Walking in the Question and Answer System of Heroic Spirits

Reines: "Huh? Wait! The Grand Order Decision is scheduled for late tomorrow night! What are you going to do if something happens?"

[Second Generation: "I plan to return before the meeting, but if anything unexpected happens, you will attend. After all, you are the original heir, and no one will object."]

Reines: "I object, Onii-chan!"

Hearing Reines's scream, the Second Prince smiled smugly and turned to leave with Grey.

Kenneth: "Where are you going at such a crucial time?"

Weber: "It seems that what Atram wrote in the letter is what will make my future self leave at this time. It is probably related to Hartles."

Lion's Robbery: "Hartles has already gone to Albion. If this really is related to him, there shouldn't be any trouble."

Meanwhile, on Olga Marie's side...

Olga Marie was utterly shocked to learn of the attack on Sla from Ryori Adashino.

She is currently traveling with Hideaki Adashino to visit Rufreus.

To be precise, it was Rufreus who invited her, and the meeting place was a villa in the suburbs.

Upon their arrival, Rufreus rudely told Adashino Ryori to leave.

[Because Adashino Ryori had known about the Servant's existence for a long time, but had never reported it.]

[But Hideaki Adashino didn't seem to care at all; she left a letter and left. That was also the purpose of her visit.]

Rufreus opened the letter, read it, and told Olga Marie that it was written by the previous Barthezello, and that it instructed them to stop Albion's redevelopment plan.

Olga Marie expressed her confusion and suggested that continuing development might be beneficial, but Rufreus bluntly refuted her suggestion.

[After all that rambling, Rufreus's main point is: just let things take their natural course; what's meant to happen will happen.]

[This is a typical "lying flat" mentality, believing that maintaining the status quo is best, which is also the tenet of the aristocratic faction.]

Kenneth: "Even the former monarch of Barthezmello has been alarmed?"

Koles: "They really don't want to develop Albion? It shouldn't be a conflict of interest for them."

Gold: "Maintaining the status quo... Hmph, that sounds nice, all about letting things take their course, but it's really just fear of jeopardizing my position."

Feng Xi: "Typical old-age thinking, the older you get, the more timid you become."

Weber: "After all, most older people have long lost the drive of younger people."

Rufreus chatted with Olga Marie for a while, mentioning his son Bram, who he thought was too young and needed more training; then he mentioned his daughter Sora, saying she had already lost her value; finally, he mentioned his apprentice Kenneth, thinking he had good talent but unfortunately wasn't a proper aristocrat.

[Then Rufreus led Olga Marie to the basement and opened a rusty iron door.]

[Inside was a vast library, its materials and books specially transported by Rufreus from the underground vaults of the Clock Tower.]

The administrator here is also quite unusual; he's a skeleton soldier.

This skeletal soldier likely uses a recording medium similar to that of the Atlas Institute to memorize detailed information about the library. Simply state the book you're looking for, and he can lead you there.

Rufreus brought Olga Marie here to search for information on Heroic Spirits.

Led by the skeleton soldiers, he found a notebook left behind by a magician named "Machiri Zolgen".

Tokiomi Tohsaka: "Machiri Zolgen!"

Rin Tohsaka: "Father, do you know this person?"

Tokiomi Tohsaka: "Of course I know him. He is the founder of the Holy Grail system and the ancestor of the Matou family."

Everyone: "What!"

Kariya Matou: "So it was an ancestor..."

Kariya Matou: "I'm not interested in my family's history, so I haven't learned much about it."

Feng Xi thought to himself, "If you knew he was the Old Bug, I wonder what your expressions would be."

Because the old bug didn't have much screen time in World War IV, his true identity wasn't revealed, but it will definitely be revealed in World War V.

Hopefully they won't be too surprised then.

[The video returns to the scene with the Second Prince, who has already brought Grey to a remote town.]

They traveled all the way to the town's hospital and found a robust doctor who looked to be nearly sixty years old.

[Second Generation: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Grote."]

The doctor named Glot asked curiously, "I heard you came all the way from London to interview me?"

"No, that's not how it is."

The Second Prince said softly, "Because, 'Aren't we old friends?' We haven't seen each other in a long time, and I have so much I want to talk to you about."

"...Yes, that's right, that's correct."

Upon hearing the Second Prince's words, Glot frowned at first, then paused, and murmured.

Seeing Gray's questioning look, the Second Prince whispered, "Don't speak. That was a hint I gave. Due to technical limitations, we can't be disturbed."

Grey was taken aback, wondering why the Second Prince would do this.

Lion Jie Li: "Hahaha, I thought you were a very law-abiding kid, but it turns out you can use such methods too."

Weber: "...Should we learn to lower our standards in crucial moments?"

He was curious about what was wrong with this doctor named Gulot that required him to use this method.

[Second Generation: "Do you remember a patient from thirty years ago? He's now known by the name Hartleley."]

Upon hearing this, Grey gasped.

"So this is what Mr. Atram was talking about..."

She finally understood that what Atram left on the envelope wasn't magic, but rather information he had gathered from his investigation.

No, calling it magic wouldn't be wrong, since those messages couldn't possibly be written in an envelope.

The reason the reader uses magic to make the message appear is to transform the text into a simulated magic formula, gathering the vast amount of information Atram has found and playing it through the teacher's magic circuit.

Atram doesn't shy away from blending science and magic; this approach is very much his signature.

Lion's Robbery: "I see. Atram, this man does have some redeeming qualities after all."

Weber: "They actually tracked down Hartley's whereabouts from thirty years ago? That guy's got some skills."

Kenneth: "I remember Hartley joined the Magic Association thirty years ago, so this might be a clue about what happened before he joined the Magic Association."

Weber: "Very likely. No wonder my future self is here at this time."

"Although the Bodhi leaf fell into Izeruma's hands at the underground auction, I also realized something because of it."

"Haha, he probably thinks he can completely hide his identity by passing the bidding through multiple intermediaries, but on my land, concealing traces with sand and dust is a given. Our tenacity has been honed to the point where we can find our target by relying solely on a dry wind or a faint scent."

"Yes, you should know the information up to this point. However, the problem of the replacements only occurred when they returned."

"It is said that when a certain substitute returned to reality, he received the blessing of a fairy. The Mage's Association also regarded that magician differently, and he was hailed as a genius from the Far East even before Aozaki Touko."

"As for Hartres, it seems a physician once hid him. However, I decided to come here before conducting a detailed investigation, and I didn't want to create unnecessary trouble before the Holy Grail War, so I've temporarily suspended the investigation."

"If it were you, perhaps you could offer some insights. I'll give you the doctor's address—this is my way of returning the favor for the pleasure you've provided."

This is the message Atram left for the Second King on the envelope.

Weber: "The doctor who hid Hartres? It was this doctor!"

Rin Tohsaka: "Um, what do you mean by 'replacement'?"

Feng Xi: "Well, this is a general term for people who have had strange time experiences."

Feng Xi: "There's a legend about the famous Lü Zu of my country. He said that one year he went out and slept in a cave for one night. When he came out, he found that decades had passed outside. That's how it is."

Chapter 345 - Without a Heart

Rin Tohsaka: "Isn't this just the story of Taro Urashima!"

Feng Xi: "Pretty much. I would say there are similar legends all over the world."

Weber: "The substitution is when a child appears at one point in time and then at another."

"Yes, of course I remember."

After a long silence, Grote said, "If it's you, it's alright to say it, isn't it?"

"At the time, I was a young man full of ideals, and my late father often scolded me for it. However, when I accepted patients because of this personality trait, my father insisted that the person should be quickly transferred to another hospital with more staff, stubbornly refusing to back down. Nevertheless, I eventually arranged for him to be admitted to the hospital."

"When he was found, he was covered in wounds, so severe that it was unbelievable that he was still alive. And while his injuries healed surprisingly quickly, there was a major problem."

[Second Generation: "What problem? Like, not having a heart or something?"]

[Grote: "Where did you hear that from?"]

[Second Generation: "I'll omit the details, but that's what he said himself."]

[Glot: "...That's right, I can't send him to any other hospital. He has a pulse, and his blood is flowing. But no matter what machine we use to test him, we can't find his heart. It feels like a dream."]

"Not only that, even after his heart disappeared, he still seemed to feel pain. He would occasionally clutch his chest and writhe in agony, as if someone had just stabbed him in the heart."

"He used Hartles' name, that's a bit of a joke."

Weber: "No heart, so it's true."

He had always thought it was just a legend, or a vague and exaggerated version of events, but he never expected it to be exactly what it said.