Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 135 of the story!
And before anything, sorry for the delay of the chapter. Everything's okay and fine with me. Had to do some travelling which prevented me from posting the chapter when it was supposed to and even on friday. But nothing happened to me, so you don't have to worry about the writer of this story having suddenly fallen into a wormhole void that warped him out of the planet.
With that said, let's go!
DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
"And this lodge building right here is going to serve as Chaldea's base during your stay!" Siduri told them with a kind smile as she presented the house the chaldeans would be hosted in the near center of Uruk.
The reactions of the group? It varied.
"Eeeeh...
"That house is..."
"Is that even supposed to be an house?"
"No wonder why we're getting it for free."
Having expected at least a modest but comfortable house in the mesopotamian standards, the chaldeans instead got guided to the front of an old and abandoned house that looked more like a slum, their faces ranging from awkwardness to weirded out.
"Unfortunately, many other buildings that could be used are being already occupied to shelter refugees and we're already spending quite the great amount of materials to build new homes for them. So abandoned buildings like this one is what's left as an option." Siduri justified the choice to them. "It used to be a very famous tavern before. Under some adjustments, it can be a fitting place for an embassy, don't you think?"
"If this is really what was left for us as a residence, then I think there's nothing much to do about it." Romani commented, not looking with many enthusiasm to the building. "But you've all heard what Lady Siduri said, guys! Time to get our hands into hard-work!"
" 'Our'? It's easy for you to say." Ritsuka replied in displeasure, knowing well that Romani was probably enjoying the fact he would just lean in his chair and watch them changing and fixing up their new residence.
"If we start now with a break in the middle, I'm sure we can get it done by today yet." Mash said, wanting to be hopeful as she inspected the interior of what would be their embassy. "Luckly, we'll just have to do cleaning mostly, with majority of items and furniture being somewhat salvageable. Now if we only had materials for what needs some remodeling..."
"I think I saw some stores that were selling them a few streets down from here." Ana speaked, having paid attention to the environment of Uruk on their way to the building. "I can go there and get some of the materials for the rebuilding if that's what you want."
"Nice catch, Ana!" Peko told to the servant girl. "How much do you think it will cost?"
"I don't have money." Ana replied without emotion.
"...Oh." Peko's happiness decreased. "So how's it going to be to pay for those materials?"
Meanwhile, Nala looked to be searching for something or someone. "Hmmm, I can't be the only one noticing who's missing here, right?"
Ritsuka instantly noticed it too. "That's right. Where's Merlin?"
As she was moving her head to try and spot the wizard, Nala's foot bumped into something. "Hm?" Looking down next to her, the girl saw a bunch of construction materials pilled up on each other, much to her surprise. "Wha-!? When did these appear all of a sudden!?"
"Now that's truly suspicious." Romani replied before spotting a tablet lying in front of the pile. "Look! It seems it even came with a 'letter'."
Picking it, Nala saw what was written in it from up close. "Uhm?...Ah! It's from Merlin!"
"Really?" Ritsuka said as Nala handed him the tablet for him to read. "What does it say?"
"Dear friends and chaldeans. I know the task you are about to have will most certainly be arduous and of high time consuming. Unfortunately, I have written this message to you to let you know that due to 'unforseen events', I will be unavailable to help you out on the reconstruction of your base. Do not distress about my well-being, as I am okay and will most certainly be done with my own task before the sun settles. Thus, I have conjured the materials for you to utilize during the fixing as the maximum of my aid to you. I am deeply convinced that you are going to put that building shinning like new by the time I return!
Best regards to Master of Chaldea and companions- Merlin"
"So Merlin left you with all of this for the rebuild then?" Siduri said impressed after reading the letter together with the others, showing an happy smile. "How kind and thoughtful of him."
However, the chaldeans and Ana didn't shared the same sentiment, looking sternly and with darken eyes to the message.
"He went to that brothel." Ritsuka said coldly.
"He definetly went." Romani replied in the same way.
"Merlin-san is really lazy." Mash speaked, knowing that the 'unforseen events' were just an excuse for the mage to not having to work.
"Lazy and scummy." Peko added.
"Hope he stumbles on his way there and hits with the head on the ground." Nala wished.
"That's Merlin for you..." Ana said with an accustomed contempt.
"FOU FOU! (A good Merlin is a dead Merlin!)" Fou even went to express his more 'extremist' views on the situation.
"They're so agressive about it!" Siduri reacted in shock, not having foreseen such negative response from the party. Coughing slightly, she composed herself. "Despite of him being here or not to help you, it's for the best if you start fixing the building now if you wished to get it done today. I'll also help you out."
"It's an honour having you to help, Siduri." Ritsuka appreciated that the secretary of Gilgamesh would be helping them out. He then proceeded to face the rest of the group. "Time to roll up the sleeves everyone! We have repairs to do!"
Suzumiya Haruhi OST- Kouchou Kouchou
"First thing to do is to clean the living room first! Here's some brooms for you!" Siduri advised to the group as she handed them brooms to clean the living room and other divisions off the dust.
They made sure to sweep every inch, square meter and corner of the building. Getting rid of the cobwebs.
"And another one down!" Nala said satisfied as she laid the broom down, watching the wall she and Ana had just cleaned sparkling of renovation. "As quick as thun-"
"You missed one there." Ana pointed at a specific spot in the wall that was still dirty.
"No way! Where?" Nala exclaimed in disbilief.
Moving the broken furniture out and cleaning the spaces it occupied previously.
"Nnnghhh-Agh!" In trying to move a stone desk alone, Peko ended up feeling something cracking on his back in pain. "M-My back!"
"Peko!"
"Are you alright?"
Ritsuka and Mash went to check him.
"Y-Yeah. Just a slight adjustment in the back. I'm gonna be fine." Peko responded with a painful smile as a tear was leaking from his eye.
"Those bones of yours are needing some more calcium eh?" Ritsuka said with a small smug.
"Not funny!" Peko replied back with a comedic face of anger.
And then replacing those discarded furnitures with new ones.
"And that table can be put right here!" Siduri instructed to the group as they laid down the table at the center of the living room. Step by step, the embassy was getting with a better new look with some hours in of their remodeling
"Uff! This bring back memories." Ritsuka said as he and the rest finished centering the table in a collective group work.
"But at least it's done." Nala replied with a comfy face and smile. "Now we can all sit down and relax for a bit."
"Not so soon. There's still something missing." Mash told the other girl that their work wasn't done yet.
"Hm? What's still missing then?" Nala questioned, to which Siduri replied by eagerly approaching them, hiding something behind her.
"Decoration!" Siduri revealed, showing them two decorative cloths to the party. "A building can't be complete if it's left bland and with no nice details to complement it, don't you think?"
"On that I can't deny it." Ritsuka responded. "I sure wouldn't mind having some artistic mesopotamian vases in all their original glory here."
Nala however sighed. "Eeeeh, but that means more work..."
"If you can go hours straight into fighting enemies, I think you can also do the same on domestic activity." Peko told to his sister, having a different thinking from her.
"Even so..." Nala pulled a mixed face, knowing that there was no refuting what her brother said.
"No stress! I know that decorating the interior will be worth it in the end. No featurless house is good." Mash said, getting ready to continue with the chore. "Do hand us the items, Siduri-san! We're ready for the second round!"
Now, with the cleaning done, they moved on to the next stage: decorating the building, bringing in carpets, mantels, pieces of cloth, vases and other ceramic products. As that was happening, Da Vinci appeared in her hologram.
"Hi hi guys! Since the task may end up getting you fatigued and turn boring, I, the great genius Leonardo Da Vinci, has decided to comment and teach you on some interesting aspects of the Age of Gods during your working! Prepared for some curious facts of history lesson?"
As Da Vinci begun to tell about the Age of Gods, the party was seeingband putting the decorative vases in the places they would think it looked the most fitting and nicely aesthetic.
"Oh crap!" Ritsuka exclaimed, stretching his own leg as he avoided a falling vase from hitting the ground with his foot. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Clumsly but lucky, the master of humanity gave a few touches on the item as if it was a ball and ended up bringing it close to his hands, grabbing the vase. "Phew! This was too close!" He brushed his hand against his sweaty forehead.
"Thank goodness you caught it." Peko told to Ritsuka. "That thing must have been expensive. Let's make sure to-"
And then a piece of the vase fell off, much to both's shock.
"Ah..."
"Ah..."
"The Age of Gods was believed to have surged around the time the planet itself was created, approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Due to having being born recently and having yet to be formed on the state you know today, laws of logic, science and physics were non-existent concepts at the time and Mystery, or otherwise, Magic, was at the highest during this age. Every concept, every element and phenomenon would be attributed to the power of higher and pure beings of mana that inhabited the Earth at that time: Gods."
"What do you think of these flowers? Do they seem appropriate?" Siduri asked to the girls as they finished putting a bouquet of lavender flowers inside one of the vases.
"They look very pretty!" Nala commented while observing them with Mash and Ana.
"They are indeed. I think they're supposed to be Mesopotamian iris by the looks of it." Mash said as she analyzed the flowers, able to figure what they were.
Mesopotamian iris? So they're natural from here?" Ana asked to the shielder, getting a bit curious.
"Yes. It's one of the most common flower in the entire Middle East, hence the name." Mash answered. "They're usually used for medicinal purposes or even to make perfume by extracting essential oil substance from its rhizomes."
"Wow, Mash! Didn't knew you had a degree in botany." Nala said to her friend, amazed at how much Mash knew from a single group species of flowers.
"The hours reading those books were surely worth it." Mash giggled. "Who knew that knowing every bit of everything could up being so useful?"
Listening to the explanation, Ana gave another look to the flowers. "So that's what they're for..." She murmured, observing the plants with another perspective. If they're purpose for existing was to help others get better, then that must have been the reason why they looked so attractive in her head, enthicing more their appearence. "Yes. They do look pretty that way..."
"Despite the dinosaurs being the predominant species that inhabited the planet during the majority of the Age of Gods, deities basically ruled the world during this period, with many pantheons developing in many areas around the globe, the gods rulling Earth and its civilizations. The existing humans of this Age lived closer and in direct contact with the gods who used to roam around the planet in their physical forms."
Having finished the decoration, the chaldeans and Ana were now rearraging the exterior of their embassy, fixing the walls, windows and entrance, giving it a more recent look as well as adding some banners to demonstrate and represent Chaldea's presence in the city of Uruk as well as to become easier to identify the building amongst all the others.
"And last stake done! You can unhand it now guys!" Ritsuka told to the others as he and the party had just finished giving the final touches on the building's rooftop, having put a blue canopy on the area that connected the rooftop to the interior. The master of humanity had hammered down the stakes into the ceilling's ground.
Testing it, Peko tried to move a bit the stakes his friend had just pierced and hammered, finding not even a bulge of traction from the stake he was holding. "Can confirm! It is greatly stuck on the floor."
Mash, Nala and Ana were also holding the other three stakes from the canopy, having tasted it out.
"Same goes for here." Mash replied as she saw the stake she was holding had been well-put with little to no movement. Same case for Nala and Ana. "I think that's everything! We've ended our embassy's reconstruction!"
"Aaah, finally..." Nala let out a sigh of relief as she leaned her tired body on the wodden stake, letting her feet slide as she sat on the ground. "The view from here at least looks great." She added, looking to the hundreds of house rooftops in front of them, stretching all the way torwards the walls that kept Uruk safe.
"It's almost night already." Peko said, observing the orange sky of the ending afternoon that was now basking the entire city with its last sun rays of the day. "Hard to believe we spent an entire day on this."
"But we got it done." Ritsuka said proudly, putting both hands on his hips while taking in the moment. "It was a day well spent." Saying that, Ritsuka instantly let his body collapse on the ground, tired as well. "And my whole arms and legs thank for it."
"Don't tell me you find fixing buildings harder than saving humanity, master." Mash told him with a perplexed face while Peko just let out a breath of conformity with his friend and leader's attittude.
"No but I'd put it on top ten." Ritsuka replied, relaxing with his lying body.
"Top five for me." Nala gave her own ranking.
"Your two friends look a bit lazy to me." Ana told to both Mash and Peko.
"Usually, they're not. But sometimes they just have one of those days. If you know what I mean." Peko responded to the servant.
"Hmm, yeah. I get it." Ana responded, pretending that she had indeed understood how people usually could be lazy or tired spontaneously at some random days.
From the ground and outside the now renovated lodge building, Siduri had witnessed the chaldeans and Ana setting up the finishing touches, giving a whole new look to what was once an abandoned building before. "Wow, it's amazing! You all did a great job!" She told him from down below, speaking high enough for them to hear from the rooftop.
"Like I said they would." Walking down the street and approaching Siduri from the left, a certain wizard was back.
"Oh Merlin! I see that you're back again." The secretary greeted the other emplyee of Gilgamesh. "How has your day been?"
"Nothing much. Just the everyday same y'know?" Merlin replied as laid-back as ever.
"However, like any age and period, the Age of Gods had to come to an end. As the time went on and the humans became more capable and sentient of the things anc concepts that surrounded them, many begun to master the ability to grasp how to make certain things without the help of the gods as well as starting to rationalize the origin of many concepts that they thought only the gods could perform. The more the humans applied logistics, the more the mystery of magic and the power of the gods diminuished over the passage of time. Progressively, humans became more and more independent of the gods mystical powers to survive despite still venerating them."
"MERLIN!"
From the rooftop, everyone shouted once they spotted the mage down below with the exception of Ana.
Merlin spotted them back, thinking they were happy to see him. "Hey there, guys! Good job you've done with the building! You really got the hand for i-"
"FOU! (Attack him!)" Giving the command, Fou jumped off the rooftop, with Ritsuka, Nala and Peko following suit.
"Time to pay!"
"Time to pay!"
"Time to pay!"
"Hm?" The wizard's eyes expressed a slight surprise as the trio and Fou were about to jump him.
Mash, who stayed on the rooftop, reacted with a perplexed shock, not understanding what exactly was their plan here. "Wait a minute, every-"
Not overreacting or losing his cool, Merlin simply took a step to the side, making the four of them crash into the ground with a strong thump.
"A-Are you okay?!" Siduri looked to the four of them in worry.
"Y...Yeah. All bones are still intact." Ritsuka said, trying to get up with Peko and Nala above them.
"Only bad thing is having someone on top of you..." Peko said painfully as Nala pushed her foot on his cheek.
"I got...pretty hurt too." She told to her brother.
"FOU FOUUUUU! (CURSE YOU MERLIN! I'LL HAVE MY REVENGE!)" Fou shouted in his language while struggling underneath the weight of the three.
"What exactly where all of you thinking?!" Mash said, having descended from the stairs like any normal person would. "Not like the fall would kill you but still..."
"Ahaha, I see that you were so enthusiastic to see me that you couldn't even contain yourselves." Merlin laughed, having liked how they jumped out of the rooftop just to greet him. Or perhaps he was just messing with them.
"You went off to slack while we got the whole day occupied restoring this house." Ana told him in a monotone tone. "Do you really think that we're happy to see-"
"Slacking? Now now, I think we got a bit of a 'misunderstanding' here." Merlin said as he went to pick up something. "I was merely thinking of getting a reward for your hard effort." He ended up showing them a bag full of food to eat.
"Ah..." Ana's eyes flashed with a spark as she stared at the bag. Not only that but the stomach of Ritsuka, Peko and Nala were also giving signs of famine.
"Is he forgiven?" Nala asked, pondering if that made up for Merlin's absence to help them.
"Yes. He is." Ana nodded, begrudgingly accepting the bag as if it was her weakness.
Merlin chuckled for his own part. "Heh, I knew you would end up liking it." He said, offering the bag of food doe them to eat. "Also, I would like to give you some news that it might be of your pleasing: you're about to have special guests tonight."
"Who? King Gilgamesh?" Peko lifted up his head, speaking in high hopes.
"Nah. His Highness hardly leaves the ziggurat, remember?" Merlin shut down that hypothesis.
"Figures..." Peko said more sadly.
"But you're going to meet his 'generals' however." Merlin said, bringing some bit of hope.
"Generals?" Mash raised an eyebrow.
"Oh! You're referring those heroes from the future King Gilgamesh summoned such as yourself?" Siduri looked to Merlin, having an idea of whom he was talking about. "What do you two called them? Heroic Spirits?"
"King Gilgamesh's servants are going to visit us?" Mash exclaimed in surprise.
"They've came back from the Demonic Front some few hours ago and heard about the new visitors that wanted to help the same ruler they're serving." Merlin informed them more on the matter. "Looks like they too want to know you better and see if you're worthy of fighting alongside them."
"That could be a good chance actually! If we get in those servants good graces, we can make them try and convince Gilgamesh to accept our help!" Nala said, already gazing the opportunity.
"Then good thing that we're already got our embassy ready to receive its first guests!" Ritsuka smiled, looking forward to it. "Tonight's dinner is going to be something!"
"Don't worry about cooking for the dinner. You've already done too much for today. I'll handle that." Siduri kindly offered to make the dinner for all of them that night. "I have the dishes and mind and everything!"
"Thank you, Siduri-san." Mash said to Gilgamesh's secretary before looking to the group. "Guess these means we can rest for now until night drops and they arrive. Let's make sure to give them a first good impression of us!" And with the general agreement, the entire party entered what was once and lodge and tavern, now transformed into the chaldeans residence and embassy.
"Not only the Age of Gods went into a progressive decline, certain events that happened across the timeline also quickened the process. One which was around 12,000BC that caused the death of many and the gods unable to inhabit the physical realm with their true bodies, their influence declining and of the humanity growing. At it's twilight period, the mesopotamian pantheon planned and created Gilgamesh, the legendary hero and king of Uruk that would serve as a cornerstone between the gods and humanity in a desperate last attempt to keep their period of fading dominance going and growing back to its glory days. Alas, Gilgamesh choose instead to rebel against the gods and give more freedom to humans, chosing humanity's side, accelerating even more the decline of the Age of Gods, forcing all of them into retreating to the Reverse Side of the World, becoming Divine Spirits. Without Gilgamesh's act of independence, you'd probably still see a few more gods in Mesopotamia besides Ishtar and the other two of the alliance."
And from within their new home they built in the grandious, ancient city of Uruk, the party awaited and prepared for night's fall to receove the guests.
"Thus, Mesopotamia's civilization wasn't only fundamental for humanity's development as an evolutionary species, but also to become full-on independent from the acts of gods and such. While not the final nail in the coffin for this age, it was certainly a significant one. Who could've thought that after millions upon millions of years, the higher beings known as deities would lose their grasp and control on the world and species they used to roam and oversee? It really makes us think about how tiny and small our lives are and the period we're currently living in compared to that of the Age of Gods. Hope you all enjoyed this short lesson from yours truly, Leonardo Da Vinci! Arriverdeci and see you later!"
"WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, MY SOLDIERS! SING! SING WITH ME WHILE BASKING IN THE GLORY OF LORD ARES!"
And the dinner moment with the servants of King Gilgamesh had arrived, the chaldeans welcoming them to their residence. And so far, everything was going great. Maybe a bit too great as one of the three Heroic Spirits that came to visit them, was already getting cheerfuly drunk on ale. He had short vivid red hair, his whole chest exposed, having red lines painted on his skin and across his musculated body. The only thing he was wearing were two golden bracelets around his arms, a spartan looking red skirt tied around his waist, and two golden greaves on his feet and legs. Needless to say that the man was well enthusiastic and cheerful with the dinner.
Ritsuka and the others stared to the servant with a bit of a nervous and awkward smiles, seeing him waving the cup in the air while joyfully singing what was supposed to be songs of war.
"He's really..." Ritsuka tried to find the best adjectives to describe him.
"Stirring." Peko told, having found what he thought to be the most accurate word for the red haired servant.
"Hard to believe he's the one commanding the Demonic Front if he's wasting himself in here like this." Nala commented with a sheepish smile.
"I say to let him be. Commander Leonidas deserves it from the constant weeks of keeping the front intact." Sitting on the dinning table with them, another servant speaked. She was a teen girl, a bit short in height. Her hair was black and short altough with a long pony tail on the back, tied by a yellow ribbon and bird feathers as well as a bun. She wore a small kanmuri on her head between two raccon like ears. She was wearing some parts of clad samurai armour, despite leaving great part of her torso exposed, showing quite the amount of skin on her body. Her blue eyes looked serene but also lively. "It's moments like this where he gets to relax and enjoy himself, you see?"
"Of full agreement, my lord." An older man responded, sitting near the teenage girl. He was wearing a brown headwrap around his head and neck, wearing a simple copper chest plate with a white circular part of marble on the area of his stomach. His arms had were of two gauntlets of the same material, wearing a long dark cloth from the waist down that covered his legs alongside a shorter and ragged yellow cloth. His face already showed traces of his more mature age, having a goatee without mustache. His eyes altough completly blank and lacking iris, seemed compassionate enough to not look eerie. On his back, the third servant carried with them a good number of sharp weapons. "Dinner is a supper that is meant to be enjoyed and taken lightly without having to worry about the dire problems of the present."
Mash smiled to those two servants who were sitting adjacent to them on the table. "I can sense some companionship in that observation of yours, Ushiwakamaru-san and Benkei-san."
Correct. The three Heroic Spirits who had come to dinner with the chaldeans on their embassy as servants of Gilgamesh were:
Leonidas, the famous spartan warrior and king of Sparta from Ancient Greece, famously known around the world for his warrior-like mentality that merged with his competency and skills of a leader. For majority, the apex exemple of what was the spartan culture, with his greatest and most well known feat being on the Battle of Thermopylae where he led his remaining small army of three-hundred spartans against the brutal forces of the persian ruler, Xerxes.
The other two were, Ushiwakamaru, or rather, Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune as her real name, one of the most famous millitar commanders of Japan, having lived during the ending years of the Heian period and the dawn of the Kamakura period. Many battles and duels won under her belt, she was important to restore the honor of the Minamoto clan by defeating and taking down the Taira clan during the Genpei War. Despite the feats, the entire nation perceives her as a tragic figure.
And the third one was Musashibou Benkei, the warrior monk who used to serve Ushiwakamaru during his life. A legend represented as tall and loyal to his lord, Benkei was said to collect the swords and weapons from every warrior that he'd beat in a duel, having one nine-hundred and ninety-nine duels straight. His only lose however, came to the hands of Ushiwakamaru herself, becoming her retainer as the losing condition. Even if imposed on him, Benkei's loyalty for his lord would be worthy of theater plays as a great exemple of loyalty throughout Japan.
All of the trio presented and introduced to the chaldeans from the very start.
"It has been many months of being at a war to defend humanity alongside other heroes from another part of the globe to not know Commander Leonidas well." Ushiwakamaru replied to Mash. "Hopefully, having heard your situation, King Gilgamesh decides to invite you over to his army. We really could need an extra pair of hands to help with the killings of Demonic Beasts near Uruk and to hold the Demonic Front." Smilling happily, she grabbed another cup of ale. "That is why, even if we never heard about you before or our king rejected your help, I'll make sure we come to cooperate torwards the common objective we have!" She exclaimed, swallowing the liquid down on her throat.
"Ushiwakamaru..." Ritsuka murmured while staring at the figure of the hero and favourite historical character he had since he was a young child. "She's..."
"Uhm, Ritsuka? Are you okay there?" Nala asked as she noticed the fixated gaze of his on the samurai warrior.
The adorable face. The fluffy raccoon ears. The way she speaked. For the master of humanity, it was all so- "Cuuuuuute..." He said, a silly and relaxed happy smile appearing on his face. I knew I was right for liking Ushiwakamaru since young, the obscure desire of patting her head intensifying as he were to look at her.
Nala looked at him with a deadpan confused expression, passing a hand in front of Ritsuka's face who remained with the same emotion.
Peko reacted with the same oblivious weirdness at how still Ritsuka's face was. "Has your face become petrified or something?"
"I make Lord Ushiwakamaru words, my own." Benkei told, eyeying the chaldeans. "It would be-"
"You have my full authority to join!" Leonidas shouted, obviously drunk. "I'll hereby make you honorary spartans if you have what it's need!"
"Glad to see that you're also on the same page..." Benkei smiled with a drop of sweat before returning his attentions to the chaldeans. "Like I was saying, it would be great having you joining us. Despite of what King Gilgamesh might have told you and judge you, His Highness also has his own flaws."
"Which are?" Peko asked to the retainer.
"Our own summonings as Heroic Spirits." Benkei replied.
"Uh?" The boy reacted a bit confused as well as the rest.
"Do allow me to explain." Benkei said, willing to vanquish their doubts. "Despite being a wise king that I too recognize His Highness for, King Gilgamesh ended up accidentally summoning me, Lord Ushiwakamaru, Commander Leonidas and other four servants to this era after the initial summoning of Merlin." He revealed. "That's how we came to appear in Mesopotamia. His Highness original intent wasn't truly to summon us, but it ended up being so after experimenting recklessly with the sumoning system in order to better understand it. So our presence here was nothing more but a mere accident from King Gilgamesh's imprudent act."
"So, what Benkei-san is saying is that apart from Merlin-san, none of you were meant to be summoned?" Mash asked to Benkei after hearing the information he shared with them team. "Then King Gilgamesh didn't want help from anyone besides Merlin?"
"Not quite true." Merlin speaked, having listened to the conversation so far while sitting between Ana and Siduri on the table. "Having foreseen Mesopotamia's chaotic collapse, King Gilgamesh planned to summon more Heroic Spirits to aid him defend Uruk indeed. What he wanted however, where servants that were either from Mesopotamia or around a close time-period. He also had originally intended to summon less and one at the time instead of seven in a go. It was still when some of the king's ego still remained burning within him." Merlin smiled amusedly at the memory. "He got a little upset with me for not having explained well the summoning system to him."
"Indeed. It feels reviting seeing how much King Gilgamesh developed and evolved his maturity and skills in the past six months." Siduri said, seeing how that despite the awfulness of the conflict Mesopotamia was in, it made Gilgamesh become a more responsible ruler.
"Of that, I think none of us that are still present to have witnessed that progression can't deny." Ushiwakamaru commented, having finished from drinking from her cup.
Nala picked up a part of what Ushiwakamaru said that she found a bit odd. " 'That are still present'?"
"Yes." Benkei looked to the girl with a sad frown. "For as you can observe, despite having been summoned as seven Heroic Spirits at the time, plus Merlin, making eight the servants who originally served King Gilgamesh, currently in the present time, only the four of us have remained." He said with seriousness but also a hint of lament, putting a sudden silent mood in the living room they were having dinner.
"Remained? Then you're saying that the other half of Heroic Spirits King Gilgamesh summoned are..." Ritsuka didn't completed, not needing to in order to make it clear what he was about to ask them. An answer that came in response of the retainer servant nodding his head, confirming it.
"I see..." Ritsuka replied, a bit head down.
"Their sacrifices weren't for nothing." Disrupting the silence, Leonidas gained everyone attention as his spirits seemingly calmed down, speaking less effusively and more calmly now. "Every single one of them gave their all in order to continue pave the path where we can continue to walk upon and open it ourselves until Uruk, Mesopotamia, and all of humanity gets to be saved. They don't regret having died for this cause, and neither should we."
Merlin closed his eyes, nodding with his head. "I couldn't have put it better myself, Leonidas."
"Whether it was them or us that still remained in here, we all would die having fighting for the rest to proceed." Ushiwakamaru also replied, the spartan king's word bringing a smile to her. "We've already toasted to their honour, so let's make sure to also toast to our victory by the end of this! Be it here in Mesopotamia or at the Throne!"
Benkei stood a bit more silent however. The way his companions and lord cheered themselves up from the others death felt a bit unexpected to him. But thinking to himself, the retainer ended up agreeing that Leonidas was right. "Yes. May they rest in peace as we continue their labour." He said, taking a sip from his cup.
"After those words from Leonidas-san, even myself feel a little better." Mash commented on the spartan servant dialogue skills. "He has some ways with words."
"True." Peko responded. "Now I see why he was able to convince two-hundred and ninety-nine of his men to face an entire army by themselves." The boy moved his head to look at Leonidas...who was back to singing again.
"O Laconia! O thy lush wheat meadows! Embraced in Ares spear..."
"And he's drunk again." A drop of sweat fell from Peko's head.
"However, we do have to admit that the current situation on Mesopotamia is far from good and peaceful as all the cities on the North have been conquered and decimated by the forces of the Three Goddess Alliance." Benkei said, giving his general view on the on-going war. "Even with our collective effort and King Gilgamesh's wiseness and sagacity that he earned throughout this six months, things will be doomed for us if we do not turn the tide."
"As long as they have those two generals of theirs, things are bound to be complicated." Ushiwakamaru continued the talk. "Bringing them down would give us a lot more room to breath and weaken their army a lot."
"We've already heard about these 'generals' of the Three Goddess Alliance being mentioned before." Ritsuka replied, this not being the first time he and the chaldeans were hearing about the generals of the enemy. "Who are they exactly?"
"The alliance strongest soldiers. It used to be three originally, but thanks to the efforts of one of our fallen comrades, one of them went down." Merlin responded to Ritsuka. "Also, you've already met one of the two generals already. I'm sure you know who they are."
"That fake Enkidu." Nala responded, having guessed it correctly. "They did mentioned they now worked on the goddess side and opposed humanity."
"A bit hard to believe such renowned mesopotamian hero like them would turn out like that." Mash said, remembering of their confrontation in the Cedar Forest. "Even if in the epic, they were originally meant to be a tool in the favour of the gods, Enkidu ended up meeting Gilgamesh and form a close friendship with him, getting on the humans side."
"I know that feeling." Siduri said, sorrowfuly. "Having accompanied King Gilgamesh since we were both young, I also witnessed his friendship with Enkidu from up close. Despite their artificial nature, they were kind, compassive, understanding. Enkidu loved the human nature as all the other living things in this world. They'd even prefer dying than betraying the homeland that shaped their identity." She put her hands tightly together, her chest hurting a bit once her mind went back to that moment she first heard the information that 'Enkidu' was now one of their enemies destroying Mesopotamia. "Which is why, I, King Gilgamesh and everyone here in Uruk, those who knew them, believe that this Enkidu who's going around is nothing more but a sick joke of an impostor trying to sully their good name!"
"So King Gilgamesh himself knows there is a 'copy' of his best friend going around Mesopotamia destroying cities left and right? Doesn't that disturbs him in some capacity?" Peko asked, thinking that hearing the news of a person who was once dear and close to him coming back to life but as a total opposite of everything they were before.
"Contrary to what you'd expect, King Gilgamesh himself doesn't feel perturbed at all by Fake Enkidu's existance." Merlin told to the boy and the rest. "Also, due to never to rarely leaving the ziggurat, His Highness has yet to meet them eye to eye. Whether that might be a main reason why King Gilgamesh doesn't leave his palace or not, is up to your interpretation."
"If one of the two generals is Fake Enkidu, who is the other one?" Mash made the other question, wanting to see if they knew the second one's identity as well. "Are they also from Mesopotamia as well?" She asked while Leonidas, in his hald drunken state, gave a rough stare to Ana, feeling if he was seeing it right as the servant girl just tried her best to ignore him.
"Yes. The other general is also from Mesopotamia." Siduri confirmed. "Altough, not exactly from the same time period as us. If anything, he is a true 'betrayer' to this land."
"A betrayer?" Peko replied, addled.
"He's crazy strong too. Between him and that Fake Enkidu, I'd say he's only a level or two below." Ushiwakamaru speaked more on that general as well.
"Normally, he uses to conduct the assaults of the Demonic Beasts on the Demonic Front from time to time." Benkei revealed. "Commander Leonidas and others of our fallen companions have halted him before. But he's an Heroic Spirit that alongside Fake Enkidu, brings true terror and a sense of inevitable defeat. The ace cards of the Three Goddess Alliance."
"Defeating that servant and Fake Enkidu must be a top priority if you want to bring the Alliance down then." Ritsuka said, he and the others already having the idea that if they wanted to bring the Three Goddess Alliance down, the generals would also need to be defeated.
"It is, altough right now, we have yet to come up with methods on how to do it." Merlin told to Ritsuka, grabbing up his staff ang proceeding to getting up from the table. "But as of this moment, our top priority is more of keeping Uruk's people save and make sure their lives continue on living at peace, just as King Gilgamesh wanted."
"Where are you going, Merlin-san?" Mash asked as she and the others all saw Merlin heading torwards the exit of the building.
"Have some business to attend to." Merlin said, stopping at the exit and turning around to look at them. "You should also rest to, as it has been a long day for you ever since you arrived to Uruk. Children shouldn't be awake this late in the night." The wizard smile with the advice.
"Who are you calling chil-" Nala tried to protest before ending up yawning. "D-Damn...Lucky you that I am indeed feeling sleepy now."
"Speaking about it, I think we're on our leave as well." Ushiwakamaru also decided to put an end on her stay at the dinner. "Gotta return to duty and make sure to kill any hostile monsters that can be roaming outside the city's walls.
"Then allow me to aid you on that job, my lord." Benkei said, being the loyal retainer that he was. "Maybe tonight might be the night were I'll end up killing more creatures than you."
"A challenge at this time of the day, Bekei?" Ushiwakamaru said with a curious gaze before smirking. "Eh, then let's have some fun with it! I'll be decapitating seventy heads this time!" She stated with a more sinister smile.
Ritsuka felt a chill down his spine. "Okay! Maybe she's also not only cuteness after all."
"Hm hm! This was of good food and beverage indeed! My strenghten has been restocked once more to fight alongside my brothers!" Leonidas exclaimed, slamming the cup down on the table, loads of energy to keep with his duty.
"If you four are on leave then do make sure to be save. Uruk and Mesopotamia's future is depending very much on you." Siduri politely gave them goodbye as well as request to keep on fighting while being nice and sound. "Please, don't let King Gilgamesh down."
"Not counting on that, Siduri." Merlin said gently to the woman before giving one last look to the chaldeans for the night before walking away with the other three servants. "This is now your new home and base of operations in this Singularity, Chaldea. Make sure to do as King Gilgamesh intends and help the people of Uruk getting happier. May your dreams be pleasantful. By the looks of it, it seems one is already having them."
"Huh?" Staring to where Merlin was staring, Ritsuka saw Ana with her head and arms over the table and eyes closed, snooring softly. "She's...asleep?"
"That's weird. If she's an Heroic Spirit, then why is Ana sleeping?" Peko said, observing her. "Herois Spirits don't generally feel tired or in need of sleep."
"Perhaps she's just pretending in order to not speak with us?" Nala pondered before grabbing her own cup and about to spill the drink on the servant's head. "Let's find out!"
"You can't seriously be this obtuse!" Peko exclaimed, apalled at how Nala couldn't see that Ana was in fact sleeping.
"Hehehe, nah, I think she was just feeling tired overall." Merlin replied joyfully. "Altough I wouldn't blame you for thinking she wants to just ignore entering into conversations. You've already figured out she isn't the most social of servants here. Civilization, interactions, humans. It all makes her a bit afraid."
"Afraid? You think Ana's afraid of humans?" Mash replied to Merlin, trying to see why he claimed that to be the case. But given how Ana seemed reluctant to speak with them first as well as expressing her displeasure in having to go to Uruk, it made the shielder analyze the situation from that perspective. "Perhaps that isn't entirely off-mark."
"Being scared or not of them, that would make you the only humans who she maybe might not be scared of to the point of even sticking with you. Wouldn't that be considered a sort of special case?" Merlin wondered to the chaldeans with a sly smile.
"You have to be full of second implications and hidden meanings, don't you?" Nala replied to the wizard, judging by that smile of his.
"My words can only have second implications and hidden meanings if the people who hear them chose to interpret that way, young lady." Merlin laughed lightly, winking at her. "See you all tomorrow! Have a good night!" He exclaimed, leaving the building alongside the other three.
"He's really as playful and enigmatic as we've heard he would be." Ritsuka commented on Merlin's behaviour.
"Yeah. Talk about a-*yawn*." Peko was interrupted by a yawn of his own.
Siduri kindly put a hand on his shoulder. "Merlin is right. You all seem pretty tired today. Go take some rest." She also adviced them the same thing. "Tomorrow morning, I'll tell you what to do."
"Can't we know now?" Ritsuka asked to Gilgamesh's secretary.
"No. Better if you just relax for the night." Siduri smiled to him. "The assignment of your first tasks will be received to you by morning. But for now, do get some sleep, will you?"
Hearing her sweet voice of assurance and friendliness, Ritsuka ended up following what she and Merlin said. "Okay. We're going to sleep then." He said, picking up the slumbering Ana. "See ya tomorrow, Siduri!"
And with that, the chaldeans went all to sleep under the roof of their embassy, spending their very first night of what would be a long stay in Uruk.
"Master! Peko! Nala! Ana! We received a letter from Siduri-san!"
Mash exclaimed to everyone in the building, having spotted a tablet left at their residence's entrance at the early hours of dawn, picking it up. Not even taking breakfast, all the four exited from their bedrooms, heading torwards the shielder.
"Our very first assignment! It's here!" Nala exclaimed eagerly.
"What does it say?" Ritsuka asked to Mash who read its content.
"Says that we have to help a farmer by the name of Mister Limmat in protecting and shearing his sheeps." Mash read out loud to them.
"If we have to protect his sheeps, then it means his farm must be somewhere outside the walls of Uruk and a zone suspected to have Demonic Beasts attack." Peko said, intrigued with it. "Sounds like an average first task for us."
"If we want to have Gilgamesh's approval, we will need to get the people's approval first." Ritsuka speaked, already guessing that their next days would be full of these kind of chores. Despite that, he was motivated for that. "This person and many other people here at Uruk are with problems that need to be resolved. And they need our help for that! So what do you say, guys? Ready to make Uruk a better place for everyone?"
As he finished saying that, the team and Ana, all made their way to encounter the poor citizen who would be the first individual of Uruk they would help out. But even with the task completed, a satisfied and grateful Mister Limmat and saved sheeps, the assignments that Siduri would send them were far from over.
They had to make a great positive impact on Uruk and its society if they ever wanted to get Gilgamesh's attention, and for that only an assignement or day of good deeds wouldn't suffice. Thus, on the next two weeks, the chaldeans and Ana got busy helping out every citizen in Uruk that was having problems and Siduri would send them the task.
Be it having to help crop out the fields of wheat of the farmers.
"Uff! That's at least a third of the crop done!" Nala said after using her sword and powers to crop major part of the wheat fields quicker.
"Now only two thirds remain." Peko said, sweating a bit. "It will be worth it in the end. I'm sure of it!" Wanting to sound optimistic, Peko then proceeded to give a side-glance to Merlin who was present in the field but instead of helping them out, was slacking and flirting with a random woman farmer.
"Hahaha! No way! You can really do that?"
"I'm a man full of mysteries, my dear."
"Altough he could help us out a bit..."
Protect some roads of Uruk from bandit attacks.
"We got all of you now! No more stealing from the people!" Mash said as she and Ritsuka had finished rounding up all the criminals of a thief guild that was stealing from Uruk's citizens as of late.
"Now tell us who's your leader? Which one of you is Abshur?"
"He's Abshur."
"No, I'm not! You're Abshur!"
"If you're not Abshur then he's Abshur!"
"What the hell are you two talking about!? Clearly one of you is Abshur!"
"That's what Abshur likes to say!"
Ritsuka and Mash both stared awkwardly to the guild of thiefs who were now accusing one another from being their actual leaders.
"We better just hand them to the royal guards..."
"Yeah."
Discovering and investigating unusual secrets of evil plots.
"A possible afair of Mister Kissinamuh's wife?" Benkei said curious, peeking at the tablet on Ritsuka's hands.
"We know that man. Poor guy really thinks his wife is up to something." Ushiwakamaru also said, she and Benkei having visited the embassy as they had been tasked to supervise Uruk that day. "I think we can join you up on this one and end with this charade once and for all. Put his mind at peace to rest."
"So you're both joining us?" Peko asked to both servants.
"Yes we are!" Ushiwakamaru confirmed, enthusiastic.
"Both your help will be appreciated, Ushiwakamaru-san. Benkei-san." Mash told to the two. "Whatever waits for us, I'm sure with you two helping, we can bring whatever is the problem down."
"Let's do that man's wife a visit and end with this novela once and for all!" Nala said, she and the party expecting it wouldn't be nothing of special besides a possible romantic betrayal.
However, the situation took some astronomical and comical turns to the absurd as they soon found out themselves in the middle of a grand scheme of underground mythological creatures, Yohimen, that planned to conquer Uruk and the surface world, ending up having a climatic battle at the center of a subterranean volcano full of lava underneath the city.
Thankfully, the day was saved and the our heroes laughed into the sunset...scorched, but alive.
Or simply helping the most elderly being happier.
"Oh, you there, young lady. Care to help this poor old woman?"
"Hum? What is it?"
Roaming the streets of Uruk alone and by herself to see if she could detect any criminal activity or a citizen in need of dire help, Ana ended up being called by an old lady that was sitting amongst vases of flowers, getting her attention.
"Tell me, young lady. What do you think of these flowers?" The old lady asked to Ana, who gave a look at all the plants and variety of flowers the old lady had.
"They all do look very beautiful, miss. By their aspect, you seem to take care of them well." Ana gave her opinion, seeing how well watered they all looked.
"I see. Another question if you allow me, young lady." The old woman said gently to Ana. "Which one of these flowers, is your favourite?"
"Which one?" Ana repeated lowly, staring to each individual flower now. But the one that caught her gaze, was the one she had seen before days ago: Iris mesopotamica. Its appearence had already pleased the girl when she first learned about it for the first time. So her choice became obvious now, pointing to that specific flower. "That one there."
"Oh? This one? My, I'd say it is quite the interesting choice." The old lady smiled as she grabbed one of the Iris mesopotamica. "But it is an understandable choice, After all, it looks very charming and delightful. It were also my favourites when I used to be younger." She smiled to Ana with some nostalgia. "Young lady, could you please take off your hood for a moment?"
"Uh?" Initially confused, Ana hesitated for a bit. She didn't liked showing her face around others. But seeing how sweet and harmless this old lady looked, she ended up complying. "Okay." She said, taking the hood down and showing her face in full display.
Kindly, the old lady approached Ana and with agile hands, placed one Iris mesopotamica on the servant's hair, much to Ana's surprise. "Done. A nice little gift to you, my child."
"The lady is giving me a flower for free? Why?" Ana asked to the old lady.
"I've seen you roaming around these streets alone before." The old lady revealed to the servant. "Seeing such beautiful girl with a stoic face as if she didn't had anything to smile about in her life made me sad. It makes me think that whatever type of upbringing the young lady must have had, certainly wasn't an easy or good one."
"..." Ana remained silent, preferring not to speak on that.
"So I thought, that maybe by offering a gift in the form of a flower, it could make your day feel a little brighter than all the others." The old lady explained, being an act of generosity torwards her. "Also, no one has really the time to buy flowers anymore has things are right now. Better give them away than to let them rot in waste..." The old lady lowered down her head, giggling to herself. "Heh, sorry if I ended up bothering you by sounding pitiful. Honestly, no one should have to withstand the baseless daydreams of an old wo-"
"No. You're right."
"Hm?"
"This flower..." Moving her hand, Ana softly passed her fingers on its petals, giving a serene smile to the old woman. "It does makes me happy. Thank you."
"..." Speechless, the old lady didn't respond as Ana grabbed her hands.
"Thus, I think I should repay you back for the kindness." Ana said, still smilling to the old lady. "All those flowers? I'll help you out selling them."
And so, two weeks had past since the chaldeans ever first assignement. By now, more were the people who knew of their deeds and great feats. At that point, there wasn't a single soul in Uruk that did not know the recent famous figures of Chaldea, always willing to help them out, with the compliments and opinions about them being overwhelmingly positive. They went from literal unknown strangers in the city to very well liked group that was greeted everytime they were seen in the streets. It could not be denied that with their presence, the city breathed more freely.
The chaldeans themselves knew if they'd kept up like this, in no time, Gilgamesh could not be forced to ignore them any longer, whether by the people's mouth or Siduri's praises to their efforts. But for now, they had to continue taking in the assignments. And the one for that day, was a bit more special: going to attend a training session of Leonidas and some of the soldiers.
With the training camps localized on some barracks to the eastern side of outside Uruk's walls, the party walked on their way there on foot with the company of Ushiwakamaru and Benkei once again. To make up for the time on their way there walking, Ushiwakamaru and Benkei were talking about other important topics that concerned Gilgamesh to the chaldeans.
"While Commander Leonidas is holding back majority of the Three Goddess Alliance forces up north with the Demonic Front, His Highness and we still have yet to fully understand the anomaly that's transpiring on the South with all that mysterious jungle." Benkei told them about the other big problem they were facing on this conflict. "If the theory about the jungle in the South being the territory of another goddess of the alliance in the same way that the North is territory of the Goddess of Demonic Beasts, then it will be only a matter of time until we also get attacked from the South and basically surrounded by the enemy."
"We pretty much are already." Ushiwakamaru said. "Goddess Ishtar's aerial attacks to Uruk from the Zagros Mountains on a weekly basis does not help as well."
"Why doesn't King Gilgamesh sent recognition troops to the jungle and the Zagros to at least find a solution to halt those problems in the meantime?" Ritsuka asked to the two servants, able to fathom that the king of Uruk just would sit there and let problems happen.
"Oh, do not get His Highness wrong. King Gilgamesh has for sure sent a lot of exploration and recognition troops to the jungle in order to at least comprehend how did it appeared so suddenly." Benkei responded to Ritsuka.
"Unfortunately, has many of the troops His Highness would sent there to investigate, none of them returned." Ushiwakamaru shared the distressing reveal to the chaldeans and Ana. "So eventually, it was only logical that King Gilgamesh stopped sending troops there to just presumably die. As for the case with Ishtar, His Highness himself believes that she's not of majorily concern, opting to just leave her be for the meantime."
"Then King Gilgamesh is at an impasse on the jungle's issue." Mash replied, seeing how the situation wasn't easy for them.
"With matters as critical as those ones plus the administration of Uruk, King Gilgamesh must have almost no rest at all. I wonder how he can handle that much pressure on his back..." Peko said, lowering his head and staring to the ground as his mind got pensive. "Maybe he hardly has time to even analyze the document. But still, it has been two weeks already." Glimmers of insatisfaction appeared on Peko's face.
Ana, who was silently walking behind Peko, noticed that, but decided not to comment.
Nala also ended up noticing how her brother was looking a bit lost in thought. "Is everything alright, Peko?" She asked him, resulting in the boy coming back to real world.
"Yeah, I am. Just daydreaming and all that." Peko responded by putting on a smile, apparently showing things were fine with him.
Nala chose to believe him. "If you say so." She then turned around to Ushiwakamaru and Benkei. "By the way, since the resistance of the Demonic Front is important, why the servant that is supposed to command its operation here in Uruk? Isn't that kinda risky to do? What if the front falls during his absence?"
"Something tells me there was a reason why Leonidas was allowed to be here in Uruk, Nala." Romani speaked, appearing on his hologram. "He just wouldn't abandon the spot if either Leonidas himself or King Gilgamesh found a justifiable reason for it. From what I can observe on the map, it appears that the Tigris river got a recent flood, halting huge part of the Demonic Beast army from assaulting the Demonic Front, giving it and its troops some days of respite from the battle."
"A flooding on the Tigris river? Hmm, judging by the temperature and clime Mesopotamia is currently in, we should be on the time were the rivers suffer from floods indeed." Mash speaked, pondering an hypothesis after what Romani told. "Could it be that King Leonidas used this specific time of the year to his and the Demonic Front's advantage?"
"He sure did!" Ushiwakamaru replied. "You caught up on that detail fast even. Commander Leonidas planned on this seasonal opportunity for some good months, wanting to lead the waves of enemies into an eventually flooding trap. Noticing how majority of the Demonic Beasts that headed to the Demonic Front did so by running nearby the river, he ordered some of the soldiers to built a fake settlement on the other side of the Tigris the day before the flooding season started."
"Therefore, the Demonic Beasts diverted their path to the Demonic Front and focused on only heading to the fake settlement on the other side. Jump a day forward, and the river flooded, with many of the creatures dying by drowning or unable to return back to their original path." Benkei concluded. "Thanks to that thinking strategy of Commander Leonidas, very few Demoni Beasts have shown up yesterday and today, their amounted strenght being basically useless."
"And now Leonidas is taking that opportunity to train some of his men." Ritsuka replied, putting a thumb on his chin. "That wasn't badly thought."
"It was actually pretty genius of him." Romani speaked, putting it in a better way. "Using the environment itself and the conditions it gives us to our advantage is something only great leaders and war startegists like him can accomplish!"
"And speaking about the man himself." Peko said, eyeying Leonidas in the distance training and testing his soldiers on the trainning barracks, the party having finally arrived to the area. "There he is! Leonidas!"
"Leonidas! We're here!" Ritsuka also shouted out, making him and the party present to the spartan king and his soldiers.
"Ah ah! It's great to see you again, my chaldean friends!" Leonidas shouted back with emotion, now wearing a spartan helmet that covered his face as well as spear and shield on his two arms a long red cape and a black thong instead of the red spartan skirt. "By the gods, it is an honour that you've come!" Effusively, Leonidas didn't hold himself back and gave a huge bear hug on Ritsuka, being the one who was at the most front of the group.
"H-HEY!" Ritsuka said as he was caught off guard and startled, feeling the bones on his back crack under the pressure of the spartan's strong arms. Everyone of the party reacted with faces of shock and startlement as well, seeing the master of humanity struggle before almost feeling his soul leaving the body with that hug.
"Oh, sorry 'bout that. My apologies." Leonidas said in earnest as he put Ritsuka back to the ground, patting him on the back. "I hope I didn't caused some injury in you."
"Already...suffered worse..!" Ritsuka said, adjusting the bones of his back to their position, thinking that it at least wasn't as worse as getting hit by a cannonball.
"Great! Then that means you're ready for the task I have in store for you." Leonidas said.
"Since we are basically in an area of trainning ground, I assume you called us here to do some trainning. Am I right?" Peko asked to the spartan king.
"Yes you are, boy!" Leonidas responded enthusiastic, a line of soldiers behind him. "Do you see this line of men on my back? Every single one of these one-hundred individuals is a trainee of mine that I want you to sparr with in mock battles!" The servant revealed the why for his invitation of the chaldeans.
"Hm, a training session against one-hundred soldiers? Not bad, not bad." Ushiwakamaru drew out her sword. "I think I'm gonna enjoy t-"
"The training isn't meant for you, Lady Ushiwakamaru and Lord Benkei. I only want the chaldeans and that small servant testing my soldiers if you will." Leonidas interrupted the samurai teen, stating how she and her retainer aren't supposed to participate.
"Well, that sucks..." Ushiwakamaru stashed her sword back, having truly looked forward to it for a moment.
"Do not feel bad, my lord." Benkei tried to cheer her up. "I know more challenges and opportunities to get her blood pumping will appear in the future."
"Any reason why you only want them to test your soldiers out in specific?" Romani asked to Leonidas.
"Of course there is! It's called, 'Body Fitness'!" Leonidas said with masculinity.
"Body...Fitness." Romani said with an oblivious deadpan face.
"Yes! We spartans were leactured since an early age that having the apex of a physical form is fundamental to increase the chances of victory in battle! The healthier, the fittier, the stronger!" Leonidas replied, speaking for self experience as he put a hand on Ritsuka's shoulder. "Per exemple, our boy master from Chaldea here! I know you could benefit from having more muscles."
Ritsuka gave him a sheepish smile. "T-Thanks, but I already do excercise almost every day!"
"Hmmm..." Skeptic, Leonidas analyzed Rtisuka's arms. "I admit, they do have some musculature to them. But this is nothing more but mere inferior athenian muscle. If you truly want strenght and body fit of a god, you have to aim higher! You'll have to embody the true spirit of a spartan! More push-ups! More sprints! More abdominals! More weight-lifting! Your body has to be all muscle!"
"E...eeh..." Ritsuka just stared at the euphoric spartan king with a speechless and trembling smile.
"I'm starting to think his true passion was to be a gym owner." Nala commented, seeing how over-the-top Leonidas was being with this.
"Hence why, I want you to be the first one to challenge one of the trainees." Leonidas told to Ritsuka. "It will be a fruitful experience not only for him, but for you as well."
"I wouldn't be a good example for declining, would I?" Ritsuka said.
"It'd surely bring the army's morale down." Leonidas replied.
"Then I accept fully." Ritsuka said in a deep breath.
"Aha! That's the spirit!" Leonidas patted Ritsuka strongly in the back. "A spartan spirit!"
"Oh boy..." Ritsuka said, wondering about the fight he was about to take. While he against a servant would never be able to win in a fight, a normal human like him or something around that was already another topic.
"It seems it only leaves us with cheering him now." Romani speaked before coughing a bit. "Go get 'em, Fujimaru! Make him eat your fists!"
"We know you got this, Ritsuka!" Peko also went to support him.
"Remember what I've told you on that videogame: Left,Right,Right,Left, Upper-Kick, Jab and Round House Kick!" Nala instructed him, fully believing that Ritsuka could pull that off easily.
"Give your best, master! We believe in you!" Mash cheered for him.
"FOU! FOU!"
"..." Ana stood silent. "I have to support as well?"
Both Ushiwakamaru and Benkei stood back, hoping to see some battle worthy of attention, with Leonidas also watching with expectation.
Moving and warming up his fingers and hands a bit, Ritsuka prepared to fight with his bare fists as he watched one of the trainees stepping up, ready to fight him as well. "Okay, Ritsuka! You either amaze them or become the world's most ancient embaressment!"
And the brawl battle begun, revealing itself to be quite interesting and close, with Ritsuka and the trainee going hands on each other altough also knowing when to retreat and block instead of just attacking. If this was a Ritsuka that didn't joined Chaldea, he would barely have any chances of winning. But under his time with the organization during this year and a half period, the master of humanity became quite the good fighter when it came to normal fights against typically normal enemies. Hence why he was now being able to go toe to toe with a soldier that altough a novice, was having spartan like training from Leonidas.
Being currently on the defensive, Ritsuka was able to block some of the blows of the opponent, doing even a dodge roll from the foe's kick, gaining quite the enthusiastic reaction from the public.
"You're doing amazing, master! Keep going!" Mash yelled to him with support while Nala herself was moving her body in the way a boxing fighter would, predicting and counseling Ritsuka on what to do next.
"Keep on, Ritsuka! You're wearing him down!" Peko exclaimed, happy in seeing his friend doing well in the fight.
"I do not understand." Ana told to herself as she saw the three of them being so supportive of Ritsuka, not comprehending why. "Why are you cheering on him so much when he's a mere human? Wouldn't any of you calmly win this battle and way faster than he would? In a way, wouldn't that even look bad on him? As in that you're only supporting him out of pity?"
"They're supporting him because of their bond." Romani responded to the servant, having heard her talk
"A bond you say?" Ana replied.
"Bonds are very incredible things, y'know? You can do loads of stuff with them." Romani told her while gazing at Ritsuka fighting. "Have friends, get allies, a family, people for life and etc. In return, those people will help you out in hard times where you're going to need their support. They're not cheering him up for pity or because they're reluctant Fujimaru cannot win. They're doing it because they fully believe he can win."
As soon as Romani ended saying that, Ritsuka landed a hard blow on the soldoer's face, stunning him. Needless to say that his group got even more animated.
"Nice punch, master! Keep on doing it!" Mash told to Ritsuka with joy next to Peko and Nala.
"It's very much like the bond between a master and servant. In order to work to be able to function and fight properly, a servant needs to believe that their master is able to back them up all the way till the end." Romani compared the situation with one where Ana could easily see herself in.
"Between a master and servant you say?" Ana replied, her reflective eyes sligjtly covered by the hood as she continued to stare at Ritsuka fighting. "That's what a servant is meant to be? Having a person or group close to them in order to fight?"
"Well, it isn't an obligatory term but it is very essential when an Heroic Spirit is summoned as a servant." Romani told her. "A master and servant's bond that is built on trust and reliability will always be more proficient to work. You speak as if it was new to you."
"Because it is." Ana told to the doctor. "When I was summoned as a lone Heroic Spirit in the Cedar Forest and before Merlin appeared, I knew nothing about being a servant, having to consume the souls of the Demonic Beasts I'd kill to survive. Anything beyond that wasn't a concept to me. I just thought my life as a servant was to be the same as my previous one." She slightly lowered down her head. "Of a monster."
"Yah!" Delivering a clean upper hook to the chin, Ritsuka managed to knock down the trainee soldier, defeating him after a close combat. As soon as his opponent hit his entire body on the ground, his companions went up to him to celebrate in cheers as the entire training camp bursted into applauses and enthusiastic screams.
"You did great, Ritsuka! That was a nice finishing move from you!" Peko told to him. "If you ever had a Noble Phantasm of your own, that punch could be it!"
"Ehehe, see? I told you you had this in the pocket!" Nala giggled as she jumped on Ritsuka, hugging him from behind.
"Are your hands alright, master?" Mash asked to Ritsuka, wanting to see the state of his hands.
"They are, Mash. Just a bit worn out, eheh." He told to the shielder, letting her grab and see how his hands now were with some scratched and a bit dirty from dust and earth.
Sighing, Mash shook her head. Still, she was smilling. "You have to finish faster next time to make sure your hands don't get like that, master. Will you?"
A bit surprised from Mash's request, Ritsuka chuckled shyly as he rubbed his hand on the back of his head, blushing "S-Sure thing, Mash."
Leonidas stared at him with pride, liking what he saw while standing next to Ushiwakamari and Benkei.
Meanwhile, also being happu for his win, Romani comtinued to talk with Ana. "Then why don't you form a contract with him? If there's one thing Fujimaru is good at, is forming bonds with servants he does contracts with."
"Not interested." Ana replied in an instant. "At the moment, I am basically contracted with Merlin and I have no desire to be possibly fooled by anyone else, no matter how good or trusting Ritsuka can be." She moved her head away from the chaldeans celebration. "Why would even someone like me wants to help out humanity? My only interest in here is with the Three Goddess Alliance."
Having said that, her ears however couldn't stop from listening to the happy noises of the chaldeans commemoration, poking her eyes to peek at them again. Whatever it was, seeing them so close and united to each other, made the servant feel something, provoking some emotions deep inside Ana. Perhaps, she didn't want to be as alone as she wanted the others and herself to believe in.
"Or that's the way I think..."
To be continued
And that was it for chapter 135!
Leonidas, Ushiwakamaru and Benkei are finally here! And while I obvious like the first two more than Benkei, he's also a nice character to have in the story, complimenting Ushiwakamaru.
Like I mentioned before, one of the things that made me appreciate more the Babylonia anime adaptation than the Camelot movie duology was on how the plot didn't felt rushed or having to cut characters out during its run. Per example, altough that yeah, the assignments the chaldeans get along the weeks are basically shorten out and fast-forwarded in the anime, it still felt nice seeing them help out Uruk's people since it was a fundamental part to get Gilgamesh's approval. I think the anime did a good job on adapting on an almost 1:1 pacing of the Singularity in the game. Compared that to the Camelot movies were some characters and scenes had to be taken out due to time constraints.
Like, as much as I know many people probably wouldn't mind if Benkei and Taiga (Jaguar Warrior) were left out of the anime, I wouldn't feel right about it. Their presence there still adds something to the story even if not with the same importance of a Merlin and Gilgamesh. And in my defense, yes I know I cut out Elizabeth, Stheno and Tamamo Cat from my adaptation of Septem but first: They were just cameos that appeared randomly for just one section and added nothing to the Singularity. And second: It's Septem.
So this chapter served more to show the chaldeans adapting to the livelihood of Uruk, to introduce the trio of Gilgamesh's servants, explore a bit about Ana and give a brief outlook into Uruk's society.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 136! Peace!
P.S:
Ritsuka(whispering): Psst! Hey Kadoc-senpai! Kadoc-senpai!
Kadoc(Annoyed): What do you want? Also, since when did you started to calling me 'senpai'?
Ritsuka(smilling brightly): I want you to make part of our newest project.
Kadoc: Project? What project?
(Scene proceeds to show Ritsuka at the bottom of a human ladder composed of him, Mash, Peko and Nala)
The four of them: OUR MAXIMUM PERFECT WAR MACHINE OF COMBAT: R.M.P.N!
Kadoc(bewildered): Do you have any idea how unorthodox that looks?!