A Not So Evil God In Fate/Grand Order

It's been one hour since Seth gave them the order to guard this place. For the whole hour, they haven't talked to each other, and it was getting a little awkward, at least for Jeanne.

She has tried to start a conversation so many times, only to fail. She didn't know what she could say to catch Jalter's interest.

Surprisingly, it was the Black Saint, the first one to break the silence. "Can you stop staring at me like that? It makes me want to vomit." Of course, something nice wasn't going to come out.

"S-Sorry, I just didn't know how to start a conversation with you." There was a pink hue on her cheeks due to being found out.

"Hah? And who wants to converse with you? If you have time to think about stupid things, then you have time to follow the orders you were given." Jalter said and returned to look ahead, ignoring her and the weird noises coming from inside the mountain.

Far from getting angry, Jeanne giggled, earning a glare from Avenger. "What's so funny, you stupid Saint?" This girl really knew how to get in her nerves.

"I never knew you were the type to listen to someone's orders without complaining." She said with a light smile. Although it was not like they have interacted much, Jeanne had a rough idea of her personality.

"And I never knew you were the type to stick her nose where it doesn't belong—Oh wait, I already knew that!" Jalter sarcastically replied to her.

Jeanne released a sigh. She was already used to being insulted daily by her, so she had almost developed an immunity. "Say, Alter..."

It was time for the Dragon Witch to release a sigh, but out of frustration. "What?" The only reason she was keeping up with the worthless Saint beside her was thanks to her Master giving her some advice about self-control to not get angry at the smallest of things, except if they hit a nerve. In that case, she could just burn everything. That, in Jalter's mind, showed how kind he was to her.

"Um, do you remember the words you say in the past? About Master and you...well, that..." She was too embarrassed to finish the sentence.

Listening to her words, Jalter gained an evil smirk on her face, which she quickly hid. Putting a hand on her cheek, she used the shiest she could muster and, with an equally shy tone, said, "Ah... How could I forget that? He was so rough..."

"W-What do you mean by that?" Jeanne took a step back, her face losing color by the second.

"I don't know if I should tell you... It's a.d.u.l.t stuff." Jalter 'bashfully' said while looking away from her. In reality, she was trying to hold back her laughter.

Jeanne's eyes widened. "You and him...but...I..." She couldn't continue as her words got stuck on her throat, breathing wasn't so easy anymore, and her vision was getting blurry.

"Are you done with your little game?" Just then, Seth's voice interrupted them.

Both Servants turned to him. He looked the same as always except with some lava flowing down from his body and the unusual red glow on his skin, which didn't take much to disappear.

Jalter got a little embarrassed, this time for real, as it looked like her Master had seen what she had done earlier. However, that embarrassment soon gave way to a burst of laughter.

"Hahahaha! Master, did you manage to see that look on her face? It was priceless!" Jalter continued laughing while clutching her stomach. This has to be one of the best expressions she managed to get out of that saint.

Instead of getting angry at her counterpart, she felt relief that she was just joking with her, even if she didn't know why. Suddenly, Marie's words rang in her mind. 'Am I...?'

"If you are going to annoy her, then don't include me in your little act." Seth rolled his eyes at Jalter before noticing Jeanne, who was apparently to be coming to a realization. 'Oh, crap. Please tell me it's just a bad joke.'

"We need to hurry. The others must be tired of waiting." He was not going to deal with this, absolutely not.

Seth started jumping in enormous strides toward Rome. After calming herself from her laughing frenzy, Jalter followed him. Jeanne also followed them after realizing they were gone. "Wait for me!"

―――――――――――――――――――

The moment the three got in the Throne Room, they were met with a shocking scene. Fujimaru and the other Servants were lying on the ground as if their soul had been taken from them.

Looking at the only person in the room who didn't seem to be affected, Jeanne quickly asked. "What happened to them? Why are they like that?"

"You don't have to worry. My voice was so great and heavenly that they peacefully went to sleep. Normally I would be upset if someone slept here, but I will forgive them as they couldn't take much more of my beautiful singing. Umu... Aren't I merciful? I wouldn't mind if you praised me." A certain...pride could be found in her voice.

Slowly but surely, all the people who were lying on the ground started waking up. They confusedly looked around, and when their gazes set on Nero, terror was the only thing one could see on their eyes.

Seth looked at Caster, who was gradually standing up. "What's this all about?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That little girl...how can someone like her exist?!" Her singing was worse than the roars of Curruid, for his father's sake!

Martha and Vlad had PTSD from the time where Amadeus used his Noble Phantasm on them, and Lancelot seemed to have gone even madder than before.

Kiyohime, Mash, and Fujimaru were the ones who had it worse. They looked as pale as a ghost. Looking at everyone's expression, the trio swore in their minds to never be in the same place where Nero wanted to sing.

Even Fou was lying like a dead rat next to Shielder and Fujimaru.

...

After the affected party pulled themselves together, they started listening to Nero's words, albeit at a safe distance.

"It's good to see you are alright. As much as I would like you to reward your bravery with my beautiful voice again, I already ordered my soldiers to be ready to depart." There was visible relief on their faces when Nero told that she wasn't going to sing again.

"That's good to hear (the part about you not singing again), but what will happen if there is no one to defend this city?" Mash asked with her legs still shaky.

"You don't have to worry about that. I will only be taking some soldiers with me. The rest are already stationed there." Nero brushed off her concerns with a smile on her face.

"I'm in dire need of a battle to forget about what happened." Caster muttered, and Vlad, who was next to him agreed, even if he didn't show it on the outside.

Nero then excitedly exited the room while asking the others to follow her. When they reached the city gates, a legion of approximately three thousand men was waiting for them.

The moment they saw their Emperor, everyone saluted in respect with their backs straight.

"I see you are ready to march, that's good! We will obtain victory against those impostors of the United Empire, for Rome!" Nero raised her sword to the skies as she proclaimed, causing every soldier to cheer in response.

"Well, you have got to give it to her, she knows how to boost the morale of her soldiers." Romani said as a hologram of him showed up. He was glad he could cut communications with them; that's how he avoided a tragic disaster.

"Even if in her late years..." Mash didn't want to continue as it was a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e topic, and she didn't wish Nero to hear.

"That doesn't matter now. We shouldn't talk about the future of the people of the past." Romani interrupted Mash before she could say anything further.

Unaware of their talk, Nero proceeded to lead her soldiers forward. To avoid a surprise attack that could potentially kill or severely injure the entire legion, they chose to position themselves in the four cardinal points. Mash, Fujimaru, Kiyohime, and Caster on the north side, Jeanne and Martha on the east side, Jalter and Vlad on the west side, and lastly, Seth and Lancelot on the south side. Their places were chosen randomly by Nero, and they didn't want to complain; otherwise, they would suffer again.

The soldiers weren't bothered by this arrangement. In fact, some were quite happy, especially the ones who were on the west side. Many of them had been in that battle where Vlad successfully commanded them to victory. Although they seemed to have received divine help, that still didn't diminish his skills.

The soldiers on the south side, however, didn't seem so happy. They hadn't seen Seth fight, but as he belonged to the group of monsters, they assumed he was at least strong enough to defend himself. The problem was the man in black armor beside him. It was not easy to give your back to a madman who killed enemies and allies equally on the battlefield, many of them even went as far as to resent him but having already seen his strength, they didn't dare to complain less they wanted to end their lives there and then.

Seth noticed the nervousness of the soldiers ahead, so he turned to Lancelot. "Can you at least keep your aura to yourself? Their trembling is getting annoying."

Lancelot also turned to him, the slit on his helmet lit up in red light as he released a low growl like sound. "You can't? Even as a Berseker, you should be able to do such a simple thing."

Lancelot simply looked at him for a few more seconds before returning to look forward. Seth sighted while pinching the bridge of his nose. At this rate, Lancelot would become someone who can not be controlled. Since the moment Fujimaru used a Command Spell to prevent him from attacking Saber, he seems to be taking his anger on the rest, no matter ally or foe.

Seth looked at the Black Knight for a moment. Although he couldn't modify his Spirit Origin, he could technically make Lancelot regain his sanity again by showing him his own engraved memories of when he was alive. Of course, this had a chance of failing and producing the opposite of the d.e.s.i.r.ed effect.

The Egyptian shook his head. Even though he used a similar power in the Orleans against Jalter, he wasn't fond of messing with other people's minds.

'Let's see how the situation plays out first, and then...I will see what I should do.' Seth thought, while looking at the blue sky.

...

Nero's decision to position them on different sides was proven to be a correct one as on their way to their destination. They were ambushed two times. One from both sides and the other from up ahead.

Fortunately for the legion, the ambushers didn't have Servants on their side while they did. If one word were to describe the events that transpired, it would be with only one word, massacre.

The reason was simple, even if they usually wouldn't go out of their way to kill mere soldiers. They wanted to relieve the stress after that horrid event.

They didn't encounter any more ambushes after that, so eventually, they arrived at their destination. It was a large camp with hundreds of tents and soldiers going from one place to another. When they noticed the approaching legion and seeing who was the one leading them, they immediately made way for her to pass through with amidst cheers from their fellow soldiers.

Hearing the commotion outside, two figures, one man and one woman, got out from the biggest tent in the camp to see what was happening.

What greeted their eyes was the sight of Nero giving a passionate speech to the soldiers in the camp. They then set their gazes on the bunch who seemed different from the rest.

Approaching them, the first one to speak was the woman. "So you are the guests I have been hearing about. It's a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to meet you, I'm Boudica, general of the expedition to Gaul."

"A Servant? What's more, Boudica...?" Mash asked surprised.

The woman, now named Boudica, gave a smile filled with complex emotions. "That's right, former Queen of Britannia, Boudica." She then looked at the man beside her. "And this is—" Before she could finish her words, she noticed the man started walking toward one of the new arrivals.

With his two meters frame, he crouched his head to Seth's eye level. "I smell an oppressor in you." He then threw a punch at his face which the God caught. It seemed the chance to make a good first impression had gone down the drain.