The familiar ice-bound world, when everything returned to normal, Lancer's eyes saw a scene he was familiar with.
"Countdown ends, mission begins, main mission announced: Survive this Holy Grail War"
Unlike before, this time the 'mission' didn't have a time limit; instead, a specific 'event' appeared, and this event made him incredibly excited!
Holy Grail War?
In his former world, it was a household name in the otaku community. Even Lancer, a slacker, specially got into FGO to admire the character art. Before that, he had already watched the FSN and FZ anime. He knew a lot about most of the settings in this world, to say the least!
'It seems my luck is good this time!'
Lancer, without self-awareness, set up a FLAG for himself. Then he walked forward with a face full of confidence. The most important thing now was to determine whether it was the Fifth War or the Fourth War.
Then, when Lancer, dressed in a suit, walked out of the alley with a face full of confidence, he was completely stunned.
'What the hell is this?!!!'
His heart was roaring, because what he saw in front of him was a group of white people in casual clothes, and he, a Celestial being in a suit, looked incredibly conspicuous. Many passersby were pointing at him, and Lancer had to speed up and enter an alley again.
At this moment, he only had one question in his mind.
Where am I?
Are there already so many foreigners in Fuyuki?
——————
The midday sun was incredibly dazzling, and normal people would not like to be exposed to the sun for too long under these circumstances, but in the study of a certain castle, a white-haired man was lying on a chair, enjoying the hot light by the window with a look of contentment, as if the dazzling sunlight didn't exist at all.
Suddenly, a knock on the door came————
"Bang~ bang~"
Along with the knock, the white-haired man who was enjoying the sun with his hands in his pockets also raised his eyebrows.
"Come in."
A slightly hoarse but majestic voice came from the white-haired man's mouth, and as his voice fell, the door of the room was pushed open, and a young man with azure hair walked in from outside the door.
"I apologize for disturbing your rest, my lord."
"No matter, I believe you, Darnic, must have something important to say?"
"Yes, the last master has also been confirmed to have arrived in Romania, my lord, our plan is already half successful!"
Different from the white-haired man's composure, the azure-haired man called Darnic's voice was full of excitement and joy, and the white-haired man also nodded in satisfaction after listening.
"Not bad. If so, then get ready for the next step! Tell Caster to prepare."
"Yes~! My lord!"
Darnic's attitude was extremely respectful. Until he left the room, he behaved perfectly, but when the door closed, a symbolic steadfastness and persistence appeared on his face again, but in his right eye, which was covered by his bangs, an emotion that was completely different from the previous two temperaments was flashing——————madness.
'The pieces are finally almost all gathered, let's start soon... The opportunity to fulfill my long-cherished wish is finally coming!'
Darnic, whose family was 'prophesied' to decline a hundred years ago, was desperately pursuing everything that could possibly succeed in order to break that prophecy, and he also found his goal——————the Holy Grail!
Unlike the 'Holy Artifact' in church legends, the so-called Holy Grail is just a name. In reality, it is a huge magical energy aggregate, and under a special ritual, this huge magical energy aggregate can be seen as an 'omnipotent wish-granter', which is where its name 'Holy Grail' comes from.
And in order to seize the Holy Grail, he didn't hesitate to give his all. He not only deceived that terrifying dictator but also secretly transferred the 'Greater Holy Grail' from Fuyuki City to Romania. All of this was to fulfill his wish, and there was no doubt that this time he was finally going to succeed!
He not only successfully brought together seven masters but also placed the 'Greater Holy Grail' in the basement of his own castle. Now he just needed to complete the last step, and then his wish could be fulfilled!
——————
Generally, when people mention a castle, the first things they think of are stone walls and huge paintings hanging in the castle, metal armor placed in the corridors, and silver candlesticks burning in the castle, but the castle controlled by Darnic was not like this.
The original basement was transformed into a laboratory, and countless tanks in the laboratory were soaking in the bodies of men and women who were only wearing underwear. They had their eyes closed, limbs atrophied, and except for their heaving chests, they didn't look like humans at all.
And there were also many 'people' in this strange place. They had a similar appearance to those in the tanks, but they had no expressions. They mechanically completed the tasks assigned to them by others.
The entire underground space was quiet and strange, and at this moment, a sound of footsteps broke the peace here.
Darnic, holding a cane, silently walked quickly on the passage that was only wide enough for 2 people, and those 'staff' with similar faces would consciously give way.
Just like that, he finally reached his destination——————the Golem Factory.
And inside the factory, a masked servant was silently commanding a large number of 'workers' to work.
"Caster!"
Following Darnic's shout, the working Caster finally turned around.
"Mr. Darnic, I'm sorry, I can't put down what I'm doing right now."
"No matter, I'm just here to inform you that the last master has also taken his place."
"...Okay"
Caster's silence was not out of Darnic's expectation, or rather, this was exactly what he hoped for. After all, for him, a hero who didn't have much desire for the Holy Grail was the best chess piece!
But just as he was about to say something, he was stunned.
First, his face showed surprise, then it became unbelievable, and finally, it turned into undisguised anger.
'Squeak... creak'
Even the short staff in his hand let out a grating groan.
"Mr. Darnic, did something happen?"
"Our person was killed..."
Darnic's tone at this time no longer had the detachment from before, but was full of anger. He was still extremely excited about the arrival of the last master, but now? He didn't expect that the last person was killed shortly after arriving in Romania!
'Who the hell is it?! Is it someone from the Clock Tower? Have they discovered my plan? No! All accidents must be eliminated!'
"I'm sorry, Caster, I have to go deal with something first."
"Please..."
Looking at Darnic, whose footsteps unconsciously quickened, Caster just watched him silently, and then lowered his head again to continue his work. It was obvious that compared to that inexplicable master, he cared more about the things at hand.
And with Darnic's departure, the Golem Factory returned to its original order...