Fate/Remembrance (Dead Apostle OC X Osakabehime)

Prologue 2 | Haggling

5 p.m.

Issendou Antique Store

Freud POV

"Good grief. I have finally arrived at my destination. It took way too much time than I wanted to."

I open the door.

"Welcome to Issendou! How can I help you?" The clerk asks.

I present a single Koban Coin.

"Greetings. I need to sell this coin. How much is it worth, clerk-dono?"

The clerk looks at the coin, rubbing it, smelling it, whatever it is that appraisers do, before she stares at me wide-eyed.

"Dear customer, where the hell did you find this?! This is an authentic Man'en Koban Coin produced from 1860-1867 in 99.9% perfect, pristine condition! I can keep this as a family heirloom!!!" The clerk exclaims, ringing my ears.

"I will not divulge anything as it is unnecessary for you to know. Now then, tell me the price."

"Honestly, at a minimum market price, this is surely 200.000 yen. But I'm willing to buy this for 350.000 yen. A nice deal, right?" The clerk says with a sly smile.

350.000? My rent cost 50.000 yen/month, so this is enough for 7 months, but....

"It can go much higher than this. 700.000 or I would just place it on a bid someplace else."

"Tch, oh, uh, I-I mean, dear customer, would you please give a more reasonable price? H-How about 400.000 yen?" The clerk pleads.

"600.000."

"500.000!" The clerk says.

"550.000. Take it or I shall leave."

"*Sigh*..... Alright 550.000 it is." The clerk says as she prepares large stacks of paper cash.

"Let's be honest, If I bid this coin to an auction, it can easily go 1.000.000 yen, right? From my perspective, I think this is a fair trade."

"H-Hai... You're right, dear customer. I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth." The clerk says defeated.

"If you are still not satisfied, I can take a single thing from this store that you no longer wish to see. Surely there is an item here that you consider as 'junk' or 'invaluable'?"

The clerk ponders before her eyes lighten up.

"As a matter of fact, I do have one. Please wait a sec while I look for it, dear customer." She says as she heads inside her storage.

I look around the store to see if there is any object that would catch my attention.

A cracked seven-branched sword, 2 pairs of meteorite iron fans, A replica of Tadakatsu Honda's spear, An arrow shard, A bowl with Buddha sitting on it..... There is certainly a nice selection of 'treasures' that humans love displaying, but none of it is of use to me.

*Thud*

"Here it is! *Huff-huff*...... This thing is heavier than it looks!" The clerk says out of breath.

The item on her table appears to be.... a kimono? It has few stitches and the colors are worn-out. A shell of its former beauty.

"This kimono seems to be unusable any longer. No wonder you want it gone."

"That's right! I appreciate that you are willing to get this trash out of my store, dear customer~" The clerk says happily.

I took the kimono, folded it, and stored it inside my cape.

"Very well. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave now. Pleasure doing business with you, clerk-dono."

"Hai! Please come again soon, dear customer!" The clerk says.

Timeskip 9 p.m.

Room 101 = Freud's room

The pale undead collapses to the futon that he placed beforehand.

"How odd. Venturing outside took too much energy than I anticipated."

I opened the shopping bags.

"At least I have clothes, swine meat, and most importantly, the smartphone."

Clothes for blending in with humans, swine meat as a temporary food source, and the smartphone that is said to be able to do 'anything'.

"First thing first, food."

I chewed the meat raw and swallowed it in seconds.

"As expected, it has zero taste."

My bloodlust has yet to be satiated fully, but at the very least, the craving stops a little.

Now the smartphone.

"How does this work?"

The pale undead spent hours trying to figure out how to use a smartphone. He read the manual a hundred times like a student cramming for exams.
When midnight passes, he eventually sleeps to conserve energy, not realising that red symbols begin to form on his chest.

.

.

.

The kimono is glowing as well.

Author's Note: That sums up the prologue! As this is a shorter chapter, I shall elaborate some bits of the story. Here it is!

1. A Dead Apostle OC of all things? Why?
= Well, I'm inspired by another fic from a certain writer from a certain fanfiction site that there's a severe lack of Dead Apostle fics on that site. I agree that even among the entire fanfic scene as a whole, Dead Apostles are largely underrepresented, even on the Tsukihime fics as well (which is also underrated and underrepresented, if only Nasu would release Tsukihime: English version by now, it would be way more popular).
Also, I'm a sucker for Dead Apostles beating up sick, amoral magi like they are straight garbage.

2. Why Osakabehime?
= Actually, any Assassin will do. I felt that there's a lack of Main Characters paired with Assassin class servants be it fanfics or official. In fact, so far there's NO main assassin pairing on the official materials as of the day of me writing this (27 February 2022). Emiya Shirou and Kiritsugu? Saber. Waver Velvet? Rider. Kishinami Hakuno? Saber, Archer, or Caster. Sieg? Rider and Ruler. Sajyou Ayaka and Manaka? Saber. Flat Escardos? Berserker. Fujimaru Ritsuka/Gudao/Gudako? Shielder. Norma Goodfellow (possessed by Sajyou Manaka)? Saber. Utsumi Erice? Voyager + She is a Servant Killer. Akagi Kanata? Saber.
See the pattern here? The fate series has spanned for more than dozens of series and not having a main assassin pairing is downright unfair.
Also, Osakabehime is chosen because out of all the other Assassins, she is funny and thus, more entertaining.

3. What's with Freud's way of talking?
= Yes, I made it on purpose. I wanted to evoke the image that Freud is a person (actually Dead Apostle) who is out of touch with modern society. Therefore, I made his speech to be formal/awkward/grammatically incorrect to reinforce that idea.

Phew, now that's over.
Feel free to write comments, suggestions, or questions!
^_^