45 Sighisoara

The body of Siegfried disappeared.

It was quiet, everyone was still trying to process what had just occurred. An act of heroism that was so rare in the world today.

The man had ripped out his own heart to give to someone he didn't even know.

Alex was feeling a wide-range of emotions at the moment. He was starting to question if he should have stopped this from taking place, but he quickly squashed those thoughts. The smile he showed at the end, that was something he wouldn't dare take away from the hero. No, he respected Siegfried too much to stop his wish from ever coming to fruition.

It was somewhat ironic, a hero worshiped by the very people that used to invade his lands and attack his people and yet, he couldn't help but look up to him as well.

He refused to be sad, it would be an insult to the man who had just died so happily.

The quiet atmosphere was disturbed by the bustling of feet as a large group approached.

Lancer of Black sat ontop of a horse while his comrades were standing at his side and Darnic with them.

"What happened here?" Lancer demanded to know.

"Saber sacrificed himself." Ruler replied.

"And his master?"

"Saber also knocked him out."

Lancer looked over to Rider who also nodded in confirmation. "We will be having words when we get back."

Rider shuddered as he noticed his master's gaze.

"We would retrieve our forces, the homunculus included." Lancer said as he stared at ruler.

"I cannot allow that. He is neither a servant nor a master, he has nothing to do with the war." Ruler replied as she stepped forward and gripped her flag tightly.

"He was created by us for the purpose of the war." Darnic replied.

It was rare that even one of their homunculi had circuits of this caliber. It would be a great boon in the creation of Caster's noble phantasm.

"He's just a mindless servant, nothing more than a battery to be used and thrown away." Rider's master stated, her tone clearly disregarding their existence. "He's only a homunculus."

"Siegfried gave his life for 'only a homunculus'." Alex replied. A hint of anger present at her comment. His prana flowing off him ever so slightly, like it was about to erupt. The other servants felt the sensation and tensed up themselves as if preparing for battle.

"My Sister-in-law, is 'only a homunculus'." At this point Excalibur began to hum in response to his rising emotions. The anger was very clear, and Rider's master took a step back with eyes widened. Thinking about Illya's circumstances flipped a switch. If Shirou was his brother-in-law, that meant that she was his sister-in-law and therefore family.

"My Daughter is 'only a homunculus'." He raised his voice a bit at this point, his anger seeping out as the servants of black summoned their weapons in response. It was surprising how easily this amount of anger came about when he thought of his daughter. Even when they fought and killed one another on that bloody hill, hearing someone insult her had infuriated him.

Archer locked an arrow as he trained in on Alex. Caster started to channel prana, ready to cast a spell. Lancer also held up his lance, ready to engage and berserker held her mace as lighting coalesced.

Alex responded in kind as dozens of golden ripples opened up behind him and noble phantasms emerged, pointing at their targets.

There was shock present in everyone who saw them. Dozens of noble phantasms they didn't recognize had emerged.

"Peace, King of Knights." Lancer called out as he lowered his lance.

As he finished his words the other servants also lowered their weapons.

"Arthur" Ruler said as she eyed her servant.

Alex waived in the air as the blades receded and the portals closed.

"As one king to another, I apologize on behalf of my subject. I will make sure such an incident does not occur in the future." Lancer stated as he looked down at Celenike who was trembling slightly. "Though I must insist that you return the homunculus to our care as it is vital to Caster's noble phantasm."

"Saber's dying wish was for him to be safe. He also expressed his own will to live and therefore is no longer bound to yours and is under my protect. I swear on my banner that I will defend him if necessary." She said as her flag unfolded.

"Maiden of Orleans….." Lancer blurted out. "It is an honor to meet you, my sister of the lord. Is there any way I can convince you and your knight to join our faction?"

"It is my duty to remain neutral in this war, Lancer. As long as both sides fight for the grail with honor then I will not interfere."

Lancer seemed to weigh various options he had at the moment. He could engage them, possibly win, but the cost would be substantial. The Knight of knights had just revealed even more noble phantasms, this put him on edge. They had yet to figure out the limits of Ruler's protector. And that's not to mention that the man could probably just run straight towards their base and drop a giant blade ontop of it out of spite.

No, his best option was to stay on good terms with them, wait for the Red faction to do something to upset the rules or maybe force them into a situation that would cause Ruler and her servant to act.

"Very well Ruler. Come along Rider, you have a punishment awaiting you and someone grab Gordes." Lancer stated as he turned his horse around.

"My lord…..?" Darnic said in surprise. "It would be best if we eliminate these potential threats now and procure the homunculus."

"I agree my lord." Caster stated.

"I have made my decision." Lancer stated without any room for rebuttal.

Darnic just sighed in resignation. "As you will."

"Bye, it was nice meeting you~" Rider said cheerfully as he waived at Ruler and Alex.

Ruler and Alex just stared dumbfounded as the servant literally skipped back to his faction. It seemed as though they weren't the only ones who had that expression as even the Black faction just looked at him dumbly.

***

Alex was currently carrying the homunculus on his back while he and Ruler were trekking across the hills. They decided that it would be best if they did not go back to the church as it was right next to the Black faction's castle. So, they decided to head to the next closest town, Sighisoara.

Ruler was also receiving revelations. The grail was essentially ushering her to the city to investigate. There was a church there that she needed to go to and meet the priest that resided within.

Alex had informed her that this was the 'most likely place' for the red faction to take up residence. Indicating to her that she needed to be ready with her command seals just in case.

"Sorry about earlier, I lost my temper."

She offered him a cheerful smile. "Its alright, nothing bad happened."

Though it was a bit surprising to see the otherwise calm and collected knight actually get angry like that. There was obviously something there that needed to be addressed but right now was not the right time.

"So whats the plan when we arrive?"

"What do you mean?" She asked in confusion.

"If this town is anything like the last, we'll need to find some unorthodox living arrangements."

"….."

"The lord will provide."

"Is that your way of saying that you're going to use your ridiculously high charisma rating to procure us somewhere to stay?"

"..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're blushing."

She turned away and covered her face, picking the pace up.

***

Mordred let out a sigh as she stared out the window of the car.

"Okay, that's the 10th time in the past half hour. Do you want to talk about it?" Kairi, Saber's master asked.

"Theres nothing to talk about" She said with a frown.

"Are you still angry I didn't allow you to go fight?"

"I'm not angry."

"You look upset."

"I SAID I'M NOT ANGRY" She shouted.

He glanced at her as they continued to drive, catching her vacant expression.

After she calmed down after the reveal of her father, Kairi went on to explain the current situation in more detail as she destroyed the note.

She of course wanted to immediately go after him, but thankfully Kairi knew the importantance of information. He managed to get through to her that just rushing in towards the 'king of knights' was a bad idea and that they should gleam anything about his current circumstances first.

She seemed to relent a bit when he talked up the status of her father, citing that he wouldn't be defeated by a mad berserker. It was odd in a way, with how much anger she directed towards him, he held an undeniable respect in her heart.

"I don't like being this close to that weird Priest." She suddenly said.

"You are the one that wanted this." He replied.

"I wanted to go find my father, not fuck around that weirdo and that assassin."

"And we already had this talk, going in blind is a bad idea. This is the closest town to where we were told your father was staying. From here we can observe for a bit without drawing the attention of the Black faction. I also don't like being near them, they reeked of deception the last time we went into that church. But they have better resources that we can use."

"Then why not just ask them for help or give them a heads up?"

"I'de rather them not be prepared for our arrival, no doubt they will notice us when we get close...but at that point they won't have time to lay any significant traps."

"Whatever, I'll just cut down anyone who gets in our way. Black or Red it doesn't matter." She said with a grin. "By the way, what was the name of this town again?"

"I think it's called Sighisoara."