"What's the situation?"
In the corridor of Storm Border, Shiomi and Romani stepped out of the detention room just in time to run into Olga Marie, who had come to check on things. Seeing the two exit, she immediately walked over.
"He's awake, but he refuses to share anything meaningful," Romani said helplessly. "He's fine otherwise—no injuries. He was just put under suggestion and passed out."
After defeating Ivan the Terrible, the King of the Russian Lostbelt, Morgan personally led Chaldea in dismantling and removing the Fantasy Tree. Once that was complete, the unconscious Kadoc was brought back to Storm Border and placed in a confinement room within the ship.
Of course, calling it a confinement room was generous—it was basically a small single-person cabin with a bed and a few essentials. When the ship's interior had been designed, it was intended as an ark for a final voyage, not a prison, so it naturally lacked holding cells.
And Kadoc's position was extremely delicate. On one hand, he had betrayed Proper Human History alongside Kirschtaria, participated in bleaching the Human Order, and acted as a Crypter, maintaining the Lostbelt with its Servant. On the other hand, he hadn't been directly involved in the destruction of Antarctic Chaldea and wasn't among those who needed to be held accountable first. Combined with the death of his Servant, Caster Anastasia, Kadoc had, in a sense, already settled his score with Chaldea.
"I see…" Olga Marie hesitated. "But isn't this still risky?"
"It's fine, it's fine. Even though he refuses to talk about the other Lostbelt or the Crypter, he's at least eating the meals I make. No need to worry about him going on a hunger strike." Shiomi waved casually, telling her not to worry.
Olga Marie gave an awkward laugh. "Um—I meant… if the other Crypters, or that Servant calling herself an Alien Apostle, comes to rescue Kadoc, wouldn't that put Storm Border on a collision course with them at any time?"
"Then let them come." Shiomi's expression sharpened. "During the final battle in the Fairy Kingdom, that Servant who called herself Koyanskaya wanted to snipe me from a vantage point outside Camelot."
But after realizing Shiomi wasn't a target she could kill, Koyanskaya abandoned the attempt and vanished thereafter. Shiomi suspected that Servants connected to alien gods—like Koyanskaya—likely had ways to travel between Lostbelts. She must have seen the Britain Lostbelt nearing destruction and left early.
"Koyanskaya… I remember her. Mr. Goredolf Musik's secretary…" Romani said as the memory returned.
"So Kadoc is the bait," Olga Marie concluded. "But Servants can shift into spirit form. If any Assassin among them can conceal their presence, they might slip past Captain Nemo's controls and infiltrate the ship."
"Director, are you suggesting we station someone nearby as a lookout or to patrol?" Romani asked.
Shiomi nodded. "Then let Barghest or Melusine handle it. They may be fairies, but overall they're reliable, and their combat ability is on par with top-tier Servants."
"We'll explain it to them properly later." Olga Marie agreed.
They weren't worried about Kadoc escaping for a simple reason: Shiomi had sealed his Magic Circuits with Primordial Runes, preventing him from using his abilities effectively.
The three turned and started walking toward the bridge.
"But honestly, it wasn't a total loss," Romani added lightly. "Even though Kadoc refused to give detailed intel, at least he told us the identities of the Crypters assigned to the other Lostbelts."
It was only a matter of matching names to roles. China's Hinako Akuta, the Norse Lostbelt's Ophelia, India's Peperoncino, Greece's Kirschtaria, and South America's Daybit. Through the bits Kadoc had let slip during meals, Chaldea had been able to match the remaining Masters of Group A with the corresponding Lostbelt locations.
"Given how things have gone so far," Romani continued, "I think this will be just like during the Human Order Incineration. We can't simply decide the order of Lostbelt repairs by looking at their anomaly depth values alone."
Before entering the Russian Lostbelt, Chaldea had used the Atlas Institute technology Sion provided to scan the remaining six Lostbelts, analyzing their Proper Human History residual values and evaluating their Lostbelt depth…
Especially after entering Britannia, the extensive data collected within its borders further refined their methods of evaluation. Compared to the Russian Lostbelt, which had only an Anomaly Depth of D, Britannia—its Fantasy Tree dismantled by Morgan and converted into an Anomaly World—had risen to an immeasurable EX depth.
Yet in practice, Chaldea had resolved Britannia first, and then Russia afterward.
As for the remaining Lostbelts, Romani questioned whether Anomaly Depth should truly serve as the sole standard to determine their order of response. After all, unlike Singularities, the greatest variables within Lostbelts were the Crypters themselves—Shiomi included.
Precisely because Shiomi had never been committed to maintaining a Lostbelt or destroying Proper Human History, caring only about matters concerning Morgan, he was able to decisively turn toward Chaldea once Morgan abandoned the Lostbelt. That allowed him to swiftly resolve Britannia's crisis, and even the planetary collapse that might have been caused by the Insect of the Abyss.
"So Romani, you mean we should begin by looking at the remaining Crypters to determine which Lostbelt to challenge next?" Olga Marie folded her arms, absently biting her thumb.
"The Professor aside… Russia was caught off guard. In this case, the other Crypters may already be prepared…"
Shiomi reached out and stopped her hand. "You really should fix that habit. Such pretty nails, all bitten crooked. You'll need to repair them later."
"Ah… mm." Olga Marie's cheeks flushed lightly as she nodded.
"Regarding the next Lostbelt," Shiomi continued, "even though it hasn't been long since you left the Wandering Sea, I don't think staying on a world that's been Bleached is good for anyone's mental state. Should we consider returning to the Wandering Sea first?"
"Right. Teacher hasn't even seen our new Chaldea yet."
Realizing this, Olga Marie fell into fresh thought.