Fate: How About a New Savior?

Two days later, in New Mexico. Since Edison's faction—despite opposing the Celtic army—had its own agenda, there was no way to cooperate wit

Two days later, in New Mexico.

Since Edison's faction—despite opposing the Celtic army—had its own agenda, there was no way to cooperate with them to repair the Singularity. As a result, Chaldea's group chose to ally with Geronimo's smaller, third-party force.

To strengthen their forces, they followed Geronimo's suggestion and headed south to New Mexico, where Robin Hood and Billy the Kid were conducting field investigations. The intel they sent back mentioned stray Servants spotted in the town of Deming.

To find Rama's wife, Sita, they needed to recruit those neutral Servants and ask them about her whereabouts.

Otherwise, they'd just be wandering aimlessly, losing control of the situation—and the chance to repair the Singularity would slip further away.

"By the way, didn't Master say a couple of days ago that you'd already recruited several lone Servants before coming to see me?" Shiomi asked, glancing back from the driver's seat of the carriage. "Why didn't you have them come join us?"

Scáthach leaned against the side of the carriage, answering casually, "Nothing complicated. From the moment you arrived in this Singularity, I noticed your presence. But with how far away you were, just getting to that rendezvous point took everything I had."

"So you didn't call the others over?" Caren asked.

"Right. And besides the main force, the Celtic army also has smaller groups scattered across various regions," Scáthach said. "Those Servants are conducting their own investigations. Once we've dealt with Rama's curse, we'll regroup with them."

That said, Rama's condition remained precarious. He was still hovering near death, but unlike a human, he wasn't entirely incapacitated. After two days of treatment, he was even able to hold conversations.

He had even started protesting Florence Nightingale's idea of carrying him around wrapped in restraints like a mummy, just to keep moving.

"Well, it can't be helped. If we can take care of some of the scattered Celtic troops before regrouping, it'll make things much easier when we launch our counterattack later," Shiomi said with a smile.

"You're still thinking about allying with the U.S. forces?" Geronimo asked as he sat beside Shiomi, helping to navigate the route.

Shiomi nodded. "The problem is Edison, not the entire faction. Not everyone there shares that President-King's ambitions. And we can't just leave a Servant like Karna unchecked. If Edison orders him to intervene while we're in the middle of a battle against the Celtic army or the Mad King, we'll be in serious trouble."

"In any case, my beloved disciple has a point. Charging blindly into Cú Chulainn's base would only get us stalled by random troops or Servants who haven't even shown up yet. If the enemy just waits us out, we'll still be the ones at a disadvantage," Scáthach added.

With their current lack of manpower, they couldn't afford full-scale campaigns to systematically eliminate the Celtic army.

So even if Rama's curse were lifted, their only option would be to split into two groups—one to draw the attention of the main Celtic forces, and another to strike the base while the Mad King was left vulnerable.

"In any case, even though we've gained more allies, the gap in combat power is still pretty hopeless," Caren remarked. "But I guess that's to be expected. It was the same during the Rome Singularity."

Shiomi let out a relaxed laugh. "Come on now, no need to complain at this point. We're not completely on our own."

"You seem to be in a surprisingly good mood, Dad. I thought you'd be more tense," Caren raised an eyebrow and idly poked the back of Shiomi's neck.

"Well, I am technically the one in charge of this Singularity's restoration. If I start getting pessimistic, it'll drag everyone down," Shiomi replied, still smiling.

He was in an unusually good mood—so much so that even he hadn't noticed something felt off.

Which made it all the more obvious to everyone else.

"That's just how he is. Probably ran into something good," Morgan's voice drifted in, casual and amused.

"Of course it's something good. I got to see my master again, and she even chose to join us," Shiomi's smile faltered slightly. 'So she saw through it after all,' he thought.

For the past two nights at the Riverton camp, his master had quietly come to his tent.

Shiomi had kept it hidden well—so well that even Caren, who knew him best, hadn't noticed a thing.

But Morgan had seen right through him with just a glance over the screen.

"Building trust with Servants in a Singularity is no easy task. If your goals aren't aligned, it can quickly turn into a battle like the one before," Morgan said, looking at Shiomi. "In that sense, having a Servant you can trust from the start is definitely reassuring."

"Yeah... that's true," Shiomi admitted.

"When you get back, you're going to tell me everything about the Fifth Singularity, from beginning to end," Morgan said suddenly. "The Third Singularity encountered the Argo of ancient Greece. Almost everyone from myth showed up—Heracles included. The command room will shift focus to that front soon."

The implication was clear: the situation at the Third Singularity was dire. Even with more Masters, and solid fighters like Mash and Gray, it was still dangerously unstable.

Shiomi couldn't tell if Morgan was subtly warning him for later or just saying she wouldn't interfere too much for now.

"But you don't need to worry," Da Vinci's voice chimed in cheerfully. "Chaldea will still keep an eye on things. Unless something urgent comes up, though, we'll leave on-site decisions to you."

"Don't worry, everyone in Chaldea. The Master you sent to this Singularity is top-notch." Scáthach's fingers brushed lightly along Shiomi's cheek, the touch carrying a teasing, suggestive air that made Shiomi nearly shiver on instinct.

"If anything, maybe too top-notch," Romani added with a half-joking grumble.

...

As the light conversation continued, their carriage, now not far from Deming, soon spotted a small town appearing on the horizon.

Scáthach nimbly grabbed the side of the carriage, leapt up, and stood atop the roof.

"Looks like Deming's got something unusual going on. They've even put up a sign to point the way. 'Now Showing: Broadway'?"

"Broadway? Didn't that come into existence after 1810?" Shiomi sounded surprised. Another historically inaccurate detail—it almost certainly meant there were Servants here. "Any idea what era they're from... Can you check, Master?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have the convenience of Clairvoyance. Even if I started observing now, by the time I figured it out, we'd already be there," Scáthach replied.

"You didn't happen to use all that power just on me, did you?" Shiomi joked.

"If that's what you want to believe, then you're not wrong," Scáthach said.

"Hey, come on now..."

...

(100 Chapters Ahead)

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