After introducing themselves, the night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, under Aescâs lead, everyone packed up the campsite in the forest, extinguished the campfire, and walked out of the woods.
Riezel followed behind Aesc and the others, keeping his distance from everyone, moving slowly like an outsider.
Totorot and Black Knight did not approach Riezel either, likely because they did not see him as a true companion, but merely as a fellow traveler for the time being.
Even among themselves, the group did not engage in any lively conversation as they walked.
Aside from Totorot, who was rather noisy, both Aesc and Black Knight did not seem like the type who enjoyed idle chatter, since they would only occasionally respond with a word or two when Totorot spoke, remaining silent the rest of the time.
What was surprising was that they were not traveling by carriage, but on foot.
"Sometimes there are a lot of Moss in the forest. If we ride in a carriage, we might miss them. Traveling on foot like this means we can eliminate them as soon as we see them so that fairies wonât be attacked in the forest, especially now that Britain is about to enter a time of peace."
Aesc gave this reason for choosing to travel on foot.
"Aesc will just use
Opposing Mirrors
to run all over the place anyway. When we need to hurry, she can just take us all with her."
Totorot chimed in, giving her own reason.
"It doesnât matter. If we ever need a carriage, Iâll just make one myself."
Black Knight, who was already skilled enough as a blacksmith to make tools, also gave his own reason.
Just like that, the group walked out of the forest at a leisurely pace.
As soon as they stepped outside, Riezel stopped walking and looked up, gazing toward the north.
Over there, on the horizon, something with an overwhelming presence caught his attention.
"Are you looking at the World Tree?"
Aesc noticed Riezelâs act and asked him.
What Aesc meant by the so-called World Tree was a massive tree located on the northern horizon of Britain, so large that it reached into the clouds, as if it supported the entire sky.
"World Tree, huh?" Riezel curled his lips, neither confirming nor denying the name. "If you really think about it, it certainly could be called the tree that allows this world to exist."
He gave this ambiguous answer, causing everyone to stop in their tracks.
"Why do you say that?"
Totorot could not hold back and was the first to ask.
Aesc mused for a moment, then spoke up.
"As far as I know, the World Tree existed even before Faerie Britain appeared. However long the history of Faerie Britain is, thatâs how long the World Tree has existed, so the fairies call it the World Tree."
"For Britain, the World Tree is something that should naturally existâessentially the symbol of Britain, a landmark that has always been there."
"Some fairies say the world only exists because of that tree, but there donât seem to be many fairies willing to actually investigate it. At least for now, that seems to be the case."
Aesc then looked at Riezel.
"On your side, have any fairies investigated the World Tree?"
If so, Aesc felt she could have a good conversation with Riezel about it.
Although she had gotten some information about the World Tree from her own
âmemories,â
she did not feel she understood it very well.
Maybe, just maybe, in the future, there would be enough information about the World Tree.
As Aesc thought this, she heard Riezel speak up in the next moment.
"I can only say that the tree isnât called the World Tree. Its real name is the Fantasy Tree."
Riezelâs abrupt remark startled everyone.
"Fantasy Tree?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
If someone from Chaldea had been here, if they had seen the tree and heard Riezelâs words, they would not have reacted so mildly. While others might not have known about the Fantasy Tree, Chaldea knew it all too well.
It was the core of a Lostbelt, a source capable of initializing a planet and creating new myths.
When planted on a planetâs surface, it would absorb magical energy from the planetâs ley lines and invade the present world, causing a Lostbelt different from Proper Human History to emerge.
Without Fantasy Trees, the reality of Proper Human History would not be invaded, and Lostbelts would not easily appear.
For that reason, the Fantasy Tree was the keystone for creating these anomalous historiesâthe root at the center of each Lostbelt, the foundation of the world.
It was because Alien God and the Crypters had planted the Fantasy Tree on the surface of the Earth in Proper Human History that the blank paper phenomenon had appeared, causing a crisis that threatened the very foundation of humanity.
Because of that, Chaldea had always fought on the front lines against the Crypters and Alien God, breaking into Lostbelts one after another, cutting down the Fantasy Trees rooted in the planetâs surface along with their corresponding Lostbelts, trying to save the Earth and Proper Human History.
In other words, a Fantasy Tree was the cornerstone of a Lostbeltâs existence, while to Chaldea, it was the greatest enemy, the root that had to be eliminated.
So far, Chaldea had traversed five Lostbelts and cut down five Fantasy Trees.
As for the British Lostbelt, it had also come into existence because of a Fantasy Tree, which was why Beryl Gut, a Crypter, had come to Britain.
However, four hundred years later, at the official start of the Queenâs Calendar, the Fantasy Tree known to the Crypters and the World Tree known to the fairies vanished without warning.
In other words, there would be no Fantasy Tree in the future, and no World Tree in the future Faerie Britain, which made this Lostbelt change, turning it into a world different from Proper Human History.
For this reason, Morgan sought to cross the barrier of the Britain Lostbelt and invade Proper Human History, aiming to make the entire planet a world where only Britain existed.
Because this was the first time Riezel had ever seen the legendary Fantasy Tree, he couldnât help but gaze at it a bit longer, even activating the
Transparent World
to see through the massive tree.
As soon as he looked, Riezel couldnât help but gasp in amazement.
âWhat terrifying magical energy...â
With the
Transparent World
, Riezel saw inside the Fantasy Tree.
Inside, it was almost entirely magical energy, so immense it was the most overwhelming Riezel had ever seen in his life.
Even if Koyanskaya revealed her true nature and returned to her Beast of Cherishment form, or if the incarnation of the Great Calamity that could crush Norwich and ravage all of Britain appeared, they would not even be one ten-thousandth as powerful as the magical energy hidden within the Fantasy Tree.
If all that magical energy were released and used as fuel for an explosion, it might cause a phenomenon on par with heaven and earth turning upside down.
âIndeed, without this kind of power, it would be impossible for a Lostbelt to take shape.â
Riezel fell silent in thought.
"What are you thinking about?"
Aescâs voice reached Riezel a moment later, snapping him back from his thoughts.
"Itâs nothing." Riezel quickly shook his head. "Alright, letâs keep moving."
Aesc stared at Riezel for a moment, then nodded.
Totorot and Black Knight sensed that Riezel was hiding something, but since Aesc did not press further, they chose not to ask either.
After all, there was still plenty of time aheadâthey could always figure it out later.
===
In the end, the journey of Riezel and the saviorâs group began in a quiet and uneventful manner.
They traveled on foot through Britain, which no longer suffered from strife or wars started by the clans.
At first, they headed west, then turned north.
Only then did Riezel realize that the shoreline and forest where he had first descended were actually Norwich.
In this era, the four-hundredth year of the Fairy Calendar, the port city of Norwich had not yet been built, and Camelot, known as the fortress of evil, did not exist on this land either.
At this time, the most famous city was Salisbury.
Why?
It was because Salisbury was home to a cathedral said to be the very first giant structure in all of Britain. To commemorate the saviorâs achievements, the Cathedral of the Ash Tree had already been constructed by this time.
However, it was Totorot, with her loose tongue, who accidentally let something slip.
"Aescâs
âspearâ
was sealed there."
What she meant by the
âspearâ
was, of course, the
âSpear of Selectionâ
carried by Aesc as a Fairy of Paradise.
It should be known that whenever a Fairy of Paradise left the Inner Sea of the Planet, she would bring with her a ritual item that served as both her weapon and her symbol.
Aescâs was the Spear of Selection.
Artoriaâs was the Staff of Selection.
However, Aescâs Spear of Selection had already been sealed away, and it was sealed inside the Cathedral of the Ash Tree in Salisbury, which was what Totorot had said.
"Itâs all those fairiesâ fault! Theyâre just way too selfish! Even though it was Aesc who got rid of the Calamity that threatened Britain, they actually dared to do something like that!"
"Aesc was super mad back then! She was so angry that everyone got scared, yâknow?"
"In the end, Aescâs spear got corrupted! It turned into a bad weapon!"
Totorotâs explanation was just like thatâdisjointed and all over the place, so anyone else probably wouldnât have understood a word.
Riezel, however, understood.
âBasically, that bunch of fairies did something stupid again and nearly made Lady Savior go dark, right?â
Fortunately, the savior didnât end up going dark because it was the spear in her hand that became dark instead, turning into a weapon with massive negative side effects.
Riezel also knew that, in the future, the spear sealed inside the Cathedral of the Ash Tree would no longer be there, because someone would take it away, make it their own weapon, and in doing so, meet a rather tragic fate.
In the end, after that conversation, the group continued traveling across Britain, fighting the Moss along the way, and sometimes, they also followed Aesc to investigate ancient ruins, delving into the history of Britainâs birth.
After half a month of this leisurely journey, Aesc finally led the group to that placeâthe Great Pit.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: patreon.com/VALRRR]