"Not gonna lie, I expected it to be… bigger."
I had stopped recording a while ago, now that I had basically seen all the labyrinth had to show me. Wasn't much, let me tell you: just the one corridor I had followed Caster down, and this room here. Caster's workshop, as he called it. That wasn't to say it wasn't cool or anything, especially the workshop itself. Small as I thought it was, the workshop was crammed with tables and benches, weapon and armor racks… there was even a forge in the corner. Everything I suppose someone like Caster could need was here. It just didn't scream labyrinth though, to me at least.
"Bah, you expect too much for one such as yourself" Caster grumbled, doing… something or other at the forge. "Have you any idea how draining it is to get even this much going in the first place? Consider yourself lucky one command spell was enough!"
"But this, like, can't be it, right? The labyrinth of legend, I mean."
"You mean to ask if this is the labyrinth I build for the Minotaur? No, it is not. Should be obvious at a glance this wouldn't be that!"
Damn… now that he was in his workshop, Caster sure seemed more open to communicating. Not that he was really focusing on me or anything; his head was still buried in the forge area. But at least it wasn't the silent treatment or him barking out commands. If only I had more battery life; would have loved to get some of this recorded.
"So, uh, why isn't this… Chaos Labyrinth, I think you called it… Why isn't this thing, well, that thing?"
"Because that labyrinth was not truly mine in life, so how could I possibly own it in death" Caster finally looked at me with a flat stare, as if what he said was the most obvious thing in the world.
…Where do I even start with that? In life? Daedalus was a figure of myth; when was he ever really alive?
"Now, before you start getting on my nerves again" Caster continued, finally stopping his meddling with the forge and propped himself up against the wall, "there are some things we need to work out here. Namely, your understanding of what you've just gotten yourself into. So tell me, child: how much do you know about the Holy Grail War?"
"Well, not too much… I know it's a ritual of some sort, in which Heroic Spirits are summoned. I know it requires seven to be summoned; considering I only summoned one and you said the war had already started, I'm assuming that means one person can only summon one Heroic Spirit, and thus there are seven human participants required in this ritual.
"A bold assumption, don't you think? Might be rushing ahead of yourself there, child."
"Perhaps, but it's not like I know anything about magic to begin with. What can I do besides make initial assumptions and then refine my knowledge through experimentation and observation?"
"Hmh… Fine. Go on."
"As to how one starts a Holy Grail War and any nuances in summoning Heroic Spirits, I got nothing" I continued as Caster instructed. "I suppose I'm extremely lucky that one just happened to be underway when I tried all this out. Though, how the hell the war was already underway without all seven Heroic Spirits being summoned confuses me. For the Holy Grail War though, that's about it.
"Implying you know about some other magic. Tell me."
"Um… I know that a Holy Grail War is tied to something known as Heaven's Feel, which I want to say is another ritual that opens some kind of gate to something called Akasha."
"Sounds more like assumptions that actual knowledge" Caster grumbled.
"Well, obviously! If you'd asked me about magic some much as even two days ago, I would have called it nothing more than fantastical bullshit, like gods and religion and shit! Beautiful fantastical bullshit, sure, but fantastical bullshit nonetheless! But apparently magic is real, so who even knows now?!"
Caster actually seemed a bit surprised by my outburst. For the briefest of moments, I could have sworn I saw the faintest trace of a smile cross his face, as if I had amused him, ever so slightly… It disappeared as quickly as it showed itself, though.
"I'd watch what you say about gods, child; they don't take kindly to insults by the likes of mere mortals" Caster spoke in his usual annoyed tone.
"What, so you're telling me now that gods are real too?"
"…To an extent, but not in the way you're thinking of" Caster grumbled. "But that is besides the point! In short, from what you've told me, you know effectively nothing about the Holy Grail War. That is a major problem."
"I take it you do know how all this works then?"
"Of course I do!"
"Great, then I got questions for ya" I grinned.
At this point Caster huffed and began muttering to himself. Couldn't make out the vast majority of it, but I did manage to pick out some key words. Namely, 'worthless child' and 'get this over with'.
"Before I suffer your barrage of stupid questions" Caster finally spoke up again, "let me tell you the basics. Then, if you still have questions that aren't too stupid, I'll consider answering them."
"Works for me!"
Really, I was just happy I was finally getting somewhere with him in terms of answers.
"A Holy Grail War is, as the name implies, a war, fought between seven pairings of servants and masters" Caster began his explanation. "The objective of the war is to be the last servant and master pair standing, at which point they would be named the victors and receive the grail. The grail itself is an omnipotent wish granter, hence why it is so sought after. Being the victor grants the right to make one wish each, servant and master, upon the grail."
This… this didn't add up with what I'd translated. Not that I doubted Caster, mind you; if anything, I doubted my translations. But the grail being an omnipotent wish granter? That was news to me. Sounded amazing though! And the whole bit of having one wish each, master and servant, also sounded nice. Guess that's what gave the Heroic Spirits a reason to fight as well. Not sure how then I translated something so off base though; that all seven Heroic Spirits needed to be killed. Didn't think my German was that rusty… No, unless…
"As for the servants, they are summoned and anchored to this world by their masters, with assistance from the grail. These servants, otherwise known as Heroic Spirits, are split by the grail into seven classes: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin and Berserker. In each war, only one servant of each class may exist. As such, for this war, I am the Caster class servant, and you are currently the master of the Caster class servant."
Unless Heaven's Feel is an add-on; a disruption or perversion of the Holy Grail War. Rather than having a wish granted to master and servant, the seventh servant is then killed to instead go into the Heaven's Feel ritual. Though, if that's the case, then why not just have your wish be to have this gate to Akasha open before you? Like, if one Heroic Spirit is all that's standing at the end, how the hell do you kill them off? Can mages really take on Heroic Spirits one on one? Or do you have to somehow get lucky and have the last two Heroic Spirits off one another simultaneously, and you yourself kill the other servant's… master… Wait, do masters get targeted in the Holy Grail War as well then, or is it just the Heroic Spirits? Ugh… there's just too many possibilities; can't get a solid grasp on how this is all supposed to fit together…
"Oh, so that's why you're called Caster then" I commented. "It is a title; class title specifically. But wait, you don't know magic. How the hell are you in the caster class then?"
Also, classes, magic, and a battle royale/last man standing scenario… Stated and/or implied success and failure conditions… this was just another game! Not as grand in scope as the great game we know called life, but still… this was a pretty amazing game! Sounds like a lot of fun was to be had here, and a lot of beauty to be witnessed!
"I said let me explain the basics first child! …But fine, I shall explain this now, since I was clearly bound to do so later anyways… Heroic Spirits are not meant to be summoned in their full, proper form as Heroic Spirits; the sheer amount of mana required to sustain such an existence is simply unachievable even with assistance from the grail. Thus, only parts of Heroic Spirits are summoned, in correspondence to whatever class the grail has assigned them to. It is quite possible for a servant to have multiple possible classes available to them as we-"
"So, say someone really famous, like Hercules, who was known to use many different fighting styles and techniques and weapons" I interjected, basically on impulse. "He could be summoned as multiple different classes, right?!"
Caster gave me a cold stare, but I suppose he either couldn't be bothered or just figured whatever he was trying to convey to me with that stare wouldn't get through to me, so he continued.
"…Yes… someone like Hercules, or Heracles, as per his Greek name, would definitely be one servant who would qualify for multiple possible classes. However, only one such version would be able to manifest at one time, in one war."
"Aww" I sighed. "So you couldn't get a Herc vs Herc match up; say Saber Herc vs Lancer Herc, for example?"
"No! Were you not listening child; I just said that was the case! Of course you can't have a- a Herc vs Herc… match up…"
Caster's volume noticeably dipped halfway through his line of thought, and his speed came to a grinding halt. He spoke the words as if it was the most bizarre thing he had ever had to say in all his life. His face was all contorted in disgust too.
"Moving on" he grumbled, waving a hand in front of his face. "As I was going to say, in order to fit in the class container prepared by the grail, only aspects of the Heroic Spirit related to that class are summoned. Now, in the case in which no one class properly fits a Heroic Spirit, the grail determines which one would fit the best and shoves the Heroic Spirit into it. A lazy work around on the grail's part, but it cares not for quality nor standards. As such, you have cases where one such as I, who knew nothing of magic in life, is summoned into the Caster class."
"From what I know about you from the stories… yeah, you really wouldn't have a truly proper class" I confirmed, more to myself than Caster, as I thought about it briefly. "Maybe the grail is drawing parallels to magic from you? Like, you're technically a kind of artist, being a famous architect and all, and art has been known to inspire many to do things, akin to, say, some kind of mind control spell, or inspire effect in a game. Maybe the grail considers art as a form of magic in its own right like that, and-"
"That may very well be the first intelligent thing you've said, child."
"Huh" I snapped back to reality, staring at Daedalus.
He demeanor hadn't changed, nor had his tone. Yet what he said felt so… off. Did- Did Daedalus just compliment me? …Holy shit…
"At any rate, it would appear you at least grasp some basic understanding of the important stuff about the classes. I believe that's all I have to say about that for now, so, if you do have questions… now would be the time to ask…" Caster spoke as if this was going to be the most painful next little while of his life.
"Right then! So, I get that in life you didn't know magic, but now that you're a Heroic Spirit thing, does being assigned the Caster class allow you to perform magic?"
"…No."
"Right, next question: can you only be summoned as a Caster?"
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"How do I know?! How do you think I know, child?! Don't waste my time with stupid questions!"
"Ok, another one, this time not concerning classes, but specifically concerning you."
"…"
"…"
"…Very well, I'll allow it."
"Just how many languages do you know, god damn!"
I asked because since the very start of this conversation, I've been flipping at random points between the four languages I knew (English, French, German and Finnish), and Caster seemed to always know exactly what I was saying, no problem. But how did he know what I've been saying though?! He wasn't… alive… when any of these languages became prominent, or even existed!
To my surprise, Caster actually let out a slight laugh. It was soft, and more like a chuckle than a laugh, per say. But still; such a reaction was not normal behavior for him, at least in my presence.
"I take it the constant switching was intentional then, child? As to the answer, that would be the work of the grail: servants, when summoned, are given knowledge as to the world state and time period they have been summoned into. The amount one gets is up to the grail to give, and it doesn't give much in the way of specifics. In terms of most things you know about the modern world, I wouldn't know. For example, I know I'm currently on the landmass known as North America, as well as in the country known as the United States of America. However, as to what state I'm in, or what city or town, I have no idea, unlike you. I also have no idea as to the exact distance I currently am in relation to my homeland, though I reason it is quite the distance away, or just how big the world is in its entirety. The grail does, however, grant all servants summoned the understanding of all commonly known languages; wouldn't do if servant and master couldn't communicate, at least from the perspective of the grail. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if the opposite were true… Now that you understand, stick to either English or French, child; your German is terrible and your Finnish is somehow worse! I refuse to respond if you speak in either of those from now on!"