"..."
The moment Olga Marie's words reached his ears, Ian froze.
France?!
He was back in France again?!
If the Fuyuki City of Singularity F was something he had absolutely no knowledge of, then France was a different story.
This was over a decade of his life that he had actually experienced.
Ian's sudden silence made Olga Marie a little nervous—this was often a bad omen.
"Ian, what's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.
"Did I say something wrong?" she pressed, her worry growing.
"..."
The silent Ian looked out of the window of the projected room.
As far as his eyes could see, the scenery was mostly unfamiliar.
"Director... we can't confirm if this is the era you mentioned," Ian finally said, his voice thoughtful.
"Eh?" Olga Marie was initially puzzled, but she quickly understood.
This was a quantum transfer affected by magical power fluctuations—the result might not perfectly match Chaldea's predictions.
Thinking deeper, perhaps even the current observations were being interfered with.
How could it have turned out like this?!
Olga Marie, in the control room, panicked, unable to think of a good countermeasure for a moment.
But just at this moment, Ian's voice rang out again.
"Director, when did you say we arrived?" he asked, his tone calm.
Although she wasn't entirely clear about Ian's reason for asking again, Olga Marie, who already had complete trust in him, didn't intend to doubt him.
She reported again like a true secretary.
"France in 1431."
"Can you be more specific about the time?" Ian asked, his brow furrowed.
"More specific?"
"Yes, preferably down to the month, and even better if you can get the exact date," Ian requested.
"..." Realizing that Ian might have some special method, Olga Marie immediately responded.
"I'll try!" she said, her voice filled with determination.
After all, as the person who understood Chaldea and the Earth model Chaldeas the most, Olga Marie completely understood how to realize Ian's idea.
Her hands were constantly manipulating the necessary formulas to calculate a more precise result.
Heaven did not disappoint those who worked hard.
She soon obtained the result she wanted.
"June 1431," Olga Marie reported the answer. "This is as precise as I can get."
"..."
"What's wrong? Why aren't you talking again?" Olga Marie asked, her voice laced with concern.
"It's nothing," Ian replied.
"Director, I would like to explore the surrounding environment further with Mashu to figure out which era and which place this is. Is that okay?" he asked.
"Hmm... that might be the best course of action," Olga Marie agreed, her voice thoughtful.
Although the time had been further confirmed, Olga Marie felt even more guilty.
"I'm sorry, my Chaldea has caused such a problem again," she apologized, her voice filled with remorse.
"It's okay," Ian said with a light smile. "This isn't your fault, Director. You didn't expect something like this to happen either," he reassured her gently.
"But you have to promise me—" Ian continued, his voice becoming slightly more serious.
"This time, don't try to bear everything alone," he urged.
"If you do that, I will be very angry," he added, his tone firm.
Hearing these words, the promise made in Singularity F echoed in Olga Marie's mind.
The corners of her lips curled up slightly—he was worried about her.
"Yes, I will," she replied softly, a hint of a smile in her voice.
"This time... I will definitely not try to bear everything alone," she promised.
Having made an agreement to continue communicating after obtaining more intelligence and information, Ian ended his call with Olga Marie.
But his expression was even more serious than before.
This wasn't the man putting on a profound act.
Rather, the information provided by Olga Marie had extraordinary significance for him, who possessed past memories.
June 1431.
That was the date in Pan-Human History when Jeanne d'Arc was publicly tried by the English.
According to the records in books, she was executed by burning at the stake on this day, leaving no remains.
But—!
For Ian, who had actually experienced that event, the records of Pan-Human History were a huge lie.
Because he knew that Jeanne had not been burned to death in that trial at all, but had hidden somewhere in England with his help.
Although the legend of Saint Jeanne d'Arc did not change because of this.
It successfully inspired the people of France, enabling them to recapture Paris from the English and rebuild their homeland.
But if he really considered the reality—
Nothing major had actually happened during that time!
So how could large-scale magical power fluctuations be detected at this moment?
Suddenly, Ian realized a possibility.
Could it be—
Had someone done something during this period, causing the powerful magical power fluctuations?
The more Ian thought about it, the more complicated it became.
He was both worried that this was indeed France—because if so, Jeanne might not have truly been safe after his death.
But at the same time.
He was also worried that this wasn't France—that would mean Chaldea's observations had a serious deviation.
Either way, it was an extremely unacceptable situation.
He had to quickly confirm what exactly was going on.
Ian looked at Mashu in the blanket and gently stroked her head.
"Mashu," he said softly.
"Let's hurry," he urged gently.
Although the pink-haired girl couldn't speak, she could still hear what the man was saying.
She quickly nodded, then buried herself in her task.
Gurgle gurgle.
As a Servant, Mashu received a large source of magical power at this moment.
A few minutes later.
Everything was cleaned up, Ian ended the projection of the "room," and at the same time, he told Mashu everything that Olga Marie had just mentioned.
And after hearing these words, the pink-haired girl immediately showed a surprised expression.
"So we're in France now?!" she asked, her violet eyes wide with surprise.
"Theoretically, we should be, but we don't know for sure if that's the case," Ian replied, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Eh—" Mashu's expression became a little nervous.
"Senpai, I remember reading in related books... that this is an era with dragons, right?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.
"That's true," Ian confirmed, nodding slightly.
"Then it will be very dangerous, won't it? Senpai, aren't you afraid?" she asked, her violet eyes looking at him with worry.
"I'm not afraid," Ian said with a gentle smile.
He gently pinched Mashu's soft cheek.
"Isn't Mashu here to protect me?" he teased, his gaze loving.
"Eh?!" Mashu lowered her head shyly, but her cheek rubbed against the man's hand on its own accord.
The obedient girl was just like a pet that had been completely tamed.
But this flirtation between Master and Servant couldn't change the reality of the problem.
The two, having resumed their journey, soon discovered that the situation they faced was far more complicated than imagined.
Even a simple thing like choosing which way to go was enough to trouble them at this moment.
But just at this moment—
Ian discovered a figure he never expected to see here.
Under a tree not far away.
Pure white Fou was curled up into a ball, resting there.
Ian rubbed his eyes several times, and after confirming that he wasn't mistaken, he directly told Mashu beside him about this.
The pink-haired girl immediately looked towards the base of the tree.
Soon, she also saw Fou's presence.
"It really is him!" Mashu's voice held a hint of excitement.
"Fou~!" she called out, waving her hand.
Almost at the same time, the moment Mashu called out Fou's name, the fluffy little cutie lying under the tree opened its eyes.
"Fou!" Fou shouted, running towards the two of them.
Then, it leaped and jumped onto Ian's shoulder, enjoying its designated spot.
"You little rascal..." Ian's tone sounded a bit helpless, but he didn't choose to chase Fou off his shoulder.
After all, honestly speaking, he didn't dislike this little creature.
And Mashu beside him looked very happy.
After all, being able to meet Fou again in such an unknown place was, in a sense, a sign of good luck.
However—
Happy as she was, Mashu was still very curious about the reason why Fou was here.
"Fou... how did you get here?" she asked gently, her violet eyes looking at Fou with curiosity.
Hearing the pink-haired girl ask him this, Fou obediently replied.
"Fou... Fou Fou Fou!"
"Fou~!"
Although Mashu could sense that Fou was saying these words in a very happy tone,
Just knowing the tone was far from enough to fully understand its meaning.
Almost instinctively, she looked towards Ian beside her.
Although he hadn't known Fou for very long, he was surprisingly able to understand what it was saying.
The man, of course, understood what Mashu's gaze meant.
He quickly acted as a translator, explaining for the little creature.
"Fou says... it teleported here with us," Ian explained, looking down at the small creature perched on his shoulder.
"That's right, isn't it?" the man asked, looking at it.
"Fou~" Fou nodded, indicating that Ian was right.
"I see..." Mashu, understanding Fou's meaning, nodded thoughtfully, but she quickly realized a new problem.
"Eh? But didn't the Director say that if you want to perform spirit particle teleportation, you must have a sufficiently high level of compatibility?" Mashu asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.
As Mashu said this, Ian also remembered the basic theories that Olga Marie had mentioned to him before.
The Master candidates gathered in Chaldea were not randomly selected.
They all had one thing in common—their compatibility with spirit particle teleportation was very high.
This was the basis of all plans.
Those who could not achieve this could not become Master candidates.
So that means...
Ian looked at Fou, who was lying comfortably on his shoulder.
Was this guy's spirit particle teleportation compatibility as high as the Master candidates?
The moment he realized this, the man was somewhat surprised.
And Fou just tilted its head slightly, looking at its designated "seat" with a slightly puzzled expression.
"Fou?"
Mashu didn't know the reason behind this.
However, seeing the man's surprised expression, she realized that this might not be a question she should continue to delve into.
"Senpai..." The girl took Ian's hand, rather abruptly changing the subject.
"Which way should we go now?" she asked, her violet eyes looking at him expectantly.
"..." Ian looked at the fork in the road ahead, unable to make a decision for a moment.
He did have memories of living in France, but that didn't mean he completely remembered every inch of French soil.
That was impossible.
So—
At this moment, Ian wasn't very confident either.
However, he knew that he was Mashu's emotional support and couldn't show it.
But something unexpected happened again.
After Mashu asked this question, Fou, who had just been dozing off on Ian's shoulder, also looked at the road ahead.
Its beautiful purple eyes were seriously examining the choice of roads, looking a bit more calm than usual.
Soon, it called out in one of the directions.
"Fou!"
Ian and Mashu were both taken aback by Fou's sudden cry.
They looked at each other, confirming that they had both heard its voice.
"Senpai..." Knowing what Mashu meant, Ian directly asked Fou,
"Fou, do you mean we should go this way?"
"Fou~" The little creature nodded.
This time, even without Ian's translation, Mashu completely understood what Fou meant—it had made a decision for the two of them.
Although she usually doted on this little creature, Mashu understood that now wasn't the time to be so rash.
She looked at him.
"Senpai... what do you think we should do?" she asked, her violet eyes looking at him with anticipation.
"..." Ian glanced at Fou on his shoulder, then looked towards the path it had chosen.
"Mashu, let's try going the way Fou said," Ian suggested, nodding slightly.
"Anyway, we don't have any other information right now, do we?" he added, trying to sound reassuring.
"...Mmm," Mashu nodded, then secretly glanced at Fou on the man's shoulder.
A hint of anticipation appeared in the girl's eyes.
She really hoped that Fou, whom she had always cared for, could help the two of them solve the problem.
"Let's go then," Ian said, starting to walk.
"Mmm~" Mashu replied, following closely behind.
Facts proved that Fou deserved their trust.
After walking for quite a while along the path it had pointed to, Ian felt the surrounding scenery gradually becoming familiar.
Everything was becoming more and more similar to his memories.
What truly made the two completely overlap was the village they saw on the hillside at the end of the road.
The extremely familiar distribution of houses;
The road orientation consistent with his memory;
The extremely simple decorative style;
And...
That church that Jeanne had visited countless times.
There was no mistake.
This was Domremy, the village from his memories!
Chaldea's observations were not wrong!
However—
Before Ian could report this to Olga Marie, something unexpected happened once again.
A huge black shadow flew in from the distance.
As the distance continued to decrease, its appearance gradually became clear.
It was a real dragon.
The moment it reached the sky above Domremy, it directly spewed fierce flames downwards!
Boom! Domremy Village instantly turned into a sea of fire!