Chapter 3 – The Road to Mount Enzou

Ritsuka, Mash, Olga, Archer EMYIA, and Cu walked together towards Mount Enzou.

"So." - Ritsuka began, looking at Archer - "You can create an almost infinite amount of swords in your pocket dimension known as the Reality Marble, Unlimate Blades Works, and you mostly use two swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, which are actually copies of the originals. And you have a whole bunch of swords and other Noble Phantasm as copies in your arsenal. But despite that, you're still an archer?"

"Yes." - Archer replied.

Cu just laughed - "An archer who prefers to use swords. I wonder if someone will mistake you for Saber-class someday and challenge you to a duel, only to have you run away from the battlefield."

"Caster who prefers to fight hand-to-hand with a wooden stick, has nothing to say." - Archer replied.

"Are the two of you going to argue forever?" - Olga asked slightly irritated.

"Don't look at me." - Caster said, then nudged EMYIE with his staff - "He started it. I wasn't even alive in this era to remember him."

"Maybe he met you as a Servant." - Mash theorized.

"You're right." - Archer said, nodding slightly, then looked at the area - "Wait here for a moment."

"What is it?" - Olga asked - "Shouldn't we hurry before one of the most powerful Heroic Spirits in existence calls for backup from Berserker?"

"My... friend's house is nearby in life." - Archer said, hesitating slightly - "She has some useful items there. I'll quickly pick them up, and in the meantime, you can rest. What do you think, Master."

Ritsuka looked a bit conflicted, calling her Master, but agreed and EMYIA left. At this time, Mash began to look a little more depressed. Ritsuka noticed this and approached her - "Mash, is something wrong?"

Mash quickly recovered and said - "No. I'm functioning perfectly. But..."

After a moment, Olga spoke up - "Yes, that's a problem."

Mash clenched her fists and said - "Senpai. I can't use my Noble Phantasm yet."

"And this isn't your shield?" - Ritsuka asked.

"No." - Mash replied, looking at her weapon - "This shield hasn't shown me its true form yet."

Olga sighed and put her hand to her face - "You said you didn't know what Servant you had merged with, so I expected it, but still..."

"My apologies." - Mash said.

"It's not just your fault." - Olga said - "A decent Master should be able to analyze the Servant he summoned."

Ritsuka sighed - "Yes. I know I'm lowering the level."

"At least you're aware of it." - Olga said, then said - "And anyway, what do you know about magecraft? Even if you're not from some great lineage, you should still have some basic knowledge."

"You see." - Ritsuka said, rubbing the back of her head - "In fact, I know that I've only been a Mage for a few months and I've only learned one healing spell."

Everyone stared at Ritsuka until Cu burst out laughing and Olga got mad at him - "This is no time to laugh! Our only Master is even more of a novice than I thought." - then she grabbed Ritsuka by the cheek and pulled him towards her - "And your magic circuits must be so hopeless that I don't know how on earth you got to Chaldea. How you can even send all that magic power to the Servants I don't know. Your magic circuits should start cracking."

Suddenly it hit the rest of what Olga had said. Olga immediately started checking Ritsuka and asking questions - "Is everything okay? Do you have pain..."

Suddenly they were interrupted by Cu's laughter, who said - "Haha. Seriously. Hahaha. Do you really think we would put our Master in danger. Ha. I'm Caster-class. Even if I prefer my spear, I'm still very familiar with Magecraft. Those skeletons that Archer and I took out. We took enough Mana from them to support ourselves with only minimal help. And Archer has the Independent Action skill, so it's even less of a burden. And he probably went through it himself because he did the same thing."

"So Senpai is safe." - Mash said with relief.

Meanwhile, Ritsuka fell to her knees - "I thought I was going to die today for the umpteenth time. As soon as we get back, I want some kind of rest and training so that I actually know what to do in situations like this. And maybe a psychiatrist, because I'm not sure if I can handle it mentally."

"I'll get it for you as soon as we finish this Singularity." - Olga said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"And back to the topic of the young lady's problem..." - Cu said, getting the attention of the groups - "Noble Phantasm is based on instinct. If something triggers that instinct..." - Cu raised his hand and aimed at Ritsuka - "... she'll wake up naturally."

Mash quickly jumped between Ritsuka and Cu, and then Olga between Mash and Cu, spreading her arms. Cu stared at them for a moment until he smiled.

Then Archer appeared - "I left you for a few minutes and you look like you're going to fight. Although with that demi-hound I'm not too surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean." - Cu said, clearly offended.

"That you have muscles instead of brains, which is problematic since this time you're Caster." - Archer explained, standing with his arms crossed on his chest, then sighed.

"Okay. Enough of this!" - Cu shouted - "What have I done to you that you're pissing me off so much all the time?"

Archer thought for a moment, then said - "I'll tell you after we finish this Singularity and get to this Chaldea with our new Master."

"Deal." - Cu replied, offering his hand to EMYIA, who accepted it.

The next few minutes passed relatively calmly, with only a few groups of skeletons being destroyed in seconds.

And then another group.

And another.

As they attacked the next group, Ritsuka asked Olga, who was standing next to her - "Is it bad that these skeletons don't scare me anymore? I mean, they were probably humans once and they're attacking us in groups of at least a few dozen, and each one of them can be quite a threat on their own, but when Mash, Cu, and EMYIA destroy them like that, it seems..."

"Easy." - Olga finished.

"Yes." - Ritsuka replied. Then more groups arrived, including a few archers. Luckily, Olga used her Magecraft to create a shield, so the arrows couldn't hurt them, and the Spirit Heroes continued to eliminate them.

Olga then continued - "Honestly, I'm not surprised. Servants, no matter how they are summoned, will always have at least 10x the strength of a normal person, no matter who they were in life. You could summon a scientist and he could probably lift half a ton with one hand. We don't know the true limits of Servants' power or abilities, but there's a reason why Servants are classified as Anti-Fortress. In their presence, nothing but other Servants will be able to threaten us."

"Good." - Ritsuka said, still watching as the Heroic Spirits crushed more skeletons into dust. Suddenly, it got a little darker, which was strange, since the fire gave off a lot of light. Ritsuka turned around and as soon as she saw what was behind them, she instinctively grabbed Olga and pulled her around the shield, while shouting - "Mash!"

Olga turned around in surprise and saw a hand appear from the ground which with one shot shattered her shield and the next one would have hit them, if not for the fact that Mash heard Ritsuka's scream and using her incredible speed stood between her Senapi and the Director, and the large hand which fired another shot, easily blocked by the shield.

Then a hail of arrows hit the hand destroying it.

"Congratulations on your reaction." - said EMYIA approaching them, and behind him, Cu was destroying the last skeletons - "In the future, it is better for Mash to always stick close unless there is no other option."

"Yes." - quickly agreed Ritsuka, then understood what Archer had said - "Did you know that hand was there?"

"Me too." - said Cu, jumping next to Archer - "You girls were the only ones unaware."

"If something were to happen, I would have shot him quickly." - EMYIA added quickly.

"And you couldn't just tell us!" - the girls shouted at the same time.

The guys looked at each other, then shrugged. EMYIA spoke first - "You'll remember this lesson for much longer if you think you were in actual danger. Next time, I or Cu might not be around, so you should be careful."

"Besides, a little scare never hurt anyone." - Cu added. At that, the girls looked at him as if he had gone mad, and EMYIA looked at him with slight disapproval, then sighed.

"He did it to me too." - EMYIA said.

"Is that why you don't like me?" - Cu asked.

"That's just a little icing on the cake." - EMYIA replied.

Olga simply sighed and said - "Okay. Let's just get going and finish this mission by fighting the evil version of EMYIA and the dark King Arthur... When I say it like that, it seems less dangerous than it actually is."

"As long as there are no surprises, we should be fine." - said Cu.

"Why do I feel like you just jinxed it." - said Ritsuka, but she still moved forward with the rest. A dozen or so minutes and another few hundred skeletons and a few monster hands later.

"We're only a few minutes away from the entrance." - said EMYIA - "We should stop and rest before the final fight. Ritsuka, how are you feeling."

"Good." - replied Ritsuka.

"It'll get worse soon." - said Cu seriously - "We'll meet the guard and his queen there."

"Queen?" - asked Mash.

"King Arthur was actually a woman named Artoria, but due to social norms, she had to pretend to be a man." - said EMYIA.

Olga and Ritsuka were suspended for a moment, but Mash took it surprisingly calmly.

"Okay." - Olga said suddenly - "Let's put aside historical inaccuracies for a moment and focus on combat tactics. Do you propose any changes?"

"Just so you keep an eye on our young Master." - Cu said, pointing at Ritsuka - "When we fight the enemy Heroic Spirits, our magic usage will increase. We've gathered quite a few of those skeletons, but if we try to launch our NP or the fight simply drags on, it will start to feel the negative effects."

"Other than that, the plan's the same." - EMYIA said - "Cu keeps my dark version occupied, and we rush inside and fight Artoria."

Olga sighed and said - "Well, we can't think of anything better."

Suddenly the communicator rang and Doctor Roman appeared - "Hello. I see you're resting, so now's a good time to test something."

"You want to play tests now?!" - Olga shouted now fuming.

Roman quickly began to improve - "It's just Rayshift a few snacks to make sure it works and he can take you back. And I thought you might be hungry."

Olga snorted and said - "In that case, I agree. Mash, I'll prepare the shield. It will serve as a catalyst."

"Yes, director." - Mash replied and placed the shield on the ground.

"Okay." - Roman began - "Rayshift in 3,2,1 and... done."

A light shot out of the shield and snacks appeared on it. Nothing special, but enough for a quick meal. Olga was the first to take the package, opened it, and handed it to Ritsuka, saying - "Here. Our only Master can't starve, or we'll all die."

"Thanks." - Ritsuka said, accepting the snacks, then said - "And do you want them."

"No, thanks." - EMYIA replied.

"I don't need a snack, but thanks for the offer, senpai." - Mash replied.

"Of course I do." - Cu replied somewhat shamelessly, taking a whole handful.

Seeing this, Olga opened her own bag of snacks and said - "I see why you call him a hound, Archer. This guy has no decency or tact."

Cu just looked at her and said - "Is it some kind of insulting season for the Irish or something?"

"No." - EMYIA said - "It's just that insulting you is very easy and fun."

Cu just pouted and sat down on the ground. Ritsuka giggled slightly at the interaction. Olga and Mash joined her, and the tension subsided a bit. After a while, Ritsuka addressed Olga - "Director, why did you become a director in the first place?"

"What kind of question is that?" - Olga asked, almost accusingly.

Ritsuka raised her hands and said - "You just seem not much older than me or Mash and you already lead such an organization. And it must have taken years to build all this. And I'm just curious."

"Senapi." - Mash said, putting her hand on Ritsuka's shoulder - "This is a sensitive topic for the director, you shouldn't..."

"No." - Olga interrupted - "That's not a bad question. It's just that the previous director was my father, Marisbury Animusphere. He was the one who created Chaldea and many... controversial aspects of that organization. After his death, I took over his duties."

Ritsuka looked at Olga and wanted to say something, but Olga interrupted her - "Don't worry about him. Marisbury wasn't a good father. I understand his work, but he sacrificed everything for Chaldea. Me included. Honestly, Professor Lev was more of a father to me than he was."

The part about Lev being most likely dead was left unsaid. Olga quickly recovered and said - "But enough about me. By the way, how did you find out you were a magician only a few months ago?"

Ritsuka simply said - "I honestly don't know. Maybe one of my ancestors was a magician, but no one in my family had any predisposition. I found out about it completely by accident one day in a town near my home village, when another magician found me. He explained to me what and how and showed me a simple healing spell. After that, I had school and little time to practice my skills. During the Christmas break, I met him again, and he told me about Chaldea and the recruitment, I took the tests and decided to join."

"Just like that?" - Olga asked in surprise.

"The guys from the recruitment said that I would have the proper training and would put me in the reserve until the training was finished." - said Ritsuka - "I didn't expect... this."

"I hope everything is fine with the rest of the A team." - said Mash, remembering her team.

"Okay." - said Cu, getting everyone's attention - "Enough of this depressing talk. When you're done, we'll get to work, win this Grail War, stop Singularity, you go back to Chaldea, and Archer and I will go with you. Everything will work out."

The girls looked at him in surprise. EMYIA just smiled and said - "Well. At least you can help when needed."

Cu just smiled and replied - "Well. They don't call me Ireland's child of Light for nothing."

Ritsuka stood up and said - "Well, I won't be more rested. What about you."

"I'm rested too, Senpai!" said Mash.

"Let's get this over." - said Olga.

"Let's go then." - said Ritsuka and the group set off for Mount Enzou.