Fate Merveille

Chapter 21

Merlin and Arthur were awake when Marinette ran downstairs to go to school. They followed her and parted ways once they got inside the building. Arthur had other classes to attend and Merlin was trying a tactic of running around aimlessly to see if she could feel anything off in the area. Since she was a Caster, her detection of magic energy was higher than other servants. She entered classes without a care in the world and picked up anything she wanted to. She was eventually kicked out for being disruptive and tried again in other parts of the city.

"I heard Merlin got her ass kicked by Chat Noir yesterday," Achilles mentioned in gym class while he was helping Ari get dressed.

"She got mistaken for a supervillain," Arthur explained. "The dumbass can't even keep the superheroes off her trail."

"What is she doing now?"

"From what I know, looking around Paris for any more signs of suspicious activity. She found a summoning circle under Shirou's desk, now she's looking for more."

"Are we going to have another servant joining us?"

"I hope not, Tamamo joining reset the war, anyone else will just make things complicated."

"And the fact no one's died, we can't kill Jack, and Ruler won't let us fight each other until she's dead."

"Well, I'm going to check a few things. Care to join me?"

Arthur jumped over the school wall and Achilles joined him. The gym teacher arrived right after they left and was confused as to how they disappeared without anyone noticing. Ari pretended she didn't know anything and rolled herself out of the locker room. The two servants entered the church while it was empty and found the summoning seal Merlin told them about. Shirou most likely had plans to summon a new Assassin after Jack was dead, or maybe he was trying to summon someone of a different class.

There were rumors about other classes existing, but no one from the previous wars attempted to try to summon a servant from them. The second Ruler of the Third Holy Grail War dying scared the masters of the Fourth War into obeying the rules, and there weren't any instructions on how to summon servants from other classes. Even Shirou's notes didn't have any clues. All his diary had written down were the classes that existed. Foreigner, Alter Ego, Avenger, Moon Cancer, and Shielder.

Achilles recognized the Shielder class since he could be summoned as one. The other classes were a mystery though. No description of what they were or who could be summoned in them. Ruler then caught them off guard, she told them to leave the investigation to her and Merlin; their job was to fight Jack. She closed Shirou's diary and left things as they were, she had gotten word that he was returning since Clocktower was done with him.

Once school ended, Marinette was called by Ruler to speak. There was something the two needed to cover before the war continued. Ruler sat at an empty table next to the window. She was playing with her straw and Karna held a small plate with a cake on it as he watched over her. Marinette sat down across from her and she asked where Arthur was. He typically didn't leave Marinette's side and she told him to return to school.

Marinette didn't know where he was, most likely, he was still with Achilles. Then she asked what Ruler's name was.

"My true name?" Ruler asked. "It's Jeanne D'Arc, I thought you knew that."

"I'm sorry," Marinette apologized.

"Most call me by my class name, but since I'm not a participant in the war, I don't try to keep my name a secret. Not like Karna, who wasn't supposed to tell everyone his name on TV. You're lucky you're the strongest servant next to Arjuna, else you'd be dead."