Chapter 55

Seeing everyone's gazes glance toward herself, Medea deliberated for a moment before offering a speculative possibility from her own perspective:

"When she was fished up, Master should have already realized it was her, right? Because the appearance and figure expected in the subconscious was exactly like that, she responded to your expectation and manifested according to your impression..."

——Perhaps the Great Holy Grail's function was also interfering among them.

——That function which can distort reality and shape forms might be unconsciously emitting a weak force field at all times, an unconscious interference with reality.

However, regarding the latter part, the Witch did not speak it aloud.

That was intelligence she should not know, and she also temporarily did not want Master to know she had remembered some things.

Although her memories were still rather fragmented and incomplete, only recalling a small portion, so she also could not figure out why the other party was pretending this Summoning was a first meeting, but it was certain that the other party definitely had something they did not want her to know.

The Witch resolved to figure it out first, then consider what to do.

"Impression Correction? That's not impossible either..."

Vivian pondered, feeling she could not rule out this possibility, or rather this was probably the greatest possibility, otherwise it would be hard to explain why Melusine still became like this when Aurora clearly wasn't here.

Of course, appearance honestly wasn't any big problem.

Melusine was also very easy to handle; once she acknowledged someone, she would never have a second heart, otherwise she wouldn't have been tortured back and forth by that scumbag Aurora, almost PUA'd to death without waking up...

Glancing at that "Dragon" Fairy who still understood nothing yet sat pressed tightly against a certain someone, Vivian took a deep breath, forced herself to look away, and turned her gaze to the other side across the Bonfire:

"Then... there's still one problem now, regarding that girl..."

"..."

"..."

"An unknown person, fell from the sky, accompanied by the appearance of a mirror-surface-like rift, was teleported over..."

Xia Zhi also glanced at that slender figure still in a coma, spread his hands, indicating he also didn't know what he had drawn.

"Fell from a rift in the sky..."

Vivian frowned; she hadn't seen that scene at the time, but seemed to have thought of something: "So it was like that..."

"Thought of something?"

"No, nothing..." The girl shook her head slightly, her gaze merely becoming somewhat complex; she scrutinized the unconscious girl carefully: "I just remembered, she should be a Chaldea Master."

"Chaldea Master... oh, that core figure on the Human Order Guardians' side?" The youth immediately reacted; wasn't this the hypothetical enemy discussed just a few days ago? How did she suddenly pop up now?

Wait, the agreement was there was still time?

He himself had formally cultivated for less than a month, had only just entered Qi Cultivation Entry, they came killing this fast, too lacking in martial virtue.

He had planned to cultivate steadily for a few thousand years, then fight them fair and square in an open duel to decide victory or defeat.

"So she's an enemy..."

Xia Zhi looked at the girl in the coma, then at Index beside him, still didn't say anything. Some darkness could be revealed before Artoria and the others, but wasn't too suitable for the little nun to see.

Should have coaxed her to sleep first...

"It's fine, she's not an enemy right now."

Vivian exhaled lightly, finding this sudden change somewhat tricky, but still rationally judged that now was not the time to act: "And she can't have anything happen to her; after all, she's not a person of this era, and shouldn't die in this era."

Although unknown what happened, this Chaldea Master was definitely sent back from the future to this time period...

As an undeniable future existence, she cannot vanish without a trace in the long river of history for no reason; her existence must receive a reasonable explanation and accounting...

Simply put, just like that Beryl Gut, even if in the "Second Playthrough" world line changes that person's prototype had already disappeared, Morgan still had to prepare a "closely resembling person", copy a Beryl Gut.

——Because history cannot have contradictions.

Before passing the critical world line change node, to maintain history's continuity and stability, this necessary means cannot be avoided. Even if after copying, directly killing them works too, this process is also an indispensable step.

"Not an enemy right now?"

Xia Zhi twitched his eyebrow, expression slightly strange: "And have to guarantee her safety, what's the reasoning?"

"If it were a normal world, there wouldn't be this problem, but this happens to be a Lostbelt World." Vivian said calmly, glancing again at the World Tree not far away, its huge outline still standing amid the endless night.

——"History" is merely that thing's ongoing calculation process...

——"Future" is also merely that thing's output calculation result...

"Fine, I'll listen to you, I'll listen to you... Caster, use your Healing Magecraft, don't let our guest catch cold."

The youth sighed, waved his hand, and simultaneously shifted his position to the side without leaving a trace.

Melusine wrapped in a blanket, watching him pull away, hesitated a moment, her exquisite face clearly showing a somewhat unhappy expression.

"..."

"..."

A short while passed quietly.

"Wait, I have a not-very-mature idea..." Xia Zhi watched the Witch treating the unconscious Chaldea Master's injuries, suddenly leaned close to Vivian, lowered his voice, "She was delivered right to us, doing nothing would be too wasteful, right?"

"... Wasteful?"

The Golden Hair Girl's gaze was somewhat strange; what else did this person want to do, how to do it to not be wasteful.

But she still slowly shook her head, responded calmly:

"Best not to do anything; whether physically or mentally, she must still be the original 'her' in all states when she returns, or there will be problems... otherwise, it'll be very troublesome."

"What about natural growth of thoughts and concepts? That's not some change brought by forcibly distorting mental cognition, making her no longer her... is this also not allowed?" Xia Zhi didn't intend to give up, continued pressing.

"You mean——?"

"I'm saying, the way of using troops, attacking the heart is supreme; disintegrating the enemy's fighting spirit from the ideological level is the best strategy..." Xia Zhi laughed heartily: "So perhaps we can try to win her over, turn her, let her unconsciously lean toward recognizing our Alignment..."

"You have confidence to pull it off?"

Vivian asked in surprise.

"Of course not absolute confidence, but can try... anyway compared to doing nothing, trying we won't have any more losses."

The youth waved his hand, tone matter-of-fact: "As long as it achieves effect, even if she doesn't completely stand on our side, when enemies in the future, it can also effectively strike and weaken her fighting spirit, right?"

"..."

"……"

"In that case, we'll have to seal her memories first, let her realize this matter only after she passes that juncture……" Vivian murmured, feeling that perhaps it could be tried.

————

————

The memories before the coma were the cold, deep bottom of a lake……

The scene upon awakening, however, was a warm bonfire……

Fujimaru Ritsuka sat up somewhat dazedly, the blanket sliding off her body; she felt not quite lucid, and after scanning her surroundings, discovered she seemed to be at a campsite by the lake.

The bonfire in the center was burning vigorously.

Several blankets were placed nearby, wrapped up tight; the people inside also seemed to have entered dreamland.

Only by the bonfire, a young man was reading a manuscript in hand by the firelight, fully absorbed; hearing the movement, he raised his eyes and cast a gentle gaze: "Ah, you're awake…… How is it, how does your body feel?"

"Eh…… No, no problem, I'm much better……"

Fujimaru Ritsuka blanked for a moment, answering subconsciously.

She also pulled the blanket tighter, and sized up her surroundings once more, feeling her brain had finally cleared considerably.

"Was, was it you who saved me?"

"Shh—— They're all asleep, don't be too loud……"

The young man raised a finger, made a silencing gesture, and said softly: "We happened to be resting by this lake tonight, heard the commotion and rushed over to take a look, happened to pull you up……"

As expected, it was like that……

Fortunately there was a merchant caravan nearby……

Fujimaru Ritsuka showed an expression of deep gratitude, bowing to the other party: "Really, thank you so much; if not for you, I probably would have died……"

"No need for thanks, it was a mere trifle…… But you, an ordinary human, how did you end up in Albion's lake?" The young man waved his hand with a smile, his tone and bearing both appearing very gentle, making one feel favorable at first glance.

"I…… I also don't know how to put it……"

Fujimaru Ritsuka opened her mouth, then smiled wryly.

"Then let's not talk about it; I understand, I understand, everyone has some secrets of their own, that's perfectly normal." The young man didn't press further, nodding very understandingly, and entered the mutual introductions phase in a lighthearted tone: "My name is Xia Zhi; may I ask what you are called?"

"I…… My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka."

The girl nodded repeatedly, also giving her name, then immediately seemed to react belatedly: "Wait, you…… your name isn't the same as that King Consort? Is that allowed?"

Recalling what she had witnessed, about that Fairy Kingdom ruled absolutely, and those extremely cruel laws and clauses established purely for persecution and tyranny, she instantly felt a chill of terror.

That was absolute hegemony and iron fist——

Everything in the Fairy Kingdom belongs to the Queen; outsiders without permission aren't even allowed to breathe on the Fairy Kingdom's soil.

Because of this, Chaldea had just smuggled in recently and directly became Wanted Criminals, encountering a series of heavy blows.

And this person's nerve is really too big, directly taking a name identical to the King Consort; it always feels like this is absolutely an even more serious crime than "breathing Fairy Kingdom air without authorization."

"What King Consort? I've never heard of that…… Even sharing a name isn't allowed?"

Xia Zhi wore a doubtful expression; this was not merely acting.

"That Morgan Queen's husband, the one who, in order to let the Queen keep dominating the Fairy Kingdom, sealed the sky after hearing the stars' ominous prophecy, no longer allowing the stars to reach their proper positions, letting fate fall into stagnation……"

Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at him with shock and doubt: "Could it be you don't know? So that's why you dared take this name?"

————

(PS: Tomorrow, or rather today, is the annual ceremony, extremely busy…… Especially since it was suspended for several years due to the epidemic, this year they're making a big deal of it())

(Chapter End)