Mitelt lightly huffed as she watched the human walk away with the exorcists after he dropped her off near to the store where the old couple worked. There was so much going on that her head was starting to hurt from all the random thoughts that was crowding up in her brain. She might as well used the time to help the old lady with whatever work she had on hand to clear her head.
Perhaps the biggest source of her headaches was the fact that the Excalibur Shards were all brought here to this town for some ritual that was meant to combine them back into one sword. She recalled that sword back when she was still an angel and when Excalibur was still considered one whole blade. It was somewhat lackluster in appearance when compared to other Holy Swords, but she recalled that blade as being one of the few weapons that Father had considered to be one of the best he had made for mankind; it was special to him as it was one of the few times that he could work alongside one of the species around to help mankind.
Unfortunately, the sword got wrecked and what little goodwill left between Heaven and the Fairies seemed to have disappeared in time and memory, and many of the angels seemed to have washed their hands off that incident, feeling that humans was no longer worth their prayers if they were to destroy one of Father's greatest creations. That was perhaps one of the reasons she and a number of them fallen to earth, mankind had let Father down in that sense.
She may not have kept in touch regarding the shards, but she did know there have been attempts to bind users to them, while others tried to replicate the properties to make imitations with limited success. The one thing that was prevalent was the fact that a user could only be compatible with one shard, another would not accept that person.
Now something unusual was happening. The shards were all in one place, and considering what she had seen and what she had overheard from the exorcists, the shards were all reacting rather crazily towards her current 'caretaker' in a manner that she recognized as being approved by the shards. However this reaction seemed somewhat fanatic, and she had a theory that was more or less stated by the others.
The shards were separated for a long time, and now that they were together in one spot and in a presence of someone who could wield them all, it seems that they have awoken enough from their slumber to start wishing to be made whole again into one sword, or least almost whole since the final shard was still missing. Though she questioned the decision to have Shirou as their next owner, somewhere in the back of her head the thought did not seem wrong.
The next problem she had issues understanding was the theft of the shards in the first place. She had met Galilei once after she had fallen, and she was frankly disturbed by the man's obsession with Holy Swords in general. He seemed to take the part of not being worthy for the swords to the extreme by performing so many experiments on children. Even some of the fallen, devils and angels could agree unanimously that he was really screwed up in the head.
And finally…
"I am not worthy to wield Excalibur. Neither his nor Saber's"
Those words confused her. She got the part on 'his' which would refer to King Arthur, but who was Saber? It had to be someone very dear to Shirou that he spoke her name in such a manner, but was she a user of an Excalibur Shard? Was that why he was conflicted about taking up the sword?
"Well~ well, what do we have here?"
Mitelt's heart literally stopped beating for a moment as she heard that voice. Slowly and paling, she turned to face the one person she did not expect nor want to meet in this town or situation.
"I must say, I am a little surprised to see you here. I would have thought you had perished along with the others when they went AWOL on us and tried to go after the Sacred Gear of healing." The person let out a smile that did not reach his cold eyes. "To think that you were happily going about your life amongst the devils and one magician. Even for one of us, you have gone way lower huh?"
"Kokabiel-sama?!" Mitelt only got her wings out and drew out her spear before black feathers blocked her vision and darkness overtook her.
...
"…" I paused for a moment to look at my surroundings, a sudden feeling of unease settling in my stomach. I was not too sure what was that about, but I really did not like the feeling I had.
"Hey kid, everything okay?" I turned to look at the store owner I was buying my bread for the week.
"Ah yes, I'm fine. I just thought I heard something." I waved my hand to assure him.
"Hmm, maybe Kano and Kawako were right. You do look a lot more burnt out than normal, perhaps of your illness?" The guy commented as he looked at my face. "Maybe you need that herbal bread more than the whole-grain bread?"
"Ah it is fine really. I have been told to take a break anyway." I tried to diminish his worries for me. The elderly couple were already on my case, last thing I needed was the district doing the same thing.
"Hmm, if you are sure. By the way young lad, don't mind me asking." The shop owner paused before pointing a finger behind me. "Are they your companions?"
"Nope, I do not know them." I said that in a firm tone. "They are a group of cosplayers from one of the neighboring academies and for some odd reason, they have been following me because somewhere in their heads they think I would be a great model for some savior role."
"Hey, we are not 'cosplayers'! We are the exorcists of the church and you are someone who can be!" Xenovia started to retort only to get her mouth covered by Griselda's hand, her buddy followed shortly after.
"And she is…"
"The supervisor for those two girls and the only sane person of the lot, and one I have the most sympathy for having to deal with these two girls and their chunibiyou fantasies." I answered that bit with the straightest face I ever have. That definitely did the trick as the guy took one look at the rowdy bunch and lightly nodded in agreement.
"They must be a handful." The owner had a look of pity on his face as he looked to Griselda.
"Oh yes, they are such a handful." Griselda lightly sighed as she ignored the muffled complaints of Xenovia and Irina. "Sometimes I feel that I am handling a bunch of delinquents rather than students interested in costume parties."
"I hear you lady." The shop owner nodded before handing over a bag of buns towards her. "Here you go, fresh rolls on the house."
"Ah we can't…"
"No need to feel modest, madam. It is the least I can do considering you have to deal with these type of kids every day. I will never understand how children are growing up to be this rebellious or weird in this day and age. Emiya here is one of the rare ones to be so nice to folks around here." The store owner shook his head in disappointment.
"So at least someone is able to control some of those kids makes it a good thing. Also, you are a beautiful young woman, so you get extras." I only smiled at his blatant attempt to flirt with the female exorcist on the spot. There was a small bet going around town that he would eventually get slapped by one of the women he would meet on occasions.
...
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