Seventy-two hours passed in a flash.
In the blink of an eye, three days had gone by since the conquest of the Fifth Singularity ended.
In the ever-busy control room.
Taking a moment to think, Roman paused his work, propped his chin with both hands, and sighed softly. "Huu~~~ Still no luck…"
"What's not working?"
"Waaah!"
The sudden voice behind him startled Roman, and he hurriedly turned to see who it was. "Director!"
Standing behind Roman was Marie, holding two cups of coffee in her hands.
Seeing Roman's flustered reaction, Marie glared at him. "Something like this is enough to make you lose your composure? That's not what the head commander of Chaldea should be like. Get serious, Romani. Drink some coffee and perk up!"
"Ah… thank you, Director."
Roman was slightly surprised as he took the coffee from Marie's hand.
"But this is rare, the Director coming to the control room. Are you looking for Natsukawa?"
"As the director of Chaldea, is there a problem with me coming to check on the work?" Marie shot back. "I once asked Natsukawa how to get along better with subordinates. He said coming here from time to time to check on the situation and ask about their well-being is enough. Apparently, that's how companies in the outside world operate too."
(What did you teach the Director, Natsukawa…) Roman thought helplessly.
"By the way, you said something about not working? Is there an issue with Chaldea's equipment?"
"No, Chaldea's equipment has been running stably. Thanks to Da Vinci and Miss Aozaki's maintenance, there are no issues at all." Roman explained. "What I meant by 'not working' is the observation of the Sixth Singularity. The truth is, that place has always been unobservable."
Unobservable?
Marie furrowed her brow. "Is there interference?"
Roman shook his head. "I don't think so. All the instruments are functioning normally. Rather than interference, it's more like an issue with the place itself. It's likely a shield isolating all interference has been set up. For the past three days, we haven't been able to gather any information about the Sixth Singularity."
"This situation isn't good." Marie sighed.
In previous Singularity conquests, Chaldea could sense the specific time period of the Singularity, and combined with its location, they could roughly deduce what might happen next, allowing them to formulate strategies before departure to reduce the difficulty of the conquest.
But the Sixth Singularity remained a complete unknown.
This meant Chaldea's previous battle plans were no longer viable. Given that the place was unobservable, it was possible that once Ritsuka and the others entered the Singularity, they might not even be able to communicate.
This was the biggest problem.
"Didn't you ask Natsukawa?" Marie said. "He might know something, since he always seems to know everything."
"Ah, him… uh… at this moment, I'm not sure if he's even alive."
Roman answered somewhat awkwardly.
Chaldea's soundproofing was excellent, no doubt about that. But even so, when he passed by Naoki's room earlier, Roman could faintly hear sounds coming from inside. Though the force was only comparable to a flick of a finger, even Chaldea's soundproofing couldn't fully block it… Roman didn't dare imagine how intense the "battle" inside must be.
In this aspect alone, Roman dared to say Naoki had surpassed Solomon.
(He said three days and three nights before… If you calculate it, he should be free today, right? I don't know when he'll be released. I hope he's still in human form when he comes out.)
Facing an unrelenting war machine alone was truly pitiful, but considering the situation, it was the consequence of his own actions.
At that moment, in one corner of the screen in front of him, an email suddenly popped up.
Seeing the name displayed, Roman's eyebrows twitched violently several times!
(Uh… Merlin…)
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At the same time, in Naoki's room.
At some point, the standard interior structure of a Chaldea room was completely gone. In its place was a scene resembling a summer beach cottage. Sunlight even shone from above, and the sounds of birds and waves crashing against the shore echoed in the air.
Undoubtedly, this was the result of Naoki's Imaginary Manifestation.
In the center of this summer cottage-like setting was a massive bed large enough for four or five people.
Naoki lay in the middle of the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Seventy-two hours, exactly seventy-two hours. He remembered clearly that he hadn't rested for a single minute. Though he had once joked about such a thing, he never imagined that a life-and-death battle with the end of the world for three days and three nights would be so exhausting for him.
And yet, he was still alive.
Fortunately, he was a fairy, and his recovery speed wasn't like that of a normal human. Otherwise, he might have died completely on the first day and had to reload to come back to life.
"Ngggh~~~~hmm~~~~~"
Beside Naoki, Rei, wearing a swimsuit and looking far more radiant, stretched her body vigorously.
"So comfortable~~~~ It feels like my whole body is refreshed."
"Well, you used the Mana I transferred to you to reshape your body. For the past few days, your body has always been in a brand-new state."
"Hmm, whose fault is it that Master likes this type?" Rei smiled. "But the pattern of these past few days is probably still far from realizing all the ideas in your head, right? Let me guess, maybe there's still forty or fifty percent left?"
"Sometimes I'm really curious—where do you get all these weird ideas, Master? And how do you come up with clothes that look so modest but are unexpectedly full of passion?"
(That's a question for mi××yo, Naoki thought.)
"By the way, hasn't Atalanta woken up yet?"
"Hmm, she's still sleeping over there. She only stopped half an hour ago. Truly worthy of a legend who could endure three days and three nights in mythology. I thought she'd give up halfway, so the rest of the time would be entirely ours."
Rei sighed with deep regret that her clever plan had failed.
On this, Naoki actually felt relieved.
Turning over and lovingly kissing her beloved Master's lips, Rei smiled. "Alright, Master's punishment ends here. You've worked hard, Master."
"You make it sound like work… It wasn't too exhausting. You and Atalanta gave me some breaks too."
Waving his hand to dispel the beach fantasy he had manifested, returning the room to its original Chaldea state, Naoki got out of bed and put on his clothes. "I'm heading to the control room. Stay here with Atalanta. I'll bring lunch back later."
"Yes, take care, Master.