After everything had been discussed openly, Archer smoothly prepared to follow Amiya and the others to Rhodes Island.
Throughout the journey, he remained in spirit form beside Amiya. Aside from Kal'tsit, Warfarin, and Amiya, almost nobody noticed his presence.
There was no need to rush information gathering for now. After speaking frankly with Kal'tsit, Archer had also realized just how abnormal this place was.
Kazdel, Rim Billiton, Victoria…
The names of these nations were completely different from those in his memory. For him, the most important thing right now was figuring out exactly what kind of world he was in.
Kal'tsit had also promised that once aboard Rhodes Island, she would grant him access to all publicly available information.
But in exchange, he would have to properly explain the Holy Grail War, Servants, and the Command Seal on Amiya's hand.
Archer had no reason to refuse this deal. Even if they had not asked, he would have revealed that information anyway.
After all, he had no interest in using a child dragged into a Holy Grail War as a tool to fight in it. Besides, he had no need for something like the Holy Grail to fulfill wishes.
Compared to using it to grant wishes, he would rather blow it up.
But before that, the rules of the Holy Grail War still had to be followed, which meant having a Master was necessary.
Thinking this, Archer shifted his gaze from the window toward Amiya.
Seeing Amiya holding what appeared to be a mobile device, Archer spoke:
"Your technology tree is seriously skewed."
They carried bulky equipment just to maintain communications, yet also possessed such advanced devices, giving Archer a strange sense of technological dissonance.
"Hm?"
Amiya, the only person able to hear Archer, looked up toward the direction of his voice.
Now that Archer was no longer deliberately concealing his magical energy, she could roughly sense his position.
However, she did not really understand what he meant by "technology tree" or "skewed."
If she remembered correctly, Doctor had said similar things before.
"No, it is nothing. Continue reading your book. I will remind you when the time comes."
In spirit form, Archer rubbed his forehead, forcing himself to accept these things. He would probably encounter even more confusing sights in the future.
At that moment, he was leaning against a nearby wall beside Amiya. Although the vehicle was moving quickly, it posed no issue for him.
As for the reminder he mentioned, he meant reminding Amiya to rest.
A child her age reading on a phone or rather, a terminal in a dark constantly shaking vehicle was obviously not good.
Still, this was Amiya's own choice. Nobody was forcing her, so Archer did not say much beyond reminding her to rest after reading for a while.
Pushing herself endlessly like this would only ruin her body in the end.
Normally he would not care about such matters, but since Amiya was now his Master, he could not ignore it.
"Okay, thank you for the trouble."
After hearing Archer's words, Amiya nodded before once more immersing herself in the sea of knowledge.
"At this hour, Amiya, you should be resting."
To everyone else, however, Amiya simply looked as though she had become obsessed with reading.
She suddenly raised her head, responded to empty air, then spoke to nobody visible. It looked rather unsettling.
In the eyes of these Babel veterans, Amiya had lost both Theresa and the Doctor, the two people she had always relied upon. The only thing left for her was to numb herself by constantly improving herself.
Look at how much pressure the child was under. She was talking to thin air now.
Thus, one of the female medical operators decisively exercised her authority as a doctor. She confiscated Amiya's terminal, took out a blanket, and wrapped it around her.
"Eh? Eh!"
Amiya had absolutely no right to resist. She was thoroughly arranged into place, obediently lying on the seat beneath the blanket.
"Hehe~ How about a bedtime story too?"
The other operators nearby were not idle either. After an intense round of rock-paper-scissors, one victorious operator proudly pulled out a bedtime book and sat beside Amiya, beginning to read aloud.
The smug expression on her face made the operators who lost the game itch with frustration.
"..."
Seeing this scene, Archer wisely moved farther aside and turned his gaze back toward the outside.
Massive black stones stood in the distance like enormous mountains.
Along the journey, countless similar black stones could be seen, each with different shapes.
Of course, Archer had also noticed that many people inside the vehicle carried pieces of those black stones on their bodies in one form or another, including Amiya herself.
He did not ask, nor did he need to.
From the way they deliberately concealed those stones, it was obvious they were not something good.
Immersed in his thoughts, the convoy soon reached its destination, Rhodes Island.
Archer originally believed he had already adapted to this strange clash of civilizations, but after seeing Rhodes Island, the feeling became even stronger.
And it was a gigantic land battleship as well…
Judging from the internal technology, it was quite advanced. It seemed his Master's status was not simple at all.
If what Kal'tsit said was true, then Amiya was currently the nominal leader of Rhodes Island.
Although he did not know what had happened before this, placing such a heavy burden upon Amiya explained why she worked so desperately hard to study.
As well as the maturity that did not match her outward appearance, and the crown-shaped mark on her hand…
"Looks like I will not need to consider changing Masters for this mission."
After the vehicle stopped, Archer briefly summarized the contractual relationship between himself and Amiya, following behind Kal'tsit and the sleeping Amiya she carried while remaining in spirit form.
Resources, connections, intelligence, and ability were all good. Combined with the fact that after several conversations he could roughly understand Amiya's way of thinking, aside from issues related to magecraft and magical energy, she was practically an ideal Master.
After all, most of his actions did not require support from other forms of magecraft, and his demand for magical energy was not particularly high either.
"Mr. Archer, are you still nearby?"
Carrying the sleeping Amiya in her arms, Kal'tsit stopped before a door and spoke toward it.
"Of course. If I am not staying beside my Master, where else would I go?"
Exiting spirit form, Archer appeared not far from Kal'tsit.
"You cannot be too far away from Amiya?"
Seeing Archer appear, Kal'tsit frowned slightly. She then opened the door, walked inside, gently placed Amiya on the bed, and pulled the blanket over her before turning back and asking him the question.
During that entire time, Archer had not entered the room. He had not even approached the doorway, simply standing outside like a statue.
Only after Kal'tsit came back out and spoke to him did he shift his gaze toward her.
"Acting separately is certainly possible. But if Amiya, as the Master, encounters any problems, then I, as the Servant, may also be affected. That is why I stay by her side."
"I understand. Then please come with me to the office. We will exchange information now."
After hearing Archer's explanation, Kal'tsit quickly understood. After all, it was similar to the relationship between herself and Mon3tr.
But that was not the important part. What mattered was quickly understanding his identity, along with concepts such as Servants and the Holy Grail War.
"Fine."
Naturally, Archer had no objection. He had already prepared himself to wait until tomorrow for information, so he did not expect Kal'tsit to be this anxious.
Following behind her, they soon arrived at an empty office.
Inside were several terminals, along with computers and multiple monitors.
Judging from the two cups on the table still steaming with heat, everything had just been prepared.
Only after Kal'tsit sat down did Archer take a seat across from her.
"Everything you requested has been prepared. The records in these terminals contain all publicly known information regarding Rhodes Island and even the entire continent of Terra."
After sitting, Kal'tsit first took a sip of coffee to forcibly keep herself awake before pushing several terminals across the table toward Archer.
"You prepared all this rather quickly. Which part do you want to start with?"
Picking up one of the terminals casually, Archer copied the way Amiya had used hers earlier and quickly figured out how to operate it.
After briefly scanning through several entries, he confirmed they were historical records and related information. The amount of material, however, was enormous. If he wanted to read everything, it would take considerable time.
Clearly, Kal'tsit was unwilling to wait. Otherwise, she would not have dumped everything on him at once.
"Let us start with yourself first Archer or perhaps I should call you Mr. Archer?"
Seeing Archer immediately enter the main topic, Kal'tsit let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The sooner this was resolved, the better. She herself had also spent several days busy without proper rest, relying entirely on the coffee in her hand to stay awake.
Under normal circumstances, she would have taken the time to speak with him properly. Throwing all the information at him and forcing him to figure it out himself was merely a helpless compromise.
Put nicely, the material contained all publicly available information Rhodes Island possessed. Put bluntly, it was basically educational material and a compilation of various operators' opinions regarding their organization.
The truly confidential information was not included, though given his needs, perhaps this was actually the most suitable selection.
"As the name implies, I am a Servant manifested under the Archer class…"
Archer wasted no time and immediately began explaining.
From the seven standard classes, to the basic rules of the Holy Grail War, and most importantly, the matter of the Command Seals on Amiya's hand, he concealed nothing.
At the same time, he carefully observed Kal'tsit's eyes and expressions, confirming that she truly knew nothing about these matters. She did not even understand concepts like magecraft or magical energy.
"Why was it Amiya who got chosen… could it be because of the Doctor?"
After spending some time recording and processing the information Archer provided, Kal'tsit still could not understand why Amiya had been dragged into this.
She considered many possibilities and felt this might have something to do with the Doctor. After all, throughout Terra, there were very few people who possessed knowledge beyond her understanding, and the Doctor happened to be one of them.
Still, it was only suspicion. Summoning legendary Heroic Spirits from history as Servants simply sounded far too absurd.
"I would not know. I am just the hired muscle that got summoned."
Seeing that Kal'tsit seemed to have someone in mind, Archer shrugged and chose not to continue the topic. Instead, he quietly focused on the information displayed on the terminal.
After briefly browsing several of the more important files, he finally gained a certain degree of understanding about this world.
He did not particularly care about the grudges and conflicts between nations. But the geography…
It truly lived up to the name Terra.
As for Originium, this unreasonable energy source, he was no longer surprised by such things.
What did surprise him was that this substance, similar to oil, caused Oripathy infections, and once infected, people were effectively doomed with no cure.
At that point, he thought about the Originium mountain ranges he had seen along the way, as well as the Originium crystals on the bodies of Rhodes Island operators and Amiya herself.
And naturally, the Originium crystal on Kal'tsit's shoulder as well.
He could roughly guess what kind of organization Rhodes Island was.
"I understand… let us stop here for now. We can handle the rest tomorrow. Your room has already been arranged. You can use this temporary operator identification to move around freely. As for everything else, Amiya will guide you later."
Kal'tsit clearly did not wish to continue discussing the Doctor. By now, they had already spent nearly four hours talking here, and she still had remaining work in the medical department to handle before she could rest.
"I will pass on the room. Staying here is fine enough. Carrying those things around would only be inconvenient."
Seeing that Kal'tsit was preparing to leave, Archer showed no intention of following. Instead, he remained seated, quietly reading through the information on the terminals.
Sleep was not necessary for him in his current state. Although resting could reduce magical energy consumption to some extent, obtaining information was far more important right now.
"Understood. I will not revoke this office's access permissions. You may use everything inside."
Seeing that Archer seemed prepared to spend the entire night reviewing the material, Kal'tsit merely sighed. After speaking, she left with her coffee and several terminals containing partially organized documents.
During that time, Archer focused primarily on information related to Rhodes Island.
After all, this was Rhodes Island's own database, so information regarding itself was detailed and complete. It did not take long for him to understand what kind of organization his Master belonged to.
"…Archer?"
Time passed quickly. Suddenly, the office door opened, and a pair of rabbit ears peeked inside.
It was Amiya. By now, five hours had passed since Kal'tsit left the office, and Amiya had received a message from Doctor Kal'tsit after waking up.
She had been instructed to check on Archer's condition in this office and, while she was at it, guide him around Rhodes Island's basic facilities.
As for anything else, if he had questions, she was to answer them as thoroughly as possible. Right now, the goal was to establish trust between both sides.
And most importantly—
Remember to bring him a coat.
"Mm."
Hearing Amiya's voice, Archer merely responded calmly.
The coffee beside him had long gone cold, untouched the entire time. From the terminals and handwritten notes spread across the desk, one could easily see the results of his night's work.
"Doctor Kal'tsit asked me to show you around Rhodes Island. Is now a good time?"
Looking curiously at the paper notes on the desk, Amiya stepped forward for a glance.
Unfortunately, she could not understand them at all. She could only pull her gaze away and explain why she had come.
"That is fine."
Setting the terminal in his hand down, Archer stood up.
Then he saw the coat Amiya held out toward him. It bore Rhodes Island's emblem.
"Um… Doctor Kal'tsit asked me to bring this."
Seeing that Archer still had not taken the coat, Amiya spoke awkwardly.
The reason did not need much explanation.
His clothing was simply too unusual. Although he could conceal himself, from an outsider's perspective it would look as though she were introducing Rhodes Island to empty air.
And Amiya did not want to spend the next few days detained in the medical department and forbidden from going outside, so she could only reluctantly trouble him a little.
If he refused… then she would have to talk with Doctor Kal'tsit and ask her to explain the situation to the other doctors.
"There is no need. I have my own."
Archer understood what she meant and had no intention of making things difficult for her.
However, rather than taking the Rhodes Island coat from Amiya, he directly used magical energy instead.
Black magical energy wrapped around his body, and in the next moment, a black shirt and trousers appeared on him. Two handguns hung at his sides.
"So this is your Originium Art, Archer? That is amazing!"
Seeing the scene, Amiya's eyes lit up completely.
She had only seen instant outfit changes like this in television and movies before. This was her first time witnessing it in reality.
If she could learn it too—
"This is magecraft. You cannot learn it."
The moment he heard her words, Archer already guessed what she was about to say and immediately cut her off.
He was not lying. This outfit change relied on the characteristics of a Servant. If he wished, he could instantly return to wearing his combat attire.
Projection magecraft might have been possible in theory, but his own Projection was fundamentally different from normal magecraft and impossible to replicate. Besides, people in this world lacked Magic Circuits entirely, so whether they could even learn magecraft at all was questionable.
"Mm… what a shame. But that is alright! Then let us go!"
Hearing Archer say that, Amiya looked disappointed for a moment, but quickly recovered. She immediately skipped cheerfully toward the door.
Then she stopped at the entrance, turned around, and waved for Archer to follow.
This was her first time guiding someone around Rhodes Island, and just thinking about it made her excited.
"..."
Seeing how energetic she looked, Archer sighed internally before following after her.