Fate: Hammer Time

Chapter 34: In Germany

About thirty minutes after his highly successful meeting with Lorelei Barthomeloi and Mirei Montmorency, Shirou entered his dorm with a feeling of undiluted triumph.

Not only had he extracted a promise from Lady Barthomeloi that she wouldn't use people close to him again to manipulate him, but he had also gotten her to agree to take Rin on as her apprentice, and he still got to go to Germany with a valid reason.

Especially the second part, that she had agreed to take Rin as her apprentice, was an incredibly lucky break. Shirou didn't know much about politicking, but even he could see that Lorelei Barthomeloi was probably among the best that anyone could do in terms of sponsors.

He would have to check with Rin as soon as possible to see if she also thought so, but if she did, then he just needed to play his part in the upcoming operation to take down the Meluastea, and his mission to get Rin a good sponsor would be completed.

That he'd be in Germany in two days, and very close to the Einzbern castle to boot, was at least as lucky as that though. It was a perfect opportunity for him to sneak off to scout and prepare for the rescue-operation. Best of all, no one would dare snoop around in his business once it became clear that the Vice-Director was the one who'd ordered him to go.

He'd better start packing for the trip.

Although, before he did that, he should first call the girls.

Grabbing his phone and dialling his house's number, Shirou sat down on the sofa next to the hearth, listening to the slow beep of the phone going over, leaning back into a somewhat comfortable position.

The phone was picked up quickly, but when the person on the other end started talking, Shirou realised two things.

One, the person who had picked up the phone was Rin, which had never happened before.

Two, Rin was utterly distraught.

"Shirou?!" She practically demanded to know, trying to project strength through her voice even though it was trembling and shaking. "Shirou?! Who is this?!"

"It's me! It's me, Rin." Shirou promptly assured her, switching to her first name as she did with him. "It's me, it's Shirou!"

"Shirou!" The relief in her voice was palpable, and the redhead had to consciously relax his hand to prevent himself from crushing the phone in his grip at the thought of whatever could have scared her so badly that merely hearing his voice could comfort her. "Shirou, the Archer is still here! The Archer of the Fourth War survived!"

Shirou froze.

Everything went still. His body, his mind, even the very air around him stilled as his power went haywire for the shortest of moments, forcibly locking the air molecules in place and filling the room with static. For a few seconds, none of his muscles wanted to move as Rin's words entered his brain and registered there.

Then an insane amount of adrenaline was released into his system, and his metaphorical speedometer went from 0 to red in barely a second. Shirou's mind raced into high gear, and he shot up from the sofa, his entire body now tense and prepared for battle.

"Gilgamesh is still alive?!"

"Yes!"

Shirou sucked in a breath between his teeth, his senses going haywire.

Gilgamesh, the Archer of the Fourth Holy Grail War, was still alive.

That was a disaster of the worst kind! Not just because it meant a Servant was still walking around outside of a Grail War, implying the Grail was malfunctioning, but also because it was freaking Gilgamesh!