Chapter 710: 556 ’Morgan Le Fay
Time flew by swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, Reiger had spent around another month in the era of the 400th fairy year.
During this month, Reiger continued on as before, traveling with Ashen north and south, as if the incident in the great cave had never happened, roaming the entirety of Britannia.
In this time, naturally, a lot of things happened.
Sometimes, he would delve into dangerous ruins with Ashen, searching inside for various ancient records.
Sometimes, he joined forces with Tettelot and the Dark Knight to subdue Morrs and purge the curse threatening Britannia.
Sometimes, they would come under attack from some fairies who opposed Yuse’s ascension to the throne.
Sometimes, they would actively exterminate particularly vicious magical beasts to obtain materials or treasures from them.
These activities had been done plenty by Reiger along with Ashen and others before this month, seemingly without any change.
The only change was that Ashen seemed to let her guard down more than before, speaking more than she used to. It was tolerable with Tettelot and the Dark Knight present, but when those two were away, Ashen would often initiate conversations with Reiger.
Sometimes, Ashen would engage Reiger in all-night conversations, not about anything significant, just trivial matters.
She wouldn’t ask what had happened to Reiger in the future but would inquire about his past adventures and stories.
She wouldn’t probe into the secrets Reiger bore, instead asking about his preferences, his daily life, and the social relationships around him.
Also, although rare, Ashen did share a few stories of her life back in Orkney.
When mentioning those times, a sincere smile, rarely seen these days, would often grace Ashen’s face, causing Reiger to watch her for a long time without saying a word.
It’s worth mentioning that Ashen also discussed magical knowledge with Reiger, showing considerable interest in the magic system he used.
To discuss matters of magic, Ashen even took the initiative to spar with Reiger several times.
It goes without saying that Ashen’s strength was formidable. Comparing her power, accumulated over 3600 years of traversing Britannia as a savior, even with the well-known Elf Knights known to Reiger, she held her own. She was not a shame like Bawan Xi but more comparable to the likes of Gawain and Lancelot.
This caused Reiger to lose himself in their bouts several times, leading to both of them getting injured to some extent.
In this way of life, superficially, it seemed like their relationship remained the same, with no apparent change, but inwardly, the distance between their hearts was always shifting.
Growing closer and closer.
Lowering their guards more and more.
And so, Reiger had spent just over a month in the era of the 400th fairy year.
Today was the day he would return.
"I’m leaving."
One time, when Tettelot and the Dark Knight were out scouting, Reiger said this suddenly as he walked alongside Ashen.
Surprisingly, Ashen didn’t show the slightest shock.
"I knew it. You weren’t in a hurry to find a way back, you must have had a method all along," Ashen stopped walking, smiled faintly at Reiger, and said, "Have you finished what you needed to do?"
Ashen was asking about the task Reiger needed to complete in this era.
Reiger had already expressed that he had matters to attend to in this age, which is why he wasn’t rushing to leave.
Now that he had brought up leaving, it naturally meant that he had completed his task.
But Reiger didn’t explain.
Looking at the gently smiling fairy girl before him, his feelings were extremely complex.
Recalling the past month and all that had transpired, Reiger realized that, without knowing it, he had formed a rather subtle relationship with this fairy girl.
If you said they were close, they hadn’t done anything particularly intimate.
If you said they weren’t close, yet they could talk through the night.
Talking with Ashen, Reiger sometimes felt as if he was conversing with Yuri, and surprisingly found it comfortable and natural.
Under these circumstances, the answer he came to this era in search of was probably already found.
He wanted to know why Morgan wished to marry him, to forge such a bond with him.
And now...
"...we’ll meet again in the future."
Reiger fell silent for a moment, and then bade farewell to Ashen.
"Mhm."
Ashen nodded lightly, neither sad nor melancholic, as if she had anticipated this all along.
She simply said so.
"Finally, let me tell you my true name."
Ashen said this.
"In Orkney, everyone called me Vivian."
"Ashen was the name I took when I left Orkney, deciding to live on as a savior."
"My true name is Morgan Le Fay."
Ashen—Morgan revealed her familiar smile to Reiger just like that.
It was a smile with a bit of coldness and a touch of nostalgia, the smile of a witch.
"Don’t forget, my future husband," she said, leaving that thought behind, Morgan took the lead in leaving ahead of Reiger.
Reiger watched Morgan walk away until her figure disappeared, then he murmured softly.
"We’ll meet again in the future."
With his words concluded, Reiger slowly walked off in another direction.
The boy and the girl went their separate ways, and it would be thousands of years before they met again.
...
"Time limit countdown to zero, this Dimensional Travel is about to end, initiating check."
"User detected with unique power of this world, allowed to dissociate and return with consciousness."
"User detected with unique items of this world, return can be executed by consuming energy if desired."
"Unique items list compiled, please user make a selection."
"One: Morgan’s Ring (15)"
"Two: Spirit Base Exoskeleton Armor·Autonoe (10)"
"Three: Conceptual Armament·Longevity (20)"
"Four: ..."
Looking at this item list, Reiger was taken aback for a moment.
"Spirit Base Exoskeleton Armor·Autonoe?"
"Conceptual Armament·Longevity?"
"What are these?"
Reiger didn’t react immediately.
Then, he remembered.
"That’s right, these are the things that Matthew lost in the sea when he lost his memory."
At that time, Matthew had told Reiger in his amnesiac state that he seemed to have lost something important and needed to find it.
Thus, Reiger dove into the sea, searched for a long time, and finally found the lost items, which were a set of equipment.
Remembering the issue with this equipment set, Reiger was still somewhat amazed.
"So, the Spirit Base Exoskeleton Armor·Autonoe is one thing, but the Conceptual Armament·Longevity is even more precious than the ring Morgan gave me?"
The value of this armament was equal to that of world-class items like the Thermal Stones, befitting Chaldea’s ace.
Thinking about this, Reiger fell into contemplation.
He wasn’t planning to take the set of Spirit Base Exoskeleton Armor or the Conceptual Armament with him.
The reason is simple, they were of no use to him.
This armament was designed specifically for Matthew’s use; only Matthew could unleash its true power, and anyone else using it would find it either useless or its power greatly reduced.
Especially the Conceptual Armament·Longevity, this weapon even requires the Master, Fujimaru Ritsuka, to cooperate to unleash all of its power; Matthew alone couldn’t fully utilize it either.
Taking these two armaments would be not only useless but also a waste of Dimension Energy.
As for the rest of the items, aside from Morgan’s Ring which needed to be taken, the rest were merely supplies purchased back in Salisbury and likewise did not warrant the waste of Dimension Energy for assimilation.
Therefore, the only item Reiger truly needed to assimilate was Morgan’s Ring.
And for Longevity and Autonoe...
"These two, it’s better to leave them in this world."
Having made this decision, Reiger activated the "Transfer Gate" and arrived at a coast that had become ruins.
It was the exact place where he arrived in this era through the "Water Mirror."
This was the future Norwich.
Reiger planned to bury the two pieces of armament here, then when he returned to this world, returned to the future, he would unearth them again.
"Magic Tier Ascension·Preservation."
After taking out the two pieces of armament, Reiger first cast preservation magic on them, and not just any preservation magic, but the highest, the tenth tier, to prevent them from decaying over the two thousand years to come.
Then, Reiger cast several more spells, to conceal the armaments and provide protective measures against them being possibly discovered by the elves of Britannia and lost in the future.
After doing all this, Reiger launched an earth-element magic spell to sink the two sealed armaments deep into the ground, down to thousands of meters below the surface.
"This way, nothing can go wrong."
Dusting off his hands, Reiger checked his remaining Dimension Energy.
"Dimension Energy: 367"
Before entering the Brittania Anomaly World, Reiger had a total of 337 units of Dimension Energy.
Afterward, to assimilate the heirloom of the hero clan given by Liz, he spent 30 units of Dimension Energy.
And to open the Dimensional Travel and come to the Brittania Anomaly World, another 30 units were spent.
Hence, before entering the Brittania Anomaly World, Reiger had 277 units left, less than 300 units.
But after spending 90 days in this world, Reiger had accrued another 90 units of Dimension Energy.
So, he had 367 units left, just 30 units more than before the Dimensional Travel.
At that moment, Reiger chose to assimilate Morgan’s Ring, discarding all other items.
"Dimension Energy: 352"
After confirming the remaining Dimension Energy, Reiger finished making his selection.
"Selection complete, execution starting."
"Item assimilation successful."
"Dimensional Travel over, beginning return."
With the transparent cube in his mind spinning into action, Reiger embarked on the journey home.
Within Britannia, time continued to move slowly, steadily heading toward the year 2017 of the Queen’s history that Reiger knew so well.