209Hi all, it's a me back with a side chapter that takes place during the last chapter but focusing on the characters that aren't EMIYA or Astraea.
Enjoy
Chapter 16.5: From their eyes
Moments just after Archer left the Astraea Familia home, the ladies of justice continued on with their breakfast. Thankfully, or unfortunately for some, Archer had done most of the clean up already leaving them only with their plates and cutlery to be cleaned.
The ladies themselves were busy discussing among themselves about what the plan for the day was and who would be patrolling where. However among them one singular individual wasn't paying too much attention to the others, instead opting to eat away unhappily.
"Just how much longer are you going to be sulking like that Kaguya?" Lyra asked. Over the years she and the others had known the ex-Far-eastern noble they had seen her when she was in a bad mood and it usually wasn't pretty when she got into such a mood. But never before had anyone in the Familia seen Kaguya like this before. "You know you can't be behaving like this all day,"
"..." She gave no reply to the pallum, only keeping her silence. Her attitude was really starting to get on Lyra's nerves.
Everyone knew why Kaguya was in such a mood and it all started because of a certain man in red with white hair. The moment the sparring match had finished, Kaguya was in a bad mood and it only got worse as time passed. It was clear as day that she was unsatisfied with the sudden ending and refused to accept such an outcome.
Even though Iska also took part in the match as well, she was fine with the result as her wish of facing Archer came true. While she too was a little upset of the sudden halt as well she brushed it off and thanked Archer for a good morning exercise.
She was already secretly making plans to get him to fight her again and she wouldn't take no for an answer.
Seeing that her vice-captain behavior wasn't exactly… great, Astraea put her foot down. In the nicest way possible. "Kaguya, it's rude to be ignoring everyone you know," Even hearing her goddess speak to her, Kaguya was hesitating to say a word. "Ka-gu-ya," Astraea's words were starting to break her silence.
"*Grrrr* Fine. Only because you asked Lady Astraea," She turned away, not wanting to face her goddess. Astraea was smiling brightly knowing that she managed to get through to Kaguya.
Everything was slowly starting to return to normal. Kaguya was beginning to open up a little bit more but it just wasn't enough for her bad mood to completely go away. It wasn't until Maryuu brought up a certain someone's magic that things got a bit more complicated.
"So what do you girls think of Archer's magic? After seeing it again it's got me really curious on the full extent of what it can do,"
"Hmmmm, if I recall, Archer said that it wasn't exactly magic but something called magecraft. He said it was a less powerful power," Celty jumped in. It wasn't a surprise to the others that Celty could recall Archer's words from the other day. She was one who liked to study and research different things so hearing about Archer's abilities naturally got her curious. "From what we know it doesn't need an incantation to cast, he can summon different weapons and objects to his liking without a limit and they're all summoned instantly. His unknown power is quite frightening,"
"*Sigh* So if we were to actually fight him it would all come down to skill and numbers. Perhaps if we were a higher level we could take him one on one," Even thinking about taking Archer on seriously made Lyra groan. There were already enough problems and the last thing she needed was even more piling on.
"What level do you think we would need to be to keep hold our own with him?"
"We'll probably need to be at least level 4 or higher. I highly doubt he could handle one of the high executives from the Loki or Freya Familia," Everyone seemed to agree with that statement. Archer may have skills but if he were to ever face one of Orario's level 5 adventures or Freya's level 6 adventure.
"Well the only way we'll know more about his abilities is we either force him to tell us or we try and push him to show us what he can do,"
"Surely there's a better suggestion than using forceful means Asta?" Ryana scolded. The dwarf merely shrugged her shoulders in response earning her a slight glare.
Everyone was starting to get a bit more heated up in the conversation the longer they talked about it. It finally got to the point where Astraea herself wanted the whole topic to finish immediately.
"*Clap* Alright everyone that's enough of that. Archer has already told us that he wouldn't be sharing his abilities and we need to respect his privacy, especially since he's not part of our Familia," She had already told her girls before that she trusted Archer and she didn't want to break his trust in her now. Archer had given them no reason to break their trust and she wasn't one to pry in someone else's privacy.
It was also common knowledge that adventurers wouldn't share skills or magic with different Familia's.
Seeing their goddess declare that the current topic of conversation be dropped, they did just that. They knew she was right and they were overstepping their bounds.
Shortly after everyone left to patrol the city. There was still a lot to do and there was Justice to be served. The only one left in the home was Astraea herself, thinking about everything that had happened until now. There were so many mysteries surrounding Archer and so little that she knew about him. She was starting to wonder why she was picked to be his master for this supposed "grail war".
Looking out the window, she started to wonder what her future with Archer would hold and what trials she would have to endure. She only hoped Alise and the other's would stay safe.
xxxxxxxxx
Over on another side of Orario layed a manor housing one of the most prominent Familia's in Orario. Known for their feats while diving into the dungeon and for being one of the city's most powerful Familia's with a logo resembling a Jester, The Loki Familia were beginning their preparations for the day.
Inside one of the towers, three of the strongest members and leaders were discussing among themselves. Gareth Landrock, also known as "Elgram". A proud dwarf that acted like a father figure or a grandfather to some of the younger members.
Across from him was Riveria Ljos Alf, the "Nine Hell". The Familia's top mage and the princess of the elf's. Intelligent and strong, she was known to be quite merciless to her foes thanks to her magic.
And finally the captain of the Familia Finn Deimme, also known as "Braver". Well known for his great leadership skills and his spearmanship, he was also a great tactician able to make plans and strategies that would lead his Familia's victory.
These three executives were there at Familia's birth, achieving many things, the rise and fall of many adventures and reaching a high level and becoming first class adventures as well as reaching many deep floors of the dungeon.
"So Finn, whatcha call this meeting for?"
"I'm sure the both of you already know already but it seems the Evilus movements are starting to increase more," Both Gareth and Riveria nodded to this. Word about their increase of activity spread fast. "At first it was just random attacks but now it seems there's something bigger going on behind the scenes,"
"Do we have any indication what they might be up to?"
"I'm afraid not but my thumb is reacting whenever I received this recent news," A slightly displeased expression appeared on their faces.
"I see… well if you've been getting a reaction then they must be planning something big. Probably best if we try try and keep our eyes more open for them,"
"Agreed. It would also be best if we can organize a meeting with the other Familia's on our next move as well," Riviera suggested.
"If I recall, Loki has an upcoming meeting with Lady Freya and Lady Astraea soon. Perhaps it'd be best if we got Loki to meet them sooner," Both of them agreed to Finn's suggestion. It would do Loki some good to get out of the house and stop drinking so much in the day. "Riveria, can I trust you to take care of Loki?"
"*Sigh* I suppose we have no choice. Leave Loki with me. Knowing her, she's probably drinking her next bottle already," Out of the three of them, Riveria was the best to deal with Loki. Their goddess could never stand a chance when, in her words, Riveria entered her "mama mode".
"Gareth, I need you to head over to the guild and gather any new findings of Evilus' activity in the dungeon. If there are any we'll need to organise a group attack to deal with them,"
"Leave it with me Finn. I need to see Tsubaki anyway about getting my armour fixed so I can get that done while I'm out," he said. "I suppose you would also like me to gather any information on the unknown vigilante as well, right?"
"Ah, I almost forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me. If you could do that as well that'd be appreciated. If that adventure is really on our side I would like to extend an invitation to join us,"
" Who?" It was clear to the two men that word of Orario's recent star had yet to reach Riveria's ears.
"I'm surprised that you haven't heard word of the mysterious adventure that took down a whole group of Evilus on their own by themselves with those long ears of yours Riveria. Guess they're really just show then," Gareth remarked with a smirk.
His insult managed to hit a nerve on Riveria. "Huh, would you care to repeat that you cavern mole!?" Despite working with him for years, there were times where Riveria and Gareth's rivalry would still show up. It was a common thing with elves and dwarfs.
Finn, having the (dis)honor of getting to hear their many arguments, sought to bring this one to a quick close. There were too many important things going on to ignore for one of their petty arguments. "To answer your question Riveria, there's word going around of a man single handedly taking down Evilus without breaking much of a sweat and using magic never seen before,"
Riveria's interest in this individual peaked up a bit. "Magic never seen before? Just what kind of magic was this person using?" Hearing that there was unseen magic had intrigued Riveria. She was curious about what this new magic was capable of.
"From what the rumors are saying, this individual was able to summon different weapons instantly and with no chant," Gareth replied.
"Chantless magic is quite rare and the ability to summon weapons is practically unheard of. I can see why you would want to recruit such a person. Having someone like that would bolster the strength of any Familia. Do we have any descriptions of what this person looks like?"
"All we know is that person has white hair and wearing a red coat of sorts," It wasn't much but having something to look out for was better than nothing.
With the meeting finished, the three went their separate ways to complete the tasks given to them.
Later:
It was late in the afternoon and Riveria was already wanting the day to end. After the meeting she had to walk to her Goddess's room and like she suspected, she was drawing herself in booze. She had waited almost an hour for Loki to sober up enough to write a decent and presentable letter to Godesses Freya and Astraea. She wouldn't let her Goddess tarnish their Familia's name over a messy drunk written letter.
She had to make Loki rewrite it three times.
After Loki had finished writing a decent enough letter and giving her a scolding she was tasked with delivering them. Normally she would get one of the others to do it for her but there was something or rather someone that would make her change her mind.
A small child with golden hair.
Ais Wallenstein, the youngest member of their Familia and the rising star of the city. Having reached Level 2 in less than a year there wasn't a person in the city that didn't know her, however for Riveria it was much more complicated.
When Ais first joined them she was reckless with only wanting to get stronger. Riveria had taken it upon herself to raise the child properly, well as best as she could. There were many times where Ais would refuse to listen to a word she said, even been called an 'old hag' by her but as time went on their relationship had managed to improve.
However there were still times where Ais's recklessness would still show and now was one such time. Ais had somehow managed to get past the guards and run straight to the dungeon, again. It didn't matter how many times she scolded the child for it, Ais's urge to get stronger continued to push on. Honestly the more she did it the bigger Riveria headache got.
Once she found out that Ais had taken off, she immediately made haste to the dungeon to fetch her. Thankfully Ais hadn't gotten too far down, only reaching the entrance to the fourth floor. After giving the second cause of her constant headaches a scolding and a lecture, she allowed Ais to continue her venturing in the dungeon on the condition that she would watch over her.
"Have you had enough for today, Ais?" she asked.
"Mmm," the young girl gave no worded response, only a small nod and a sound to indicate that she did. Riveria knew Ais all too well to understand her small responses. The child was all too brash and self destructive, wanting to reach a single goal. She tried her best to teach Ais different things and to get her to open up but to little avail.
Having acknowledged her response, both began to head towards the surface.
The walk back was very quiet, not one word was spoken from either adventures and very few monsters had gotten in their way. When they finally reached the surface they began to make their way towards the home of the Astraea Familia. Riveria had explained to Ais that she had to deliver a letter to the goddess of Justice before they would head back to Twilight Manor.
Honestly this would've all been avoided if the child hadn't taken off so suddenly but she did think that if Ais hadn't taken off she just would've spent her whole day in the library again.
As the duo were making their way to the Familia of Justice, something had caught their ears or rather Ais's ears.
"Man that Jagamarukun was just amazing,"
"I know. I think it's probably the best Jagamaru ever made,"
The mere mention of Jagamarukun made Ais stop in her tracks. It was only after a few steps that Riveria noticed that Ais was a few feet behind her and looking at her with a pleading look. She knew how much Ais loved those potato snacks, despite how bad they were for her health, she only let Ais have them every now and then as a treat for good behaviour and today wasn't such.
However Ais had a puppy look on her, a look that Riveria could resist most of the time, key word being most.
Sighing in defeat she allowed Ais to have a singular potato snack knowing that if she didn't, Ais would be down and upset for the next few days. Hearing that she could taste the supposed "best" Jagamarukun, Ais rushed over to the stand where her favourite snack awaited.
Sighing again, Riveria soon followed but at a slightly slower pace.
Nearing the arrival of the snack stand, Riveria looked around for the troublesome child she was looking after. She soon found her on the ground in front of a man with white hair, wearing a red coat. His appearance was like how Finn described the 'mystery hero', surely a coincidence.
Moving closer to them, Riveria was taking note of the man helping and talking to them. His structure told her that he had seen his fair share of battles, not to mention he was keeping his guard up as he was conversing with them. Oddly enough he had a strong smell of potatoes for some reason.
What really caught her off guard was the man was offering to cook Jagamaru for Ais since the stall had closed early for the day. He looked honest enough but she could never be too careful around a stranger she didn't know. His answer to her question was genuine enough that she decided to put her trust in him, for now anyway.
"I suppose we haven't introduced ourselves. I am Riveria Ljos Alf and beside me is Ais, both from the Loki Famila. It's nice to meet you Mr…"
"You can call me Archer," Ais seemed to look at him weirdly after hearing his name. Riveria also looked at him weirdly but it more so seemed like she was intrigued by the name. She wondered if the name 'Archer' was some kind of code name or if it was the name he actually went by.
The more time she was spending around Archer, the more intrigued she was of him.
After a trip to the market, she and Ais were following Archer to the place where he would make Ais Jagamaru. While walking she decided to make conversation with Archer to get to know him better.
"So Archer, what brings you here to this city of stone?"
"I was merely passing by when I… got caught up in something," Riveria didn't miss the slight hesitation in voice but chose not to question it. "For now I'm staying in the city until everything is sorted out,"
"I see. So you're not interested in becoming an adventurer and exploring the dungeon?"
"I won't lie when I say I'm not curious about it but right now there are more pressing matters that I need to focus on. Exploring the dungeon can wait until things begin down,"
His answer was an unexpected answer. Riveria expected the typical response of wanting to venture for fame and glory so hearing that someone wasn't too interested in exploring what lay underground. The man before her was shrouded in mystery yet he was intriguing.
The Riveria and Archer would continue to make small talk while little Ais was off in her own little dream world. With each step she was getting closer to tasting the best Jagamarukun in the city. She couldn't be any happier.
It was then that she had arrived at the Astraea Familia's home. She was curious as to why he had brought them here. She wondered if he had recently joined which would be a big surprise to her. The Familia of Justice was well known for taking in only female applicants so a male joining them was practically unheard of. She started to wonder what Archer did to join such a Familia.
It was only after seeing him interact with Goddess Astraea and her followers that she could see that Archer was a genuine man. If he was able to gain the trust and join Goddess Astraea's Familia then she had no reason to suspect him of being a bad person but she guessed it was mostly due to his cooking.
How he could make potatoes so good was dangerous, at least in her eyes. She jokingly thought that he could take over the city with his cooking alone.
Alas, sadly she needed to get herself and Ais back to their home. As tempting as it was to stay and have more of the man's cooking, she didn't want to worry her Familia by staying out too long. So after passing on Loki's letter to Astraea, she and Ais bid farewell and made their way back home.
On their walk back Riveria opt to ask if Ais had a good time with Archer. "Did you enjoy your time with Archer Ais?"
Being asked, Ais was deep in thought. Her thoughts were mostly on the jagamarukun so she wasn't paying much attention to everything else around her. She did like that she got to witness how her favorite snack was made and even got to make it herself. "I… did,"
Riveria was glad to see that Ais had enjoyed herself. A small smile appeared. She was glad that Ais got to experience this and feel some form of happiness.
"Riveria," Ais's voice had broken her out of her thoughts. "Can I… meet him again?"
This was a surprise. Riveria didn't think that Archer would leave such an imprint on Ais. She suspected it was because of the jagamaru. "Do you want to meet him to make you more jagamarukun for you?" If it really was the case then she couldn't allow such a thing. Too much would be bad for the child's health and growth plus she didn't want Ais to become a nuisance to Archer.
"No…" Ais's voice was shaky. Seems her suspicions were correct. Before Riveria could say another word, Ais spoke again. "Archer… he… reminds me of mom,"
Riveria immediately stopped in her tracks. She wasn't expecting such a response. If Ais really did feel like that then she would need to keep a closer eye on him than she initially thought. Finn, Gareth and Loki would need to be alert about this development.
"We'll discuss this later when we get back home," Ais pouted at the elfs response. "Ais, if he really did remind you of "her" then we need to have a serious talk about it, so for now I need you to hold off on meeting him," Her words only made Ais feel even more down but continued to follow Riveria back home.
The walk home was oddly quiet. Ais refused to speak another word to Riveria and Riveria thought best to leave Ais to her own thoughts and give her some space away from her. She didn't want to strain or escalate the situation anymore than it needed to be.
Once they reached the doors of their home, they were greeted by a sober Loki jumping at them to greet them only for her to meet the cold dirty ground.
"*Sob* Why would the both of you avoid me?"
"We've been over this before Loki, I'd never let you touch me just to assault me where I stand," Riveria replied with a dark serious glare in her eyes. Ais nodded in agreement. She found Loki's attitude towards her overbearing and creepy. Both would walk away from their sobbing goddess.
Dinner would be served soon so Riveria told Ais to get cleaned up and then made her way to Finn's office. Knocking on the door and told she could enter, like she expected, both Finn and Gareth were there.
"Welcome back Riveria. You were a bit later than expected but it's good to see that you've made it back safely,"
"Yes, we did make a detour to the Astraea Familia and stayed longer than expected but I did manage to deliver Loki's letter to Lady Astraea," Finn nodded in understanding.
"I see. And Ais?"
"Still the same. Honestly if that child keeps running head first into the dungeon hoping to get stronger than she's only going to get herself killed,"
"Well then it's a good thing the lass has a strict mama to keep her in line," Gareth joined in teasingly, fully knowing that a certain word would get a reaction from the high elf and rile her up.
"Who are you calling 'mama'!?" It was a running joke between the high executives and Loki that Riveria's nickname in the Familia was the familia's mama. All culprits knowing that calling her that would get some sort of reaction from her. Every time Riveria heard it, she wanted to blast them with her magic and turn them into an ice sculpture for the city to see.
"Well, moving on Gareth was sharing some information that he able to obtain from the guild and oddly enough Tsubaki about our mystery man,"
"Tsubaki? What does she know about him?" Riveria asked curiously.
"Cyclops was ranting on how she met someone with great smithing potential only for them to be currently occupied with another Familia. Coincidentally, that someone was the vigilante that we're looking for," It was rare for her to hear Tsubaki complain about something. Usually it would be something about materials not being right or running into a stump with her smithing. "From the information I was able get from her, his name is Archer and is currently working with the lasses of the Astraea Familia so recruiting him is no longer an option,"
"That's a shame. It would've been nice to recruit him but it seems Lady Astraea got herself a good one," There was some disappointment in Finn's voice but he understood that they were just too late to have their chance at recruiting someone with great potential. "Although it's surprising to hear that Lady Astraea let a man join her Familia. He must be someone special if he was able to get in,"
"And you'd be right. Archer has gained the respect of their Famila,"
"And how would you know that Riveria?" Finn asked. Even Gareth was looking at her with curiosity.
"Ais and I just happened to meet him today when I was delivering Loki's letter. He's an honest man but to hear that he was the one we were looking is surprising,"
"And I'm guessing that he was also the reason why you and Ais were out so late?"
"He invited to make Ais her favourite snack after she found out the stall closed early today. He's quite the skill chief. Could even give Mia a run for her money," The last part brought a slight smirk on her face. Even Gareth and Finn were shocked to see their old friend smile like that.
"But more importantly…" Riveria's face turned serious. "He left an imprint on Ais,"
"So the lass got attached to the newcomer. I don't see the problem with that," Gareth responded. Even Finn nodded in agreement with him.
Sighing, Riveria knew she had to elaborate to get them to understand. "He reminded Ais of her mother," Now Gareth and Finn got more serious. For someone to remind Ais of her mother was something they now needed to tread carefully on. Who knows what could happen to Ais if she spent too much time with him.
"So what should we do? Should we stop Ais from seeing him again?" Gareth asked.
"No, that wouldn't work. If we tried that then she would catch on and go against us," Finn reasoned. The mere thought of Gareth's suggestion made his thumb hurt.
"No doubt Ais will want to meet him again just to make her more jagamarukun as well," Riveria added. This only made things harder for the three.
"I guess our only option is to let things be and keep an eye on how things develop," That was the concussion Finn came to. "If things start taking a turn for the worse then that's when we'll need to step in," Both Riveria and Gareth nodded in agreement to Finn's plan.
Riveria just hoped that Ais's relationship with Archer would have a positive influence on her.
xxxxxxx
Back with the Astraea Familia, things were about as chaotic as ever. Once Alise and the others had returned, Alise tried to steal some of Archer's homemade jagamarukun only for Neze and Noin to get in her way defending their snack made by their guest. Alise argued that it was her right as captain to have one but neither of them bought into her argument.
The others either watched in amusement or moved to the baths to get cleaned up. It wasn't until Alise was dragged away from the kitchen by Kaguya and Maryuu that things started to settle down.
All of the noise was giving Archer a headache. It was just another day staying over at his master's familia.
Surprisingly there was one person in the familia he didn't expect to give him the stink eye.
Kaguya.
Ever since she got home, she hadn't spoken a word to him and just gave him an evil glare. Guess she was still upset over their unfinished sparring session from earlier in the day. He just hoped she would get over it in the next few days.
He really didn't need another one turning against him.
xxxxxxx
In an abandoned church on the northwest side of the city a lone figure was sitting in one of the church's pews under the dazzling moonlight. She was all alone, not a noise to be heard just the way she liked it.
That was until the sound of footsteps ruined the mood for her.
"What is it that's brought you back here?"
"Well I just wanted to give you a report on my findings about our mysterious guest last night," There was a slight interest that perked up. "If you want I'm more than interested to share with what I gathered,"
"I have no interest in listening. Leave, you've made too much noise,"
"Oya oya, my apologies," Just as he was about to leave he made his way over to her and handed something to her from one of his pockets.
The woman, taking it, opened up the wrapping to see a jagamarukun. "What is this?"
"Just a small token I picked up from my outing in the city. I thought you might like it. It was made by him and I can give my full recommendation," Before she could say anything else, the man had left the church leaving her to her silence.
Not wanting to let the food go to waste while also not being particularly fond of these snacks she took a bite.
Despite the snack being cold, she hated to admit it… the snack was quite good.