Chapter 130

Walking next to Lancer was somewhat difficult for Rin, as she had to match the Servant's brisk pace, and on top of that Lancer's legs were longer, letting her strides go further than Rin's. When Rin stood next to the Servant, it was obvious who was taller.

Still, this was a rare chance to talk with a Servant, and while she was an enemy, like Lancer said, during the daytime they were under a truce of non-aggression to avoid exposing magecraft to the world. If she could learn something about Lancer's Master or her weaknesses, then all the better.

Still, she had to wonder if it was alright to walk around the city while carrying a large bag of plastic wrapped burgers, fries, onion rings, hash browns and treasure trove of other fast food, with Lancer reaching into the bag and pulling out another morsel to snack on when she felt like it. To Rin, it was kind of gross after seeing Lancer eat so much, and her stomach was slightly revolting after seeing that mountain of food she had already consumed earlier, but she supposed it was her choice, and it wasn't like eating made Servant's fat anyways. In fact, it could be said to be advantageous for a Servant to eat more, as they could convert the food into magical energy to supplement their Master's supply, though the amount of mana gained through this method wasn't much. Still, if a Servant could eat day and night, in large quantities at the same time, it was bound to make a difference in their mana reserves, however slight.

Rin decided to thank Lancer that she at least ate fast, saving her the trouble of getting sprayed on by half-chewed bits of food when talking. Instead, Lancer would devour her food first, then continue talking with her.

In spiritual form, Archer looked at Lancer behind the two, staring at her in undisguised concern and a sort of horrified fascination as he watched the garbage bag sized plastic bags she was carrying slowly empty, burger by burger. Even if Servants couldn't get sick from that, it just felt wrong from seeing her doing something so unnatural. If it was a normal human, they would have died from choking on the food at this point, with a bloated stomach and bulging throat filled to the brim with mush bits of meat, bread and fries.

"So what do you think of this world?"

Up till now, Lancer had only been asking her questions about the world, some of its history and the general state of affairs in the Moonlit World regarding its relationship with modern society. Basic questions that Rin could easily answer with little though, the answers mostly consisting of facts that she simply had to recite from what she remembered. Suddenly asking for her opinion was a twist, and Rin had to take a moment to think, before responding to it.

"What do you mean?"

Lancer swept her hand at the city, at the people bustling on the sidewalks, the muted winter sun hiding behind the clouds, the cars driving past them on the black tarmac.

"Society. The people. Do you like living here, in this age and place?"

Rin tilted her head, looking at her surroundings and pondering the question. She had never given the topic much thought.

Ever since she was born, she was already given an overarching purpose to her entire life, a goal and directions that defined who she was and had to become. There was no choice for her, no freedom. It was simply something that was thrust on her, and she had no choice but to accept it.

In that respect, perhaps Sakura was better off than her. While she might not have the power or ability of a proper magus, she at least had much more free will in what she wanted to become in the future. Instead of being limited to the Root, there was so much more she could do with her life, and she was free to pursue any of the paths interested. There was no telling where she would go after she graduated from Homuhara Academy. Studying in a university, going to work immediately, travelling overseas and more, there were many things she could do. Rin felt a pang of loneliness at that, though they acted like strangers with each other. At least from growing up until high school, she had always been able to see Sakura. There was no such guarantee in the future though.

Back to Lancer's question though, she supposed in the end, she didn't really care about the society, or the world in general. Her only goal was to reach the Root eventually if she could, or pass the dream and her research on the next generation if she couldn't, and that was all. As long as the world wasn't burning flames or suffering some sort of apocalypse, she was fine with it. After all, if she wasn't inconvenienced, what did she care? She was a magus anyways, and would spend more time in the Moonlit World than in regular society.

Her father's teachings had sunken in deeply to become part of who she was, and even if she wanted to change right now, she would have to tear apart her personality from top to bottom to become something else. Being a mage wasn't just a profession, it was a way of life, as Kiritsugu had also told Shirou as well. A spellcaster like Kiritsugu was much more loose, unbound by the conventions and rules that made a traditional magus, but Rin had been born and raised in a orthodox magus family that was almost as typical as it went, with the exception being that her father was kind to her despite lacking the ability to measure her and her sisters potential outside of being a magus. All he could envision for their future was being a magus, and he automatically thought of that as the best possible future for them.

Rin looked forward, and shrugged after sorting out her thoughts and feelings regarding Lancer's question.

"I don't really care about it. I'm a mage after all, as long as I can do my work in peace, I'll be fine."

She turned her head to look in the direction of the memorial park set up elsewhere in the city, an empty zone devoid of people or animal life, with only shriveled plants.

"That said, I don't think it's too bad of a place to live in. I'd like it if the world stayed peaceful too."

Lancer noted her stare at something far away, then nodded, accepting her answer. While tyranny might have granted peace in a restrictive form to her people, this world could perhaps be good in it's own way too, despite the conflicts and battles she saw waged in different parts of the world, with strife taking many forms and shapes. But it was far from the perfect world she once envisioned.

In the end, a true utopia was still far out of reach.