“
It might be the only way to understand her,” the voice had supplied when he had first begun to seriously consider the matter. Her voice was oddly contemplative, and he relaxed, leaning back into his chair. The library was cast in a dim, golden glow from the setting sun, and the cool, sterile environment was the opposite of the warm, cozy feeling he wished for from a library.
”The clues are absolute nonsense,” he murmured, looking at the pages of his notebook and frowning, “I can weed out some tangential rumors here and there, but there is very little cadence between what remains.”
“
Think like a magus, the ones who traditionally fight these wars. What do you need to know?” the demon replied, and he could tell that she was looking through their shared eyes, seeing something he had missed.
“Formulae and codices, but there is little here that pertains specifically to magicians. The nature of the city, too, works against them.”
“
So think like an alchemist, one who devised a riddle based on the logic systems of science, so that magi are as disadvantaged as everybody else, and cannot recreate the conditions of previous wars.”
Fiore had frowned at this, and the demon laughed as he formed a faint link.
“
Now think like a scheming girl, out to use everybody around her, and why even we are here.”
“The ones who gain the contract of a Servant are the ones who become relevant, but the dissemination of information makes the entire population viable candidates for the system at a baseline. That only the talented or influential may be welcomed here further suggest the cultivation of some golden ideal of individual.”
“
Like a detective, how could we comprehend these riddles and execute them, being so different and limited in understanding?”
“The information does not need to be consistent, then. It can be a number of nonsensical clues, so long as each one can be reverse-engineered even if you don’t possess particularly relevant skills. Something you could process with the assets available as a student, not just a particular kind of specialization.”
“
Like an adult, now, and not in a condescending manner. How can you ensure that all these prodigious candidates, regardless of their circumstances, possess the means to activate the ritual?”
“…the cellular phones they created, which everyone must possess,” he murmured, remembering the incident when an older Dead Apostle who had seemed very uncomfortable with the idea, “…and the assumption that young people can rationalize technology easily, even the magi.”
“
Youthful at heart, the elderly of the list are primarily Dead Apostles. Though there are many adults on this floating city, the contest is primarily between children.” Fiore could swear that the demon was closing her eyes and smiling faintly before she spoke again. “
The elderly want for things as well, boy. They both died in droves in the days gone by of this conflict, and are inhibited by the nature of the riddle.”
Fiore frowned faintly, looking uneasily at the map of small, circled notes he had drawn out during their internal dialogue.
“If this is right, and even we could piece this much together…it is like the block castle of a child, colorful and asymmetrical, and utter nonsense to the adults around them.”
“
Then it fits the situation. Come, we had might as well try it.”
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