The following morning at the Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart, discussions about the previous night's Night Party could be heard everywhere.
"I didn't expect Silent Roar to have such an ace up her sleeve."
"I used to underestimate her."
"I thought she would definitely be eliminated on the first night, considering her opponent was August Veyron."
"But looking at Silent Roar's condition, such a method must come with a high cost, right?"
"It would be unfair if that kind of sudden boost in magic power could be used casually."
"So in the end, Silent Roar still fell."
"I wonder why Last One didn't take her gloves away."
"Maybe it's against his principles to have a woman not defeated by him but by her own hand."
"That guy does have quite the pride."
Conversations like these continued in various corners of the academy. Despite the grandeur of the Night Party, it was still just a competition for a hundred students. During regular class hours, students would naturally discuss it as a form of entertainment.
However,
"It's unknown if Silent Roar will participate tonight."
"Tonight, there are 98 participants, and she's 99th, so she has a one-hour standby duty."
"If she doesn't fulfill her standby duty, she'll be disqualified, right?"
"Maybe Last One will defeat the 98th participant, and if the top-ranked students are absent, Silent Roar won't need to participate."
"Because of that, maybe the 98th participant won't compete tonight?"
"Ah, that's a possibility."
Students in the academy were engaged in such speculations.
This is the challenging situation that Frey is currently facing.
If the 98th participant competes tonight, Frey must complete an hour of standby duty; otherwise, she'll be disqualified.
Now, everyone is looking forward to what will happen at the Night Party tonight. Will the 98th participant indeed take part?
If she does, can Frey compete?
And if Frey can't participate, except for the Medical Department declaring her unfit due to severe injuries that require hospitalization, she'll have to step onto the Night Party stage.
At this moment, Rozen is preparing to leave the academy, and Yaya is strongly protesting against it.
It's not that she's protesting Rozen going out; she's protesting the fact that Rozen is going out without taking her along.
"Yaya is Rozen's puppet! Puppet and their puppeteers should not be separated!"
Yaya, who had once strongly resisted being seen as an puppey and used by Rozen, is now saying such words, making Rozen start to miss the days when his moon automaton always looked down on him.
Nevertheless, Rozen opposed without hesitation.
"The academy explicitly states that a student's automaton cannot be taken outside the academy's premises. Don't you already know this?"
Rozen reminded Yaya of this point.
But Yaya wasn't buying it at all.
"As long as Rozen uses that invisibility magic on Yaya, Yaya can elude the guards. That should work!"
Yaya strongly advocated this point.
Unfortunately,
"Last time, I was just going to pick someone up. As long as you don't expose yourself, there won't be any issues," Rozen said, "But this time is different."
This time, Rozen isn't going out to pick someone up; he's going to conduct an investigation.
"If one wants to collect evidence of Divine Works violating taboos, just go to the nearby orphanages."
Rozen told Yaya this.
This is the method Rozen mentioned earlier.
Given this, Rozen needed to make a trip outside the academy, and he couldn't take Yaya along.
"This time, even I can't guarantee that I won't cause a big commotion," Rozen said to Yaya, "Since I might end up causing trouble, it's only natural not to bring you with me."
Once Rozen truly started causing a commotion, his whereabouts would no longer be hidden, inevitably leading to Yaya's existence being exposed.
If Yaya's existence is exposed, the academy would definitely investigate this unauthorized departure. According to the academy's rules, an automaton that leaves without permission would either be confiscated, disassembled, or even terminated.
So, Rozen decided to leave Yaya at the academy. This way, even if Rozen caused trouble outside, the situation wouldn't become too dire.
"This time, you just stay obediently at the academy," Rozen kindly advised, "You don't want things to really get to that point, where I have to oppose the academy. Even if I'm not afraid myself, it would be very difficult to continue investigating Magnus's affairs here, right?"
"But, but..." Yaya seemed to have some difficulty accepting this.
"Alright, just relax," Rozen shrugged his coat, and with a smile, said, "With Kinu around, even if you're not with me, I'll be fine."
This sentence not only didn't reassure Yaya but also dealt her a blow.
"Does this mean Rozen doesn't need Yaya anymore?"
Yaya appeared shaken.
Seeing this, even Rozen himself was startled and immediately tried to soothe Yaya's feelings. It took a considerable amount of time to restore her mood.
"This job is more challenging than conducting undercover investigations," Rozen wiped the sweat from his forehead and then sighed. He left the room alone and headed towards the academy gate.
Just as Rozen arrived at the academy gate, preparing to leave the academy, the person who appeared in front of him made him stop in his tracks, showing surprise on his face.
"Sword Emperor?"
Yes.
At the academy's entrance, Loki stood there. Moreover, he didn't have any automaton accompanying him.
Then, Loki coldly began.
"You want to come to our 'home,' right?"
Surprisingly, Loki saw through Rozen's plan from the beginning.
Rozen squinted his eyes.
"You want to stop me?" Rozen said with a half-smile. "But this time, neither you nor I brought any automatons. Are you planning a real one-on-one showdown?"
If that were the case, Loki would be asking for trouble.
However, Rozen guessed wrong.
"Come with me."
Loki fell silent, and then he said this.
"I'll take you there."
Upon hearing this, Rozen was momentarily stunned.
In the outskirts of the city streets of Machinart Liverpool, at the end of a road, there's a village.
In this village, there's a building that appears to be a prosperous farmstead.
The building consists of two connected double-story stone houses, which look quite elegant.
Next to it, there's a tall structure that seems like a storage warehouse, and beside it, there's a wooden livestock shed, surrounding the area to create a considerable estate.
At the entrance of the estate, there's a sign.
The sign reads these words.
'Orphanage.'
Led by Loki, Rozen arrived here.
"Is this the orphanage where you reside?" Rozen asked from behind a tree.
Loki didn't say anything about this. Instead, he gazed ahead with an unusually sharp look, as if he was looking at not his home but a cold prison. Not to mention emotions, he almost appeared to be filled with hatred.
That's only natural, right?
If Rozen's guess is correct, the orphanage is where Bronson collects subjects for his human experimentation.
As Bronson's adopted son, Loki surely underwent the Machinartization of his heart here, just like Frey.
In other words, like Frey, Loki's heart was modified, allowing him to possess exceptional abilities among many magus.
However, Loki's abilities are even more exceptional. Even with his heart's limitations not fully unlocked, he has the strength equivalent to the 'Thirteen' and is even acclaimed as someone who can rival Magnus himself.
Given that, it's not at all surprising that Loki would look at his so-called home with such eyes.
"And then?" Loki didn't even look at Rozen and asked directly, "Are you planning to go in?"
"What do you think?" Rozen, likewise, didn't look at Loki, and replied, "Are you planning to continue leading the way?"
"Since it's my decision to make, there's no reason to give up halfway," Loki responded with a somewhat sarcastic tone. His expression remained extremely cold as he continued, "But the question is, how do you plan to get inside?"
Upon closer inspection, next to the estate, there were two men inside what should have been a small house for tenant farmers. They were both guarding and chatting. Even while chatting, these two men would occasionally glance in the direction of the road, and each held a hunting rifle in their hands, showing an extremely vigilant posture.
(If this were just an ordinary orphanage, why would there be such a strict guard?) Rozen was increasingly convinced in his heart that there must be some secret here. So, going inside was something that had to be done.
"I can get in, but I'm not sure about you," Loki taunted slightly.
To this, Rozen naturally needed to prove his abilities with actions. Immediately, Rozen formed a hand seal and chanted a spell.
"————————"
Accompanied by the mantra representing a protector deity for invisibility and dispelling, a faint magical force was released from Rozen, making him, including Loki, appear as if their figures were mirages, first swaying for a moment and then disappearing into thin air.
"What is this?" Loki was initially surprised but then finally looked at Rozen.
"You performed magic so quickly without relying on magical devices and magic stones?" Loki's gaze at Rozen changed somewhat.
In the current era, people have long abandoned many intricate and lengthy magic rituals in favor of developing Machinart technology, which allows for rapid, agile, and effective use of magic.
Only those ancient magics like "Onmyoudou," which can directly summon Shikigami for combat, and "Spirit Arts," which manipulate spirits for combat, are still preserved in the world.
To use magic quickly without the assistance of automata, magus must use magical devices or magic stones. Magical devices come equipped with magical circuits for casting spells, while magic stones serve as natural batteries storing magic power.
However, both magical devices and magic stones lack life and sentience, so magus must personally control magical energy and circuits for their spells to take effect.
Today, Rozen performed magic without using any magical devices or magic stones, relying solely on an incantation. This fact left Loki surprised.
At this moment, Loki recalled a rumor circulating in the academy.
(Rumors say that this guy once rode a giant eagle to declare war on Magnus.)
This matter continued to circulate in the academy. Many speculated that it might have been Rozen's another automaton.
However, after that incident, the giant eagle vanished without a trace. Even the academy authorities claimed that Rozen hadn't registered such an automaton, proving that it wasn't Rozen's automaton.
Unless Rozen deliberately hid it. But this would violate the regulations of the Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart.
"Students' automatons must be registered, or it will be considered an illegal intrusion into the academy, subject to investigation."
This is a rule of the Walpurgis Royal Academy of Machinart.
Considering all this, people no longer believed that Rozen had a second automaton.
In that case, where did the previous giant eagle come from?
And now, with Rozen's current performance...
(Could this person have inherited some ancient magic?)
Thinking that Rozen came from the Far East and knowing the princess of the Izanagi lineage, Loki became more convinced of this.
"Is this what they call Onmyoudou?" Loki asked calmly.
It seems Loki thought that Rozen, like Hinowa, Subaru, and Rokuren, was a practitioner of Onmyoudou.
Rozen responded nonchalantly, "Yes, this is indeed Onmyoudou."
(But whether this world's Onmyoudou is the right one...), Rozen concealed this thought in his heart.
Little did he know that this would be enough to make Loki reconsider his view of Rozen.
(He can suppress Cherubim with just his automaton, and if this person also knows that ancient magic...)
Loki's gaze at Rozen became more serious.
In this situation:
"Don't use magic, or the invisibility will be dispelled," Rozen cautioned Loki, and then calmly said, "Alright, let's go in."
Upon hearing this, Loki did not respond but silently followed Rozen, entering the orphanage.
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