The Mountain People—this was a refuge for displaced individuals, led by the Hassan of the "Old Man of the Mountain" group.
When the Chaldea team arrived, Hassan of the Cursed Arm welcomed them and prepared a place for them to rest, showing a friendly attitude.
After accompanying the Chaldea team to this location, Zuke requested to speak with Romani through Ritsuka Fujimaru.
Although Ritsuka Fujimaru didn't know what Zuke wanted to discuss with Romani, out of trust in Zuke, she didn't refuse. Instead, she connected the call with Romani in the room.
The virtual screen lit up from Ritsuka Fujimaru's watch, displaying Romani's face—he looked like a somewhat soft, middle-aged man with a gentle appearance.
"Hello, you must be Zuke, right? I've heard about you from Ritsuka and the others over the past couple of days."
Romani smiled innocently, appearing as if he were just a doctor who had been thrust into the role of acting director of Chaldea.
However, Zuke knew very well that this seemingly harmless Dr. Romani was actually the reborn form of the "King of Mages," Solomon.
In fact, the root cause of so many Singularities was the collective consciousness of the 72 Demon Gods that emerged after Solomon's death, and Romani was inextricably linked to this.
But since Ritsuka Fujimaru was present, Zuke didn't expose Romani's true identity.
After all, Romani's current role was the acting director of Chaldea, and Zuke needed to make a deal with him. Exposing his identity now would only serve to antagonize a potential ally.
"Still, you and Ritsuka seem quite close… I've heard her mention you often over the past couple of days, but it seems your relationship is even better than I imagined."
Before Zuke could even propose the deal, Romani gave Zuke and Ritsuka Fujimaru a somewhat suggestive look.
The reason was simple: the virtual screen displaying Romani's face was quite small, so Zuke and Ritsuka Fujimaru had to lean in close, their faces almost touching.
To Romani, such close proximity between a man and a woman naturally suggested an intimate relationship.
Hearing Romani's words, Ritsuka Fujimaru seemed to realize how close she was to Zuke and quickly covered her face, putting a bit of distance between them.
Though they were still quite close, at least their faces weren't pressed together anymore.
Despite having the cool-sounding title of "Humanity's Last Master," Ritsuka Fujimaru was still a teenage girl and couldn't help but feel shy in such a situation.
Especially since she was wearing the maid outfit that Zuke had essentially "claimed" as his—though no one else could see the outfit, of course.
Zuke, on the other hand, didn't pay much attention to this. His main focus was on completing the main quest as quickly as possible.
So he addressed Romani directly:
"Dr. Romani, you're currently the acting director of Chaldea, correct? In that case, I'd like to propose a deal with you."
"A deal?"
Romani looked at Zuke in surprise, clearly not expecting such a proposal.
In previous Singularities, Ritsuka Fujimaru and the others had encountered many heroic spirits, but none had ever directly proposed a deal with Romani.
This piqued Romani's interest, and he asked curiously:
"What kind of deal? Please explain. If it's feasible, Chaldea will do its best to assist you."
"Simply put, you're here to repair this Singularity and retrieve the Holy Grail, right?"
Zuke spoke calmly.
"And by now, you should know what the biggest obstacle to repairing this Singularity is."
"Hmm… the Holy City of the Lion King is likely the biggest variable in this Singularity."
Romani nodded. He had already heard about the situation in this Singularity from Ritsuka Fujimaru.
The Lion King had established the Holy City, conducting a "Holy Selection" to choose those deemed worthy to enter the city, while leaving the rest outside to die.
To correct the Singularity, breaching the Holy City was essential—but their current strength was far from sufficient to accomplish this.
"I'll help you breach the Holy City, but on one condition."
Zuke nodded, glad that they understood the difficulty of the Holy City. It wasn't for nothing that he had let them experience the beating at the Holy City earlier.
Hearing this, Romani's expression grew slightly more serious—this was the first time he had encountered a heroic spirit who would make demands of Chaldea:
"What's the condition?"
"After resolving this Singularity, Ritsuka will return to Chaldea, right? I want you to summon me to Chaldea immediately after she returns."
Zuke laid out his plan, which was essentially the main quest of this mission world.
Although the main quest couldn't be resolved through combat alone, Zuke could transform it into a problem that could be solved purely through combat by making this deal.
Chaldea would handle the summoning, and Zuke would handle the fighting.
"...That's it?"
Hearing Zuke's request, Romani's previously tense expression froze.
He had expected Zuke to make some monumental demand, but all he wanted was to be summoned to Chaldea immediately after the Singularity was resolved?
"This shouldn't be a problem, as long as Ritsuka agrees."
Realizing that Zuke's request wasn't difficult to fulfill, Romani breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Ritsuka Fujimaru on the other side of the screen.
"What do you think, Ritsuka? Are you willing to summon Mr. Zuke to Chaldea immediately after you return?"
"I… I agree."
Ritsuka Fujimaru nodded instinctively—not only did she already have a favorable impression of Zuke, but even just for the sake of his combat strength, she would definitely summon him to Chaldea.
However, as she said this, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off… It didn't feel like she was agreeing to summon a heroic spirit, but more like she was participating in some kind of wedding ceremony.
"Then the contract is sealed."
As he said this, Zuke summoned "Blackbird Requiem" to establish the outcome: "After resolving the Singularity, Chaldea will summon Zuke immediately."
Smoothly, Zuke barely had to expend any "Ki" to establish this outcome, proving that Romani and Ritsuka Fujimaru weren't just humoring him but genuinely intended to follow through.
Satisfied, Zuke turned to Ritsuka Fujimaru and said directly:
"Good, now that the deal is sealed, let's go and attack the Holy City."
To be continued…
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