Mission:024 Breaking the Ice

"Sun Suffers the Devouring of Hatred, the Arrogant Monarch is about to break from its shell..."

After hearing Nero repeat the riddle, Ritsuka repeated it once, then looked up and asked, "Mr. Sherlock, what do you think?"

The figure in the projection switched. A fair-faced Young Man holding a pipe appeared. "This riddle already contains the time, characters, motive, action, and result needed to form a complete incident, while the location is already known to us. We can basically regard it as an abstract expression through 'symbolism.'"

Outside the projection, a woman's voice picked up the thread. "I agree as well. The key to solving this riddle lies in its metaphors."

The projection switched again, and Mash's face appeared within it. "Senpai, has anything occurred to you?"

Ritsuka shook her head slightly. "I don't know. We've only just arrived, so there's still a lot we don't understand."

"I did notice something... though I'm not sure it can be called a clue."

Nero's voice made everyone look toward her.

"Although I only just arrived here myself, I happened to run into something..."

Nero briefly described the conversation between Beatrice and the farmers, then summed it up. "I don't really understand agriculture either, but my instincts tell me this counts as a major matter for the people living here."

"Mash..." Ritsuka once again sought help from her junior.

"No need to look up the materials. I know about this." The woman's voice from earlier stopped Mash's actions and stepped into the projection. That face was the spitting image of the Mona Lisa reborn.

"Da Vinci-chan!"

"Oh?" The demon seemed to have seen something interesting and showed a delighted smile.

"It should be the First Meeting for you two, yes? I am a Caster-class Heroic Spirit. My true name is Leonardo da Vinci." She gave a brief self-introduction, then said, "As a genius, and also as a polymath, I happen to have done some research on this topic."

As she spoke, she pulled out a blackboard from behind her and wrote down a term. "If I'm not mistaken, what this Baron's daughter named Beatrice proposed is precisely the prototype of the 'Four-field Crop Rotation.' It is a method of increasing land yield by rotating land between pasture, meadow, and farmland."

As Da Vinci spoke, she looked around, then wrote down another term. "However, the timing is far too early."

The term she had written was "15th Century." Da Vinci pointed at the words on the blackboard and explained, "In European history, while the idea of the Four-field Crop Rotation did indeed originate in England, it was truly proposed and put into use during the 15th Century, the era in which I was active."

"A hundred years early, then." From outside the projection, Sherlock Holmes's voice came again. "That is indeed a blind spot we could easily have missed. Did this system have enough influence on human history?"

Da Vinci looked in his direction and replied, "I'm afraid it did. The development of agricultural productivity would undoubtedly drive social progress. If the Four-field Crop Rotation were proposed a hundred years early, it would surely have had an immense impact on the Renaissance Movement that had only just begun to rise."

Ritsuka raised her hand, eager to try. "Then this Girl named Beatrice is the key person we need to focus on?"

"That is very possible."

After saying that, Da Vinci withdrew from the range of the projection.

What followed was Sherlock's deduction. "Then the first thing we must clarify is whether this Girl's ideas have been influenced by the Demon Pillar. That will point the way for our subsequent actions."

If they had, then the Demon Pillar's objective would become clear to them. If not, then it meant Beatrice's ideas had ultimately failed to be put into practice in history, and perhaps the Demon Pillar would make use of that.

The projection shut off. Ritsuka looked at Nero. "You said she went home, right?"

This Girl had an extremely strong ability to take action, and she made decisions very efficiently.

"That's right." Nero nodded with her arms folded, then looked toward the demon standing behind Fujimaru Ritsuka, who seemed rather quiet. "Are you going into the city now?"

The demon responded with an impeccable smile. "That is entirely for Master to decide."

And Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded, accepting Nero's suggestion. "Mm, let's enter the city now, but we'll put off looking for her until tomorrow. Also..."

Facing Nero, whose attitude was neither close nor distant, she lowered her head, bowed, and extended her hand in one smooth motion. "Miss Nero, please act as our companion and move together with us!"

The invitation came rather suddenly, but as far as Nero was concerned, there seemed to be no reason to refuse them. According to Sphinx, if Nero wanted to return to the Devil May Cry world, she had to resolve the Singularity beneath her feet.

In other words, she had the same goal as everyone from Chaldea.

Nero glanced at the demon again and saw that the other party was still smiling with perfect ease, as though it had already seen through everything.

It was a little annoying.

So she stretched out her hand, but stopped it in front of Ritsuka's extended hand and asked the demon behind her, "Do we count as being on the same side now?"

"Of course!"

Ritsuka answered before anyone else could.

So the demon revealed a helpless smile, narrowed its eyes, and said, "Very well. Since Master has said so, I shall keep our agreement and give my name."

It took a step back, removed its Top Hat, pressed it to its chest, and bowed once more like a gentleman. "Allow me to introduce myself again. I am a Caster-class Heroic Spirit, named—"

"Mephisto."

"Mephisto?"

Nero drew in a startled breath, then frowned and fell into thought.

Although they were both called Mephisto, the demon before her was clearly not the same sort as the fellow she had been chasing before. But wasn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?

Mephisto smiled faintly. "That's right. The very Mephisto you are thinking of. As expected, you come from the future."

The demon Mephisto came from Faust, the long poem by the German poet Goethe, completed in the 19th Century.

Since she could react the instant it gave its name, Nero had to come from an era after that—this was Mephisto's judgment.

Nero did not answer directly, and merely asked in return, "Are you a character from the book, or the real thing from history?"

The demon spread its arms and answered thus, "Judge as you will. But the name Mephisto is something bestowed by books."

Taking a deep breath, Nero nodded and accepted its explanation, then turned to look at Ritsuka. "How did you meet?"

Ritsuka smiled wryly and scratched her hair. "How should I put it... During the Rayshift, for some reason, Chaldea's Heroic Spirits were all rejected by this Singularity and couldn't come along with me. Then the one who protected me and brought me to a Spirit Origin Location to set up communications was Mephisto."

"Do you find me untrustworthy?" Mephisto said with a smile. "If you've read that book, you should know that I am nothing if not faithful to contracts."

"I only suspect your purpose," Nero answered flatly.