Chapter 391

Having understood everything, Edmond smiled for the first time in a long time. "What a pity, Sorcerer King! Your one act of impulsiveness, your one act of leniency, has completely failed here! You actually chose a fool like me! You deserve it!"

Then, she suppressed her smile and calmly looked at Ritsuka behind Novia.

"Go forth! Keep struggling! You who have been freed from the prison of your soul! Ritsuka Fujimaru, under the watchful eye of the Priest is like a father to me, one day you will save the world! And I, as the forerunner, will correct all the impurities within you."

In the brief moment of liberation from the shackles of their souls, perhaps by chance, all three witnessed the current state of the 'Present World'.

Everything had already been consumed by flames. Under the Sorcerer King's erosion and interference of power, everything was already engulfed in flames. The burning flames continued to surge, and the whole world seemed to be shrouded in a sea of fire, with only the sound of burning remaining unchanged.

"Since things have come to this, let's end it all with that phrase."

As his consciousness faded, indicating that he was about to depart for another place, Edmond heard Novia's voice. She was holding his and Ritsuka Fujimaru's hands, smiling as she spoke these words.

"Haha, hahahahahahahaha! Well, that's all I can say! God--"

Edmond wanted to say something more, but unexpectedly, Zhon produced tobacco from the sudden appearance of black smoke, put it into his mouth without warning, and it lit up on its own.

"Thank you, Priest."

Edmond exhaled a puff of smoke and chuckled softly, "Wait. And hope!"

"Wait and hope."

The Consultant told me to survive!

At that moment, Edmond was amused by the words of Ritsuka Fujimaru, whom Novia was taking care of, and uttered his last words as he disappeared completely:

"That's incredibly generous, haha, Ritsuka Fujimaru! As expected of 'Edmond'!"

The Orange-Haired Girl, realizing that her words differed from those of the other two, touched her face somewhat embarrassedly.

"Seriously, shouldn't I have said this beforehand? It feels like everyone except me already knew. Consultant, I'm really sorry to have ruined such a good atmosphere..."

"Fine."

Novia tilted her head slightly and smiled again.

"I can teach you, Ritsuka."

Chapter 420 Now that things have come to this, it's impossible to say it out loud.

"Good morning. Your condition is very stable. If you continue to maintain this condition, you won't need to stay in the 'Sterile Room'."

As always, Ritsuka Fujimaru had the same dream again.

After so much time had passed, she naturally realized that this was a conversation between Mash and Dr. Romani, and according to the information she had learned, this was one of the abilities of Master: to dream of the memories of the Servant had contracted.

"Tathagata that Tathagata has arrived, you'll also be a Chaldea researcher. What kind of gift would you like then?"

In response to this statement, Mash, from Ritsuka's perspective, said, "... I want to go outside Chaldea and see the outside world."

Ritsuka could tell that Mash's wish at that moment had caused the doctor's expression to become somewhat Sorrow.

"No, your body can't handle the outside world."

Romani gave a very apologetic smile, then subtly shifted his gaze away. "But inside Chaldea, you can move freely. Just wait patiently for that day to come."

"Thank you so much."

After the words were spoken, everything stopped—time, everything else—as if the world had been paused.

"Even if she can't think of what she wants, she's incredibly happy as long as someone cares about her. She must feel very excited, right? Because today can pass by Issei and peacefully. That's what this young woman thinks. So what do you think, my dear sister-in-law?"

A voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Here we go again...?"

In this dream, Ritsuka murmured unconsciously, and then the unfamiliar White-Haired Girl reappeared before her eyes.

"Hmm? Seems like you've gotten used to my visits?"

"Because you always show up out of the blue and say some weird things, right?"

"Is it strange? How can you think like that? That's clearly how you make me seem unparalleled—"

Just as Meli was about to continue teasing Ritsuka, she paused, noticing something, and frowned unusually. "I've only been gone a few days, and there are already other guys willing to work for you under the table. Apparently, they're from the Church, and even Avenger. That's rare. Don't they understand the principle of first come, first served? But it's strange, why would Rhine Gold allow that? Could it be..."

Her mind grew increasingly foggy, and her vision blurred as well, so Ritsuka couldn't hear what Meli was saying anymore, and she drifted off to sleep, falling asleep in her dreams.

"Are you dreaming again, Ritsuka?"

The central control room of Chaldea instantly fell silent upon hearing Novia's words.

The reason for this was entirely because Ritsuka the Prison Tower incident not long ago. That period terrified them, after all, the girl was the last Master and their hope, and nothing could go wrong.

As expected, it turned out to be a false alarm, and upon waking up, he even brought back Novia, the maintenance Consultant who had been missing for some time.

"Um."

Ritsuka nodded, then cautiously glanced at the doctor not far away.

Well, she didn't know why, but in her dreams she could see everyone's face except for the doctor's, which was completely black. Even so, she instinctively knew that the person was Romani Archaman. That's why she was confused as to why the doctor's face was black in her dream.

However, this confusion had persisted for a long time, so Ritsuka, knowing she couldn't find Answer anytime soon, and realizing that her 'dream' was attracting the attention of those around her, asked with a curious expression to put their minds at ease:

"By the way, Consultant, the renovation of the control room this time is really impressive!"

At this moment, the central control room was filled with people wearing yellow hard hats. Little Gran and Mash were among them, and even Novia, who was standing in front of the girl, was wearing a blue hard hat, which represented a technician. Of course, he was both a technician and a manager.

"Because there's been a surge in data on various Singularity, I suggested upgrading the equipment accordingly. That's all."

Upon returning to Chaldea, Novia, as Chaldea's undisputed chief technician, suggested this for data storage, and unsurprisingly, the entire staff approved the request.

Everyone is working hard...

After a brief moment of reflection, Ritsuka secretly felt that her previous physical training was nothing special, and even thought she should try Magecraft training. Therefore, she made a request to Novia, but received this reply—

"Magecraft? No, your Magic Circuits can't actually do anything."

"Eh..."

That's the truth. From the perspective of the Magecraft World, Ritsuka Fujimaru's Magecraft skills can only be described as average. However, that's from the macro perspective of the Magecraft World. From the perspective of the summoning type, having encountered many Servant, she can be said to have ultimately created a new summoning method that surpasses the pinnacle of the old summoning method, 'anti-summoning', on her own.

"You should know that battles aren't won by showing off, right? Ritsuka, you should know that better than anyone."

"However, it feels a little awkward coming from you, Consultant..."

"Ahem, there are always exceptions."

Novia patted Ritsuka's shoulder. "Anyway, I hope you can return home safely, Ritsuka. Of course, this is also the wish of all Chaldea personnel. So don't forget the reason you chose to fight, and the everyday life you want to reclaim."

Then.

"That's how it is, so what should I do?"

In another room where no one involved in the renovation work was located, Ritsuka Fujimaru helplessly leaned her head against the fireplace.

This is the younger group of Chaldea, consisting of four people of similar age, including Muniere.

"No, why do you all insist on gathering in my room? I'm a homebody who really cherishes my alone time."

Muniere glared at the group of people who had gathered there idly, looking rather displeased.

"Think of something I can do, Muniere."

"Shut up, you Japan!"

"However, I can understand why Fujimaru is anxious, because the senior who is in charge of me is also very capable."

At this point, a female operator wearing glasses interrupted their conversation.

"That person originally worked in the medical field, but they quickly memorized the new job requirements."

At this moment, another researcher spoke up:

"If that's the case, then my leader is Leonardo da Vinci, you know? 'She can be incredibly mad,' she shouted with a manic expression, and she's truly a genius; apart from Little Gran, no one in Chaldea can keep up with her speed..."

Ritsuka nodded in deep agreement. "Yes, everyone has their troubles, and I have mine too."

"Fujimaru, your troubles are too obvious. As a girl myself, I don't want to point it out to you. How about finding a wingman?"

"Isn't it because Fujimaru feels that his talent for learning is completely inferior to that of Novia's other Consultant, the second Da Vinci, Little Gran? There's nothing that can be done about it."

"Ha, you should just keep studying your science subjects."

"This is a deep-seated prejudice. Even after working under Da Vinci, I did study art seriously."

For some reason, the two of them suddenly became excited in front of Ritsuka.

"You guys should get out of here!"

Muniere sighed, "... Putting that aside, we still need to do some fitness activities, right? Even with the enhancement from mystical equipment, it's still better to have some Flesh connections."

"It should be about learning knowledge. If they could learn more about his life and deeds, it would probably be easier to control the situation, right?"

"Simulator training? Training until 'the body moves naturally without you even thinking about it'..."

Muniere probably brought up a topic, which led to Ritsuka being bombarded with all sorts of normal yet abnormal suggestions such as "that one," "this one," and "something else the same."

"In the end, they still couldn't reach an Answer, and ended up discussing other things..."

Ritsuka murmured as she walked out of the room, clutching her hoodie.

The last thing discussed in the room was 'what exactly are the characteristics of the Consultant Novia?' Even Muniere enthusiastically joined in, making it quite a popular topic within Chaldea.

"Hmm? A journal?"

Ritsuka, wearing a hoodie, touched her pocket and accidentally pulled out a small notebook, which fell to the ground.

A planner is a small notebook used by the Japan to record the little things in their lives.

The girl immediately realized that she had probably taken the wrong clothes, and most likely the operator's, since the operator was also Japan.

"Be careful not to look at the content..."

Ritsuka, squinting slightly and constantly reminding herself not to pry into other people's privacy Ritsuka, crouched down, intending to pick it up. However, contrary to her wishes, she unfortunately still saw some content: 'Birthday', 'Fujimaru and Novia'.

"... Um?!"

The girl's eyes sharpened instantly, and she became very curious, wanting to see what was written on the back. However, reason prevailed over Desire, and she carefully put it back in her pocket, later returning it to the operator.

Then, as night fell, Chaldea fell silent.

"Um?"

Novia, the initiator of the project, was busy until late at night. Just as he was walking down the dark corridor of Chaldea, preparing to return to his room, he noticed that the lights in the dining hall had come on.

Novia thought for a moment and figured that either Ritsuka or Mash was too hungry, which was why they came to the cafeteria so late to eat. The reason she said it was either of them was because they also had Fou's aura. After all, in the entire Chaldea, besides her, only Ritsuka and Mash could be stuck with Fou.

When he gently pushed open the door, the figure that came into view was Orange-Haired Girl bending over carefully making a cake according to the tutorial on the tablet, with Fou on her shoulder.

Although Fou noticed Novia entering, it obediently remained silent after Novia gently shook her head.

"Ritsuka?"

"Wow?!"

The sudden sound startled the girl so much that she practically jumped up, then hurriedly turned around.

"Gu, Consultant!? What are you doing?!"

"Compared to this, are you making a cake?"

Novia smiled. "Perhaps you've suddenly developed a craving for sweets?"

"This..."

The girl hesitated for a moment, probably remembering another item troubling her in her journal, "Actually, it's not like that."

"That is?"

"Consultant, do you remember that operator who was around my age and also from Japan?"

"Yes, I remember."

"I just happened to find out her Birthday today, but it happened a few days ago, around the time my Consultant and I came back from the Prison Tower. Birthday were busy days, weren't they? And then the renovations started, so we were extremely busy."

Ritsuka Fujimaru continued earnestly.

"I guess everyone was too busy to celebrate with her, and maybe she even forgot herself."

"Is that why you came to make cakes?"

"Yeah, because I don't think that's right, even though the world is still so chaotic and everyone is so busy that they probably don't have time to deal with this."

Ritsuka continued making the cake with gentle grace. "But Birthday is Birthday, you have to have a cake, right? So I made a cake! I'm just a little embarrassed because although my dream is to open a cake shop, I've never learned the specific process of making a cake!"