Chapter 507
Lancelot’s Curiosity
When Lancelot woke up again, he found that he had not appeared on his dreamt-of Emerald Grasslands.
“What… what is going on?”
He opened his eyes and found himself still lying on the barren, desolate gray grasslands of the Shadow Realm.
The sky was still his familiar, colorless grayish-black.
Logically, when Lancelot truly died, the Knights of the Silver Crown—his former colleagues and comrades—would descend across the Rainbow Bridge from the Dream Realm and guide his soul to the domain of the Silver Crown Dragon.
The towering mountains with perpetual snow were the Crystal Mountains where the Silver Crown Dragon resided, where distinguished guests would occasionally visit, and the great library gifted by the Great Philosopher, allowing knights to read and study there. Normally, the knights would gallop their horses on the Emerald Grasslands at the foot of the mountains.
That place was a beautiful lakeside scene, forever bathed in sunlight, a stark contrast to the Shadow Realm where Lancelot had lived for over four hundred years.
This place was adjacent to the Fey Kingdom. Occasionally, lost fey would wander in, and some fey would be enchanted by its beauty and choose to stay, becoming musicians and poets in the Domain of Authority. Some fairies from the Shadow Realm would also occasionally come to bathe in the lake and get acquainted with the valiant knights they admired.
If it weren’t for the promise he made to Merlin years ago, Lancelot would never have stayed in the dim, lightless Shadow Realm to hone his martial skills.
Only in the undying Shadow Realm, without sun or moon, could Lancelot be resurrected by the great ritual of “Shadow of Avalon.” After all, this ritual itself drew upon the power of resurrection and flesh reconstruction of the Queen of the Shadow Realm.
…Thinking back now, he felt it would have been better to be dead.
But if he were dead now, his four hundred years of ascetic practice would seem to have been in vain. If he went to the Emerald Grasslands, those old brothers he hadn’t seen for four hundred years would probably laugh at him again.
Thinking this, Lancelot couldn’t help but press a hand to his forehead, feeling a throbbing headache.
“Eh?”
Just then, a gentle and mature voice called out, “Lancelot? I heard you weren’t going?”
Hearing this, Lancelot thought to himself, “Oh no,” and reluctantly opened his eyes. “Morgan…?”
Silver-blue long hair, eyes as clear as sapphires—it was the elven witch, who had now transformed into a fairy. She was the biological mother of Gawain and the adoptive mother of Mordred.
She smiled faintly and reached out to take Lancelot’s hand, seemingly to pull him up.
She was friends with Viviane and had also studied magic under Merlin through the connection with her.
And Lancelot knew a secret—that Morgan and Arthur, who was born a mortal, had once had a relationship. After all, Arthur’s war with the Supreme Heaven was not a single battle. He had also been gravely wounded, and it was Morgan who had healed Arthur then.
As a witch of the Path of Love, her methods of healing Arthur were naturally quite witch-like.
What made Lancelot’s scalp tingle even more was that Morgan seemed to have taken a liking to him as well.
Although she had initially been sublimated to the Emerald Grasslands as a disciple of the Silver Crown Dragon, when she learned that Lancelot intended to go to the Shadow Realm to learn, she had followed him.
Now, Morgan had become a disciple of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy and often appeared alongside Viviane.
Even though Morgan and Arthur had only had a one-night relationship, and the Silver Crown Dragon had never bothered her… Lancelot still didn’t dare to gamble on the Boss’s opinion of her. Although Morgan had made advances towards Lancelot multiple times, Lancelot had never dared to approach Morgan. After all, he was still hoping to return to the Emerald Grasslands after his death.
“…It seems there’s been some kind of problem, and the situation is a bit troublesome.”
Lancelot coughed dryly, did not take Morgan’s hand, but sat up from the grass himself. “It seems I was indeed summoned to the Material Realm by the ‘Shadow of Avalon’ ritual… but immediately after, I was sacrificed as an offering. My newly resurrected body was stolen by the City-Breaker. Then I met some people… and then I suddenly returned.”
“City-Breaker? Enyo?”
Hearing the name, Morgan was startled. “Are you sure?”
“…What’s wrong?” Lancelot sensed something was amiss.
“She just died, and the Bear Heavenly Envoy has gone mad.”
“Died?”
Lancelot was stunned. “Who killed her?”
“I don’t know.”
“…Didn’t she revive?”
This time, Lancelot was also surprised. “Wouldn’t it be fine to ask her after she revived?”
Logically, Phantom Demons were immortal—in this sense, the Material Realm was like an incubator. After souls were sublimated into Phantom Demons, they could survive indefinitely in the Dream Realm. Those souls that failed to sublimate would be shattered and randomly reconstituted.
After repeated cycles, the number of Phantom Demons would naturally increase.
Unless their power was consumed by a Phantom Demon of the same path, Phantom Demons would reconstitute their bodies from the Dream Realm after death. Even if their form and spirit were destroyed, at most, they would become a Phantom Demon Egg and be reborn again from the Material Realm.
“That’s the problem,” Morgan said sternly. “She didn’t revive from the Dream Realm—she should have become a Phantom Demon Egg.”
To become a Phantom Demon Egg meant that all her power had been stripped away, plunging her into complete and utter death.
In Lancelot’s view, even if one resurrected from the form of a Phantom Demon Egg, they wouldn’t be truly the same existence as before… with old memories blurred and incomplete, and only the memories of the host of this life remaining clear.
“…Strange.”
Lancelot murmured.
He subconsciously recalled the ritual that had briefly summoned him.
If he had to point out a problem… it could only be this.
The Shadow of Avalon ritual… did something go wrong, or was it tampered with by someone?
“Since you saw the City-Breaker, why don’t you come with me to see Her Majesty the Queen?”
Morgan invited enthusiastically. “Her Majesty the Queen is summoning us to discuss this matter.”
“Her Majesty the Queen” was their respectful address for the Shadow Heavenly Envoy, as the Shadow Heavenly Envoy called herself the Queen of the Shadow Realm.
“…I suppose I should go.”
Lancelot nodded slowly.
He suddenly thought of something. “Oh right, I remember Merlin was in charge of maintaining this ritual, wasn’t he?”
“No, Merlin was only responsible for constructing the ritual. Viviane was in charge of maintaining it,” Morgan shook her head.
Hearing his adoptive mother’s name, Lancelot paused.
He had already fallen out completely with Viviane, and they were now almost enemies. They basically never saw each other.
But considering the issue with the Shadow of Avalon ritual, Lancelot suppressed his strange feelings and insisted on asking, “What about Viviane? I need to ask her something…”
“She’s gone.”
Morgan was also somewhat surprised that Lancelot wanted to find Viviane…
But she still explained, “She’s been gone for a long time.”
“…Gone means?”
Lancelot was shocked—had Viviane also been killed?
Guessing what Lancelot was thinking, Morgan shook her head and explained, “She wasn’t killed, she ran away herself. Since Her Majesty the Queen can’t find her, it means she’s not in the Dream Realm right now, nor did she appear through the Shrine of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy… so I think she’s probably reincarnated.”
…How could she reincarnate at this time?
For some reason, Lancelot suddenly thought of the ritual that had gone wrong.
Lancelot’s expression suddenly became subtle. “…Are you sure she cannot be contacted?”
Had Viviane run away because there was an insurmountable problem with the ritual?
In the past few decades, Lancelot had made a good friend in the Shadow Realm. This friend had died and come from the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi.
According to that buddy, the Curse Ritualists in the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi liked to do big things for no reason, as if they couldn’t prove their skill without writing a grand ritual. Therefore, they needed to swindle a lot of funding from the Lord, and it was highly likely that the ritual would ultimately fail to deliver the promised requirements of their initial boasting.
—So there’s a saying over there: you can escape from rituals and ritualists as long as you can run.
“…I’m afraid Viviane has run off. I have a bad premonition.”
Lancelot thought of that strange experience and then warned, “I may have been summoned to a simulated worldline by some Pillar God just now. I went through the actual Shadow of Avalon ritual. That ritual is definitely problematic… I suspect it can directly pull apostles into the Material Realm and kill them.”
“—I suggest you go ask the wolf cub Viviane raised. He should know where his master is.”
Lancelot didn’t have a good impression of that guy.
Whether Viviane was his adoptive mother or lover, her young wolf cub always rubbed Lancelot the wrong way.
“I’ve already asked.”
Morgan replied without hesitation. “I asked long ago—in fact, I asked twice. I went to ask when she first disappeared seven years ago, and I was worried last year, so I went again. But he really doesn’t know where Viviane is.”
“…Then ask Merlin.”
Merlin, that scoundrel, might know—sometimes Lancelot felt he knew everything.
“Merlin can’t be found either.”
Morgan gave a wry smile. “He rarely returns to the Dream Realm; he’s always playing in the Material Realm. You can’t lock him down with a ritual, so who knows where he is now. I tell you, I know this teacher very well… If he doesn’t want to see you, you’ll never find him.”
“I’m very familiar with that scoundrel too—but no matter where he runs, the Great Philosopher will definitely know.”
Lancelot was a bit anxious. “Shall we ask Gawain to inquire? If you ask Gawain, he will definitely go.”
“It might not be good to bother a Pillar God for this matter… Her Majesty might also be displeased…”
Morgan was still hesitant.
But Lancelot could see clearly that she simply didn’t want to return to the Emerald Grasslands. She had several children there now, as well as a lover who had become a Pillar God…
People of the Path of Love were troublesome in this regard. Once they lived long enough, all sorts of complex feelings would become a tangled mess.
However, Morgan finally sighed, unable to refuse Lancelot’s request. “Fine, I’ll go ask—but don’t get your hopes too high. Even if we can contact Merlin, he may not know where Viviane is.”
“It’s always worth a try.”
Lancelot still warned, “You should be careful… I think the Shadow of Avalon ritual has become very dangerous now, completely different from Merlin’s original design. I suspect Viviane might be preparing some conspiracy.”
“She won’t be preparing any conspiracy, don’t worry.”
Morgan just smiled and comforted him. “I know her best.”
—You know her better than I do? Lancelot thought.
But he was polite and didn’t say it directly.
“Oh, right,” Lancelot thought of another name. “Do you know a person named Eivass Moriarty?”
“…A descendant of Mordred?”
Morgan’s expression was strange. “What’s wrong?”
Mordred was her adopted son, though there was no blood relation… but Mordred’s descendants also had no blood relation. In this sense, since Mordred could be considered an ancestor of the Moriarty Family, she could also be considered one in a way.
“I’m a bit curious about him. Please investigate him for me… He’s probably not very old, he’s a priest, and he’s very handsome.”
Lancelot said, “I can’t leave the Shadow Realm. Can you go find him for me?”
“Sure, this will be quick. Easier than finding Gawain.”
Morgan smiled. “After I see the Queen later, I’ll head down… Since he’s surnamed Moriarty, he should live on Glass Island, right? I’ll just take a trip around Glass Island then. There should be people who know him there.”
As a fairy, she could appear briefly from any lake in the Material Realm at will. Glass Island happened to have a large lake, making it convenient for her to visit.
Those who threw axes into the lake saw fairies like them.
“Remember to convey my goodwill to him.”
Lancelot instructed. “Tell him everything is fine on my end—I’ve returned to the Shadow Realm, and it was a pleasure fighting alongside him. I hope we can meet again in the future. I’ll treat him to a drink then.”
His underlying meaning was that he hoped Eivass would be sublimated to the Dream Realm in the future. Then, Eivass could come to the Shadow Realm to find him.
They said fighting alongside each other… but they were actually two souls crammed into one body, both being beaten up by the City-Breaker.
But thanks to their mutual support, their souls were not directly crushed by the City-Breaker. If it were just one person, they probably couldn’t have lasted long before being crushed… Although Lancelot had lived for a long time, he was not an apostle, and his soul had not been sublimated.
However, Morgan’s expression was a little subtle.
A dead person telling a living person to meet again in the future… this sentence didn’t sound very auspicious.
So she changed the subject and asked, “Should I bring him a token of my appreciation for you?”
“…It’s possible, but I really don’t have any valuables.”
Lancelot thought for a moment. “Please give Eivass a gift for me, Morgan. Thank you. I’ll compensate you later.”
The Lake Fairies were all wealthy.
After all, they were once witches, and even after transforming into fairies or witches, they still possessed the ability to create magical items and potions. Just a few hundred years of mutual exchange could accumulate a large fortune.
“No problem, I’ll take a look and decide then,” Morgan said, satisfied with Lancelot’s words, smiling. “I’m also looking forward to your gift.”
(End of this chapter)
