FATE: Target of Grand Master

"Let me tell you about the situation we've discovered so far."

Chester said with a serious expression, "The Eastern Army has begun to assemble in the north and is expected to launch an attack tomorrow. In terms of numbers, this attack is quite large. I will be going to the front line soon, and I hope Mr. Xia Yan can assist me in resisting the enemy."

Xia Yan took a bite of the sausage, chewing and thinking at the same time. He had no reason to refuse Chester, and this was also an opportunity to observe Chester up close, so he nodded in agreement.

Chester resumed his refined smile, then took out a map and pointed to the circled area, saying, "This is the location of our northern front. There's a canyon not far ahead, easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as we don't lose the Servant battle, the troop line won't be a big problem. As for the Servant battle, we can only make temporary deployments based on the Servants that appear at the time. However, I believe that with Xia Yan's addition, we should be able to contend with the Eastern Army."

Chester's words sounded like he lacked confidence. Logically, he should have been saying that we would definitely win at this point. It seems that the Servants from the East have also left him with a bad impression.

Xia Yan quickly finished his light meal, then bid farewell to Helena with Chester, and headed to the northern front with a new batch of mechanical soldiers produced by Edison in a way that was even more capitalist than capitalists themselves.

As Chester had said, the northern front was indeed positioned at the canyon's exit. If they didn't attack from there, the eastern army would have to force their way across vast, arid deserts, and even the reinforced Celtic soldiers couldn't withstand the prolonged heat and humidity.

Therefore, this arrangement on the northern front is indeed very reasonable. As Chester said, as long as the Servant battle is not lost, this place can be held.

Upon entering the military tent at the front, Xia Yan met the Western Army followers who had been fighting on the northern front.

Besides Karna, who was borrowed from Edison, there is also Mephistopheles, a Caster-class Servant, who is Chester's third Servant.

As Xia Yan had predicted, most of the Masters participating in this trial had at least three Servants.

After Chester personally inspected the battle line, the two returned to their tents for a short rest.

"How is it, Xia Yan? Compared to the southern front, isn't my northern front stronger?"

Xia Yan raised his eyebrows. It seemed that there was indeed a considerable rift between the two masters of the Western Army.

"The troops on the northern front are indeed well-organized, but when I went to the southern front yesterday, the troops had already been ambushed by the Eastern Army, so there is no way to make a comparison."

Xia Yan's answer was flawless, and it also showed that he currently had no intention of taking sides.

Chester smiled and then changed the subject.

"Xia Yan, don't you think that all these trials we've gone through are actually very unfair?"

Seeing Xia Yan's puzzled look, Chester continued, "Just because a few Masters summon a very powerful Servant, or have extremely powerful Servants assisting them in trials, allows them to complete missions very easily. But for most Masters who only summon ordinary Servants, it takes two Servants to contend with one of the opponent's Servants. Is that fair?"

Xia Yan pursed his lips and said, "Thank you, but I feel offended."

"That's one thing, but sometimes even when you've tried your best, you still only get the bitter fruit of defeat, and your teammates still think you deliberately lost. Do you think that's reasonable?"

Xia Yan thought of Robin Hood's distrust of Chester last night. Very well, Lan Muyan was also implied.

"There's a Chinese proverb that says, 'Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war.' Of course, consistently losing can certainly generate strong negative emotions."

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite control my emotions. It's true, as you said, losing repeatedly can generate strong negative emotions. Luckily, we still have some time, so let me tell you about the Western Army's previous battles, which will also help me vent my pent-up feelings."

Having heard Robin Hood's version last night, Xia Yan also wanted to subtly find out Chester's side of the story. Since Chester was willing to share, Xia Yan was naturally happy to listen.

"At the beginning, the Western Army and the Eastern Army were actually fighting evenly, unlike now. Until one battle, Lan Muyan suddenly had a crazy idea and insisted on changing the strategy on the spot. He even borrowed Karna and Helena from me. When the Eastern Army saw that we were missing two Servants, they intensified their attack. As a result, we didn't gain much in the south, but we were pushed back more than 200 kilometers in the north."

On another occasion, we joined forces with the resistance to fight on both the northern and southern fronts. My side was already under immense pressure in the Servant battles, and I had hoped to secure at least three Servants, but Lan Muyan disagreed, insisting on two from each side. To avoid conflict, I had no choice but to agree. That time, we were fully prepared to deal with the Berserker King Cú Chulainn, but the Master in the east sent him to the south during that battle, while in the north, Minamoto no Tameaki was used for the first time, wounding all three of my Servants and killing two of the resistance's Servants. The northern front crumbled instantly, and the south, having encountered the Berserker King, suffered a complete loss.

As for yesterday's surprise attack by the Eastern Army, it seemed they deliberately bypassed the northern front where I was stationed, launching a fierce attack on the southern front, almost collapsing it. Even then, Lan Muyan still had the magic bullet as a trump card, and I was somewhat confused as to whether he still wanted to pass the trial.

Chester spoke with such sincerity and emotion, as if he had finally let out something he had been holding in for a long time.

"Sorry for saying too much. My biggest question right now is, are the Masters in the East really that all-powerful, able to see through every single step we take?"

Xia Yan encouraged them, "Just like you said, you were able to fight the East side to a standstill at the beginning, which means they are not invincible. Even though both sides now have a pretty good understanding of each other's strength, Lan Muyan's side has still managed to kill one of their Servants. War is all about morale; an army without fighting spirit cannot win."

"You're right, but I just don't understand. If the opposing Master doesn't have reconnaissance methods that we haven't detected yet, then it can only be that someone on our side leaked the information. I don't doubt Lan Muyan, but his Robin Hood has strong reconnaissance capabilities, yet he still hasn't made any progress on the southern front. It's hard not to be suspicious."

Xia Yan still brought up that question.

"Lan Muyan's main mission is also to eliminate the Mad King, so what reason would he have to betray the Western Army?"

Chester shrugged.

"That's what puzzled me too, which is why I haven't deliberately tried to guess in that direction."

Xia Yan comforted Chester a couple more times, then found an excuse to leave the military tent alone.

It's clear that Chester in the north and Lan Muyan in the south don't really trust each other, which explains why Robin Hood was with Beowulf when he first invited him.

Xia Yan initially thought they were worried about the risk of being eliminated if a Servant came and they couldn't reach an agreement, but it turned out they were monitoring each other. From the subsequent descriptions, it's clear that the two sides presented completely different perspectives on the same matter, naturally leading to different conclusions. This made the battle between the Western Army seem like a Rashomon effect.

"Xia Yan, which side do you believe?" Euryale asked.

"I can't judge based on just their words; I need to test them individually before I can know."