The infinite sword system has been mastered, and you say this is the dragon clan?

Chapter 358 Emiya has arrived, and the blue sky has been restored!

When talking about classic French cuisine, foie gras is a must-mention.

The Landes goose, one of the world's most famous breeds for foie gras, boasts incredibly delicious meat that is low in fat and cholesterol, and its foie gras is tender, flavorful, and highly nutritious. The Landes goose originated in the Landes region of western France, near the Bay of Biscay. This coastal area features wetlands, a dense network of rivers, and abundant pasture resources, allowing the geese to live in natural flocks.

However, this area was still an undeveloped area during the Middle Ages, and the local animal husbandry should theoretically still be in the free-range stage. It is true that you can eat foie gras, but this is just ordinary foie gras, not the carefully bred foie gras. The taste is average, and it is at most a home-style dish. The nobles and the courts of that time would not look down on it (they eat peacock or swan meat).

After all, Joan of Arc was a village girl, and in her eyes, foie gras and the like were already considered good dishes. At least they were relatively rare compared to other farm-raised ingredients such as pork, beef, and mutton. Moreover, ordinary people did not have the hunting rights of nobles and could not afford to eat wild free-range poultry at all, so this was undoubtedly a local specialty.

"So that's what I knew! By the way, haven't you asked enough questions yet...?"

Jeanne d'Arc Alter, who was invited to the Shadow Border along with the others, sounded helpless. She couldn't understand why people hundreds of years later had such a strange interest in medieval food.

Could it be that they have some unrealistic expectations about the taste of so-called "original wild game"?
Jeanne Alter still remembers her farming experience on her family's farm in the rural village of Dom Remy where she was born. The rough-and-ready wild birds had a tough and dry texture, far inferior to the tender and springy meat of domestic poultry, which was common knowledge in that era.

"Haha, Miss Xia Mi and the others were just discussing the ingredients for hot pot and barbecue, and they were just too excited to be in front of you 'historical figures'. Miss Joan of Arc, you don't need to take it too seriously."

Mashu said with a forced smile, then quickly sent away the chattering girls who were watching the "ancient people."

"Please have a seat over there."

"Okay—but I don't see anything exciting about them."

Black Mary spoke up. Now she also realized that the other girls didn't seem to feel any awe towards the Avengers because of their Servants, not only because of Emiya, but also because they themselves seemed to possess extraordinary strength.

Most obviously, the women named Shuten-dōji and Raikou are clearly Servants brought by Chaldea. Mash, who has always been kind, is also a Servant, but she gives off a strange feeling of being "alive".

This is because Black Mary and others are also Servants, and as fellow Servants, they usually cannot hide their true identities from each other.

As for Nono and Erii, although they haven't shown anything particularly special before, they're both red-haired like Emiya, so who knows what special skills they might have—

"Hey, you silly bird, be quiet!"

At this moment, the eagle mount that Astolfo brought seemed very uncomfortable being locked in a closed and cramped room. While its master was busy talking to Emiya, it kept flapping its wings, causing its feathers to fly everywhere. As a result, Nono gave its eagle a solid whack on the head and, with just one hand, lifted the fantasy creature, which was as big as a race car, and threw it over her shoulder!
Junying was so dizzy from the impact that he almost thought he was going to suffer a workplace injury like he did with Shadow Border. Just as he was about to wail and act pitiful, he realized that although he seemed to have fallen hard, he was actually unharmed—Nono, who had struck him, clearly had excellent control over her strength.

Then, Junying saw Erii, who looked similar to Nono but also different, and winked at him, "Be good, okay?"

The girl spoke softly, but Junying trembled slightly.

In an instant, it saw Erii's hair turn black and white, and her eyes radiate brilliant golden light.

What is revealed is a divinity that transcends the mundane.

Black Mary and the others exchanged glances, looking at each other with surprise and doubt. The two sisters also seemed to exude an aura that was "approaching the realm of the inhuman," but it was far less exaggerated than that of Emiya.

Looking at Captain Constantine, Miss Xia Mi, and Miss Reggie Love, their temperaments are similar on some level, so they must also be non-human.

The Avengers have fallen into a phase of guesswork, with almost everyone appearing to be a "hidden power player."

Of all the people present, probably only these two maids can be considered ordinary people.

Then Black Mary and the others saw Helviel and Orluen hand them several cups of tea at their assigned seats, saying, "Wuyi Mountain Da Hong Pao tea from the Divine Land of the future, please enjoy."

After the service was over, the maids vanished at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. This speed and the maids' skill were clearly the result of years of training in conjunction with the imaginary number submarine test.

Even with the eyesight of a Servant, Black Mary could only catch a fleeting glimpse of a shadow disappearing quickly into the corner.

"..."

Has the future become this terrifying? Even someone who serves tea and water possesses such extraordinary abilities?
Shadow Border has now been restarted. According to the AI ​​secretary, Little Da Vinci, Constantine has added many new features since taking command of the ship. For example, the ship has now activated its optical stealth system and has corrected some parameters based on the current map. It can now enter autopilot mode to explore singularities!

After hearing this, Emiya praised Leonardo da Vinci and Constantine highly. The former proudly put his hands on his hips and puffed out his almost flat chest, while the latter waved his hand shyly, saying that it was all thanks to his brother's teaching.

Having confirmed that Shadow Border was heading towards the planned Aquitaine diocese, he refrained from further disturbance. Astolfo followed Emiya to a relatively quiet and spacious meeting room, where they needed to discuss further intelligence gathering with the Chaldean rear. In a sense, this was a special inquiry meeting specifically for Astolfo.

"So, you just entered the singularity and immediately ran into a traitor, and one of those high-ranking enemy traitors at that!?"

Caesar's voice came from the other end of the screen, his surprised tone undisguised, clearly astonished by Chaldea's progress in its exploration.

It's important to understand that this French Singularity—or rather, the Singularity that has now expanded to the entire European continent—is completely different from the small Tokyo Singularity that was temporarily moved there last time. This time, it's a crucial point in time that distorts human history, and the distortion of history, the scope of its impact, and the complexity of the local situation all seem to be much more serious.

Even Caesar couldn't imagine the terrible consequences that would occur if the entire history of Europe were distorted.

As it turned out, Emiya arrested a traitor as soon as he arrived, so the situation didn't seem as dire as the rear had anticipated.
“In a sense, we did happen to ‘bump into’ it,” Emiya said with a slightly strange tone, recalling the scene of Shadow Border knocking Astolfo away. “But at most, it’s just bad luck. The situation in this era is not optimistic. According to the intelligence we’ve gathered so far, Charlemagne is very likely the source of everything…”

He described the current situation, along with additional battle reports from Black Mary and others.

Then, Afu, not wanting to be left out, chimed in with a lot of detailed information about the Paladin Army's frontline battles.

Such initiative completely convinced Caesar that this paladin had indeed become a guide.

"Well, in any case, this 'Father of Europe' really looks like he's going to become the de facto Father of Europe."

Caesar analyzed the situation of the Holy Knights' army defeating the allied forces from multiple directions and the speed of their conquest, and clearly perceived Charlemagne's ambition to conquer the European continent.

"Then, next question, Miss Afu, do you know the secret to your Holy Knights' invincible record?"

Caesar could generally guess that it might be related to the Holy Grail, as the previous singularity also had the Grail. However, how Charlemagne used it this time was still completely unclear. "Ah~ you want to know what His Majesty the King did for the troops, right?" Astolfo tilted his head and chuckled, "Hehe!"

Emiya was baffled. "What are you 'hey' about?!"

"What I mean is, I don't know. I've already said that I always find a chance to slip away when I'm on a mission, so how could I possibly go to war?" Afu spread his hands. "Also, I'm not 'Miss'! You've got the wrong name."

"…!" Caesar's eyes widened as he stared at Astolfo's handsome face, feeling a sense of disbelief wash over him. Someone who looked like that was actually a man?!
Emiya scoffed at Caesar's limited knowledge, thinking to himself that he hadn't been exposed to much since he was always sitting in an office. He suggested that he visit the Snake Clan's team stationed in Chaldea, where Genjiro might put on makeup and show off what it meant to be "indistinguishable between male and female"!
"Alright, alright, let's change the subject and talk about Charlemagne's 'brainwashing' techniques on you paladins."

“Brainwashing?” Afu felt uncomfortable with the word. “No, what His Majesty gave us paladins is called ‘Holy Baptism.’ Holy Baptism is both a spiritual blessing and a real, powerful force. No one outside the twelve paladins is qualified to receive such a gift.”

"A double gift of spirit and reality... Wait, what do the other French Servants mean by 'assimilation'? It sounds like it involves distorting one's will and obeying the orders of your Charlemagne. Also, are you immune to assimilation because of your special status as a paladin?"

"'Assimilation'...does it refer to His Majesty's 'Assimilation of the Heavenly Voice'?"

Astolfo struggled to recall the knowledge in his empty mind.

"...It seems that this did not bypass the paladins, but extended to all the soldiers and civilians under His Majesty's rule, and the assimilation of the Heavenly Voice does not distort the will."

"To put it simply—I've seen many people who, under assimilation, voluntarily joined the Holy Knights' ranks... Their personalities and habits remain the same as before, only their allegiance has changed, remaining loyal to His Majesty. Just like me, I still consider myself His Majesty's loyal knight, and I have a high reputation in the territory!"

Afu proudly declared that the Twelve Holy Knights had arrived hundreds of years later, and suddenly each of them had been elevated to an epic legendary figure, with people everywhere bowing down in worship...

“Stop for a second. I don’t think that in feudal times, your act of ‘colluding with the enemy’ could be considered loyalty.” Caesar rubbed his temples, realizing that Afu’s logic was too illogical.

Afu blinked innocently, "How did I collude with the enemy?"

"You've gotten through to us!"

"Do you want to join the allied forces and become enemies with His Majesty?"

“No,” Emiya explained, “our Chaldea’s only mission is to repair the distortions of this era, not to participate in wars.”

"Then that settles it?" Afu spread his hands.

"Huh?" Caesar was somewhat exasperated. He was so frustrated by this genius's logic that his head was itching, and he felt like his cerebellum was about to atrophy.

"This is the 'evaporation of reason'."

Emiya shrugged. "What decent logic can you expect from someone who can't think rationally?" Assimilation of the voice clearly won't change his personality. In other words, Astolfo will remain the same regardless of which side he's on; when his rationality is about to evaporate, it will still evaporate.

"Let's get back to the main topic. We need detailed information on the Heavenly Voice Assimilation technique, its principles, how it brainwashes people, and how this process was implemented in your territory..."

Since Emiya stated that the source of the distortion was Charlemagne, the possibility of this person colluding with the demons cannot be ruled out. Without defensive measures against the assimilation of the Heavenly Voice, things will become quite troublesome.

However, Caesar's series of questions clearly put Alfred's thinking ability to a severe test. The latter, feeling dizzy and disoriented, shook his head and simply said:
"Why don't you come to the Aquitaine diocese for a while? You can pretend to be a bishop there and, if all goes well, you'll be able to personally experience the process of assimilation into the divine voice?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A few days later, Astolfo, accompanied by Emiya, rode a swift eagle and landed directly into Bordeaux, the central city of the Aquitaine diocese.

Such a high-profile approach surprised some citizens.

The reason it took several days was that Astolfo needed to take the letter of appointment to find Pierre Cochon and take him away. Then, he switched places with Emiya, and with the help of Plerati, who was good at illusion magic, Emiya put on a disguise, making him almost indistinguishable from Pierre in the eyes of ordinary people.

As for the real Pierre, he was dragged away by the grinning Jeanne d'Arc Alter and put on a barbecue grill. What goes around comes around.

Shadow Border, on the other hand, waited outside the city of Bordeaux, as the medieval city-state simply could not accommodate such a large ship.

Emiya followed Asuka all the way to... but they didn't go to the governor's mansion in Bordeaux. The governor's mansion in the British-occupied area had long been destroyed by the Holy Knights. As a result, local administration, justice, and taxation all returned to the hands of various noble families.

They arrived at the city council hall, where a group of knights were already waiting to be dispatched.

Afu stated that the appointment of a new bishop here means that, like other dioceses, this place will be upgraded from nominal local reform to substantive theocratic reform—a reform that will consolidate power from the nobles.

Once this process is completed, the nobles are like toothless tigers, and the priests and knights will take over local administration, education, security, defense, and so on.

Emiya raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the well-equipped heavy knights arrayed in the distance. This "reform" didn't look very friendly.

Charlemagne had been implementing theocratic political reforms for some time, and there hadn't been any major unrest under his rule. One has to admire his divine ability to "assimilate the voice of God."

I should be able to unveil the mystery of the assimilation of heavenly voices soon.

However, things seem to be progressing faster than I expected—

A group of simply dressed civilians gathered in front of the municipal council hall.

Upon seeing the bishop and paladin in the distance, they immediately rushed forward with eager expressions and knelt down in a chaotic manner.

"The High Bishop has arrived! Aquitaine has found justice! The good days promised by His Majesty Charlemagne are coming!"

Emiya quickly waved his hand, "Stand up, no kneeling!"

(End of this chapter)