"Thank you for being willing to tell me such a secret in such detail."
After learning from Riezel the reason why he had come to this era, Aesc bowed her head and thanked him sincerely.
"Nah, this doesn’t really count as a secret." Riezel shook his head. "Rather, if I told anyone else about this, they’d just think I was joking. Only you would actually believe me."
"...It’s because I know that this kind of magecraft exists, and I did sense the appearance of a magecraft from the same system as Opposing Mirrors here not long ago, so regarding your origins, I actually had a guess from the very beginning."
Aesc let out a wry smile as she explained.
"Of course, logically, I understand all of this is real, but emotionally, I still find it hard to accept."
"Especially since you just said it, right?"
"You came from the Queen’s Calendar, an era in the future when a queen named Morgan rules all of Britain. Is that right?"
As she said this, a strange light flickered across Aesc’s usually calm eyes.
Riezel, as if he had not noticed the change, nodded calmly.
"I did say so." Riezel looked directly into her eyes. "Is there anything wrong with that?"
"...No."
Aesc gave another wry smile, but then the smile on her face became calm.
"I was just thinking... Since that queen has already unified Britain, why would she send a Calamity back into the past?"
"Doesn’t she realize that interfering with the past like this could affect the future?"
It went without saying that if the Calamity of Norwich were to run wild in this era—the Year 400 of the Fairy Calendar—causing major damage and casualties in Britain, then Britain’s future would inevitably change.
What’s more, the Britain of the past could even be destroyed by the once-in-a-millennium Great Calamity, causing the future Britain to disappear completely.
Such actions were not praiseworthy for anyone living in either the past or the future.
Unless...
"Well, it’s probably because that which is absolutely certain—that even if the Calamity is sent back and the past changes because of it, the future will still remain the same."
Riezel kept his gaze fixed on Aesc, speaking in a calm tone.
"Don’t you think so?"
Upon hearing this question, Aesc did not answer immediately.
"Witch, huh...?"
Aesc murmured absentmindedly, only regaining her composure after a moment.
"Since the Queen’s Calendar was established after Queen Morgan’s ascension, that means she already existed in Britain before the Queen’s Calendar began."
"In other words, Morgan is well aware of everything about the Fairy Calendar and knows everything that happens within it."
"If that’s the case, she must know some secret, or have some knowledge that lets her dare to send the Calamity back to the past without worrying it will affect the future."
As she spoke, Aesc seemed to want to clear her mind of unnecessary worries, shaking her head before looking at Riezel.
"In any case, no matter what, I’m truly grateful to you for being able to get rid of this Calamity. No matter what Queen Morgan thinks of the future, at least for the fairies living in this age, the terrifying Calamity absolutely must be eliminated."
"Britain is finally about to welcome peace in this era. If a Great Calamity—the kind that only appears once every thousand years—were to happen now, all the peace we’ve built up with so much effort might be destroyed."
"Even if it’s just for this reason, I have to thank you."
Aesc’s words did not prompt any special reaction from Riezel.
"Welcome peace... is it?"
Riezel murmured to himself.
"Yes."
Aesc nodded, smiling faintly.
"Britain—this island has existed in the world for over ten thousand years, but during all those years, wars between the great clans have never stopped."
"Now, those wars are finally coming to an end, and a new king is about to be born."
"At such a time, if a disaster like the Great Calamity that could engulf all of Britain were to appear, regardless of whether we can defeat it or not, the fairies who have already surrendered might seize the opportunity to stir up trouble in secret and create new chaos."
Riezel deeply understood Aesc’s concerns.
He knew that in the Year 400 of the Fairy Calendar, there was indeed a critically important war in Britain—a full-scale uprising of the steadily growing humans against the fairies who had long ruled and oppressed them.
They were known as the ’Round Table Army,’ carrying the banner of coexistence between humans and fairies, and they waged war alongside fairies from various clans who were determined to resist the system of the Fairy Kingdom.
In the end, they succeeded in subduing the fairy clans and won a total victory.
It sounded unbelievable.
How could a human armed group possibly defeat the fairy clans in war?
It was almost hard to believe.
After all, humans were naturally weak.
Even if humans of the Lostbelt Britain were much stronger than ordinary humans from Proper Human History due to their environment, they were still like ants compared to fairies, who were born with Mystery.
Yet in the war of the Year 400 of the Fairy Calendar, the humans ultimately emerged victorious.
In fact, there were many reasons, but the most important was that the leader of the Round Table Army was the disciple of Aesc the Savior.
Yes, in this war, Aesc stood on the side of humans.
As a result, the humans had won, and Aesc’s disciple was about to hold a coronation ceremony at the headquarters of the Round Table Army—Londinium—and become the new King of Britain.
In Faerie Britain, this war was called the Autumn War, and it was one of the four great wars that deeply influenced Britain.
Now, the Autumn War had finally ended, and the fairy clans had all surrendered.
If a disaster like the Great Calamity, capable of sweeping across all of Britain, were to happen now, the Round Table Army would inevitably be pushed to the front lines, while the defeated fairies would stir up trouble from behind the scenes.
Needless to say, that was something bound to happen.
Given the fairies’ revolting behavior, Riezel did not doubt this at all.
And Aesc clearly understood the nature of fairies as well, so it was only natural for her to feel concerned.
Riezel had noticed that this savior actually did not trust fairies at all, completely different from Artoria, who always went with the flow even when she could see through the malice of fairies.
In such a situation, Riezel spoke with a hidden meaning.
"You know what, personally, I feel that even without the Great Calamity, the fairies would never settle down." Riezel remarked calmly. "After all, it was humans who unified Britain. How could those fairies, who care nothing for morals or principles and have no bottom line, possibly be willing to submit to a mere human?"
Aesc immediately fell silent.
However, it was clear she had already considered this possibility.
"Yes, the fairies of Britain are reckless, but at the same time, they’re pretty simple-minded." Aesc replied, her tone remained relaxed. "In other words, since they’ve already been defeated, at the very least, they won’t dare to try anything for a while."
Because most fairies had no principles or bottom line, when they saw no hope of victory, they would always unconditionally submit.
Take Morgan, for example.
One should know that so many fairies were dissatisfied with her, yet it wasn’t until more than two thousand years after she came to power that anyone truly dared to rebel.
Let alone rebel—there were even fairy warriors like Woodwose who remained fiercely loyal to her.
For that reason, Aesc believed that, given the current circumstances, as long as nothing changed, the chances of the fairies rebelling were quite low.
Knowing this, Riezel only wanted to say—
"Naive..."
Such an unreserved and indifferent judgment left Aesc speechless once again.
Clearly, she could also see from Riezel’s attitude that this powerful warrior from the future deeply distrusted the fairies.
She couldn’t help but wonder—had something happened with the fairies in the future?
Or, in the history this man knew, did the fairies eventually rebel?
At this thought, a hint of gloom flickered in Aesc’s eyes.
Just like that, a heavy silence spread between the two of them, making the atmosphere unbearably stifling.
Soon, Aesc suddenly spoke up again.
"You’re a fairy, aren’t you?"
Aesc asked out of nowhere.
"Why do you ask that?"
Riezel was slightly taken aback, then asked in a flat tone.
"It’s nothing." Aesc looked deeply at him. "I just don’t know why, but you give off a very strange feeling. Whether it’s your aura or your presence, you’re nothing like any fairy I know. In fact, you’re more similar to Uther."
Uther was Aesc’s disciple, the leader of the Round Table Army, and the human knight who would soon be crowned the King of Britain in Londinium.
Aesc saying that Riezel was similar to Uther was the same as saying that Riezel didn’t seem like a fairy, but rather like a human.
Of course, this was just Aesc’s intuition.
In truth, Aesc had sensed from Riezel’s body a power remarkably similar to her own.
It was not the power of a fairy from Faerie Britain, but rather the unique essence of a Fairy of Paradise, so when she first met him, she actually had her suspicions—suspicions that he, like herself, came from Paradise.
However, as time passed, for some reason, Aesc began to feel that the power within Riezel grew more and more similar to her own.
Even more than that, Aesc felt a sense of closeness, an attraction, and an urge to stay by Riezel’s side forever, never to be separated, which left her very surprised, very shocked.
Compared to the matter of Riezel coming from the future, what Aesc cared about even more was this feeling—why did he make her feel this way?
Because of this, Aesc came up with a thought.
"You... You’re actually human, aren’t you? You only possess a fairy’s aura and power because you received the divine protection of some great fairy, isn’t that right?"
Aesc’s eyes flickered as she looked into Riezel’s and revealed her guess.
Even though it was only a guess, Aesc was already nearly ninety percent certain. Not only that, she even knew who the fairy that had given Riezel this divine protection was.
Riezel calmly met Aesc’s gaze, then slowly nodded.
"Yes, I am human."
"I do indeed bear the divine protection of a certain fairy."
"In fact, because of that fairy, I’ve ended up bound by some rather baffling oaths."
Riezel stated all of this in an utterly flat voice, without any inflection.
"That fairy... is Morgan."