A girl was sitting on the edge of an ancient swimming pool. With her bare feet she was playing with water waiting for the woman she had met the day before. The sun was high and the heat was quite unbearable for her, she was used to the hot summers of Japan but that hot weather was much heavier. The girl's Servant appeared next to her and asked, after smoothing his hair:
"Master, wouldn't it be better to prepare for war?"
She didn't answer.
"Master...?"
She turned around. She looked at him with two irritated eyes and exclaimed: "I told you to call me 'Princess Hina'."
"And I already told you I'm not going to."
"You really are a peasant, do you know that? I am the Master, I'm your mistress and you should obey me."
"You're my Master, but I'm still an emperor and no one commands an emperor."
"You're a peasant, not an emperor."
He sighed. "Master, if you think you can compel a man with my dignity to recognize your authority, then you really are a fool. I reigned over a vast empire, so extensive that it had two capitals. No ruler has ever managed to emulate my glorious deeds—"
"Maybe because they weren't so glorious..." she said wryly.
"I'll forgive your ignorance, Master, but never try to insinuate such serious things about me again. I represent the imperial splendor."
"But why don't you put your ego aside and act like a good Servant? All Servants respect their Masters, that's how it works, and yet you persist in acting as if you were still an emperor."
"You cannot ask for the respect of the Pius Felix Invictus, as well as Maximus, Victor and Triumphator!"
"Huh? What did you say...?" she asked confused.
The man sighed again. "Right, sometimes I forget you're a barbarian."
"Ah!" she exclaimed shocked. "This is a terrible insult to do to a princess!"
"A true princess must be able to speak Latin, the language of the conquerors."
"Well, at least good manners are known in Japan! So you're the real barbarian!"
"This is an insult to my dignitas—!"
At that moment a red-haired woman arrived, the discussion stopped in a moment. Hina, at the sight of her, blushed and turned away from her so as not to look into her eyes.
"You're making some noise," the woman said.
"I'm sorry... it's just that my Servant doesn't want to respect me."
"Mm? You shouldn't be surprised by this, Hina, ω Rider isn't a Servant who knows the importance of teamwork... and above all of friendship."
The Servant, hearing those words, reacted angrily: "You have quite the courage to insult my name in my presence, woman. If you had been a subject of mine, I would've had your head cut off on the spot."
"Then I'm glad I'm not under your authority, Rider," the woman said, smiling.
"Tch!"
"What's going on, ω Rider? You seem more grumpy than usual."
"I don't understand why you agreed to help my Master. There's no room for these alliances in this war. We're all enemies. All. Yet you have chosen to help my Master for no good reason, why? What are you up to?"
"Don't you trust me, Rider? Or don't you trust ω Berserker?"
At that moment, a Servant appeared behind the woman, he had the appearance of a teenage boy. He, looking Rider straight in the eye, smiled arrogantly and then, turning to his Master, asked:
"It would be natural for me to ask the same question. God is merciful, but not all are faithful servants of Our Lord, especially ω Rider... he stinks of pagan."
"Which deity are you talking about?" Rider asked, annoyed by those insults.
"Of the only true God: the Christian one."
"So I'm sorry to make you look bad in front of your beautiful Master, but, unfortunately for you, I had the honor of being chosen by the god of Christians. He spoke to me and with his protection I was able to win my battles—"
"You're lying, ω Rider... I feel it. You cannot deceive me with your words, you pagan."
"What happens, ω Berserker? Does it irritate you to know that you are face to face with the Chosen One?"
"You just screwed yourself, ω Rider. No true Christian would claim to be the chosen one. You're just a pagan... and a blasphemer too. You don't deserve my respect."
"Okay, both of you calm down. We are allies, okay?" the woman intervened.
"No, we're not," Rider said. "We are not allies, we are enemies who are not killing each other yet. I would like to know why we are not fighting. We were summoned to obtain the Holy Grail, the most sacred of all treasures, the object that can make every wish come true. We should fight to get it—"
Berserker, with a derisive grin, asked: "And what would a pagan do with a Christian object? Don't make me laugh, Rider, a blasphemous pagan cannot be worthy of the most sacred object of all. You'd do better at retiring in a monastery and repent your sins, this holy war is not your thing."
"You, ω Berserker, are just a plebeian... I can tell by looking at your face. You don't belong to the Roman imperial dynasty, you're not a descendant of Caesar, neither in blood nor in name, and therefore you're not worthy to fight in this noble war."
"I spit in the face of your imperial dynasty. There is no sovereign who can command me, there is no emperor who can force me to remain silent. I am the voice of God, I represent his will in the earthly world... while you are only a lost sheep."
"Enough!" the woman exclaimed aloud. "Both! You look like children, not Heroic Spirits. You have to get along, okay?"
Then Hina, who had just abandoned the water, asked her, influenced by the strong doubts of the Servant:
"Why are we allies, Ester? I don't want to sound ungrateful, if it wasn't for you I would never have been able to summon the Servant, but I don't understand why you're helping me. My teacher taught me that we magi have to compete for the Holy Grail, we can't behave like good friends... it's anomalous."
"Hina… there are times when you have to put tradition aside and think flexibly. In a situation like this, behaving 'as always' is not productive. We have to adapt and do our best to survive."
"Are you afraid, Ester...?"
She hesitated a bit before answering. "Yes, I'm afraid. The being that brought us here, that Vergil, is not a magus like others... he had something demonic in his gaze..."
"I also had the same feeling—"
"We must cooperate, Hina, otherwise we'll die."
Those words, spoken with that concern, bathed Hina in sweat. The girl understood from Ester's eyes that she was not joking... it wasn't even an exaggeration. It was true. It was all true. Only with the help of each other would they be able to get out of the conflict alive.
The two Masters set off. The scorching sun hindered Hina's breathing and she felt like she was in an oven; Ester seemed not to be in the heat.
"How can you bear it?" Hina asked in a tired voice.
"In Spain, temperatures are a bit higher than in the rest of Europe. Heat is not a problem. Do you hate it?"
"I hate it so much!"
Ester laughed. "But tell me, Hina, are you really a princess?"
"Well... er... technically I'm an idol."
"An idol? What would that be?"
"A kind of pop star. When I performed on stage, I wore costumes that made me look like a princess... and therefore I was called 'Princess Hina'" she explained with her face as red as a tomato.
"Está bien, Hina, you mustn't be embarrassed about this. In fact, personally, I find it a nice thing."
"For real? Are you serious? You don't just say that, do you?"
"Obviously I would've expected a story full of twists and turns, court intrigues, dynastic struggles and so on... but your story is nice too."
"Well, I'm sorry I disappointed you—"
"Lo siento, I didn't mean to be rude. I don't have an interesting story either, you know? Indeed, compared to you, I'm a very banal person. At least you have had the opportunity to perform on stage."
"That's not true, believe me... you are the most—" A moment of shyness stopped her words.
"Are you all right, Hina?"
"Yes, yes... I was just talking nonsense."
There was a brief moment of awkward silence.
"So, Princess Hina, how did you become a magus?" Ester asked intrigued.
"My teacher, or my uncle, taught me everything he could about Magecraft..."
"Who is your uncle?"
"Kunisada. Sunahara Kunisada."
"So your name is Sunahara Hina?"
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "Hina is just a pseudonym. My real name is ugly and it belongs to the girl nobody wants to talk to. I am Hina. Princess Hina. I don't want to talk about the other girl, sorry."
Ester was saddened by hearing that unhappy answer.
"What about you?" asked Hina.
"I belong to the Sisterhood. I come from an ancient family of magi, the Arellano family."
"How ancient?"
"My most distant ancestor, Diego Arellano, served King Philip V of Spain from 1703 to 1717. He was his very trusted bodyguard and also his advisor at court. My lineage is as old as the most famous ones in Germany."
"But is it really that important to have an ancient family?"
"It determines the number of Magic Circuits, although it must be understood that that number can be altered due to several factors. This is a magus thing, humans don't augment Magic Circuits naturally. If you are the daughter of a magus with fifty Magic Circuits, then you will have fifty-one Magic Circuits, your children will have fifty-two, and so on. However, there are cases in which the number remains the same and there is no increase, it happens once in ten..."
"Would you like to know more about your ancestors?"
Ester looked at Hina. She smiled at her. She looked away. "No."
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
"Because it wouldn't be worth it."
"But it's about your fam—"
"You know... a person once told me: 'Those who find pride only in their roots have a poor soul'. I would like to try to be myself, I don't want to dedicate my entire life to my ancestors. They are gone. I am here. I would like to live my life, not theirs."
"Well, I think this is also right. Maybe I partially understand you—"
Ester grabbed Hina by her arm and stopped her.
"What happen?" she asked terrified.
"Trouble."
Valfredo Otto Herrmann and Alda Richter emerged from behind a house.
"Apparently luck is not on your side, ladies," Valfredo exclaimed.
"Master, wouldn't it be better to prepare for war?"
She didn't answer.
"Master...?"
She turned around. She looked at him with two irritated eyes and exclaimed: "I told you to call me 'Princess Hina'."
"And I already told you I'm not going to."
"You really are a peasant, do you know that? I am the Master, I'm your mistress and you should obey me."
"You're my Master, but I'm still an emperor and no one commands an emperor."
"You're a peasant, not an emperor."
He sighed. "Master, if you think you can compel a man with my dignity to recognize your authority, then you really are a fool. I reigned over a vast empire, so extensive that it had two capitals. No ruler has ever managed to emulate my glorious deeds—"
"Maybe because they weren't so glorious..." she said wryly.
"I'll forgive your ignorance, Master, but never try to insinuate such serious things about me again. I represent the imperial splendor."
"But why don't you put your ego aside and act like a good Servant? All Servants respect their Masters, that's how it works, and yet you persist in acting as if you were still an emperor."
"You cannot ask for the respect of the Pius Felix Invictus, as well as Maximus, Victor and Triumphator!"
"Huh? What did you say...?" she asked confused.
The man sighed again. "Right, sometimes I forget you're a barbarian."
"Ah!" she exclaimed shocked. "This is a terrible insult to do to a princess!"
"A true princess must be able to speak Latin, the language of the conquerors."
"Well, at least good manners are known in Japan! So you're the real barbarian!"
"This is an insult to my dignitas—!"
At that moment a red-haired woman arrived, the discussion stopped in a moment. Hina, at the sight of her, blushed and turned away from her so as not to look into her eyes.
"You're making some noise," the woman said.
"I'm sorry... it's just that my Servant doesn't want to respect me."
"Mm? You shouldn't be surprised by this, Hina, ω Rider isn't a Servant who knows the importance of teamwork... and above all of friendship."
The Servant, hearing those words, reacted angrily: "You have quite the courage to insult my name in my presence, woman. If you had been a subject of mine, I would've had your head cut off on the spot."
"Then I'm glad I'm not under your authority, Rider," the woman said, smiling.
"Tch!"
"What's going on, ω Rider? You seem more grumpy than usual."
"I don't understand why you agreed to help my Master. There's no room for these alliances in this war. We're all enemies. All. Yet you have chosen to help my Master for no good reason, why? What are you up to?"
"Don't you trust me, Rider? Or don't you trust ω Berserker?"
At that moment, a Servant appeared behind the woman, he had the appearance of a teenage boy. He, looking Rider straight in the eye, smiled arrogantly and then, turning to his Master, asked:
"It would be natural for me to ask the same question. God is merciful, but not all are faithful servants of Our Lord, especially ω Rider... he stinks of pagan."
"Which deity are you talking about?" Rider asked, annoyed by those insults.
"Of the only true God: the Christian one."
"So I'm sorry to make you look bad in front of your beautiful Master, but, unfortunately for you, I had the honor of being chosen by the god of Christians. He spoke to me and with his protection I was able to win my battles—"
"You're lying, ω Rider... I feel it. You cannot deceive me with your words, you pagan."
"What happens, ω Berserker? Does it irritate you to know that you are face to face with the Chosen One?"
"You just screwed yourself, ω Rider. No true Christian would claim to be the chosen one. You're just a pagan... and a blasphemer too. You don't deserve my respect."
"Okay, both of you calm down. We are allies, okay?" the woman intervened.
"No, we're not," Rider said. "We are not allies, we are enemies who are not killing each other yet. I would like to know why we are not fighting. We were summoned to obtain the Holy Grail, the most sacred of all treasures, the object that can make every wish come true. We should fight to get it—"
Berserker, with a derisive grin, asked: "And what would a pagan do with a Christian object? Don't make me laugh, Rider, a blasphemous pagan cannot be worthy of the most sacred object of all. You'd do better at retiring in a monastery and repent your sins, this holy war is not your thing."
"You, ω Berserker, are just a plebeian... I can tell by looking at your face. You don't belong to the Roman imperial dynasty, you're not a descendant of Caesar, neither in blood nor in name, and therefore you're not worthy to fight in this noble war."
"I spit in the face of your imperial dynasty. There is no sovereign who can command me, there is no emperor who can force me to remain silent. I am the voice of God, I represent his will in the earthly world... while you are only a lost sheep."
"Enough!" the woman exclaimed aloud. "Both! You look like children, not Heroic Spirits. You have to get along, okay?"
Then Hina, who had just abandoned the water, asked her, influenced by the strong doubts of the Servant:
"Why are we allies, Ester? I don't want to sound ungrateful, if it wasn't for you I would never have been able to summon the Servant, but I don't understand why you're helping me. My teacher taught me that we magi have to compete for the Holy Grail, we can't behave like good friends... it's anomalous."
"Hina… there are times when you have to put tradition aside and think flexibly. In a situation like this, behaving 'as always' is not productive. We have to adapt and do our best to survive."
"Are you afraid, Ester...?"
She hesitated a bit before answering. "Yes, I'm afraid. The being that brought us here, that Vergil, is not a magus like others... he had something demonic in his gaze..."
"I also had the same feeling—"
"We must cooperate, Hina, otherwise we'll die."
Those words, spoken with that concern, bathed Hina in sweat. The girl understood from Ester's eyes that she was not joking... it wasn't even an exaggeration. It was true. It was all true. Only with the help of each other would they be able to get out of the conflict alive.
The two Masters set off. The scorching sun hindered Hina's breathing and she felt like she was in an oven; Ester seemed not to be in the heat.
"How can you bear it?" Hina asked in a tired voice.
"In Spain, temperatures are a bit higher than in the rest of Europe. Heat is not a problem. Do you hate it?"
"I hate it so much!"
Ester laughed. "But tell me, Hina, are you really a princess?"
"Well... er... technically I'm an idol."
"An idol? What would that be?"
"A kind of pop star. When I performed on stage, I wore costumes that made me look like a princess... and therefore I was called 'Princess Hina'" she explained with her face as red as a tomato.
"Está bien, Hina, you mustn't be embarrassed about this. In fact, personally, I find it a nice thing."
"For real? Are you serious? You don't just say that, do you?"
"Obviously I would've expected a story full of twists and turns, court intrigues, dynastic struggles and so on... but your story is nice too."
"Well, I'm sorry I disappointed you—"
"Lo siento, I didn't mean to be rude. I don't have an interesting story either, you know? Indeed, compared to you, I'm a very banal person. At least you have had the opportunity to perform on stage."
"That's not true, believe me... you are the most—" A moment of shyness stopped her words.
"Are you all right, Hina?"
"Yes, yes... I was just talking nonsense."
There was a brief moment of awkward silence.
"So, Princess Hina, how did you become a magus?" Ester asked intrigued.
"My teacher, or my uncle, taught me everything he could about Magecraft..."
"Who is your uncle?"
"Kunisada. Sunahara Kunisada."
"So your name is Sunahara Hina?"
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "Hina is just a pseudonym. My real name is ugly and it belongs to the girl nobody wants to talk to. I am Hina. Princess Hina. I don't want to talk about the other girl, sorry."
Ester was saddened by hearing that unhappy answer.
"What about you?" asked Hina.
"I belong to the Sisterhood. I come from an ancient family of magi, the Arellano family."
"How ancient?"
"My most distant ancestor, Diego Arellano, served King Philip V of Spain from 1703 to 1717. He was his very trusted bodyguard and also his advisor at court. My lineage is as old as the most famous ones in Germany."
"But is it really that important to have an ancient family?"
"It determines the number of Magic Circuits, although it must be understood that that number can be altered due to several factors. This is a magus thing, humans don't augment Magic Circuits naturally. If you are the daughter of a magus with fifty Magic Circuits, then you will have fifty-one Magic Circuits, your children will have fifty-two, and so on. However, there are cases in which the number remains the same and there is no increase, it happens once in ten..."
"Would you like to know more about your ancestors?"
Ester looked at Hina. She smiled at her. She looked away. "No."
"Why not?" she asked curiously.
"Because it wouldn't be worth it."
"But it's about your fam—"
"You know... a person once told me: 'Those who find pride only in their roots have a poor soul'. I would like to try to be myself, I don't want to dedicate my entire life to my ancestors. They are gone. I am here. I would like to live my life, not theirs."
"Well, I think this is also right. Maybe I partially understand you—"
Ester grabbed Hina by her arm and stopped her.
"What happen?" she asked terrified.
"Trouble."
Valfredo Otto Herrmann and Alda Richter emerged from behind a house.
"Apparently luck is not on your side, ladies," Valfredo exclaimed.
