1st Day of the Second Moon

Rebecca

"I didn't think I'd miss the old bastard this much."

I was more so speaking to myself, largely absentmindedly as we rode across the barren wasteland. After days of traveling with nothing to really do, or even look at, boredom had already long since took hold. Perhaps there was even a bit of insanity mixed in there too.

The comment didn't go unnoticed by Johnathan though, who laughed a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Just… nice to hear you have a good relationship with Caster. Or so I'm led to imagine, at any rate."

"Good might be a bit of a stretch" I admitted. "Honestly, I'm not too sure what to make of him, and sometimes he talks a bit too much, but he certainly made all the traveling… bearable."

"Sounds like the basis of a good working relationship to me. Servants aren't exactly the easiest to get along with, being exemplary people from ages past and all."

"…I suppose there's truth in that."

"On the topic of servants though… did you end up summoning who you wanted?"

"…Why are you asking" I questioned, immediately growing suspicious.

"Just trying to figure out how the system of this" Johnathan did a sweeping motion with his arm, "all works. Or perhaps a better way of putting it would be I'm trying to figure out just how honest Satanael has been about all of this."

"Yeah? What are your thoughts so far?"

"So far I haven't been able to find anything contradicting what he's said, which a part of me does find troubling" Johnathan admitted with a laugh. "So maybe I shouldn't be looking for the answer, seeing as either way I'm going to be on edge. Still, I do think it's worthwhile figuring out."

"…Well, I summoned exactly who my catalyst was supposed to, I suppose. Just thought my catalyst would summon someone else…"

"You didn't know who your catalyst was connected to?"

"It's not like my family was wealthy or well-connected enough to secure a catalyst of choice."

Or even wanted me to participate in this thing in the first place.

"In the end, the Clock Tower gave out catalysts from the official collection to the selected participants who couldn't secure one of their own. With everything going on at the time though, I guess it's not all that surprising that some of the catalysts were incorrectly documented."

"…I suppose the Clock Tower would hold a collection of relics and potential catalysts, seeing their involvement in past Holy Grail Wars… Never really considered that before, but it makes perfect sense. Still, even if it didn't summon who you expected, the fact it came from the Clock Tower directly surly means Caster is a top-tier servant."

"Maybe… Seems weird to think of the old man as a powerful servant, but admittedly we never got a chance to set up a workshop, so I shouldn't really judge Caster on his capabilities yet. Suppose we'll find out when we return to Babylon. Just wish I knew what this Atlas magus wanted Caster for."

"He's an alchemist, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but magi of The Pit are all alchemists, so what could he need Caster for? He doesn't even respect Caster's type of alchemy."

"…I have an idea, maybe…" Johnathan eventually sighed.

"…You going to share that, or…?"

"Depends…" he grinned. "Promise not to tell if I do tell?"

"Tell what?"

"Who Assassin is."

"…"

"…"

"…You know who Assassin is?! How?!"

"Ok, well… saying I know, for complete certainty, may be a stretch" he admitted with a nervous laugh. "But I do have a… let's say a very good idea as to who Assassin is. You weren't around the palace long, and you never met her, but I think it's obvious if you have."

"Ok, so tell me!"

"You gotta promise first" Johnathan grinned.

"Ok, fine! Deal! I promise I won't tell a soul! Just tell me who Assassin is already!"

"Assassin is Semiramis."

"…"

"…"

"…Who?"

"Oh, for- Does the Clock Tower really not teach potential masters ancient history?!"

"Why would the Clock Tower be teaching ancient history to magi unless it's directly related to magecraft?!"

"Because who the fuck do you think we're summoning here?! Characters out of story books?!"

"Obviously not, but still!"

"Still nothing! How is it after all this time you supposed magi folk who ran this thing multiple times still don't understand how to play-"

He suddenly stopped himself at that point, his face contorting into a look of mixed confusion and disgust.

"Starting to sound like Tristan" I could barely hear him mutter to himself. "Gross… Anyways, sorry about that. I just… It simply amazes me how the Association just never seems to learn from their past failures and mistakes."

"…Ignoring the ending there" I sighed, "who is this Tristan guy you mentioned? Doesn't sound like someone from the Spiral Manor."

"Ah, no, he's definitely not from the Spiral Manor" Johnathan laughed, but his voice sounded a bit… shaky. "He's not even a magus, actually, in any sense or understanding of the term. He's just… someone I happened to come across while I was growing up in America. Big into video games, and saw everything as a game, including life itself."

"…Sounds like an idiot" I admitted, slightly disappointed by how underwhelming this guy seemed to be. "I mean, life as a video game? How simplistic and ignorant."

"Well, I can't say I agree with everything, or even the vast majority of things, he's said, but if you heard him speak… I can't deny I came to see some things the way he did."

"Yeah, such as?"

"It's… hard to explain. Certainly, I'm not the best to try and explain his ideology. If you ever meet him though, have a conversation with him, an idiot is likely the last thing you'd ever call him."

"Because I'm just going to randomly come across this American nut job" I rolled my eyes. "He'd be, what, your age? So, something like twice my own age? Why would I ever go looking for some guy like that when he isn't even a magus?"

"Oh, you wouldn't" Johnathan sounded rather confident now. "Very few people, if any, go searching for him. But if he wants to find something, or someone… well, fate certainly seems to favor him in that regard."

What was that supposed to mean? I wanted to question him on that. Nearly let the question out there. But, while I hate to admit it, the change in tone shook me a bit. Besides, talk about some random nobody who I'd never meet was insignificant to the conversation we'd just been having about Assassin. Getting more information out of Johnathan on that was by far the priority.

"…Right" I just sighed. "Anyways, back to the important topic, this Semiwhoever person. Who is she?"

"You mean Semiramis? A queen of Assyria, way back when. I suppose the two biggest things about her would be that she's supposedly the oldest poisoner in human history-"

"Would explain the Assassin classification" I muttered.

"That it would" Jonathan nodded. "Well, there's that, and then perhaps slightly more famously she's the one who supposedly ordered the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. In actuality it would have been Nebuchadnezzar II who had them built, but the gardens have no hard evidence of actually existing."

"Oh? Oh, that's who she is?!"

"Realize something?"

"I mean, I know a bit about the Hanging Gardens, being an alchemist and all. It definitely existed, at least to an extent. Undoubtedly, the rest of humanity has exaggerated it to some stupid extreme, but a giant garden in Babylon did exist. It's just that, well, Atlas kind of went and erased the physical evidence. Couldn't erase the stories about the place, but the physical aspects, they took for themselves."

"Really? So, that's how it is… The things I'd have never learned had it not been for this…" Johnathan shook his head. "Do you know why Atlas went and hid it's existence from the world?"

"Don't ask me. I have no idea why Atlas does most of the shit they do. Don't care to know either. I'm sure it has something to do with their playing the heroes of humanity and whatnot, but I couldn't say. You could try asking one of them, but-"

"But they're likely to say nothing. Yeah, figures…"

"Though… ok, Assassin is Semiramis and all that, but… I still don't know why that magus from Atlas would need caster for anything?"

"I mean, you saw all the construction and supplies being brought into the city. Assassin as been pushing construction project after construction project, and recourses aren't indefinite."

"Ture… the villages Caster and I passed through towards the end of our journey were certainly… lacking in basic necessities."

"As you said, Atlas alchemy isn't about the basic idea of transmutation, or potion crafting, or any other common European notions of the practice. It's just a guess of mine, but I imagine our… mutual friend… wants to try and find some way to transmute some of the more plentiful resources available, such as sand, into something far more useful, before a civil revolt takes place."

"…Ok, I can see the logic in that, kind of?"

"Still sound confused to me" Johnathan laughed.

"I just don't understand why Assassin and her master would try to go about things like that, rather than just ease up on all the construction?"

"I don't know how our mutual friend is thinking, but none of this is on his orders. Assassin is very much running the empire on her own accord, and I can't claim to know a thing about how she ruled in life. Perhaps this is just her way of things, or she's come to realize something about this system that I haven't yet? I honestly have no idea."

"You know, that actually something else that's started to cross my mind. This… system, as you call it. All this crap about managing an empire, and having soldiers and stuff. What's even the point of it all? It's not like even an army of common soldiers can fight a servant. They'd get slaughtered. Unless a master is stupid enough to start a fight without their servant being present, what goes does dealing with any of that do? Not like stone walls stop spirit form either, so fortifications don't even make sense, let alone armies."

"I… I want to say I have some thoughts on that, but until I see some combat myself, I can't really say anything definitive. It could very well be pointless, and nothing more than a distraction. Though, while what you said rings true for a normal Holy Grail War, this is anything but, and nothing about what Satanael has does thus far would lead me to think it's all pointless. Somewhere in it all, something is going to prove to be significant, I'm sure of it. I just… don't know what that is, exactly, at the moment."

I wanted to push him on that; dig for more of his insights on this confusing as hell system, seeing as he seemed to have a better grasp on it than I did. Before I could even begin a line of inquiry though, something off in the distance caught my eye.

"Is that… Lancer" I turned to ask Johnathan about the figure rapidly approaching us.

"That it is. I know I told him to serve as the vanguard and report back when he found something, but I didn't think he'd come rushing back quite like- Oh…"

It wasn't hard to understand what he meant by that. Along the horizon, as Lancer continued to approach us, a whole line of spots was beginning to form up, all neat and organized. What I could only take as the sign of an army…

"That… can't be good… Should we get out of here, or…" I asked as I had my horse come to a stop beside him.

"Considering they don't appear to be hunting down Lancer, let's wait and see what he has to say" Johnathan sounded only slightly less hesitant than I did. "Though I agree it certainly doesn't… look the best."

Understatement of the fucking year, if you asked me…

It only took Lancer a couple of minutes to reach us. The entire time both Johnathan and I kept an eye on the horizon, but the spots seemed content to just wait for the time being.

"Master" Lancer spoke the moment he was within normal conversing range, sounding not at all nervous about the current situation. "The ruler of Halicarnassus has agreed to see us."


A/N

Good news everyone: I'm not dead! At least, not yet, nor am I dropping this work. Sorry for the (over) month long break; university final exams and papers were a right bitch to deal with, and I simply didn't have it in me to type anything for this after hours of typing papers and reading textbooks. So yeah... sorry bout that. Hope y'all will forgive me xD

Now that it's my winter break though (my last exam have just been written yesterday) I'm ready to really crank some chapters out for this, so look to see an update every 4 days (roughly) until, like, January 10th or so.

See y'all in the next post o7