"Even still, I'm thanking you in acknowledgment of your efforts. You'd allow me to do this much at least, wouldn't you?" He said wryly.
"Very well," Tristan acceded along with Lancelot and the rest.
Thereafter, he turned his attention to Arturia, her body tensing as he approached and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Although you didn't inform me before you took action, you did well," saying that, his brows furrowed in reminiscence.
Although each NPC he had made had their own personalities in YGGDRASIL, none of them had ever acted on their own initiative before; proving to him at least that they were more than just simple creations. They had thoughts, feelings, and aspirations as well, making them human in his eyes.
"But why?" he couldn't help but ask. "Why did you take such actions?"
He stared at her, and she at him, her expression thoughtful before glancing down.
"It's never wrong to help others," she murmured lowly, but her words brought such a shock to him that he pulled the hand he had on her shoulder away as if he had been stabbed.
"S-Saber?" he called out desperately, eyes growing bloodshot.
It was as if a dehydrated man had seen an oasis in a desert. The words Arturia had spoken, he had never inputted such lines in her text boxes; meaning that she would never have had known that those were the exact words he had once said to Saber in the Holy Grail War.
Unfortunately, his desperation was only met by confusion, a troubled expression making its way onto Arturia's face.
"Saber?" She questioned, feeling an ebbing pain from within her that she couldn't understand when she saw the despair that flickered in his eyes.
"No, it nothing," he swallowed before turning away, hands balling into fists. "You can take the others and head back to the Mausoleum, I'll be back later."
"Shirou, but," Arturia reached her hand out for his arm, mouth opening in an attempt to scold him but she paused involuntarily when she again couldn't explain why the actions felt so familiar.
Troubled, she just stood there, her lips pursing as a gloominess saturated her mind.
"Let's go," she eventually whispered out to Lancelot and the rest, not waiting for the others to acknowledge her words before leaving, thoughts running rampant in her head.
Lancelot glanced from Arturia to Shirou before sighing and following Arturia closely behind. Gawain and the others soon followed pensively, certain that they were missing some deeper meaning in their King's prompt actions.
Only Merlin awkwardly stayed behind for his own reasons, one of which was for Shirou's sake.
As Arturia's tutor and a wiseman amongst mortals, he could determine that what Shirou needed now wasn't the help of others to deal with his problem, but to find his own path. All Merlin could do as a teacher, was to guide him along that path.
"Regardless of what concept or feeling you have that's clouding your mind, if you don't have an answer now, surely you will have one later," Merlin's voice was piercing. "Therefore, it's best not to dwell on whatever conflicts you may harbour presently."
"Is that your attempt at a conciliation?" He asked wryly, Merlin's rather direct words somehow allowing him to compose himself. It must have had been related to Merlin's innate skill of Hero Creation.
Merlin grinned, before shrugging.
"You're not a woman so I can't bring myself to pull off anymore effort than I already have," Merlin said frankly.
"Then its lucky I'm not a woman."
From the memories he had shared with Arturia, he knew that Merlin was a thorough philanderer and skirt-chaser. To be a woman under his gaze had at times even left Arturia uneasy, and Merlin had even attempted placating her by saying she was 'flat,' which inevitably didn't go well.
Merlin's habits aside, he was someone reliable, making Shirou thankful for Merlin's considerations. The present moment regarding Arturia more than anything.
Because for an instance, he had hoped, only to be met with such acute heart-ache and anguish that it left him momentarily debilitated.
Still, NPC or not, saving Vincent was something Arturia had done out of her own initiative. Therefore, it became important for him to see it through.
A strong will emerged from within him, a resolve of steel.
Vincent had left for his home already, but that didn't mean that Vincent couldn't run into any other dangers. In which case, if Vincent died, then it would render Arturia's efforts meaningless and that was unacceptable to him.
"I'm going out Merlin," he informed.
Merlin nodded. "Do comeback early. Composed as young Arturia may appear at times, she gets impatient and flustered when the subject is regarding you."
His mouth gradually curved up.
"I'll keep that in mind," he said before departing, reinforcing his legs and disappearing through the forest's underbrush.
Left alone, Merlin let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't that he was apprehensive about returning to the Mausoleum, rather he dared not to at the moment.
His senses were warning him that the results of his latest escapade had not yet died out and that the woman in particular would be still be fuming.
Sure he 'may' have coped a feel as prompted by his Incubus heritage and admiration towards beautiful women, but wasn't trying to kill him immediately a tad overboard?
Besides, they were a Witch and a Wizard respectively, two entities that had even existed parallel to the mortal world: he in Avalon, and she in the Land of Shadows. Their similarities alone thoroughly convinced him that they were a preordained match, it only helped that she was too his preferences.
Yet why was reality so different from imagination?
So what if his advances were a little too suave for her to handle? Overreacting the way she did was simply uncultured and uncalled for.