Chapter 223

"Let's forget about this dark history." Lansemero spread his hands and provided some follow-up information for Fujimaru Ritsuka. "But after that, I didn't go to other departments for classes. Most of the time, I was either working for Maris or taking classes at Norrigi... From 2001 to 2003, I mainly stayed at Norrigi with Velvet."

"As for that period..." Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked, "I remember that Kirshtalia became Director Marisbury's apprentice in 2001. In 2003, it was the Mystic Eye Collection Train incident where the second teacher Hatres stole the relics. Animusphia seemed to have asked Hatres to investigate the situation of the Fuyuki Holy Grail, right?"

"Yes, I was the one who arranged this commission - and of course I personally confirmed the result on the Mystic Eye Collection Train." Lansemello looked at the stars in the night sky and told Fujimaru Ritsuka about the history of Chaldea before it was officially built. "The past two years have mainly been spent on arranging the prerequisites for Chaldea's operation."

"Ah, if it's about that, I have some impression of it." Kirshtalia looked at the processed starry sky photo on the screen in front of her and began to construct a star map of Teyvat. "Chaldea originally decided to go to Fuyuki to participate in the Holy Grail War because Chaldeas was too expensive and the funds were insufficient."

"In fact, it's not just Chaldeas that's burning money." Lancer Mello smiled helplessly, pointing out several other equally important instruments and systems in Chaldea, "The spirit particle transfer system and the heroic spirit summoning system were still under development at the time, and Mash was an artificial human that was cultivated in 2000 - no magic was used to accelerate growth, and there was no interference except for the initial gene editing and necessary magic adjustments..."

"But I hope you remember that Matthew originally lived in a sterile room?"

"Yes, maintaining the sterile room is also a huge expense." Kirshtalia nodded and gave Fujimaru Ritsuka a supplementary introduction, "And the main building of Chaldea was actually completed in Antarctica a long time ago - it's just that the equipment was too expensive, so it was not as fully prepared as it is now."

"Even if a noble magician has a big family and is pushing four scientific research projects at the same time..." Fujimaru Ritsuka compared the situation he learned from the conversations with other technical staff in his mind, and complained subtly, "If you don't fight the Holy Grail War, you really can't get enough money to keep the project going."

"Yes, and the Greater Holy Grail that time was different from the Fourth and Third Holy Grail Wars, and it was still uncontaminated by Angra Mannu." Lansemello shrugged and briefly concluded the story of the past. "So you know what happened later - Marisbilli made a wish and got enough money to maintain the long-term operation of Chaldea, and Solomon made a wish to become a human."

"Haha, let me tell you something about the Holy Grail War." Kirshtalia smiled at the two of them and annotated each photo. "Although you probably all have guessed a little about my past because of that book in Atlantic Traces, I'll still explain it a little more."

"After experiencing countless deaths, I opened my eyes and returned to the Animusphia mansion in 2005 - in the late spring of the second year after the end of the Holy Grail War."

"Let me briefly tell you about the time of the Holy Grail War." Lansemello supplemented Fujimaru Ritsuka with the situation of the Fifth Holy Grail War. "The Fourth Holy Grail War took place in 1994. In the same year, another Grand Master and I escaped the Sealing Designation. The Fourth Holy Grail War went very wrong, so only ten years later, in 2004, the Fifth Holy Grail War began."

"I heard that Emiya-senpai and Tosaka-senpai were both defenders of that Holy Grail War." Fujimaru Ritsuka blinked and looked at Kirshtalia, "But, according to Kirshtalia-senpai... didn't you just miss the entire Holy Grail War?"

"In fact, I was very busy throughout 2005." Kirshtalia chuckled, turned off the screen projected by the communicator and finished her work. "On Christmas Eve that year, the Lord and I went to the port to board a research ship to Chaldea in Antarctica. Before that, in addition to the homework and work assigned by the Lord, I also collected some extra information for myself."

"After all, as a good lord, we must learn to collect information from various places, right?"

Understanding the self-mockery of the Lord who had contracted three god-level servants at the same time, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Lancer Mello laughed at the same time - after all, for Kirshtalia at that time, suddenly returning from the Atlantic Ocean in 2018 to the United Kingdom in 2005 was indeed like suddenly going to a strange environment.

“Well, so, while collecting information, I also collected information about the teacher’s participation in the Holy Grail War.” Kirshtalia cleared her throat and reluctantly drew the two people’s attention back to the Holy Grail War. “Ritsuka should also know that the Chaldean Heroic Spirit Summoning System was actually established after Da Vinci responded to the summoning—the two summonings before that were not normal summonings.”

"Although the sub-servant experiment using Mashu as the material was not intended to create sub-servants at the beginning... it was considered the prototype of the initial version of the Heroic Spirit Summoning System?" Kirshtalia thought for a moment, opened the communicator again, and pulled out the picture of the round table to show Fujimaru Ritsuka, "Strictly speaking, the teacher's original idea was to make test tube babies like Mashu become mass-produced relics."

A pure soul, a pure soul that can be stained with any color like a blank piece of paper - precisely because there is no fate, "nothing", it means that any Heroic Spirit has a connection with her fate, "anything is possible".

"I know that." Lanser-Mello turned his eyes away and added this version of the experimental draft, "But the previous experiments all failed, so Maris and I decided to cancel all unnecessary magical interference and maintain the new material "Mashu" to grow in the most natural state, and then conduct experiments when the conditions are met."

"Researching the fusion of Heroic Spirits and humans is a side effect - but no matter how you look at it, this can be considered an experiment in mass-producing weapons."

"Yes, whether it is mass-producing relics or mass-producing fusion servants, the essence is to erase the influence of the Lord's own fate on the strength of the servants summoned." Kirshtalia nodded, and reiterated what happened to Mashu at that time. "Mashu's experiment also prepared the fragments of the round table - 'Heroes Gathering Place', which is also a preparation to emphasize the characteristics of the relics again."

"When Maris was preparing for the Holy Grail War, he prepared three channels of relics." Lansemello held his head and supplemented the two people with details of that year. "You only know that he summoned Solomon in the end, but you don't know that he made other preparations? One of the relics was that experiment - but the experiment failed, and Mashu is still in the process of cultivation..."

"Strictly speaking, if Mash's experiment had failed, this research topic would have been closed directly - so he gave up the unfinished Heroic Spirit Summoning System; I told him the location of Solomon's Ring; as for the other relic that has never appeared before... I bought it at a magician's auction."

"...Auction?"

"Although he is not in debt like poor Velvet, his situation after buying that photo is almost like he will be declared bankrupt if he does not win the Holy Grail War." Lancer Mello shrugged and his eyes fell on Fujimaru Ritsuka. "You should know the holy relics recorded in Chaldea, right? Guess what Maris bought back then?"

"Could it be the relics that appeared in the Fourth Holy Grail War?" Fujimaru Ritsuka thought about the records of the past Holy Grail Wars and fell into deep thought. "The overall combat power of the Servants in the Fourth Holy Grail War was quite high - King Gilgamesh, Artoria, Iskandar, Diarmuid... and Sir Lancelot."

"But the relic of Iskandar is in the hands of the Second Master, and the scabbard of Avalon is in the body of the elders of the Guardian Palace..."

"The remaining unclaimed relics that could be found were all collected by the Magic Association." Kirshtalia reminded Fujimaru Ritsuka, "And King Gilgamesh was actually in the incarnation state of a Servant from the end of the Holy Grail War in 1994 to 2004."

"So it's not a serpent, nor is it the relic that the Matou family used to summon Lord Lancelot..." Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression gradually became subtle, "Did Director Marisbury buy Diarmuid's relic? But in Western Europe, the magician's center... the relic used to participate in the Holy Grail War can't be sold at such a high price."

"The rest of his money is in Chaldea." Lansemello reminded Fujimaru Ritsuka slowly, "Maris originally participated in the Holy Grail War for Chaldea. Chaldea just hadn't started formal operations at that time, but it didn't mean it wasn't running. Besides, the other industries of the Animusphia family also need funds to operate."

"So in the end he chose the Ring of Solomon for insurance."

"After all, that was the magic king Solomon who displayed God's miracles to the people."

When the three of them finished their free travel between countries to travel and gather intelligence, they returned to their base in the central area of ​​Maplestage and began to arrange for the Servants who had responded to the summons from within Teyvat to terminate their contracts and return to Chaldea one by one. That day, the land of Maplestage suddenly shook abnormally.

After the tremor ended, they received a communication request from Edmund, who had been stationed at a base near Baisong Town.

"The water level in Baisong Town suddenly rose. Fortunately, we had previously organized an evacuation training with the Thorn Rose Society, so the people in Baisong Town were rescued..." Edmund stood on the observation deck of the ship, avoiding the crowd and contacting the people in the Maple Court. "But this time the water level rose without any warning."

"In order to ensure the safety of the residents of Baisong Town, I will discuss with the Thorn Rose Society to temporarily move the residents' living area to the ship."