Miss Surtr will ignite the world

Her rough, weathered skin has returned to its fair and tender state.

It all felt like a dream.

The memories that were once clear in my mind have become somewhat ambiguous, like ink that has been blurred.

But the feeling of hunger, the temperature of the wind and snow, the pain of wounds, and the smell of blood on the battlefield were all etched into his heart.

The decaying empire in my dream seemed to be right before my eyes.

Suddenly, a question came to his mind.

Beside him, Bud looked at the little emperor lying motionless on the bed, and his heart, which had just relaxed a little, became anxious again.

Could it be that Surtr did something to the other party?

After what happened last night, he subconsciously pinpointed Surtr as the culprit.

Although it's not wrong.

Just as Bud was wondering whether to call the imperial physician, the emperor's voice, which was both youthful and somewhat authoritative, came from the bed.

"General Bude, what is the state of my country now?"

The emperor asked.

In fact, he had never left the palace since birth, and his impressions of the country came entirely from the stories told by his courtiers.

The other party's question left Bud speechless for a moment.

Although he wasn't very quick-witted, he knew that saying things like "your country is about to perish" was obviously not something he should say.

However, lying to the emperor was clearly not in line with his principles.

A brief silence.

"Never mind, you don't need to say anything."

Seeing the other party's appearance, the emperor had a vague premonition of something bad.

"I'll go and see for myself."

Nothing is more reliable than seeing it with your own eyes.

"Then I'll go and make the arrangements right away."

As Bud was speaking, he was about to get up, but the emperor stopped him.

"This is an incognito visit, so there's no need for anything too complicated."

"But your safety?"

"Let General Esdeath come. With her here, there shouldn't be any worries. Besides, I remember she's often active in the city and should be quite familiar with the capital."

"understood."

Seeing this, Bud had no further objections.

the other side.

Surtr, who hadn't slept all night, sat in a chair with textbooks on the table, legs crossed, and playing with the Holy Grail in his hand.

He was pondering this in his heart.

The assassin game is a simple matter for her; what's more important now is to complete the fully automatic wish-granting machine.

The textbook does indeed cover issues related to faith.

With Miss Surtr's powerful learning ability, it's a piece of cake.

With the help of the Holy Grail, I crammed it into my mind in one night.

He's a genius.

They said they had faith.

First, if you want to collect faith, it's best to have a specific object of worship.

Whether it's an object or an image, it needs to be clearly defined so that it will be easier to collect.

It's like an idol or emblem of a god.

Using the Holy Grail directly would also be an option.

The Holy Grail, which can grant any wish.

Using this for advertising would be very attractive.

However, it's hard to call something a religious object; it would be better if it had a specific story behind it.

Furthermore, considering future publicity, it's best to associate it with a well-known entity.

If there is a strong public support, the effect should be even better.

Then.

Is there anything in this world that has both a popular base and a clear target audience?

There is indeed one.

Akame ga Kill! Chapter 25: Move by Yourself

There is no God in this world, or rather, the people in this country generally do not have much faith in God.

Even the Anning Dao doesn't worship gods, but rather something like dogma.

In this way, the idea of ​​directly borrowing the name of a certain god would fall through.

Is there anything similar to a deity, that has a great influence among the people and doesn't need to be deliberately promoted?

The answer is indeed yes.

That was the First Emperor.

The founding emperor of this country was the one who created forty-eight Imperial Arms. Even now, a statue of the First Emperor still stands in the square near the city gate.

So that those entering the city could admire the other's dignity.

The magic of the Holy Grail began to ripple.

A moment later, a delicate human-shaped statue appeared in Surtr's hand.

A figure draped in a cloak sits atop a horse with its forelegs raised, sword held high and facing forward.

Let's make a slight modification.

The statue shifted slightly; the horses disappeared, and the First Emperor stood upright, holding the World Book in one hand and raising the Holy Grail high in his other right hand.

The First Emperor obtained the Holy Grail, which could grant any wish.

This feeling seems pretty good.

It's a kind of celebrity effect, anyway, the First Emperor is dead, so it's impossible for him to get up and collect royalties from her.

With a few slight modifications, we can turn this statue into a familiar.

Similar to clay figurines, or perhaps gargoyles would be a more appropriate description.

This is a necessary monster for guarding the treasure in the story. If someone becomes greedy for the Holy Grail, this thing can come to life.

As for the Holy Grail, it's best to keep it inside your body, just be careful.

Surtr fiddled around in the room, and after a few moments, a gargoyle over two meters tall, resembling the Statue of Liberty, was completed.

Although it was basically accomplished by the Holy Grail.

But this is not the point.

Now that the statue is in place, the issue of collecting faith will have to be addressed by trying it out in person later. So now all that's left is the issue of making a wish.

The Holy Grail doesn't grant all wishes, and of course, Surtr won't grant every wish either.

Not all wishes are good.

If someone were to pray for the Holy Grail to kill someone, it would be terrible if it actually came true.

Surtr always considers whether the person deserves to be killed before he kills them.

But the Holy Grail doesn't have that function.

Basically, any wish can be granted, and if someone's wish is too grand, it might use up all the Holy Grail's magic power at once, at which point faith might not be able to keep up with the consumption.

There must be some restrictions.

"But how exactly should we restrict it?"

Surtr held up the Holy Grail and muttered to himself.

Forget about restrictions, she didn't even understand how the other party worked.

Being able to operate software proficiently doesn't necessarily mean you need to go back to programming; that's roughly the feeling.

"Can you become an administrator yourself?"

Surtr tried to get the code to run a program on its own.

The words fell.

Ripples spread across the clear water formed by the convergence of magic.

"?"

Raising an eyebrow, Surtr placed the Holy Grail on the table.

Within the cup, a light, like that of spiritual particles, rippled on the surface of the water.

The light flashed twice, and then a pure white figure dressed in a heavenly robe appeared on the lake.

"Hello, Master."

A miniature version of Justessa greets Surtr.

"..."

That's really impressive.

Surtr looked down at the other side, and apart from its size, it was exactly the same as the terminal of the Greater Grail she had seen.

Even the blank expression on their faces was exactly the same.

"Is this the result of my wish?"

Surtr was puzzled; to be honest, she hadn't really had any expectations.

"This is the original function of the Holy Grail, Master."

Yustisa answered.

?

"A certain degree of wisdom is necessary in order to understand your ambiguous desires."

"Is that so? Then how come I've never seen you before?"

Surtr tilted her head; she still thought the Holy Grail was just an irrational prop.

"Because it's unnecessary."

"Alright, but why are you calling me master? Is the Holy Grail a bound piece of equipment?"

“I was born because of you, Master. No one but you can use me without your permission.”

Yustisa said this.

A shocking fact.

To her shame, this was the first time she had heard about this.

"Then I need to do some things. Could you help me restrict the rules for using the Holy Grail, um, the rules for other people using it?"

"Surtr asked."

"learn."

"Before we go any further, let me ask you a question: how much wisdom do you have to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil?"

"It is incomprehensible, but a judgment can be made by analyzing the definition."

That's a very machine-like answer; it saves a lot of trouble that way.