Chaldea, medical room.
"You can come out now. The tests are finished—the report will be ready soon."
Romani's voice echoed from the intercom inside the infirmary, reaching into the examination room.
Shiomi stepped down from the full-body scanner, slipped his hospital gown top back on, and pushed the door open to head out.
"How did it go, Doctor?" Morgan asked immediately.
Ever since the Singularity formed from the Seraphix oil field had been resolved, Shiomi's body had been recovering steadily—just as BB had said. He had regained basic motor function and was recovering more smoothly by the day.
The entire incident involving the deep sea Singularity had been classified as an Imaginary Number Phenomenon. Chaldea knew nothing about what had truly happened.
All they knew was that Shiomi's recovery was going well.
"Everything's normal. As a Master, your condition is almost identical to when you were actively participating in Rayshifts and repairing Singularities. Even if combat breaks out, you should be able to fight freely," Romani nodded, then looked toward Shiomi. "Just don't push yourself too hard. If you run into an enemy that's too powerful, take caution to avoid any secondary injuries."
Shiomi nodded. "Sorry for troubling you, Romani. It's Christmas Eve—everyone else is off, and here you are doing a health check on me."
"It's fine. I didn't have anything else going on. Besides, you bore the brunt of the fighting for me... Helping out like this is the least I can do." Romani pulled his chair over and sat at his desk. "I'll organize your health report and get it archived. If there's nothing else, you two can head out first."
"Leave the report for later, yeah? The Christmas party's about to start," Shiomi said, patting him on the shoulder. "If we're late, there won't be any food left."
"You're right."
Romani promptly abandoned his paperwork and dashed out.
...
"Time really flies. It feels like the battle in the Temple of Time just happened yesterday," Morgan said, leaning against the wall while watching Shiomi change behind the curtain.
"Yeah," Shiomi nodded. "But once Christmas is over, Chaldea's Rayshift System will be fully frozen... You've all worked hard."
He was referring to the four Subcategory Singularities besides the deep sea one.
Unable to go to the front lines himself, Shiomi could only watch from the rear.
"Just minor skirmishes—nothing worth fussing over," Morgan said as she walked over and lifted her hands to straighten his collar.
Shiomi gave a wry smile, then looked thoughtful. "Still, four Demon Pillars escaped from the Temple of Time, yet we've had five Subcategory Singularities... And that one without a Demon Pillar—it stands out."
"That's probably a case of a parallel world or a pruning phenomenon," Morgan said softly.
"Got it," Shiomi nodded.
Once he finished changing, the two of them left the infirmary together.
With Christmas here again and no new missions on the horizon, Chaldea felt more peaceful than it had in the past few years.
Festive decorations were everywhere, and people on their way to the party chatted excitedly about how they'd celebrate.
Among them were a few Masters who had just been unfrozen from their coffins and regained their ability to move freely.
Seeing the other groups' Masters, Shiomi suddenly thought of something else.
"By the way, Group A's coffins—still no way to defrost them?"
"That's right," Morgan nodded. "So far, aside from the six remaining Masters from Group A, all the others caught in the control room explosion have been safely rescued."
"That's... really strange." Shiomi frowned.
He couldn't shake the unease, even though there was nothing he could do.
Originally, he should've ended up the same as Group A's Masters. It was only because Sakura and BB had intervened from both sides that he was spared.
"Sakura thinks it's strange too. She's tried to intervene in the Imaginary Numbers space whenever she has the chance, but it's nothing like how smoothly she was able to retrieve my husband." Morgan spoke plainly, just stating facts.
More than once, Shiomi had wanted to ask Morgan if she knew something, but a gut feeling always stopped him. Something inside warned him not to ask.
He wanted to save those Masters, but some things were simply out of reach. That lingering helplessness made the unease sit heavy on his heart.
"How's the Mage's Association doing?" Morgan asked.
"Meh, just holding together," Shiomi sighed. "With El-Melloi's support, and with Valualeta and Trumbellio stepping in to mediate, Lorelei from the Department of Policies couldn't push through her plan to split up Chaldea... But Chaldea still suffered heavy losses. Between handling the aftermath, paying compensation, and the loss of the offshore oil field, there's been a lot of internal backlash within Animusphere."
"So they're still planning to take Chaldea away from that girl?" Morgan asked.
"No. The current consensus within the Mage's Association is that dividing up Chaldea would offend about a third of the Clock Tower's factions—not a smart move," Shiomi replied. "But to ensure future oversight and control, Chaldea does have to give up part of its authority. That portion will be auctioned off by the Clock Tower."
"And who got it?" Morgan asked, clearly interested.
"The other Lords knew better than to get involved directly, so the prestigious alchemy house—the Musik family—bought everything that was put up," Shiomi recalled. "According to the report, Chaldea was split into seven shares, and Marisbury gave up three."
In other words, the Musik family's representative would serve as Chaldea's deputy director.
From there, a proxy war within the Clock Tower was practically inevitable.
After all, the Musik family was under the Department of Policies. Lorelei would surely use this deputy director to slowly chip away at Animusphere's power in Chaldea.
"The deputy director, huh." Morgan nodded knowingly. "Well, that's something for my husband to worry about."
Shiomi was just about to continue when that single comment from Morgan made his shoulders slump, cutting him off.
"Don't say that—I was hoping to brainstorm a plan with you!" he complained, half-joking.
"It's Christmas. You should be in a good mood," Morgan said softly. "Have you decided what you want for your Christmas present?"
"Hmm... Anything's fine. As long as it's from you, I'll love it," Shiomi answered honestly.
Morgan gave him a slightly teasing smile. "Then after the Christmas party, come back to your room a little later."
"Huh?"
"We'll need about thirty minutes to prepare." Morgan raised a finger and pressed it gently to Shiomi's lips. "It's a gift we've had planned for a while—I'm sure my husband will like it."
"We?"
Shiomi felt both curious and a little nervous.
There was no doubt in his mind—his master and Artoria were probably in on it too.
"W-Well then, I'll be looking forward to it."
...
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