The world of Type-Moon starts with saving Altria!

"That's what I intuitively feel, and its image...is very similar to what Ophelia told me before."

"..."

After listening to Ian's words, Scathach did not ask any further questions.

She just walked silently to the crystal-like wall and looked at Ophelia inside.

In an instant, the Queen of the Shadow Kingdom frowned.

"Ian—"

"Why does she look so sad?"

"..."

Listening to Scathach's words, Ian also came to her side, and then saw the scene described by the Queen of Shadow Kingdom.

Ophelia—or to be more precise, Ophelia as a child—was curled up in the corner of the room, hugging her legs.

She looked extremely lonely, as if she had no interest in anything.

"This is how the same thing?"

Scathach looked at her husband beside her.

"Since you said she mentioned these things, you should know, right?"

"..."

"This is her as a child," Ian explained without hesitation. "Right now, maybe she's just in her 'Sunday' phase."

"Sunday?"

"Ah."

The man nodded and looked at Ophelia's cheek.

I have to say that she looked more melancholy when she was a child, but she became much better after growing up.

of course.

Ian knew that perhaps it wasn't about getting rid of that melancholy aura, but simply hiding his true self.

"She and her parents would meet on Sundays, and that was when she was most upset."

"How can meeting your parents be the saddest moment?"

"This one……"

Ian was still thinking about how to explain this matter to Scathach, but at this time, a new change occurred in the room where Ophelia was alone.

The "door" on the other side (which didn't actually exist, it was just something like an entrance that disappeared the moment it opened) opened with a click.

A man and a woman dressed maturely just "walked" into the room.

Under Ian and Scathach's "gaze", they came to Ophelia.

then--

It was a sentence that sounded softly, but was actually very harsh and frightening.

"Why are you like this again?"

Obviously, the only people who could speak like this and "come" to Ophelia were her parents.

"Eh……"

Hearing this, Ophelia immediately got up and stood straight in front of her "parents", looking like she didn't dare to relax at all.

only……

It feels more like meeting a superior than meeting one's parents, right?

It was the first time that Ian truly experienced the pressure that Ophelia mentioned coming from a "magician family" background.

No.

This is more than just a stressful situation.

Rather than pressure, this is more like an invisible rule - if you don't follow it, you will become an outcast in the eyes of others.

Even men have realized this, so it is certainly impossible for Scathach not to empathize with this.

Ian could feel that her hand holding the Gae Bolg Alternative had unconsciously exerted a little more force.

"Has she always lived like this?"

"more or less."

"..."

"..."

The two of them stopped talking, and the silent atmosphere seemed to be an invisible confirmation of something extremely sad.

Ian knew what it was, understood what it was—he could now confirm that Scathach fully understood his motives.

The "questioning" in the house continued, and the man could hear the "care" from Ophelia's parents from time to time.

"You are always like this. Don't you feel that you have failed our expectations of you?"

"You must know that you are the most promising child in our family. You will inherit our position in the Clock Tower in the future! How can you accept all this as it is now?"

Words like these were spoken one after another, stinging little Ophelia's heart.

She looked at her parents, her lips moving as if she was about to say something, but in the end, all she could say was, "I'm sorry, I'll change."

Apart from that, there were steps moving backwards little by little.

Any bystander could sense little Ophelia's desire to escape.

She was like an ordinary person who had seen a devil, and the only thought in her mind was to escape.

"..."

"Ian—"

Scathach stared at the "tragic scene" happening in the house, her brows tightly knitted together.

"Why is there such a scene——"

"According to what that BB said, shouldn't this be a space that you've never come into contact with, and never want to come into contact with?"

"like this……"

"It's like a nightmare, right?"

"..."

"Nightmare?" Ian carefully pondered the word Scathach had just said, and then turned around to look at the "sea" where the two had swam when they came.

Suddenly, he realized something.

"Scathach, you are right!"

"Ok?"

"Am I right?"

The Queen of Shadow Kingdom didn't understand why her husband suddenly said such a thing.

After all, "nightmare" and the like were just words I came up with when I saw little Ophelia's situation.

but--

She believed that Ian had not said this for no reason.

He must have discovered something.

And this is indeed the case.

Ian quickly said:

"Scathach, do you remember what Nightingale said?"

Scathach shook her head.

"She talks too much."

"But if you mean what she said about Ophelia, I do remember some of it. She said that Ophelia in this 'basket' actually still has a breath of life, right?"

"Correct."

Ian nodded, confirming Scathach's statement.

"You're right."

"but--"

"It should be a deeper statement."

"Scathach, it's the 'signal for survival'."

"..."

Scathach suddenly realized something.

She glanced at little Ophelia, then at her "parents" who were still scolding her, and muttered to herself.

"Ian, you don't mean to say..."

"Ophelia, it was because of this torture that you sent out a distress signal to the people outside, right?"

Ian's eyes brightened a little when he heard Scathach's words.

He knew that the other party had understood what he meant.

That's right.

The "survival signal" did not appear suddenly.

For such a situation to occur, the prerequisite is naturally quite obvious - that is, you must first encounter a "crisis".

Apart from Leif's explosion, the only thing left was the scene before her eyes, which Scathach called a "nightmare."

This!

This is the reason why Ophelia's signal could be detected by Nightingale!

"..."

Looking at Ian's expression, Scathach knew that what she had just said was almost right.

But she was not happy about it, instead she calmed down.

"Ian, although thinking this way can explain a lot of things——"

"But if you think about it carefully, there are still a lot of loopholes, right?"

"Even now—"

Scathach looked at the "cage" that imprisoned Ophelia.

"We also have things like this that are difficult to explain."

"Not to mention that extremely strange 'sea' just now."

"Ah."

"That's true." Ian didn't deny Scathach's words at all, and even agreed with them. "The situation we are facing is indeed not ideal."

"but--"

"That doesn't mean we can't do anything, right?"

The man stretched out his hand and touched the "wall" in front of him that was as transparent as crystal, and his eyes became serious.

"Anyway, there's nothing more worrying than not knowing anything, right?"

"Once we bring Ophelia out, we'll know everything!"

"..."

Scathach walked up to Ian.

Amidst the reproaches that little Ophelia endured, she also imitated her husband and stretched out her hand forward.

Ice and cold.