Chapter Text
In front of Lin Ling stood a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a orange school uniform.
*Badump*
Behind him a man with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a silver armour. The might of him could be felt even though he wasn‘t even in any kind of battle stance.
*Badump*
“Oh where are my manners that is Gawain. Introduce yourself Gawain.“ Leonardo said with a carefree tone. Though his posture set a different tone. And the indifference in his eyes was also very visible.
*Badump*
“Of course my lord. Greetings, I am Gawain.“ He said with a small smile. But it felt as if he was talking to someone beneath him.
*Badump*
It‘s true after all, they could defeat Lin Ling and Lancer within seconds.
*Badump*
He may not know Gawains abilities or anything else right now, but his gut feeling is warning him.
*Badump*
“I-It‘s nice to- to meet you.“ Lin Ling forced out the reply.
*Badump*
“Yes it is, now I take it you‘re here for information gathering?“ He asked. Even though he (probably) tried to sound relaxed there was still authority behind his voice.
*Badump*
“Yes.“ Lin Ling said quickly.
*Badump*
„Well atleast you take this seriously. I have already heard that some Masters don‘t bother trying to find out their opponents Servants identity. It‘s good to know that there are at least a few who take this seriously. It wouldn‘t be entertaining otherwise.“ He said and as soon as the last sentence left his mouth Lancer appeared in front of Lin Ling.
“You find this is entertainment? People risk their lives in here and you say that this is entertainment?“ She said with outrage. Gawains look became just so ever slightly more serious. And Leo?
When he saw Lancer the indefference in his eyes became something else, atleast a bit and Lin Ling can‘t say what exactly replaced it.
“I must apologize for my poor wording. This is of course true, people are risking their lives. But they choose to come here aware of that to some degree. And since I’m certain that I‘ll come out as the winner I wanted it to not be boring. Of course from now on I‘ll choose my words more carefully.“ He said with clear confidence.
„You‘re certain you‘ll win?“ Lancer asked, surprised at the confidence behind that statement.
“Of course. So far there wasn‘t a single Master who has a realistic chance of winning against me.“ He said and both Lancer and Lin Ling know that they also weren‘t seen as a threat.
“So that was all. I will see you later.“ Leo said as he began to walk away Gawain behind him.
After he was sure that they were gone Lin Ling let out a breath he didn‘t know he was holding in.
“Lin Ling are you alright?“ Lancer asked.
“Yes well only kind of really. Seeing him again after regaining my memory was teriffying.“ Lin Ling said while wiping the sweat from his forehead away.
“Just who was that boy?“ Lancer asked with worry.
“Leonardo Bistario Harway. The heir to the Harway family. The Harway family is the family with the biggest influence in the entire world.“ Lin Ling said hesitantly.
“The biggest? Surely there are countries or at least corporations with more influence, right?“ Lancer asked, she just couldn‘t fathom that a family could get so much influence within two centuries after her death.
“No. The Harway family holds the biggest influence in the world and as of right now there are still others with a lot of influence but it‘s a losing battle. In a few years they‘ll have control of the entire world.“ Lin Ling said looking down.
Lancer on the other needed some time to comprehend what she just heard. A family able to get this far within twenty-one years.
„And what are they like? What do they do with their influence?“ Lancer asked.
“Well they say that they want to bring order to the world. But the way they do it is by making sure that no one opposses them. And even if you are on their side if you are of no use they‘ll get rid of you. At least that‘s what I know or heard.“ There were so many misinformations about the Harways that Lin Ling couldn’t say more than that without drifting into theory territory.
Meanwhile Lancer was shocked. The goal of the Harways sounds a bit too familiar. And the way they supposedly handle things doesn‘t make it any better.
„I-I understand. We should go and search for information. If my hunch is right it‘s someone from around my time.“ Lancer said as she went in inside the library with Lin Ling following a bit behind.
While Lancer would like to think and talk more about that topic, there is still a battle they have to fight.
When they entered the library they saw that there were bookshelfs on the walls and put in the center of the room. The bookshelfs had regions on their top.
Lancer went to the section labled China.
There she searched for something.
“What are we looking for?“ Lin Ling asked looking around the bookshelf.
“Around 20-23 AD.“ Lancer said as she began to rummage through the bookshelf.
Lin Ling did so too looking for books with information of that time period.
A bit of a problem was the fact that the books used the normal year count instead of AD time.
Now you may think that all they have to do is go from the newest backwards to find the time period. Well that‘s what our duo also thought. Well too bad that the books were not in any sort or form placed. One of the books contained information about a time period before Dawnfall while the one next it on the right contained information about 35 AD.
Because of this it took a lot longer than both liked. Which may have resulted in a few books being thrown in frustration.
And while they have found books of that time period. They didn‘t contain any information that were fitting with the heroic spirit Shang De had with him.
„It seems we still have no new information.“ Lin Ling said to Lancer.
“No, we have gotten a clue from this.“ Lancer said surprising Lin Ling.
“Wait really?“ Lin Ling said outloud.
“Yes. There isn‘t any mention of the Winner of the 11th Tournament that happened in AD22. There are also a few other heroes missing from the records.“ Lancer said as she gave Lin Ling the book and as she said the information of the 11th Hero Tournament was incomplete.
Five heroes were not mentioned.
“So one of those- one of those five is the heroic spirit Shang De summoned?“ Lin Ling asked.
“That is the highest possibility. Of course it could be that another Master trying to hide the identity of their Servant. But I‘m confident it was Shang De who did this.“
“But why did he remove five heroes and not just all of them?“ Lin Ling asked. He understood that only removing one hero could be a big giveaway of the identity but not removing every hero that participated in the 11th Tournament gives them a higher chance to figure out the identity of Shang Des Servant.
“These things may look like books but these are still data. In order to remove them you have to hack into the Mooncell. So removing 5 heroes from the entire time period in that time frame is very impressive.“ As she said that Lin Ling tried to rip out a page of the book but it didn‘t work.
“But this is also good since that must have taken a lot of time so Shang De is probably resting right now. So now we should be able to enter the Arena without having to worry about an ambush. We might even find some information about the heroic spirit Shang De summoned.“ Lancer said.
Lin Ling nodded at first only to do a double take at the last part. „What do you mean. The infos won‘t just be in the Arena right?“
“The Mooncell won‘t just let very important information be destroyed. So Shang De probably hid them in the Arena. Of course it isn‘t gurenteed that we‘ll find the information we need, if we even find any information that is. He also could have hidden them around the city.“ Lancer explained and it did sound somewhat good.
*Beep*
The first Cipher Key has been generated on Floor 1
Lin Ling looked at his terminal and saw a message he had no idea what it meant.
„Lancer? What is a Cipher Key?“ Lin Ling asked confused.
„… I have no idea.“ Lancer said just as confused.
„It seems we have to find out, it said that the Chipher Key was generated on the first floor, so we‘ll eventually find it anyways since we‘ll search through the entire floor for the missing data.“ Lancer said making Lin Ling realize one thing.
That this will be a long „night“.