After reporting his combat results to Fiore, Archer left her room and returned to the private chamber assigned to him.
The Millennium Castle Fortress was spacious enough to comfortably provide private rooms for all six Servants. Darnic, who led Yggdmillennia, had participated in the Third Holy Grail War and understood Servants better than the other Masters.
Precisely because he understood how damaging their pride or compromising their nature could create discord between Master and Servant and reduce combat effectiveness, he was thorough in his considerations towards the Servants.
Especially since his own Servant, Lancer Vlad III, was a king through and through.
Not providing even a single private room might have gotten him beheaded from day one.
For that reason, every Servant was given a room.
Of course, how they used it was up to the Servants. Some, like Caster, never left their workshops, while others, like Saber, remained constantly by their Master's side. Since his Master was a young woman, Archer used his room relatively frequently.
While maintaining a posture ready to rush to Master Fiore's side if anything happened, he looked over the materials Darnic had prepared.
They were documents on mages obtained from a clansman supposedly infiltrated into the Clock Tower.
"Shishigou Kairi. A necromancer, huh."
The Master of the "Red" Saber.
An assassin sent by the Mage's Association. A freelance mage and bounty hunter who had experienced numerous battlefields.
It seemed the Association had sent someone of considerable skill.
After all, practitioners of necromancy required many corpses for their magecraft. As a result, they often had many opportunities to visit battlefields.
And being a freelance bounty hunter, one should assume he possessed not only magecraft prowess but also first-rate combat skills.
Although Fiore had been through her own share of hardships, one should consider Shishigou, with his experience on real battlefields, superior in handling combat situations.
"Hmm."
Sensing a Servant's presence beyond the door, Archer turned his attention that way.
A knocking sound.
"Archer? It's me, Rider. Is anyone in your room?"
The Servant's identity was Rider.
"No, no one is here."
After that reply, Rider opened the door and came in.
He was carrying a naked boy on his shoulder.
"Rider. This isn't a place for bringing people back to, you know?"
"It's not like that, and I'm a guy, you know?"
"A joke. But carrying a naked boy on your shoulder so openly is a bit much..."
Even as he said that, Archer had largely grasped the situation.
He guided Rider to the bed and laid the boy down.
"A homunculus? What exactly is the meaning of this?"
A boy with strikingly white skin and silver-white hair. The eyes hidden beneath his eyelids were probably red.
"He collapsed in the hallway, so I helped him."
Rider said cheerfully.
He hadn't considered at all what would happen as a result of helping. In his mind, once he decided to help, helping was already decided.
"So he escaped from the tank?"
"Seems like it. Caster's looking for him."
"Hmm. Managing the homunculi for magical energy supply is indeed his job. That said, going out of his way to search for an escaped homunculus isn't like him."
Homunculi for magical energy supply. One of Yggdmillennia's secret strategies, spearheaded by Gordes, Saber's Master.
In a typical Holy Grail War, the Master bears the entire magical energy consumption of the Servant. Consequently, the burden on the Master during combat becomes significant, and there can be certain limitations on using their trump card, the Noble Phantasm. For instance, Noble Phantasms consuming vast amounts of magical energy cannot be used consecutively.
But Yggdmillennia split the magical energy supply between the Master and the sacrifices. The Master handles the magical energy supply necessary for commanding the Servant, while the homunculus sacrifices handle the rest.
Homunculi, which could be produced in unlimited quantities with funds, were convenient as batteries for generating magical energy.
Batteries that could be obtained endlessly as long as you made them.
That was the status of homunculi within this fortress.
That's precisely why Caster's actions were puzzling. It was strange for him, who even disliked social interaction, to be so fixated on a single escaped homunculus.
Archer checked the homunculus's pulse.
"Pulse is normal. However, there are signs of his Magic Circuits running wild. He probably miscontrolled his magical energy while performing unfamiliar magecraft. The congestion is proof that magical energy ran wild within his blood vessels." "You're quite knowledgeable, Archer. Were you a doctor or something?" "Nothing of the sort. I just have some experience. The problem is fatigue. Even a short distance is like a thousand-mile journey for him, who has never walked properly. The fact that he became immobile in the hallway probably means he collapsed from exhaustion." "I see. So he's like a newborn baby." Rider nodded, looking at the homunculus.
"So, what do you intend to do now, Rider?"
"Do about what?"
"Him. We can't just leave him like this."
If Caster is searching for him, there's a limit to how long we can hide him within the castle.
"Homunculi are generally short-lived. Even those created with Einzbern technology cannot live a normal human lifespan. Moreover, he wasn't created with the premise of living. He'll last about three years, at most." "Three years... That's short." Rider looked at the homunculus with a gloomy expression.
"But that's enough time to find a meaning in life." However, with his inherent optimism, Rider said this.
Archer sighed.
The problem wasn't just his short lifespan. First, he needed to escape this fortress, and there was also the issue of how he would live after escaping. Since Rider saved him, one might think Rider should take care of him until the end, but unfortunately, both Rider and Archer are Servants. Once the Holy Grail War ends, regardless of the outcome, they will vanish from this world. In three years, they will be gone.
But even understanding these circumstances, Rider would probably focus on saving the homunculus before him 'now,' disregarding what comes after.
"Good grief, Rider. It's fine to care for him, but don't forget the true duty of a Servant." "Of course. That's why I was summoned, after all." Rider declared cheerfully.
In the end, Archer decided to let the homunculus go.
He had no obligation to report to Caster. More importantly, he had thoughts regarding the magical energy supply system using homunculi as sacrifices.
While he acknowledged it as a rational system that provided an unparalleled advantage in combat, emotionally, there were aspects he found disagreeable.
It was mere sentimentality.
Nothing more than a remnant of a past he had cut away, simply because the stepsister he couldn't save was a homunculus.
"Still, Einzbern homunculi for the Fuyuki Grail. And a Tohsaka gem on top of that."
A worldline different from the original.
A parallel world where the target of Archer's resentment did not exist.
In that case, it might not be bad to purely seek the Holy Grail.
Even though it's a Holy Grail War in Romania, hearing familiar terms occasionally felt somewhat awkward.
Leaving Rider and the homunculus in his room, Archer, having turned spiritual, decided to stroll around the castle.
The Masters, who had watched Archer's battle all night, were already in bed.
The only signs of movement were the phantoms for security and the homunculi.
After strolling for a while, he found light leaking from the gap under a certain room's door.
It was the private room of Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia, Fiore's younger brother and also Berserker's Master.
Out of curiosity, Archer knocked on the door.
"It's Archer. Is now a good time?"
"A-Archer!? Ah, no, it's fine, but..."
Caules seemed startled by Archer's sudden visit, his reply tinged with confusion.
Like his sister, the younger brother also didn't seem very much like a mage. Finding it somewhat amusing, Archer entered the room.
"Sorry for the late hour. I noticed light coming from under your door."
"Was it not closed properly?"
Caules scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
"Is Sis...?"
"If you mean Fiore, she's asleep. You should be in bed yourself at this hour, I think."
Archer looked at what Caules was facing.
A personal computer.
"Surfing the internet late at night? One could call it age-appropriate, but it's somewhat unhealthy."
"What's with that? It's fine, just this much."
Caules said, sounding sulky.
What set Caules apart from other mages was that his thinking wasn't much different from an ordinary person's. Mages generally revered mystery and tended to place science and technology beneath magecraft. In fact, within this fortress, only Caules and Celenike had any understanding of the internet. And even Celenike was only researching whether it could be used as a catalyst for black magic, not because she was interested. The only one in this fortress who owned a computer as a hobby was Caules.
"Uu..."
A moan came from beside Caules, from the Servant Berserker.
A lovely girl adorned in a pure white dress, but with what appeared to be mechanical parts attached all over her body.
"Berserker? But to think she's a woman. She's not the 'Bride' version, is she?"
"I thought so too, but they say she's the genuine article."
"I see. Well, perhaps it's not surprising..."
"No, you should be surprised there."
Berserker's True Name was Frankenstein.
The synonym for an artificial human, a monster that has been the subject of Hollywood movies, but were there any works that depicted Frankenstein as a woman?
At least, none came to Caules's mind.
Relatively new as a mystery, and while summoned as a Berserker, her parameters were unremarkable.
Even so, Berserker was the most suitable Servant for Caules.
Her Noble Phantasm, 'Bridal Chest of Chastity,' absorbed excess magical energy from the atmosphere and reused it. The biggest worry for Caules, as an immature mage, was the magical energy supply, but thanks to this Noble Phantasm, he no longer needed to worry about it.
Archer admitted he was somewhat surprised that Frankenstein was a woman, but he had experienced such cases before. He saw no need to dwell on it.
"Heroic Spirits are like that."
"No, what do you mean by that?"
"She's not the only one where the legend and the reality differ. For example, it's possible to summon a famous knight, only to find out they were actually a woman who cross-dressed in life, so they were passed down as a man."
Archer said this while looking at Berserker.
However, Caules looked at Archer with a suspicious gaze.
"...That wouldn't happen, surely."
He muttered.
"By the way, can you use that right now?"
Archer pointed at the computer and asked.
"Ah, yeah, I can use it."
"I see. Then, there's something I'd like you to look up for me."
"What?"
Caules's eyes widened in surprise.
"You're a Servant, right? You use the net and stuff?"
"Is that a problem? In this day and age, it's faster to use this than open a book for simple things, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah, I guess so."
While Servants might be taught the basics of the internet through knowledge from the Grail, Caules was surprised that Archer would actively try to use it.
"You're a really strange Servant, you know that?"
This Servant, whose True Name wasn't even known, had parameters so low it was hard to believe he was summoned by Fiore, a first-rate mage. Frankly, they were on par with Berserker's. But his combat ability was off the charts, as he had just demonstrated.
Fiore had once boasted about how good he was at brewing tea, and now he showed an understanding of the internet?
"The fact that you have an understanding of this stuff is surprising in itself."
"Is that so? Even as mages, if they don't adapt to science and technology, they won't survive, will they? I hear cities are overflowing with surveillance cameras. While magecraft can avoid human eyes, it can't fool cameras. Isn't that right?"
"That's... certainly true."
Depending on the magecraft used, hypnotic types that interfere with perception work on people but have no effect on cameras. A lack of understanding of science could lead to the leakage of magecraft, but surprisingly few mages were aware of that.
"So, what do you want to look up?"
"Fuyuki."
"...I see."
Caules nodded as if it made sense.
Fuyuki City in Japan was the birthplace of the Holy Grail War. To tell the truth, this Great Holy Grail War hosted by Yggdmillennia was made possible by hijacking the Fuyuki Holy Grail. It wasn't strange for Archer to be interested.
Caules quickly typed in the search words and searched.
"Sorry, but may I borrow it for a while? I have a fair idea of how to use it."
"Ah, sure, but... You have an idea?"
Though finding it strange, Caules yielded the seat to Archer.
Archer sat down and operated the computer. He showed no difficulty using the mouse, reading the displayed pages and repeatedly using the back button.
"Archer. You don't happen to have a 'Computer Operation' skill, do you?"
"There's no such skill. What a strange thing to say."
"I don't want to hear that from you."
The one who was a hundred times stranger was Archer, calmly operating the computer. Anyone would agree that a Servant operating a computer was weirder than a mage doing it.
"So, did you find what you were looking for?"
"Ah, I was just curious about what kind of city it was. Seeing the townscape was enough."
"Is that so? Then, are you done?"
"Ah, sorry for the trouble."
Saying that, Archer left.
As he was leaving, he said,
"Ah, I'm not sure if it's right to say this now, but staying up late is bad for your health. You should rest properly when it's time to rest."
He left those words behind.
"Wii..."
Berserker tugged on Caules's sleeve, conveying her displeasure.
"You didn't like talking with Archer?"
"Uu."
She nodded.
"He's not an enemy right now, so it's fine, right?"
Caules leaned back in his chair.
Dawn was approaching, and sleepiness finally arrived. It was too late, but he decided to sleep.
As he got into bed, just before falling asleep, Caules suddenly thought.
In the end, just who is Archer?