To become a king and a magician

This is news that every local resident should know now, therefore, Joan of Arc should not be able to continue to exist in the world.

Upon hearing her partner say this, the woman called Joan of Arc smiled with a slightly cruel glint in her eyes and raised the object she had been holding.

It was a golden urn, with cups that shone with a dazzling golden light.

The Holy Grail—a crystallization of magical power that can grant the holder's wishes, a condensation of an immense amount of magical power.

"—This is hereby declared."

Holding the Holy Grail, Joan of Arc stood in the center of the room and began to chant in a cold, emotionless voice.

"Your body is under my command, and my destiny rests on your sword. Answer the call of the Holy Grail; if you wish to follow this principle, then answer my summons."

"Here I reveal that I am the one who spreads all evil throughout the world. Yet you should serve me with your eyes blinded by chaos. You are the one imprisoned in the cage of madness, and I am the one who holds its chains."

"You are the guardian of the scales, bound by the three great incantations for seven days, originating from the Wheel of Restraint!"

As Joan of Arc finished chanting, the Holy Grail in her hand suddenly emitted a dazzling light that was visible to the naked eye, so intense that it almost completely obscured Joan of Arc's vision.

After the light faded, seven figures suddenly appeared in the room that originally contained only two people.

"Oh my gosh~~~~ This is Servant summoning!"

Seeing this scene, the man dressed as a wizard couldn't help but exclaim excitedly, as if he were a devout pilgrim who had truly received the blessing of his faith.

Joan of Arc was quite pleased with her actions: "You've finally come, my fellow countrymen. As you can see, I am your Master. And I think you should understand why you have been summoned here."

"Destruction and slaughter, this is the command I give you. Destroy and ravage vibrant villages and bustling streets—do not worry about the consequences, for whatever we do, the gods will forgive us."

"Ah, right, right, and those clergy who are currently fleeing around this town or hiding in various places, my lowly servants, if you wish, you may eat them as food. As your Master, Jeanne d'Arc allows it all."

If all beings in this world are innocent, then in Joan of Arc's eyes, only the clergy must be guilty of sins.

Whether they devour their souls or suck their blood, they deserve it, even those who are relatively virtuous. In this country, and in that country across the sea, the church is something that deserves to be destroyed.

"Let us begin our purge, Servants."

"Let us, with the banner of the dragon as our symbol, purge this country, purge this error called France."

——————————————————————————————————————

At the same time, on the other side of France, quite far from where Joan of Arc was.

On a vast grassland.

In a place where the town could be vaguely seen, a figure carrying a suitcase nimbly jumped out from a portal of light.

"Yes, safe landing, safe landing."

Looking around, the mature woman with beautiful red hair, Aozaki Aoko, stretched her limbs vigorously: "Hmm~~~ Hmm~~~! The air in the wild is really nice. Although the scenery in Avalon is also very beautiful, it gets boring after a while. Besides, I've been indoors the whole time. If I don't come out, I'm really going to suffocate in here."

"Although I said I was going to come out, it's really tiring to travel all the way from Avalon to this singularity. If possible, I really hope Merlin can prepare a means of transportation for me."

That's what they say, but based on Aozaki Aoko's understanding of that nightmare, he would probably only move reluctantly if urged by Ria. Otherwise, he was almost completely absorbed in playing the virtual idol named Magical Merry.

"Well... anyway, let's find a place to stay first, and then wait to meet up with the other side."

Aozaki Aoko was somewhat looking forward to her upcoming reunion with her little man. After all, it had been more than half a year since they last met, and it was impossible for her not to miss him.

37. Big Light Wheel

The second spirit transfer was still a novel experience for Fujimaru Ritsuka, because she had been affected by Professor Rafe's meteor shower when she transferred to Fuyuki City before, which prevented her from properly experiencing the feeling of spirit transfer.

Now, after experiencing a sensation as if she had leaped over something, Fujimaru Ritsuka opened her eyes as her feet touched the ground.

In an instant, a vast grassland came into view.

"This...is the singularity?"

"Yes, it seems the transfer was successfully completed, senior."

Mash, who had switched to her Demi-Servant mode and was carrying a shield, said this to Fujimaru Ritsuka, and then looked at Akuta Hinako on the other side: "Miss Akuta seems to be safe and sound as well. Last time it was because of Professor Lev's interference, but this time there is nothing unusual."

“I don’t need you to worry about me, Mash.”

"Fufu~~~"

Just as Hinako Akuta was arrogantly declaring that she was alright, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from Fujimaru Ritsuka, and then the group saw Fufu, who had somehow ended up on her shoulder.

Mashu reached out and pulled Fou into her arms: "Fou? You followed me again?"

"Fu~~~"

After affectionately nuzzling Mashu's hand, Fou nimbly jumped onto Mashu's shield. Seeing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but ask, "What's Fou doing here? Can it perform spirit particle transfer too?"

"I think so. It probably slipped into my, my senior's, or Miss Akuta's basket when no one was looking... We can't send Fufu back right now, so let's keep it with us for now. When we go back later, Fufu will come with us."

That's really the only way.

And at that very moment—

"Hey, you two, look up at the sky."

Hinako's voice made Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mashu instinctively look up at the sky, and then they both froze in place.

"What is that...?"

Above them was a vast blue sky, with white clouds drifting by and a gentle breeze wafting through the air. This boundless blue sky was something that could never be seen in Chaldea, high in the snow-capped mountains.

If it were any other time, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who hadn't seen the outside world for a while, and Mash, who had never been to the outside world, would definitely be quite excited about this.

However, within that moving scene, there was something extremely unusual.

"Halo...?"

Mashu murmured aloud.

Yes.

In the boundless blue sky, there was a huge halo sitting there.

It was like a hole had been opened in the sky, preventing clouds from drifting in and wind from blowing out. It looked beautiful, yet it gave people a feeling of unease, presenting an overwhelming sense of presence.

Why are there such strange things here?

This was the same thought that came to the minds of the three of them at that moment. Although it was just an intuition, all three of them were certain that it was not something that originally existed in this era.

After staring at the halo for a while, Hinako Akuta was the first to look away and turn to Mashu: "Mash, let's begin. Didn't Roman and Natsukawa remind us before we came that we should re-establish contact with the singularity as soon as we arrive? I can sense that the spiritual veins around here are in good condition, so setting up a communication spell will be easy."

"Ah, yes, I understand. Let's begin setting up communication between the spell restoration and Chaldea."

After Mashu finished speaking, she placed the shield in her hand flat on the grass. As a magical circle of several points of light formed, a projection screen appeared above the shield.

What was displayed on the screen was the scene inside the Chaldea control room.

"Oh, the technique is complete... Hey, hey, hey? Can you hear me? Fujimaru, Mashu, Akuta, is the image clear enough?"

As if confirming the strength of the signal, Roman on the screen said this loudly.

Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and nodded: "Yes, very well, Dr. Roman. The minister's face is the same."

"Huh? I can see everything. I thought it was because you couldn't see from the ground."

Not far from Roman, Natsukawa Tora, holding a cup of coffee, revealed himself completely: "It seems the spirit particle transfer went smoothly. Proving your existence here was also quite easy for us, which is why we can conduct video communication like this. How's the situation over there?"

"Please wait a moment about this. I'll adjust the camera upwards. There's something I'd like to show the doctor and my brother."

As Mashu spoke, she pointed the image at the sky, and the enormous halo in the air was immediately visible to everyone in the control room.

Roman immediately looked at Natsukawa Tiger: "Natsukawa, this is...?"

"It is undoubtedly the work of King Solomon. At least, my investigation into the history of 1431 does not record anything like this. However, I don't think it will have any impact on you at this stage."

As he spoke, Natsukawa Tora used his terminal to send information about the light wheel to Roman.

The true form of the light halo is King Solomon's third Noble Phantasm, a light band that heralds the end of humanity, a manifestation of the heat generated from the burning and transformation of human history.

After reading the report sent to him by Natsukawa Tora, Roman frowned deeply: "King Solomon... Fujimaru, Mashu, and Akuta, you must not try to interfere with that halo right now. Since it is the influence of King Solomon, it is undoubtedly something that you cannot handle at present."

"Well, we'll have to wait until I get there to talk about it," Natsukawa Tora added. "So, besides the light wheel, are there any other unusual occurrences?"

"The others, however—"

“There are quite a few biological reactions approaching us.”

Before Mashu could finish speaking, Hinako Akuta shared her findings. Like Torakawa, as a spirit, Hinako Akuta possessed a certain level of sensitivity to what was happening in her surroundings. While she couldn't match Torakawa or Arcueid's abilities, it was more than sufficient for her current situation.

"This reaction is...human, probably from the military."

"How many people are there?"

"About a dozen people, scattered here and there."

Fujimaru Ritsuka thought for a moment: "If it's a local military unit, they should know something about this singularity, right? Should we go and say hello?"

"I think it should be fine. Let's contact each other again after you've settled down. Until then, we'll communicate via voice messages through communication devices."

"Yes."

38. Gudako: I don't speak French!

Restoring humanity is an extremely difficult journey, and it is not surprising to encounter any kind of crisis along the way.

Powerful enemies, terrifying monsters, enemy camps riddled with traps... Fujimaru Ritsuka had imagined the dangers she would face countless times, but no matter how vivid her imagination, she never expected that the first thing to appear before her would be—

"I don't speak French!"

Looking at the group of tense French soldiers in front of her, Fujimaru Ritsuka realized the most important problem.

Language.

As the foundation for communication between people, language is undoubtedly the most important part of daily life. If we cannot communicate using language, even normal life will be very problematic.

In the past, Fujimaru Ritsuka had never had such concerns. For some reason, even though Chaldea was an international organization, most of its members spoke Japanese and English. This was quite friendly to Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was Japanese to begin with. Even when she encountered someone who spoke English, she could barely understand them.

But this is France now.

She doesn't understand French at all! Forget about having a conversation, she doesn't even know what the other person is saying!

And it's not just French. Considering that the seven singularities are located in seven different regions of the Earth, and the languages ​​in each region are different, this means that she may have to master seven more languages ​​besides Japanese and English!

I thought leaving school would end the agony of learning foreign languages, but instead I've fallen straight into the abyss of foreign language hell...

Who are you?