Chapter 2
XxXxX
Rigo was seated on a really uncomfortable chair, too low to properly let his feet relax, and with nothing to support his back. He was staring intently at a curtain, waiting for the person on the other end to come outside so that they could leave and go to stock for provisions. It is not like he has been here for too long, but with the shitstorm that was coming to this city, every minute that they weren't preparing was a minute closer to being killed.
His breathing turned harsh-
"Rigo," Artoria called out through the mental connection that the Company's Command Seals provided. It contrasted a lot with his contract with Sita, the one with Artoria felt more personal. It made him feel safe. "I have encountered and neutralized Uryuu Ryuunosuke, just as you asked me."
Rigo had to suppress a shiver at Artoria's tone of finality, and opted to simply ask the most concerning matter regarding the serial killer. "Was he carrying a Grimoire on his person?" he needed to know that, just to be sure.
"Yes. Its ink was actually human blood. I made sure to reduce it to ashes, alongside Ryuunosuke's corpse."
Rigo let loose a deep breath. One less thing to worry about in this War. Now he just needed to deal with a pair of murder machines, an old lich that may or may not contain one of Goetia's pillars inside his body, a couple of stucked-up Magi, and a young man with an inferiority complex. Not to mention the other Servants involved, that is another can of worms he would prefer to leave untouched. Sadly, this world tends to lean towards grimdark situations with touches of eroge if you were a protagonist with the personality of a brick.
CLAN-CLANK!
"Please, come in!" the cashier of the clothing store called out towards the new arrivals.
Curious, and a bit bored to be honest, Rigo turned to look towards the new customers. "(Su puta madre…)" he cursed as soon as he recognized Waver Velvet walking into the store, being led like a pet by an unexpected Europa.
During his little adventure at securing Sita's catalyst, Rigo also grabbed a red piece of fabric from the Greek section to change it with Waver's if the chance presented itself. In perspective, he should have looked better at what he grabbed in the future. Welp, things could have gone worse, he could be looking at a sane Heracles Rider instead of the airhead grandma of Greek Heroes.
Waver also looked at Rigo in turn, it took a moment, but there was a flash of recognition in his eyes. Then, as if a lightbulb had suddenly turned on over his head, he had an expression of realization, which only grew once he saw Sita's Command Seal etched across the skin of his left hand. It was a blessing that Artoria had put an illusion over her own Command Seals since the very beginning. Rigo didn't have the mental fortitude to imagine what that information would cause.
"Hello there," Rigo waved a hand in greeting, putting a playful disposition for this interaction.
"You…" Waver barely muttered. There was a clear surprise in his tone, he recognized Rigo.
"Master?" Europa asked intrigued, the almost form-fitting sweater of hers doing wonders to her figure, but it was not enough to distract the two humans.
"It seems that the cat is out of the bag," Rigo stood up from his seat, feeling his legs relaxed now that he was finally in a more comfortable position.
Rigo didn't take a single step, but Waver was already on guard, looking at him with trepidation. Europa was quick to catch her Master's disposition, and adopted a more tense stance, not threatening, just ready for any sort of confrontation.
"Rigo, I am ready!"
Sita was quick to come out of the fitting room, sporting a red leather jacket and pants. She had a black shirt under the jacket, which was onlys close to the middle, she even had rider boots to complete her biker chick outfit. While normally Sita was a sweet person, she was giving the other pair of Master and Servant a cold look. The way she clenched her hand, she was ready to summon her bow at any moment.
CLASP*
"I think this is enough," Rigo announced after clasping his hands, gaining the attention of Waver, Europa, and Sita. "This is too public," he hissed in a low voice, giving the unsuspecting cashier a brief look and turning to fully face Waver and Europa. "How about we go for some drinks and talk about what we need to talk about, and then we can all go our merry ways. Sounds good enough for you two?" he asked the duo.
Waver's expression was a poem. He never expected such a proposal of another competitor in this Grail War, it sounded suspicious as heck to him, and he was going to voice his objection towards the idea when-
"That would be lovely," Rider declared with a warm smile. She wanted to buy some more clothes for herself, the lingerie of the modern world felt so soft into her skin, but the idea of sharing a drink with their fellow participants sounded very tempting. She quite liked that Coke potion.
Waver looked at Rider betrayed, but didn't voice any of his complaints. In the short time that the two had been together, the young man had learned that the Servant can be quite an airhead most of the time. It wasn't malicious on her part, she was just built differently.
Paying for Sita's new outfit, Rigo let the group out of the clothing store and into the commercial plaza, where finding a small cafeteria was within their capabilities. The group of four took a table for themselve, with the bags of the women's belongings resting at their feet.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Rigo asked Waver, taking a sip from his lemonade that the waitress brought for him.
Waver visibly paled, and after considering it, he took a big gulp out of his iced tea to calm his nerves. Europa all the while making circles on his bag to help and comfort him.
"You are a Magus?" Waver lamely asked after a while, cringing as soon as the words left his mouth.
"I am the same as you," Rigo cooly responded, before slowly, very slowly, stretching his right hand towards Waver. "Rigo Gonzalez, Second Generation Magus, at your service," he presented himself, a ring on his index finger glistening under the light.
Waver looked at the offered appendage with suspicion, trying to discern if a curse would fall into him if he were to shake it. Fortunately, his Servant beat him to it.
"Hello! I am Servant Riden!" Europa enthusiastically shaked Rigo's hand with her own. Her smile was quite radiant, as if she had been expecting for a long time to meet with the competition.
The shake of hands lasted 4 seconds at most, and once Europa let go of Rigo's hand, the latino man still had it extended towards Waver. Because his Servant broke the ice, Waver honestly couldn't find any reason to reject the handshake.
"Waver Velvet, Third Generation Magus, nice to meet you," he acted cordial on their greeting, he then gave Europa the stinky eye as soon as he let go. "And it's Rider. I honestly have no idea where this Riden nonsense came from," he huffed at the last part, gaining a hurt look from Rider.
Rigo smirked a bit at the exchange, before pointing to waving at Sita.
"Servant Archer, it is a pleasure," Sita's mood from the clothing store was water under the bridge at this moment, she was back at her generally kind disposition.
"Let's make a deal, Waver Velvet."
And just like that, all the pleasantries came to a stop. The mood of the table turned neutral.
"What sort of deal?" Waver tried to sound pragmatic with his inquiry, but there was still some work to do there.
Rigo's expression finally revealed the dread and exhaustion he was truly feeling. The dark rings under his eyes were hightliged now. "Out of the seven participants in this war, you and I are the easy pickings," he spoke gravely, making Waver flinch a bit. Rigo passed a hand through his face before continuing. "I have done my homework, Waver. There are the Three Founding Families: Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Matou, each having groomed their members for this war since the very beginning 200 years ago. A Lord of the Clock Tower, which in case we somehow manage to eliminate, will mean sleeping with an eye open for the rest of our lives and we survive but don't win. And finally, a former Executor from the Holy Church, a murder machine trained and forged to hunt down Magi."
With each word Rigo recited, Waver's complexion was turning sickly green more and more. By the end of it, he looked ready to pass out then and there. Although it's not like Rigo himself was any better.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Hear me out on this," his tone was almost pleading. "To not off each other too early, and to allow a bit more breathing room, how about we make some sort of neutral alliance? We don't have to necessarily work together, we can simply ignore each other. And, if our interests align themselves, we help each other out. Sounds fair?"
Waver was biting the bottom part of his lip, considering the offer very seriously. It was honestly tempting, and he didn't see too many disadvantages. But there was still one person to consult.
"What do you think?" he asked Rider. She had as much of a voice as he himself, this agreement could impact her survival after all.
"Hmm," Rider made a thinking sound, her index resting on her chin, from time to time tapping it as she pondered to herself.
This agreement would lift some weight from both Waver and herself, plus this could count as an in if a powerful foe presents itself that she would be unable to fight on her lonesome. No matter how she looked at it, the only downside of this is that Archer and her Master would have some info on them, but it's not like they themselves didn't have the same.
"We accept," Rider spoke with finality, and although she was smiling like always, her eyes had a hard look directed at Rigo. "But, the moment we sniff treason on your part, we will consider you as our enemy."
Rigo nodded slightly. "That seems fair to me," he accepted, giving his lemonade a last sip before leaving some bills at the table and standing up. "We are going, Archer," he indicated to his Servant.
Sita gave him a thumbs-up, glad that her own banana milkshake was on a cup to go.
Waver saw how the duo walked towards the gate of the cafeteria, and thought he had heard the last of them, until…
"Don't trust in the Holy Church's so-called 'neutrality', they have their own agenda and a candidate of their own to win the blasted cup."
With those grave words, the pair of Master and Servant banished towards their own destination.
XXX
Father Kotomine Risei felt their presence before the church's doors opened.
A lonely, young man entered, leaving the presence he had come to associate with Servants outside the temple. Just as the rules stipulate.
It was an early hour in the morning, so he didn't have to give his scheduled sermon for another hour, he permitted the young man to approach, already getting an idea as to what he was here for.
It was a surprise for him, when the young man held-up one finger in a waiting motion. He gave the old priest a sheepish expression and knelt before the cross. He started praying.
"(Padre nuestro que estás en el cielo…)"
Risei decided to give him this moment, his vows as a priest demanding him to at least permit this. He instead chose to use this time to allow himself to recollect his thoughts of the last couple of days.
As it was planned, his own son, Kirei, was the first Master to summon their Servant, an Assassin Class. All went well on that front, but then the troubles for Tokiomi, their accomplice on this plan, presented themselves.
The Catalyst for which the Magus paid an outstanding amount of money, all in order to summon the strongest Servant imaginable, was delayed by customs, something about a valuable gem being stolen in America, and arrived one day later than what they had planned in the first place. By the time Tokiomi was able to summon his Servant, the Class he wanted to summon the King of Heroes had already been occupied, so they had to settle for summoning the ancient king as a Caster, which in his own words, wasn't as strong as his Archer self should have been.
They have to rework their entire strategy around this inconvenience. Kirei couldn't stage Assassin's 'dead' as they had planned, Tokiomi didn't have the force of nature he was expecting. Risei couldn't even safeguard his own son at church like he was hoping. Their hubris was so such, that a single miscalculation threw their plans off the board.
"(…líbranos del mal, Amén)."
The man ended his prayers and stood up from his kneeling position. He approached Risei with determination behind his steps. The priest didn't fear for his life, he didn't feel any hostility from this young soul, and regardless, there would have been better assessination attempts than this.
"Hello, Father Kotomine," he extended his right hand as a form of greeting.
Risei didn't have any reason to reject the handshake, and if a curse were to be inflicted upon him, he had a direct line with a Caster Class Servant after all.
"What can this humble servant of our Lord do for you, young man?" Risei questioned in a civil tone as soon as the handshake ended.
"I think the answer is pretty clear, Father," the young man presented the Command Seals grafted into his left hand. "I am here to personally register myself for this Grail War. My name is Rigo Gonzalez, Master of Archer."
If Risei were to be a petty man, he would have blamed this young man on some measure. Yes, they suffered a setback regarding their timing, and if not this young man, somebody else could have appropriated the Archer Class slot, but rage and pride cloud judgments.
Risei will not hold it against this young man, just as he would not tell Tokiomi that this man was the one that summoned an Archer. It was the least he could do towards being impartial while still working with the Tohsaka Magus.
It helped that the young man was a follower of the Lord. If something unthinkable were to happen to Tokiomi, this young man would do well as a backup without Kirei exposing himself too much.
With just a nod of parting, the young man walked out of church, and towards the wild that Fuyuki will turn in the coming day.
All the while, he didn't noticed a black spurge of ink forming in his palm.
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AN: Welp, slow chapter, but it showed some changes that happened because of MC involvement.