𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖆'𝖘 𝖀𝖑𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗

Twenty One: Delicious

"Now," Nero addressed the group around her. "Will you at least give me your names, if not where you hail from?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," Aleksei relented with a slight shrug. "My name is Aleksei Vasiliev, feel free to address me with either one."

"Very well, Vasiliev," the emperor nodded, then turned to look at the others. "And you?"

"Ritsuka Fujimaru," The other master smiled with a nod, glancing at Mash to prompt her to name herself. 

"Ah, I'm Mash Kyrielight, it's nice to meet you," She beamed, and Nero couldn't help but mirror her with a nod. 

"And these guys go by their professions," Aleksei gestured to his servants, who immediately knew that he was telling them not to reveal their true names since that might complicate things. 

"By their professions?" Nero looked confused, so Enkidu spoke up first. 

"Yes, so for me, I go by Lancer," They explained. 

"And I am called Rider!" Iskandar thundered with that obnoxious grin and laughter of his. 

"Assassin," Kotarou inclined his head briefly. 

"And the one doing the long range attacks is Archer," Aleksei finished off. 

"I see," Nero hummed before putting her hands on her hips. "Well, Vasiliev, Fujimaru, Mash, Lancer, Rider. Assassin and Archer, I once again commend you and thank you for your valiant efforts thus far! Now, we shall continue onwards to the capital!" Nero proclaimed, and so the troop set out. 

Aleksei soon signalled for Emiya to rejoin them and caught him up to speed regarding what he would be called in the future, at least in that singularity. He accepted it easily, saying it was only natural since that was what he was called most of the time in grail wars anyway. 

Eventually, the ragtag group made it to the city, where Nero immediately began raving about how amazing it was. "Take a good look and be struck with awe! This is my city, a glorious regime that even young girls extol!"

"It does seem incredibly vibrant!" Fujimaru agreed, and the emperor hummed in satisfaction. 

"Yes yes, didn't I tell you?" She smirked. "After all, this is the greatest city in the world! First there was Septem Montes--such words existed like so, and that's where it all started. Our glorious history began with our divine ancestors and those hills, and... Hey, shopkeeper," Nero suddenly addressed, "I'm taking one of these apples."

"Welcome to my--" The shopkeeper broke off as they realized who was in front of them. "Oh! Your Majesty! Please, take as you wish. Glory to the Emperor and Rome!"

"Shopkeeper, you don't have to be so stiff. Yes yes, this is a delicious apple," Nero said. 

"You really only need to say yes once," Aleksei muttered, causing the shopkeeper to gasp, but quickly put their hand over their mouth to stop any further sound. Their eyes seemed to be scared out of their wits though. 

"Important things must be said more than once, Vasiliev," Nero eyed him before glancing at their other companions. "Why don't you take one too? We're returning from war, so no need to worry about bad manners. Sweet fruit does wonders for battle fatigue. My wounds won't be healed, but my motivation will!" She asserted brightly. 

"Oh, no thank you," Mash declined quickly. "But I appreciate the gesture.."

"Then how about that woman over there? They're delicious, don't be shy."

"That--"

"No!" Fujimaru and Iskandar immediately put their hands over Aleksei's mouth, the latter cracking up as Fujimaru flushed. They both knew that the Russian was about to comment on the lesbian vibes of that remark, even if Nero had been talking about the fruit that the lady was selling. 

Fujimaru suddenly yelped as Aleksei licked his palm, causing him to draw it back to himself with an even redder face. "What is wrong with you?!"

"My mouth was being covered, that's what was wrong," Aleksei said after flicking Iskandar off, which wasn't all that hard since the conqueror was very close to bursting into laughter and was anything but stable. 

"I'm sure you were about to say something patronizing again, Vasiliev," Nero shot him a pointed look with a hmph. "Fujimaru, Rider," She addressed, causing the former to look at her while the latter tried to calm down enough to not start thundering with laughter the second he opened his mouth again. "Thank you for stopping him from saying whatever it was that he was going to say, I'm sure it would have been distasteful." 

"Yeah, knowing him, it probably would've been pretty bad," Emiya agreed with a slight chuckle as Aleksei ran a hand through his hair boredly. 

"So, can we keep going now?"

"Ah, yes yes, of course," Nero nodded, but before they could go too far, there was suddenly a commotion. "Wait, what? Is there something wrong at the market?"

"H-hey! What's this, what are you people doing to my shop?!" A shopkeeper demanded as several people attempted to trash the stall. Immediately, Nero was on the move. 

"How dare you do this to my Rome, and my people! Are they enemy spies? Either way, it's unforgivable!" She seethed.

"Senpai, we should go too!" Mash said hurriedly. "The townsfolk are being attacked!"

"We aren't blind," Aleksei grumbled, signalling Kotarou to take care of it. "Back him up, Lancer," He ordered, and Enkidu nodded as they joined Kotarou in taking care of the troublemakers. It didn't take long, since neither of the servants felt the need to spare the lives of those that wished for chaos, so after regrouping again, Nero led them to the palace. 

"Now then," She said as she sat down, gesturing for everyone else to do so as well. "My Rome is currently endangered. My great empire's territories are now, vexingly enough, ripped apart and scattered all over. On one hand," Nero went on to explain more. "There is the true Roman Empire that I rule over. The area centered around this capital, Rome. On the other hand, there is an alliance controlled by multiple 'emperors' that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The United Roman Empire, that's what they called themselves when they stole half of my empire. The United Empire is still a mystery to us. No matter how many scouts we send out, none ever return. Even the location of the capital where these fake emperors gather is unknown to us."

"Multiple emperors, you say?" Mash questioned. 

"That's right," Nero confirmed. "In my eyes, they're just a group of treacherous bandits, and.." She trailed off before shaking her head. "No, it's not worth mentioning, just rebels spreading their vicious lies. They call themselves emperors, but they're just pretenders."

"You look troubled," Fujimaru was the one to speak this time, causing Mash to look at him disapprovingly. 

"Senpai.." She obviously doesn't want to talk about it so don't pry, went unsaid. 

"No, it's fine," Nero said. "You saw one of them before. Caligula, the enemy general. The man who single handedly slaughtered my forces before you arrived. He's one of the traitors who calls himself 'emperor'. As well as being.." She paused to look away. "My uncle."

"If he's your uncle, but he was in power before you were, then he should be dead," Chulainn brought up over the communicator. "But thanks to the Grail and most likely the master behind all this, he's become a servant."

"Uncle, a servant?" Nero blinked disbelievingly. 

"Uh," Some static came over the coms again, and then Jeanne's voice aired. 

"Sorry about that, Medusa chained him up along with the doctor and is glaring at them fiercely, so it appears I'll be the one to interact with you all for the time being."

"Oh boy."

"Just tell Medi to hit them and get it over with so they can go back to being at least somewhat helpful," Aleksei directed, so a second later, yelps were heard. 

"You're so mean!"