Chelmsford… at the southern gate… 3 days after the events of the last Chapter.

Mordred was having a splendid day.

First of all, being in charge of training the locals for the upcoming fight wasn't bad after all! The red knight found out rather immediately that the Gallo-Romans are a hardy people who knew the basics of warfare. Sure, she found faults and defects that she handily battered out of most of the recruits. But for the most part, things were looking bright. The Gallo-Romans displayed a tenacity for battle and a talent of quick learning. All they really needed was someone to teach them the tactics and formations needed for warfare against the Saxons and lead them in the thick of it.

A position she would more than willingly accept anytime.

Second, Gawain's leadership in installing defences around the city bore fruit. A Saxon detachment that was found harassing a caravan of refugees have totally been handed their own asses thanks to the watchtowers at the Northwest side of the city. It wasn't much of a fight. Archer did a number to them before Percival offered to lead a cavalry squad to deal with them head on. What mattered was that the refugees didn't die in the end.

And speaking of Archer…

"You think you can play hide and seek from any longer, you slick bastard?" Mordred taunted as she tightened her hold around the redhead's arms.

The third thing that went well for her today was that she finally cornered Archer. Who had been avoiding her like the plague for almost 3 days now. She was promised a reason for his 'what the fuck' behaviour back with Regulus but all she got was silence in the end. Sure, she understood that maybe that reason she was looking for might open a ditch of worms that she sure as hell didn't wanna dive into. Not with a looming war occupying her mind. Sure, she understood that maybe asking what the hell is up with her friend these past few days in this manner was a bit too much. Sure, she could've just reached out to him like a normal person.

But this son of a bitch wasn't helping at all because he kept ignoring her!

She reasoned.

"Damnit, Archer! Stop resisting." Mordred barked as she tied his arms behind his back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Archer shouted as he tried to release himself from the red knight's grip.

"What the hell are you doing! I've been trying to find your dumb ass for days now, you haven't been acting straight after all this time. Got a nail jammed up your head or something?" Mordred shouted back as she tightened her knot really hard. Hard enough for Archer to writhe in pain.

"You're lucky no one's here to listen to you whine like a little bitch, Archer." Mordred laughed as she hauled him up onto her shoulders. Her destination, her room. It was technically supposed to be the room both the redhead and the red knight shared. But, after that stint with Regulus, Archer left for someplace that Mordred had no clue where.

"How did you find me, anyways?" Archer asked. He had wanted some time alone so that he could collect his thoughts. He discovered that going to the southern gate and bribing the guards with some fresh food made them go somewhere else. Just the place he needed. However, Archer didn't factor in Mordred of all people to disturb him. He thought she was too occupied with her duties as a knight to care for him that much. He was wrong.

"You had Corvus and Andrus cover your tracks. All I had to do was bribe them with gold and other shit to get them to spill. Andrus was a harder nut to crack though." Mordred replied as she waltzed towards the town square with the redhead as her cargo. Much to the surprise and slight amusement of the people who passed them by.

"Right… never asking them to help me out again after this." Archer grumbled to himself. A flush of embarrassment was making its way into his gut as the stares kept increasing but he pushed it down so that annoyance could come through in full force.

"Don't give me that fucking attitude, Archer. I had enough of it with you. You better sit the hell down and talk or else I'm gonna drop you into the well." Mordred threatened. They were nearing the building where Mordred's room was situated. A modest inn located at the heart of Chelmsford. The very inn that's closest to the barracks, the town square, the church that became the Headquarters for the leaders of the city and the well she threatened to drown the red head in.

"And why do you care?" Archer asked callously. He knew what that sounded and didn't bother suppressing the bile in throat after saying it. He honestly had no intention of having this conversation right now.

Mordred paused. Her head hung low. And Archer couldn't help but curse his luck as he leaned a little to see that very same well that the red knight threatened to drop him in standing ominously close to the two of them.

"Hmph. You'll find out soon enough." Mordred said briefly as she purposely laxed her grip on Archer as she passed by the well. Grinning in sadistic delight as the hanging bucket that coincidentally was full of water slammed onto Archer's head. Causing him to get hurt and wet at the same time.

"Urgh. A little bit of care please." Archer grumbled.

"Shut the hell up." Mordred replied.

—-

Thud! Came the sound of Archer's body slamming onto the chair at the centre of the room that Mordred prepared for him. He waited for Mordred to come closer and untie him, however he was disappointed to see that she just locked the door and started tending to herself. Walking towards what sounds like a table behind him judging from the clanking sounds of metal touching wood. Wait, metal touching wood? Was she-

Yep. The red knight began stripping her armour off her person. Bit by bit the metal pieces were dropped on the desk that was situated right behind Archer. The vambraces, the cavalry issued pauldrons that replaced her bulky ones, and then the chausses protecting her legs. Not a single metal plate was left on her person. What was left were her leather undergarments which she used to shield her body from the sharp edges of her armour.

A single raised eyebrow of apprehension was all Archer could think of as this was going on. He expected a beatdown in the physical and verbal sense. Now that he was witnessing (well, hearing it only but it counts as witnessing he guessed) whatever this was. He realised that maybe he should have picked his words properly earlier so that he could have avoided this awkward situation of a redheaded boy being tied to a chair due to a blond girl's doing.

A second later, he looked up to see Mordred again. Her clothing now was modest, that's for sure. It's nothing but a leather t-shirt and a skirt that reached just right above her knee. But his assuredly teenage body was totally not thinking rationally at the moment. A slight heat brushed his face as her admittedly beautiful emerald eyes bore down at him with the intensity he was used to associating with another girl.

"Are you going to untie me now?" Archer asked innocently. Shrugging his shoulders in emphasis.

"Please, we both know that you could've just cut it off with that magus shit you had all this time. Don't even bother asking me." Mordred waved off as she walked towards her bed. Her hair tie was on the table alongside her armour, so she brushed it off as she turned towards the redhead. Unconsciously placing the strands behind her ear. Archer blamed his body for paying too much attention to it as he summoned Kanshou to rip the rope apart.

"I wanted to save my strength after using my prana on those Saxons a while back. So, forgive me if I wanted to be a little conserved." Archer reasoned. He was stretching his arms to relieve them of the strain caused by being tied up for quite a while as he spoke. He was not joking when it came to saving up prana. That cavalry detachment wasn't the first instance. He's had to deal with dozens of these forces for the past few days. It isn't a great idea to constantly use his prana reserves all the time, y'know. He was just forced into using it due to current circumstances.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't care. Now. Talk." Mordred demanded as she crossed her legs and hugged her pillow towards her chest. The threatening tone in her voice somewhat diminished in Archer's perspective after chalking up the red knight's actions as a child waiting for a bedtime story.

A thought he would get murdered for since she hasn't exactly left Rhindon at the table. She has the sword stationed at the foot of her bed like a normal knight does. You can't be too safe, thought Archer.

"Sigh… You're going to be the death of me, Mordred. Alright, I give up. What do you want to know?" Archer asked as he leaned on his chair in a calm and relaxed manner.

"The truth. No more bullshit from last time like in the town hall. I want to know who the hell you really are. Or else, how am I gonna trust you?" Mordred said.

"Right… the truth…" Archer drew out. Can he tell her that he was secretly from another time and was dropped here in 6th century Britannia because the Fate of Camelot is in his hands?

No, of course not. She would laugh at him before decking him with an uppercut for telling her nonsense. How about telling her a lite version of his past. Just enough to be truthful while omitting the more… unexplainable parts of his life. The Holy Grail war and falling in love with Mordred's own 'father' to be precise.

"I was born with the name Shirou. I was adopted by a man named Kiritsugu Emiya and had his name passed down to me. My full name is Shirou Emiya. I was a (kind of) normal kid growing up. I went to school-"

"No fucking way. You went to a school? What? Your family's rich or some shit? Only the nobles' kids get to go to a school. Us peasants in Cornwall never had that." Mordred remarked. It was true in a sense. The orphanage and the foster parents that raised her before her mother Morgan came along never taught her anything other than the basic counting numbers and how to read during her childhood.

"Sort of. Where I come from. Schooling was something a lot of the children had an opportunity to study at. But not all. Some of them went on to work instead." Archer explained. He might have divulged a bit too much when it came to gauging Mordred's reaction. It gave the impression that he was a rich kid that may have learned his magus skills from his noble parents and lineage.

Wait, maybe he can work around that.

"Moving on, I was taught the lessons on how to be a Magus by my father before he passed away. But not enough to become a fully fledged one who can do a lot of things." Archer said. It wasn't a lie. Kiritsugu didn't train him much as a child. Most of what he learned before the events of the Holy Grail war was self taught.

"So then who taught you? Was your mom?" Mordred curiously asked. Fully invested into the story as her eyes shone under the moonlit sky. A small smile graced the redhead's lips as the look of wonder reminded him of the one who inspired him to become a true magus.

"No, not my mom. I never met her." Cue Mordred's eyes quickly darting towards the ground in shame.

"Don't feel down, Mordred. It's alright. And to answer your question. I was first trained by a knight like yourself. The best I've ever known. Strong, yet gentle. Fast, yet graceful. Honour and dignity above all else when it came to that knight. Sadly, the knight left for some far away land. Leaving me with a promise that we would one day meet again." Archer said as he looked towards his left. Where the window that showed the night sky was. The night was serene and calm. Like Saber was once upon a time…

"Sounds like a sad love story if you ask me." Mordred chuckled to herself. Her past shame left her as quickly as it came.

"It is…" Archer wistfully spoke as the thought of the blond girl captured his heart. He looked towards Mordred and noticed an unreadable look adorn her face.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"...it's nothing." Mordred grumbled. She tightened her grip on her pillow as a strange feeling took hold of her chest. It didn't feel like a sickness. But it isn't pleasant all the same.

"Alright then. I told you how the knight was the first one who taught me how to be a magus. It was not entirely true. The knight taught me how to fight like one and against one. It wasn't until the second teacher of mine came up and introduced me to this school of hers that taught maguses. But that school wasn't much of a help. I learned more from my second teacher than any of those who taught me at that school." Archer continued. It was Rin who introduced him to the Clock Tower and such. She was also the one who helped him out during the Holy Grail War. She basically taught him how not to die while using his magus powers in that period as well.

But to tell the truth. Archer doesn't remember going to the Clock Tower with Rin. he remembers her telling him about it in passing. Everything save for the things he said about Rin was a lie so that he could explain in a rational way how he got his powers.

"A school of maguses? That's a thing? There's more of you out there?" Mordred asked as she tilted her head in confusion as the thought of a thousand Archers ran around doing random shit in her head.

"I don't know. I haven't tried contacting any of them at the moment. If we tried, there might be. " Archer answered honestly. He hadn't thought of seeing if the Clock Tower was still around in the 6th Century, A.D. But he does know it was formed around the year 500 A.D. It would be 132 years old right now if his maths was correct. So maybe, just maybe, there are some maguses around here. Who clearly aren't too keen to reveal themselves in the scale Archer had if Mordred's question had anything to say about it.

"But that's in the back of my mind right now. I'm not really interested in going off and finding them at the moment. Not when there is a war about to happen." Archer reasoned.

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm the one who's in charge of whipping the amateurs into shape after all." Mordred said. "Wait, hold on. You told me about the time before I met you and how you became a magus right? So tell me, why hide it?" she asked.

Archer sighs in relief. This time, he can say with full honesty what he thought was the best answer.

"I thought that King Arthur would sentence me for my power. I did not know what the current stance the Kingdom of Camelot had in regards to magi like me at the time. It was purely to protect myself from any harm that might come from revealing such a thing." Archer reasoned.

"Huh?! Sentence you? For wha-" Mordred paused. Her look of incredulity from what she heard slowly morphed into realisation and then into a sombre and grave understanding.

"You're definitely at that age to have been affected by it…" Mordred whispered to herself. Archer heard it due to his keen ears, but couldn't help but ask.

"Excuse me?"

"Years ago, that bastard of a King, Urien, ordered that all those who are suspected of 'inhibiting mystical, magical, and heretical arts' or whatever shit he called it to be sent to the capital Dunheved for… I don't really know. I asked my mother what she knew but she didn't tell me much. Must be because I was too young at the time." Mordred explained. When she said mother, she was referring to Morgan. But she couldn't say that name in front of Archer. Not when she's probably an enemy of Camelot.

Archer noticed who she was talking about due to his knowledge about Mordred's past and future. But he kept silent and waited for Mordred to continue.

"Days after that, reports of missing people at the capital began springing up all around the place. A week later, a ditch full of dead bodies was found. The people panicked. Urien said they were traitors who tried to kill his wife. But they didn't care. They still sent letters of help to Camelot. King Arthur couldn't let them all in, though. Camelot was still recovering from the War of the 12 Lords. So, the King went to talk to the King and Queen of Eire for aid. The Summit of the Leaves, it was called.

Anyways. Long story short. Camelot had 7 ships full of refugees sent to Eire and half of them were sunk because of a storm. A lot of people died. Most of them were probably magus like you because you had to pass a test made by Merlin to get on. Few stayed at Camelot because they didn't trust the ships. Your dad could've been one of those few. So, I kind of get why you hid it from me now. Must've been your dad's order not to tell.

I admit, Camelot fucked up a lot when it came to helping your kind. Who knows what would have happened to you if you and your dad were forced into that fleet to Eire." Mordred asked in slight worry.

Archer meanwhile… couldn't believe what he just heard. He never heard of this event. Most likely because he never bothered to sit down and read anything about this time period he was in. He chalked it up to his E-rank luck as the reason that his half truth story somehow was in line with real life events. It wasn't his fault that Mordred jumped to conclusions so fast!

"Right… anyways… was that all?" Archer asked with slight fear of having to go through another batch of explaining.

"Yup! I've heard enough. And I'm tired as hell. I'm gonna ask you more questions about yourself sooner or later. But at this rate. Maybe not. I still have to drill the men into fighting shape some more while you go and do your cooking and shit tomorrow." Mordred said as she lay down on her bed and stretched like a cat about to sleep.

"I had the second bed put under my bed frame. You can pull it out and sleep here. Don't really care, to be honest." Mordred drawled out as she yawned. She was quick to get some shuteye. That's for sure.

"Right…" Archer said as he pulled the bed out. He didn't want to spend his time trying to get out of the room through the window just to get to his own place. Not when he's also about to run out of fumes. So, with the grace of a snowman melting under the spring sun, he dropped face first and dozed out.

Not knowing that he would be greeted to the worst surprise ever as he wakes up.