After TRISMEGISTUS completed the verification of the 3 Masters and 2 Servants and rayshifted them to France, the group found themselves… free-falling midair?
Wait.
Shit.
The only sensible response those plummeting toward their impending doom could make was to shriek and bellow at the top of their lungs as they flew like a set of bricks through the endless, bright blue sky.
With the fear of an imminent & untimely death at the forefront of their minds, Mash immediately sprang into action to prevent such from happening. "Grab onto me!" she shouted.
The twins immediately did as told, wrapping their arms around each one of her legs, with the heavy shield, somehow serving as a makeshift hangglider, gently carrying them through the air, while bearing the load of three young adults, and somehow not breaking throughout the two Japanese Masters' attempt to hang on for dear life.
As for the other duo, a single, long prehensile wing extended from the Alter Ego's back as she cradled her own Master's body; the rough descent was mitigated by the sheer force of her wing pushing in the opposite direction.
Eventually, after careening through the air, they all semi-crash-landed relatively close to a small farming settlement, but they were, shockingly enough, not truly worse for wear, at most being just slightly dirty, shockingly, despite being flung through midair.
"Wait! Waitwaitwait!" Rika shouted as she frantically searched for her communicator, hastily pulling it out as soon as she found it, but not activating it yet, seemingly lost in thought, stopping short of actually activating it.
"What's wrong?" Ritsuka questioned.
"I just realized."
"Realized what?"
"...We don't even fit in here." Rika sighed, deeply embarrassed, sagging slightly. "We're going to stand out here, half of us are in uniform, and the other half are, well…. Uh, wouldn't anybody ask any questions?"
"I asked da Vinci about that yesterday; apparently the Mystic Code uniform things we're wearing basically have a small suggestion spell of some kind that doesn't make us stand out too hard, so I suppose then, we won't have too much of a problem." Irenaeus nodded, but also seemed to be lost in thought himself. "But obviously, going in with no info is gonna be an issue…"
"You couldn't use Keziah-san's—" Rika started, only to cut herself off. "...no, that would be kinda lazy… What if we get separated? Anyway! We need a cover story!"
"... I suppose it wouldn't be weird to tell the people we're a band of travelers…?" Ritsuka suggested.
"We're mostly uniform, so maybe a wandering monastic order…?" Irenaeus suggested, shrugging slightly as he did. "Just putting that out there. Dunno if that's what anyone would go with or if that's easily believable if people ask."
"What do you think, Mash, Keziah?" Ritsuka asked, trying to get everyone's input.
"...That could work." Mash added. "It's a reasonable line of thought."
"We should go looking for some locals, so we can find out more about this Singularity." Irenaeus said.
"I agree with Contractor." Keziah assented. "...While this Singularity may not be as dangerous as the rest could have the potential to be, we, and especially you all could still be caught off-guard, and possibly die. You're not much more than human."
Rika, Ritsuka and Irenaeus grimaced slightly, while even Mash unconsciously winced slightly. The events of the previous Singularity were still fresh in the minds of the four, and the blood streaked bodies of Team A, the massive gap between their own limitations and the utter and abject wouldn't leave their minds for a while, if ever.
"Y-Yes." Mash stuttered.
"Let's just go now," Rika suggested.
"Agreed." "Yes." "Of course."
"You mind if Keziah-san leads the way, Irenaeus-san?" Ritsuka asked.
"Hm? Yeah." Irenaeus replied, seeming slightly distracted. "Lead the way, please."
After some awkwardly quiet walking heading north, the group finally arrived to a decently large farming settlement, when they overheard some commotion between some farmers & a contingent of roughly one dozen men with swords, the latter towering over the former, all dressed in dulled, shabby and even tattered clothing, the weapons being not so subtly waved near the soldiers, almost to remind them that they were conversing "very politely" with people who were still very dangerous.
It was both a heartbreaking and utterly disgusting sight to the Fujimaru twins, and what they heard was downright revolting.
"Please, we can't afford to give you much more!"
"I don't know why you're having such problems; you're all working together, so you should be able to come up with much more than this paltry amount."
"We beg you, please wait, our harvest—…"
"You know the rules, if you don't give anything, then, well…" One of them took the rusted sword that he was waving and prepared to swing at the farmers…. Until they were interrupted by a shout in the distance, by a redheaded foreigner with an indignant look on her face.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, huh?" Rika was the first to step up, practically on impulse upon seeing a perceived injustice occurring to people who couldn't fight back. "What's going on here?"
"I would recommend for your own safety, that you don't interfere." One of the armed men scoffed, seeming to see the fiery redhead as little more than a nuisance., turning his back to the young woman, not seeming to care, or even notice her continued resistance
"What are you trying to do?"
"We're collecting taxes. Now you'll excuse us." Everyone present knew that statement was a bald-faced lie, and both the ruffians and Rika knew it, and yet… knowing that she'd be risking her life for an unnecessary conflict, she persisted, knowing said risk.
"They can't pay, though! Why are you insistent on taking money from them?!" she responded, her eyes blazing in anger
Suddenly, one of the armed men took his "sword" & pointed it in the direction of Rika, his own gaze hardening as he faced the interloper.
"I recommend you stop before you get yourself killed, you foolish, insipid bitch."
Immediately upon hearing that, Mash instinctually charged forth and was immediately in front of her, her shield at the ready, and Ritsuka immediately flanked his twin sister, a look of indignation on his own face.
Meanwhile, the armed men held their ground, in spite of seeing a woman with a shield, and two men escorting her. Even cowards would've known that it would've been less than necessary for a shield to be used on people using knives and sickles.
But the hellions who had been extorting the farmers were determined not to prove themselves cowards.
"Ah, you see?!"
"Finally, I get some stress relief!"
Almost instantly, the other two Masters, and the other Servant began to stand alongside Rika & Mash. If conflict was avoidable then, it had become inevitable now.
Some of the tax collectors wildly charged at the five, dashing headlong with more hubris than sense, iron tools hefted over their heads as they prepared to swing on Mash first. The rusty iron blade was immediately buffeted by a shield with more integrity than the blade itself, and both sparks and the very blade itself flew out of the hands of the robber and onto the grass he treaded, as he immediately scrambled to retrieve his weapon.
Three more of the armed men immediately made a headlong dash, running in as blindly and as foolishly as their compatriot did in a desperate attempt to flank him as he scrambled to pick up his own sword.
…Only to be quickly thrown off as soon as they came for the quintet, with the timely and instinctual defense of Mash's shield once again causing another one of the swords to go flying out of the hands of another terrified and humiliated robber, and Keziah, with one hand, blocked another's sword blow, the "sword" swung with heft, being little more than a metal brick, only to have its tip grasped between the two fingers of the Alter Ego, bending like all the other weaponry that failed against their opponent
"I wouldn't advise you to go any further." she said, her voice impassive, before snapping the blade off of the supposed tax collector's sword, making it snap like a twig in her palm
The sight of seeing entities who could potentially give them more than a run for their money, bend iron, and show no fear caused the armed men now horrified, mortified and terrified, to flee in a panic, some even abandoning their weaponry as they ran off.
"Thank you for saving us!" a grateful man shouted, tears in his eyes.
"You've completely doomed us, you reckless and stubborn bastards!" another one said, his face completely red.
The first two phrases uttered by the scared civilians who were firmly split between joy & horror, cemented both the split and the views of their unexpected saviors. They felt joy because their tormentors were now gone and so they likely had more time to be able to pay the tax, terror because now, the fear of punishment could be enhanced…. likely making it so that they'd have to give up more than what they originally had to give in the first place.
"My god, we are doomed… we're doomed… we're doomed…." the same fastidious farmer muttered, pacing about in circles as his fellows seemed to be either firmly locked in terror or in jubilation.
"It's not that bad! We don't have to pay the tax!"
"Yeah, but…"
"You idiots! You've no idea the sheer and unmitigated trouble you've caused us!"
The Masters, as well as Mash all grimaced.
This was not a good look for them, while they simply wished to help, they'd likely succeeded in giving off a bad impression to the locals present. On top of that, there was no guarantee that their interference would actually get them any info or allies, so ultimately their first step, on their first sanctioned mission, could've been a net negative.
Ritsuka was the first to try and make anything slightly good out of this situation and gain some info out of them, trying to ensure the looming idea of unhelpful interference wouldn't fully come to pass. "Um…. Excuse me, I hope you don't mind my asking, but why were you being taxed so harshly? What's happening that they had to threaten you at swordpoint for food?"
One of the farmers answered that query, his voice hurried and frenzied as he looked at one of the people he saw as some wandering group of saviors. "Our king is in the middle of perpetual war, and is always needing to feed his armies. We've had a poor harvest as of late, so haven't been able to raise enough crops to help sustain the effort…. But thanks to you, we can finally be able to feed our kids! They've been in need of some food for a good long while. We've had to give them the dregs of the harvest just to keep them from growing famished! May the good Lord bless you for coming in to help us!"
Irenaeus continued to grimace, RIka exhaled a sigh of relief mixed with something sadder, Ritsuka & Mash looked with an understanding gaze, while Keziah remained neutral, seeming to probe everyone present, standing there as if she was waiting for something in particular and finding the whole scene wanting…
"It's getting to be rather late. Would you like to stay the night with us? We don't have much, but we make do with what we have." The farmer who answered Ritsuka offered, much to the annoyance of the dissenters, most of whom decided to walk off, hoping to curry favor with their debtors at a later point.
Rika and Irenaeus looked rather apprehensive, the latter seeming to sense the former's unease and speaking up, his words clumsy and his voice uncertain, as he started to speak up.
"Are you sure? We wouldn't wanna bother you all too much… I mean-"
"It's no trouble at all, really! It's the least we could do after you helped us buy more time at the very least."
The five were exchanging glances at one another, unsure of whether to take up the kind offer and they all huddled up, intending to come to a consensus.
"I don't wanna bother them too much and there's always the off-chance that those tax collectors could come back with reinforcements." Irenaeus said, pinching his nose in frustration. "As much as we–"
"Don't be such a downer. We've got 2 Servants on our side and probably some time on our side too! If nothing else, we should be fine as long as we don't stick around." Rika said, trying to maintain the positives of the situation, while trying to hide the strain in her smile.
"Yes, I agree with having the Servants bit. But…" Ritsuka started.
"Yeah, but… We don't exactly have a decent offense. Mash over there is a very solid defense, but… we don't have any real offense. I don't wish to offend you, Keziah, but your abilities would likely be paired best with someone who has sufficient firepower." Irenaeus said, practically grimacing at hearing the half of his statement come out of his mouth.
"We could try going without, though. We'll never know how close any allies could be, even with Keziah around."
"That's…. Fair." Keziah replied, a contemplative look on her face, seeming to be oddly satisifed with the assessment
"Mash, any opinion?" Ritsuka asked
"I'm not sure… but it does seem like we should take this opportunity while we can. If nothing else, we should have decent shelter."
Finally, between the five, a consensus, albeit an uneasy one, was made.
"All right, then. We'll stay the night."
—-
(Time Skip)
The five sat in a relatively small part of a farmhouse, all huddled quietly on the floor, mulling over what just happened, da Vinci being filled in on the occurrences via communicator
"I see… Well, at least you've made some progress. At least we know who's not going to be on our side."
"....All that, just for a single scrap of information?" Ritsuka muttered, his blue eyes narrowed in disappointment and skepticism, mulling over the previous events of the day, hoping to see where else could've gone better, where else they made their mistakes that they didn't realize
"It's not the best, but for now, at least you've made some headway. Frankly, this is a lot more than what I hoped, so take pride in that at least," da Vinci replied. "I'd recommend going to sleep for now. You'll get more done tomorrow, I'm sure of it."
Communication ceased between da Vinci and the five; the latter's bodies slowly relaxing from the high-intensity conflict, Ritsuka and Rika sitting upright against the wall, both of them lost in thought
"...She does not seem to be incorrect in her assessment. You guys should go to sleep." Keziah said, not seeming to mind or even care much about the two sitting against the wall. "I'll keep watch."
"It's not a problem, I can stay up an-" Mash began.
"You are still human, correct?" Keziah asked, her voice hardened. "It's of no concern. I can handle it."
"Are you sure? I mean I wouldn't want to put too much of a burden on y-" Rika began
"It's of no concern," Keziah replied, her voice more insistent than before. "I should be more than enough."
At that, everyone else began to settle in, and sleep….. Until the Fujimaru siblings arose under the watchful gaze of Keziah, who seemed to look at them with a quizzical look, while seeming not to even mind them as much as she probably should.
"Are we blowing it right now…?" Rika started, still heavily embarrassed by her earlier gaffe. "I wanted to help, but honestly... maybe that other guy was right. I'm not mad about doing the right thing, but..."
"Calm down…. We still got two Servants, communication and another Master with us… We should be fine for tonight at least…"
"Still though… We wound up creating a mess for these people who were gracious enough to host us for the night… and we're no closer-"
"Chill out. Some people say Rome wasn't built in a day, no? …I'm just as nervous as you, but let's try to rough it out for now, okay?"
"Okay…."
"Hm." Keziah hummed, seeming to have heard a whopping--- everything; her hands folded as if eavesdropping on a particularly interesting form of gossip
The two siblings jumped, realizing that they were being watched, both faces aflush with mortification.
"...I shall say nothing. I heard nothing, and will say nothing." Keziah said, shutting her eyes. "I'd advise you both to go to sleep if you intend on continuing forwards."
The both of them, feeling unsettled by her eavesdropping, settled into an uneasy rest, under the watchful gaze of their red-eyed ally.
(Meanwhile)
"Hmph. So those rabble-rousers have actually decided to show their faces here."
"My liege… Would you have us take care of them now?"
"No. They're meant to stay alive."
"But if they're eventually going to become some sort of threat to you, wouldn't it make sense to-"
"Are you questioning me? You dare question us?"
"No… I'm sorry, my liege."
"I alone am the state. You and the others are nothing more but my limbs, my enforcers. If a limb can't serve its purpose, it's better off being cut."
"Yes, my liege…."
"...I'll let you go for now. Making an example of you will only help my enemies in the long run, besides…. They're all rookies. I'd prefer not to play with my food if I can help it, but...."