Crossover Shipgirls: Building a Dimensional Empire from Scratch

In addition to the two summoning tokens, according to Dr. Roman, it was possible to summon Servants from this era using the power of ley lines, even without a catalyst.

Setsuna and Fujimaru Ritsuka spent another busy half-day searching for potential Servants.

With Ruler-class Servants able to sense other Servants, they located several wild Servants to join their group.

When the starship set off again, the cabin became noticeably livelier.

"I am Boudica, Queen of Britain. I loved my country deeply, but I ultimately lost to the Roman tyrant Nero's army. They killed me and my daughters…"

A red-haired older sister introduced herself with a tinge of regret.

When she turned her head, she found herself flanked on the left by Nero and on the right by Artoria, the King of Knights from Britain.

"???"

One wore red, the other blue, but their appearances, temperaments, and even their ahoge were identical.

"You've endured much," Artoria offered her consolation.

"That had nothing to do with me!!! It was my governor's doing!!!" Nero protested, seeing the peculiar gazes of the other Servants and shipgirls. She cried out her innocence.

Thanks to the nature of summoning Servants, it wasn't uncommon for historical adversaries to end up gathered in one place.

"I am Stheno, eldest of the Gorgon sisters. Master, I hope you can help me find my two younger sisters," a purple-haired, twin-tailed loli declared, standing with hands on her hips in front of Setsuna.

"Uh… Euryale is at the third Singularity. As for Medusa… I think Fuyuki might actually be the easier place to find her," Setsuna replied.

"It's just that I'm not sure if the Fifth Holy Grail War is still happening…"

Setsuna took stock of the new additions. After visiting the second Singularity, they'd gathered quite a few Servants.

Some were unfamiliar, forcing him to dig through references to figure out who they were.

"Are you Jing Ke?!"

On the bridge, Yat Sen stared incredulously at a girl dressed in simple ancient robes, with long black hair draped over her back.

The girl had a dagger at her waist adorned with a decorative white flower. She appeared slightly tipsy and wore a carefree smile.

As a shipgirl from Dragon Empery, Yat Sen struggled to reconcile this figure with the legendary assassin from history.

"That's me! I'm also an Assassin. I was actually planning to assassinate the Roman Emperor, but, tsk, you guys beat me to it," Jing Ke replied, taking a swig of liquor.

"…"

"Commander, I can accept that the King of Knights and Nero are girls, but why is Jing Ke also female?!" Yat Sen asked with a puzzled expression.

She felt as though her understanding of history had taken a serious blow.

"That's just how things are in the Nasuverse."

…

...

As a tradition, after completing a mission, Setsuna would grant himself and his team a few days of vacation to relax and unwind.

This time was no different. With the convenience of the starship, traveling was much easier.

Like tourists, they embarked on a sightseeing journey to explore the beauty and diversity of different times and worlds.

Overlooking Earth in the 1st century AD.

"So primitive. Hm, even more primitive than Orléans when we went there last time."

"Everywhere is thatched huts. Tsk, the cities here aren't even as big as the farmland we cultivate," Victorious commented with a clicking tongue.

The scene was truly desolate and rudimentary.

At this point in history, the global population did not exceed 200 million. There were only two nations with populations over ten million: the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire.

Across the ocean, the island nation was still in its tribal stage, wielding wooden spears and shields, fighting over territory with stones.

North America was dominated by Mayan civilization, with peculiar architectural styles scattered about and practices such as human sacrifices and blood rituals—barbaric and backward customs of the time.

However, one of the perks of traversing time was witnessing historical marvels in their original state.

"Oh… Is that the Great Wall?"

The spaceship flew from west to east, passing through the vast grasslands of Central Asia and an endless desert before the sprawling Great Wall emerged, snaking across majestic mountain ranges.

Unlike the later Ming Great Wall seen in modern times, this Great Wall was the real deal, built over the eras from the Western Zhou to the Qin Dynasty. Its appearance differed somewhat from what Setsuna had in mind.

"I want to build wonders too! I'll build a wall north of Rome bigger than the Great Wall!" Nero exclaimed, pressing against the porthole as she marveled at the endless Great Wall below.

"Emperor Qin built the Great Wall to fend off nomadic invasions from the north. What would you even use it for at home?!" Setsuna snapped, flicking Nero on the forehead and ruffling her ahoge.

To him, Nero didn't resemble an emperor but more of a competitive, spirited child.

"But from the looks of it, your empire doesn't seem as vast as the Roman Empire," Nero retorted, cradling her head in thought. "The territory that Emperor Qin conquered isn't even as large as one province of my Rome…"

"No inland sea either. Hm, but at least their capital could probably compare to my Rome," she muttered after taking in the Eastern Han Dynasty's vast lands.

The Roman Empire stretched from Britannia in the north to North Africa in the south, from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Black Sea in the east, encompassing most of Europe and parts of Central Asia. The entire Mediterranean Sea was the empire's inland sea. To Nero, the size of a territory was the hallmark of an emperor's greatness.

"You can't measure it like that."

Setsuna pinched Nero's cheeks and adopted a serious tone.

"The size of a territory is only one part of civilization. In the long term, culture, technology, and governance determine whether a civilization can endure," he explained, giving Nero a brief history lesson.

A millennium later, the Roman Empire would be long gone, fragmented into countless pieces across Europe.

They would speak different languages, use different currencies, and, apart from a few nations engaging in rhetorical battles over so-called Roman legitimacy, ordinary people would feel no connection to that empire.

They would only see themselves as Anglo-Saxons, Greeks, Germans, or Egyptians. To them, Rome would simply be a foreign conqueror.

Meanwhile, the lands of China would still maintain a unified civilization.

From the perspective of a longer timeline, the unification of language, transport, and standardized measurements has far more enduring significance than the mere size of conquered territories at the time.

"What?! My Rome later split apart?! It fell in 1453?!"

"They no longer even recognize Rome?!"

Nero was instantly distraught. Her expression mirrored that of Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth upon hearing that the British Empire had fallen.

She stared blankly for a moment, carefully considering Setsuna's words, and found some truth in them.

"Master, you know so much. I feel like you're more of an emperor than I am…"

"I want to go to your other world and build a new Rome with you!!!"

…

…

The Yat Sen ship carried everyone past the Great Wall, skimmed over the Pyramids, and stopped at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Lighthouse of Alexandria for group photos.

They treated all the wonders of the classical era as tourist attractions, visiting them one by one.

The Servants and shipgirls chattered non-stop, exchanging stories about their lives and the events of another world.

The Heroic Spirits from the Type-Moon universe never lacked tales. Each of them had left a mark or a legend in history. For the shipgirls and Gudako, it was mesmerizing to listen.

When the conversation shifted to modern history, the Servants often sighed with "times have changed."

Having a Noble Phantasm capable of destroying a city or an army was already considered exceptional, enough to decide the outcome of a great war.

Yet compared to the fleets of interstellar civilization, such powers seemed lacking.

Meanwhile, Setsuna continued contemplating the rewards he had received.

The power of the Sword in the Stone aside, it made for an impressive accessory as a ceremonial sword.

Late at night.

The moonlight flowed like water.

In the Yat Sen ship's elegantly furnished room, Setsuna sat cross-legged, meditating and focusing on the power of the mental cube within him.

It resembled a reactor, continuously generating energy.

Each time he pushed its output to the limit, he could sense himself growing a bit stronger.

Knock, knock, knock—

Suddenly, a gentle knock at the door.

Yat Sen entered.

She wore a white ruqun, her long hair cascading like a waterfall behind her, adorned with light blue ribbons, exuding the delicate charm of a oriontal beauty.

The sheer white stockings on her legs added just the right touch of allure.

"Commander, you're still awake?"

Yat Sen placed two cups of fruit tea and several pieces of dessert on the table.

"Hmm… I'm studying the Wisdom Cube and the Sword in the Stone."

Setsuna sat up straight.

"How's your body feeling? After that battle, I noticed you seemed a bit drained," Yat Sen asked with concern.

"It's fine, just a bit tired from the overexertion. Nothing major," Setsuna replied nonchalantly, scratching his head.

He had realized that his recovery ability and stamina were exceptionally strong. Even when utterly exhausted, a single night's sleep was enough to recover almost completely.

"I have something I want to discuss seriously with you."

"Next time, don't do that, Commander," Yat Sen said, her expression suddenly turning serious as she reached out to tap his forehead.

"During that battle, we had so many people there. Why did you insist on charging in alone?"

"Keeping our distance and utilizing our advantage with ranged firepower would have been much better, wouldn't it?"

"No matter how strong that so-called Divine Ancestor was, he couldn't possibly reach outer space, right? Besides, we could have called in reinforcements from the port. He might withstand fighter-bomber strikes, but could he handle a battleship's main cannons?"

The usually calm and gentle girl now carried a tinge of anger in her tone, almost as if she were scolding him. She had been holding this in for days, and after much deliberation, decided it was time to speak up.

"..."

"You're right. I got carried away," Setsuna admitted after a moment of silence.

"Being cooped up in your ship's control rooms all the time, not getting to fight properly, I was itching for action. When I saw the enemy, I got overly excited."

From the first Singularity to subduing the Sirens, and then to the second Singularity, he had mostly just watched the shipgirls or dragon girls take the stage. Sitting in the command room all day had bored him to no end, and when given the chance, he had recklessly jumped into battle.

"You're the Commander, not a brute. Leave these kinds of things to us or the Servants, okay?"

"Don't risk your life like that, all right?"

Yat Sen raised her head and placed a hand gently on his shoulder, looking into his eyes as she spoke.

"..."

Faced with this gentle, considerate girl who always looked out for him, Setsuna felt a twinge of guilt.

"I lost my mind this time. It won't happen again."

He reflected on how he was still adjusting to the age of interstellar warfare, his mindset stuck in the past, thinking he could still fight melee battles in a mobile suit. But compared to the shipgirls, his firepower was indeed lacking.

"Promise me, no more next time?" Yat Sen pressed, her delicate finger resting on his lips.

"No more next time."

"From now on, we'll stay in outer space, bomb them from orbit, and wipe them out completely."

"If cruisers aren't enough, we'll send carriers. If carriers aren't enough, we'll deploy battleships. If even that fails, we'll bring in colossal constructs. I'm a firm believer in the firepower superiority doctrine."

Setsuna resolved to start acting in line with a true spacefaring civilization.

"It doesn't have to be that extreme..." Yat Sen chuckled softly, reaching out to poke his cheek.

"Commander, let's move forward together from now on."

"I hope you can become the perfect leader I have in mind. Of course, if you make any small mistakes, I won't let them slide," she said with a playful glint in her eyes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon: 

Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven