Fate: Livestream in Chaldeas

Chapter 182 – London Singularity: Double Super Enhancement!

After stepping out of the room, Ethan stood next to Merlin in a hallway.

Mash didn't leave; she said she would stay behind to help tidy up Ethan's room.

Outside, the snow still covered everything, like a never-ending blizzard that would never cease.

"You saw them summon that thing and still didn't come down to give me a hand?"

Ethan got straight to the point and questioned Merlin.

Just like the male Merlin, she also had the qualifications to become a Grand Caster. Conditions like Clairvoyance—she definitely had them.

"Don't be so hard on me… just looking at that disgusting black tentacle thing is enough to keep me up at night."

Merlin gave a wry smile.

"I almost died, you know!"

Ethan glared irritably at Merlin.

"I always believed Master would succeed. And in the end, you did make it back safely, didn't you? But if Master ever gets interested in becoming a 'King'—I'll be watching over you closely~~~"

"Sorry, I have absolutely no interest in that right now!!!"

The moment he heard Merlin trying to drag him into the Ahoge Royal trap, Ethan rejected her flat out.

"Honestly, Master, you should really think it over sometime."

Merlin still didn't seem to have given up on her idea.

"But now's not the time to talk about that. Actually, I saw something quite interesting today, and I wanted to share it with you."

"Something interesting?"

Ethan paused for a moment.

If Merlin calls something "interesting," then it's probably big trouble...

"That Saber's intel was accurate. After all, the current world is in an unstable state. Human civilization has managed to survive until now thanks to Alaya and the humans themselves who keep maintaining it."

Merlin looked off into the distant snowy wasteland.

"To put it simply, I saw the presence of another force in London—the place Chaldea has marked as a 'Singularity.'"

"Another force?!"

Ethan was startled and immediately asked for more.

"Can you be more specific? So I can be prepared."

"Sorry, it's not something that can be 'seen.'"

Merlin's words were cryptic.

Even EX-rank Clairvoyance couldn't see it?

For someone like Merlin, wasn't the current situation basically a global livestream?

"What threatens humanity's continuation isn't just that one who burned human history. But for him, as long as human history is destroyed, it doesn't matter who does it."

Hearing Merlin say that, Ethan fell into thought.

It's true… Goetia just wanted to burn all of human history and use it as fuel. Where the fuel came from—he didn't give a damn.

"In any case, I just wanted to remind you of one thing, Master: the journey ahead will only get tougher. Be ready."

"Easy for you to say…"

Of course, he wanted to be fully prepared. Ideally, raise all Servants to max level, max their skills to 10-10-10...

If they could temporarily summon a few more Grand-class ones, even fighting through a Lostbelt would be no big deal.

But there just wasn't enough time...

At the current livestream point gain rate, even with the x1.5 multiplier unlocked...

Progress was still too slow.

Looks like he'd have to go big.

Call EMIYA in for a cooking livestream, and maybe throw in a full FSN reaction for the audience too.

They already had Heracles—if they invited Cu Chulainn to join with some flashy spear-spinning action, it'd be perfect!

Just as Ethan was getting lost in thought, he suddenly felt something drip down from the ceiling behind him.

"——————?!"

A wave of cold air hit him from behind, and Ethan immediately turned his head.

Not good—could something strange have followed him back during the Rayshift?!

"Oiya, long time no see, Master."

A familiar face appeared before Ethan.

A blonde girl with a mischievous little-devil smile, dressed in a black dress radiating the elegance of a rich heiress.

"Reines?"

"Seeing Master return safe and sound, I truly feel happy from the bottom of my heart."

It was clearly a very ordinary sentence, but for some reason, when paired with Reines' expression, it felt... a little off?

But if Reines was here, then that dripping sound just now must have been...

"Welcome back, Master of Oujou-sama."

The mercury maid—Trimmau—bowed, lifting her skirt in a curtsey to Ethan.

"Would you care for a drink?"

"So it was you... No need."

Ethan let out a sigh of relief.

Looks like the mental aftereffects from "Mother Goat" would still take some time to fully recover from.

"Good morning, Lady Avalon."

Reines also greeted Merlin politely.

"Good morning, Reines-dono."

Merlin returned the greeting with grace.

"I hope you'll continue attending this week's tea party."

Reines extended an invitation to Merlin.

"Of course. Will Martha-dono be joining us too? And since Johanna-dono has returned, I'm sure she'll come as well."

"This time, Johanna-dono helped Master with the Singularity correction, so she must have many interesting stories to share."

"Oh right, I heard Master also brought back a female Servant—why not invite her too?"

Watching Reines and Merlin excitedly plan what they called a "ladies' tea party," and even intending to drag Xu Fu into it...

If they pushed her too much, Xu Fu might just whip up a party version of "immortality elixir" right at the party for fun.

"Well, you two keep chatting. I'll head off for now."

Ethan had no interest in listening to a black-bellied tactician and an old fairy with a thing for young men gossip about their "ladies' matters." He was planning to go check on Noah and Heracles.

"Oh right, Master."

Reines called out just as Ethan was about to leave.

"Onii-sama seems to want to see you. If you have time, please drop by."

"Waver's looking for me?"

Ethan looked slightly surprised.

"Now that you mention it, he's probably in the control room sighing with that doctor guy right about now."

Reines gave a soft, sly smile.

Then the evil heiress walked off, discussing tea blends for the upcoming party with a Succubus.

"Senpai, I've finished cleaning."

Mash brushed the dust from her hands and stepped out of the room, while Fou jumped onto Ethan's shoulder, looking lazy and unwilling to move—it even let out a long yawn.

"Mash, do you want to join Reines' tea party?"

Ethan asked her unexpectedly.

"Senpai, why are you suddenly asking that?"

"Just curious."

"Actually… Reines-san already invited me once. But I don't know anything about lady etiquette, so I didn't dare attend… I was afraid I'd ruin the mood…"

Mash lowered her head, clearly feeling quite embarrassed.

Seeing Mash this flustered, not even knowing where to look...

But it was obvious she was genuinely interested in the tea party.

After all, Mash was an artificial lifeform created to merge with a Heroic Spirit. Her time in this world hadn't been long.

Thinking that way, it wasn't surprising.

"It's okay."

Ethan used a gentle, reassuring tone:

"Lady etiquette is actually really simple."

"Simple… really?"

Mash looked over at him, eyes filled with doubt.

"Of course. For example, the interests of noble ladies are all over the place—like how a certain drill-haired blonde once said wrestling counts as one of them too."

Ethan said this with a straight face.

"Wrestling… is part of lady etiquette?!"

Mash looked utterly stunned.

Little Eggplant was shocked to her core!

"Look—Martha also attends these tea parties, doesn't she? Just talking about how hard you can punch is already good enough."

"That's true…"

Mash seemed to suddenly realize something.

"Martha-san's close-combat skills are really strong… so that's it—they talk about things like that during ladies' tea parties!"

"Of course they do."

"I understand now. I'll ask Martha-san more about that topic later."

Seeing Mash smile, Ethan smiled along with her.

The first step is always the most important. And with Xu Fu there, who knows—maybe the tea party would turn into a makeshift medicine expo in the end.

"Perfect timing, come with me to the control room."

"Yes, Senpai!"

...

After that, Ethan and Mash walked together toward the control room.

They didn't run into anyone along the way, and soon arrived at the door.

"Doctor, we're coming in!"

The control room doors slid open, revealing four figures inside.

"You two are here!"

Doctor Romani waved happily upon seeing Ethan and Mash.

It was only then that Ethan noticed Da Vinci, Noah, and Waver were also present in the control room along with Doctor Romani.

"What's going on? Is there a meeting today?"

Ethan asked, puzzled.

And Noah was here too.

Though currently, Noah had lost his Grand Saint Graph and become a regular Rider, with Captain Nemo as the main body.

"You're just in time. We were actually discussing the next Singularity."

Da Vinci said cheerfully.

"No, no, no… What we're actually doing is discussing whether Chaldea's recent behavior violates a slew of internal regulations!"

Waver slammed a stack of documents onto the table, glaring at Doctor Romani with a very disgruntled expression.

"But first, congratulations to both of you on successfully overcoming the third Singularity—restoring that twisted era and taking another step toward the restoration of human civilization!"

Da Vinci and Doctor Romani applauded Ethan and Mash.

"Ahahahaha, it's all thanks to everyone's efforts that we achieved this result."

Ethan scratched his head sheepishly.

"Hey, is anyone even listening to me!!!"

Waver yelled in frustration.

"Yo, Waver, long time no see!"

Ethan gave Waver an awkward nod.

It had been a while, and the frown line between Waver's brows looked even deeper than before...

"You arrived just in time, Shounen."

Waver pointed at the stack of papers on the table.

"Do you know how many regulations Chaldea has violated during this time? Even if we do save humanity, once the Mage's Association sends in an inspection team, they might disband this whole department."

"But if humanity isn't saved, won't they be gone too?"

Ethan asked curiously. Even if Waver wasn't thinking that far ahead, surely Zhuge Liang could weigh the pros and cons?

"That's exactly why I said we need to find a way to delete all these violation records—so the Mage's Association can't find a single crack!"

Waver sighed.

"Doctor?"

Seeing Waver's stance, Ethan and Mash turned toward Doctor Romani.

Being stared at, Doctor Romani scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Ah... Lately, several Chaldea technicians have experienced varying levels of psychological issues after observing that black alien creature, so I haven't had time to deal with the backlog of violation records."

"I'm really sorry, everyone!!!"

Doctor Romani bowed deeply to Waver.

"I'll try to take care of it soon, but for now, I'll have to ask Lord El-Melloi for help!"

"Haizz..."

Waver let out a sigh, sat down in a chair, and added slowly:

"It's Lord El-Melloi II."

Then he began neatly stacking the documents.

"From now on, give me access to the records. I'll check carefully for any areas where the Mage's Association might find faults. Don't underestimate the Political and Legal Affairs Department of the Clock Tower. I work with them often—they might even join the investigation committee."

Hearing Waver's words, Ethan was nearly moved to tears.

As expected of Waver-sensei—self-initiated overtime work, truly effective.

"If I'm not mistaken, we were about to start discussing the next Singularity?"

Noah, seated at the table, reminded everyone in the control room.

Then he turned to Ethan.

"Master, please take your seat for the briefing."

"Yeah, got it."

Ethan nodded and sat down with Mash.

The adult version of Captain Nemo truly carried an air of authority—indeed worthy of the title "Captain."

"Not sure how it turned into a meeting, but I'll accept it for now."

Da Vinci put on her glasses and activated the screen.

"According to CHALDEAS' observations, after repairing three Singularities, there are still four left."

Four locations appeared on the screen.

"Divided by region, they are London, England in AD 1888; North America in AD 1783; Camelot in AD 1273; and Babylonia in BC 2600."

Along with Da Vinci's explanation, different numbers appeared next to the four locations.

"Based on the Human Order Foundation Value, the next target for our operation is London, England in AD 1888."

"Wait a minute."

Ethan immediately asked.

"Why do we have to repair them in order?"

For example, fighting Lion King first would let kouhai-chan unlock her True Name Noble Phantasm, significantly boosting combat power.

"Student-kun, your question makes sense, and the answer is not difficult."

Da Vinci, still wearing her glasses, answered cheerfully like a teacher.

"Because Chaldea's current technology can't do otherwise."

"Huh?"

Ethan was a bit startled by that reason.

"Actually, rayshift were only officially applied when you and Mash appeared. For Singularities with very high Foundation Values, there's a risk rayshift will fail."

Da Vinci pointed at the data.

"But if we can rayshift first to eras where existence is easier to confirm, we can use that data to continually improve the soul transfer system, and eventually rayshift to Singularities with high Foundation Values!"

"Thanks for explaining."

Ethan nodded.

After all, if a rayshift lost someone or failed to locate, falling straight into the Holy City to get beaten by Lion King would be fatal.

"And according to data observations, we are preparing to start the next rayshift. The target is London, England, AD 1888."

"Huh? Why so soon?"

Ethan was puzzled.

The timeframe was too short.

Previously, adjustments clearly required more time.

He had planned to rest during this period, maybe get some livestream points, then go.

"Good question, Student Ethan-kun!"

Da Vinci-chan-sensei, still wearing glasses, pointed to the rapidly changing numbers behind the London Singularity point.

"Because the Human Order Foundation Value in London is rising fast—it's jumped from an initial A- to A+!"

"It's already A+?!"

Ethan frowned.

He recalled when they went to the second Singularity, the Human Order Foundation Value had changed.

"That's why I invited Noah—because he still holds the memories of the Grand Rider, he could provide an explanation."

When Da Vinci mentioned him, Noah nodded.

"Simply put, something is accelerating the progression of this Singularity."

Da Vinci gave a brief explanation.

"Accelerating… the progression?"

Ethan didn't quite understand.

"Professor Lev said his way of interfering in the era was by handing the Holy Grail to someone who could disrupt the timeline, right?"

In Fuyuki, it was Saber Alter; in France, Jeanne Alter; in Rome, Divine Ancestor Romulus; and the third Singularity to Medea Lily.

"This kind of interference is slow because of limited personal ability."

Da Vinci pointed at London on the screen.

"But like a slow-moving earthquake, if a meteor falls, it will drastically change the terrain. Such a disruptive factor will accelerate the rise of the Human Order Foundation Value significantly."

Da Vinci pushed up her glasses.

"So we estimate something is hastening the changes in London, but what exactly it is, you'll have to see for yourselves after rayshifting."

After hearing Da Vinci's words, Ethan nodded.

It seemed like something was causing trouble in the Singularity again.

But he was used to it; actually, if there was no disturbance, it would feel a bit unsettling.

"So it's confirmed it's not the Human Order rejecting us, but something else causing the issue, right?"

Ethan looked to Noah beside him.

"Exactly. To identify this extremely dangerous factor, I will accompany you this time."

Noah nodded, then extended his hand toward Ethan.

"I will have to rely on you for the time being, Master.."