Chapter 49: Aiding Damsels in Distress
Aiding Damsels in Distress
"Gilgamesh really told you that the Grail War is going to start in three years?" Rin asked, her expression a mix of concern and exhaustion as she looked at Shirou, who was busy painting the floor of his shed. "He really, literally said that? There is no room for confusion or misinterpretation? Was he clear?"
"He said it is going to start in less than three years." Shirou corrected her, pausing his painting to look at her. "And yes, he was very clear about it. There is a chance he was lying of course, but I am not willing to risk it. His story sounded very plausible."
"His story about the Grail not using all its power during the previous War and thus being ready to go again already?" Ayako asked, before sighing when Shirou nodded. "Well, I suppose that does sound logical. Then again, this is magic, so it might as well not be. Logic has nothing to do with this to begin with, if you ask me."
"That is-" Rin made to correct Ayako, to argue that Magecraft did involve logic, but interrupted herself when she remembered there were more important things to discuss right now. Talking more with the brunette about the ins and outs of Thaumaturgy could come later. "But you believe Gilgamesh, Emiya-kun?"
"I do." Shirou nodded, leaving his painting for what it was for now. "Maybe he was trying to prank me, but frankly, he does not strike me as a person who would enjoy such low-level humour."
"And even if he was lying, it would not hurt to be prepared." Sakura piped up, a somewhat unsure smile on her face. "Better that you prepare for a Grail War and it doesn't happen than that you don't prepare and it does happen."
"Right you are, Sakura." Shirou grinned, and he would have patted her head if his hands hadn't been covered in his own blood at the moment.
The four of them were sitting together in a corner of Shirou's shed-turned-Workshop. Shirou was sitting in the centre of said area, while the girls were all seated at a fair distance away from him. He was busy painting an insanely intricate Magic Circle in his own blood after all, and they didn't want to disturb the circle or get blood on their clothes by unnecessarily coming too close.
The Circle was a part of the ritual to turn Illya, Sella, and Leysritt into actual human beings. It was easily and by far the most complicated Magic Circle that Shirou and Rin had ever seen, containing symbols and words that had never existed and would never exist in their own universe. Even though the redhead had been working on it for hours already, he'd only finished one-tenth of the eventual end-result.
That didn't stop him from conversing with his girlfriends though. It might seem rather unwise, speaking with others while working on such a hellishly difficult project, but for some reason, Shirou was able to paint the Magic Circle with the kind of ease that normally only came with years of experience, even when distracted.
It was undoubtedly another perk that came with being Thor's successor, some kind of in-built paint-support, and Shirou gratefully made use of it, leaving his hands free to do what they wanted while he continued discussing the matter of the upcoming Grail War with the girls.
"I will continue working on my gems and my other crafts." Rin said, crossing her legs rather unladylike, a scowl on her face. "I cannot promise I'll come up with anything that has the potential to allow me to fight with Servants, but I'll do my best to become stronger than any other Master at least."
"So it's a given that we will have to fight in the Fifth War?" Ayako asked, grimacing at the thought of having to participate in something her lovers had always described as 'a wretched, senseless slaughter'.
"I am not going to force any of you to fight." Rin said immediately, her voice clear and decisive. "If you don't want to take part in it, that is completely fine with me. I'm sure I can work something out."
"I am the last of the Matou though. I will have to participate." Sakura countered, but Rin was already shaking her head before she'd even finished.
"You can just give away your Command Seals to the War's arbiter before summoning a Servant. If you leave the city after that, the other Masters and their Servants won't have a reason to come after you anymore, while the Church will make sure another candidate is found to take your place." She explained, before wincing. "Though it might be better if they did not select another candidate at all. We don't want the Grail to be completed after all."
"My thoughts exactly." Shirou agreed after finishing a particularly difficult symbol, which required his fingers to move in a way he hadn't thought possible. "Ideally, I'd prevent all the Masters from summoning their Servants to begin with. If I don't have to contend with Servants, I only need to get my hands on the Lesser Grail, supply it with just enough power for Angra Mainyu to materialise, and then deal with him. There does not need to be a War at all."
"Why do I doubt that it will be as easy as you describe it?" Ayako sighed.
"Because you have an ounce of common sense." Rin replied dryly, giving the brunette a smile, before turning back to Shirou. "Preventing the Masters from summoning their Servants is easier said than done. Many will summon their Servants long before coming to Fuyuki, and even if they wait until they are here, Fuyuki is a big city."
"I am aware of that." Shirou nodded with a frown.
"Sakura and I will do whatever we can to help you of course, but you cannot ask us to remain Masters yet not summon Servants of our own." Rin continued, her voice hardening slightly. "If we did that, we would be sitting ducks, easy prey to anyone who wants to eliminate their competition or take us captive to use us."
"Nee-san and I will need the protection that a Servant provides." Sakura supported her sister's argument, giving Shirou an apologetic look. "We'll definitely be targeted by enemy Masters, either to kill our Servants or to take our Command Seals and our lives, and only Servants can fight other Servants."
"I understand. I would never ask you to expose yourselves to danger like that." Shirou assured them. "If you get Command Seals, please do not hesitate to summon a Servant as quickly as you can."
"We won't." Rin nodded, before she turned to Ayako. "Are you still keeping up with everything we say?"
"I think I can see the problem here." Ayako crossed her arms with a thoughtful look. "Basically, while you and Sakura are willing to help Shirou by not summoning your Servants, the fact that there are five other Masters out there, five wildcards whom you guys cannot control, makes it impossible for you to do so, at least not without risking your lives and your freedom."
"Yes, exactly." Rin nodded, satisfied with the brunette's understanding of the situation.
"Not to mention Gilgamesh." Sakura reminded them of the worst wildcard of them all. "We shouldn't forget about him."
"Definitely not." Shirou nodded, before clicking his tongue once. "He was very explicit about the fact that he wants the War to take place. I cannot say why, aside from his obvious cruelty and sadism, but I strongly suspect he has his own designs for the Grail. If we don't summon our Servants, he'll definitely do something to force us."
"Great." Rin grumbled, the mention of the golden king having completely spoiled her mood. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with yet."
"But if trying to prevent the War at its initial stages is too difficult, can we not try to stop it before it begins at all?" Sakura suddenly suggested.
"Hm? How would we do something like that?" Shirou asked, genuinely curious.
"Well, perhaps we can make an estimate of the likeliest candidates to receive Command Seals, visit them before the War starts, and convince them that the Grail had been corrupted?" She proposed, licking her lips. "I'm sure none of them would want the world to be destroyed, even if they are Magi."
"That sounds good in theory, but once more, it is easier said than done." Rin promptly shot her down. "The only people who will certainly get Command Seals every war are the representatives of the Founding Families. Other than them, the Grail selects candidates by itself, without revealing their identities before or after the fact."
"We've got two of the representatives right here already." Ayako noted. "What about the third?"
"The Einzbern. Their candidate was supposed to be Illya, but I think we can assume that she won't be getting any Command Seals anymore." Shirou replied. "Not now that she is out of their control."
"She won't be getting them as the Einzbern candidate, no. That role likely shifted to someone else after you took her away." Rin agreed, before lifting a cautionary finger. "However, since she has been very involved with the Grail for all of her life, it is not unthinkable that it would grant her Command Seals anyway, making her an independent candidate."
"What about Shirou?" Ayako asked, gesturing at the redhead while keeping her eyes on Rin. "He has been involved with the Grail as well. Does that mean he can become a Master too?"
"In principle, all Magi have the potential to become Masters." Rin answered her question, though a bit unsurely. "The requirements are that you have Magical Energy and that you have some sort of wish to make at the end. I believe Emiya-kun conforms to both, so he should be able to receive Command Seals."
"I suppose so." Shirou huffed. "Not that I would ever summon a Servant with the way things are now, even if I get Command Seals."
"Senpai, didn't we just agree that that is dangerous?" Sakura frowned at him, displeasure writ clear on her face.
"And don't say anything about being able to handle Servants on your own." Ayako said sharply when Shirou opened his mouth to respond. "I think goldie proved pretty conclusively that you are not strong enough for that yet."
Harsh words, but they were true, and Shirou inclined his head in acknowledgement.
"Then perhaps, instead of not summoning them, we should try to ensure they won't die?" Sakura made another suggestion, not discouraged by having been shot down twice so far. "If they don't die, their power won't be returned to the Grail, and Angra Mainyu can't manifest."
"That sounds like a more realistic option, a really good option even." Shirou nodded in agreement, liking the idea more with every second that passed. "It's a concrete goal, not too difficult if we play our cards right, and it does not put innocent people at risk."
"Then it has been decided." Rin declared, her tone brokering no argument. "We will all summon Servants if we get the chance. It is safe to say we'll get at least two and possibly as many as four. That should be a considerable advantage, more than enough to prevent any Servant from dying and being added to Angra Mainyu's power-supply, at least until we can vanquish him."
"You know, about that." Ayako suddenly frowned, as if something had occurred to her. "Servants respond to the summons because they are promised a wish if they win, right?"
"Indeed." Rin nodded, almost unconsciously taking on a lecturing pose. "Heroic Spirits are normally only summoned when the world is in danger, by the world itself. The Heaven's Feel ritual essentially lifts along on the world's summoning mechanism, using it to summon the spirits of the dead from the Throne of Heroes for selfish purposes. Naturally, the Servants wouldn't go along with that if they didn't get something in return, that being the Grail's wish."
"But in this case, there will be no wish at all, even for the winner." Ayako continued, and Rin froze, her face becoming expressionless. "Doesn't that mean we'll be summoning them under false pretences? And won't that really piss them off once they realise they have been lied to?"
"You are asking a lot of very good questions all of a sudden." Shirou hissed, frustration bubbling up in him, though it was all aimed at himself for not realising that sooner. "You're right, we cannot summon Servants under these circumstances."
"No, we still can." Rin countered immediately, putting on a brave face. "We'll just have to summon them without catalysts, and with an Incantation that tells them the truth."
"That is possible?"
"It is." Rin answered Shirou's question. "Without a catalyst, we will reach the Servants that are most attuned to us and our goals, and if we alter the Summoning Incantation to reflect the actual situation, which should be doable, we will only get the Servants willing to fight with us without a reward."
"Are there Servants like that?" Sakura asked, looking rather sceptical of the idea that Heroic Spirits would allow themselves to be summoned without a promised reward.
"Well, I don't think there are many who would come to a normal Grail War if there were no reward at the end." Shirou mused, before smiling slightly. "But this is not a normal Grail War, is it?"
"It is a battle to save the world." Ayako realised, snapping her fingers. "Then, would any Servants show up to help prevent an evil god from dooming us all?"
"The honourable Servants should." Rin nodded. "History and legends are rife with heroes who genuinely want to do the right thing. If we can summon a few of them, it should be alright."
"Do you have any examples?"
"Siegfried, from the Nibelungenlied, is renowned for his kindness." Rin was able to give the first example in a flash. "King Arthur and his knights were honourable and fought for those in need. Ditto for Charlemagne and his followers, as well as several of the famous Indian heroes."
"Okay, so there's choice enough." Ayako let out a sigh of relief. "I really thought we were screwed for a moment there, but we still have options."
"Indeed." Rin agreed. "Also, by not using catalysts, we will decrease the chance of summoning a Servant who is so fundamentally different from us, in morality, worldviews, or whatever, that they will eventually betray us."
'Like Gilgamesh'. The words weren't spoken out loud, but everyone heard them nonetheless.
"Well said, Rin." Shirou nodded, fully aware of how troublesome and unpleasant a Master-Servant relationship could become even without direct betrayal if their personalities didn't align. "Servants might be familiars in theory, but they still have their own identity and especially their pride. None of them will stand for being jerked around, which is why it is important to get along with them."
"Though we do run the risk of our Servants being on the weaker side if we summon them at random." Rin cautioned them, before shrugging a bit. "But with as many as four Servants, that will not be a significant issue."
"Quite." Shirou huffed in amusement, before dipping his hand into his bowl of blood again, which drew the eyes of all three girls as he continued creating the Magic Circle.
"You know, that is still weird." Ayako remarked, her face scrunching up at the sight of the red fluid. "I tried to convince myself it's just paint, but it isn't working."
"I rather dislike the sight as well." Sakura nodded, evidenced by the fact that she'd been looking a bit green ever since Shirou started his project.
"I'm no stranger to using blood in rituals, but this amount does look excessive." Rin added her two cents, crossing her arms with a pensive look. "Tell us if you feel lightheaded, Emiya-kun. Anaemia is no joke."
"I will, but you don't have to worry about me." Shirou shook his head, flashing them a cocksure grin. "I am durable, and I heal very quickly. Any blood-deficiencies I might have had have already been fixed."
"You didn't use any healing spells though?"
"I don't need to. My body's constitution and restoration-abilities take care of most injuries by themselves. I only heal myself when the injuries are really serious, like when I was stabbed through the heart by the Nokken."
"You gods are a bunch of cheaters." Ayako scoffed, sounding very exasperated with Shirou's continued stunts. "Have you no respect for the laws of Conservation of Energy?"
"I suppose I do cheat, quite a lot." Shirou admitted frankly, aware that he was essentially playing the game of life on easy mode. "And no, Ayako, I am under no obligation whatsoever to obey any laws of physics."
"That's such bullshit." Ayako scoffed, before promptly receiving a whack to the back of the head from Sakura, for the use of such improper language.
"That's just how gods are." Rin sighed, her expression laconic as she shrugged once. "They wouldn't be very divine if they couldn't perform impossible acts."
"I suppose that is true." Ayako allowed, rubbing the spot where Sakura had slapped her. "Hey, Rin, do you know what gods are supposed to be?"
"Supposed to be?" Rin parroted, appearing a bit confused by the question. "In what sense?"
"Well, you know. Were they physical creatures, like mammals, or were they more like spirits, or perhaps beings of pure energy?" Ayako clarified.
"Why are you asking this now all of a sudden?" Rin replied with a question of her own, cocking her head to the side.
"I've been meaning to ask for a while, but it always slipped my mind." Ayako admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "I thought now was perhaps a good opportunity. If you don't want to answer though…"
"I do, I do! I suppose that as the most experienced Magus here, it falls to me to educate you." Rin saw an opportunity for an impromptu lecture and immediately jumped on it, smiling proudly as she did so. "Before we begin though, I must warn you that all knowledge we have on gods comes from guesses and deductions that were made with the meagre amounts of knowledge found in ancient texts. The gods never allowed themselves to be studied after all, and even if someone did discover some of their secrets, they usually took those secrets to their grave."
"For clarity, when Nee-san says that those people took the secrets of the gods to their graves, it was usually the gods themselves who put them there." Sakura added to her sister's warning. "They thrived on being beyond understanding after all."
"Exactly, Sakura, exactly." Rin praised her little sister, smiling brightly at her. "Currently, the consensus among Magi is that gods were Nature Spirits that became sublimely powerful through the worship of humans. The more they were worshipped, the stronger they were. As such, it was vital for them that humans could not possibly understand them."
"Worship is the furthest from understanding after all." Shirou nodded.
"Question!" Ayako proclaimed, raising her hand.
"Ask." Rin allowed, smiling magnanimously.
"What's a Nature Spirit?"
"Great question! A Nature Spirit is a spirit formed from elements of nature. An element of nature could be something like a particular species of plant, a certain kind of soil, or a type of metal ore or gemstone, but also natural phenomena such as storms, tidal waves, and sunlight. By existing, these elements of nature make their mark on the world, and thus create Nature Spirits. Generally, Nature Spirits aren't very intelligent, in fact, they often aren't even sentient to begin with, but once they are worshipped by humans, they have the potential to grow in power and become gods."
"People usually don't worship the Nature Spirits themselves though, but their element instead." Sakura clarified. "The Ancient Egyptians worshipped sunlight, while the Romans were always very careful to pay proper homage to the sea."
"Which created the god Ra and the god Neptune respectively." Rin finished. "I'm sure the Egyptians and Romans didn't intend to do so, but that was what happened."
"I see." Ayako mumbled, doing her best to absorb all the new information they were presenting her with. "What about Thor?"
"Thor was created when the Norse people decided to worship the storms wracking their coastal lines." Rin replied, glancing over at Shirou for a moment. "Later on, further domains were added to his legend, such as the domain of the Earth, the domain of fertility, and the domain of oak trees."
"That last one really doesn't seem to fit in the list." Ayako deadpanned.
"I didn't decide Thor's domains." Rin countered, sounding a bit miffed, before clearing her throat. "Ahem, well, regardless of what domains belong to what god, this is the best explanation we have at the moment."
"It sounds very plausible, if a little complicated." Ayako spoke with a self-deprecating laugh, before turning to Shirou. "Right, Shirou?"
"It does sound plausible indeed, and yes, also complicated." Shirou nodded slowly, before smiling lopsidedly. "But Sakura and Rin are completely wrong, so don't worry about it, Ayako."
"Oh?" Rin raised an eyebrow, her face becoming expressionless. "That is quite a thing to say so suddenly, Emiya-kun."
"W-Wrong?" Sakura on the other hand blushed slightly, before bashfully rubbing the back of her head. "Ahahaha, how embarrassing."
"Well, perhaps it's not entirely wrong." Shirou amended his earlier claim, realising he might have oversimplified matters a bit too much. "The Babylonian gods were, I believe, exactly like you described; Nature Spirits that gained a conscious and divine power through human worship. The same went for the Mesopotamian gods and the Egyptian gods."
"But not for the others?" Ayako pressed him when he fell silent for a moment to order his thoughts.
"Not according to Gilgamesh." Shirou sighed. "He told me that the Greek gods were apparently Mecha Spaceships, that the Meso-American gods were aliens that came to the Earth on the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, and that the Norse gods were AI-constructs made by Yggdrasil to guard humanity."
"Hah?" Ayako cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"Come again?" Rin blinked once, looking as if he'd just told her the sky was purple.
"That sounds fascinating!" Sakura on the other hand wasn't confused, but delighted instead, for some reason. "Did he say anything else?"
"No, he didn't." Shirou shook his head, which visibly saddened the plum-haired girl. "But I guess I am not as unusual as I thought I was. In fact, if we can believe that guy, the Norse gods from our world and the Norse gods from Thor's world weren't even all that different."
"You almost sound disappointed." Sakura smirked teasingly at him, falling in for Rin, who still looked rather flabbergasted. "Did you like being unique, Senpai?"
"Maybe, a bit." Shirou admitted, consciously looking anywhere but at the plum-haired girl and her smirk. "I mean, it's pretty cool to be the successor of an alien god from a different universe, but compared to a Mecha Spaceship…"
"Don't worry, Senpai! You're still the best in my book! You are our favourite god, by far!" Sakura proclaimed, before looking at the other two girls. "Right, girls?"
"Absolutely." Ayako grinned, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Well, I don't know any other gods." Rin began, before a pleading look from Sakura made her relent. "So yes, you're definitely the best, Emiya-kun."
"Thank you, you three." Shirou smiled at his girls, and he would have embraced them or kissed them or something like that, if it hadn't been for the fact he was still covered in blood.
"But to get back to the lecture." Ayako then brought their conversation back on track, turning to Rin again. "Why did the gods disappear?"
"Now that is a question I know the answer to for sure." Rin straightened her back proudly. "It's because of us."
"Us?" Ayako parroted, before pointing at the four of them. "As in, us-us? Or…?"
"I mean humanity as a whole." Rin clarified. "The Rise of Mankind and the subsequent increase in logic began eroding the world's Mystery. Obviously, the gods were the first to suffer the consequences, and were banished to the Reverse Side of the World, and the Phantasmal Creatures followed later."
"So, basically, us humans kicked the gods out?" Ayako grinned. "Go us!"
"Quite, though it is rather a pity our own decline followed soon after."
"Hold on! Decline?"
"Yes, decline." Rin confirmed, looking at Ayako with a complicated expression. "During the Age of the Gods, the power of the gods heavily influenced humanity as well. In those days, humans were far stronger than they were now."
"Celtic records claim that normal men were capable of carrying boulders twice their own size up a hill, in one go and without even really straining themselves." Shirou provided an example. "They were stronger, faster, more durable, everything."
"Some humans were even greater than that." Sakura also added her two cents. "They were special even in those times, because they were particularly strong, or fast, or good with weapons, or even especially clever. Those people are what we now call 'heroes'."
"Like Ushiwakamaru." Shirou gave an example. "Or Minamoto no Raiku, Oba Nobunaga, or Senji Muramasa."
"The decline of Mystery also weakened humanity however." Rin took over from them again. "Modern people cannot hope to carry boulders uphill anymore, Thaumaturgy becomes weaker with every generation, and there haven't been any heroes in decades."
"Damn, that sounds like a real shame." Ayako huffed, crossing her arms with a frown.
"Maybe it is, a little." Shirou acknowledged, before holding up a finger in warning. "Though you might also see it as a necessary trade-off for our current standard of living."
"Oh yes, definitely." Ayako immediately understood what he was getting at, nodding her agreement. "If not being able to carry boulders uphill is the price I have to pay for having things like indoor plumbing, reliable drinking water, and a surplus of food, then I suppose I'll have to rely on my capable boyfriend to carry my boulders uphill for me."
"It would have been nice though if the decline of Magecraft would have been halted some time ago." Rin argued, maybe a bit petulantly.
"Right, I understand it is difficult for your profession." Ayako conceded. "But certainly, you too can see that the comforts of modern life are quite convenient?"
"No, I don't." Rin instantly denied. "I live an old-fashioned life, and that has always been enough for me."
"Even though you use high-quality materials like glass in your experiments?" Sakura challenged her.
"Glass? They had glass in the past-"
"I'm pretty sure you often use door-to-door delivery as well to obtain the materials you need, Nee-san." Sakura continued, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at Rin. "From shops on the internet even."
"That is-"
"What about your clothes, Nee-san?" Sakura was relentless in her pursuit to prove Rin also appreciated the modern age. "All stitched perfectly by machines and shipped here on boats with motors and engines, ensuring that they are both high-quality and affordable to almost anyone."
"W-Well, I…" Rin tried to find something to defend herself with, before she slumped. The black-haired girl was practical enough to see that Sakura was right, and not too stupidly prideful to argue despite that. "You're right. I do like the modern age."
"Nothing shameful about that." Ayako tried to cheer her up a bit, placing her hand on Rin's back. "Hey, how about we go inside, have a cup of tea that was grown in Kenya and shipped here in less than a week, eat some chocolate that came from Brazil, and then have a dinner with a nice hot pot made from vegetables from every continent on the world?"
"No one likes a show-off, Ayako." Rin huffed, but there was no denying that the corners of her lips were twitching.
"How long will it take you to finish the Magic Circle, Senpai? Sakura asked, turning towards Shirou.
"I'm not going to be able to finish it today." He replied immediately, as he wasn't even half done yet. "I'll just finish this part and then I'll stop. Feel free to go back to the house, I'll join you shortly, once I clean up a bit."
"We'll get the tea ready." Ayako grinned, getting up from the floor and dusting herself off a bit. "Don't be too long."
"I won't." Shirou promised, before turning back to the Magic Circle, faintly hearing how the girls left the shed.
Finishing the current part took him another ten minutes, and Shirou groaned when he rose again. Enhanced body or not, kneeling on the floor for hours was murder on his back and knees, and he wasn't at all looking forward to having to do it for another two or three days.
Still, he would do it, and once the Circle was complete and several other steps had been taken, he could finally initiate the ritual to change Illya into a real girl.
Frankly, it was about time.
In the Black Forest in Germany, in the early hours of the morning, the hunt for the Wayward Chimaera continued unabated.
"Have you found anything?" Lorelei asked her head tracker, who had just gotten up from a kneeling position after studying a set of footprints. One would never have noticed it from her voice, but the Queen of the Clocktower was feeling quite impatient, eager to beat her rival in finding the creature they were both hunting.
"I have found some tracks." The head tracker nodded, before holding up a hand in warning. "Definitely not a Chimaera though. I'd say this was a deer. A young, female one, searching for a place to give birth to her fowls."
"This late in the year?" Another tracker asked, frowning slightly. "It is autumn. Winter will soon be upon the land, and the bears are building their supplies in their caves. This is not a good time for a deer to be pregnant."
"Yet this one is, which is probably why it was cast out by its herd, for being too slow and clumsy." The head tracker sighed, before shaking his head. "Alone and about to give birth. It is doomed, the poor thing."
"I suppose that is how nature functions. The deer and her fowls will provide sustenance for the predators, who can then survive for a while longer." The other tracker said, taking a philosophical stance on the matter. "That said, it is a bit surprising that it hasn't already been killed and eaten by a wolf or a bear. If it's about to give birth, it should have been pregnant for a while. That it survived for months alone in that state does not make sense, unless she somehow managed to avoid all predators on her own."
"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen any tracks of predators for quite a while now." The head tracker noted, frowning slightly at the realisation. "Not for several miles in fact. Not even a fox or a badger."
"What does that mean?" Lorelei asked sharply, wary of any irregularities on her hunt. Any small change from the standard, from a sudden, unexplained shifting of the wind to a mysterious scratch on a tree, could be the difference between life or death when you were hunting the supernatural. "Does it have any relevance to our hunt?"
"It might have something to do with our quarry." The head tracker nodded, though he didn't seem all that sure of himself. "As I told you before, Chimaeras attack everything in sight, which tends to make other animals keep their distance. If the creature is near, it is only logical that bears, wolves, and badgers would stay far away."
"Yes, but a Chimaera would have attacked the deer as well." The other tracker argued. "If it was close by, the deer would never have dared to come here."
"What are you saying?" Lorelei interrupted their little discussion, her voice sharp. "That this Chimaera only attacks predators while leaving prey animals alone?"
"It would seem like it, my lady." The head tracker nodded. "It would seem like it."
That was strange to say the least, and Lorelei pursed her lips, suddenly a lot less concerned about Lissenbaum and a lot more about the hunt itself.
"I have never known Chimaeras to be so selective." She spoke.
"You are correct. If this is a rampant Chimaera, there never should have been tracks from a deer here, pregnant or not." There was no doubt in the head tracker's voice as he said that. "So it's either just a coincidence that there are no predators in this area, or we are dealing with something other than a Chimaera."
"I do not believe in coincidence, not on a hunt." Lorelei said sternly, before turning to address all her followers. "We will not completely abandon the Chimaera-theory yet, but take into account the fact that our prey may be something else entirely. Something that can make the distinction between predator and prey."
"Yes, miss Vice-Director!" Her entire team responded as one, all standing at attention, including the two trackers whom she'd been speaking with.
"Then we continue."
And so they did. They continued searching the forest for tracks or other clues, keeping careful watch of each other and their surroundings as they did so.
They were spread out in a diamond pattern, with Lorelei at the front and her strongest warriors to the sides and the rear, while the ones in the middle always kept at least two of their comrades in sight.
It was a formation most suited for searching an unknown forest for an unknown enemy. The presence of the strongest warriors on the outsides made sure any possible assailants wouldn't break through the formation immediately, while the watchers in the middle, equipped with powerful lamps, made sure they couldn't be ambushed and couldn't be picked off one by one in the dark of the night.
It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.
"Ho!" One of the outer guards suddenly shouted, and the entire formation halted immediately at her order. "I need a tracker over here!"
After assuring that the front was adequately guarded, the head tracker immediately made his way over to her, and Lorelei followed close behind.
"Are these tracks from our quarry?" She asked once she arrived at the scene, the head tracker already kneeling next to a trail of extremely obvious tracks, the kind even a child couldn't have missed.
"These prints do not match any kind of Chimaera or monster I have ever seen, nor any kind of animal." The head tracker snorted, sounding half-amused and half-exasperated. "Not unless they started wearing boots all of a sudden. My lady, this looks like another group of poachers."
"Poachers." Lorelei made no effort to hide the distaste in her voice. Poachers were criminals, hunters in name only, who caught animals with cheap traps and cheaper guns, while actively breaking the law of the land.
It was one thing if they did so in order to eat the animals, that was still somewhat palatable, or if they were executing a well-planned mission of population-control, but those who hunted for sport were really nothing but scum.
This group likely belonged to the sports category, as the people of Western- and Northern-Europe generally didn't hunt for food. Lorelei was a bit surprised they would dare step into the Black Forest after so many of their fellows had died over the past weeks, but their foolishness might provide her with a valuable opportunity.
The beast she was hunting had already shown that it hated poachers, and it was very probable that it would ambush them sooner or later. Lorelei had had no luck so far in finding the beast, so a group of poachers to serve as bait, to lure the creature out of hiding, might have been exactly what she needed.
"Shall we ignore these tracks, my lady?" The head tracker asked, getting up from his kneeling position.
"Hm." In normal circumstances, ignoring the mundanes and avoiding them studiously would have been the proper thing to do, if only not to have to deal with their bothersome questions, but in this instance, they might very well have a role to play. As such, Lorelei shook her head. "No, we shall follow them."
"My lady?"
"The beast has already proven that it hates predators and poachers alike." She told him, and she was happy to see he was able to connect the dots himself after that.
"You wish to use them as bait." He surmised, loudly enough that everyone could hear it, though her Enforcers, professional as they were, did not react in any way. Whether they approved, disapproved, or just didn't care, they would follow her directives, even if it meant dangling mundanes in front of a supernatural beast.
"They volunteered for the task once they headed into the forest." Lorelei spoke mercilessly, a comment that might have drawn a laugh from some of her followers if they hadn't been standing at attention. "It would be rude to ignore their sacrifice."
"As you say, my lady." The head tracker inclined his head in acceptance.
The group continued their march through the forest in the same formation as before, steadily tracking down the poachers. They didn't go very fast, being mindful of ambushes and threats lurking in the shadows, but even so, they were steadily gaining on the poachers, who were apparently going even slower.
For a few hours, this continued, without anything of note happening, but eventually, just before sunrise, the peace and quiet of the forest were rudely disturbed.
It began as a soft sound in the distance, monotonous and barely audible even to Lorelei and her trackers, but it soon grew out into the distinct sound of terrified screaming, something they were all quite familiar with after years of hunting Dead Apostles and other monsters.
"AAAAAAAAH!" Someone, likely male, was screaming his lungs out as he crashed his way through the forest, uncaring about the noise he made as he ran. He was going in exactly the opposite direction from the poachers, and as such, would soon run into the team of Enforcers. "AAAAAAAAH!"
It was obvious he was fleeing from something, and Lorelei, having a gut-feeling that this might be what she'd been waiting for, held up a hand, wordlessly ordering the formation to a halt.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Not a minute later, a man came bursting out of the shrubbery, running at full power, uncaring about the damage he sustained as he ran into branches and twigs. His eyes were large and panicked, his exposed skin was bruised and riddled with cuts, and his clothes were torn, yet he still continued running like the hounds of hell itself were on his heels. "UWAA!"
Until he saw Lorelei.
"ARG!?" The man came to an instant halt, jumping away from the brunette like a startled deer, falling on his backside in the process, though he ignored the pain in favour of shouting at her. "Who are you?!"
"I am-"
"You have to help me!" The man didn't let her finish, throwing himself forward and onto his knees when he had ascertained that she was a human. "It got my friends! It's chasing me!"
"What is chasing you?" Lorelei asked calmly, too experienced with panicking people to lose her composure.
"It!" The man shouted, his eyes bloodshot. "The shape! The thing in the bushes! It got us! It got us all! You have to help me!"
The man was outright crying in fear at this point, uncaring about how pathetic it might make him look. He was clearly scared to death and wanted nothing more than to go home, begging Lorelei for her help.
It was a pitiable sight.
Lorelei found it hard to feel pity though. This man and his comrades had gone into the forest to hunt after all, and they shouldn't complain now that they had become the prey instead.
To the brunette, hunting was something almost sacred. It was a match of strength and wits between predator and prey, a match that could very well go both ways. It was a contest of life and death, literally, and she knew, better than most, that going on a hunt could very well be the death of even the greatest of hunters when their prey proved too strong.
That also meant that a hunter should not complain if they lost. Of course, they could flee, hide, crawl through the mud, or do whatever else they thought was necessary to survive, but complaining was nonsensical. The moment they'd set out to kill, they should have known and accepted that they could be killed in turn. That was a simple truth.
In other words, this poacher, who was whining and crying about it being 'unfair' that his prey had proven too much for him, was worthy of nothing but her contempt. A feckless child who thought he could kill without ever having to fear for his own life in return.
After she'd extracted every piece of information from him, she'd adjust his memories and send him on his way. Hopefully, their paths would never cross again after that.
"Tell me everything you can about the shape that killed your friends." She ordered him.
"Huh! You can't be serious! That thing is-!"
"Tell me." She repeated, hardening her voice a bit, which appeared to make a sufficient impression on him.
"I-I couldn't see it properly. I-It was dark, a-and it m-moved so fast." The man stuttered, his eyes flitting around, as if afraid that the beast would suddenly jump on him out of nowhere. "I c-couldn't even shoot at it! It bashed my friends' heads open, knocked me down, and left."
"How did you survive?"
"I-I played dead."
Not a bad course of action, and it proved the beast wasn't very careful, if it was fooled by a childish trick like that.
"Can we go now?" The man pleaded. "P-Please?!"
"You can go." Lorelei nodded, recognising he had nothing more to tell her. "My team and I will continue into the forest."
"What?!" The man paled in horror and shock. "No, you can't! It's too dangerous!"
"Nevertheless, we will continue." Lorelei replied calmly, though the fact that the man seemed worried for her and her followers made her a tiny bit more sympathetic toward him. "You can follow the trail we left in order to get out of the forest. You will not get lost-"
"You have to protect me!" The man screamed, and Lorelei's ever so slight sympathy for him vanished in the blink of an eye when his purely selfish motives were revealed. "Listen to me, woman!"
Lorelei looked at him for a moment more, before she decided there was nothing more she had to say to him. Any word she spoke from here on would be a waste of breath. As such, she walked past him, ignoring any further cries for help.
That seemed to be the catalyst that turned the man's desperate fear into rage.
"Don't ignore me, you bitch!" The man screamed, launching himself at Lorelei from behind, perhaps to try and grab her shoulders, perhaps to take her hostage, or perhaps to just beat her as an outlet for his frustrations.
His actual reason for assailing her would remain forever unknown however, for the moment he got within two paces of her, one of her Enforcers threw a knife into the back of his neck, killing him instantly.
"Do not touch the Queen with your dirty paws!" The Enforcer spat, two more knives glistening in the light of the moon as she held them ready to be thrown as well. "You cretin."
"Eleonora." Lorelei lightly chastised the woman, not bothering to turn around. "Did I tell you to kill him?"
"No, my lady." Eleonora acknowledged her mistake, returning the knives to their sheaths, though there was not a trace of an apology in her voice.
The woman had definitely gone against protocol by killing a man without being ordered to do so, but after a moment of thought, Lorelei decided not to pursue the matter.
Killing the poacher might not have been her own first instinct, but it served to protect the Secrecy of the Moonlit World just as well as when they would have Hypnotised him. Besides, she couldn't really bring herself to feel bad about his death.
Actions had consequences after all.
They didn't bother to dispose of the corpse, though Eleonora did retrieve her knife, cleaning it with the dead man's jacket before sheathing it again. The dead body would either be used as sustenance by the forest, or it would be discovered by a passer-by and a murder investigation would be started, an investigation that would never result in the truth.
The encounter with the poacher had mostly been unpleasant, but it did serve to confirm that they were on the right track.
Lorelei and her team continued to follow the poachers' trail, and it wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, the place where the poachers had been ambushed.
It was a very macabre scene.
At first glance, the brunette counted six corpses, strewn around over a decently large area, half of them looking as if they'd tried to flee once their comrades were defeated. None of them had gotten far though before they had been mowed down.
They had been crushed, torn apart, and bludgeoned so badly that death would probably have been nearly instantaneous for all of them. Blood was splattered everywhere, several trees had been demolished completely, and all the guns that the poachers had carried with them had been mangled and flattened. It still wasn't clear what manner of creature they were hunting, but it obviously had a penchant for brute force.
Her trackers promptly went to work on inspecting the corpses, studying their fatal and non-fatal wounds, to get a picture of how the creature fought. In the meantime, the other Enforcers established a perimeter around the scene, before they searched the surroundings to see if the creature was still around.
The search didn't yield any results though. The creature was long gone.
"My lady." The head tracker did seem to have found something interesting though, and he came over to Lorelei to inform her of his discovery. "There is something peculiar about the corpses, about the way they were killed."
"I know what you mean." Lorelei nodded, having already spotted the irregularities. "There are no claw marks on them."
"Or bite marks for that matter." The head tracker added. "These men were killed by blunt force trauma only, repeated blows to their heads and bodies, hard enough to shatter their bones and turn their organs to mush."
"Have you seen anything similar before?"
"I have, many times, during my travels to Africa." The head tracker nodded, pursing his lips. "The victims of elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses look exactly the same. Battered to death by a creature that possesses immense strength and aggression but does not use its claws or teeth to attack."
"Are you saying there is a rogue elephant roaming these woods?"
"No, there are no traces supporting that theory. In fact, there are no traces at all, aside from the damage to the surroundings from the fight. Our quarry is extremely light-footed and careful, it would seem."
That was strange news, and Lorelei wondered if they were perhaps overlooking something. Had she ever hunted a creature before that was immensely strong yet stealthy, aggressive only to predators, and never used its teeth or claws to fight?
Nothing immediately came to mind.
"It is undeniable that we are in the creature's territory." She eventually decided to leave the ruminations for another time and instead addressed the group again. "Likely, its lair is nearby. Spread out, search this area of the forest, and make sure you are never alone."
The team immediately set to carrying out her orders, and Lorelei returned her focus to the corpses, walking up to one of them, that of a scruffy-looking man with a beard and an overall.
His upper body was mostly fine, aside from a few cuts and bruises. His lower body however, from the waist down, had been completely crushed to mush. Likely, it was the shock and the blood loss that had killed him, as it didn't seem like any vital organs had been hit.
Lorelei herself had several ways to deal with missing limbs and flesh wounds, and she was confident in her ability to heal herself from any injury, no matter how large, if no vital organs had been hit, but mundanes had little to no recourse if they lost so much blood and flesh.
While she was studying the man's intact upper body, she suddenly noticed something peculiar. There were a few hairs lying scattered across his chest. Hairs that her trackers had failed to mention.
She promptly summoned the head tracker, who immediately paused his work elsewhere to walk over to her.
"What are these hairs?" She asked, taking a few of them between her thumb and index-finger, absently noticing how soft they felt to the touch.
"Ah, yes, I noticed them as well." The head tracker nodded, before he shrugged. "I do not think they are of use in the investigation. There is nothing remarkable about them."
"What are they then?" Lorelei asked, wondering what made the man so certain that a potential clue was of no value.
"Just a few rabbit hairs, that's all." He replied, picking up a few of the hairs himself. "Rabbits tend to love warm places. Most likely, several of them came to enjoy the remaining heat of these bodies just after they were slain. When the bodies cooled however, they moved elsewhere."
"I see." Lorelei nodded, having to agree that rabbit hairs were indeed not at all relevant to the investigation. "Carry on then."
"Yes, my lady."
The head tracker returned to his work, and Lorelei set out to inspect the other bodies as well. Similar to the first one, there was absolutely nothing remarkable about them, aside from the brutality with which they had been killed.
No blood had been sucked, no parts had rotted much more than the rest of the bodies, no flesh had been eaten, and none of the organs had been taken away. It all seemed perfectly ordinary, as much as a bloodbath could be ordinary.
Lorelei did note though that there were rabbit hairs on each of the corpses, and she spared herself a moment to enjoy the mental image of a herd of rabbits proudly perched on the warm bodies, uncaring about the blood and guts.
Aside from those hairs though, there was nothing remarkable about the bodies, nothing to indicate anything supernatural had taken place.
That complete lack of clues was a clue on itself however, a very significant clue.
All the usual suspects could now be ruled out. Dead Apostles, Chimaeras, Wraiths, Gremlins, and even rogue Magi always left distinctive traces, no matter how hard they tried to hide them, but none of those traces were present here.
In other words, there was a chance, just a chance, that she was dealing with something new, something she had never fought or even seen before. She had entered unknown territory, searching for a creature she did not recognise.
The thought was enough to make her heart beat faster, the first time it had done so since her competition with Fujimaru, and the corners of her lips twitched uncontrollably, as if they wanted to form a smile.
The competition with Lissenbaum suddenly seemed irrelevant, and all the twinges of impatience that had developed over the past days melted away, as Lorelei took a deep breath.
It had been supposed to be nothing more than a standard hunt, to let off some steam, but now, it had developed into something much more.
How riveting.
"Luvia! Luvia, a moment please!"
The cry sounded through the hallway on the uppermost floor of the Edelfelt-manor, audible to everyone inside.
Upon hearing the cry, Luviagelita Edelfelt stopped walking to look behind her, her good mood unspoiled by the interruption. She was on her way to the family's library, searching for a few books that could help her solve a problem with her research that had been nagging her for a while, but that was hardly urgent. She had more than enough time to spare for a conversation.
Which was fortunate, because Helena, the one who'd called out to her, looked quite frantic, and her little sister Ysolde, who was following close behind, even more so. Something that did not bode well for Luvia's peace of mind, prompting her to mentally reschedule her library hours to another day and brace for the bad news the sisters undoubtedly had for her.
Had it been Mikael, or Hannele, or even Gunter or Clarence, Luvia would not have been too concerned, but when Helena and Ysolde started to get worried, everyone had to get worried.
Helena and Ysolde oversaw the Edelfelt's resource-procurement after all, arranging for the purchase of everything the family needed at a given time, a task so important the sisters were basically exempt from the usual power plays within the family and could count on the support of the family's head and its heir at any time they wanted.
It was Helena who made sure the larders of the manor were filled, who ensured that all the furniture and luxuries in the numerous rooms were top-notch, who made bulk-purchases of common resources such as gems, chalk, and glass, and, very importantly, kept an eye on the markets at all times to spot irregularities before they could do too much damage to the family's financial status.
It had been Helena who had first spotted the fact that the gem-market was collapsing as a result of the Meluastea's fall, but even before that, she had foreseen a bump in the gold market, anticipated the supply-issues within the market for the blood of Phantasmal Beasts, and had even shielded the Edelfelt from the fall-out of a sudden drop in the trade of Mystic Eyes.
Aided by her little sister Ysolde, Helena handled all such matters quickly and efficiently, pretty much guaranteeing her a place on Luvia's inner circle and the respect of nearly every other member of the family, even those who were nominally her rivals and opponents.
Luvia too had a lot of respect for the young woman, and that meant she knew that Helena wouldn't look so concerned and frantic over an insignificant issue. No, the fact that she had taken the trouble of tracking Luvia down to bring her the news as fast as she could likely meant that there was another crisis either already happening or about to begin.
"Luvia, there has been a development-" Helena began once she'd caught up, but she fell silent when Luvia held up a hand.
"Let's take this discussion somewhere else." The blonde girl suggested, jerking her head towards the maids walking through the hallway. "It's a little too busy around here."
It wasn't that Luvia didn't trust the maids, as they had all been trained for years and had been handpicked for their loyalty, but even so, they were still human, and sometimes prone to gossip, and if there was anything Luvia didn't want any gossip about, it would be issues with resource-procurement.
As such, she quickly led the other two girls into the nearest room, which was a bedroom normally meant for the most esteemed of guests, which she then quickly warded against eavesdroppers. Helena, as quick on the uptake as ever, took care of sealing the windows, while Ysolde quickly checked the room for possible listening-spells.
Only when they were sure nobody would be able to overhear them did Luvia turn back to Helena and Ysolde.
"My apologies. What did you want to talk about?"
"Oh no, y-you don't have to apologise! I completely understand that we have to be careful." Helena quickly assured her, Ysolde nodding along in agreement. "I-I mean, this is not information that just anyone should know about! I mean, you should know about it, a-and I guess a few others as w-well, but definitely not the maids. I mean, they're trustworthy and all, but you can never know, do you? And even if you can-"
"Helena, stop! You're not making any sense." Luvia interrupted her ramblings, though she made sure to keep her voice soft. Helena was a skittish person, and the best way to get through to her, to get her comfortable, was by being kind and patient to her. Shouting would only make things worse and would get Luvia nowhere with her. "Take a deep breath."
Helena promptly followed her orders, taking a few deep breaths, visibly calming down as a result.
"Good. Now tell me what you wanted to say."
"It's about the gem-market." Helena started again, still not entirely comfortable, though that was more because of the news she brought than because of Luvia. "There has been a… development."
"What kind of development?" Luvia fought to keep her voice composed and her face neutral, even as worry wormed its way into her gut. After all, the last time Helena had brought news about the gem-market, it was to report on its collapse, the consequences of which Luvia was still busy dealing with.
The biggest suppliers on the market, the Meluastea, had fallen away, which was already bad enough, but on top of that, several other suppliers had chosen that moment to make it known they were running dry as well. Apparently, gems were getting scarcer in the world, especially those that could be used in Magecraft, and as a result, several businesses who dealt in gems had decided to focus on something else instead, leaving the supply even smaller.
Meanwhile, the most powerful and wealthy buyers had started hoarding gems like nobody's business, spooked by the news that they were getting scarce. With such a massive increase in demand, the few remaining suppliers had seen their chance to drive the price up even further than was necessary, no longer fearing competition now that over sixty percent of the available supply had disappeared overnight.
The Edelfelt, whose treasury had already been emptying at an alarming pace even before the collapse, could not afford to pay those prices, at least not for long, and Luvia had immediately persuaded the head of the family, her great-aunt, to place a strict limit on the purchase of gems.
Essentially, it was forbidden now to buy gems from any supplier without first asking for Luvia's express permission. That rule did not apply for individual members using their own private funds of course, they were free to spend their own money on whatever they wanted, but anyone who wanted to use family money needed to go through her first.
Over the past week, Luvia had been busy threatening, cajoling, bullying, bribing, and begging her relatives to obey that ruling without fuss and to wait with their purchases until the market had recovered, but it had cost her a lot of goodwill and several favours she hadn't wanted to cash in on just yet.
It wouldn't surprise her if it had set a lot of bad blood too, especially since the two cousins who'd been plotting against her had suddenly gained a lot more traction over the past couple of days as more and more of the Edelfelt started chafing against her rule.
Ever since Helena's first report, things had been spiralling out of control, fast, and Luvia dreaded what else the young woman had discovered now. If the price of gems had gone up ever more…
"A new supplier has entered the gem-market." Helena reported, and Ysolde held out a file for Luvia to take. "Since yesterday, they have put a small number of high-quality gems up for sale."
"Oh?" That was not what she had expected, and Luvia blinked once as the information sunk in, absentmindedly accepting the file from Ysolde. "Is that not good news?"
"On its own, it is." Helena nodded in agreement, taking a look into her own papers. "In total, this new supplier placed two-hundred-and-forty gems on sale, divided in twelve packages of twenty gems each. Every buyer can only purchase one package, no matter how much money is offered for a second."
"That is an interesting way to conduct business." Luvia commented in a light-hearted tone, even as her mind raced to find a plausible explanation for such a stipulation. "Are they fishing for more clients perhaps?"
"Perhaps." Helena nodded in agreement. "It could be that they are trying to create a network of steady customers instead of having one hoarder buy them all. It would also explain why they are offering the gems for pre-collapse prices."
"Pardon me?"
"They are selling the gems for a price that was the standard before the market collapsed." Helena repeated dutifully, looking just as confused with the matter as Luvia. "Less than one-fifth of what the other suppliers ask even with the shipping price included, if my calculations are correct."
"There is no way that offer is genuine." Luvia scoffed, her earlier enthusiasm at the emergence of a new supplier drying up quickly. "There has to be something behind it."
"That is what I thought too, so I decided to find out where these gems are coming from." Helena looked at Ysolde, who promptly fished another file out of her backpack, which she then offered to Luvia as well.
So far, Helena's little sister hadn't said a word yet, remaining silent as the grave while her big sister spoke, only moving to support her by nodding or offering files. She was Helena's faithful assistant and had been ever since she got old enough to walk after her.
Had Luvia already mentioned that Ysolde was ten years old? Because she was. Just a little ball of cuteness doing her best to be useful to her sister and the family, her expression adorably serious as she presented another file to Luvia at her big sister's behest.
Truly, everyone with a heart, so about one-third of the Edelfelt, would melt at such a scene, and Luvia was no exception.