-4- [ CHALDEAS ]

Chaldea gathers mysteries from all over the world, as well as technologies from various places, giving the entire facility a futuristic and mechanical vibe. Even walking in the corridors feels like strolling through passages in a high-tech base.

Within such a facility, there are mechanisms for passage and permissions in place. Depending on their status and authority, individuals are allowed access to different areas.

Though their positions in Chaldea are not high, Rozen and Mash are considered 'magicians employed by Chaldea,' comparable to entry-level staff in a large enterprise. As a result, their permitted areas within Chaldea are limited.

Even so, after passing through several automatically identifying doors and elevators, Rozen and Mash successfully arrived at the Central Control Room.

This place is Chaldea's core, the command center, and a vital facility for the organization. It serves as the starting point for the 'simulated battles' mentioned by Mash, before they officially begin.

For Rozen and Mash, this area is accessible. Once they approach the main gate within half a meter, the doors automatically recognize their identities and open for them.

"Fou!"

Just as Rozen and Mash were about to enter the Central Control Room, Fou, perched on Mash's shoulder, suddenly leaped down and scurried away in another direction, disappearing at the end of the corridor with adorable pitter-patter steps.

Observing this, Rozen and Mash paused once more but were not surprised.

"Has Fou run off again?"

Rozen murmured to himself.

To which, Mash responded, saying, "Fou is still the same, never appearing in front of others."

As Mash mentioned, Fou never showed up in front of outsiders. Almost everyone in Chaldea knows of the existence of this extraordinary creature, but very few have had the chance to see Fou. Even the current director is only aware of its existence; whether they've seen Fou remains unknown.

Due to this, Fou has mostly kept itself away from the eyes of others, freely playing and running around various corners of Chaldea.

Despite being such a mysterious creature, for some reason, Fou has taken a particular liking to Rozen and Mash, appearing in front of them almost every day.

Sometimes, it would sneakily appear when Rozen was playing games, napping in a corner of the room.

Other times, when Mash came to find Rozen, it would suddenly jump in her face, then hop onto her shoulder, accompanying her.

Initially, Rozen was quite curious about Fou and attempted to form a 'contract' with it several times, but those efforts ultimately failed.

Over time, realizing that Fou wasn't interested in 'contracting' with them, Rozen gave up on the idea. Just like raising a pet, they would play with it when in the mood and ignore it when they weren't. Together with Mash, the staff at Chaldea treated them as Fou's caretakers.

"Let's go inside, senpai."

"Alright."

Under Mash's greeting, Rozen responded absentmindedly and then proceeded forward. With the automatic door opening, he entered the Central Control Room.

In the next second, a futuristic space, resembling a tactical meeting room with an overall deep blue hue, presented itself before Rozen's eyes.

Rozen was immediately drawn to the central object in the Control Room.

It was a massive floating blue globe, radiating a shimmering light.

"The Earth Environmental Model - 〈Chaldeas〉..."

This model regarded the "planet" itself as a living being, defining it as a "conscious existence," and replicated its soul to create a small Earth-like model.

The model, in conjunction with the "Near-Future Observation Lens - 〈Sheba〉," allowed the observation of the planet's history. Chaldea's entire existence and actions were based on ensuring human history's preservation.

Through the combination of Chaldeas and Sheba, people could continuously monitor the future of Earth, confirming the planet's status a hundred years ahead.

The flickering light on Chaldeas represented the flames of civilization. As long as it kept shining, it meant that humanity still survived on Earth, human history continued, and the Human Order remained undisturbed without any issues.

Conversely, if the light on Chaldeas were to disappear one day, it would signify the extinction of human civilization, the annihilation of human history, and the impending "Doomsday" within a hundred years.

Chaldea's purpose was precisely to prevent this.

By monitoring the future of the planet and ensuring the continuity of human history, any abnormality in human history was immediately investigated, and the cause of the anomaly eliminated, restoring the Human Order to its proper state, allowing humanity to continue its existence.

This was the significance of Chaldea's existence.

Of course, the event leading to the extinction of the Human Order and the disappearance of human history might not occur in the present era.

To genuinely safeguard the Human Order, a device was developed.

The Spiritron Calculation Device - 〈Trismegistus〉.

It had the ability to convert human souls into spiritrons and send them to the eras observable by Sheba, enabling the mission of preserving the Human Order.

This technology was known as "Spiritron Transfer."

Through this technology, the individuals within the facility, known as "Suitability Test Subjects," would be sent to various eras when anomalies occurred in human history, eliminating the cause of the abnormalities and ensuring the preservation of the Human Order.

Rozen is one of the suitability test subjects in Chaldea, meaning he possesses the adaptability for Spiritron Transfer.

Having this adaptability also signifies a certain "qualification."

This "qualification" is...

"Senpai..."

At this moment, Mash, standing beside Rozen, secretly tugged at his sleeve and made an urgent sound, bringing Rozen's gaze back from staring at Chaldeas.

Then, Rozen understood why Mash was so anxious to remind him.

"Too slow!"

As an angry voice reached his ears, Rozen's face clearly displayed his emotions.

It was a feeling of annoyance.

Like encountering someone he really wanted to avoid, Rozen slowly turned his head to look at the source of the voice.

Immediately after, a person, walking with forceful steps as if venting their anger on the floor, entered Rozen's field of vision and approached him.