I don't own HSDxD and gain no profit from this writing.
Chap 12
Issei opened his eyes, he shook his head a little then lightly tapped the alarm clock to shut it down. His mind felt dull but his body felt great.
"Good morning Issei."
"Good morning Lancer."
Right next to him Lancer was sitting on the floor, her book opened.
"You didn't sleep last night Lancer?"
"I did, but only for 4 hours." Lancer gracefully closed her book and put it on the shelf.
Since she mentioned that servants didn't actually need to sleep Lancer could stay awake the whole night. However it was still better to sleep for a few hours so she did that. Issei thought at this pace she could probably finish her two books in less than a week.
It was 6 in the morning but since Issei wanted to train his body he got up sooner than usual. His house didn't have a training room like the Himejima shrine so he only did pushups and situps in his room. It might not be enough but it should be fine for now. He had decided to train more in the afternoon when they returned to the Himejima shrine.
Issei also requested a large portion for him when it was time for breakfast.
"So Issei, how was that lady yesterday?"
His mother's words made Issei almost choke on his meal.
"W-What do you mean by that!?"
"Oh come on, you clearly were trying to impress her by cooking dinner." His mom was still smiling. "Did you know that dad and I were too excited to sleep last night? Not only you brought home a beautiful young lady but a blond foreigner! My useless perverted son has grown up to be a man!"
His father also nodded to his mother's words.
"That's right. I never thought Issei could bring any female to our home until he was 30, and that lady would be someone who was also desperate for a partner. This is clearly a great victory for the Hyodo!"
Issei decided that he heard nothing while his parents continued on and on.
"I will continue to eat in my room." Issei tried to bring the extra to his room for Lancer.
"Okay, remember to clean the dish later on."
Issei nodded.
"Hey Issei, be honest, do you like Miss Lancer?"
Issei was temporarily halted by his mother's question but he quickly ignored it and returned to his room.
He didn't even need to answer such an obvious question.
"Hey Lancer, I bring you breakfast."
"Thank you Issei."
She might not say it but Lancer was looking forward to breakfast. Since she couldn't just visit the Hyodo in the morning out of nowhere this was the only way for her to have a meal. On top of that after the day before's spending they only had a small amount of money left so Issei wanted to save as much as he could by eating at home.
"This is rice, grilled smelt, pickled vegetables and miso soup." Issei explained the breakfast to her. Lancer did have miso soup at the Himejima shrine before but Issei was sure the taste was different.
"Thank you." Lancer dug in happily. The portion was lesser than what she usually had but Lancer didn't complain.
After breakfast Issei rode his bicycle to the bank of the river to see if the nun and Rider were there. Lancer was behind him, she switched to material form only after they had left their house for a certain distance.
Issei could see the homeless having meals before he spotted the nun and Rider who was in a priest robe standing behind a table with food. Those two were giving out meals for anyone who came here without asking for anything in return, not even making them read the Bible or pray to their God. When Argento and Rider saw Issei and Lancer they gave them a greeting. Issei and Lancer then also helped the other pair of master and servant to give the food to the homeless.
"Hah… I'm spent."
The homeless only left when it was about 11. Issei stretched his arms and legs, this was the second time he did charity work. He wasn't used to it, but it wasn't a bad thing.
"Thank you." Argento bowed to him.
"No problem." Issei replied in English.
"I see that your wound has healed." Rider said, looking at Lancer.
"It will take more than a dragon-slayer sword to kill me." Lancer answered.
"Why don't we go for lunch?" Issei interjected, trying to defuse the situation.
Argento and Rider agreed. When they packed up their stuff, Issei noticed something. He went to check it and couldn't help but express his surprise.
"That's my bicycle!"
Indeed the bicycle that Rider and Argento used to carry their kitchenware and table belonged to him.
"That's the bicycle I requested from the team when they cleaned up the warehouse where we fought. Previously we had to carry all these things by hand so a bicycle would help. I didn't know that was yours. My apology."
"No, I should be the one who thanks you for taking the bicycle instead of letting those people dispose of it… Actually why don't we swap the bicycle? I don't need more than one."
And so Issei traded the bicycle he bought from the supermarket with his old one for the nun. Problem solved.
"Is there anything you want to eat?" Since there were many things they had to carry they didn't ride but walked their bicycles.
"Nothing comes to mind. Most of the time we have to stay at the church so we aren't familiar with this town. " Rider answered.
"Anything is fine for me." Argento gently said.
"In that case…" Issei doubted Argento and Rider had enough to pay for their meal so it was up to him now. He gave it a minute then decided where they would eat.
The group arrived at a local's favorite fast food restaurant. Issei recalled that his childhood friend Shidou who was a Christian had no problem eating this kind of food so both Rider and Argento should be fine with it. Lancer too hadn't had fast food so Issei wanted her to try it out. It shouldn't be bad to have this kind of greasy, crispy food once in a while.
Issei led everyone to a table after parking their bicycles outside. He went to grab a menu so they could have a better look. Since it was their first time in such a restaurant it would take them quite some time to figure out what they wanted to eat, and making others wait while ordering is not nice. Thankfully the menu had both Japanese and English languages so Rider didn't have to translate the names of the food for Argento.
"I would like… a hamburger!" Argento loudly said. "I have seen hamburger a lot but I have never eaten one before!"
Wow… Issei knew he shouldn't pity her but he still did. It was difficult to imagine someone who lives in this age but has never eaten a hamburger before. Argento must have a hard life living in the church.
"I shall have this sandwich." Rider pointed at the shrimp sandwich on the menu.
Perhaps Rider didn't have deep-fried shrimp back when he was alive? Issei had no idea on how rough the life of a saint was.
Issei had already chosen his meal which was a cheese burger. Lancer meanwhile was still staring at the menu, she scanned up and down as if she were weighing a life and death choice.
"..." Lancer glanced at Issei, and then back to the menu.
'Well I did say I wanted to make it up to her.' Issei simply nodded, much to Lancer's delight.
"Then I want a special double beef burger, 8 chicken wings, 6 fish nuggets, a jumbo french fries, 2 roasted drumsticks and a bowl of salmon salad."
Issei expected that, and fortunately he still had a coupon for a free cheese burger.
15 minutes later lunch was out on the table.
"Wow…" Argento couldn't contain her excitement.
"Hm… I see. You can eat it by hand." Rider picked up his sandwich to unwrap it.
"Is that so? You can eat it without a spoon and a fork? Ah but you have to wash your hands first!" The blond nun pulled out a bottle which didn't seem to be the hand-washing gel that Issei knew and washed her hands with it. She then followed Rider's example, unwrapping her hamburger to take a bite.
"Delicious!" They both said.
"I never knew hamburger tastes this good!"
"Yeah, I never thought shrimp could be this tasteful." Rider said.
Issei knew that usually Christians have simple dishes, but he was glad that Rider and Argento enjoyed fast food. He too began to eat his cheese burger. Meanwhile Lancer had finished her first chicken wing, she was going for her second one but before that she noticed something on the table.
"I don't remember we ordered a mashed potato cup." Lancer checked the plastic cup.
"Ah that one is on the house since we ordered so many things." Issei explained. "You want a second one?"
"I will decline your offer, Issei. You can have it."
"You don't like mashed potato?" Issei asked, wondering why the king declined such a simple type of food.
"I already had enough mashed potatoes for a lifetime." Lancer sighed, her eyes closed as if she were remembering the time when she was alive.
Issei was dumbfounded again. Could it be that the mashed potato back then was very terrible? He was not a big fan, but he had no problem eating it.
Unsurprisingly Lancer finished her portion the same time as everyone despite the amount of dishes. Issei went to grab their soda drinks. He wasn't sure of what to talk about now. His English wasn't good so communicating with Argento would be a problem when it came to a complicated subject, especially when he wanted to discuss the war. His best hope was to talk to Rider, given that he seemed to be a reasonable person it shouldn't be hard.
"I see that you have changed." Rider said, taking a soda cup from Issei.
"Yeah." Issei nodded. Was it that obvious? Ddraig said that the changes were huge but Issei didn't expect others to recognize them that quickly.
"Did you have a change of mind?"
"Yeah, I will fight. I'm sorry that I showed you my cowardly side before." Issei admitted.
"It looks like you have made your decision… That makes us enemies but naturally it should be our relationship in the first place. The holy grail is an object that could entice even the most famous heroes after all."
Rider was right. Lancer and Rider were servants in this war and if Issei had decided to win the grail for Lancer it was a matter of time before they crossed one another.
"Well then, I hope that we have a good fight." Rider smiled.
"Me too. It would be an honor to cross swords with you on the battlefield again." Lancer said.
At least they weren't bitter enemies unlike Assassin.
Issei bit his lips. Now that the mood had changed and they had agreed for an honorable fight it was his chance to ask Rider.
"Can you… help us?" But before he could ask the reason why Argento sought the grail Rider was the first to talk.
"Something's wrong?" Issei was surprised, but he quickly regained his composure.
"You could say that. Even though we are allies Assassin and her master are… unpleasant to followers of God like us."
Issei could feel a little hatred from Rider's voice, but he hid it well.
"Then why are you allied to them? You can't leave and fight by yourselves?" Lancer asked.
"The circumstance of how I was summoned is complicated. In fact I do not want to ally with Assassin and her master in the first place. It would save us a lot of problems if we can just kill them all. Unfortunately my master is under a geas from Assassin's master."
"A geas?"
"Ah, could you be someone who is not familiar with magecraft?" Rider wondered.
Issei reluctantly nodded. It was true that before he summoned Lancer Issei was just a normal Japanese high school student. He had zero knowledge on all of this supernatural stuff at all.
"A geas is a magical curse which enforces certain rules on one or multiple persons. If you are under a geas then you cannot act against the rules lest you are punished by the curse." Lancer explained. "To my understanding this geas is bound to the magic circuits inside a person, if he fights against it it will freeze or weaken his body, at worst it would even kill him."
Issei nodded. So a geas is something of a supernatural curse that restricts you on certain things.
"My master Asia is under such a geas from Assassin's master. She was put under it before I was summoned so there was nothing I could do to prevent that." Rider said, regrettably.
"I assume that one of the rules is that you are not allowed to harm Assassin or her master?" Lancer asked.
"You could say so." Rider frowned. "But the rules are more complex. From what I learned there are essentially three rules: First my master is not allowed to use command spells without acknowledgement from Assassin's master. Second my master must not engage in combat against other servants or masters without acknowledgement from Assassin's master. Finally if I intentionally try to harm Assassin, her master and her close friends then my master must use a command spell to stop me."
"So basically you are not allowed to do anything unless Assassin's master wants to?"
Rider nodded.
"She has a nefarious plan for my master… I cannot oppose Assassin and her master when Asia is still under their geas, and I need to protect her myself because there is no one we could trust in our base."
A huge problem. Issei did not know this nun was under such a terrible curse.
"What can we do to break this geas?"
"I'm afraid the only way is to either kill Assassin's master, or use some sort of curse cleansing type of magecraft to remove it. The second option will alert them so I'd like to make sure that Asia is safe when we do something like that since the geas cannot be removed instantly."
Issei nodded. He doubted that Rider could find anyone in this town to remove the geas, and from his side Issei would also find himself in a tough spot if he was to ask Himejima to help Argento, even if she knew how to do it. Not only it would expose their base, but also put Himejima in a vulnerable position during the removal session.
"Please, I promise you that I will not attack you until we are the last servants in this war. So please, help my master." Rider said as if he were begging.
"I will find a way to help you." Issei awkwardly replied, but he still had no idea how to solve this.
Argento seemed to be apologetic while Rider was talking, she timidly drank her soda but hadn't said anything. She and Rider must have been discussing their circumstance and how to get rid of the geas all the time yet there was no real solution for them.
"Rider, would you mind telling me what your master decides with the grail?" Issei brought up his courage to ask.
"Oh? Sister Asia doesn't desire a wish, she is on a trial to bring the grail back to prove her faith. Whether the grail is usable or not does not matter. However the grail must have been proved that it is indeed a miracle from God so she must participate in a grail war. The problem is whether she could bring the empty grail back in case she loses… but that shouldn't be too difficult when the members of Vatican are observing this war."
"I see." Issei let out a breath. That certainly made it easier since Argento only needed to bring the grail after it had been used. So their conflict was not severe, and even if Rider lost Lancer would have no reason to kill Asia since she did not need a wish from the grail.
The mood became relaxed after that so the group enjoyed their drinks. During that time Issei excused himself to the restroom. When lunch was finally over Issei and Lancer bid goodbye to Argento and Rider.
Issei rode on his old bicycle with Lancer behind.
"Hah… It looks like we shouldn't have too many troubles with Argento and Rider."
"It is as you said. Rider is a man of honor, and that nun only desires an empty grail. However we shouldn't overlook the fact that she is under the control of Assassin's master. Even if they don't want to backstab us it's possibly that they would have to, because ultimately Rider still remains loyal the most to his master."
No matter how Issei saw it he had to somehow remove that geas on Argento. It is the only way for them to have a fair and square battle without intervention from Assassin and her master.
"Also did you notice something Issei?"
"Notice what?"
Lancer's tone became serious. "When we were talking to Rider he never mentioned Assassin's master and Assassin herself. If he wants us to help him he would try to give us as much information about our enemies as possible."
"Oh… that..." Issei didn't notice that until Lancer told him.
"That is likely because of that geas. If Rider gives out information about Assassin's master there would be some sort of punishment for them. The person who could put such a geas on the nun wouldn't overlook such things when they allow Rider and his master to go around town like that."
"Hm… a way to protect your identity and secret huh." Once again Issei was reminded how wide and deep the supernatural is. He wondered if he could keep up with all of these details so he would actually win.
On the way back to his house Issei noticed something strange, a small humanoid creature was chasing a crow. The creature was in humanoid shape, it had two little horns on its head and a club in its hands. The creature used the club to hit the crow but the crow was too high for it to do anything meaningful. However the crow quickly left and the small creature disappeared among the branches of a tree.
"It's a battle between the familiars. That small oni belongs to Himejima. You could say that she is protecting your house so the church side wouldn't know where it is." Lancer explained.
"Huh… So the familiars are working hard too."
When they were about to reach Issei's house Lancer turned back to her spirit form. Issei went inside his house to collect some items, said goodbye to his parents and began his trip back to the shrine.
Himejima and Saber welcomed them home, and after a short break Issei began his training with Saber. Unlike the previous training Saber had him focus on his legs today, as planned before.
"Remember that your legs have three times the strength of your arms so your kicks would inflict more damage than your punches. However you would also expose your body more, and a miss attack could make you lose your balance. You don't want to trip yourself in combat, a master can make a feint but at your current level you wouldn't be able to recover or counter if you lose your balance."
Saber demonstrated the basic footworks and Issei followed her lead.
"Since you are not as strong as a servant the terrain will decide your speed. Rocky place might be tricky to move so you want to minimize your movements, while on the plain you can run or jump back, but your opponent can do the same too. It is critical to know where and when to walk, run, jump or dash."
"Can I do the 'kicking the sand into your face' trick?"
Saber shook her head. "Any competent fighter would be able to protect their eyes, or worse they would use that chance to attack you when you let down your guard. Unless you're fighting some untrained thugs you wouldn't be blinding anyone in the war."
"Got it."
They continued to train as Issei tried to memorize the footworks while Saber corrected him. Lancer sat in the corner, watching over Issei's training. When Issei had somewhat become familiar with the footworks Saber set out multiple goals for him to practice, from dodging her attacks by moving to reaching certain spots within the shortest time.
By the time they were done it was almost time for dinner, so Issei went to take a bath.
Dinner was more special than usual, and both Saber and Lancer were allowed to drink wine. Perhaps Himejima knew that Issei and Lancer were going to run an important errand for her so she put more effort into dinner.
"Himejima, there's something I'd like to ask: can you remove a geas from someone?"
"... Don't tell me you got cursed." Himejima glared at him.
"No! It's about Rider's master, the nun you know. Today we had a talk and found out that she is under a geas from Assassin's master." Issei then told Himejima what he had learned.
"I see. However I'm not familiar with the western type of geas. Fundamentally the eastern and western style shouldn't have too many differences as they share the same function of restraining one's actions, but if I use the same method to remove the curse the geas might harm her body. We know that she has a healing type Sacred Gear, but we don't know if she could use it to heal herself when the curse rampages inside her body. We would need a western expert on geas on this problem."
Issei once again hit the wall.
"Well if she is okay with an empty grail then we can avoid a conflict with Rider. If you want to save her then the only way to do it is to isolate Assassin's master and kill him before he could call on the geas." Himejima then stood up. "I got work to do tomorrow so I will take my rest now. You too should take your rest early, don't spend too much time drinking."
"Yeah... and thanks Himejima, I will see if there's anything I can do for the nun."
Dinner continued as Issei pondered on what to do. Before he knew it the meal was over, and the wine bottles were all empty.
"I'm counting on you." Saber said as they finished dinner. "Remember you only need to check whether she is alive or not… No, I should say that you only need to confirm my master's mother is still healthy." Issei and Lancer nodded, they retreated to their room. Lancer didn't seem to be drunk, even though she drank with Saber. Issei also noticed that she enjoyed drinking, as expected from the king.
"Alright… Tomorrow is a big day. We will be helping Himejima to save her mom. Let's go to bed early."
Lancer nodded, she pulled out one of her books and began reading while Issei was ready for bed.
"Lancer, once again I want to thank you for helping me in this matter." Issei said.
"Do you intend to save Himejima's mother while Saber only asked us to find out her current status?"
"Yes, we will save her. It is wrong for them to take Himejima's mother hostage to force her to participate in this war. If it's possible to solve this peacefully I will take it." Issei said.
"Then that is what we will do."
Issei was a little uneasy that Lancer gave him no resistance, but he ignored that. He had an important task to do the next day, it would do him nothing good if he dwelled on it too much.
"Good night Lancer."
"Good night Issei."
1. Servant: Lancer
True name: Arthur Pendragon
Master: Issei Hyodo
Strength: B
Endurance: A
Agility: A
Mana: A
Luck: B
NP: Rhongomyniad-The Lance that shines to the End of the World
2. Servant: Saber
True name: ?
Master: Akeno Himejima
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: C
NP: ?
3. Servant: Berserker
True name: ?
Master: Freed
Strength: B++
Endurance: B++
Agility: C++
Mana: D++
Luck: C++
NP: Spinning Axe (?)
4. Servant: Assassin
True name: ?
Master: ?
Strength: B+
Endurance: B+
Agility: A+
Mana: A
Luck: D
NP: Iron Maiden (?)
5. Servant: Rider
True name: Saint George
Master: Asia Argento
Strength: D
Endurance: A+
Agility: C++
Mana: C
Luck: A+
NP: Ascalon-The Blessed sword by which Force is slain
Bayard-The Phantom War Horse
6. Servant: Caster
True name: ?
Master: Kitsune? Nekomata?
Strength: ?
Endurance: ?
Agility: ?
Mana: ?
Luck: ?
NP: ?
7. Servant: Archer
True Name: ?
Master: Akeno Himejima's Ally?
Strength: ?
Endurance: ?
Agility: ?
Mana: ?
Luck: ?
NP: Long Bow (?)
AN: Again I publish the next chapter after like over half a year, there are just so many things that have happened and I'm really busy to write, having to grind events and read the Epic of Remnant and Lostbelt is also one of the reasons. Thank you for reading and keeping up with the story. I really like Bunny King Artoria too but she's an SSR so I can already feel my wallet being killed by the gacha. I can only hope that writing this will be a catalyst to summon her.
EDIT: I'm sorry that I forgot to check but there's a small talk between Issei and Akeno in this chapter that isn't in the previous document. I have updated it now.