Those time travelers that year

Medea is a Servant brought from Type-Moon.

"Oh, so how's it going? How's your understanding of this world?" Charles asked, looking at Medea who appeared behind him from mid-air. "What do you think of this new world?"

"It seems to be no different from the original world." Medea chuckled. "The nobles are still foolish, and the mortals are still ignorant... As for this country, well, these past few days it has felt like a powder keg about to be lit!"

"The fall of the old powers and the rise of capital." Charles flipped through the book in his hands, answering without turning his head, "The sad thing is that a bunch of idiots who cling to their old ways, yet want to reap the wealth of the new world without working for it, actually think that a country will collapse without their rulers? Nonsense!"

“That’s not surprising, Master!” Medea said. “Just like the three generations of Olympian gods, each successive generation passed down their thrones through coups. And this country, in my opinion, is the same… If they could relinquish the power they held, Zeus and his two brothers wouldn’t have needed to launch a rebellion and dethrone Cronus, the god of time.”

"At least a coup d'état by mortals wouldn't cause the cataclysmic destruction of Olympus; at most, it would result in rivers of blood. Moreover, with technological advancements, the longer the time drags on, the greater the chances of victory for those eager for progress!" Charles scoffed. "If it were me, I would immediately stage a surprise coup, and then, as the saying goes, 'hold the emperor hostage to command the princes.' At least that way, I could hold out for a while. Unlike now, where everyone wants to maintain their positions without contributing a single penny or effort, wanting to reap without sowing. And those within the same camp are constantly fighting amongst themselves—it's doomed!"

"The worst part is, I'm still destined to be on the losing side. It's really unbelievable!"

“Actually, with your power, Master, you don’t need to be so timid,” Medea said. “Although this world also has a mystical side, there aren’t many people who have mastered magic, not even as many as my original world, which had already begun to enter the end of the Dharma era. I don’t think there are many people in this world who can stop you, Master.”

"Master, you can completely control this country from the shadows. Although that church will be troublesome, it shouldn't be a big problem for you," Medea asked. "Besides, your family, if you so desire, those two ignorant and foolish ants are nothing more than insects that you can crush at will..."

"If Master finds it difficult to do it?" A murderous glint flashed in the beautiful face hidden beneath the hood, her eyes, like blue gemstones. "As a Servant, I can certainly do it for you..."

“Medea!” Charles said. “Do you think I would care about the provocations of some idiot?”

"..."

"So you see, don't let your vision be stuck in ancient Greece."

"When all the heavens and worlds are laid out before you, would you stop your voyage just to crush an ant, considering that some lowly mortals, whose lives are but a fleeting thing, are like ants that could die at any moment in the river of time?"

“…I understand, Master!” Medea bowed her head.

“Besides, compared to ruling a kingdom of mortals!” Charles closed his book and turned his chair towards Medea, who was still wearing her cloak. “Don’t you think something else is more interesting…”

Flames roared from beneath Charles' feet, followed by a cloud of white mist that enveloped the entire room. The mist came and went quickly, and when it dissipated, the room had vanished, replaced by a vast balcony. Around him and beyond the balcony stretched countless exquisite houses—a boundless and expansive world.

Charles stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony. Below, on the streets of the city, knights dressed in full-body, sealed armor, wearing cloaks, and wielding swords, shields, or long axes stood in neat rows. When Charles reached the edge of the balcony, they all raised their weapons in unison and saluted him.

Above, a massive shadow glided across the sky, accompanied by a deafening dragon's roar that echoed through the heavens. On the horizon, the setting sun blazed like fire. In the twilight's glow, a spiraling blade appeared in Charles's hand.

Leaning on his spiral sword, Ciel gazed at the scenery within the bounded field before him. His voice, like thunder, resounded in Medea's ears, filled with ambition and power, as if it were a yearning or a declaration.

"In that look, all I felt was indifference. He didn't care about me, this ant that had entered his world. He didn't care about me at all. I was just a speck of dust on the roadside."

"Before I met you, I experienced a world, a world where demons viewed all living beings as ants, toying with and altering them at will. But above those demons, flowing in the river of time, a god named Akatosh coldly observed the mortal realm and the useless games played between those demons. Especially as I was leaving, that great being, who could be described as the supreme god, the creator god, the god above gods, glanced at me."

Upon returning, I felt a profound fear. But at the same time, I also felt an immense longing—a longing for that position, a longing for that power. Therefore, I somewhat understand why the throne of the gods in Greek mythology was constantly passed down through political upheavals.

"If I had the chance, I would be willing to do that too!"

"Ignite the divine fire, raise the throne high, lift the crown to the heavens, and use all the heavens and myriad worlds as the stage, and all living beings as the chess pieces."

"Compared to the power struggles among mortals, don't you think Medea's life is more interesting and more glorious?"

After a moment of silence, Medea removed her hood, revealing a serious and earnest expression on her beautiful face. Then, she knelt down before Charles.

"No matter when or where, whether at the end of time or at the beginning, I hereby swear that you will be my only master, and I will walk with you to the end of everything."

"When you ascend the throne, when your kingdom is immortal, you will be me, and countless others—"

"—The only God-King, and the Lord."

73. Written Dialogue

Her golden hair was piled up behind her head, and her gray eyes stared at the letters being written on with a quill pen on the desk. It's worth noting that whenever she wrote something in black ink, the words would fade and disappear from the paper within just two or three breaths.

After writing for a while, Iris Galgervin stopped, holding the quill in her right hand and looking at the blank sheet of paper. Soon, a layer of ink appeared directly on the paper.

'I've received the information you sent back. Are you sure that Ciel Gretel is a dark wizard?'

The ink writing appeared on the letter paper for a few breaths before gradually fading away. Seeing this, Iris, unfazed, picked up her quill and continued writing. This was a type of paper manufactured through special means; its effect was that text written on one sheet would transfer to another, essentially a more convenient printer. However, this alchemically created paper, produced through mysticism, was not cost-effective and was difficult to manufacture. Moreover, the writing on each sheet could only be transferred to one other identical sheet. Compared to the various communication tools of the 21st century, such paper was completely outdated.

However, this world is not the 21st-century Earth with its highly developed electronic information technology, but a colonial era still in the industrial age. Even the telegraph has only recently appeared in this world, and compared to the telegraph, this alchemical paper is faster, more convenient, and safer.

Iris: 'Your Excellency Archbishop Wilson, I am absolutely certain that Charles Gretel is an outright heretic; I sense an endless darkness and destruction emanating from him.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'But how could he so blatantly reveal his identity? What does that signify? Provocation? And even if his brother was misled by cultists, why would he tell you instead of handling it himself?'

Iris: 'I think there are only three possibilities.'

Iris: 'Firstly, he wants to curry favor with the Holy See. He learned about the Dark Corner from elsewhere and is trying to do us a favor. Over the years, those heretics have lurked in the shadows, suffocated by the oppression of our Holy See ancestors. As times change, the space left for these heretics to survive is shrinking, so he wants to stay rather than be eliminated! However, this possibility is minimal and can almost be disregarded.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Like those heretics who surrendered to us before? That's possible, but why did he act at the last moment? Burn a cultist to ashes in front of you? I don't think he was trying to repent for his past.'

Iris: 'The second possibility is that he wants to test the Holy Temple's current power. Again, he doesn't care about the cultists in Dark Corner. He's just using this opportunity to probe us, while also wanting to preserve his own life and avoid getting too involved…'

Archbishop Wilson: 'If he were the kind of self-important, pathetic, and practically useless white wizard you're saying that, then it would be somewhat of a pity. But a black wizard—look at all the black wizards executed by the Sanctuary over the years—which one of them truly wanted to be ordinary?'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Three years ago, in the Duchy of Brittany, the city of Tavel fell because a dark wizard was tinkering with his blasphemous archaeological research beneath the city, causing nearly half of it to be destroyed in an earthquake.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Eight years ago, on the Bloodstained Steamship, a dark wizard performed a blood sacrifice on a luxury steamship filled with many upper-class people. The steamship, named the Mayflower, sank into a thick fog and was found abandoned on a reef off an island five days later, with all crew members dead.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'The Holy Church spent two years hunting down the dark wizard who performed the blood sacrifice, during which ten paladins, two Templar knights, and one knight commander perished in the process.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Fifteen years ago, the Dark Corner was the site of a bloodbath in several towns, resulting in the deaths of thousands. The blood shed could almost fill the aqueducts of the sanctuary!'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Those dark wizards are all the same; if they don't make a big splash, it's just for other forms of fame, fortune, or power.'

Iris: 'So, the last possibility is that Ciel Gretel is declaring his power sufficient to withstand the Holy Temple's attack.'

Iris: 'He has enough confidence to face challenges from others, even a war. Perhaps he also has disagreements or conflicts of interest with the cultists of the Dark Corner. Although he seems ostracized, I sense that he doesn't seem to care much about his family, but rather about his status and position as a nobleman, and his leisurely life.'

Iris: 'That's why he clashed with the cultists, but seeing the Sanctuary get involved, he wanted to use this opportunity to test our capabilities. Ultimately, killing the cultist himself might just have been an act of defiance.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'A demonstration?'

Iris: 'Currently, it seems he hasn't indicated any intention to wage war against our Church. Furthermore, my investigation into his records over the years reveals nothing significant about him, except for his political clashing with his family, which led to his exclusion. As for other matters, since we only started paying attention relatively late, we are still gathering intelligence.'

Iris: 'After that, our intelligence investigation revealed that Dark Corner was located beneath the city, occupying the lower levels of the underground waterways, an ancient ruin. And when I mobilized all my forces from the surrounding area to wipe out the cultists, I discovered that a conflict had already broken out there.'

Iris: 'The evidence at the scene has been confirmed as the work of Charles Gretel. The followers of Dark Corner were all wiped out, the vast majority of whom were burned to charred remains and unrecognizable. However, one cultist has been identified.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Who?'

Iris: 'One of the main culprits in the Bloodstained Saturday incident in Dark Corner fifteen years ago, now a wanted high-ranking member of the Dark Corner cult, has been confirmed as the fourth-tier Boneblade - Guts. According to the Sanctuary records, his danger level is at the mid-level of Moonshine.'

Iris: 'Besides, traces of a blood sacrifice altar were also found there. These cultists seem to have genuinely intended to instigate a civil war within the Ruman Empire to carry out the largest-scale blood sacrifice. However, it was destroyed by Charles Gretel, and one of the cult's high-ranking members, the Bone Blade Guts, was crushed to death.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'To be able to easily kill a fourth-tier being means that this Charles Grete, at such a young age, has already reached a level almost equivalent to the fifth-tier Penglin, the pinnacle of the current underworld. Even in the Dark Ages, he would have been a renowned genius.'

Iris: 'Therefore, I propose raising Charles Grete's danger level to the Sunburst level. No one below the Fourth Order should contact him, and no one below the Fifth Order or a Templar Commander should engage him in battle.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'Agreed, I will go to the scribe myself.'

Iris: 'Also, I'll find an opportunity to go up and test them to determine their true intentions and level of power.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'No, this is too dangerous. You're only a fourth-class warrior. Facing a Penglin who's going all out, your chances of escape are slim.'

Iris: 'No need to worry, Your Excellency, I carry the Radiant Thorns Sword. With the power of this sacred artifact, I am capable of confronting, and even have a chance to slay, a Fifth Order member.'

Archbishop Wilson: 'So you brought the sacred artifacts with you this time! That puts my mind at ease. Be careful, and in case of any unforeseen circumstances, safety is paramount!'

Iris: 'Yes, I understand!'

…………

Iris put down the quill, rolled up the letter, and then put the quill and the alchemical letter into a drawer and locked it.

Then, she looked out the window at the sky. It was a cloudy day, with dark clouds covering the entire sky. It looked like a heavy rain would soon wash away the smog-filled city.

Suddenly, Iris had a premonition that her affair with that heretic named Charles wouldn't end so easily.

74. An Encounter on the Train (1)

Although he obtained information about the Third Law in the Type-Moon world and completed the basic form of his Reality Marble with the help of the Counter Force, Ciel has unfortunately become an unwelcome outsider in the Type-Moon world. This means his return is impossible. According to the Counter Force's description of Alaya's black-clad, black-haired, and equally black-faced loli form, if Ciel were to go there, he would face a combined pursuit from the Guardians, the Holy Church, and the Mage's Association. While they wouldn't actually kill him, they could certainly beat him half to death and expel him.

This was a great pity for Ciel, after all, there were still many incredible things in Type-Moon that he hadn't seen yet. Especially the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, which were said to be able to "kill even gods," he hadn't even had a chance to meet Shiki yet!

However, having accepted all the evil of this world as the foundation of his inherent barrier, and then, the flame that Alaya used to help him control and prevent the evil of this world from overturning—it really was something from the world of Suffering Souls! This left Charles completely bewildered for a while. Right, who was that guy with the indescribable appearance Alaya described, who called himself the Sun Knight but was actually a despicable, treacherous, and vile individual? Although Charles knew that the theme of Suffering Souls originated from the Cthulhu Mythos, that indescribable appearance—could it be an Ancient God? This is ridiculous…

Furthermore, Charles also sensed from Alaya's words that the worlds he traversed using the power of the pocket watch were likely connected, or at least potentially connected. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for a restraining force in the Type-Moon universe to obtain remnants of the world of the Tormented Souls, and to know about the Burning Legion and Sargeras, who roamed the universe where A was in Zeros. Judging from her tone, it seemed that using the power to summon demons would likely be discovered by the Burning Legion.

Surely Sa wouldn't choose to cross the void and run to another world before even burning his own world to ashes? That's a bit too much business.

Regardless, Sharl has given up on the idea of ​​using spells like demon summoning. There was no need to try summoning the Burning Legion's demons before, and he certainly won't in the future. He doesn't want some idiot in his world to open a Dark Portal one day—that would be the end of the world.

——————————I am a dividing line——————————

In this world, the rainy season arrives at the end of the year, and once it ends, winter follows immediately. Generally, at this time, the majority of the nobles, who belong to the upper class of this country, would choose to spend the winter in the warmer south. However, now, with the development of the New World and the establishment of colonies one after another, the warmer New World is now even more popular among the nobles.

Therefore, at times like these, nobles with estates or lands in the New World would generally sail across the ocean to escape the cold. However, Charles wouldn't enjoy such treatment. After visiting his brother's coming-of-age ceremony and the royal banquet in the capital, he would be sent back to his fiefdom's manor. Well! Although the new heir, Sid's lover, ultimately proved to be a cultist, and a whole host of messy things escalated, in the old count's view, there was no need to choose between the eldest son with differing opinions and the second son with the same opinions. This world didn't have any such thing as primogeniture laws.

Therefore, the old count still preferred to cultivate his second son, whose opinions and attitudes were consistent with his, especially when the old guard was facing a generational gap and a bunch of reformers from humble backgrounds were becoming increasingly aggressive after taking office.

On a day of torrential rain, Charles arrived alone at the train station outside the capital and boarded a steam train that was about to depart. Steam trains of this era were not the high-speed rails of the 21st century, nor were they bullet trains, so don't expect to be comfortable on board. The sound of the steam engine and the noise of the train running were enough to keep anyone awake.

However, Charles had no intention of sleeping on the train. With his current physical condition, he could go three days and three nights without sleep without feeling tired. So, after boarding the train, Charles went alone to his compartment, sat down, and flipped through the knowledge he had brought back from the Harry Potter world about how to complete Agmani. However, it was better than nothing; with his current level, he could easily dominate the entire Wizarding World back in Harry Potter. Agmani was nothing to him; a mere Transfiguration user like Charles didn't even register with him. While Transfiguration might be a different story for Druids in WoW, Agmani couldn't transform into magical creatures, only ordinary small animals, which were completely useless to him.

Of course, it's also a good option for killing time.

Just as Charles was absentmindedly flipping through the magic book in his hand, the whistling of a steam engine sounded, and with a rumble, the steam train began to move, dragging its heavy body along.

"Huh?" At that moment, Charles noticed that through the blurry windshield outside the private room, he could see a figure walking to the outside of the door of the private room where he was now.

People from the same private room?!

Charles withdrew his gaze. Someone else on the same train wasn't worth his attention. His speech from a few days ago, which even now seemed childish to him, truly reflected his current feelings. So now, he had detached himself from the perspective of an ordinary person…

With his current power, by human standards, can he still be considered human? It's no wonder that many villains, after gaining power, don't care about the lives of ordinary people; the difference is simply too great.

"Ah! Hello!" Although he felt he was getting closer and closer to becoming a chuunibyou (delusional) villain, the mindset of a 21st-century Earthling still influenced him. So, when the guest outside opened the door to the private room, Xia Er subconsciously greeted him. After all, this guest could be considered his travel companion for the next day and a half.

However, this feeling vanished upon seeing the newcomer.

A head of golden hair piled up, striking grey eyes. A neat and efficient knight's uniform, a one-handed longsword at her waist. The Holy Lady named Iris Galgwin still wore her expressionless face and the same icy gaze as she looked at Charles, who was sitting in a chair in the private room, flipping through a book.

“I say, Sister from the Holy Church, do you think this could be a coincidence?” Charles snapped the book shut and asked, “Do you want to fight me on a steam train full of hundreds of people, and then have both trains crash and everyone die?”

"But let me make this clear from the start: even if all the ordinary people on this steam train die, I won't be the one to suffer the consequences..."

75. An Encounter on the Train (2)

“I am not a nun, Mr. Gretel.” Iris Galgervin closed the sliding door of the box, then stood opposite Charles and sat down in a chair. “That’s a title for female members of the church, who are engaged in prayer and assisting priests in their missionary work.”

“I already believed that the Church and the Sanctuary were one!” Raising an eyebrow, Charles said, “So, Miss Galgwen, what do you do at the Sanctuary? Hmm, I remember that cultist named Lorina said that you were... some kind of executioner, right? What does that do?”