Chapter 206

"Just one."

Xia Zhi raised his fist to his lips and coughed lightly.

"Just one?"

The girl sitting on the crescent-shaped chair seemed noncommittal, not entirely convinced by Xia Zhi's words.

"Yes, and this time it's not Artoria-type, so you can rest assured." He nodded, adding the explanation with a frank expression, as if trying to dispel the other's doubts.

"Not Artoria-type, then that's fine—do you think I'd say that?" Vivian nodded lightly, her delicate eyebrows slightly raised, a hint of displeasure in her pupils as she looked directly at Xia Zhi: "The point isn't that at all, is it?"

"Cough cough, isn't that the point?"

Xia Zhi took a deep breath, but said seriously: "Actually, it's just a little girl who came here simply for fun; just treat her as a tourist on vacation, an ordinary human girl, nothing else."

At least for now, there really isn't anything else.

This must be clarified.

"An ordinary human girl?" Vivian frowned slightly, repeating softly, a hint of doubt in her eyes: "Nothing special about her?"

"There is something special, but on the surface she's just an ordinary girl, her words and deeds are like that, and even she herself thinks so." The youth spoke slowly, as if weighing every word and tone: "But she has the ability to unconsciously change the world and make wishes come true."

"Make wishes come true?"

"Yes, she can realize her own wishes unconsciously, although influenced by her way of thinking as an ordinary person, it seems not all her thoughts can be realized, but for now, at least I still can't fathom where her upper limit lies."

Xia Zhi said this truthfully—

indicating that the potential of the Suzumiya Wish Machine was awe-inspiring and unfathomable.

At least even he, who had just advanced not long ago, had not yet reached the threshold to speculate and probe, after all, she was a Goddess that even information lifeforms spanning the Milky Way needed to take seriously.

For now, using Miss Suzumiya's power was feasible, but all based on her unconsciously allowing it... This was also why Xia Zhi finally decided to be steady and safe, only using this opportunity to complete "Tian Dao Foundation Establishment," rather than trying to seize greater power and benefits; being too greedy and attempting to swallow an elephant would likely not end well, he warned himself.

"That... might be a bit too dangerous."

Vivian said calmly.

"Overall, there shouldn't be any problem; her personality is a bit willful, but she's kind enough and has her own thoughts and judgment."

The youth said seriously: "But I plan to take her to travel around Britain first, so she can truly understand the underlying logic of this world before anything else; this should avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble."

"..."

"..."

"As long as you're confident..."

The girl sat on the crescent-shaped chair, her hands like congealed fat clasped on the table before her, listening with a serious and focused expression, then nodded slightly.

Immediately after, she fell silent for a moment, her voice carrying a barely perceptible concern, and asked again:

"Regarding this matter..."

"Is there anything you need help with? Should we change the current policy or something?"

As she said this, Vivian turned her head slightly, her gaze toward the scenery outside the window, raising her hand to gently brush the golden hair hanging by her ear, as if asking casually, yet with a hint of expectation.

The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window lattice onto her, as if draping her in a golden halo.

There was a pure beauty, adding a touch of brightness to this world.

Xia Zhi slowly withdrew his gaze, then shook his head gently, his eyes firm and deep: "That's unnecessary; deliberately doing something in this regard would instead easily form another form of 'deception,' and if a so-called reversal happens later, it would easily bring greater trouble. So regarding policies and orders, we just need to maintain the status quo and let the truth reveal itself slowly over time—"

However, he was certainly not that slow-witted.

Therefore, naturally, he did not stop there, but quite naturally shifted the conversation and continued.

"Of course, besides the operation of the Kingdom, in other places you indeed need to help me, Vivian, so... would you like to take this opportunity to travel all over Britain with me again?"

He extended his hand, smiling as he invited. That smile was like a spring breeze, bringing warmth to the heart.

"Consider it our first incognito visit since the establishment of the Fairy Kingdom... how about it, my Majesty?"

"..."

"..."

Vivian, who had thought her proposal had already been declined, couldn't help but be stunned. She turned her head, his figure reflected in her pupils, only to see him extending his hand toward her, his palm seeming to carry the tenderness and adventure of the whole world.

The afterglow of the setting sun poured through the half-closed window like a poem and a painting, drawing ambiguous outlines on the ground.

The corners of the girl's mouth curved slightly, and she gently took Xia Zhi's outstretched hand.

"Mm, I'd be delighted."

In that instant, it seemed as if the whole world had stopped, leaving only the subtle atmosphere between the two.

However, this did not last long before it was broken.

"Master—"

"Alice says she's ready over there, why can't you find anyone again—"

A voice filled with obvious resentment came.

Another golden-haired girl of equally beautiful appearance pushed open the two heavy doors of the great library that seemed designed for giants, then poked her head out from outside the door, revealing an exquisite face no different from Vivian's, looking into the library.

Immediately after, she saw the girl who seemed like a mirror image of herself, holding hands with the youth, gazing at each other.

Artoria's expression stiffened instantly; indeed, no matter how many times, she still couldn't accept such a scene calmly.

Of course—

Following that was the heavy resentment, making her whole complexion drop and turn gloomy: "Morgan, shouldn't you be handling government affairs? Why are you here again?"

"What's the rush, isn't there you to handle it?" Vivian glanced at her and said calmly.

"You..."

"Alright, alright, it's been so many years; you two should have some tacit understanding by now, why do you have to jab at each other every time you meet?" Xia Zhi coughed once and decisively chose to intervene, lest the sisters start their daily routine again.

"Who wants to have tacit understanding with her..."

Artoria pouted with an annoyed expression, feeling like a complete fool, inexplicably roped into this mess. Clearly Morgan controlled Britain, but she herself bore the most government affairs, handling various matters for Morgan day after day.

With the Royal Capital Londinium growing day by day, this magical city developed into a huge metropolis of over ten million people in just a few years. After all, in this Lostbelt, whether fairies or humans could reproduce asexually through mitosis, so population growth was never a problem; only the administrative ability required to govern such a huge population kept increasing, and government work became increasingly burdensome.

More troublesome still, the Fairy Kingdom did not consist solely of Londinium, this one King City. Since that Great Calamity, many destroyed Fairy settlements had flourished once more, forming secondary towns and villages.

One could basically say the entire Fairy Kingdom had once again presented a thriving, prosperous scene; that kind of teeming vitality, that realm where the Ten Thousand Things vie to flourish, remained before one's eyes.

Therefore it also severely tested Artoria's ability.

Although, as the King Arthur of legend, the perfect King of Knights, the Ideal King, she naturally could not be crushed by the pressure of this newborn Fairy Kingdom regime; reaching B Rank "Leadership," while still unable to establish a world-class great Empire, was more than enough to rule a country on an Island.

It was just that what truly made her unhappy was the fact that she was working hard for Morgan.

But to say she would just wash her hands of it and let Morgan govern Britain personally — she could not bring herself to make that determination either; after all, who knew what Morgan might do? This "madwoman" who held a preconceived place in Artoria's heart always made it difficult for her to fully set her mind at ease.

"Speaking of which, what did you do to Alice?"

Vivian ignored Artoria's muttering; a mere golden-haired loser was not worth mentioning.

She was merely a little curious what Xia Zhi wanted that woman to go do.

"What did I do? I merely gave her a daughter—" Xia Zhi replied lightly, then pondered a moment and added: "What I mean is, I returned her daughter to her."

Speaking up to here, he shook his head: "Originally I just mentioned it in passing, telling her there was a matter I needed her to go handle, and to make preparations — but she actually got ready this fast; I thought she'd at least stay by Ilya's side for these Two Days, properly making up for the longing and debt she owed her daughter."

"I see... that's not surprising either. That woman has always had a kind of dependent, cautious feel to her; her daughter is her only Soft Spot."

Vivian pondered slightly, pointing meaningfully: "Now that her daughter has returned, her weakness has thereby become even more obvious. Mother and daughter, alone and helpless in this world, both relying on you to survive — of course she wants to demonstrate her own value..."

"Cough cough, don't look at me with that kind of gaze; I don't have that many schemes; it's purely Alice's own Brain Supplement."

Xia Zhi coughed lightly, somewhat helpless: "Mainly because she currently serves as the Holy Grail System's Administrator; I'm preparing to activate a large-scale Heroic Spirit Legion Summoning, so I need her to make the relevant preparations. The relationship between us is merely a pure employment cooperation."

"Perhaps..."

Vivian neither confirmed nor denied, merely looking like she didn't care too much either.

"But you're going to activate a large-scale Heroic Spirit Legion Summoning? What's the reason?"

Xia Zhi blinked: "Of course it's to prepare for that battle afterward; more preparation means more chance of victory; of course the steadier the better."

Vivian frowned slightly: "That battle afterward? Against whom?"

"Let me see... hmm, ORT, should be called that name, right?" The youth thought a moment, then glanced at the Time Axis unfolding on countless stacked planes in an instant, and couldn't help shaking his head again: "That UltimateOne that Arrived from the distant Oort Cloud and fell to Earth — the so-called invasive Lifeform."

"ORT?"

Vivian froze a moment: "The most tenacious, most incomprehensible Lifeform the Magecraft world can confirm?!"

"Yeah, that evaluation isn't wrong; after all, it's completely and utterly a Monster... tsk tsk, under a full-power Strike, the Earth would shatter into pieces."

Xia Zhi nodded, confirming with a face full of agreement: "No matter from what angle you evaluate it, it is undoubtedly a terrifying Enemy capable of dealing a Deadly blow to a Celestial Body; if not a genuine Planetary Life, facing it head-on would truly be a Nightmare."

As his own energy Density and Mass Field continuously improved, coupled with the ability to manipulate gravity, he roughly estimated that at this current stage he should be able to let his Material World body achieve something akin to a Planet Battle Body, but before the Opponent he would face next, this was absolutely nothing to boast about — merely reaching the most basic Requirement for head-on confrontation.

— Like in a Souls-like game, putting points into Vitality until forty...

— Just being able to tank two more hits, or one hit.

"This... is it okay?"

Vivian was somewhat astonished: why suddenly provoke such a Dangerous Enemy?

"No problem; after all, there will be a showdown sooner or later; rather than waiting passively, better to strike proactively." Xia Zhi clenched his fist lightly, tone extremely calm.

Breaking free of linear time flow, possessing a higher-order "teleological" mode of thought, does not mean one will be troubled by Choice and Destiny. Just as Nagato Yuki warned, teleology does not mean losing the right to choose, but optimizing the right to choose.

He could of course accept passively.

But if he felt it Necessary, he could also proactively choose the future.

——————

——————

The King City's scale was already extremely complete and vast.

Therefore wanting to find a suitable Summoning location was undoubtedly very simple.

In a certain sealed-off secret testing ground, Xia Zhi paced back and forth, contemplating something, and soon had a plan. He raised his head to look at the observation window high on the distant wall, and snapped his fingers in that Direction.

"Mm—"

Inside the isolation chamber behind the observation window, Alice froze a moment; her gaze seemed somewhat trance-like.

Immediately after, she steadied herself, gently shook her head, sorted through the information that seemed to have emerged out of thin air in her mind, then stepped forward and placed her slender, fair palm on the palm-print display on the console.

This facility site specially designed for the Holy Grail System activated instantly—

By connecting Alice's Function, the Summoning Formation in the field began releasing intense Flashing light...

Various Instruments emitted faint sounds.

Indicator lights also lit up, Flashing non-stop.

Detected Mana directly exceeded the threshold, triggering a Warning.

But this was originally not a single pull, not even a ten-pull, but a Summoning where the designated individual Quantity directly exceeded three digits, including various chain Summonings — a super-large-scale Legion Summoning — so it was also very normal.

After the violent Mana whirlwind and energy Flashing light dispersed, the huge testing ground was no longer empty, but a massive black expanse, heads packed together, as if thousands upon thousands of people had refreshed into existence in the blink of an eye.

Rank upon rank of soldiers...

Armored sharp edges...

In the army like surging tides, there were also many Arrogant figures standing alone...

The only common point was that after confirming those around them were not Enemies, they all became somewhat startled and uncertain, beginning to erupt in heated discussion, strangely sizing up their Surroundings, rapidly exchanging views and Intelligence with Each Other.

"Is this Chaldea?"

"Where's the Master? That little girl..."

"This scene is truly prosperous; oh oh oh oh oh oh, even I, the Lord of the Hegemonic Army, cannot help but feel my blood Boil..."

Xia Zhi calmly scanned the chaotic yet orderly scene before his eyes, not surprised by it; the first batch of Summoning Objects he had filtered out were all historically recorded, relatively famous heroic Legions, including the Spartan Three Hundred, and the King of Conquerors Iskandar's Macedonian Legion, and so on and so forth.

— All normal mortal heroes from normal history, normally cognizable, at most possessing some Divinity.

— No true Divine Spirit Servants appeared.

After all, he was doing an experiment; naturally he needed to proceed from easy to difficult, recording data bit by bit.

The young man lightly raised his hand and clapped a few times; the sound was not loud yet reached every Servant's ears clearly: "Quiet down, everyone listen to me — I had you summoned…… because of technical improvements, we may not have the previous one-to-one Contract relationship, but without a doubt……"

"Wait! Is this Chaldea?"

Among the formed ranks of soldiers, someone shouted a question, as if they had already first-mover-advantage realized something.

"This is not Chaldea; I merely utilized the connection you formed with that Master you know, and thereby summoned you." Xia Zhi spoke frankly, with absolutely no intention to conceal it, "So you probably inherited some previous Memories; that is quite normal. However, regrettably, I am not on Chaldea's side, but Chaldea's enemy……"

"……"

"……"

Brief quiet.

Within a few seconds, the entire testing ground instantly erupted into Mors Surge.

——"Then we are the enemy!"

——"Hmph! Delusional to think we would sell our lives for you? Dream on!"

——"You are Human Order's Enemy?! Then right here I will strike you down!"

These summoned Heroes decisively made their choice, using the shields and swords in their hands to defend the loyalty in their hearts!

Facing such a scene, Xia Zhi tilted his head, yet was completely unsurprised.

He simply directly activated Charm of All Things, the Charm Power that forces others to feel favor toward him, and pulled the intensity to maximum.

Fangfu formless Wave rippled open, in a Blink of an Eye sweeping across the entire Scene, and what followed was Mors Sudden dead silence — the Heroic Spirit Legion that had just been shouting and roaring all Geng froze in place.

"……"

"……"

And then in the Next Moment.

Their Expressions rapidly turned Fanatical, without any Resistance — or rather, no one was able to put up any Resistance.

——"Wow! King Consort-sama, we revere you!!"

——"We are King Consort-sama's subordinates now, Mash Kyrielight, how do you feel!!"

——"King Consort-sama insults Human Order, and Human Order dare not make a sound! King Consort-sama is Invincibility under heaven!!"

In a single instant, the quiet was torn apart once more!

Deafening cheers arrived, like Mountain-collapsing Tsunami, layered with heavy sound waves; tens of thousands of Servants From the Heart fanatically roared, nearly lifting the roof off the testing ground!

Xia Zhi Eyebrow Raise; this effect could not be said to be merely overkill…… it could only be described as powerful and effective.

(Chapter End)