Aozaki Aoko Case File

Aoko brought out some fresh food from her Ark and shared it with everyone. As they ate, they caught up on 2,400 years of Fairy Britain's history.

Most focused on talking, but Barghest and Artoria devoted themselves to eating. Artoria, after so long without Aoko's cooking, was silent as she ate nonstop, while Barghest, never having had such delicious food, seemed almost scary in her hunger. Wryneck watched worriedly, ready to restrain her if needed.

"I know you, Fairy Knight Gawain, the man-eating Barghest," Aoko grinned at the big, embarrassed knight. "I know your curse. Let me help you!"

As soon as she finished, Barghest's overwhelming hunger vanished, leaving only a sage-like emptiness.

The towering knight slumped in her chair, suddenly calm. She blinked, staring dazedly at the food, then tried another bite—delicious, but no longer stirring that dark, devouring urge.

"How did you…?" Barghest finally asked Aoko, "Suppress my curse?"

"Oh, it's simple," Aoko took a bite of dessert. "Since your curse comes from this land's hatred of fairies, I shifted the curse's cost back to the land itself."

"I sent the time you'd spend consumed by your curse into the far future," Aoko said lightly. "As for the price of breaking time's law, the land and this world can bear it."

Barghest was left speechless, wanting to ask many things but unable to get the words out, so she just kept eating quietly.

"Artoria told me about Barghest," Morgan said. "When I named her, I noticed traces of tampering on her. Do you know why?"

"Probably some kind of worm," Aoko frowned. "It rejected my prophecy magecraft, which shouldn't be possible. I'm curious, too."

Aoko suspected Oberon Vortigern, using a Pretender Spirit Origin, had redirected all prophecy targeting him to a dormant identity, so as long as he didn't rebel, no spell or prophecy could find him. But such concealment had limits—sooner or later, her magic would find him.

"Do you remember the Cursed King that appears in Fairy Britain every thousand years?" Aoko asked.

"You mean…?" Morgan mused. "I've noticed the mosses have been more active lately. The last time I sent Mash back, it was because a major curse appeared…"

"Most likely," Aoko replied. "That guy—the Cursed King—is this land's will to self-destruction made manifest. That's why I said that no matter how many curses you beat, there's no point in trying to preserve this land."

"The very thing you want to save has lost the will to live."

Morgan's eyes went vacant. Both the Morgan of Proper Human History and her as a Paradise Fairy loved Britain deeply. But now someone told her the land itself wanted to die—this shook her very sense of purpose.

"If you hadn't warned me before…" Morgan smiled bitterly. "For 2,400 years, even facing so many hardships, I kept lying to myself: maybe if I endure, the future will be better… But now I see it's impossible."

Artoria, having stopped eating, patted Morgan's back for comfort, but Morgan soon pulled herself together.

"I understand, Artoria, I do," Morgan said. "I've long since given up on both humans and fairies."

"Now, I just want to wait for you to return and save those who matter to us," Morgan's gaze grew resolute. "Let the rest go as fate wills…"

The other fairies said nothing—they all knew what Morgan had been through. Even Barghest, remembering her fairy kin, felt gloomy.

"From what we saw, the number of humans in Fairy Britain has dropped a lot," Aoko noted.

"Yes," Morgan nodded. "Knowing how it all ends, I limited the number of humans fairies can make. Before the final moment, I'll forbid making more."

"A wise choice," Aoko agreed. "These humans are born of sin. Better to let them fade away than extend the tragedy."

In the Lostbelt, humans are made by splitting off parts of a single body using fairy magic. They live only thirty years, can't reproduce, and must be made anew by each generation of fairies. Their existence is a mistake; even if Touko could make them immortal souls, it would be wrong, and Aoko wouldn't take them into her Ark.

But Barghest was hesitant, for she liked a human boy and wanted to protect him, if possible, until his natural end.