Chapter 378

"So, you're saying you encountered a man-eating mini-letter?"

"And after being blown apart by Onmyojitsu, it can be reassembled." Abe Haruaki added.

Ms. Okita and Mr. Okita exchanged glances with a very subtle expression, and Oda Nobunaga and Lord Nobunaga, who were sitting on the other side, also silently changed their postures.

"Perhaps it's because Lord Seimei has always been in big cities." Yagen Toushirou sat on the table, stroking his chin and making a guess, "Both of us are in villages or small towns, not in big cities like Lord Seimei's residence. During our investigation, we learned about a creature that is unique to this world."

"The mini Shin that Lord Haruaki saw was probably mixed with elements of this creature." Ms. Okita frowned, recalling the time when she sent that family to the house protected by wisteria flowers. The eyes of the receptionist lit up because of the story they had discussed and made up beforehand. "The Shin was affected by the special skill of Tenkabu, so most of the major investigations were done by us."

"But Mini-Nobunaga itself can be considered a contamination factor 'bug'." Okita frowned and raised an objection, "All previous variants cannot escape the characteristics of being based on Lord Nobunaga, even those that have elements of other Heroic Spirits mixed in - that is, the new variant should also show similar characteristics to other variants..."

"You mean that no matter what the Mini-Sign variants become, their nature will not change." Abe Haruaki stroked his chin and leaned against the window, looking up at Okita-kun, "Because the Mini-Sign itself is a highly diffusive and covering pollution factor 'BUG'... But the new variant I saw showed the characteristics of 'cannibalism' and 'regeneration'."

"It's just like two kinds of polluting 'bugs' have merged into each other." Ichimonji Norimune spread his hands and closed his eyes helplessly.

"Well, let's start with what we found out." Ms. Okita smiled, adjusted the Chaldean communicator, and projected the relevant information she had sorted out in front of everyone. "First, there are special creatures unique to this world that have the two characteristics of 'cannibalism' and 'regeneration'--"

"ghost."

This demon is different from the demons in Chaldea, which are one of the many demonic branches.

Although there are legends that demons such as Shuten-douji and Ibaraki-douji eat humans, that is evidence of their brutality. In this world, demons eat humans because it is a simple relationship like a food chain.

"Humans are their only food choice." Ms. Okita winked at the crowd. "Comparatively speaking, compared to the ghosts we know... the ghosts here are more difficult to deal with - although their weaknesses are also clear, the ghosts in this world cannot be dealt with by the method Mr. Watanabe said."

——If it reaches out its hands, cut off its arms first, and then chop off its head with a backhand strike. If it can still move, you can just chop off its body and legs to solve the problem.

"No matter how many pieces you cut into, you can't kill the ghosts here."

"But if they come into contact with the sun, they turn directly into ash."

"Although we have basically not come into direct contact with creatures like demons because of Lord Nobunaga, I still found out some things related to legends." Yagen Toushirou held his chin and supplemented Ms. Okita's introduction. "Based on the legends we have heard, we preliminarily judged that the birth time of demons in this world should also be the Heian period."

"The legends about cannibal ghosts are passed down by word of mouth, but what is certain is that these legends did not spread widely until the Taisho period. I think Lord Haruaki can definitely understand the reason for this change."

"Because the 'mysteries' of this world are declining." Oda Nobunaga took over the words of Yagen Toushirou and summarized as an innovator who dispels superstitions. "Human technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, so those 'mysteries' will lose their original power because they are hidden and destroyed."

"It's the same as dispelling superstition." Abe Haruaki looked at Oda Nobunaga, "Because the total amount of 'mystery' is only '1', the more people know, the less 'mystery' each person can get - but that paradise fairy seems to be planning to turn '1' into '∞'."

"In short, as the 'mystery' fades, the scope of the spread of ghost rumors, which were originally just unfounded legends, is expanding."

"However, this is only limited to rural areas. For example, in the big city where Lord Haruaki is, there are no such rumors, right?" Okita-kun chuckled and looked at Abe Haruaki. "Although Lord Haruaki saw people being eaten to bones with his own eyes, there are still no sounds related to 'ghosts' in this big city."

“…That’s true.” Abe Haruaki fell into an indescribable silence.

"Didn't you find out anything else?" Lord Nobunaga asked Lord Okita.

"We have found some other things..." Ms. Okita, who was in charge of sorting out the information, looked away. "However, there is still one piece of news that has not been confirmed. It can only be regarded as our guess."

"Tell me about it." Oda Nobunaga looked at Miss Okita.

"The house with wisteria patterns where you stayed before was asked by Yakuken to be investigated. It should be the base of an organization that fights against ghosts—" Ms. Okita switched the text content of the projection and introduced the situation to everyone, "But it is also open to the outside world. It will protect ordinary people who are temporarily staying here and do not know the existence of ghosts, as well as people who have been persecuted by evil ghosts."

"As for the wisteria tea you were given that night, it was probably because wisteria is considered poison to ghosts." Okita-kun added to Miss Okita, "Although it is not certain whether ghosts strong enough will be resistant to the poison of wisteria, it should be feasible as a simple method to distinguish ghosts from humans."

"Another thing is..." Ms. Okita touched her chin and exchanged glances with Mr. Okita. "Before we arrived here, we protected a family from a ghost. That ghost was different from the ghosts we encountered before. Judging by the power of magic, this guy was a very strong existence, but he was a little too cautious."

"Sakura and I hardly fought this ghost that night." Okita-kun paused, his eyes falling on Miss Okita's face, "Except for the first time when Sakura directly chopped the guy, we were basically in confrontation the rest of the time. The ghost's escape speed can be said to be first-class, but I don't know what was so worthy of his attention in this family that he could confront us until the sun rose before leaving."

"Then we took this family directly to the house with the wisteria pattern." Ms. Okita spread her arms to the crowd. "Of course, we made up a story about an unknown swordsman who helps others to hide his identity - but it seems that it still attracted the attention of the guy in charge of receiving this family."

“So, I have a hypothesis.”

"Sakura and I only used a fabricated story to hide our identities and real names, and the details of that night were hardly changed." Okita-kun looked at Abe Haruaki, "So, this story itself must have something special. First, if it is the ghost we encountered, we hope that Lord Haruaki can establish a cooperative relationship with that organization."

"Secondly, if it has nothing to do with that ghost, then it proves one thing." Ms. Okita raised her hand and touched her cheek. "Ghost blood can transform humans into ghosts - because I chopped that ghost, so ghost blood splashed on my face. However, I am a dead person after all, and the flesh and body of a servant will not transform due to external conditions most of the time."

"Well, of course, the physical changes that Vlad the Duke was rumored to have brought about are another matter."

"Of course, demon blood is ineffective against us, but it is also this point that allows us to speculate that demon blood can transform humans." Abe Haruaki closed his eyes and replied to Okita-kun, "I will find a way to establish contact with that organization - before reaching a cooperative relationship with the other party, you will stay here first."

"Huh?" Oda Nobunaga blinked in surprise, "I thought we would still have to act in groups from now on?"

"We will probably still be divided into groups when we take specific actions, but since the Holy Grail was contaminated by the Nobu element and the mini letters that overflowed were mixed with the elements of the demon, there is at least a 90% chance that the Holy Grail is in the hands of the demon." Abe Haruaki tapped the fan in his hand and explained to Oda Nobunaga, "So finding this organization to work together is the simplest solution to deal with this anomaly."

"I asked you all to stay here just so that we can send you all to their side at once after the discussion. If you were still scattered all over Japan like before, it would be very troublesome, right?" Abe Haruaki spread his hands helplessly to the crowd. "Besides, since we want to cooperate, the composition of our own personnel is also an important part that we need to show to our partners."

"However, considering that their popularity is even lower than that of the demons..." Abe Haruaki asked Ms. Okita, "Where is the nearest Wisteria base on your way here?"

"Although it's the closest one, it's still quite far away." Ms. Okita enlarged the map in the Chaldea communicator and marked a point for Abe Haruaki on it. "These bases are basically distributed in relatively sparsely populated areas. The closest one is also outside the urban radiation zone. I suspect that the actions of ghosts in the city are also more restrained, so the closer you get to the city, the rarer you see traces of both sides."

"...I understand." Abe Haruaki glanced at the mark on the map, then quickly looked away. "Please move aside. I'll open a communication array and ask the control room."

"Ask the control room?" The two people from Pan-Human History raised their eyebrows at the same time.

"Well, after all, the fastest way to gain the other party's trust requires the permission of the control room--" Abe Haruaki directly used magic to draw the pattern of the communication array in mid-air, "Although it is Ritsuka's usual method for dealing with special points in the past, it is still somewhat dangerous for us 'Servants'."

"After all, normally, a Servant's real name should not be known to anyone other than the Master."