Chapter 182: Chapter 174
"A serial Killer?" Jeanne tilted her head in confusion.
"You don't know?" I asked.
She shook her head. "I felt a pull to come here, and I followed." She explained briefly. "I was merely investigating the unpleasant feeling in the vicinity when I noticed the presence of a Servant."
"So much for Big G giving guidance to his saint." I said dryly.
"Well, it led me to you." She gave an strained laugh, that little tick ever present. "I can only have faith the Lord hasn't led me astray."
"Haha, well, you know, broken clocks and all that." I did my best to give an innocent smile. "I'm surprised you just didn't read the newspaper to figure out what's going on." The corners of my lips curled up.
Her eye twitched again. "I've been too busy making sure the war isn't revealed due to large magical effects that happen over the night sky."
"Huh, I guess you would be able to usher the Grail's effects to certain areas to mitigate 'damage' as a Ruler." I rubbed my chin. The Grail does put effort in ensuring secrecy, and Ruler's job is to enforce rules.
She made a noise of annoyance, puffing up rather cutely. "SOMEONE is making my job extremely difficult."
"Wonder who that could be." I smiled innocently.
"Yes, I wonder." She twitched again.
This was fun, I wish I could do this all day. "I'm curious, why didn't you assume I had a hand in what was going on here? You clearly know something is wrong, the obvious ickiness in the alley and I'm here trying to 'get rid' of the evidence?"
Her strained expression quickly shifted into a genuine smile. "The thought never crossed my mind, I think you're a good person."
I blinked at the frankness of her response. "A saintess calling me a good person....my ancestors are rolling in their graves." I shook my head. "It could just be a ruse, a mask I put on in public."
"I trust my judgement." She just continued to smile. "Even when you had the opportunity to kill other Masters, you refrained yourself and focused on their servants. When you were at the Castle of the Black faction, you could have turned that – eyesore – on them in that moment, possibly removing the Black Faction from the war, yet you chose not to."
"Huh, so you were watching." I chuckled, before pausing. "Wait, what do you mean eyesore!? That was the most impressive piece of Thaumaturgy I've ever created! It was built upon several different schools of Magecraft!"
"Eyesore? what are you talking about?" She clearly feigned ignorance.
[Haha, this is the best Saintess]
"Penniless Saint has jokes." I pursed my lips. "How about writing them down for me so I can enjoy them later, hmm?"
She twitched again.
"Master." Raikou grabbed our attention. "Ignore the insect, we came here to for a reason."
"Right, right." I nodded. "Unfortunately, I think she'll probably be our best bet on finding this person." I rubbed my chin. "Her ability to seek out the 'danger' or whatever the mechanics are, it's possibly more precise than our attempts at searching this place."
Raikou scowled. "Should we blindfold her and have her point in a random direction?"
I blinked, looking towards Jeanne then back at Raikou.
"N-no!?" Jeanne quickly tried to dismiss the idea.
My lips curled up again as I stared at the saintess. "Raikou, you're brilliant."
"It doesn't work like that!" Jeanne squeaked out.
"I shall restrain her, Master." Raikou suddenly seemed happier.....perhaps a little too happy. "Fufufu." She giggled. "Come here, little Saintess~"
"Meep." Jeanne looked afraid, and I didn't blame her.
***
"This is unnecessary!" Jeanne whined.
I ignored her complaints. "You know, Raikou." I turned towards my servant. "We just needed her blindfolded not...this." I gestured towards Jeanne who was tied up.....a bit lewdly if I were honest.
"Master, you're the one who gave me the rope." She seemed proud of herself.
"That I did." I just nodded. "Well done, Raikou." I praised.
"Master!" Raikou enveloped me, pushing my head between her breasts again.
"I can hear you!" Jeanne wiggled in her bindings.
"Unfortunately, I can hear you as well." Raikou did not hold back her disdain. "Master, we should use our compass before we lose daylight."
"Alrighty, Jeanne." I walked up, putting my hands on her shoulders. "I'm just going to spin –"
"Waaa, it doesn't work like that!" Jeanne continued. "And I'm not a compass!"
"—around a bit, and the direction you decided to stop in, is where we're going to go."
"S-stop" She managed to squeak out as I began spinning her.
"Big G, Work your miracles."
"Ahh, don't call him that." She whined, coming to a halt. "I-I'm dizzy." She bobbed her head back and forth.
"Perfect." I nodded, looking down the street where she stopped at. I began to undo her bindings, and she just puffed up, giving an adorable pout.
"It doesn't work like this." She reiterated.
"To have so little faith, tsk, tsk." I shook my head.
"Y-you!" She did a little stomp on the ground. "Fine." She pouted. "I intended to search this area of the city anyways."
Raikou still looked very pleased with herself. "Stay here if you wish, you are not needed." She casually replied, taking my arm and practically dragged me away. "Master, lets go find Assassin so we can spend the rest of the day together~":
"Wait for me." Jeanne quickly caught up with a huff. "You used me like that and just planned to leave me behind!" She said indignantly. "You didn't even tell me who we're looking for."
"Jack the Ripper." I stated.
Jeanne's cute demeanor shifted to something serious. "The Serial Killer from London." She repeated, almost mechanically. "I see, this may be troublesome."
"Yup. Their legend's taken on so many forms over the years, they could have a wide array of abilities that correspond to being a good killer." It would really be an annoying opponent, but it would be best to remove them from play now. "Interestingly enough, they haven't targeted any innocents yet."
"You said there had been mentions in the newspaper?" She looked at me in confusion.
"I went to the police station to get a better look at everything that's happened." I began to explain. "So far, the victims were a handful of Child Traffickers, a serial rapist, a wife beater, and a gang leader. There are more, but you get the idea." They were all killed in the same style as Jack the Ripper, even if his victim pool had extended beyond prostitutes. Perhaps his master had a better rein on him than I anticipated?
"I see." She said quietly. "Even so....we can't allow them to run around and kill like this."
"I agree." I nodded. While I had no complaints about the victims, it's not like this could keep going on. It had already grabbed the attention of the Mage's Association. This wasn't my world, but I'm here and should clean up the messes around me out of courtesy.
"Master." Raikou stopped, eyes darting around. "I sense something familiar ahead."
I turned towards Jeanne, raising an eyebrow.
"It could be anything." She said sheepishly.
"It's similar to the resentment from before." Raikou did not hold back.
"And this place is noticeably empty." I muttered. In fact, I had a 'feeling' in the back of my head telling me to just go away.
Strange indeed.
Almost as if on que, a strange fog began rolling in, and we all brought our guards up.
The sun was completely blocked in a matter of moments, the fog enveloping every corner of this street.
"Master." Raikou turned to me out of concern.
"I noticed, don't worry." I reassured her, my Aura flaring. This fog or whatever it was – it was poisonous. I could feel it slowly eating away at my Aura reserves.
A glowing pair of eyes was seen not that far infront of us. "Go away." A voice called out amongst the fog.
I again turned to Jeanne, she glanced at me then turned away, refusing to meet my gaze.
"Assassin Servant." Jeanne quickly donned her Servant Armaments, Flags standard in her hand. "You will cease this attack at once. I am Ruler and I'm here to investigate the killings going on."
The Assassin servant didn't answer, but disappeared into the surrounding fog.
"Did you expect that to work?"
"Shush!" She puffed up again.
The fog around us sort of 'vibrated' its presence amplified to a degree that I could through my Aura.
"I issued a warning." Jeanne stated, grabbing her flag with both hand, her entire body filled with a brilliant light.
I unconsciously took a few steps away, recognizing the threat this 'light' posed to me. She looked at me strangely as I reeled back from it put didn't pay it any more mind. "Haaah!" She slammed her flag down, the light shooting off in every direction.
I put up a shield along with my aura to mitigate the corrosive power from touching me.
The Fog dispersed and a figure came into view.
"We said to go away!" The Servant held a Dagger in her hand.
Yes, her.
But more importantly, it was a child. One that was wearing something very revealing for someone who appeared to be younger than my Daughter, but a child nonetheless.
Even Jeanne was caught off guard by the Servant as we were all expecting an old man or some sort.
"Woah!" I held my hands up. "Lets not fight."
The Assassin paused, staring at me. "Leave us alone we're not going to let you hurt mommy!" She disappear, the Fog around her sort of enveloping her form. A moment later, she was stabbing towards me in particular. I guess she noticed I was a 'Master' in this situation. Well, Assassins specialize in removing Masters since their stats are usually lower than the other classes.
Raikou swung her sword, deflecting a Dagger that was aiming for my back. It wasn't beyond my means to block myself, but Raikou was my Servant and she would prefer to handle this on her own if possible.
"Disgusting thing." Raikou surprisingly showed no fondness for the child-servant. "How many ghosts are you possessed by?"
I blinked at her words, staring at the Assassin again who skirted away after the first clash. "I see, that's why this 'resentment' was so strong."
"Are you even a Servant or an Amalgamation of specters?" Raikou spat out.
"We will not allow mommy to be hurt." She didn't waiver, holding her dagger up.
I let out a sigh, putting my hand on Raikou's shoulder. "Let's not fight."
Raikou shot me a look, but didn't dismiss my words.
The Assassin didn't budge, still ready to attack. It didn't look like she was trying to win but scare us off. I suppose she didn't feel confidant in being able to take us all on, especially since Jeanne dispersed that fog so easily. I can guess she relied on it for her stealthier maneuvers.
"My name is Wilhelm Henry Schweinorg." I took a step forward, introducing myself. "Can you tell me your name?"
"We are Assassin." She said simply, I think she was a bit confused at what I was doing.
"Can I ask that you don't attack me? I promise I don't intend to hurt you or your 'mommy'."
"Lies." She frowned. "You look like all the ones who hurt mommy before."
No idea what was going on here, but something didn't feel right. "We're not allowed to fight during the day, you know that right?" I tried a different approach.
She gripped her dagger tightly, but didn't respond.
"Look, even Ruler is here. If we try to fight she'll stop us." I glanced up at Jeanne, giving her a wink.
"Y-yes, that is correct. Fighting during the day is prohibited, I will not allow it to happen regardless of who it is." Jeanne confirmed.
"You're not going to hurt us or mommy?" The Assassin looked up at Jeanne.
"I promise, I will not move on either of you unless a rule is being broken." Jeanne said with upmost sincerity.
"You're warm." Assassin brought her dagger down. "The light was nice and warm." She repeated as if it was important. The pauses and the blank stare that happened were almost a dead giveaway in having a mental conversation with someone. "We will trust you."
"But we still need to have a talk about the people you've been killing." Jeanne would not relent on this matter.
Was it the Saintess's natural disposition that seemed to sooth this child-like servant? "We had to..." She said quietly.
I took another step forward, having an idea of what was going on. She raised her Dagger up, ready to attack but I held my hands out as if to tell her I wasn't going to harm her. "There's something wrong with your 'mommy' and her giving you magical energy, isn't there?" The little flash across her face made me think I hit the mark. So she wasn't just killing indiscriminately, but siphoning magical energy for her continued existence. I took a few more steps forward, moving down to a knee to get eye level with her. "How about a peace offering?" I took out a Dust Crystal, holding it out for her to take.
Hey, if we could avoid fighting, then by all means. I didn't particularly want to move against a child, even if it was a Servant.
She looked at it, then at me, then at Jeanne. She looked really hesitant but took a step forward and snatched it out of my hand. By the look on her face, I could tell she knew what had just been given to her.
"With that, you shouldn't have to drain anyone for awhile right?" I offered a smile.
"What do you want?" She said bluntly, even if it was a little cute in her childish voice.
"Can we go speak to your Master?" I asked. This whole situation was completely not what I expected. At this point I wanted to get a gauge on her Master to figure out how to proceed.
Again, the Assassin looked at me, then back at Jeanne, even sparing Raikou a glance. "You won't hurt Mommy?"
"I promise I won't do anything but defend myself – Ruler as witness." I gestured towards her.
"And I will not allow fighting during the day." She nodded.
Another blank stare, and it looked like Assassin was talking to their master. I guess she had great confidence in her ability to escape if she was being so open around us. But that's Assassin Servants for you.
".....okay, we'll take you to mommy." Assassin seemingly relented, turning around and usher for us to follow.
***
The Holy Compass.
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