Interlude

There you have it. She said to give you her regards, and that she's "looking forward to your coronation, you jerk."

Hmph, is that so? Well, forgive me for not jumping for joy at being congratulated by a gutless coward who turned and ran away at the last second.

You're still mad about that?

It's not like Altria ran from her competition with you. If anything, it's the opposite.

She stepped back of her own accord so you wouldn't get caught up in her mission as the faerie of paradise.

I know that! Why do you think I'm so pissed off!?

After all that, she's just going to disappear and let me have all the glory?

She thinks she can save the bloody world when no one's looking and quit while she's ahead?

Not on my watch, she won't! That's no different from the kind of crap Morgan pulled!

Just you wait. As soon as I'm on the throne, I'm going to begin a Child of Prophecy hunt that'll put Morgan to shame.

I'm going to find her wherever she goes, even if I have to invade this paradise place she's from!

NOW who's acting like Morgan!?

All right, but be warned that ain't an easy path you'd be taking.

Interfering with paradise's duty means fighting Proper Human History.

It'd be a pity to bring a whole new kind of war to Britain right after finally bringing peace to it.

Fine with me. More than fine, even. I never had any intention of playing nice with Proper Human History.

I'm not as extreme as Morgan, but it's still basically a foreign land, right?

Knowing there's more land out there waiting to be conquered is the best news I've heard in my life.

My purpose is to rule. The more there is to rule, the happier I am.

I can feel my magical energy surging just thinking about it!

Looks like the idea of fighting Proper Human History really does entice you. If you're so certain, I won't try to stop you.

Either way, it's gonna take time to get Faerie Britain back on its feet, and Chaldea'll probably finish their mission by then.

You really okay with Fujimaru leaving?

Oh sure. It'll be sad to part ways for a while, but if anything, I think this is destiny.

Once I'm ready to conquer Proper Human History, I'll be a way better queen than Morgan ever was.

So once he sees what an amazing faerie I am, he won't be able to resist going out with me.

True, I was hoping she'd agree to be part of my staff, but oh well.

It's a shame, but it looks like I'll have to let her go her own way for now. But I'm sure we'll meet again someday.

It's only a matter of time before I become a super evil queen and invade Proper Human History, you know.

And once I do, I'm sure she'll come pay me a visit of her own accord, as my rival!

Looks you're dead set on getting everything you want. Not that I expected otherwise from you.

Plus, you're already obsessed with Camelot's throne. "Don't damage it no matter what," eh?

When you get right down to it, a throne's just a fancy chair. But you were dead set on that particular one.

Same with Morgan. She refused to leave it, no matter what. Why is that? You know something about it?

...Okay, I guess I can tell you.

Morgan's throne is the cornerstone of all Britain. It's what keeps the faeries' cycle alive.

It's the gear that keeps the life of every faerie who died at the end of the Fae Era in motion.

It's false Round Table Aesc created after she completed her pilgrimage and chose to defy her duty.

It's the throne of a Master.

Whoever bonds with that throne becomes the Master of Britain's faeries.

Morgan used it in a desperate attempt to summon the faeries of Faerie Britain and keep them alive.

My predecessor, Queen Mab, learned about this in Era of the High Queen 400, during her last one-on-one battle with Morgan.

The only faeries who weren't wiped out during the Fae Era's Great Calamity were Mab, the clan leaders, and a handful of upper-class faeries.

Mab had no reason to submit to Morgan's rule because she wasn't one of the faeries Morgan brought back to life.

But she also couldn't keep fighting her once she found out how far Morgan had gone to keep Britain alive.

So Mab and Morgan made a secret arrangement.

They agreed that if Morgan should ever decline and fall, the King clan would be the one to succeed her.

Gotcha. In other words, "Do what you want, and I'll clean up the mess."

That's right. They were friends...in their own way. After that, Mab retired to Edinburgh.

Her part of the deal was to produce a new queen who could take over for Morgan by the time she declined.

That's the duty I inherited from my predecessor.

I'm her daughter, her next generation born for the sole purpose of becoming queen.

Whatever else I do with my life will have to wait until I've taken care of that.

I just wish it hadn't come about in such a half-assed fashion!

But fine, whatever. As soon as the coronation's over, I'm going to rush right to the throne and take over for Morgan!

Well...not that there was ever any other option.

Now that Morgan's gone, I'm the only one with a Spirit Origin capable of reforming contracts with every faerie in Britain.

Altria simply doesn't quite have what it takes. That's just how it is.

For sure. It's all like Ainsel prophesized.

The Child of Prophecy will pave the way, and then the true king will appear.

So the Child of Prophecy and the true king were always two separate faeries. That prophecy is about both of you.

If you already know that much, I don't have anything else to tell you. Later, Cnoc na Riabh.

We'll have to fight each other someday, since you're from this Lostbelt and I'm from Proper Human History...

...but we can forget about that, at least for the next few days.

Tomorrow's your big day. As Grímr the Sage, I'll be there to bless you as best I can.

Salisbury! Salisbury! We're off to grand old Salisbury!

It's the start of a new era! A new queen shall reign!

Will it be the Child of Prophecy? The Child of the Queen?

We don't know, but as long as she does a good job as queen, it's all the same to us!

Come on! Let's hurry to the coronation! Goodbye, Merciless Morgan!

Hm? Hold up, everyone. Look, over there. There's a mors on that hill looking at us.

Just one? That's no big deal. All we have to do is keep our distance.

Britain's about to be reborn. I wonder what the new queen will do with it!

The way I see it, the whole point of reality is that there are no takebacks.

We do things knowing they'll make matters worse. By the time we realize what we've done, it's too late.

Then we seal away any who try to reveal our actions for the misdeeds they were.

Whose fault is it? No one's, of course.

And that is why it's not possible to make things better.

You've heard of going out with a bang? I think that's a wonderful idea.

If you're going to go out anyway, you might as well make the biggest bang you can.