40. The Rogue Servant

-Godrick-

Seeing the young girl scream and shout at the top of her lungs, Godrick decided to ignore her, and let her deal with her servant.

Alaya had advised him to stick with the Archer, as she said that he has had experience in hunting down rogue servants, and other types of threats to the Grail, Throne of Heros, and Humanity itself.

Thus, Godrick would stay with the Archer for the moment being. That being the case, he would have to stay with this… child as well.

Godrick looked around him, taking in the many book cases and magical artifacts around the room. His little squabble with the Archer had damaged much of the right side of the room, so he walked over to the left where there was still furniture.

"Why are you ignoring me!?" Rin shouted, moving to stand in front of Godrick with her arms outstretched.

'This one's got spunk.' Godrick thought to himself before he stepped around her, and looked out one of the windows.

it was dark out, which meant that it was prime time for hunting. However, with it being the first night of the Holy Grail War, he assumed that everyone would be familiarizing themselves with their servants, and would stay hidden.

He turned his attention back to the girl, who was now berating the Archer for answers, to which he simply told her he didn't know.

Walking back into the room, Godrick sat in one of the chairs before it promptly broke under his weight, making him fall over to the ground.

Rin stopped arguing with the Archer to look at Godrick, who sat up before getting to his feet.

He sheepishly held up a hand in apology before walking to one of the other walls and leaning against it, relaxing.

"I can't even deal with this right now." Rin said, almost red from anger. "Oh, I know." She said, looking between the two servants.

"This is all just a dream. A really bad dream right now." She said walking to the stairs before turning around to face them one more time.

"If this is a dream, then everything will turn back to normal in the morning. But if not, this room better be clean when I wake up." She said with a huff, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face before walking up the rest of the stairs.

"Well, that went over splendidly, thank you." Archer said, turning to Godrick with a hint of hostility.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" Archer asked.

"I'm the Juggernaut." Godrick signed, expecting Archer to not understand.

He was proved correct as Archer understood finally.

"You're mute." He said, to which Godrick gave him a slow clap of derision.

Archer rubbed the back of his head as he looked at Godrick before speaking.

"Alright, well, let's start like this. I'll ask you yes and no questions for right now, just so I can understand what you are here for."

Godrick shrugged, understanding he didn't have much of a choice other than to play twenty questions.

"Are you hostile to my master, or me?" Archer asked.

Godrick shrugged again for an answer, as he would be hostile if they got in his way.

"Well, that didn't help. Maybe I need to be more specific." Archer said.

"Is your goal the Holy Grail?"

Godrick shook his head.

"Are you here to supervise the Holy Grail War?" Archer asked, to which Godrick shook his head again.

After a while, and many questions asked, Archer finally understood or mostly understood why Godrick was here.

"So you're here to hunt down a rogue servant, and you won't interfere with the Grail War other than that." Archer said.

Godrick was now sitting in the rubble of the mess they had made, his head in his hands as he played this stupid guessing game with Archer.

He just nodded and shook his hand at the servant, denoting that he had had enough.

"Alright, I've had enough for now as well. Let's get to cleaning this place up, or she's going to kill us in the morning." Archer said, grabbing a dustpan and broom. Godrick shot up from where he was seated, happy to be doing anything other than the guessing game.

-Next Morning-

Rin came down to the main room, having awoken from her sleep. She was completely exhausted, her hair was a mess, and she had bags under her eyes.

"Oh…" She said, as she saw the living room. It was now spotless, though it was missing the destroyed bookcases and furniture.

At the main table, two figures were seated, drinking from fine china cups. One was Archer, while the other was who she assumed was the massive knight, however he wasn't in his armor.

He had long golden hair that fell to his upper back. He had sharp features, looking as if he had been sculpted from stone by the Gods themselves.

He was dressed in a linen shirt that showed a good portion of his upper chest, and had sleeves which came down to his forearms. He also wore jeans, as well as leather boots.

As his icy blue eyes met hers, as a faint blush came to her face, and her chest tightened.

As she walked closer, Archer poured her a cup of whatever they were drinking as she sat down, eyes still flickering to the enormous man seated at the head of the table.

"I assume this is that knight from last night?" She asked Archer.

"He is." Archer answered shortly.

"Mind filling me in on what's happening?" She asked.

"I will, once we finalize our contract." He said.

Rin's eyes widened as she brought her hands to her head, gently pulling at her hair.

"I totally forgot about that, I'm so sorry!" She said in a panic.

"My name is Rin Tohsaka, it's nice to meet you." She said, now expecting him to reciprocate.

"Thank you master. However, I regret to I form you, that my memories are a bit jumbled at the moment, so I don't exactly know who I am at the moment." Archer answered.

Rin's eye twitched as she looked between the two servants at the table.

"You've got to be kidding me. Is this all a joke?" She asked sharply.

"No master, I'll regain them in a day or two. Your summoning was a bit… imperfect, and thus, I can't remember much right now." He replied.

Rin's nails dug into the table as she listened to her servant. She took a sudden and sharp intake of breath, before letting it out slowly.

"We will discuss that later. I'd like to know who this is." She said, pointing to Godrick.

"Yes, about him…" Archer said, turning his attention back to Godrick.

"I don't know who he is, or what his class is because he is mute. However, I do know that he is not a threat to us if we do not interfere with his purpose in this Grail War." He said.

"And what purpose is that?" Rin asked sharply.

"He is acting as an agent for the Throne of Heroes at the moment." He said as a look of uncomfortable disgust made its way onto his face. It didn't go unnoticed by Rin or by Godrick, as they both looked back at him.

"What?" He asked.

"You don't look very happy." Rin said.

Archer frowned as he thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure… but I just feel uncomfortable about the Throne of Heroes for some reason. Pay it no mind." He said, bringing their attention back to Godrick.

"He is here to hunt down a rogue servant who wasn't supposed to be here, and as long as we stay out of his way, he will cooperate with us." Archer said.

"You pose no threat to us?" Rin questioned, looking towards Godrick.

He just rolled his eyes and shook his head, unwilling to play the guessing game again.

"I'm not a threat, just stay out of my way." He signed to her.

"Oh, you know sign language?" She asked to which he nodded.

"I almost took the class, but I was busy studying with my father. Too bad." She said, turning back to Archer.

"Now, before everything gets started, I would like to show you around. It will be good for you to know the area you will be fighting in." Rin said. And with that, the morning passed, and the trio set out to scout the area.

As they left, Archer dematerialized, but Godrick stayed in his physical form, used to traveling with Jeanne out in the open.

"What are you doing?" Rin asked him. "Aren't you going to travel in your spirit form?"

Godrick shook his head, and walked out the door as Rin followed him confused.

As they walked through the city, Godrick learned that he was in a location named Fuyuki Japan. It was a city in a land far across the sea from his homeland, and he never thought that he would see it.

He got many strange looks as he walked the city, mainly due to his blackened left arm, though only his forearm down was showing.

He was a giant amongst the people of this city. In reality, he was a giant amongst the people of the world, but even more so among the people of this nation.

Rin spoke of the history of the nation, and city they were in, telling the two servants of each Holy Grail War that had happened. Soon they came to one site in particular, where Rin stopped and told of the climax of the last Holy Grail War.

Soon, the day turned to night, and the trio ended up on top of a building overlooking the city.

"Beautiful is it not?" Rin said, looking out across the city.

"Indeed master. But why didn't you just bring us here in the beginning?" Archer asked.

"Now where's the fun in that?" She replied.

Archer just sighed as he looked out across the city, and took in the multitude of lights and other aspects of the city.

"Well master, I've had a question lingering on my mind. What is your wish?" Archer asked.

Rin stopped for a moment, looking out across the city as well before looking back to her servant. She was about to answer before the building shook, and Godrick was nowhere to be seen.

"What just happened?" She asked.

Flying through the air, Godrick then landed in one of the streets, shattering the road. He looked around him and saw a park nearby where he had felt a servant appear. Walking into the park, he materialized his armor, and looked around him for his target.

A lone man sat on one of the benches, throwing bread at some birds before sitting back and looking up into the night sky.

Godrick could feel that this was his target, and prepared to strike, but the man turned to look at him, then motioned for Godrick to join him on the bench.

"Come, come. Sit and talk before we fight." The man said in a strange accent he had only heard a number of times in his "first" life.

Godrick narrowed his eyes, but something told him to listen to what the man had to say.

He walked over to the bench, and looked down at the man. He was a big man, shorter than Godrick, but just as built. He had long graying hair that was braided down his back, and a bushy beard that came down to his chest.

"Sit my friend." The man said, gesturing to the bench.

Still feeling cautious, Godrick chose to sit in the bench opposite to the one the man sat at.

"You need not be so wary my friend, I do not wish to fight just yet." The man said, looking at Godrick.

The Juggernaut decided to take the man at his word, and dematerialized his armor. Something told him that this servant was an honorable warrior, and would not go so low as to make a surprise attack.

"Good, this is very good." The man said, smiling.

Godrick finally was able to place the accent of the man, as he had heard one such man talk with his mother once. His mother had had a Norse warrior in her war band at one point. The man had been shipwrecked, and had washed ashore one day. He stayed in a town for a time, before he was recruited by Artoria after a skirmish with some Welsh cattle raiders that attacked as she was passing by. The man, whose name turned out to be Harald Ragnarson, had joined the fight, and killed a dozen men with nothing but his wood ax.

Artoria was so impressed by the man, that she had brought him into her own war band, and eventually offered him a place as a knight of the round table, to which he refused.

"I am old." He had said, "Old and tired. I'll leave the warring to you young folk." Godrick remembered sitting in a thatched hut as a young man, listening to the man tell stories of his homeland.

"It's covered in ice," He had told the young Godrick. "Ice, and blood." Harald had told him of the warring clans of the northern lands, and the harsh conditions of the man's homeland.

'He was a good man.' Godrick thought to himself, thinking of the day that he had learned of Harold's passing.

Shaking his head of memories long past, Godrick turned back to the man sitting across from him.

"My name is Ivar Thorson, son of Thor Ranaldson. And you?" The norsemen asked.

Godrick simply shook his head, and raised his head to show the scar over his throat.

"Ah. A mute. No doubt taken in battle, yes?" Ivar asked.

Godrick nodded his head in affirmation, to which the Norseman slapped his knee in excitement and leaned forward.

"Oh no doubt you killed the bastard you gave it to you, No?" He asked.

Godrick nodded his head again, causing a broad smile to come to the Norsemans face as he sat back once more.

"You see this one right here?" He asked, flexing his right bicep.

"I took this in the battle where the army I was a part of landed. Spear straight to the arm. I buried my ax in the man's head, then killed fifteen more of his friends to pay it back." Ivar said, relaxing into the bench once more.

"You died well, yes?" He asked the massive knight.

Godrick nodded once more, and Ivar nodded as well in contentment.

"I died very well." He said.

"My army was retreating from a battle we had lost. We crossed a narrow bridge just as our enemies caught up to us. My shield brothers and I made a skjaldborg along the bridge, knowing we would all die, but hoping that we could buy our army more time to retreat. The Saxons broke us, and soon enough I found myself alone on the bridge, fighting an entire army by myself." He said, reveling in the glory of that moment.

"The army met me on that bridge, and I killed until my ax was slick with blood, and it's edge was dull." He suddenly leaned forward and clenched his fist in excitement.

"No Saxon dared face my axe that day, but their leader urged them onward. So I killed and killed until my ax broke. Luckily I found one of my brother's weapons, and I killed more!" He said, his eyes ablaze with ferocious delight of the slaughter he had made that day.

"The Saxons had to float under the bridge and stick their spears through the gaps in it to finally kill me." He said, nodding, thinking about that day.

"A very good death."

"I dreamt of Valhalla that day. But when I finally arrived at the corpse hall, all that I found were books, books, and more books!" He said looking at Godrick in exasperation.

"Where was the mead, the women, the endless battles, the endless feasts with my enemies and friends? I guess I do get to fight again, but as someone else's dog. That is not the life I died with an ax in my hand for." He said, now looking down to the pavement in regret.

"I wish to fight a warrior who will send me to Valhalla." Ivar said, looking back at Godrick. "Are you that warrior?"

"Well. It doesn't matter now. Let us fight." Ivar said, standing up. His clothes disappeared, now standing bare chested with War paint smeared across his chest, arms, and face. He wore bear skin around his shoulders and waist, and had a bear head draped over his skull. A massive war ax materialized in his right hand, as he stomped the ground in front of him.

"I do not know your name, brave warrior. But when you reach the corpse hall, save a seat next to you for me, and we will drink as brothers! Tell them that Ivar Thorson the berserker sent you!"