"Have you seen it?" Benjamin Palmer asked the Servant.
Saber was polishing her blade. She sat, flanked by a wooden table, and she seemed not to have listened to her Master.
"What are you doing, ω Saber?"
"I'm preparing for the next battle," she replied, placing her sword on the table. "You should do it too, Master."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Train."
"Do you think I'm not strong enough as a Master...? Look, physically I am—"
"Even if you were the strongest magus in this war, training would still be a necessity." The woman stood up and put her hand on Benjamin's shoulder. "You and I want the same thing: justice. We must arm ourselves and do what we can to achieve victory. Prepare your body for the best, train your mind and be ready for war."
Saber was polishing her blade. She sat, flanked by a wooden table, and she seemed not to have listened to her Master.
"What are you doing, ω Saber?"
"I'm preparing for the next battle," she replied, placing her sword on the table. "You should do it too, Master."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Train."
"Do you think I'm not strong enough as a Master...? Look, physically I am—"
"Even if you were the strongest magus in this war, training would still be a necessity." The woman stood up and put her hand on Benjamin's shoulder. "You and I want the same thing: justice. We must arm ourselves and do what we can to achieve victory. Prepare your body for the best, train your mind and be ready for war."
Saber's words had a strong impact, like those of a king, but they were also filled with frustration. Benjamin got the impression, from the way the Servant talked, that he was dealing with a warrior stained by defeat.
"Who are you?" he asked curiously.
"Is there really a use in knowing my identity? I am who I am, you don't need—"
"I'd love to know you. You see, if we know who we are... we can fight better... collaboration is all about that, right? You know me, but I don't know you. What is your real name?"
She sighed and turned away from Benjamin. She didn't answer that question immediately, it seemed like she was looking for the right words to introduce herself. She turned around. Her gaze was nostalgic in color. She replied in a low voice:
"I've been a queen... and a warrior too. My story was written with blood and iron. I was feared by my enemies and adored by my friends. I was supported by my soldiers, but... betrayed by those I considered allies. I have dedicated my entire existence to rebellion to protect the freedom of my people." She raised the tone of her voice: "I am the King of Rebellion: Vercingetorix."
Benjamin blinked in amazement.
"Are you... the famous warrior who faced Julius Caesar in Gaul? Are you the same person who troubled the Romans and who forced Caesar to retreat?"
"Yes I am."
"But, no offense, I thought you were a man..."
She shot a withering look, she seemed to be on the verge of screaming in anger. She held back and, after taking a deep breath, she explained:
"Caesar has violated my memory. She dared to take any warrior and give him my name to show him in Rome as a trophy. She has canceled my existence... and for this no one knows my true identity. I don't blame you for falling victim to this deception, but remember that I am the real Vercingetorix. I am the one who hindered, right up to the end, that infernal monster spat out by Rome."
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Alda Richter had decided to temporarily take refuge in a house; she needed to think of a new plan. The disappearance of her colleague had caught her off guard and she was trying to understand what magic had been responsible for this.
Alda's Servant, α Assassin, checked the house meticulously and noticed a door leading into what appeared to be a basement. She went down the stairs and felt an anomalous heat accompanied by a veil of steam. Arriving at the bottom, Assassin, turned to the right and saw a square-shaped pool of water in the center of which was the statue of Venus who was about to take off her sandal. She walked over. She dipped her hand in the water and then pulled it out.
"What's going on here?" asked Alda, who had just come down the stairs. "What is this stuff?"
"A hot spring... Roman-style, Master."
"Impossible. This city is..."
"Egyptian?"
"It should be, yes. This doesn't make sense... it doesn't make the slightest sense."
"When was Adocentyn built?" Assassin inquired.
"Long before Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, at least according to the sources..."
"So why is there a fragment of my culture here?"
"It's probably some kind of trap—"
"The water is warm and pure. It's all original and above all it's..." She didn't continue the sentence.
"What's wrong, Assassin?" Alda asked, noticing a distressed look on the Servant's face.
"I had a villa that I shared with my sisters, Livilla and Drusilla, and also with my brother, Caligula, and we had an identical bathtub there. With the same statue, the same decorative columns... this is our bath, no doubt about it."
"So you think Vergil got it from your story...? Don't you think it's simply a replica?"
"Look at the floor, the exotic plants, the marble and gilded columns, look at the statues... it's not a replica, believe me."
Alda turned her back on the Servant and headed for the stairs.
"You don't want to enjoy them, then?" asked Assassin with a provocative smile.
"No. That's not what I'm here for," Alda replied coldly.
"Too bad," Assassin said starting to undress.
"What you are doing? Do you really want to waste your time with this nonsense? We have other things to do!"
"For you it's nonsense, Master, but for a Roman this is the best way to relax."
"We must prepare to fight a war—"
"You're too serious, you should calm down." Assassin, now naked, slowly immersed herself in the hot water. She let out a small groan of satisfaction and then, turning to Alda, she said, "You should join me, Master. The water is warm and is also relaxing."
"On the contrary, I don't have time to relax."
"Mm? Is it really that important for you to get your personal revenge?"
Alda glanced coldly at the Servant and replied abruptly, "Don't you dare question my goal. You are my Servant. You are just a weapon. Don't forget your role."
"I'm not going to criticize you, I was just asking."
"Obviously..." Alda commented angrily.
The girl sat down on the steps. She crossed her legs and stood silently watching her Servant as she washed in the warm waters.
"You're not an easy person, are you? You're as cold as winter, Master," she commented with a smirk.
"I am who I am."
"And what are you? The perfect magus who has always been surrounded by all kinds of luxuries and loves and who then lost everything to a man? Is this who you are? Just a woman who complains that she no longer has the comforts she was used to?"
Alda, perceiving some not well veiled criticisms, replied with poisonous words:
"And you're a mother who has always been jealous of her daughter's beauty, aren't you?"
The Servant did not answer. With a provocative grimace she got up from the water and showed her divine body. She opened her arms and proudly said:
"Look at me, Alda! Do I seem capable of a feeling like jealousy? I am perfect! I was loved by men from all walks of life and even the emperor couldn't refuse my body." Her hands ran down her legs, her belly, passed over her breasts and ended up on her cheeks. She let her hair down and shook her head. "You see me? Can you see my divine perfection? My husband loved this body more than anything else. No one, in my day, ever dared to criticize my beauty. No woman has ever been able to outdo me. No woman."
"Except Nero," Alda said with a domineering grin.
The confidence in the Servant's eyes dissipated like smoke. Her smile had completely disappeared. Alda's arrow had hit and the girl was aware of it and was happy about it.
"Nero..." the Servant muttered with bitterness painted on her face. "Nero has always been a spoiled little girl. She never deserved power and she never had the skills to lead. Yet everyone loved her. Rome loved that impertinent, self-centered and spoiled empress. They preferred to be led by someone who knew nothing of politics... it was only thanks to me that she received a good education! It was only thanks to me that she became interested in art and poetry!" she exclaimed in a loud voice.
"Yet it was you who chose her as heir to the imperial throne, or am I wrong?" Alda asked always with that sadistic grin.
"What else could I've done? Claudius prevented me from inheriting the throne and he wanted to leave all power to that... idiot Britannicus!" she declared furiously. "I proposed Nero only because I preferred my daughter to an imbecile son of a whore! But I've always been the real empress! Not Nero! I was the real empress! It was I who knew the most influential personalities of Rome! I was able to administer the state better than my daughter! But yet—"
"That's enough," Alda said, raising her hand. The girl stood up and, with a triumphant manner, she said: "I'll leave you alone, you can have fun being a nudist. That's the best you can do, isn't it?"
Alda left. The Servant, α Assassin, felt she had been defeated. Her Master had behaved like a real viper to her. Her poisonous words had annihilated her and so she, without adding a word, went back into the water, in silence, leaving Alda that cold victory.
"Who are you?" he asked curiously.
"Is there really a use in knowing my identity? I am who I am, you don't need—"
"I'd love to know you. You see, if we know who we are... we can fight better... collaboration is all about that, right? You know me, but I don't know you. What is your real name?"
She sighed and turned away from Benjamin. She didn't answer that question immediately, it seemed like she was looking for the right words to introduce herself. She turned around. Her gaze was nostalgic in color. She replied in a low voice:
"I've been a queen... and a warrior too. My story was written with blood and iron. I was feared by my enemies and adored by my friends. I was supported by my soldiers, but... betrayed by those I considered allies. I have dedicated my entire existence to rebellion to protect the freedom of my people." She raised the tone of her voice: "I am the King of Rebellion: Vercingetorix."
Benjamin blinked in amazement.
"Are you... the famous warrior who faced Julius Caesar in Gaul? Are you the same person who troubled the Romans and who forced Caesar to retreat?"
"Yes I am."
"But, no offense, I thought you were a man..."
She shot a withering look, she seemed to be on the verge of screaming in anger. She held back and, after taking a deep breath, she explained:
"Caesar has violated my memory. She dared to take any warrior and give him my name to show him in Rome as a trophy. She has canceled my existence... and for this no one knows my true identity. I don't blame you for falling victim to this deception, but remember that I am the real Vercingetorix. I am the one who hindered, right up to the end, that infernal monster spat out by Rome."
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Alda Richter had decided to temporarily take refuge in a house; she needed to think of a new plan. The disappearance of her colleague had caught her off guard and she was trying to understand what magic had been responsible for this.
Alda's Servant, α Assassin, checked the house meticulously and noticed a door leading into what appeared to be a basement. She went down the stairs and felt an anomalous heat accompanied by a veil of steam. Arriving at the bottom, Assassin, turned to the right and saw a square-shaped pool of water in the center of which was the statue of Venus who was about to take off her sandal. She walked over. She dipped her hand in the water and then pulled it out.
"What's going on here?" asked Alda, who had just come down the stairs. "What is this stuff?"
"A hot spring... Roman-style, Master."
"Impossible. This city is..."
"Egyptian?"
"It should be, yes. This doesn't make sense... it doesn't make the slightest sense."
"When was Adocentyn built?" Assassin inquired.
"Long before Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, at least according to the sources..."
"So why is there a fragment of my culture here?"
"It's probably some kind of trap—"
"The water is warm and pure. It's all original and above all it's..." She didn't continue the sentence.
"What's wrong, Assassin?" Alda asked, noticing a distressed look on the Servant's face.
"I had a villa that I shared with my sisters, Livilla and Drusilla, and also with my brother, Caligula, and we had an identical bathtub there. With the same statue, the same decorative columns... this is our bath, no doubt about it."
"So you think Vergil got it from your story...? Don't you think it's simply a replica?"
"Look at the floor, the exotic plants, the marble and gilded columns, look at the statues... it's not a replica, believe me."
Alda turned her back on the Servant and headed for the stairs.
"You don't want to enjoy them, then?" asked Assassin with a provocative smile.
"No. That's not what I'm here for," Alda replied coldly.
"Too bad," Assassin said starting to undress.
"What you are doing? Do you really want to waste your time with this nonsense? We have other things to do!"
"For you it's nonsense, Master, but for a Roman this is the best way to relax."
"We must prepare to fight a war—"
"You're too serious, you should calm down." Assassin, now naked, slowly immersed herself in the hot water. She let out a small groan of satisfaction and then, turning to Alda, she said, "You should join me, Master. The water is warm and is also relaxing."
"On the contrary, I don't have time to relax."
"Mm? Is it really that important for you to get your personal revenge?"
Alda glanced coldly at the Servant and replied abruptly, "Don't you dare question my goal. You are my Servant. You are just a weapon. Don't forget your role."
"I'm not going to criticize you, I was just asking."
"Obviously..." Alda commented angrily.
The girl sat down on the steps. She crossed her legs and stood silently watching her Servant as she washed in the warm waters.
"You're not an easy person, are you? You're as cold as winter, Master," she commented with a smirk.
"I am who I am."
"And what are you? The perfect magus who has always been surrounded by all kinds of luxuries and loves and who then lost everything to a man? Is this who you are? Just a woman who complains that she no longer has the comforts she was used to?"
Alda, perceiving some not well veiled criticisms, replied with poisonous words:
"And you're a mother who has always been jealous of her daughter's beauty, aren't you?"
The Servant did not answer. With a provocative grimace she got up from the water and showed her divine body. She opened her arms and proudly said:
"Look at me, Alda! Do I seem capable of a feeling like jealousy? I am perfect! I was loved by men from all walks of life and even the emperor couldn't refuse my body." Her hands ran down her legs, her belly, passed over her breasts and ended up on her cheeks. She let her hair down and shook her head. "You see me? Can you see my divine perfection? My husband loved this body more than anything else. No one, in my day, ever dared to criticize my beauty. No woman has ever been able to outdo me. No woman."
"Except Nero," Alda said with a domineering grin.
The confidence in the Servant's eyes dissipated like smoke. Her smile had completely disappeared. Alda's arrow had hit and the girl was aware of it and was happy about it.
"Nero..." the Servant muttered with bitterness painted on her face. "Nero has always been a spoiled little girl. She never deserved power and she never had the skills to lead. Yet everyone loved her. Rome loved that impertinent, self-centered and spoiled empress. They preferred to be led by someone who knew nothing of politics... it was only thanks to me that she received a good education! It was only thanks to me that she became interested in art and poetry!" she exclaimed in a loud voice.
"Yet it was you who chose her as heir to the imperial throne, or am I wrong?" Alda asked always with that sadistic grin.
"What else could I've done? Claudius prevented me from inheriting the throne and he wanted to leave all power to that... idiot Britannicus!" she declared furiously. "I proposed Nero only because I preferred my daughter to an imbecile son of a whore! But I've always been the real empress! Not Nero! I was the real empress! It was I who knew the most influential personalities of Rome! I was able to administer the state better than my daughter! But yet—"
"That's enough," Alda said, raising her hand. The girl stood up and, with a triumphant manner, she said: "I'll leave you alone, you can have fun being a nudist. That's the best you can do, isn't it?"
Alda left. The Servant, α Assassin, felt she had been defeated. Her Master had behaved like a real viper to her. Her poisonous words had annihilated her and so she, without adding a word, went back into the water, in silence, leaving Alda that cold victory.
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| 'Time to relax' by BikoWolf |
If you don't know the story of Fate/Yggdrasil then, this link will take you to the page where you can download the story of Fate/Yggdrasil for free. 😌
