Would Rider keep his end of the agreement? Honestly, I couldn't say. Were I anyone else, I would say yes, he would. Rider was a man of civility, after all. If he agreed to something, he'd do his utmost to keep his word. Or so I believed, anyways.
But considering this was me we were talking about… well, there are exceptions to every rule. He already doesn't trust me, or think well of me in any fashion, so… if he were to go back on his word to anyone, most likely it would be me.
So then, was it stupid for me to delete the file? Arguably, it was stupid of me to do so regardless of if Rider kept his word or not. Strictly speaking, in terms of self-preservation, this was not the most optimal play.
But then again, think about it in another way. Rider's master would kill me regardless of the file existing or not, and it's not likely Rider would refuse an order from the priest to kill me.
The children to want to kill anyone, and their servants were loyal to them, arguably to a fault. While the children may very well despise me, they still wouldn't kill me. Probably. Meaning Saber and Lancer wouldn't kill me… probably. Meaning even if they learn that I deleted the file, I would still be fine from them.
…Probably.
As for Archer and Archer's master… A bigger possibility than the children, granted, but still not likely. For one, I barely wandered around the city, and it wasn't like they knew where I lived. Think I'd have been captured already if they knew that… Secondly, after last night, it was going to be extremely hard for anyone within the war to conduct anything offensively within the boundaries of the city. With Archer seemingly content staying put in the office towers, them conducting anything outside the city was highly improbable. Thus, they would be sitting back for a good while. More so by necessity than choice, perhaps, but they would most likely just sit back.
Finally… well, would a mage really trust a member of the Catholic Church? Especially since they're enemies in this thing, at the end of the day. I highly doubt Archer's master would trust the priest, or even Rider himself, with something so risky to mage society as a whole in the balance. Let alone act on it in an intelligent way…
Really, the only wild card factor I couldn't fully account for was Assassin and Assassin's master. Though, considering they have essentially done nothing in the war thus far, what was the likelihood of them being in an alliance with Rider and the priest, or getting into one anytime soon? Not to mention they'd then have to go and toss out their, frankly, more or less perfect play in this war just to gank me. It's not like they even really threaten Caster by killing me, judging by what Caster has said, and I don't see why Caster would be lying about how expendable I am to him.
Then, on the plus side of deleting the file, well… I'm no longer under predisposed time restrictions, for one. I wouldn't need to return home at all either; could just base with the kids at Johnathan's place permanently for the rest of this war. Or the labyrinth, even, though that didn't sound anywhere near as fun, considering I doubt Caster was all that great a roommate.
It also removed the risk of something going wrong, the file releasing, and me pissing of every mage alive, putting a massive target on my back that, really, probably ends with a swift death for myself.
Ultimately, it's actually for the best that I delete the file, even if Rider doesn't keep his word. Those that don't care aren't affected either way. I'm under no more threat by those unwilling to kill in the first place. To those that do care, the risk is simply too great to take, even if they would like to kill me. After all, why would someone like me get rid of the one thing ensuring his survival against those far superior to himself? I remove any chance of self-sabotage, and grant myself far more freedom in any future plans or operations with the removal of set time constraints. Really, it was the perfect move to make in this position.
Ah, mind games… how I enjoy playing you against others.
By the time I began making my way to the kids, it was mid afternoon. The streets were noticeably less congested with civilian traffic, compared to the normal. In its place, though, was plenty of police presence. In cars, standing outside at intersections, patrolling neighborhoods… there really wasn't a place I couldn't turn and walk without spotting yet more police. It was as if the entirety of the city's police force was called out for duty, even the desk monkeys. Judging from the completely exhausted looks some of them had, they hadn't been relieved from last night either.
Of course, if it wasn't the police, it was news crews. Not as plentiful, from what I could tell, but it seemed to mainly be local news networks, currently. Give it till tonight or tomorrow morning, and maybe there would be a larger national news presence too? I realized as I walked that I hadn't actually checked the news in the aftermath of last night yet. Definitely needed to do that tonight; see how the situation was evolving.
I suppose it was a saving grace that I made sure where I lived was one of the areas spared from the blackout. Unless you wandered up to them, or were directly affected in some way, the news crews and police alike seemed content with a live and let live mentality, no doubt far too busy to just question every random passerby trying to go about their daily life.
I mean, come on people: there were stories to report, mysteries to solve, distressed residents to assist and a power grid to get back online! Ain't nobody got time for that random questioning shit!
I just drifted right on by, taking in the scenes. If anyone did try to get my attention, I didn't notice. I was never physically stopped, so I just kept on walking.
…Though now that I think about it, would Johnathan's place even have power…?
…I don't think he place would have been spared, actually. Ah well, with a place as big as that, I'm sure he must have a backup generator, or at the very least, some candles. Definitely too late to go pick up a small, backup generator though; would have been a run on them this morning at all the hardware stores, I'd wager.
…Or maybe he has a way to magically power things in his house?
…Now that… That would be something I'd like to see…
I admit though, when I did reach the place, I felt a bit… tense. I was prepared for everything far removed from the idea of a warm welcome, but still, facing off pissed kids who knew magic and their magical copies of old heroes was not my idea of a favorable matchup. While I was sure they wouldn't kill me, this was still going to end up being one hell of a rough night.
…And very likely one hell of an argument…
"Ah well, you know you're right" I muttered to myself as I walked to the front doors. "Try to bring them around, but ultimately, there's no point arguing with stupid; drag ya down to their level and beat ya with experience…"
To my surprise, the front doors were actually unlocked. My first instinct was surprise, but then again, it was still technically the afternoon, if only barely, and combining that with last night… well, who was actually going to attack them right now?
…To say nothing of all the other obvious factors…
"Yo, anyone home" I called out as I entered the house and closed the door behind me.
No answer, but hey… the lights were on! The kid did have some way to power his place. Sweet!
…Well, that or the power was restored to this area already. Faster than I'd originally suspected if that was indeed the case, but you never know: this was the rich part of town, after all. Not gonna say the rich get preferential treatment, but… really, yeah, the rich sorta do get preferential treatment.
Hadn't considered that till now, nor did I really care either way. The place had power, and that was really all that was important. To me at least.
A quick sweep of the ground floor confirmed the kids weren't down here. Nor where they in the garden out back. Actually, I hadn't seen Saber or Lancer yet, either. A bit odd… but surely Johnathan wasn't so careless as to leave the place empty and not lock the doors. Or turn off the lights.
A check upstairs confirmed that to indeed not be the case. As I approached Johnathan's room, I could begin to hear the sound of mouse clicks and key tapings. The door was closed, but if I had to guess, he was playing a game. Probably had a headset on as well; no wonder he, at least, didn't hear me earlier.
Opening the door and, to no one's surprise, there he was at his computer. Even from this distance, I could see on the monitor that he was playing WotH. No surprise to me about that, either. What did surprise me, though, was that he wasn't playing Hannibal, for once.
No… he was actually playing Guo Jia.
A gimped version, mind you; was actually probably doing this to unlock the proper weapon and retinue for him, finally. If so, then good on him: he was listening.
And honestly, judging from the play…
…Interesting…
It was rough. Undeniably. Far from a masterful performance, let alone a professional performance. But the core ideas, the core mechanics… they were all there. Could use improvement, absolutely, but the foundations were at least there. It was much harder to teach someone the foundations, the fundamentals, than it was to teach someone how to improve upon them.
As that game ended, and the next game ended, and the game after that ended… I watched. I judged.
When he finally stopped after that third match and removed his headset, I spoke up.
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all."
The sudden voice must have spooked him, for he practically jumped out of his seat the moment I started speaking. Spinning around to face me, his look was half shock, and half… angry glare? Honestly, I don't know how to really describe the face he was making.
"Some of the individual strategies and tactics were… outdated" I continued when Johnathan didn't speak up. "It's clear to me you're trying to copy Yaldabaoth, which, granted, isn't the worse person you could be copying off of, even with all the changes to the game from when he played and now."
"…"
"But the foundations are there. You at least understand the fundamentals. Honestly, if you put a couple good years into serious practice… I could see you being a pro on one of the North American teams. You're, what, 16 now? So, say when you're 18, maybe 19…? A bit off from the ideal starting age, but not too late that teams won't even look at ya."
"…"
"Maybe they'd shove ya into the rookie league for a year or so as well, just for stage training and such. But at least by the time you're 21, I'd say you could be a starting roster member."
"…"
"…You ever put any thought into it?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Hey, buddy? You there? Kinda need you to respond at some point, or else this isn't really much of a-"
"Oh, I'm here. I just… wow…" Johnathan eventually muttered. "I can't believe you actually came back here."
"I mean, what would you expect me to do?"
"…Heh. Right…" Johnathan let out a dry laugh, shaking his head. "Why would I have expected anything else from you?"
A proper glare formed as he stood and face me.
…Yeah, if he was like this, then Sortiara was probably going to be worse. This was going to be a rough night for sure…
A/N
Time for the main trio to regroup and... discuss... some things xD
Don't know why, but since the last post, I haven't been able to see the traffic graph the site provides, nor have I seen any changes in the total view counter. Or anywhere else for that matter...
No idea if this is a glitch, or if legit no one has read since my last post, or what, but just as a heads up, as of this moment I can't see anything like new reviews, if they have been posted, so if you have questions... sorry, but I can't answer what I haven't seen been asked, y'know?
Hopefully that mess gets cleared up soon...
Anyways, thanks to all of you who made it this far, and see you all in the next post o7
