Fate Apocrypha - Volume 3, Act 4, Part 5

Eventually, night came.

Last night, Ruler had stayed over at the Fortress of Millenia after she had made sure it would not be a problem.

For his part, Sieg managed to have a good night sleep without seeing that dream again—perhaps because he did not use any more Command Spell. When he woke up, he saw the holy woman smiling next to his bed.

"Good morning, Sieg."

"…How long have you been here for?"

He asked timidly.

"About 30 minutes. You look like you've had a good night sleep—that is most heartening."

Sieg thought the same. He also thought that waking up with someone staring at you wasn't exactly good for the heart.

"I suppose this means your heart is faring well now."

Not at this rate, he thought.

"Now, then. We are proceeding as we've discussed yesterday, yes?"

Ruler said with a tone that did not allow for any objection before ripping the sheet off Sieg. And of course, Rider was there, sleeping while entangled with Sieg's legs. He was sleeping so soundly, it was hard to think he was a Servant.

"Fufufu, I made my presence as a Servant quite clear, yet he maintain such a slovenly appearance nonetheless… I'm not quite sure if he is that confident or simply that careless."

"Probably the latter." Sieg said.

"Hmph. I did wake up when I felt a Servant's presence! I just went back to sleep because I couldn't be bothered."

Rider said as he stretched out his arm and opened his eyes.

"It's simply a Servant's duty to alwaysguard their Master instead of sleeping. You're a Servant to begin with—you don't even need sleeping!"

"Yeah? Well, you were also sleeping! And I heard from Master how you fell asleep immediately after you two met!"

"Th-That was because my body reached its limit! And I didn't fell asleep! I just almost passed out because I had not had anything to eat!"

"That's actually worse."

"…I know."

Ruler blushed as she coughed to clear her throat.

Nobody spoke for a while.

Then Sieg carefreely yawned as he peeked the clear skies outside through the small window.

The weather would probably be clear the whole day—at least until the sun set. Yes… there might even be mist coming tonight.

In fact, Sieg wanted it to come.

He could not remember anything about Assassin of Black—their appearance, what weapons they wielded… not a single thing.

No—actually, he did remember one thing.

When they took a single life—a single homunculus' life. It was a meaningless, senseless death. That homunculus died merely because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This intense, boiling emotion he was feeling—perhaps this was hatred. A burning fury that rejected someone's entire being, and the twisted joy from wishing sorrow and despair unto them.

"Sieg? What's wrong?"

"..It's nothing."

When the time to face Assassin of Black come, Sieg decided that he would manifest Saber within his body once again.

However, there were things that Sieg have yet to realize. Like how Assassin of Black themself could not forgive Sieg for injuring them. And how while Assassin's Master was no magus, she was a monster who lacked morality and cared not of common sense.

※※※※※

With efficiency in mind, they took their breakfast together with the other homunculi. The fortress itself had a large space that had functioned as a messroom for the homunculi—however, their numbers had abated after the previous large-scale battle. What was once a bustling space had been reduced into a dull one where no homunculus would even have any small talk. A strange sight, without a single rustle among everyone there.

Sieg sat right next to Rider and in front of Ruler.

"Are you eating, Rider?"

"Yup. Time to replenish some prana.♪"

Rider hummed as he began eating the food made by the cooking-specialized homunculi. He munched on the bread dipped into a potage soup, looking very happy, before smiling and yelling "So delish'!"

Sieg thought to himself that maybe Rider simply wanted to eat for the sake of enjoying it alone.

In front of them was Ruler, who was also eating with no less gusto.

"We need to make sure we eat plenty for our plan today!"

Sieg thought to himself that maybe Ruler's just hungry.

"You as well, Sieg—please eat up!"

"Y-Yeah."

With that said, it was not like he could taste them—compared to normal people, Sieg's sense of taste was exceedingly weak. He could tell the difference between food with powerful taste and bland ones, but he doubted he could tell the difference between a glue and cream sauce.

There wasn't any special reason for this—he was simply born this way. After all, giving palate to a homunculus meant only to be prana battery would be pointless.

Which was why Sieg did not have much interest in the act of eating.

"Gimme seconds!"

"…This feels pointless to say, but you are a Servant, right?"

The server homunculus said as he prepared another serving for Rider.

"It's tasty! So who cares!"

"Indeed—all the more so for those who actually do need to eat… Perhaps I should get seconds as well…"

"…You're also a Servant, right?"

"My case is unique—there are various circumstances that makes it necessary for me to consume food. Also, this pot-au-feuis simply fantastic."

"That's an eintopf, not a pot-au-feu."

"…Eh? Wait, what? I'm sure this is a pot-au-feu, though…?"

"No, it's an eintopf for sure."

"No, this can't be anything else other than a pot-au-feu."

"It's an eintopf."

"No, it's a pot-au-feu."

Jeanne insisted that it was a pot-au-feu, while homunculus firmly asserted that it was an eintopf. Meanwhile, Rider ended up stealthily getting another serving for himself as the two was busy arguing.

Soon, thanks to the homunculi around overhearing their argument, the eintopf faction finally reigned supreme.

…Thought both pot-au-feu and eintopf actually had nearly identical ingredients and recipes—the difference was practically in name only.

"But it's a pot-au-feu…"

"It's an eintopf." "It's definitely an eintopf." "It can't be anything other than an eintopf." "The creator of the dish called it an eintopf to begin with." "Who cares, it's delicious either way." "Wait, who just took the last portion?"

The quarrel soon got louder and louder. And Sieg still couldn't taste any of his food.

But strangely, somehow he found it delicious nonetheless.

※※※※※

Once the noisy breakfast was over, Ruler spoke to Sieg.

"Now then. Shall we prepare for today's outing?"

"Outing…? To where?"

Ruler slightly pouted when she heard what Sieg said.

"Have you forgotten what we talked about yesterday already?"

"No, I remember. Just… It's not even noon yet."

So far, Assassin had always made their appearance around night time. There would be no point searching for them in the middle of the day.

"I want you to grasp the city's layout during the day, Sieg. When push comes to shove, it would not do if you end up getting lost. You never explored the city before, right?"

Upon hearing that, Sieg began reminiscing of what he had experienced so far, few as they were. Indeed, he never went out to the city itself before. From the moment he was born inside the fortress, his whole life was spent as a prana battery—it was only a few days ago when he actually stepped his foot outside for the first time.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Will you show me around, then?"

"HEYYY——! NOT FAIR! LET ME COME! LET ME COME AS WELL!"

Rider protested as he fumed and stomped on the ground.

"…A Servant following us around would only render the whole plan moot."

"Hnnngh…! Th-Then next time around, you're taking a walk with me, Master!"

Rider said, hanging onto Sieg's side.

"No, I think you'll just get bored if you walk around with me… What if you ask someone else?"

"Hey, Ruler, I get to hit him for that, right? I know he's my Master, but still, right?"

"Indeed, not even I can defend that."

Rider then proceeded to chop the top of Sieg head while pouting. Sieg, for his part, couldn't help but felt that he was being unreasonable—but against a united front like that, he unfortunately had no chance of victory.

After being told to wait in front of the fortress' main gate, Sieg was currently overlooking the expanding view of the entire city. Trifas was a small city, with only a population of twenty thousands people—but already Sieg could not wrap his head around that amount of people.

Twenty thousands individuals makes up this city of Trifas. And even more than that makes up Romania… Europe… and eventually, this very planet.

Humanity. A mind boggling number of more than six billions individuals, neither good nor evil.

—A number beyond imagination.

About 90 percent of those individuals would never ever meet each other. And the same goes with Sieg—he would not meet more than perhaps a thousand or so people in his lifetime.

If "world" was simply a majestic phrase made up by humanity, and if what an individual could see were only themselves as well as that which was woven by others, then perhaps—no one ever truly saw what the world actually was?

"…Hm."

An intriguing line of thought, to be sure. Among those that Sieg knew, the one who would be well-acquinted about such a topic would be—

"I'm sorry I made you wait, Sieg."

Sieg turned and saw Ruler, who had changed into a civilian clothes to wear while walking around the city.

"We still have quite some time left. Shall we, then?"

"Yeah. I'll be in your care."

"Likewise!"

Ruler grabbed Sieg by the arm and began walking excitedly, as he simply followed her along.

"Say, Ruler. While we're at this… I was wondering if I could ask you about something."

"Of course. What is it?"

She said, tilting her head. Sieg then explained what he had been thinking before, before asking her a question.

"Just what… is the world?"

"Hm. That's quite a deep question."

Ruler smiled, somehow looking like she was having fun. She then entangled her fingers with Sieg's and turned towards him.

"Everyone knows what the world is—they would either learn about it, or simply accept it as part of reality. Yet if you think about it, no one ever really saw what the world truly is. They simply take themselves as well as everything surrounding them as the world. Much like a king reigning over his country."

"But… doesn't that just sound strange?"

"Not quite. Humans live their life in a compromise between two worlds—one containing themselves, and the ever expanding world outside of it. Humans are solitary, yet they're connected with others. That's how they could grieve when a tragedy befell someone else. There are, of course, those who cannot compromise—those who only have faith in the world they belong in and utterly reject the world outside, or those who are trying to bring about change."

"And would you say… they're evil?"

"Let's see… They are certainly not the norm, but I personally do not believe them to be evil. Everyone wants to the world to change one way or another—and if it's for the better, then the world would change."

"So the world is something that no one can actually see or feel—something that's intangible?"

"Yes. And yet it exists nonetheless."

The world existed—the world was. And if each individual simply lived their whole live all by themselves, conflict would cease to exist. But that would also meant no one would ever connect with one another.

"Then… do you think something like eternal peace is impossible?"

"For now. But… perhaps, one day, someone would think on how make it happen. And if they come up with a wonderful way to do so … I'm sure everyone would follow along with their ideal."

"That… sounds kind of sad."

"Does it? I think that if the world were to cease to exist… that is, if all more than six billions individuals in this planet simply exists for the sake of existing… would be even sadder."

Ruler muttered so, with a complex expression. Sieg, for his part, could not comprehend why it would be such a huge tragedy if everyone were to simply live all by themselves until the end.

Yet still, he would like to understand one day.