Octavianus could not understand the Senate's decision to pardon Julius Caesar's murderers. How could they let people guilty of an assassination walk free and enjoy the pleasures of being Romans?
It was frustrating and a lack of respect for a man who had achieved great things for Rome.
"You should hide that killing intent." Octavianus suddenly snapped when a muffled male voice spoke from behind him. The chair capsized and the ink fell from the inkwell onto the papyrus sheets. "The enemy will understand your intentions instantly, and in my case, you'd be dead before you could grab that stoker."
Infiltrating was pretty easy. After what happened with Silla, weapons were banned inside the city so the night guards were not armed and Yuto was much stronger than all of them.
"I heard you were looking for me. Well, I saved you the trouble," Yuto said, adjusting the chair and sitting on it. "I wanted to apologize. I didn't save Caesar."
"What?" Octavianus became suspicious.
"Tiberius Lupis contacted me about what Caesar wanted to do in the Senate, but when I arrived it was too late. He had already been stabbed several times. Jack tried to save him, but her medical skills were first aid. If the doctor had arrived in time, perhaps he could be saved," Yuto said, altering or omitting details so that his identity would not be discovered. The fact that he was getting married meant that more than before they could not know his real identity.
"How can I be sure that's true?" Octavianus asked.
"You don't have to be. Caesar's adopted son must doubt everything and everyone to create a strong Rome," Yuto replied.
Doubting everyone around him would have been the winning move that would have led Octavianus to become Augustus. Distrust meant knowing how to distinguish friends from enemies and therefore making the best decisions possible.
"Who are you, Archer?" Octavianus asked.
"I've been called many things. Killer, Cutthroat, Faker, Mongrel, and so on." Yuto answered casually. "I am the person who follows Romulus' order to protect Rome from all that threatens it, including Romans themselves."
"You mean you intend to kill Caesar's murderers?" there was a little hope in Octavianus' voice, but he was immediately disappointed.
"Caesar's killers were manipulated by someone else and my goal is to find out who they are and kill them," Yuto replied.
Octavianus took another chair and sat in front of Yuto.
"Both murderers referred to a certain king, but they said nothing else. I let Senator Gaius Valerius go to lead me to his colleagues. In this regard, they planned to declare you an enemy of Rome as soon as you leave the city," Yuto said.
Octavianus snapped his tongue. The irritation visibly marked his face.
"I'll offer you a deal," Yuto said. "I will stop the conspiracy against you and I will help you in battle and you do me a little favour in return."
"What kind of help?" Octavianus asked.
Yuto put Excalibur Galatine on the table and of course, Octavianus was attracted to it.
"I will lend you this holy sword for all civil wars," Yuto said, slapping Octavianus' hand.
Octavianus touched his chin and began to reflect. The agreement was ultimately advantageous, but there were unclear points. First, he would have to postpone his expeditions against the murderers of Caesar; then he was not sure he could trust a rather ambiguous man; finally, he was not sure that that sword could really help him in battle.
"Tell me, how can I trust a man who doesn't even show his face?" Octavianus said, solemnly staring at Yuto.
Yuto put on the table the envelope he had stolen from Gaius Valerius.
"How did you get it?" Octavianus asked as he read the content quickly.
"I stole it from a messenger," Yuto replied.
Octavianus could recognize a report when he saw one. The attempted murder of Caesar was described in detail.
"This definitively clarifies the positions of Tiberius Vedius Lupis and that freedman I questioned," Octavianus said. "So you mean you're only letting him go to find out who this king and his associates are, am I right?"
"Yeah, although I think another failure will be the end for Gaius Valerius, representing a stop to my investigation," Yuto said.
He would have been killed by the mysterious man who was with him at the baths or, more likely, by Archer if he didn't die fighting or take his own life as the last chance to keep his honour alive.
"Why are you telling me this?" Octavianus asked.
"I know what it means to desire revenge and also to be overwhelmed by anger and pain." Memories of the past were still alive in Yuto's mind and every day he thought that maybe things could go differently. "It's your right to punish murderers, but remember that's not the end of your life. Think about why Caesar adopted you and what he would want you to do."
Octavianus was impressed by those words. Although he did not know Yuto, he felt like he was close to him as they spoke of revenge and honour.
"What do you suggest?" Octavianus asked.
"You must erode the power of the Senate, but more cautiously than Caesar," Yuto stated. "Act a little at a time and above all be patient."
Never mind, Yuto was purposely putting Octavianus on the path to the principality.
Caesar's mistake was not to be a patient man. He had tried to steal all power at once, ignoring the fact that there were fitting times for everything.
"I did what I had to do. The rest is up to you," Yuto said, getting up and approaching the window from which he had entered.
"Wait. What do you want in return?" Archer asked.
"Do your duty. Nothing else," Yuto replied, jumping out the window.
Octavianus sighed wearily.
He didn't know it yet, but Archer would be his most important ally during his imperium. Where the Emperor was, Archer was with him, like a ghost ready to strike when needed.
"I heard what happened to you recently. Is everything okay now?" Lavinia the Younger asked.
"Yes, things have settled," Yuto replied.
Normally, a woman did not interfere in a man's affairs, limiting her activities to housekeeping and child care. Yuto, on the other hand, was born in a modern era in which men and women were more or less equal. As a result, he made it clear that responsibility for the house and the children, as well as decisions about Archer, should be shared.
"I see your mother has already begun the preparations. I don't understand her hurry," Yuto said.
"She thinks you might change your mind," Lavinia the Younger said.
"There's no way." Yuto snorted annoyed. Once Yuto had given his word, he kept it to the end just as he had done with Gilgamesh. He promised to kill him and he killed him. "I swore I'd make you happy at least."
Although Yuto did not love her, and since she was sacrificing herself for the sake of someone else, which Yuto thought was stupid but worthy of her respect, Yuto had to at least make her happy, respect her in her decisions and as a person, and always consider her thoughts. Some may say it's weird or stupid to have a woman tell you what to do, but he didn't care what anyone else told them.
"Do you know when your father will be back?" Yuto asked her.
Lavinia the Younger shook her head. Perhaps it would have taken him a month or perhaps even longer. She had no way of telling how long it would take him to quell the rebellion. The conquest of Gaul was recent so the hope of the tribes who lived there to return free was still alive.
"We hope as soon as possible," Yuto prayed.
He wanted to tell him the latest developments in his investigation, but he wanted to do it privately.
"Where is Jack?" Lavinia the Younger asked, noting that Jack was nowhere.
"He was bored and asked if he could help," Yuto replied.
Through Hawkeye, Yuto kept an eye on Jack who was helping a slave arrange things on a wagon.
"Is it weird that I think I miss being a servant?" Yuto said rhetorically.
"I watched you. You were doing other servants' work, and you let them take credit." Lavinia the Younger crossed her arms across her chest, a perplexed expression formed on her face. "I don't understand, however, whether it is modesty or stupidity."
"I must have inherited it from my father," Yuto said, nodding to himself. "That idiot thought helping anyone who needed it was the right thing to do and…"
Yuto stopped while realizing something.
"Is everything all right?" Lavinia the Younger asked worried.
"Uhm... yes," Yuto nodded.
What Archer told him was the same thing that led his father to become EMIYA. He had chased a ghost, carrying a curse-like burden on his shoulders.
"Can I ask you a particular question?" Lavinia the Younger timidly asked. "If it's not too much, I'd like to know how you became a slave."
"Hmm... I was betrayed," Yuto replied brooding. "I was a legionnaire, but I did not come from a high-ranking family. I was better than the others and this attracted the envy of my commander. One night I was arrested on a false charge of desertion, imprisoned and enslaved."
"Have you done nothing to prove your innocence?" Lavinia asked sadly.
He couldn't do it. The evidence was false but solid.
"I can't change what happened. I can only learn the lesson for the next time," Yuto said.
"But you lost your name, your citizenship, and your reputation," Lavinia the Younger replied.
"It doesn't matter," Yuto said calmly. "They are nothing compared to what I have now."
Tiberius probably knew about his past and why he had become a slave; however, he had given him another chance. And he was really grateful for that.
"Have you ever heard of karma?"
"No," Lavinia the Younger replied.
"The actions of body, speech and spirit are both cause and consequence of other actions. Nothing is due to chance. Each event is linked together by a network of cause and effect," Yuto explained, turning to Jack who was returning. "If going through what I went through led me to this, it means that I was in the right."
As a certain Counter Guardian said, the dirt could be cleaned with good results.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to depress you," Yuto said seeing the uncertain expression on Lavinia the Younger's face. "I'm just saying I don't care about reputation if I have freedom."
The greatest gift that men and women had was freedom. The freedom to decide on his own life, without anyone interfering, was a right that not everyone enjoyed and Yuto enjoyed only partially.
"Look at the positive side. I don't have to follow someone's orders anymore," Yuto said cheerfully. "It was a real pain to put patches on that asshole's failure plans."
He understood now how much Lord El-Melloi II must have struggled to cover up the incident at Blackmore Cemetery.
"Anyway, can I ask you a favour?" Yuto turned to Lavinia the Younger. "Could you tell him to come to my forge?"
"Sure. I'll tell him as soon as he gets back. Oh! Yuto!" Lavinia the Younger gave him a sweet smile. "Stay out of trouble."
"Umu..." Yuto nodded embarrassedly. It was trouble that was looking for him and not the other way around.
Several weeks later...
Entering the forge of Yuto, Tiberius smiled warmly at the one who would soon become his son-in-law.
He had only been back in Rome for a few hours, having sedated most of the uprisings in just over two months, and he was even happier to learn that Yuto had finally accepted his proposal; however, the serious expression on Yuto's face told him that the situation was much more serious than expected.
"My daughter said you wanted to talk to me. Did something happen?" Tiberius asked as he sat on a stool.
"The situation is worse than expected. Caesar is dead and they want to kill Octavianus too," Yuto told him.
Tiberius passed his hand over his beard. He had learned the news of Caesar's death as well as the fact that many conspirators had managed to escape to various parts of the Res Publica; however, the fact that Octavianus was their target was even more worrying because it meant they wanted to eradicate the Iulia family.
"Look at these," Yuto said, putting on the table what was left of the sword used by Goliath and the daggers used by the assassin. "Many claim that Caesar planned to restore the monarchy to Rome, however, I'm not very sure that this is so."
Tiberius took the broken sword and observed it carefully. Archaic symbols were engraved on the guard. Although he was not an expert in swords, he could say it was ancient.
"Have you ever heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh?" Yuto asked.
"Who?" Tiberius lifted a wink.
"Gilgamesh is the ancient King of Uruk. He is said to have collected all the treasures of the world and stored them in his vault. This sword and the dagger came from that collection," Yuto explained.
"How do you know?" Tiberius asked.
Yuto sighed wearily and sat down. "My magecraft does not just create swords. It also analyses the history. Using it on this weapon I learned that it was forged by a craftsman from Uruk in honour of a soldier's wedding, but Gilgamesh took it."
It was not the truth, but he could not tell him that he had met the real Gilgamesh and had shamelessly copied 99.9% of his treasure.
"This treasury contains weapons capable of destroying entire mountains, some even leave no dust. If they opened it then, the situation is worse than I originally thought," Yuto said.
"You should warn Octavianus," Tiberius said, trusting in what Yuto was telling him.
"I did, and I even knocked out some senators I knew were siding with this king," Yuto replied. "However, I found no evidence of involvement for other suspects."
Yuto could have tried to make them, however, he was not the type to resort to these devious means. He had simply taken possession of all the incriminating evidence he had been able to find and had handed it over to Octavianus, who then had them arrested.
"I see. You have worked hard in my absence," Tiberius said, complimenting him.
"But not enough," Yuto snorted.
He had eliminated many conspirators, but not all of them. He had certainly slowed down their plans, but he had not stopped them. His work wasn't finished yet.
"The situation is stable for now, but how long will it last?" Yuto questioned.
"What do you fear?" Tiberius asked him.
"I fear your daughter will be in danger if she will marry me. Please give up our marriage. I promise to serve you, but keep her safe," Yuto said, almost begging. "And if you really want an heir, there are many magi within the borders of the Res Publica."
"But no one is as loyal as you." Tiberius took a deep breath before getting up and approaching Yuto. He laid his hands on his shoulders and looked directly into his eyes. "Who do you think is best for her?"
Everyone but him, Yuto bit his tongue.
"What I seek is not only a magus, but a loyal man on whom Claudius and I can rely. Above all, my daughter truly loves you," Tiberius said.
Tiberius had witnessed that day. His daughter had fallen into the Tiber and Yuto threw himself to save her. He saw him kiss her and, if he initially thought it was a slave's attempt to rape a Roman woman, what he did saved her life.
From that moment, Yuto became the hero of his daughter.
"But I don't love her," Yuto stated.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Tiberius replied. "Did you forget about what happened to King Arthur?"
Yuto stretched his eyes.
"Reflect. This marriage may remind you of what you have forgotten," Tiberius said in the same tone as a father would tell his child.
The silhouette of a knight in silver and red armour who smiled zealously surfaced in Yuto's mind.
It had been a long time since he had thought of her.
Mordred, the Knight of Treachery and his half-sister.
[You can count on me if you need.]
Yuto's lips curled upwards, realizing how idiotic he was.
"All right, you won," Yuto said. "I'm sure now you don't want me just for my power."
"It seems that the plan has had another setback," a man sitting on a throne asked the man genuflected before him.
"I'm sorry, my lord. The plan to take control of the senate has failed," the man said. "That incompetent has been exposed and Caesar's adopted son seems to know of our existence."
"Hmm... who was the bastard that interfered?" the king asked selflessly.
"He calls himself Archer, but we know nothing more," the man genuflected.
The king's eyes opened wide upon hearing the name; his pupils dilated and became red.
"Ah... AHAHAHAHAH!" the king laughed madly. "It seems that this mission requires my more direct involvement."
