[The residents at the scene were very anxious. Some among them were injured, some had husbands trapped in the mining zone, and others had relatives or friends whose whereabouts were unknown...]
[Faced with this situation, Stelle no longer hesitated and immediately offered to lend a helping hand.]
[As they ventured deeper into the mining zone, searching for Oleg while aiding injured miners along the way, they soon uncovered a new clue: the inner ring of the Great Mine had been occupied by a group of robots! Neither the mining teams nor the vagrants could get close.]
[Leaning over the railing to look down, March 7th indeed spotted several patrolling robots in the mining zone.]
["Those should be 'Svarog's' robots..." Seele muttered to herself.]
["Svarog? That name..." March 7th found it familiar.]
[Dan Heng reminded her, "Remember the robot we defeated at the fight club?"]
["Oh, right!" March 7th finally recalled. "So, who exactly is this 'Svarog' big shot?"]
["It's a long story. This 'big shot'... he appeared suddenly after the Silvermane Guards were withdrawn and quickly became the dominant force in the Underworld. He's a robot himself, claims to be humanity's guardian, and all unclaimed robots obey his orders. Now they've occupied the Core Furnace and won't let anyone near it."]
[Bronya frowned. "A being that can command robots... [Humanity's Guardian]. I've never heard of such a thing..."]
["Down here, there are plenty of things you've never heard of, 'Young Miss'." Seele teased with a smirk. "And it seems your so-called Architects aren't all-knowing and all-powerful either."]
["Do you two have to bicker with every sentence? This is hardly the time—let's focus on the matter at hand!"]
"It feels... like Bronya-oneechan and I are destined rivals," Seele said timidly.
"Correction—it's our alternate selves, Seele."
Bronya and Seele strolled through the Valkyrie Academy campus. What should have been an ordinary walk and chat became anything but, as their alternate selves on the Celestial Screen were so captivating that wherever they went in the academy, they became the center of attention and gossip.
"Don't mind their constant arguing—if you ask me, Seele's clearly the type with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. We're about to witness the 'chase-your-wife-into-the-crematorium' trope in action!"
"—Seriously? Don't mess with me, I didn't go to school much!"
"Who's messing with you? Wait! Look, it's Bronya and Seele in the flesh!"
"Ahhh! My ship has come to life!"
"Hey, hey! Seele, can you demonstrate that move? You know, the 'Fade away with the butterflies!'—I nearly got blinded by it under the blankets in the dorm earlier. So cool!"
Two versions of the same ship to obsess over—watching the real thing live and the alternate on-screen. Delicious! Absolutely delicious!
"Clearly, Bronya's the more dominant one in the academy, but the screen version flips it completely. A beautiful, domineering officer lady x a handsome little delinquent from the underground gangs—this is tailor-made for me!"
——
[Deep within the Great Mine, a white-haired girl in red clothes, barefoot, stood at the edge of a cliff, gazing up at an enormous geomarrow vein.]
["This vein... everyone's fighting over it..." The girl turned around, her delicate face filled with worry. "Mr. Svarog, look—such a huge geomarrow deposit. Clara has never seen so much geomarrow before..."]
[Beside Clara stood a towering robot clad in iron armor, with a large black coat draped over his back, exuding an imposing aura.]
["Calculating—based on average extraction efficiency, this vein could sustain Belobog's energy supply for 231 days, with a margin of error of ±7 days."]
["But you summoned me here not for these ores. State your true intentions, Clara."]
[Svarog looked down at the girl before him, the red light from his optical sensors radiating intense pressure.]
"Wow, that giant robot gives off serious Berserker vibes."
Emiya Shirou carefully flipped the frying shrimp in the pan with his chopsticks while occasionally glancing up at the Celestial Screen. When Clara and Mr. Svarog appeared, his first thought was of Illya and Berserker.
Speaking of which, that white hair and red eyes... Hmm, it's really hard not to make the connection.
"Berserker is much bigger than that, Shirou," Illya's voice called from the living room.
Two people were currently sitting in the living room—Saber and Illya, both curled up under the kotatsu with blissful expressions, their faces practically melting. It seemed... they had already fallen captive to the kotatsu's warmth.
"By the way, would this Miss Clara happen to know any magecraft?" Artoria suddenly spoke up.
"Haha, Saber, that kind of thing doesn't fly in another world," Shirou's voice replied from the kitchen.
Artoria stared intently at Clara's bare feet, exposed to the snowy cold, and couldn't hide her surprise. "Walking barefoot in such freezing weather... Won't she get sick? The people of that world must have extraordinary constitutions..."
"They have an [Aeon of Preservation] in their world, right? Maybe it's some kind of magic bestowed by the Aeon to protect her feet from frostbite?"
"We don't have Aeons, but at least we have this." Illya, now resembling a melting slime, fully burrowed into the kotatsu, leaving only her adorable head visible.
"Shirou, once you get in, there's no getting out. It's like being blessed by an Aeon..."
As she spoke, Illya let out a contented hum.
"Even Illya's fallen to it..."
Shirou chuckled helplessly and continued tending to dinner in the pan. The rich, savory aroma soon filled the kitchen.
["...Yes." Clara's face darkened with sorrow. "Many vagrants and miners got hurt because of this. Can you help them?"]
["I have already halted the conflict between both factions and temporarily secured the mining zone. Assessment result—within 30 days, barring unforeseen variables, no large-scale armed clashes will occur."]
["I understand Mr. Svarog's intentions, but... Clara thinks it's not enough. This alone isn't enough."]
[Clara lowered her head, the light in her eyes trembling faintly. "The mining teams, and everyone in [Wildfire]... they still don't understand Mr. Svarog's motives... If only we could do more for them..."]
[Svarog's voice remained as cold as ever. "My directive is to [Preserve] the Underworld. The trust of a minority sample is computationally redundant."]
["Human behavior always deviates from rational calculations, Clara—"]