Interlude 38: Adventures of Chaldea - 1 (Patreon)

A/N

Accidently wrote 'Himeko' instead of 'Hinako', fixed it.

@***@

Olga Marie Animusphere POV

“Mash, immediately make contact with Chaldea.” As soon as we appeared, I started giving out orders. “Hinako, do you sense any enemies nearby? Samuel, prepare defensive spells and obscure our presence.”

Small sprouts bloomed underneath us as flowers unfurled and vines arched outwards, a bounded field created from natural means separated us from the world.

“I did my best to hide us, Director!” Samuel saluted.

He had come a long way, I was honestly impressed. Druidism is basically a lost art, yet he took to it with unnatural talent. Or maybe it’s the fact that his teacher is a Demi-god, who knows.

“I can’t sense the blood of any humans nearby, only animals.” Hinako replied.

“Connecting with Chaldea, connection established!” Mash declared as the magical screen appeared with Roman’s face.

“Director, everything good on your end!?” Roman’s voice came on quickly enough.

“Rayshift successful, Roman. Begin step two, run setup protocols so we can bring over the Servants.” I told him.

It was our first time doing this with a Grail acting as our energy source, we had to take all the precautions, so things didn’t metaphorically, and perhaps, literally blow up in our faces.

“Alright! Mash, keep your shield anchored an don’t move it, this should only take a few minutes.” Roman stated.

“That might be a problem, we got company.” Hinako replied and on the horizon, we could see dust clouds being kicked up as hundreds of mounted people charged our way on horses.

Reinforcing my eyes, I could vaguely tell that they were armored and wielding weapons. They were moving…..unnaturally fast.

Wait, were those guns they had!?

The Bullets flying by our heads answered that question!

“Are those guns!” Ritsuka squawked.

Very quickly a thick foliage of roots sprang up  between us, the thud of bullets hitting the makeshift wall was still very clear.

“Sounds like .44-40.” Samuel noted as another bullet thumped against the wooden barrier. “Wait, that was a 45”

“….Americans…” I sighed. “Less focus on their guns and more on the fact that we’re getting shot at!”

“I thought this was supposed to be ancient Rome!?” Ritsuka shouted over the gunfire.

“It is!” That’s what our readings showed!

“Do you want me to take them out? If it’s just normal guns, I can handle that.” Hinako volunteered.

“Allow me, mademoiselle.” Pierre spoke in his thick French accent.

“Wait, what?” I looked at him as he reached into his large jack and pulled out… “Is that Dynamite!?”

He looked at me, then at the Dynamite in question and lit them with a lighter he flicked open. It burned away a few moments, the wick of it getting smaller and smaller as the bullets thumped against the barricade. “No.”

He finally confirmed and tossed them over with supernatural forced, a basic application of Reinforcement.  The explosion was strong enough that we could hear nothing over the winds it kicked up, and even the ground beneath our feet tremble.

“It’s Magic Dynamite.” He replied.

I just stared at him with my mouth open.

I knew he was making things with Caster, and that he brought supplies with him and said they were ‘explosives’, but not like that.

The bullets stopped atleast, even if my ears were ringing!

The Elemental was the first to peek around the girl and she assured us that the coast was clear, even if the scene was bloody.

“Next time, a little warning!” I huffed. “And how many of those things do you have?”

“A few.”

“How many is a few.”

He pulled open his coat and I could see more than a few strapped to his body in every conceivable spot.

…..I suppose the situation calls of certain applications of destructive force.

“Director did something happen? You cut out for a few moments.” Roman’s voice came back up.

I blinked, forgetting about Roman in the chaos. “What do you mean? Mash did you move your shield?”

“No, Director, the image just became….distorted and then it cut out.” The girls hook her head.

“Director, I’m cutting in here. I detecting a strange frequence that interfered with our signal.” Da Vinci pushed her face past Roman. “It’s Magical in nature, and rather weak, so it should be nearby.”

My immediate thought was the people trying to gun us down.

“Hinako can you bring the…..stuff those people were using over here? Anything in tact please.” I scrunched my nose merely glancing over.

“Sure, let me handle everything.” She rolled her eyes.

“What happened, Director!?”

“Some calvary starting shooting guns at us.” I threw my hands up. “Roman, why are there guns In the first century?”

“Uh…..is that a trick question?”

I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Please double check our location.”

“I already did, Director. The year is 60 AD during the rein of the Roman Empire, you shouldn’t be too far away from the capital.” Da Vinci replied.

“Thank you, Caster. How much longer until we can summon our Servants?”

“Give me another three minutes, unless you want to skip over the procedures and do it right now.”

“No, it’s fine, we may as well finish.” I waived it off.

Atleast this nonsense would only need to happen once.

“Here you go.” Hinako unceremoniously dropped a bunch of stuff right at my feet, covered in blood with some body parts still attached.

“Ah, I figured as much.” Samuel reached over and picked up a gun. “Colt, Single Action Army, .45, model 1873.” He fiddled with the gun that had some scorch marks on it from the explosion. He inspected it in various places. “This was made recently, but there’s no serial number. Not filed off or nothin, just doesn’t have one.”

“…how can you tell?” I was oddly impressed.

“My Uncle owned a Gun shop, I worked with a lot of guns when I was younger, he’d take me out shootin some of the old stuff and I always liked the Colt series. The patina here should be more worn down.” He pointed to the cylinder. “And the grip has almost no wear like it should from sweaty hands and such.”

“Interesting, so that suggests there is someone capable of mass producing guns. Based on what I’m seeing, that’s Roman armor, and I see no officer decals, which implies these are normal scouts or calvary. So by that logic, if they had these kinds of weapons, that means they’re widespread. “ Da Vinci analyzed.

“Can’t tell much about the rifle unfortunately.” Samuel dropped the remained of the bigger gun onto the ground. “But should be about the same from the looks of it.”

“I think we can assume the reason for this singularity then.” Ritsuka chuckled awkwardly.

“Here ya go, Ritsuka.” Samuel stuffed one of the pistols into his hand along with what looked like a leather strap filled with ammo. “Simple rules, don’t point it at nothin you don’t want dead, and also assume it’s loaded. If they got guns, it’s best to carry some ourselves, I reckon.”

I found no reason to disagree.

I may be a Magus, but I could understand the practical applications of firearms. Why shoot a Gandr at someone if I can just pull the trigger of a gun?

Unfortunately, only a few were operable by the looks of it.

“Thanks.” The Japanese boy awkwardly fumbled with it.

“The aim is piss beyond 20 yards or so, so be careful.” Samuel nodded.

For the first time in my life, I’m grateful for having an American with gun fanatics in his family tree.

“Hinako, did you find anything that could have disrupted the signal?” I looked at the non-human of our team.

She shrugged. “Was probably destroyed in the explosion.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

I wanted to give Pierre a verbal reprimand, but in hindsight, I can’t find fault with what he did. It’s better to be more cautious since we just entered this singularity, who knows if there would be something that could have made Hinako inoperable if she tried to just run out in the hail of bullets?

Looking up to the sky, I could see the ring that wrapped around the planet. It was the same ring we saw back in Orleans and we had a better idea of what was going on now.

“Director, we’re ready for summons!” Mash informed me as I snapped out of my thoughts. “Each of you choose a Servant, we’ll start with one each and collect data on how our systems handle the strain for now.”

Though I was sure that Fujimaru could have had more rather easily. I wasn’t a Master, and despite being the Director, this fell under their purview to choose whom to bring.

“I’ll take Saber.” Ritsuka stated.

She was probably the strongest individual Servant we had considering her Noble Phantasm.

“Tamamo for me. Might come in handy since she’s better at illusions and such than Cu.” Samuel spoke next

That was sound logic.

“Avenger.” Hinako grunted.

“Caster for me as well.” Pierre answered last.

I was…..finding myself proud of them. It was the combination of Servants I would have chosen as well. Perhaps the Casters under Samuel would depend on my mood, but his reasoning was sound. Medea could take to the skies, Saber as our frontline, Tamamo as our support, and Avenger could fill in where needed.

“You heard them, Roman. Begin the Servant Rayshifting!” I commanded.

“Rayshifting commencing, bringing forth your Servants.”

They appeared quickly without much fanfare, our systems were running much more optimally than our time in Orleans.

“Can finally stretch my legs.” Avenger stretched her arms. “Alright, who do I gotta burn?” She sniffed. “Hmm, someone already beat me to it.”

“Hoh, my cute little student, did you get to try your toys out already?’ Medea chuckled, looking over the corpses with something resembling….pride?

Pierre shot her a thumbs up, making the witch laugh even more.

“Husband~” The Fox wrapped around Samuel rather quickly. “Don’t worry your foxy waifu is here to keep you safe.”

Saber looked around and her eyes spotted the corpses and then the armor. “Ah, Romans.” She looked…nostalgic. “It has been a long time since I have slain Romans.” Was she….smiling?

….this is the group that was going to save the world.

“Let’s get going, the capital should be to the west, we need to figure out what’s going on.”

At the very least, I felt like I could trust my back to them.

@***@

“So uh, I’m not a history specialist, but this doesn’t look right.” Ritsuka was squatting down inspecting a brass network of pipes.

“That’s because it’s not.” My lips thinned.

“Yeah, I remember when plumbing like this was created.” Hinako inspected it just as well. “You got a few more centuries because this becomes a norm.”

The city was….barely in distance, even with enhanced eyesight, it was a vague blurr, but it was obvious we were getting close.

Not to mention we were seeing people as well. And it was normal things, carts being pulled by a horse or other beast of burden. Farmers pulling their harvests down the road to store or sell, and the random traveler who didn’t pay us any mind thanks to Caster’s illusions.

“Excuse me, Saber Ma’am, could you please cut off the end of the pipe about….” Samuel held his hands apart. “This big, please?”

Saber looked at him, same as us. And contrary to her usual demeanor, it seems like she was receptive to the polite request.

Wordlessly, she swung her blade cutting off the ends of one of the large pips and tossed it to the American.

“Oof.” He caught it, his knees nearly giving out. “Thank ya, ma’am.” He replied.

She just grunted.

Was it actual receptiveness to him or was it a promise she made to a certain someone.

“Yup, not seeing any hammer strikes.” He huffed, tossing it to the dirt.

“And you needed a piece of that to clarify because…?” I looked at him.

“Got a thought, but I don’t know if it sounds silly or not, Director.”

“We’re currently in 60AD with Roman soldiers wielding guns like it’s a bad western movie, I think we’re far past silly.” I said dryly.

“Well….” He scratched his head. “When boss was teaching us about Servants – Heroic Spirits, he said that Modern Servants were near impossible to come about. But uh….” He took out the gun from earlier in his hands. “Why does this have a name to it, Ma’am?”

I raised an eyebrow, realizing what his train of thought was. “You think there’s a Heroic Spirit – the original creator of that?”

It wasn’t….the most absurd idea.

“Boss told us that Mages disdain firearms, but the Colt is probably one of the most well known brands to ever exist. There’s a saying from back in the day – God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal.”

“And the pipe?”

“Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but not all Heroic Spirits fit comfortably into one of them classes, right? Like if there was a gunman, they’d be an Archer, as an example.”

“That’s a correction assumption.” The logic was sound.

“If a Gun Maker was given a Class, wouldn’t it be Caster that came with a workshop and all that? To make guns, you need a lot of special equipment that could be refitted to make other things.”

“My hubby is so smart~” The Caster Servant threw herself at him much to his chagrin.

I ignored that and considered what he said.

It was plausible.

“Boyo has a point. My Territory Creation also has some rather unique characteristics. I could imagine a modern Servant getting that kind of thing.” Medea seemed to agree.

Once more, I was thankful that I had an American on our team.

Truthfully, I was so focused on ancient heroes that I probably would not have made the jumps he did until it was smack in my face. Most likely with a gun and bullet coming for my head.

The idea of a Modern Servant being able to industrialize the Roman Military was a frightening concept when I was still a squishy human. Though I did have my Aura courtesy of the literal Anti-Christ, but I have yet to have it properly tested against firearms of all thing.

Is it a quirk of a modern Servant? They lack the Mystery, but they make up for it in the Modern conveniences and industrial fortitude?

“We can work under this assumption, but be prepared for anything.” As we saw in the last Singularity, things can happen that we can’t predict. “Let’s make our way to the city, Caster, please keep an illusion up on us.”

“Yeah yeah.” The Caster servant dismissed me.

I felt my eye twitch but ignored it. I wasn’t her Master, but I would remember this when it came time for her allocated meals.

Hmph, better yet, I should ban her from the kitchen as she seems intent on cooking for Samuel.

As we got closer, the walls of the capital became more predominant. Of course, the outliers were very noticeable.

I wouldn’t quite call them modern, but early 1800s technology was a far cry from what was possible in the first century.

Especially when the guards and soldiers had holsters and guns at their sides along with their shields and spears!

Though what made us all stop in our tracks was something much more significant that stood out.

There was a large white ‘screen’ that hung down from the wall, and on it was the flickering of light as images flashed across it.

Black and white images coming from a projector.

A woman appeared on the screen looking very similar to our Saber.

The words ‘Nero Claudius Augustus Germanicus – When Stars Align’ in large letters with directions to the nearest theatre.

“H-how indecent!” Our Saber made a really strange noise in contrast to her usual demeanor, and glancing her way there was a slight flush on her cheeks.

She was staring at the movie promotion, as the presumed Emperor Nero was on ‘screen’, a near reflection of our Saber except she wore a dress with a visible front so you could see all the way up her legs and her undergarments. Her chest was much more predominantly displayed just as well, and when the ‘images’ of the Emperor spun around there was a Butt Window on her dress…..

Right, I think we found the source of the singularity, because the ‘Emperor’ was holding a certain Chalice in her hand so blatantly.

“Pfft!” The Avenger covered her mouth barely containing her laughter. “I was going to ask if you knew her but considering that she actually has something on her chest, I’d say you’re not related. Be careful, the idiot might trade up for the superior model.”

“CARE TO REPEAT THAT?!” Saber roared, swinging her sword down with reckless abandonment.

The illusion around us shattered as the blast collided with the wall.

And suddenly hundreds of Soldiers swarmed out of the gate, pointing guns at us.

Right…..these are the people that were going to save the world.

@***@

A/N

Been meaning to do a Chaldea adventures interlude and this was a good chance since it’s going to be a bit of a time skip from last chapter to next one to move things along. Basically, I’ll do a few interludes of Chaldea someone managing the singularities, but it won’t be a moment to moment update on their adventures.

As for the singularity itself and why it’s so funky, well, in canon Lev was hanging around inside it and mucking about with the grail and personally making things worse. Here, well, Nero got a hold of the Grail and while her intentions weren’t to ‘destroy the world’, having the wish to make Rome flourish brought unforeseen side effects. Randomly thought the idea of a Heroic Spirit Colt would be cool as a way to make it have that strange ‘singularity’ feel. Rome, but it has an old western theme kind of deal.