After introducing themselves, the night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, under Aesc’s lead, everyone packed up the campsite in the forest, extinguished the campfire, and walked out of the woods.
Riezel followed behind Aesc and the others, keeping his distance from everyone, moving slowly like an outsider.
Totorot and Black Knight did not approach Riezel either, likely because they did not see him as a true companion, but merely as a fellow traveler for the time being.
Even among themselves, the group did not engage in any lively conversation as they walked.
Aside from Totorot, who was rather noisy, both Aesc and Black Knight did not seem like the type who enjoyed idle chatter, since they would only occasionally respond with a word or two when Totorot spoke, remaining silent the rest of the time.
What was surprising was that they were not traveling by carriage, but on foot.
"Sometimes there are a lot of Moss in the forest. If we ride in a carriage, we might miss them. Traveling on foot like this means we can eliminate them as soon as we see them so that fairies won’t be attacked in the forest, especially now that Britain is about to enter a time of peace."
Aesc gave this reason for choosing to travel on foot.
"Aesc will just use Opposing Mirrors to run all over the place anyway. When we need to hurry, she can just take us all with her."
Totorot chimed in, giving her own reason.
"It doesn’t matter. If we ever need a carriage, I’ll just make one myself."
Black Knight, who was already skilled enough as a blacksmith to make tools, also gave his own reason.
Just like that, the group walked out of the forest at a leisurely pace.
As soon as they stepped outside, Riezel stopped walking and looked up, gazing toward the north.
Over there, on the horizon, something with an overwhelming presence caught his attention.
"Are you looking at the World Tree?"
Aesc noticed Riezel’s act and asked him.
What Aesc meant by the so-called World Tree was a massive tree located on the northern horizon of Britain, so large that it reached into the clouds, as if it supported the entire sky.
"World Tree, huh?" Riezel curled his lips, neither confirming nor denying the name. "If you really think about it, it certainly could be called the tree that allows this world to exist."
He gave this ambiguous answer, causing everyone to stop in their tracks.
"Why do you say that?"
Totorot could not hold back and was the first to ask.
Aesc mused for a moment, then spoke up.
"As far as I know, the World Tree existed even before Faerie Britain appeared. However long the history of Faerie Britain is, that’s how long the World Tree has existed, so the fairies call it the World Tree."
"For Britain, the World Tree is something that should naturally exist—essentially the symbol of Britain, a landmark that has always been there."
"Some fairies say the world only exists because of that tree, but there don’t seem to be many fairies willing to actually investigate it. At least for now, that seems to be the case."
Aesc then looked at Riezel.
"On your side, have any fairies investigated the World Tree?"
If so, Aesc felt she could have a good conversation with Riezel about it.
Although she had gotten some information about the World Tree from her own ’memories,’ she did not feel she understood it very well.
Maybe, just maybe, in the future, there would be enough information about the World Tree.
As Aesc thought this, she heard Riezel speak up in the next moment.
"I can only say that the tree isn’t called the World Tree. Its real name is the Fantasy Tree."
Riezel’s abrupt remark startled everyone.
"Fantasy Tree?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
If someone from Chaldea had been here, if they had seen the tree and heard Riezel’s words, they would not have reacted so mildly. While others might not have known about the Fantasy Tree, Chaldea knew it all too well.
It was the core of a Lostbelt, a source capable of initializing a planet and creating new myths.
When planted on a planet’s surface, it would absorb magical energy from the planet’s ley lines and invade the present world, causing a Lostbelt different from Proper Human History to emerge.
Without Fantasy Trees, the reality of Proper Human History would not be invaded, and Lostbelts would not easily appear.
For that reason, the Fantasy Tree was the keystone for creating these anomalous histories—the root at the center of each Lostbelt, the foundation of the world.
It was because Alien God and the Crypters had planted the Fantasy Tree on the surface of the Earth in Proper Human History that the blank paper phenomenon had appeared, causing a crisis that threatened the very foundation of humanity.
Because of that, Chaldea had always fought on the front lines against the Crypters and Alien God, breaking into Lostbelts one after another, cutting down the Fantasy Trees rooted in the planet’s surface along with their corresponding Lostbelts, trying to save the Earth and Proper Human History.
In other words, a Fantasy Tree was the cornerstone of a Lostbelt’s existence, while to Chaldea, it was the greatest enemy, the root that had to be eliminated.
So far, Chaldea had traversed five Lostbelts and cut down five Fantasy Trees.
As for the British Lostbelt, it had also come into existence because of a Fantasy Tree, which was why Beryl Gut, a Crypter, had come to Britain.
However, four hundred years later, at the official start of the Queen’s Calendar, the Fantasy Tree known to the Crypters and the World Tree known to the fairies vanished without warning.
In other words, there would be no Fantasy Tree in the future, and no World Tree in the future Faerie Britain, which made this Lostbelt change, turning it into a world different from Proper Human History.
For this reason, Morgan sought to cross the barrier of the Britain Lostbelt and invade Proper Human History, aiming to make the entire planet a world where only Britain existed.
Because this was the first time Riezel had ever seen the legendary Fantasy Tree, he couldn’t help but gaze at it a bit longer, even activating the Transparent World to see through the massive tree.
As soon as he looked, Riezel couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.
’What terrifying magical energy...’
With the Transparent World, Riezel saw inside the Fantasy Tree.
Inside, it was almost entirely magical energy, so immense it was the most overwhelming Riezel had ever seen in his life.
Even if Koyanskaya revealed her true nature and returned to her Beast of Cherishment form, or if the incarnation of the Great Calamity that could crush Norwich and ravage all of Britain appeared, they would not even be one ten-thousandth as powerful as the magical energy hidden within the Fantasy Tree.
If all that magical energy were released and used as fuel for an explosion, it might cause a phenomenon on par with heaven and earth turning upside down.
’Indeed, without this kind of power, it would be impossible for a Lostbelt to take shape.’
Riezel fell silent in thought.
"What are you thinking about?"
Aesc’s voice reached Riezel a moment later, snapping him back from his thoughts.
"It’s nothing." Riezel quickly shook his head. "Alright, let’s keep moving."
Aesc stared at Riezel for a moment, then nodded.
Totorot and Black Knight sensed that Riezel was hiding something, but since Aesc did not press further, they chose not to ask either.
After all, there was still plenty of time ahead—they could always figure it out later.
===
In the end, the journey of Riezel and the savior’s group began in a quiet and uneventful manner.
They traveled on foot through Britain, which no longer suffered from strife or wars started by the clans.
At first, they headed west, then turned north.
Only then did Riezel realize that the shoreline and forest where he had first descended were actually Norwich.
In this era, the four-hundredth year of the Fairy Calendar, the port city of Norwich had not yet been built, and Camelot, known as the fortress of evil, did not exist on this land either.
At this time, the most famous city was Salisbury.
Why?
It was because Salisbury was home to a cathedral said to be the very first giant structure in all of Britain. To commemorate the savior’s achievements, the Cathedral of the Ash Tree had already been constructed by this time.
However, it was Totorot, with her loose tongue, who accidentally let something slip.
"Aesc’s ’spear’ was sealed there."
What she meant by the ’spear’ was, of course, the ’Spear of Selection’ carried by Aesc as a Fairy of Paradise.
It should be known that whenever a Fairy of Paradise left the Inner Sea of the Planet, she would bring with her a ritual item that served as both her weapon and her symbol.
Aesc’s was the Spear of Selection.
Artoria’s was the Staff of Selection.
However, Aesc’s Spear of Selection had already been sealed away, and it was sealed inside the Cathedral of the Ash Tree in Salisbury, which was what Totorot had said.
"It’s all those fairies’ fault! They’re just way too selfish! Even though it was Aesc who got rid of the Calamity that threatened Britain, they actually dared to do something like that!"
"Aesc was super mad back then! She was so angry that everyone got scared, y’know?"
"In the end, Aesc’s spear got corrupted! It turned into a bad weapon!"
Totorot’s explanation was just like that—disjointed and all over the place, so anyone else probably wouldn’t have understood a word.
Riezel, however, understood.
’Basically, that bunch of fairies did something stupid again and nearly made Lady Savior go dark, right?’
Fortunately, the savior didn’t end up going dark because it was the spear in her hand that became dark instead, turning into a weapon with massive negative side effects.
Riezel also knew that, in the future, the spear sealed inside the Cathedral of the Ash Tree would no longer be there, because someone would take it away, make it their own weapon, and in doing so, meet a rather tragic fate.
In the end, after that conversation, the group continued traveling across Britain, fighting the Moss along the way, and sometimes, they also followed Aesc to investigate ancient ruins, delving into the history of Britain’s birth.
After half a month of this leisurely journey, Aesc finally led the group to that place—the Great Pit.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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