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

Chapter 387 Is there really a Beast Nero? Yes.
"Cough cough!"

Director Caesar cleared his throat. "I think the matter of directly participating in the war can be discussed further."

"Isn't the matter already obvious?"

Jeanne Alter realized that her suggestion, which had originally been agreed upon by Emiya, had encountered obstacles with the director. She raised her eyebrows slightly in displeasure and put on a sullen face. "Is there anything else worth discussing?"

"Let me explain... Have you all noticed? The two strategies currently proposed on our meeting agenda—cooperating with other participants or directly participating in the war—are not contradictory."

Emiya immediately understood Caesar's intention: "At this singularity, we haven't revealed the information that we 'belong to Chaldea,' so we can hedge our bets!"

"Yes, that's it!"

Director Caesar clapped his hands and smiled, facing the "Singularity Map of Rome" projected on the virtual screen. He made a gesture of reaching out and grasping in the air with one arm, as if imitating the demeanor of the great Emperor Caesar, who planned, strategized, and controlled the situation.

Or perhaps it was this Roman singularity that stirred even the heart of this young master from the Gattuso family, who revered Roman culture—

"When we don't stand out in the open, betting on multiple fronts is always the best way to get the most comprehensive information."

“Team Leader Emiya, I remember you received an invitation from that ‘Constantine’? Since he was willing to send troops to help you, it means that he is quite willing to ask for help. You can try to control your ‘territory’ by forming an alliance.”

"After all, it's impossible for Chaldea to spend a year or two meticulously managing the territory they've conquered. In this regard, we desperately need a reliable ally whose strength is within our control. This would also be a win-win situation for that 'Constantine,' whose strength is limited. Then, we can observe for ourselves—"

Caesar paused, then looked at Emiya, "Observe what's so special about that little Holy Grail."

The Lesser Grail, which is that girl.

The latter understood, and his gaze shifted to the surveillance footage of the small infirmary, which was projected into the corner of the conference room. That was where little Claudia slept.

Emiya looked inside, then suddenly looked surprised. "Meliu Zina, what are you doing there all of a sudden?"

The surveillance footage showed the little girl wrapped in a soft blanket, occupying a small area in the center of the screen. However, a long, thin black dragon tail swayed back and forth in front of the monitor screen, looking at first glance like a ghostly black shadow that flashed past the lens.

Others might be stunned and confused at first glance, but with Emiya's dynamic vision, he could recognize it at a glance as Meliuchina's tail.

Helpless, he quickly opened another screen, which then popped up the Shadow Border's girl character system AI—Little Da Vinci. Emiya cleared his throat and whispered, instructing Little Da Vinci to use the Imaginary Submarine's internal broadcast communication channel to have Melyuchina come over and report immediately.

Whoosh!
Emiya had just had the petite Da Vinci Lily convey his message when a sound like the air being torn apart came from outside the conference room door.

The little female dragon's speed remained as swift as ever. He clicked his tongue in amazement; the speed and frequency of her responses were exactly the same as when she spread her wings and soared through the sky, or when she playfully battled the edges of the bed and table...

"How did you suddenly get there?"

After entering, she hesitated for a moment, stared at Emiya for a few seconds, and then said, "I smell the scent of my own kind... a dragon."

"Huh?" Xia Mi and Constantine looked up at the same time.

"It's obvious that I'm not talking about you!"

Emiya sighed, "Melyuchina, are you sure you smelled the scent of dragons on little Claudia?"

"Uh-huh."

Emiya closed his eyes and pondered for a moment. Little Claudia might be from the Roman royal family of this singularity... and she herself possesses a dragon-like aura...

Caesar had no intention of delving deeper into the matter of a young girl, casually speculating, "Could she be something like a half-blood?"

Many ancient royal families in this world possessed a high degree of dragon blood. As for Attila the Hun, the "Scourge of God," he was simply a dragon king himself, so let's not even mention him.

Moreover, according to Gattuso's historical records known to Caesar, places like Rome, Italy, were the fiefdom of Attila the Dragon King during the ancient times when dragons ruled.

The leaders who guided the people of this land to develop, prosper, and build civilization, from the Roman royal family to the Senate and even the later Pope, were all from mixed-race families with excellent bloodlines.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Roman royalty and nobility had a high degree of hybridity, and even some humanoid dragons that had existed for generations.

“I don’t think a mixed-race person would elicit such a reaction from Miss Melyuchina, would she?” Constantine shook his head in denial.

But honestly, so what if it might be a pure-blooded dragon?
Chaldea is not concerned with these dragon secrets buried in the past and in the glorious years of ancient Rome, unless they are closely related to the twisted origins of this singularity.

“Claudia…”

While everyone else was clueless, Mashu Encyclopedia seemed to have remembered something.

"Senior, is her name Claudia Augusta?"

“That’s right, you know this name…?” Emiya was surprised that Mash knew about this name, which seemed to be a pseudonym.

"Senior, the singularity we're in is the year after Nero's death. I couldn't recall it at first, but Claudia Augusta appeared in the biography of that Emperor Nero—"

"She is Nero's only daughter!"

Mashu's voice rose a few decibels, filled with excitement and anticipation.

However, Leonardo da Vinci on the other end of the communication quickly took over and added explanations, which cooled down Little Cotton Candy's high spirits slightly:
"But Mashu, do you know? This daughter of Nero, named Claudia, died young in history, only a few months after birth."

Even with the equipment on the imaginary submarine, this "Little Claudia" is undoubtedly a living person.

Mashu bit her lip. "So... based on Miss Melyuchina's judgment, little Claudia isn't the real Claudia, but a dragon disguised as her...? But, but..."

Nuwa chimed in, "Don't forget! Didn't Shirou also mention other information? That little girl is also related to the 'Minor Grail'."

Hearing this, Mashu's eyes widened in confusion, feeling even more bewildered. "A disguised identity as Nero's daughter... a dragon... and the Holy Grail..."

What is all this nonsense! It has absolutely no connection whatsoever, her brain is practically turning to mush! "It really is baffling. If it were Nero himself, it would make some sense."

Emiya said something, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

He pondered the information about the beast Nero from FGO—it came from the development of the FGO arcade version's world line. Legend has it that in 68 AD, Nero attempted suicide several times on the eve of his death but failed, thus giving rise to the legend of "seeing the sunset three times".

In the normal Fate timeline, at the moment of Nero's death, a Roman soldier, out of pity, would cover Nero's body with a cloak, allowing Nero to rest in peace.

However, in the FGO arcade version timeline, Emperor Nero did not encounter that soldier. Until his final death, he was all alone and ignored by everyone. He even heard countless rumors and gossip about his persecution as he died, which completely twisted and corrupted him, giving birth to Beast Nero.

Nero, who calls herself the Demon Queen "Draco" (derived from the Latin word for "dragon"), imitates Goetia from the FGO mobile game's timeline and creates all the singularities in the FGO arcade version. She drives her beast familiars, the "Demon Pillars" (similar to Goetia, but with appearances that are a mixture of dragon features), to cause chaos and disaster.

Nero the Beast is a blonde, red-eyed girl who looks like a young child, and that girl's appearance just matches.

"Hey, why is that?"

Upon hearing Emiya's inclination to assume the girl was Nero, Mashu's eyes filled with deep doubt. "Isn't Emperor Nero already dead? And his gender doesn't match the historical records..."

"Don't forget this is a singularity! This is perhaps where history is distorted. In this way, Nero corresponds to the 'dragon' and the 'golden cup'... I didn't expect that Team Leader Emiya is quite skilled in historical research!"

At this point, everyone was completely lost in thought, but Leonardo da Vinci suddenly exclaimed.

Even though she considered herself a genius who was "omnipotent," she couldn't help but think that Emiya's conjecture was quite ingenious. She quickly recalled her existing knowledge, organized her logic, and came up with a deduction:
"For example, the Book of Revelation records the symbol of the Antichrist, the Beast of 666, which is widely regarded as an allegory for Emperor Nero, who persecuted Christians in history."

“因为尼禄的名字转写希伯来语再转写回拉丁语为NRVN QSR，对应数字50、200、6、50、100、60、200，加起来正好是兽名数字666。”

"The beast of 666 is also said to be a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, wearing seven crowns—'Revelation 12:3, "And another sign appeared in heaven. And there was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on its seven heads were seven crowns." It is said to be the incarnation of Satan.'

"Furthermore, the Book of Revelation also records the 'Great Harlot of Babylon' who deceived the nations, alluding to Rome's power that spread throughout the world. The Great Harlot of Babylon is also depicted holding a golden cup and riding a great red dragon, which perfectly matches the girl's characteristics of 'holding a golden holy cup' and 'dragon'."

"—'Revelation 17:3-4, and I saw a woman riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemous names all over its body. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls. In her hand she held a golden cup, which was full of abominations, the filth of her sexual immorality.'"

"In other words, the beast of 666, the great harlot of Babylon, and the seven-headed, ten-horned red dragon, all together, are all metaphors for Nero, the Roman emperor known for persecuting Christianity, who is also that girl..."

"Perhaps, this Nero girl in the singularity version should be considered 'Beast Nero,' or 'Draco' (Dragon)!"

Everyone was surprised by Da Vinci's reasoned and well-founded explanation, but Emiya remained unconcerned.

'Nero the Beast… it really is her! But what happened to her to end up like this?'

To be honest, Emiya had never considered Leonardo da Vinci's conjecture from the beginning; he could tell from her appearance that the girl looked like a child version of Nero. But after spending the night with her, he discovered that apart from having slightly stronger vitality and the dragon-like aura that Melyuchina had detected, the girl was almost no different from an ordinary person.

This prevented him from being certain that she was the beast Nero he was thinking of.

—After all, can this be considered a human evil, a calamity beast (Beast) capable of destroying the world?

In terms of threat and scale, it's not even worthy of carrying the shoes of Karl the Great, who was at the previous singularity.

Any random Roman soldier could probably easily defeat this little girl.

If it weren't for the golden cup she carried with her and the fact that she was wanted as a 'monster of calamity,' I really wouldn't have believed the possibility of this.

"By the way, do you guys remember?"

Emiya suddenly spoke up, "The rumors circulating in the Roman countries that the girl is a 'beast of calamity' are very unusual, and I think it's necessary to include them in our investigation."

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.

The next morning, completely unaware of the discussion about himself that had taken place late at night, Nero got up from his soft, luxurious bed.

She nervously and secretly opened her eyes to observe her surroundings, checking for anything unusual—a habit she had developed during her days of wandering the streets.

In her opinion, the sword emperor who helped her wasn't entirely a good person either. How despicable! He had repeatedly used the disrespectful "lifting her up" technique on her throughout the night, and even forced her to acknowledge him as her sworn brother! Hmph, she wondered which Roman sword emperor from the future he was, completely lacking in respect for his ancestors!
Luckily, I had the foresight to give a false name. Anyway, the one who became sworn siblings with that Sword Emperor was "Claudia," not Nero. Hmph, that scoundrel will never know my true identity...

Nero's petite body twitched slightly as she tried to get out of bed, but a gust of cold air made her instinctively retreat back into the warm blankets. For some reason, this warmth reminded her of the chest of the wicked man who had hugged her all night...

No, no, there must be something wrong with the bed in this bedroom! It's so comfortable!

That wretched Holy Grail War! It brought so many Servants, and such a high-quality, soft, and comfortable "future advanced invention"!
They had made the city so dazzlingly prosperous that it was almost blinding. Nero longed to enjoy this grand occasion, but unfortunately, she had lost her supreme imperial throne last year and was now burdened with inexplicable malicious rumors and a warrant for her arrest—

This reminded him of the Senate and the nobles of the past, as well as the malicious slander and defamation rumors that were incited and provoked into agitation. For some reason, he felt a surge of anger in his heart, wanting to destroy everything.

But Nero recalled the city's prosperity, his beloved scenery, music, and art, and suppressed that strange urge to destroy...

Although she didn't know what the Holy Grail War would bring to Rome, she wanted to keep watching, and she wondered if she would still be able to sing on stage like before...

Suddenly, voices came from outside the room.

'Oh no, that scoundrel Sword Emperor is back!'

Little Nero finally refused to cower under the covers any longer. She quickly got out of bed, took off her pajamas, changed into clean and presentable clothes, and then crept to the door to eavesdrop on the sounds outside—

"Hi, Mr. Sword Emperor, what are your plans for today? Would you like to come with me to a Western concert? Um, I happen to have two tickets, and I was thinking of having an extra one, so how about I treat you..."

A clear, beautiful female voice—it belonged to the Japanese woman named Kiyohime.

'concert?'

Little Nero felt an urge to go there. Unlike opera, was it another form of music that would emerge in the future?

Wait, there are only two tickets! What am I going to do?!
(End of this chapter)