Time passed swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, Riezel had already spent about a month in the Year 400 of the Fairy Calendar.
During this month, Riezel continued as before, traveling across Britain with Aesc as if nothing had happened at the Great Pit that day, roaming freely across the land.
Many things, naturally, occurred during this period.
At times, Riezel would explore dangerous ruins and ancient sites with Aesc, searching for all kinds of old records.
At other times, Riezel would join Totorot and Black Knight to hunt the Moss and eliminate the curses threatening Britain.
Sometimes, they were ambushed by fairies who opposed Uther becoming king.
Other times, they took the initiative to wipe out vicious magical beasts to collect various materials or treasures.
All these were things Riezel and Aesc had done together in this one month, yet it felt as though nothing had truly changed.
Perhaps the only difference was that Aesc now seemed far less guarded than before, speaking much more than she once did. When Totorot and Black Knight were around, things remained as usual, but in their absence, she would often seek Riezel out on her own to chat with him.
Sometimes, Aesc would even find Riezel late at night for a long talk until dawn, though the topics were never anything important, just trivial matters.
She never asked Riezel about what would happen in the future, but she would ask about his past adventures and stories.
She never asked about the secrets of Riezel, but she would ask about his likes, his daily life, and what sort of people were on his side.
In addition, though rarely, Aesc had mentioned a few times what her life had been like back in Orkney.
Whenever she talked about those things, Aesc would always show a genuine smile rarely seen on her face, which Riezel would watch for a long time, yet say nothing.
It was also worth mentioning that Aesc had discussed magecraft with Riezel and showed quite a bit of interest in the magic system he used.
To delve deeper into magecraft, Aesc had even suggested sparring with Riezel, and the two had trained together several times.
It had to be said that Aesc was truly powerful.
As a savior who had traveled across Britain for 3600 years, her strength could rival that of any Fairy Knight Riezel knew—not like Baobhan Sith, the disgrace of the Fairy Knights, but on par with figures such as Gawain and Lancelot.
Because of this, Riezel had more than once lost himself in their matches, and both of them ended up with more than a few bruises and scrapes.
Living like this, on the surface, it seemed as though nothing had changed between the two of them, but in truth, the distance between their hearts was always shifting.
They grew closer and closer.
Their guard around each other grew lower and lower.
In this way, Riezel spent more than a month in the Year 400 of the Fairy Calendar.
On this day, the time for him to leave had finally arrived.
"I’m leaving."
While Totorot and Black Knight were out scouting, Riezel suddenly spoke these words as he and Aesc walked together.
Upon hearing Riezel’s words, Aesc was not surprised at all.
"I knew it. You weren’t in any rush to find a way back, so you must have already figured something out." Aesc stopped and smiled slightly at Riezel. "Have you finished what you needed to do?"
She was asking about the matter Riezel had said he needed to take care of in this era.
Riezel had already mentioned that he had something to do in this time period, which was why he had not been in a hurry to leave.
Now, since Riezel brought up leaving, it meant that the matter was settled.
However, Riezel did not explain and simply looked at the fairy girl before him, softly smiling, though he felt especially conflicted inside.
Thinking of all that had happened over this month, Riezel realized that he and this fairy girl had unknowingly formed a subtle relationship.
To say they were close was not quite right, as nothing truly intimate had happened between them, yet to say they were distant was also wrong, for they could talk together all night.
Sometimes, when chatting with Aesc, Riezel even felt as if he were speaking with Yuri—it was unexpectedly comfortable and natural.
In such a situation, the answer he had come to this era to find seemed already within his grasp.
He wanted to know why Morgan wished to marry him, why she desired to enter such a bond.
And now...
"...We’ll meet again in the future."
After a moment of silence, Riezel said farewell to Aesc.
"Yeah..."
Aesc nodded lightly, showing no sadness or sorrow, as if she had already expected this.
"Finally, let me tell you my true name."
Aesc spoke while glancing at the sky.
"When I was in Orkney, everyone called me Viviane."
"Aesc was the name I took after leaving Orkney, when I decided to live on as a savior."
"My true name is Morgan le Fay."
Aesc—or rather, Morgan—looked at Riezel with a familiar smile.
It was the smile of a witch—somewhat cold, yet filled with longing.
"Don’t forget, all right? My future husband."
Leaving these words behind, Morgan left first.
"We’ll meet again in the future..."
Riezel watched as Morgan walked away and whispered after her figure had vanished.
With that, Riezel slowly walked off in another direction.
And so, the two went their separate ways, not to meet again until thousands of years later.
===
[Warning, the time limit has reached zero—dimensional travel is about to conclude.]
[Initiating inspection...]
[User is detected possessing unique powers from this world—they will return with the user after dissolving the consciousness body.]
[User is detected carrying unique items from this world—if you wish to bring them, it can be accomplished by consuming dimensional energy.]
[A list of unique items has been compiled—please proceed with your selection.]
[1: Morgan’s Ring]
[2: Spirit Origin Exoskeleton - Ortinax]
[3: Conceptual Weapon - Black Barrel]
[4: ...]
Looking at the item list, Riezel was momentarily stunned.
’Spirit Origin Exoskeleton, Ortinax?’
’Conceptual Weapon, Black Barrel?’
’What’s this?’
Riezel did not react immediately.
Only after a moment did he remember.
’Oh, right, these were the things Mash dropped when she fell into the sea and lost her memory.’
At that time, while Mash was in a state of amnesia, she had told Riezel that she seemed to have lost something important and needed to find it.
As a result, Riezel had plunged into the sea, searching for a long time before finally retrieving the things Mash had lost—a set of equipment.
Thinking back on this set of equipment, Riezel could not help but feel a little amazed.
’Setting aside Ortinax, isn’t Black Barrel actually even more valuable than the ring Morgan gave me?’
Needless to say, the value of this armament was on par with World Items like the Caloric Stone—it truly lived up to being Chaldea’s trump card.
At this thought, Riezel found himself lost in contemplation.
He had no intention of taking Ortinax or Black Barrel with him, for a simple reason: they would be useless to him.
These armaments had been specially designed for Mash, and only she could fully unleash their true power. Even if someone else used them, they would either be ineffective or greatly diminished in power.
Especially Black Barrel, which even required Ritsuka’s cooperation to bring out its full might. Mash alone would not be able to fully utilize it either.
Taking these two armaments with him would not only be pointless but would also waste dimensional energy.
As for the rest of the items, aside from Morgan’s Ring, which was necessary to take, the others were merely supplies he had bought in Salisbury at the time, and there was likewise no need to waste dimensional energy assimilating them.
Therefore, the only item Riezel truly needed to assimilate was Morgan’s Ring.
As for Black Barrel and Ortinax...
’These two things should just stay in this world.’
After making this decision, Riezel used Gate and arrived at a stretch of shoreline that had fallen into ruin.
It was the very place where he had been sent to this era by Morgan’s Water Mirror—the place where Norwich would be.
Riezel intended to bury the two armaments here and, once he returned to this world in the future, come back and retrieve them.
"Over Magic - Preservation."
After taking out the two armaments, Riezel first cast a preservation magic on them, and even elevated it to the highest—10th Tier Magic Preservation—to prevent these two pieces of equipment from decaying after more than two thousand years.
Next, Riezel performed several more magic spells, both to conceal the two armaments and to add protective measures. Otherwise, in the future, they could easily be discovered by the fairies of Britain and be lost.
Once all this was done, Riezel then used earth-attribute magic to sink the two sealed armaments deep underground—several thousand meters below the surface.
’Now, nothing can go wrong.’
Dusting off his hands, Riezel checked his current dimensional energy.
[Dimensional Energy: 367]
Before entering this Lostbelt, Riezel had a total of 337 units of dimensional energy left.
Afterward, Riezel spent 30 units of dimensional energy to assimilate the Hero Clan’s treasure that Lizbeth had entrusted to him, and then, to initiate dimensional travel and arrive in this Lostbelt, he spent another 30 units of dimensional energy.
In conclusion, before entering this Lostbelt, Riezel had 277 units of dimensional energy left, less than 300 units. But after staying in this world for 90 days, he had accumulated another 90 units of dimensional energy.
As a result, Riezel now possessed 367 units of dimensional energy, just 30 units more than before the dimensional travel.
At this moment, Riezel chose to assimilate Morgan’s Ring and discarded all the other items.
[Dimensional Energy: 352]
After confirming the remaining dimensional energy, Riezel completed the selection.
[Item selection completed—starting execution...]
[Items assimilated successfully.]
[Dimensional travel concluded—initiating the return procedure.]
As the transparent cube in his mind began to spin, Riezel set off on his journey home.
Meanwhile, time within Britain continued its slow passage, inching ever closer to the Year 2017 of the Queen’s Calendar, the era so familiar to Riezel.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]