*CRECK-CRECK!*
A sound like that reached her ears.
After a rather long sleep, Ritsuka slowly opened her eyes from confusion. A campfire burning in the middle of the night's darkness immediately came into view.
Then, the pain from burns quickly spread from her entire body into her heart.
"Ugh!"
"Hm? Already awake?"
A voice came from the side.
Enduring the pain, Ritsuka turned toward the voice. There, Naoki sat watching her.
"Department Head? I…"
"Don't try to get up yet. Lie down longer. Though I've treated you and Mash, your burns aren't fully healed, so just stay lying down."
Naoki said this.
Hearing him, Ritsuka unconsciously lay back and looked around. She saw Mash lying beside her, still unconscious. Besides that…
"Where's Miss Artoria?"
"She was taken, of course. Did you forget what happened earlier?"
What happened earlier?
Ritsuka frowned, thinking. She remembered coming to this church with Mash and Artoria, meeting Naoki, then…
"Fairy Knight… Gawain…"
"Seems you remember." Naoki pulled a branch from the air and tossed it into the campfire before him. "Honestly, you two were defeated in an instant—no strength left to resist. You were taken down in one attack by Gawain."
Taken down in one attack.
Recalling the last scene she saw, Ritsuka involuntarily shivered.
"So, Miss Artoria was taken."
"Yes, but don't worry about her safety. Neither Gawain nor the one who ordered Gawain to take her would ever let her die. Directly speaking, Artoria is one of the three most important people in all of Britain right now."
Hearing Naoki's words, Ritsuka unconsciously calmed down. But once calm, several earlier things suddenly came back to mind. After hesitating a moment, Ritsuka couldn't help asking: "Department Head, you… back then… why didn't you—"
"Why didn't I help save Artoria?"
"Yes."
Though Ritsuka's decision to help Artoria had been instinctive, it wasn't unrelated to knowing Naoki was there. Even after over half a year apart, Ritsuka still deeply trusted her Department Head's strength.
If Naoki helped, he could definitely protect Artoria.
But Naoki hadn't acted.
"Hmm… About that, better wait for Mash to wake up. After all, to explain it, I have to start from what happened two thousand four hundred years ago."
Two thousand four hundred years.
Hearing that unimaginable timespan again, Ritsuka fell silent for a moment: "Department Head, you… really stayed here that long? In Pan-Human History, only a little over half a year passed…"
"Different flow of time—normal occurrence. After all, this Lostbelt has been destroyed twice, so it's not strange for there to be differences with Pan-Human History." Naoki explained. "Oh, right—I should mention your communication device with Chaldea is broken."
"Eh!?"
Ritsuka was shocked and immediately raised her hand to check. Just as Naoki said, the communicator on her wrist was now destroyed—likely shattered by Fairy Knight Gawain's attack.
"W-what do we do? Can it be fixed?"
"After Mash wakes up, have her set up a transfer array using the Round Table and ask Chaldea to send a new one. This island itself is on a Leyline, so it should be fine."
"Meaning for now we can't contact Chaldea…"
Ritsuka sighed slightly.
"But meeting the Department Head is already the best outcome. Once we contact Chaldea, we can return—Department Head, everyone was extremely worried about you during the over-half-year you were gone, especially your prospective wives. When you return, you're in for it."
"Prospective wives…"
Naoki paused, then asked: "How… are they doing?"
"They all shouted they'd make you unable to get out of bed for a hundred days once you're back, and also make you kneel on a washboard until they're satisfied."
"Haha… Really? Then it seems very dangerous for me to return… Well, basically, we can't return anytime soon anyway."
Can't return?
Hearing Naoki say that, Ritsuka was surprised: "The Department Head doesn't plan to return?"
"Yes, for now I don't plan to. After all, there's unfinished business here. I plan to stay until it's done—Two thousand four hundred years ago, I sent that message to Chaldea asking you to bring everyone; it was actually for this unfinished business."
"That business… specifically is—"
"Cough cough cough!"
Before Ritsuka finished, Mash lying beside her suddenly coughed hard several times and woke amid the coughing, slowly opening her eyes with a pale face.
"Mash? You're awake?"
"Ugh… Senpai…"
Holding her head, Mash sat up from the ground: "We… Right! Miss Artoria, she ugh—"
Mid-sentence, burning pain from various parts of her body made Mash lie back down.
Seeing the same reaction as Ritsuka, Naoki sighed resignedly: "You two really have chemistry. Identical reactions… Well, calm down, Mash. Don't panic. Though Artoria was taken, she's in no danger at all. I can guarantee that."
"Big Brother…"
Hearing Naoki say this, Mash's tense expression eased slightly.
And then—
"Alright, since both Mash and Fujimaru are awake, it's time I explain the current situation. Why I can't leave this Lostbelt, why I wanted you to come here, and what I plan to do—I'll tell you everything clearly."
After saying that, Naoki paused, then continued—
"First, let's start with me."
"In truth, I am not the Natsukawa Naoki from Pan-Human History that you know. I am merely a part of the Pan-Human History Natsukawa Naoki—like waste expelled during purification."
"Two thousand four hundred years ago, I was the unnecessary part separated, released, and discarded by the Pan-Human History Natsukawa Naoki from himself."
"That is who I am."