"Master-servant relationship? Er, well though you could say she summoned me, wouldn't asking Sasaki Kojirou about that be closer to what you're looking for? ... Huh, 'as a goddess' you meant?" Agesipolis threw the question around in his head for a bit before deciding that it still wasn't clear enough. "Can you be more specific?"
...
"Oh, I see. So she was telling Iri and Matthew the old war stories and Chloe was there too." After confirming the context to his satisfaction, the Shielder realized what the homunculus (or more likely homunculi since they weren't that independent, after all) was actually asking. I suppose I'm the only other person they could try to cross-reference with, unless suddenly Cassandra or Phillip shows up.
"Ok, so as I've seen it though she's in the oldest group (generation zero) she's incredibly popular with the young ones as she's the first to advocate for them. Depends on your perspective as to why; it clearly isn't to benefit her own children as she doesn't have any - unlike some other people in her generation who still have them a thousand years into eternity. But conversely it isn't because she wants children but can't have any, because she could definitely if she wanted to, and I don't mean adopting either."
"But she made it sound like lineage was really important?" one of those at the side questioned aloud.
"Yes, for you as you're mortal so propagating your line, we're really talking in terms of species once reaching a stage of civilization, is non-negotiable. Even then, you only need 'enough' young ones, not 'the most'. Or well, let me be more specific and just say the optimal, don't ask me what that would be though, I couldn't tell you."
Hmm, perhaps we've misunderstood her comments on that, then one of the listening homunculi thought to himself upon hearing this. "Excuse me, so what exactly is meant by 'inherited' when people don't die in your nation?"
"The word is hardly ever used precisely because of that, but it's roughly parallel to 'passed down' but specifically for non-tangible things."
"Like?"
"Worldview, I suppose. You could add 'human capital' to that but it's an intangible that's close to tangible, if you get what I mean by that."
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(Queendom First Fleet Flagship: "Chariot My Love")
"Another busy night, Caster?" Cú Chulainn put away his red spear before chatting with the druid version of himself.
"I should hope not; the winds seem to be in a good direction and at sufficient speed for our next destination."
"You know, ever since you summoned that woman -"
"Oh, I didn't summon her, I was just the one to introduce her to Medb."
"Wait, she's a Rogue Servant ? I don't remember you ever mentioning that."
The druid hefted his staff over a shoulder before answering. "I didn't."
"Hmm... well whatever."
(The next morning)
Medb elegantly waved to the portion of ships, majority of the First Fleet actually, that were being detached to support the action towards Washington while her own flagship led a small taskforce further south - their primary aim being simply to deliver her Braves ashore and transport some soldiers to take over afterwards.
"You're running so many convoys across the Atlantic, it must be like keeping a railway schedule," the other person present remarked, seeing a number of smaller ships, and a few larger than the flagship itself, that had joined the group overnight at the end of their sail from England. Unlike those that were expected to endure cannon, shipping vessels could be larger, sturdier to the seas, and of course as merchants loved, more efficient in terms of personnel.
"Well let's see, it's about a sixty day round trip, add a bit more for the turnaround on either side, I suppose it's between a ship to two each day. Of course the warships don't go back; if they need repairs it's better done down at the ports north of here."
"Mm, you seem to have all the details thought out."
"Well, my Chief Statistician did all the analysis really. Without her we wouldn't even be anywhere near this level of power projection efficiency. The two of us go pretty far back, materialized about the same time. You should meet her, she has a knack for the understanding needed for this sort of operation."
"Materialized you say, so a Servant, then?"
"Yes. Well, she was running about the facilities handling wounded soldiers sent back from the fighting in France until Caster identified and recruited her. Speaking of which, now that I think about it, as a Servant now you could regain your hand with the right rituals. Unless it's somehow critical to your legend?"
"Oh, this?" A prosthetic hand made a fist and then stretched out in a very lifelike manner. "It was lost in a Holy Grail War but by now, as a Servant in fact, it is essentially as good as any other hand."
"I suppose those like us wouldn't have that sort of issue, huh? Well unless the problems were specifically important conceptually to us."
"Indeed. Honestly, I think if someone chopped this off, it would regenerate just the same with enough magical energy."
"Well I would like to call over Nightingale from England, but she does such essential work there, it wouldn't make sense to have anyone else controlling all the logistics back at home. Though I suppose," Medb chuckled, "We really should get the soldiers to stop referring to it as 'home' right about now."
Bazett turned around to look at the large collection of seized record books behind them. Done by the Americans, useful for establishing boundaries, accessing property taxes and... other purposes. "I see you've been flipping though their land surveys."
"Yes. Once I pull the trigger on land allocations it will change the tone of this war a great deal. That's the way it is after all, demanding tribute or even taxes is one thing, having people kick you out and live on your land, in your homes, is another. At least retired soldiers don't have hangups with paying their taxes," Medb shrugged.
"Isn't that because they get a bunch of exemptions and then preferential rates for some time after that?"
"A couple of generations, provided they send a son to the military. Well it's fine since the properties getting the bonuses will only be in America, and the soldiers getting those considerations don't have anything besides their wages and their land grant for the most part."
"Well, you did say there was no need to rush."
"Yes, well after this phase, the separatists will be significantly cut off from trade with the mainland, and the Queendom will have a massive contiguous holding that can be serviced by sea lines of communication. We simply need to follow the standard course and have the next generation take up the next phase. Unless the enemy collapse, I suppose."
"Um yes, but once you essentially confiscate all the land held by the Redshirts, the Americans will have an automatically hardline faction that will agitate against any settlement that leaves their property within Queendom borders, in the hands on Queendom citizens. Not that I imagine you'd have missed that possibility."
"... honestly it might be cleaner, ironic as it is to say, to spend the blood and gunpowder now and fight it out properly. There's no way they will (emotionally) give up at this stage, and even if they signed away everything, it just means once we leave they'll declare independence again. As it is, my predecessors' colonists were rather, let us say primed, towards distancing themselves."
"Changing the worldviews passed down across generations is hard like that."
"Hmm, well I'm counting on that too, myself. For my soldiers' children, of course."
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(Chaldean Leyline Camp near Washington)
"The reports aren't pretty," Gudao started the briefing. "To the east of us, more Celts and their equipment and supplies are disembarking by the hour. It seems fairly clear Medb was leading the fleet, but a number of ships continued sailing south with her and the Braves."
"Doesn't that seem like an open challenge to us?" Elizabeth asked first of all.
"I'd think she actually doesn't know where we are," Shirou mused, looking at da Vinci's map projection in Chaldea's Briefing Room. "If she did, I would imagine Medb would want to keep as much as possible between us."
"The informants also reported rumors among the incoming troops that Medb has set a rather, uh, ambitious rotational schedule," Gudako recalled from d'Eon who was hard at work in Washington proper. "I believe 'by Christmas' it was."
Artoria snorted.
"How far away is that actually over there? Our calendars don't necessarily match," Georgios remarked.
"Yes, while it's early April by our Chaldean reckoning, it's the start of August here: at face value that means the soldiers on ground now will have to leave after 4 more full months, given the trip length back," Marie added.
"Rotation implies there are more troops back across the ocean which she hasn't deployed yet?" Sasaku asked. "I assume there's some intelligence on that."
"There was recruiting among the garrison troops, which seems to be the basis of Medb's optimism," Artoria shrugged. "Of course the details matter, formations - in particular officers - will likely remain, with only line soldiers being replaced with fresh ones. Some of those incoming may be veterans from the French campaign as well. The dictator also suspects that Medb will offer various inducements for her current force to stay as well. Fears, rather."
"Frontier settlement benefits. In short: tax exemptions and free land. A straight ticket into the middle class," Agesipolis commented with an oddly reminiscing expression.
"She's come pretty close to promising that to the forces up north holding the bit of American territory they took earlier. Even the smaller merchants who couldn't get official contracts wanted to be involved with Medb's military in some way to get in on the gold-rush," Marie recalled some of their earlier discussions in a new light. "Otherwise normally you wouldn't be rushing to as risky a place as a border zone when the talk is of a counter-attack."
"I suppose that would be her style," Scathach said with perhaps a little approval. "The ones taking the risks and potentially making the sacrifices get the rewards. Of course, only after she awards it to them. Or their beneficiaries."
"So what is everyone thinking, she setting up for a big push, or simply taken her bite and intends to hold onto it?" Gudako asked.
"If anything she's still biting off prime bits of coast," Nobunaga pointed out. "Essentially after all their fears and subsequent focus on Washington, the Americans left themselves open elsewhere."
"More like everywhere," Okita muttered.
"By the way, did that Geronimo ever come back?" Gudako asked Scathach as the latter was closing the line to Chaldea.
"No. I expect he knows of other leyline nodes to draw from. Unfortunately we don't even have the opportunity to ask about them."
"Hmm, a pity. Ok, after we've loaded what supplies we can on Artoria's horses tomorrow morning, everything else and the cart will have to stay with you."
"I see. Well Medb has set herself up for a very neat Servant-based battle by peeling off on her own, after all."
"Mhm. Unfortunately for her, Servants are our specialty. Traveling light, we can make better time and catch up to her. Hopefully after being warned some of the areas she wants to capture will put up a bit of resistance but they are likely to be negligible in terms of combat contributions."
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(A couple days later)
(Chariot My Love)
"The winds don't seem interested in cooperating," the Caster Cú Chulainn shrugged when asked about the task force's slow progress.
"Use your Arts to make them more agreeable," Medb frowned. "I don't want to leave the main force hanging without our support longer than necessary. Spending the magical energy is worth it with just these few ships."
"I hear you. We'll whip up a nice south-headed wind for you after the ritual preparations. It should only take -" The druid's head snapped over towards the coast. "Is that a AGM-84H/K Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response ?!"
"What are you talking about?" Medb turned in the same direction to see a burning ray of piercing light lancing out from the horizon towards them. "It's a Noble Phantasm !"
"I know, I know ! Stop that blade, (Wicker Man) !" In response to the druid's summons a massive towering figure of burning wicker manifested, throwing itself in a dive to block the approaching light with its own body.
The two Noble Phantasms met with a great explosion that sprayed ethereal fire and light across the water's surface. Magical fire could be seen burning as it sank into the wet shallows.
"We're sitting ducks out here," Medb commented with gritted teeth. "Damn Chaldeans caught us."
"We're also sitting on large reservoirs of magical energy," Cú Chulainn pointed out as a veritable army of his druids started running out onto the decks of their ships and began casting defensive wards. "I'd say it's high time to put them to work."
"Right. Deploy the ground team to fight the Chaldeans ! All ships spread out into a loose formation ! But you stay here, I doubt those humans can block a direct hit from something like that."
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(Shore)
"Did it miss?" Artoria lowered her Sword of Selection after the earlier blaze of its magical energy charge had been... discharged.
"Not at all," Gudao told her, watching what had happened with a Mystic Code that looked like a simple telescope but featured smoothly variable magnification and glare protection. "I think one of Medb's crew threw a Noble Phantasm at it."
Gudako looked at their group who were all taking cover in a small stand of trees a ways back from the beach proper. "Should we upcharge an Excalibur?"
"At this range, that attack would dissipate out much more than Caliburn does," the Saber replied with a frown. "I mean it would take out the ships if they were unprotected. Actually even if they survived, the physical force and massive waves might overturn them, now that I think about it. Of course I doubt that either would suffice to take down Medb's flagship."
The two Masters thought over this for a moment.
"Ah, I should tell you that it seems some smaller craft are breaking off from the fleet and headed in this direction, while the larger ones are picking up speed - still headed southwards." d'Eon had been tracking the enemy's waterborne movements with a trained eye.
Gudao shrugged. "You or me?" simply.
"I will. Artoria, get ready." Gudako dramatically pointed in the direction of Medb's fleet as Artoria quickly stored her Caliburn and took out the even more famous Excalibur. Along with Merlin's Santa hat, of course.
"Target: Enemy flagship. By my Command, wipe them out in one shot ! (Release Noble Phantasm) !"
Rather than the usual brightening as magical energy flowed from a Servant and concentrated in their weapon, as with Caliburn earlier, instead Excalibur went from the usual shimmer of steel, if faerie-forged, to a miniature star as the energies of a Command Spell swiftly engorged the Holy Sword within a heartbeat.
There was no way that those aboard the ships could have possibly missed it, even with human eyes at that distance.
"This light is the planet's hope...proof of the life that illuminates this world ! Behold ! (Excalibur) !"
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Notes:
The forces being deployed currently consist of...
Chaldea: Artoria, Marie, Jeanne, Sasaku, Elizabeth, d'Eon (and two Masters)
Queendom: Cú Chulainn, Cú Chulainn (younger), Cú Chulainn Alter, Sétanta, Fergus
