Mission:062 Ryoma

Mission:06-2 Ryoma

In that instant, a winter chill swept down everyone's spine.

Seeing their reactions, Mephisto gave a satisfied smile. "That's right. It's—

"This color!"

It suddenly exerted force, and the Mud Bird in its hand was crushed in an instant. Vivid color spilled out from the yellow clay, slipping through the demon's fingers, dripping onto the floor one drop at a time and seeping into the cracks between the stone bricks.

It was a chilling, vivid red.

Everyone inside the room fell silent, their expressions grave. Only Mephisto continued to toy with the blood-colored lump of mud in its hand as if showing it off.

A moment later, Nero was the first to relax. She slowly leaned back against her chair and broke the murderous atmosphere. "Perhaps the place in this world most suited to you as a workplace is a haunted house, demon."

"A pity this era doesn't have any," Ritsuka added.

The light joke quickly warmed the temperature inside the room again. Hernan sighed and looked at the red liquid on the floor, her expression complicated. "If the latter half really refers to 'sacrifice,' then what is the existence that requires a sacrifice?"

"Two possibilities."

Da Vinci appeared in the projection and said, "Either undoing the cave's seal requires some kind of sacrifice, or..."

Holmes finished the second half for her. "Or the Demon Pillar is currently within the seal, attempting to accomplish some objective through sacrifice."

"Judging by the current situation, those should be the only two explanations." Da Vinci nodded.

"My hint was fairly useful, wasn't it?" Mephisto flipped its palm, and the lump of mud that had been continuously oozing red liquid vanished in an instant. The bloodstains on the floor disappeared as well. It was as if everything from before had been an illusion.

"A nice trick," Nero said sarcastically.

"I'm glad you liked it." Mephisto responded with a flawless smile.

The topic of the riddle came to an end there. Everyone waited until Giorgios returned, then immediately filled her in and explained that they needed to explore north of the town tomorrow. After that, it was time to rest.

On the fifth day after arriving at the Singularity, Ritsuka, still acting as Master, led people outside the town. However, considering that searching for a Heroic Spirit should not require too many hands, the ones staying behind in town this time were Giorgios and Hernan.

The signs of a plague outbreak were simply too frightening, so Ritsuka directly left both Heroic Spirits capable of detecting and stopping a plague here. Conversely, if they were to face Heroic Spirits as opponents, neither Giorgios nor Hernan was as strong as Nero.

Giorgios fit the standard paladin template. She excelled at dispelling evil and protection, and could perform simple healing, but lacked offensive methods. Hernan, meanwhile, was a weather mage, and her direct combat power after leaving her warship was rather terrible.

By comparison, Nero had the strength to fight any enemy, with plenty of methods for both duels and groups alike, making her perfectly suited to the current stage of gathering intelligence.

Behind Rattvench Town lay a pasture used for grazing, connected to the river and the undeveloped grasslands. Nero, Ritsuka, and Mephisto advanced across this plain that lacked landmarks, constantly correcting their direction along the way.

They walked, and walked, and walked... By the time Chaldea finally detected the fluctuation of a Heroic Spirit, it was accompanied by the rapid sound of iron hooves.

"The other party is approaching at high speed!" Mash hurriedly warned. "Based on the current situation, it is very likely a Heroic Spirit of the Rider class!"

Just as she had warned, every different class had its own characteristics. Even the same Heroic Spirit would differ when manifesting in different classes. For instance, Sabers often had their basic performance increased, while Archers always possessed Noble Phantasms beyond the norm.

As for Riders—normally speaking, only Riders would manifest together with their mounts, war chariots, warships, and the like. Because she had been summoned at sea, Hernan appearing together with her ship was a textbook "abnormal situation." The curse she bore that caused ships to run aground might also have been related to that.

The sound of iron hooves gradually drew closer, and Mash's voice rang out again, now carrying a hint of surprise. "Wait, there's also the reaction of another Heroic Spirit!"

"Aaaaaah, hurry up and get out of the way!"

In the blink of an eye, a strange white war chariot, pulled by a fine horse clad in heavy armor whose coat color could not be seen, raced past the three of them and sped far away in an instant.

"Wait!"

A moment later, the Heroic Spirit pursuing the war chariot also appeared before them. It was a girl dressed like a shrine maiden. She carried a naginata nearly as tall as herself, driving a pitch-black wooden horse as she likewise galloped across the grassland.

"Listen to me, Lord Dragon of Echigo!"

In that instant, Ritsuka's gaze sharpened, and she immediately shouted, "Miss Nero, please stop her!"

"Simple."

There was no need to even draw Yamato. Nero flung Echidna out, and the Serpent Sword turned into a fine sword net low in the air, instantly reducing the wooden puppet horse to pieces.

And so the girl riding the horse also went "whoosh~" and flew out, then landed face-first in the grass with a "splat." Beyond that, however, not even a thread of her clothes was damaged.

Ritsuka gave Nero a thumbs-up. Nero thought for a moment, then returned one as well.

"I can't believe this!"

A moment later, the shrine maiden who had gotten up and patted the grass off herself stood before the three of them with obvious anger on her face. "Just what kind of person ambushes a beautiful girl they're meeting for the first time and makes me fall so miserably?!"

"The Master of Chaldea," Nero answered at once.

"The Master of Chaldea, indeed," Mephisto agreed.

"Sorry, but I couldn't think of any other way to get you to stop and talk with us."

After hearing Ritsuka's answer, the resentment on the shrine maiden's face faded slightly. She sized Ritsuka up, planted the naginata she had just picked up on the ground, and placed one hand on her hip. "Hmph~ So you're the Master of Chaldea."

"Yes, Miss Shrine Maiden..."

"I'm Izumo no Okuni."

Izumo no Okuni, a famous beauty of the Sengoku period of Japan, was considered the founder of the art of Kabuki.

However, what Ritsuka was paying attention to at the moment was actually the other party's suspected identity as a shrine maiden. As an ancient religious practitioner, regarding sacrifice, regarding seals... Ritsuka had many things she wanted to ask her.

"I wanted to ask..."

But just as Ritsuka opened her mouth, she was interrupted. Izumo no Okuni looked at her with an annoyed expression and said, "Before that, how are you going to compensate me?"

Ritsuka froze. "Compensate?"

If she meant that horse, then as something that was obviously a product of mechanical arts, it should be very easy to make again, right?

Okuni nodded and pointed in the direction the other Heroic Spirit had fled. "It's all your fault. Now I can't get Lord Dragon of Echigo's autograph!"

Nero looked at the distant wheel tracks, and black lines appeared on her forehead.