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It was a bright afternoon as Yui looked around town. Various market vendors bowed in reverence to her as she walked past in a hurry. ‘Surely, Grandmaster Shousetsu must be attending to some important matters,’ they thought.
Feeling the respect from the peasants and vendors around her, Yui focused on maintaining a stalwart expression as she made her way through. At times like these, she wished that she didn’t stand out as much as she did.
The Waxing Moon Ritual could grant that wish if she really wanted to, but no, there existed bigger and tougher issues to address in the world. Right now, it was looking for Avenger.
“Avenger!” she called.
“Haha!!! You guys need to play better than that!”
Avenger’s voice came from a gambling house that reeked of booze. Such a degenerate and decrepit place— that’s where Avenger disappeared off to? Yui cringed, shaking her head. How unbecoming of her to step inside such a place. She headed inside and saw Avenger laughing as she pocketed some coins in her bag.
Various drunkards clapped for her as she guzzled down a cup of sake. Despite her foreign appearance, they seemed to have taken to Avenger.
“Avenger, there you are!”
Avenger adjusted her kimono and rolled her eyes. “Oh great. Master’s here.”
The drunkards gasped in surprise. One drunkard came up to Yui, gawking at her. “Ohhh?! If you’re her Master, you must be a SUPER cho-han genius!”
The Master gritted her teeth as her blood began to boil. ‘Stay composed,’ she told herself. Avenger was leaving, so she turned around.
“Let’s go, Avenger.”
“Oi! P-Play some cho-han! I want to see a super genius at play!” Guffawing, the drunkard grabbed her wrist, causing her to snap.
“Unhand me!” she yelled, pushing the drunkard away.
The gambling house went silent as Yui walked out. Embarrassed by her outburst, Yui paced around the front of the gambling hall nervously until her Servant appeared.
“Ahhh, you’re such a buzzkill,” Avenger said, slinging her bag of coins over her shoulder. Her kimono remained loosened, revealing her cleavage. Yui walked over, but Avenger evaded her.
“Wear your kimono properly,” Yui said.
“Mind your own business. You should thank me for making some quick cash on an off-day.”
“Money isn’t why you ran off. Why can’t you just settle down at the academy and take in the sights of your new home? It has only been a day since you arrived, after all!”
“Tch, you want me to stay inside that boring place? I didn’t realize that ‘having the day off’ meant house arrest.”
“How are we supposed to work together if you insist on being so difficult?”
“How indeed?” Avenger asked, shrugging. “I haven’t figured out if this partnership will work or not yet myself.”
———
The Waxing Moon ritual was currently undergoing way, already containing casualties for both Masters and Servants. Yesterday, Assassin had nearly flooded the city with his serpents, and so that battle prompted most of the parties involved to take a rest.
Yui and her original Servant, Rider, escaped relatively unharmed. She expected a quiet day following the battle, but then she and Rider crossed paths with Chiemon and Avenger. What began as an attempt at negotiation quickly turned into a bloodbath as Rider and Avenger went for each other’s throats.
Yui believed in Rider’s judgment and quickly fought Chiemon. The latter, though fierce in battle because of hatred, ended up impaled by Yui’s blade.
It was supposed to be an easy victory, but she thought incorrectly. Avenger crushed Rider with her battle-flag, killing her before the latter could even leave any last words.
Then the Master without a Servant stood against the Servant without a Master. Yui held up her sword defiantly, despite being certain that this would be her end.
Avenger was fading away, glowering at Yui the entire time. Then she offered a hand to the Master.
What should have been the end of Yui’s participation in the Waxing Moon Ritual blossomed into an unexpected partnership.
Heroic spirits had their quirks, but her new Servant was different. The staggering amount of contradictions between them did nothing but make Yui second-guess her decision. Shortly after they formed the pact, Yui asked her new Servant about her wish.
Yui went first, disclosing her own as a welcoming gesture. If their wishes were incompatible, it needed to be known sooner than later.
Rider had been nothing but subservient to her during their short time together, so she expected a degree of courtesy from Avenger. Instead, all Yui heard was a flat grunt before Avenger walked off.
———
As they returned to Yui’s home, the officer’s academy known as Choukou Hall, they witnessed various soldiers swinging their swords, refining their techniques against straw dummies.
Shifting her gaze left and right, Yui nodded approvingly as she walked past. Their displays of prowess moved Yui, though she did little to show it. These nuanced displays in an activity as mundane as sword practice separated the worthy and venerable from the lowbrow drunkards from earlier.
Avenger’s gaze glossed over what Yui saw. She was tough to please, even with the amenities offered here.
“What did you do under Chiemon?” Yui asked.
“We wandered around from place to place. Sometimes he would yammer on and on about his vengeance and whatnot. I can get behind wanting to burn a nation—”
“You do?”
“But for someone who spoke of how vengeful he was, Chiemon was surely addled and impotent. With his subpar prana reserves and surprisingly conservative nature, I felt like a bird with clipped wings.”
“Is that so?”
“I hoped for a change of pace, but you’re basically no different, homunculus. Thanks for providing me with more prana, though. That’s better than nothing.”
“...”
Avenger wandered off, leaving Yui dumbstruck. Despite having just stopped in front of Choukou Hall’s tea ceremony room, Yui sighed as she turned away. So much for her plans to introduce Avenger to the pleasures of a tea ceremony…
———
Later, Yui sat in her quarters, tapping her chin with the handle of a brush. An empty scroll sat on the floor, reflecting her soul back to her. She sat there, lost as to what she should write about.
Going from Rider’s understanding and subservient personality to Avenger’s adversarial attitude proved to be a difficult change to swallow. Nevertheless, it was an undeniable privilege to continue in the Holy Grail War after that unfortunate scuffle. Thus, Yui focused on that gratitude today.
Avenger’s wish must have been to ‘destroy the world’. As outlandish as that was, she wholeheartedly supported Chiemon at one point. If that was truly Avenger’s wish— Yui shook her head, chiding herself. Jumping to conclusions would bring more trouble than not.
If it turned out that Avenger’s wish was ‘world destruction’, Yui would ensure her new Servant’s death.
Yui dipped her brush in ink, then began writing. While she was well versed in many forms of poems such as tanka, kenshi, haiga, and renku, she settled for a haiku. The simplicity of the poem could perhaps calm her troubled mind.
While never formally acknowledging it, she was deeply aware of her difference as a homunculus, an artificial human created by Mori Souken. Unlike regular humans, she began as a blank slate with no beliefs or identity to cling onto. And to that end, Yui had no innate reason for living.
It was her master who impressed upon her the beautiful dream of a world without cruelty. In that world, everyone would live happily and peacefully. That was the first ideal that she could take as her own. Perhaps it didn’t originate from herself, but since Master Souken’s passing, Yui adopted it into everything that she did, forming her unbreakable moral compass.
Her pact with Avenger hadn’t been a true allegiance but instead acted as a test of sorts: that much was clear. Different as they were, were their goals conflicting with one another? That’s what Yui needed to find out. Forget pleasantries. Forget their squabbles. She needed to push Avenger until she got the answers that she wanted.
Setting the brush down, Yui looked at her handiwork grimly.
A new alliance
As brittle as fallen leaves
Only a reprieve
———
Cool winds blew into the room. Yui looked out the window, seeing that the sun was setting. She looked at the corner of the room where a new candle sat. Rolled up the dried scroll, Yui set her work aside, then stood up to retrieve the candle. Before she could walk over, Avenger appeared, holding the unlit candle.
“So there still hasn’t been any news about any other Servants. I didn’t realize that they were all so weak. What a bore.”
When Yui took the candle from Avenger, it suddenly lit up. The hatred within Avenger’s eyes was staggering, like an all-consuming maelstrom. Whether that hate was directed her way remained an enigma to her. Yui nodded, acknowledging her Servant’s slight gesture of goodwill, then set the candle on its stand.
“My spies have not reported anything to me yet.”
“Hmph. I suppose that that’s something.”
Avenger began walking away once more, almost as if she did it to be particularly unpleasant.
“Hold it, Avenger. Who are you and what is your wish?”
The sudden question made Avenger stop in place. “Would you believe me if I said that I’m Jeanne D’Arc? Wait… you have no idea who she is, do you?”
Yui nodded, prompting Avenger to continue. “Jeanne D’Arc was a peasant girl who became a saint. She spent her short life fighting in God’s name to liberate Orleans in the Hundred Years’ War. Her wish? To create a peaceful world. After deciding that, she turned her back on a normal life and killed and saved and killed and saved until her death at the stake. As she burned alive, Jeanne prayed to God, the one who led her down this path.”
Gazing back at the lit candle, Yui grimaced. If Avenger was Jeanne D’Arc, having fire powers was a cruelty, given everything that she heard. But if that was the case… no, it sounded too good to be true.
“Then, despite appearances, our goals would be one and the same.”
Avenger then impishly stuck out her tongue.
“Well, too bad! I might look and sound like her, but I’m not.”
“Nothing you’ve done showed that you are a saint, so I’m not surprised. And so, I ask you again, Avenger: what is your wish?”
“I don’t have one right now.”
Taken aback, Yui shook her head. “You don’t have anything that you want? That can’t be. Or else why did you join the Waxing Moon Ritual to begin with?”
“I answered Chiemon’s summons because I understood his plight. Jokes on me for thinking that coming here would be interesting. Now instead of being bored, I’m bored and annoyed. Blegh… your goody-two shoes wish reminds me too much of that boorish holy maiden.”
“There isn’t a nobler wish than wishing to remove all evils from the world and make the world a peaceful one. Not one. That’s what I believe.”
Avenger shook her head. “Blind faith sickens me, you know? I hate it, but at least you’re not pedantic about it. Worse still is that it’s not even your wish to begin with… You fake.”
The last word made Yui go quiet. Her body trembled as she forced her anger down. No matter the circumstances, she must remain as levelheaded as she could. Strangely enough, the vitriol with which Avenger made the accusation sounded deeply personal.
“So what if it’s not originally mine? Master Souken imparted that beautiful dream to me long ago.”
Yui gazed wistfully at the floor as numerous complicated feelings began welling up inside her.
“Now that Master Souken is gone, I am the person who can fulfill that beautiful dream of utopia. It isn’t just for his sake, but for my own sake as well. Knowing that all of those evils in the world exist… my feelings compel me to act. They guide me to right those wrongs with my best efforts.”
Instead of retorting, Avenger went quiet. Slowly, she nodded with a look of satisfaction on her face.
“I suppose you’re not as much of a puppet as I expected. Just because someone’s a fake doesn’t mean that they can’t be their own person.”
Tilting her head in confusion, the Master was at a loss for words. But before Yui had time to process Avenger’s words, a shinobi entered then kneeled before her.
“Grandmaster, I’ve received intel that Dorothea Coyett will shortly be leaving her stronghold to eat at a nearby diner in an hour when the crowds are largest.”
“Oh?” Avenger asked, smiling coyly. “I’m just dying to go and kill that disgusting snake.”
The provocation was heard loud and clear, though Avenger clearly expected little from her. After all, countless innocent civilians would be nearby. Ideally, Waxing Moon Ritual battles should not occur near civilians to minimize excessive loss of life. While Yui deliberated, Avenger had a glint in her eye that she didn’t like.
Yui tapped the wooden table anxiously, sighing as she did. This was a good opportunity, but… worst-case scenario, the sheer amount of civilian casualties would be devastating.
She looked at Avenger, who already began to stand. Avenger immediately changed into her armor, grinning wickedly as she turned towards the exit.
“Wait,” Yui said. “Avenger. Once you start attacking, you won’t be able to limit the damage you cause, right?”
“Don’t bother trying to ask me to hold back.”
“I expected as such,” Yui said, turning back to the shinobi.
Despite civilians surrounding them, Dorothea and Assassin would be the most vulnerable in town. Though Dorothea’s stunt resulted in many of her men being cut down, the heavily fortified defenses at her base still made it unwise to strike there.
“Gather whoever is able to join you and leave a third behind. Surround them, then attack the civilians. Scare them but do not maim nor kill anyone except Dorothea Coyett and Assassin. I will execute anyone who disobeys for insubordination. When Avenger and or I arrive, have every shinobi evacuate.”
“Yes, sir!”
As the shinobi left, Avenger whistled approvingly.
“What?”
“How unexpected of you to stoop to such low methods, being the paragon that you are.”
“I’m no saint myself,” Yui said.
Satisfied with the answer, Avenger headed out of the room and summoned her battle flag.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Avenger said.
She looked calmer, less antagonistic now. Avenger stayed true to herself, being as rebellious as she was. That aspect of her Servant was praiseworthy at least.
The training hall was empty now that their rest ended. Yui drew her blade and swung at a nearby straw doll. Her blade tore through the dummy like paper.
Satisfied, she sheathed it and headed towards the front of Choukou Hall. They currently resided in the Kanda region of Edo, so it would take an hour on foot to Shinagawa if they hurried.
“Keep guard while we’re gone,” Yui ordered.
“Yes, Grandmaster!” The remaining warriors knelt before her. They remained in their training gear as not to draw undue attention. With any luck, the ordeal would end cleanly, allowing Yui to sleep in her quarters later with a peace of mind.
“Send a messenger to me if anyone attacks our home while we’re gone.”
“Hmph, I suppose you’re barely acceptable as my Master,” Avenger said. “Just watch me do my thing and don’t get in my way.”
Yui nodded, then watched Avenger slam her battle-flag into the ground. Her heart pounded as a cacophony of cries echoed around them.
Dark wyverns then materialized in the sky. The dark-winged beasts circled above the Master and Servant like vultures waiting for death to happen. Inhuman creatures aside, witnessing their existence made Yui shudder.
“Follow me. When we reach Shinagawa, raze it to the ground. Make sure to burn Assassin to cinders!”
Yui took a deep breath as she adjusted to their presence. As much as it pained her, this war wouldn’t be won without spilling blood. Hopefully all of her men could escape once they arrived. Now that the battle had begun, how things would turn out would be beyond her control.
Avenger placed a hand on Yui’s shoulder, then walked off. Somehow she gained the Servant’s acceptance. Though their partnership would likely remain tumultuous in the coming days, this mutual understanding was good enough for now.
With that, the Master and Servant headed for Shinagawa.