Land of Peace

Huh. Sounds like you had quite the evening...

Peculiar though this may be, it does present another piece of the puzzle.

Unfortunately, it does nothing to make the larger picture any easier to see.

We know that the Crypters' first priority is defending their Tree of Emptiness...

...and yet, Akuta has not told this Lostbelt's king of the tree's importance.

Furthermore, she moved to eliminate us entirely on her own discretion, only to end up swearing allegiance to Qin Shi Huang the instant Xiang Yu's life was threatened...

I was taken aback to see Akuta acting so aggressively when we first came to this Lostbelt...

...but seeing her so scared and flustered was just...painful, more than it was surprising...

I guess I really didn't know anything about her back when we were both at Chaldea...

Ah yes, about who she was at Chaldea...

Holmes and I did a little poking around in the data we managed to back up from the server...

...and her entire background reeks of falsified records.

Indeed. I had to practically hold my nose as we picked apart her disguise.

Disguise? Even though she was a member of Chaldea's staff?

Let's see... Imagine her profile is like a painting that's been thoroughly, methodically airbrushed to erase any trace of the original painter.

Correct. There was not a single errant brushstroke, so to speak, to be found anywhere.

Anyone who has lived an ordinary life will inevitably leave behind a bit of useless information about him or herself along the way.

And yet, there was nothing of the sort to be found in Akuta Hinako's data.

It was as though her entire life story was designed to pull the wool over someone's eyes.

Precisely! You are as quick to catch on as ever, Fujimaru!

Precisely! That is just the sort of interjection I was looking for, my dear Watson!

？！

So the fact that nothing in her personal information is strange also means nothing in it is real?

Yup, yup, yup. There's basically nothing even remotely human about her entire background.

And even that's not the only obviously suspicious thing we ran across.

According to her profile, Marisbury Animusphere brought her to Chaldea, supervised her aptitude test...

...and oversaw her periodic health exams and interviews personally.

It seems every bit of data about her was submitted with his authorization codes. No one else's.

The first director?

Just the fact that he handled it all alone is one hell of a red flag for security.

It'd be easy for him to falsify any data he wanted, considering his position.

Be that as it may, if Chaldea's original director was the one who manipulated her profile...

Yeah. If a guy that high up the food chain had something he wanted to keep secret about her, we're pretty much SOL.

How did Akuta end up at Chaldea in the first place?

Did she actually have enough Rayshift aptitude to be chosen for Team A?

For that matter, who the hell is she, really? At this point, I don't know what to believe.

Indeed. Everything we thought we knew about Akuta Hinako's personal information is suspect at best.

So it wouldn't really be a stretch to imagine she might have a different goal from the other Crypters.

Obviously not. What's more, this goal is evidently more important to her than protecting her Lostbelt or preserving her relationship with its king.

One might think eliminating us would be her first priority, but as we've seen, even that is secondary compared to her concern for Xiang Yu...another figure about whom we know next to nothing.

It looks like that name only means anything to those of us from Proper Human History. In this Lostbelt, he appears to go by something else.

？！

Kuaiji... Hmm...

Well, a quick database search suggests that area has some significance for Xiang Yu.

It's where his uncle, Xiang Liang, started his revolt against the Qin empire after the emperor died.

You could say it's where Xiang Yu began his career as a warrior.

Regardless of who Xiang Yu may be in this world, the fact remains that he belongs to this Lostbelt.

So I cannot fathom why Akuta Hinako, whothough nothing else we know about her is certaincomes from Proper Human History, would care so deeply about him as to abandon her other goals.

Hmph. That one's pretty straightforward. She must have fallen in love with him at first sight.

The more foolish the woman, the more likely she is to chuck everything away for such silly notions.

Careful, Gordy. You're gonna lose any goodwill you may have built up with your female staff.

Bah, the only woman here is and] Mash, you borderline Lolita!

Well, I was certainly disappointed by what you said.

Wait, really?

Now, now, do try to stay on topic. We still have a mountain of problems that need solving.

Oh, right. We still need to talk to the people who're gonna be...less than pleased about this.

Even if it is only temporary, I can't believe I have to pretend to make nice with that emperor. Just the thought makes me sick!

？！

Negotiate? Out of the question. That tactic plays right into the oppressors' hands.

Do not be fooled, detective. They will tell you whatever the weak wish to hear, and pressure you into swearing allegiance with only the pretense of your consent at best!

Given the urgency of Mr. Fujimaru and Goredolf's condition, I'm afraid we have no alternative.

At a minimum, I would like to maintain our truce with Qin Shi Huang until Koyanskaya is securely in our custody.

If we could prolong it until Akuta Hinako is out of the picture, so much the better.

Whatever her reasons for doing so may be, Akuta Hinako remains fiercely determined to eradicate us.

So much so that she tried to assassinate Mr. Fujimaru in the dead of night against Qin Shi Huang's wishes.

Obviously, Akuta and Qin Shi Huang aren't exactly BFFs at the moment...

...but we can't be sure that will last, since there's still a lot we don't know about their relationship.

There is every possibility that she may yet convince Qin Shi Huang to take her side in all of this.

Hmph. What about defeating Qin Shi Huang and cutting down the Tree of Emptiness before Musik and Master can fall victim to this accursed poison?

Should that not be our first priority?

Listen closely, Spartacus. At the moment, making an enemy out of all of the empire will lead only to disaster.

Right now, Koyanskaya is a wild card who could wreak havoc no matter where she is or whose side she is on.

If we don't have an antidote ready to go by the time we face off with Qin Shi Huang, it will be over before it begins.

All the emperor would have to do is kill Koyanskaya...

...and Mr. Fujimaru would be saddled with the poison's deleterious effects for the rest of his life.

Let's not forget that my own life would be tragically shortened!

Yes, ultimately, we need to destroy the Tree of Emptiness and erase this Lostbelt, and to do so, we will inevitably need to face and defeat Qin Shi Huang.

So bear in mind that any amicable relations we appear to have now are a strictly temporary state of affairs.

So you want us to pretend to be friends until we can attack when the emperor least expects it, right?

Yeah, that's fine. Hell, I used to ask Agravain for advice with that sorta sneaky shit all the time.

I refuse. Acquiescence is the first step to allegiance, and allegiance inevitably leads to subservience.

My Master must never side with oppression, but always rebel against it.

He should rebel against pain, rebel against suffering, and ultimately triumph by rebelling against destiny!

Get the goddamn stick outta your ass, would ya? We're playin' the long game here, lunkhead.

The important part is that we get to destroy the empire in the end!

So why don'tcha just think of all the rebelling you're gonna get to do later as a prize for all the restraint you gotta show now? I mean, you love repressing your own shit, right?

...Are you all truly willing to go along with this?

When I tried to assassinate the emperor before, I lost the moment I focused on something other than the killing itself.

But, I'm not the one leading the attack this time.

I get that Fujimaru has his own way of fighting.

？！

Well, there's nothing I can do if you're going to plead at me with that helpless look on your face. I mean, you're just now realizing how hopeless your chances are against Xiang Yu, right?

...

Hmm, it's getting stuffy in here with so many of us present. I think I'll step out for a bit of fresh air.

...?

(Huh? Holmes just winked at me, Senpai, and Jing Ke. What's going on...?)

What is it, Holmes?

Is there something else you wanted to talk to us about?

I thought it would be best if Spartacus were absent for this next part.

I trust you to retain your cool, Ms. Jing Ke, but let me remind you to refrain from raising your voice. As long as we whisper, Qin Shi Huang should be unable to hear us.

...

I've mostly finished my analysis of the Benefaction drug, and it's beyond anything I could have imagined.

Its psychotropic effects are secondary at most.

Its true purpose lies in boosting the immune system...or perhaps I should say, enhancing it to an unfathomable degree.

And despite its potency, there are almost no negative side effects as long as one condition remains unmet.

It is well beyond what modern medical science could achieve. In fact, I doubt even magecraft from Proper Human History could create a drug so effective.

It is something that could only be made here, in a Lostbelt where pharmaceuticals and biochemistry are entirely based on sage arts.

Now I see. So it's mass-produced elixir.

And they just hand out something that amazing to every citizen during every major celebration?

Indeed. And as a result, illness and disease have been completely eradicated.

I doubt any of these people have had so much as a cold since they were born.

Then, it's a real, actual panacea...

Hold on. What's the condition that needs to go unmet for this to work?

Ah, yes. That would be...old age.

Once a person's hormonal secretions have reached a certain level, this drug functions as a lethal anesthetic.

I estimate it to be at least several thousand times more potent than pentobarbital.

？！

...Now I see. I thought it was strange that we hadn't seen a single elderly person here.

This is no unintended side effect. It's quite clear that the medicine was designed to work this way.

Designed...? Then, it really is poisoning everyone who takes it!?

So when someone's body secretes a certain amount of hormonesin other words, once their body has aged to a certain pointthey just...die?

Correct. From our perspective, distributing a drug like this is no better than mass murder.

Still...a case can be made from a Buddhist perspective, and how it views the four inevitabilities of human lifenamely, birth, aging, disease, and death.

If one considered both old age and illness equally undesirable, one could say this medicine protects you from the pain of the former and the latter at once.

...

I cannot say if every world, under all possible conditions, would eventually arrive at these ethics of pharmaceutical science...

...but the wheat grown here has been extensively genetically modified into something extraordinary.

Its resistance to disease, its yield...everything about it stands leagues above its natural counterpart in Proper Human History.

With a crop like this, one could live their entire life without ever knowing hunger.

And if you never had to worry about food, you'd probably never think to take it from someone else.

There is no economy here; no division between rich and poor exists. And we have all seen for ourselves how ignorant they are of war and violence.

It seems that life here is as far removed from the suffering that one might expect in our world as it is possible to imagine.

And when their life has run its course, this drug puts them to sleep permanently, well before they can begin to feel the pain of old age.

I daresay that, if nothing else...

...this world has done a frighteningly effective job at removing pain and suffering from people's lives.

But... But that's still...

That's no way for people to live. They're practically being kept as livestock.

So this is how Qin Shi Huang...how that dictator decided to solve humanity's suffering. Makes sense.

No way a leader who abandoned their own humanity would in turn treat their subjects like people.

As far as making a decision between this Lostbelt and Proper Human History...

...Spartacus claimed that we should fight to determine which should be allowed to survive.

If hearing that gave you pause, I would urge you to give the matter more thought, keeping what you now know about this Benefaction in mind.

In this world, the definition of a happy human life is exceedingly simple.

？！

...Hmm. Seeing as you will need to make this choice sooner or later, I think it best I suspend my usual behavior in favor of full disclosure.

Allow me to share with you some speculation. Do keep in mind that this is not a deduction, but rather a bit of conjecture on my part.

Holmes...

This relates solely to one question. Namely, why did the Spirit Origin graph fail to work with this Lostbelt's leyline?

You think it has something to do with this medicine?

That may not be directly related, but it does support my current hypothesis.

Heroic Spirits have always been one side of Alayamankind's collective unconscious. They are defined foremost by their purpose: protecting humanity.

While there may be many different methods and conditions involved in summoning Servants, the one thing they all have in common, without exception, is responding to the summoner's prayer.

However...if there was not a single person in the world who had the emphatic need to pray for something...

...and, if such a world had flourished unabated for hundreds of years...

...Right. Then it wouldn't be at all surprising if that world lost its connection to the Throne of Heroes entirely.

For that matter...there wouldn't even be any Heroic Spirits in that world, just like there aren't here.

After all, every hero who might be needed to fight someday, like Qin Liangyu, is still alive.

So...this Lostbelt is a world that has no need for Heroic Spirits at all?

Can you imagine a person wishing fervently for anything in a world free from hunger, pain, and suffering, Ms. Kyrielight? I know I certainly cannot.

Indeed, it only makes sense that Servants would never appear in a world where no one wishes for anything.

...Thanks for telling us this, Holmes. Whatever doubts I might have had are gone now.

I will do everything in my power to take Qin Shi Huang down, and put an end to this disgusting regime.

As long as I get there in the end, I don't care how far out of our way we have to go.

So right now, let's focus on curing Fujimaru. Now that I know where I'm going, I can wait as long as it takes.

...Thank you, Jing Ke.

Progress report?

We should finish a complete scan of the vehicle's interior by morning.

Good. Be careful not to overlook anything. Remember, the future of the empire rests on your shoulders.

Yes, ma'am!

I'll go see how things are outside.

The Shadow Border... The product of a world entirely different from ours, huh...

"Because the moon does not know how to drink, my shadow merely follows the movement of my body."

...!

"The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a while. The practice of mirth should keep pace with spring."

...What was that, young man?

Hm? Oh, that's called a "poem." A guy named Li Bai wrote it a long time ago.

Who taught you that?

Well...

We see Qin Liangyu's investigation is proceeding smoothly. It feels good to have so much data moving among our circuits.

Do you think you will be able to analyze that otherworldly device, Your Imperial Majesty?

Who do you think we are? This holy vessel's full calculation capabilities can easily handle a single vehicle.

...Or so we thought. This is amazing.

How could they fit so much functionality into these dimensions? It's hard to believe what we are seeing.

Forgive the intrusion, Your Imperial Majesty, but there's something you should know.

Hm? What is this about?

...The children in this village are reciting poems.

...!?

You're kidding...

When I asked them about it, they said they learned them from Chaldea.

...We see. Then Chaldea are Confucians.

Y-y-yes, Your Imperial Majesty. This is undoubtedly the work of Confucianism.