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"Now now, how would you like to end?" |
Saito is an antagonist in The Empyrean Inn and The Empyrean Inn: Last Resort. A former police officer who specialized in hunting monsters, he now serves as one of Ametsuchi's concierge, going to great lengths to ensure nothing disturbs the inn's peace.
Saito is a leader of the Portalcraft class but does not currently have an obtainable leader skin.
Personality[]
Saito presents himself in a professional and business-like demeanor, with a habit of accidentally referring to himself as his old occupation, before correcting himself. His previous position as a Paranormal Disciplinary Division Officer with the Togh Keyoh Bureau of Justice left him with a large variety of skills which he occasionally notes when relevant.
Normally, he appears to be a helpful individual eager to assist the guests, with one guest describing him as "Straight-laced as he is, his heart's in the right place. He's always looking out for us. Goes out of his way to make sure everyone gets home safe and sound after parties." This same guest also notes "I can't even imagine him losing his cool. The only time I've seen him get remotely upset is when he's dealing with the Forsaken." As such, he drops his friendly demeanor when dealing with the Forsaken or anyone who interferes with his plans.
Although blunt and often full of sass and snark directed towards him, Saito is very close with Taketsumi, conspiring with and aiding him in his takeover of Ametsuchi. He is initially also kind and caring towards Itsurugi, until Itsurugi assists Anisage and aims to help the other Forsaken as well. Once this occurs, Saito begins to show a much crueler side to himself, becoming violently hostile towards the children and mocking their naivety and inexperience in regards to the harsher parts of life and reality. Despite the fact he claims no personal grudge against people such as Anisage or Itsurugi, stating that he is simply doing his job and what needs to done for the greater good of Ametsuchi and its guests, Anisage rebuffs him by saying he is simply making excuses for his accountability.
Because of the trauma and suffering he endured in his previous world, Saito firmly believes in Taketsumi's ideals and approach to running Ametsuchi, which is that no one should ever leave and the guests should never have their bad memories returned to them.
Though he is in possession of many of his memories, he fears regaining them completely and will go to great lengths to avoid further facing his past. Upon being forcibly returned one particular memory, he is mentally crippled, reduced to crying and begging to be "finished off." Overall, Saito is a scarred and highly traumatized man who hides his pain, which has come to serve as the primary source of his motivation and ideals, behind strict professionalism.
Story[]
History[]
Saito comes from a world called Togh Keyoh, where he was a police enforcer dedicated to hunt monsters. There, Saito had to face survival day by day, working tirelessly, not even being able to attend his parents' funeral and even having to sell a kidney to pay his monthly quota. He descibes his life there as constantly walking on eggshells to ensure his continued existence, and that there was not a single moment in that world where he felt truly alive, just a survivor.
He ended up in Ametsuchi at some point, becoming the head of the Concierge, also recruiting Mizuchi after she shows concern for the destroyed memory shards. Upon regaining some of his lost memories and growing dissapointing with Ametsuchi's ways, Saito joins Taketsumi who under Nerva of Purgation's manipulations begins to plot to take over Ametsuchi.
The Empyrean Inn[]
Saito first appears to inform Itsurugi about hunting parties where Taketsumi shows off his strength.
While taking Itsurugi to see Taketsumi's hunting party, Saito explains that Taketsumi wishes for everyone to have the greatest time possible at the inn. When they reach the hunting party, Itsurugi sees Taketsumi battle a giant spider creature called a Sootspawn, the pests of the inn. Saito explains that when Sootspawn attack, Taketsumi defeats it and turns what normally be a frightening attack into a spectacle spectators of the inn can enjoy, a feat which earned him the nickname, "the Aconite Paladin."
Saito founds Anisage despite her cloaking, who begins questioning her. Anisage explains she doesn't want to cause trouble and only wants to return to her father, but the conversation is interrupted by a Sootspawn monster. Saito destroys the Sootspawn and claims the memory shard before attacking Anisage, seeing her as a threat to Ametuschi.
While Anisage could avoid Saito, this one finds her along other Forsaken. He admits he is surprised Anisage survived their previous encounter and attacks, but the Forsaken woman stalls him and orders Anisage to flee. As Itsurugi helps the girl hide to escape her pursuer, only to discover it is an angered Saito and directs him away from the girl.
Saito finds Itsurugi and despite knowing he never meant any harm, prepares to punish him for his actions. Saito prevents Itsurugi from fleeing by placing wards that seal the room and tries to kill him. He tells Itsurugi to die so the Great Spider will be calmed and Ametsuchi can return to being a paradise and Itsurugi reveals never lost his memories and back at his home, he was chosen to be sent away. Taketsumi arrives and declares he will not let Saito hurt Itsurugi.
As Saito appears and attempts to arrest Anisage, she resists Saito in anger at having her friend's memories stolen and Saito realizes that Anisage has recovered her memories in addition to growing more powerful. He then claims that the loss of memories frees people to live their lives happily in present without being shackled by their past, admitting he despised his old memories and pointing out Ansiage's own bad memories that were recovered. He then reveals that he still has the first memory shard belonging to Anisage he took when she first arrived in Ametsuchi, unable to destroy it. Anisage fights to reclaim the memory shard.
Despite her new strength, Anisage is unable to defeat Saito, but continues resisting him and manages to steal back her memory shard and escape.
The Empyrean Inn: Last Resort[]
Saito ambushes Anisage and Mizuchi in the Weaver's Hall as both team up to stop the Great Spider rampage after regaining their memories. Mizuchi tries to reason with Saito they have bigger problems with the Great Spider and Si Long, but he refuses to listen and attacks. Anisage tells Mizuchi to stop Si Long while she handles Saito and Mizuchi reluctantly leaves. Saito calmly reveals he was already planning on stopping Si Long, revealing he suspected that she and Mizuchi were the same person from different times. He then declares Anisage is a monster, something he has experience in killing them, but Anisage tells him he is wrong and fights him. He recalls his miserable life back in his own world and reveals he previously read Anisage's own bad memories. He offers her a chance to lose her memories and return to a peaceful life at the inn, but Anisage defies him, telling him he has forgotten his heart and unleashes a massive boost in mana to fight back, declaring her heart's power is the reason Saito cannot defeat her.
Despite her increase in power, Saito takes control of the magic wards in Weaver's Hall to protect him and uses his experience fighting monsters to gain the upper hand. He then summons a Sootspawn and uses it at a shield, knowing Anisage won't risk destroying the memory shard inside. Despite the disadvantage, Anisage refuses to give up and realizes Saito's weakness.
Anisage manages to whittle down Saito's wards, but he grows angry at her continued defiance and begins beating her while condemning her a selfish child. Anisage fend him off, calling him a hypocrite for throwing a tantrum when he doesn't get his way and declares him a coward, pushing off all his accountability for his actions on his job because he is afraid of his past. She declares she knows how to live her own life, unlike Saito, and unleashes her full might. In the aftermath of the attack, Saito discovers that the attack wasn't meant for him, it was meant to distract him while Anisage took the memory shard from the Sootspawn, a shard that belongs to Saito. Anisage then uses the crystal to make Saito face his weakness: his own memories. The trauma from Saito's past cripples his and Anisage leaves him to face his memories as punishment for depriving others of theirs.
Taketsumi finds a suffering Saito, who was in on his plan, and declares he will get rid of every bad memory so Ametsuchi will be a true paradise forever. Taketsumi gloats at how he destroyed hundreds of memory shards to weaken Ametsuchi's power and erased the memories of any who learned about their plan in order to lure out the Great Spider to kill it and Kunitsu in order to take over as Ametsuchi's leader. However, Saito reveals Si Long, Mizuchi, and Anisage still have their memories and pose a threat; and that Maisha is a servant of Nerva and is fighting Mizuchi and Anisage and that their battle will buy them time to for Taketsumi to complete a transformation he is going under.
When the group arrives at the Hall, Saito informs that Taketsumi is already the new Great Spider.
Etymology[]
- The kanji characters used in Saito's name are çœ (wazawai), meaning "calamity; disaster; misfortune," and è€ (fuji), meaning "wisteria flower."
Gallery[]
