At this moment, shatter the dimensional barrier

"Reward? You'll give me food?" Patsi said coldly. In his view, these old races came from Moscow. As everyone knows, there are only a few people in this world who possess the old races, and they are all guys who hold the highest power in the country.

“Food is no problem,” Holmes said generously, producing a sack of pre-packaged bread.

Leonardo da Vinci developed many space storage devices for storing food, and prepared enough food in advance for the entire Chaldea to survive for a hundred years in case of unforeseen circumstances.

"What is this?" Patsy Wolf Kiss sniffed it; it smelled very good.

"bread."

“Bread…” Pazsi became even more wary. He had only ever heard of bread, a luxury that only important people in Moscow could afford.

Why would they offer such a luxury item to a small-town hunter like him? What are they planning to do? What are they going to town for? But whatever their purpose, there are only three of them.

"I understand. Give me food, and I'll lead the way. Follow me." Patsi dragged the four-meter-tall monster's corpse in one hand and carried a sack of bread in the other. Since he was being given it to him, he might as well take it.

Midway through the journey, Holmes subtly inquired about the specifics of this world from Patsy, while Fujimaru Ritsuka also explained the identities of the three of them, causing Patsy's wariness to lessen slightly.

Soon they arrived at Smolensk, the town where Patsi lived.

The town was small, with an estimated population of around ten thousand. When the townspeople saw Fujimaru Ritsuka and Patsushi with the three of them, their eyes showed wariness, but they looked at Patsushi with disdainful and mocking eyes, as if he were a weakling they could bully at any time.

Ignoring the townspeople's mockery, Patsi led Fujimaru Ritsuka and the other two to his dwelling, a wooden house buried under thick snow, with only a fireplace inside.

“Patsi?” an old werewolf asked weakly, huddled in front of the fireplace.

“Yes, I’m back, Mother.” Patsi’s voice softened.

In this cruel world, only the strong survive, the weak perish, and those who lose their ability to survive are ruthlessly abandoned, especially the elderly and the disabled. Because living is seen as a waste of resources.

The only food they can eat in this world is magical beasts, but hunting magical beasts requires brutal fighting, and sometimes the food they obtain is not enough for themselves, so how could they possibly share it with people who cannot survive?

He was the only one in the town supporting his mother, who was also the only elderly person in the town. Therefore, he was an anomaly with what the old human race called 'humanity,' and was considered a fool by everyone in the town.

He had already done everything he could to ensure his and his mother's survival.

"I can offer you some assistance, but you'll have to provide me with the location information of the Roaring Beast as payment." Patz said to Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others while dealing with the Roaring Beast's corpse.

Time passed quickly. As Patsi handed the softened monster meat and bread to his toothless mother, he answered all the questions he knew.

Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu, while eating their own rations, watched the old werewolf who kept saying 'thank you' to Patsi, and their doubts grew.

"I see... So this is the Lostbelt." Holmes pondered for a moment.

"I have roughly deduced the causes and consequences of this world."

"Four hundred and fifty years ago, an asteroid crashed into the central Eurasian continent, triggering a global cold wave that killed almost 95% of humanity in a short period of time."

"Russia is located close to the Arctic and is naturally equipped with the conditions to defend against the extreme cold, so it persevered to the end."

Realizing that humanity was on the verge of extinction, Tsar Ivan IV summoned the world's last remaining magicians to Moscow to find a way to save mankind.

"The ultimate method is to have all of humanity use magic to integrate the factors of magical beasts into them, so that they can become the highly resistant half-human, half-beast 'Yaga'."

"Then the Tsar ruled the world until three months ago when the Storm Wall enveloped all of Russia, and along with the storm came that towering silver tree."

"Then the Tsar fell into a deep sleep, and now the highest power is held by four humans, whom the Yaga call the Old Race."

“That’s right, they are a priest, a princess, a court magician, and a ruthless merchant.” Pazsi gritted his teeth: “Since they appeared, the whole country has been in chaos. The Tsar’s hunters now obey their orders and are constantly collecting taxes from villages and towns. So far, the amount of food each person pays has exceeded three times what it used to be.”

"The number of monsters is also decreasing. If they cannot pay taxes, they will be regarded as rebelling against the Tsar's rule and executed by the hunters."

"The country is now divided into several factions: the 'royalists' in Moscow who see the Tsar as their savior; the 'resistance army' that overthrows the Tsar, whose leader is said to be a strong woman with an old-fashioned appearance; and another faction that believes the Tsar is good, but has been misled by treacherous officials, and advocates returning power to the emperor."

“This is the current situation in Russia,” Patsi said, making a wolf-like howl. He had to pay two taxes because he needed to support his mother.

"And what about you? What are you outsiders from Chaldea trying to do by asking about these things?"

"Our goal is simple: to save the world and restore it to its state before the disaster," Fujimaru Ritsuka said earnestly.

"Save the world?" Pazsi was stunned.

As an outcast with 'humanity', he has thought about many things.

His father was once the town's guard officer. He pleaded with the tax collectors to let Moscow collect less tax in order to prevent the townspeople from starving. This was seen as an act of defiance against tyranny and he was executed by the Killing Hunters.

However, instead of being grateful, everyone in the town mocked his father for being weak, believing that only the weak would plead for mercy.

He knew from a young age that this was a world where only the strong were allowed to live, that only strength was the truth, and that only the strong could survive. Everything else was considered weak, and anyone considered weak would be trampled on by everyone. Admiring the strong and despising the weak was the truth of survival.

But because of his father, he couldn't turn a blind eye to the weak. So when the other people in the town abandoned their parents in the snowfield because they could no longer hunt, he secretly hid his mother in his home and took care of her.

“I don’t know what gives you the confidence, but I’ll help you as long as you pay me,” Patsy said.

He never thought about saving the world, nor did he ever help anyone except his mother; he simply did his best to survive.

Although he wondered if this world, which only allows the strong to survive and has no tolerance for the weak, was the right one, reality forced him to abandon such a ridiculous idea.

He didn't believe these outsiders could save the world, but he envied them for being able to laugh.

He had never seen anyone laugh. They were already struggling to survive, so how could they possibly laugh?

“Don’t worry, all we need is Mr. Patsy to show us the way,” Holmes said with a smile. “Having a local willing to explain things to us in completely unfamiliar territory is the best help we can get.”

Although he has only been in contact with them for a short time, he has already deduced the living conditions of the Yaga people in this world.

Because of the extreme cold, all the plants in the world have died. Only a very few magicians are able to cultivate plants and vegetables, and 99.9% of the Yaga can only hunt magical beasts.

The monster was originally highly poisonous, but because Yaga was half-human and half-monster, it could digest the poison.

However, monsters have a long growth cycle, and while the Yaga are ten times stronger than ordinary people, they also consume ten times more food to maintain their body temperature and survive.

This means that food will become increasingly scarce, and if there is no change, there will be no more humans in the Russian Lostbelt in less than a hundred years.

……

Moscow

Royal Palace

In Ivan the Terrible's bedchamber, Ivan IV, who had been completely transformed into a monster, lay half-asleep on a huge bed, his massive body, over six meters tall, unconsciously flowing with blue electricity.

In a state between sleep and wakefulness, Ivan the Terrible no longer had normal human features; his face was completely contorted, like a swirling vortex of flesh, from which sounds emanated.

“Ah… Queen, my Queen Anastasia… Bishop Matthias…”

"Your Majesty, I am here." A girl's voice, completely different from the one in Ivan the Terrible's memory, rang out. At the same time, a piano requiem was played from the musician's room. The voice and the requiem blended together, making it impossible to distinguish the real from the real.

"Please continue to sleep peacefully. Everything is fine in Russia. We have already defeated Chaldea with your hunters. Everything is going according to plan." The priest, who looked exactly like Kirei Kotomine, smiled with his hands behind his back, his voice filled with indescribable pleasure.

"You are awake now. The hunters you are carrying out the plan may sabotage it, so please rest assured."

Killer Hunters are creations summoned by Ivan the Terrible's Noble Phantasm, "The Black Hound That Sneaks Out of My Dreams." Each Killer Hunter is equivalent to the weakest Servant, but can only be used while Ivan the Terrible is asleep.

Ivan the Terrible was muttering in his sleep.

"Is that so... My world has broken free from its predetermined fate... and is now participating in the competition to replace pan-human history..."

"Russia can't wait any longer. Its people have reached the limits of survival. It must expand immediately, expand... expand..."

Three months ago, the 'Imaginary Tree' fell from the sky, making Ivan the Terrible realize that his world had escaped its predetermined fate. However, news from other Lostbelts gave Russia, which was on the verge of collapse, a chance to breathe.

However, after learning about the Pan-Human Chaldea from the outsider magician Kadoc and others, he appointed Kadoc and the others as court magicians and ordered them to lead the Killing Hunters to destroy Chaldea.

If he doesn't do this, Russia, which has finally had a chance to catch its breath, will not even begin its expansion into other Lostbelts. If Chaldea arrives ahead of schedule, it will fall into a crisis of being cut off again.

However, Ivan the Terrible did not fully trust the outsiders and was wary of the alien god who had brought the "Imaginary Tree" to Russia.

He did not believe that anything in the world could be entirely in Russia's best interest, so he did not allow his utopian ideals to take root in Russian soil.

If the tree of fantasy takes root, the blizzards across Russia will soon disappear, but at what cost? He will not let the tree of fantasy take root until he understands the cost.

"Yes, Your Majesty, Russia is expanding," Anastasia said coolly, holding a doll.

The 'Anastasia' mentioned by the Tsar was her great-great ...

Her true identity was the youngest daughter of the last emperor of the Russian Empire in the 18th century. She was killed at the age of 15 by the people who overthrew the empire and established a republic.

Her goal was to recreate the imperial coronation and become empress; the expansion of the Russian Lostbelt had to be after she seized Ivan IV's 'extraordinary power'.

The priest servant possessing Kirei Kotomine was not Ivan IV's teacher, Machelis, but her father's teacher, the infamous monk Rasputin who had caused turmoil in the Russian Empire.

The real Machelis has already been dealt with by Rasputin.

Rasputin was an apostle summoned by an alien god. He helped her because Rasputin was one of the reasons for the overthrow of the Russian Empire, and his obsession was to help her become Tsar.

The reason Ivan the Terrible is now in a deep sleep is because of the 'Lullaby' played by Mozart, a servant summoned by Pan-Human History three months ago.

Mozart's spirit origin collapsed after only three months of slumber under Ivan the Terrible, due to the constant release of his Noble Phantasm.

Fortunately, Pan-Human History summoned Salieri, a servant who was an enemy of Mozart. Mozart used his last spirit origin to hypnotize Salieri, making Salieri believe that he was 'Mozart' and continue to hypnotize the Tsar with Requiem.

“You may continue to sleep peacefully, Your Majesty. We will take care of everything,” the priest said.

"Ah... Mozart..." Salieri, the musician clad in red armor of vengeance, played the piano tirelessly, the sound of his Requiem lingering in Ivan the Terrible's ears, and He fell asleep once more.

The princess and the priest left Ivan the Terrible's bedchamber.

A gloomy and self-deprecating man was waiting at the palace gate: "The Tsar almost woke up again. I wonder how long this 'Mozart' can hold on."

“Therefore, we must seize ‘extraordinary power’ as soon as possible.” The priest said with a smile, his hands behind his back. “But with our current strength, it is basically impossible; we can only stall for time.”

"Now we're in a dilemma, forced to cooperate with the escaped Chaldea. Heh, isn't that interesting?"

"We're the only team in all the Lostbelts that failed to get the Imaginary Tree to take root. I'm afraid the captain will send someone to question us soon."

"Hehe, what can I do? I'm the weakest Master in Group A." Kadoc said self-deprecatingly. He really was the weakest in Group A. His family background as a magus was not good, his magical heritage was not good, and his bloodline was not good. Only by giving it his all could he reach 50% of the level of others. From childhood, he had been constantly attacked and ridiculed by other magus.

"Anyway, we've already detected the signal of Chaldea's arrival."

"At least for now, our goal is the same as Chaldea's: to overthrow the Tsar."

"After we defeat the Tsar, it will be the final battle between us and Chaldea. They will definitely not refuse."

"Hehehe, Fujimaru Ritsuka defeated Goetia, are you really confident?" the priest said cheerfully.

"Hmph, she was just lucky. If nothing had gone wrong, I would have done better than her and saved more people." Kadoc said with a sneer. Although he was not as good as the others in Group A, he could do what Fujimaru Ritsuka, the last of the 48 Masters, could do, and he could do it even better.

He was actually very jealous of Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was only a half-baked person but had done the work that should have been done by their Group A.

The priest chuckled, “Well, after all, Mozart originally intended to delay Ivan the Terrible until Chaldea arrived, but unfortunately, his spiritual foundation was too weak, and he collapsed from hypnotizing Ivan the Terrible in less than three months.”

"Now it's just as he wished."

"..." Kadoc remained silent. If he were a little stronger, he wouldn't need to consider joining forces with Fujimaru Ritsuka. However, even the weakest of the seven Lostbelts, the Tsar, was still a god-level being.

“What about Koyanskaya?” Anastasia asked.

The priest chuckled: "Oh, this woman is completely disregarding our plan. She's taking advantage of the current food shortage to sell grain to Yaga at high prices. After all, manipulating the weak, no, manipulating humanity to make them kill each other, is in her nature."