"If no one important enough vouches for us, then even if we enter the Upper City, we can at most be tourists. In the worst case, we might even end up prisoners."
"...But isn't the Lower City sealed off?"
Miss March 7th fell into thought. After pondering for a moment, Miss Asta suddenly pulled out her beloved baseball bat, smiled faintly at old Sampo, and said in an adorably saccharine, mocking voice,
"Our dear Mr. Sampo should have a way, right?"
"...That's way too cutesy. Please talk normally."
"What do you mean? Brother Shirou, he said I'm putting on a cutesy voice."
"Promise me that next time you pull out a bat, use the bat for some real, efficient persuasion. Soft words won't move people."
Old Sampo naturally had a way into the Lower City.
Otherwise, how much money could he make just by swindling people in the Upper City?
The Silvermane Guards were not useless. Though the game's storyline portrayed them as somewhat rigid and old-fashioned, they were still a proper military force, complete with civilian and military officials.
It would not be difficult to find a few capable investigators among the civilian officials. Even if they could not catch Sampo himself, they could still disrupt his deals and cut off his channels.
Therefore,
Old Sampo had obediently shifted the focus of his business from the Upper City to the Lower City. Though the Lower City was not especially profitable, it was stable.
"After the Upper City cut off the Lower City's route upward, some gang-like management organizations emerged after a brief period of internal unrest."
"Though they cannot openly represent the Silvermane Guards, most miners and drifters still obey their management."
"The largest organization among them is called Wildfire. The people meeting us later are from Wildfire as well."
They passed through a deep tunnel and descended from the surface underground. It was as though they had stepped from a freezing winter day into a scorching summer in an instant. Upon reaching a more open area, they saw a strange town formed from a chaotic mix of buildings and flowing, golden-hued minerals.
"Geocores. Those are essential for Belobog to withstand the Great Cold, and the mines primarily extract this kind of ore."
Pointing at those bizarre golden ores, Svarog explained,
"The only thing of value in the entire Lower City is this stuff. Since the channels were shut down a few years ago, it's now practically worth its weight in gold."
"Gold? Geocores can keep you alive. Can gold be eaten? Only those brainless bigshots up above would like such impractical rocks."
As Svarog finished his explanation, their Lower City contact suddenly stepped out from a corner along a cramped path. She looked about fifteen or sixteen and wore strange, light leather armor. Her somewhat messy long hair partially covered her face, yet the features visible beneath it were enough to call beautiful. Her expression was cold and distant, but she unexpectedly possessed the crisp, aloof air of an ice beauty.
Sharp-tongued, long black hair, flat-chested, ice beauty...
Looking at the girl who had suddenly appeared, Shirou Emiya thought of a certain famously hardworking young lady he had met in an ordinary world he had previously traveled to.
"Isn't this Miss Selee? To think you would personally come to meet us today. Old Sampo is truly honored."
"Cut the crap."
The cold girl approached Svarog, carefully sizing everyone up for a moment before suddenly letting out a scornful laugh.
"You brat, this group has got you under control, hasn't it? You're never this obedient normally."
"But the people controlling you... they don't have that rigid Silvermane Guard smell about them."
Her gaze constantly moved over the group while Imaginary Energy slowly gathered within her body. Like a female leopard poised to strike, she would launch a counterattack without hesitation the moment Shirou Emiya's group made any move she deemed hostile.
"Food."
Looking at the girl who seemed ready to attack at any moment, Shirou Emiya smiled and spoke words sufficient to shatter her psychological defenses.
"I can bring you enough food to fill this entire town."
"...W-Why should I believe you?"
An uncontrollable tremor entered the girl's voice. Rationally, she should not believe the nonsense of someone she had only just met, but... what if there was even a one-in-ten-thousand chance it was true?
"Projection, begin."
The man raised his hand and uttered syllables she could not understand. Then, within her sight, a strange cylindrical object formed without warning before dropping heavily at her feet.
"The Endless Rice Bag. As long as you have enough Imaginary energy, rice can flow endlessly from it."
Though Tawara Touta, Japan's martial ancestor from the Heian era, was not particularly powerful as a Heroic Spirit, the utility of his Noble Phantasm, elevated from the anecdotes of his life, could not be underestimated. Legend said that the dragon gods of the lake had gifted him a treasure from which an endless supply of rice could flow. What Shirou Emiya had projected was precisely that legendary Endless Rice Bag.
"Imaginary energy?"
Seele, who had learned her skills through unorthodox means, did not understand what Imaginary energy was, nor did she understand what Paths were. Throughout the universe, there were many like her who did not know what Aeons were, yet had stepped onto a Path through sheer will. After Shirou Emiya casually explained it to her, she impatiently poured every bit of Imaginary energy she could control into the Endless Rice Bag.
Then, in the very next moment, the bag's tied opening burst apart. Like a pump with its floodgates opened, white rice erupted like a long-contained flood. In merely two or three breaths, the rice pouring out of the bag had risen past the girl's knees. She stared blankly at the rice covering her knees for a long while...
Then she suddenly grabbed a handful of raw rice and stuffed it into her mouth without hesitation. Feeling its dry, hard, peculiar texture, tears could not help slipping from her eyes.
"It's real... real food."
She looked at the expanse of white before her. It should have been a color as cold as the snowfields outside, yet it now appeared exceptionally vivid in her eyes.
While the girl was still immersed in the delight brought by the Endless Rice Bag, Mr. Emiya hurriedly took out his phone and photographed her from several angles. He had not forgotten the task Himeko had entrusted to him. But with only one Seele, the impact was clearly not enough. He needed to photograph the entire Azure Sea Group before he could properly fleece Old Man Welt for his coins.
"Seele, Cocolia, Bronya, and Natasha."
"Too bad Kafka isn't here... Wait, raising the threshold too much at once doesn't seem conducive to a steady stream of income."
Shirou Emiya was doing his own calculations as well. Then he glanced at the emotional value gained from the Endless Rice Bag's live demonstration and immediately revealed a pleased expression.
"230 points... plus what I've gained these past few days at the space station..."
Looking at the total of 1148, Mr. Emiya smiled even more happily, feeling like an old farmer at harvest season.
"I'll wait until I've saved enough for fifty pulls before drawing."
After putting away the system interface, he looked at Seele again and was about to say something when a strange connection suddenly linked with him without warning. At the same time, a lively voice abruptly rang in his ears.
"Hello, hello, can you hear me? Hello, hello, can you hear me? This is the dedicated channel of the flower-like and adorable girl, Elysia?!"
A wild pink chubby lady had spawned!!!
"Hello, hello, can you hear me? Hello, hello, can you hear me? This is the dedicated channel of the flower-like and adorable girl, Elysia?!"
Tapping a fragment of the broken Sword of Fallen Gods, the flower-like girl kept muttering to herself.
"How strange, why isn't there a response?"
"Could it have stopped working?"
"Elysia, don't be anxious. Perhaps the other party is unable to make time to respond right now."
Sitting across from the flower-like girl, the world-famous songstress smiled and soothed her best friend's emotions.
"Even after dialing someone's number, you still need to wait for them to accept the call. Just wait a little."
"My dear Eden, this could be a close encounter of the third kind! I might become the first person on Earth to make friends with an alien?!"
"Then you should be even more patient and wait for their response, Elysia... Perhaps that unknown existence could become a turning point in our fight against Honkai."
"Eden! They replied! They replied to me!"
"What did he say?"
"...He asked whether I'm Elysia from the Flame-Chaser, or Elysia from Elio's Dream."
Elysia tilted her head in confusion and looked to her best friend, seemingly seeking an answer. After a brief silence, the latter's expression suddenly became more serious.
"He knows where we came from. He even knows our future?"
After entering Rock Town, Seele temporarily arranged for them to stay at an inn. She herself took the projected Endless Rice Bag to find Wildfire's true leader.
Even Seele understood that how to deal with Shirou Emiya's group was not something she, an ordinary Wildfire member skilled only at fighting, could decide.
March 7th and Asta formed a group to explore different places in Rock Town. Teacher Dan Heng also intended to gather some information about the area. Once the rest of the Express crew had left, Shirou Emiya swiftly returned to his room and used Nen to connect with the first beacon that had proactively contacted him.
"Elysia, is it? I want to ask: are you Elysia from when you were still a Flame-Chaser member, or have you already entered Elio's Dream?"
"...What kind of place is Elio's Dream?"
"An electronic space created by Vill-V to store the memory entities of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers."
"I've never heard of Vill-V creating something like that. Could it be that you know our future?"
"You can understand it as having seen a script that played out normally. In that script, fewer than ten people from your entire civilization survived into the next era. Before the final trial, all of you copied your memories into Elio's Dream as nourishment to be passed down to the next era."
Even a girl as naturally optimistic as Elysia found it hard to accept the information coming from Shirou Emiya's side. She remained silent for a long time before looking at her best friend, opening and closing her lips. Only after a while did she finally organize her words and explain what Shirou Emiya had said.
Upon hearing it, the latter's expression grew increasingly solemn. After quite some time, she finally spoke in a low voice.
"Elysia, this is no longer something the two of us can keep hidden. Perhaps we need more data and information to verify whether what he says is true. We also need more people to discuss how to communicate with him."
"...Should we tell the higher-ups of the Flame-Chaser?"
Though the girl had experienced all walks of life and still believed in the beauty of the world, she was not ignorant of certain politicians' darkness. Honestly... she did not trust the Flame-Chaser's upper echelons very much.
Eden sensed Elysia's hesitation and, after pondering for a moment, gave her answer.
"We can discuss this with Dr. Vill-V. Since he says Dr. Vill-V ultimately created Elio's Dream and preserved the memories of the thirteen Flame-Chasers, then Dr. Vill-V is most likely trustworthy. At the same time, we can use the Elio's Dream plan to test Dr. Vill-V. If she approves of this approach, then perhaps... that will also be one way to verify what he said."
"Also, Elysia, you can ask him what he wants. Things given freely are often the most expensive. If he truly has demands, and we can meet them, then it will be an equal exchange."
She had once been a globally renowned songstress. If not for that fire which had burned down more than half of Australia, she should still have been active at the forefront of major music platforms.
To become such an outstanding singer, she naturally could not be ignorant of certain matters. The capitalists in the entertainment industry were essentially no different from politicians. She absolutely did not believe in gifts without reason. Only when both sides shared some connection of interest could there truly be the beginnings of trust.
"...Eden, do you think it's possible that he read our script and became our fan?"
Facing her best friend's extremely realistic view of the situation, the flower-like girl suddenly smiled. Hope shimmered in her eyes as she softly murmured,
"If everything we have is to become a grand performance, with you and me, Eden, and everyone from the Flame-Chaser, I refuse to believe that he could remain unmoved by the performance we offer after learning all of this."
Hearing Elysia's words, the songstress froze slightly. A moment later, she could not help laughing.
"That sounds like something you would say, Elysia."
"In that case, do what you believe is right. No matter what, I will support you."
"That's my dear Eden."
After smilingly hugging her best friend, Elysia tapped the Sword of Fallen Gods fragment again and spoke.
"Friend from afar, can you tell me your name?"
After hearing her reply, the other side paused for only a few seconds before responding.
"I am Shirou Emiya, a Nameless walking the journey of 'Trailblaze,' and a Masked Fool traveling the path of 'Joy.' In the near future, through the connection between the sword in your hands and me, you will eventually be able to reach the cosmic sky where I now reside, cross the Imaginary Tide Belt of the Solar System, and arrive in this far vaster galaxy."
"Elysia, I look forward to meeting you, and the Thirteen Flame-Chasers. If your ending is only to conclude upon that tiny planet, that would be far too regrettable."
"Also, our time to communicate is limited for now. Once the Sword of Fallen Gods' connection to this side becomes more stable, you can use a 'Login Phrase' to enter the 'space' I created and meet with me. I've already prepared the 'Login Phrase.' Remember it."
"Oh? Is it a very cute line?"
"Yes, it suits you very well... The 'Login Phrase' is, 'I am Kamisato Ayaka's dog'—!"
"...Huh?"
I really like Elysia... Pah.
I really like something Lumine once said.
I am Kamisato Ayaka's dog!
"It's a pity I can only speak during the preview livestream. Otherwise, Elysia would definitely get to enjoy even more fun."
With one opening of her mouth came half of Sumeru; one line about being a mountain spirit's dog completely established Lumine's trashy image.
Though a character's behavior as a creator should not be projected onto the character.
But I'm a mute cameraman, and the only chance I have to speak is during the preview livestream tea party.
Before you continue