After finishing the matters at hand, and just as the elemental wind was triggered, Jean walked out of the tent. She first kicked away the footprints left by members of the Snow Monster Squad who had been peeking through the door crack, then turned her head to look at Holmes standing there.
"Miss Jean, it seems you have something you wish to ask me." Holmes spoke first.
"You're the one who came to find me, yet you say I want to ask you something? But, that's correct, I do indeed have something to ask."
"But before that, please allow me to deliver this invitation to you."
Jean picked up the invitation and took a look. Written on it were the words: "Clash! The Super Holy Grail War Full of Unknowns! Grand Strategy! Invitation."
On its back were specific instructions and how to use the invitation; simply put, it was a war game where one could enter a specific world to compete for the greater grail upon tearing it open.
"Are you not even going to pretend anymore? Holmes?" Jean did not accept it immediately but instead retorted to Holmes.
"That is truly an unfounded accusation; I have never told a lie." Holmes continued, still unhurried:
"As you can see, this is an invitation. The specific information has already been written on it, and other matters are inconvenient to disclose. Whether or not you participate depends entirely on yourself."
"..." After verifying that there was no apparent danger, Jean placed the invitation into her spatial pouch. This was a small trick taught by Shiraori: the spatial pouch sealing method.
Because time inside the spatial pouch is relatively static, no technique can be activated. Even if it truly bypassed the restrictions, the layer of space blocking it would be enough to withstand most damage.
Next, it was time to get to the main point.
"Then, I'll trouble you to answer my questions. But let's agree beforehand: no riddles."
Holmes was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Then, first of all, why did you appear here?"
"Apologies, that point is inconvenient to disclose."
"Fine. Then, what did you investigate in Lungmen?"
"Apologies, still, inconvenient to disclose."
"Then what about Talulah's situation!"
"Apologies, still, inconvenient to disclose."
"..." Jean then pulled out her sword: "Come on, I'll give you another chance to organize your words."
"Isn't that just because Miss Jean's questions are too deep, exceeding the scope of my answers?"
"Tsk, then what can you say?"
"Hmm... let's do this." Holmes took a stone out of his pocket and tossed it to Jean.
As Jean caught it, her head started aching involuntarily, and she instinctively created a stardust crystal to support the stone.
"What is this?"
"It is Originium."
The Stardust Wind swirled in her hand, the crystal constantly clashing with and neutralizing the Originium, and before long, it directly eradicated this piece of Originium.
Without a doubt, this Originium contained a will, just like Jean's Stardust Wind and the Flame Spirits' flameless fire; they all carried some kind of will.
Jean imbued it with the will of protection, so the Stardust Wind possesses effects like resilience, resistance to mental interference, and resistance to abnormal status effects.
The flameless fire is a specialized combustion that burns the concept itself; even without generating temperature, it forcibly changes the chemical composition through combustion to achieve the concept of burning.
The will within the Originium is similar to a feeling of spreading or assimilation, but the will upon it was too weak; had she not been holding the Originium directly, Jean wouldn't have discovered it.
Because of this, Jean could rely on her own Stardust Wind to eliminate this piece of Originium.
But that is not the problem. Jean's wind could, at best, surround herself with a little to spare, but Originium is spread throughout the entire world.
"It seems you have discovered its specific nature. The Infected are exposed to the radiation of Originium power for a long time and are more or less mentally polluted, but there are also those who rely on eating raw Originium to maintain their sanity; it is truly wondrous."
'Isn't the Doctor eating three hundred jin of raw Originium just a fan-canon? How is Old Holmes speaking of it as if it were true?' Under Jean's puzzled gaze, Holmes continued speaking.
"In the end, the crises of a world are diverse; Originium and the Infected are only a small part of it. For example, I wonder if you have ever seen green blood?"
"Huh? Aren't all blood green... Hmm?" Jean was still playing along with the joke in the first half, but in the second half, she recalled the images fed back by the wind in Lungmen, assuming those weren't illusions caused by pressure on her brain...
"Oh my, it seems I can only speak up to this point. It is truly unpleasant to be a revealer of secrets yet be forced to conceal the truth." Following this, Holmes brought out a deerstalker hat from who knows where, put it on his head, nodded to Jean, and turned to leave.
Halfway there, he stopped and said: "Your existence proves that so-called fate is nothing but nonsense, so please do not have any misgivings. If it exists, it is inevitably rational."
I don't know if it was an occupational hazard, but in the end, Holmes still left behind a riddle.
Seriously, riddle-makers, get out of Terra World!
However, Jean still kept the information provided by Holmes in mind. Seeing that the time was about right, she turned, went into the room to wake Frostnova, and holding her hand, walked out of the tent together.
"You few over there, we're leaving!" Jean said to the members of the Snow Monster Squad who were sneakily looking over.
"Yes! Big Sister!"
"What the hell? Forget it, the time is about right, let's go."
Riding her motorcycle to the camp entrance, she saw Crownslayer and Ch'en, also riding motorcycles, along with a few other members waiting there.
It seemed the final decision was not to dispatch too many people.
After all, the Guerilla Squad were allies, the Third Army was the enemy, the mercenaries and ordinary Reunion Movement members had wavering stances, and with time being tight, it was impossible to mobilize a large number of people; this number was actually not surprising.
They greeted each other and, facing the morning sun, set off towards Chernobog.
"Eh? You said green blood?" Ch'en was a bit puzzled by Jean's question, but after some deep thought, she recalled a piece of intelligence: "Right, there was some human experimentation conducted by a church from the seaside in the slums. The autopsy report wrote 'green blood'; at first, I thought it was a typo. By the way, why are you asking about this?"
Jean told Ch'en about the situation she had perceived in Lungmen.
At this moment, Crownslayer interjected: "We only attacked Lungmen because they were turning the Infected into monsters with green blood flowing through them. Our initial mission was to rescue the Infected in the Lungmen slums."
"The actual goal was to wipe us out along with the armed forces we brought to Lungmen." Petrova (Member C) of the Snow Monster Squad added.
Hearing this, Ch'en fell into silence, holding the blade in her hand, not knowing what she was thinking.
Perhaps because they were about to face Talulah, the entire team was very somber. Fortunately, not long after, the grand outer walls of Chernobog appeared in the team's field of view.
This majestic yet dilapidated mobile city, in the hands of a madman attempting to drag the world into conflict, was marching toward destruction.
-------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 50 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon:
patreon.com/MariaLight
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!