Argonauts, Head Out

We made it to the Golden Hind!

Jason!

I know! Okay, Francis Drake... I'm taking your golden helm for myself!

From here on, you take orders from me! Got that!?

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Okay, I've set the Theos Klironomia to the ship. Starting repairs now.

...Good, that shouldn't take too long. In the meantime: all hands, prepare to set sail!

...Hey, Artemis! Artemis!

What are you doing here? Come on, hurry!

... ...

I'm afraid I can't go with you.

I'm forced to stay synced to the main unit. If I board that ship, she'll know exactly where you are.

...Are you serious?

And I know for a fact that she's going to shoot me.

After all...no, I should not say.

It's my fault that things turned out this way. I've made enough trouble for you as it is. It wouldn't be fair to impose further.

Artemis!

I'm not Artemis. I'm just an observational unit.

I'm nothing more than a four-digit model number that comes after the main Artemis unit's name.

...Still.

It feels really good to know you respect my individual existence.

...Even if that existence is about to come to an end along with this island.

Goodbye, Orion. Take care.

...We're about to set sail! Are you coming or not!?

Artemis! ...I'm sorry.

Please, don't mind me. I think you're better when you smile.

Okay!

From this point forward, in accordance with the promise I made to Drake...

...the Golden Hind will be known as the Argo!

Our first order of business is getting away from this island...

...and our second is rendezvousing with the Royal Fortune and the Nautilus.

Now move it! Time is not on our side!

...Here it comes! Full speed ahead!

So that's Artemis's...arrow...

The light of the gods! It's here! It's really here!

At last, a god is finally paying attention to us!

Ahh!

This is awesome!

I wonder why Corday seemed so sad about this...

...Maybe this is sadness I'm feeling. I mean, I'll never get to see her again now...

...Aw man. Maybe I should've gone with them after

...Well, everyone's gotta set sail at some point.

And people who can't run anymore are gonna get left behind. That's just how it is.

Yeah, it's sad. It's lonely. It sucks. And a whole lot more besides that.

But in the meantime, here's to your journey, guys. May your ship be blessed with luck as good as gold.

Ghh... We're really cutting it close! Hey! Anyone fall overboard!?

I'll do a head count!

Master!

？！

Captain Nemo! Mandricardo!

I'm okay. But I can't wait to get back to the Border.

All good here.

Corday!

Yes! I'm here!

Orion!

...Yeah, I'm okay.

And there's Jason. Good, all seven of us are present and accounted for.

Hey, this is my ship you're on now! Make sure you address me as Captain!

Aye, aye, Captain Jason!

(Well, that was easier than I expected.)

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Yeah?

Orion, are you...sure you're okay?

Well, maybe not entirely.

I know full well that wasn't the Artemis I know.

But even so, right at the end, she...

...I just need to mourn for a while. Don't worry, I'll get over it before we reach the next island.

？！

Great. Thanks.

Hey Captain, there's something spraying a bunch of water up ahead.

Is it a whale? Or maybe Demonic Beasts?

Either way, make sure you have your weapons ready.

Don't worry. That's Da Vinci.

Fujimaru! Maaash!

Da Vinci!

I seriously thought we were goners that time!

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You rang!?

Hell no! Well, I guess I did.

Now that they've fired the cannon once, we should have some time until they can fire it again...but that's not exactly reassuring.

I suggest we make land at a nearby island as soon as we can.

I'm with you.

So, as the vaunted Courier, surely you know which island is closest to us, no?

Of course I do. That would be Hecate Island, to the north.

Hecate Island, huh. Ha, the name alone is enough to tell me I'm going to hate it there!

But, any port in a storm and all that. Let's go!

Hold it, hold it! Don't you think our Servant allocation is a little, er, unbalanced right now?

...I'll go back to the Border. There's no point in me being here, anyway.

Fine with me. Now, you. The one with the twisted personality.

Who, me? Yeah, that's fair.

You stay on my ship. That goes for you too, Orion.

Corday...you can go.

Aww, are you sure? I'm happy to help.

Your "help" is more than a little overbearing, physically AND mentally.

Okay...

In that case, I would be delighted to have you join me on my ship, Milady Mash Kyrielight. Oh, and Master too, of course.

I, uh, I see...

Fou fou.

Fou, fou!

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Oh, now that I'm feeling better, I can make more selves again. They should at least be able to handle the ships' odd jobs.

All right... You're up, brave and easygoing marines!

Yaaaaaay! We've so got this!

Aah! So that's what you meant!

We'll go to the Royal Fortune and start by scrubbing the deck! Woohoo!

Then we'll stay on the Argo! Woohoo! We've always wanted to sail on a legendary ship!

I-is that so? Well, if you're all Nemo clones, you should have no problem keeping a boat shipshape, right?

Of course!

After all, we're Nemos with the power of Triton.

...That said, I don't think we'll get along with our father, Poseidon, very well.

Not a problem. All right... Set sail for Hecate Island!

We can worry about what sort of hellscape awaits us there after we've finished making our getaway!

We've confirmed that Heracles Island has been obliterated.

Amusing how it met the same fate as the Servant Heracles we were forced to contend with.

...What else?

Two ships were seen leaving the island right before Lady Artemis's arrow struck.

Hmph. They're clearly headed for Hecate Island next.

...However, it will take some time until Lady Artemis is ready to fire another arrow.

Send in a squadron of border guards. Oh, and one more thing.

It's time we decided where we're going to send the dog.

Yes, sir!

We made it! This is Hecate Island, Fujimaru!

Oh, and this may be too little too late, but... Should I be calling you Master?

Okay then, Master it is.

Hehe, it's got such a funny ring to it.

Okay, my Master!

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Tch... Figures there'd be Demonic Beasts lurking here. I guess we'll just have to take care of them quickly.

Go on then, get to it!

You want 'em taken care of quickly? Then you'd better get in here and help us.

Hmph, fine. Ugh, this is such a pain!

... ...

... ...

All right, not to belabor the point now that all is said and done...

...but Heracles Island is completely gone. Artemis's primary cannon destroyed it in a single shot.

...!

Let me ask you something, Holmes. Why were those people so willing to accept death?

I mean, most people would do damn near anything to avoid death, no? I certainly would.

Even the people in China were terrified for their lives when it looked like Qin Shi Huang was about to kill them.

To be sure, there are some things we just can't run away from, no matter how much we want to. I daresay everyone comes across something like that at least once or twice in their lives.

But that didn't seem to be what was happening there...

Indeed, it wasn't.

...It's probably because gods will be gods.

What do you mean?

For those of us in ancient Greece, the Greek gods could be fickle, cruel, or generous, all depending on how they felt on a given day.

They weren't fair or reasonable, but that also made them more human.

...That's true. Far as we were concerned, the gods were close neighbors.

They could be friends, enemies...even lovers.

Hell, even you have Poseidon's blood in you.

I might be Captain Nemo, but I'm also Triton. Oh, wait. Does that mean me and Orion are

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I guess it would, wouldn't it?

...Us? Brothers?

No way. You smell like a shark with all that ammonia around you.

Shut up. I don't care. My point is...

...the big difference between this Lostbelt and Proper Human History is people's perception of the gods.

And that's not all.

Unless you find a way to take out Artemis, you'll never have a hope of cutting down the Tree of Emptiness.

Precisely.

I expect that Tree of Emptiness will put up tremendous resistance to being cut down.

If Artemis were to take advantage of that and fire on us then, we'd all be done for.

... ...

Which would mean our first priority, as I suspected, is doing something about that mechanical Artemis.

Ideally, I would like to use a Noble Phantasm to destroy her.

Is there anyone here among us with a Noble Phantasm capable of destroying a mecha-god in orbit?

Stop wasting our time, Sherlock Holmes. We all know there's only one of us who could pull that off.

Yes, quite right. My apologies. ...Orion, I'm afraid you're our only hope.

Just a moment, Holmes. There's something we have to ask before we even get into the technical possibilities.

Can you bring yourself to kill Artemis, Orion?

...It's not about whether I can or not. It's whether I will or not.

And I will. I have to. In fact, I have a very compelling reason to do so now.

Whoa, whoa. You're not talking about getting revenge on her, are you?

No, it's not that. I'd never fire my bow for revenge. I can't.

...Well, that's okay then.

Very well, next question: Is your Noble Phantasm physically capable of destroying her?

...Not at this point, I don't think.

Figures.

Let me show you the footage we captured once more.

Da Vinci, Nemo, what do you make of her from an engineering standpoint?

She looks to be about one... No, make that one and a half kilometers long?

It also looks like she can control her movement, and doesn't orbit the planet like a satellite.

The one thing I can say for sure is that this technology far surpasses anything humanity had as of 2020.

I'm guessing that primary cannon of hers is the only weapon she's got.

Apparently, it's called "Shooting Star Ortygia: You, Gold That Pierces Planets."

At least, that's what that Artemis told me.

Yeah. And we saw how powerful it is when it destroyed that entire island.

If we hadn't been partway through a Zero Sail when she fired it at us, both the Shadow Border and the Nautilus surrounding it would have been vaporized.

It looks like her weak pointor rather, the section we'll need to target, is this one here that kind of looks like a head.

Given how thick her armor is, and the primary cannon's position, I feel safe in saying it's our only shot.

Of course, it's gonna be real difficult to reach it with a run-of-the-mill Noble Phantasm, and let's not even discuss sending you to space to fight her directly!

But on the bright side, at least we know our target. All we have to do now is figure out how to hit it!

And given how big this Lostbelt is...

...we're bound to find something we can use to shoot her down if we just keep looking!

At least...we might, right?

It is possible, yes. Now, I have a suggestion.

I say once we make land, we ask the villagers if they've seen any other outsidersby which I mean Servantsthen we make our way straight for the temple.

So we can get more nanomachines?

That's right.

We're going to take all the Theos Klironomia we can find and use it to power the hell out of Orion.

Simple, yet effective.

Speaking of the nanomachines, let me tell you what I found in my analysis of them.

Their components are completely safe. There's no sign of toxicity and no way for them to erode their host's cells.

Even their reparation process is strictly limited to improving their host body's performance.

There are also limiters in place to prevent the machines from consuming too much energy, overstimulating the host's metabolism, or otherwise going berserk.

They're made out of a metal that doesn't exist on our Earth. I think we should call it "orichalcum" until we learn otherwise.

？！

I'm guessing nanomachines aren't what Plato had in mind when he came up with the idea for it, but you know what they say about hindsight!

...So basically, we'll still be looking for villages and temples just like before, yeah?

Right. Though of course, if you run into any other Servants who could help us, I'd like you to recruit them too.

'Cause I'm pretty sure we could use all the help we can get against Odysseus.

Do you think they'll be willing to join us?

That'll be up to Jason and Fujimaru's negotiation skills.

... ...

How about you just mind your own business and leave me to mine?

Good. I was worried I was being to subtle for you.

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Ugh, this is such a pain... All right, just to be sure: You're all willing to fight, yes?

Is there anyone here who doesn't actually care and would rather just while away the days until the world disappears?

Here! Right here!

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...Relax. I'm just kidding.

Well cut it out! Poor attempts at humor in such bad taste are the last thing I need right now!

I'm coming too, of course!

I might not be much use on the front line, since I'm an Assassin...but I'll make sure your backs are covered!

Don't gotta ask me. I decided I was gonna go down fighting long ago.

Likewise.

I mean, what's the point of living in a world where hardly anybody at all is my type?

(That really is what it all boils down to for you, huh...)

It's like I told you. I already made up my mind to destroy Artemis.

As for us, well, I don't think it's even a question, right?

I see, I see. All right then.

But in that case, you're all going to do exactly what I say!

Whaaa...!?

Oh don't "whaaa" me.

Is there any other Servant who knows more about Greece than me? How about one with experience leading a crew?

I-I guess you have a point...

I'm just a hunter, so if you want to lead, be my guest.

Now, now, slow your roll there. When it comes to defending humanity, we are the ones who will be calling the

That may be. But when it comes to fieldwork, I don't depend on anyone's calls besides my own!

...Well, his choice of words aside, he does make a sound argument.

I don't yet know if it's because of Odysseus or because this Lostbelt is simply so vast, but we have been losing our connection from time to time.

So we will need someone on whom we can rely present to give instructions when necessary.

Don't worry. I'll be sure to take Fujimaru's

or rather, Master's opinions into consideration before making my final calls.

In turn, we will provide information and advice whenever we see fit. I believe this should be a suitable arrangement, at least for the time being?

Oh, very well then. But you make damn sure to take our opinions into consideration too, you hear me?

Remember, we've conquered no fewer than four Lostbelts to date and cut down the Trees of Emptiness in each one!

Yeah, yeah, I got it. All right, so first, we'll split up into two groups. One group will look for the village, the other for the temple!

Wouldn't it be better for you all to stick together?

Right now, efficiency is the name of the game.

We have no way of knowing when Odysseus might figure out where we are.

Bartholomew, you go look for the village.

You should already have a fair idea of the lay of this island, seeing how you were a courier and all, right?

Fair enough. Understood.

The rest of us will head for the temple and get our hands on its nanomachines.

Our first priority is Orion, but I'd like to power up the rest of us as much as possible too.

Also, try to find us some leads on where to go next. Oh, and some more Servants while you're about it.

Got all that!?

Absolutely not!

If it seems like that, it's only because we have so little to go on at the moment!

What kind of reply was that? You need to start taking this more seriously.

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Anyway, if we're going to do this, we may as well get it over with. All hands, get going!

Oh, and keep transmissions to a minimum! There's no telling who might be listening in!

New Argonauts, move out!

...Ahh. It feels good to be back on board a ship.

Are you doing okay, Da Vinci?

Sure, I'd say I'm doing pretty good.

I'm not sure if it's thanks to the nanomachines or not, but I don't even feel any pain anymore.

You were feeling pain?

Isn't Nemo the one who feels the feedback when the Nautilus takes damage?

For the Nautilus, yes. But not for the Shadow Border.

Right now, the Nautilus is like a protective outer shell around the Shadow Border.

So while I can take on damage the outer layer suffers, I can't do the same for the inner one.

Really? Is that true?

Now, now, don't worry about it, Gordy. Really, it's no big deal.

The worst that happens is that I get a little sleepy sometimes, thanks to all the thinking I have to do for the repairs and recalculations.

But I think treating myself to a stack of hot, fluffy pancakes topped with lots of honey later will more than make up for it☆

Be that as it may, we can't have you straining yourself during your recovery, so we'll handle everything that would normally fall under your purview for the time being. Well, whatever we can handle, that is.

That's all very sensible, but there isn't much I can do.

In that case, how about a shoulder rub, Director? You can at least do that much, right?

A shoulder rub, eh? Very well.

It seems the time has come to unveil the extraordinary chiropractic powers I developed by being forced to massage our homunculi's shoulders!

Huh? You mean this is actually one of your special skills!?

Man, Director, it seems like there's nothing you can't do...

Yes, well, it seems homunculi nearing the end of their life span tend to stiffen up something fierce, you see!

When they go about saying things like "Ahh, here I am on the brink of shutting down, and yet my master is too cruel to give me a little shoulder rub. Oh, if only I had a kind master!" well within earshot, well...

...even a heartless, cold-blooded mage couldn't help but be moved to act.

Yeah, yeah, thanks for the backstory. Now come on, let's see what you've got.

All righty. Just sit back, relax, and trust that both your body and soul are in Gofer, good hands.

Whoa, that does feel pretty g Gyaaah! Ow, ow, ow, ow!

Good lord, woman! How can such small shoulders be so stiff!? This is exactly what comes from being sedentary!

Arrrgh! Oh, wait, I think it's working pretty weNope, still hurts like heeell!!!

Well, look on the bright side: at least you're finally getting all that tension out.

Now then. Any change in the stratosphere, Captain Nemo?

Not yet. My professor self is keeping one eye on the sky at all times, but so far, nothing.

Of course, we'll need to run for our lives the moment they detect anything unusual, so be ready.

What are our chances of blocking another strike?

Zero. If she shoots us again, we'll all be vaporized before you can say "brine."

I see.

Then I suppose there's nothing to be done but put on another pot of tea and wait for Mr. Fujimaru's team.

Yes, hi.

I'm Nemo Professor, the literal brains behind Captain Nemo.

It didn't make sense to send Captain out just to collect nanomachines, so I was assigned to come along instead.

As you can see, I can handle myself equally well in indoor and outdoor situations alike. I know I'm barefoot, but don't worry. I'm okay with it.

Please, don't mind me. Just go about your business like you normally would.

Thank you, Professor. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Once we've fooled the nanomachine dispenser, the only thing left to do will be to collect the machines in this container I brought.

I trust it goes without saying, but I literally can't fight to save my life. So, while I know I told you not to mind me, I am hoping you'll be sensitive enough to pick up on how I really feel.

That is to say: please keep me safe.

D-don't worry. We know.

Orion, you stay here and watch the ship while we're out.

Okay, everyone, let's get going!