Fate/Apocrypha

Chapter 3.6

Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia never wanted to join the Holy Grail War in the first place. As a matter of fact, he had not even wanted to be a magus.

He does like thaumaturgy itself - it isn't everyday one can have the pleasure of holding absurd, scientifically impossible phenomena in one's own hands. But he never wanted to devote his entire life to it.

Besides, magi are humans who become something less - they become truly inhuman. Frankly, he did not want to be exposed to the world as some monster who would massacre thousands for the sake of research, like magi used to in medieval times.

A magus is a seeker, removed from sentimentality, compassion and other such kind words. The path was not one that Caules had wanted to walk.

The reason why Caules began to study thaumaturgy is just as laughable; he exists only as a 'spare' for Fiore. Not that Caules does not want this for himself. The fate of their entire clan is a heavy burden to shoulder, but the only thing required of him is to study his craft, which is simple enough.

Months passed as Fiore became the head of the Forvedge family and, eventually, approached the highest seat of the entire Yggdmillennia clan. It was then that Caules also decided to explore other avenues. He can either spend the rest of his life as a piddling magus who never accomplished a thing - or he can pursue a different life. That was when the Holy Grail War came out of the blue, bearing down upon him.

At first, he was to serve as back-up to Fiore. However, when he arrived at Romania, signs of the Command Spells began to manifest. Caules no longer had a say in the matter - he must participate in the Holy Grail War as a Master, no matter how much the begrudging glares of the other, more experienced magi bothered him.

As luck would have it, they quickly acquired the holy relics needed as a catalysts. Fiore was able to buy Frankenstein's blueprints off a freelance magus she was acquainted with.

The summoning itself was a success. Even the biggest bottleneck for Servant Berserker - its great expenditure of prana - has a solution in the provision of homunculi, and her own Noble Phantasm being able to assist in the prana supply.

There is only one problem left now.

"Is she... really that strong?"

It is a simple but extremely important question. The Mad Enhancement rank of Berserker - true name Frankenstein - is surprisingly low. While having lost most of her linguistic ability, she can still separate friend and foe, and is able to communicate simple ideas.

However... he hadn't the faintest idea as to why Frankenstein, a giant of a man who should have stood over two meters tall - appeared in the form of a young girl - and a lovely one, at that. What happened to Boris Karloff or Robert de Niro? At first, he thought he had summoned the bride by accident, but there was no mistaking it; it seems that she truly is Frankenstein - or, more correctly, the homunculus created by Frankenstein.

Can this girl fight? That is what troubles Caules at the moment.

Paying no heed to the burden of the Master, the girl preferred to remain in material form, wandering the castle. Of course, Caules had the authority to order her into either form, but he would prefer not to force the issue and spoil her mood (after which her sullen moans would begin to echo in his head).

As a result, the Master is letting his own Servant be.

...Not that there is any chance of her running wild. She spent most of her time in the garden, picking at flowers or looking at the sky. Sometimes, Rider would try to talk to her, though she rarely responded - and even when she did deal with him, it was out of annoyance.