38: Try looking up every now and then.
"...And that's about everything." I conclude. Well, I left out the stuff about Reid and Petelgeuse, but they won't be showing up if I can help it.
"Ugh…" The Director massages the bridge of her nose. "Obvious questions that you can't answer aside, it's not like we can complain about free information. But how much of it are you actually sure of? You seemed a bit uncertain at some points of your explanation."
That's right. After all, considering how many lies the boy told us, it wouldn't be strange for a considerable portion of the information given to us by Prelati to be falsehood. In fact, in the worst case, we might have had friend and foe mixed up entirely.
No, in the true worst case, it's possible we never escaped his [Grand Illusion] in the first place. But doubting literally everything I see is a path to madness, so I'll have to ignore that possibility for now.
"...That's a good question. I'm at least certain that the Dragons and Servants I described the appearances of are present, but beyond that, it's possible I was deceived." I sigh. "And like I said, it's not like I can be certain that I've got the right True Names for any of them. Ahab doesn't seem like the type to pull tricks like lying about his True Name, and the Tarasque - assuming it really is the Tarasque - is a pretty dead giveaway, but as for the rest…"
"...Right. You already said this 'Francois Prelati' was deceitful by nature, and the idea that this Black Knight is Musashibou Benkei seems like little more than blind speculation." She says with a sigh. "For now, we'll look to corroborate your information once you arrive in Domremy - that's the village you're approaching, by the way. The birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc."
"...Well, if nothing else they might have info on the whole 'fake Jeanne d'Arc' thing." I mutter.
"Speaking of information, Senpai…" Mash interjects. "Um, I didn't bring it up earlier because I figured you might be about to tell us about it anyway, but you didn't say anything about it…"
"Ah, did I miss something? I guess I wasn't super thorough in my explanation…" I apologize.
"Um, it's just… you didn't mention that at all." She says, and somewhat shakily points towards the sky. My eyes follow her movement, and-
What.
What the hell is that?
How did I not see this thing last time!?
No, to be fair, we didn't exactly spend that much time under the open sky last time - I didn't have much of a chance last time.
But as for this time, there's basically no excuse. I should have noticed it the moment we exited Prelati's Grand Illusion.
I'd heard before, that humans were bad at noticing danger above them, that we just didn't look up very often - I'd experienced it, in fact. Every time I die is disorienting, but categorically, death from above is generally the most confusing way to die that doesn't involve brain damage.
Yeah, humans don't look up very often. Especially in a wide open field, with no shadow cast upon us, there was no need to look up. The only thing in the sky should have been the sun.
Indeed, when the only thing in the sky is a bright object casting light upon you, there's no need to look at it. You shouldn't look at it, because it's the sun.
It's the sun. The big light in the sky would naturally be the sun. That was the assumption.
Except, the sun wasn't there. There was no sun in the sky of this singularity. There was only-
"A ring... of light?" I ask. No, it might be more accurate to describe it as a hole in the sky, encircled by light. An image similar to a solar eclipse, but without the accompanying darkness.
"What are you- oh God." the Director says, eyes widening. "W-what the hell!? Natsuki, how the hell did you fail to mention that!? It's got to be at least the size of the United States! And these energy readings… The closest thing I can think of is the output of Excalibur back in Fuyuki, and even that might be too little!"
"...Do you think it might be the Holy Grail?" I ask. "Because I'm not sure how we could retrieve something like that…"
"...No. That… that thing is giving off more energy than a Holy Grail!"
"I thought the Grail had infinite mana! How the hell do you get more energy than that!?" Mordred interjects.
"...It's got a bigger throughput. If the Holy Grail is like a water faucet attached to a reservoir of infinite mana, then this is like a fire hose." Olga replies quietly, her eyes still wide and trained upon the ring of light in the sky. "But why? Even if you get more mana to work with this way, what could you possibly need that much mana for? Or maybe the question is how? Because a normal Grail gets its mana from leylines, but pulling that much energy from the planet would have already turned France into a wasteland…"
"Well, if it's something that ridiculous, it's not like we can do much to stop it…" I mumble. "I guess we just ignore it and hope we don't get lasered from orbit."
"...You're probably right, but it's kind of upsetting how calm you're being about potential orbital bombardment." she sighs.
About fifteen minutes later, we arrive at Domremy. The place is pretty nondescript - smaller than the Arlam Village back home, and obviously less wealthy. Arlam could afford to have glass in some of its windows, whereas Domremy's houses have only holes in the walls with wooden latches bolted over them.
Still, all told, it's a pretty generic Medieval European village, I guess. At this time of day, people would naturally be out working the fields. Which, naturally, begs the question...
"Where...are all the people?" I ask, as ice cold hands grip my insides.
"...At the very least, there's no sign of a struggle." I mutter as I examine the interior of a small one-room dwelling - but a certain haunting memory causes me to reassess that observation. "No, a mere lack of bloodstains and corpses is no guarantee. I'm well aware of that."
"...Senpai?" Mash asks, turning to look at me, but not yet lowering her shield. She had demanded to take point, and it's not like I could deny such an earnest request. Also, she has a shield, so honestly it just makes sense.
"Sorry. Just thinking aloud." I reply, taking a deep breath to steady myself. The Great Rabbit doesn't exist anymore. I know that. That self-replicating army of tiny Witchbeasts which devoured every part of its prey, to the point that not even a drop of blood remained spilled across the snowy village that night - that monster, was already long gone.
"But this scenario… is just too damn-!"
"Master! I found something!" Mordred yells from a few houses down the road, interrupting my traumatic flashback.
I take another deep breath, and with Mash by my side, we head to one of the local farmhouses.
"Mordred, I'm here with Senpai! Where are you?" Mash calls out.
"Out back! Just come around and hop the fence!" The knight calls out, pausing for a second. "...Though, you're gonna want to get your stomach ready. It's not a pretty sight."
Out of place. That's my first thought. This kind of sight, is completely out of place here. This quaint, peaceful, idyllic town. In the middle of a plain of bright green grass, under a bright, cloudless sky, with a gently blowing breeze.
Even now, I can smell the faint scent of flowers and freshly trod grass - but by this point, that's long been drowned out by the stench of iron and feces.
A pile of meat. There's a pile of meat, in the center of this farmyard.
A tower of blood, skin, flesh, and offal. Constructed there, Piled up, intentionally, intelligently, as if in mockery of the very idea of common decency.
I feel a warm, wet texture on my fingertips and palms as the nails of my clenched fists accidentally break the skin. Behind me, I can hear Mash retching.
"...Master, you can relax." Mordred says, and before I can open my mouth to shout at her, she continues. "I know it's tough for you to tell, but none of these bodies are human."
"...You're sure?" I whisper, not daring to believe it.
"Yeah. Look, these bones are too big for a human. The damn wyverns tore them up real well, but you can see little patches of cow hide." She says. "If they had any human parts in here, they'd make sure we could see them."
"...Thank goodness." I mutter as my muscles go slack with relief. "But… would Wyverns really make something this horrible?"
"Yeah. Wyverns like to make piles like this - get a big mass of animal bones and scatter some parts of the one human they ever managed to kill on top, or do the same with a pile of farmyard tools and a sword or two." Mordred says. "It's an intimidation tactic - to fool cowardly knights into thinking they're a real dragon and not just a jumped-up snake with wings."
"A-ah, did you fight a lot of wyverns when you were alive?" Mash asks - still a bit pale, but not actively doubled over anymore.
"A few. Father and his other knights had already gotten most of the big dragons by the time I signed up. I had to find some way to match up, so I went and tracked down a few Wyverns." She shrugs. "They're not all that clever, but they're fast and hard to hit - really, a Wyvern's not that much worse than a [Vorpal Bunny]."
…I must have heard wrong.
"...Vorpal Bunny?" Mash asks.
"What, you've never heard of the Vorpal Bunny?" Mordred says with a laugh. "Man, Bors would pitch a fit if he heard that the future generations forgot those things existed."
...I heard correctly!?
"Eh, Master, you're looking a bit pale there. You ok?"
"It's fine, I'm just about to pass out whilst foaming at the mouth, is all." I force out. "More importantly, where do you suppose the towsfolk have gotten off to, Mordred?"
"No, Senpai, passing out while foaming at the mouth is definitely a big problem!"
A/N:
The Vorpal Bunny is just an inside joke among the KotR, according to Tristan.
But then Vorpal Bunnies actually show up in Fate/Labyrinth... Manaka makes a stew out of them. So who fucking knows at this point. Goddamn deep joke lore.
Review Responses:
D. said
Well this was a good info dump, with Subaru analyzing everything he needs to know. And Round 2 is at play as he faces Berserker. Oh ma, Mordrded will be messed up a bit is she realizes who that is.
In fact, did Lancelot purposely turn Modred to a pile of metal and meat BECAUSE of what she did in her life? Also, another question if you don't mind, but is Waver living a good life since he lost his El Melloi title and is living with Grey?
Well, at first he mistook her for Arthur. Because he's crazy. But then he thought, 'there's no way arthur would lose to me, guess i'll kill this fake'.
Waver's doing fine. He's still teaching, he's just not a Lord anymore.
mikelz0426 said:
Is it within Lancelot's bullshizzery to be able to steal other Witch Factors? If yes to all of them then scream like Eric Bloodaxe, if yes but not all tell me which ones aside from Witches Hand. If no then tell my why(ain't nothin' but a heartache).
Theoretically, he can grab any Witch Factor; but he's gotta find a way to grasp it first, so...
IHev9Sun said:
Oh boy, I just realized something. When Barusu meets Kiyohime, are we going to have a repeat of what he went through with Rem?
Will Kiyohime distrust Barusu for his smell and kill him on sight, only for Barusu to end up wooing her by the third time she's killed him?
Speaking of yanderes, can Return by Death be affected by Ereshkigal? If it can, how will the Witch of Envy retaliate?
Not entirely sure what I'm gonna be doing with Kiyo or Eresh yet...
Boyzilla said:
Phew, this chapter helped clear up the mess of the last loop. Maybe less crazy this time, Subaru...? Who am I kidding, something crazy is going to happen anyway!
Glad that it helped. I realized a lot of people were sorta lost, so I figured a recap-type chapter was warranted.