Arknights' Lock of Heaven

"Oh? So tough, huh?" The lead shield guard waved his hand, "Brothers, get ready..."

"We're just lost..." the captain quickly replied upon hearing his words.

"Lost?" The shield guard laughed in exasperation. "Who are you trying to fool? If it were snowing heavily, that would be one thing, but the sky was clear and sunny that day. How could you get lost like that?"

“We…we really have never been to the wilderness before,” the captain stammered. “We all grew up in the city…plus, the situation that day was just too chaotic…so we panicked and…”

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the captain with some confusion.

Seriously? Are you really that honest? They're the opposing side, why are you answering their questions so readily?

The captain slumped his head, absentmindedly looking at the messy snow at his feet.

"Alright, take them all back," the guards said, seeing that they couldn't get any more information out of them. They planned to end the interrogation there and have more professional people question them when they got back.

Faced with the fully armed shield guards approaching them, the routed soldiers looked at each other, none of them having the courage to resist. They obediently threw down their weapons and were tied up.

There was nothing they could do. It wasn't that they didn't have armor, but who wears armor when they're running away? They'd already thrown it away. As a result, a dozen or so ragged, fleeing soldiers had to face dozens of fully armed, heavily armored men... How were they supposed to fight them?

The soldier who was the most radical and anti-infected before is now shaking like he has Parkinson's.

then……

“You guys over there,” the shield guard said, glancing at Fujimaru Ritsuka and the other two who seemed completely unconcerned, “are here at this hour, hanging out with these defeated soldiers…”

"And who are you?"

He could tell that the three were no ordinary people; just the fact that they could move freely in the snowy plains in the dead of winter while wearing those clothes was enough to tell them they were not ordinary people.

“At least we’re not with them,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said, spreading her hands. “They were planning to rob us at first.”

"Oh, a robbery?" Hearing this, the shield guard looked at the messy camp, the half-deer, and a few pieces of roasted meat. "Are you robbing your food?"

“Indeed,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said without changing her expression, “but after witnessing our methods, they became afraid, and we wanted to know some major events happening outside, so we used food to exchange for information.”

“That sounds reasonable,” the Shield Guard nodded, then asked, “But you still haven’t answered my question: Who are you people? And why are you trying to find out where our base is?”

At this point, the shield guards around him drew their weapons.

Mashu once again demonstrated her strength by lifting the table-sized shield with one hand.

The Shield Guards were quite surprised that such a frail little girl had such great strength, but that was all.

Their fighting spirit remained unchanged in the slightest.

This is troublesome. Seeing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka helplessly raised her hand.

This... is really hard to explain. Their origins are unknown, they were with a group of defeated soldiers, and they were even trying to find out about the previous battle and the infected's base...

Wow, even she herself thinks she's suspicious!

In addition, the other side already suspected that these fleeing soldiers heading north were suspicious...

This is truly... a twist of fate.

“We really meant no harm,” she said helplessly as she cast a spell, and streaks of silver light flashed in the surrounding forest. “If we had, I would have found you long ago with these spells, and I wouldn’t have just stayed put without running away.”

"..." The shield guard did not answer, but stared straight at her hand, and then looked around.

Fujimaru Ritsuka noticed something was wrong, because even the captain next to her looked terrified.

After pausing for two seconds, the shield guard whispered something to a person behind him who wasn't wearing armor, then turned to look at Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"Could you perform that again?" he asked very politely.

Fujimaru Ritsuka was stunned. Listen to this, you're even using honorifics now! Just now you were acting like we'd fight to the death if you couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.

She realized there was a lot that could be done here.

So he casually activated the spell again, and the silver light began to flash once more.

The lightly dressed person behind the shield guard nodded excitedly at him.

"Are you here to visit friends in the snowy plains?" Upon seeing this, the Shield Guard asked very politely.

Faced with this complete 180-degree turn in attitude, Fujimaru Ritsuka, though puzzled, still straightened her chest and said, "Yes!"

Although Mashu was confused, she firmly supported her senior's decision. Holmes... was still collecting clues. Fujimaru Ritsuka was used to his personality of not saying anything until he found out the truth.

You can always trust Holmes in the lead-up to the big events, because he'll definitely get the truth out of you. But at the beginning and in the middle... he's just a damn riddle-maker!

Whatever the reason, let's accept it first! We should try to avoid fighting if possible, as we still need to go to the infected's base to look for clues.

“I see. No wonder you asked where our base is,” the Shield Guard said, becoming even more polite. “Would you like to come back with us?”

And such good things?

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded, then asked frankly, "Why did your attitude change immediately after I activated my magic?"

With two Servants by our side and our overwhelming military advantage, let's figure this out first. If we accidentally let something slip, we can always slip away.

By the time we get to their base and ask these questions, it will probably be too late.

“Because you’re not using Originium Arts,” the Shield Guard replied frankly. “The only people who can make this kind of commotion without using Originium Arts are… the big shots who were recently invited to the snowfield by that advisor from Rhodes Island.”

He looked at the three men, and the more he looked, the more they resembled each other, especially the young man who was silent but had sharp eyes. Under his gaze, he felt as if he had no secrets.

"Oh, oh, oh," Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu exchanged a glance upon hearing this, it seemed to be a twist of fate.

"Although the advisor invited many friends," the Shield Guard glanced at them and said, "the first two to arrive were enemies, so they fought a big battle on the snowfield, and that's when their fleet was destroyed."

“Um,” Fujimaru Ritsuka asked in confusion, “Didn’t you say you were inviting friends? Why is it that enemies have come instead…”

Hearing this, the shield guard glanced at her.

"The fact that Mr. Karna and Mr. Arjuna are enemies does not prevent the advisor from being their friend as well."

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka felt as if she had been struck by lightning!

"Wait? Who did you say?" she asked immediately. "Karna? Arjuna? Is this the god they speak of?"

The fleeing soldiers around him trembled at the mention of those two names.

"..." The shield guard did not answer, but his gaze toward her grew increasingly strange, without asking why.

Once these people are brought back to base, plenty of people will be able to deal with them!

Fujimaru Ritsuka, not wanting to wait any longer, immediately took out her communicator with Storm Borde, unfolded the light screen to display the Spirit Origin portraits of the two, and asked, "Are these the two people?"

Before the shield guards could even answer, the fleeing soldiers nearby collapsed to the ground upon seeing the two portraits...

Seeing this, she knew the answer.

"So, is this the Merlin we're talking about?" She brought up Merlin's Spirit Origin portrait again, and the leader of the Shield Guard nodded.

Okay, I completely don't understand this world anymore.

Fujimaru Ritsuka gazed at the sky in silence.

She really wanted to ask who the advisor who had gathered Merlin, Karna, Arjuna, and others was... but now that she was pretending to be a friend invited by them... asking again would really be a bit...

Well, we'll know when we get there anyway.

Fujimaru Ritsuka was very much looking forward to it.

491 Jin Gu, you bastard!!!

“This is our base,” the Shield Guard said, pointing to a row of simple wooden houses in front of him. “Most of the people still live here.”

"It is indeed a bit simple, please excuse my poor appearance."

“Oh, it’s alright,” Fujimaru Ritsuka waved her hand, “It’s much better than sleeping in the open, right?”

“More than this, I’m curious about what that is over there…” She gazed into the distance at the huge, inverted semi-circular barrier lying on the ground to the west.

"That's spirit particle environment modification technology, right!?" Just then, the communicator was turned on, and Storm Border connected. Sion's excited face appeared on the light screen.

"That must be the spirit particle environment modification technology, right? Isn't that our Atlas Institute's technology? How did it end up here?"

Seeing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka gave the shield guard an awkward smile.

In all honesty, she had been keeping the existence of the Storm Border a secret all along, but unexpectedly, Sion himself came forward.

“It’s alright,” Leonardo da Vinci said with a smile, seemingly noticing her helplessness. “If it’s really as we previously speculated, then hiding the rear is indeed necessary. But as you’ve seen, Merlin, Karna, Arjuna, and this technology from the Atlas Institute…”

“There are definitely acquaintances here,” she sighed. “It makes no difference whether we hide or not.”

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka looked at the shield guard, only to find that the guard was completely absorbed in his own thoughts and not looking in her direction at all.

"Excuse me, that is indeed the spirit particle environment modification technology, right?" she asked the other party.

“Uh, I don’t remember it being called that,” the Shield Guardian scratched his head. “I think it was called Simulated Gaia…”

“Yes, it’s the Simulated Gaia!” Sion said excitedly. “The full name of the technology is [Simulated Gaia - Spiritual Particle Environment Modification System].”

"Ritsuka! Go find that advisor right now! I want to know who he is. Is he a colleague from the Atlas Institute?"

“If you want to see the advisor, I can arrange it,” the Shield Guard interjected. “But before that, you should settle in first.”

"Going to the base up ahead?" Mash asked curiously.

“No, to our new home,” the Shield Guard pointed to a dark shadow that resembled a small hill in the distance.

That was an armed fortress that came from a meeting held at the front.

These behemoths are much larger than warships, and the interior space is quite spacious.