We had rayshifted to the Orleans region.
Even though we were dozens of kilometers away from the castle, we could see its magnificent silhouette in the distance, along with countless wyverns flying in the sky. If we got closer, we'd probably see Fafnir and Hippocampi as well.
"Let's split into two groups from here."
What we needed now was a swift victory through the division of our forces.
One team to fight the Dragon Witch's side, and another team to fight Ryuji.
It was fine even if they were far away from me, since Chaldea would handle the magical energy supply.
"Leonidas, Báthory, Siegfried, Parvati, and Jeanne. And Chen Gong will take command of this group."
"Me, sir? Not Ritsuka or the Master?"
"Honestly, both Ritsuka and I are lacking in command ability right now. You're the master of warfare, Chen Gong, aren't you? Shouldn't you show off your skills as a strategist?"
Sending Ritsuka on her own was unsettling. It wasn't that I didn't trust them, but that I didn't know what variables the enemy might throw at us. Currently, the only ones in our camp receiving a debuff from the laws of this world were Ritsuka and Mash.
I wasn't sure about Ritsuka, but Mash's debuff would be removed if she contracted with me. But then, what about Ritsuka?
I thought it was better to leave this world's Mash as she is. While all the other Servants were spiritual offshoots, Mash was a human currently living in this world.
Instead, she would participate in battles, but I would protect her to prevent any mishaps like in the previous loop.
"And the rest—Atalante, Yu Miaoyi, Kiyohime, Asterios, Ritsuka, and Mash—will come with me. Chen Gong, you take Martha."
"I shall put her to good use. The only shame is that she's a one-time use, I suppose. Ah, the Tarasque as well, perhaps?"
I nodded wordlessly, and the Tarasque, unaware of its self-destructing fate, just tilted its head in confusion. A wicked smile played on Chen Gong's lips as he adjusted his glasses.
"BB. Are you getting a reading on Ryuji?"
[Yes, I am. He's quite far away. Considering our speed, we'll likely meet him a little after our side clashes with Orleans.]
So, that meant we would only barely manage to meet Ryuji after Chen Gong's team had already started fighting.
"Leave it to us, Master. We will be victorious."
Jeanne raised her flag and thumped her chest. Right, she had consumed five Holy Grails, after all. Her offense might be another story, but they wouldn't be able to get through her defense. The enemy even had Fafnir, which was why I paired Leonidas and Jeanne together.
"Yeah, I'm counting on you."
We split up immediately.
We rode the four-wheeled bike we'd used before, heading toward Ryuji.
Ritsuka rode behind me, her arms wrapped around my waist.
"Is it really okay to trust them with this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just worried they might betray us."
Ritsuka spoke in a low voice, leaning her head against my back. I glanced at her reflection in the side mirror before facing forward again and hitting the accelerator.
"Are you feeling anxious?"
"You said it yourself, Sho. That this is a world of betrayal. You never know, right? Especially Chen Gong. Wasn't he a strategist who betrayed many masters in his life while following Lu Bu? He even betrayed Cao Cao."
"Whatever else he did, his reason for betraying Cao Cao was justified, though."
Chen Gong betrayed Cao Cao because of the Xu Province Massacre. Also known as the Great Filial Piety of Xu Province.
Chen Gong, coming from a thorough line of magi, operated with an inhuman perspective, moved by reason alone, not emotion. Cao Cao was a similar type, which was why Chen Gong, who also had ambitions, chose to follow him.
But Cao Cao committed the Xu Province Massacre, an emotional act that would become a great blunder for him.
No matter if it was revenge for his family, he went too far. It was so severe that even the most ardent Cao Cao supporter couldn't defend it. Historically, everyone agreed it was Cao Cao's greatest mistake and an act deserving of condemnation for generations.
Chen Gong didn't leave because he disliked Cao Cao on an emotional level. Rather, from a magus's perspective—from a strategist's point of view—he was greatly disappointed by an emotional slaughter that yielded no profit, and so he left.
If a talent like Chen Gong had remained by Cao Cao's side, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms would have likely progressed in a direction more favorable to Cao Cao. Lu Bu might have died earlier, or perhaps he would have been absorbed by someone else, repeating his betrayals and living longer.
In other words, Cao Cao was betrayed because he strayed from the path he had maintained, running wild for emotional reasons and losing the trust of those around him. When you think about it, it was less a betrayal and more something he brought upon himself.
Of course, he did some nasty things while following Lu Bu, so there's no defending that.
"The other Servants, too. You said even people like Jeanne betrayed me. They might be your Servants, Sho, but you never know. Is it really okay to be so far apart? Aren't you scared or afraid of being betrayed?"
The bike sped forward, the wind rushing past us. My hair and Ritsuka's whipped about wildly, but perhaps due to some function enchanted on the vehicle, her words reached my ears perfectly, without a single one being misheard.
"I wonder. Ritsuka, are you afraid of being betrayed?"
"... Yeah. I'm scared, I'm afraid, and I hate it. Even if I trust someone, I just get betrayed in the end. It's because I trust them that I get betrayed, isn't it?"
"Then what about me? Do you think I might betray you?"
"That's...."
Ritsuka couldn't answer my question right away. Seeing her like that, I gave a bittersweet smile.
"The story I told you made you anxious, didn't it? The story of the previous loop. I told you to protect you, but it ended up making you more insecure."
"N-No. It's not your fault, Sho. It's just, it's just...."
Ritsuka wore a sad expression. Her eyes wavered with anxiety.
"Ritsuka. Betrayal isn't always such a monumental, overwhelmingly negative thing."
"Huh?"
"What I mean is, betrayal isn't as big of a deal as you think it is. It's something we can easily encounter in our daily lives. For example, say we're going to move into an apartment. We buy a place there. We do it by trusting the construction company that built it, trusting the basic interior design, and trusting the real estate agent and the building manager who handle the sale. That's how we buy a home. But we can be betrayed in that process."
The house you bought on trust could turn out to be structurally unsound, with a defective interior and shoddy construction. The management could be neglectful, leading to plumbing issues, or the real estate agent could have lied about a stigmatized property. You can be betrayed by things you trusted in many different ways.
"Trusting a home shopping channel that advertised something as a diet food and buying it, only to find out it's just a regular food that does nothing for your diet and you paid a premium for it—that can also be seen as a form of betrayal."
"That's... betrayal?"
"Because your trust is being betrayed. When you buy something, you're buying it on the trust you have in the people who made it and the people who sell it. If there's a defect in the product, you've definitely been betrayed. A product that claims to be low-calorie but actually has a falsified nutrition label is also a betrayal of trust."
As I spoke with a smirk, Ritsuka looked up at me with a troubled expression, as if asking if I was kidding.
"Ritsuka, I've heard that saying before—'You get betrayed because you trust.' And I think it's the stupidest saying in the world."
"Why? It's a sound argument, isn't it?"
"But it's nonsense. It's like saying, 'You poop because you eat.' So what if you eat but don't poop? You'll get constipated and die from toxic buildup. On the other hand, what if you don't eat anything because you hate pooping? You'll die. It's like that. 'You get betrayed because you trust' is both a statement of the obvious and complete nonsense."
Ritsuka looked bewildered, as if she didn't understand what I was saying. I slowed the bike for a moment, turned back, and stroked her head.
"Ritsuka, how do you think our world developed from the Stone Age to where it is today? It's because we trust each other."
"Because of trust?"
"Humans form groups, create tribes, build villages, cities, and nations, elect leaders, keep the world running, and develop civilization. All of this is possible because they trusted others. In ancient Mesopotamia, once nations were formed, people no longer had to focus solely on farming or hunting, so various professions emerged. Religious figures, cooks, teachers, and so on. See? If there were no trust, how could such professions have continued to exist to this day?"
That's what trust is. They say the history of humanity is a history of blood. But at the same time, it's a history of trust.
"We trust that people are selling proper food, and we pay a price to buy and eat it. Sometimes, people who tamper with food can make us sick or even kill us. But are all cooks, is everyone in the food industry, like that?"
"Well...."
"In medieval Europe, dark bread was for the commoners, while white bread was sold as a symbol of wealth. So, some people, to make money, would add chalk dust or other white powders to the dough to make white bread and sell it cheaply. As a result, records are rife with stories of people who ate it getting sick or dying. And yet, people still make and buy bread to this day. Why? Because they trust. They trust that not all bakers, not all bakeries, are like that."
"But what if you get betrayed? You could die."
"Heh, then Ritsuka, how are you able to wear those clothes?"
"Huh?"
"It's the same with clothes. Some clothes are made carelessly, with carcinogens or foreign substances inside the padding, or made from harmful materials. Some companies do that to be competitive, to sell a lot of clothes cheaply. Ritsuka, the clothes you're wearing were made by people whose faces, let alone names, you don't know. What about that scrunchie? Did you make it?"
The scrunchie tying up Ritsuka's hair. She touched it and lowered her head slightly.
"No."
"The water you drink is filtered by a purification system built by others. The toilet you use was made by someone else. What about the bed you sleep in? The rice you eat was grown by someone you don't know, transported by someone you don't know, cooked by someone you don't know, and served in a rice bowl made by someone you don't know with a rice paddle made by someone you don't know. The reason you can use and eat all these things without worry? It's because you trust. Because trust is the fundamental basis."
It was a dark night, but the sky was filled with countless stars. I glanced up at the glittering sky, full of numerous constellations, and smiled.
"That's what it means to trust. Not trusting because you're afraid of betrayal? That's foolish. Even the person who said that probably wears clothes made by others, trusting them. Are they all handmade? Haha, did they spin every single thread themselves from silkworms? If it passed through anyone else's hands, even a little, you wouldn't be able to wear it without trust. That's how it is. We trusted each other, were betrayed countless times, and yet we never gave up on trusting. That's how we've come this far."
"Even if being betrayed is painful and agonizing... I still have to trust?"
"You can't move forward otherwise. A human can't do anything alone. That's common sense known to all animals. Why do animals form packs? Because they can't survive in the world alone. To stand still because you're afraid of moving forward... Can you really call that living, just standing in the same spot forever? A life that doesn't advance, that just treads water... Does that kind of life have any meaning?"
I don't think so. You have to move forward, little by little. You have to try things, go places, and strive to become better. The history of humanity is a history of progress.
It's because every human being moved forward, trying to become a better person than they were the day before, that all of us can live in and enjoy the world we have today.
"If you stay still because you're afraid of being betrayed, because you hate the pain and are scared... If you stay still because you're afraid of the needle of pain and scared of swallowing the pill... eventually, you'll be swallowed up by the disease called distrust that torments you, and you'll meet your end. Everyone experiences heartbreak, everyone experiences failure. From within that, we run towards success and ultimately achieve it. That's what life is, what it means to be human, Ritsuka."
"Even... trusting someone who betrayed me again?"
"Sometimes you have to form a temporary alliance. I'm not saying you have to blindly trust everyone. You can doubt, judge whether a person or a thing is truly trustworthy, and then decide to believe. But know this. If you don't trust because you're afraid of betrayal, you'll eventually become unable to trust even yourself. I don't want you to become that kind of person. I want you, Ritsuka, to become someone who can be proud of herself."
I just want you, at least, to not be surrounded by guilt and regret like me.
"Someday, I hope you can live a fun and happy daily life, laughing and chatting with everyone. I don't want to see your sad or scared face… I want to see you smile. That's what I came back for, after all."
I wanted to protect one person's, one girl's smile.
That's all I wish for.
"You're a positive person, Sho. Maybe even an optimist."
Ritsuka leaned her head against my back. When I glanced at her in the side mirror, she had a faint smile on her face.
"It'll be hard to change right away, but I'll try, little by little. So I can become that kind of person."
"That's all it takes. Let's work on it together."
And someday, I too want to become someone who trusts themselves…. that kind of person with a clear conscience.