36 This is bad

[ Kiritsugu pov ]

As Kiritsugu and Maiya arrived at the castle the Einzberns gave them to stay, Kiritsugu couldn't help but be both angry and slightly relieved. Relieved because a certain rumour he heard appeared to be true, and angry because the situation was... bad.

They made their way through the hallways of the building until they eventually arrived at the room where Irisviel and Saber were waiting.

The first one to speak was Saber. She had definitely not been in a good mood because of her master's actions and wanted to know why he did what he did.

"Why did you try to kill him?" she asked once Kiritsugu entered the room and said hello to Irisviel.

Kiritsugu simply stared at her for a moment with his emotionless expression. "Because he needs to die." he said.

Saber was confused at the determination in his words. "Why? Don't you trust me enough to defeat his servants? He may have both Lancer and Caster, but I can defeat them both!" replied Saber. She was the best counter for Caster, after all she had 'Magic Resistance' on A!

"Even if he wasn't part of the war, he would still need to die." said Kiritsugu.

Saber stared at him slightly confused. As far as she noticed, he was a child, so why did her master feel the need to kill him, going as far as to denying her the honour of a duel and interrupting it?

Kiritsugu looked at her confused face and sighed. "He is a magus." he said. "A bad one. He created this... rings, they give people an extra life basically, making it much harder to kill them."

Saber's eyes widened. Someone was able to make something that would allow anyone to cheat death? She had been thinking a lot about how the kid came back to life and ended up assuming it must have been a special ability or perhaps Caster's Noble Phantasm or something similar, but to think he actually makes a ring to give people an extra life... "And why is that bad? I could have used something like that during the invasions on my homeland."

"The problem is who he sells them to." said Kiritsugu. He understood the appeal the rings might have to a king who spent most of her life in war, watching comrades die, but that didn't actually mean anything. This king died long ago and in today's world those rings caused nothing more than problems, after all they helped 'evil' survive. "He sells them to evil people, to the magus who are worse than scum."

Saber remained silent for a moment. She certainly understood why Kiritsugu would hate someone who helps his enemies, it was basically like hating those who made weapons for the armies that invaded Britania. This however didn't mean his actions were justified. "And you interrupted my duel with Lancer for that? I would have defeated him and then Caster! Have you no honour?"

Kiritsugu simply stared at her deadpanned. "I do what needs to be done to save this world from evil."

Saber gritted her teeth. She knew Kiritsugu was her master and they were meant to get along and work together to win the grail, but even then, as a knight she couldn't just move past this insult.

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[ Tokiomi pov ]

'This is bad.' thought Tokiomi.

This night was definitely not going according to his expectations.

On one hand there was Archer who went to the warehouse and to only way to make him return before he used to much of his Noble Phantasm was by sacrificing a command spell.

On the other hand, there was the heir of house Salvatore, the rising star of the Magus Association, a kid with actual connections to Atlas and the creator of what most likely was the most revolutionary invention of the century at the very least if not the millennia. Heck, even he himself had sent a letter to the Salvatore house to discuss the prices fo the rings and was hoping to discuss the possibility of uniting both families through marriage, though for that it would have been better if he hadn't given one of his daughters away. Since Dio Salvatore was extremely talented in mineralogy and was also very interested in the subject, his offer would no doubt appeal him.

Taking another sip of his wine, he looked to his side were golden particles began gathering. Once it finished condensing, Archer appeared at his side, an annoyed expression on his face.

"You are playing a dangerous game, Tokiomi." said Archer.

"I apologise your grace." replied Tokiomi while bowing slightly.

The king ignored him and took a seat, removing his armour and replacing it with a white shirt with a golden necklace. "Who was the brat that had two servants?" he asked, getting a bottle of wine and serving himself a cup of it. "The one you asked me not to kill."

"His name is Dio Salvatore." replied Tokiomi. "He is someone I hoped would be a business partner in the future, though it is unfortunate he came to participate in this war I am still unsure of how to deal with him."

Archer raised his eyebrow at this. "I have already seen enough of this world to know it's disgusting, but that ring he was wearing... perhaps it is worthy of my collection." explained Archer while moving the cup on his hand.

Tokiomi's eyes widened at this. "So you noticed the ring?" he asked a bit surprised. "As expected of the king of heroes."

Archer focused his eyes on Tokiomi for a brief moment. "Hoh, so you know the ring huh? Tell me about it."

Tokiomi began to explain what he knew about the ring. "A ring made out of pure gold, with two different designs to chose from and tailor-made for each customer, engraved in patterns should the buyer wish them like that." said Tokiomi while placing his own cup of wine on top of his desk and getting two pictures of the designs of the rings to show Archer. "The value of the ring however comes from the gem in it. It was names 'Gem of God' and it grants the wearer of the ring an extra life, as well as more mana. Perhaps it might be something worthy to be added to your collection, your grace."

Archer placed his own cup of wine down as well and grabbed the two images Tokiomi handed him. He saw they were both labeled as 'Ring of Salvation', most likely the name of the ring itself.

"I will judge that, Tokiomi." spoke Archer without looking at him. "But this is... interesting." he said. He was looking at both designs and began wondering which one suited him the best. Of course the answer was both since everything a king wore was perfect. "So even in this era of mongrels there is someone who can make treasures..."

(Ring images here)

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Author note:

Keep in mind two things for this chapter.

1. Artoria values honour more than anything, the second thing would be 'goodness'. She would obviously want to kill Dio if she knew what he did but she would do it by defeating Lancer and Caster and then him. Basically having Kiritsugu tell her that he will just kill him and then the two servants will disappear even though she had already started a duel with Lancer is an insult to her pride as a king, as a knight, and as a heroic spirit.

2. When Gilgamesh is summoned by Tokiomi, he says that he will go around and see if there are any treasures worthy of his collection. Basically Gilgamesh's purpose during the fourth war is to just find treasures and be entertained.