Other Dimension's Knight

The room was silent, Shirou had long left it, Archer did the same when there was nothing left to say, Sakura chased after the red-haired magus and now Saber was simply looking at Alexander in a mix of disbelief and anger. For her, Alexander was simply too harsh, instead of guiding the young magus in a better path, he simply tried to crush his conviction head-on. It wasn't something she condoned, especially after seeing the blank look Shirou had.

On the other hand, Alexander did not bother with Saber, he knew how stupid it was to try and guide Shirou, he was simply too stubborn. Only by confronting him would something actually change. After all, there was an equally stubborn person in this room that Alexander had to deal with back in the days, and he had to deal the same way after noticing that the 'gentle' way simply didn't work.

In a way, the servant and the master were very similar. Both felt it was their duty to shoulder a position when they clearly didn't know what they were actually going to deal with. Archer and the current Saber were the result of these choices, both miserable in their own way. Although Alexander knew that it was futile to try and rescue every single Arturia in every single dimension he would visit just because of his relation with the Arturia of his dimension, it didn't mean he wasn't sad seeing how she ended without his guidance. All she needed really was someone that saw her for what she really was, and confronted her to help her grow. She wasn't a king, and to be truthful, she barely qualified for the role. Although she had the natural grace of someone in a position of power and had the conviction, she simply couldn't deal with the practical aspect of the role, meaning taking care of the country in every way except in war. Thankfully she had a lot of subordinates that were quite capable in that aspect, but she was completely unable to take a good decision when it came to interior problems.

She was really more fit to be knight rather than a ruler. In the end she still managed to learn how to deal with it all in time, but considering that everyone tried to make her shoulder these problems when she was barely 15 really angered Alexander back in the days. Merlin for one was someone Alexander truthfully loathed for that matter. Not only was he the reason why Morgan turned that way, but he was the one that continiously pushed Arturia, only to at the end tell her that it was going to be hard to be a king, revealing part of the vision he kept having for years about Arturia's doom the moment she already had her hand on Caliburn's handle.

She grew up in an environment where she was told it was her duty to be a king and barely prepared for it. She was raised as a knight and they had her learn literally everything about being a ruler when she already was on the throne.

Alexander remembered the numerous time he had to threaten these idiots for them to stop putting so much responsibilities on someone so young and how he had taken years to set Arturia on a straight path. Too much problems of her reign were caused by the people the closest to her. Her knights were the same, they were nearly fanatical about her and failed to realize how hard it was for her to keep up her mask, when it was so evident.

Saber, noticing the strange look Alexander was giving her, sent him a puzzled stare, asking for answers, but the white-haired knight simply left the room, leaving Saber and her already cold tea alone.

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The next day came quite for the group that was awoken very early. Obviously, since Heroic Spirits didn't need to sleep, they were the earliest in the house. Even if Arturia before slept quite frequently to save the miserable amount of prana Shirou gave her, with Alexander's mana and the improvment of Shirou's magic circuits, she wasn't restricted anymore. So, just like before Alexander was captured, she faced Alexander in the dojo. The deal was technically still on, but she realized by that point that it was completely futile, the gap was simply too wide for her to believe she could win these bouts.

This morning, Arturia was much more agressive in her swordplay, she was trying to vent her anger towards Alexander, but unfortunately after 5 duels where she couldn't even hit him, her frustration only grew. Alexander wanted to call it off but she simply continued to get up and attack him.

Meanwhile Archer was on the roof astralized. He was thinking about Alexander's words over and over. He himself came from a timeline where Archer tried to kill him to stop the cycle, but managed to fend him off and convince him that his ideals weren't wrong. In the end despite the fact that he knew what was going to happen with the contract, even with Rin's constant nagging about his suicidal habits, he still took it and became Archer. Only one Archer could exist in the end, as heroic spirits or counter guardians were disconnected from time and space, so he simply fused with the previous Archer. He knew that killing his younger version was useless, so he wanted to convince him this time. Although he injured him the first time, he had no intention to kill him, otherwise he would have been dead a long time ago.

Archer simply hoped that Alexander's speech would have the right effect this time. Maybe Alexander would be the one to stop the cycle, not himself.

In the dojo, the sound of wooden swords clashing was quite absent. After a good hit in the lungs by Alexander, Saber was even incapable of standing up. She wasn't tired because she was a heroic spirit, but she could still be incapacitated momentarily by hitting vital organs.

She was currently laying down on the floor. Alexander was disabling the magic in the wooden sword that made them capable to clash with such strength in the first place.

" You were too harsh with Shirou." said suddenly Saber.

Alexander stopped for a second at Saber's words before sighing. " I don't think so, he's one of the people that simply don't understand reality until you hit them where it hurts. He only has his ideals as a person, otherwise he's completely empty so that was the only I had to make him realize how stupid he is. " said Alexander.

" ... You're quite frank for a supposed noble ..." said Saber with a small smile.

" I was abandonned by my supposed family because my magical affinity didn't align with the family's magic. So you could say I'm an abandonned noble. " said Alexander, revealing a bit of his past for the first time in front of Arturia.

" Are every magus family like this ? It seems like they don't care about their children beyond the fact that they're the continuation of the bloodline." remarked Saber with a frown on her face.

" You explained it all. In a way, you could say that they're quite united as a family. The only thing that could make them betray each other is advancement of their magic to reach the root. Even then, I'm pretty sure the betrayed would accept it if it is to get better magic... " said Alexander.

" ..... Merlin was pretty right about magus then. " said Saber, drawing a scowl from Alexander, which Arturia noticed, but didn't comment.

For hours, Alexander and Saber talked about their respective life. Although it was nothing too deep, they still learnt about each other a bit more.