Chapter 51

"?"

Xia Zhi watched the Witch earnestly expound her hobbies and slowly typed out a question mark.

He had thought of many possible reasons, but never imagined it would be this kind of reason... what is this? A Greek Witch from the Age of Gods, actually a hidden shut-in girl? Her interests are figures, merchandise, and Cosplay?

And her terminology is so trendy, she even knows a word like "figure".

Shouldn't a Servant only be granted knowledge matching the era of their Summoning?

"... Master, you should also understand, I myself definitely cannot wear that kind of girlish clothing, wearing it would definitely feel discordant."

Medea continued to speak at length, voicing her thoughts.

"So all along, I've wanted to find a... hmm, find a model, but just never managed to find a suitable one, until I saw Artoria and the others, their temperament matches my design philosophy perfectly..."

She harbored a unique longing, hoping to find a model who perfectly met her aesthetic standards, exuding a rich girlish aura.

Then have this model wear the various garments she had meticulously crafted, appreciate their exquisite beautiful appearance, and the charm produced by the fusion of various clothing styles with personal temperament...

Regrettably, such a model candidate failed to appear for a long time, until she encountered Artoria, she discovered the other party's displayed girlish image and temperament were exactly what she had dreamed of, and in an instant was strongly attracted...

And upon discovering Morgan, whose appearance and figure were exactly identical, she was even more overjoyed, this is simply double the happiness.

"... That's how it is, Master."

Medea finally poured out the secret hidden deep within her, feeling as if she had unloaded a heavy burden, her eyes flashing with expectant light, she faced the youth opposite and asked with a slightly relaxed tone: "Master, you will support me, right?"

"..."

"..."

"Wait... you still need me to support you?"

Xia Zhi looked at her with an expression of both exasperation and amusement, although the truth brought a strong contrast, leaving him momentarily unable to find the right expression to respond, Caster directly seeking his support was even more absurd...

Huh, wait, it seems it's not impossible to consider either?

As expected, just when he keenly thought a layer deeper, Medea naturally began to explain: "Of course I need your support, and think about it, if Miss Morgan could also change outfits every day——"

Saying this, she paused slightly.

She counted on her fingers, listing them one by one: "Maid Outfit, fluffy long dress, Gothic Lolita..."

"..."

"..."

Xia Zhi's gaze wavered a bit.

————

————

Not long after.

Vivian and Artoria returned to the Temporary Camp, they did not fight, however their sisterly relationship also showed no significant signs of easing.

Neither side had a good expression, on the walk back they also seemed to deliberately avoid communication. After returning to the Camp, they directly split left and right toward different directions, revealing a posture unwilling to face each other.

It seemed the chat had no meaning, the two sisters merely stopped at the staged achievement of not fighting on the spot.

However, relying on rich experience in reading expressions, Xia Zhi still believed they might have privately reached some Protocol...

From Artoria's tangled complex expression one could glimpse a thing or two, this Knight King was painfully struggling between her own principles and reality's temptation. She probably instinctively resisted colluding with Morgan, yet couldn't resist the other party offering too much...

Conditions that could make Artoria, while deeply disgusted by Morgan, still hesitate, conflicted over whether to endure humiliation and accept.

——Most likely inevitably related to Britain's problems.

Xia Zhi made this speculation, then decisively called everyone aboard, there was still a little time until dawn, just right to take advantage of now to rush to that Lake. As for rest, they could rest on the ship too, the Place was completely sufficient...

Actually frankly speaking, this flying vessel Vimana is not particularly large in scale.

After all it only has one seat, one can see it was designed solely as a monarch's personal mount.

However if not fixated on this, the entire Spaceship can be regarded as activity space. Once the Shield is activated, wind pressure and airflow cannot be felt at all, as long as one overcomes Acrophobia, an Ordinary Person can stand directly on the wings.

Perhaps can modify it a bit more...

Or perhaps produce a few more Mass Production Models...

Xia Zhi quickly pondered, unsure if the Formation Construction Skill could be used on a Noble Phantasm. And if wanting to produce a few more ships, then he would need to Summon a few more Rider-class employees.

The Vimana slowly rose, then adjusted Direction, toward the position Vivian indicated, flying swiftly toward the Horizon.

After setting the auto-flight mode, Xia Zhi also left the only pilot seat, walking toward Vimana's left wing.

Subtly, the two sisters with slightly tense relations deliberately kept distance, one sitting on the left wing, one occupying the right wing... the youth looked at the Golden Hair girl sitting at the wing edge, couldn't help twitching the Corner of Mouth.

Also thanks to the Shield's protection, otherwise would probably be blown off by the gale.

Vimana's sailing speed is extremely fast——

Cloud Layers in the Night Sky continuously streaked past outside the flying vessel——

He organized his words, directly used Mana to distort sound propagation around him, and spoke slowly: "Actually I can dissolve the Contract..."

"Unnecessary." Hugging her knees, looking at the Front, the girl spoke directly, seeming to know what he would say, interrupting his words.

She slightly turned her head, cast her Gaze toward the youth walking to her Side, words decisive: "I will use my own method to Solve it, just let that Stupidity woman stay... Moreover she also relates to the back road you need to Prepare, right, isn't it?"

"Huh? How do you know?"

Xia Zhi was slightly surprised, but after reacting, also straightforwardly sat down beside the girl.

His intuition told him, Vivian was preparing to actively reveal Some Things.

——Reality was indeed so.

"Because this is what you told me, at some time in the 'Future'..."

Vivian gazed at the Horizon, tone soft as if dreaming, then fell silent for a good while, she seemed to have made up her mind: "Do you know? Xia Zhi, actually our current World Line has been changed once."

"World Line changed once?"

The youth couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

It sounds a bit Incredible, but in this World, it seems to appear very normal instead.

"Yeah, I should have died there in Onyx that night, together with everyone from the Rain Country..." Vivian pursed her lips and said slowly, "But this time, I escaped."

Because of my arrival?

No, there should be other reasons as well.

While thinking, Xia Zhi wisely kept silent, very proficiently playing the role of the listener's object.

And Vivian also began to recount bit by bit; once she opened her mouth, recounting became very simple. She had a great many things she wanted to say, not only about the reasons for the World Line change, but also about those things in the future.

She longed to share these thoughts with him, pouring out the words in her heart.

………………

After a long while——

The Vimana hovered above the destination, and only then did the girl's narration near its end.

"Tsk tsk, so that means this is actually the third run?" After listening, Xia Zhi couldn't help but exclaim, "This Fairy Kingdom really is a high-difficulty map, huh? You have to keep doing Save/Load to clear it?"

"Right, you think so too..."

Vivian lowered her head, hugging her knees, her voice carrying a trace of dejection and caution: "The future will be very, very difficult... will you—will you still help me?" She mustered great courage to ask this.

"If I don't help you, who else would I help? We're a community of shared fate bound together..."

Xia Zhi waved his hand, his face showing not a shred of hesitation; on the contrary, he looked eager to try. He rubbed his palms: "Moreover, isn't this quite challenging? The Flame Calamity, the Dragon Calamity, and the Island Curse, right?"

"Not just those. The world we're in shouldn't exist to begin with; it's a Lostbelt that deviates from Proper History. The enemies we might face also include the Human Order Guardians from Pan-Human History, and the Behind-the-scenes Black Hand who drove the Lostbelt's appearance..."

Hearing his unhesitating answer, Vivian instantly felt relieved, but on this serious issue she did not become blindly optimistic; instead, she rigorously supplemented.

The Britain Lostbelt—the enemies to be faced in the future are far from only the internal Calamities.

There are also those external enemies: the power that attempts to correct Human Order, and that mysterious Alien God.

"Quite a lot of Bosses to fight..."

The youth frowned slightly, rapidly calculating in his mind: "Let's set aside the Behind-the-scenes Black Hand for now—too little Intelligence. But if we're talking Human Order Guardians, we can estimate a bit... are those Guardians strong?"

"Speaking purely in terms of strength, perhaps they're not outstanding, but they excel at borrowing strength to strike strength. They can always precisely perceive the internal contradictions of each Lostbelt, grasp the situation, and always manage to gain the support of Heroic Spirits summoned by the Counter Force, as well as key figures within the Lostbelt..."

Recalling the Intelligence "the Future" possessed, Vivian shook her head and smiled self-mockingly——

"For example, if I don't intend to fulfill my mission, the Star's Inner Sea might dispatch a new Paradise Fairy in the future. At that time, they'd probably also choose to support the other side."

"..."

"..."

"Sounds just like a player's Positioning? Always able to grasp the Main Quest, and always able to get help from all sorts of key NPCs?"

Xia Zhi contemplated the entire Fairy Kingdom's situation, and a slightly immature idea formed—perhaps it could dismantle the enemy's Advantage.

"Let's first assume they'll use the next Paradise Fairy to Strategy Guide this world. Starting from that point, we might attempt to erase some key Intelligence in advance, ensuring they cannot obtain any valuable Clues—for instance, tampering with the Legend about the Pilgrimage Journey..."

After all, the future Paradise Fairy will likewise face the fate of ringing the bell, right?

If history was distorted beyond recognition long ago, it would undoubtedly interfere with their judgment.

At the very least, this muddying-the-waters approach is enough to make the side guarding Human Order unable to accurately judge what this world's true "Main Quest" actually is—whether it's going on the Pilgrimage to ring the bell, or some other mission.

"And regarding the Counter Force summoning Heroic Spirits—since we can't stop it, we might as well kill with a borrowed knife. As long as the Heroic Spirit Summoning itself becomes a hidden danger phenomenon, they naturally won't be able to truly trust and rely on the power of summoning Heroic Spirits, right?"

Xia Zhi grinned slyly and proposed a vicious scheme to Vivian.

"Not long ago in the Winterwood Copy, I obtained a strange Malice Concept, sufficient to easily distort a Servant's Spirit Core, causing them to fall into a Darkening state..."

"The Fairy Kingdom is only this big; the quantity of Dragon Veins is limited. We can totally set things up in advance, ensuring that when a Servant is summoned to this world, they will most likely face the crisis of Darkening at the First Time..."

That's right, let's just do it——

Smear and distort history, making the enemy walk on the wrong Pilgrimage Road from the start, tricking them into Kindling...

And as long as history is confused and smeared, later generations of Fairies won't know the truth either; they'll likewise go all out to stop the enemy from Kindling, even if it's fundamentally a scam—the pressure and Trials will be just as enormous...

And directly targeting the distortion of the Servant Summoning Mechanism is even more directly dismantling the Human Order Guardians' greatest reliance, making it hard for them to borrow the power of Servants. After all, who knows if what's summoned isn't a Dark Spirit invasion...

(Chapter End)