Chat group: People are in the sandbox, the system just ran away

"Don't worry about that. Since I haven't created any gods in this world, their duties are actually run by the world itself. There's no need for gods to exist at all."

"Then I'll go too and look around with this guy."

Ai Lei has always lived in the deserted and lifeless underworld, so she is very curious about all kinds of things she has never seen.

"I'd also like to see what that big event you're talking about is. I have a feeling it's something far-reaching."

Quetzalcoatl was very curious about Li Xuan's next move, so he planned to go to Chaldea with him to take a look.

As for Gilgamesh and the others, while curious, they each had their own priorities, so they decided to go about their business and wait for Li Xuan to send someone to find them. However, for some reason, Tiamat also planned to follow Li Xuan to Chaldea.

Chapter 353: Roman Comes to the Door

"Finally back!"

Returning to the familiar scene, Fujimaru Ritsuka couldn't help but stretch her body. Only here could she feel at ease. In the singularity, no matter how relaxed she was, she still needed to remain vigilant.

"Is this Chaldea? It doesn't look that great!"

Ishtar looked around and felt that the surroundings were nothing special. It was just average.

"With human nature being burned down and no external supplies, how good can you expect it to be?"

Ailei was speechless. This was Chaldea, the place to save humanity. How could there be any particularly comfortable environment? It was not a palace built specifically for living.

"Ritsuka, you're back. Why did you lose contact after you went to the singularity?"

Roman and the others naturally couldn't fail to see the large group of people like Li Xuan and Fujimaru Ritsuka appearing in Chaldea, so when Elly and Ishtar were discussing the environment in Chaldea, Roman and the profiteer Da Vinci had already arrived.

When Fujimaru Ritsuka arrived at the seventh singularity, the Absolute Demonic Front, Li Xuan also arrived at the same time. He blocked the connection between this singularity and Chaldea, so Da Vinci and Roman had been busy for several hours. As a result, Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly returned to Chaldea with a large group of people. Naturally, they wanted to find Fujimaru Ritsuka to ask him clearly.

"This might be because of Li Xuan. He came to this singularity to help me as promised. So it affected the connection between Chaldea and the singularity."

"Li Xuan!"

"Li Xuan!!???"

The profiteer Da Vinci and Roman were both deeply surprised. Although over half a year had passed, the impact on Li Xuan was still profound. After all, it was the first time they had seen such a powerful being. Roman, in particular, was Solomon, the king favored by God to connect man and body. He understood very well that even the God he believed in probably did not have such power.

"Yes, after Li Xuan arrived at the last singularity, he took me all the way..."

Ritsuka Fujimaru spent a few minutes as briefly as possible to introduce to Roman everything that happened in the Absolute Demonic Front of the Seventh Singularity.

"So, you brought them back?"

Roman felt a little headache, those who came back with Fujimaru Ritsuka were not weak, the weakest ones were Ishtar, Elle and Quetzal.

There is a goddess like Koyatl who is at the main god level, and there is also Tiamat, the mother goddess of creation who is no inferior to Goetia. Above them are Li Xuan and his heroic spirit Anna who can create parallel worlds at will. He must think carefully about all these.

"Guests are welcome. On behalf of Chaldea, I welcome you all. Please follow me to the guest room to rest. Ritsuka, you've had a hard day today, too. You and Mashu should go and rest first, and I'll take care of these guests."

Leonardo da Vinci was not as suspicious as Roman. No matter what, since they were familiar with Fujimaru Ritsuka, they could be regarded as friends. Why bother to think so much?

Li Xuan and others followed Leonardo da Vinci and strolled around Chaldea for a while, gaining a basic understanding of Chaldea.

Then they ate and rested, but to Li Xuan's surprise, Romani Achiman, who had been wary of them, came to them in the evening.

"Hey, what a rare visitor, King Solomon, what brings you to me at this hour?"

Hearing Li Xuan address him like that, Roman didn't object. He didn't actually think he could hide his identity from a powerful being like Li Xuan. His identity was no secret to many people; Merlin and Gilgamesh knew it all. And to the profiteer Da Vinci, his identity wasn't a secret either.

"I wanted to ask you why you came to Chaldea?"

In response to Roman's question, Xuan did not answer him but looked at him carefully.

"So that's how it is. Are you here to die? It seems you've already made your choice. Are you here to confirm with me whether I will endanger Chaldea?"

Li Xuan observed Roman carefully and found that he actually came with the intention of dying, otherwise he would not have spoken to him so boldly and directly. It seemed that Roman was already prepared for death and planned to die together with the Magic King Goetia.

"Can't I just hide things?"

Roman gave a wry smile. Was his purpose so easy to guess? Li Xuan saw it at a glance.

"Of course, to me, your expression tells me that you've already made up your mind to die. So I naturally understand what you're going to do next."

"Is that so? Then I won't hide it. I do intend to activate my final Noble Phantasm."

Roman took off his gloves, revealing the golden ring on his left middle finger. It was the distant gift left to the future by God when Solomon died. It was also the holy relic unearthed by the former director, Marisbilian Animusphia, in order to summon Solomon in the Holy Grail War.

With the coexistence of Roman's One Ring and the Demon King's Nine Rings, he was able to activate his first Noble Phantasm, The Time of Farewell, to abandon the world and recreate the legend of Solomon returning the Divine Grace to God. In this case, the Magic King Goetia, as King Solomon's creation, would have his foundation of existence destroyed by Roman, and he would disappear along with Roman. This was Chaldea's biggest trump card when facing Goetia, the ultimate BOSS.

"It seems like you, a coward, have already made your choice."

Faced with Li Xuan's teasing, Roman could only smile helplessly. Having given up his identity as King Solomon, Roman, now just an ordinary person, naturally had some of the same desire to survive. So after realizing the true identity of the Magic King Goetia, he had been hesitant and afraid, but now he finally made his own decision.

Because he had obtained a lot of information from Jeanne in advance, Roman knew the truth of the matter in advance and had more time to prepare himself mentally. Therefore, Roman had already decided that after Fujimaru Ritsuka repaired the seven singularities, he would activate his final Noble Phantasm and die together with the Magic King Goetia.

Despite Fujimaru Ritsuka having repaired the Absolute Demonic Front at the Seventh Singularity ahead of time, Roman remained undeterred. He had no intention of sending Fujimaru Ritsuka to the final battle, instead planning to travel to the final Temple of Time alone to confront Goetia and settle the matter.

Chapter 354: Roman is determined

"Hehe, maybe. If it weren't for my fault, Magic King Goetia wouldn't have been born, and he wouldn't have caused such great damage. I must be held responsible for it."

As a king destined from birth to perfection, omniscience, and omnipotence, Solomon never experienced human life, spending his life like a machine, never knowing true freedom. He harbored an unconscious desire to be an ordinary person with average abilities.

Solomon pondered this during the Holy Grail War. Romance, romance?! What a wonderful word. It's a brand new concept, something that didn't exist in my time.

Words that didn't exist in his time. Man was free to live his dreams. The world revealed these things to him.

Solomon felt good about this from the bottom of his heart, so he decided to name himself Roman.

Solomon's wish to the Holy Grail was to become a human. He did not gain a physical body as a Heroic Spirit through the power of the Holy Grail, but rather, he abandoned all his powers as a Heroic Spirit and was reborn as a new human being with no connection to King Solomon.

That was Romani Achiman, an ordinary young man who wished to live an ordinary life.

However, the man who began his second life was unable to experience the happiness and fulfillment of being human that he had not been given in his previous life. Because the future of the end of humanity that he saw in the gap before becoming human, he had deprived him of all his freedom.

From then on, he remained in the state of a newborn baby, anxiously pursued by an unknown enemy, and began a battle alone.

Roman had never experienced the freedom of humanity, and the burden of saving humanity weighed heavily on him. With infernal patience, he learned everything he could, working day and night for Chaldea, hoping to achieve something before the world was destroyed.

At just 22, he became the head of Chaldea's medical department, not for any unjust reasons, but simply because of his extraordinary efforts. Without magic circuits and clairvoyance, all he could do was study like an ordinary person, and double his studies.

He risked his life to learn knowledge, master skills, and ran in the darkness with tears in his eyes. Finally, he arrived at the moment that decided his fate, but he still couldn't stop what he saw with his clairvoyance.

Roman felt extremely regretful and sighed, thinking that he had not worked hard enough. However, for him who had become a mortal, Roman had already done his best. But unfortunately, many things could not be achieved by hard work alone.

Later, when he learned some information about the subsequent singularities and the freezing of humanity from Jeanne, although Jeanne did not say it explicitly, Roman had already guessed who was behind the burning of humanity. It was undoubtedly himself, or the Magic King Goetia who had obtained his power.

At that time, Roman knew that he had the ability to solve this crisis, but Roman hesitated. Even though life was so hard, it made Solomon feel the feeling of being alive.

So, even though he was just an ordinary person, he retreated and hesitated. Since the beginning of the Grand Order, Roman had been working almost non-stop. Besides his duties as a doctor, managing the physical and mental health of all Chaldea personnel, the operation of the remaining equipment, the maintenance of Sheba, the control of the Chaldea furnace, the operation of the battle plan, and the implementation of the spirit particle transfer were all the responsibilities of Roman as the acting director.

Roman is only human, a mere mortal, yet he bears the weight of humanity's salvation. To compensate for his limited natural talent, he sacrifices time and energy to tackle tasks beyond his capabilities. When these sacrifices aren't enough, he resorts to forcing himself, using drugs to sharpen his thoughts and mask physical fatigue.

He tried to make up for his mistakes and hide his fear of death through almost endless work, but seeing that Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was just an ordinary high school girl, could work so hard to repair the singularities, Roman finally made up his mind. Isn't it true that he has to solve the mistakes he made by himself?

When the great detective Sherlock Holmes pointed out the doubts about the identity of the sixth singularity, Roman decided that after Ritsuka Fujimaru repaired the seventh singularity, he would make a break with his past and sins, even if the price of doing so would be his complete disappearance.

This is what Roman said to himself at the beginning of the seventh singularity.

But what he didn't expect was that Fujimaru Ritsuka's trip to the singularity was unexpectedly short. He returned in just one day, and brought back Li Xuan, an extremely powerful being, who impressed him deeply.

But he won't change what he has already decided.

"You won't ask me for help? You know, Goetia and the like are just weaklings to me."

Seeing Roman's determination, Li Xuan tempted him with malicious intent.

"No, no need."

Roman hesitated for a long time but finally refused. It is true that life is beautiful, or even very wonderful, but sometimes, some things are much more important than life. If he accepted Li Xuan's temptation here, he would probably no longer be a person in Solomon's eyes. If he just lived for the sake of living, then what was the difference between him and a beast?

He had caused such a great disaster and destruction, and so many people had died. If he, as the main culprit, had just been let off lightly, then not to mention others, even Roman himself would have looked down on him. He could only atone for such a great sin with death.

"Are you really not going to use it anymore? Are you going to give up the freedom you finally got?"

"Being able to choose to die as a human being—isn't that a kind of freedom? Ten years have passed. It's been so fleeting. As a reward for the freedom I've earned by living until now, this is more than enough."

After his conversation with Li Xuan, Roman strengthened his resolve and faith. But before that, he had one last thing to do for Chaldea and for Fujimaru Ritsuka. Roman wanted to know why Li Xuan had come to Chaldea, and what he meant by "big event."

"Don't worry, what I'm going to do will be a good thing for Fujimaru Ritsuka, for Chaldea, and for humanity. So don't worry."

"Is that so? That's good. I won't bother you any more. Goodbye, or never see you again."

After Roman got Li Xuan's answer, he bowed respectfully and left. He was not worried that a great being like Li Xuan would deceive a small human like him.

In this way, Romani Achiman could also go to the final singularity, the Grand Temperament Temple of Time, and die without worry.

Chapter 355: Roman disappears from Chaldea

The next day, Li Xuan woke up amidst a burst of noise. When he walked out, he saw that all the people in Chaldea had gathered together, as if they were discussing something.

"what happened?"

"The doctor is missing. I haven't seen him since I woke up this morning, and I asked other people, but they haven't seen him either. I thought he wanted to rest after the seventh singularity was repaired, but I didn't see him in his room either."

Ritsuka Fujimaru was a little anxious. The doctor had always been the most hardworking one, and he was usually the one who went to bed the earliest and got up the earliest in Chaldea. She was a little surprised not to see Roman when she woke up this morning. She thought that Roman had relaxed a little and slept in because all seven singularities had been repaired. However, Roman worked so hard on weekdays, so it wouldn't hurt for him to take a break. Ritsuka Fujimaru had even made plans to tease him.

As time passed, there was still no sign of Roman. Ritsuka Fujimaru felt a little strange. He asked other staff members of Chaldea, but they also didn't see Roman. Only then did she realize that something was wrong. She went to Roman's room but didn't see him either.

It was only at this time that Ritsuka Fujimaru discovered that the acting director Roman had disappeared in Chaldea, so the panicked people in Chaldea made quite a commotion.

"Roman? He came up to me last night to discuss some things. I didn't expect him to take action so soon?"

Li Xuan sighed. Although Roman was trembling and obviously scared when he left last night, he was able to overcome his fear and take action. After all, he was King Solomon after all.

"Li Xuan, do you know where he went?"

"Of course, it's not just me. In fact, Leonardo da Vinci should also know this."

Li Xuan did not directly answer Fujimaru Ritsuka's question, but threw the question to Da Vinci who was standing quietly beside him.

"I didn't expect this coward to act so quickly! Seriously, after all, we've been colleagues for several years and are considered good friends. He didn't even say goodbye to me?"

Although Da Vinci still had a smile on her face, she could not hide the sadness in her eyes. Knowing Roman's true identity, she of course knew what Roman was doing. She had never thought that last night would be the last time she saw Roman.

"Goodbye? Is the doctor going somewhere?"

Seeing the usually optimistic Da Vinci's performance, Fujimaru Ritsuka had a bad feeling in her heart. She forced a smile and asked Da Vinci in a pretended optimistic manner.

"He should have gone to the Grand Temporal Temple, the Final Singularity, alone."

At this point, Leonardo had no intention of hiding the truth any further and told the truth about Roman's whereabouts.

"what?"

“That’s impossible!”

"why?"

………………

Da Vinci's answer shocked everyone else in Chaldea, especially Mashu, who was extremely excited. After all, the two people closest to her were her senior, Ritsuka Fujimaru, and the doctor, Roman. In fact, compared to Ritsuka Fujimaru, with whom she had only been together for a few months, as a test-tube baby, she had received treatment and educational help from the doctor, Roman, since she was a child. It could be said that Roman was actually like her adoptive father. So Mashu was very worried that Roman actually went to the final singularity alone.

"why is that?"

Seeing Mashu's worry, Fujimaru Ritsuka touched her head, comforted Mashu, and continued to ask questions, wanting to know what was going on.

"Actually, you should have noticed this. Back at the Sixth Singularity, the great detective Sherlock Holmes mentioned this. He used the Atlas Institute's computers to examine past human history and couldn't find any information about Romani Akiman before 2004. With his unknown origins and past, he must be hiding information that could affect the entire Grand Order. We shouldn't trust him completely. Back then, I told you that Roman had his own difficulties, but he was absolutely trustworthy."

Hearing Leonardo's answer, Fujimaru Ritsuka recalled what Leonardo had said at that time. Roman had hidden a trump card with the same power as the Holy Grail, and the reason he concealed it was because he couldn't use it. If he used it, he would disappear.

"What is the doctor's true identity? What's his hidden weapon? Does he want to die together with the Demon King? Is this really possible? He's just an ordinary person. Even with the most powerful treasure, it's impossible..."

"Ritsuka, there's actually only one answer to your questions, and that's Roman's true identity. He's the third generation of ancient Israel, the great king who created the heyday of ancient Israel—Solomon."

"Hey, hey, hey! Da Vinci, no matter how joking you are, you need to restrain yourself. Are you trying to say that the doctor is our long-standing enemy, the Demon King? He is now waiting for our subjugation in the Grand Temple of Time, and the enemy's big boss is also our leader? What kind of a joke is this?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka was a little overwhelmed. Da Vinci's answer made her feel dizzy. If that was true, then what was Solomon trying to do? Was he just teasing her?

"Ritsuka, you are so talented. The imagination of this guess is absolutely perfect."

Li Xuan, who had been listening for so long, also found Fujimaru Ritsuka's conjecture interesting. The Sword Art Online Kayaba Akihiko Type-Moon version was really outrageous.

"No, although I don't know who the so-called Magic King Solomon is, I know for sure that he's not the real King Solomon. During the Holy Grail War of 2004, Roman, or the former Solomon, was the Heroic Spirit of the Animusphia, the former director of Chaldea, Marisbilly. After obtaining the Holy Grail, Roman wished to live as an ordinary person, but for some reason, the power he gave up was stolen by this Demon King who appeared out of nowhere."

Hearing Leonardo da Vinci's answer, Fujimaru Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that Roman was not an enemy, otherwise she doubted whether she could really do this to him.

"I know the origin of the Demon King."

At this point, Li Xuan took over the conversation, stating that he knew the Demon King's origins. This statement clearly captured the attention of everyone present, including Ishtar and Elle, who had appeared out of nowhere. They were also eager to know the relationship between Roman, the real Solomon, and the fake Demon King Solomon.