Act One: Tokugawa's Invitation

Now I see. So you are Lady Pārvatī... I'm used to hearing your Buddhist name, Umahi, so I didn't recognize you at first.

This is also my first time meeting a being from the Mandala, so I must confess that I am a little nervous...

Still, right now, we are both Servants contracted to Lord Fujimaru.

In that spirit, I will do my best to contain my excitement so we may work together harmoniously.

Oh, I'm sorry. I don't believe we've met?

Me? Oh, I am just a humble nun, and wholly unworthy to introduce myself to the great Lady Kasuga and Lady Umahi. But if you insist...

My name is Sessyoin Kiara. It's a pleasure to meet you.

Hmm. I feel like there is something inside you that is entirely separate from anything related to faith...

Something that, depending on the situation, I might need to deal with quickly and decisively...

Oh my, something inside me?

Please don't look in there... It's far too embarrassing.

...Still, it should be okay for now.

I have this sense that there's a dam within you, and it could break at any moment, but that you also wouldn't be here otherwise. Admittedly I'm not entirely sure what that means.

(...Yes, I suppose it only makes sense that a goddess would pick up on my connection to this Singularity...)

(...But, that's likely as far as her awareness goes. Even I still don't have the whole picture myself. There's no way she could figure this out before me.)

There is definitely something about you that nags at me, but we have more pressing things to focus on right now.

Yes...I can sense that there is something here.

And whatever it is, it's something only I can confront...

Thank you for waiting! Our equipment is all adjusted and fine-tuned now!

This is a rare and valuable situation, so I wanted to make sure all the data we collect is accurate.

Part of me would like nothing better than to find out if you evaded capture thanks to being a Divine Spirit Servant, or if it was a confluence of circumstances owing to your avatar and the particular place to which you were summoned...

...but for now, we should limit our focus to gathering as much information about the current situation as we can.

The more testimony we have from more varied perspectives, the better, after all. So please, tell us what happened from your perspective.

Hmm. So you came across Tsubone's soul while you were being drawn here, and decided to help her on a whim.

That's right. I realized that sharing my Spirit Origin with her was the only thing I could do to save her.

I knew it was only a stopgap, but I just couldn't look the other way.

But thanks to that, my own definition became less clear, and I think that's why I was able to escape the enemy's forced summoning.

So it all worked out in the end. I don't even feel any kind of force pulling on me anymore.

Though I do still smell something foul at work here...

And I think it's coming from over there. That place Kasuga-no-Tsubone called "Ooku."

As far as I can tell, whatever's going on here is just as she described.

So, all the people at Edo Castle disappeared, just like the ones at Chaldea Base...

...and now, the Ooku has turned into a labyrinth...?

Coincidence...? Definitely not! This is all clearly connected!

I don't know. I'm afraid this is all beyond me.

Right now, I can't see how the attack on the Wandering Sea, meeting up with Lady Umahi, and the Ooku turning into a labyrinth might be connected...

...but I also can't help but feel as though someone has planned all this out with an endgame in mind.

At least, that's what my instincts are telling me♡

At this point, it could not be clearer that the attack on the Wandering Sea and this strange phenomena at Edo Castle are the work of a hostile force.

？！

That aside, I am still not quite sure what you mean when you say that the Ooku has turned into a labyrinth.

Did you see it for yourself, Tsubone?

Well, sort of. I was just thinking "Oh crap, I'm really dead now" and ascending to nirvana when I think I caught a glimpse of it.

Then, just as I had realized that something strange was going on with my Ooku, and was feeling thoroughly pissed off about it...that was when Lady Par saved me.

So, no, I didn't exactly get a good look at it...but I'm positive there's something strange going on there!

？！

You do have a point, but I think it is still too soon to go to this Ooku place.

Before you try to make your way through this labyrinth, you should make sure that your current surroundings are safe, and that you have ample supplies.

Now that you have accomplished your time-sensitive mission to secure the last reverse-summoned Servant, there is no reason to rush.

Not to mention we still don't know where everyone else is yet...

Right. I'm also worried about what may have happened to Chaldea's staff and Servants.

I would have rescued them too if I had happened to see anyone, like I did with Tsubone, but unfortunately, I didn't.

Wahahahaha! Waaaaaahahahaha!

Pitiful, just pitiful! Exactly the sort of cowardly move I would expect from plebs! What a joke!

？！

Director!? P-please, Director, get a hold of yourself! New Year's is over now!

...I see. So he finally cracked under the pressure...

Hmph. Don't mistake my gentle tone for genuine friendliness! I'm only showing you mercy, as anyone as noble as me would.

I do not recall giving you permission to speak! Now lower your heads in my presence!

？！

You there, boy! How dare you speak to me so casually!

I don't even know who any of you are!

Just so you know, commoners like you would usually be lucky to get so much as a glimpse of a noble warrior like myself in your entire lives!

So know your place, and show me the respect I'm due!

You don't know who we are...? D-does that mean you aren't Director Goredolf Musik!?

Musik? Who might that be? Whoever he is, his name certainly has a powerful ring to it.

But all right, you listen to me. I am Tokugawa Goredolf, the great shogun!

...!?

...!

...

Oh my...?

？！

Gof gof gof. I see you're so shocked you're at a loss for words.

And well you should be. Usually, it would be utterly unthinkable for commoners like yourselves to so much as see the shogun, let alone converse with him.

Well, I have heard that later shogun would sometimes dress up like a commoner and go mingle among them for a lark, but never mind that.

At times, it is the mark of a true shogun to demonstrate his generosity, regardless of how unspeakably rude or undeserving the recipients may be.

Now that you are my guests, I will treat you with the hospitality you deserve. You have my word as the Tokugawano, as the lord of the Ooku, paradise on earth.

...!

Usually, the Ooku would be firmly off limits to all men but the shogun, but today, I am willing to open its doors to worthy guests.

I'm talking about an honest to goodness paradise on earth here. What's there to think about? Don't bother getting ready; just come as you are!

Trust me, you'll find all manner of happiness inside the Ooku. And it's fun, too! Muuuhahahaha!

？！

I just ran an analysis on his biological signatures, focusing primarily on his voiceprint...

...and I can say with almost one-hundred percent certainty that that was Goredolf Musik.

Of course, Mr. Goredolf is human, so I doubt he is sharing his body with someone else, like Pārvatī.

Which can only mean that he has been brainwashed.

？！

The quality of his magical circuits aside, that depends on how the Clock Tower evaluates a mage's talents.

Not to mention the Clock Tower seems to take political power into consideration much more than we do at the Atlas Institute.

At any rate... Yes, at any rate, I am afraid my worst-case predictions were correct.

I would guess that he was the first wedge.

What do you mean?

I mean the enemy must have used him to get a foothold for their attack on the Wandering Sea.

It would be impossible for an outside enemy to hack our Rayshift equipment to conduct a mass reverse-summon while leaving everything else untouched.

So I suspected they might have used a more physical approach for that part...

...and it looks like they probably chose to do this by using Mr. Goredolf.

They must have started by making contact with him and brainwashing him to their side.

He could then use his director security clearance to disable all of the Command Room's protections...

...after which, he was likely the first to be Rayshifted away.

？！

I know what you mean. No matter how advanced a company's security might be, it is all too easy to make off with its data as long as you can sway someone who works there to your side.

After all, you do not even need to decrypt it if you can make off with the devices lock, stock, and barrel.

Honestly, it pains me to think that such a crass, inelegant solution could work this well.

At any rate, once the enemy had Mr. Goredolf under their control...

...they must have used his connections to all the other staff and Servants to reverse-summon them here willy-nilly.

...It must have taken an unbelievable amount of magical energy to do that. Much more than even a Holy Grail could provide.

The enemy would need something with an infinite... No, an inexhaustible resource for generating magical energy...

But never mind what happened in the past. Right now, we need to focus on the problems facing us now.

His outfit may have looked ridiculous, but this is no laughing matter...

No, if anything, it is even more serious than I thought.

Oh yes. If nothing else, we now know that the director is there in the Ooku.

Teehee... Tokugawa Goredolf, was it? We absolutely must save people like him.

He might not be the only one trapped in the Ooku. Maybe the others are there too...

？！

Unbelievable! Who does that Goredolf person think he is, calling himself a Tokugawa! This is a travesty!

How could he even ride his horse or put on his armor with all that excess weight!?

There is something I didn't tell you earlier, for if word of this got out, it would be an unprecedented crisis for the shogunate, and by extension, all of Japan.

Everyone in Edo Castle has vanished, including Iemitsu, the current shogun.

...!

He must be within the Ooku as well. I must rescue him, no matter what.

Please! Will you help me!?

I second her request. Please help her.

I may not be at my full strength, but I can still come out like this to help you in battle if things should come to that.

And Kasuga-no-Tsubone seems like she knows a lot about the Ooku. I'm sure her knowledge will be helpful.

Of course we have to rescue Goredolf and all the others...but even putting them aside, I think I need to go there.

Something tells me I need to confront whomever or whatever's behind all this, and that I'll find them in the Ooku.

...I cannot recommend charging into enemy territory before we have had a chance to create a campsite of our own...

But, you do have Pārvatī to help you in battle, and Kasuga-no-Tsubone to guide you around the Ooku.

So, after discussing it among my different thought processes, we have come to the consensus that it should be okay for you to go in there under these conditions.

So! "Make hay while the sun shines," was it? Well, if we are going to do this, then let us do it!

Your next objective is to infiltrate the Ooku, investigate what is happening there, and rescue everyone who is trapped!

There's no telling what could happen in there, so please be extra careful!

Oh, don't worry. I practically built the Ooku myself, you know.

It might be a little more labyrinthine now, but I still know it like the back of my hand! Probably!

Besides, now I have a goddess of India and her trusty companions here to help me.

Whatever sort of nasty person might have taken over the Ooku, I'm sure we can handle them just fine! Ah ha ha!

What the...? What's with this Osuzurouka? I never had anything nearly this creepy in my Ooku!

...!?

There certainly is a strange aroma here. What is this place, exactly?

This is the Osuzurouka, the Bell Corridor. It's the only way to get from the Nakaoku, where the shogun resides, to the Ooku.

The Ooku itself has several other entrances...

...so this corridor is usually reserved solely for the shogun's use.

But since it looks like this is the only way into the new labyrinthine Ooku, I'm afraid we have no choice but to make use of it ourselves.

If you were to enter the Ooku from one of the servant entrancesor even if you were to get a bird's eye view of the place...

...I am sure it would look like a perfectly ordinary building.

But, when you go there from the passage reserved just for the shogun, it leads to a mysterious labyrinth.

That appears to be the situation we are dealing with right now.

...That space is clearly warped. It is an unknown and secluded spatial structure made by magecraft.

To be honest, it may even surpass the Atlas Institute's engineering. Though I really should not compare them, since this technology and ours could not possibly be more different.

Whatever is happening here is like nothing I have ever seen... How strange... This sort of thing would usually be right up my alley.

But for some reason, I just cannot get excited about this at all.

Indeed. I have no idea how or why this happened.

I'm also pretty sure we never had this much Indian decor before.

Ugh, this is all wrong for Tokugawa interior design! If the decorator were here, I'd ask them to redo the whole thing!

Anyway, that is the Ojouguchi; the door that actually leads to the Ooku. But...

It would seem that someone is there.

Grrr, who in the world are they!? Are they supposed to be the attendants guarding the Ojouguchi?

Just look at them! I would never, ever hire anyone like that! The Ooku's attendants must be proper ladies from noble families!

You have every right to be angry. Those...things are clearly not living creatures.

They may look alluring, but they are nothing more than automata or homunculi... Puppets, really.

There seems to be something different about them compared to normal automatons, though...

They seem vaguely Indian, just like this corridor. Why is that?

The Ojouguchi does need someone to stand guard at all hours of the day and night, so maybe our enemy thought that marionettes who don't need to sleep would be right for the job.

What a ridiculous idea.

At any rate, that is definitely the door to the Ooku, so we can't afford to stop now.

You there! The attendant with four arms!

...? WELCOME. THANK YOU. FOR COMING. PLEASE. ENJOY. YOUR

It can talk!?

W-well aren't you just full of surprises.

But I am Kasuga-no-Tsubone! I spent my life watching over the Ooku!

It will take more than a little song and dance to scare me off now, you bizarre marionette!

Now step aside, or I will strike you down where you stand! Hyaaah!

...Oh, whoops. It seems this is your lucky day, you monster. I don't have my naginata on me now!

Sorry for the trouble, Lady Par, but would you mind taking over from here?

Wait. Huh!? You can't just spring these things on me like this!

...(Sigh) They looked so suspicious, and we were about to fight them anyway, so I didn't hesitate to exorcise them, but

They never actually attacked us, did they? Now I feel kind of bad.

They must have been too scared to fight back after seeing your divine glory, goddess! Oh, and, uh, I guess your...faith?...scared them off too, Lady Sessyoin.

Anyway, now there's no one left to get in our way. Come on, let's go!

Master, I suspect you're going to find an even stranger world past that passageway than what you're seeing now.

It could be ruled by structures, laws, and theories that are completely different from the ones outside the Ooku.

Basically, there is no telling what might happen! Oh yes, this is what a good dungeon crawl should be like!

Oh, sorry, I slipped into spectator mode by mistake. I should take a page from Holmes' book when it comes to keeping my cool.

Anyway, be extra careful in there, everyone. This is where the expedition really begins!