Chapter 108: Crazy Plan

"It actually triggered this fast……"

A flicker of surprise flashed through Xia Zhi's eyes; he had clearly just left on his front foot, and those things couldn't wait to act? Did they not consider that this might equally be a trap?

He closed his eyes, then opened them again, as if falling into thought, his index finger joint gently tapping the chair armrest.

"Did something happen?"

Toriya Satone beside him perceived something and asked, turning her gaze over.

Xia Zhi shook his head and answered casually: "Some minor issues came up at home, but they've been properly handled."

Home?

Togashi Rikka raised an eyebrow.

Xia Zhi also turned his head to look out the window, only to see the scenery outside rapidly receding; at the end of the horizon, the setting sun sank bit by bit like blood, the afterglow of the sunset becoming increasingly powerless and gentle.

They, who should have been vacationing in Hawaii, were now riding a train, rushing to Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Because that Itomori Town is located deep in the mountains and forests of Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, though it is very difficult to reach directly; transportation is quite inconvenient.

After all, three years ago, when nothing had happened yet, it was just a small town deep in the mountains; entry and exit were both very troublesome.

And after the meteorite disaster three years ago, it was adding frost to snow……

Soon, the train arrived at the station and slowly stopped.

Classmate Rikka, whose sleepiness had not faded, rubbed her bleary eyes, yawning as she followed them out of the station.

The three tried to hail taxis on the roadside; they hailed several in a row, and although the taxi drivers' attitudes were all fairly friendly, once they heard the destination, they all showed difficulty, hesitated, and ultimately chose not to take the fare.

"This……"

Toriya Satone's brows furrowed slightly, her gaze lowering to fall before her, looking at her own slender, fair fingers gently pressing on that lucky charm.

——Could it be this amulet has lost its magic?

——Or is it that in this special place, its power cannot be exerted?

It's not impossible; after all, this place seems to be the source of the world's disturbance that someone spoke of; it wouldn't be strange if it were quite special. She guessed secretly in her heart, feeling perhaps it was exactly this.

Xia Zhi saw through her confusion and explained with a light laugh: "Actually this is very normal; even with very good luck, one must follow basic rules. An amulet can let you win in a lottery, but in a situation where a lottery fundamentally does not exist, it cannot create a miracle."

He continued: "That amulet has always been relative; it can only bring ordinary people an extraordinary degree of good luck, but it also has its limitations. The outcomes of some things cannot be changed by good luck; this is determined by objective conditions."

When some things, due to objective reasons, fundamentally have no basis for realization, then it is not a result that good luck can change. To put it more intuitively, that is: if you go buy a Chinese lottery ticket, you will also never win the grand prize.

At most you can only win some small prizes, the kind that's better than nothing.

Because this is a result determined by objective fact, a lucky charm cannot overturn common sense either.

"That is to say, there simply aren't any drivers willing to go there, so normal luck can't be put to use either, right?" Miss Satone roughly understood how it was.

"Yeah, different from big cities where taxis run everywhere all carrying passengers the same, the place we're going is too remote…… and there are probably more or less some bad rumors too, so now the sun has already set, they definitely won't be willing to make the trip."

The youth nodded.

Miss Satone frowned, thought for a moment, and discovered it was indeed the case.

Even saying they could pay more, those taxi drivers showed no sign of being moved; they all found various excuses to decline; the boldest one only said unless it was daytime, but the sun had already set……

But thinking about it, it makes sense; the same place, struck precisely by meteorites in nearly the same position two times in a row…… even two shells on a battlefield falling in the same crater has such a small probability, let alone two meteorites from outer space falling in the same meteor crater.

So no matter how you look at this matter, it makes people feel something's not right; it can simply be called a coincidence that's too excessive.

Even when she searched for information online, she saw more than once many kinds of claims, sworn as true, saying it was heavenly punishment or something, saying that place was cursed……

Then the local people would definitely also inevitably have such thoughts, and be even more taboo about it, right?

Considering that place is indeed very special, one also cannot rule out that there really is something frightening.

"Then what do we do now?" Collecting her thoughts, Miss Satone asked for a certain someone's opinion.

Although because a disaster drill happened to be conducted that night, the whole town had no casualties and luckily escaped a calamity. But people can dodge, the town certainly cannot dodge, so that meteorite still ruthlessly smashed onto the town's head.

Most of the town was thereby destroyed, and a new large lake area was even smashed out on the original site……

——Under such circumstances, rebuilding the town on the original site is definitely unrealistic.

——So the current Itomori Town no longer exists; the former residents were all relocated elsewhere, the former transportation routes also completely severed.

By public transportation, there's definitely no way to reach the town ruins deep in the mountains and old forests, and now taxis don't want to go there either, looking like they're very taboo about it; we can't possibly walk there, right.

"Let's rest for today; tomorrow we'll just get a car and drive there ourselves…… how simple a matter."

The youth didn't hesitate, quickly making the decision.

He currently still has no flight ability or space transfer means; a flying Noble Phantasm's movement would be too great, very easy to startle the snake, so he can only approach that area using as ordinary methods as possible.

Next.

The three found a restaurant and ate first, sitting at a position near the display window.

Classmate Rikka lay on the window side, looking at the strange city scenery outside, while Miss Satone held the menu, looking at it with a calm expression.

Xia Zhi also propped his chin, gazing out the window where Togashi Rikka was lying, staring at the nearby horizon; when on the train he had already been able to see the Fantasy Tree on the horizon the whole time. Though still so illusory, as if fundamentally not on the same layer as reality.

But compared to more distant places——

After getting within this range, one can still feel its presence has strengthened considerably.

After all it's an invasion weapon against reality; even as a sapling, it has already shown its prowess, beginning to interfere with the spatial region of its own growth…… in Xia Zhi's eyes, that sapling on the horizon is already like a thousand-meter-high mountain peak, standing in the horizon, using clouds instead of leaves to conceal itself.

In these few years, this tree has drawn a massive amount of magical energy from the Dragon Vein; in terms of pure numerical value, it can be said to have already reached several times the amount when the Great Holy Grail of Fuyuki is full……

But……

This is still far from enough, extremely not enough.

He rapidly calculated in his heart, yet didn't have too much confidence, because the unknown variables are still too many.

For instance, regarding the key power that triggers history rewriting, the operating mechanism is also still unknown.

That isn't necessarily a time machine in some sense; it's also possible it's merely some simple supernatural phenomenon, with no entity or device or the like existing. That is to say, it cannot necessarily be ensured it can be stably triggered.

Under such circumstances, Xia Zhi naturally also cannot determine whether that crazy plan of his can succeed.

Even if his super-high-grade Magic Furnace Core can be completely filled, then exert the power of a whole complete Great Holy Grail, burning that huge amount of magical energy in an instant, the wish granted is unknown to what degree it can distort the world.

As for whether it can successfully transpose the Fantasy Tree to twelve hundred years ago——

This, too, remains an unknown……

(Chapter End)