Kurumi lowered her head in thought—Souta's plan was highly feasible.
However, there was one glaring issue.
"Shiroyasha, do you actually have a way to transport over
a hundred million
people?" Kurumi asked.
"Of course. I've created planetary-scale
Game Fields
before—multiple times, actually," Shiroyasha replied nonchalantly.
"Forget a mere hundred million, I could store
this entire world's population
inside if I wanted to."
"..."
Kurumi forced a wry smile.
That childlike appearance of hers was
so
deceptive—it was far too easy to forget she was actually
an absolute powerhouse
.
Souta, sitting beside her, didn't say anything, but he vaguely recalled that
inside
one of Shiroyasha's Game Fields, there was a
silver sun
floating around.
Was that truly just a
planetary
Game Field... or was it
stellar
level?
"There's still another problem," Kurumi added after a moment.
"Dropping a
hundred million
people into the modern era all at once... Are we really sure that won't cause
major
issues?"
"Hmm?"
Souta froze, carefully considering the implications... and then he realized—yeah, that
was
a huge issue.
He muttered, "You're right... Food shortages, employment concerns, housing crises—if all these things aren't addressed, it would be the equivalent of suddenly
creating
a hundred million refugees. If that leads to riots..."
A hundred million refugees.
That was a truly
insane
number.
Handled improperly, it could even
ignite a war
.
"In that case," Souta suggested, "why don't we stagger their release? As long as it doesn't disrupt key historical events, we can release them in waves—maybe a few tens of thousands at a time. Also, we should
avoid Japan
, since it has too many connections to the birth of the Spirits."
"Hmm... If we space out their return, that
does
make things much easier. I imagine that after a few instances of this, the world governments will establish special institutions to handle the situation," Kurumi said, considering the idea.
At the very least, this plan was far
less
reckless than dumping
one hundred million
people all at once.
"As for providing them with food in the beginning..."
Souta turned toward Shiroyasha.
"Shiroyasha, if you can
create entire planets
, then producing a
massive
supply of food should be no problem, right?"
"Creating planets? You're talking about the Game Fields I made
back when I was at full power
. Right now, making planets isn't
that
easy... But..."
Shiroyasha mentally calculated for a moment before saying:
"If it's just feeding a hundred million people,
that
shouldn't be an issue."
"Alright, then that takes care of the food problem," Souta said with a relieved smile.
"As for jobs—post-disaster recovery is bound to create
tons
of employment opportunities. Any remaining issues? Well, we'll just leave those to the modern governments to figure out."
Of course, they
weren't
actually planning to wait
thirty years
before releasing those people.
They'd
obviously
use time-travel to fast-forward and release them in batches.
After all, waiting
three whole decades
just to complete a single mission? That'd be
absurd
.
"We have the ability to
freely
travel through time," Souta pointed out.
"We can afford to
experiment
a few times. If something goes wrong, we can just
undo it
and try again. Sooner or later, we'll figure out the
most
optimal solution. It's just that..."
He sighed.
"It's gonna be
a lot
of work."
"Workload isn't an issue. As long as I get my points in the end, I
really
don't mind some extra effort," Shiroyasha said,
far
more relaxed than Souta was.
That made sense.
She had already been fulfilling her duties as a
"Floor Master"
, handling
tons
of responsibilities without a single complaint.
Despite her eccentric personality, Shiroyasha might actually be the
hard-working, diligent type
when it came to her
job
.
"Well, since you're the
main force
behind this operation and
you
don't have a problem with it, then I've got no complaints either," Souta said, nodding in agreement.
"Let's move forward with this plan to solve the
Eurasian Great Spacequake
issue."
With that settled, Souta moved on to the next topic.
"The only thing left... is rescuing those girls who died due to Mio Takamiya refining the Sephira Crystal."
"That won't be a problem," Kurumi assured him.
"Even after their transformation into monsters, those girls
didn't
die
immediately
after Mio extracted the Spirit Crystals. There was a
delay
. I can take advantage of that window—once Mio takes the Crystal and leaves, I can
secretly
save them."
"Even if they
do
die, we should still be able to bring them back."
Souta turned toward Shiroyasha again.
"Shiroyasha, you
should
have the ability to reconstruct souls, right?"
"Soul manipulation, huh... That's not really
my
area of expertise," Shiroyasha admitted.
"But if it's just
retrieving
the souls of recently deceased
ordinary humans
, that's totally doable."
With that confirmation, everything was finally falling into place.
"Then that settles it," Souta exhaled deeply and smiled.
"Let's get to work."
Near the China-Mongolia Border
An endless grassland stretched to the horizon.
Scattered shepherds watched over their flocks, while the air carried the scent of damp earth.
The soil beneath their feet was soft, and the wind rustled through the prairie.
After spending the entire night discussing details, the trio arrived at the
ground zero
of the soon-to-happen
Eurasian Great Spacequake
.
Souta was currently being held in Kurumi's arms, floating in midair.
Beside them, Shiroyasha walked through the
sky
as if it were solid ground.
Souta glanced at her,
a little envious
.
He
did
have a transformation ability like Shinobu's, but even if he sprouted
bat wings
, flight was...
impossible
.
At best, he could turn his hands into
blades
.
Oh, right.
He
could
also harden
certain
parts of his body.
Kurumi held onto him tightly, as if afraid he might fall.
Not that it would
actually
kill him.
"They're here! Those three magicians you mentioned," Shiroyasha suddenly announced, pointing eastward.
Kurumi and Souta turned to look.
Using his enhanced
vampire vision
, Souta barely made out three blurred figures in the distance.
Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, Elliot Baldwin Woodman, and Ellen Mira Mathers
—these were the three magicians who
created
Mio Takamiya.
They had all been born in a magician's village—a village that was ultimately
destroyed
by humans.
So, in retaliation, they planned to create Spirits to
wage war
against humanity and the world itself.
From Souta's perspective, that was
textbook insanity
.
If someone
kills
your loved ones, then you
go after those responsible
.
Dragging
millions of innocent people
into your revenge scheme?
What the hell did
they
do to deserve that?
Absolute lunatics.
Of course, Souta had already
grown numb
to these kinds of villains in anime.
So, when he spotted the three figures below, his expression barely changed.
"By the way, Kurumi," Souta suddenly remembered something.
"That Isaac guy? He's actually one of the biggest antagonists in your world."
Kurumi blinked. "He is?"
"If you count from
this
moment onward,
25 years
from now, he'll kidnap the Second Spirit, Nia Honjou."
Kurumi's expression stiffened.
"For
five years straight
, he'll repeatedly torture her—gutting her open, drilling into her skull, slicing off her limbs piece by piece... Just full-on psychopathic madness."
"..."
Kurumi's crimson-and-gold eyes narrowed dangerously.
"The Second Spirit...
he
kidnapped her? And tortured her...
for five years
?"
"Yeah. So, let's not waste any sympathy on him."
Souta glanced down at the three figures.
"Of course, we can't
touch
him
right now
—or we'll risk screwing up history."
"Be careful. A
strange energy
is beginning to gather," Shiroyasha suddenly warned.
"It's probably that 'Reiryoku' you mentioned."
(TL Note: A bit busy! I'll update next chap tomorrow!)