Chapter Text
The day of Castorice and Archer’s flight to Luluhawa was underway. Castorice was almost finished packing up her carry on bag.
Her eyes drifted to the mirror in her room, trying on the outfit that Archer had gifted her. A three piece business outfit in a denim blue colour: a bikini top with a small bow in the middle, a blazer with frills and accents, and a skirt with bows and frills. Castorice topped the outfit off with a few black and white accessories.
It’s a really pretty outfit! A bit… revealing, but still something that would show that I’m a capable business woman, Castorice thought.
She’d pack the outfit for later, as Archer wanted Castorice to wear something more comfortable for the flight to Luluhawa.
Taking the clothes off and neatly folding them to fit in her carry on bag, she had dressed in something more appropriate for the trip.
Castorice dressed in a simple flowy lilac dress that reached below her knees, a denim jacket, khaki ballet flats, and wore a straw hat with a purple bow tied on her head. Something more casual for the summer, she thought.
Suddenly, a knock on her bedroom door alerted her to suspect that someone was calling her down.
“This is Archer. May I come in, Lady Castorice?” Archer asked.
“You can come in, Archer.” Castorice called out.
Archer opened the door holding a duffel bag in his hands, “Lady Castorice, do you have everything?”
Castorice’s eyes drifted to Archer, who looked good with his white hair down and glasses on. He wore a light denim jacket, white shirt, pants, comfortable shoes, and placed a few bracelets on his right hand.
“You look great, Archer! I never see you look so stylish this often!” Castorice said, mesmerized as she just awed him and his fashion sense (casual at best, but it was a change in style).
“It’s good to hear that my Master is satisfied with my sense of style,” Archer smirked, “But seriously, do you have everything ready?”
“O-Ohh… sorry for zoning out! I do have everything,” Castorice replied, grabbing the handle of her carry-on luggage which contained copies of her doujins and the outfit she was gifted by Archer, “Let’s head out.”
Castorice and Archer exchanged goodbyes with Polyxia and Amunet. Castorice heard her mother address Archer, saying “Keep my daughter safe, Archer.”
She saw Archer nod and whisper into her mother Amunet’s ear. Possibly just a simple “yes” reply, but she assumed it was something more. She shook the question off to say her goodbyes to Polyxia.
“I’m happy for you taking the break you’ve always needed from your training,” Polyxia smiled, “Be sure to message me in the morning and evenings during your vacation! I’m excited to hear about your venture there!”
“I will, Polyxia,” Castorice leaned down to hug her sister who was on her wheelchair, “I’m gonna miss you.”
“So will I sis. You always know I’m by your side, no matter what.” Polyxia said, embracing her sister’s hug.
Castorice and Archer got into the car, where Rider was seated in the driver's seat waiting for them to get ready. The two placed their larger luggage bags in the back trunk of the car before heading inside. Archer sat in the front passenger seat, while Castorice sat in the back seat. The two buckled up before Rider drove the two to the airport.
“For reference, what is our estimated time of arrival to the airport, Rider?” Archer asked.
“Our airport drive is about a half an hour away, you both will have ample time to check in and catch your Luluhawa Hawaii flight at 3:03pm,” Rider replied before speaking to Castorice, “By the way Castorice, Polyxia has told me that you are a writer and author. That is an admirable feat to go alongside being a modern magus.”
“It’s my hobby and a small side hustle I’d say,” Castorice replied back, “Though I may not have the time to create the literature I write once I leave for London in a year… at the latest…that is…”
“London’s Clock Tower, I suspect you are going to be residing at…” Rider said while contemplating a little, “I am somewhat familiar with what they do there thanks to your mother, Amunet.”
“You’re correct about me going to the Clock Tower, Rider. Many mages from prominent families congregate there and have duties related to magic. The Clock Tower is one of the three major branches of the Mages Association that regulates the rules of magecraft in modern society today,” Castorice mentioned before sighing, “I-It’s a little scary for me though… I’ve only been admitted into the Clock Tower’s practices for modern magecraft due to the Aidonia family’s status and patents in gem magecraft. But, I’m worried about other mages' perception of me there…”
“Hmmm, why is that?”
“W-Well… there is a much wider scale magus divide there, Rider. My mother had left as a proper head of Aidonian magecraft many years ago to give birth to me and Polyxia, but she told me how many mages from different factions of the Clock Tower spoke cruel things to her behind her back. That our way of magecraft is preposterous and should be condemned to the sidelines of other forms of magic being used.”
“That’s horrible! Your mother is such a sweet woman, she doesn’t deserve the hate she gets.”
Archer sighed and decided to pitch into the two women’s conversation, “My Master, you shouldn’t worry too much about it. If there’s one thing you can do, it's to improve your personal growth. All you can do is live in the present.”
“Archer…” Castorice looked her servant in the eyes, such eyes of persistence that showed simply to move forward, before nodding, "you're right. I’ll focus on that.”
“Even though I abide by Polyxia’s demands, you are Lady Amunet’s chosen successor and my Master’s older twin sister who has shown so much kindness these past few months. Therefore, you have my respect and I will keep you in my thoughts whenever Polyxia mentions you.”
“Archer… Rider… thank you both for the confidence boost!” Castorice smiled with sincerity, “I won’t let this bring my emotions down. Plus, this will ServantFest be my vacation and a short break from my magecraft studies!”
“We’re glad to hear, Miss Castorice. Me and Archer are happy to be of service to you as well as your twin sister. Please, depend on us whenever you need assistance!” Rider said with a sincere smile on her face as she continued her drive.
“It’s finally the day!” Phainon stretched his arms to the sky, looking up at the bright sun.
Beside him, Mydei and Anaxa were holding onto their suitcases. The three were walking into the airport and preparing themselves to line up for baggage check in.
Mydei’s mentor and his mother’s closest aide in the Kremnoan household Krateros had dropped the three of them off, wishing the three of them a safe and restful vacation.
“Deliverer, make sure you don’t lose our passports and flight tickets!” Mydei warned him.
“Yeah, don’t worry! I’ve got them all in my bag,” Phainon said, patting his duffel bag with confidence “We should be more concerned with Anaxa though, Mydei. He’s brought his 7 foot tall Dromas plush that might cover his eyesight.”
“You’ve got a problem with that, Phainon? My eyesight is perfectly fine, for your information,” Anaxa said with annoyance, “And remember, it’s AN-AX-AG-OR-AS. Do not make me repeat that again.”
Phainon chuckled a bit, “We won’t.”
“You mean you won’t, Deliverer.” Mydei corrected him with a knowing smile on his face.
“H-Hey! You also say Professor’s name as “Anaxa” too, Mydei. And you get off scot free.”
“Do I need to repeat myself again, Phainon?” Anaxa’s singular eye darted at Phainon’s own eyes in a critical way.
“N-No!! Please don’t. I’ll be good, Professor!”
Mydei chuckled before smiling sincerely, “Heh, well enough of the jokes then. Let's get closer to the baggage check in. We’ve got less than two hours to board the terminal gate.”
After about an hour and a half of baggage check ins and identification scans at the airport, the three made it to the airport boarding gate. They would simply wait until the flight attendant would announce for everyone to check in to board the plane.
Sitting down on three empty seats, Phainon looked down at his phone screen.
I’ll get to see you in action from the sidelines, Cassie. You’ll sell your doujinshi works with ease and gain more notoriety than ever before, Phainon confidently smiled at his phone screen that was on the cassie.butterfly social media page.
“So Phainon, you said you brought the first three volumes of ‘The Epic of Meidimos’ in your duffel bag.” Mydei spoke up, “You don’t mind if you grab the first volume for me, do you?”
“Ahhh, you said so at the perfect time,” Phainon smiles at Mydei before zipping up his duffel bag and grabbing the first volume of ‘The Epic Meideimos’, “It’s all yours, Mydei! I’m hoping that you can show the same satisfaction that I felt when reading.”
“Hmm, we’ll see how much I can take before I simply cringe at the sight of this.”
“Oh don’t worry, Cassie definitely cooked with the storyline’s first chapter!”
“Tch… seeing as this is a close friend of yours who you admire very much, I expect myself to have a positive opinion on it.”
Just a few minutes into waiting for a flight attendant to convey to everyone at the Luluhawa Hawaii airport flight to board, Phainon’s eyes drifted away from his phone and onto a few distinctly dressed individuals. A group of them in such foreign outfits that Phainon assumed were people… cosplaying, potentially?
There’s no way cosplayers would come up to the airport and… tie up and blindfold a red haired woman while waiting to board the-
He could hear the bickering of the eccentric group, most of the group’s eyes were looking at the red head wearing the blind fold. While another man’s eyes the people sitting down waiting for the flight.
“Shit, I think some civilians saw us,” a man wearing a green cloaked outfit and had orange hair said quietly, “Da Vinci had back up for what to do when outsiders heard or saw us, so…”
Something unordinary in the air had arisen.
Magic, which began to spread to the terminal gate.
Phainon suddenly looked at Mydei and Anaxa sitting opposite to him, both knocked down in a drowsy sleep.
“M-Mydei? A-Anaxa?” Phainon called out to the two quietly. Both were getting their memories of the morning getting ready for their flight drained.
They were forgetting the memories of the last hour of them checking into the plane.
“Don’t be late… for the plane flight… Deliverer… Krateros is coming to get us…” Mydei murmured.
“Phainon… me and Mydeimos are ready… How come you aren’t… ready?” Anaxa also murmured out.
Someone, or some kind of spell was used to erase the memories of the civilians.
Phainon was unaffected by the memory erasure (maybe his affinity to these memory erasure spells in the magecraft world helped with the fact).
But Mydei and Anaxa…
They weren’t mages… they were regular human beings unakin to magecraft.
Phainon tried to shake the two out from the memory erasure, but they had already been caught in it.
The moment the two would gain consciousness once again, it would look like they had just woken up from a dream.
They would forget everything that happened, the memory erasure was bound to happen to normal humans.
There’s something up with this airport flight… it all feels like a magic spell was being conjured up to erase evidence.
Phainon was aware of what he was truly seeing though.
The use of mana… Magic that only he as a magus was akin to.
Feeling the mana in the air become this haywire was not something he could never have expected.
In fact, he was a magus who had left the world of magecraft ever since university.
His aunt, Lady Aglaea, who was from the Mnestia family and was a prominent magus in the Clock Tower, was the one who got him into the cruel world of magecraft teaching after his parents passed away. His parents used their entire life force to pass on his family crest at a young age. He bore the Kephale family’s magic crest, which when used caused his eyes to lose his sense of reason. When Aglaea reinforced his magic circuits with her own, he felt so much pain.
This pain of bearing such powerful magic that was capable of destruction. Something that he did not wish to be part of.
However, as time went on and people in his life he cherished had left him (his parents and his childhood best friend Cyrene), he had come to discover that the world of mages just wasn’t for him. Not when the two people he dearly cherished were not akin to magcraft.
So, he suppressed his magecraft for quite some time. His golden yellow eyes that initiated his magical prowess were masked into the sky blue eyes everyone in his life knew of today. His magic crest upon his neck where his golden yellow sun tattoo laid, was never often touched. Even when he trained at the gym with Mydei, he had never opened his magic circuits due to himself sticking to the rule that his physical rivalry battles with Mydei were always fair and square. No need for his magic circuits to open up and cause him to be called out by the public as unnatural. No need for mage killers to suspect him as a powerful and dangerous magus, when all he needed to do was suppress the mana in himself.
There was no successor to the Kephale magic crest and even if he were to give it or the powers that laid from it away, Phainon knew that tyranny would be the only thing it amounted to.
I hope that Castorice is doing alright, Phainon thought.
He had his suspicions of why this mana in the air was impacting him, but he simply brushed it off.
For now, he needed to snap his boyfriends out of the mind erasure that was happening in the flight gates and pray that their arrival to Luluhawa Hawaii for ServantFest goes along smoothly.
I don’t want you Castorice or those closest to me hurt… Phainon said to himself with regret in his mind. When he finds Castorice, he has to let her in on his suspicions.
The flight for Castorice and Archer went by smoothly. The two were sitting in first class seats on their plane flight and simply relaxed. During the flight, Castorice was either doing one of three things: watching a movie in her flight seat, reading “The Epic of Gilgamesh” for the upteenth time (as she had grown fond of reading the Epic multiple times due to the change the main character, Gilgamesh had in his life after meeting Enkidu - very much how Phainon had been like this when talking about Professor Anaxa and Mydeimos), or taking a rest when boredom got to her. Meanwhile, Archer was simply reading some cooking recipes in a cookbook he brought in his duffel bag and just eyed his Master from the seat across from him as she relaxed in her seat.
Their plane flight had just landed and the two grabbed everything they carried onto the flight with. Stepping out of the plane flight and into the Honolulu airport however, posed an issue that only they as magic users could feel.
“Master, do you feel the unsteadiness in the air?”
Now that she thinks about it, she feels something unnatural… the unsteady mana in the air…
“I know what you’re talking about, Archer… I-I do… its unstable mana..”
Archer sighed before muttering, “The scent of mana… I should’ve been more cautious.”
“A-Archer…”
“It’s okay, Lady Castorice. It is my duty as your servant to keep you safe.”
Castorice nods, “I trust in you, Archer. We should find our baggage and try to get to our hotel room then.”
‘Oh don’t think you can escape the airport unscaved, Red Archer,’ a voice suddenly rang through Archer’s head, ‘Not with my Senpai as your Master, it seems… just a light purple haired girl with the aura that screams she could be a pseudo servant of a certain underworld death goddess, how peculiar…’
Her voice… was so similar to a certain girl he remembered…
Sakura Matou…
Sakura was his former underclassmen back when he was a teenager, someone who helped him way before he had accepted his role as a counterguardian and as Lady Castorice’s servant.
Rin’s younger sister… What had happened to her to make her this way?
‘S-Sakura, is that you? Are you playing with me?’ Archer rang the questions out to the woman in his head.
‘Playing with you? I am only a part of Sakura that longs for Hakuno Senpai. You look quite like that one Red Archer servant my Senpai used to have, to be quite honest.’
Hakuno Senpai? Wasn’t he Sakura’s underclassmen? And who exactly is Hakuno?
‘Hakuno? I have no record of that woman being my Master… the only Master that I was contracted to besides my current Master Lady Castorice was Rin Tohsaka,’ Archer voiced to the person with Sakura’s voice.
‘What a pity… Well then, I guess it’s no fun talking to you anymore, Red Archer. Have fun with your new Master. She’s waiting on you like my Senpai waits for me~’
“Archer,” Castorice’s calm voice and hand waving to his face snapped him out of his illusions of Sakura speaking to him, “You zoned out for a few minutes, I was getting worried.”
“Master…” Archer looked down at his current Master Castorice, whose eyes looked to him with concern.
“I’m okay, don’t worry about me. All we need to do is head out.”
The walk from the Honolulu airport to the hotel they booked went quite well. The staff who worked at the hotel were really friendly, with the blonde male receptionist wearing glasses by the name of “Mr. Jekyll” and the female blonde bellman by the name “Mordred” being an entertaining but nice duo to have checked them in.
“Don’t you find it weird that the hotel receptionist has the name of a character from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Archer? Or the fact that the bell boy has the same name as Sir Mordred from the Arthurian legends?” Castorice questioned.
“How… ironic…” Archer said.
Archer was honestly more shocked about the bellboy having the same name as Sir Mordred from the legend of King Arthur and Camelot. He remembered his younger past self, summoning Mordred’s father Artoria Pendragon, a Saber class servant.
Using the key to enter their hotel room, the two went into their hotel room. It had two divided rooms, both having separate queen size beds in each. The room closest to the door had a couch and coffee table set up, and a television. There was also a small kitchenette and door to the washroom. Meanwhile, the room on the other side had a desk and chair set up. It also led outside.
“You don’t mind if I take the room farthest to the door, Archer? The desk is a perfect place to video call Polyxia on my tablet!”
“I have no issues with that. It's good that there is some space for privacy, Lady Castorice.”
“You're right, Archer! I’ll have to do some presence concealment of some of the magecraft gems and anything Aidonia magecraft related in the room away from the door just in case,” Castorice said before using her magecraft to conjure up a barrier, “There, now the items in the room won’t be suspected of.”
“What a relief,” Archer sighed, “I’m going to have to do a field search of the area surrounding the ServantFest venue. Find a grocery store nearby if they have one and make us dinner tonight.”
“W-Wait…Y-You’re not gonna assist with helping me set my booth up, Archer?”
Archer sighs, “I don’t think it's wise to do so today, Master. We can still prepare your ServantFest booth for tomorrow. There’s no rush in setting up as the emails we received had stated. I'd rather have you eat a proper meal tonight before preparing your ServantFest booth, Lady Castorice.”
Seeing Archer open up one of his suitcases, which had all of his cooking equipment and fishing equipment.
“Y-You’re… you’re right, Archer… I-I can wait…”
“Speaking of waiting. I hate to be that type to leave, but I have to get us some groceries from outside. I want you to eat a healthy meal tonight.”
“Y-You’re… leaving me for a bit?”
“I hate to say this, but yes. I need to get some groceries,” Archer responded, “I still have you on my watchlist due to us being bound by Lady Amunet’s orders, so don’t do anything irrational.”
“I-I won’t, Archer!” Castorice said, with a bit of uncertainty in her voice as she watched her servant nod to her in response before leaving their hotel room.
At least not for now, she won’t do anything irrational…
Once Archer left, Castorice looked at her ServantFest box with anticipation to enter the event.
She knew Archer would lecture her about how unsafe the area was due to the magical leylines becoming unstable, but there was this internal urge in her mind saying that if she didn’t do anything today then she couldn’t conquer tomorrow.
And so, she decided to abandon what Archer said to her about preparing her ServantFest booth for tomorrow. She was going to do preparations at her booth now!
Locking her hotel room’s door and taking the elevator down, Castorice held onto her heavy box filled with ServantFes booth supplies, as well as her carry-on which contained some of the doujins she had prepped for the event.
I had no idea how I had the strength to carry both my carry-on luggage and this heavy box, Castorice thought.
She was pretty weak in terms of physical strength, as she relied on magecraft most of the time. But seeing as this resort is filled to the brim with leylines that screamed mana, it was best to keep her magecraft hidden. Keep it low profile.
That low profile she hoped to keep for herself was soon thrown away as someone came to her aid halfway through her walk to the hotel’s doors to outside.
“May I offer you some assistance, ma’am?” A lady (they looked to be?) with blonde hair wearing a blue maid outfit adorned with lilies had come over to her side and asked.
She must’ve seen me struggle with all this heavy equipment I’m bringing! Castorice thought when looking at the maid.
“Umm… Y-Yes! I’d appreciate the help,” Castorice said to the maid with a soft smile on her face, “If it’s not too much to ask, I’m heading to the ServantFest venue to prepare my booth before opening day. I hope this assistance doesn’t stray you away from your current duties though, Miss Maid.”
“It’s no worries, ma’am,” the blonde maid said as they carried her box of supplies in one hand and strolled her carry on in the other hand with ease, “I am associated with both the hotel and ServantFest’s venue. My boss won’t mind me straying away from my duties.”
“I see… Well, let's get going then! I’m hoping to get back to my hotel room safely without my personal bodyguard here making a fuss about me coming back all alone late at night.”
“Sounds like an ideal plan. I’ll be sure to keep you safe then, seeing as there is an influx of magical energy all over the island.”
“W-Wait, you’re also aware of this commodity?!” Castorice said with surprise.
“Of course, ma’am. I am a heroic spirit,” the lily maid replies, “And from the aura you radiate, you must be a Magus.”
“H-How did you figure that out so easily?”
“A heroic spirit has an easier time detecting magical energy from living beings,” the blonde maid said, “That being said, I’m not here to harm you, miss. Unless you plan on doing so yourself to me-”
“I-I wouldn’t! That would be wrong to do to someone I consider helpful and insightful at first glance!” Castorice says, “I-I don't consider myself a threat at all! I just wish to sell my doujinshis and fan art at this ServantFest in peace!”
“I… respect that, Miss…?”
“Cassie! Cassie Butterfly.” Castorice answered with a small smile, “We should get going, Miss Maid.”
The maid of lilies smiled and nodded, “My name is D’Eon. It is nice meeting you as well, Miss Cassie Butterfly.”
The maid by the name of D’Eon then moved forward, allowing Castorice to follow them straight outside to get to the ServantFest building.
The two soon checked in, with Castorice receiving her and Archer’s Artist Alley vendor passes.
I’ll give this to Archer after I finish setting up my booth. Castorice thought to herself.
Getting to her table booth number 567, Castorice received help from the maid D’Eon with setting up. Everything on the booth display was hung up nicely with zip ties, metal grids, corner connectors, signs telling buyers of the price list of the items at the table and decorations.
“Thank you again, Miss D’Eon. I don't have anything to pay you for your kindness, but as a gift for your gratitude.” Castorice hands a doujinshi copy of ‘The Epic of Meideimos’ volume one to the maid.
D’Eon’s eyes… sparkled for some reason…
“T-Thank you very much, Miss Butterfly!”
“No problem, Miss D’Eon! I hope we can see each other again during these next two weeks!” Castorice said, wrapping her booth with a protective cloth and zip-tying everything together before taking her carry on luggage and leaving.
“I… I hope so too… in a positive manner…” D’Eon quietly said.
On the top floor of the hotel where guests are staying, a golden blonde haired man with crimson red eyes looks down at the glimmering island resort below where the ServantFest event was running. The man is wearing a designer brand outfit and holds a glass filled with the finest sparkling wine in hand. He simply basks in the radiance of the night sky where several lights flicker to show activeness pertaining to the ServantFest event.
Why was he atop the highest floor of the hotel he owns? This was all just a break from him running duties in his kingdom. It was also a perfect time to delve into the hotel venture. Being on a luxury resort island in Luluhawa Hawaii was the best time for taking a rest and for making money through flawless financial decisions due to his Rank A luck.
The golden haired man could hear footsteps make way, as his newly hired maid of lilies walks in.
“Boss, you’ve requested me to gather information about the mangaka and doujin artists who have arrived at the ServantFest Artist Alley venue. I will tell you that I have gathered quite a bit of intel on this year’s venue artists.”
“Oho, if it isn’t the blonde maid of lilies that I’ve hired,” the golden haired man’s eyes drift back to look at his maid, “Pray tell, what information you have gathered, D’Eon?”
“There seems to be a few authors that are of intrigue. For one, the artist under the name Osa Hime has created another doujinshi based on the mysteries of the Himeji Castle. A mystery series doujin. There’s also a doujinshi artist by the name of ‘Flower Magus Marlin’, who sells doujinshi in relationship to Artoria Pendragon and her many forms in Chaldea. ”
The golden blonde man sighs, muttering “Merlin… you scumbag mongrel making literature that I actually have to buy…”
“There also seems to be an artist and doujin writer who made a parody of a certain old Epic called ‘The Epic of Meidimos’, a doujin inspired by the model Mydeimos Kremnos of the Kremnoan family in modern day history.”
“Oh,” the golden blonde man’s heart stopped as his face turned into that of anger, “Repeat that again, D’Eon.”
“It is best that I hand you the doujinshi she gifted me, boss.” The blonde haired maid handed their boss the doujinshi copy received from the purple haired girl.
A doujinshi. One that made him surprised when it said “The Epic Of” before looking down at the name associated with the doujin.
“Meideimos,” the blonde haired man’s eyes furrowed down in anger looking at the doujin cover that consisted of a strawberry blonde haired man with red tattoos that reminded him of his past Archer self and a white haired man who clearly wasn’t Enkidu, “Which degenerate mongrel would create such-”
The blonde man’s eyes drift down to the doujin book’s author. A woman by the name of ‘Cassie Butterfly’.
“Sir?” The blonde maid of lilies named D’Eon questioned the golden president she was serving.
“D’Eon, I demand you to seek out this Cassie Butterfly mongrel immediately after tonight.” the golden blonde man said.
“B-But Mr. President, she shows no harm to anyone! She is just a kind-”
“I do not care if her personality is that of those sweet chaste maidens in Uruk who please my bed during my young adulthood as king! That woman who calls herself Cassie Butterfly deserves punishment for her actions and I know the perfect way to punish this mongrel who dares to besmirch my royal name.”
The gorgeous blonde president swears that he’ll take down this “Cassie Butterfly”. How foolish could a mongrel get for replacing his oldest literature in history with some washed up rip off?