Fiore agreed to Archer's suggestion. It appeared that the other battle had also reached a stalemate.
'Then, let's join up at the designated location. Our intention was reconnaissance from the start. There's no need to obsess over settling things here and now.'
'Understood. Thank you, Master.'
By the time Saber managed to stand up, Archer had widened the distance between them sufficiently enough for him to escape.
"Are you running away, Archer!?"
Watching him move away, Saber shouted without hiding her anger.
"Yes, since, at this rate, I'll be defeated first. Let's consider this match as a draw due to mutual injuries."
After saying those final words, Archer smoothly disappeared into the darkness of a back alley. Even though it wasn't at the same level as Assassin's [Presence Concealment], it appeared that he possessed knowledge of techniques for making oneself disappear as well.
For an instant, Saber wavered over chasing after him—right now, he couldn't use his bow. She was confident that she could definitely cut him down if she caught up with him. However, the issue was whether or not she'd catch up to him. Additionally, she couldn't be certain that he wasn't hiding [something] like the throwing technique he had used earlier.
Of course he had humiliated her. So humiliated that even tearing him apart wouldn't satisfy her. But she endured it.
"...Now then, I wonder how Master is doing?"
She wasn't that worried. Should her Master fall into a critical situation, Saber would immediately be informed through the Command Spells. If he was just about to fall into such a situation, he would probably call her back to him using a Command Spell.
After standing up and walking for ten minutes, she found Shishigou looking languid as he leaned against a historic building that had been magnificently destroyed.
"So Archer retreated, huh."
Shishigou had no conspicuous wounds that were worth mentioning. Some blood flowed from his face and abdomen, but they were probably just scratches.
"Pretty much."
"So our first battle was a draw. Saber, how did you find a battle between Servants?"
Without replying, Saber merely looked up at the sky silently. Why was it that she found the cold blue moonlight so dazzling—?
Shishigou smiled and nodded as if he understood.
"It appears we've both tasted the thrill of the Holy Grail War to our hearts' content."
"Muh. I didn't say anything."
"I can tell that much from your face. Now then, assuming that Assassin has retreated, chasing after her would be difficult. She can't remain confined to Sighișoara forever either... Since Archer shot at her, it looks like she's not working with the Black camp, so there will probably be other chances to kill her."
Or she might be killed by another Servant as well. Most likely, a third party had killed the original Master and taken Assassin for themselves. Did they intend to conduct themselves skillfully and get their hands on the Holy Grail? Or—based on these serial killings, maybe they weren't thinking of anything.
Shishigou hoped it was the former case. That would be fine then, since they were fighting with reasoning behind their actions. But, if they were completely unconcerned with everything and were killing just because they wanted to—Assassin of Black and her Master would definitely become the most difficult enemies in the Great Holy Grail War.
However, just as Fiore had said, not just Trifas, but all of Romania should be under the control of Yggdmillennia. If not, the title of Second Owner1 would weep.
"So, we'll be going back to Trifas, Saber."
"Aye... But, how are we going to get back? The bus we took to get here won't be passing through anymore at this time."
"Well, naturally—we're going to borrow one of these."
Shishigou briskly walked out onto the main street, smashed the glass window of a parked car and unlocked its door. By the way, he had no intention of returning it, so he was basically stealing it.
"Come on, get in."
"...Please avoid us having to drop out from the Great Holy Grail War due to getting caught by the police, Master."
Saber sighed as if amazed by her Master's actions.
