How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 337: The Sapphire King is Immortal

"It seems that in the eyes of the Emperor, the Demon Pillar that has not yet awakened is also a kind of demon."

"Ritsuka, you've changed. You weren't like this before."

"If you say that, it will make me seem like I'm dumping you. It will make the atmosphere weird."

"But you're actually trying to kill me. Please don't ignore my attempts to lighten the mood."

——The above-mentioned delightful Chaldean crosstalk took place on the Storm's Edge, at the door of the common room with the Emperor's statue, and was performed by Ritsuka Fujimaru, who was squatting on the ground with a small fire extinguisher beside him, and Mozart, who was lying on the ground listlessly, with the edges of his clothes still smoking.

"But you are still alive and well now." Facing the above accusation, Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't even blink. "You were ignited by psychic fire after stepping into this room, but the fire extinguisher is still effective. This proves that you have not yet been truly contaminated by Chaos. The Emperor was not sure when he burned you."

Mozart suddenly raised his head from the ground, with a look of disbelief on his face: "So the fire that just started on my body can't be put out by physical means?!"

"Yes." Fujimaru·sometimes really bad·Ritsuka admitted without hesitation, "So this carbon dioxide fire extinguisher in my hand is just a cosmetic gesture to the Emperor. You were so panicked at the time that you didn't even notice that I hadn't opened it. The condensation mist and cooling effects are all rune magic - by the way, the actual effects of the above things are at most a placebo effect."

A distorted expression appeared on Mozart's face, as if he wanted to be angry and cry at the same time.

"What if I really get burned to death?" he asked very reluctantly.

"I would say that's a good ending at this stage. At least you can die cleanly and simply in this fake life." Fujimaru Ritsuka comforted Mozart by smoothing the ends of his hair that had become more curly due to being burned. "If you accidentally get Chaos somewhere... I guess you don't want to become neither human nor snake, neither ghost nor ghost, and play something for a weird thing that's neither male nor female forever... For example, a piano, but the eighty-eight strings inside are all vocal cords that are inexplicably stretched on a stand, and there's even a living head behind the vocal cords, that kind of instrument."

The left half of Mozart's face reads "I don't believe it", and the right half reads "You're lying": "Can you fool a musician who is a treasure of humanity like this?"

"I did make up the above scenario, but I didn't mean to fool you. It is precisely because you are a 'human treasure-level musician' that I can make this clear inference - as long as you take a step out of this ship, you will be 100% 'blessed' by the Lord of Indulgence, and then be taken to the Kingdom of God to work illegally for the rest of your life." Fujimaru Ritsuka answered seriously, "By the way, the details of working illegally are the limit of my imagination, but it is far from the limit of the god who controls art, desire and beauty in this universe."

Silence lasted for two seconds in the corridor. Seeing that Fujimaru Ritsuka was speaking sincerely, Mozart was finally convinced - although the point that really convinced him might be the "lifelong rest" part.

"What if I swear that I will never leave Storm's Edge?" The musician wanted to struggle, but Fujimaru Ritsuka just said the devil's spell with a warm face and gentle tone:

"Do you believe what you said?"

Mozart fell back to the ground as if the power had gone out, and then began to squirm helplessly and furiously: "I must drink that wine before my spiritual base is returned! I also want to listen to the new symphony written by Salieri!!!"

"There is no audio or video record of something that has never happened." Fujimaru Ritsuka first coldly rejected the other party's second request, but couldn't help but soften his heart, "But I can show you the score."

Hearing that there was no audio or video recording, Mozart floundered on the ground unwillingly for a while, then looked up again: "Where's the wine?"

"You just have to drink, don't you?" Fujimaru Ritsuka angrily threw a book as thick as the dictionary to the ground beside him - a symphony score extracted from the records of the illusion. "Let me make it clear first, I have to go out again in seven and a half hours, and I have to finish this matter with you before then!"

Mozart, who fully understood what this sentence meant, leaned forward and grabbed the music score. He finally stood up holding it, brushed off the dust on his body, and tried to act like a human being. He asked with a smug look, "What about the rest?"

The thickness of this sheet of music is certainly considerable, but Mozart's rich experience in composing told him that this volume was obviously not enough for a symphony orchestra to perform for six hours. Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had read the entire score in the illusion, naturally knew this problem, and her response was to raise an eyebrow:

"Are you going to walk from here to the music room with a pile of sheet music that's blocking your view?"
-
After finally getting Mozart (along with the sheet music) into the piano room and making sure nothing would come out in the short term, Fujimaru Ritsuka finally began trying to establish wireless communication with Debit:

"How about it?"

"There was a problem - not in the wine, but in the box it was in."

Debbie in the wine cellar had emptied the entire box that had just been brought in - even the lining and cushioning were not spared. Finally, he discovered the tiny marks of the magic array by touch on the bottom wooden board inside the box, in a position that should have been wrapped in soft fibers and velvet and should not have been noticed by anyone.

A box that can carry a top luxury like Catalin White Wine is naturally not cheap. Even Debbie had to use all kinds of skills in the process of dismembering it. But unfortunately, even a heavy box made of special wood with a hardness comparable to that of ceramic steel cannot survive a single round under the hands of a serious magician with special equipment for the Iron Hand. A few seconds later, a burnt smell that seemed out of place in the wine cellar wafted up, and the bottom plate of the box had been cut off by Debbie's bare hands. The wood itself is dark, and the marks on it are thin and shallow. Under the shadow of the box, it is almost difficult to identify with the naked eye. This is why Debbie chose to disassemble it from the box - he held the wooden board with enhanced magic, swayed it left and right in front of the light, and pieced together the complete pattern engraved on it bit by bit through the difference in reflectivity, and then realized a problem:
He couldn't understand most of the text on it. The runes that looked like fine carvings from other worlds or alien planets were beyond his knowledge, which was still barren compared to the mysteries of the entire universe. However, even if he couldn't say he was familiar with the overall pattern of the formation, it was far from his first encounter with it:
"Remember the Sapphire King?" he suddenly asked the question to the other side of the radio.

Fujimaru Ritsuka sounded a little confused, but still answered: "Of course I remember."

"I think Chaos has successfully analyzed Chaldea's Fate Summoning System to some extent." Debit said, "I'm not sure how far they can go. The sample size of this single case is too small, but for this accident, it should be confirmed that the Lord of Change is responsible."

"...First it was the amulet of the Lord of Debauchery, then it was Tzeentch's spell..." Fujimaru Ritsuka muttered irritably, "Is this the nth time they have cooperated? Are these two really mistresses?"

"If you count this time, it's the third time from my side." Debbie seriously answered the question that Fujimaru Ritsuka might not have intended to get an answer to. "But there are other possibilities. For example, the Lord of Change simply taught this spell to others, and the Dark Prince happened to get it and decided to use it-"

"——Let me say this. This couldn't have been done by the followers of Salishi." Ferros, who was watching from the side, suddenly spoke up. During the time that Debbie was observing the box board against the light, his electronic eyes had also scanned its surface and gave him a very definite conclusion:
"I don't understand magic, but all the circles in this pattern are not perfect circles." Due to various reasons, the Iron Father, who has been experienced in dealing with everything in the Slaanesh camp for nearly a thousand years, including demons, Chaos Space Marines (especially the Emperor's Children), cultists, alienated Chaos Spawn and Demon Engines, can make such a judgment with confidence. "Each 'circle' has the same ellipticity. This is definitely not an unintentional drawing deviation, but a deliberate one. The followers of Shalis will never tolerate such intentional imperfections."

Debbie held up the board again in bewilderment, trying to see the "ovality" the other party had mentioned. But unfortunately, his mortal eyes were not a ruler after all, and he could not make such a precise measurement. And Ferros even continued to give his arguments:

"Also, there's a trace of blood in the scratches, so little that even my auspicious instrument can't tell what creature the blood came from. Perhaps part of the ritual to create this spell requires applying blood, and after the ritual, it had to be cleaned up to avoid triggering security checks. Those purple worms won't just keep a low profile like that, they'll definitely find a way to leave some 'art' somewhere nearby."

Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice came from the other end of the radio wave with a bit of personal emotion: "So, if we don't find any hair or human skin in the lining of the box, or if the filter doesn't suddenly fall off and we find that the box itself is made of human bones, then we can basically be sure that this is another case of Tzeentch's intervention?"

Ferros selectively ignored the more fanciful part of the narrative: "It's not that absolute, but the probability is more than 79.63%."

A very exaggerated sigh came from the walkie-talkie.

"Good news. No matter what the other party wanted to do, it failed due to the influence of the alienated interior of the Storm Edge and the existence of the Destiny Summoning System itself." Debit suddenly concluded, "Although the other party added too many elements that I don't understand to the magic circle, making it impossible for me to determine its complete operating mechanism and activation conditions, at least, at present, it only summoned Mozart from the Chaldean Spirit Base Portrait."

"Bad news. That's why we don't know what the other party wants to do." Fujimaru Ritsuka was a little frustrated, but in an instant, she adjusted her mood again. "Forget it. It's also a good thing to know that something is doing something without suffering any losses. The next step is to find out who is advocating the gift-giving on the side of the state religion this time, and then follow the clues to find out... Oh."

"how?"

"Nothing, I just guessed that I will be under supervision for a long time. Anyway, Captain Dante and his men will leave soon, so it makes sense for me to suddenly raise the security level... Where did Sevitarion go? I really want to assign this job to him..."

"What should I do with this summoning circle I found here?" Debit suddenly asked, "I can't read the characters on it, but maybe the think tank here has done some research on similar language symbols."

"Don't study it, just burn it. Take it to the incinerator now." Fujimaru Ritsuka said firmly, "Things like this with unknown activation mechanisms should be made to disappear as soon as possible. Fortunately, this time it summoned an uncontrollable Mozart thanks to Andusias' fate, but next time it may not spit out something nearby. If it turns out to be a real demon, everyone will suffer."

Ferros seemed optimistic here. "Although this spell has almost no chaotic aura, so it can escape the screening of the Blood Angels, which is worrying; but if the thing it summons is a demon like the Sapphire King last time, I think it will not be difficult to deal with it on this ship at this moment."

"But what if it's as strong as Enkidu?" Fujimaru Ritsuka immediately asked back, "The upper and lower limits of the Fate Summoning System are already outrageous. What if there is a Chaos Evil God behind it? It's better to be lenient here."
-
A few hours after sending missionary Leacock to Chaldea with a half-dozen bottles of Catalin white wine, Mills suddenly felt a little heavy.

He did not connect the two events together, nor did he realize what changes had taken place in the wooden box that he had not touched during the whole process. He simply attributed the abnormal phenomena that had occurred to him to the fact that he had been thinking too much and was a little too tired in recent days; or perhaps the Lord of Bliss was not satisfied with his current progress and therefore chose to punish him a little.

This might be worth a prayer of atonement, but he knew that there would be a period of time that would be useless even if he was anxious. He had calculated everything: with the security standards of the imperial saint, any gift presented to Fujimaru Ritsuka would have to go through a series of strict inspections. He therefore specifically instructed Licoke not to do anything unnecessary, and he also knew that these edible things would not be scanned through the packaging in the highest level of inspection, and the other party would definitely open the bottle for random inspection. Because of the value of Catalin white wine itself and its extremely rare production, even powerful people would find it more difficult to get it the farther away from the place of production. After the random inspection, someone would definitely remind the nobleman to try to enjoy it within the best flavor period. Mills only needed to bet that "Fujimaru Ritsuka thought it was good after drinking it, and chose to summon the person who sent this gift on a whim" would actually happen in reality.

This won't take a few days. At least the result will be known before the ship of the state religion actually arrives. Mills, who was extremely confident, or perhaps too confident in the power of the top-grade wine of Quatis in bewitching people, knelt down in his dark room with peace of mind, took out the pagan symbols and idols from the hidden place, and prepared to start a pious prayer full of pain and joy.

As he was completely absorbed in this matter, he did not realize that behind his back, on his vest, which was difficult to see unless he turned his head to look for it in the mirror, there was a strangely patterned bright red stigmata, like a tattoo.

He could not possibly know that at this very moment, in the piano room of the Storm's Edge, a musician from Ancient Terra was drinking an extremely long symphony score - the Catalin white wine he had given him, and sometimes he would suddenly shout crazily "I got it!", then grab the blank score on the other side and start writing on it.

There were only seven and a half hours left to the deadline - enough time for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a musical genius, to compose two piano sonatas while reading a symphony score that was more than six hours long.

(End of this chapter)