Chapter 207: A Problem So Terrifying the More You Think About It
Convincing people with virtue.
It means that when your "martial virtue" is powerful enough, even those who were previously unreasonable will, under the illumination of this martial virtue, become capable of listening to reason.
Especially when someone with such powerful martial virtue, as you have, has chosen not to exterminate them completely.
They are even more likely to recognize that "those who understand the times are wise men" and will harbor no desire to resist.
By the same token, the stance Emiya Shirou is currently displaying before Julian is much the same.
Although compared to the Stand ability of [Pseudo-The World] to stop time, neither the stats of [Pseudo-Anubis] nor the DISC extraction ability of [Pseudo-White Snake] can be mentioned in the same breath.
But precisely because the Stand ability to stop time is too powerful, for those who cannot perceive what is happening in a world where time has stopped, it is difficult for them to truly grasp the nature of that fear.
However, the Stand ability of [Pseudo-White Snake] is different.
When Julian regained consciousness, his brain still retained the memory of his own consciousness being snatched away in an instant, a memory where everything he could perceive was plunged into darkness in that moment.
So, when he heard that this Emiya Shirou seemed different from the Emiya Shirou he remembered in his own parallel world—that instead of ignoring the catastrophe this parallel world was about to face, he also intended to save the humans within it—Julian, no longer influenced by Darius, undoubtedly calmed down, and his movements ceased.
He no longer felt, as he did in the beginning, that he must have a reason to defeat Emiya Shirou. At the very least, that feeling was gone until Emiya Shirou said otherwise.
"Looks like you've become capable of listening properly, Julian."
As he said this, Emiya Shirou greeted Rin Tohsaka and the others, who had traveled through the parallel worlds with him, informing them that everything was fine. He then turned to Julian and asked, "So, where is the nearest computer lab?
Even though this seems to be Homurahara Academy, just like in my parallel world, I don't know who you are, Julian, nor do I know your alias, Iori Ichigi.
And I have never heard of a mage family called Ainsworth in Fuyuki City.
To prevent the Homurahara Academies of these two different parallel worlds from potentially being different in certain places, I'll let you lead us to the nearest computer lab.
Once we reach that place, you'll probably understand how to save the humans of this parallel world."
The combination of technology and magecraft.
As long as the problem of materials can be solved, modern technology, which has been constrained by materials science, can once again achieve rapid breakthroughs, thereby enabling humanity to venture into the universe.
...This possibility, at the end of the day, was still just a guess on Emiya Shirou's part.
In Miyu Miyu Edelfelt's world, had the various nations truly chosen this path? In the original Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, was the reason they did nothing because of some other factor?
It might also be different from what Emiya Shirou had guessed.
Of course, verifying these questions was quite simple. Especially with Julian leading the way.
Unlike the unrepentant Julian in Prisma Illya, having been beaten by Emiya Shirou twice in succession and having the displacement magecraft forcibly removed by him, Julian's current state was much like his final state after being thoroughly defeated by Illya—he had finally become capable of talking properly. Not only did he stop attacking Emiya Shirou, he actually followed Emiya Shirou's instructions and led them to the computer lab inside private Homurahara Academy.
"This is the computer lab. However, if you are only looking to find out from the internet whether our parallel world is truly facing destruction, as I or Miyu Emiya said...
Then you are highly likely to be disappointed."
Julian, having turned on the computers in the lab and connected to the network, said, "This information, which could potentially cause the entirety of humanity to fall into panic, is impossible to leave on the internet."
"Even those areas eroded by unknown elements, and the creatures eroded and killed within them, are sealed off and researched by the scientific research teams of various nations and other mages."
"In fact, even regarding the accident five years ago, apart from those of us living in Fuyuki City, outsiders probably don't know that Fuyuki City has long since become a dead city, right?... Eh!?"
As he said this, Julian suddenly paused.
After all, although Japan's land area would certainly be considered a relatively vast major power if placed in Europe, belonging to the top ten in terms of size, Japan's population is so
large that the United Kingdom and France—two major powers—would have to be combined just to match it.
A land area of this scale is almost impossible to support such a large population.
Therefore, in terms of Japan's land and population issues, it would be fundamentally impossible for them to allow Fuyuki City—a prosperous city with a port—to become a ghost town.
This is no longer something that can be achieved through magecraft alone. It requires high-level national officials to cooperate in their actions and cooperate in suppressing the information to achieve such a result.
Without the influence of Darius, Julian, having returned to his normal IQ, obviously realized the problem here.
The evacuation of Fuyuki City's citizens was normal. After witnessing such a disaster, no one would want to remain in Fuyuki City.
But after the citizens of Fuyuki City had all fled, so many years had passed, yet the fact that no new population had moved into Fuyuki City was undoubtedly a very abnormal thing. To say nothing else, even Hiroshima and Nagasaki had people move in.
"Have you figured it out?" Seeing the look of surprise on Julian's face and realizing his conjecture might not be wrong, a confident smile inevitably appeared on Emiya Shirou's face as he said: "You, who only used displacement magecraft to shield your mage workshop and hid the mysteries according to the unwritten rules of mages."
"Since you didn't stop others from entering Fuyuki City, then who exactly is stopping them?
And according to what you said, Julian, since other regions affected by unknown elements would be sealed off by those national powers seeking to maintain social stability...
Why is it that Fuyuki City, which appears to have suffered the same impact, has had no relevant personnel enter to investigate?"
—Trace on!
Emiya Shirou, who had projected the image of the Stand that existed in his memories back into his hands via projection magecraft, used his palm—now tightly wrapped in purple thorns that only a Stand user could see—to touch the computer in front of him, while not forgetting to speak:
"The answer to these questions is actually this—"
"—[Hermit Purple]!!"
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