Chapter 41: The Awakened El-Melloi II
In the private box, everyone fell silent, staring blankly out the window at the sight of myth returning to reality.
Only Olga Marie remained unfazed. She retracted her gaze and turned as if nothing had happened, looking toward the still-dazed Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash.
"Let's go."
"Don't stand here in the way."
Only then did Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash snap back to their senses.
"Di—Director..." Fujimaru Ritsuka opened her mouth to say something, but Olga Marie had already grabbed the back of her collar with one hand and Mash's shoulder with the other, lifting them up like two kittens.
"Wait, wait! Director, I can walk on my own—"
"Too slow."
Olga Marie cut her off and stepped toward the door of the private box.
The door opened automatically before her.
She carried the two inside, closing the door behind her with a backhand motion, sealing off the world-destroying spectacle outside.
The private box instantly became much quieter.
Olga Marie tossed Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash onto the sofa, walked back to the doorway, crossed her arms, and looked them up and down.
Fujimaru Ritsuka tumbled onto the sofa and scrambled to sit upright.
Her orange hair was a bit messy, and her face was stained with dust, but her eyes were incredibly bright as she stared unblinkingly at Olga Marie.
Mash also quickly rose, picked up the shield that had fallen on the floor, and stood beside Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"Dir—"
"Stop right there."
Olga Marie raised a hand, cutting off Fujimaru Ritsuka's words.
"I am not your Director. You have the wrong person."
"But... but..." Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at Olga Marie's face, then at the pair of abnormal horns on her head and her altogether unusual attire, her expression confused. "You're clearly..."
Olga Marie said, "There are plenty of people in this world who look alike. Are you going to rush up and call every person who looks similar 'Director'?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka was left speechless.
At that moment, a low groan came from the other end of the sofa.
Everyone's gaze shifted over.
Lord El-Melloi II slowly opened his eyes.
"Cough... cough cough..."
His gaze was somewhat scattered, but his pupils gradually focused. He raised a hand and touched his chest; a large patch of dark red blood still stained his shirt, but the skin was perfectly intact, without even a scar left behind.
"Master!" Gray immediately leaned over, supporting his arm. "How do you feel? Is there anywhere else that feels uncomfortable?"
"I..." El-Melloi II spoke, his voice rasping like sandpaper. "I feel as if... I had a very terrible dream."
"It wasn't a dream, Professor." Flat crouched by the sofa, his eyes sparkling. "You really died just now! Your heart was pierced! You bled so much! Then Miss Olga Marie saved your life! It was super amazing!"
El-Melloi II: "..."
He would retire from the Clock Tower and return home to spend the rest of his life studying that sentence.
Then, he propped himself up on the sofa to sit, with Gray hurriedly assisting him. El-Melloi II looked down at the blood on his chest, then looked up at Olga Marie with a complex gaze.
"I owe you a life," he said.
"No need to thank me," Olga Marie waved her hand. "Saving you was just convenient anyway. And strictly speaking, I only pulled you back from the brink of death."
El-Melloi II twitched the corner of his mouth but didn't respond.
His gaze turned toward Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash at the other end of the sofa, and his brow furrowed.
"And these two are?"
"Ah, they are—"
Just as Flat was about to introduce them, Fujimaru Ritsuka stood up and bowed slightly to El-Melloi II.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Fujimaru Ritsuka, from the Human Order Security Organization Chaldea."
Mash followed suit with a salute: "I am Mash Kyrielight."
"Chaldea?" El-Melloi II repeated the word, his brain rapidly searching for a record, but he had no impression of it. "How did you appear here?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash exchanged a glance.
"That's a long story."
...
After some conversation followed, Lord El-Melloi II disregarded the presence of outsiders and silently took out a cigarette, placing it in his mouth, though in the end, he did not light it.
El-Melloi II let out a breath.
"So," he began, his voice low, "because I was assassinated, this world was judged as an anomaly by the Counter Force, leading the world we reside in to fall into a state of being pruned. Meanwhile, the Fantasy Tree Seed that accidentally drifted here took the opportunity to absorb power and sprout, completely fixing this event in place."
"Furthermore, because the growth of the Fantasy Tree was too loud, it awakened the extraterrestrial lifeform ORT sleeping on this planet. ORT began to devour the Fantasy Tree, and the act of devouring triggered a certain trait of its own, causing a massive amount of degraded Fantasy Trees to grow within its range of influence."
"Therefore, your Chaldea sent people to deal with this mess."
He looked up and turned his gaze toward Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"Is my summary correct?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded vigorously: "Completely correct!"
El-Melloi II fell silent for a few more seconds.
Then he reached out and pulled a lighter from his inner suit pocket.
The lighter ignited with a 'click', and the flame moved toward the tip of the cigarette.
A second before the tobacco was about to be lit, El-Melloi II stopped.
He stared at the flicker of the flame for two seconds, closed the lighter with a 'snap', took the cigarette out of his mouth, and stuffed it back into the pack.
Fujimaru Ritsuka continued:
"According to the analysis of our technical advisor, Da Vinci-chan, if this is left unchecked, the East Asia and Europe Fantasy Trees still existing here will recreate the Northern Europe and Greater Chinese Lostbelts in this world, overwriting the original progress.
Moreover, this won't just affect this one worldline; it will spiral up and down like a wave, polluting other worldlines that haven't been affected."
"So we performed an emergency Rayshift, hoping to deal with the Fantasy Trees before the situation worsened," Mash took over the conversation, her expression serious. "We just didn't expect a deviation in the transfer coordinates. The landing point deviated from the expected position, and we also met... Miss Director."
She looked at Olga Marie.
Olga Marie clicked her tongue.
"I told you, I'm not."
Olga Marie didn't dwell on this issue and casually offered a word of comfort to El-Melloi II, whose head was still reeling.
"Although your death was the trigger. Without your death, the world wouldn't have fallen into the risk of being pruned, the Fantasy Tree wouldn't have grown, ORT wouldn't have awakened, and Chaldea wouldn't have sent anyone over."
"However, the culprit is that idiot who ordered your assassination. You're just an unlucky catalyst; don't take it to heart."
What she didn't say was that from the moment she and the Fantasy Tree Seed existed in this world, this world had already become a primary focus for the Counter Force.
It was precisely because of this that as soon as an accident occurred, it was swiftly abandoned, without being given even a moment to resist.
But so what? It wasn't her fault.
El-Melloi II twitched the corner of his mouth, wanting to smile, but he couldn't.
"Faldeus..." he whispered the name, his gaze turning cold. "He really did send me quite the gift."
"Master..." Gray looked at him with concern.
"I'm fine." El-Melloi II shook his head. When he looked up again, his expression had returned to its usual composure. "There's no point in dwelling on this now. The priority is to solve the problem."
He looked at Fujimaru Ritsuka.
"What is Chaldea's plan?"
"Da Vinci-chan's analysis is that we must destroy the remaining two main Fantasy Trees as quickly as possible," Fujimaru Ritsuka said.
"Destroy them?" Olga Marie sneered. "Easy for you to say. That fellow ORT has already planted the entire surface of the American continent with Fantasy Trees. If you force a destruction, this world will go down with them."
Fujimaru Ritsuka: "..."
Mash: "..."
Such a familiar script; I am already falling into fear and shock.