At this time, there naturally was no Camelot in Britain.
Camelot would only be built after Morgan’s ascension, becoming the capital of the Fairy Kingdom.
For this reason, Morgan’s coronation as queen was also held at the Cathedral of the Ash Tree in Salisbury, not in Camelot.
Thanks to that, in the Year 400 of the Fairy Calendar, the land around the Great Pit was nothing more than a barren wasteland with no Camelot beside it, no high-ranking fairies coming and going, and not even Moss or demon beasts appearing here, leaving the area in a rather eerie state of peace.
"Isn’t it really strange when you think about it?"
When the group arrived at the Great Pit, Totorot, unable to bear the silence, suddenly spoke up.
"There were so many Moss and magical beasts before we got to the Great Pit, but after we arrived here, there hasn’t been a single one of them. Why is that?"
Indeed, as they neared the vicinity of the Great Pit, both the Moss and magical beasts alike had seemed to fall into a frenzied state, launching attacks one after another. Riezel had experienced the same thing while traveling through the future Britain.
Yet after reaching the Great Pit, neither the Moss nor magical beasts could be seen anymore, which was truly puzzling.
Aesc, after pondering for a while, explained.
"Solving all the mysteries here, including this one, is the reason we came to the Great Pit, isn’t it?"
Needless to say, this time Aesc had brought everyone to the Great Pit precisely to investigate it.
Over the past half-month, they had traveled across Britain, investigating all sorts of ruins, relics, ancient books, and ancient murals that remained in the world, trying to reconstruct the history of Britain’s earliest days, since that part of history was shrouded in mystery even in later generations.
Few fairies knew about it—or rather, few fairies even cared about such things—and in this era, only a few fragmented descriptions remained, with no real historical records left behind.
Aesc believed that the reason Britain had become what it was must be tied to what happened after the original six A-Rei left the Inner Sea of the Planet and came to the surface.
It was widely accepted in this world that Britain only came into being under their influence after the six A-Rei left the Inner Sea of the Planet and arrived on land.
However, records about that event were extremely scarce—almost no one knew the details.
During their journey, Aesc had raised several questions.
"Why did the A-Reis leave the Inner Sea of the Planet and come to the surface?"
"Why didn’t they return to the Inner Sea of the Planet, but instead build Britain here?"
"What exactly did they do during the construction of Britain that led to the appearance of the Calamity?"
All these were the mysteries Aesc wanted to uncover.
Riezel, on the other hand, felt that this savior actually knew some of the answers deep down.
Because when she raised those questions, her expression was not the anxious look of someone desperate for answers, but rather calm, composed, and sometimes even indifferent.
Nonetheless, what she knew was probably not much—or at least not the whole truth—which was why she wanted to investigate everything thoroughly, to see if there was any way for Britain to attain true peace.
As for Riezel himself, he actually did not care.
He could be said to know better than anyone else what was inside the Great Pit, yet because he understood so well, he did not stop Aesc’s investigation.
After all, the secret here would be discovered sooner or later.
Otherwise, Camelot would never be built in later generations, Morgan would never choose to stay here, and she would not have demolished a wall of the throne hall just to constantly keep watch on the Great Pit, observing every change from her throne.
As a result, along the way, Riezel still followed Aesc and the others in a leisurely manner, and eventually, they arrived at the Great Pit.
Compared to the Great Pit more than two thousand years later, this Great Pit was no different.
It remained a bottomless dark abyss, sitting quietly upon the land.
It was still a seemingly endless void, like a wound torn open in the very earth of Britain.
"Just how deep is this?"
Totorot glanced into the bottomless pit with a rarely seen look of fear on her face and unconsciously stepped back, as if she instinctively disliked or dreaded the very existence of the Great Pit.
"No one knows the answer to that..." Black Knight, who had already stopped walking, said in a deep voice. "I also want to know why this place naturally repels the fairies of Britain. Almost no fairy is willing to come near, whether physically or mentally, including us."
In fact, both Totorot and Black Knight had not been themselves since coming close to the Great Pit.
Now, their faces looked unwell, and their bodies seemed to instinctively want to flee. If they had not been holding on and if Aesc had not completely ignored their state and pressed forward, the two of them might have already stopped.
By contrast, Riezel and Aesc were completely unaffected.
’As expected, the fairies of Britain are not suited to come here.’
Aesc watched Totorot and Black Knight, calmly coming to this conclusion.
Riezel, on the other hand, ignored everyone else and moved to the very edge of the Great Pit. He stood at a spot where taking even one more step forward would make him fall, then looked down.
Even with Riezel’s excellent eyesight, all he could see was darkness. Even using dark vision magic and magic to enhance his sight, he still could not see the bottom.
Still, standing this close and looking down, he noticed a few things.
"Gray..."
Yes.
From the bottom of the Great Pit, a faint gray mist continuously drifted upward, floating out of the pit, mixing into the atmosphere, and spreading across all of Britain. Furthermore, there was also a faint heat lingering in this gray mist, as if something was burning at the bottom of the pit.
"...Is it your anger?"
Riezel murmured softly to himself.
"What’s wrong?"
Aesc’s voice suddenly came from nearby, making Riezel realize that, at some point, she had already come to stand beside him.
"It’s nothing." Riezel’s expression returned to normal as he replied. "Where are Totorot and Black Knight?"
"They’re behind us. Even if they came over, it’d be hard for them to help." Aesc answered truthfully. "You and I are the only ones who can get close without being affected. Luckily, you’re here. Otherwise, even if I wanted to investigate by myself, I probably wouldn’t have been able to manage it."
"So?" Riezel raised his eyebrows calmly. "Are you asking me to go down with you?"
"Do you want to go down?"
Aesc did not answer Riezel’s question but countered instead, as if leaving the choice to him.
At Aesc’s question, Riezel stroked his chin before responding.
"Personally, I do want to go down, but if I do, it might end up turning into a battle that drags all of Britain into it."
In short, Riezel was afraid he would lose control of himself.
After all, no one understood how dangerous the thing down there was better than he did.
And once something happened—if it really came to a fight—he felt he might end up throwing everything aside and battling it to the end.
If things really reached that point, it would be a huge problem.
At the very least, if that thing below woke up because of him, Britain would definitely face its end.
"...Do you know what’s down there?" Aesc was silent for a while, then finally asked this question.
"More or less..." Riezel replied vaguely. "I really don’t suggest you go down."
"But if you don’t go, and I don’t go, then wasn’t this trip for nothing?" Aesc shook her head, rejecting his suggestion. "One of us has to go down... or we go down together."
Riezel immediately looked at Aesc.
Aesc also looked back at Riezel.
Just like that, the two of them stared at each other for a moment, then both smiled.
"In that case, let’s go down together."
Riezel made the decision without hesitation.
"But the problem is, how do we get down?" Aesc said sensibly. "Just by looking, this pit is at least several thousand meters deep. Getting down there isn’t going to be easy. I’ve already tried with Opposing Mirrors—there’s no way down. It seems like there’s some mysterious power that disrupts teleport-type magecrafts."
Upon hearing this, Riezel tried to sense it for himself and found that he truly could not use teleportation magic to enter the Great Pit.
In that case...
"Let’s just fly down." Riezel reached out a hand toward Aesc. "Give me your hand."
Aesc stared at Riezel’s outstretched hand, unable to help recalling the scene from half a month ago when this same hand had pulled her up.
"What’s wrong?"
Riezel looked at Aesc, a little puzzled.
"It’s nothing..." Aesc pressed her lips together and replied softly. "It just feels a little strange..."
She did not explain what exactly was strange, but simply reached out and grasped Riezel’s hand.
As soon as their hands touched, a strange impulse surged through both their hearts, turning their light touch into a sudden, firm grip—almost as if their fingers had intertwined by instinct.
"..."
For a moment, both Riezel and Aesc fell silent, feeling their emotions grow complicated.
Especially for Aesc, who could not understand why she would do this without thinking.
’Is it because of this strange sense of closeness again?’
Aesc was filled with conflicting thoughts.
’Damn Stake...’
Riezel cursed in his heart.
In truth, the same thing had happened often over the past half month.
Sometimes, if they let their guard down for just a moment, the distance between Riezel and Aesc would suddenly close, close enough for even Totorot and Black Knight to find it strange.
Riezel and Aesc both knew the reason deep down, but neither would say it out loud.
"Let’s go."
Riezel could only shift the topic.
"Mm..."
Aesc nodded and began to focus.
"Alright, get ready."
Riezel spoke calmly, then chanted without hesitation.
"Mass Fly."
In the next second, magical light blossomed along the outlines of both their bodies.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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