Treasure of the Knights Templar!

More treasure?

Yup. But it's not pirate treasure. It's the treasure of the Knights Templar.

Oh, you mean the treasure that was hidden when the Templars were executed as heretics.

Pirates are definitely exciting! This time around, I promise to fully monitor you guys!

I hope so. Mary, I'm amazed you knew about the Templars' treasure.

Remember how we went to all sorts of places during our pirating years?

Oh yes. When we got to port, you would always go out exploring.

It was hard for you, Anne, because men would always follow you around even just walking down the street.

Aww, you're so mean.

Hehehe. Um, Doctor.

Yeah, what is it?

I know most of what there is to know about the Templars, but I'll let you explain.

It's too much of a hassle.

Yay! She shoved all the tedious work to me! Oh, well That's what a back-end support job is about.

The Knights Templar were a group formed by clergymen to protect pilgrims traveling through the Holy Land.

One of their missions was to guard the treasures of knights and believers on pilgrimages.

As more pilgrims and crusaders started going to the Holy Land, the Templars gained more wealth to guard.

They ultimately functioned as a bank, including loaning money. They were even entrusted with an entire nation's fortune.

But the Kingdom of France, heavily in debt, captured and tortured many of them.

France wanted to get rid of their debts and take the money.

Even though they canceled out their debts, a majority of the fortune France sought disappeared into the shadows.

The Templars are even said to have possessed a Holy Grail, but everything's been shrouded in mystery.

I heard the story from an old man who said he was a descendant of one of the Templars.

Um, can we trust him?

I'm not sure. He was drunk, and he kept switching between yelling and crying.

But the story itself seemed sensible. From what he said...

The Templars had heard from their spies that their lives were in danger.

So they loaded their treasure on a ship and hid it somewhere. Everyone involved in the transport was killed on the spot.

Their plan was to hide the treasure until the Templars could rebuild themselves.

The old man's ancestor left the Templars so he wouldn't be caught. Even the Templars didn't know where he hid.

But the Templars never recovered. His ancestors continued to pass down the word to wait for the Templars' reformation.

After about four centuries, they stopped caring. He sold me the story for a drink...

Sounds pretty sketchy to me.

Right. Sorry if it doesn't pan out.

？！

That's right. It's getting to the treasure that's the fun part. There isn't much we could do with the treasure as we are now, anyway.

But it can boost our QP, and maybe we'll find something interesting! Let's go!

The old man said it was back here. But this is just a stone wall.

Was our lead a dud?

Sorry...

？！

No, wait a second. There's a tiny bloodstain on this wall.

Oh, you're right. Same with the others... I wonder why?

Doctor, please investigate the wall in front of us.

Roger. Investigating now. Hmm... I'm detecting a strong magical energy reading from the wall.

Anne, try blasting it with your gun.

You're a Servant now. Your bullet should get some response.

Understood. Here I go!

The wall started to move. These are... Golems!?

Woah. Come to think of it, I heard something about the Templars using black magic...

Was there such a tale? Well, let's just beat these guys.

The golems are all down, but I'm seeing more enemy responses up ahead.

Proceed with caution.

Sure thing, Doctor.

This makes me think the old man's story might be true. Let's go!

Whew! This side's clear, too.

Security's tight. I'm getting excited.

We probably won't find a Grail.

Maybe we will.

That is to say, I don't mean the Holy Grails we recover. I mean the true Holy Grail of legend.

That would be an adventure indeed. Master, do you want the Holy Grail?

？！

I see. You aren't very greedy. Or maybe you are.

The future or peace... Those are really big wishes, so you probably don't have time to be thinking about smaller wishes.

As the guy paying for everyone's salary, that would be great. That aside, I'm picking up some life-form signals. Be careful!

Doctor, a fair salary is an absolute necessity to keep talented people around. Let's go!

Whew. Homunculi and zombies. Were the zombies people killed by the Templars?

If that is true, they must have been there a long time. Let's pray their souls find rest.

We're almost to the end. The treasure should be there!

Wow...

Ah...

This is...

？！

We did it, Master!

H-Hold it! Hold it! I-In that cave, I'm picking up a life-form signal that we have all become very familiar with!

Some say the Templars used black magic, others that they didn't.

Maybe they were, maybe they weren't. I'm sure there are tons of stories like that.

But would you normally go to these lengths?

A dragon!? Um... I can only say...well... F-Fight!!

We won. Victory!

Whew! I'm exhausted. I can't wait to take a bath.

It's pretty standard for a dragon to guard treasure, but I didn't expect the Templars to use one.

They're less like Templars and more like Temp-LATES, am I right?

Fou, when we get back, bite Dr. Roman on the nose. As hard as you can.

Fourururu!

I-I'm sorry! I thought that was a good one!

Anyway, this is a huge pile of treasure, Master. Yeah, I like it.

There's enough money here to easily buy a country or two. Any Grails?

Nope, I'm not picking up anything. But I do see magical energy here and there in the treasure.

Can you search for me?

Hmm, maybe it's this?This crystal skull.

A crystal skull! That's a rare treasure indeed!

What about... this? It's a set of weapons and armor.

Probably used by the Templars. Magically it's nothing special, but it's valuable as a treasure.

The right thing to do would be to return these to the Templars' followers, but we're pirates, so we'll just keep it, thank you very much.

Hehehe, this is also for saving the world.

Yup! Let's make good use of this to save the world. Right, Master?