Shirou woke up in his room inside Charles Patricius. Seraph is an electronic world but it simulates earth in lots of aspects, including day and night, right now it was morning
Shirou: well, time to wake up, I gotta go talk to Hakuno again
Shirou stood up from bed, did his daily routine, and went out of the room. On his way down the hall one thought crossed his mind
Shirou: oh right, I should bring Saber with me
Shirou went back the hall and up to saber's room. And without knocking he opened the door
Shirou: hey, Saber, good morning, are you...
But when he opened the door he saw what he less expected to see. There was Saber inside the room, the thing is, she was completely naked
Shirou in that moment blushed and turned around ashamed. Artoria blushed lightly while looking at him
Artoria: Shirou, it's not good to invade someone's privacy
Shirou: Im sorry Saber! But in the first place why are you naked?!
Artoria: Is it that weird that I take a bath in my own room? And what are you standing there for? Close the door already
Shirou: r-right, sorry
Shirou then closed the door quickly, took some deep breaths and calmed down
Shirou: ah, this brings back memories
Back at the holy grail war this already happened once before, but back then Saber wasn't concerned in the least with Shirou looking at her.
She said she's a warrior before a woman, but now she acted more accordingly to a what a girl would've done
Shirou: I guess you really changed after all...- he thought to himself
Saber then opened the door of her room, now changed to her normal attire
Artoria: Im ready Shirou, did you need something?
Shirou: oh, not really, I just thought that you should come with me
Artoria: oh is that so? I don't mind, let's get going
Shirou: right
They both got to ground level and went directly to the throne room to talk to Hakuno once more, but he wasn't there
Shirou: huh... he's not here, I wonder where he went
???: if you're looking for master he's busy at the moment
A voice sounded on Shirou's ears, but he couldn't recognize where the voice was coming from, then in front of him a silhouette appeared, that then materialized into a man in a Chinese traditional gi
Assassin: master told me about you, Shirou Emiya right? I'm assassin, sorry if you see blood on me, I assure you it's not mine
Shirou: ah, nice to meet you
Artoria: can I ask where master went assassin?
???: he's resting
Nero Claudius appeared from the back of the room and walked to where assassin was
Shirou: resting? In the morning?
Nero: well of course, he was working all night long after all
Shirou: I see, must be tough
Nero: it is, but that's that, now that you're here, did you need something from my praetor?
Shirou: yea, I wanted to continue the conversation we had yesterday
Nero: ah you're still with that? Well I don't see why not, but he's tired right now so he should rest, why don't you go and have some fun meanwhile?
Artoria: I agree, let's go Shirou, we can come back later
Shirou: well, there's nothing I can do if he's resting, I'll return later to talk with him
Nero: umu, assassin I have a matter to talk with you, it's a serious matter, do you have time?
Assassin: kaka, of course emperor, if it's fighting I always have time
Nero: good, let's go
Nero and assassin left the room, leaving Artoria and Shirou alone
Shirou: well what do you want to do now saber?
Artoria: actually there's a place that I wanna go, can you come with me?
Shirou: sure, I don't mind
Artoria took Shirous hand and started walking fast towards the street. After reaching a certain place they stopped and Shirou understood immediately what saber wanted
Shirou: I knew it, a restaurant
Yes, it was a restaurant, a pretty fancy one at that, they both entered and were greeted at the entrance by a familiar face behind the bar
Archer: welcome
Shirou: wha...!!! Archer! What are you doing here?!
Archer: don't panic, Emiya Shirou, I'm the chef at this restaurant, I'm here to serve food
Shirou: eh...?
Artoria: hello archer, how have you been doing?
Archer: well, same as always I would say, you seem to be pretty happy as well, saber
Artoria: well of course, your food is always the best
Shirou: he's completely different to how he was yesterday...
Shirou wondered if the sudden change was due to the command seal or due to an external factor, but he was indeed different
Archer: what's wrong, Emiya Shirou? You seem confused, did the cat got your tongue?
Shirou: no, it's nothing
Archer: I see, well what would you two want to eat
Artoria: give me all the deluxe orders with extra rice please
Archer: coming right up
Archer returned to the kitchen while saber and Shirou took a seat
Shirou: what happened to him? Yesterday he was normal but now he looks like a whole different person...
Artoria: hmm? What do you mean Shirou? Archer is always like that
Shirou: wait, really?
Shirou was confused, for him archer was a sarcastic sadistic who would make everything to achieve his goals, but now he seems a little more normal, like he regained consciousness of himself
Shirou: well, this isn't so bad
Archer returned from the kitchen with a lot of food in hand, it was like 8 plates full of food
Archer: sorry for the wait
Archer placed the food across the table and saber didn't wait a second to start eating
Artoria: *munch* *munch* this is... superb as always archer, your skills at cooking never rust
Archer: I see, guess I haven't lost the touch, what about the boy? Won't you eat anything?
Shirou: ah, no, I'm ok thank you
Archer: heh, for you to be thanking me, that's really like you
Shirou: was that a compliment or an insult...?
Archer: I don't know, what would it be?
Shirou: I get more and more confused...
Archer: *sigh* still the same idiot... Well, I'll be at the kitchen if you need anything
Artoria: yes. Oh right, the tab runs on master
Shirou: so I end up paying huh? What's the currency of this world? Bitcoin works here?
Artoria: what do you mean by that Shirou? Master is paying, not you
Shirou: oh right, I forgot for a second you have another master now
Shirou was a bit disappointed that saber had a new master, he enjoyed the time he was with her in the holy grail war, but now that she lives in the moon cell peacefully she has another master to serve as his servant
From the table aside of them laughter could be heard
???: hahahaha, nothing better than a good sake and good food before conquest
???: calm down king of conquerors, you'll bother other customers
Artoria: ah, king of conquerors and the holy maiden, it's good to see you both here
Shirou: king of conquerors... you're king Alexander the Great!
Iskandar: yes I'm the one and only, but I would rather you would refer to me as Iskandar
Shirou: oh alright
Jeanne: I apologize if he bothered you
Artoria: oh don't worry about it, I know he may be noisy sometimes
Iskandar: ha, that's mean king of knights, it's always good for a king to be charismatic and confident, it raises moral
Artoria: I would rather eat my food in silence...
Iskandar: oh I know, let's do a drinking competition, whoever drinks more without passing out wins, how about it?
Artoria: I would normally refuse, but a duel is a duel, and refusing would stain my honor as a knight, so I accept the challenge!
Shirou: eeeeeh?!
After a good drinking competition, saber was going side to side while Iskandar was still laughing completely unfazed
Iskandar: what's wrong, king of knights? Is that all you can handle?
Artoria: don't underestimate... the will... of a king... I won't... lose...
Shirou: oh right, I forgot saber has a problem with losing...
Saber tried to drink one more shot, and passed out before drinking it all
Shirou: SEIBAAAAAH!!!
Jeanne: you crossed the line there king of conquerors...
Iskandar: really? I thought this was a friendly competition between kings!
Archer: I would appreciate it if you keep it down, there's other customers here
Iskandar: ah, my apologies chef, I should be taking my leave now
Jeanne: I'll go too, thanks for the food
Archer: don't mention it, also, Emiya Shirou, take that drunk king to bed, she drank too much
Shirou: right... I'll be going too then...
Shirou took saber to bed and went to his room to rest too. In the end he was so tired he wasn't able to talk to Hakuno again, but it was not that bad of a day
Meanwhile, Hakuno and Nero were on the palace of Rome, bathing together in their room
Hakuno: aaaah, finally some relaxation...
Nero: umu, this is peace...
Hakuno: so saber, what do you think about Shirou?
Nero: umu, he's a little naive but he's a good guy. Even though wanting to be a hero of justice is a childish ideal, there's a certain beauty to it that I can't describe
Hakuno: I see, so I guess it's ok for him to stay here for a little more, but I don't think that's a good idea
Nero: hmm? Why do you say that praetor? Wait, is it related to what happened with archer?
Hakuno: indeed, when I analyzed archer with the regalia I found traces of the zero dark, which means...
Nero: Velber... I guess the umbral Star is still roaming around here
Hakuno: yeah, I eliminated the traces, but that may be the cause of his sudden change in behavior, and I don't know why, but it seems Shirou has something to do with it
Nero: umu, it's too suspicious to be a coincidence, want me to tell assassin to keep spying him?
Hakuno: I don't think that would be necessary, for now tell assassin to rest, then I need him to go to the zero dark territory and look for clues using his presence obfuscation
Nero: that's the best plan, for now we should take an eye on Shirou and see if he's related to this matter
Hakuno: I agree, but for now... let's just relax
Nero: umu, let's...
To be continued...