The Prince Of Magic

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The Servant of the Mount, Rider, also known as 'Medusa' by a certain few, was on a mission.

Her Master, Hadrian Mathius von Schweinorg, had vocally requested of them to search and gather a number of 'Blood Beads' that can only be found on the Spider's nest, and Rider and the others are all equally determined to fulfill the completion of said request to the best of their abilities.

Their Master was rarely the type to request something of them, preferring to give more than to receive, which was a trait that she and the rest of her fellow retainers found admirable about him.

Her Master had went through difficult times. This, she already knew via the dream cycle.

She had seen how he had become the great person he was today. She had witnessed his innocence, how he suffered from the loss of his beloved father, his determination to volunteer and participate in the Holy Grail War despite his young age, and the actions he took to survive the brutal event.

Unlike most people, Medusa did not mind the choices that her Master had taken in the past, some of which can be considered sinful to those who are righteous and naïve.

She would be a hypocrite if she did so, seeing as her own past was far more tainted than her Master's. The insurmountable amount of blood that she had spilled during the time she had been alive can probably fill a small portion of the ocean in its entirety.

And yet, her Master was willing to accept her true nature wholeheartedly, despite her own protests.

As she followed behind Yan and Astolfo, Medusa chuckled softly as her thoughts turned to a certain bright cyan-eyed magus.

'How things have changed…' She mused, recalling her Master with fondness.

Medusa had been summoned quite a number of times before in the past, most of which always seemed revolved around the Holy Grail wars.

Her previous Masters were less than ideal people that she would rather rip apart or stab with her scythe, if not for the Command Seals and her own sense of honor that prevented her so.

She had long accepted that those who would summon her will be distrustful and apathetic to her well-being, treating her like a monster, one that they can use as a weapon against their foes to achieve their own goals.

It happened often enough that Medusa had already lost count of how many times it had occurred.

There were some instances that she was even used as a plaything to vent their frustrations on. But Medusa didn't mind, despite of what she went through.

Medusa had already acknowledged that she was a monster, one who had destroyed and devoured everything in her sight, even those she cared about.

To be treated in such a manner did not bothered her, considering as she felt that she deserved to be treated as such. To her, it was simply how the world was getting back at her for everything that she had done in her past life.

Granted, she had the gods of her time to be blamed for what she had become then. The many deities of the Greek pantheon, in particular.

But, she had also spilled too much blood, including that of the innocent, so much that she had lost her mind and even hurt the ones she cared about.

Medusa can admit to herself that she had lost sight of her path, right after she had lost her two sisters and her descent to madness began from there.

As the story goes, the fearsome Gorgon was killed by an upstart demi-god that was better left off unnamed.

Medusa felt her eyebrow twitched, a subtle sign of her annoyance.

The irritation faded away as soon as her thoughts returned to her Master though, letting it become nothing more than a fly against a wall.

Everything in her life had changed when the world presented her contract to a strange young man.

Whereas many would be disgusted by her true nature, Hadrian simply took in the fact that she was an infamous monster of Greek legend with nothing but a calm and relaxed disposition.

There was no explosive reaction from him, nothing but an 'hmm' noise and a nod of acceptance, which often amused her to no end every time she remembered it.

Sometimes, it almost made her think that he had been prepared and just didn't react to her true identity all that much. That the novelty of discovering her true name had already worn off and he wasn't susceptible to being caught off guard by it anymore.

That he had already discovered it via the dream cycle, just as she did regarding his past.

But, after two months with her Master, Medusa eventually realized that being calm and undaunted was merely in his nature.

It was one of the things that she came to love about him as more time passed.

Yes, as unbelievable as it sounded, she, the infamous Gorgon, Medusa, had fallen for a strange mortal, who have accepted all of herself without batting an eye.

This, she realized several weeks after she had told her Master about her true identity and her past. It had been a marvel experience for her to discover that she would actually fall in love for a mortal, much less someone very young.

Never did Medusa thought that she would experience falling in love after her life as mortal, then a monster of legend later on, had ended.

It was as if the world had given her a break from the usual routine by giving her contract to her beautiful master, which she was always thankful for.

She never thought that she would even be capable of feeling such a luxurious emotion, not after what she had become and what she had done.

And yet, here she was, walking into a highly dangerous territory of a powerful entity for the sake of fulfilling the request of her lovely and benevolent master.

Admittedly, Arturia might be in lead to win their Master's affections since it had taken her quite a while to gather the courage to pursue him considering her past, with Scáthach catching up behind her, despite the crimson-eyed woman's subtle denials, but Medusa was more than content to wait for her Master to notice her feelings for him.

Even if takes her centuries to do so, Medusa will wait for him for as long as she was by his side.

Her future might be uncertain, given the current situation, but for now, being his servant was enough for her.

It had taken her many centuries to get where she was now, through all the suffering and pain at the hands of the gods, through the greedy and malevolent Masters she had served under, Medusa does not mind waiting for her young, beautiful master to notice her intimate feelings for him, even if it takes her centuries.

'This, I swear…' Medusa promised, determination filling her heart.

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