Chapter Text
“Why did you have to do that Master Saber?” Raphtalia whined pitifully as she nommed on another bit of dessert, cheesecake this time, in a bid to comfort herself with food.
“It was the perfect time to introduce you.” Saber excused his desperate bid to get away from scrutinizing eyes by throwing his companion under the bus as he stealthily eyed the platter she held, laden with tasty-looking morsels.
“I nearly died though!” She complained, not noticing his slowly approaching hand.
“Nonesense!”
“Master, I almost started stabbing people with a fork.” She deadpanned.
“Now that, I would have liked to see.” Almost there…
“Master! NO!” Raphtalia jerked away from him, holding her platter out of reach. Whether the reaction was over the attempted food-theft or the callous comment, Saber didn't really know.
Either way, denied his treats, Saber pouted at her. “You're telling me you can handle a battlefield, command a score of men, and charm the goods off of a bunch of merchants of various ages and sexualities, but put you in front of a bunch of stuffed up people in fancy attire and suddenly you're in fight or flight mode?” He complained, prodding her defenses once again in pursuit of her plate. Those cookies would be his!
“They're scary!” She protested.
“They're fragile is what they are.” Maybe if he got in close and used his longer reach-?
“Which is why I can't stab any of them with a fork.” Raphtalia defended. “They might actually die!”
“Not a big loss,” Saber idly dismissed, reaching over Raphtalia's shoulders as he sorta-glomped her in pursuit of sugar. “They all have successors prepared anyways.”
“If tha two of ya are done flirtin’,” Commander Carrick commented from where he stood next to them, drier than a desert. (the sandy kind) “Ole’ Spear Hero over there looks like he wants a word with ya.”
Saber paused in his pursuit to see Motoyasu striding towards them purposely, a grim but determined frown cut into his face. “Ah! Moto-Spear-child!” Saber called amicably. “I was wanting to talk to you about something actually-”
A glove smacked Saber across the face.
“Alright Saber, time to fight.” Motoyasu challenged with righteous fury.
‘Or things could go almost exactly like cannon but with myself as the target.’ Saber thought dryly.
And it had all been going so well.
-
There was a brief moment of silence as they all stood there, a bit awkwardly in Saber's opinion, as the thrown glove fluttered to the floor, before Motoyasu decided there had been enough quiet.
“Is it true?!” He demanded. “Raphtalia is your slave?!”
Saber blinked at the enraged man in stunned befuddlement. “Did, did you seriously not know before deciding to challenge me to a duel over it?” He wondered.
“I didn't want to believe it at first, but the way she kept calling you ‘Master’...” Motoyasu trailed off, into fantasies that Saber could not and probably did not want to follow. “And the slave crest is right there!” He finished, pointing rather rudely at the circle rested just below Raphtalia's collarbone.
From his position glomped over Raphtalia's shoulders, Saber looked down, and then firmly away from any cleavage. “Huh, so it is.” He noted idly.
“Don't say it so casually as you grope her!” Excuse me!? Saber's head whipped up to stare incredulously at the Spear Hero as he kept on talking. “I thought you were better than this, we're supposed to be heroes!” The blonde got a suspicious look in his eyes. “But you always were fond of the slave crest, ready to use it right away on Malty! The princess!”
“Are we forgetting the part where that same princess was caught lying about being raped by the Shield Hero?” Raphtalia murmured quietly. Saber shrugged in response.
“Enough of the excuses Saber!” Motoyasu brushed over the quiet reminder with his typical bull-headedness. Useful in a battle of wills, less so in smarts. “Are you forcing that girl to fight for you? People saw her wielding your sword! You showed up late to the wave, are you trying to have others fight for you just so you can swoop in and kill-steal? Taking all the glory for yourself? You coward!” With each sentence, Motoyasu seemed to be working himself into a frenzy, following a line of logic that Saber couldn't really fault, but wished didn't think the worst of him.
“Okay.” Saber spoke smoothly, easing off his perch on Raphtalia and holding up his hands placatingly. Time to calm the man-child down. “What do you want Motoyasu? What are you really after?”
Motoyasu glared. “Here's the deal Saber.” He growled. “We fight. When I win, you release Raphtalia.”
… Saber waited for a moment. “Anything else?”
“That's it.”
“So what happens when I win?” Saber checked.
“You won't.”
“Humor me.”
Motoyasu glared for a moment longer, steaming. “Fine,” He eventually bit out. “If you win then things remain as they are, but that won't happen.”
Saber sighed heavily. “Yeah,” He drawled. “Much as I appreciate the confidence, that's not going to work out.”
Motoyasu blinked, confused and caught off-guard. “What are you talking about?”
“There is, quite literally, no reason for me to fight you.” Saber explained. “Plus, I just don't want to.”
“You can't just refuse a duel because you don't feel like it!”
“Well you can't just decide to duel me because you feel like it either.” Saber countered, cocking his hips sassily. “It takes two to tango Sir Spear Hero.”
“What's this I hear about the Sword Hero refusing a duel?” The deep voice of the king interrupted from an elevated vantage point that overlooked the room, the king himself overlooking the event and leaning against a banister that kept him from falling. Saber noticed that their little argument had apparently drawn quite the crowd.
“Ugh, him again.” Saber muttered. “Stupid vantage points and a prideful need to look down on everyone. Just a disagreement between peers, your kingship!” He rapidly switched from under his breath to bright, open, and cheerful. “Apologies for the awkwardness.” He chuckled.
“Shut up and duel me already!”
“Now now, Motoyasu,” Saber chided. “I know the Greeks got away with it, but you'll never truly be respected if you throw a tantrum every time you don't get what you want.”
“Stop hiding behind your words, coward!” The spear Hero raged. “We already know you can't fight and force Raphtalia to do it for you. That's why I'm going to be the one to free her!”
“My goodness you have an inflated hero complex.” Saber marveled. “Ever considered therapy for that?”
“Sir Sword Hero.” The king cut in. “If a challenge to a duel has been extended, it is your duty to accept-”
“Nope!”
“Sir-” The king tried again.
“Denied!”
“But you must-” The king groaned in exasperation.
“Are you attempting to order me, Aultucray?” Saber growled, activating Regal Presence.
“WILLING OR NOT, YOU MUST ACCEPT A FAIR AND JUST CHALLENGE TO A DUEL, OTHERWISE YOU FORFEIT!!!” The king managed to stand his ground in the face of Saber's oppressive aura and slam his fist on the banister for emphasis. “Sir Motoyasu's cause is just, demanding the freedom of that poor girl you have strung along, forcing her to fight the battles you couldn't as you lie about achieving impossible victories!” He continued. “Either duel the Spear Hero with none of your tricks, or release the girl you have enslaved now!”
Saber blinked as he processed the words of the king. Did the man just say that Saber was weak? DID HE IMPLY THAT SABER WAS THE ONE TO ABUSE RAPHTALIA!?!
Wait. Dial it back and evaluate. Identify hostiles: Motoyasu (manipulated, righteous indignation, medium physical threat) and the King. (main threat, manipulator of public opinion) Potential hostiles: Guards (loyal to king) and court of public opinion from surrounding nobility. Combat/Conflict: Making Saber out to be the bad guy for owning and abusing a slave, hypocritical because- oh, that would work.
Defensive action would only make Saber look more guilty, time to go on the offensive and get the narrative back into his hands.
“Hah.” Saber chuckled. “Hahahaha. HahahaHAHAHA!!!”
“What's so funny?” Oh, now Motoyasu looked nervous. “What are you laughing at?” He demanded.
“Oh, this is just rich!” Saber laughed with just a tinge of mania. “Acting like you actually CARE!?!”
“I-”
“Oh I don't mean you, Ser Motoyasu, although I do wonder if you only noticed Raphtalia because she's pretty.” Saber waved off the stunned man before pointing at the king. “I mean HIM.”
“I beg your pardon?” The king scoffed, affronted.
“Oh you do beg,” Saber remembered, “but that's not the point. Perhaps your kingship needs a lesson in this country's modern history. An old fossil like you surely doesn't keep up with the times if you're forgetting your war with Siltvelt.” He mocked.
“What does Siltvelt have to do with any of this?” Motoyasu questioned.
“It has EVERYTHING to do with this!” Saber cackled before spitting words rapid-fire in explanation. “Siltvelt is populated almost exclusively by Demihumans, a contrast to Melromark's predominately Human demographic. And let me remind you, racism is a thing! Especially with this level of separation! Tensions rose high enough that war broke out between the two kingdoms, and with war, comes radicalization. Demihumans became the monsters in the dark that parents told their children about at night, the animals and savage beasts, uncultured and inhuman! Their sworn enemy! Even the church reflects this with their demonizing of the Shield Hero, a well beloved figure of the Demihuman races.
“Melromark won that war, the ex-lord Rabier's territories are the spoils of land gained in their conquest. Now, any Demihuman in Melromark is a second-class citizen, a hiss and a byword. “Look around you!” Saber beckoned with arms thrown wide open. “The high society of the kingdom, and only one Demihuman to be seen, brought here as my companion.”
Saber dropped his arms and glared at the king. “They were already slaves. So don't go pretending that it wasn't your idea to make that call in the first place.”
The king glared back at Saber, his face carved from stone. “Need I remind you, Sir Hero, that it is you who has the slave here?” He intoned gravely.
“As if you would let a free Demihuman live!” Saber snapped, rage rising and only kept in check by sheer willpower and a barred grin that showed all his teeth. It might have been a trick of the light, but they looked sharper than a regular human's. “Or shall we look at what happened to Lurolona Village?”
Silence. Not even a twitch of recognition. Wait a moment!
“Oh?” Saber tilted his head mockingly. “Don't you know? A coastal village, one of the casualties of the first wave, made a request to the crown for aid as they rebuilt their home. Sound familiar?”
Suddenly the king looked as if he had aged several decades, a tired look that Saber couldn't help but pity. “There were many villages that needed relief efforts after the first wave.” The old king admitted. Say what you would about the old man, he did care for his country, such a shame he chose to be so short-sighted and spiteful.
Momentarily calmed, Saber glanced at his partner. It was her village, her story to tell if she wanted. At his quizzical brow, Raphtalia understood and nodded, a clear look in her eyes that said ‘Let me do this.’
“Your majesty,” Raphtalia spoke up, stepping forward. “We received no aid, but an invasion. Soldiers bearing the mark of the crown attacked us on horseback. They slaughtered all the adults, men and women, without mercy, even when they tried to flee. As for the children…” She paused to take a breath and visibly steel herself before continuing in a dull, flat voice. Clinical and to the point. “They stuffed us into a cage and carted us off to Lord Rabier’s dungeons. He would starve us, beat us, play horrible, twisted games.” Another pause. “I still have the scars.”
“The crown did not feed me, Saber did. The crown did not care for me, Saber did. The crown did not arm me or teach me to fight, Saber did. The crown did not make me strong, Saber did.” Raphtalia, the Lady of the Sword, gazed evenly at the King of Melromark with steady eyes. Despite the difference in elevation, to everyone in the room they appeared as if on even footing. “You did not free me, My Lord did.”
“But you are still a slave!” Motoyasu burst with traditional bluster. “The crest-”
“Is a sign of my loyalty to my Lord.” Raphtalia cut him off calmly, but not unkindly. “I chose to keep this, I chose to follow him, and any actions I take are of my own free will. Master Saber could never ask of me anything I am not already prepared to give him. If you can't understand that, then you don't know the kind of man that he is, nor my devotion to him.”
Silence.
‘Huh,’ Saber mused, his temper completely forgotten. ‘There are a… number of implications in those words that we will need to talk about once we get out of here.’
Alas, the moment of peace didn't last.
“To think that the Sword Hero brainwashed you to leap to his aid so readily.” The king sighed and shook his head with a facade of regret. “Young lady, your cause is a just one, though I fear your loyalties are deeply misplaced.”
What?
Oh, OH!
That snake! Going right back to the slave issue and implying, once again, that Saber was the abusive manipulator here. Hello again rage, what fun we shall have together!
Already, there were whispers among the crowd, reacting to the king's words.
“I've heard that slaves can be compelled to say whatever their masters tell them to.”
“Is that really a thing?”
“There's a rumor that the princess was forced to say horrible things about herself by the Sword Hero after he forced one on her.”
“To think that the Sword Hero was a slaver all this time…”
“Is that why he went after Lord Rabier? To eliminate a rival?”
Blast. Words would get them nowhere, the king had dismissed Raphtalia's voice and condemned Saber's in one fell swoop. Clever move on the man's part, time to change tactics. Because, unfortunately for the king, Saber wasn't limited to words.
“Okay, I get it.” Saber raised his voice to call the attention of the room back to him. “You all think I'm too weak to fight for myself so I have to resort to dirty tricks including getting others to fight for me. Fine then.” He turned to the Spear Hero. “You still want that duel?” Saber checked. “Let's duel. And I am going to beat you like a red-headed stepchild in front of everyone so there will be no doubt left in anyone’s minds exactly what I am capable of. And once I've done that, just to make my point clear, I'll let you release Raphtalia and we'll see how well that works out.” He smiled innocently, as if to say he wasn't the bad guy. (Which he wasn’t! Honestly!)
“But before all that, let's get one thing straight.” Saber stepped into Motoyasu's personal space and stared the man dead in the eyes. “First and foremost, we are weapons.” He whispered. “Heroes second, people last. Waves of monsters come out of those rifts, and we kill them. That is our job. We may be powered by divinity, but that just makes us that much better at doing our job. Killing monsters.” An ugly smile slashed its way through Saber's lips.
“I understand my role, and I take pride in being very, very good at it.”