(Forest Clearing with a Campfire)
The Chaldeans were met by a pair of Servants sitting around a small fire - one looked the part of a native shaman, complete with a a spirit familiar of some sort that hovered attentively nearby like a more humanoid Ruby. But the other one, surprisingly enough matching the descriptions given by the various 'witnesses' with a large sword, round metallic bossed shield and armor (sort of) was even more surprisingly -
"One second," Jeanne blinked in surprise though it wasn't her eyes that were necessary for her Skill (True Name Descernment) to activate. She quickly pulled Sasaku over to her and whispered something.
"Yeah," the smaller Ruler replied after taking a moment to drop her transformation.
"Oh, it's ... you?" The one with the weapon spoke up first before anyone else. "Greetings, I'm from Chaldea too ! I got a bit lost though, it seems."
"Right, ok. So I'll take it that means you're not our Elizabeth somehow Rayshifting here before we even started," Gudako immediately deduced the swordwoman's identity from her distinctive voice. "Wait, are you also prepping for a Halloween concert like ours?"
"Well, I was going to scout out some good locations while on Support List duty, but just as I considering a nice rustic theme for this one, something spooked the spontaneously-forming audience that turned up."
"That wasn't me, by the way," the man next to her clarified. "I only arrived after the humans were all lying scattered on the ground like chaff. Knocked out cold, that is."
"I guess we were too late to protect them from Elizabeth's, uh infectious enthusiasm for concerts," Marie noted. "But if it helps, we already confirmed the humans were fine. Physically at least."
"Since you're here that must mean my heroic side-job starts now !" Elizabeth had clearly simply forgotten all about her assignment once left unsupervised.
"By the way, everyone," Ruby spoke up without warning. "Just so we're clear on this point, her Noble Phantasm is (Báthory Brave Erzsébet): Cyclone Demoness of Fresh Blood. It's Single Target."
"That's right, this all-new heroic Saber-type Mystic Sword technique is the result of rigorous training," Elizabeth confirmed exuberantly. "By concentrating the heroic power of song into a destructive form, it can - wait a moment, you should already know since all you Kaleidosticks are connected, right?"
"I'm kind of wishing that wasn't the case," the also-has-a-microphone-function Ruby mumbled to no one in particular.
"What about you, brave warrior?" Gudao brought everyone's attention back to the other, less known to them, Servant present.
"It seems in this age I am known as 'Geronimo'. More relevantly to your purpose, I am only a neutral party in the conflict of this age. After all, this is properly speaking before I was even born."
"In other words, you're willing to cooperate with us in the real effort of restoring Human History by correcting this Singularity, yes?" Scathach asked him directly.
"I am neutral as the forest itself is," Geronimo replied bluntly, waving away her invitation. "I merely restrained your friend here from ruining the land; if she wishes to go with you that is her decision, but I am going my own way regardless."
"If you're like the forest, would you object to us - responsibly of course - borrowing the use of the leyline around here to contact Chaldea?" Marie asked diplomatically.
"Washington is drawing out more and more mana by the day, but as long as you do no destruction to the land it is not my part to encourage or refuse you."
"Hmm, in that case Scathach, perhaps you can camp out here and help relay our communications while Elizabeth swaps into our formation." Gudako eyed their Caster's druid staff. "I'm sure you know how to handle nature, even in another land like America, just fine."
(Around the Campfire)
"Wahaha, feast your eyes on this feast of the forest (currently uncooked) !" An extremely joyful Nobunaga had returned with the spoils of a brief hunt - a pair of moderate-sized deer, plenty for the whole gathering. They had asked Geronimo before the shaman left, and the man had shrugged approval after warning them against being greedy.
"There are also some various fresh vegetables that I checked were good," Sasaku added, carrying in her own haul. "I'm sure together there will be enough to extend our supplies considerably."
"Alright, I suppose it's up to me to show how to prepare a meal with all this using with minimal cookware," Artoria sized up the situation, or rather had already begun thinking ahead when their Archer had decided to go hunting.
"Weren't you going to roast them?" Jeanne asked.
"There's that too, but by making the fire into a ring-shape and using a few of these stones and leaves we can also cook on something like a flattop," the Saber answered while demonstrating her camping skills from her famous time as the traveling Princess Knight. "Let's see, these smaller ones seem peppery and those have a pungent smell."
"I suppose we could also keep some of those leaves to wrap some of the meat up when we're done," Scathach commented from where she was working nearby on her runes.
"Yes, these large and slightly floral ones would make for good packaging, let's set them aside for that then."
(After Dinner)
"If we set out at light tomorrow, it should be easy to make it back to Washington by midday since we can just head there directly without stopping," Gudao said while Artoria was considering how best to pack the additional supplies onto her horses.
"Since there's no time pressure at the moment, you might as well take the time tonight to rest fully, compared to last night when we were chasing the trail on our investigation," Marie suggested. "I know you're sturdier than humans and have those Mystic Codes to help with managing fatigue, but still..."
"Good, I'll have everything here wrapped up in the morning," Scathach agreed.
"Ok, let's clear a bit of space near the last bit of the fire," Gudako decided. "Thankfully it isn't raining or particularly windy tonight."
"Why don't you sleep on my lap?" Sasaku suggested after helping Artoria finish clearing up their cooking space and banking the embers in ash. "Since the bags are full of things, it'll be better than grabbing a rock or log or something. I need to switch to a meditation stance to go over what I have in the time we have, too."
"Um, well thanks for the offer then." Taking out a carefully rolled heavy blanket, Gudako laid it out on the ground so that half would rest on the grass and the other functioned as a coverlet. Sitting down at one end, the Ruler gathered up her fluffy skirts together into something resembling a down pillow in consistency.
"Huh, no fair, me too !" Elizabeth suddenly seemed taken by the idea. "Then, Master -"
"Nope. Besides that wouldn't be appropriate for an 'idol' character right?" Gudao rejected her smoothly, though he was definitely eyeing the Saber's hilariously spiked boots warily.
"Then, I'll at least sing a lullaby."
"Uh... Gudao quickly looked around for help."
"Leave that thought for now," Artoria interrupted the other Servant. "Since we're at a pause and you'll be joining us, this is a good time to evaluate your combat skills. And of course, since I assume our own Elizabeth will get caught up in something similar, I might be able to make that easier with this experience."
"Eh ?! Is this the you-must-fight-your-new-friends (for training) routine? Ok, though I actually don't know much about this, I'm sure we can train a lot tonight !" Elizabeth immediately jumped onto the new opportunity with her usual enthusiasm.
"I suppose it would be acceptable if I tagged along as well?" d'Eon asked. "Obviously we don't have the same sword techniques, or swords at that, in the later years as the knights of old, but..."
By the time the Saber trio returned from their sparring - some distance away to not bother the resting Masters, of course - they found the two homunculi asleep, with Marie apparently having claimed care of Gudao at some point.
"Ah, so Elizabeth doesn't really know how to use a sword," Artoria said to Sasaku. "Though going off our-her Lancer and Caster versions, her Noble Phantasm will probably be quite a heavy hitter. d'Eon is the opposite, an excellent fighter on the technical side, with a very focused and efficient Mystic Sword technique."
"I must say that seeing it again, the Princess Knight sure combines both types of strengths as a Saber," d'Eon noted. It appeared that both Chaldea's 'black' Marie and the more standard 'white' one had high appraisals of the young Pendragon king.
"Didn't you look that all up in the first place?" Scathach raised an eyebrow at the Ruler, though the Caster herself had wasted no time in joining in with Artoria's impromptu evaluation session.
"Yes, sure. But those records are either too vague or specific on too many variants; not useful without a good eye on the ground to establish basic truth."
"I'm just a Saber-in-training for now, really," Elizabeth pouted. "It'll be a while before the event that Master Hakuno told BB to pass onto Gilgamesh who told Sasaku who relayed it to my current Master actually happens."
"Oh don't worry about it," Scathach said with her usual encouragement towards training. "I know for sure you can learn with hard work. Hmm... but it will definitely need quite a lot of hard work.."
"Right. But though I know we can't easily see it for ourselves right now, about your Noble Phantasm; when you concentrate your idol-power, it converts into a destructive force, yes?" Sasaku asked Elizabeth with a well-educated sense of irony regarding the 'conversion' aspect.
"Well, it was you, or our version of you, that worked out how to make it work," Elizabeth agreed cheerfully. "Of course I do have to thank Ruby who provided valuable sensor data during our trial runs."
"Ugh, please no," Ruby groaned, though Elizabeth didn't understand the wand's distress. Doubtless the Kaleidostick would have preferred hiding away in its Ruler's Inventory but that was impossible since she needed to stay in her transformed state. "This contract has been nothing but hard work and I didn't even get to manipulate cute magical girls."
"That's what they call a 'flag' isn't it? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Elizabeth asked the wand's contractor, who simply shrugged.
"I don't really have a choice, so that's not worth discussing," Sasaku elaborated. "But I'm sure there will be far more costs to pay than is reasonable. I'm open to being pleasantly surprised, but."
"Do keep your voices down," Marie frowned at the chattering group. "You'll wake them up, you know."
"Homunculi actually sleep pretty soundly, barring some specific stimuli. Hmm, I guess you weren't on really long deployments with the Masters before," Jeanne commented from nearby where she was staring down the cooling embers in the firepit.
"I wouldn't have guessed."
"Well, it has something to do with their habits of sleeping in groups; like cats they say though that never seemed like a great analogy to me," Artoria shrugged. "Sometimes I think they use analogies only to prompt you to ask why."
"But there's only two of them now, and they're both asleep," Nobunaga pointed out.
"I think Chaldean Servants count, since they identify people by energy signatures," Scathach explained. "Then again, the Masters sleep in their own rooms so perhaps it doesn't matter for them?"
"Your first guess is right," Sasaku added abruptly. "In Realm areas, like all of Chaldea, I think the Bounded Field means the whole population satisfies the conditions regardless of distance. Like how Anne and Mary have issues if they are too far away from one another, but only outside of Chaldea."
"Oh, I see," Artoria realized. "I think when the first alarm went off leading to the Fuyuki Rayshift, it caused everyone to instantly wake up even before the audible siren started - because they got the emergency message though the System faster than someone hitting the alert button."
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(On the way back to Washington)
"So, since Maginot sailed over here, does that mean there's some sort of alliance between the Americans and the Union to fight the Queendom?" Nobunaga was quizzing d'Eon on the details since the situation after wrapping up their mission was unclear.
"There was a much earlier proposal by the French Republic for both sides to sign a North Atlantic Ocean Treaty, but this was rejected by the Senate who wanted to avoid 'entangling alliances'," d'Eon explained. "After all, the French monarchy that had helped them gain independence were killed by those now asking them to sign into an alliance before having demonstrated any value proposition. They were right too, I suppose. Once Medb appeared on the scene, the Celts began a rather successful invasion of the French Republic who would probably have tried to call them in."
"Until Marie appeared that is - you said she got started later on, right?" Artoria recalled.
"She certainly had to do a bit of ramp up first, since there were two fronts: her own side, and then get the French situation in order. But, yes, she managed to break the Celts' ambitions by traveling up and down the coast breaking their supply chains over and over, much to Medb's consternation. Simply put, it isn't possible to occupy a land with garrisons when the whole countryside is unified in hostility and you are losing supply ships to people assaulting and torching them in-port."
"And as this was going on, the Senate voted to go on the offensive on this side of the ocean," Nobunaga prompted their traveling companion.
"They called it a liberation operation, yes. Ironically, like the Celts in France there were good early successes overrunning or simply causing garrisons to capitulate. But Medb moved quickly after deciding to give up on the French project and, like Marie actually, made a landing near the original northern border of the Americans to then move northward, cutting off their supplies and possibility of retreat. Unlike when she was caught, they didn't have Servant-level leadership and were destroyed instead of getting away."
"This was all still under the Senate?"
"Right. It was only when the Celts made a successful amphibious assault out west of Washington that they panicked. Around that time Helena was here but they refused to listen to her, so I think she actually summoned the one who is now the Dictator. As for what they're working on, I can tell you it's some odd combination of automaton and golem magecraft. They might tell us more after we deliver them the good news about this mission, but unusually for politicians looking forward to a wonder weapon, it is actually a pretty well-kept secret. I might be treated as a friend, but still an outsider."
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(White House, Oval Office)
"... and as such I would like to introduce our newest party member, Elizabeth Báthory (Brave)", Gudao concluded their report of the investigation.
"Well, that's one trouble off my mind, thank you." The Dictator seemed genuinely appreciative, though Helena had a more I-knew-it expression on her face. "Since there's no sign of a greater threat, I suppose it would be only fair for me to support you in hunting down the source of this Singularity."
"Of course, neither of us can go with you," Helena quickly clarified. "But d'Eon can decide for himself what to do."
"By this point, it's almost certain the Queendom know my face; in fact I'd say one reason they may have held back from assaulting Washington was that their regular Redshirts wouldn't want to fight against a Servant."
"Are the Redcoats better at fighting Servants?" Nobunaga asked in confusion. "Both forces are composed of humans right?"
"Well the Redcoats will at least give it a go, the regulars will probably just cut and run if they realize there's Servants getting almost their ranks. The elites also have priority on newer kit, so they might be more dangerous than you imagine. Not that I've fought them directly, they're usually kept as a reserve force, which is why Medb didn't lose too many of them even when retreating from France."
"Hmm, what's surprising then is why Medb didn't come here herself immediately after the port was secured. By the sounds of it, if she arrived with those Braves then wouldn't the situation here become very dire very quickly?" Jeanne wondered aloud.
"That's what d'Eon was alluding to - well I would say that it wasn't that the Redshirts would give up for a single Servant by himself, they're definitely not that gutless. But the issue is that even a single agent of the Union means a Celtic push inland might be caught in the same situation as in France if they don't prepare sturdy supply lines. Sure, with even a limited force Medb could do a lot of damage to Washington before being forced to pull back, but she really hates the second part of that and it isn't riskless when you know the enemy is trying to fish for that perfect-for-them confluence of circumstances that will catch you out," Helena explained.
"At the same time, it's definitely a chance she can't pass up forever. My guess, though, is that her most likely plan will be to stretch a massive siege train from the ocean to here, bring as much as she can, and hope that we'll stack our forces up here to lose them to her and the Braves," the Dictator said sourly.
"Isn't the Senate fixated on holding the city though? That's kind of playing into her hands... And there's no actual Union forces nearby, so when Medb eventually gives in to the temptation and goes for the throat there'll be no riposte from the coast," d'Eon questioned him, knowing a bit of the local atmosphere in his time there.
"They are, but I've convinced them we need to use our current manpower and time to build as many fortifications as possible, and as spread out as we can efficiently patrol because the Celts will definitely bring their best artillery up for this, even if they have to drag naval guns and mortars up - which I fully expect them to. Still, whether or not they know it, Washington's leyline is a major geographically-fixed strategic resource and trying to evacuate our production lines to another leyline further west would mean giving Medb free reign for a significant period, not to mention leaving significant population under occupation."
"Have you taken steps to relocate civilians, at least?" Artoria asked.
"Those not involved in our military production, yes. Though I suspect the Senate overestimates our chances of repelling a committed Celt attack, for my part I'm definitely making sure to keep routes open to pull critical items and people out. Win or lose though, we need to inflict as much damage on any Celtic thrust so their following recovery phase will be extended."
"It's not possible for the Union to send anything over, given how the Queendom has a fairly good naval blockage of France. On the other hand, since she doubtless knows about Servant summoning due to being here, Medb has to be aware of the possibility that she might have to contend with a powerful 'third party' that appeared on this side of the ocean and didn't need conventional supply lines," Helena ventured.
"You're proposing an alliance, then?" Gudao went straight to the issue at hand.
"Nothing as complicated as that. But you have to agree that since the Union's Marie is gone, if Medb isn't dealt with, the war will definitely go in the Celts' favor. Even if not in this round, once Medb realizes France is open again, she'll return to that project and then come here for the rematch. In fact, I have reports suggesting that a significant number of her northern deployment units are, or at least were, employed in taking some land in our northern corner - near some ports - and fortifying those holdings," the Dictator clarified.
"Wait, is the Senate still fixated on that? I suppose they would be, huh..." Helena frowned.
"Yeah, it's a distraction and a means to ensure there will be no peace settlement in one."
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Notes:
Ruby knows Elizabeth's Noble Phantasm because Sasaku looked it up and it can reference her knowledge as well. She accesses records via the Grail, not via Kaleidostick. Most of her Ruler-side Skills and magecraft won't work when she's transformed, of course, but since the record-reading is more information based, she can switch back, check the records quickly, and still remember it when transforming again like actually reading a book would. If she had a more regular (True Name Discernment) like Jeanne, it would work similarly, but in both cases having to be un-transformed isn't great in a potential combat situation (though the defense improvement isn't that great, actually).
Unlike the situation with this Chaldea's Artoria (ie: Artoria Pendragon Lily Alter) who was affected by Grail mud in this timeline (she isn't like Saber Alter in the regular timelines), Marie is described as being 'black' because of her negative outlook and really clothes/color-scheme - she isn't an Alter or really angry like an Avenger would be. She can get along well with the 'white' or more regularly seen Marie.\\