Fate/Apocrypha Vol 1 Chapter 1.5

---

In high spirits, Gordes returned to his room and turned to face Saber once again. His magnificent and majestic appearance would ensnare the eyes of any who saw him. Gordes was almost completely certain of himself, but he questioned Saber anyway, just to be sure.

"Answer me just one thing, Saber - your true name is Siegfried, correct?"

Seeing his nod of affirmation in response, Gordes reached the epitome of joy.

Siegfried - he is a national hero of Germany. Although his depiction differs in the various legends attributed to him, his most famous role is likely in the epic poem Nibelungenlied, 'The Song of the Nibelungs'. Born a prince of the Netherlands, he went through many adventures and was even crowned dragon-slayer.

He surmounted every field of battle without a single defeat, until losing his life at the blade of betrayal striking him in his back, his only weak point.

In his hand is the holy sword of the Nibelungs, Balmung. By destroying the evil dragon Fafnir with this sword, and bathing in its blood, he became invulnerable to any weapon.

But, however exalted the warrior may have been, his body had a single critical weakness - a spot on his back which was covered by a linden leaf that had just happened to stick to him when he was bathing in the blood of the dragon. That was the one weak point which would bring irrevocable death to Siegfried.

Gordes racked his brain for a while. It is all well and good to have summoned one of the greatest of Servants, but the truth is that his legend - and the fact about his back - is known far and wide. For just how long will he be able to hide such a deadly yet obvious weak point?

"Saber, from now on, keep your mouth shut unless you are unveiling your Noble Phantasm. You are allowed to speak only when I give you permission to do so."

By keeping Saber quiet, Gordes should be able to minimize to some extent the number of hints that could lead to his true name for the time being. Brandishing the Command Spells on the back of his hand, he emphasized the strictness of this order. However, there was some trepidation in his eyes. Would he be forgiven for dealing with a great hero in such a high-handed manner?

...Would he forgive Gordes?

Despite this, Gordes' mind could not help but recognize him as 'simply a Servant'. After all, Saber is nothing but a temporary guest, brought to this world by Gordes, his Master.

For a moment, there was only tension in the room.

"..."

After a while, Saber answered with a nod in place of words, signifying that he had accepted Gordes' command. There are a number of tales regarding Siegfried's royalty, and his leading soldiers as a captain; but at the same time, he was a hero who answered the requests and calls of others.

If it is by necessity, he will not dispute a command to not speak. No command would be a burden to him as long as it leads to fulfilling his own desire.

...If, at this very moment, he had resolutely refused to the point of Gordes perhaps choosing to use his Command Spells, his fate might have been different. But Siegfried chose to submit, as a Servant of the Saber class - whereas Gordes recognized this exchange as a Master bending said Servant to his will. 

In time, this misunderstanding between them will bring things to a fatal pass.

***

"What do we do with him, 

Master

Mother

?"

...He was speechless.

The one who spoke with such a serene voice and held the man down was a child. In his moment of solace, the man gathered all the strength he possessed and grabbed her small arm, as though to throw her off.

But the arm of the child did not budge an inch. He grasped at her arm tightly, giving it everything he had. And yet, like a steel beam, her arm did not yield.

The man threw a punch. The soft sensation he felt when his fist made contact told him that her arm was not a prosthetic. But then, why? How is it possible that a punch with all the strength he could muster did not move her thin arm a single millimeter?

From his mouth came a pathetic shriek. He took a knife out of his pocket and thrust it at the girl's arm. Without a care for the unsightliness of his act, he stabbed at her again and again, trying only to escape from this aberrant scene.

He stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed. So, why... why, why can't I hurt her?!

"Oh, my... doesn't it hurt?"

The child turned at the woman's question. Not noticing this, the man continued stabbing with his knife.

"We're all right. We're a Servant, after all. It doesn't hurt at all. It bugs us, though."

"Oh, well, then you can cut him a little bit. But not the throat. He still needs to talk."

"Okay, Mother."

The child nodded with knife in hand. To stop the prickling irritation, she severed the tendon in his wrist, and stained the areas around his chest, neck, thighs and face with blood - but not to a degree which would kill him, just as her Master instructed.

"Well done. Now, wait for a moment."

Stopping the child who was swinging a knife with precision, the woman called out to him.

"Hey... you have a lot of friends, don't you? Where are they? Would you minding telling me the name of the building, and which street it's on?"

The man lost his will to fight completely. When she asked her question, the truth came spilling out from him. Anything was fine with him. He was willing to do whatever it took. If she had told him to lick her shoes, he would have done it without the slightest hesitation.

While listening to the man's confessions, the woman confirmed the location he indicated on the map of a guide book. Perfect, murmured the woman as she lighly patted the child's shoulder.

"Jack? You can eat him now."

Eat... him?

Not understanding these words, the man attempted to ask. The child who was called Jack stared at his face... and he screamed, unable to bear it. Wearing those terribly emotionless eyes, Jack carved out the heart of the man.

More than the pain, he could not believe the briskness of the act. It was nothing to her - as though she was just picking a flower. As though she was just stepping on an ant.

Jack swallowed the heart of the man. And so the man died in agony, encased in his despair at the knowledge that one's life can be lost so easily.

"Hey, Mother? What are we going to do now?"

"The man just told us where his friends are, didn't he? Why don't we go there?"

"Will we get to eat a lot?"

"I think you will, Jack."

The woman, Rikudou Reika, stroked the head of the innocently joyful Jack, soothing her. Jack accepted it, shutting her eyes; there was no trace of the monster who had just dissected a human body and carved out its heart.

"Now, let's go."

"Okay. Bye-bye."

Jack shook her hand lightly at the two corpses. They were discovered the next day, and it also became known that their comrades were found slaughtered at a bar they had frequented. The police suspected it was infighting among criminal groups, but there was one mysterious point of note: every single one of the fifteen corpses had had its heart carved out.

Catching wind of this, one newspaper wrote up an amusing article on 'The Return of Jack the Ripper?'. However, it never occurred to the police or the media that, going back to several days ago, an extremely similar event occurred in Japan as well.

---

Chapter end