Lost Narrative Poetry

"Wait! What do you want to do to Irisviel?"

Before the real master could react, Saber had already reflexively stepped forward with lightning speed, and stood in front of her vigilantly, glaring at the magician in front of her with eyes full of hostility and confrontation.

"...I told you it's just a physical examination, and I'm not the one doing it. You don't have to worry so much, and don't look at me with that rude look, okay?"

Xia Ran shook her head casually, not surprised by Saber's conditioned behavior. If she didn't care at all about what would happen to Irisviel at this time, then there was something wrong.

Although she has become Xia Ran's Servant on the surface, no matter how she thinks about it, Artoria cannot really be calm and accept it completely and unconditionally as a matter of course. For example, now, from her subconscious behavior You can tell——

The Master she acknowledged was still Irisviel, and the one she wanted to protect was Irisviel, not this guy like Xia Ran who appeared out of nowhere. She was just enduring the humiliation.

The magician from another world knew this very well, but he didn't care too much. After all, there was only a long time to come, and he didn't expect it. He had just forced the King of Knights to make concessions last night, and today the other party had an inexplicable increase in his favorability and trust. +100 at the same time...

This is impossible no matter how you look at it, and he has never used any weird friendliness props, such as feeding Poké Beans, Pokfulre, and the like. Although feeding is a very useful strategy for Saber, Servants are not Pokémon after all.

Therefore, the current relationship between the two parties is still very rigid. It can only be said to be a master-slave relationship on the surface. In fact, Artori feels that she is threatened by Irisviel's safety and has no choice but to serve Xia Ran as the leader. Ya, I wish I could just kill my current master...

The reason why Xia Ran didn't tell the secrets of the Holy Grail War, the plans of the three Yu familys, or even the fate of Irisviel and her daughter, Emiya Kiritsugu's series of actions, and the story of the Holy Grail. The black mud in the...etc., etc., are all revealed.

Then he honestly confessed that he was the savior who came to change the tragedy. He hoped that Artoria would understand the righteousness and help her fully. She was convinced of this. So the two parties just put aside all the previous conflicts and worked together to make progress together. Advance and retreat, opening up a blossoming future...

——Well, having said that, isn’t this a little too ideal?

Anyway, it was because Xia Ran knew that the effect would never be very good, and would even be counterproductive, so he did not make such a childish choice. After all, saying what to say to whom is the most basic social ability, and the so-called "communication that is superficial but not profound" is the most basic among the basics.

——To put it simply, in Artoria’s current understanding, Xia Ran is still an enemy in the final analysis, so when facing the latter, her instinctive resistance and suspicion will interfere with her thoughts and influence her. Her judgment.

So no matter what Xia Ran said, no matter how sincere and sincere it was, she would subconsciously doubt, suspect and become more alert, thinking that he was definitely up to something else. And it would be even more impossible to believe the remarks that were clearly meant to sow discord and slander people and things she was familiar with.

In short, it can only deepen suspicion, and it is impossible to believe what he said, even just a little bit... Just like last night late at night, Xia Ran reiterated again and again, no matter what, he would never use Irisviel as a threat. However, Saber sounded like a threat.

This is the real problem. Just like most normal people, it is impossible to rashly believe what the enemy says, especially when those statements are still slandering relatives and friends with whom one is more familiar.

Normally, everyone would definitely feel that the enemy is trying to sow discord and has bad intentions, right? Who would immediately and unconditionally believe those statements, and then decisively switch sides, turn against the enemy, and kill relatives for the sake of justice...

If he was so decisive, Xia Ran would wonder if Saber was an undercover agent.

So his decision was that he would not take the initiative to talk about this information, and would not rush to stuff all the truth into the heads of Saber and Irisviel. Instead, he would use actions to explain everything. Reveal some information to them from time to time.

After all, the power of moisturizing things silently is the strongest. Anyway, the specific purpose is to influence these two women in a subtle way, allowing them to think for themselves and draw their own conclusions - it is still the direction that Xia Ran wants to see.

As a professional illusionist who has also mastered the talent of spiritual power, I have to say that if the effects of equipment bonuses are removed and the actual ability level is looked at, Xia Ran is indeed the most proficient in the fields of illusion and spirituality. .

Regardless of whether it is from a mystical or scientific perspective, he knows very well how to better influence other people's thinking, interfere with the target's emotions, and manipulate the target's psychology...

After all, a true illusionist or psychic should be able to do many things even without relying on special abilities. Naturally, these things are nothing at all. They can only be said to be the most basic operations.

"Why do you do this? I don't agree! As I said before, you can't hurt Irisviel, and you absolutely can't hurt Irisviel directly or indirectly in other ways!"

Saber, however, did not put down her vigilance and alertness just because the person who was going to perform a physical examination on Irisviel was also a woman. She still stared at Xia Ran like some amazingly powerful big cat.

"I know, and I don't intend to hurt her. This is actually for her own good. We may not be able to reverse this phenomenon, but we can use magic to minimize the pain she will suffer and prolong her functions as much as possible... "

Xia Ran explained very calmly, without any consciousness of being stared at by the big cats——

"After all, Irisviel's situation is inherently problematic. If she relies solely on the scabbard, she may be able to maintain it forever, but she can't always be dragged by the scabbard, right? If it reaches the limit, once the scabbard is taken out, she will The body will collapse instantly..."

"Wait, wait, you...what are you talking about?" Saber was a little shocked. She really didn't understand what this person meant, and she had a bad feeling in her heart.

"Eh? Don't you know?"

Xia Ran frowned slightly, and looked at Saber strangely, and then at Irisviel. It seemed to him that Saber should know this matter very well, so that's why he was like this Say it casually.

"What do you know?!" the knight girl asked nervously, and the uneasiness in her heart became more and more intense. Especially when she saw the shocked look of Irisviel next to her, she subconsciously concluded that this was true. of.

Xia Ran looked at Irisviel's expression, then thought for a moment, and then waved her hand in a haha——

"Nothing, that...I just said it casually, don't take it too seriously..."

"Tell me!" Artoria's eyes became sharper in an instant. She stared at the magician in front of her, her serious expression filled with a sense of oppression.

"Um... Saber, can I talk to him about this? Sorry, I didn't mean to lie to you, it's just..." At this time, Irisviel suddenly spoke.

The young woman smiled reluctantly, stretched out her hand to pull the knight girl, and whispered.

"Irisviel, what is going on..." Saber was not able to relax so easily, but looked at the young woman worriedly.

"It doesn't matter. You also know that my... body is different from human body structure..." Irisviel continued to say in a low voice, with a hint of pleading in her tone.

"..."

"..."

After being silent for a long time, Saber said slowly: "Okay, then I won't ask, but if there is anything, you must tell me as soon as possible..."

"……Um."

Irisviel nodded guiltily. She had no doubt at all that the girl in front of her would definitely try her best to save herself. However, this was not what she wanted to see. She could only silently apologize to her in her heart. The trusted knight apologizes.

Although Irisviel's body is an artificial thing from the perspective of magic, she is no longer a doll because she has the soul of a woman and a wife who loves a man.

She knew very well that this was the Holy Grail War, and no one could sacrifice anything, especially an artificial human like her who had been doomed to her fate a long time ago. She had even been part of this huge ritual system from the beginning. .

This was a fate that could not be changed, and she had already accepted it a long time ago. She did not complain about it, she just hoped to do her best to help her husband win this Holy Grail War as much as possible.

In this case, why create more accidents?

At this moment, Irisviel also had unrealistic expectations, forcing herself to believe that the best situation would definitely happen——

That is, Emiya Kiritsugu will definitely defeat this terrible magician in front of him, and Saber will return to being her husband's Servant, fight for him and seize the Holy Grail...

In order to pave the way for this ideal situation, she really couldn't let Saber have any bad opinions about Emiya Kiritsugu. After all, the dissatisfaction between the two was already so irreconcilable.

Emiya Kiritsugu originally distrusted Saber and was filled with hatred for her. He even hid the scabbard of his sword and repeatedly warned Irisviel not to tell Saber about this matter.

And Saber also looked down on the despicable and unscrupulous magician killer. She swore with her sword that she only wanted to protect Irisviel, and was not interested in Emiya Kiritsugu, a man who chose to sacrifice everything for his own ideals and justice——

This was also the case in the original plot. When Irisviel was kidnapped by the enemy and disappeared until her final death, Saber was the only one frantically searching for traces of her throughout the city. Emiya Kiritsugu gave up on his wife rationally and coldly, and chose to continue to deal with the Holy Grail War cautiously to ensure that he must win the final victory...

These two people were not the same kind of people from the beginning, so Irisviel couldn't let Saber discover now that the arrival of the Holy Grail was at the cost of her life, and Emiya Kiritsugu knew about it, but still did it for him The ideal choice to sacrifice your wife…

The dissatisfaction between the two sides will only get bigger. How can the two sides cooperate sincerely and win the final victory?