"You're right, Aoko." Leaning on Melusine's shoulder, Toneriko gave a bitter smile. "From the start, I should never have had unrealistic hopes for Britain's fairies..."
"They're just like the humans who drove me out... maybe even uglier," Morgan said wearily. "And yet I thought I had room to spare, that I could do things that didn't matter..."
"I said I'd give up on saving humans and fairies," Morgan's eyes lost, pained. "And still I clung to fantasy, even after you showed me the ending..."
"I found that fairy," Aoko sighed, taking a transparent container with Aurora's heart from her imaginary pocket and handing it silently to Morgan. "She simply thought you, who were about to fulfill your dream, shone brighter than her, and she wanted to destroy you, to see you in pain. So she poisoned Uther."
Morgan silently took the heart, staring at it, as if trying to see something in it, but failed. As Aoko said, these fairies broke others' efforts and enjoyed others' misery for trivial reasons.
Many fairies don't empathize or endure. Their goals are their whole world, so they hurt others without guilt.
Now, reality had rudely awakened Morgan from her dream, in the most painful, bloody way.
Yes—fairies and humans. Besides the human slaves among the anti-Londinium army, there were even traitors among the coalition! They colluded with the enemy after Uther's death, creating chaos inside Londinium.
[Scene break]
The battle lasted a day and night. Under Artoria and Wryneck's command, the Round Table Coalition defeated the anti-Londinium alliance of Fang, Wind, and Earth clans—slaughtering nearly 70% of their forces.
If it had been a human army, morale would have collapsed at 30% casualties, but fairies were different. Even the pragmatic Earth Clan fought with high morale. Only the Wind Clan fled en masse when the tide turned.
Wryneck showed no mercy fighting his Fang kin—he knew what they were like. If Londinium fell, every human and fairy in the city would be doomed, so he fought at full strength, dealing the Fang Clan a devastating blow.
On the other side, Artoria stood as an unbreakable wall, blocking the path to the shelter for humans and weak fairies. Except for accidental deaths during the evacuation, not a single civilian in the shelter was harmed—truly holding the line alone.
Fairies are much stronger than humans, but there are huge differences in strength among them. A powerful fairy can kill dozens of weaker ones; returnees like Wryneck can fight a thousand.
Moreover, in the original timeline, fairies like Muryan, who possess special domains, are ultimate strategic weapons—any power gained through hard work is instantly nullified in her domain. Only those born strong can maintain their strength.
Thus, after this war, the remaining Fang, Wind, and Earth clans were greatly weakened—unable to cause trouble or even defend their cities against Moss attacks.
Originally, Morgan would have rushed to help these clans fight off the Moss, but now, she had no intention of playing savior. This world had exhausted her last bit of goodwill.
In fact, during the attack on Londinium, some Mirror and Wing clan fairies secretly joined the coalition defense. The former because the prophecy changed, the latter because they knew if Londinium fell, they'd be next.
So, although Britain lost Uther, the coalition grew stronger.
But none of this mattered to Morgan anymore. Her thoughts had completely changed. The savior was gone—only the silver-haired Queen of Winter remained.
Thus, the strongest city was now Londinium, the coalition's base, followed by leaderless, war-torn, now occupied Salisbury.
Third was the Wing Clan's Gloucester, but its situation was complex—half supported the coalition's peace, and half were neutral hedonists.
Most pro-coalition fairies now lived in Londinium, only a few in Gloucester. The neutral fairies were a risk, as they could side with anyone.
Seeing it was time, Aoko ordered Pepe to return from Norwich and sent him to Gloucester to investigate, planning to judge the Wing Clan's city after getting his report.
The Wing Clan, with its many famous fairies like Habetrot and Muryan, was highly functional—both were talented, and Aoko wanted them.
After days of searching, Consort Yu reported no one like Muryan was found; she hadn't been born yet—probably a descendant of a current fairy.
Of the remaining fairy talents, Aoko found no more worth collecting into the Ark World. The time to leave for the Queen's Calendar was near; Aoko and Consort Yu found Morgan—it was time to say goodbye.