simply wanted her to wait until he was back, to serve as reinforcements. Which Rin has agreed to.

Then we have a look into Bazett's past, and they locate the nest. Before they deal with it however, they first spend an evening in Frankfurt, generally having a good time.

Take note! In Caren's POV, I absolutely did not mean to imply in any way that Shirou is connected to God. The fact that he arrived just as Caren finished her prayer is just a coincidence. Nothing more.

As for those Magi, Edokas and Lars, I tried to show that not all of these people are really sociopathic. Edokas really cares about Lars, and Lars cares about Edokas. They are not naturally evil. They just trained themselves to see mundane people and enemy Magi as not-human. To them, it is an us-vs-them thing. That helps them to be able to commit their atrocities.

Is it going to save their lives? No, they are going to die, but I wanted it to be clear that they do not suffer from some kind of mental illness. They are quite normal people who are conditioned to commit horrible acts on people they see as inferior.

The next chapter will start with the group and the Enforcers attacking the nest. After that, we will go into the matter of Illya. I ask for a bit more patience.

Oh, and one other thing. Bazett's cousin, the one she is thinking about, is Yomaura Taya now. You know, one of the police officers who were chasing Rakurai? I say this here in case it wasn't clear enough.

My thanks to my betas Cali and LukeSky.

Ted jumps onto his bike and gets out of here.