2nd Day of the 1st Moon

Sophia

It didn't take long for me to start questioning the idea of having Saber manage the empire. That wasn't to say I could have done any better myself. Provided Saber was indeed who they claimed to be, then even taking into account the very little I did recall about hi- her... she would perform far better in running an empire than I ever could.

However... in terms of Saber's initial priorities... I couldn't help but feel like there were better things that our currently limited manpower could be put to work on than renovating what already seemed like a perfectly fine... residence? Palace?

…Palace.

It rapidly became evident to me, though, that Saber wasn't one to take any half-measures, or settle for anything less than perfection.

"While it may not compare to the splendor of Rome, I shall make this a palace fitting of this new empire" I muttered to myself as I wandered the bustling streets, recalling the words Saber had proudly proclaimed earlier this morning.

...Well, I suppose it wasn't really an issue. Based on the map, this place I now found myself in was modeled after Earth. In my specific case, the seat of my empire was somewhere on the west coast of what I knew as Turkey. According to the map though, this region was under the domain of a city called Halicarnassus. Considering how big this world seemed to be though, it was highly unlikely that we'd run into any other masters anytime soon. Forty-nine master and servant pairings, spread out across a replica of the Earth at random? It would take a while before this war kicked off.

Just one of the many, many questions I had surrounding this place. The fact it seemed to be some kind of replica of the Earth. The fact magecraft could be performed like normal. The fact you could form an empire in the first place; create cities and manage seemingly every aspect. It was as if this was a whole new, living, breathing world.

Well, us masters could create empires and claim territory. The setup to create my capital city had been so confusing at the beginning, I'd asked Saber to place her hand of the spire and take control in setting it up instead. Figured it'd also be easier for Saber to manage an empire that looked and felt the same as, or close to, the Roman Empire as it'd been in her time. The warning message that popped up the moment I'd made the suggestion though, accompanied by a very sudden and loud sound, made it perfectly clear that, unless masters wanted to lose our Heroic Spirit partner, they should never, ever, have their servant touch any of the control spires.

…Took me two hours consulting with Saber and pouring over all the different menus after that to finally get this capitol city to spawn in, which came with it's own fright when everything just started rising from the ground all around us.

...

...Really, it was the combination of these two sets of polar opposites that was causing all the unease and confusion. Everything felt real. Looked real. Smelt real. Performing magecraft felt right, and all the typical setup and processes still seemed to be required. The sun and moon ran their cycle through the sky, and it was definitely cooler today than it had be yesterday, so I could only assume weather was present. Even the people that had spawned in when the city was made... They could see. They could feel. Hear. Speak. Think! They were real people, in effect.

But then there was their uncanny ability to communicate. They could communicate with Saber and I in whatever language I'd tried speaking to them, be it English, French or Portuguese. Hell, Saber had tried speaking in Latin to them, at my request, and while I couldn't understand a word she'd spoken, the people seemingly understood her with no issue.

Then there was the way everything seemed to spawn in and generate after requiring setup from a master at a specific point, being those control spire things. The way we masters have access to all these tutorial and warning messages when trying to interact with parts of the world. The fact I had access to a map of the globe at will, simply by, well... willing it into existence before me. According to the tutorial messages surrounding it, the details and visible regions would update as I saw more and gathered more information. As I saw more. As my empire expanded more. Or if I ran into another master and wished to exchange map information, apparently that was also possible. Otherwise, the rest of the map was shrouded in this thing called the Fog of War.

...Everything feels real, but that simply can't be...

Was it a... a blending of the biological and digital? No, it couldn't be... It had to be completely digital. None of it could be real. I knew that. Yet, all the same, as I wandered down these streets modeled after ancient Rome, that Saber had only voiced slight complaints about, the more I came to think that this... all of this...

"...Beautiful..."

I didn't even notice when I'd first sat down on the fountain's edge, or when I'd started to smile. But the confusion in my mind was being displaced, and looking down at my reflection in the water, I could see it clearly.

I was smiling.

Despite the absurdity of it all. Despite the fact I was alone, in an unknown world, fighting in a war I didn't particularly care for, really, besides a fantasy of a wish...

I was smiling...

"Beautiful" I muttered to myself, running my fingers through the cool water of the fountain.

Real, fake... what did it matter? Biological, digital... an impossible blending of the two. It didn't matter. None of that really matters.

This was a whole new world. A fresh start. A place where I could finally be free from father's influence...

"I think you would have liked this place, Tristan..." I muttered to myself as I stood up.

Really, I'd spent enough time exploring, testing, and trying to clear my head. It was about time I figured out what exactly Saber was up to, and discuss what our next steps were going to be, outside of remodeling.


A/N

Again, not much, but I figured I'd release this now in part to make up for the past couple weeks of content drought. I think it should be obvious who Saber is from this as well, but I'll just say this up front: when it comes to using established servants in there (because there will be some) I am nervous. Frankly, I have no idea if I'm going to be able to do them well AT ALL, so please, if anything seems out of character, let me know. Especially when it comes the ones like Saber here who I already don't particularly like or care for in the first place.

Also, because for the sake of clarity, figured that I'd start marking what day of the war the perspective is at, considering, well... a whole bunch of factors, really. Should help keep things clear, I think? Hope so, at any rate xD

Haa... what kind of a disaster have I walked myself into?