[h1]Rider[/h1] Naoko had escaped. That was good, now the only issue was the ancient machine of destruction standing across the way. Rider held her smile, even as the sharpened tips of the chains appeared and angled themselves toward her. Her eyes, still shimmering gold, met with the other Servant’s. Despite the obvious animosity, Rider’s demeanor remained unchanged. Her smile was cool and collected, her blade rotated smoothly in her hand and returned to its sheathe. There was no point in getting worked up now that Naoko was safe. Either she would die or she wouldn’t. Such a situation was nothing new. “Ahem. There’s no need for such animosity, do keep in mind that any strange Servant could have shown up and claimed to be aligned with Habsburg, I had no way of ensuring the… authenticity of your statements. Though with this amount of anger, I think my doubts have been assuaged. Now then, I am happy to hear that your Master is a reasonable man. He does well to live up to his name.” Rider spoke in the same conversational way as before, though she doubted her words had any particular effect on the King of Heroes. Perhaps his Master, though, would be more willing to listen. “I propose that we meet, that is, you and I, along with our Masters. We can discuss this incident here today, clear up our misunderstandings… maybe even exchange some gifts. I am certain that we can come to some sort of mutually beneficial agreement. I suggest we meet somewhere within the city, somewhere public, to ensure that no hostile actions will be taken. We are to have a dialogue, not a battle. As for the specifics of time and place, I will leave that to your Master’s convenience, though I might suggest somewhere with food. I find negotiations always go more smoothly over a meal.” Concluding her proposal, Rider dropped her arms down to her sides, watching the King of Heroes to see whether she’d have to risk being skewered or not. In the back of her mind, she went down a list. [i]”Ivan, Boris, Michael, Peter…”[/i]