Book 2: Chapter 8: More Reasons to Find a Ley Line
“Sesame bun? Doctor, I prepared that for Sempai…never mind. Doctor, carry on eating.” Mash wanted to scold Doctor Roman, but she retracted her words when she saw the feast before her.
“Mash, you have grown into an understanding child…Nom! Nom!” Doctor Roman gorged himself on food in anger out of his grief at missing out.
“I did not expect Mister He Who Knows Fate’s cooking to be so delicious! If cooking skills appeared as a personal skill, it would at least be a B. This is the first time I have experienced the deliciousness of Chinese food!” Mash marveled at the food.
“This is the first time I have eaten such delicious Chinese food. The Chinese food I previously had in Japan was not even half as delicious as this.”
“Yes! Yes! It is indeed delicious! Only, we seemed to have lost control earlier.” Jeanne d’Arc grew up in a village and usually ate things like black bread. How could she get to taste something so delicious? That was why Jeanne d’Arc had kept her head lowered and frantically shoveled food into her mouth. She had eaten at least four bowls of rice.
[TL Note: Black bread is a simple rye bread made using sourdough starter and rye meal. It was the staple during the Middle Ages, often eaten by the masses due to its low cost and filling nature. Due to how it is made, it tends to be pretty hard and has a long shelf life. You can read more about it in this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye_bread#Straight.]
Fou…! Fou…! Fou…!
“Even Fou thinks that the food is delicious?” Mash extended her hand to pet Fou.
“I would like to taste what Mash classified as B-ranked cooking,” Doctor Roman moaned in the distant Chaldea.
“Doctor, just wait for next time. We can send items when we find a ley line. I’ll cook more the next time and send some over.” Without a ley line, Chen Heng could not set up a summoning ritual. Without a summoning ritual, he could not summon Merlin. Hence, Chen Heng offered them an incentive to find a ley line.
[TL Note: According to Fate/Grand Order’s lore: A ley line is magical energy flowing through the earth, the heartbeat of life.]
“I’m truly grateful. You are indeed a Lawful/Neutral alignment Ruler! Truly fair and just!”
“…” Jeanne d’Arc could not say anything. She wanted to retort but had to swallow her words when she saw how much food she just ate. One didn’t bite the hand that fed one.
“We already finished eating, but who will do the dishes?” The one who spoke was Chen Heng. He did not intend to take on the job of washing the dishes. Furthermore, even though he had learned mid-tier cooking, he did not like to cook, much less wash dishes. What? You asked about Sirin? That was his younger sister. Of course, he had to pamper her.
“About that…let me deal with the dishes.” Jeanne d’Arc raised her hand, feeling slightly embarrassed. She realized that she had eaten the most earlier.
“Me! Me! Me! I’ll help too!” For some reason, Fujimaru Ritsuka was strangely proactive.
“By the way, He Who Knows Fate, can you cook Japanese cuisine next time?”
So, that’s why Fujimaru Ritsuka is being so proactive. What a pragmatic reason!
“I’ll go and help, too, then.” Mash saw Jeanne d’Arc and Fujimaru Ritsuka helping with the dishes and decided to help as well.
“Wait a moment, Mash. Don’t go and help; let me give you some special training. I see you are still unfamiliar with using the Servant’s energy in your body. At the same time, I can teach you some combat techniques. Although I am a long-range character, I do know a thing or two about close combat.” Chen Heng forestalled Mash, who was about to go and help, intending to give her some combat experience.
“Huh? Really?! Thank you, Mister He Who Knows Fate.” Mash quickly expressed her gratitude. She did have thoughts of asking Chen Heng for pointers in combat, so Chen Heng’s offer made her very happy.
“About that…can I join in too?” Jeanne d’Arc raised her hand with some embarrassment. Initially, She wanted to do the dishes for everyone, but that prompted everyone else to volunteer to pitch in. In the end, she asked Chen Heng to guide her. Now, the work of doing the dishes fell entirely to Fujimaru Ritsuka.
“Perhaps my Servant summoning is not complete yet, or perhaps the original me just died a few days ago… How do I put it? It feels like I’m a novice Servant.”
“A novice?” Mash found this strange, as Doctor Roman said there was no concept of past and future in the Throne of Heroes.
[TL Note: The Throne of Heroes is a place existing outside of both the World and the time axis. Heroic Spirits are taken out of the cycle of reincarnation and sent there.]
“Indeed. There is no past and future in the Throne of Heroes. However, my current self is not even qualified to access its records. Hence, you could say that I am an incompetent Servant. This is simply like my first time in a battle when I was alive.”
“Come along, then. This is good timing. Mash alone cannot make me use my full power. This will allow you to adjust to fighting earlier.” Chen Heng did not refuse. Rather, having one more was even better.
“Go train, then. I’ll deal with the dishes.” Fujimaru Ritsuka was quite understanding, offering to deal with the dishes alone.
Chen Heng led the two to an open space to avoid affecting their campsite.
“How about this? The two of you fight each other first. That will let me see your current standards.” Chen Heng wanted to see their levels first so that he could teach them according to their aptitude.
This instruction surprised the two. In the current situation, Jeanne d’Arc was responsible for offense, while Mash was responsible for defense. However, Jeanne d’Arc launched the first attack after that. Jeanne d’Arc thrust the flag she held forward, but Mash easily blocked with the shield. After that, they took turns attacking.
After the two fought for a while, Chen Heng stopped them.
“Alright, alright! Stop! I roughly understand your levels now! Actually, your combat techniques are pretty good. You only lack practical experience. Now, I’ll use my ability to control flying swords to attack you. These flying swords are of average quality. As long as you continuously attack the middle of these flying swords, it will be easy to break them after a while. When you can break these three flying swords, we can…”
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