Section 1: Secret Avalon

Mwahahahaha! Just look at this beauty's propulsion! Look how it smashes clean through ice!

So much for not being able to force our way through to our destination!

I feel like, if we're not careful, we might easily just smash through anything in our way!

Don't worry, Director! I'll be the lookout and let you know right away if there's anything on the grouner, ice we need to worry about!

Good! I'm counting on you!

Hm? Why are we slowing down?

I'm sure I didn't mess up the controls. Could it be

Director! I see something up ahead on the ice!

Then, does this mean...we've arrived?

Okay, I'll dock the ship. Everyone, stay sharp while you disembark, and prepare to survey our surroundings!

Disembark? No thanks. I have more urgent work to do.

I'll be staying aboard to build a proper infirmary.

Needless to say, I must remain behind to protect the ship, so I won't be disembarking either.

I was going to ask you to leave a Servant behind with me, but fortunately, Asclepius already volunteered.

So don't worry about me. You go out there and survey those surroundings!

If possible, I also want you to talk to the Servant in charge of this area and find a way for us to get through it.

All right, let's get this operation underway!

And try not to enjoy yourself TOO much, Fujimaru! Remember, we're not here on vacation!

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Comms connection seems clear, so I'll make sure to do everything I can to support you, Senpai!

All right, let's go down and see what's up!

Indeed, let us be on our way.

Yes, let's!

All right, everyone's disembarked.

I'm glad to see you're safe, Master.

From what I can tell, you look to be in the middle of a field of flowers.

I never would have believed there could be so many plants in the Arctic Circle. It must be because of the change in temperature?

Ice?

Yes, very much so.

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Keep an eye on your surroundings, everyone. Hildr, I want you to come out on patrol with me.

Ortlinde, you stick close to Master, and work with the other Servants to make sure he stays safe.

'Kaaay.

...Understood.

I can help with the patrol, too! Oh, right. I guess I'd just slow you down, since I can't fly...

Man, flying sounds so damn cool. Wish I could.

Oh? If you like, I'm sure I could work something out by fusing your Spirit Origin with my shikigami...

Yeah, not a chance...

Mmmmmm, I suppose we'll just have to see.

All right, let's get go

Huh!?

Hildr! Incoming, one o'clock!

Magical energy signal detected!

It's very powerful, but it doesn't appear to be hostile!

Thrúd, Hildr, could you please not attack it for the moment?

...We know. Those were just warning shots.

We weren't trying to hit them. We only fired at the ground near their feet.

But they still deflected every one of our bullets.

I-it's true! I saw it myself! A bunch of tiny magical energy shields popped up out of nowhere. They kind of looked like flower petals.

So this Servant went out of their way to show off their skills? Nice.

Oho.

Yikes, that was close.

I know you weren't trying to hit me, but what if you'd hit the flowers instead!?

We have to take good care of them, you know! Look how beautifully they've bloomed!

Don't you think?

Hey there, everyone! Thanks for coming!

Hehe, please, by all means, go ahead and enjoy yourselves!

...

... ...

Hm?

Ohhh, right. Of course.

I guess this is sort of our first time meeting, isn't it?

In that case, I'd better introduce myself. I'm Miss Flowers, also known as Lady Avalon!

Nice to meet you!

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Hm?

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Hmm... That's strange. My shin just started aching out of nowhere.

Maybe it's a thiamine deficiency? Perhaps I got shot with an invisible air arrow?

Or maybe...there's some mysterious bond at work somewhere far away?

Oh well, no harm done. The important thing is that all's right with the world. Especially for me.

Having said that, I hope they don't go too far and embarrass us. I've got a reputation to maintain.

What am I talking about? What an odd question. It's all the rage these days, you see.

That's right. It's another example of everyone's favorite kind of world-building...THE MULTIVERSE!!!

Merlin?

Hmm. No, never heard of him. Who is he?

Foooooou foudiot!!!

Guuuh!

Murder Merlin fooou!

Gaaah!

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S-stop that, Fou! You can't just charge full tilt at someone you've just met! Certainly not twice!!!

My, that was quite the angle of attack. She must have felt like she was having something gouged out...

Fooou!

That was quite the punch, Cath Palug... I didn't realize you were here, too.

Uh, you okay? Can you stand?

U-um, if you need help, you can lean on me!

Aww, you kids are so sweet. Wait. Hang on. You must be this world's Gareth.

...Hmm? This feeling...

Something about you reminds me of Lord Merlin... You even smell like the same kind of flowers!

(Rattled!)

Um... Are you maybe...

(Heart pounding)

...one of Lord Merlin's distant relatives or something?

Uh... Yes! Yes, that's it!

I'm impressed you figured it out. Um, right. I'm Merlin the Great Mage's little sister.

Got that? His little sister.

'Cause I'm his little sister. Duh.

"Duh"?

He does now.

Oho.

What was that?

It's me, silly! Look! We're practically identical!

Weeeeeell, you do look alike. A LOT alike.

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Merlin's little sister...? Well, she does seem to be mentioned in his legends...

Really? This is the first I've heard of her!

Though I have to say, you really do look a lot alike.

You...kind of seem like what Lord Merlin might have looked like if he'd been born a pretty girl...

I...can't take my eyes off you...

Ahahahahahaha. You're too funny.

I...am?

You don't think so? Well...uh, sure. Since I'm his sister...yeah, definitely.

A-at any rate... So you aren't hostile, then?

Then I have to apologize for using our Noble Phantasm on you, even if it was just as a warning shot. I'm sorry.

Sorry 'bout that!

I'm so sorry...

I have done nothing to apologize for personally, but I, too, apologize for the Valkyries' rudeness on their behalf.

Aw, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Honestly, I can't entirely blame you.

I mean, if a beautiful girl who looks a lot like Merlin the Great Mage showed up out of nowhere, I'd probably open fire on her, too!

I...suppose...

I...I don't THINK I would open fire on her, but...then again...

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Fooou...

Stop that. Stay. Stay, Fou. Stay.

So he's not going to charge me anymore, right? Good. But keep a firm grip on him just in case, okay?

Fou...

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...All right, let's try this again. First, I have to thank you for always taking such good care of my brother.

As I was saying, I'm Miss Lady Avalon, Brother Merlin's little sister from paradise!

Feel free to call me just "Avalon." Or "Lady A" if you like.

Anyway, I'm here because the Queen of the Arctic asked me to be in charge of this flower park!

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Hmm, I see. So you guys want to go to the castle, yes?

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Then you'll need to break the seal here.

Seal?

Yup. Its seal.

If you were regular visitors, you could head straight to the castle no problem. But since you're here to dispel this Singularity...

...the Bounded Field in each area of the park is going to automatically activate and try to stop you.

And if you want to get past them, you'll need to break each area's seal!

So, if we do that

Yup. The Bounded Field in the corresponding area will let you through.

There you have it! If you want to keep going, you'll need to break the seal in every area!

That's the rule for the Bounded Field put up around this whole Singularity!

Sooo, does that mean

Mmhehehehehe. I suspect it means we will not be able to force our way through, just as I said earlier.

Looks that way, doesn't it? All right.

So how exactly do we go about breaking these seals?

Does it involve military conquest?

Mmmmmm. That, I'm afraid, would fall under the category of brute force we've already established won't work, Lady Thrúd.

For example, what if we destroyed the Servant in charge of a given area's Spirit Core...?

Lady Thrúd.

Hmm. I guess that could work too, but wouldn't I be, you know, dead if you took that route?

Yes, you would.

Hmm, hmm.

Um, Thrúd...

I'm only joking, of course.

Of course!

O-of course.

...Oh, that was a joke. Of course!

Guess this latest batch of swimsuit Spirit Origins came preprogrammed for excessive force.

Good grief. One should never be too quick to employ violence, you know.

(Expression that says "That's rich coming from you.")

(Expression that says "Why, whatever could you mean?")

Um, Lady Avalon? Is there any other way we can break these seals?

Absolutely. In fact, there's a much better method I'd strongly suggest you do.

These Bounded Fields are very strong, and you might never get through them if you just go around attacking whoever is in charge of a given area.

Well we definitely don't want that... Just goes to show how violence is bad.

Right?

All right, I'll tell you what you should do. Ahem.

It's very simple. All you need to do...

...is help the manager of each area here achieve their sales quotas!

Sales quotas?

Fou?

That's right. You see, Arctic Summer World...

...needs to bring in lots of customers if it's going to stay in business!

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Servants? ...Oh, right, you mean the summoned Heroic Spirits.

Well, there are plenty of those kinds of customers, but there are also customers who aren't Servants.

See for yourselves.

Look, Daddy. The flowers are so pretty!

That they are, aren't they?

Wooow. I never thought I'd see anything like this in the North Pole. Life really is full of surprises.

It's beautiful!

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...!

They're talking...

Hey, there ARE polar bears here! And. They. Are. ADORABLE!!!

And seabirds! They talk, too!

How'd this happen? Did the Holy Grail give them temporary intelligence or something?

They were rather far away, but we saw some seals and walruses earlier, too!

Animal customers... Oh, maybe the Primordial Runes did this to them?

Hahahaha, how absurd! This, right here, is exactly why I cannot hold a candle to gods.

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Hehehe. They've really captivated you, haven't they?

You're adorable, Master of Chaldea. But I don't think you have the time to be standing around slack-jawed.

You want to restore humanity, right? Then you'll have to do something about this North Pole Singularity.

And this is the first area you'll have to do something about. Right?

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Good. I'm glad you understand. Okay, everyone, good luck!

The Queen of the Arctic told us to run our areas however we like.

I decided to make mine a flower park, but it's not really been bringing in much money.

I've hardly done so much as a touch-up since I first set the place up!

Now let's see how you can help with that revenue!

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Master. We've finished scouting around.

I'm part of that "we," just so you know.

Anyway, I didn't expect it'd be easy to find a way to boost our sales.

But it was!

Oho. That's certainly encouraging!

Honestly, Lady A, or whatever your name was, I'm kinda amazed you've just been ignoring it all this time!

Hmm?

So you have no idea what we're talking about. Okay, we'll explain.

This area, Flower Park, is a beautiful garden blooming with ice, mythical, and real, actual flowers.

At first glance, you'd think it was quite peaceful.

I mean just look at this place. Feels like something you'd see in a dream, right?

But that's not how it actually goes down.

Right. I don't know why this is, but...

For some reason, some of these trees and bulbs are picking up their roots and attacking the customers!

No wonder you haven't been hitting your quotas! How did you not notice this sooner!?

Say, those bulbs over there kind of look like Gazers!

Gazer bulbs, huh.

This part of the park does seem quite dangerous as it is now. Do you know how this happened, Lady Avalon?

Hmmm... Nope!

You sure about that?

The whole point of my area was to make a nice, peaceful place where visitors could go on walks and take relaxing breaks.

My only source of income besides the modest entry fee is the food stands.

You know, hot dogs, ice cream, that sort of thing.

But this can't continue! I'll never get any customers if it does!

Oh come on. All you needed to do was look around the place! Are you always this dense!?

Now, now, there's no call to be so unkind. It can be surprisingly hard to notice irregularities when they are right under your nose.

Well, for the time being...shall we get started?

Yeah, let's do it.

Let us exterminate these walking trees and floating bulbs, then. So long as you do not object, Master?

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You want us to exterminate them, huh? Understood!

Thrúd! Ortlinde! Let's go with them!

Right!

...Spirit Origin stabilized as Valkyrie Thrúd. Entering combat mode!

Huh. Those Valkyries are very interesting.

Originally three separate Heroic Spirits sharing a single Spirit Origin? Intriguing. Most intriguing.

Fooou...fooou!

Aah!

Please stop sneaking up and scaring me, Cath Palug.

I know. I'll help too, of course. It IS supposed to be a tourist attraction.

So if I have to show off what I can really do to keep our guests happy, then I will!

I knew it. There's no end to these bulb creatures.

Something must be out there, making more of them. Let's take a look!

...There it is.

Valkyries! I want you to fly to these coordinates I'm sending and eliminate this problem at its source.

Gah, creepy! The coordinates he sent are just floating in front of me every way I turn my head!

I just received Douman's coordinate data, too! It looks like there's...is that a hole in the ground?

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Understood!

Okay, the hole's all blocked now!

Yes, there was a hole with a bunch of GazersI mean, bulbs coming out of it.

So we used our runes to make a giant block of ice and seal it off completely.

That should stop any more bulbs from getting out. Phew!

That's great, thanks! I bet our sales will double in no time flat, now!

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Good point, Master! Let's go wipe those things out of existence!

Right sentiment, but maybe word it better next time!

We're back from reconnaissance.

The walking trees are all coming from the west.

We haven't been able to confirm exactly where they're coming from though. (Staring at Douman)

And you're hoping I can do something about that again? Regrettably, wherever it is, it is not around here.

You said they're coming from the west? Then I believe our best course of action is to go search for their source to the west.

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Okay! Should we race there?

Y-you want to race!? I see this Gareth also has energy to spare...

Master couldn't possibly keep up with a bunch of Servants running at top speed! 'Course, I could always carry him.

Would you like to ride on my shoulders then, Master?

You're volunteering too, huh...

...Hang on. What's that heading toward us, over there? Another walking tree?

Mmmmmm, I don't believe so. This divine aura would seem to be

Hostile detected! Master, I'm picking up several of them, all flying straight at you!

Defensive positions! Now!

I know. Here goes!

Right!

What the...!? Are those...actual flying fish!?

...Enemy defeated. Target elimination confirmed.

They really WERE flying fish. And it looked like they were made of...ice?

It seemed so, yes.

I knew it!

Ice fish... I wonder if...?

？！

Yeah. I think they were probably

Hehehe. Enjoying yourselves?

Ooh, the Queen of the Arctic! Longer, short time no see!

Lady Avalon. Good work with your area.

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Yes, I am calling you remotely, from the Arctic Demonic Ice Castle.

(So that's the actual name, huh...)

(I'm not sure if that's really awesome, or really lame...)

By now, I have seen Chaldea's comms protocols in action enough that I felt I could copy it. So I did.

But never mind that. What do you think?

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Are you enjoying yourselves? I imagine that little surprise must have been quite something for you.

"Little surprise"? Do you mean the ice fish?

Hehehehe.

Haha... Yeah, I don't get what's so funny, Your Majesty.

(Or maybe she's just trying to confuse us?)

I knew it! Those were the same kind of ice fish as the ones that wait on Lady Skadi when she's in her swimsuit Spirit Origin!

...Wait. Did you undergo a Spirit Origin Ascension? 'Cause I don't remember those fish being nearly that big before!

Huh?

Hm?

Huh???

Uh... N-no, wait! This is not what I intended!

Just... Just a moment!

Th-there we go. Once again, I am Scáthach-Skadi, Queen of the Arctic.

(Did she just do a quick-change?)

Hehe... I do hope you enjoy yourselves.

Goodbye.

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...

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... ...

...Hehe. I have nothing to hide. By all means, come find me in my Arctic Demonic Ice Castle.

Enjoy the eternal summer. I especially recommend partaking in the many delicious food offerings to be found here.

It would seem she cut the connection.

Yes, we've been cut off. I can't reopen the comms channel.

What was that all about? Is she just trying to get in our way?

Can't say I'm too shocked. Don't the people with Holy Grails usually try to stop us from repairing their Singularities?

But...something about this is bothering me, except I can't quite put my finger on what.

Mmmmmm, I wonder what it could be! It's only human to fall prey to the Holy Grail's charms, after all.

Only human, huh. So what do we do when instead of a human, it's a goddess who has the Grail?

Phew. I think that makes abooout a hundred saplings so far. How're we looking, Boss?

You are correct. Two more saplings and we will have dealt with over one hundred.

That's wonderful! And since we've already got the bulbs auto-generating more of themselves...

...all we have to do now is grow them into trees here and watch over them until their flowers bloom.

Perhaps they were some kind of Phantasmal. It's certainly not like growing ordinary trees.

But that just makes it more fulfilling.

Fulfilling...

Th-that's true. It IS fulfilling. There's nothing quite like watching trees you've planted multiply before your eyes.

Not to mention that these plants must have some sort of Mystic to grow this fast!

Although...it still doesn't seem like they're about to bloom anytime soon, does it?

Yeah. It's weird.

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Huh? Oh, hey, Master. What's up?

Focus. We just got another sapling.

All right!

What do you mean "all right"!? What the hell do you think you're doing!?

Growing plants, obviously. What of it?

!

Um... Am I the only one thinking these Lancers have been growing the walking trees and Gazer bulbs?

It does look that way.

So it's not just me then!

... ...

Oh, hey, Lady A. Long time no see. Well, okay, maybe not so long.

Take a look! We're almost done planting a hundred walking trees, just like you asked!

We should be able to transition them to auto-germinate pretty soon.

You're amazing, Lady A. Or maybe these Avalon plants deserve the credit?

Either way, all we did was grow them just like you told us to, and the bulbs started multiplying on their own.

Look. We've already grown a hundred saplings into trees.

Unfortunately, none have yet sprouted any flowers, though.

We can't have a flower garden without flowers. If we could only find a way to make them bloom.

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Excuse me, Lady Avalon?

If I understand the BackspeaI mean, the Lancers, correctly...

...then it sounds like they've been growing the floating bulbs and walking trees on your orders.

Is that correct?

Uh-huh.

Okay, that's enough. Get back over here.

...So, um...

You're going to laugh! See, this must have totally slipped my mind, but...

...I miiight have hired some gardeners to tend to my flowers!

Flowers? You really call those monsters "flowers"?

Okay, yeah. That...that's a fair point. Weird. I wonder how that happened?

What do you mean, you wonder!? Did you forget what you told us?

You said a normal flower gardenbeautiful and all thatwould be boring, so you asked us to plant some scary flowers that'd attack the visitors, too.

Not that any of those flowers have bloomed yet. Growing these things turned out to be a ton of work!

You said it.

(Quietly nodding in assent)

It's been very fulfilling work, though. Hasn't it, everyone?

Definitely!

I would expect nothing less from Father, I mean, not Father, but... Well, anyway, I would expect nothing less.

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Multiple hostiles detected! Y-you're right, Senpai! They're multiplying rapidly!

Of course they are! We've been working really hard to grow them!

P-please, stop! They'll chase off all my customeeers!

Uh, you're the one who asked us to grow them in the first place. Remember?

Hm. I can see you have your reasons...

...but once I accept a job, I don't stop until it's done. I couldn't live with myself if I did.

Same here...

Same here!

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Welp, looks like that narrows our options down to beating some sense into you, literally!

Oh? We doing this? Fine with me. You want us to stop? Then try and make us!

I'm sorry, little flowers! I'm so sorry!

I promise I'll plant you again somewhere once I've turned you back into bulbs! Goodbye!

Goodbye, flowers!

U-uh, yeah, they should. I think...

Let me guess. They're vampiric flowers that can only bloom by sucking blood from animals, right?

(Expression that says "Now that you mention it, they might be...")

(Expression that says "Damn, seriously? I was only half serious.")

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Well damn. I didn't know you could turn them back into bulbs.

Guess all our hard work was for nothing. What do you guys want to do now?

It is a shame we never got the flowers to bloom, but there's no sense wringing our hands over it.

I don't see any reason to keep going now that our client's forced us to stop.

...I have to agree.

But we're still not leaving without our pay, got it?

I know! Don't worry, you'll all get the QP I promised! Sorry about all this!

I have to apologize to you too, Chaldeans! Sorry for all the trouble, and thanks for all your help!

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I think so. That should take care of the problem here in this area.

Why not take a look around and see?

Sounds good to me!

Shall we get a bird's-eye view of things while we're at it?

Sure, why not?

Wow.

We did it, everyone! All the customers are coming back!

And they're flocking to the food stands, too! This is great, Master!

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Oh yes, absolutely! Thank you all so much!

I see. So you managed to reach the sales quota.

That's good to hear. Then for the rest of today, I want you to get plenty of rest.

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Well done, all of you!

I'm glad to see things are going well so far. Much as I'd love to keep this momentum and head right into the next area...

...it's getting a bit late for that. Hmm.

I doubt we'll have much luck navigating by the stars, so it's probably best we avoid traveling after dark.

Why don't we stay docked here for the night, then set off for the next area first thing in the morning?

I think that's a great idea!

Dr. Asclepius is right, Master. You definitely need rest.

(Nodding along in assent)

I agree too, Senpai. Turning in early seems like a very good idea today.

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Well, we did walk quite a ways today, Master.

You're not wrong...

But damn if finding anything YOU say reasonable doesn't just give me the chills...

Mmnmm. Now, now, don't be like that. Come, why not join me in the cabin for some authentic Chinese tea?

You being considerate is even more unsettling.

Mmm?

(...Um, Master. Do you see Lady A over there?)

(I know. Let's catch her!)

(Ah.)

Gotcha!

...Aaand I've been caught.

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Well, uh, I was wondering if I could come along with you?

My contract says I'm free to do what I like once I reach my sales quota...

And I thought it'd be more fun if I let my staff handle the shops and food stands and tagged along with you guys!

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Huh? You're asking me?

Hmm. You are a Heroic Spirit, yes? Well, I suppose we can never have too much Servantpower.

Great! Then it's settled! Thanks for having me, everyone!

I promise I'll be helpful however I can!

... ...

(...Who is that Heroic Spirit, anyway?)

...

...I know I wasn't supposed to show up this summer, but...

A strange sacred land built seemingly overnight in the Arctic Circle... An enormous sun hanging overhead...

I wonder. Is the Holy Grail in the ice castle?

Or in the tower of ice that seems to stretch all the way up to the sun?

...I think I'll go find out.