"Miss Caren, how is the Director?"
Ritsuka and Mash had come to check on Olga Marie. When they saw Caren stepping out of the room, they hurried over to ask.
Caren simply shook her head. "Not good. She just took a sleeping draught and finally fell asleep."
"I see…" Mash lowered her head, at a loss for words.
"Let her have some quiet for now," Caren said, stopping the two of them. "And let everyone else know not to come disturb her."
In truth, Caren was putting it mildly.
Olga Marie had forced herself to stay upright until the Storm Border fully withdrew from the Lostbelt before finally collapsing. Her mind was so fragile now that she couldn't fall asleep on her own. She had no choice but to rely on a Magecraft sedative just to rest.
Sleep was essential for stabilizing her mental state.
And for once, Caren felt no trace of amusement at someone else's suffering.
On that point, she and Shiomi were in rare agreement.
"Got it. I'll let everyone know," Ritsuka said with a nod.
In fact, aside from Baobhan Sith escorting the Director back to her room, only Caren—as the acting medical staff—had been allowed in to examine her.
Throughout the checkup, Olga Marie had remained in a daze, like a puppet with its strings cut.
Though, strictly speaking, her current body truly was that of a doll.
"Right… and there's something else," Mash added after a moment's thought. "There's going to be a meeting soon. Professor Shiomi said he and Ms. Morgan will give as thorough an explanation as possible about the current situation—especially regarding the 'Alien God.'"
She was clearly asking whether Olga Marie should attend.
Caren considered it briefly, then shook her head. "Not for now. Record the meeting. Archive it along with the minutes. We'll let her review everything once she's in a better state."
"Understood. We'll get things ready."
Ritsuka and Mash hurried off.
Halfway down the corridor, Ritsuka turned back.
"Oh, and I heard the Crypters in the detention room will be attending too."
"They'll probably need the information they have," Caren replied. "Though I imagine Dad will mostly be questioning Kirschtaria Wodime."
She waved them along.
After they left, Caren looked once more at Olga Marie's closed door and quietly sighed before heading toward the conference room.
There was no doubt that her father and mother knew more than anyone else.
Especially Shiomi. Sometimes Caren felt her father had gone too far ahead—so far that she and Sakura could barely keep up.
Thankfully, he never truly abandoned them. No matter how far he walked, he still remembered to slow down and wait for his family.
Where would the world go from here?
Caren didn't have an answer. All she could do was handle what lay within her reach.
With those thoughts about Shiomi lingering in her mind, she arrived at the conference room.
Most of the seats were already filled. The Crypters had been arranged off to one side.
When Shiomi noticed Caren enter, he gave her his usual warm nod and smile. She returned it.
She knew it might not be entirely appropriate—but whenever she saw that familiar smile, she felt an undeniable sense of reassurance.
Maybe she did rely on her father a bit too much.
But since Dad himself had once said he could support her and Sakura for the rest of their lives, Caren saw no reason to hold back.
Not everyone had been summoned to this meeting.
The Storm Border was still stationed on the Bleached Earth. Even with a concealment barrier deployed, someone had to keep watch on the radar.
They had to remain vigilant against the Alien Apostles—or even the "Alien God" appearing in person.
To ensure no one was left uninformed, the meeting was being broadcast throughout the ship via internal communications.
Everyone could hear it.
Everyone except Olga Marie, who was finally asleep.
"…To be honest, most of what I'm about to say is still conjecture."
After giving a broad overview, Shiomi made sure to warn everyone in advance.
"The main pieces of information come from Morgan's investigation of the Fantasy Tree in Britain, along with intelligence we gathered later at Chaldea. What I'm about to explain is the result of combining and analyzing those findings."
His words didn't cause much unrest. If anything, everyone seemed to be waiting for him to get to the point.
"Let's start with the conclusion. First—the 'Alien' in Alien Apostles, and even in the 'Alien God,' does not refer to some other planet in the universe. It refers to Chaldeas."
Shiomi looked around the room.
"Yes. The simulated Earth environment model completed in 1990."
At that, he glanced toward Romani.
Before the meeting, Shiomi had deliberately shared his findings with Romani and discussed them at length.
"And the second conclusion that follows from this is that the bleached planet we're currently standing on is not the original Earth. It is Chaldeas—the so-called 'Alien Planet.'"
The room immediately stirred.
Even the Crypters reacted—everyone except Kirschtaria.
As Marisbury's prized disciple, he had been exposed to more of Chaldea's inner secrets—perhaps even more of the Animusphere family's core secrets—than Olga Marie herself.
Even the Clock Tower outside the Animusphere faction had once considered Kirschtaria a candidate to inherit the Department of Astromancy.
All of that, however, had been thrown into disarray by Marisbury's death. Olga Marie had become the de facto Lord of the Department of Astromancy, inheriting the Animusphere legacy—yet without knowing the full truth.
And that lack of knowledge had ultimately led them here.
"According to the Animusphere theory of Magecraft, a planet is defined as an existence possessing a soul. By replicating that defined soul, they created a miniature Earth. That is what Chaldeas truly is."
Shiomi continued calmly.
"Because Chaldeas exists in a different phase from humanity, its internal state cannot be directly perceived through human senses or knowledge. That's why the 'Near-Future Observation Lens: Sheba' was created—to observe the lights of cities on the surface of the simulated Earth model. Those lights represent civilization. Everything up to this point should already be familiar to everyone who has worked at Chaldea."
He paused briefly, then went on.
"Chaldeas observes the world one hundred years into the future. As long as the lights of civilization remain visible, it proves that human civilization continues. But now, Chaldeas and the real Earth have been swapped."
He looked at the room.
"Do you understand what that means?"
"It means," Romani said, picking up from there, "that the Earth we are standing on right now is the Earth of one hundred years in the future."