Chapter 56

Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression was extremely strange; could this land still harbor corners untouched by the Queen's decrees and tyranny?

The young man opposite, however, wore an even stranger expression; he slowly set down the manuscript in his hand and looked the girl before him up and down.

"This— I indeed haven't really heard of it……"

He shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of something unusual: "What Queen, what King Consort and the like, this is the first time I've heard of such things; if not for your words, I wouldn't know such a thing existed……"

As Xia Zhi spoke, he glanced toward a certain figure beside the bonfire.

The golden-haired girl with her back to him seemed to sense his gaze, silently pulling her blanket tighter.

In contrast, the other few fellows pretending to sleep seemed to have all sneakily opened their blankets a crack; he was absolutely certain that at this moment, they had all quietly pricked up their ears, and even Artoria was no exception.

"How could it be……"

Fujimaru Ritsuka, however, had completely failed to notice; she merely spaced out a little, muttering to herself, feeling there was no reason for this.

Wasn't it said that the entire Fairy Kingdom was under the absolute control of that Lostbelt King? That wasn't some simple decorative description, but a cruel and true portrayal. It was precisely because she and the others overlooked this point that a grave mistake was made.

This whole Britain Fairy Kingdom, in essence, directly constituted the vast and boundless Magecraft Stronghold of Lostbelt King Morgan——

Every inch of soil, every stretch of territory……

This is an extremely shocking truth: this island itself is a gigantic fortress-like existence continuously accumulated and constructed by the mechanisms of magecraft……

This means that the moment Chaldea's group quietly infiltrated this Lostbelt and set foot in this Fairy Kingdom, they were actually already inside a battlefield meticulously constructed by a Magician; it's just that this battlefield was so vast it could rival a nation's territory.

Therefore, Chaldea's group remained completely unaware, still thinking they had merely entered a Lostbelt world in the ordinary sense.

Until the successive crises that followed later made them gradually realize this truth in a sudden awakening.

The so-called "Absolute Monarchy" was by no means an exaggerated rhetorical device; it was a faithful narration of the actual situation. In the face of such absolute ruling power, there was probably not a single place in this Fairy Kingdom that could escape the terrifying shadow of the Lostbelt King.

No, wait……

There seems to be one place that can……

The girl bit her lower lip tightly; a thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and she urgently asked the youth opposite: "What place is this?"

"Wait, you don't even know what place this is?"

Xia Zhi raised his eyebrows slightly; he was quite dedicated and quite professional, and naturally would not miss any opportunity to demonstrate his superb acting skills, and the shaping of details was also an important part influencing the final impression and effect.

In the rigorous hunting stance, Fujimaru Ritsuka, as the prey, naturally failed to detect any anomaly. She bit her lower lip and could only helplessly spread her hands to explain:

"I really don't know; purely due to some sudden accident, I was instantly teleported here, appeared in mid-air, and then fell into that big lake…… later rescued by you guys, only just woke up now……"

So how could she possibly know what place this is?!

"……"

"……"

"Looks like you've had quite a tortuous journey; then let me tell you——"

The youth carefully examined her expression, nodded slightly, and began to reveal the truth to her: "Because it is where the remains of Albion's Dragon fell, shaping this northern land, hence the name; it was once also the homeland of the Northern Fairies……"

"——'Albion of the Realm'……?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka tried hard to chew over this terminology, but felt only extreme strangeness; not the slightest impression existed in her mind. Although she was already quite outstanding in honing her Master abilities, in her identity as a Magician……

emmmmm…… she was still an outsider who had not received systematic education and had not yet entered the hall.

She had never received systematic academic training, nor had she ever had enough time to make up for this deficiency.

Thinking carefully, she did a key search of her experiences after coming to the Fairy Kingdom; it seemed she hadn't heard the corresponding terminology either, and she quickly gave up. Thinking about it, it made sense; this Lostbelt had far too many things there wasn't time to understand.

Even if she could listen to a complete account from beginning to end, it would probably take several sleepless days and nights……

What's more, she didn't have that condition; ever since setting foot in this Lostbelt region, her steps had almost never stopped, always wandering on the edge of escape and survival……

Unable to think of an answer, she decisively stopped dwelling on it; the Master from Chaldea gently shook her head, adjusted her thoughts, and asked again: "Can you describe it more specifically? You say this is the land of northern Britain, then where exactly is its specific location in the north?"

"Onyx." The youth gave this answer.

"Onyx…… Onyx…… hmm, wait, this name I feel like I've heard somewhere! Isn't that the place at the northernmost end, called the Land of the End?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka recited the name, instantly feeling a wave of familiarity, as if a flash of inspiration: "I see! I was just wondering why you knew nothing about those things; turns out this is Onyx……"

That's right, she felt she was gradually understanding everything!

Understood where she was!

Understood why she had survived until now!

Also understood why the other party had never heard of the Queen's deeds!

"How so, is Onyx here very special? I feel it's very ordinary here." Xia Zhi immediately grew interested, curiosity flashing in his eyes, decisively not ashamed to ask.

"Of course it's special; you guys have probably been living here all along? Always completely isolated from the outside world, fundamentally unaware of what the outside world has become, so you don't know this point……"

She let out a breath of relief as if a heavy burden was lifted; Fujimaru Ritsuka, having confirmed what place this was, seemed to have set down a great weight on her heart.

"If this is Onyx, then this might be the last piece of pure land that Fairy Queen never managed to touch, like an Ideal World within the Fairy Kingdom, sowing hope in despair, a paradise countless Fairies yearn for in their dreams……"

"Who knows how many Fairies want to escape to this place, and that Fairy Queen is obviously extremely wary of it; any Fairy discovered attempting to enter the Land of the End will suffer the most brutal punishment……"

As Fujimaru Ritsuka spoke, she subconsciously looked around.

The lakeside was quiet and serene, the forest like a sleeping giant, the camp formed by carriages circling around creating a spacious and relatively enclosed space, like a sheltered harbor.

——The bonfire burned quietly.

——Firewood burst with crackling splitting sounds in the flames.

——The other strange travelers in the camp, though not yet acquainted, had all already wrapped themselves in blankets and entered sweet dreams; the whole world was immersed in a peace.

If not for clearly knowing this is a Lostbelt world, she would almost mistake herself for being in some undisputed vacation resort, enjoying camping with friends; the atmosphere was too similar, making one momentarily trance.

That's right, this must be Onyx!

Must be that Land of the End!

Otherwise, from the coma just now to waking at this moment, staying at the same spot for so long, theoretically she should have been precisely located long ago, and those raging Wild Beasts should have arrived in succession. Yet until now, everything is calm.

This situation increasingly solidified the speculation in Fujimaru Ritsuka's heart.

She felt this time she had found a blessing in disguise, as if grasping a key turning point to reverse the situation. Perhaps just like those Singularities repaired in the past, facing hopeless difficulties in a Lostbelt, one can always find crucial assistance.

"Once discovered, it's straight to execution... though even that probably won't stop the fairies from fleeing."

Xia Zhi pondered for a moment; if that Chaldea Master truly came from the established future, then what he spoke of must be facts that had already occurred in the future.

Without dwelling on just what kind of mechanism this world's spacetime and causality actually were, he merely felt there might be some misunderstanding involved — of course, not referring to Vivian's attitude toward the fairies after she became Queen.

Regarding this he had no opinion whatsoever, nor did he intend to fight for human rights for those things.

He simply had an intuition-like premonition, as if receiving some revelation, subconsciously sensing that the Chaldea side might have misunderstood certain matters.

Onyx —

Land of the End —

It indeed had the possibility of becoming a paradise of the Fairy Kingdom in the future, an ideal world like a dream, but the greater possibility was that this place was not the only land Morgan could not touch, but rather a Pure Land she deliberately preserved.

Because this tranquil and peaceful realm carried her childhood, holding far too many memories...

Her choosing to preserve this place was understandable; equally understandable was her unwillingness to let those unworthy fairies defile this land.

Merely as the tale spread and spread in later generations, those fairies began to mistakenly believe this land was the only place the Queen's authority could not reach, the only corner the shadow of tyranny could not cover, even imagining it contained the power to overthrow the Queen's rule —

The more the Queen forbade these fairies from setting foot in the Land of the End, the more firmly the fairies believed their speculations, and the more fanatically they attempted to break into that forbidden land. And those that wanted to defile that land, none of them survived either.

Ironically, as more and more fairies lost their lives attempting to enter the Land of the End, they instead became even more convinced that the power to overthrow the Queen truly existed there, believing the Queen precisely forbade any fairy from stepping foot inside because she feared it.

It was probably just such an inexplicable vicious cycle that made the whole affair grow ever more mysterious and unfathomable as it spread.

But for now, it seemed like a good thing; it could be used for entrapment, and perhaps leaving it be wasn't bad.

"Indeed there's no way to stop it, because the Queen is too cruel..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded in response, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of her mouth: "You might not know how harsh the survival conditions of the fairies in the outside world are; that one's attitude toward fairies is extremely brutal, whether they're lowly fairies or high-ranking lords, she kills as she pleases..."

Recalling these days' Lostbelt experiences, the girl still couldn't help but feel a chill, as if that thick, pungent bloody aura still lingered at the tip of her nose.

Those innocent and kind fairies, almost guiltless yet suffering under the oppression of strict laws and regulations, as if bound by chains shackling their lives, living day after day in fetters, any tiny resistance possibly inviting death.

Such tyranny, truly hair-raising...

Why does that Queen push her rule to such an extreme extent...

Driven to the point of being unable to survive, even if fairies are kind and pure, of course they'll rebel too...

— Even she understands this logic.

"So... are rebellious sentiments running high outside? Has any organized, large-scale resistance force formed? Is there any hope of overthrowing that Queen's rule?" Xia Zhi mused for a bit, asking straightforwardly.

The enemy is stupidly handing over the strategy guide on their own initiative; of course we should extract more intelligence.

"Can't call it intense resistance; most fairies' only choice is fleeing to the Land of the End, this kind of passive resistance has no use whatsoever, they'll just die pointlessly on the road..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression revealed a touch of gloom, like the melancholy in her heart at this moment.

"As for organizing a resistance army, that's an even more unattainable dream. The Queen's control over the Fairy Kingdom is suffocating, almost impossible to gather any resistance organization with substantive power... the reason I've ended up here is because I once tried to establish a resistance front together with companions."

Good, looks like this third week's future is still relatively stable.

Having heard this, Xia Zhi nodded slightly as if realizing something, and pressed further: "How did you establish the resistance front? Can you give specifics?"

"..."

"..."

"There are always some fairies who can't accept such cruel things; for instance, a fairy lord we decided to cooperate with, Lord Aurora, was willing to help us..."

After a brief silence, the girl spoke with a heavy and pained emotion.

"Among the many fairies, she was a lord renowned for her beauty, gentleness, and kindness, extremely protective of the subjects under her rule; however, the Queen's terrifying rule caused her great suffering — she wanted to protect her subjects, yet could never manage to do so..."

"Watching helplessly as the subjects she cherished were slaughtered time and again, she finally could bear it no longer and decided to change this erroneous Fairy Kingdom. When we were being hunted down, it was she who extended a helping hand to us..."

At that time, the Chaldea party seemed to have fallen into the depths of despair; successive blows, the drawback of being unable to rely on Servants' power, nearly caused them to collapse.

Right at this most difficult moment, a fairy lord sheltered Chaldea like extending an olive branch, allowing them to catch their breath.

And when that kind and beautiful, incomparably gentle fairy lord revealed the Fairy Kingdom's distortion and desperate status quo to Chaldea, analyzed the rights and wrongs within, showed her inner dissatisfaction, and hoped to borrow Chaldea's power to overthrow the Queen's tyranny...

The trapped crowd was all the more like seeing dawn in darkness, feeling long-lost hope.

Only —

The good times didn't last; Lord Aurora, as a prominent lord among the fairy race, her status perhaps second only to one and above ten thousand...

But in the eyes of that high-and-mighty Lostbelt King, she was no different from ordinary fairies; her life and death lay in a single thought of hers.

"Lord Aurora proposed she could help us, saying she was willing to secretly provide support and contact other fairy lords to assist together..."

As Fujimaru Ritsuka recalled the scene of that painful night, her tone gradually fell.

"She told us this during the day, and then merely by nightfall, Fairy Knight Lancelot came calling, bringing the Queen's decree ordering her death..."

"Fairy Knight Lancelot?"

Xia Zhi's expression shifted slightly, glancing toward Melusine not far away who was also pretending to sleep.

Seems according to Vivian's words, Melusine is the future Fairy Knight Lancelot?

Then the script needs revising again, rearrange the explanation on this aspect...

After all, this whole talk was deliberately orchestrated; the reason he had everyone else pretend to sleep was because he intended to personally control the pace, thoroughly worm out exactly how much the other side knew, so as to formulate the next script.

Tailor-made, service supreme.

"Yes, one of the Fairy Round Table Knights personally named by Queen Morgan; Fairy Knight Lancelot is among them the one with the most outstanding power and renowned far and wide..."

At this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka was unaware of this inside story; she still narrated slowly by the bonfire the story of that night. The fireside chat atmosphere imperceptibly stirred her desire to pour out her heart.

"We didn't meet Lord Aurora that night, so we avoided running into that Fairy Knight; we never saw him at all, otherwise we probably wouldn't have escaped either..."

"But Lord Aurora didn't escape; she was captured, publicly executed before the very subjects she cherished; it's said Fairy Knight Lancelot personally forced poisoned wine down her throat, letting her die in incomparable agony..."

————

(PS: New Year's holiday passed, exhausted... only this much today, will resume tomorrow...)

(Chapter End)