Part 32: Funny clothes / Saber's circumstances

Music: Gentle Everyday





"Where did you get those clothes? I was surprised that you were wearing something different from yesterday."
Actually, I'm still surprised.

"They are something Rin has prepared for me. Since I cannot turn into spirit form, she gave me these so that I would not attract attention."
"Oh, I see."

"What about them?"
"Well, yeah, um…"
I try to say they look good on her, but I stop myself.
If I said such a thing, I'd blush red as a tomato.

"Shirou?"
"Uh… um, well… yeah, um… oh, yesterday's armor!
Yeah, I was wondering what happened to the armor you were wearing yesterday!"


"You do not need to worry about it. I have control of when I wear the armor, so I have it off while I am wearing these clothes.
That armor is woven by my magical energy. I can call it forth as it is needed."



…Anyways, it is true that she would draw attention in her armor.

Music: Stop

So with the way Saber's dressed now, I should be able to persuade people in the neighborhood that she is a relative of Kiritsugu.
…Well, I would have to do so anyway.

Music: Tender Scenery



Music: Stop



"Huh?"
My mind freezes.
Tohsaka, who supposedly went home, is at my dojo, and she's wearing normal clothes for some reason, and why does she have that big bag?

Music: Gentle Everyday



And so began the harem.

"Wha…!!!!?
L-Live… you mean you, living in my house…!!!?"



Something. I have to say something back, or something terrible is going to happen, but my head will not function.



Still, the unexpected invader mercilessly continues the discussion.
"Ah hold on, that's"
Isn't this bad, morally?

Look, Tohsaka is the idol at my school. Just having her in my house will cause a panic, so having her live here would be crazy and Fuji-Nee would kill me. Or maybe she's planning to drive me insane to reduce the number of Masters…!?


"Oh, why don't you prepare a room for her as well? Your Servant takes up space unlike my Archer, so you should give her a place to sleep. Well, I wouldn't mind if you guys shared the same bed."
Sharing the bed… that means sleeping in the same bed, right?

"Of course I won't! What are you saying while I'm not saying anything!? I wouldn't do such a thing, Saber is a girl…!"


"You're missing the point, but oh well. That's what Shirou says, Saber.
He says he doesn't like to be in the same room with a girl."

He only has eyes for Issei.



Saber makes a difficult face.


"That is not good, Shirou. Servants are to protect their Masters. The hours of sleep are the most crucial time for protecting you, so I cannot protect you unless I am in the same room."
"I'm in more trouble even if you say that! What are you thinking, are you two really girls!?"



"No matter how hard I hit myself, I still hear stupid."

Why are you two looking silently at me like that?


"…Hmm. Servants are Servants, so there's no need to treat them as humans. But I guess it's useless to tell Shirou that."



The weird feeling I had when talking with Tohsaka in the living room returns.
Actually.
I've figured out the cause of this feeling.

"…Hold on, Tohsaka. Since when did you start calling me by my name?"


"Oh, am I? I wasn't really conscious of it, so it must have been a while ago."
"…It was. I think you've been calling me that for a while."



Tohsaka says so plainly, without realizing what I'm feeling.
…Geez, it's just like you said, Issei.
I think Tohsaka Rin is a real devil.

"…Fine. Call me whatever you like. I don't care, whichever you prefer is fine."


"Really? Then I'll do that."


"Rin, please do not end the conversation. We have not come up with a solution to the matter of the room for Shirou and I."


"Oh, of course, of course. But it'll be hard to stay in the same room with Shirou acting like that. There's no point in treating a Servant like a human, but why don't you give up since Shirou doesn't want it?"


"That is incorrect. Shirou only said it would trouble him, and he did not say he did not want it."

Saber's playing easy to get.


"Well then. What do you say, Shirou?"




"Shirou, I will ask you again. It is a Servant's duty to guard you while you sleep. I believe you understand your position as a Master."
Uh… even if you glare at me like that, I can't do it.

"…No. I'll prepare a separate room for Saber.
Um, I'll try to prepare one as close to mine as possible, so please be happy with that."


""
"S-Scaring me won't work! As a man, I won't surrender to you on this. Saber, you should understand your situation better…!"



"No, I mean about yourself…! Geez, if you don't understand, that's fine! If you say any more, I'll make you obey using my Command Spell…!"
I breathe out hard and intimidate Saber.


"…It is troubling if you use your Command Spell for such a thing. Our future is doomed if you use one of the three rights to order me not to protect you."



Don't be stupid. I don't want to use it for this either.


"…I understand, I will follow my Master's plan. But what will you do when you are attacked by an enemy? Servants such as Assassin will close in without letting their presence become known. In such cases, will you be able to protect yourself until I arrive?"

"Well"
I can't claim I'll manage.
I was able to against Lancer, but that luck won't repeat itself.


"That would be impossible. This house has a boundary field that alerts us if an enemy enters. We won't be able to avoid a raid, but we should be able to detect a surprise attack. In that case, you would be able to protect him before he was attacked, so you can just go ahead and stay in a room you like."



"How about next to Shirou's room? You're fine if she's not in your room, right, Emiya-kun?"


She pronounces the "Emiya-kun" ostentatiously.

"Tohsaka, that's just sophistry, you know?"


"It's a sound argument because I'm making it for your sake. Well, which room should I choose?"


"I did it! I finally punched the stupid out!"

Tohsaka walks to the house with her bag, as if telling us the conversation is over.
She looks cheerful like a student picking her room on a field trip.



Perhaps because her actions are so selfish.
Saber and I just see her off with blank amazement.

Music: Surrounded by Smiling Faces



"This is the Japanese-style room. The back side has common rooms like the living room and the bathroom. And if you follow the open corridor to the outbuilding, you reach the guest rooms… It looks like Tohsaka went that way."

I explain as I walk.
Saber follows me silently without nodding. I'm not sure if she's listening or not.



"My room is this way. It's somewhat back there."

"Then please guide me that way. I must talk to you privately."
"Talk to me privately……?"
So she doesn't want Tohsaka to hear it?
Tohsaka is in the outbuilding, so I think this place is okay, but she is a Master after all.
Someone could overhear us, so the open corridor is no place to talk secretly.




"Whathis is Shirou's room?"
"Hm?"
Saber is surprised the moment she walks in.

"What? I don't think there's anything here that should be too surprising."
"No, there is nothing here to surprise me, as there is nothing here. Is this really your room, Shirou?"

"There's no point lying to you. I only come here to sleep, so it's natural there's nothing here."
"…I see. I was surprised. I thought you were a more assorted person."

"I mean... at least a muscle poster, or pictures of male classmates..."

Saber enters the Japanese-style room and touches the wall to check the feel of it.
It is a soft gesture, as if she understands the object's memory just by touching it.


"…I'm relieved. This is a desolate room, but that does not mean it is treated badly. This is a simple but warm place."
"Warm? …Well, I guess so. I don't know if it's how the house is built, but this place is cool during the summer and warm during the winter. My father always said I took the good room."



"So? What did you want to talk privately about?"


"I have two things. Both are something I would like to keep a secret between us."

"Well, I don't mind if you say so, but tell me what it's about. I can't tell if it's something good or bad."

"They are both bad. At the very least, it is something I do not want other Masters finding out."
"Hm."
Judging by her expression, the bad thing must be our weakness.

"…… I see. I see what you mean. I'll listen seriously, so go ahead."


"Yes. First of all, I would like you to forgive me for not being able to accomplish the first obligation of a Servant."
"Hm? The first obligation of a Servant?"
"To tell you of my identity. Have you not heard about it from Rin?"
"Tell me your identityoh, you mean your real name."

Servants are heroic spirits.
Their identities are heroes, famous in every age.
They hide their identities and the scope of their power with their class names.
A Servant's real name is something that should be kept hidden.

But it is also something the Master must know.
Because if one does not know which hero the Servant is, he does not know the Servant's potential.
Master and Servant are one.
They won't be able to fight fully if one keeps a secret from the other.

Well, that's just how it would be if I were a normal Master.
Even if I knew Saber's real name, I wouldn't be able to come up with an effective plan. Most of all, I don't care about it.

"Hm. I'm fine with that, but why?"


"This is what I believe is for the best. No matter how hard you try to hide my name, there are many ways to take the information from you.
Since your magic resistance is not high, mental intervention would be simple if the enemy was a superior magus. I would like to prepare for that, and not have my real name within your knowledge."

"Oh, I see. That's right. I would give it right away if they used suggestion on me. All right, keep it a secret in that case."


"It helps me if you say that. …But then, I am not someone that famous. I should be a few ranks below Berserker, and it would not do too much even if my name were revealed…"

Saber murmurs in regret.
…That's bit unexpected. Saber has some human characteristics, and she regrets being inferior to Berserker.

"Isn't that alright? A trump is a trump because it's hidden. Your Master is weak like this, so I understand that you have to try everything.
…And Berserker, he's unfair.
There's nothing to be ashamed of. Andfrom my point of view, you aren't inferior. You had that big wound, yet you were exchanging blows straight on."

Well, he's still talking about it, but at least we didn't have to see that picture again.



"Right? Okay then, that's the end of the first matter.
What's the second one about?"



We Servants maintain our body using the magical energy transferred from our Masters. That is why Servants require a Master. But"

"…I'm an incomplete Master, so I don't have enough magical energy for you to maintain your body?"


"No. It is not a problem if I receive even a small amount of magical energy from you. But I am not receiving any magical energy from you. The spiritual connection we ought to have is not present."

This is why I said Saber was lying when she commented in the first Bad End about the magical energy she received.

""
So that means…
I, as the gasoline, am not sending any fuel for Saber to work as an engine?

"Saber, that's…"
"It is not your fault. I believe something happened during my summoning. Some fault occurred, and the line that should have connected was not connected."

"Some problem during the summoning…"
When Saber appeared, it wasn't anything like a summoning.
It was just an accident.
Since she was summoned like that, it'd be strange if there weren't anything wrong with her.

"…Hold on. Then what's going to happen? Since you can't replenish your magical energy, will you disappear?"
"Yes. If I use up the magical energy I have, I will not be able to stay in this world."



My healing ability is a regeneration magic, so magical energy consumption will increase if I take damage. …Let me see, I used about ten mature magi's worth of magical energy last night."

""
I'm astonished.
Magical energy is reduced every time she fights and there's no way to restore it.
If she already used up that much magical energy, how much longer can she stay in this world?



So I must try to use my magical energy as little as possible. If no magical energy is provided, I must sleep and suppress my magical energy usage."
"Sleep… um, will your magical energy replenish if you sleep?"


"…I do not know. But at the very least, I will not consume any magical energy while I am asleep.
So I wish for you to allow me to sleep as much as possible. I will not be able to constantly protect you, but I would like you to understand that this is a measure necessary for us to win."

"Oh"
I sigh with relief.
…Thank God. If that's all it is, I'll accept all she wants.

"Of course that's all right. You can rest when you get tired. If that allows you to stay longer, that's so much better."


"Then I will sleep often from now on, so please do not leave the house while I am doing so. If you are attacked somewhere far from here, I will not be able to come and protect you immediately."

"It would be a different story if I could leap through space, but Servants with such an ability are rare.
To call me from a distant place would require backup from the Command Spell, so I would like for you to try to stay near me."

"…Hm."
As much as I'd like to do that, I can't nod.
I can't imagine living with Saber, and most of all, I have my own life as well.

"…I'll try. But are you sure that's all?
If you sleep, you"


"It should not be a problem. I cannot be certain since this has never happened to me, but I did not fight even seven times last time. Even if I do not defeat them, other Servants defeat other Servants."

"I see. So not everyone has to fight all the other Servants. If all goes well, we can end this war pretty easily."

The only people I am going to fight are those with inhuman attitudes.
I'm sure that not all of the seven Masters are like that.

Nope, only five.

Tohsaka is ready to fight, but she would follow the rules of the magi.

So the five remaining Mastersif they all have humane attitudes, I won't have to fight.
Saber said she didn't even fight seven times last time, so this time

"Huh?"
Hold on.
Even fight… seven times… last time?

"Hold on, Saber. Um, was it Saber too last time? No, I mean, were you in the last Holy Grail War as well…!?"



I was Saber too at that time. There are heroic spirits that attribute to several classes, but I only correspond to the class of Saber."

""
Tohsaka mentioned…
That out of the seven, Saber is the most powerful Servant.
And this girl is saying she has become that twice in a row.

"Then… did you remain until the end last time?"


"Of course. I had no constraints last time, so I did not fall to any Servants."

Saber says this as if it's just something natural.
That makes me realize even more,
that I have been given a sword I do not deserve.

"…Geez. Then you must be full of complaints with someone like me as your Master."
"I only fulfill the duties given to me. If I can obtain the Holy Grail, I have no complaints about my Master."

"I see. That's a relief, but still"
She was undefeated last time, but she has already suffered two wounds this time.

In her condition, unable to replenish magical energy, she always has to think about her remaining magical energy.

Music: Stop

The result of a battle with such a burden was…



…That image of her covered in blood.

We almost got through an entire update without seeing that one again.

""
That image is engraved in my mind.
The image of a girl smaller than me, covered miserably in blood.





I am your Servant now because I did not fully win. I am used to taking wounds, so it is not something you should mourn over."

"Used to…? Even wounds close to fatal?"
"Yes. To wield a sword means to take injury as well. That should be the same for you too. There is no reason for just me to avoid harm."

"That'strue. But are you saying that you don't mind getting hurt?"
"If it does not result in death. If I die, I will not be able to protect my Master."
"…What is that? So you're saying you don't mind getting hurt to protect your Master?"



…Rin's words are certainly correct. There is no need to treat Servants as humans. We are a tool to protect our Master. You must understand that."

Saying so, Saber walks to the sliding screen.
Beyond it is the side room.
This room was enough for me, so I never used it.



She quietly opens and closes the sliding door.

We are a tool to protect our Master.
You must understand that