Chapter 60

"This..."

Artoria instinctively furrowed her brows.

"There's no helping it either. That child staying over there wouldn't be able to survive either..." Alice let out a heavy sigh.

During the Fourth Holy Grail War, before her death, she couldn't help but confide in her husband's assistant, Maiya, about her fears as a mother.

She was already near death then, gradually transforming from human form into the Holy Grail, gradually losing her self, her personality collapsing. But compared to that, she worried more about Ilya's future, fearing her daughter would meet the same sorrowful end as an artificial human, unable to change her fate.

But no matter how fearful, what was coming still arrived—

She died. And Kiritsugu Emiya likewise failed to achieve his goal.

The Holy Grail War did not end there; merely ten years later it began again, and Ilya truly followed in her mother's footsteps... and this time, the Einzbern Family's methods were even more extreme. Even if Ilya survived the Holy Grail War, her remaining lifespan would not exceed one year.

In such a situation, one could not hope for more.

If that person did not take Ilya's soul away, that child would have only a dead end.

So with things as they are now, everything still has a chance to restart. Alice naturally had no dissatisfaction; she even felt it was like an unreal dream that would shatter upon waking.

"..."

"..."

Faced with such cruel facts, Artoria could not help but fall silent.

"In that case, I won't say anything more... mainly I'm a bit worried about Master's intentions." This swordswoman girl could only smile wryly in the end. "He's not a villain in the general sense, but he probably doesn't count as a good person either..."

Although it's not good to say this, after this period of contact, she had completely overturned the image of Master that once existed in her mind.

For his current new image, she could not give an exact definition, only that he was completely different from Kiritsugu Emiya, not having reached the point of being completely unacceptable to her, and instead appearing more accommodating in many aspects...

But this does not mean he is a kinder person than Kiritsugu Emiya.

Reaching this conclusion is absurd.

Think carefully and you'll know. That night the Holy Grail descended, black mud overflowed. Facing malice so terrifying it was unimaginable, immeasurable, as if gathering all the world's malice, he seemed completely unaware. That alone explains the problem.

"Xia Zhi naturally has his intentions, and I can roughly understand them too..."

Alice took it calmly and explained leisurely: "He ate the entire Great Holy Grail, indirectly gaining all the Great Holy Grail's functions, including directly accessing the Throne of Heroes' records and such. But these functions won't remain forever..."

"He'll completely digest that thing soon. He won't let it keep the Great Holy Grail's nature. And when that Core Pill with the Great Holy Grail's core ceases to exist, the Holy Grail System will completely disappear. Those functions will likely be lost along with it..."

Therefore, how to preserve those extremely valuable functions became an urgent problem to solve.

And since they were themselves designed as the Grail, as important components of the Holy Grail System, Alice and her daughter were chosen.

They were undoubtedly the best talent, professionally matched, with solid quality.

————

————

On the other side.

Fujimaru Ritsuka felt a trance. She finally understood Xia Zhi's explanation.

This is indeed Onyx.

It is indeed the Land of the End.

But the situation is more or less a bit different from what she imagined.

"... So you're saying it's not because this place was sealed off, isolated from the Outside World, but because the Queen never existed from the start, that's why you don't know the Queen's deeds?" Master Lady painstakingly sorted her thoughts, confirming with difficulty.

"Indeed. After all, Britain never truly achieved unification. The clans had heavy contradictions and refused to submit to each other... so where would a Queen come from?"

The youth gave an accurate affirmation, indicating it was exactly so.

"I'm truly sorry. I deceived you last night. Mainly because what you said was too strange. I had to verify..."

While apologizing seemingly sincerely, he cleverly pushed the responsibility back.

"How can this be possible..." Fujimaru Ritsuka was full of confusion. She didn't overly dwell on the other party's concealment last night, because she understood that if she put herself in his shoes, facing a similar situation, she would probably also harbor doubts.

Moreover, the other party did save her. When her situation was completely unknown, being vigilant against her nonsense was only natural.

"Nothing is impossible. Assuming what you say, Miss Ritsuka, is all true, that transfer you experienced might not have occurred in space, but in time..." Xia Zhi waved his hand, reasoning backward from result to cause with logic and evidence.

"In other words—I returned to the past?"

Guided by him, Fujimaru Ritsuka reached this conclusion. She felt some shock, but no emotions of incomprehension or unacceptability.

After all, as the last Master who once successfully completed the Grand Caster, once turned the tide and saved humanity's future, she had performed Spiritron Transfer many times, stepped into various eras, repairing history's trajectory on the verge of shattering.

Her acceptance level for things like time travel and history transmigration was probably about three or four stories high.

"As far as the present goes, that's the case... you must have returned to the past to explain this matter."

The youth nodded, affirming her guess.

"..."

"..."

A silence.

The girl stood in place, head lowered in thought. She slowly calmed down, but her eyes suddenly brightened bit by bit. The current situation was undoubtedly extremely advantageous for Chaldea. Compared to spatial advantage, they craved a temporal head start even more.

If this opportunity could be properly utilized, perhaps the key to reversing the situation and winning final victory lay in this one move!

However, right now the first thing to figure out is—

How long before her transmigration time node she had returned to this Lostbelt world's past, and how long separated her from her transmigration time node.

She abruptly raised her head, gaze bright and piercing as she looked at the opposite side: "Xia Zhi, what year of the Fairy Calendar is it now?"

Before the Queen Calendar was the Fairy Calendar.

Since the Queen has not yet appeared now, this necessarily belongs to the Fairy Calendar era. As long as the current Fairy Calendar year is known, one can infer—

"Miss Ritsuka, based on what you said, I feel the Fairy Calendar might also be a concept that only appeared after the Queen Calendar. Our current era doesn't have this concept..." The youth interrupted Master Lady's reverie, examining her with a subtle gaze.

The so-called Fairy Calendar and Queen Calendar can be analogized to the division between BC and AD.

However, for people living in BC, it is impossible to possess the bizarre cognition of "our current era is BC year XX".

"Ugh... sorry, I was being silly..." Fujimaru Ritsuka also came to her senses, immediately raised a hand to slap her forehead, letting out a cry, and a faint blush rose on her cheeks; apparently, just now, because her thoughts were in disarray, she had misspoken.

"It's fine, understandable..."

Xia Zhi suggested gently, a subtle light flickering in his eyes, "If you really want to go explore, how about acting with us? Speaking of which, I'm also curious how that Queen Morgan appeared..."

"Eh, this, this... if you don't mind..."

This was exactly what Fujimaru Ritsuka had been thinking; she had been hesitating over how to propose something more suitable to the opposite side, but unexpectedly, the opposite side was so considerate and took the initiative to invite her.

Overjoyed and unable to contain herself, Fujimaru Ritsuka gladly accepted the invitation, yet caught a trace of gloom flitting through the youth's eyes. She was slightly stunned, but when she looked up closely again, that gloom seemed to have vanished without a trace.

Was it an illusion?

With such a thought arising, Fujimaru Ritsuka frowned doubtfully.

Xia Zhi deliberately showed the Master Lady a bit of a "clue," then changed the subject as if nothing had happened: "Then let's set off with us later, but before that, we still need to make some preparations..."

"What preparations?"

The red-haired, orange-eyed girl hadn't figured out what had just happened, and her attention was immediately diverted again.

"Britain right now is exactly during the period when the Great Calamity occurs; with your strength, following us would probably be dangerous, and we may not be able to look after your safety at all times, so you need to possess the strength to protect yourself..."

Xia Zhi turned around, strode toward outside the camp, lightly waved his hand, gesturing for her to follow, and said while walking—

"I remember you mentioned last night that you are a Master, right? Then, for you, the most fitting and powerful aid is undoubtedly summoning Servants... I heard that the Servants summoned in this era are normal; we have been seeking aid in this way before..."

"Eh?" Fujimaru Ritsuka was stunned, then quickly understood, excitement flashing in her eyes that she couldn't conceal.

At this moment she realized that she was in the past era, a period when a queen had not yet reigned and laws were not yet established. This meant that summoning Servants was also normal, and one would not summon Wild Beasts.

"I understand..."

She nodded hard, and her gaze became firm as well.

"Good—right here, I have already prepared the summoning circle for you in advance." Xia Zhi brought Chaldea's Master to a flat place outside the camp and pointed to the open space ahead.

There was carved a profound and complex summoning circle; apparently all preparations were complete.

Everything was ready, only lacking the east wind.

Fujimaru Ritsuka was not unfamiliar with this; she thanked him, then very decisively stood before the summoning circle and began the steps and process of summoning... and then, nothing happened.

"..."

"..."

Time slowly passed.

After more than ten attempts, fine beads of sweat appeared on the girl's forehead; she helplessly opened her mouth, cast a pleading gaze at the youth beside her, and inwardly wailed, how could she not even use this eating skill well?

Was it the problem of this land? Or because without Mash Kyrielight's shield assistance, her aptitude was completely unreliable?

Actually neither—

but rather someone maliciously tampered with the summoning circle, so as to proceed with the next plan as a matter of course.

"I will activate the summoning circle, then you lead the summoning process—"

Xia Zhi walked forward without changing expression, extended his hand, and directed: "Give me your hand, you stand over here."

It seemed as if Fujimaru Ritsuka was to lead the summoning ritual, but actually, Xia Zhi was the true controller behind the scenes, and Fujimaru Ritsuka's role was more like a cleverly used summoning "catalyst," rather than an active summoner.

Indeed, besides Holy Relics, a person's existence itself could be regarded as a special catalyst.

Relying on specific bonds, summoning the corresponding Servant—such records completely exist.

And this Chaldea Master Lady, who knows how many bonds she had formed; according to the intelligence provided by that unlucky Beryl, it could be seen in the final battle of the Crown Mage repairing the Singularities.

Countless Heroic Spirits turned into a meteor rain of the utmost heavens—

not summoned by her, but actively responding to the summoning and coming...

Endlessly rushing to that cruel battlefield, carving a bloody path for her...

It was hard to imagine what a spectacular scene that was, and it made Xia Zhi perceive what possibilities existed on this human girl. So he prepared to collect some interest first, treating it as remuneration for protecting her next.

"Okay, okay..." Fujimaru Ritsuka hadn't had time to think it over when the summoning circle before her eyes suddenly shone with light. The summoning circle that originally could not be activated no matter how she tried began to operate under the drive of magical power.

She quickly adjusted her state, cast aside miscellaneous thoughts, and threw herself wholeheartedly into the upcoming summoning ritual, chanting the mysterious and solemn mystic code in a low voice.

However, the girl did not realize that, through the operation of this summoning circle as a terminal, all the bonds she had encountered were being quietly analyzed, recorded in detail, and constantly uploaded to some unknown domain—

Ten knights! Twenty knights! Thirty knights!

The number of Spirit Origin Portraits representing various Servants was constantly increasing!

From ordinary Servants such as Siegfried, Hans Christian Andersen, Marie Antoinette, Mozart, and Kiyohime met in the First Singularity, to excellent Heroic Spirits such as Enkidu, Ishtar, Ereshkigal, and Quetzalcoatl encountered in the Seventh Singularity, even including Divine Spirit Servants.

Xia Zhi felt his "Outer Elixir" constantly refreshing brand new records, and couldn't help but pull the corner of his mouth.

He had said why the future could summon so many Servants to deal with Chaldea...

Turns out they were all cards the enemies delivered themselves...

(Chapter End)