"The sun is devoured by hatred, and an arrogant king is about to emerge…"
After Nero recounted the riddle, Ritsuka repeated it, looking up. "Mr. Holmes, what do you think?"
The projection shifted, revealing a pale young man with a pipe in hand. "The riddle contains all the elements of a complete event: time, characters, motive, action, and outcome. The location, we already know. It's essentially an abstract expression through symbolic language."
A female voice chimed in from outside the projection. "I agree. The key to solving this lies in its metaphors."
The projection switched again, showing Mash's face. "Senpai, any ideas?"
Ritsuka shook her head slightly. "Not really. We're still new here and don't know much."
"I've got… something. Not exactly a lead, but a discovery," Nero said, drawing everyone's attention.
"Even though I just got here, I happened to overhear something…"
Nero briefly described the conversation between Beatrice and the farmers, summing it up. "I don't know much about agriculture, but my gut tells me this is a big deal for the locals."
"Mash…" Ritsuka turned to her junior for help.
"No need to dig through records. I know this one," the female voice interrupted, stepping into the projection. Her face was like the Mona Lisa brought to life.
"Da Vinci-chan!" Ritsuka exclaimed.
"Oh?" The demon, catching sight of something intriguing, flashed a delighted grin.
"First time meeting, I presume? I'm a Heroic Spirit of the Caster class, true name Leonardo da Vinci," she said, introducing herself before diving in. "As a genius and a polymath, I happen to have some knowledge on this topic."
She pulled out a chalkboard from nowhere and scribbled a term. "If I'm understanding correctly, what this Baron's daughter Beatrice proposed is the precursor to the 'crop rotation system.' It's a method that cycles land between pasture, meadow, and farmland to boost productivity."
Da Vinci glanced around, then wrote another term: 15th Century. Pointing at it, she explained, "In European history, the crop rotation system did originate in England, but it wasn't formally proposed or implemented until the 15th century—when I was active."
"A hundred years too early," Sherlock Holmes' voice cut in from beyond the projection. "That's a blind spot we could've easily missed. Does this system have enough impact on human history?"
Da Vinci turned toward him. "It absolutely does. Advancements in agricultural productivity undeniably drive societal progress. If crop rotation was introduced a century early, it would likely have a massive impact on the budding Renaissance movement."
Ritsuka raised her hand eagerly. "So, this Beatrice girl is the key figure we need to focus on?"
"Very likely," Da Vinci replied, stepping out of the projection.
Sherlock's deduction followed. "The first thing we need to clarify is whether her ideas are influenced by a Demon God Pillar. That will guide our next steps."
If they were, the Pillar's goal would be clear. If not, it meant Beatrice's ideas never came to fruition in proper history—perhaps the Pillar was meddling to change that.
The projection shut off. Ritsuka turned to Nero. "You said she went home, right?"
That girl had some serious drive, making decisions at lightning speed.
"Yep." Nero crossed her arms, nodding, then glanced at the demon standing quietly behind Ritsuka. "You guys heading into town now?"
The demon responded with a flawless smile. "That's up to Master."
Ritsuka nodded, agreeing with Nero's suggestion. "Yeah, let's head into town now. But we'll save looking for her until tomorrow. Also…"
She faced Nero, who'd been keeping her distance, and in one fluid motion, bowed and extended her hand. "Miss Nero, please join us as our ally!"
The invitation came out of nowhere, but for Nero, there wasn't much reason to say no. According to the Sphinx, if she wanted to get back to the Devil May Cry world, she had to resolve this singularity.
Which meant she and Chaldea's crew were on the same page.
Nero shot another glance at the demon, who was still smiling effortlessly, as if they'd already seen through everything.
Kinda pissed her off.
She reached out but paused just short of Ritsuka's hand, addressing the demon behind her. "So, we're buddies now, huh?"
"Absolutely!" Ritsuka answered for them.
The demon gave a helpless smile, narrowing their eyes. "Well, since Master says so, I'll honor the deal and give my name."
They stepped back, removed their top hat, and pressed it to their chest, bowing like a gentleman. "Allow me to introduce myself again. I'm a Heroic Spirit of the Caster class, named—
"Mephisto."
"Mephisto?" Nero sucked in a breath, her brow furrowing as she sank into thought.
Sure, they were both called Mephisto, but this demon was clearly a different breed from the one she'd been chasing. Still, wasn't that one hell of a coincidence?
Mephisto smiled faintly. "Yes, that Mephisto. You're definitely from the future."
The demon Mephisto, from Faust, Goethe's epic poem, published in the 19th century.
Since Nero reacted instantly to the name, Mephisto deduced she must come from a time after that era.
Nero didn't answer directly, instead firing back, "Are you the character from the book, or the real deal from history?"
Mephisto spread their arms. "That's for you to decide. But the name Mephisto? That came from the book."
Nero took a deep breath, nodding as she accepted the explanation, then turned to Ritsuka. "How'd you two meet?"
Ritsuka scratched her hair with a wry smile. "Well… during the Rayshift, for some reason, Chaldea's Heroic Spirits were rejected by this singularity and couldn't come along. The one who protected me while I set up the communication point was Mephisto."
"Think I'm shady?" Mephisto chuckled. "If you've read the book, you'd know I'm all about keeping my contracts."
"I'm just questioning your motives," Nero shot back coolly.