The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 324 Conan is warming up, while Gilgamesh realizes something is wrong (Seeking monthly votes at the beginning of the month)

Just like an ordinary passenger.

No, to be precise, it's like a resident who has lived in Fuyuki City for a long time.

Wearing a somewhat worn jacket, Kiritsugu Emiya stepped out of the taxi.

A gust of cold wind blew in his face, entering his neck from the back of his collar, pulling him out of the oppressive atmosphere he had been in the journey.

"It's been...three years already."

Thinking this to myself, I instinctively walked into the convenience store next to the hotel. When I came out, a pack of cigarettes of an unknown brand was already in my hand.

Since leaving the battlefield nine years ago due to the Holy Grail, or rather, the Einzbern family's employment, Kiritsugu has quit smoking.

Although the homunculus wouldn't be harmed by cigarette smoke, in order to maintain the image of a husband or father in front of Irisviel and Illya...

"Crack—"

The sound of a lighter sounded.

Why am I thinking of Ilya again?

Kiritsugu shook his head. He roused himself and pulled the thoughts that made him weak and exposed his vulnerabilities from the opened cigarette pack in front of him.

He lit the cigarette, and Kiritsugu let those inappropriate thoughts burn away with the tobacco.

Nicotine enters the lungs along with the smoke.

The hazy, pungent smell of smoke made Kiritsugu Emiya feel as if he had returned to a scorched battlefield in the Middle East.

However, this atmosphere finally calmed him down completely.

In any case, he is now standing in the very center of the battlefield, the battlefield known as the Holy Grail War.

This machine is trying to rediscover some of its past ruthlessness.

Let the gears, rusted by the warm breeze called family affection, start turning again.

He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the slightly changed street.

In the distance, a section of the street was fenced off, and construction workers wearing orange hard hats were busy filling in unnatural holes in the road.

"Is this what Maiya mentioned in her intelligence report, possibly traces left by a Heroic Spirit?"

Returning to Maiya's report, Kiritsugu felt a sense of unease and urgency.

In fact, according to the "historical inertia", both Kiritsugu and Saber should have arrived in Fuyuki City after Assassin was killed.

This tactic perfectly aligns with Kiritsugu Emiya's personal style of disregarding "knightly honor" and seeking only maximum benefit.

His original plan was to wait until the situation began to unfold and at least one side could no longer hold back and started fighting before making his move.

However, when the news of the "disappearance of the spiritual vein" came from "Kyuu Maiya", the situation seemed to be urgent.

Because Saber, upon learning about the "hole" and the vanished ley lines, immediately warned Irisviel:

"Irisviel, a Heroic Spirit's [Spirit Origin] can store magical energy to a certain extent."

The subtext in Artoria's words was clear.

Ideally, being a "Voldemort" and trying to "reap the rewards after others have finished" would be very appealing and tempting.

But what if you do nothing and suddenly discover—

The enemy wasn't actually building up troops to fight each other; instead, they were frantically gathering resources, preparing to open a secondary base, or leveling up...

Well, things seem to be looking pretty bad again.

Right?

……

So, what force, and what kind of power, has brought about all of this to happen?

The answer is almost self-evident and obvious.

These matters are undoubtedly under the control of the alliance.

In fact, Conan Edogawa had already keenly sensed this on the very first day he was summoned.

This universe doesn't seem to have the same obsessive-compulsive obsession and attention to detail regarding the "case" as this universe.

However, this seems quite normal.

In this universe, the most important things are always "cases" and "detectives".

For any detective, the key to solving a case undoubtedly lies in the element of "time".

The time of the victim's death, the time of the murderer's crime—

Even a difference of just a few minutes can be a decisive flaw in reasoning.

Perhaps, in the end, the detective will be unable to arrive at an accurate conclusion.

But now it seems that this "universe" is somewhat different.

As mentioned before, it seems to care more about "personal" feelings than about a very specific point in time.

Therefore, when this detective began comparing his own timeline after being summoned by Matou Kariya and projecting the relevant information—

Those subtle but not negligible deviations immediately became apparent.

As a detective with an extremely keen sense of "time," Conan immediately made a judgment:
"There's no mistake... Whether it's the [Cut-off Items] or the criteria for judging [Singularities] and [Losers], they all seem to be based on the [Key Nodes] of a specific event."

Therefore, it relies on a deep understanding and skillful guidance of character design and historical inertia.

While ensuring that those "plot points" did not deviate substantially, Conan successfully "shortened" the two days before Assassin was "killed" into one day.

All I can say is that this is a skillful application of "cause and effect" and "time relationship".

—I'm afraid only a detective named [Conan Edogawa] could have done that.

……

As for why the league went to such lengths to bring everything forward by a day.

In fact, after discovering that Kanbuko City and Misaki Town had "disappeared" in reality, it was easy to make this connection—

Since the "road" leading to Kanbuko City and Misaki Town will disappear, there is no reason why the person behind it all could only do this.

In other words, things outside of Fuyuki City are also very likely to be blocked in a similarly ingenious way.

If history is likened to a rolling chariot, then this game is—

The alliance attempted to preserve the old "ruts," or "historical inertia," before the carriages ran over them.

The real enemy, however, is trying to erase those traces, so that the alliance trying to jump on the "vehicle" will lose the possibility of catching up.

Therefore, in order to prevent at that critical juncture—

For example, to prevent Raymond from suddenly discovering that the entire Einzbern family had been turned into "phantoms" and was untouchable at the very moment Ilya was transferred...

Thus, the "third day" after the start of the Holy Grail War was cleverly moved to the "second day" on the timeline of events by the Alliance.

……

In fact, it is clear from this that the league had long ago pushed its multi-front deployment to its limit.

Given that time could be very tight, Conan is practically advancing four main plans simultaneously.

For example, the timeline of some of these "events" is completely contradictory and conflicting at first glance.

For example, when Hisayu Maiya went to the customs office to steal the weapons that Kiritsugu had not delivered on time.

Meanwhile, she stayed in her hotel room, noticed the news about the "hole," and after investigating, passed the information to Kiritsugu Emiya, reminding him that the situation had changed.

This should be something that cannot happen at the same time.

However... it's the same misleading method Conan used on Tokiomi Tohsaka back then.

This is just a simple "get on the bus first, buy the ticket later" trick.

By disrupting the communication lines between Umai and Kiritsugu Emiya, they exploited the intelligence blind spots between the two to create a seemingly "time-zone-free" inducement...

For the Alliance, this is a very simple matter, and they have used it countless times in this universe.

And now, watching on the projection screen Kiritsugu Emiya, who is about to finish his cigarette and enter the hotel to meet with Hisayu Maiya.

Conan softly recited the names of the Heroic Spirits who had now fallen into the Alliance's plan:

"The Rider group, the Berserker group, the Caster group that will soon be summoned, and the Saber group that has arrived in Fuyuki..."

Conan's eyes narrowed slightly. He tapped the air with his fingertips and added several revised advance lines to the mission plan.

"Well, the next phase will be the trade of control of the Lancer group after Caster leaves."

After all, the Alliance certainly couldn't let go of this genius monarch from the Clock Tower.

I recall Kenneth, who was crippled by Kiritsugu Emiya in the original "historical inertia" arc, falling from the pinnacle of his life into an abyss.

A meaningful smile appeared on Conan's lips.

In his view, recruiting Kenneth was extremely easy.

As long as all of Kenneth's magic circuits are destroyed, and he loses the talent he was so proud of—

"The league can recruit him if it extends a hand that can save his talent and protect his and Sora's lives."

"Then, it depends on whether Emiya Kiritsugu can accept the alliance's goodwill."

Thinking this, Conan casually switched the surveillance footage near the observatory.

In the image, a golden figure is wandering aimlessly nearby.

Conan's gaze turned cold as he looked at the glittering golden figure.

However, he first turned his head to the other side.
In the surveillance footage in front of the hotel, the cigarette Kiritsugu was holding was already half-burned.

At that moment, Conan's smile deepened.

The famous detective stood up from his chair and then stretched his body.

Although controlling everything from behind the scenes doesn't sound like a bad thing.

But personally "correcting" an annoying Heroic Spirit and loosening up your muscles can also make your mind more open and free.

To be honest, after learning about the "historical inertia" of World War IV and V, Conan has always been slightly annoyed with that guy named Gilgamesh.

As the "King of Heroes," he uses the outdated "royal power" to judge and decide the fate of others at will.

This arrogance of "I am right" seems to be completely contradictory to Conan's detective philosophy of upholding justice.

"Can you 'take care of' him in the time it takes to smoke half a cigarette?"

As the radiant glow of the Heroic Spirit materialized on Conan, a light yet sharp response echoed softly in the council hall.

"Oh dear, this seems to be... a little bit stressful."

……

This brings us to the Heroic Spirit named Sherlock Holmes, whose unique skill is quite interesting.

This skill is also one of the reasons why Conan has to constantly use the CYZ effect to cover himself up.

In fact, he rarely left the base.

Because the skill description is as follows:

Death God Constitution (EX):
At this moment, the detective's inner turmoil is about to manifest.

This heroic spirit passively attracts "case events," and at least one "case" scenario will be triggered in each battle.
Conan even had doubts.

Is the lingering killing intent that Matou Kariya harbors towards Matou Zouken ever since also due to the influence of this [unique skill]?
After all, in the eyes of the Throne of Heroes, he should still be Berserker.

So, should this be considered his own bizarre "berserk" state?

……

However, for Gilgamesh, the golden hero king, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse almost instantly.

After listening with slight impatience to Tokiomi Tohsaka's boring and tedious advice.

With a hint of indifferent anger, Gilgamesh personally went to the so-called "hole" site.

He wanted to see just how despicable that spirit who plundered the earth's veins truly was.

In fact, Gilgamesh did not take the theft too seriously at first.

How could a mere petty thief possibly shake the king's treasure trove?

In Jin Shanshan's view—

Since it is necessary to extract magic power from the earth's veins, then that monstrous cultivator must have a lowly and insignificant temperament.

"The greed of the weak is ultimately just a futile struggle."

With this condescending and disdainful attitude.

Gilgamesh, dressed casually and even holding a half-empty glass of red wine, walked out of the Tohsaka mansion.

He strolled leisurely all the way to the location of the first hole that Tokiomi had reported.

However, when Gilgamesh actually reached the edge of the forest and looked down at the ground, his expression changed.

It was hard to tell whether it was a sudden outburst of anger or some other inexplicable and rare solemn expression.

Although Tokiomi mentioned that perhaps two of the founders of the Dead Apostles would come, at the time, King Hero thought this was Tokiomi's folly.

Unlike those ignorant magicians, Gilgamesh, as the king of the Throne of Heroes, understood very well—

Whether it is Gaia or Alaya.

When they actually take action and react, it means things have reached a very critical moment.

Simply put, it usually means it's close to being "too late" or "finished".

Or, both at the same time.

A flash of light, and golden armor immediately appeared on his body.

Immediately afterward, the brilliance of the [King's Treasury] flashed, a golden light descended from the sky, and a pair of combat boots encircled by lightning and storm patterns landed at his feet.
Although these "Sky Boots" from the Storm God Enlil have the true power to unleash lightning and tornadoes.

But at this moment, Gilgamesh luxuriously used it merely as a means of transportation.

The current situation is serious enough for him to take it seriously.

He rose into the air and flew to a height of 100 meters above the Tohsaka mansion, looking down at the entire hollowed-out forest.

"What outrageous robbers!"

His tone contained no anger, only the coldness and resolve of a judge.

A very rare, perhaps "serious flash" impossible stance emerged on this Hero King.

This place, not in a human city, is deep in the forest, where almost no concealment is made of holes that appear in rows on even the smallest ley lines.

The holes, like the charred remains left after locusts had eaten them, spread densely throughout the forest until the view was blocked by a distant mountain.

Jin Shanshan originally thought that what Shichen meant by plundering the spiritual veins was just that a certain heroic spirit had used a spell to seize a few nodes.

And now, those crimson-gold pupils take in the entire environment spanning over ten kilometers.

The spiritual veins it contained—not a single one remained.

In fact, it was definitely not a temporary depletion caused by absorbing too much magic from the earth's veins.

Instead, it moved the nodes of the entire earth vein in a physical sense!

Archer's voice even sounded somewhat chilling as he slowly stated his final judgment:

"I originally thought it was just some greedy magician or heroic spirit... I never expected that someone would actually try to extract the blood of Gaia."

This is no surprise, as Gilgamesh immediately put his golden armor back on after discovering this.

"That guy Tokiomi said that these 'holes' are everywhere in Fuyuki City now?!"

The King of Heroes' expression turned unusually grim.

That heroic spirit is truly insane!

Such exploitation goes beyond a simple struggle for spiritual veins; it is enough to severely damage the entire city of Fuyuki after this Holy Grail War.

It could even completely sever the connection between the entire Fuyuki City's geological veins and Gaia.

"No wonder... even the founder of the Dead Apostles has been mobilized."

Gilgamesh murmured softly.

It would be strange if Gaia didn't respond to this attempt to physically "tear apart" the planet.

Looking down at the forest below, which resembled a torn green cloth, a hint of murderous intent flashed in his crimson eyes.

Gilgamesh unconsciously compared the magical power contained in the hollowed-out ley lines with his current spirit origin level.

Even if it's just a small patch of forest below where the spiritual veins disappeared, it would probably be enough for me to use EA a dozen times.

"Ha—can such magical power be collected and stored? No... that's not up to the standards of a Heroic Spirit."

Gilgamesh, of course, couldn't believe that such a massive amount of magical power could be contained by a single Heroic Spirit.

"So, it's possible to create a container to hold magic power?"

Gilgamesh immediately deduced the true culprit behind it all:

"Whether it's such swift theft or its use, it can only be [Territory Creation], which means it's Caster."

The next moment, the [Omniscient and Omnipotent Star], which was about to be released, was once again taken back into the King's Treasury.

The flight posture even became somewhat languid for a moment.

If it's Caster, things will be much easier.

No matter how powerful the workshop that magician, perhaps from the Age of Gods, was ultimately able to complete.

He lowered his head and sneered, his eyes filled with disdain and contempt.

"Just kill him before the workshop is perfected."

Even so, Gilgamesh still casually took out a few reconnaissance-type Noble Phantasms from the Royal Treasury.

Golden light swirled, and those magical artifacts shot out like eagles, carrying self-discipline and royal command, chasing after the true culprit who caused everything.

"Hmph, let's first confirm which filthy corner that rat is hiding in."

And just as he slowly approached the observatory, guided by the residual magic in the surrounding soil at the instant the ley lines were drained—

"boom--!!"

Perhaps it was because of the electrified shoes on my feet that I stepped on relatively damp soil.

A violent explosion rang out, and the shockwave spread in all directions like a raging torrent.

Even though Gilgamesh immediately took off before the unexpected explosion and was unharmed thanks to his golden armor, he was still alive.

But at that moment, golden light flashed around the king.

The treasure vault reacted accordingly, with several magical artifacts radiating divine aura surrounding it.

For this king who cared so much about his image, the mud splashed onto his golden armor only made him laugh in anger.

That anger was then coldly squeezed out, word by word, through clenched teeth:
"Damn dirt rat... how dare you attack me, the king?!"

The next moment, as if in response to the king's anger, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the clear blue sky.

Gilgamesh, whose luck rating is A, unfortunately became the first person to try Conan's unique ability called "Death God Physique".

Conan has always been very curious.

If you are fighting other Servants and you are surrounded by only yourself and another Servant, how will this [Inherent Skill] manifest itself?

Now, looking at Gilgamesh, who seems to be mistakenly identified as the culprit by the elves and monsters residing in the forest.

Conan nodded. It seemed that this effect was indeed inevitable, and he had to be careful every time he appeared.

"Next, we'll see what the limits of this [inherent skill] are."

Conan looked up at the Hero King, whom he "considered" to be the "victim".

Now, there are about 3 minutes left before Kiritsugu finishes his cigarette and walks into the hotel.

Sigh, to prevent accidental injury later, Gilgamesh will have to endure this brief ordeal and experience what it means to be—

They'll be punished by heaven and earth.

Surely the great king, the mighty Gilgamesh, wouldn't care about such trivial matters.

Thinking this, Conan pressed the button.

"Kacha——"

A crisp snap of a camera shutter sounded, seemingly defiant, not far from the disheveled figure.

"What--?!"

Gilgamesh's expression froze.

(End of this chapter)