I am a Type-Moon comic artist!

He knew the Masters of Group A; those were the people from before, but the Lostbelts...

"I don't know. I don't know the specifics either, but that's precisely why I'm asking you to investigate. The cause of the Lostbelts, and... who's behind it all. I'd like you to investigate those as well."

Holmes thought for a moment and then laughed: "Things are getting interesting."

Kurokawa Kazuya breathed a slight sigh of relief. If this matter were left to Holmes... he should be able to find something out.

This is his characteristic.

The perfect crime.

Does not exist.

This is exemplified in Sherlock Holmes.

Even if there really is such a thing as a "perfect crime," it would no longer be perfect the moment Holmes appeared.

It's like a door without a key.

An average person would never be able to find the key, since the key is gone.

Without the key, the only way to open the door is to kick it open.

However... these principles do not apply to Holmes, or rather, they do not apply to his Noble Phantasms.

Even without a key, his Noble Phantasm will create one and open the door.

Of course... the key that is made will not immediately appear in Holmes's hands, but will be in some other place, and Holmes will need to rely on "deduction" to find the key.

But that's enough.

If Kurokawa and Miya were to search for it themselves, it would take them an unknown amount of time, and they might not even be able to find it.

However, if the task were entrusted to Sherlock Holmes... the chances of success would increase significantly.

"By the way, Shiki... did you do that on purpose?" Kurokawa Kazuya asked, remembering Shiki's special features.

"I guess so... Weren't you looking for something? So, I was thinking of summoning a detective... I didn't expect it to be so easy to succeed."

“Simple…?” Holmes raised his eyebrows slightly.

"By the way, what did you discover at that time?"

"It's nothing serious." Holmes raised his eyebrows. In fact, he had noticed something was wrong when he was summoned; the summoning circle should never have been able to summon him in the first place.

The probability of summoning him is not just close to zero. It's practically zero!

However... just as his special ability is to materialize a key that didn't originally exist, Ryougi Shiki's special ability is to make something that was originally zero non-zero... and to infinitely amplify that possibility.

So, he probed slightly, revealing that he was a detective, in order to test his obviously abnormal Master.

The facts have proven this.

The others were surprised by the Servant's appearance.

Only Ryougi Shiki was surprised that "the detective was actually summoned."

As for Rafe and all that... he didn't see anything, but he still deliberately left a meaningful look in his eyes.

Just in case.

First, give others the impression that you "understand everything" or "I've seen through your schemes." That's when the other person will reveal their true colors.

He simply noticed that something was off about Rafe.

As for Roman...

He originally wanted to test the waters.

But to avoid getting confused with Rafe, he let it go. After arriving here, he learned another piece of information.

Although Kurokawa Kazuya didn't explain in detail, he understood.

Roman's true identity is indeed incorrect, but we don't need to worry about it. We can ignore his situation and focus our attention on the Masters of Group A and the Lostbelts.

"So, Kurokawa and Miya...? Can you tell me what information you have?"

"Okay," Kurokawa Kazuya nodded.

"From this day forward, this planet will be transformed into a new world. Human civilization is incorrect, and our growth is not the right path. Therefore, I have made a decision to rebel against the history of humanity up to this point—the history of pan-humanity. The world will be filled with inhuman mystery, and the planet will return to a world where gods abound. Therefore, the gods descended from the distant universe and selected new guides from seven seeds."

"The Guides will reshape this planet, and even more outstanding [Otherworld Guides] will renew this world. Life forms of the Pan-Human History will be unable to compete, nor will they have a seat to observe. The roots of fantasy have fallen, and the art of creation overflows the earth. From now on, everything done by the old humans will be frozen, and your sins will be settled according to your treatment. The Pan-Human History will end in 2017."

"My name is Wodem, Kirshtalia Wodem. I declare to you, the survivors of Chaldea—no, the last few of you who are now the old humans—that the history of this planet shall be inherited by us!"

"Wait a minute! Kirshtalia Wodem? Isn't that the captain of Group A?" Ryougi Shiki exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah, that's right. I don't know exactly what Lostbelts are... but the seven members of Group A are all likely enemies... so it's practically a complete unknown to me!"

Lostbelts...

"Just as life has competition, history also has winners and losers. 'Now' represents the history of the victors who made the right choices and achieved the right prosperity. This is called pan-human history. The history of the losers who made wrong choices and achieved the wrong prosperity is abruptly ended as 'unnecessary stuff,' and even abandoned by the parallel universe theory. This 'half-finished human history' is called 'Lostbelt.'"

"In 1570 AD, Anastasia, the princess of the Beast Kingdom, of the Permafrost Empire."

"1000 BC, the Age of Ice and Flame, Ragnarok—the Unquenchable Flame???"

"In 210 BC, the Kingdom of Human Wisdom Unified??? - Beauty Under the Red Moon."

"The year 11900, when the beginning and end of the Common Era are unknown, is a cycle of creation, destruction, and reincarnation—the final god of darkness."

"12000 BC, the interstellar city mountain range—the day the god was shot down."

"In the year 500 AD, the Round Table Realm—the time when stars were born."

"In the year BC, the Tree Sea was located in the 'City of Trees'."

"That's all the information I have."

"What is this? This is all nonsense." Ryougi Shiki said, looking at the words on the paper. "And... what does that mean?"

"The meaning of 'blacking out' is... well, simply put, it's to create suspense and not tell you yet, so you can guess what's going on. But... considering the previous five instances, you should be able to guess what's going on, right?"

“Indeed…this can’t be called just a little bit of information.” Holmes sat silently for a moment. “This is quite a lot of information…I see. In that case, we can draw some interesting conclusions. Lostbelts…”

"So? Have you accepted the commission?"

“Of course,” Holmes said with a smile. “It is indeed a very interesting challenge, a very interesting question, a very interesting puzzle. Rest assured, I am Holmes, and I will surely solve this puzzle and reveal it all to you. If the time is 2017, then how about I give you the answer before 2017?”

"It doesn't matter, but those old humans... that guy's pretty arrogant." Ryougi Shiki stood up and counted, "Deduction is too troublesome, wouldn't it be better to just charge in? Just grab that Kirshtalia Wodem and ask him what this so-called Lostbelt is, right? It's not like we can't beat him..."

“I see. You’re quite confident in your abilities.” Holmes nodded. “However, I can somewhat understand Mr. Kurokawa’s concerns. What he’s worried about is… that the current Masters of Group A don’t even know what Lostbelts are, right?”

"Ah, that's a possibility... After all, there's still a long time until 2017. They might already know, or they might be so outstanding that they were given the responsibility of Lostbelts in certain events."

“I see… Actually, the former is easier to handle, but if it’s the latter… does that mean they were all persuaded, or rather… unable to refuse?” Holmes pondered. “Indeed, Group A is in danger in this situation. Is it possible that they might encounter a threat that could threaten an existence at the level of human history… Although it’s only a possibility, is that why they disagree?”

"No, it's just because I'm very busy."

"Huh?" This time, Holmes was taken aback.

"I'm too busy to play games about saving the world or solving mysteries. That's for detectives. I'm just an artist, not a participant. My job is to draw the interesting things I see and share them with the world. While solving mysteries might be fun, there are many interesting things in front of me. I can't give up the whole forest for a single tree."

"I see...that's unexpected." Holmes raised an eyebrow. "So you're this type of person, a writer...well, that's fine too, describing what the detective has handled..."

Holmes chuckled, "So you're starting to resemble Watson more and more. But... in that case, you'll need to take on some of the responsibilities of an assistant at times."

“That would be fine.” Kurokawa Kazuya nodded. “If we encounter something like that, it should be good material for our artwork.”

“That’s right, how about we draw a ‘Sherlock Holmes Lostbelt Exploration Series’? It’s sure to be a bestseller.” Holmes said, raising his eyebrows with a smug expression.

.......

“There was no surveillance...no listening in…” Roman sighed, washed his hands, and looked at the ring on his finger after taking off his gloves: “That Sherlock Holmes seems to know so much about me…it feels like he can see right through me.”

He lowered his head weakly, saying, "Maybe... I should just confess..."

Chapter 343 Contract

"Lossanids, Kurokawa Kazuya, Ryougi Shiki..."

Back in his assigned room in Chaldea, Holmes chuckled and lit his pipe: "This is unexpectedly interesting. It seems I've encountered a great mystery."

First is Ryougi Shiki...

At first glance, this girl seems no different from an ordinary person, but in reality... this seemingly ordinary girl summoned him using a summoning circle with a zero probability of summoning a Servant.

Then came Kurokawa Kazuya.

Much of the information came from him, including the Lostbelts, and it was he who told him not to worry about Rafe and Roman.

The person who entrusted the task to him was still him.

How were those intelligence reports obtained?

As he himself said, was it a parallel world travel? Information obtained from other parallel worlds... But the truth probably isn't like that...

These are all things worth investigating.

......

"Wow, amazing!" Kurokawa Kazumi exclaimed in surprise, "Only 0.0009? Ryougi-san, you are truly incredible."

"So-so. Well... no matter what you guys say, I don't really feel it, I'm just standing there. Why is it only 0.0009, why did it summon a Servant, who knows, anyway, it was a success."

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore." Kurokawa Kazuya said, bringing over a pile of desserts. "Speaking of which, doesn't Chaldea have any gaming equipment? Gaming equipment from 2012."

"It seems there aren't any." Kurokawa Kazumi looked around and shook her head. "However, there are some training devices that are quite fun."

"Training equipment?" Kurokawa Kazuya asked with some doubt.

"Yes, it can summon Servants, but they're actually just electronic programs with little intelligence that only obey the Master's commands. The main purpose is to train the Master's abilities, familiarize them with the Servants, and help them become as familiar as possible with combat. That's what the director said. However, the training hall is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM every day, but it's closed now."

Isn't this the kind of "full-dive equipment" often seen in online game novels... like the one in Sword Art Online?

However, it seems to be more advanced.

As expected, Chaldea has a lot of advanced technology.

However, upon closer examination, the Chaldea that has been revealed by Chaldea so far...

And the training equipment that Kurokawa Kazumi mentioned, I guess it was made using that pseudo-spiritual computer Trismegistes. So... using this thing to make games or anime would probably be pretty amazing.

Also, it has been abandoned now because of Chaldea, but the imaginary observation machine PaperMoon will be very useful in FGO 2.0.