[FDJ]Chapter 125: Investigation

Not long after Alterego Don Quixote recovered, Saladin calmly climbed out of the tunnel. Ignoring the astonished gaze of Suzuki, he steered the conversation towards Don Quixote, giving Suzuki no time to question him. It was hard to believe that a Sultan now ruling the Egyptian region would repeatedly enter and exit through a tunnel entrance without a single servant accompanying him.

It wasn't until around 3 PM that Rider Eleanor returned to the valley. She briefly reported the current situation in Tiberias to Saladin and learned about Don Quixote's recovery before returning to Suzuki's side. Suzuki only knew this much.

"What's going on?" Suzuki, frustrated by Eleanor's delayed response, chose to speak rationally despite her seemingly amused smile, suppressing his long-prepared reproach.

In the house where Suzuki was temporarily staying, Eleanor did not rush to answer. She watched Suzuki transition from agitation to bewilderment, enjoying the sight of the child in such a state.

After a long silence, Eleanor finally responded when she saw Suzuki uneasily stand up from the cushion.

"Master, the bubble monster we encountered earlier, Saladin has verified, is suspected to be an avatar of an evil god named 'Yog'. It attacked Tiberias before 1 AM."

Upon hearing this information, Suzuki's body and mind couldn't help but recall various discomforts, especially the overwhelming memories from the encounter. Enduring the discomfort, Suzuki nervously asked, "Is that monster still alive?"

"The bubble spheres we saw, or rather the avatars that manifested several times, were only fragments. The avatar that appeared in Tiberias last night was not as strong as before, but it still devoured the unguarded Lancer," Eleanor explained slowly to Suzuki. She saw her Master's reflexive discomfort, understanding that very few "ordinary people" could maintain sanity and human form after facing an evil god. Richard had taken her to "appreciate" a nearly destroyed corner of Tiberias outside the city. Even the renowned healer Caster Asclepius could not save the unfortunate citizens who had lost control and turned into monsters or lost their sanity. Various twisted and bizarre corpses were piled outside the city walls, collected uniformly by specially enhanced soldiers and personally incinerated harmlessly by Caster.

In one night, nearly a thousand people and a single Servant had died due to the evil god avatar's descent, and most of the injured could only be harmlessly processed. Caster Asclepius might still be working hard, but Richard wouldn't waste energy on a few civilians.

"After nightfall yesterday, I encountered a fellow Servant, Baldwin I. But he did not pursue me after I returned to the valley. According to my investigation today, he returned to Tiberias immediately to control the rampage of the evil god avatar. My hurried retreat was probably for this reason."

Eleanor did not elaborate on the specific situation in the city, whether it was the collapsed walls, the shattered streets, or the piles of corpses waiting to be burned outside the city. None of these would help the Holy Grail War itself.

"Lancer retreated?" Suzuki naturally grasped the most important point. He had never seen Lancer, and previous information included Rider Baldwin I and Berserker Godfrey, three knights guarding the frontline at Tiberias.

"Lancer is also a king in the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with strength roughly comparable to Archer Tristan you've seen. Unfortunately, when suddenly encountering the avatar of the evil god, he only slightly delayed the monster's spread," Eleanor explained. She knew the true name of that knight Servant, an unfortunate one who died of illness in 1185, participating in this Holy Grail War two years after his death. Unfortunately, he still couldn't witness a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

No one expected that the monster, which Berserker Godfrey had eliminated once, would continue to descend. Unexpectedly, that monster would keep trying to descend. The Holy Grail War, already unbalanced, with the addition of the unpredictable influence of the evil god, would ultimately lead to what kind of outcome, Eleanor could not predict. With the information she currently had, she could only wait for the angel's descent. Therefore, she did not want her Master, Suzuki Yuki, to get involved. Whether it was the mysterious evil god or her son Richard, Suzuki could not deal with them.

"Rider, what do you think?" After listening to Eleanor's brief report, Suzuki pondered for a long time before finally choosing to seek her opinion. He had already realized that his decisions wouldn't hold any weight without Eleanor's approval, and he couldn't help in matters outside the Holy Grail War. The Holy Grail might work wonders, but it wasn't in his possession.

Eleanor had expected Suzuki to propose some extreme suggestions or to ask about the Servants Lancer and Caster, directly throwing the question back at her, which somewhat surprised her.

"We've restored our side to two Servants' combat strength, while the Crusaders in the Holy City have Archer, Caster, and Rider left, significantly reducing their strength. A 2-on-3 situation isn't impossible to win. Master, if you want to win, you must defeat my son Richard; there's no shortcut, and he will never cooperate with you because of the threat from the evil god in this area."

"What about the evil god factor?"

"We don't need to worry about that. If that monster keeps trying to manifest avatars continuously, it will inevitably face suppression by the Counter Force." Eleanor's expression didn't change as she lied. If the angels arrived in this era, all problems would be solved. She believed the Counter Force would be willing to use the evil god to destroy this area, erasing the singularity from the planet.

Suzuki didn't understand what the "Counter Force" was. He vaguely remembered Chaldea mentioning such mystical terms during their teachings, describing it as an unpredictable natural phenomenon, like the laws of all things, balancing all unstable factors on the planet. Theoretically feasible, but Suzuki doubted that such a mysterious and uncertain ultimate force would truly take effect before this era plunged into an irreparable disaster.

"We need to discuss this with Alterego's Master and Sultan Saladin. If they all decide to take the risk, we can try once."

"I think so too." Eleanor smiled as she led Suzuki out of the wooden house and onto the chariot parked outside. Regardless of other factors, the Rider class's advantage of having a mount brought great convenience to Suzuki, sparing him the awkwardness of having to ride a horse for travel as he had in the 5th century.

———

Meanwhile, in the southern market of Tiberias.

Although the city was heavily patrolled by soldiers, many people still gathered there. The war had driven those who could flee to gather inside Tiberias, believing that the impregnable walls would deter the formidable Saladin and the Egyptian army from a full-scale assault. Life had to go on, and people relied more on faith and herd mentality to alleviate the crisis brought by the war.

The collective thoughts of the people had some merit; Saladin never intended to launch a full-scale attack on the city without absolute superiority. But now, the true threat to the city had changed, unknown to the people. Additionally, Richard had timely sealed the information, and the city only knew about a minor earthquake and fire in the east last night, which unfortunately killed dozens of people.

They were even more unaware that the culprit behind last night's disaster was lurking right there, tirelessly preparing to continue the "great" summoning ritual after nightfall.

A raven silently landed on the windowsill, its dark eyes instantly spotting the magus busy concocting potions in the loft of a second-floor shop—Duke Reynard, who had escaped Richard's pursuit.

Soon, a second raven, a third... until the entire windowsill was filled with black familiars, all staring at the target. Suddenly, they flapped their wings collectively, making a piercing cawing sound.

Only then did the slightly chubby magus in the loft realize the presence of the familiars. He immediately turned into a black shadow, trying to escape into the darkness.

But this time, as he turned into a shadow, he found he couldn't merge into the darkness and instinctively locked eyes with the numerous ravens on the windowsill. It seemed he had to fight these familiars and win before he could leave.

Duke Reynard prided himself on his family's multigenerational heritage and their vast library of knowledge. Yet, despite his erudition, he couldn't fathom what kind of magecraft was affecting him—perhaps it wasn't magecraft controlling him at all.

The ravens flew into the second floor of the shop. They gathered together and then scattered, disappearing to leave behind a woman in strange attire.

"Who are you?" Duke Reynard, still in shadow form, was trying to escape, but now he couldn't even move back an inch. A mysterious force compelled him forward and filled him with an intense desire to fight.

"Who I am is not something you need to know. Human, answer my questions truthfully, and we'll let you go. Otherwise—"

The blade left its sheath, and the woman instantly closed the distance to the immobilized Duke Reynard. The sharp, unnamed blade plunged deeply into the wooden wall, revealing a magical seal that shattered and disappeared as she withdrew the blade.

"You'll die a horrible death!"

The seal on the wall was for Duke Reynard's emergency teleportation. Being a cautious and fearful man, he always prepared multiple escape routes, even in temporary hiding places, but none were of use now.

Duke Reynard reverted to his human form, hoping that feigning submission might lower her guard. The woman with the single-edged curved sword radiated extreme danger. She didn't appear to belong to any ethnicity he knew. Her narrow, blade-like eyebrows and bottomless eyes gave Reynard the feeling of staring at an eldritch god—not driving him to madness, but making him acutely aware of his insignificance and her immeasurable power.

"Human, don't try any tricks. You'd better not reach for your magical toys." The long sword returned to its sheath as the she-devil observed Reynard's hand inching toward his waist, ready to draw her sword again at any moment.

"What do you want to ask? Did Richard send you?" Leonard halted his movements and asked cautiously.

"Who instructed you to summon the evil god Yog?"

Reynard didn't know the true name of the god he had summoned, but the term "yog" did appear in the summoning incantations.