Chapter 90: The Final Puzzle Piece to Assemble the Truth
After Phryne was bound by the Heavenly Chain, the golden magic stone she had swallowed was forcibly expelled from her body.
Because of this, the extraordinary regenerative ability she had just shown suddenly disappeared, and the wounds Shirou inflicted on her could no longer heal.
"..." Looking at Phryne who was now completely unable to resist, Aisha was stunned for quite a while before she could react.
"Did we really win?" She blankly stared at Shirou, who was unharmed and had instantly defeated a Lv.6, murmuring, "As expected, Emiya, you really are the legendary Sword Demon of the dungeon, aren't you?"
"I really couldn't hide it, huh?" Shirou silently nodded at Aisha seeing through his identity. "As you said, I am the Sword Demon, but I hope you won't tell anyone else about this."
"Mm, don't worry." Facing Shirou who saved her from a desperate situation, Aisha naturally would not repay kindness with enmity. She vowed not to reveal Shirou's identity.
After gaining Aisha's promise, Shirou slowly approached Phryne and said, "Then, tell me everything you know about the Dark Faction."
"I... if I tell you, will you spare my life...?" Phryne clearly was not a strong-willed person; as long as it meant survival, she was willing to say anything.
Shirou hesitated for a moment, then quietly said, "If you tell the truth, I promise I won't lay a hand on you."
"Emiya?!" Aisha, beside him, didn't expect Shirou to make such a promise and quickly spoke up.
But Shirou quietly placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling with his eyes not to rush, then patiently began interrogating Phryne.
To save her life, Phryne obviously tried her best to spill everything she could and couldn't hold back.
This included not only her secret contact with the Dark Faction and the gifts she received from them, but also how the Dark Faction had deliberately instigated conflict between the Ishtar Familia and the Freya Familia, aiming to make these two top factions destroy each other.
After listening to Phryne's story, Shirou frowned and asked, "Where is Heith Velvet? Did you kidnap her?"
"Heith? Who is that? What are you talking about?" Phryne looked at Shirou with complete confusion.
Her expression didn't seem fake at all, forcing Shirou to admit that Phryne's connection to the Dark Faction was quite limited.
She at least didn't know the details of Heith's kidnapping.
This was very disappointing for Shirou—after all the effort, he still couldn't find truly useful clues.
On the other hand, Aisha widened her eyes and asked Phryne, "You said earlier that the Ishtar Familia and the Freya Familia are about to enter full-scale war? What's that about?"
"Ah..." In response to Aisha's question, Phryne quietly answered, "The goddess Ishtar has always been wary of the Dark Faction and refuses to cooperate fully with them.
So the Dark Faction came up with a plan to force the Ishtar Familia and the Freya Familia into full-scale war. By now, their plan should almost be coming to fruition."
"How could that be? If full-scale war breaks out, then what about Haruhime... cough cough..." It seemed Aisha's worries overwhelmed her, causing her injuries to worsen along with her emotions.
While stabilizing Aisha's wounds, Shirou asked, "What exactly is going on with Miss Haruhime? Why does Ishtar value her so much?"
Shirou still didn't know the truth about Haruhime's ability and had to ask directly now.
"Haruhime's ability is level advancement." Aisha coughed and said, "Her ability can forcibly raise any adventurer's level by one. It's an incredibly broken effect."
"Forcibly raising levels? That really is broken." Even Shirou was surprised by Haruhime's ability.
While at low levels, Haruhime's ability seemed mild—after all, raising from Lv.1 to Lv.2 isn't too meaningful—but what if she applied it to Lv.6 or even Lv.7?
That could directly turn a Lv.6 into Lv.7 or Lv.7 into Lv.8.
No matter how you look at it, the effect was outrageously powerful.
"That's not even the most important part." Aisha took a deep breath. "Apparently, combined with the Sessho-seki (Killing Stone) from her homeland, Haruhime can unleash her ability to its absolute limit, raising the entire Familia's levels at once.
But the cost is her soul shatters.
Because of this, the goddess Ishtar treats her as a last trump card, even the hope to defeat the Freya Familia."
Shirou finally understood the situation with Haruhime.
Although unrelated to the Dark Faction, Haruhime's power was so overwhelming that Shirou had no choice but to take it seriously.
Next, Shirou continued to press Phryne about many details concerning the Dark Faction, but Phryne truly didn't know anything else.
The only useful information she revealed was that, in order to oppose the Freya Familia, the goddess Ishtar had specially recruited a deity named Kali outside of Oralie.
Just a few days ago, Phryne and a small group had secretly visited the port city Meren to meet Kali's Familia, discussing an alliance against the Freya Familia.
When Shirou heard the name "Port City Meren," he was very surprised.
Because he remembered the Loki Familia also went to Meren to investigate the Dark Faction. He hadn't expected the Ishtar Familia had gone there too.
Could there be some connection between the two?
Since there was very little related information, Shirou couldn't draw a conclusion.
Phryne couldn't provide any more useful intelligence after that.
Like the god Apollo before her, she had only been a one-way recipient of information from the Dark Faction, completely unaware of their actual movements.
The Dark Faction gave her that golden magic stone and told her about a special secret passage inside Windmoon Street. In return, Phryne had to obey their instructions to some extent.
"Wait, hold on?" Shirou suddenly noticed something he had overlooked in Phryne's words. "This secret passage isn't made by the Ishtar Familia?"
"No, why would the goddess Ishtar have time to make such a passage?" Phryne quietly answered. "This passage was told to me by the Dark Faction. Whether it was made by them or not, I don't know. But I have confirmed that the passage leads to Daedalus Street."
"Daedalus Street..." Shirou had heard of this street before.
It was separated from Windmoon Street by just a single wall.
Unlike the bustling and lively Windmoon Street, Daedalus Street was an extremely remote and desolate street, known in Oralie by the special name "Slum Street."
Basically, those living on Daedalus Street were the lowest layer of the city, many without jobs, or criminals hiding within.
Because of the street's complicated layout and chaotic population flow, Daedalus Street was the only place in Oralie not controlled by the guild, a haven for outlaws.
Loki once suspected the Dark Faction's base was in Daedalus Street, but due to the street's chaos, even the Loki Familia could not easily enter, so she chose to investigate the easier Port City Meren first.
Now, with Phryne saying the secret passage from the Ishtar Familia leads to Daedalus Street, it highly likely means the Dark Faction's base is there.
This gave Shirou the idea to investigate that street.
Of course, before that, he still needed to solve the matters at hand.
"You've said everything you can, right?"
"That's right, that's all I know. Please let me go as promised."
Faced with Phryne's kneeling and begging, Shirou slightly nodded. He then slowly stood up, looking like he really intended to let her go and leave.
However, although Shirou chose to leave, Aisha stayed behind.
She lightly stepped into the interrogation room and took out a sharp dagger.
"A-Aisha, what are you doing?!" Phryne was terrified seeing Aisha's action. "Didn't you hear what he said? He promised to spare me!"
"Yeah, Emiya did say he wouldn't harm you, but he never said I wouldn't!"
"W-What!?"
Aisha's words made Phryne's face turn pale, her fear reaching its peak. Only then did she realize that she had fallen into Shirou's trap, deceived by his wordplay.
"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! How dare you deceive me! Do you even count as a righteous being like this?" Phryne spoke in despair, "You're no different from me or the Dark Faction—utterly despicable! Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting!!!"
Shirou did not respond to Phryne's words.
His mind was not shaken at all by her speech because his will had already been tempered into steel during the snowy night battle with Ainsworth.
For Shirou now, everything was merely a means to achieve his goal. As long as the final outcome was correct, as long as he protected what he wanted to protect, he would not care what filthy or despicable means were used.
As for someone like Phryne, letting her live would only bring harm and no benefit; more people like Aisha would suffer.
Therefore, he left the dungeon without hesitation, and behind him echoed Phryne's screams before her death.
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After leaving Phryne's dungeon, Shirou immediately took Aisha to the other party's room and performed simple healing and bandaging.
After finishing all this, Shirou said he wanted to consult with the goddess Ishtar, to try at least to stop the full-scale war between the Ishtar Familia and the Freya Familia from breaking out.
However, Aisha seemed to have little hope for Shirou's actions.
She believed that the conflict between the two beautiful goddesses, Ishtar and Freya, was fundamentally impossible to erase. Without knowing what methods the Dark Faction had used, war between the two major Familias was inevitable.
Meanwhile, the strongest of the Freya Familia, Phryne, was now dead.
This meant that even if the Ishtar Familia used Haruhime's special ability for a full upgrade, they were destined not to be Freya Familia's match.
At times like this, Aisha's only thought was one thing: to rescue Haruhime as much as possible, and not let her perish along with the Ishtar Familia.
Shirou did not deny Aisha's idea.
After all, from a rational point of view, abandoning the doomed Ishtar Familia to save oneself was the best choice. But Shirou never acted purely on rational thought.
His heart was also filled with warmth and emotion, at least unwilling to watch the Ishtar and Freya Familias collide and cause huge casualties.
Therefore, Shirou decisively went to meet the goddess Ishtar and attempted to stop her.
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Ishtar's room was located at the highest floor of the palace. "Emiya? Why are you here?" Ishtar seemed surprised to see Shirou arrive. "But it's just right; I also have something to talk to you about."
"Something to talk to me about?"
"Yes." Ishtar silently smoked a pipe, exhaling clouds of smoke. "You've been here for some time already; have you found any clues about Heith Velvet?"
"..."
"Of course not. It seems my thoughts were right; Heith Velvet never went missing in the Windmoon Street. Freya deliberately staged this to attack me."
Ishtar seemed convinced that Heith's disappearance was a play directed by Freya herself. Since Shirou had no evidence, he remained silent on the matter.
On the other hand, Ishtar spoke seriously: "Moreover, I suspect Freya is no longer just targeting me. She is likely preparing to launch a formal attack against the Ishtar Familia."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, because in the past few days, all my subordinates sent to scout the Freya Familia have not returned. This means Freya has already captured them all and is preparing to make a move against my Familia."
Regarding Ishtar's words, Shirou recalled what Phryne said—that the Dark Faction had used some method to provoke conflict between the Ishtar and Freya Familias.
It now seemed that the missing people from both Familias were part of this so-called conflict.
However, although Shirou now understood someone was manipulating behind the scenes, he had no evidence to prove any of this.
And because Ishtar and Freya already harbored deadly enmity, the powder keg between them only needed a small spark to fully ignite.
All of this was undoubtedly the Dark Faction's plan.
"Goddess Ishtar, can you temporarily avoid making war on the Freya Familia?" Shirou made a helpless request. "I will find out the truth about Heith's disappearance, to prove that this was not Freya's doing but someone's secret scheme."
"I've already given you a lot of time." Ishtar seemed to have lost faith in Shirou. "Besides, it's not me who is making the move now, but Freya. Even to prevent her sudden attack, I must prepare early."
"..."
From Ishtar's words, Shirou realized she wanted to use Haruhime as a trump card, but at the cost that Haruhime's soul would be completely shattered after using the secret technique.
Shirou would not allow Ishtar to do such a thing. But without Haruhime, the Ishtar Familia's chance to fight the Freya Familia would be zero.
Shirou was now in the same dilemma as Aisha: whether to help the Ishtar Familia or to help Haruhime. Many thoughts flashed through Shirou's mind, but in the end, he made his decision.
He would save both.
Whether it was the Ishtar Familia or Haruhime, he wanted to protect both. To do this, he needed to expose the Dark Faction's actions and uncover the truth behind Heith and the missing members of the Ishtar Familia.
"Then, I'll take my leave."
Without hesitation, Shirou turned and left after realizing Ishtar would not stop the war. Before leaving Ishtar's office, he unexpectedly saw a familiar god entering—Hermes.
"Eh? Emiya, what are you doing here?" Hermes seemed surprised to see Shirou.
Shirou was also surprised by Hermes's appearance. It felt like every time he investigated the Dark Faction, Hermes would appear at just the right moment. Was this just a coincidence?
Many thoughts flashed through Shirou's mind, but because the war between the Ishtar and Freya Familias was imminent, he had to find evidence before the war started. So he quietly greeted Hermes and immediately left.
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Regarding Heith's disappearance, Shirou had been investigating in Windmoon Street for a long time but had found no clear or useful information. However, while dealing with Phryne, Shirou unexpectedly heard about Dedalus Street.
Dedalus Street was adjacent to Windmoon Street and was suspected to be the Dark Faction's main base. Maybe there he could find something useful.
Thinking this, Shirou quickly left Windmoon Street and headed to Dedalus Street. Then he realized how close these two streets actually were. They were not just neighbors; they could be said to be separated by only a wall.
Besides being close to Windmoon Street, Dedalus Street had another feature: it was as complex as a maze.
It was said that Dedalus Street's creator, Daedalus, was a legendary craftsman who once built the Babel Tower in the center of Orally, astonishing the gods.
Though Babel Tower was Daedalus's masterpiece, his truly impressive works were mazes. There were even rumors that Daedalus wanted to create an underground city-like maze.
Of course, Daedalus could not make a true maze, but Dedalus Street, which he participated in designing, was as complicated as a maze.
Shirou wandered around Dedalus Street and got lost several times. The street's design seemed deliberately confusing, and without a map, it was hard to find the correct path unless the walls were completely destroyed.
To navigate Dedalus Street, the only thing one could rely on was a special item called a "Signpost."
It was said the "Signpost" was invented by Hermes's subordinate, the "Almighty" Asfi, allowing people to find the correct path in a complex maze.
To leave the complex Dedalus Street, Shirou had to buy a Signpost at a high price from a merchant.
But as soon as he got the Signpost, Shirou frowned. Because the design of the Signpost was very counterintuitive—it didn't directly tell you where the end was but only gave left or right guidance, letting the user move step by step according to the hints.
After getting the Signpost, Shirou input Windmoon Street as the destination and followed the guidance step by step, eventually arriving at the Windmoon Street location.
But when he turned around to look behind, he realized he had no idea which exit of Dedalus Street he had come out from.
This showed how twisted the design of the street was. Even with a Signpost in hand, ordinary people could still lose direction and fail to find the correct way.
"Wait... losing direction? Not finding the correct path? Could it be...?"
Staring at the maze-like Dedalus Street he had just exited, a puzzle piece in Shirou's mind seemed to finally fall into place, connecting all the clues together.
He firmly looked at the maze-like Dedalus Street, realizing the truth behind Heith's disappearance and the trick the Dark Faction was playing!
If his idea was correct, he could not only find the whereabouts of Heith and the missing members of the Ishtar Familia but also stop the war between the two major Familias at once!
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