Chapter 131

They walked in silence for a while, with Lancer munching on her snacks in full view while passersby threw her curious looks due to her foreign appearance, or glances of disgust at her eating habits, and Rin simply stayed at her side, tagging along as they threaded through the bustling city center.

Thinking back, her people had never really advanced in terms of culinary skill at all after she pacified all the dissenting voices in her own kingdom. Food was made through ancient agricultural techniques passed down by mouth through generations of farmers, hunters whose grandfathers and great grandfathers had hunted the same forests as they had, fishermen using boats that were older than themselves. The only thing available back then was basic green vegetables, local meat such as venison, beef, pork and chicken, with little in the way of herbs and spices. Bread and gruel was the standard fare for many. Salt was the only thing she could remember tasting in all of the meals she had, whether luxurious or frugal.

Compared to the burger she was currently munching on, it could be considered an amazing invention in the kingdom she ruled over. No one would ever have thought of placing meat in between two pieces of specially shaped bread and adding sauce with vegetables in between. In the first place, they lacked the spices needed to make the sauce, and no one would go to the effort of mincing meat with other herbs when it was already such a chore to prepare the meat in the first place. The only cheese she had ever eaten in life was cheese that had the same texture as wax, unlike the tangy, intoxicating melted cheese draped around the top of the patty she was currently savouring in the burger. Idly, she wondered if she could have introduced this as standard provisions for her army.

In the same way, technology and science had reached a point, and then simply stopped. It wasn't because she was actively shutting down research into anything, because she actually wasn't against it personally. It was just that it was frequently weaponized against her too often. Chemical weapons were developed, early prototypes of poison gas deployed against her armies. Fire that failed to cease burning, primitive flamethrowers made with hammered iron tubes that shot out oil, projectiles that had exploding parts to further propel them forward, all sorts of weapons were devised and used against her to postpone the inevitable. She was always able to overcome them, but by the time she subdued all her enemies, there was no one else who dared to dabble in researching the natural world, or calculate formulas and problems that would make a farmer's head spin. In the end, they were either crushed after they joined the forces opposing her, or escaped the country and fled to live abroad, exiled from their own country.

She had seized people from the enemy to either develop new weaponry, or provide solutions to the problems that plagued her people, such as flooding crops, diseases that threatened to break out across the country and more efficient ways of storing food, things like that. But after they solved the problem, she had them put to death. Because no matter how well she treated them, they always rebelled against her. Was it because of her tyrannical rule? Perhaps so. But in her eyes, it was justified because she bought the safety of her people, despite how much of a terror she could be. She was rarely at the throne in Camelot, and was more often at some battlefield, drenching the soil with rivers of blood. Hers was not the nature of a wise, discerning king that used both words and sword equally, but of a dominating ruler that crushed all that dared stand against her iron fist.

It was no wonder Mordred gathered all the factions who opposed her and revolted. The Black Thorns, Lancer's personal army that was counted in the tens of thousands, met the Reds, or the Crimson Lions, as the rebels called themselves, at Camlann. A sea of black clashed against the various rebel armies, a motley riot of colors that desperately fought against the overwhelming hordes that were the King of Storms forces. Lancer still remembered how Mordred had yelled at her, delivering a proclamation of sorts before the battle started, as a personal message to her and to motivate the army behind her.

"Today, we stand together against the King, the wretched monster that has held this country captive in her iron fist! Before us stands a vast forest of men, standing in the way of our countrymens freedom! But what we lack in numbers, we shall make up with in spirit. Men, follow me and watch as I behead the tyrant!"

Thrusting her fist in the air, the host behind her roared as one, her charisma raising their morale as she clasped the helmet tightly on her head to charge from the front, her great stallion rising up and kicking its legs in the air as she yelled.

"Charge!"

Black arrows fell from the sky, the sky shattering into tiny splinters between the gaps of the arrows as many a shaft found their mark in the soft flesh of the soldiers following her, but those next to her were granted a reprieve as she lifted her sword and swept it across the sky, crimson lightning lighting up the gray sky as it swept in an arc, cutting the down the arrows before they reached her and her companions.

Far above, the clouds started gathering, the wind whipping more fiercely as thunder rumbled in the distance.

Sitting astride Llamrei, she lifted her lance and-

"Lancer, your presence is required elsewhere."

Her train of thought in reliving the past was shattered as Kirei's voice echoed in her mind, bringing her back to reality.

"Understood."

Rin looked confusedly at Lancer, stopping at a random corner of the street as she stared at something far away. The look in her eyes was distant, and her pace of eating had slowed down considerably, though she was still chewing the burger.

"Lancer?"

Calling out to her gave no response. Waving her hands in front of Lancer's face experimentally, she stayed as still as a statue.

Huh. Didn't know Servants could zone out like that.

Rin wondered what to do with the Servant like that. Perhaps she could simply leave and continue scouring the city for her Master's and the other opponents positions, like she had originally planned to? But it felt somewhat wrong as well, since she still hadn't found anything worthwhile from Lancer yet.

Glancing at the bag in her hands, she wondered if Lancer would notice if she just took one burger. Seeing her eat so many had made her hungry as well, and she wasn't going to miss one after having so many, right?

Reaching into the back, she did her best to avoid the many greasy wrapped bundles to close her hands around what seemed to be a burger, her hands pressing down on it to feel the soft surface of the buns.

"Hm?"

She froze up instantly, feeling a piercing stare land on the back of her head. Sweat immediately broke out on her forehead, and despite her pride of being a magus that kept her composure and elegant, her teeth couldn't help but chatter against each other before she clamped down on them.

Archer immediately traveled all the way to the top of a building and materialized there, uncaring of whether he was noticed by Lancer or not. The black bow he used all the time appeared in his hands, his hands nocking an arrow on the string, aiming at Lancer's head and charging it with mana to increase its speed as it was altered and twisted at his hands.

Slowly, Rin felt a pressure descend on her entire body, her knees almost knocking together before she commanded her body to keep still. She didn't dare to turn her head, her hands still lodged in the bag. The weight increased on her, bit by bit, her eyes frozen on a random piece of pavement as she watched the shadow of Lancer out of the corner of her eyes move, something long and thin rising up in the air. Her mouth turned dry, her mind screaming at her to do something, yet she couldn't do anything at all.

Archer, ARCHERRRR!

Archer blocked out the screams of his master in his hand, focusing his aim on Lancer if she did anything suspicious at all. There was no telling what an Artoria would do when somebody fucked with their food.

Abruptly, Rin felt something touch her shoulder, and she jumped slightly in shock. Her hand lost its grip on the burger, and she felt a firm grip pulling her arm out of the bag.

"Please excuse me, but I have somewhere else to be."

With that, Lancer sprinted into an alley nearby and disappeared.

Feeling a weight lifted from her shoulders, Rin almost sank to her knees before her hands managed to catch the iron railings next to her, instead leaning heavily on them as she let greedily gulped in fresh air, her mind still spinning from how close she was to death.

"Master, never do something like that again."

He couldn't believe she was that stupid to do something like that, and he was going to make sure to lecture her when they got home. It was like she was trying to actively trigger a death flag for herself.

She didn't even have the strength to reply to his telepathic message, instead catching her breath as she leaned on the railings, her eyes wide as she pressed her hands to her chest in an attempt to calm down her racing heart.

"I'm definitely going to teach that girl a lesson the next time we meet."

Lancer muttered to herself as she rushed to the location Kirei had specified.