Fate: How About a New Savior?

"Ah, so this is where you were. Looking for something?"

Deep within Chaldea's library, someone called out to Shiomi.

Romani Archaman.

"Isn't the Sixth Singularity already confirmed to be Jerusalem?" Shiomi slid the Bible back onto the shelf. "I just figured I'd make a bit more preparation before departure, while there's still time."

"You've never been to Jerusalem?" Romani asked.

Shiomi shrugged. "I have, but in this era. The Sixth Singularity is set in the year 1273—right at the tail end of the Crusades..."

"Exactly. That's what's so odd. The Crusades are famous, sure, but what could possibly justify this Singularity's foundation value being ranked EX—completely immeasurable..." Romani muttered.

Shiomi chuckled. "If the Singularity's timeline lined up with the period when the King of Magecraft was still alive, I'd get it. Like, say, if King Saul actually managed to kill King David and triggered a massive upheaval in history—"

"Hey, hey..." Romani groaned, sounding slightly exasperated.

At the Third Singularity, Okeanos, King David—father of the King of Magecraft—had indeed appeared as a Servant and lent his aid to Chaldea.

But Romani hadn't revealed his identity. There was neither a proper moment nor any pressing reason to do so.

Still, the Director and the others, driven by their investigation into the King of Magecraft's motive behind incinerating human history, had questioned King David about it.

In response, David claimed he had no idea—only that it might be something as unlikely as "juggling relationships with ten women and getting dumped by all of them at once."

It was a far-fetched answer, but one born from David's own way of thinking.

And frankly, it had been a bit of a gut-punch to Romani.

With that in mind, Shiomi grew more curious.

"So... as father and son, what kind of relationship did King David and the King of Magecraft really have?"

Romani scratched at his neck thoughtfully, as if trying to put it into words. "Hmm... if I had to describe it, David and Solomon basically had nothing between them except blood. No concern, no care, no interest. If your relationship with your adopted daughters is a perfect 100, then theirs would be... around minus fifty."

"That's awful..." Shiomi had expected zero, not a negative.

Romani shook his head. "Just like everyone saw, when Solomon declared the incineration of humanity, David simply acknowledged it was possible. That was it."

He hadn't even questioned whether that Solomon was the real one.

"I see... so David's words hit you hard. But what about... the King of Magecraft?" Shiomi arched a brow.

He consciously made a distinction between Romani and Solomon.

Not as two people.

But as one being with free will, and one without.

"More or less the same. Even if David had called Solomon a failure as a human being, Solomon would probably just calmly agree."

But the more Romani spoke, the more his mood sank. It was clear he cared deeply about whether David truly thought that way.

"Seriously, who talks themselves into a depression..." Shiomi sighed, exasperated.

He patted Romani on the shoulder and turned to leave the library.

"So, what did you come looking for me for?"

"Oh..." Romani's energy perked up again. "What are you talking about? It's New Year's Day! Everyone's getting ready to celebrate. You forgot?"

"It's 2016 already, huh..." Shiomi paused and murmured.

His own time had long since stopped—he could barely sense the flow of years anymore. Ever since the Human Order was incinerated, he rarely thought about things like dates.

But Chaldea's atomic clocks still kept ticking.

And thanks to the split-task restoration strategy over the past half-year, Chaldea had already resolved the crises of five Singularities before 2016 even began.

Shiomi might've been relatively fine, but everyone else had been under constant tension.

Which was exactly why Olga Marie, acting as Director, had issued an order: for everyone to take a short break to celebrate the New Year. As humanity's last stronghold, they would offer a wish—for the successful completion of the long, arduous task of restoring the Human Order.

"New Year, huh..." Shiomi murmured, a trace of sentiment in his voice.

Then, as he recalled the origins of the calendar and the Common Era, he suddenly said,

"Come to think of it, the god who granted the King of Magecraft his miracles and the god worshipped by the Holy Church... might actually be the same being."

"You could say that," Romani replied, though his tone suggested he was being intentionally vague.

"If Magi and the Holy Church share the same foundation of belief, then doesn't it make the two thousand years of conflict between them seem kind of pointless?" Shiomi said with a wry smile.

Romani thought about it for a moment. "You're not wrong. But personally, I don't hold much faith anymore."

"Oh?" Shiomi raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Because I believe that fate should be in the hands of humanity—not guided or dictated by a god." Romani spoke openly.

Whether it was a thousand years ago, when he was King Solomon, or now, as the human Romani Archaman, that belief hadn't changed.

"Compared to the ring passed on to you, I'd say that wisdom of yours is probably your true trump card," Shiomi said.

The two of them left the library and began walking down the hallway toward the cafeteria, where the New Year celebration was set to take place.

"Haha... If you're calling that wisdom, I'm kind of embarrassed," Romani replied modestly, waving off the compliment. Then he recalled the book Shiomi had returned to the shelf earlier. "You suddenly got pretty talkative about religion today... was it because you were reading the Bible?"

"I just didn't expect to find Holy Church texts in a Magus stronghold," Shiomi said, waving his hand dismissively. "I figured they'd be edited or altered, but I finished Genesis and... it wasn't that interesting. Honestly, kind of a waste of time."

"Well, the library was personally curated by the former Director. She made sure the collection was as unaltered as possible," Romani explained, a bit impressed by Shiomi's perspective. "Still, just a heads-up—don't bring any of that up during the Singularity in Jerusalem. You'll cause problems."

"Relax, relax. By the time that Singularity takes place, the region's already long out of the Church's hands," Shiomi laughed, brushing it off and picking up the pace.

Romani followed behind, but a strange thought struck him.

Shiomi probably hadn't been entirely honest earlier. But the one thing that was definitely true… was his complete disregard for the divine.

How very Magus of him...