The sun was starting to set, and it was quite frankly a breath-taking sight. Even Mordred was watching it, with an almost child-like innocence in her emerald eyes as the dying rays of light turned the sky and water golden. A similar expression could be seen on Mash's face. Ritsuka and I shared a pleased look, ourselves happy with the scene in turn.

"Damn, I wish I had brought a camera," I muttered under my breath. It was a really heartwarming moment. It wasn't as if I also wanted to capture the moment of Mordred looking so adorable even if it might result in a bruised arm by a certain Saber who'd feel embarrassed. Not at all.

Still, it was nice to savor in the moment. Commit it to memory and all that sappy stuff, as Mordred might call it.

Drake walked over, joining us. She had a troubled look on her face. Mash finally managed to look away from the setting sun, and she titled her head slightly, concern replacing the look of awe. "Is something the matter?" Mash inquired. Drake nodded slowly.

"Yes. The air tastes different here."

"Tastes….different?" Mash asked. Drake nodded, a more whimsical smile gracing her lips.

"In different countries and lands, the air changes flavor. The distance between England and France aside, when you travel to a new country, the air really tastes different." At that moment, Mash's commlink chimed softly. Apparently, Roman had something to tell us.

"Hmmm, perhaps Miss Drake can detect changes in the wind due to differences in temperature and currents?" Roman postulated. I opened my mouth to deliver my own response, but Drake beat me to it, snorting derisively.

"What's with this 'Miss Drake' business? You sound creepy when you put it that way, Mister Scholar!" Drake retorted.

"S-Sorry. Please excuse me, Drake," Roman stammered frantically. I cleared my throat a bit loudly, and he feel silent.

"Doctor, I think this might be a case of less of a scientific manner, and more of something developed over time. It would make sense for Drake to be able to distinguish any potential differences. However, since you called us, I assume you have something you wish to share?" I asked politely.

"Mhm. What Drake said earlier may be correct. Your current location has obvious different temperatures and currents than the two previous islands. With a little more time, I'm sure we can determine exactly where you are," Roman finished, sounding quite confidant in himself.

"Meaning you could tell us that we're in a big fucking ocean?" Mordred said rather dryly, earning several bouts of laughter from us. Roman didn't answer, and I couldn't blame him. Maybe he does get picked on a bit too much, but unfortunately, the well-meaning doctor had a nasty habit of leaving himself open to teasing.

"Boss! There's a ship to the northwest!" The lookout suddenly cried out. Drake stiffened, as did I. We hadn't encountered another vessel at sea here before.

"All right, what flag?" Drake said sternly.

"A pirate's flag I've never seen!"

"So, an enemy!" Drake declared, just as I could see the faint outlines of a ship in the direction indicated by the lookout. "Mash, Jacob, Ritsuka, Mordred, get ready! Men, arm the cannon! We'll give them a full broadside!"

Her crew cheered gleefully, as the battle lust pirates were often renowned for showed itself.

"Aye, Aye, Captain Drake!" Mash added, before turning to Ritsuka and I. "Master, Jacob Senpai, please stay behind me."

"Yeah, neither of us want to see you two lose your heads to a cannonball," Mordred added in a blunter tone. I swallowed slightly as the mental image of such a thing happening to me popped up, but I nodded in a gesture of acknowledgment. However, that didn't mean that either my fellow Master or I were not going to be involved in the fight. I looked behind me and made eye contact with a silent Chiron.

"Chiron, do you mind helping Drake out by keeping the enemies pinned down with your arrows?" I asked. The Greek Archer nodded, summoning his bow and proceeding to notch an arrow. Once more I felt the urge to lament the lack of an Archer on my own team, but I could wait to bitch and moan about it later.

By now, I had a better view of the rapidly approaching ship. It was much smaller than the Golden Hind, with only two masts. The sail setup was also different. Instead of square sails like the Hind, they were more triangular in shape. There also seemed to be only a singular gun deck, which also served as the main deck. If my memory served me right, I think the design of the ship was called a sloop. A ship designed with speed in mind, perfect for pirates who desired speed and agility to outmaneuver any opponent stronger than it.

In other words, it was a crappy matchup for it to go against a ship as big and strong as the Hind. So, just what exactly was the crew manning the sloop thinking? Like so many other things that I had wondered about for the past few months, I'd likely never find out.

The battle was over within minutes once the sloop was within range of Drake's cannons. The first broadside almost knocked me off my feet, having underestimated the force of the resulting recoil. The volley virtually shattered the starboard section of the hull. The attacking didn't even have a chance to respond, with Drake using her Grail-enhanced marksmanship and Chiron's own archery skills to decimate the surviving enemy pirates as they futilely tried to return fire.

The second cannon volley from the Golden Hind finished the job, and I watched in morbid fascination as the enemy ship was completely submerged. In its place bobbed crates, fabric, barrels, and other debris. The only item of significance was the mostly intact flag.

"William, hook that banner and bring it aboard. I want to get a better look at it," Drake said, holstering her pistols before turning to us. "That was almost ridiculously too easy," she said, and I winced slightly at those words.

"Please don't trigger any flags or something like that with those words," I cautioned nervously. "Luck is quite the fickle thing, after all."

Drake hummed noncommittally, but before the conversation could continue, one of Drake's pirates approached us, carrying something bundled up in his arms that was dripping water.

"Boss, here's their Jolly Roger," a short, shaven-head pirate with a thick Welsh accent reported, handing over a now-tattered and soaked stretch of black fabric. Well, at least he had been thoughtful enough to fish it out of the water for us. The pirate laid out the flag on the deck, and we all peered at it.

In the center was a stylized, horned white skeleton. In one hand, the figure was holding up some sort of hourglass. Meanwhile, in the left hand was gripped a short spear. Said weapon was aimed at a bright red heart, the bottom of which had three circles that seemed to be indicating blood dripping from a wound the skeleton had inflicted upon the organ.

It looked familiar somehow, but if I knew who it belonged to, the name was escaping me, sadly. Drake hummed, hands on her hips as her brow creased.

"Hmmm, it doesn't look familiar," she finally said, before looking at Mash. "Mash, do you have any ideas?" Sadly, the Demi-Servant shook her head in turn.

"No. However, if it's a famous flag, it's probably in our records somewhere. Doctor, can you look into this?"

"Okay. You'll have the results in the morning," Roman promised us.

"All right, then I'm getting us going again. If this chart is right, the island should be in sight in the next few hours! We'll wait off-shore for the night and explore the island properly in the morning."

"A sound plan," I said, titling my head forward slightly. "Personally, I want to put as much distance as possible between here and us. I don't wanna be around if there's more of those buggers."

"Ha, couldn't express it with finer words myself," Drake said with an approving smirk. "You heard the man, boys, let's get to it!"

The rest of the evening and night passed without incident. Well, aside from dinner that was. It was certainly an interesting experience, eating on a sailing vessel for the first time all while it swayed slightly as it cruised through thankfully gentle waves. We arrived at our destination and had spent the night in a cove Drake had noticed upon our arrival.

When morning came, the bright light given to us revealed a rather large island, no longer hidden by black, inky darkness. I had to take a few long seconds to fully accept what I was seeing. Towards the center rose a large, singular mountain, its peak covered slightly by clouds. On one portion of the island, there was a forest. One another half, however, there was a grassy field.

However, all the while, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. I couldn't help but shake the feeling that we were not welcomed here. That there was something on this island that wanted rid of us. I ruthlessly beat down that voice, though.

This island was currently our only lead. To refuse to explore it would be the epitome of foolishness. We needed to find out why this place was marked in Bloodaxe's journal. Was it merely as a place to resupply, or was there something or someone important past the pristine beaches eagerly greeting us?

"You look a bit troubled," Drake said, sauntering up over to the railing I was leaning against. I didn't bother denying it. What purpose would it serve any of us? I pointed towards the mountain.

"That mountain….I don't know why, but every time I look at it, I feel a shiver run down my spine," I said softly. Drake hummed under her breath. She didn't reply, apparently chewing softly on the inside of her right cheek before finally responding.

"Something does feel off. However, not exactly much we can do about it. We'll just have to be ready for anything," the pirate captain said. I heard several pairs of footsteps behind me, and I saw Mash, Mordred, and my fellow Master approaching us.

"Jacob, since our first foray is mainly going to be reconnaissance and hopefully setting up a connection with a Leyline, I thought that we'll just take Mash and Mordred with us. Unless you have a problem with that?" Ritsuka asked. I hummed softly. While it is a smaller party then I would like, Mordred is considered one of Chaldea's strongest Servants, and not just by me.

"Alright," I said, while starting to take off my own commlink. "Jeanne, take this, won't you?" I ask the nearby Ruler. She nodded and stepped forward with one of those gentle smiles she usually had present.

"To keep in touch should you need help?" Jeanne asked, and I nodded my head.

"Hopefully we won't run into too much trouble, but I'd rather stack the deck in our favor in any way I can, ya know?" Jeanne laughed softly, before nodding in agreement.

"Very well. Just be safe, all of you."

"Ha, Mordred's tagging along. I'm sure it will be fine."

Once again, I found myself impressed by Drake's rowing skills. She was truly a hands-on kind of leader. No wonder her crew acted so devoted to her. It wasn't just the wealth they gained by following her, but also the fact that she never acted like she was above them. A rough yet surprisingly charismatic character indeed.

The five of us took a few steps up the beach, once more making it ashore without any incident. Ironically, that only heightened my paranoia of being attacked. Though, considering the consequences of letting our guard down and somehow getting killed as a result, I would say that the rather-consistent feeling is justified.

While Mash made contact with Doctor Roman, I stood with one hand resting lightly on the pommel of my sword. I swept my gaze across the edge of the beach, on the alert for even the faintest hint of movement. Mordred was next to me, doing something similar, while Drake was in her usual relaxed and care-free state of mind.

"Yes, this island is way bigger than the other one," Doctor Roman said, having taken a minute or two to map the surface of the island. "That's why we were able to locate a Leyline. I'm sending you the coordinates, so just follow them for now. Do be careful, though,' Roman added, perhaps a bit unnecessary. Still, I can't blame the guy for worrying about us. I'd rather have an over-worried boss compared to a sociopathic one, after all.

"Hostiles?"

"Possibly, but unknown for sure. We're currently dealing with some unusual interference on our end, unfortunately. Damnedest thing, too. Anyways, best to proceed with caution."

"Acknowledged," Mash said, before looking to a bored Drake. "Drake, we'd like to head that way. Would that be all right with you?" She asked politely, gesturing in the direction Roman had given us. Drake smiled happily.

"It's fine. I was thinking of going in the same direction myself!" Mash nodded with a pleased expression of her own.

"Then we'll depart. Let's go, Senpai."

I had already suspected that the island was rather large. Doctor Roman had just confirmed that very fact. Yet, somehow, I couldn't help but feel like I had underestimated just how big a location this would be.

"This place is huge," Drake gushed excitedly, an adventurous glint in her blue eyes. A soft breeze began to blow across the grassy plain we were currently walking through. "This wind is amazing. Hard to imagine it's an island."

"Hey, Mash, do you think Roman would be willing to give us a day or two to use some of our vacation time to say here?" I teasingly asked the Demi-Servant. Still, I wasn't lying about the desire to use this island as a vacation spot. Despite my earlier misgivings, the place was surprisingly tranquil so far. Even Mordred seemed to be enjoying herself somewhat, and she hated just walking about seemingly endlessly.

"Jacob Senpai, please focus," Mash replied, once again missing the humor behind my words and taking them at face value. "I agree with Drake," she said, turning around and therefore missing my slight eyeroll to look at Ritsuka. "Master, doesn't this feel like the time we were in—"

"Rome?" Ritsuka supplied, and Mash nodded. "In a weird way, it does. A bit quieter, though."

"All we need now is that blonde pipsqueak of yours to be strutting around and proclaiming her supposed greatness," Mordred said, and I couldn't help but laugh. While good-intentioned as one of Ritsuka's Servants as she was when we first met her in the last singularity, Nero hadn't lost some of her more aggravating habits.

Suddenly, Mash came to a halt, glancing down quickly at her commlink before turning around. "It looks like we're almost at the coordinates Doctor Roman sent us," Mash explained. Drake suddenly stiffened, eyes wide like saucers as she drew and cocked both of her pistols.

"What the living hell are those?!" She demanded, gesturing up ahead. My eyes narrowed and I drew my own sword, adopting a ready position as a dozen skeletal, humanoid figures suddenly appeared. Next to me, Mordred's helmet slammed into place as she summoned Clarent, while Mash positioned herself in front of her own Master protectively after summoning her own weapon.

"That…They appear to be skeletons. But something about them is slightly off" Mash said hesitantly, and I gritted my teeth at that. The pink-haired girl had made quite the understatement in my opinion!

They weren't the normal run-of-the-mill type skeletons that we had encountered one time too many in Orléans and Fuyuki. For one thing, the bones were a blueish-grey color. They were also much bigger. If I had to guess, each one was around seven feet tall. They carried a mixture of weapons, all of which had the same color and appeared to have been shaped from bones as well. Two had bows, while the rest carried either large, cleaver-like swords or long, fang-like daggers.

The most bizarre and unnerving thing about them, though, had to be their 'heads'. If I had to describe them in a single sentence, I would say that they looked like shark jaws. From what little I could tell, they even had shark-like teeth, which made the comparison all the more fitting.

Mash's commlink went off, and the Demi-Servant turned it on. "Dragon Tooth Warriors. Called spartoi in the Greek myths. They are soldiers forged from dragon fangs. Take them out!" Doctor Roman hurriedly explained.

"I'll have to ask Medea if she can create them," Ritsuka muttered, suitably impressed with the enemy. I couldn't deny my own interest. However, that wasn't enough to make me hesitate in ordering their destruction. I turned around.

"Drake, can you focus on taking out those two archers at the back?" I asked, and Drake scoffed, smirking wildly.

"Piece of cake!"

"Mhm. Mordred, you and Mash will focus on the main group. Watch each other's back and take them down as quickly as possible."

"Understood, Jacob Senpai."

"You got it!"

"Going to get involved as well?" Ritsuka asked me a bit dryly. I couldn't help but laugh a bit sheepishly.

"If I must. You know me," I replied, looking back ahead at the cluster of undead enemies. (Do they qualify as the undead?) Ritsuka hummed softly, but didn't reply, readying his arm to fire off Gandr rounds if needed.

The skeletons still hadn't moved. It almost looked like they were as surprised to encounter us as we were of them. Why, though? Yet another damn question whose answer I would never find. Finally, they shook off whatever it was that had kept them back, and the ones armed for melee charged forward.

The Dragon Tooth Warriors seemed to be slightly faster than the average skeletons I had encountered while working for Chaldea. No doubt a result of their unique method of creation. At least it looks like they could neither fly nor cast magical attacks. I closed my eyes and extended my free hand, imagining some of the moisture condensing into a small block of ice, about half the size and thickness of a brick.

I imagined throwing that brick of ice, and I opened my eyes in time to see the object tripping over one of the lead skeletons. Normally, the ones behind the fallen foe would likely end up tripping, but not these ones. The others either leapt over or sidestepped the fallen skeleton, who then proceed to push itself back up and resumed charging towards us.

Mordred sprinted forward, slamming her armored kneecap into the ribcage of a dual dagger-wielding skeleton, breaking the bones and the backbones. One of the skeletons with a cleaver-like sword swung the crude and oversized weapon at my partner.

The blonde knight blocked the blow with the flat of Clarent's blade, before smashing in the face of her opponent with her free hand. A third skeleton tried to slash its daggers against her exposed back, but just as it prepared to jump into the air, Mash's shield slammed into it, the force of the impact sending bones flying everywhere.

"Not bad, Shieldy!" Mordred called out, before slicing another skeleton in half. Interesting. So, these Dragon Tooth Warriors weren't exactly a threat against Servants, at least in small numbers. However, against mages or civilians, I suspected that they would be deadly.

Thankfully, the battle was over within a minute or so after it started. Broken bones lied scattered all around us, and we waited for a moment to see if there was going to be any kind of reinforcements, but none appeared.

"The battle has ended, Master. Creating terminal point now," Mash said in her business-like manner.

"Huh? Something just…" Roman started to say, sounding mystified while Mash paused briefly.

"What's wrong?" She inquired.

"No, just my imagination. You can start setting up as usual."

I tuned out of the conversation, instead walking over to the scattered remains of the Dragon Tooth Warriors. I picked up half of a thigh bone and examined it idly. Now that the threat had had been dealt with, my earlier question came to mind.

Why were they here? The way they had been moving, it almost seemed like they were searching for someone or thing. Furthermore, where had they come from? Based off of Roman's brief explanation, it seemed like these elite skeletons required someone to create them.

Roman had said that they were Greek in origin, hadn't he? When we get back to the boat, I'll ask Medea about this. Surely the greatest magecraft practitioner in all of Ancient Greece would be able to help. I pocketed a smaller fragment of bone and walked back over to rejoin the others, reaching them just in time to hear Doctor Roman speaking once more.

"Okay, we got the terminal set up. Also, I got a hit on that pirate flag from yesterday. That's the flag of the legendary….ate…of the….In other words, those pirates are….called…"

"Doctor? Doctor, the communications are acting up," Mash tried, as Roman voice slowly turned into static. "Doctor?!" Finally, Mash's device gave off a low-pitch warble, and she closed the connection before turning towards us.

"We've lost contact," Mash finally said with a troubled expression on her face. "What on earth could have…"

Suddenly, I felt something fly through my body. Not like an object had struck me, though. Rather, it felt like a solid mass of energy had pushed through me. The air was knocked out of my lungs, and my body instinctively tensed as a threatening sensation could be felt.

"Master?" Mordred asked in alarm, adopting her standard combat posture with Clarent in her hands once more. I swallowed heavily, my body shaking slightly. What in the nine hells was that?! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ritsuka was in a similar state of discomfort.

I turned to Mordred, intent on informing her about what I had just experienced, when suddenly the ground began to shake and shudder violently, threatening to throw me off-balance once again.

"Eek!" Mash shrieked in a high-pitched tone. I fell to my hands and knees, my fingers digging into the dirt as the ground continued to buck and shudder underneath us "An earthquake?!"

"Apparently!" Mordred snarled, leaning against a Clarent thrust into the earth, using the cursed blade to maintain her balance as best the knight could. Drake pushed Ritsuka down further away.

"Get down, it's a big one!"

Then, almost as quickly as it had come, the movement stopped. But in the air, something felt…off. I pushed myself back up onto my feet, shaking away the dirt from my fingers before noticing the dirt on my trousers, where my knees had pressed against the grass.

"Tch. Now I'm glad I've never been to San Francisco," I muttered angrily, dusting off my trousers.

"At least it settled down," Mash countered sternly, before looking at Ritsuka. "Senpai, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little shaken," Ritsuka said. I clamped a hand over my face and let out a muffled groan at the unintended pun. Still, at least we were alright, it seems.

"Seems that way. Thank goodness. What about you, Drake?" Mash asked, but she didn't get an immediate answer. When I removed my hand, I noticed a silent and pensive-looking Drake fidgeting. She was looking in the direction we had came from, where the Golden Hind was anchored offshore.

"Worried about your crew?" I asked the pink-haired woman.

"Yes. That quake was a breeze compared to a night on a raging ocean, but that doesn't mean I'm not worried over those knuckleheads and my ship. Can we go back a for a bit?"

"Let's do that," Mash chimed in, though I wasn't in a mindset to have disagreed in the first place. The fact that Jeanne hadn't tried to contact us, or at least successfully, indicated that something as wrong. However, my Command Seals weren't burning painfully, which I had been told was one of the key indicators of a Master's Servant sustaining critical damage.

"I agree. Hopefully, we can reestablish contact with the doc by then, too. Let's go," I said, earning a chorus of agreements from Rits and Mordred.

Still, as we started to make our way back, I couldn't help but feel that whatever it was that we had just experienced, it was only the beginning of something bigger.

Original Endnotes: And done! What did you guys think? Poor Mash. Someone needs to buy her a book on humor, you know? Also, who else would totally want to take a selfie with Mordred being adorable, even if you ran the risk of getting one hell of a bruising?

Now, for the questions of the chapter! First up, who here has seen the Learning with Manga animation on YouTube? What did y'all think? Second question: what do you guys like to do to cheer yourselves up if your having a really bad day?

As always, thanks for reading and sticking with this story of mine! Still hard to believe just how far it's come since I posted it back in July, so I can't wait to see how it goes! Please leave your thoughts, comments, and answers down below, and I can't wait to read them! I hope you enjoyed chapter 58, and see you in the next chapter!

Updated Endnotes 10/21/21: As always, for those of you who are impatient, the caught-up version of my story can be found on AO3 under this name, with Chapter 129 having been posted yesterday. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and have a great day!