Chapter 45
Rin led him to her bedroom, then sat on the edge.
A moment of silence passed between them.
The man standing near the bed spoke up first.
"Hm, I understand what kind of person you are now."
"Eh?"
Rin blinked and looked at him, eyes wide.
Instead of responding to her confusion, he asked her another question.
"Just to be clear, you understand the importance of the three Command Seals right?"
Tohsaka narrowed her eyes and glared at him, before looking away to hide her blush when recalling what she had done just moments ago.
"O-Of course! The three Command Seals are the Master's power to absolutely control a Servant, irresistibly compelling them to perform a certain action."
Emiya closed his eyes and nodded.
"Yes, that's true. However, I seem to have underestimated you."
"What do you mean?"
"Normally, a Command Seal wouldn't be able to achieve the effect of absolute obedience from the Servant, as the more vaguely worded the Command Seal is, and the broader the meaning, the harder it is to work. In fact, even a hundred Command Seals wouldn't be able to instil true obedience."
This was the reason why Kirei had chosen to corrupt Lancer instead of demanding absolute obedience, despite the higher than average amount of Command Seals that he possessed.
"However, it seems that you are an excellent magus."
Rin tilted her head at his praise.
"Your Command Seal placed a deep compulsion within me to obey your words, and going against them would affect my parameters."
Rin raised her fingers to her chin and curled her index finger underneath it to adopt her thinking pose.
"So in essence you can defy me, but you'll be weakened?"
"Yes, all due to your quality as a magus. It seems that I've underestimated you, so from now on I'll respect your decisions and acknowledge you as my Master. Despite your age, you have the abilities of a capable magus."
Rin turned away with a small "hmph!" to hide her blush again, turning to the window.
"The contract now properly connects us, you should be able to feel it. From now on, I will be your Servant until we die or win the war."
Rin closed her eyes and raised her hands to her chest, driving her senses deep into her body. Just like being submerged in water, she could see her crest, a glowing, wriggling fish of sharp lines, and a trail of incandescent sapphire bubbles leading to Archer. In truth, this was simply a metaphor for her brain to understand it, but she could finally solidly grasp the connection between her and her Servant.
Opening her eyes once more, she acknowledged the bond between them.
"There's no doubt you're a first class mage with the amount of mana you're supplying to me."
Archer's words made Rin stand up and cross her arms while glaring at him to hide her embarrassment.
"It's too late for flattery now."
Then she remembered something crucial that she needed to ask him.
"Ah, are you a Saber?"
Archer shook his head.
"As you can see, I have no sword."
Rin raised a palm to her forehead and sighed. The thought of wasting all those gems earlier weighed on her heart.
"Mou, to think that even after using all those gems, I still couldn't get Saber. What a letdown."
She glanced back at Archer.
"Still, the fault lies with me. It was my mistake as a magus."
Archer turned his back to her.
"Master, one day I'll make you eat those words. And when you come to apologize to me, I won't forgive." Absolute self-confidence underlined those words as his toned back was silhouetted in the moonlight, the red mantle a dull crimson in the pale illumination.
Rin looked at him for a moment before playfully prancing to his front and smiling at his stern face.
"You'd better make those words come true. When that day comes, I'll apologize to you as much as you want."
The stone faced man broke into a slight grin as the two started their journey as Servant and Master in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
"Alright, I'll go take a bath then."
Archer followed her out of the room.
On the way down to the bathroom, Rin suddenly turned around and asked him.
"By the way, what is your identity?"
Archer stopped in place, closing his eyes to think for a moment, before shaking his head in resignation.
"It's no use, I don't remember who I am. It seems the botched summoning ritual you performed affected my memories."
"Hah! How am I supposed to plan our battles if I don't know how strong you are?"
She gripped the bannister as she let out a small outburst at Archer's answer.
Archer simply replied calmly.
"It doesn't matter who I am. I was summoned by you, so I must be one of the strongest."
At that, Rin blushed for the fifth time since summoning him. Turning around, she brought her fingers to her chin.
"I-I guess that's true. And if even the Master doesn't know the Servant's identity, then surely no one else will be able to figure it out."
With that, she pushed the mystery of his identity to the back of her head.
"Ah, one more thing, I have your first assignment for you Archer."
Archer unconsciously stood straighter as his mouth curved into a smirk, looking forward to facing his opponent.
"Who will be your first enemy Mas-"
He paused to catch the broom and dustpan thrown at him.
"Clean up the living room Archer. Since you made that mess, it's only right you clean it up yourself."
She made no mention of the fact of the root cause being her own summoning.
Archer stared at her, his body rigid as he held the broom and dustpan in both hands, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
"Master, do you know what Servants are?"
"They're familiars right? Though they seem to talk back a lot and are more annoying than usual."
Archer closed his eyes and sighed, dipping his head in submission.
"Fine. Damn you Master."
"Thanks! I'll see the results of your mission tomorrow!"
With that, Rin went to take a quick shower and change for sleep, while Archer started on the monumental task of not only cleaning the living room, but also repairing the broken furniture, walls and broken window panes.