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Gentle breeze tinged with unfamiliar smell. Vast blue sky of the Proper Human History. Equally blue ocean.
“Ristuka, hurry! Tha water here is so cold!”
“Wait up, Artoria!”
Even though it was just a simulator, the scenery was real enough for a break away from the unchanging corridors within the Novum Chaldea.
Artoria Caster, taking form of her teenage self, with her Saint Graph temporarily altered to a swinsuit, run right into the crashing waved followed by Ritsuka, the Master of Chaldea, also wearing Mystic Code swimsuit.
At a glance, those two were just two close friends enjoying a bright, sunny day at the beach, nothing more, nothing less.
It was how everything should have been but could never be, back when Artoria was still alive. Never once in her short life she saw a clear, blue sky. Or play in the ocean with her friend, without worrying about the role she was assigned to, as if nothing mattered in this world.
The ‘Artoria Caster’ in front of him wasn’t the same girl, but just a mere shadow, who happened to carry her memory. The real Artoria has given away herself, body and soul, to be the Guardian of the World, for eternity.
Ritsuka’s Chaldean Mystic Codes were in fact extremely well made, crafted by the Genius Leonard Da Vinci herself. At least the one she was wearing was much less damaging to the wearer, with additional coverage for her body, hiding away the reminders of her actual life.
Yet Oberon, sitting by a parasol table, was able to see numerous scratches and scars on her body past the thin mana veil. He knew Artoria could, too, from the fact that they both possessed Faerie Eyes. Neither of them said anything. She probably didn’t want to ruin their off day at the beach. He didn’t even care to bother.
Although she wasn’t born to be a savior like the “Child of Prophecy” Artoria. She was shoved into her role by a mere coincidence. Yet, she chose to fight. A living girl whose life was taken away with no point of return.
Hearing their laughters from afar, he took a sip from unsweetened iced tea. He disliked water and never intended to go there. Besides, he had another, more pressing issue to worry about.
“So, what exactly is this travesty?”
He crossed his eyes to two identical-looking women, also in swimsuits, sitting next to him with bright-colored mocktail glasses. Identical looking, but one with golden blonde hair and blue eyes, the other with silver hair and golden eyes. Jeanne d’Ark, the Savior Saint, and her “Evil Twin” Jeanne Alter.
Jeanne d’Ark… A normal, village girl “chosen” by the God to be the Savior at age of seventeen. A foolish Saint, who got betrayed by her own country and burnt to death at the end. And yet, never once she blamed anyone. Even after death.
Oberon was way too familiar with this type of women. Those he hated the most.
Jeanne Alter, Dragon Witch, the imppossible possibility of Jeanne wishing for revenge, was somewhat more understandable. Not less detestable, but still.
“Of couse it’s the Welcome Party for our new little brother!”
Jeanne gave a bright smile. His Faerie Eyes saw no lies, and it send a cold sweat down his spine.
It takes quite a lot to terrify a Manifestation of Calamity.
“Don’t listen to this airhead. Like, seriously. Not that she’s stoppable, but still.”
Jalter gave him a sympathetic look.
“Mind explain that to me, Dragon Witch?”
“If both of us want a sanity check right here, right now, sure. …there are things you wouldn’t want to understand, especially here in Chaldea.”
“My, my, don’t be mean to him, he’s your little brother too, you know?”
“……”
There was no mirror nearby, but his face must have looked very dumb. Oberon had already tossed the Princely façade soon after he arrived at Chaldea. Still, the absurdity of the situation made him cringe so much he didn’t even care if he was showing clear contempt.
Besides, Jalter looked dead-eyed.
“…Ms. Holy Saint, what part of you think I am your little brother?”
At this point, Oberon wasn’t even sure which was worse, knowing or not knowing what was going on. Repressing the trembling hands, he feigned a stiff smile towards Jeanne.
Jeanne smiled back, which made him cringe even harder.
“Sure thing! You’re like Master’s little brother, Master’s my little sister, and I’m everyone’s big sister. Simple, right?”
No, he didn’t understand a single word of it.
“…First of all, how come you think I am Master’s little brother?”
“Hm? Everyone can see how clingy you are to Master like a little brother. Also ever since you got summoned, her Big Sister Level has increased quite a lot.”
He would have snapped out if dead-eyed Jalter didn’t intervene.
“Big Sister Level, what the heck is that? Have you created a new concept, again?”
There were so many things he wanted to protest, he didn’t even know where to begin. Instead, Oberon decided to let the conversation flow. And decided not to ask her about the “again” part. He took at quick look at Ritsuka and Artoria, splashing water at each other, laughing innocently like there’s nothing wrong in this world.
At least that calmed him down a bit. It’s still disgusting, but less disgusting than the situation he was in.
“Big Sister Level is Big Sister Level. It’s a stat I can detected because I am an expert big sister. You know, Master’s been getting less injuries or ampule overdoses. We all agree that she has to take a better care of herself, no?”
That, he couldn’t disagree.
“… You know, Ms. Holy Saint, I suddenly remembered a chore. Mind if I get going?”
“Well, that is absurd! Ever since you’ve arrived here you seem to be just hanging around master doing nothing, stealing books from library, or piling up half-played games in Master’s room, all took from Ganesha’s collection. It’s quite something when Ganesha, of all people, complained about someone being a NEET, you know? Of course I’m concerned about my little brother’s well being!”
Oberon’s pathetic attempt at getting away failed, unsurprisingly. He never liked any living creatures in general. He’s seen worse, much uglier and more despicable beings before. Yet the woman in front of him was somehow scarier than the Abomination itself.
“Besides, you are a liar, right? Oh, don’t be shy! Just because you’re in rebellious period doesn’t mean you shouldn’t spend some time with your big sisters!”
Humanity has always been a mistake, after all.
“Stop it, Jeanne. Pretender, don’t bother. If you want to leave, just leave. Besides, that big-ass cape of yours look ridiculous here. Like someone trying to get heatstoke on purpose. Although the design isn’t half-bad... At least you should have your Saint Graph altered or something.”
“You two dragged me down here, along with Master and Artoria. It never was my choice.”
“Oh, isn’t that you agreed when Master insisted? You’re such a nice little brother!”
If that was the result of his curse, he sure was cursed.
And the ‘little sister’ Jeanne Alter was being useless.
“…Dragon Witch, do you always have to deal with this?”
“Feeling sympathetic? Quite a surprise from you, Pretender.”
“Ah, I just thought it’s surely a blessing to have a ‘big sister’ like this.”
So do something. He glared at Jeanne Alter.
“What’s those eyes? As if I didn’t try. Heck I did, if you are so good at handling this Berserker in shape of an Archer, I’d love to know.”
“But aren’t you her ‘little sister’? Unless you don’t care that much about her, of course.”
“I’ve heard you’re good at picking fight with the others. Not about the winning part though. You’ve got quite a charatcer, Pretender. Glad I didn’t talk to you until today, never know what’ll happen on my bad days.”
“Now, now don’t fight, your big sister loves you equally, right?”
“Hell no!”
Oberon and Jalter said simultaneously, realized what have just happened, and glared at each other.
He’d rather get pesticide straight on his face than becoming a “little brother” to anyone. He didn’t say it though. Nothing good comes from careless words when he’s got the Curse of Lying.
He decided to send some termites to eat away Shakespeares’ unfinished drafts later. For some reason he heard a woman screaming in his head (NOOOOO! YameteSTOOOOOP! Not the drafts, NOT THE DRAAAAFTS!!!!!).
He wondered if Chaldea has some kind of Mental Corruption effects going on.
“Whoa, glad you guys are getting along so well!”
“No, we’re not…!”
Again, he and Jalter, the exact same timing. Their Master, Ritsuka was there (none of them were paying attention to her approaching), opened the ice box to grab two water bottles. Faraway, he saw Artoria kicking the wave, waiting for her friend to return.
“Are you enjoying your time here, Oberon?”
And she asked him, of all people.
“It was… not as bad as I thought”
“Glad to hear that. Jeanne, Jalter, thanks for inviting us!”
“No problem. Anthing for my cure little siblings!”
Little sisters, not little siblings! He wanted to say that out, but couldn’t.
“Haha… so you’re still a big sister, then.”
Ritsuka looked as if she saw the scariest thing possible. He didn’t want to know why.
“Oh well, has to admit Pretender isn’t that bad when we’ve got the literal Beasts and Evil Gods hanging around here. Really impressed with you, Master.”
“Awe, I told you not to be mean, other me?”
“Be done with that shenanigan, Jeanne. Geez, this is giving me headache…”
Not that Oberon wasn’t bad at communicating. When he was the Faerie King, he worked diligently to build connections, using many manipulative tactics. But those days were over. He no longer had enough motivations or energies to do that much of work.
That include his Princely appearance. But still.
“Speaking of which, I am genuinely surprised you allowed the least trustworthy folks to stay here. I really hope my Master isn’t that naïve to not understand what all of these means.”
Including himself. Everything about her was annoying him, even though he was able to tolerate it. He wouldn’t risk trading his own comfort with a rare occation for Ritsuka and Artoria to have a relaxing day, though.
Ritsuka shrugged, with a wry smile.
“Well, I can rely on all of you with my life, that’s for sure.”
“…Hm, quite something to say for a liar like me.”
“Why not? Doesn’t matter if you lie. I trust you all the same.”
He felt like someone metaphorically smacked him in the head. And he didn’t like it, at all.
“Gah!?”
“Oh my!”
Oberon heard Jalter giving a large grunt. Oberon looked over and saw her trembling with contempt. Next to her, Jeanne was in awe, rosy-cheeked, holding both of her hands over her mouth.
“Jalter? What’s wrong”
“Don’t worry, Master. She just got hit by an unintentional stray bullet out of all the unintentional stuffs. It’s not too big of a deal…”
“Well, I have no idea what you’re saying but if you say she’s alright…”
Oberon decided there’s no use trying to comprehend Jeanne. He was in disbilief about what Master said and wondered if Faerie Eyes would ever malfunction. Maybe not. That would be worse.
“Master! Are you stupid!? That’s the most absurd thing I’ve heard today! You said you trust a liar!?”
“I mean, there’s no truth or lie in the trust you have on me, right Oberon? I’m just trying to return the same.”
“Aaaaaaghhhh!!”
“Jalter!!? And Oberon, you too!? Looks like heat stroke… I told you to take off that cape!”
Jalter smacked her head on the table, screeching in agony. Jeanne quickly held the glasses down. Thankfully they were all near empty.
“As I said, don’t worry Master. That’s just a stray artillery. Aside from actually hitting the target. I can take care of this.”
“You sure, Jeanne…?”
“Ritsuka! Why are you taking so long…?”
“Ah, sorry Artoria! Well, feel free to leave the simulator any time you want, both Jalter and Oberon look like they need some rest? Can you, Jeanne?”
“Of course, leave it to me. I’m their big sister, after all!”
Ritsuka reluctantly left with Artoria. Jeanne Alter’s face was still pressed on the table, muttering “no… not again…” while Jeanne patted her head. “There, there, my little sister. That’s our Master all right.”
But Oberon was no longer paying attention to any of these. It was just too much for him to comprehend, and his face was burning hot for some reason.
It was the most disgusting thing he’ve ever heard from Ritsuka.
“You two, let’s go!”
Suddenly Jeanne Alter stood up, grabbing both Jeanne and Oberon by their arms.
“Jeanne!? What, you mean, where are we…”
“The old man’s bar, of course! Seriously, if Master keeps one-shot killing Servants like this… Gah! I can’t even! Let’s go, I won’t let either of you leave until we are all wasted!”
“Ouch, Dragon Witch, stop…”
“No stopping. It’s your fault, Pretender!”
It wasn’t fair at all. But there’s no way Oberon could fight back a Str B Berserker.
He looked at Ritsuka and Artoria once again. They seemed to revert back to enjoying the ocean after a short water break.
At least it wasn’t bad… Not as bad as he thought.
***
Next morning, in Oberon's room.
"...Oberon, I saw what was going on. About Master and all. You really are hopeless, aren't you."
"...Shut up, Artoria."
He learned that Servants can have hangovers too. In a hard way.