Chaldea is an incredible place, to no one's surprise. After all, Chaldea housed some of the greatest legends to ever exist, the types you'd hear about in bedtime stories: Heracles, King Arthur, Medea of Colchis, Cu Chulainn, Sasaki Kojiro, and Medusa.

Gilgamesh.

Heroes were all recognized for the deeds they accomplished during their lifetimes. They are able to manifest as heroic spirits, usually through a Grail War, but always for the intended purpose of battling a foe.

In Chaldea, this is still true.

Every servant holds the purpose of being an ally to humanity in one way or another, even if they aren't the strongest, fastest, or even the most valuable in combat in general. Everyone has value in Chaldea, regardless of age, strength, or personality; they're all guided by one united front.

But just because everyone is on the same side doesn't mean they all work flawlessly together.

Actually, it's more likely that despite being so united, they're probably more dysfunctional than the average group; hopefully that isn't a bad thing.

…Right?

Saber, or as many would recognize her as King Arthur, held her hands in her face as she sat in the training sector of Chaldea; however, it wasn't due to guilt or some terrible event; no, it was far more simple than that.

King Arthur, or Artoria, was simply embarrassed.

Now, what exactly? Despite being a legendary figure in any type of heroic mythology, she was still human.

Human, the same way you get embarrassed after remembering the stupid stuff you did as a little kid.

Archer EMIYA and Artoria Lily were currently in a practice duel, using wooden swords; however, despite being an Archer, Emiya was clearly dominating the practice fight.

He was on the offensive side, both utilizing one sword, and yet, it seemed that the user of caliburn couldn't keep up with Archer's attacks and eventually fell to the floor.

"Again."

Archer called her back up, and again, soon enough, she fell. Every time she did, you could feel Artoria's shame rising, recognizing the rookie mistakes Saber Lily was making and silently cringing.

Saber Lily recognized this as well.

"Again."

Archer called her back up, and even with her new-found energy, she tried to prove to her older counterpart that she was more than a rookie.

And yet, despite being at an advantage against an Archer class servant up close, being stronger and faster, she still couldn't properly defend, earning her another trip straight to the floor.

"Hmph, you're quite the slouch on defense."

His blunt words were met by an immature groan from the Lily Servant.

"So what! It just means I have to rely on attacking more, right!?"

At first glance, this painted her as an annoying little-(My Lawyer advised me not to use this word), but anyone would be frustrated after being forced to only fight defensively and fail 27 times in a row.

"You know as well as I do that you won't always be stronger than your opponent, Lily, and you're far too reckless offensively to be so confident for that to be the answer to your struggles."

Saber Lily grew silent at his words. He was right; he was always right; she was too inexperienced, too sloppy, and too reckless. She then stole a glance at Artoria; she was ashamed.

Saber Lily dropped the wooden sword and put her head down. She felt stupid, embarrassed, and even more stupid that she was suddenly feeling this way.

She felt like a child, and in a war, a child is nothing but a burden.

She simply had to suck it up and keep going, but right now, she couldn't. As she left the facility, Archer sighed in remorse. He hadn't meant to be so blunt, but lying to her wouldn't do her any good either.

He looked back at Saber, and she watched her leave with a look of sorrow.

"Saber, I know it's ironic, especially coming from me, but you must be able to look at your past self and accept yourself, especially when they're just trying to learn."

It was ironic—so ironic in fact that it was out of character for him—though hypocrisy wasn't anything new to Archer.

Saber merely sighed. Despite the hypocrisy, Archer was right. She and, by proxy, every Lily Servant in Chaldea felt the same thing; it always felt like they were looked down on. It's never been a major issue, but if you think about it, it's understandable.

To be a Lily Servant was to be a novice, a rookie, a beginner, and not be able to do anything about it.

It wasn't like all this training would upgrade her parameters; it wasn't like she'd genuinely get stronger per se, more as if it would help her be serviceable in a fight.

In all of Chaldea, the Lily Servants were by far the most purposeless, because why have a younger, less experienced version of a heroic spirit when the more mature one is right around the corner?

"Yes, you are right, Archer."

-

Saber Lily didn't know where she was walking off too; she'd accidentally gone the wrong way; the dormitory room for female servants was to the left, and she had gone to the right; and she couldn't handle passing by the training facilities just to sulk in her room.

So she walked, and walked, and walked, sulking like a child.

"Hey, Saber Lily, Are you okay?"

She turned around to see her master, Ritsuka Fujimaru, in all of his glory. and by that, I mean all of his eyebags.

"M-Master? Are you okay?"

She exclaimed worryingly.

"Nope! I've been playing Fortnite for 17 hours straight. Da Vinci is correct when she says, I'm spending too much time on the game, but she's not right!"

Inside Ritsuka's room, the pair sat next to each other while Ritsuka was playing some games. Saber Lily would watch Ritsuka die again and again, as Ritsuka felt his manly ego fade after each death.

"...Lily."

Ritsuka suddenly spoke, setting aside the controller.

"Yes Master?"

She replied curiously.

"I can tell when something is wrong with you, and I just want to say you can talk to me no matter what; it's a master's job to see that their servants are in tip-top shape."

He said knowingly, he'd been getting good at reading his servants recently.

Artoria had frozen up; she wasn't ready to talk about it, but she recognized that her master was simply looking out for a servant who was looking down.

"Master, do I have a purpose here in Chaldea?"

The atmosphere in the room seemed to be tense for a moment; it felt like she had just dropped an atom bomb. Ritsuka quickly replied, with a worried look on his face.

"Yes, there's no way you're here for no reason."

Artoria was still obviously not convinced.

"Master… I'm a Lily Servant; I'm someone who isn't ready yet; I'm an eyesore to my counterparts; I'm all their regrets personified; and I'm too weak to make a difference on the battlefield; I just feel useless."

She admits it, she admits it all. Gudao sat silently, taking in her words.

"That doesn't matter; you're more than that; it might not seem much; being one servant in a place filled with servants... you all matter; it might not seem like much, but just hanging out and having fun fills everyone with hope and trust in each other."

He stands up as he continues to speak to the sitting Saber Lily.

"And you, Lily Servants... You remind us of how far we've all come and how it isn't for nothing. I refuse to believe any one of my servants doesn't serve a purpose. I need you, Lily; I need every single one of you."

His tone was as honest and blunt as any; he then grabbed her hands.

"So please don't say such things about yourself."

He gave her a solemn look. She understood that she would always have a place of need in Chaldea, and people would miss her if she weren't there. No matter how small it seemed, it was bigger than she could ever imagine.

"Thank you, Master."

Saber Lily smiled; she smiled brightly at him, and Ritsuka just smiled back.

"It's no problem really, and I'm not kidding; we need more positivity here."

He sighed as he spoke honestly.

"A lot of pseudo-servants have been more depressed lately: Ishtar, Ereshkigal, Pavrati... something to do with their vessels; I can't have that; I can't have them at anything worse than their best; they deserve the best after all."

Saber Lily noticed her master's odd obsession with keeping his servants happy but simply chalked it up to being close with many of them.

"Well, maybe a new face around here would help!"

Saber Lily inquired hopefully.

"Hey, not a bad idea! Let's go try."

3 Hours Later.

It wasn't just a bad idea; it was awful, horrible, and the absolute worst.

Ritsuka was crying on the floor. His wallet? Well, I don't think I could do justice to the injustice performed on it without getting this fanfic banned in several countries, but it was bad.

And Saber Lily was simply standing to the side, sweating, trying to think of a silver lining. one that didn't involve trying again, the thought of running away crossed her mind, but she likely couldn't live with the guilt that would plague her afterwards.

"Well, at least you still have us, Master."

An unstable and nervous smile crossed Artoria's face as she spoke; she could feel the guilt eating away at her stomach for suggesting such an activity.

"No! I Refuse!"

Her master suddenly stood back up and did a bizarre pose, tears still rolling out of his eyes, as he attempted to summon another servant at the cost of his college fund. In his own words, he'd tell you that the summoning system was rigged.

"It's like a gacha game."

Suddenly, a wind suddenly picked up inside the summoning area; it was a new servant, but something was wrong, something they both quickly realized.

"Lily! Get-"

I AM-

The wind would suddenly pick up more, and Ritsuka would find it harder and harder to stand straight.

THE BONE-

Saber Lily found the aria recognizable but couldn't put her finger on it.

But that didn't matter; whatever was happening, it could threaten her master. She quickly threw him near the exit of the room-

OF MY SWORD.

She suddenly had a vision of a land filled with endless swords.

A big boom went off and forced Saber Lily's back to the floor. As the smoke settled, she could recognize the shadow of a new figure, unknown till now.

As the figure came into sight, her eyes went wide. It was a young man with amber eyes and autumn red hair. He gave a low chuckle as he smiled and outstretched his hands towards her.

"Well, isn't this a little familiar?"

Artoria Lily didn't understand at the time, but she felt it as well, as did a few other residents in Chaldea.

"I ask of you... Are you my master?"

Artoria didn't even think; she didn't know why, but she wanted to say something—something that came from the deepest depths of her heart.

"Yes."