Land of the Blades

42. Departure

—We'll have to fight four big enemies, Saber, Berserker, another Assassin, and Franny, as well as several shadow servants. We need to go and get Shirou back.

I then told them I was planning on taking the most dangerous Lunarians with me in case they decided to betray us, and also taking with me the more individually strong of us, namely Cairn, Antarc, Cinnabar and Bort. The latter protested when I said that, as expected. Then Cairn protested when I said we'll be leaving Lancer's spear with Alexi.

—Eh? W-why me?! —Alexi said, looking in another direction as her eyes had been covered for the safety of our guest.

—Yes, why him?! —Cairn said, holding the spear very close to his chest.

—If anything goes bad, he can go crazy and do a lot of damage, the spear fits him perfectly with its long range. The rest of you will have to work together and watch each other back. We'll be back as soon as we can.

They were understandably worried, more when another Sunspot appeared in the sky. It was still early so I was sure it wasn't the Prince yet. Mantis told me they were already transporting a few barrels full with dust from the moon, as well as a crystal they told me will help them build their workshop.

—Where might we set it?

—Mmmm, I would rather like it if it was a bit further from here. I think I know the right place, I'll show you —I told her and went to get up on the recently arrived vessel.

—Phos, would you mind if I go too? —Eucci said.

I could see in his smile he wasn't just tagging along for the ride, but I still nodded and helped him get up. Despite not being his primary objective, I could see he was having fun seeing everything from above.

—Phos, what is the real state of our brothers? —Eucci said when we far enough from the school.

—They were turned into a fine dust and used to cover the surface of the moons —I answered, there was no point in hiding it to him—. The moon that is in our control only has 36% of the total, and only 18% is truly ours, the rest is synthetic.

—I see. And why are they moving it to the planet and building here?

—Franny can still throw meteorites against us, not as huge as the one that clouded the sky, but if she were to attack the moon, several fragments might be lost forever. We needed to prioritize getting them here first, where Caster can protect them and us.

Eucci nodded.

—I'm glad you came —I said—, you are smart and can explain this to the others with delicacy.

—A hundred and two years ago I said I would support you, and I still intend to keep my word. I have another question, though. Why do the Lunarians need Sensei for?

I was frozen for a moment. I didn't wanted to tell anyone else about Sensei's nature. I knew he was more than just a machine, but I didn't think I could explain it properly; even I only was able to understand it thanks to the memories of the old world. I could just say that Sensei's prayers were required for the Lunarians to move on, but... they might resent him for not doing his job before and side with the Lunarians. Even I was a bit bitter, all these years he could have solved our problems easily, but he refused to do so. I... wanted to believe he had a good reason, so I had set my mind to wait until he was able to tell it to me. And until then, I choose to not tell the rest about it either.

—S-sensei's past is somewhat connected to the Lunarians, but they didn't told me much —was the best I could come up at the moment.

—Hmmm... —Eucci looked deeply into my eye, and I'm sure he didn't believed me entirely, but she smiled again and dropped the topic.