Epilogue: Player
You—came to the city of Snowfield as a traveller, unaware of the
battle cry that nigh split the earth half a day prior.
You went into a drugstore near the entrance to the city and asked
if there were any cheap, single-story motels nearby.
The fellow manning the counter had a mohawk. His appearance
belied his friendly nature, though. He pointed out a few nearby motels
for you. He also mentioned some similarly-priced hotels nearby, but
you politely declined his suggestions.
The man with the mohawk looked at you curiously. He eventually
turned his gaze to your hands and your neck.
“Hey, those are some slick tattoos, buddy,” he murmured.
You forced yourself to chuckle at his comment as you left the store
and looked at your own two hands.
On your left hand and your right hand, identical sigils were present.
But you already knew that.
A sigil was inscribed on each of your shoulders and on your back,
as well.
A drifter who wandered into Snowfield in the midst of a war, bearing
five Command Spells: that’s who you are.
You might be a man, or perhaps a woman.
Your ethnicity and your build are known to no-one else.
You could be a criminal, or a saint, or a faker.
You are in your late teens, or maybe your early twenties.
116
You have the freedom to decide what you want to do in this place.
You might meet the golden king and the red-skinned girl.
You might meet the mage who lacks malice and the murderer who
lacks a body.
You might meet a woman of deep faith and the vampire who chases
after her.
You might be imprisoned by those countless many policemen,
equipped with bizarre weaponry.
You might be abducted into the dream of the bedridden girl.
You might meet a noble beast and the Heroic Spirit who stands at
its side.
You might choose to fight alongside any of them, or choose to kill
all of them.
Betrayal, trust, ambush, abscondment. It’s all up to you.
You may destroy everything you encounter. You may save everything
you encounter.
However, you are bound by certain constraints.
Rule: You cannot enter buildings that contain elevators.
Rule: From time to time, you will have visions of a bloodstained
girl.
Rule: Once upon a time, you lived in Fuyuki, Japan.
Rule: It seems that you were fleeing something when you came to
America.
Depending on what you do, you might or might not overcome
these obstacles.
But no matter what, you cannot escape from your Command
Spells.
You know that running away will result in your death. That knowledge
is ingrained into your body.
You are connected to various Heroic Spirits by your Command
Spells.
117
Unlike other Servants, your Servants cannot be summoned continuously.
If you use your power to call forth a Servant, you will lose a Command
Spell and the protection it offered.
You have access to five one-time Servants.
Depending on how you use them, you could annihilate all the
other Servants.
Indeed, you—
You came to this town to fill the gap left by the lost Saber class.
However, you are not a mage. You are a mere human.
As for why you’re in this situation in the first place—
It began three days ago—
Perhaps we should begin with the time when you met a certain
woman in Las Vegas.
After she forced you to accept the Command Spells, she whispered
to you.
“To subvert all that came about as a result of the Fifth War—”
“To make everything into nothing once again—including all the
sacrifices that were made—”
“To achieve those goals, we will seize the false Holy Grail.”
It’s not clear how much you understood the things she said.
You merely remember that she was uncommonly beautiful.
It was like a fairy tale. She, with her white hair and pale skin, led
you here, and then
Once you’ve designed your character, the rest of the story can take
place in-game!
118
Afterword
Hello, everyone—I’m Narita Ryohgo, the author of this bonus volume.
I’m sure that all of you Fate fans are wondering “Who the heck
is this guy?”, and to be honest, I’m a bit discombobulated right now
myself—but anyway, let me just say hello for the time being.
When I first met Nasu, the scenario writer for Fate, I was in the
middle of reading Kara no Kyoukai and hadn’t yet gotten around to
playing Fate, but—when I played the PS2 version, I was overwhelmed
by just how interesting it was, and quickly found myself wrapped up in
the Type-Moon world.
I’m sure that many fans have thought about creating their own Servants.
As for myself, I contacted my good friend Nasu and told him
about my ideas. I really am an outrageous pain-in-the-neck fan. That’s
just who I am.
Oh, and I just remembered one more terrible thing I did as a fan.
“Hey, while I’m at it, why don’t I make an April Fools’ joke out of
it?”
That’s kind of like saying “Well, the weather is nice today, so I’m
going go for a run on the freeway”. Without really thinking too far
in advance, I wrote a story about the Servants I invented, and then I
uploaded it to my personal home page as “Prologue to Fake: a new
game”. And that became this story.
And then what? The people at Type-Moon put a link to it on their
website, and within 24 hours, I had gotten 300,000 hits. It was crazy!
119
I never expected this... but I guess some things just happen. That
golden king appeared before me. Would my mere existence be disrespectful
enough to get King Goldy to kill me? That’s how flustered I
was.
Remember, this novel was written as the prologue to a game. Everything
from here forward is up to you, dear readers and players. You
have the freedom to move around the city; to negotiate with the other
Masters, or to betray them. And so, this story is filled with endless
possibilities—who knows how it’ll evolve to its conclusion?
I’ve thought about some stuff like the “All Masters Survive” route;
the “Assassin-as-a-Child” route; the “King Gil vs. Enkidu Showdown”
route, and so forth... but for the time being, let’s just stick with the
“Use Your Imagination” route. I wonder what’s going to happen now.
I also talked with Nasu about a route in which all the Masters die after
an utterly inhumane war; we decided to leave that one to Urobuchi.
I’m sure that Nasu would write secret routes in which Rin, Sakura, and
Wakame1 would show up, too. After he finishes his new game2 and
DDD, that is.
It’d be a massive undertaking, though, only made possible by the
wellspring of energy that is Fate.
I began writing this for April Fools’ towards the end of March.
Within three days, I’d written enough to fill about 140 pages of a standard
paperback-sized book3. To be honest, I wrote it significantly
faster than I would write one of my own novels.
I got the energy to do that from Fate, that great Type-Moon game.
Once I started writing this side story, I couldn’t stop. I got so much
energy from Fate that I’m still smoldering.
Anyway: To Mr. Nasu, for looking into the nitty-gritty details of
the novel’s setting when I sent it over to him on April Fools’ day without
1Matou Shinji
2The timing of Fate/strange fake’s release suggests that the game in question is
Fate/EXTRA
3i.e. bunkobon format, or A6 paper
120
warning — To all the people at Type-Moon who sanctioned this novel
and linked to my personal home page on their website, especially Mr.
Takeuchi — To the folks at Type-Moon Ace who published this novel
— To Mr. Sanda Makoto, for helping me write up the fake explanation
of the game mechanics — To Ms. Morii Shizuki, for illustrating this
novel more beautifully than I could hope for and for letting the characters
bloom — And, last but certainly not least, to all you wonderful
readers, for persevering to the end of this somewhat bizarre novel
Thank you so very much...!
Narita Ryohgo
121
Epilogue: Player
You—came to the city of Snowfield as a traveller, unaware of the
battle cry that nigh split the earth half a day prior.
You went into a drugstore near the entrance to the city and asked
if there were any cheap, single-story motels nearby.
The fellow manning the counter had a mohawk. His appearance
belied his friendly nature, though. He pointed out a few nearby motels
for you. He also mentioned some similarly-priced hotels nearby, but
you politely declined his suggestions.
The man with the mohawk looked at you curiously. He eventually
turned his gaze to your hands and your neck.
“Hey, those are some slick tattoos, buddy,” he murmured.
You forced yourself to chuckle at his comment as you left the store
and looked at your own two hands.
On your left hand and your right hand, identical sigils were present.
But you already knew that.
A sigil was inscribed on each of your shoulders and on your back,
as well.
A drifter who wandered into Snowfield in the midst of a war, bearing
five Command Spells: that’s who you are.
You might be a man, or perhaps a woman.
Your ethnicity and your build are known to no-one else.
You could be a criminal, or a saint, or a faker.
You are in your late teens, or maybe your early twenties.
116
You have the freedom to decide what you want to do in this place.
You might meet the golden king and the red-skinned girl.
You might meet the mage who lacks malice and the murderer who
lacks a body.
You might meet a woman of deep faith and the vampire who chases
after her.
You might be imprisoned by those countless many policemen,
equipped with bizarre weaponry.
You might be abducted into the dream of the bedridden girl.
You might meet a noble beast and the Heroic Spirit who stands at
its side.
You might choose to fight alongside any of them, or choose to kill
all of them.
Betrayal, trust, ambush, abscondment. It’s all up to you.
You may destroy everything you encounter. You may save everything
you encounter.
However, you are bound by certain constraints.
Rule: You cannot enter buildings that contain elevators.
Rule: From time to time, you will have visions of a bloodstained
girl.
Rule: Once upon a time, you lived in Fuyuki, Japan.
Rule: It seems that you were fleeing something when you came to
America.
Depending on what you do, you might or might not overcome
these obstacles.
But no matter what, you cannot escape from your Command
Spells.
You know that running away will result in your death. That knowledge
is ingrained into your body.
You are connected to various Heroic Spirits by your Command
Spells.
117
Unlike other Servants, your Servants cannot be summoned continuously.
If you use your power to call forth a Servant, you will lose a Command
Spell and the protection it offered.
You have access to five one-time Servants.
Depending on how you use them, you could annihilate all the
other Servants.
Indeed, you—
You came to this town to fill the gap left by the lost Saber class.
However, you are not a mage. You are a mere human.
As for why you’re in this situation in the first place—
It began three days ago—
Perhaps we should begin with the time when you met a certain
woman in Las Vegas.
After she forced you to accept the Command Spells, she whispered
to you.
“To subvert all that came about as a result of the Fifth War—”
“To make everything into nothing once again—including all the
sacrifices that were made—”
“To achieve those goals, we will seize the false Holy Grail.”
It’s not clear how much you understood the things she said.
You merely remember that she was uncommonly beautiful.
It was like a fairy tale. She, with her white hair and pale skin, led
you here, and then
Once you’ve designed your character, the rest of the story can take
place in-game!
118
Afterword
Hello, everyone—I’m Narita Ryohgo, the author of this bonus volume.
I’m sure that all of you Fate fans are wondering “Who the heck
is this guy?”, and to be honest, I’m a bit discombobulated right now
myself—but anyway, let me just say hello for the time being.
When I first met Nasu, the scenario writer for Fate, I was in the
middle of reading Kara no Kyoukai and hadn’t yet gotten around to
playing Fate, but—when I played the PS2 version, I was overwhelmed
by just how interesting it was, and quickly found myself wrapped up in
the Type-Moon world.
I’m sure that many fans have thought about creating their own Servants.
As for myself, I contacted my good friend Nasu and told him
about my ideas. I really am an outrageous pain-in-the-neck fan. That’s
just who I am.
Oh, and I just remembered one more terrible thing I did as a fan.
“Hey, while I’m at it, why don’t I make an April Fools’ joke out of
it?”
That’s kind of like saying “Well, the weather is nice today, so I’m
going go for a run on the freeway”. Without really thinking too far
in advance, I wrote a story about the Servants I invented, and then I
uploaded it to my personal home page as “Prologue to Fake: a new
game”. And that became this story.
And then what? The people at Type-Moon put a link to it on their
website, and within 24 hours, I had gotten 300,000 hits. It was crazy!
119
I never expected this... but I guess some things just happen. That
golden king appeared before me. Would my mere existence be disrespectful
enough to get King Goldy to kill me? That’s how flustered I
was.
Remember, this novel was written as the prologue to a game. Everything
from here forward is up to you, dear readers and players. You
have the freedom to move around the city; to negotiate with the other
Masters, or to betray them. And so, this story is filled with endless
possibilities—who knows how it’ll evolve to its conclusion?
I’ve thought about some stuff like the “All Masters Survive” route;
the “Assassin-as-a-Child” route; the “King Gil vs. Enkidu Showdown”
route, and so forth... but for the time being, let’s just stick with the
“Use Your Imagination” route. I wonder what’s going to happen now.
I also talked with Nasu about a route in which all the Masters die after
an utterly inhumane war; we decided to leave that one to Urobuchi.
I’m sure that Nasu would write secret routes in which Rin, Sakura, and
Wakame1 would show up, too. After he finishes his new game2 and
DDD, that is.
It’d be a massive undertaking, though, only made possible by the
wellspring of energy that is Fate.
I began writing this for April Fools’ towards the end of March.
Within three days, I’d written enough to fill about 140 pages of a standard
paperback-sized book3. To be honest, I wrote it significantly
faster than I would write one of my own novels.
I got the energy to do that from Fate, that great Type-Moon game.
Once I started writing this side story, I couldn’t stop. I got so much
energy from Fate that I’m still smoldering.
Anyway: To Mr. Nasu, for looking into the nitty-gritty details of
the novel’s setting when I sent it over to him on April Fools’ day without
1Matou Shinji
2The timing of Fate/strange fake’s release suggests that the game in question is
Fate/EXTRA
3i.e. bunkobon format, or A6 paper
120
warning — To all the people at Type-Moon who sanctioned this novel
and linked to my personal home page on their website, especially Mr.
Takeuchi — To the folks at Type-Moon Ace who published this novel
— To Mr. Sanda Makoto, for helping me write up the fake explanation
of the game mechanics — To Ms. Morii Shizuki, for illustrating this
novel more beautifully than I could hope for and for letting the characters
bloom — And, last but certainly not least, to all you wonderful
readers, for persevering to the end of this somewhat bizarre novel
Thank you so very much...!
Narita Ryohgo
121
