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Chapter 453: Chapter 411

She sort of just pulled me away, out of the house and I didn\'t know what was going on.

"Just call me Mordred." She said dismissively. "Everyone pretty much knows my name already, so you don\'t got to hide it. Perks of the Dandy banging the leader here, no one really questions us."

"D-do you have to say something like that!?"

"Jeez, you\'re such a church girl." She snorted. "Weren\'t you supposed to have been a Knight or something? I don\'t know what shit happens over in France, but you were marching to battle and all that. I can\'t imagine you goin around and wagging your finger every time one of the Knights said something \'naughty\'." She emphasized with a laugh.

"I was never knighted." I admitted. "And all my comrades were proper and held themselves to a high standard!"

"Ah, kept it clean around you, just like Father." Mordred nodded as if she understood something. "Father never realized why some of his Knights and squires would disappear for \'training\' after we set up camp."

I blinked, realization setting in on what she meant. "M-Mordred!"

"Hahaha, seriously. You look just like Father and that\'s probably exactly how he\'d react."

"...did they really do that when I was around?" I asked.

"Eh, probably. Marching for hours every day, all the bloodshed and sweat they soaked themselves in each battle. Do you think most people can just keep their \'appearances\' up for long periods like that? Nah, people gotta relax, sometimes they shoot the shit, or just vent with some words that\'d probably hurt your virgin ears." She shrugged.

"....oh."

"Don\'t get all mopey." She slapped my shoulder. "If they kept it up that means you were important to them, not that it was some sort of secret they were whispering behind your back."

"I suppose that\'s one way to look at it." I didn\'t like the thought of my friends intentionally inconveniencing themselves for my benefit.

"Oh, over here!" She suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me towards a sort of....food stand?

"Hey Gramps!" She greeted the man like they were familiar.

"Here for more, little lady?"

"Hey! I\'m not a little lady." Mordred growled.

"That\'s a shame, and here I was, getting ready to offer a few free sticks to the cute little lady that came by. But if you don\'t want them...."

"Bastard!" Mordred huffed, slapping what looked like a gold coin on the table. "....I\'ll take them." She grumbled.

"Just like my granddaughter." He chuckled, handing over several sticks of some round and colorful balls.

"Here, Frenchie." Mordred shoved half of them into my hands. "The Old Man makes the best Dango in the city." She didn\'t elaborate on what \'Dango\' was, simply pushing some into her mouth and casually walking away.

"W-wait!" I hurried after her. "What am I supposed to do with this!?"

"Are you stupid? Fuckin eat it."

"...That\'s not what I meant! I don\'t have any money..."

Mordred stopped and stared at me. "No shit, that\'s why I paid for you, idiot." She shook her head. "Figured the Dandy would overlook something like that."

"Wilhelm?" I blinked.

"Who else?" She snorted again. "Don\'t know how that Dandy caught Father\'s eye, but here we are."

"He\'s not that bad." I frowned.

"Nah, he\'s not." Mordred seemed to agree despite her previous comment. "He treats Father good and he\'s easy to get along with. Just reminds me too much of that wizard bastard that I can\'t help it. But I like him well enough."

I didn\'t really know what to say to that. Wilhelm had always been....kind. I know he liked to tease me....but he\'s always put so much effort into helping me.

It made me feel...warm.

I nibbled onto the food that Mordred got me. It was good, I didn\'t know what to expect but it was much more flavorful than the food I was used to in life.

"...Mordred, where are we going?"

"Huh?" She turned to me. "Oh, I got no idea."

"W-what?" I was taken by surprise by what she said.

"Figured you could use a few hours." She shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"Eh, you had this look about you like you were overwhelmed." She shrugged again. "The Dandy bastard is good at a lot of things, but sometimes he can skip over the obvious. Father tells me this sometimes, and yeah, noticed it when I saw you again. Father also says that he\'s usually really busy catching up on things whenever he comes back after being gone for a bit. Figured you could use some time to adjust without being swarmed by a whole bunch of new people."

"Was.....was I that bad?" I said meekly.

"You looked like a goldfish." She chuckled. "But the people around here aren\'t idiots, they wouldn\'t have just let you flounder. But we already knew each other, so I grabbed ya first, Frenchie."

"Thank you, Mordred." She was being very nice!

"Whatever."

"Have you been here long?" I asked, feeling much more relaxed now.

"Depends on what you mean by \'here\'. Went to another \'place\' for a couple months, that was fun. Master and I did a lot of quests, dived down into some dungeons, slayed some monsters and made a bunch of gold while doing it." She sounded proud of herself. "Right, Achilles and Atalanta are there too, they\'d probably be happy to know you\'re back."

Rider and Archer? Yes, Wilhelm did say he was taking them with him after the War....

"Is your Master not around?"

"He\'s...somewhere. I don\'t know, I\'m not his keeper."

"But...aren\'t you his – "

"Servant?" She finished. "Yeah, I could check, but nah, giving him some space."

"Did you have a fight?" I asked softly.

"Pfft, nothing like that. Master is great, even when we argue, it aint ever bad. But nah, when you travel with someone so closely for months, having to sleep in the cold huddled together, don\'t have the ability to take proper baths and all that; sometimes you just gotta give someone space when you\'re done. We\'re good, and I\'ll probably see what he\'s up to tomorrow or something."

Despite the way she said it, it sounded...pleasant, their relationship.

"You tired of the Dandy yet?"

"Wilhelm? Why would I be tired of him!?"

"Oh God, you\'re going to be one of his too, aren\'t ya?"

"W-what does that mean!?"

Mordred let out a long sigh. "Guess you ain\'t so bad, I\'m sure Father wouldn\'t mind or he\'d give the Dandy an earful."

"You\'re misunderstanding something!"

"Shouldn\'t have expected any different from the French."

"Why does everyone make fun of my homeland!" I pouted.

"Mostly cause of the Adulterer." Mordred said offhandedly. "But I\'m a proper British, it\'s in my blood."

"I should have figured, of course the English would be so....brutish."

Mordred stopped, looking at me with eyes widened. "Did you just....throw an insult back at me?"

"I.....was just playing? I thought we were bonding, I didn\'t mean it! I\'m sorry!"

Mordred looked at me for another second and I felt odd under her gaze. That was until she broke out in a fit of laughter. "Oh this is good, I gotta tell the Dandy about this later! A Saintess, huh?"

"Y-you\'re not angry?"

"Are you serious? You\'re about as insulting as a kitten trying to claw at me." Despite the height difference, she started patting my head. "Kind of cute, honestly."

"Neh!" I grumbled.

"This is a good day." Mordred smiled brightly. "The only thing that could make it better is if you brought one of those other idiots back too so I could beat them up."

"...who do you mean?\'

"Eh, I have a list of people I\'d love to smack around if they were summoned. Gawain, Lancelot, Galahad, Merlin – " She paused. "You reacted, why did you react?"

"Um.....we met two of those people you just mentioned...kinda."

"Who?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Um, there was a girl who was a Demi-Servant, she had the spirit of Galahad in her. She was actually very nice! Everyone liked her."

"Then she must not have had Galahad, cause that guy was an insufferable cunt." Mordred snorted.

"Mordred!"

"Pfft, it would be even funnier with how much you resemble Father if it didn\'t make me think I had relation to France."

"Don\'t be mean!"

"Hahaha!"

I felt myself stomping my foot. "Lancelot was rather nice too!"

She stopped, blinking. "Of course you\'d like the Adulterer."

"What\'s that supposed to mean!?"

"It means, fuck him."

".....is this why Wilhelm treated him so harshly?"

"Really? The Dandy gave him shit too? What happened there?"

"Um...he was summoned as a Berserker, and Wilhelm beat him up. Then we removed his Madness...and, um..."

"What?"

"Wilhelm beat him up some more." I whispered.

"Hahahahaha!" Mordred nearly fell over, holding her stomach while she was laughing. "Oh my God, I can\'t....I need to hear the full story, this is great. Shit, you said that some chick was running around with Galahad or something inside her? How\'d that work when Lancelot and him met?"

".....she punched him as soon as he appeared."

"Hahahaha!" She was on the ground rolling at this point. "Oh my god! That\'s just fucking perfect!"

I think I didn\'t quite understand the dynamic between the Knights of the Round Table enough to comment in any meaningful way...

"I know a good place for a meal, you\'re going to tell me the whole story, start to finish. I need to hear about everything that happened." She pulled on my sleeve to pull herself up.

"I....I would like that." I found myself smiling.

"Come on Frenchie, you\'re spending the day with me and we\'re gonna trade stories and do whatever random shit we want."

It was nice....I had a feeling I was going to like it here.

@***@

Wilhelm POV

"You\'re fussing a lot when you already look perfect."

Izzy turned to me, then back to the mirror as she adjusted her hair a little bit more. "I could be wearing a giant chicken costume and you\'d say that."

"Probably." I admitted freely. "It would be cute."

"Oh hush." She playfully chided. "I\'m just about done."

"Should I change?" I looked down at myself. It was normal...ish for what I wear. More on the formal side, but still comfortable for everyday use.

"You look fine. I just wanted to fix myself up before seeing Persephone. This is the first time I\'m going out to meet people specifically after we got together."

"Take your time, dear." I grinned.

She turned slightly pink at my teasing. "You better not embarrass me."

"Embarrass you? Me?" I sounded utterly aghast at the notion. "Though, I could be bribed to be on my best behavior."

"Oh, and what would you like to extort out of me, hmm? Dare you make a deal with this Goddess of Death." She walked over, rather sultry in her movements.

"How about a kiss?" I said innocently.

Her stoic and mischievous demeanor sort of deflated instantly. "You are surprisingly easy to please."

"Or maybe you\'re underestimating how much I value a kiss from you?" I retorted.

"Oh stop it." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, pay up."

"Are you seriously trying to get me to bribe you?"

"You don\'t have to. I suppose we just can leave it up to chance as to what happens. It\'s not like I\'ve ever been involved in anything particularly messy before." I continued my \'innocent\' charade.

"And now you\'re blackmailing me."

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

"Yes, of course." She said dryly. "All of this, just for a kiss?"

"You are unaware of the full lengths I would go to for just a kiss from you."

"You\'re the worst." She huffed, a tinge of pink appearing again. "Trying to bully me into you having your way with me. Do you have no shame?"

"When the choice is between shame or a kiss from my amazing Goddess, I think It\'s obvious what I would choose every time."

"You\'re impossible." She huffed once more. Very quickly she leaned over and her lips met mine. Despite the abruptness, it wasn\'t just a peck on the lips, rather, she took time and effort to make it enjoyable. "There, are you happy?" She finally broke apart.

"I don\'t know, do it again so I can double check."

She playfully pinched my cheek. "Alright, enough playing around."

"Alright." I stretched my arms. "You ready?"

"Yes, I\'m ready to leave. Whether I\'m prepared to meet with Persephone, I am unsure."

"Funny enough, I\'m having a similar feeling to meeting Hades again. I don\'t know how he\'s going to react when he sees the state of the Spear...."

Izzy\'s lips thinned. "He\'s going to ask questions. But before that..." She took my hand. "I\'m glad you\'re safe. You came back after that ordeal and immediately jumped into a bunch of things, but you can take some time, Wilhelm."

I took her hand and brought it up to my face to give it a small kiss. "I know, but keeping busy right now feels better. I\'m not someone who can slow down for too long. After we handle this, I\'m going to see Gramps with Yasaka to check out the whole School thing. Did she tell you about that?"

"I know the barest details." She replied. "I would like to hear more once you have everything figured out."

"Of course."

"Mmm, I heard you brought another Servant back, and that he wanted to become a Devil under Venelana?"

"Mozart." I nodded.

"Amusing. You know this is going to cause problems, yes?"

"He isn\'t a particularly powerful Servant..."

"That\'s not what I meant. How many people have \'come back from the dead\' before your found out." She explained. "People are already asking questions, the sort of questions you don\'t want asked. Certain conclusions are going to be made."

"I get what you\'re saying." I let out a sigh. "I didn\'t think I could hide it forever, about where everyone came from. But I\'m also not going to just hide away. If this is the feather that breaks the camel\'s back, so be it. Venelana was so excited, and Mozart served me well and he deserves his own happiness too. I have absolutely no regrets in this choice."

"As long as you understand. I will stand by your side regardless." Izzy took my arm. "Now, be truthful. Do you wish to bring in that Saintess you brought back?"

I nearly choked at her blunt question. "What makes you say that!?"

"Nevermind, It\'s obvious now."

"What\'s that supposed to mean?" I frowned.

"It means..." She giggled lightly patting my cheek. "We should go, dear."

I just grumbled, and Izzy summoned up a gateway as we walked through it.

[***]

The ground rumbled almost like a miniature earthquake as soon as we arrived.

Three massive heads appeared rather quickly, charging over happily.

"Cerberus, stop." Izzy held her hand up.

The three headed dog slid to a stop in front of us and looked at us expectantly. I of course was prepared for this situation, as a small crackle of lightning erupted from my person and a white fluffy rabbit landed atop its head.

Cerberus stomped happily as its eyes looked up to Sir Wiggles sitting on its head.

"Go ahead and go play." Izzy gave the happy dog a little pat on its other head.

The two animals darted off to who knew where.

"My illustrious Guardian." Hades made his appearance quickly, his dry tone filling the void his pet left.

"Come now, husband. You wouldn\'t have him any other way." Persephone appeared as well.

"Hades, Persephone." Izzy greeted politely.

"Izanami!" The wife of Hades was on her before we could even blink. "Look at you! You have a boyfriend, lover, maybe something more~"

"Persephone." Izzy grumbled shyly under her immediate teasing.

"Kyah~ It\'s so cute! I knew that there was something between you both, you were so cute together! How did it happen? Did he ask you out on a date, give you a heartfelt confession?"

I coughed awkwardly.

"Oh my, did you confess, Izanami?" Persephone\'s lips curled up. "How adorable. I didn\'t think you had it in you."

"Dear, if you continue any more, I think she may run away." Hades tried to rein in his wife.

"Like you almost did?" She turned her head, eyes sparkling.

"D-dear.." Hades nearly stumbled over himself. It was almost comical to see the stoic God look embarrassed. "We agreed never to speak about that again."

"I never agreed to anything." She quickly rejected him. "Did you know? I was the one who initiated~"

Both Izanami and I shared a similar look.

"That...is not how the stories I recall go."

"Oh no, those Mortal stories are fairly accurate. Suffice to say, I wouldn\'t have been kidnapped if I didn\'t want to be. The fact that he thought he was being secretive and resourceful just made him all the more cuter. To be honest, I fell in love at first sight and was waiting for him to make the first move. Once I was down in the underworld, he actually tried cooking a romantic dinner for us both. He kept stumbling over himself trying to admit his feelings. As adorable as it was, I got tired of him drawing it out. The stories about me eating underworld food and being bound here? Well, the dinner he cooked was from above, so that wasn\'t it. I instead grabbed some herbs he was growing in his garden, stuffed them down my mouth, then walked up and kissed him, telling him we\'re together now."

She looked supremely proud of herself as she recounted the story.

Hades merely sighed, covering his face with a hand. "Thank you, Dear. I\'m sure this won\'t change my perception in their eyes whatsoever."

"I didn\'t think Hades was such a romantic." I couldn\'t help but grin.

"And thus, my reputation is ruined."

"Oh, stop being so melodramatic, dear." Persephone rolled her eyes. "By the way, we have a guest. Thought you\'d care for the warning."

"A guest?" Izzy questioned.

"Way to ruin my entrance." It was another familiar person who stood in the archway of the building Hades and Persephone had appeared from.

"Odin." Izzy\'s lips thinned.

"Cougar." Odin greeted back.

"I will end you." She seethed.

Odin just looked at her mockingly. "Remind me again, how old are you? How old Is the boy?"

"Odin!"

"It\'s nice though, seeing you actually happy for once." Odin relaxed, chuckling to himself. "It\'s good that you found someone to appreciate you." His expression softened.

Even Izzy\'s temper that was flaring a moment prior all but disappeared. "Thank you, Odin."

"Even if you are robbing the cradle."

"Death it is."

"Alright, that\'s enough." I intervened. "Odin, stop trying to rile Izzy up."

Odin just laughed some more. "Ah, sorry there brat. I won\'t mess with your woman anymore. The balls you have there, announcing it to the world after fighting Indra. If you didn\'t already have my blessing, you would definitely be getting it now!"

"I know, it was so adorable!" Persephone seemingly agreed with me.

"I regret this so much." Izzy covered her face.

"Odd, I feel sympathy for her position." Hades turned to his wife. "Why ever could that be?"

Persephone pinched him.

He rubbed his arm. "I believe the polite greetings have finished. Shall we proceed inside and deal with the matters that have gathered us?"

"Pardon, I was led to believe we would be....having dinner together? A less than formal meeting and one without a certain despicable God present."

"We did not invite him." Hades quickly responded. "And it was intended to merely be an informal get-together for Persephone to release all this pent of energy she\'s had since finding out about your new lover."

"But I decided to come over." Odin interjected.

"Yes." Hades drawled. "And I will admit, it makes a good excuse to have everyone gathered at this point in time to use the \'dinner\' as an excuse. We will deal with business first, then proceed with evening plans."

"Very well." Izzy nodded.

Hades and Persephone led us inside his large temple, Mausoleum, type building. He certainly had an aesthetic he stuck to. We turned a few corners, and found ourselves in a rather secluded room. In fact, it was so heavily warded, that I nearly choked upon entering.

"You were prepared." Izzy commented.

"Yes, I value the secrecy of our objective. When entities such as Indra and Shiva are involved, I take every precaution."

"I never did thank you." I turned to Hades. "It was a risk that you appeared, but I do appreciate it. If you need anything from me, don\'t hesitate to call."

"Bah, it was nothing." He dismissed, but there was a tone of approval in what I said. "I knew he would not desire a fight. We were merely just grandstanding, as my wife said."

"Already heard enough about that lightning idiot enough in the past few weeks." Odin grumbled. "My own Son would not be quiet, I had to sneak out of Asgard just to get away from the constant bickering it brought up."

"Like you need to make up a reason to shirk your duties." Izzy snorted.

"Touche." Odin grinned. "But let\'s get this over with, got something to do after."

"First order of business? Shall we inform our colleague about what we discovered recently?" Hades questioned.

"Before you begin, there may be a hiccup in our plan." I had to cut them off there. "I encountered an enemy, and was forced to rely on the power of the Spear. There was...damage."

Hades\' eyes narrowed. "Show us."

Odin was silent, but he shared a similar sentiment.

I touched upon my chest, pulling out Avalon.

They were surprised at its sudden presence.

"What is that." Hades\' all but demanded.

"The Scabbard to Excalibur." I honestly replied. "But it\'s being used as a sort of....seal at the moment." The Sheath was mostly conceptual in nature, its \'size\' was relative. That is to say, it could essentially hold any weapon inside of it.

I withdrew the Spear in question, gently placing it upon the table in front of all of us.

It was still heavily cracked, Holy Power literally seeped out, even with the dozens upon dozens of Talismans I had wrapped around it to stymie the \'bleeding\'.

Hades said something in a language I didn\'t recognize. And I was assuming it was a curse because his wife looked at him briefly with that \'look\' that I knew all too well. "How." His fists clenched. "How did it end up like this? It\'s nearly falling apart at the seams!"

"I fought an enemy that I could only run from."

His eyes glowed, perhaps not in fury, but his emotions were running rampant. Hades was one of the most level headed Greek Gods, but in the end he was still one of their number. Emotional responses were common, so I didn\'t think much of it. "You fought Indra, and you were not so handedly defeated that you couldn\'t fight back. What forced, this, and why did I not hear anything?"

"Brat, it\'s time to read him in." Odin let out a breath. "We\'re already this deep down the rabbit hole, more secrets are gonna make things difficult."

I shared a look with Izzy and she gave me a nod.

I trusted Izzy, so I would trust Hades as well.

"Alright, Hades. Persephone." I knew they came as a pair and he didn\'t hide anything from her. "Why don\'t I start from the beginning."

"....why do I have this premonition that I\'m going to need a vast amount of wine afterwards?"

[***]

A/N

Just a heads up, I am driving up a few states for thanksgiving to visit my dad. It\'ll be an 8 hour drive, which means I\'m going to be unable to write several times this week. So my release schedule is going to be much more sporadic.

If you want to read 9 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone