'Chaldeas'

Chapter 4: 'Chaldeas'

Chaldea gathered mysteries from all over the world, as well as technology from all over the world, giving the entire facility a futuristic, mechanical feel. Even walking through its corridors felt like traversing the passageways of a high-tech base.

Throughout such a facility, access systems and authorization systems had been installed everywhere.

Depending on one's status and authority, the areas each person was permitted to enter differed.

Luo Zhen and Mashu did not hold high status within Chaldea. They were personnel at the level of "Magus employed by Chaldea." In a large corporation, they would simply be hired employees—entry-level staff.

Therefore, Luo Zhen and Mashu were permitted access to relatively few areas within Chaldea.

Even so, after passing through several automatic doors and elevators that identified them and opened on their own, Luo Zhen and Mashu successfully arrived at the Central Control Room.

This was Chaldea's core, its Command Room and heart facility. For Chaldea, it could be considered one of its most important installations.

The "Simulated Battle" Mashu had mentioned needed to begin here before it could officially commence.

In other words, this was an area Luo Zhen and Mashu were authorized to enter. As long as they approached within half a meter of the doors, the doors would automatically identify them and open.

"Fou!"

Just as Luo Zhen and Mashu were preparing to enter the Central Control Room, Fou, who had been standing on Mashu's shoulder, suddenly leaped down. With several adorable pattering footsteps, he ran off in another direction like a rabbit and quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Although Luo Zhen and Mashu stopped again upon seeing Fou like this, neither of them was surprised.

"Ran off again?"

Luo Zhen murmured to himself.

Mashu spoke up as well.

"Fou is still the same as ever. He never appears in front of other people."

Just as Mashu had said, Fou had never appeared before outsiders.

Within Chaldea, almost everyone knew that an incredible creature existed here, but the number of people fortunate enough to have seen Fou could be counted on one hand. Even the current director merely knew of his existence; whether she had ever seen Fou remained unknown.

Because of this, Fou basically avoided the eyes of outsiders at all times, freely and casually playing and running through every corner of Chaldea.

Yet for some reason, this mysterious creature was especially fond of Luo Zhen and Mashu, appearing before them almost every day.

Sometimes, he would appear at some unknown point while Luo Zhen was playing games, then lie down and sleep in a corner of the room.

Other times, when Mashu came to see Luo Zhen, he would suddenly pounce onto her face, leap onto her shoulder, and move around with her.

At first, Luo Zhen had also been very interested in Fou and had tried several times to form a "contract" with him, but all of those attempts had failed.

Over time, once Luo Zhen realized Fou had no intention of "contracting" with him, he gave up on the idea. He treated Fou like a pet instead—playing with him when he felt like it and ignoring him when he did not. Together with Mashu, he came to be regarded by Chaldea's staff as Fou's owner.

"Let's go in, Senpai."

"Got it."

At Mashu's call, Luo Zhen answered absentmindedly. Only then did he step forward and enter the Central Control Room as the automatic doors opened.

The next second, a futuristic space resembling a war conference room, entirely cast in deep blue, appeared before Luo Zhen's eyes.

Almost immediately, Luo Zhen's attention was drawn to something located at the very center of the Central Control Room.

It was a massive globe floating in midair, its azure surface shimmering with light.

"The Earth Environment Model—'Chaldeas'..."

It was a miniature model of Earth created by treating the planet itself as a living entity, defining it as "a being with a soul," and then replicating that soul.

This model could work in tandem with the Near-Future Observation Lens—'Sheba'—to observe the planet's history.

Every action Chaldea took to safeguard Human Order was based on this.

Through the coordination of 'Chaldeas' and 'Sheba,' people had been able to constantly monitor Earth's future and confirm the state of the planet one hundred years ahead.

The light flickering upon 'Chaldeas' was the fire of civilization.

As long as it continued to shine, it meant humanity still survived on Earth, human history continued a century into the future, and Human Order itself remained on the proper course without any problems.

Conversely, if one day the light on 'Chaldeas' vanished, it would mean human civilization had been exterminated, human history itself had been erased, and humanity would meet its "end" within a hundred years.

This Chaldea existed for that very reason.

It monitored the planet's future and ensured the continuation of human history. Once an anomaly appeared in human history, it would immediately identify the cause, eliminate the cause behind the anomaly, restore Human Order to normal, and allow humanity to continue surviving.

That was the meaning behind Chaldea's existence.

Of course, the event that would destroy Human Order and erase human history might not occur in the present era.

In order to reliably safeguard the existence of Human Order, a device came into being.

The Spiritron Computation Device—'Trismegistus.'

A technology capable of converting humans into spiritrons and sending them to eras observable by 'Sheba,' where they would carry out missions to preserve Human Order.

This technology was known as—Spiritron Transfer.

Through this technology, the "Adaptable Ones" within this facility would be sent to different eras whenever anomalies arose in human history, eliminate the causes of those anomalies, and safeguard Human Order.

Luo Zhen was one of Chaldea's Adaptable Ones, an individual with the aptitude for Spiritron Transfer.

And possessing such aptitude also meant that a person possessed a certain "qualification."

That "qualification" was...

"Senpai..."

At that moment, Mashu, standing beside Luo Zhen, secretly tugged at his sleeve and called out in a somewhat anxious voice, snapping Luo Zhen out of his gaze at 'Chaldeas.'

Then Luo Zhen understood why Mashu had been so anxious to discreetly warn him.

"You're too slow!"

As an angry voice reached his ears, an obvious expression appeared on Luo Zhen's face.

It was irritation.

As though he had encountered someone he wanted desperately to avoid, Luo Zhen slowly turned his head toward the source of the voice.

Immediately afterward, someone who seemed intent on venting their anger on the floor, stomping heavily with every step, entered Luo Zhen's field of vision and walked toward him.