Chapter 124: A thoroughly miserable time.

Torin stared across the tents before him, then reached up and rubbed the bridge of his helmet as he exhaled. The wind still howled around them but the thin barrier he had planted - supported by Cu's runes - was able to keep the worst of it from affecting them.

It had been at least an hour since the attack and making camp this early hadn't been something he was planning on doing but granting the people some rest took priority. Especially after their ordeal.

Moving through the camp, he made his way towards the largest tent where those from Chaldea plus their newest arrival were currently waiting. The tent itself was easily spotted not just because of the size, but also because of the towering form of Berserker that stood guard outside of it. The metal Servant stared out across the small camp without making a single noise.

If Torin were to be truthful, he had his suspicions about Berserker judging by the way they had fought the dragon but he wasn't going to be throwing around accusations just yet. Not until he was genuinely certain about their true nature.

As Torin approached the tent, the Berserker turned their head to face him and remained silent in their vigil. The Caster approached without fear, noticing the faint light shining from the entrance to the tent and looking back towards the Servant. Berserker made no effort to impede his approach so he elected to ignore the Servant in favour of communing with the Master.

They had much to talk about as it currently stood, not least of all because of the sudden arrival of their newest travelling guest.

Reaching out, he grasped the flap of the tent and pulled it to the side before stepping it. The interior was entirely different from the tents of the Norsemen. The actual design itself was different as well, some manner of strange clear fabric acted as windows to the house shaped design of the large cover. The actual tent was more akin to a box rather than a thin sheet of fabric kept up with wooden pegs.

The occupants turned their heads and looked towards him.

All except one individual, Olga was still staring towards the strange glass lamp that illuminated the tent. Her expression was perfectly blank even as the still unnamed Servant hung back in the corner of the room not far from her. The woman, presumably a Lancer, turned to face him and tilted her head ever so slightly as he stared at her briefly before returning his attention to the leader of the Chaldeans.

"...The last of the wounded have been settled." Torin spoke in a toneless voice "And we have completed our count of those lost in the attack."

"...How many?" Olga asked, still looking at the lamp.

"Thirty five." Torin responded with "Another twenty-eight remained injured. We lost three horses in the attack as well."

"Out of?"

"...One hundred and eighty three." Torin exhaled, reaching up and rubbing his large hand over the top of his helm before grasping it and pulling it free from his body. Long silver hair flowed down from his aged face, matted grey beard covered his lower features and large bushy eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly. "A considerable number, to be sure."

"...Hmmm."

"What of the people?" Marie asked, turning away from the Director and looking at Torin directly with clear worry in her voice "How are they feeling?"

Torin remained silent for a few moments as he debated how best he could answer that question. Norsemen regarded dying in battle as a great honour but considering this battle consisted of being torn apart at the joints by wild animals rather than facing down opposing warriors, it was difficult to find any real honour in it.

"Happy to still be alive." He responded after a few moments "As for your allied Servant, the black knight?"

"Still kicking." Cu supplied that time, sitting in the middle of the room near the Director and looking towards the Lancer from the corner of his eye for a few moments before turning his head back to Torin and giving the man a half smile "Battle Continuation for you, lets you take a hell of a beating and keep on walking."

"Then he will recover?"

"Give it time but yeah, I could probably speed it up with a couple of Runes though." Cu responded before he grimaced and looked at Olga "Won't lie though, that little stunt against the enemy Servant drained me pretty good though…"

"So you need a Master then." Olga surmised without a hint of emotion in her voice, she then looked up towards the Caster and raised an eyebrow "Whatever happened to being cursed to having no master compatibility?"

"We're up shit creek without a paddle, I believe is the modern expression." Cu responded with after taking a long sigh "I don't think either of us are really in a position to start complaining about our choice of allies." the Caster paused before raising an eyebrow at her in response "If you wanna complain about it-"

"Fine." Olga snapped at him, extending her hand "Just get it over with then…"

Cu frowned, extending his own armoured hand "Don't need to sound so bitter about it."

"Shouldn't I?" Olga quietly grumbled to herself as she felt the connection forge with the Caster who took his hand back and looked towards the Lancer in the corner.

Olga followed his vision and similarly stared at the recent arrival "Who are you anyway?"

"I confess my own curiosity." Torin spoke, crossing his arms and staring at the white haired woman in the corner "Not that I do not hold gratitude for your timely rescue."

"You shouldn't." The Lancer responded with a curt voice, her expression shifting ever so slightly into a light frown "I was there looking for someone but…didn't find him." she looked away from them "Saving your lives just seemed the most sensible course of action at the time."

"...Is that so?" Torin raised a lone eyebrow before it lowered and he shrugged his shoulders "Whatever your reasons are, we would be dead without you so the gratitude remains. That being said, I am surprised you are still here rather than having left us to pursue this man you seek."

Cu hummed to himself as he cracked his fingers "She probably won't do that." the Lancer turned her eyes upon him and narrowed them in slight interest "Because she figured we'll eventually go out looking for the dragons once again and it's safer to travel in a group. Well…safer for her at least."

The Lancer tilted her head "Have we met before? You seem…oddly familiar."

"Heh, I like to imagine I'd have remembered a woman as beautiful as you." Cu snorted, shaking his head "No, you and I have never met before." lowering his hands, he placed them on the ground and turned his body to face her "Still though, you can't have been here long. Bet it was only a couple of hours you were summoned before you stumbled across us. Were you heading North anyway or was that just a coincidence?"

The woman stared at him in silence for a few moments before her lips thinned. "You are correct, upon my summoning I deduced where I was as well as some small details about the situation from what limited information was provided for me. A crisis that revolves around dragons in Scandinavia…It was during the storm I had been summoned, therefore I was forced to venture out in hopes of navigating it."

"Bet that was fun." Cu have a hollow laugh which no one mirrored, he looked over his shoulder towards the Director to see if she had anything further to say. The woman was still staring at the lamp in front of her. "Pssst. Lass." Cu whisper shouted to her.

Still she made no effort to speak, likely not even hearing him to begin with.

"Pale Rose." Nero leaned in from behind her hand gently nudged her shoulder, Olga jolted ever so slightly and looked up to see several heads facing her.

"What?"

"Perhaps you should speak further to this new Servant, you are the Master so the decisions still rest with you."

"...Oh, right." Olga quietly muttered to herself before shifting her expression onto the Lancer "So you want to travel with us to find this person you are looking for."

Lancer nodded.

"And when you find them?" Olga asked further, "What will you do?"

"I will greet them…then I will try to kill them." The Lancer responded as though the answer was obvious, however she couldn't quite hide the sombre tone to her words as though the sentence itself was saddening to her.

"...Yikes." Romani's head flashed up, the man staring at the Lancer with a raised eyebrow "Talk about a lively greeting." he offered a weak chuckle, then paused and looked down when no one laughed "A-anyway, I've confirmed that there aren't any signs of incoming wyverns, dragons or Servants around you. The ones who attacked you are either dead or have retreated away…" the man paused once again "I can't imagine why though…"

"Is the answer not clear?" Nero grinned "They saw the manner in which we bested the great dragon and felt as though they could not take on such superior numbers."

Cu blinked once "The big guy in the black armour is basically your muscle, right?" the Caster asked before jerking a thumb over his shoulder "Next to tall, silent and metal." he looked around and got nods from the Chaldeans "Seeing as how the guy got knocked on his ass and probably would have died if he was a normal Servant in less than ten seconds, I figure that there's something else going on here."

"I concur." Torin grimly nodded his head "The opposing Servant was fresh having soundly bested Tarkus in single combat and taking one of Seidrs mightiest blows without so much as a scratch before advancing on us. Considering we were still tired from battling the Dragon, I suspect that the Servant would have made short work of us, even with Lancer's timely arrival."

"So they left for a reason." Olga realised with a grim understanding "We're only still alive at the whim of the Servant and whomever their Master is."

"...Yes." Torin nodded his head "Judging by the display of power the Servant showcased with those spears of light she carved through the ground and cleaved through the sky with, I suspect their magical energy was superior to my own."

"Looked like some sort of mana burst." Cu crossed his arms, drumming his fingers over his bracers "Big explosions of raw magical energy from your person. Very risky to do if you aren't careful so someone's been practising a lot. Rebounded Primordial runes with them too."

That earned Lancers attention, turning to him and tilting her head "You know how to cast Runes?"

Cu shrugged "I dabble. Called down a big lightning storm on them and the bastard just let out a big explosion." a sigh escaped him. "So yeah, getting up close and personal to fight them just ain't going to work out unless you can match that magical energy and none of us are really like that."

"I see…" Nero frowned, crossing her arms and nodding her head "This paints a rather grim picture indeed, but then why would the Servant retreat if they had us cornered so thoroughly, if what you say is true? Perhaps their Master is a coward who feared their Servant might be injured."

Cu paused for a moment. "Could be." he admitted "Might have also been assessing our strength, figured that once Lancer showed up-" he jerked his head at the woman "-and helped take out the dragon, they had seen enough and had them pull back. Might have also seen the sheer number of Servants and decided not to risk it."

"Then we might have been saved by ignorance as well?" Torin raised an eyebrow "Or someone overly cautious. Lancer was a recent addition and her strengths were not known…perhaps we are dealing with someone who does not enjoy battling the unknown and might seek to probe us again at a later time."

Romani chose that moment to speak up "That Servant could have been the one leading the Singularity as well. They arrived commanding Dragons and wyverns, that isn't something normal Servants can just do." he pointed out, gesturing across the screen towards Marie "Remember in France? The alternate Jeanne was only able to command Fafnir because she was in possession of the Holy Grail and through him could command wyverns."

"You believe the Servant superiority might be because they held the Grail?" Olga looked towards him, her voice shifting ever so slightly "What did the screens tell you?"

Romani paused for a moment "...They didn't show evidence of the Holy Grail's magical energy being used but the magical energy of that Servant was absurd. It exceeded that of the dragon they arrived with and while it was no Fafnir, it was still a dragon. They have absurd levels of magical energy to begin with so…" he shrugged "I can't see any other explanation."

"Then you are looking down on the strength of warriors." Lancer spoke swiftly and surprisingly sternly, Romani's jaw snapped shut as the woman spoke "There are many who achieved great feats in life and certainly the ability to reign supreme over the likes of dragons should not be surprising. While it may sound terrifying to you, there is no reason to suspect that this Servant was not simply using their natural strength."

Marie frowned but nodded her head "Not all Servants have equal strength and I have no doubt there are many Servants that I would stand no chance against and even those you-" she gestured to Torin "-would find it difficult to battle. This could be one such."

"A big name then." Cu sighed, running a hand through his long hair "Just great…Still though." he paused and frowned "Something about them seemed awfully familiar." he quickly raised his hand "No, I most certainly didn't meet them in life but it's just something nagging at me…"

"From what we observed their manner of fighting appeared similar to the Saber in Fuyuki, using their vast levels of magical energy to almost propel it from their body like a weapon." Romani replied with a shrug "That was the closest we could compare it to, but this is much stronger than that."

"Probably because of that spear." Cu frowned "Something wrong with that and you can tell at a glance." he paused again "Something wrong with that Servant and all but I'm not a fountain of wisdom so I can't do much more than tell you what I'm seeing with my eyes." he gestured to them with his fingers "And what I can see is that Servant is trouble."

"They left all the same though." Marie pointed out, her face set in clear confusion as she reached up and rubbed the back of her neck before giving a faint sigh "Sorry, I don't understand tactics all that well so maybe I'm missing something."

"I think we're all missing something here…Unless the Servant was just here to test our strength and then leave." Cu remarked, suddenly gaining a hint of understanding "It's the only thing that comes to mind. They arrive with a single dragon and a small force of wyverns, we kill the dragon and leave them all by themselves which at the very least prove we aren't complete pushovers…"

Torin gave a long hum, moving his hands to rest on his hips as he continued to think on the situation before he exhaled "Further talk of this will gain us no further insight, we could speculate until the sun rises but we will gain no ground in this line of inquiry." he nodded to the others "For the time being, I would suggest rest and recovery…I believe there are some here who would benefit most from that."

"We'll be monitoring you from here." Romani spoke through the communicator once again "If the Servant tries to approach again, we'll see them coming from quite a ways off now that we know what to look for, same with any dragons that could be approaching your position."

Torin nodded once to Romani "Then you have my gratitude for this, I shall still assume watch through the night for peace of mind regardless." he paused, slowly turning his head towards the Lancer in the corner of the room "If you intend to travel with us, I believe it might do us some courtesy to have a name by which to refer to you as."

The Lancer remained silent, looking around the room "Yet I do not know any of your names."

"...True." The druid admitted with a nod of the head "I am Torin, current leader of the Norsemen here. Caster Class Servant and whether you sense it or not, while I carry the strength of one of the Light born within me, I am no Lordkin."

"...Guess we're doing this then." Cu grunted, then looked towards Olga and raised an eyebrow. The woman caught him staring and looked back with no small amount of confusion which prompted a roll of the eyes "We're Master and Servant now lass, you want me to reveal my true name?"

"...Alright." Olga mumbled in response, nodding her head once and looking towards the Lancer "Are you going to reveal your true name?"

"...If all others do, then I would be more inclined." The Lancer replied with a nod of the head "But I would insist on referring to me by Class if we are to engage hostile Servants."

Olga grunted before nodding her head to the Celt.

"Heh, in that case." Cu looked towards the woman and cracked a smirk "Cu Chulainn…" he sighed "Yeah, I'm a Caster not a Lancer. Laugh it up."

"A warrior can fight in many ways." The Lancer responded with a tilt of the head "I understand the power of Primordial Runes when used in the hands of a true master."

"Not quite a true master but I can at least kill things with them." Cu shrugged his shoulders "Also keep a couple folks alive, though with you knowing some Primordial runes? I've got a good guess for who you are but why spoil the surprise?"

Lancer thinned her lips at him before turning to the other two Servants in the room.

"I am Nero Claudius of Rome." The blonde proclaimed with a wide grin, puffing out her chest and placing her hands on her hips "Though my being royalty should come as no surprise given my beauty, should it?"

The Lancer blinked once "Nero Claudius?" she pointedly looked the Emperor's feminine body up and down before gazing questioningly to the others in the room.

"Trust me, this is the tip of the iceberg." Romani remarked with a strained tone of voice "It gets an awful lot stranger the further down you go. You know Francis Drake was a woman as well?"

"...What the fuck?" That earned a look from Cu of total bafflement "How in the-?"

Romani shrugged, giving him a 'I don't know either' sort of expression.

"Ah, then it's my turn!" Marie excitedly called out, clapping her hands together and turning to face the Lancer before she performed a perfect curtsy "I am Marie Antoinette. Queen of France." she raised herself back up and presented the Servant with a beaming smile "But you can just call me Marie if you want! I'd actually prefer it if you did."

The Lancer gave the woman a blank expression for a few moments before it shifted into a mildly apprehensive look.

"The black knight who's missing half his torso is Tarkus." Cu explained, jerking a thumb over his shoulder and speaking in a somewhat blunt manner "He'll probably be back up in a couple of hours. Nice enough bloke, he'll probably spend most of the time calling you 'Miss' though. Real polite sort."

"...I see." The Lancer now looked far more concerned than they had done previously, then pointed her hand towards the entrance "And the Golem outside?"

"...The what?" Cu furrowed his brows before he looked over his shoulder at the shadow of the Berserker. Then closed his eyes and sighed "Now that makes sense." he turned towards the Director, raising a lone eyebrow "How does that even happen anyway? Still though…explains what that mess earlier was."

Olga flinched ever so slightly and looked down in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the lamp. "What? You have something to say?"

"...Not right now." Cu conceded "Maybe when you're less liable to have him tear me in half." he looked back towards Lancer "As for the Berserker? Don't think he has a name…Does he?"

"...Stahl."

"Pffft." Cu snorted "And who says you don't have a sense of humour?" shaking his head, he turned back to the Lancer "Well?"

"...I suppose I should introduce myself to you all." The white haired woman admitted before closing her eyes "My name is Brynhildr. Lancer Class Servant." her eyes opened back up and she regarded the group with an almost cold gaze that contained a hint of desperation to it "For your own sake…Please do not show kindness towards me."

"Brynhildr…" Romani gaped openly through the monitor "The Valkyrie? As in the actual Valkyrie?"

Brynhildr nodded her head once.

"Wow…That would explain why your Servant readings are pretty high, being summoned in Denmark of all places where yours and Sigurd's legend would be famous would give you a pretty high reputation bonus!" He exclaimed, smiling widely before understanding came to him "The means when you said you were searching for someone fighting Dragons, you meant-"

"Yes…I was searching for my beloved Sigurd." Brynhildr admitted with a sad smile "Because I love him…I must kill him."

"...Eh?" Romani blinked once "What?"

"Do not try to understand it." Brynhildr replied, looking away from the man "It is simply something that must be. If Sigurd should appear before me I must love him and then kill him."

"But that doesn't…" Romani trailed off, staring at Brynhildr in clear confusion "...Now I'm confused."

"You might think of it as a curse." Brynhildr explained "The more I love…the more I must kill them. Therefore when I meet Sigurd…I must kill him because I love him."

"Ooooh." Romani grimaced "Ah…well that's…um…" he reached up, scratching the side of his neck "If Sigurd was summoned here we do sort of need him…because of the dragons."

"I am not ignorant of your plight." Brynhildr responded, though not unkindly "However, there is little I can do about this. If Sigurd has been summoned here, then I must kill him…I am sorry for the trouble I will undoubtedly cause." she looked around "Which is why I ask that you not show me kindness during our voyage and if you wish to part ways with me, I would understand-"

"No."

All heads turned towards the voice in question with no small amount of surprise.

Olga looked up towards the Lancer, rising to her feet and staring at her with furrowed brows and a tight frown "You're going to be a problem if Sigurd has been summoned and only if he has been summoned. Until then, letting you wander away would be stupid…" her jaw rolled "You're going to travel with us and I'm going to work you to the bone if you are." she looked around the room to see the reaction of the other Servants "If Sigurd has been summoned and we need his help more than your own and you can't control yourself…"

She trailed off, although Brynhildr nodded her head once.

"I understand. The plight of the Norse matters far more than my curse with Sigurd." She responded in an understanding tone "It makes sense for me to be sacrificed in exchange for Sigurd…though I ask if he has been summoned, that I at least have one final chance to meet with him before I die."

"...Fine." Olga nodded once "If he has been summoned, if he hasn't then this entire conversation is a moot point and irrelevant." placing her hands on her hips, she closed her eyes and exhaled "Now everyone…Get out and go do…whatever you want until we need to leave."

The group remained silent before they slowly filed out of the tents, not before Olga called out to Torin "Wait."

The Caster paused, then turned around to face the woman with a raised eyebrow.

"...Move the injured into this tent." She spoke in a quiet tone of voice "It's much better than the ones they're currently resting in." then pointed to her own coat "My mystic code will keep me warm and if they stay where they are we'll lose more…won't we?"

Torin stared at her in silence for a few moments before he nodded his head "There is a chance." then glanced around the interior "And this would provide superior cover for them but is that truly something you are comfortable with, to lose your own security for strangers?"

"I said I was going to help you get them south." Olga snapped back with a trace amount of heat before it vanished. "It only makes sense that I do everything I can to give them the best chances for their survival."

The druid slowly nodded his head "It does." his arms fell to his side as he regarded the woman silently "Do you blame me for their deaths?"

That got her to pause, slowly looking up at the Caster with a perfectly blank expression.

"The plan to leave was mine, I was the one in command and you spoke out heavily against doing so. We have lost a great many to the attack and the storm…do you hold me accountable for this?"

"...I was the Master and you are a Servant." Olga responded back after a few moments, placing her hands on her lips and lowering her head so her bangs were covering her eyes "I should have been more forceful…but if we stayed then we probably would have been in a worse position than we are in right now…"

"Most likely." Torin admitted without a moment's hesitation "Between our two plans, yours was the worst option." He remained silent for a moment "But that does not answer my question. Do you blame me for their deaths?"

"I had a dragon slaying Servant and it took too long to kill the dragon." She responded quietly, looking up at him "...Is it my fault?"

"...Maybe." Torin shrugged "Maybe it was mine for being too naive in assuming we would not be discovered. My hope in avoiding battle all together might have been misplaced. But without that hope, I doubt I would have the courage to brave the storm." the druid ran a meaty hand through his hair "I blame myself for their deaths. I am their leader, even if only temporary, and it was my role to protect them. I have failed the deceased and now must work to save the living…but that does not wash away my failure."

"I said I was going to help move them…So it…" Olga trailed off and looked away "Nevermind." she huffed, walking past the man and out into the cold "It doesn't matter."

Torin wouldn't quite agree with that statement. He felt it mattered a great deal, especially since it was clear that in spite of her words she blamed herself. Even if he was the leader, she still thought of herself as his better, which meant that she also thought she carried the responsibility for his own failings.

"I wonder…" Torin quietly whispered to himself as he stared at her retreating shadow moving across the camp "...Did you think I blamed you for your Servants failings?" he wasn't expecting an answer, so when silence greeted him he was left with little in the way of surprise. "Hmph." he grunted once before shaking his head "What a troublesome young woman you are, Olga Marie."

He gave the interior of the tent one final look over, measuring out the space within it and determining that they probably would be able to cram the wounded inside. It was spacious enough to allow that much.

"Is all of modern humanity like this?" He asked aloud, reaching out and running his hand across the fabric of the tent before he paused and retracted his hand, grimacing ever so slightly before staring down at the fingers he had felt the surface with and rubbing them against one another "...Not to my preference."

He much preferred the more natural tents of the Norsemen with their fur cloaks and woollen beds. Still, there was little else he could do about that right now. Personal preference came secondary to the lives of the people.

Turning around, he vacated the tent and marched his way over to the wounded. It wouldn't take too long in moving them over so he could make a start on it now.

Cu jogged through the camp, chasing after the specific individual before raising his hand and calling out to them "Oi, wait up."

Brynhildr stopped walking, then turned around to face the Caster "Do you require something of me, Child of Light?"

"A conversation would be a start." The Caster grunted with a half smile before the smile on his face dissipated in favour of assuming a more puzzled expression, his arms crossing over his chest and leaning back ever so slightly "You do know if Sigurd is here you all but signed your death sentence, right?"

Brynhildr nodded "That is indeed quite true." she admitted without sounding put off by the topic in the least "If my beloved is here, I will try to kill him and if I should succeed, then there is a good chance that I will likely doom your chances of success in this Singularity as you call them." she turned her eyes upwards "In which case, it would make the most logical sense to end me before I could jeopardise your chances."

Cu raised an eyebrow and frowned "Sure but are you really happy with that?" he pointedly asked "Not saying what you're talking about doesn't make sense but are you really gonna be fine with seeing the big guy again only to die a couple seconds later?"

"...I wish for one final chance to speak with Sigurd, if I can get that then I would be more than content with my situation-" She paused for a moment before a soft smile came upon her features "No…I would be elated beyond words if I could speak with Sigurd once more. Elated and perhaps overwhelmed…"

The druid shrugged his shoulders and scratched his head "Meh, might just be me with the whole allying with someone just to kill them later. Though I guess when it comes to normal Grail Wars that's probably something that would be a given."

"My role was always to bring warriors to Valhalla." Brynhildr lowered her head and stared at the Caster "Sigurd was obviously different but even as it stands…I cannot help but judge warriors when I meet them. That is why I am sure the girl will not follow through with her request."

"Say what?"

"The Master you are all allied to." Brynhildr explained "If she truly meant her words, then she would have encouraged a contract with me and then used a command spell to order my suicide if it appeared as though I was going to threaten Sigurd, if he is here." she added on "Though I am certain he is…I can feel it deep within me that he walks these lands, no doubt helping where he can."

Cu stared at her with a raised eyebrow for a few moments before he chuckled to himself "Yeah…I can see a lot of other assholes doing that sort of thing but the girl? I don't see her telling someone to kill themselves." his expression shifted to be more sombre "Damn…she ain't even all that convincing as well."

"I would like to ask a favour of you, Child of Light." Brynhildr looked towards the Caster, the man made an ugly expression as he could already tell what she was going to ask "If I meet Sigurd and I cannot control myself…could you stop me?"

The Caster stared at her in silence for a few moments before he exhaled and rubbed his forearm over his head "Fuck sake…" he grumbled to himself as he lowered the limb "I can certainly slow you down but killing you in front of Sigurd is only going to end up with him splitting me in half or something like that."

Brynhildr blinked "It is not for that…I merely do not wish for Sigurd to slay me." she responded with after a few moments, her expression shifting to become more sad "I try to slay him out of a curse unto myself but Sigurd…he has no such curse, though perhaps he would wish to slay me for the role I played in the deaths of him and his family."

Cu reached up and scratched his chin "...Eh…I struggle to deal with this sort of thing given…you know…" he gestured to himself before lowering his hand "I mean, Sigurd is probably better than you, no offence, and I'm more worried about the collateral damage if you two were to start fighting." he shrugged "Still…he probably loves you."

The Lancer thinned her lips "I…do not share such confidence in that sentiment."

"Yeah well, we're gonna be guessing about that sort of thing until we actually meet him if he's even here at all." Cu grumbled before he paused and raised his finger. "On another note, there is something you could do for me as a slight favour, or rather, a favour to everyone."

Brynhildr raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head.

"The lass's little metal pal. Way I see it, it does exactly what she says so if she's got no idea what's happening then neither has it." He explained, prompting a nod of understanding from the Lancer.

"The Servant with no will of its own, perhaps more like a weapon and the Master its wielder. Not dissimilar to the state of other Servants but indeed more pronounced."

"Yeah, that." Cu nodded at her "Come the morning, I figured I could give her a little training session. Think another version of me did something similar when he last met them but with someone else at the time, can't tell the specifics but it's just one of those things." he shrugged his shoulders "I can only do so much with a staff and some flashy lights mind you…"

"So you wish for me to use my spear?" Brynhildr nodded her head in understanding "Why?"

"You're faster than the other big dude so between those two, it's just going to turn into a slugging match and the winner of that would be fairly obvious after a while." Cu explained easily "And probably better than the little blonde Emperor and the Queen. Tall, armoured and friendly isn't going to be swinging that sword for a couple hours and that leaves you."

"I see." Brynhildr replied, her expression blank for a few moments as she narrowed her eyes at the Caster ever so slightly "You say we have not met before and yet I feel this…strange connection with you, as though we have…No, it is nothing." she muttered, dismissing whatever else she was going to say "Very well, it would improve our chances if I aid you in this endeavour. Do not thank me for it, please."

Olga retreated into one of the smaller tents, big enough for perhaps two people. It had belonged to one of those taken away in the initial attack and given that they weren't going to be needing it anymore, it had remained attached to the horses in the event that someone else needed it.

Given that she had given up the tent Chaldea provided them with, she imagined this was one such situation where it was needed. There was a marked difference between the two of them though, while her own tent had been exceedingly more thorough in its design to retain warmth with tent was a thin piece of fabric draped over a central pole planted in the ground and extended along either side with pegs. The end result being a cone shaped design to it.

She stared down at the fur bedding that lay on the ground and crouched down, extending her hand and resting it atop the exterior and running gloved fingers across it. She couldn't feel it through them but she could at least tell it wasn't going to be too uncomfortable to sleep on. Turning herself around, she sat down on the fur bed and stared back out the thin slit serving as an entrance and back across the expanse of the camp.

The tents were bunched closer together and she could just about make out the muffled voices and the shadows moving through the night, no doubt the wounded being dragged from the original resting places to the larger tent. Straining her ears further, she could make out the irritable noises of the horses as they waited outside in the cold.

Olga wasn't much of an animal person at the best of times but she found herself slightly dubious as to whether or not they would be capable of dragging anyone anywhere if they didn't have some sort of cover for the night. Closing her eyes she turned away and drew her legs into herself, wrapping her hands around them and remaining silent.

Thudding sounds alerted her to Stahl moving close to her tent before the boot steps fell silent, the Berserker assuming a guard position just outside and likely not willing to move from their spot until she commanded otherwise. A hollow snort ran from her mouth at the thought.

"...Oh…That's why I summoned you." She realised to herself as she let her head fall forwards, resting it atop her knees "...Because you don't do anything unless I tell you, right?"

Stahl remained silent.

"Even when I try…it just doesn't work, does it?" She quietly whispered to herself before she lashed out with her right hand and smacked some of the snow near her, the impact produced a muffled thud and sent a small upsurge of snow flying across the tent and bouncing against the side of it. Her teeth grit themselves together before she lowered her arm and let it fall into the snow, gradually raising her head and staring at the outline of the Berserker beyond the tent.

She couldn't even blame anyone else. It was a Golem, she knew that much. She was told that much and despite that, it hadn't really occurred to her before today. Sure enough when they had been in previous situations she had just said 'attack' and the Servant had done just that but they had support before that time.

There wasn't support in the same way and Dragons were many things, stupid wasn't one of them. They didn't fight in the simple way of other Berserkers of just swinging at one another like mindless weapons. They had instincts of their own and a great deal of power to back up that animalistic sense of theirs.

She had no one else to blame. It was her Servant, it did what she said.

And everyone knew that, which meant its clumsy performance earlier was her fault and everyone knew that as well. She looked away swiftly, all but slamming her forehead back into her knees and gradually releasing a quiet groan. Everyone knew it was her fault and she wouldn't be surprised if they were secretly making comments about it either.

Even when she had a Servant, nothing went her way and it was her own fault for that.

Her teeth grinded against one another, producing a low sound which was barely audible to her.

She paused, hearing the gentle sound of snow crunching under light footsteps gradually growing louder and louder. Soon followed by a creaking sound of metal as Stahl shifted their attention onto whomever was approaching. She didn't look towards the noise, not willing to muster up the energy to do so.

Then came the ruffling of fabric as the Director felt someone enter the tent alongside her and sit themselves on the ground.

"Dear me." Marie Antionette's voice rang out, holding a slight hint of discomfort to it "I had thought the snow wouldn't be quite this bad but I suppose that's to be expected." the girl sighed lightly, shuffling to try and make herself more comfortable. "I suppose you can at least say there isn't much of a breeze in here…and that looks rather warm."

The Rider reached out, leaning forwards and running a hand over the top of the fur bedding and nodding her head "I thought as much. A little rougher than I thought it would be but it hasn't been treated in the same way, has it?"

Olga didn't reply, content to remain with her head buried in her knees.

Marie silently pulled her hand back and went back to kneeling in the snow, an animal cloak draped over her body and giving her the appearance of a furry mountain with a head jutting from the top, made marginally more amusing by the oversized bonnet she wore atop her head as well.

"...Well. Goodnight." Marie spoke, then leaned towards the snow and rested herself atop it, snuggling into her cloak.

Olga furrowed her brows and raised her head up, staring at the Servant in slight confusion "What?" Marie already had her eyes closed and looked as though she was trying to get to sleep "Don't try and…" Olga sighed "What are you doing? What is this?"

Marie kept her eyes closed "If I'm being honest, I'm not used to sleeping by myself." the Queen replied as though the answer was obvious "And I've heard that sleeping near people is very good for keeping body heat and that seems rather important in this situation." a single eyelid opened and the sapphire blue orb stared at the Director with a hint of amusement "And as a Servant, I should see to my Master's needs shouldn't I?"

Olga looked away, "I'm not even your real Master."

"...No." Marie admitted, closing the eyelid once again "You aren't but you are my link and for this Singularity, I will treat you as though you are my Master. I said as much and it wouldn't do for a Queen to go back on her word."

The Director didn't make a noise, still staring outside into the snow.

"...Are you going to try and stay up?" Marie asked as she shifted, opening both eyes now and staring at the Director with a slightly chiding expression "You shouldn't do that, you'll end up ruining your features if you don't get as much sleep as you can."

"I know that…" Olga quietly grumbled "What are…did you come here just to sleep?" she asked after a few moments "You could have done that anywhere else."

"Well, I did say why."

"I have a mystic code that will keep me warm and there are plenty of others you can sleep alongside." She paused for a moment before scoffing "I'm sure that Nero would welcome the company."

"She would and you are right." Marie admitted, nodding her head and sitting herself back up "But I decided that it would be best to sleep here for tonight. I figured that leaving you alone wasn't going to be a good thing."

"So it's pity." Olga all but spat out the word in disgust, turning her eyes back towards Marie and frowning "I don't need it and I don't need comfort. I know what happened and I don't need to be treated like a child."

Marie remained silent as she stared at the Director "I didn't say I was doing it out of pity or comfort. I just said I didn't want to leave you alone, I think that's true of anyone after a rather nasty ordeal." she looked down "It's just as much for my own comfort as well to be honest, I suppose in that respect I might be using you just a little bit."

That got the Director to pause, furrowing her brows ever so slightly "What?"

"Well, is it any real surprise?" Marie chuckled ever so slightly although there wasn't a hint of warmth in the noise "I'm not a combat Servant. Not really…I can fight but I'm no knight. Not like d'Eon." She looked up at the Director and gave her a blank look "All I was ever really good for was looking pretty and trying to make people feel better but…" she trailed off and gave the Director an odd look "We all know how that ended up."

Olga thinned her lips "Hmmm." she hummed rather than give an actual response.

"I was quite useless out there." Marie responded, giving a faint sigh "And I was quite useless in France too…I spent most of my time being supported by everyone else and it was my own country." she shook her head "Queen of France and I had to rely on Servants from different era's and completely different worlds in order to save it…" she paused for a moment "I got the chance to see Sain-" she cut herself off "To see Jeanne shine." she corrected herself "And watching her fight even when she was weakened was…it was outstanding. She really is beautiful."

The Director raised a lone eyebrow at her.

"And I just…" Marie shrugged "I carted everyone around in some glass horses and brought peace to the man who killed me…I don't mean to offend Sanson but he wasn't a warrior and we both knew it. Neither of us were and I…" her eyes closed "When I tried to fight the other Servants I think I realised it…I realised it when Mozart gave up his life to save me."

Olga paused for a moment, that hadn't been mentioned in the report. All she knew was that in the battle against the Berserker they had lost Mozart. Of course there was no real reason to make note of it. That was the nature of Servants in the most clinical sense of the word, disposable familiars you could use.

Even if one died, the Chaldean summoning system meant you could just get another Servant in to replace them so it didn't really count as a true loss to begin with.

In the clinical sense of the word, at least.

"I figured that joining you in this Singularity would be a way to make up for France." Marie opened her eyes again, showing a dull hue to her normally bright orbs "To really show that I could make a difference…I suppose you could say that Jeanne inspired me and I really wanted to prove to myself I could do it."

"...Oh."

"Hmmm." Marie hummed and looked back into the storm "Well…I proved that I couldn't do much more than gain a dragon's attention for a few seconds. Everything I tried to do just didn't work out all that much. I'm left wondering if my being here even made much of a difference in combat."

"You're a support Servant." Olga quietly muttered before closing her eyes and shaking her head, raising her voice ever so slightly "You were there to keep the wounded in pace with the main body of the caravan with your carriage that required no rest. You shouldn't have been put into a position where you had to fight at all."

"Yet I was." Marie spoke bluntly "Through no one's fault I found myself on the front line, desperately trying to protect people and I realised that I'm just not very good at this sort of thing." she smiled, "I'm still going to try though."

Olga did a double take "What? After that whole spiel about being useless you're still going to-"

"Well, of course I am." Marie giggled as though the Director had said something amusing "I'm a Servant summoned to do the will of my Master and even if you're my temporary one, you determined yourself - all of us - to protect that carriage and I made a promise to myself as a Queen and like I said, it wouldn't do for me to go back on my word."

Closing her eyes once again, Marie slowly lowered herself back to the ground and hugged her body close under her fur cloak "I might not be a very good combat Servant but I'm still a Servant. If I were to lose heart after something like that then I wouldn't be much good, would I?"

Olga stared at the Servant in silence before she similarly closed her eyes and slowly lowered herself onto her bedding and turned her body so she wasn't facing the Rider.

"By the way." Marie whispered from behind her "What you said about Lancer earlier. You aren't going to do that, are you?"

Olga bit her lower lip "How do you know?"

"Because you don't seem the type to throw people away like that." Marie chuckled ever so slightly "I suppose I have a sense for this sort of thing, not if you can really help it."

"I was going to drum your Master out of the programme without even speaking to him." Olga bluntly responded as she kept her eyes closed "Without even a chance to explain himself to me, I was going to toss him back out the way he came."

"Why?"

"He fell asleep in the middle of my briefing." Olga recalled her initial annoyance and found that she was still rather irritated by that "Just snoring when I was trying to explain everything to the other candidates." she all but growled, despite that Marie found herself chuckling, prompting Olga to pause for a moment "Is that funny?"

"No, it's just the thought of you seeing someone just snoring away." The woman responded before she continued on "And what would you have done when he left?"

"...He'd already signed the NDA and hadn't been made aware of anything that was important enough…We'd have just dropped him back off where we found him in the first place." She replied, giving a slight shrug. "So maybe I am the type to just toss people away."

"Hmmmm." Marie merely hummed to herself "Well, you might be. I'm not good at reading the mood sometimes. I think Mozart calls me a bit of an airhead at the worst moments." there was another silence "Even so, would you really kill an ally when they were struggling with something difficult?"

"..."

"Well, I suppose we might find out soon." Marie mumbled quietly, a gentle yawn emerging from her throat "Or maybe we won't. I'll just have to wait and see, won't I?"

Olga remained silent as she stared at the side of the tent.

Firing someone without meeting them was one thing, killing someone after working with them for so long was something else. It might make sense if they had betrayed you, as was the case with Le-...

As was the case in the past, Brynhildr had all but admitted what her intentions were and it was a curse on her very being. A troublesome curse that might not even come into play if Sigurd hadn't been summoned.

Who knew how many days they would be travelling with the Lancer?

Fujimaru wouldn't do it. She could tell as much, he was stupid and naive like that.

But could she do it?

Olga shuffled, electing to ignore it for the time being. She could put that much off her mind. Thinking about killing potential allies mere hours after meeting them for 'what-ifs' wasn't the sort of thing she was willing to dwell upon. Furthermore, it didn't make sense from a tactical standpoint. If you have a resource, you don't just toss it when it becomes a little difficult.

Her eyes squeezed shut and she released a breath.

Sleep would be more than a little welcome right now.

AN: Little moment between Olga and Marie because it's nice.

Also yes. The Lancer is Brynhildr which brings its own problems, as was discussed in the actual chapter in regards to killing the guy who can actually slay dragons.

Even Brynhildr knows it's a bad thing so…you know…There's that.

Whether Sigurd is actually here? Who knows!