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Interlude 43 Chaldea Adventures, Rome Finale, Part 1
🕑 Added 2025-08-26 10:41:56 +0000 UTCOlga Marie Animusphere POV
“This is…fascinating.”
“That’s not how I would word it.” I grit my teeth as Da Vinci all but salivated over the current situation. “Caster, the connection is fuzzy; fix it.”
“Do you want to switch places with me, lass?” Medea scowled. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is trying to manage a connection like this just by seeing it done by that other girl a few times? You’re lucky I managed this much because of the concentration of Ley Lines here. As it is, I’m already blowing through almost all of my master’s reserves maintaining this connection.”
Ugh, I completely forgot about Mash being our link back to Chaldea when she jumped off the moving truck!
The connection became clear again with Medea’s efforts.
“This is a mess.” Roman chimed in.
“Thanks for your astounding input, as always, Roman.” I said dryly. “But this is, without a doubt, an utter mess.”
“And the native summoned Servants. What do we know about them so far?” Roman asked.
“We know of a few from what we’ve managed to gather. Boudica, the Celtic queen, was nice enough to help out and gave us a place to lay low, seeing as we’re ‘allies.’ With her is Spartacus, the gladiator and famous rebel. She told us that Nero has her own servant under her thumb, presumably what Samuel said before about this Colt, or whatever. She mentioned that there’s another ‘Diva,’ apparently, one who frequently clashes with Nero and has her own fan base that’s been growing. Boudica said that she claims to be a goddess.”
“A goddess as a servant?” Roman exclaimed. “That’s impossible, isn’t it?”
“No.” Hinako chimed in. “Why would you think it’s difficult? Sure, they can’t fully manifest, but they’re Divine Spirits. If I ever died, I could become a Heroic Spirit if I wanted, much less a Divine Spirit able to use some tricks to manifest.”
Well, that was eye-opening.
I suppose it was good to have other perspectives.
“She’s not wrong.” Medea added as well. “Seeing as how I could manage to probably mess with the Servant Summoning if I cared to, I could imagine it would be a simple matter for my teacher or her teacher, or equally for any other Divine Spirits.”
There was a pause, then Medea looked at our other caster. “You can even ask her; she would know best.”
“Hee? Why are you looking at me? This poor Tamamo-no-Mae wouldn’t know about that sort of thing!” The fox servant looked startled as she was called out.
“Caster, is it true?”
“Ah My husband.” She immediately did a 180. “Of course! It’s a simple thing, really”
I just nodded and took what I could get there.
“Regardless! That’s not relevant right now; let’s assume it’s true and move on. We have a big problem, and this isn’t what we were prepared for!” I changed the topic back to the main point. “Da Vinci, do you have any plans? How are we supposed to defeat someone who used the Grail to become literally immortal?”
“I admit, this took me by surprise too. Using the Grail to become immortal isn’t something far-fetched, and we’ve had contingency plans in the database for such things. Usually, there would always be ‘flaws’ in certain types of immortality, and we just had to exploit them. Thanks to Hinako, we have some firsthand experience there if needed. But…” She trailed off.
“This is hardly the same as me.” The Nature Spirit huffed.
“I wasn’t finished.” Da Vinci cut in. “Due to the odd nature of her apparent ‘immortality,’ there may not be any avenues to exploit. The fact that she left open a glaring hole means that otherwise, it’s more absolute in application. So to summarize, unless we play her game, she won’t die.”
Great, just great.
I rubbed my temples. I wanted to just throw my hands up and be done with this, but I forced myself to calm down.
I was the director, the leader.
“Why don’t we just…” Pierre moved his hands around, taking a moment to find the right words. “Blow her the fuck up during a performance?”
“.....”
“Fireworks are a show, yes?”
“That…can’t work, can it?” I looked around, then at Da Vinci.
“...maybe?” Da Vinci offered. “It’s not like we know her exact wish wording?”
“It’s better than no plan.” Samuel offered.
And I couldn’t argue with that.
Oddly, it was Saber who spoke next. “If it fails, what consequences does it hold? We are simply back to where we started and know for next time.”
“That’s…not entirely true.” Da Vinic chimed in again. “We are sort of on a time limit. Nothing too significant, but you need to clear this singularity within a few months. If she doesn’t hold another ‘competition’ within that time period, there may be consequences.”
“What kind of consequences, Da Vinci?” Samuel asked. “This is the first time I’ve heard of this.”
I let out a sigh. “Because this wasn’t an expectation of ours. We assumed that the Singularities—with good reason—would be resolved within the needed time frame due to the volatile nature of the singularities themselves. However, the longer one persists, the greater the chance that it may bleed out into the greater human history rather than be resolved and removed.”
Da Vinic hummed. “Someone put a canvas over the painting that is proper human history. They’re painting on the new canvas with reckless abandon. They keep adding more and more paint, adding more color and layers and what have you. The longer this goes on, the greater the chance that this ‘fresh paint’ will bleed back onto the canvas underneath.”
They seemed to understand that metaphor at least.
“So, how are we supposed to accomplish that?” Avenger asked. “Just ask her nicely to stand still so we can put some bombs under her and stress test her apparently ‘immortality’?” She scoffed.
Her attitude was annoying, but her comment was valid.
So, I took a deep breath. “Then we play her game.” I looked at my ‘team.’ “Be it a distraction to keep her in place or as another method of victory. Logically speaking, she believes herself to be unmatched in this regard, so she would ‘go last’ in something like this, right? And to join, all we have to do is ‘register,’ which apparently is a short list because Nero is so popular. So we need to stall with performances. Best case scenario, we somehow win this way, but if not, then we can give Pierre’s suggestion a try. So, who among you has some talent?”
I can’t believe I was asking something like this.
They were all silent.
“I can make any clothing or costumes. And I suppose I could manage any equipment you need to make any ‘shows’ a bit more spectacular.” Medea raised her hand, and I sensed a bit more enthusiasm in her tone than I would have normally assumed.
“Good.” I nodded. “Medea will be handling supplies, though we do need to acquire some raw materials and what not.”
“Oh, me, me!” Tamamo raised her hand. “I can show my husband how beautiful and talented I am! Dance, song, poetry, tea ceremony—this poor little fox is a one-woman festival~!”
….. I would normally sigh, but… “I like your enthusiasm. Anyone else?”
“Nero is historically remembered for her singing, good or bad, so I can prepare some songs to compete with her.” Da Vinci offered from her end, as there wasn’t really much she could physically do.
“Oh, that would be excellent!” Tamamo perked up. “I will learn some modern songs to stun the audience and win the heart of my husband!”
Samuel, oddly enough, flushed a little at her proclamation.
“And who else?” I looked around. “Saber—”
“No.” Her words were stern and without leaving a breath’s room to argue.
“Pfft! Yeah, right. What’s her talent? Being a shitty knockoff of the big-titted Emperor?” Avenger mocked.
“I have a talent in killing French.” She glared at Avenger.
“Please.” Avenger rolled her eyes. “I think at this point, I have more talent there.”
…this is not going to bode well.
“...Avenger?”
“I can’t sing or dance; unless you want everything set on fire, look somewhere else.” Avenger crossed her arms.
“Hinako.” I settled on.
“No, absolutely not!”
“Can you sing or dance?”
“...I refuse to do this ridiculousness.”
“As your boss, I’m ordering you to participate!”
She scowled but didn’t argue after that. “Fine! I can sing or dance, alright? I wasn’t a consort for nothing!” She muttered to herself under her breath. “Back in my day, you actually had to have skills other than being good in bed.”
“Great, it sounds like we have a show then!” Da Vinic clapped her head. “If we take into consideration the other Servants—”
“You mean the giant Roman gladiator that’s going to dance?” I asked.
“-- then we should have enough time to set things up.” She paused for a moment. “Hopefully.”
“Maybe we can try and find that other goddess, Servant?” Samuel offered. “If we could get her on our side, that’d help a lot.”
“That is a good idea; we need to look into that.” I nodded. “From what Boudica said, security is basically nonexistent during the ‘festival’ that Nero is going to hold. Basically, everyone already knows she’s immortal, so who would be dumb enough to try and do something?”
“Director, I don’t have much of a talent in performing, but I can help too. If they’re making a bunch of bullets, they’re going to need a lot of gunpowder. If we can find their factories or where they store it, we can steal some and use that to help blow everything up.” Samuel offered.
“That’s a good idea, Samuel.” I praised him genuinely. “Alright, we’re going to coordinate. Pierre and Samuel, you both are going to take Avenger and Saber to find the gunpowder. Medea, you’re on…costume duty. And coordinate with Da Vinci to plan out performances for Caster and Hinako.”
“No, I need to stay close to hubby! He can’t go into a dangerous area without me around!” Tamamo immediately argued.
“It’s alright, caster. You focus on your performance, and I’ll look forward to seeing you in action.” He gave her a big smile.
“Hughk~” Tamamo clutched her chest as her face turned red. “...if that’s what my hubby wants.”
Well, she’s easy to handle, it seems.
“And report back if you hear any news on Ritsuka and Mash!”
And with that, we had a plan.
Let’s hope we can manage to put something together in only a few days.
@***@
Samuel POV
“Where the hell do you expect us to find a zither?” Olga yelled.
“What did you think I meant when I said I could play an instrument? Did you think it was a piano? I’m Chinese! I’m from ancient China!” Hinako yelled back.
“Why can’t Caster make one!?”
“It’s a musical instrument, not a colored smoke dispenser or floodlight! It needs delicate tuning and proper understanding!”
“Then help her?!”
“I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE ONE EITHER!”
“AAAAH!”
That was about par for the course these past couple days.
I carefully stepped back from them so I didn’t get caught up in that mess. That was way above my pay grade; I’ll stick to shooting things with my guns.
Would they let us keep these things after everything is done? They’re a collector’s item even if I could never prove it back home.
I walked into our main ‘headquarters’ that we had been camping out in.
“Master~” Caster came running and nearly tackled me. “I missed you so much!”
“I’ve only been gone a few hours this time, caster.” I smiled awkwardly.
“Mou~ A few hours without my hubby by my side is too much!”
“I like your dress.” Ma said it’s important to compliment a girl when she gets new clothes.
She let out a happy giggle. “It’s a kimono, silly. But it’s fine; we have plenty of time to teach each other about our cultures later~.”
Why did that sound ominous?
“It’s still very pretty.”
“Kuu~ If you keep saying things like that, I won’t be able to hold back.” She whispered, cupping her cheeks.
“Oh, it’s you.” Medea walked in as the door swung open. “Is my master with you as well? He left with you on your little errand, if I recall.”
Medea was carrying a bunch of fabrics in her hands.
I nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. Pierre and I just got back along with Avenger and Saber. The last place we hit was a bust; it was just a storage site, no gunpowder. We came to regroup and then head out to the next one.”
“Well, you better hurry up; we only have a few days left before showtime.” She said curtly, walking back further into the building. “Come along, fox, I got more things for you to try on.”
“Master…” Tamamo hesitated.
“Go ahead, Caster.” I reassured her. “You can show me after you’re done trying them on.”
“Of course!” She nodded happily and ran after the other Caster Servant.
When I was told we were part of a magical organization meant to protect the world, this isn’t what I pictured.
Though, oddly, this isn’t the strangest thing I’ve ever had happen to me in my life. I’ve been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras.
I went in a different direction from the others and found Pierre again. There was a screen set up, and lots of magical stuff all around too. I had it explained to me, but I couldn’t understand most of it. The Boss was much better at dumbing it down so I could understand the magical technical terms.
But it made it so we could connect with Da Vinci.
Though, it was Roman on the other side.
“Good afternoon, Samuel.”
“Afternoon, Roman. Do we have any updates?” I asked, glancing at Pierre, who was leaning against a table with several maps thrown around.
“I was just finishing up what Pierre asked me. Based on the maps you provided and where you’ve searched so far, I think we’ve narrowed down the likely spot for the gunpowder you’re looking for.” Roman stated.
I was about to respond, but I heard a crashing outside.
I saw one of the other Servants—Spartacus—burst through a wall, a rose in his mouth, and he was wearing…well, I suppose it was a nice suit; it just looked…odd on someone his size. I think he was dancing, and he just didn’t notice or care about the wall.
Medea ran after him, shouting something I couldn’t quite hear.
“Right…can we speed that up, if possible?” I asked.
“Oui, yes, I want to be… how you say… anywhere but here. Things, they are getting… très bizarre.” Pierre added.
“Uh, sure. Yeah, from the data we’ve run, the calculations give a 72% chance of the Black Powder you’re looking for being at the section you marked as ‘D’ based on various simulations like moisture, storage, accessibility, etc.” Roman quickly spoke.
I am grateful for magical computers that can run random things like this.
Even if I am running around almost nonstop, I think I much prefer it to what’s going on here.
“No rest for the wicked then.” I took out my gun and checked it before nodding to myself. “Let’s pick up some stuff before we go; Miss Boudica was kind enough to let us have access to their armory.”
“Oui.” Pierre agreed. “Perhaps we…take the back door.”
I looked out the window again, and I could faintly hear some of the talking happening.
Miss Medea was with Miss Saber.
“Come on, Saber, just one little dress! You don’t even have to be good at singing; just go up on stage and I’ll make something to—”
“I will kill everyone in the audience and then myself.” Saber replied with utter assurance in her tone.
She wasn’t joking in her threat.
“Yeah, the back door sounds good.”
Pierre and I quietly snuck out the back, away from everything happening, and made our way towards Miss Boudica’s side of the fence. The saloon she was staying in was…right out of a western movie.
If the fate of the world weren’t at stake, I would be feeling right at home here.
The people inside barely spared us a glance at this point, with us having been running around a few days under their noses.
“Oh, if it isn’t you two boys, what brings you over here, huns?” Miss Boudica greeted us rather pleasantly.
“Greetings, Ma’am. Would it be alright for us to stock up on some ammo and supplies?” I asked politely.
She let out a chuckle, walking up to the bar and taking a seat at the counter. “A sweet little thing, aren’t you?” She patted the bar counter and gestured to the bartender. He nodded from behind the bar, and the display cases on the back spun around. Replaced from the liquor and glass cups were rows of ammo, guns, explosives, and everything we would need. “Take your picks.”
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
“Merci à toi.” Pierre also said.
I grabbed a strap of bullets and slung it over my shoulder, and I looked at a few of the pistols they had, opting to take one more extra. Pierre took a few sticks of dynamite to replace some he had used already and looked happy enough.
“And where are you boys going all dressed up like that?” Miss Boudica asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No point in hiding it, Ma’am. We’re looking for the storage of their Black Powder to commandeer.” She was our friend and ally; it was alright to tell her.
“Ah, well, can’t help you there. We stopped tracking or caring about their military supplies some months ago after we learned that Nero couldn’t be killed. No point in waging a war against an immortal, y’know?”
I nodded; it was sensible. “The others are preparing for the festival…competition, whatever it is, in a few days.”
Miss Boudica smiled brightly. “Well, I can’t help there; I’m not really skilled at this sort of thing.” She said helplessly. “I’m thankful that you lot came along and actually have experience here. Our original plan was to track down that other Stray Servant we’d heard about, but we couldn’t manage to find her. Every lead, every person who knew her exact location—it was like they were possessed when we tried to push them for information. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Servant is skilled at Magecraft and put mental blocks or something along those lines in the people closest to her.”
I nodded and mentally put that information away for now.
“Miss Boudica, I have a question that’s been on my mind that I haven’t asked, if you don’t know.”
“Go ahead, sweetheart, what do you need to know?” She leaned on her palm with her elbow on the counter.
“Why not just steal the Grail?” I asked.
She barked out a laugh. “That was the second idea we had after killing her. We’ve tried, believe me, we tried. But as long as she’s alive, it seems like no one else can use it unless they ‘play’ by her rules. We weren’t the only ones either; even her own people tried to steal it once they found out what it could do, and that didn’t end well for them.”
I pursed my lips, realizing that made sense. There wouldn’t be such a glaring flaw in logic there that no one else but me could see.
“How exactly is it ‘judged’ who wins? If it’s the Emperor, wouldn’t it mean she’d never lose?”
Miss Boudica shook her head. “She mentioned offhandedly that it’s based on the hearts of those around her; it’s not her decision.”
“She must be a really good performer then.” I whistled.
Miss Boudica laughed out loud again. “Oh sweet child, she’s not very good.” She said between laughs.
“...pardon?”
“Let me say it this way. You are a Roman; your empire is conquering the entire world. You’ve seen wealth and status that you couldn’t even dream of before. Goods from places that you didn’t even know existed. Technology suddenly from an era far into the future. You don’t want for anything; you have excess and live a life of lap and luxury befitting a king as a mere commoner. Would your heart be swayed by some upstart trying to take that away?”
Oh…
Oh, that’s bad.
“So it’s a rigged game?”
She shrugged. “Honestly, she probably doesn’t even realize. She’s…..” Miss Boudica paused, with a frown on her face. “You’ll see when you meet her for the first time.”
I just nodded, not quite understanding. But I would judge it when or if I ever meet this emperor of Rome.
The doors to the saloon swung open with force, deafening the room.
Saber walked in with a furious look on her face, combined with it being rather…red in hue. A mix of anger and embarrassment.
“We’re leaving now.” She demanded. “Pick up your toys and get to the car.”
I peeked around her and saw Miss Medea halfway stuck through a building.
I could guess what happened without having to be told.
Yes, Mom.
@***@
It was a bit strange seeing Miss Saber and Miss Avenger wearing period-appropriate clothes. Though, technically, they weren’t even period appropriate.
We were in ancient Rome wearing old Western-style clothing that didn’t look out of place compared to what people were wearing on the streets.
Well, it was about half and half, with some people still wearing Roman-like clothing.
“Turn left up here, Miss Saber.” I stated it, and she just grunted in acknowledgement. “There should be a big marbled warehouse up ahead with a wall around it.”
The building came into view; it wasn’t like a warehouse you would find back home, but for these times, it’s about as expected.
“It looks like the other ones we’ve been to already.” Avenger spoke with a bored tone. “Are you sure about this one?”
I pointed at the various lights around the building. “They don’t have torches here; I didn’t think about it before.” As night settled, they needed something to see, and torches were still an obvious choice. “Since they’re using light bulbs, I think they might be worried about fire nearby.”
“Qui, it makes sense.” Pierre agreed.
Saber turned to Avenger. “Take your countryman and go through the back, me and him—” She jerked her thumb at me. “Will go through the ceiling; I see some windows up there.”
“Fine, whatever.” Avenger got out. “Come along, bomb boy.”
I didn’t need to watch them go, as Saber and I got out of the car too.
I fixed my guns to my side and made sure I didn’t stand out too much. “From the rooftop?”
“Yes, follow along.” With grace I couldn’t hope to match, she gently leapt up onto the nearby building in a single stride.
I took a deep breath, activated my circuits as I had been taught, then cast a reinforcement on my leg just as the boss had thoroughly drilled into our heads.
I crouched down and jumped up; I overshot it by a few feet, but Saber grabbed my collar before I went too high and stabilized me.
“Not bad.” She said expressionlessly.
“The Boss taught us well.” I smiled.
“Of course he did.” She let out a scoff like it was an obvious thing to note. “You better not put your teacher to shame. I promised to protect you, but as long as you’re alive, I don’t care about anything else.”
She didn’t say another word and jumped to the next building.
I did my best to follow along, but I was hopelessly outmatched there. Despite this, she didn’t say anything negative, even helping me a few times when I nearly stumbled.
Lastly, we stepped onto the roof of the warehouse, silently creeping up to the overhead—and very out of place—windows.
We looked down and saw quite a few guards there. “It would be bad to alert so many.”
“Do you think I am incapable of taking out a few inept Romans?” She glowered.
“No, Miss Saber. I just think it’s best to be stealthy. I don’t want to have to kill if I don’t need to. The boss said that even if everything is fixed in the end, not all the small details get undone.”
Of course, if we needed to, then it needed to be done. I’ve already had to kill a few, especially when we first arrived.
She scowled. “Of course that idiotic man would say something like that.” She said under her breath. “Fine, then you can take the lead.”
I carefully crawled up to the rooftop window and looked at it.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a convenient way to open it up and jump down.
However, I could see the primitive screws that held it together and had an idea.
Boss said that reinforcement was dangerous and could make things crumble or explode under the strain if used wrong, but he also said that it could be a nice tool to use in certain situations.
Very carefully, I pressed a finger against one of the screws and overloaded it with my magical energy.
Just as Boss said, the screw, with a small metallic pop, burst almost completely, crumbling in the groove.
I tested the window, and it wiggled slightly, indicating that it was enough, so I did the same to all the other screws until the window was completely unfastened and just held in place by its own weight.
Saber raised an eyebrow. “You are proving acceptable.”
I think that was a big compliment from her.
She grabbed the sides of the window and carefully lifted it up with ease despite the size, much easier than I could manage and without a single sound.
She jumped down first without a word, and I quickly followed, not believing that she was behaving haphazardly.
Very quickly, there was a guard on the floor knocked out, and my eyes darted around until I found another who had just turned away.
I leapt at him and quickly put him in a chokehold he couldn’t make a sound.
He struggled under my grasp but looked young, really young. He didn’t have any experience with something like this, so he quickly went limp, and I carefully dragged his body behind some crates.
Saber followed my lead and lifted up her own guard, tossing him out of sight as well.
It was oddly…casual, the guards. I don’t think they expected anyone to actually break in. Despite having done this a few times in other places, they were far too lax.
Saber and I slowly made our way further downstairs, and what was there was not what I expected. There were other larger sections of the warehouse, but in part, it looked more like a workshop.
I went to inspect some of the machines. “A Milling Machine, a Drill Press, a Rifling Machine, a Forging Machine…” I listed them off. “This must be the place.”
Right as I said that, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye, and Saber was in front of me before I could utter a word, catching a bullet out of the air.
It seems we missed a guard who had taken a shot at me.
She quickly ran at him, giving him a not-so-gentle punch to the stomach as he kneeled over and passed out.
“Thank you, Saber.” I let out a breath of relief. “You saved me again.”
“I’m merely doing what I promised to him, nothing more.” She dismissed my thanks, dropping the ground-down bullet from her hand.
“You must really like the boss, huh?” I chuckled.
Though, I think I said the wrong thing because her face quickly turned sour, and I think she got angry. “Don’t say stupid things!” She raised her voice.
“...I didn’t mean anything by it; I’m sorry.” I quickly apologized, realizing I touched a sore spot.
“Say something like that again and I’ll leave you behind.” She scowled at me and walked away.
Luckily, the gunshot didn’t seem too loud? This room was a bit more soundproof than I had anticipated. Probably because they work with delicate machinery and don’t need the distractions of what’s happening elsewhere in this place.
I ran a finger over some of the machinery; they had been used recently. I found some remnants of black powder too; they didn’t do a good job of cleaning up.
I guess safety concerns weren’t much of a thing here other than the obvious.
“Hey Saber, they definitely got the stuff here; let’s start checking—” Saber turned around, and her eyes widened.
That’s when I felt something hard and cold press against the back of my head.
Saber had immediately turned back to her armor with her sword in hand, but a gruff voice stopped her in her tracks.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, miss.” The person behind me spoke. “I’m darn sure you’re faster than me, being a Saber Servant from the looks of it, but can you get to me before I put a bullet in this young man’s head?”
Saber didn’t move, and I felt a chill down my spine.
“Servant Caster, I presume?” Saber asked, clearly a hiss in her tone.
“That I am, Ma’am.” He replied.
“Are you Mr. Colt?” I asked.
I felt his gun ease up every so slightly. “Oh? You guessed my identity. American? Sounds like a southern boy like me.”
“Samuel Washington, Sir. I was named after you.” I nodded hesitantly. “Born and raised in Texas.”
There was a bark of aged laughter behind me. “Well, isn’t that something? Then as a gift for the laugh, I’ll tell you not to try anything funny. That goes double for you too, young lady. Don’t expect this boy here to activate that fancy Mystic Code he’s hiding under his clothes to protect himself. My bullets, you will find, don’t take kindly to that sort of thing.”
“What do you want?” Saber demanded.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you lot that question? Breaking into my workshop, scaring the ghost out of me. If it weren’t for a skill of mine that let me move as an assassin when needed, I’m afraid you would have cut me to pieces without so much as a word on my part.”
…he may not be wrong.
“Would it be possible to ask you to stop working for the Emperor, sir?”
He chuckled again. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, son. Summoned and contracted, you see. As much as I’d love to move to greener pastures, I can’t go against my contract.”
“It seems we’re at an impasse then.” Saber noted. “The boy you have is not my master; if you harm him, I will kill you.”
“And if you move, I’ll be forced to put a bullet in him, unfortunately. We’re at a good old-fashioned standoff.”
“This isn’t how I hoped meeting you would go, sir.” I said awkwardly.
“You’d be surprised how many meetings turned into a situation like this in my life, boy.”
“Are you going to kill me, sir?”
“I’d rather not, son. I don’t make it a habit of killing people if I can help it. I’m an inventory, an ironmonger, yes, but I don’t see myself as a man who looks people in the eye as he pulls the trigger. Call me a coward, but I don’t like to get blood on my hands.”
“Could we both just step back and go our separate ways?’
“I wish I could, but I’m under a very specific set of orders, as it were.” I felt his gun loosen slightly, but it was still aimed at me. “Keep talking; ask me a question.”
I was confused as to why he said that, but I obliged. How come there are cars and movies and radios around these parts when you’re a gun maker, sir?”
“Haah, well, that’s a bit of silliness that I picked up after my death. Because my weapons are so iconic and associated with the concept of the ‘Wild West,’the genre of movies is attached to my legend too. For some reason, I can also make some other stuff due to that.”
“Do you need me to keep going, sir?”
“No, I’m almost ready.” He stated. “Don’t hate me for this, son; this is the only way I could think about getting out of this without us both dying and still following my orders.”
Saber was about to move, but Mr. Colt pressed his gun a bit more obviously. “Ah, miss, don’t even think about it.”
“I’ll kill you,” Saber hissed.
“It would be easy, ma’am. I may be a servant like you, but all my stats are abysmal, nothing over D, I’m afraid. Except for one.” He smiled. “You came to a Caster’s workshop, and even if I’m not the type of Caster you’d expect, my class should still be respected. While you’re a Saber Servant here, your Magic Resistance won’t help you.”
Despite his warnings, Saber shot forward, and Mr. Colt stepped back as I felt his gun disappear from the back of my head.
“「Frontier Myth Eternal」: The Last Reel of the Wild West”
His words were followed by a bright light, and a moment later, I found myself staring up at the noon sun beating down on me. There was sand under my feet and red mountains on the horizons with cacti all around us.
“What’s going on?” I stand up, looking confused, then I find Saber a few feet away, and she’s…frowning.
“...a Reality Marble.” Saber speaks.
“A what?” I was confused; I didn’t know what that meant.
“An enclosed world. His Noble Phantasm created an entire world around us.’
I didn’t understand what that meant, but it sounded bad.
“You’re spot on, little lady.” Colt appeared just far enough away that Saber didn’t immediately lash out. “Don’t worry, my Noble Phantasm here isn’t the type to go straight for killing. This is the ideal in the hearts of every man, woman, and child who bore with the harshness of the West during the frontier days. Every family that went west in hopes of a better future. Every man who dug out a shovelful of dirt to claim his own land. Every man who dared pick up a gun and ride out towards the sunset to conquer this harsh land. I pulled in everyone from the building, so your other companions should be in here somewhere as well.”
“If I kill you, it will disappear.” Saber’s sword erupted in a dark light.
“That do be correct, miss. But my Noble Phantasm here is a tad different than most Reality Marbles.” I could get a good look at his face this time; he was in his older years, maybe past fifty, with greying hair and a wrinkled face. He tipped his hat to us. “But I don’t have to stay inside with you all.”
Saber launched at him, but her sword went right through him.
In fact, his body began to disappear, turning into old film rolls and peeling away.
“Stay trapped here for a few days, son. The magical energy sustaining this will drain from my workshop in about two days’ time, give or take.” He smiled as he disappeared.
“Well…this isn’t good.”
@***@
A/N
I wanted to wrap up this Chaldea interlude because it’s been hitting me in the muse recently, so I figured I’d do it all at once. Since it’s an interlude of Chaldea, it doesn’t need scene by scene plays I figured, so just the broad strokes generally of what happened.
Comments
Kz3838
Thank you for the great chapter, stay safe out there and keep up the good work!
Niraada
I feel like Colt having low stats would make sense, especially with the whole 'God didn't make men equal; Mr. Colt did.' bit, but that being more of a 'my bullet say's you're dead' effect to cancel out magic resistance is pretty interesting
Nur Selim
Holy shit, the most famous gun maker in the world, an actually perfect servant idea. I didn't make the Samuel connection until it was pointed out either.
Nazarickk
Thanks for the chapter
Monzter E
Interesting
