"I'll find someone to teach you! Consider it a gift from me to you and Rider!"
"..."
Lord El-Melloi II was on the verge of tears. Just how badly did this guy want to set him up with Rider? Though part of him wanted to thank the other man for such overwhelming goodwill, Waver knew perfectly well that if he nodded, he would lose—and lose the kind of loss that would ruin his reputation for life.
"So, let me say this again—I am only Rider's subject. No matter what, I will live on and sing of the glorious deeds my king achieved. That is the mission Rider entrusted to me as he lay dying."
"...And I have taken it as the task of my life. Nothing more."
Lord El-Melloi II composed himself and spoke with solemn seriousness.
"Oh."
Lianye nodded listlessly. I see. How boring.
He then dropped his flippant expression. "It seems you've improved quite a bit over the past ten years~~~. If you were the you from ten years ago, my barrage of trash talk would've left you red-faced and unable to fight long ago. ---I never expected that, without Rider's guidance, you could still face my trash talk alone without losing sight of yourself. Truly commendable..."
"..."
What was truly commendable was your profoundly unsettling trash talk and that hide of yours, thick enough to reach Skyrim.
Lord El-Melloi II could not help rubbing his forehead. He had nearly been led astray by Lianye. Only now had the other man admitted that he had merely been using "trash talk" to harass his will to fight before the real battle began.
Though they had crossed paths during the Fourth Holy Grail War, they were enemies now, after all!
197, Insignificant Integrity
"---To put it simply, my Rome is