Section 4: Invitation for Judgment

There goes the queen and her guards...

Yes. And they've taken M and Shakespeare along with them.

？！

Of course. I wouldn't have gone out on a limb like that otherwise.

Admittedly my lead is...flimsy at best right now.

For the moment, let's go over the key figures involved.

There's that queen.

That shady older man who calls himself "M."

And Shakespeare.

But then again, maybe we don't need to bother with things like that. At least not when we have much simpler and more effective options available to us.

For example... Ha!

？！

So, you're using Presence Concealment. That must make you an Assassin.

...How did you know?

Master noticed there was something off about the magical energy in this vicinity, so she had me analyze all relevant factors.

There you have it. I figured exposing you with the queen around would only complicate things further, so I kept my mouth shut until it was just us.

I don't suppose you're the one behind all this, are you? It would make things nice and simple if you were.

I'm not, but I have no reason to explain myself to you.

Stop! Shit, he went out the window! Come on, pupil, we're going after him!

？！

Damn, he's fast! Don't let him get away, Trimmau!

Understood. Activating combat functions.

Damn, that's a good familiar. Whoever made that Mystic Code knew what they were doing. All right, in that case...

He can move even faster!?

So he moves faster than the eye can see, AND he's got Presence Concealment paired with more standard stealth-oriented magecraft, huh.

Even Trim and me working together can barely keep up. We don't even have time to let you summon anyone!

Got you.

Master!

Oh come on, what kind of Servant uses a gun? If it wasn't for Trim, my Spirit Core would be blown to bits right now.

...Looks like I don't have any other choice.

I really didn't want to use this since it takes a ton of magical energy, and I expect Sima Yi won't be too thrilled about it either, but oh well.

Seven holes are bored into primordial chaos. There are poisonous women to great men. Never is there a time when neither sun nor moon is set.

Did you really think I'd let you use your Noble Phantasm!?

Behold my tactics! Unspoken Formation!

What the!?

My Noble Phantasm's a little unusual, you see. It doesn't have a predefined form.

What it does do is produce an illusory moon and sun that eliminate any advantages the target may have and instead exposes their weaknesses.

Ghh... I can barely move...!

？！

As luck would have it, it works especially well on opponents who tend to rely on powerful skills and Noble Phantasms.

All right, pupil! Let's make him cough up everything he knows!

Dammit, this is a really bad matchup for me!

What's wrong? Giving up already? In that case, I think it's time you told us what we want to know.

I don't have a problem with that, but I think my client might.

Good work, Kerry.

I told you not to call me that.

I know, but I can't help it. I just get the urge to call you that for some reason.

L-Luvia!?

L-Luvia!

...Oh, is that who this body belongs to? I didn't expect to run into one of her friends.

？！

Her body is, anyway. Looks like she's a Pseudo-Servant like me. Though apparently they chose to fuse their personalities rather than keep them separate.

So you're the ones who opened Mnemosyne in the fairy tale patchwork.

You mean that scrap of paper? What if we were?

I'm telling you this for your own good: you should give up now, before it's too late.

Master, I must tell you that I am unable to gauge her magical energy.

Hmph. I guess that makes sense though, since she is a Pseudo-Servant. A really powerful one, too, if this spiritual force is anything to go by... This is no ordinary Heroic Spirit.

Why did Luvia have to get a Divine Spirit, dammit! There's no way we could beat her in a fair fight!

No, it couldn't. All my Noble Phantasm can do is remove advantages and expose weaknesses.

It works great against one-trick ponies, but doesn't do squat against jack-of-all-trades types.

And that Pseudo-Servant is definitely the latter. Her stats are quite high across the board.

If Trimmau's analysis is anything to go by, her stats have all got to be B or better!

Don't forget that Assassin. He's bound to stop you from using your summoning spells again.

What's more, that Pseudo-Servant Luvia's become has pretty outstanding stats across the board.

If Trimmau's analysis is anything to go by, her stats have all got to be B or better!

？！

And if that wasn't bad enough, we don't even know what her Noble Phantasm is like. It's much too risky.

I'm glad to see you understand your situation.

I don't know what sort of relationship you and this body's owner have...

...but if you insist on continuing to seek Mnemosyne, I'll have to pass judgment upon you.

Judgment? Then, you must be

I'll let you off with a warning this time, so I'd suggest you take this opportunity to decide how you want to play this.

...What a pain. If it's not one thing, it's another in this damn place.

Senpai! Are you all right!?

？！

Yes, but we can still only maintain the connection for a short time.

We're working on extending it, but when I noticed your readings indicated you were in combat, I had to make sure you were okay...

Another call from Chaldea, huh. You haven't exactly caught us at the best of times.

I see... So that's what happened.

It does sound very likely that this pianist has some connection to the Mnemosyne paper you found earlier.

？！

Yes, I do. I can only venture a guess at this point, but based on what we know, it seems extremely unlikely that it would be completely unrelated.

Then we definitely can't ignore it. Either way, there are no other leads to pursue.

So then, what are you going to do about that Divine Spirit Servant?

No idea! But we can't afford to throw up our hands and stop our investigation now.

？！

The same thing you do in any investigation: interrogate the suspects.

Oho, a hearing, you say! But alas, I lack an alibi!

Hm? You're not here for that? You only want to know what I think about the piano?

Hahaha, the piano had yet to be invented back in my time, but its beautiful tones are more than enough to set my flames of passion ablaze!

Hm? Does that mean I wished to keep it all for myself then? An excellent question! Permit me to respond!

If one should come across a glittering pile of gold, it is only natural that one would want to keep it all for one's self. Why, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal!

You want to hear what happened when I discovered the pianist was gone? Well, I can tell you that Shakespeare was already there when I arrived.

If it was anyone, I daresay it's him! What's that? Try to just answer questions and not hurl accusations?

Hahaha, you'll have to forgive me. It's something of a defense mechanism we older types develop. The moment it seems we're about to take the blame for something, we automatically try to pin it on someone else!

So you have come to question me as well? I fail to see what motive I could have for abducting a musician.

This is not about that? I see...

Yes, it was M who introduced me to the pianist. I remember that quite clearly.

？！

There was one thing nagging at me, so I wanted to make sure I had all the basics straight.

Trimmau, help me sort this information out.

Yes, Master.

I'll relay all my thoughts to you through my magical circuits. Let me know when you've sorted through all the aspects my subconscious mind focused on.

？！

Hehe, I've always been good at these sorts of delicate operations.

My brother, on the other hand...not so much.

How about you, Sima Yi? You got anything useful for us?

Hm? You don't know anything about Mystics, so you're just going to let me handle that stuff?

Man, I guess even becoming a Heroic Spirit did nothing to temper your penchant for realism...

Master, I've finished my analysis. Your keywords are: forgetfulness, ghost, and Pseudo-Servant.

Forgetfulness, ghost, and...Pseudo-Servant? Why would those be lumped together?

I mean, I know that Servants are technically dead people, but there's a huge difference between normal dead people and Heroic Spirits.

But, then again...

？！

Hey, pupil. When you think of a musician Heroic Spirit, who's the first person that comes to mind?

Mozart... Yeah, that makes sense. He's certainly one of the most famous musicians in all of history.

Salieri... He's a great musician, sure, but why would he be your first choice?

？！

Hmm... The question is, why did you think of that back then, out of all the other possible choices?

I've got it. Come with me, pupil!