Chapter 38 Do We Have to Fight Too?
"I see, To—"
"My apologies, but if you must refer to me by name, please call me Altos."
Me: "..."
Saber: "..."
Sensing an inexplicable chill emanating from behind him, the golden Saber said nonchalantly, "I see, Miss Altos."
He was a man of his word.
The faint blush on Saber's face hadn't faded, yet she wore an expression of grave resolve. She was truly making it so that no one else could ever touch that "Toria" boundary line for a nickname. It was an absolute, perfect, full-hearted defensive maneuver.
In its place, she had provided the golden Saber with a vocal variation of her alias as her full name.
"...That's a name with good style."
The golden Saber wore a slightly odd, pensive expression, but he quickly set aside whatever he was thinking and moved on.
"Shirou, you too—stop standing by and watching!"
"You were the one who took the lead in answering earlier. You actually could have just stayed silent, Toria..." Shirou whispered back the truth.
Beneath strands of golden hair, Saber's emerald eyes squinted at Shirou in disbelief. That look indicated she was reaching her limit. It was hard to imagine that a Heroic Spirit could drive Saber to such a state with a single verbal bomb, leaving her visibly shaken. Even Hercules was only so-so compared to this!
Shirou patted his cheeks to pull himself together. Steeling his resolve, he stepped back to Saber's side, standing with her as she calmed herself through deep breaths.
"Her name isn't important. Since you've likely received the answer you wanted, Saber, it's our turn to ask: Why did we run into you in this alley? What happened after you encountered the Dead Apostle?"
Topic-switching technique: Reactivated. Without leaving a trace, Shirou swapped the previous farce for a matter he genuinely cared about.
The golden Saber didn't mind the shift. He simply asked back with equal interest, "The fact that we—Ayaka and I—met you on this small path is a marvel in itself. It's not as simple as just something happening to us, right?"
That made sense. If something hadn't happened to both parties, they wouldn't have ducked into the same alley. In a sense, everyone was in the same boat.
Taking a deep breath, Shirou and the golden Saber began to cross-reference the experiences of their respective teams. In less than five minutes of briefing, the big picture became clear to both sides.
"The Snowfield Police Department is a faction in the Holy Grail War? And that Dead Apostle was Assassin's Master... no wonder she reacted so strongly earlier. On the other hand, I'd never heard of the Police Department being involved..."
"Going to a mansion with a Servant, getting ambushed by two Masters' units, neutralizing them, and shaking the tail..."
The golden Saber, whose thought process was exceptionally optimistic, had eyes that lit up. "Now that is an interesting adventure."
The bespectacled girl on his side, however, offered a ruthless critique: "Just how dark is this city!?"
She wasn't wrong. Gunfights in residential ears, military units mobilizing to purge dissent, Dead Apostles running amok, and the occasional complimentary gas explosion or meteor crater. This was Snowfield City. Yet, no one seemed to want to leave—mostly because if they did, they'd probably just end up back in town automatically.
'Can this city truly be saved?' Ayaka sank into deep doubt.
"Coming back to it, you two really are related to the Holy Grail War!" the golden Saber circled back, triumphantly confirming the fact. "Though you don't seem like a typical Master or Servant... where in any Holy Grail War do people have such a close relationship on the very first day?"
'Is this social terrorist going to bring up that awkward subject again?'
With mixed feelings, Shirou parried the attack with a non-committal silence.
The golden Saber was indeed close to the truth, but he ultimately couldn't guess that Shirou and Saber had been living together since the previous Holy Grail War, leading him to a false conclusion. In truth, after exchanging experiences, both Shirou and the golden Saber felt much closer to one another. The intel regarding "two Saber-classes" was no longer something that needed to be guarded with absolute secrecy between them. While they still preferred confidentiality in principle, if Saber's true identity were discovered, Shirou's duo would simply have to concede.
But for now, the man didn't look like he was about to figure it out.
After finishing the recap of recent events, Shirou and the Knight of the Sword fell silent in a tacit understanding. As if they had momentarily run out of topics, the scene turned quiet
without any specific expectation. Sunlight pierced through the gaps in the clouds, casting shimmering spots of light from the spiral sky.
The sunlight slanted down. The golden Saber suddenly spoke:
"—Shall we form an alliance?"
Unexpectedly, Shirou wasn't surprised.
"In this Holy Grail War, winning while acting in isolation is unrealistic."
The Knight of the Sword stepped onto a pile of dusty rubble, his frame leaning diagonally upward. Yet, the dust of the debris didn't seem to touch him at all. Bathed in the sunlight, shimmering like golden scales, he looked like an orator whose words effortlessly dissolved into the hearts of his listeners.
"I am Saber. Currently, I don't have a wish strong enough to entrust to the Grail, but if I must say, I wish to protect Ayaka here during this war."
This was a contract intended to shake the eardrums and the soul, yet sincere without a trace of falsehood:
"With protecting Ayaka as my first priority, I am currently recruiting companions. So—become my partner. We will lend you our strength in return."
There was nothing strange about it, really. It was just a convergence of thoughts. The golden Saber had simply spoken first what Shirou had been thinking at the same time.
Shirou and Saber shared a look. She nodded.
[Doesn't this perfectly align with your expectations, Shirou?]
It wasn't that there was a literal hand pushing him from behind; it was just a feeling. Shirou understood and stepped into the sunlight.
"I had the same intention."
And so, Shirou took the metaphorical die.
"I am Shirou Emiya. I'm acting primarily because I want to be an Ally of Justice. My immediate goals are... saving a girl named Tsubaki, and absolutely crushing the True Archer of this war."
That had happened not long ago. A faker had unhesitatingly stepped into the center of a fake Holy Grail War, exhausting his heart and soul to earn a single chance at survival among the monsters and ghosts. He hadn't completed any goals yet. He hadn't killed any enemies. He had merely left a single "ripple."
Now, those ripples had reached Richard and Ayaka, drastically changing their story, bringing them here, and pushing them to Shirou's side. They, too, would become part of the ripples.
The reversal of the gears was gradually expanding. It was a different kind of intensity compared to the heterogeny of monster Heroic Spirits or the germs of the Pale Rider.
Even Shirou himself hadn't noticed, but it was as if he were declaring to the myriad demons themselves—"We" are going to turn this fake Holy Grail War upside down.
"I'm not anyone special, anyway. But, I look forward to working with you."
Shirou released the die a second time.
Saber and Ayaka became allies. Although it remained to be seen how much utility this would have—since they weren't yet close enough to travel together—symbolically, it meant that the Saber classes of this war were all on Shirou's side. In any matter, taking the first step is the most important.
"Is there anything else you're interested in?" Shirou asked as the dust was settling.
While the golden Saber had asked about Shirou's group's past to trigger the recap, that didn't seem to be his primary interest.
"Are you sure you want me to ask? I feel this setting might not be entirely appropriate anymore..." the golden Saber scratched his braid.
"It's fine," Shirou told him.
"Then, I want to see your true sword."
The golden Saber continued: "The swordsmanship of that blade earlier, while genius to a demonic degree, was not the 'unified sword' that defeated Assassin. What I want to see is 'your sword.' The pure technique that makes me believe it touches the realm of the divine."
Shirou's expression stilled. As expected of a Saber of the three knight classes—he'd been seen through.
Shirou reached out and pulled the Monohoshizao from the ground, tossing it upward with a flick of his fingers. The long blade flipped end over end, tracing a silver spiral with unbelievable casualness. As it reached its apex, it vanished into particles of light.
"...!?"
The bespectacled girl, Ayaka, pulled her confused gaze back from the vanishing blade, only to witness an incredible sight.
In Shirou's hands, somehow already manifested, were two short swords—one black, one white—reflecting the sunlight. In Ayaka's homeland, they didn't distinguish much between knives and swords, but these two implements, rippling with spiritual light, could be described as either. As he gripped them, the aura Shirou projected surged immediately.
Ayaka's mind was filled with a certain description, but she couldn't accurately find the right word.
'Phase two?'
"I'm quite interested in swords myself. But ever since I saw that sword wound, I've been thinking. Even though you are human, your sword... might not necessarily be inferior to mine. Despite being a Saber, I didn't feel the confidence of overwhelming a human in swordsmanship. Don't you think such a situation is interesting and worth a lesson?" the golden Saber said casually.
"...You still haven't let that go?"
"That's why I said it doesn't fit the current atmosphere. I'm self-aware enough for that."
Richard wore a smile of fierce excitement, handing the choice to Shirou.
'Do you want to fight (spar)?'
Shirou weighed the question. They were already allies; logically, there was no need to fight. His muscles would scream in pain, his breathing would want to stop in ragged gasps, and he might feel as miserable as if he were dying—just like when he first started learning magecraft.
Risk.
If summarized by that word, Shirou actually had no need to take it. Choosing not to do it would change nothing. Using a polite refusal to avoid something detrimental to himself was the "correct" way to live a relaxed life, as it wouldn't affect the big picture.
However, that wasn't the case. The opportunity to hone oneself against different Heroic Spirits, to adapt to the Holy Grail War without worrying about a mortal threat, was actually extremely rare. Shirou wanted to become stronger—strong enough to approach his admired goal.
He'd come this far; was there any need to run away now?
Gripping the dual blades straight, ignoring the bespectacled girl's shocked attempt to stop him, Shirou replied with total seriousness:
"I suppose I could."
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