Chapter 363

"You still don't understand?" Li Pu said impatiently, seeing Kiritsugu's confused look. "It's a mealworm. I think I've made myself perfectly clear."

"No..." Kiritsugu was even more confused and said, "I understand, but I don't understand what you want the mealworms for."

"A sacrifice." Li Pu originally intended to say feeding the birds, but then thought that was too straightforward. Kiritsugu might not understand, so he decided to use an explanation that True Magic could better understand and perform. Besides, this could also be considered a sacrifice.

"Oh..." Kiritsugu was even more confused.

I don't understand, so I'm not going to ask. Anyway, you're Goddess, so you're always right. As for what you're planning to do with mealworms as a sacrifice...

Well, using mealworms as sacrifices is already very humane. At least in Kiritsugu's view, there would be no pressure at all about using mealworms as sacrifices, since he couldn't understand what the Goddess was going to do, as for the mealworms...

"I understand," Kiritsugu said. "When do you need it?"

"The sooner the better," Li Pu said.

The sooner the better; mealworms have never been a contraband. In fact, there's a large market for them, including in the pet market. Because mealworms are excellent bird food, Fuyuki City naturally has no shortage of them.

Kiritsugu didn't even leave Einzbern Castle; he made a phone call and ordered a truckload of mealworms.

Then, as Li Pu requested, the entire truckload of mealworms that had been delivered was scattered in the central garden of the castle.

That's it?

Kiritsugu was a little curious; he had never seen Sacrifice Ritual like this before. There was nothing there. They just scattered mealworms all over the courtyard, and then what? Nothing happened.

There was no magic circle, and he didn't sense any magic or anything like that.

The only noticeable change was the sudden appearance of a large flock of sparrows, not just sparrows, but also various other birds, including crows and magpies.

They peck at mealworms in the yard, and after they've eaten all the mealworms, they leave nothing but bird droppings all over the yard.

"What are you doing?" Kiritsugu asked, frowning.

"My scouts," Li Pu said confidently, "Will train four times a day, morning, noon, evening, and once at night, starting today."

"They will help us find Caster and his Master's whereabouts."

"Huh?" Kiritsugu asked in surprise, "Those birds aren't familiars, are they? They all look like ordinary birds."

"Yes." Li Pu nodded and said, "They are just ordinary birds, but they will obey my commands."

"And I can understand what they are saying."

Chapter Twenty-One: Touching My Father

"Is this alright?" Kiritsugu didn't doubt Li Pu's words; he simply asked out his concerns and doubts, saying, "It's just an ordinary bird."

"I think Caster right now can be described as a frightened bird." Li Pu gave a very reasonable and credible reason for his behavior. "Although Caster is not a traditional True Magic, and his Master is not a traditional True Magic either, the fact that they were able to intervene in the Holy Grail War shows that they can already sense the existence of magic."

"Besides, Caster may be crazy, but he's not stupid. As a former general, he must have moved to a more secret location." Li Pu explained further, "As long as there is any magical reaction around him, he will quickly hide and move away. In that case, ordinary familiars won't work, and he won't care about these ordinary birds that already exist in nature."

"And with so many scouts, all we've given in return are some mealworms," Li Pu said with a chuckle. "Isn't this a very profitable deal?"

From this perspective, having so many birds acting as their eyes, while only sacrificing a few mealworms, is quite a bargain. Even more advantageous is that even if other Master notice, so what? These are just ordinary birds; they can't possibly exterminate all the sparrows and crows, can they?

"If they're going to use some kind of Magecraft to drive away these birds," Kiritsugu said, "Wouldn't that create a corner we wouldn't notice? Or if they create an illusion to deliberately deceive the birds, wouldn't we be fooled by others?"

However, it is just an ordinary bird after all, with virtually no resistance to Magecraft. It is easily driven away or deceived, so it is very likely that the information it brings back will be false.

"Then it depends on our coordination and discernment abilities," Li Pu said, having already considered this issue. "Familiars also have many weaknesses, and they also have the problems you mentioned, don't they?"

"This is a test of intelligence, strategy, and of course, a little bit of luck."

Kiritsugu didn't say anything more, turning back to the castle to continue his plans. At this point, Caster had become the greatest enemy. He had to find Caster using his own methods.

In the courtyard, Li Pu gently combed the feathers of a sparrow that had hopped onto his hand.

Sending birds to scout is a good strategy, but it has many problems. However, the most important problem isn't what Kiritsugu mentioned; the crucial issue is that birds aren't very intelligent! While Chen Ran does have some intelligent birds like crows, overall, these birds aren't very smart. Communication is also difficult!

Because of its low intelligence, communication with birds is not like the dialogue between two people, as depicted in some animations and movies where you speak and it responds, or vice versa.

Communication between birds is very simple, as is their communication with humans. It can basically be summarized into short words like 'eat,' 'danger,' 'run away,' 'have food,' and 'harmless.'

More importantly, birds do not have the concept of abstraction! This is a very important ability, that is, birds cannot extract the concept that a certain thing represents.

They can only be connected.

So after thinking for a long time, Li Pu concluded that instead of letting these birds imagine an abstract concept, it would be better to let them find things based on their own behavior. For example, places they can go today might not be accessible tomorrow, and certain people might seem threatening and should not be approached.

This also brings a big problem: the birds will tell you a lot of useless information.

If you were to investigate each of these pieces of information one by one, it would be exhausting.

But Li Pu had other options.

For example, find yourself some new investigators. Like, cats!

Area 11 is a very cat-friendly place, and Fuyuki City is no exception! This results in a large population of cats here, ranging from domestic to stray. Cats are much more intelligent than birds, making communication much easier.

The only problem is that with higher IQ, the demands also increase.

Moreover, even stray cats here can find people feeding them on the street, or at designated feeding spots, even if they don't eat the food. Human-discarded kitchen waste is also good for them.

Therefore, food is not the most important or urgent need for wild cats.

Therefore, they have some other needs!

For example...

"Touch me!" "Touch me now!" "I'm way more fun than that bird in your hand!" "Touch my head!" "I want catnip!" "Touch me!" "Catnip!"

A large orange cat rubbed against Li Pu's legs, meowing incessantly!

To an outsider, it would just be a few meows, but Li Pu suddenly felt that he might as well not understand what the cat was saying at all! This was totally ruining the atmosphere!

Even if I wanted to pet you, I don't want to anymore, you stinky orange cat!

"Stop playing with the bird! I'm more fun than the bird!" the big orange cat at Li Pu's feet yelled. "I've mobilized all my underlings to help you with the work, and you're playing with this bird! You're not playing with me!"

Oh, right, the biggest advantage of mammals is that you don't have to deal with all the individuals; you only need to give commands to the one in a leadership position.

"My little brother has brought news!" the big orange cat shouted. "Hurry up and pet me! Otherwise, I won't tell you anything!"

Li Pu's lips twitched. "The downside of being a mammal. You can't always express your needs," she thought. "Take this cat, for example! It just wants to be petted by female humans. Li Pu is Goddess, far superior to the average human! Cats naturally see things much better than humans, so its biggest need right now is for Li Pu to pet it."

'For intelligence.'

Li Pu hesitated for a moment, then squatted down and stroked the cat's head and chin, before rubbing its belly.

"Oh oh oh oh oh~ Perfect~ Right here~ Oh oh oh oh~" The orange cat made a series of purring sounds.

Okay... at least this voice doesn't sound like a human girl's moan... never mind...

"How's it going?" Li Pu asked, rubbing the orange cat's belly. "Did your underlings go to the places the birds mentioned?"

It has to be said that although birds are troublesome to communicate with, they are incredibly efficient! They chattered away for a while and said quite a bit, because some birds had witnessed the battle and the arrival of the birds.

A single meal led to a whole host of events.

"My men say there's meat everywhere." The orange cat rolled over and rubbed against Li Pu's leg, saying, "One of them brought back a piece of meat. If you'd like to pick me up and pet me."

"I'll show it to you, and I'm sure you'll be happy!"

Chapter Twenty-Two: So fast?

Mammals, or more specifically, certain animals that have been domesticated by humans.

Animals like cats and dogs actually use two sets of languages to communicate. One is simple body language that humans can generally notice but not smell, and the other is scent communication that humans cannot perceive. This is the main way animals communicate with each other.

Another way to communicate is through 'meow' and 'woof'.

Yes, that's right. Scientists have discovered that a cat's "meow" and a dog's "woof" are not their primary means of communication, but rather their methods of communicating with humans. These sounds evolved after cats and dogs observed humans and, based on human preferences and understanding of specific sounds, became their primary means of communication.

The purpose of this sound is to mimic the voice of a baby to activate human attention and protection; it is a form of speech specifically designed for communication with humans.

Simply put, it's meant to sound 'cute' to its owner, but that doesn't mean it only has that one meaning. Although its voice doesn't have as many variations as human language, it can still convey a lot more meaning.

It allows humans to understand the general psychological activities and needs of their pets.

Of course, if you don't understand it, you'll find it cute.

But if you understand it, it will ruin the atmosphere.

Just like this orange cat, if you don't understand its meows, you'll just find them cute and its rubbing against you endearing. But once you understand its meaning, something feels off. Although it still mainly meows, but...

"It's not that I can't hug you." Li Pu didn't want to appear too disgusted with the orange cat.

Li Pu somewhat regretted that he could understand what animals were saying.

It's not as 'cute' as depicted in animation; instead, it carries connotations of 'badness' and 'teasing'. And don't assume animals don't understand the difference between male and female humans; pets do know the distinction between male and female humans.

Just as humans love cute little animals and beautiful animals, pets also have similar behaviors and thought processes.

So this cat...

"If you can't give me any important information..." Li Pu said sternly, "I'll make you regret ever being born a cat!"

Li Pu's stern face and threatening tone did frighten the cat a bit. The orange cat shrank back slightly and then said, "Of course! I sent Blackie over, and it just came back with something you'll definitely be interested in."

When Orange Cat says "black," she is referring to a black cat, which is a stray cat and one of Orange Cat's subordinates.

Just as Orange Cat finished speaking, a black cat darted in front of Li Pu, placed a severed finger in front of him, and then leaped into the bushes and disappeared.

"How was it? How was it!" the orange cat said, as if seeking praise. "Hug me! Hurry up and hug me!"

Li Pu then hugged the orange cat, rubbing its head as he squatted down to examine the severed finger the black cat had left behind. This wasn't a prop! It was a human severed finger, and judging from its size and thickness, it definitely belonged to that human child.

"So fast?" Li Pu was a little surprised; she hadn't expected it to be so efficient!

It's only been a short time since then! Did Caster deliberately expose it, or did the bird and cat work together to find it?

It's really hard to say right now. Caster is crazy enough, but he's not the kind of person who's lost their mind and gone mad. He's clear-headed, knows what he's doing, and knows what his purpose is.

This guy was a general under Jeanne Arc during his lifetime, so he must have known about tactics like feinting to the east while attacking in the west and luring the enemy deep into their territory.

If he deliberately exposed himself, then we must be wary of his next move; if he didn't deliberately expose himself...

This is quite possible. Caster isn't a traditional Magecraft; he's a self-taught individual. His Magecraft abilities are very average, just like his Master Ryunosuke— both possessed some Magecraft but acquired Magecraft abilities very unexpectedly. He's a self-taught Magecraft who hasn't received any formal training, relying purely on luck.

That would very well expose them.

"Looks like we have to go." Li Pu stood up, put the orange cat on the ground, and said, "While we're at it, Caster shouldn't run away!"

Li Pu wasn't the only one searching for Caster; Rider and Waver were also looking for her in the original story. Moreover, Waver, having received formal Magecraft training, used multi-point sampling. After analyzing the Magecraft fragments, he almost instantly pinpointed the general area where Caster was located.

Once the general area was identified, Rider led him to the drainage pipe.

"Ahhh!!" Waver exclaimed in surprise as he looked at the enormous drain in front of him. "This is truly an enormous drainpipe! It seems very likely that Caster will establish his own workshop here."

"Looks like we've found the right place, Rider," Waver said, gripping the railing of the chariot.

"Rider?" There was no reply from the Emperor. The usually bold and seemingly reckless Rider was now silent. Waver looked up at the Redhead.

"Ah..." Rider finally reacted and said, "Although I'm not quite sure, my intuition tells me that something is rapidly approaching us!"

"What is it?" Waver asked nervously. "Could it be Caster?"

If it's Caster, it makes sense, since I've already pretty much confirmed Caster's workshop. If someone were to randomly enter, Caster and his Master would definitely defend themselves.

"I can't quite put my finger on it, I can't really sense it at all." Rider gripped the reins with one hand and the hilt of his short sword with the other. "There's a vague feeling, and it feels somewhat familiar, like I've seen this feeling somewhere before..."

Watch out! They're coming!

As soon as Rider finished speaking, the water around them began to boil, and a spiral appeared out of thin air from the surface, rising and then falling back down.

"The King of Conquerors? And your Master?" The person who appeared was naturally Li Pu. Using the Goddess's teleportation ability, she could have directly entered Caster's lair. However, considering that the other party might have set a trap, she decided to play it safe and break in layer by layer from the outside.

I never expected to run into Rider and Waver here.

"Oh, it's you." Upon seeing Li Pu, the King of Conquerors relaxed temporarily and said, "Belldandy."

"Hey, hey, hey! Rider! She's the Goddess of Fate!" Waver said cautiously, tugging at the King of Conquerors's cloak. "Won't calling her by her name like that displease the Goddess?"

"Hmph! As her future husband, what's wrong with calling her by her name?" Rider said nonchalantly.

'...' Li Pu was quite speechless; she didn't want to say anything more about the King of Conquerors.

I don't want to say things like "a toad eating swan meat," King of Conquerors is really not a toad, but anyway, whatever makes you happy.

"It seems you've noticed as well," Li Pu said, changing the subject. "This is Caster's lair, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

Li Pu didn't find it too strange. In the original story, Waver seemed to be the first person to find Caster's lair, or rather, he found it using the most scientific methods among a large group of True Magic.