area51novel Page 206
Page 206
Because different choices and conditions lead to different approaches to dealing with things, the methods for handling things will also change. However, in the case of the Holy Grail War, if you really break the rules of the game, then for a war that is not going to last long and is not large in scale, there is indeed no need to hesitate or consider anything.
but...
“Miss Artoria is indeed very strong, and your strength is not weak either, but Roland... there are a total of fourteen Heroic Spirits in the Holy Grail War. Even if I were to join you, it might not be considered absolutely powerful. Or are you planning to make me use [Divine Judgment]?”
Rin Tohsaka could figure out that Jeanne d'Arc's [Divine Judgment], which allowed her to issue two Command Seals to other Servants when she descended as the Arbiter, was the key to quickly clearing the Holy Grail War, so Jeanne d'Arc naturally couldn't have been unaware of it.
But she never intended to do that.
"In that case, you might be disappointed. After all, although I have other personal purposes besides participating in the Holy Grail War, I am still here as a referee. Well... at most, I'll blow a biased whistle. I won't do anything to directly kill the game."
...unless absolutely necessary.
Seeing Joan of Arc frowning and speaking in a serious manner, Roland added a comment for her from behind.
Roland was certain that if the Grand Duke turned into a vampire and went berserk during the Holy Grail War, and the problem got out of control, turning other Servants into vampires and spreading the virus, she would not hesitate to kill all the vampire-turned Servants.
Two Command Spells are enough to make even a Heroic Spirit with Magic Resistance of Artoria commit suicide.
However, Roland did not intend to kill the game in this way.
After all, he still planned to have Artoria and Mordred meet, to warm up the process of resolving her inner conflict... and given Bazett and Arisu's personalities, if they were to obtain the qualification to access the Root without any involvement, they would both feel uncomfortable...
There's no need to let things escalate to the point where Joan of Arc has to resort to "Divine Judgment".
"No need. Our strength is different from what you see. Although I think Artoria and I are enough, we do have other reinforcements."
"So when we're ready, that's when we'll start. Trust me."
Upon hearing Roland's words, Joan of Arc gave him a deep look.
Although she still had objections, when she met Roland's gaze, the words that were on the tip of her tongue were swallowed back down.
Because she could tell that Roland wasn't lying to her, and that he was genuinely confident.
Thinking of this, Joan of Arc sighed inwardly.
Okay...
Since everyone is in an alliance, if a problem really arises, then I'll just have to find a way to salvage the situation.
If we succeed, then all the problems will be solved.
If it fails... then after saving Roland, he should be more cautious next time.
Having already decided to play the biased game, Joan of Arc's heart was already slightly biased towards Roland's side.
and......
She could tell that she couldn't persuade Roland, and that Roland would have done it even without her help.
Eh.
Knowing Roland's plan, Joan of Arc was unable to persuade him, could not forcibly stop him, and could not stand idly by. In fact, she had no choice.
That's all.
Therefore, Joan of Arc couldn't help but let out a long sigh when she left Roland's side.
When Artoria saw her come out, she blinked.
"...came out a bit too quickly..."
Her thoughts had already drifted far away, but Bazett and Yuuka were completely different from Artoria's ideas, instead subtly inquiring about her attitude towards the Holy Grail War.
Then Joan of Arc said that she had allied with Roland.
Later, under questioning from Yuzhu and Bazette, she revealed the first step of Roland's plan.
"Roland said that the Holy Grail War on the other side should be about to start, so he didn't plan to get involved. Instead, he decided to prepare first, and then..."
At this point, Joan of Arc replied with a hint of helplessness.
"...Then we'll storm into the Yggdrasil's headquarters, snatch back the Greater Grail, and use that to end the Holy Grail War there. We'll then use the Greater Grail to force them into our rhythm, thereby dominating the match."
....
162. Vibrant petals fluttering in the sea of flowers
The reinforcements Roland mentioned were real.
So after Joan of Arc left, Roland contacted Alaya and Gaia.
As Roland's consciousness shifted, he once again found himself in the same space as before.
Alaya remained unchanged, with long pink hair and a white veil. As the wind swept across the sea of flowers, she seemed to dance in mid-air with the scattered petals, a breathtaking embodiment of beauty.
However, Gaia has changed its appearance this time.
She was no longer the large ball of light, nor was she the human form that looked exactly like Alaya.
Perhaps Alaya said something to her, but in any case, Gaia took on a completely new human form this time.
She had long, silver-gray hair and golden eyes. She stood on the ground with Alaya, but unlike Alaya, who seemed to blend into the sea of flowers growing on the earth, Gaia gave the impression of being a drifting cloud that could disappear at any moment.
She resonates with the sunlight, giving people a sense of purity that cannot be described in words.
It was under these circumstances that Roland was able to react.
Humans initially defined the earth as Gaia, but humans also initially defined the sky as Gaia.
The concepts of heaven and earth are two parts of Gaia.
Therefore, she belongs neither to heaven nor to earth; this transcendent feeling is what she should have.
"You've changed your image."
Seeing Gaia like this, Roland glanced at her a couple more times, while Gaia stared back at Roland expressionlessly.
"Does it look good?"
"nice."
Hearing Roland say this, Gaia nodded.
"If you like it, then so be it."
Gaia's idea was simple: she appeared in human form only for Roland's benefit—if Roland liked it, that was it; if Roland didn't like it, she would immediately change to another form until Roland was satisfied.
Alaya, standing beside Gaia, also breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, while Gaia might consider Roland's feelings, she wouldn't consider hers at all... Gaia didn't even know what she looked like in human form at first, so it would be a miracle if she knew anything about human aesthetics.
So Gaia's current appearance is all thanks to her sculpting. If it were someone else, who knows how long Gaia would have to be sculpted by her.
"Alright, the main reason I called you two here is to tell you about my plan to use the Heroic Spirit Summoning Ritual to summon members of the Gods from the other side to this side—and I won't summon too many, just Cú Chulainn, Hercules, and Iskandar."
"And they don't need the Greater Grail to supply magic; they can be self-sufficient."
Upon hearing Roland's words, Gaia knew what Roland was worried about, so she gave him the answer directly.
“No problem. The parallel world centered on human reason is like my dream. Although forcibly opening a passage and transferring a large number of people over at once would cause many problems, shatter the dream, and wake us up, Alaya and I can just open a back door with this method.”
"It won't have any impact on parallel worlds."
Having received a positive answer from Gaia, Roland nodded in agreement.
This is the simplest and best approach—if that doesn't work, then Roland will have to use the alternative.
Seeing Roland nod, Alaya smiled and spoke.
"Even if you hadn't contacted me now, I was planning to contact you later—I thought you hadn't noticed, but now it seems that the fact that you've already started sending people here means you've discovered the problem, right?"
Upon hearing Alaya's words, Roland first nodded, then shook his head.
"I can't say that I specifically discovered anything, but I'm the kind of person who likes to think about several aspects of a matter."
"So after I met Joan of Arc, I intercepted two of her revelations and saw some strange things in them."
At this point, Roland looked at Alaya.
"The first time I captured Jeanne's Apocalypse, all I saw were scenes of Artoria, Rin, and Illya participating in the Holy Grail War... This part itself was very strange."
"After all, any skill that observes the past and future is theoretically ineffective against me, including even the ability of Apocalypse, which is not actually reading the timeline, but rather using precise calculations and deductions to specifically predict the future."
"So the reason why Artoria and the others came to this parallel world is because of me. So if it weren't for me, how would they have appeared in this parallel world? Or rather, how would they have come together? And why did Rin and Illya become mages? And why is Artoria the grown-up she is?"
"Especially since they participated in the Holy Grail War, and they seem to have their own purposes."
"At first I didn't realize it, but when I intercepted Joan of Arc's second apocalypse, I realized it."
"Because of the second revelation triggered by Jeanne, the scene of Amakusa Shiro Tokisada's wish being fulfilled did not include Artoria and the others. However, when I connected this scene with the previous one, I discovered traces of their activities—that is, some of the participants in the Holy Grail War died because of them, and some of the injuries on their bodies were even caused by them."
"That means they came here not because of Amakusa Shiro Tokisada's wish, nor because of me—but they still came."
"Then I saw Artoria, Rin, and Illya, but I didn't see Bazett and Yuuka."
"So I thought about it again. If all my influence were removed, Apocalypse wouldn't be able to predict the correct future, and would only deliver incorrect but plausible scenarios—in that case, they would simply be on a different team from us, with different goals and different numbers..."
"And sticking to this point is the right thing to do. If we then try to fit all the other random influences in this direction, then the only ones who could make Rin and Illya become magicians, and who could make Artoria appear in this form, would be the two of you."
"You two wouldn't do something like this for no reason, so this means there must be something wrong in this parallel world."
Hearing Roland say that, Gaia blinked, her mind not quite on the topic. She just nodded along with whatever Roland said, while Alaya even clapped her hands at Roland's analysis.
"So that's how you discovered it! That's really impressive!"