Novia did not show any shyness or impatience towards the girl who was so close to him. Instead, he looked directly into her light but clear eyes.
"So Aige, can you wait here peacefully for me to come back? If you stay like this, I think I will like you more and more. This is the truth."
"...I like it...but, but, I...like..."
It would be a lie to say that Aige was calm without the affirmation of "love at first sight". She still felt a little disappointed. However, Novia's "like" made Sajo Aige feel extremely hot. As if she couldn't stand the loneliness, her lovely voice changed a little.
"Obviously, I can go with you wherever you want to go, and I will never make you worry. Can you take me with you..."
077: The story of the philandering scumbag pope cheating on the innocent dean
Inside a research room of the Atlas Institute, near the door, there was something like a faint smoke floating there. This smoke was invisible to people without keen psychic vision, and it was also a magic barrier set up by the Atlas Institute staff present there.
"Oh my, it was actually the vampires who did this. I never expected this. They are so amazing."
A purple-haired girl wearing an Atlas Academy uniform, a hat without a brim, and three long braids hanging down to her waist, said these words expressionlessly, then crumpled up the note with the message on the table and threw it directly into the trash can.
"Although I am also a vampire, you have to show me this kind of shit? Do you really think I am some emergency firefighter? Besides, I am not from the Clock Tower. How can the next dean be ordered around by others?" The girl, whose real name is Shion Eltnam Atlassia, continued to talk to herself without changing her expression, leaning her legs on the chair, "The Clock Tower should handle the matter by themselves. There is no need for me to go."
Just now, Shion, who was busy with research, suddenly received a note for no apparent reason, which contained news about the magic cave 'The Seventh Labyrinth of Elcatras'.
The infamous "Seventh Labyrinth of Elcatras" is filled with countless dangers on each floor, including fantasy species, synthetic beasts, automatons, deadly traps or barriers, which are endless. Even though many explorers have tried to challenge it, no one has survived. Even the magicians directly sent by the Magic Association cannot conquer it.
At this moment, a vampire has set up a sub-holy grail at the bottom of this labyrinth and started the ritual, which automatically summoned four servants here.
To be precise, Shion was not uninterested in the subspecies Holy Grail War, but she lost motivation when she saw that it was an automatic summon. After all, she still had relics she wanted to use, and she wanted to see if she could summon that person.
Because when she entered Atlas College earlier, she deservedly won the first place with her own talent, and was awarded the name of Atlasia, the next dean's certificate...
But at that moment, a stone and a piece of food that seemed well-preserved suddenly flew into her hands from somewhere.
Although Shion dared to guarantee that this was definitely the first time she saw this ordinary stone and the traditional Egyptian pastry that had been bitten several times, she felt like crying at that time, as if a wish was born in her heart, and this state was the first time she had been born.
As a result, the awarding ceremony had to be ended in a hurry to avoid letting everyone in Atlas Academy see the purple-haired girl, who had always been competitive and active, crying. Afterwards, her eyes turned red from crying.
It was not until the next day that I learned that these two items were actually "treasures" left behind by a dean of Atlas Academy in the first century AD. He seemed to be the first person in the history of Atlas Academy to become an instructor. Even Shion herself was not given the position of instructor until she was eight years old.
Out of curiosity, Shion naturally searched for information about the dean named Xia Li in the hospital, and found that besides being a real genius, she was also from the Eltnam family who used the magic gift ether line like herself. In other words, she was almost her ancestor.
Perhaps it is because I am so outstanding that Dean Xiali left something specially for me two thousand years later. I must not let her down.
With this mentality, Shion became more and more obsessed with research, and no longer cared about the fact that she had been alone all this time.
Until one day, when she inadvertently took out the stone to observe the technology, she accidentally triggered a switch, and followed by a voice that sounded exactly like her own. Before this, the purple-haired girl had never imagined that this stone, in addition to its exquisite workmanship, also had the function of retaining sound.
But soon this unexpected joy was ruthlessly broken. After hearing this, Shion had never felt so angry—
"Novia, I want to say something to you, even if you may say you don't need it, but I still want to tell you... Congratulations on completing your goal, you are amazing, and I am really looking forward to meeting you next time."
“I didn’t hear it…Why, why don’t you know how to use it…”
Shion naturally knew that the name Novia referred to the first pope of the church in the first century AD, but did he have this kind of relationship with the dean?
Although she wanted to calm down, she couldn't stop feeling inexplicably unhappy. Out of confusion, she secretly used the Spirit Calculator, Three-pointed Hermes, to inquire whether the person who was said to have gone to heaven had really gone to heaven and what kind of person he was.
as a result--
I had guessed that one day I would be searched for, and sure enough, I'm so happy. Anyway, thank you for knowing my name, and I wish you good luck.
Well, see you next time.
"See you later! Who wants to see you?"
At this moment, Shion seemed to be able to see the "ugly face" of the first Pope two thousand years ago from this line of words. He was too proud. And what about not getting married and having one wife? Isn't it obvious that this is the process of a philandering scumbag Pope deceiving the innocent girl dean and finally ruthlessly abandoning him.
These are the seven thoughts she separated into, all of which she shared common ideas.
So this kind of unhappiness took root in her heart and could not be shaken off.
How could he not know how to use it? It's definitely intentional. As expected, none of these religious people are good people. They all rely on sweet words and flattery!
From then on, Shion began to disdain the church's invitation to fight against the Dead Apostles. In short, she also disliked the entire church.
Shion also has a wish for the Holy Grail War, which is to summon Pope Novia, and then use all the Command Spells to make him willingly admit his scumbag behavior in front of the stone.
So if this subspecies Holy Grail War in the labyrinth was an autonomous summoning, Shion would be willing to participate, but unfortunately it was an autonomous summoning.
The reason why she was sure that she could summon Novia with a high probability was probably because she thought that since the stone had been given away and now it was taken back, it should be imbued with the aura of the Pope, that is, it was a holy relic.
"This is not a request, but a test mission from the dean, my good daughter."
"Why didn't you just say no earlier? Why are you still beating around the bush? Okay, I'll take care of it."
The note appeared out of nowhere on Shion's desk again. Shion glanced at it and then clasped her hands and muttered.
"However, this matter should obviously be left to the people of the Holy Church. After all, I don't want to meet those guys. I get annoyed to death when I hear them talking about Novia and God..."
078: Sixty-six magic arrays in the maze
After several days' journey, Novia and Aigo Shajo who followed him arrived at the first level of the seventh labyrinth of Elcatras, the entrance to the outside world.
This maze looks ordinary at first glance, but there is a unique atmosphere in the seemingly dim space.
"Um, Novia, why did you drive away those outsourced personnel from the Magic Association?"
Ai Ge, who was standing next to Novia, asked like a student asking questions to his teacher, raising one hand while showing a 'confused' expression appropriately.
"Those are just people sent to die by the Magic Association. There's no need to watch them die."
The Magic Association's outsourced personnel refer to those people who do not explore the mysteries of magic and use magic, but are just used as tools by the Clock Tower as collaborators in the name of cooperation. It can be said that they are neither people from the magic world nor from the ordinary world. Most of the time, these people accept tasks from the Clock Tower to help collect valuable items that have uses such as magic catalysts.
"I see, that's how it is. I understand!"
Aige touched her head with an embarrassed smile, looking as if she had suddenly realized something.
"As long as you know."
Novia probably knew why Ai Ge liked to express herself in a way that showed she could see through things at a glance. Perhaps she hoped that she would think that she was actually very pure and ladylike at her age, so that her impression of her would subconsciously become better.
However, Novia calculated the time and realized that in a short time, the giant snake that was used by Wolfgang Faust, the mastermind behind the Subspecies Holy Grail War, to deal with servants would come to the entrance and exit of the first floor and almost wipe out all the outsourced personnel who were supposed to gather here.
This marks the beginning of the subspecies Holy Grail ceremony, turning this place into a closed space of death, with no way out until the ceremony is over.
However, that moment was also the time when Novia planned to summon Nero and Melusine, because although the four servants of the subspecies Holy Grail War here are theoretically autonomous summons and can be maintained without a Master.
But that was only because no one realized at that moment that the Subspecies Holy Grail War had already begun, which led to a summoning based on fate, and most people were killed by Wolfgang at the beginning.
A subspecies of the Holy Grail based on the city of Fuyuki in Japan, it usually summons servants and absorbs the huge magical power from their souls to function as a wish-granting machine.
This is why Servants are forced to fight each other in the Holy Grail War. In the end, Servants are just a source of magic to fulfill wishes. There were originally seven Servants, and the Sub-Holy Grail has a maximum of five Servants. This difference in numbers shows that it is far from 'omnipotent'.
However, in recent years, the number of magi holding subspecies Holy Grail Wars has increased day by day. They probably think that even if they are not omnipotent, they can still bring huge benefits, so they continue to do so.
"Oh, Novia, I looked at the structure here. It should be a planetary magic circle that integrates Kabbalah thought and design and connects the planets in the solar system. This should be set up to correspond to the solar magic circle, and there are six solar magic circles on this floor."
Aige leaned close to Novia's ear and spoke to him, as if just to make him hear clearly, but in fact, she was just trying to find a suitable reason to get closer.
Then she continued in an expectant tone:
"It corresponds to the 'labyrinth' of the sun, and there are a total of 666 rows of the solar magic circle. Obviously, it is the number of the beast's name recorded in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament edited by the pope with the same name as you. Yes, I actually like the church's Bible very much. I have them at home. This is true. Why don't you come to my house and take a look after you go back?"
Although Novia had passed away before John compiled the Book of Revelation, perhaps Nero vaguely understood something after reading it, so he still included the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.
However, just as some people speculate that the Holy Spirit is actually a metaphor for the first Pope Novia, some people will naturally speculate who the woman who poured the Holy Spirit with wine is. Some people think it is just a simple story, and there are also conspiracy theories that Novia’s disappearance was actually caused by Nero’s seizure of power and his killing. The reason why John used a woman to represent it was to prevent the truth from being passed down.
However, the actual focus of Ai Ge’s words is the latter part, which is an invitation condition that is no less than a backflip for the Cat Club.
"Okay, we'll be fine once this is over. After all, I really like the way you are now, Ai Ge."
Novia answered with a smile, but Aige inexplicably saw from his smile that her unconcealed thoughts were known, and the word "like" made her blush again.
Come to think of it, if Ai Ge hadn't mentioned it, Novia wouldn't have thought of the 666 beast. After all, in his opinion, Nero should have understood him in the end and left peacefully, and he shouldn't turn into a beast again...
Then he would have to take on the responsibility of summoning Nero and Melusine, who had been lonely for so long, and incarnate them.
Just as Novia was thinking to himself, a loud rumbling sound wiped out the original peaceful atmosphere.
"Aige, there are monsters coming."
"There's nothing to worry about. Novia, you don't have to do anything. I will handle it." Aige said with a smile, "But are you worried about me?"
"Of course, because this kind of monster is known to eat the flesh of young girls."
"Wow, that's really scary."
After Ai Ge said this with a smile, she faced the giant snake that was approaching in a straight line from the other end of the passage, making a harsh sound of grinding against the surrounding stone walls and stone floors, covering the entire passage, and making a creepy sound.
As if he had not expected that someone would dare to stand in front of him, the snake rushed towards Aige angrily.
The girl gently touched its forehead, and then used some kind of magic to crush the huge snake into pieces, leaving no trace of its original appearance.
"What a pity, there's only so much left to eat." Aige showed a slightly regretful expression, then smiled brightly, "I'll cook it all for you, Novia... Hey, what is this?"
Because three scratches appeared inexplicably on her right hand, the girl looked at Novia with curiosity.
But somehow, Ai Ge always felt that although Novia seemed to have not changed much now, it seemed that the magic power had suddenly increased a lot.
........
"It has finally begun, and all the magic power in all directions has gathered in the same place this time. It looks like these servants are about to start fighting until only one is left. What a pitiful fight, what pitiful heroes."
At the bottom of the maze, where the subspecies holy grail is located, Wolfgang Faust, a blood-sucking species who is a descendant of Arcadia, smiled, and then, as if he had discovered something, he looked at the blond man who appeared out of thin air behind him.
"…White Knight?"
079: Love at first sight? It’s just hormone stimulation)
"I didn't expect you to be so amazing, Novia."
In the deepest hall of the first level of the seventh labyrinth of Elcatras, there is a layer of shallow water around it, and only the ground can be barely seen. In the center lies a blue monster that looks like a horse, and Ai Ge has now cut off its flesh.
"Okay, let's eat something and rest."
Aige performed a shadow magic to create an object from the empty space, and a metal pan appeared in her hand. Then she performed a water element conversion magic, and the pan was immediately filled with water, and then a flame was created.
"It has to be cooked before it disappears." The girl smiled shyly and continued, "The ingredients are fine. Along the way, I picked out a few edible 'parts' from the Fantasy Species and Synthetic Beasts you defeated and brought them with me. You should eat more to replenish your magic power. After all, you are relying on the power of some servant now, Novi."
This "devil's cave" is full of magical beasts that are hard to see from a modern perspective, but this doesn't matter to Ai Ge. The most important thing is that she can be alone with Novia and strengthen their relationship. This is enough.
"Yeah, almost."
Originally, Novia had intended to use herself as a medium to summon Nero or Melusine during the gap between the giant snake's attack and the moment when the Subspecies Holy Grail War began, but she failed and no Servant appeared.
To be precise, yes, because the magic power did come, but was absorbed by Novia in the blink of an eye, but it was also as if it had not come. These supplies to his body were like a completely dried-up ocean flowing into a river. It cannot be said to be completely useless, but it can only be said to be a drop in the bucket.
But fortunately, the monsters here are the food that Wolfgang Faust provides specifically to servants without masters to replenish their magic power. They can also help Novia replenish his magic power a little. In his current state, he should be considered a sub-servant, and Aige naturally became his master, but for some reason, Aige's magic power could not be transmitted.
Although Novia's current strength is not complete, it is extremely easy to use this magic power to clean up the fantasy monsters here, walk through the dark passages, eliminate traps, and crush the monsters.
"It's ready, Novia, come and taste it."
Aige used the edible parts of the monsters defeated by Novia along the way, and added magical catalysts such as dryad roots as vegetables. Therefore, the dish she made looked very much like stew with vegetables.
She looked at Novia expectantly while she ate, wondering what it would taste like. She hoped it would be good for Novia. Although it was the first time she cooked for herself in more than 20 years, it should still be good.
In the past, Ai Ge would "lock" certain things she didn't want to know and deliberately ignore them. But now, although she didn't "lock" them, she really didn't know whether the food was delicious or not. This was a really wonderful feeling for her, only inferior to the decision she had secretly made to bring Novia home.
".........Is it tasty?"
“No salt.”
Although Novia did not give a direct answer as to whether it tasted good or not, when Ai Ge found out that she did not add any salt, she naturally knew that it definitely did not taste good.
"Sorry, I was too impatient and didn't think of this. Novia, you don't have to force yourself to eat..."
Aige gently pulled Novia, who was still chewing food, and showed an apologetic expression.
"It's okay, just pay attention next time. You just accidentally forgot. It's not that you can't eat it, it just tastes a little bland."
He was just stating the facts. Although salt had existed in the ancient Roman Empire, due to its important position, apart from the rich who could get it in large quantities, ordinary people and even the poor could only get a portion.
Novia had eaten similar food in the early days of the year before she and Lucius arrived in Rome, so it wasn't that hard to get used to. After all, the food still looked good.
Afterwards, the two of them planned to continue into the second level of the maze. The steps to the second level were quietly located in the corner of the hall. It was a rather long staircase.
