How long did I sleep?
A strong sandstorm blew from somewhere, and as the sand entered my mouth, a salty taste lingered.
He groaned and spat. "Oh dear... Where am I this time...?"
As I regained consciousness, what I saw was a desert?
"Ah! You're awake!"
"Are you coming to your senses?"
"Sir, are you feeling alright?"
The party, having confirmed that I was awake, began checking my condition, and seeing them, I immediately used the recovered function of Fafnir's Mana Heart (incomplete) to generate magical power, circulating it throughout my body to loosen my stiffened limbs.
"Phew, I feel a bit alive now... So, what's the current situation?"
At my question, the party started explaining the situation up to now.
"So, let me get this straight... After I fainted, Fujimaru, Mash, Tawara, Sanzang, Bedivere, and me, who was unconscious, making six of us, moved to the desert where the Atlas Institute is. Jeongmal and Juwon have already abandoned the village whose location was discovered and are moving to a safe place to evacuate people and gather those who will fight against the Holy City. Is that right?"
"That's correct, and now we're heading to the location that Jeongmal told us."
"I see. Well, my body has recovered somewhat now, so let's go in right away."
"Huh? Are you sure? Clearly, King Hassan..."
"What the old man said was only about not using the power of my Clairvoyance to find out. This much should be fine."
I immediately prepared to open the Aurora Curtain. The location was, of course, the Mage's Association, one of its three major branches: the Department of Accumulation and Measurement, the Atlas Institute.
It's a space as large as a village, located at least 500 meters underground in the center of the Atlas Institute, with a scenery that looks as if the sky has been punched through.
At its center is where the Spiritron Computer Tri-Hermes is located.
"Here, I've opened it. Let's go in quickly."
I immediately opened a path to the center with the Aurora Curtain and went inside, followed by the other party members.
"Oh? You all are... Hoh, I thought you would come, but not this quickly. And the reason you could come so fast must be thanks to that behind you... Interesting..."
Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective and only consulting detective, who was tinkering with the Spiritron Computer Tri-Hermes, looked quite intrigued by our early arrival and the Aurora Curtain I had deployed.
"Sorry, but this is non-transferable... Detective, you're quite greedy, aren't you?"
"Is that so? That's a pity... By the way, do you already know my identity? Well, you are... No, let's leave it at that."
'...Why is this bastard trailing off creepily?'
Seeing him trail off, I felt uneasy for no reason and glared at him, but he was smiling peacefully, and I let out a sigh and asked,
"So, you've done a background check on me... no, on all of us here, so you know what we need, right? Great Detective Holmes?"
At my words, Fujimaru and Mash (she's a Holmes fan by setting, so she was especially surprised) were very startled.
"Of course, I've already figured out what I was curious about, so I'll help you find the information you need. First, shall we look into the truth of this Singularity?"
"Yes... Let me ask a small favor."
Holmes then began operating Tri-Hermes to grasp the truth of the Singularity.
"Hoh~ Is that so? It seems that the Lion King, after holding 'Longinus' for too long, was eventually dominated by the spear and turned into a divine spirit, King Arthur."
Starting with that, Holmes began explaining the truth he had grasped about the Holy Lance Longinus, the Lion King, and the Singularity.
"The Lion King used the Holy Lance Longinus to create the Holy City in one night, generate the肃正骑士s, summon the Knights of the Round Table, and have them move troops to gather people who can only take correct actions no matter what happens, while the rest are being肃正... So, containing the 'good people' in the tower and preserving them in the spear is precisely the Lion King's plan itself."
After saying that, Holmes brought the pipe he was holding to his mouth and slightly hardened his expression.
"In the process, the area around the tower becomes the 'end of the world'. Even in a normal era, it would have been a tremendous burden, but if this happens in a Singularity, the Singularity will rapidly contract, and destruction is inevitable."
"That's..."
"How could this be..."
As the party was astonished upon learning the Lion King's purpose, Holmes coldly stated the results he had found.
"Moreover, this 'preservation' using Longinus does not guarantee the 'survival' of the humans inside at all. The humans completely processed and preserved in the spear are dead, and there is only a record that they were human. Is this the idea of a god?"
Holmes finished speaking and exhaled cigarette smoke, and the expressions of the party members were all stiff.
"Why are you all frozen? Snap out of it. While we're like this, the Lion King is progressing with his plan... Shouldn't we move quickly? We can't let the Lion King succeed in his plan like this."
"...You're right, we must move."
"Senior and Yuseong-ssi are correct! We cannot give up!"
At my words, Mash and Fujimaru, who had come to their senses, spoke up, and the other three nodded and steeled their resolve.
"...Ah! And I just remembered something I forgot until now... There's a hidden village that Lancelot left around here. Do you want to go there first? Da Vinci is also the—"
"What!? Da Vinci!?"
"Re, really!? Is Da Vinci alive?"
"Uh... yeah, let's talk in detail when we get there. So, shall we go—"
"Wait, there's one piece of information I think I should tell you all."
Just as the next destination was decided, at Holmes' sudden words, everyone was like, what? At that moment, Holmes looked at Mash and said,
"To be precise, it's information that will help Miss Kyrielight."
"For me, you say?"
"Yes. While investigating earlier, I found out... the true name of the Servant dwelling within Miss Kyrielight..."
"! Really!?"
Mash was surprised that Holmes would tell her the true name of the Servant dwelling within her, and Bedivere tried to say something to Holmes, but upon hearing Holmes' subsequent words, he closed his mouth.
"Now, then, I'll tell you. The true name of the Servant dwelling within Miss Kyrielight is——"