Land of the Blades

22. Archer

While Shirou and his merry company related their adventures to Sensei, I stood next to the door, with my back against the wall and my eyes fixated on the ground. I was hugging Shiro the dog, who was strangely restless. I was... out of myself. I wanted to be angry or sad or anything, but seeing Caster there had shocked me too much.

I had lost the start of their tale, but Ghost later filled me in. They had been captured by Rider and Caster, allies of the already defeated Lancer, and most importantly, of the Lunarians. They wanted to give Shirou a penalty for letting himself be captured so easily, and that meant they were going to take Ghost back to the moon with them. Before they could, they were saved by the Admirabilis, who also managed to damage Rider's ship.

—I'm one of the w-warrior caste of the Admirabilis, Livyathan —the crab-like slug mounted over Shiro's head said, bowing his head towards Sensei and then towards me. Apparently being a warrior allowed it to speak our language, so I didn't had to act as their translator this time.

It was somehow weird to see one of their people acting humble, I had though every one of their race would be like Ruler. The creature noticed the intense glare that Sensei had towards it and started shivering and sweating.

—W-we are very sorry for what our king did against your kind, please have mercy, oh lustrous one! —he said, covering his head with his claws.

Sensei closed his eyes for a moment, surely thinking deeply about the matter. Or maybe he fell asleep for a moment.

—While the aggression that the ruler of shell committed against us cannot be overlooked —Sensei finally said—, you as an individual aided and protected Shirou and Ghost, and for that, I'm personally grateful. So we shall allow you to remain here safely for as long as you might please, however, I must ask Shirou to maintain you under his vigilance.

Shirou nodded and gave the snail a pat on its head.

—Why did you saved them? —I asked, again surprising myself how cold I sounded. I covered my face and rethought my words— No, I mean, why where you right there and then to save them?

Shirou raised his arm, the one that he had been missing since our first adventure under the sea, and told us that the snail found it and wanted to return it to him, as well as some shards Dia and I lost that day.

—I don't think those will be enough to replace your legs, I'm so sorry I couldn't find more.

—The rest was probably taken to the moon, don't worry about it —I was mildly conmoved by the snail's words—. But to pull a whole ship under the sea, you must be pretty strong. Even Ruler's brother would have problems to pull that out in his truly true form.

—Truly true? —the Admirabilis didn't seem to know what I was talking about for a moment— Ah! no, his majesty is way stronger than I, but I was using my warrior form.

Ghost attempted to describe it, but he didn't seem to know the exact words to do it. Shirou just pointed to the tiny slug.

—Just like that, but a lot bigger and looking less squishy —he said.

That mental image reminded me of how Ruler and his brother looked the first time we met.

—I thought you could only grow that big by being given sweetened water or something.

—T-that's true for most of the Admirabilis, but the warrior caste can change its form at will. We can even do it above the sea, as long as we have enough water at our disposal of course.

To demonstrate his point, the slug scurried to the floor and then to a container with a glowing jellyfish on it, to whom he asked permission to take some water before proceeding. He started inflating as if he was a sponge and took on a more familiar shape, two legs, two arms, a torso, and a head. He was still barely big enough to reach my hip. His skin looked smooth and gelatinous like Ruler's, although he looked a lot more simplistic and with less frills, and he didn't look vulgar at all. After a couple of seconds he started to release water vapor and returned to his slug-like shape, and he seemed very tired.

—That was my humanoid shape... I could hold it for longer if I had more water, but I didn't want to take all of Mr. Jellyfish's water. My warrior shape is too big and requires lots of water, so I can't transform into it right now. Please forgive me.

—Well, that explains that, but...

—There is still another matter to discuss, isn't it? —Caster said, smiling— "why is one of our enemies standing next to us as if there was nothing wrong with it?" is what you are surely thinking. Well, allow me to quench your curiosity and tell you the story, as it is full of passion, love, intrigues and traged-

—Livy grabbed him by accident when he saved us —Ghost said in a deadpan manner.

Caster looked like he had turned into a statue, and his forehead actually cracked. Despite him smiling, his expression was very scary looking. Ghost didn't seem fazed up by this, but he still "ran away" and hid behind me.

—Protect me from the witch, Phos-sama~ —he said, with an obviously faked panicky voice.

—You little... I'm not a witch, at least not entirely. Call me a scary goddess if you must!

—W-what? —I was deeply confused, not knowing why Ghost and Shirou weren't even a bit preoccupied with making the enemy in front of them angry.

After a moment, Shirou finally gave me an explanation.

—Caster is harmless. She is a very strong magic user, but she doesn't remember how to use her magic.

—That's not true! I made the chains that captured you! —Caster pouted— I just need to practice a bit more and then I will be able to use my full potential.

—Sure, sure, meanwhile let's get along.

They had taken pity of Caster, and decided to leave him live when he started to bawl his eyes and beg to them to not kill him.

—But he is still our enemy, they attacked us without reason...

—You are wrong on both of those statements —Caster said in a pompous way— I have decided to side with Shero and be her wife. I never really liked the ideas of Franny, and if I recover even a quarter of my magic, I would be able to beat her easily. And they have a reason for attacking Shero, albeit it is a stupid one. Franny is attempting to recreate the Holy Grail war.

—The Holy Grail war?

—It is a ritual of ancient times, seven heroic spirits summoned on artificial bodies and made to fight each other. Aside from me, the defeated Lancer, and Rider, there is Assassin, Berserker, and Saber.

Shiro the dog started moving a lot and managed to get out of my grip, jumping into Shirou's arm and trying to lick his face.

—Those were only six...

Caster didn't seem to have heard me, instead he was entranced petting the dog.

—Aww, you missed Shero so much, didn't you? You two used to play a lot back home, yes, you did!

—W-what do you mean? —I said, actually not wanting to hear the answer.

—The Archer, who was made on the moon alongside the rest of us, is no one else but Shero.