Fate Chapter 10: Trust

I sent Sakura off and returned to my room. Medea was back in her robe, leaning on the table near the window to stare out of the window. Did Sakura’s words hurt her? Under the facade of the villainous woman hell-bent on revenge, she still had the heart of a kind woman, which she usually suppressed for her revenge.

“Master, we are going to take control of Ryuudou Temple. It is a ley line and the place where the Grail will materialize. I can build a temple to even the odds of a battle.”

The temple where Shirou’s bespectacled friend and Caster’s original master lived. Also, the place where Greater Grail will be summoned.

Her suggestion was good considering her battle potential, but one thing needed an immediate fix.

I leaned on the study table and folded my arms on my chest. “Geez. I told you to consult me first. Can you please do that?”

“But Master. I know what I’m—”

I put a finger on her lips to quiet her down. “Medea. I know far more about this war and you.”

She stopped, literally frozen on her spot. I smiled at her shocked appearance. This was needed to make her think of me as an equal, not some random Master she could discard at her will. I had no desire to be treated as disposable trash or treat someone as one.

“...How do you know?”

“As I said before, I just know. I’m cool with your strategy, but ask me first before proceeding. We’re both in this war together, remember?”

“I am sorry.”

A brief but sincere apology. I can take that.

“Just trust me with these matters.”

She bobbed her head, her lips raising a bit under her hood. She probably found me amusing.

“Before the temple, Medea, I want to summon another servant.”

Her smile froze, again before a forced smile replaced her stiff smile. “Am I that hopeless that you want to dismiss me so soon?”

“Wait—no. Hear me out.”

Before the misunderstandings intensified, I slowly explained about Sakura and her family. Zouken implanted the tainted fragment of the grail from the last war inside Sakura with the help of parasitic worms. Just the thought of worms wriggling inside someone chilled my spine, yet Sakura lived such a life for over a decade.

Her willpower was nothing to scoff at.

I also explained Zouken’s plans of using Sakura as a lesser grail which happened after he summoned the Assassin servant.

Medea stared at me, blue eyes filled with surprise. I just told her half a part of the future of this war. Her shock was reasonable.

“Master, is that true? If yes, how did you…”

“A goddess came to my dreams and told me everything.”

The number one and my favorite excuse on my list for everything related to my reincarnation.

“...Which goddess? Did you see their appearance?”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t.”

Medea wouldn’t know even if I told her about Arch.

“It’s unfortunate,” Medea said, her voice twinged with remorse. She looked straight at me. “Master… what else do you know about this war?”

“The goddess prophesied the entire war. Originally, I wasn’t supposed to participate, so a lot will divert and create—”

“An alternate timeline.”

“Correct.”

“Master…” she said. “Tell me. What happened to me in the war? Did… I win?”

The tiny bit of hope in her eyes made me sigh. She died in every timeline, or rather she didn’t stand a chance from the start.

I lightly shook my head. “No.”

She closed her eyes before turning around, looking out of the window. This crushed her self-confidence and hopes.

I patted her shoulder. “I told you so many times—we’ll win. Do my words sound that forgettable?”

Did I lack the charisma to earn her trust?

“Master, if we’re going to fight together… I need to know the spells in your arsenal.”

“Spells? I have none, as for now.”

“...”

“You can teach me. I’ve always been a fast learner.”

I’d need to learn more close-quarter combat to help Medea. A tank for the magician, perhaps a dragon knight. That could be decided later as the combat strategy will depend on my second servant.

“I will try to teach you…”

Yep. She had zero confidence in my ability.

Let’s summon the servant first. I had no catalyst though. The catalyst determines what kind of servant will be summoned. Like Mordred was summoned with a shard of the round table. What if I used my blood as a catalyst? I don’t remember any servants having a dragon attribute, but I could be wrong.

“Do you know the summoning ritual?”

“Yes. I do,” she said and explained the summoning ritual specific to the Fuyuki Grail System.

And I turned out to be half right. A catalyst was required if the summoner wanted to skip the chants. I still wanted to try my blood, so I had to skip the chants. Knowing fate, they could be cringeworthy.

Medea created the summoning circle with her magic power. It took her less than a minute to create the intricate magic circle.

“Master, do you perhaps carry a catalyst? Or you wish to chant for the summoning ritual?”

“Take out Rule Breaker.”

“Master?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay.”

While looking confused, she pulled her Noble Phantasm from behind her back. The dagger reflected a prism light. It was bent in the middle with a large arc near its tip. It looked more like a decoration dagger than a weapon. It really was, as it had almost zero capability as a weapon. Killing a human was stretching its limits.

Rule Breaker.

This Noble Phantasm could technically nullify any Magecraft or spell, even our contract, if I stabbed Medea with it.

I stretched my hand. “Give.”

She stared at the dagger and my hand as though hesitating whether to trust me with her Noble Phantasm or not. She didn’t know I wanted it to draw out some drop of blood, so her hesitation made sense.

“Sorry, I was thinking something,” she whispered and held out the dagger.

My lips lifted up. Did I break her walls?

I took the dagger and slashed my palm. I kept looking ahead, trying to bury the pain under a poker face… which didn’t come.

I looked down. The dagger merely slipped on my flesh, not even slicing my skin.

...Huh?

“Pfffft.”

Medea broke into a fit of a chuckle. She covered her mouth with a hand, but the wrinkles at the corner of her eyes gave her laughter away.

“Boy, you have thick skin… hahahaha…”

Even the typically silent Arch laughed her ass off at my blunder.

...The day couldn’t be any weirder.