Knight of Avalon
Chapter-6
Kay
Ynys Mon, Britain, 500 AD:
500 years after the end of the Age of Gods across the mediterranean world, Britain, along with Scandinavia, retained their mystery. But even in Britain, the island of Ynys Mon had significantly more mana density than the rest of the island. Even in the most obscure period in British history, Ynys Mon had a reputation of being the mysterious island of Druids, with only a few towns constructed during the days of the Roman Empire being the only form of urban civilisation on the island.
And in the aftermath of Vortigern's rule, the island had become the haunting grounds of several horrific and mysterious beasts.
These beasts would swim across into the Welsh and Cornish coasts and terrorize the villages there.
Of course, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round table would work relentlessly putting down these beasts wherever they turned up, and several climactic clashes were recorded between the Knights and these beasts.
…One of which was happening at the moment.
On one side, was a knight with dented and broken steel armor holding a flaming sword.
On the other, a large fox-like cat with white fur stained red by the countless flesh wounds that had been inflicted on its body and pinkish purple flames of mana radiating from every pore of its being.
In the distance, was a simple observer, a mage, assisting the knight in keeping up with the beast's powerful attacks.
For months the knight and the beast had played a game of cat and mouse with each other across the island.
And that game was to come to an end among the tranquil waters of Llyn Llywenan.
This would be the final stand for both the knight and the beast…
…And it's aftermath would forever change the knight's life.
The Bleached world, 2019 AD:
A lone figure trudged through the blank white sands at the location of what used to be the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
Only a few months earlier, this site was where Fantasy tree Sombrero had taken root. Now, due to Chaldea's actions, the Norse Lostbelt had been pruned, and Sombrero had long since disappeared.
However, there was an anomaly.
Why are there still signs of magical energy? The Chaldean thought as he walked towards a specific location, what in Proper Human History would be the Norwegian Royal Palace in Oslo.
Blips of strange purple magical energy pulsated in the air where Sombrero once stood.
The Chaldean walked close, his eyes scanning the strange mana before he frowned.
"Hm? I can't make out its origin?" He muttered before concentrating harder.
Perhaps I need to concentrate. The Chaldean thought before he looked again…
…Same result.
That's concerning. The Chaldean thought. He had already imprinted the Alien God's signature, so if these strains had been the Alien God's work, then he would have seen that the energy originated from the Alien World.
But no. This was different.
This is…interesting. The Chaldean thought.
Another group had inserted themselves into the mess known as the Human Order Revision. And clearly, they had appeared at the time of the creation of Fantasy Tree Sombrero.
But with the Scandinavian Lostbelt's pruning, The Chaldean had no way of exploring further, so he would need another way to further pursue the case of these strange remnants of mana.
He could detect the strains of this energy creating a sort of trail heading to the southwestern direction.
The Chaldean concentrated again and closed his eyes, trying to follow the energy's trail, and he found it ending at…
"...Britain." The Chaldean declared. The lostworld that had been formed from a singularity within the British Lostbelt which had completely separated itself from the Alien World due to its status as world of Fairies rather than humans as the Alien World desired.
The Lostworld's wall of light was certainly blocking him out, which meant he would have to enter the lostworld itself to further trace the energy's trail.
But that also brought about concerning implications. This third party might have been hiding right under his nose and interfering with the lostbelts in ways even he could not perceive.
Who knows what they have already done by now? The Chaldean thought.
But in all honesty, they would be more of Chaldea's headache. He, in particular, only wanted to more know about them.
And I was anyways going to pay a visit to Britain. The Chaldean thought.
Whatever the case, this third party would either be a silent observer or unimportant actor as they had been in the previous lostbelts…
"Or they will completely shift the course of the Human revision order and further future events."
The Nameless Woods, 2019 EoHQ:
In the Nameless woods, a knight with a bow and a young red-haired girl dressed in a black jacket and a grey skirt trudged through the forest, with no clue where they were, or even who they were.
Hermia, the denizen of a bleached world, and Tristram, her knightly servant.
"Tristram, do you see anyone?" Hermia asked.
Tristram shook his head. "Hermia, I can't see."
"Oh, right. Sorry. Is there…"
"Anyone? Yes, there's someone right here." A third voice spoke beside her as Hermia jumped.
"Who's there?!" She asked before noticing an old man with a walking stick.
"You look lost, kids." The old man spoke.
"Where did you come from?" Hermia asked.
"Oh, just from those bushes. I usually take morning strolls around here when - I imagine my surprise - I find you two here. Honestly, you should be careful. These woods aren't exactly the best of places to be strolling through.
"But you just…"
"Oh, don't worry about me. I may look old, but I've got lots of tricks up my sleeve. Thanks for asking, young lady." The old man spoke.
"Do you know the way out of here?" Tristram asked.
"Depends on where you want to go. The Misty Beach of Plymouth or the Grasslands of Glastonbury?"
"Um…the grasslands."
"Great! I know just the way." The old man spoke.
"By the way, where are you from?"
"Uh…"
"Never mind. Just tell me your names."
"I am Tristram." Tristram introduced himself.
"Hermia." Hermia spoke.
"Tristram, Hermia…well, Tristram looks like a local from Salisbury. Hermia…you're weird."
"What?"
"Your name suggests you're from Londinium and just the Thames river basin in general…but your features nothing like I've ever seen here in Britain. What's with those really small eyes?"
Hermia frowned.
"Never mind. You're in luck the Queen's soldiers are just outside. They'll help get you to Camelot."
"Thank you, kind sir. Could you tell us your name?"
"Oh!" The old man spoke with a smile. "Just call me…"
"...The Worker."
Sheffield, 2019 EoHQ:
In one of the houses within sheffield, a woman sat at a desk, while a cloaked figure looked out the window.
The woman had brown flowing hair reaching up till her shoulders with small braids in her hair, and was wearing a teal cloak with golden embroidery over a whitish green tunic.
The figure, on the other hand, was dressed in armor from head to toe, wearing a helmet and draped in a dirty brown cloak with a hood over their head.
The woman was writing on a book with a serene look on her face as the figure regarded the streets outside.
"Lord Boggart's received a guest." The woman spoke. "I think that makes his latest wife."
"..."
"Ah, of course. You don't really speak, do you?" The woman asked as she looked out the window as well.
"Hm…I wonder." The woman pulled out a pouch and dumped its contents onto her desk.
A bunch of runestones scattered across the desk, each engraved with a norse rune.
"Raidho…Gebo…Ah, that only means one thing." The woman spoke with a smile as she got up.
"Come." She spoke to the silent knight.
"We have visitors."
"So, this is Sheffield." Kay spoke, his nose scrunched up as he looked upon the city.
"You don't look a lot too happy to see Sheffield, Kay." Artoria spoke.
"Probably because of Sheffield's place in Proper Human History." Da Vinci commented.
"Why?"
"Well, Sheffield was a city constructed by King Arthur's biggest enemies, the Saxons, after the Saxon kingdom of Mercia conquered the Britonnic kingdom of Elmet. So…"
"Heh, don't worry. Sheffield isn't a Saxon city in this Britain. Plus, I did infiltrate Canterbury once, so I probably shouldn't be unhappy about entering a Saxon city."
"Wait, what? When did you…?"
"I know, it's not mentioned in my legend. I think any records had died out by the time of the Renaissance, Da Vinci."
Da Vinci frowned. "Fair. We had very little knowledge of Sub-Roman Britain at that time. Of course, even Rome considered Britain to be a mysterious isle located at the edges of the world."
"Can you two stop discussing things I have no clue of and get inside already?!" Artoria snapped at the both of them.
Kay and Da Vinci both shrugged as the group entered the city.
"Oh…this looks…" Artoria spoke.
"Preparations." Kay spoke. Sheffield as a city had quite different architecture from Salisbury. As opposed to Salisbury's fanciful buildings, Sheffield's were a lot simpler and were built a lot more from bricks than Salisbury's concrete.
The biggest difference, of course, was that it was a lot less calm. Sheffield looked exactly like a town preparing for a siege, due to the heavy presence of human and wulf soldiers patrolling down the streets.
"They're mobilizing forces, most likely preparing for the clash with Morgan." Kay noted.
He could see that fortifications hadn't exactly begun, but that was most likely to avoid scrutiny and subsequently be attacked before they could mount up a defense.
"Puck, what more can you tell us?" He asked.
"Well, Sheffield is under the fang clan's control…officially. It's ruled by the former Lord of Norwich, Boggart."
Kay frowned. "Boggart?"
"A Leo fairy from Oxford who used to be Woodwose's second-in-command until his services earned him Lordship over Norwich. Despite the obvious problems of a fang clan fairy presiding over the Earth Clan's capital, the people loved Boggart. Of course, that was until a Changeling named Spriggan came in, dominated the business, and framed Boggart for a massive scandal that earned the queen's displeasure and had him stripped of his position and exiled to Sheffield, while Spriggan became the new lord of Norwich."
"But of course, Boggart wasn't exactly too happy with this, and things have been always heated between him and Camelot."
"And now Boggart has decided to rise up in rebellion." Da Vinci noted.
"In which case, we'll have to reach out to him." Kay spoke.
"Which is really difficult. Boggart is a fang clan member, and holds a pretty low opinion of humans. He'd be unwilling to work with two humans, a petty thief and a country girl claiming to be the child of prophecy. No offense, Artoria, but with your current state, Boggart's not at all going to accept you as the child of prophecy." Puck spoke, shaking his head.
Artoria glared at him. "Way to kick me while I'm down…" She grumbled.
"So, where do we even begin?" Artoria asked as Kay noticed some particular earth clan fairies chasing away a green-skinned fairy with sharp ears.
"Oh…Changelings." Puck muttered. "They're fairies that are said to come from flotsam, and often regarded as outsiders by most regular fairies."
"And where do they come from?" Kay asked.
"The lifeless sea, but we don't know if there is another island other than britain from where these changelings come from. But anyways, changelings are already treated badly, but the worst is here at Sheffield."
"Why's that?"
"...Spriggan's a changeling. Boggart's opinion of Changelings went extremely low after Spriggan cost him his position."
"Ah. But moving back to our question, where DO we truly start?"
Da Vinci frowned. "There really is no other place for us than to seek an audience with Boggart. Puck?"
"Oh, that's simple. Boggart's not a clan leader, so it would be much easier to get an audience with him. The problem lies in whether he thinks we're worth allying with, especially with how Artoria is."
"We'll convince him that we…bwah!" Artoria tripped over a pebble and fell face first into the rocky pavement.
"Ooh…That's a hard fall." Puck spoke as Kay helped up Artoria.
"Oh…you broke your nose." Kay muttered as Puck snapped his fingers as Artoria's nose readjusted itself.
"Ow…"
"With our 'child of prophecy' being a massive klutz…Boggart's going to appoint us as his jesters." Puck spoke shaking his head, before calming sidestepping Artoria, who tried to whack him on the head with her staff.
"Hm, if he has problems…then all of us will have to make do. If he doesn't think much of the child of prophecy, he'll certainly not have the same opinion of me or Da Vinci."
"Because Da Vinci's a genius, right?" Artoria asked.
Da Vinci beamed as Kay crossed his arms.
"Oh wow…I love the compliments, master. Come on, praise Da Vinci a bit more."
Artoria flushed. "W-Well, y-you're pretty strong, too, Kay…"
Kay smirked.
"By the way…" Artoria spoke. "What's your legend about?"
"Hm?"
"I mean, if you're a heroic spirit, what did you do to become one?"
Kay's scarred eye stung as he winced. For a moment his vision went dark and he only could see a shape of a beast with glowing purple eyes. Kay suddenly saw his surroundings and sheffield residents with strong blue auras, some red, and some faint.
This is… Kay thought.
"Guh…"
"Kay, Kay!" Artoria called worriedly as Kay's vision returned to normal.
Kay noticed Artoria staring at him in concern. "What was that?"
Da Vinci also looked at him in intrigue. "That was pretty odd. Your scar started glowing purple.."
"It…was?" Kay spoke in confusion as he noticed blood leaking from his nose.
Kay wiped it off and shook his head. "But…how? This shouldn't be happening again…"
"What? Kay, what's wrong?"
"What do you think?"
"I saw it was a sharp flare in mana within your scar." Artoria answered.
Kay nodded. "That's about right. The whole phantom pain with the scar started a long time back, at about the time I slew the cat."
Da Vinci's eyebrows rose. "The Cat? As in…"
"Cath Palug, yes." Kay spoke as Da Vinci fell silent.
"Uh…who's this Cath Palug?"
"A monstrous feline beast that terrorized the island of Ynys Mon and Cornwall back in my Britain. It had caused a lot of damage to our crops and forced Arthur himself to personally step in."
"And…what happened?"
"Cath Palug slaughtered his army and Arthur himself received an injury that forced him to return to Camelot to heal." Kay spoke, his fist clenching slightly.
"I was in Francia, on a mission to speak to the King Clovis of the Merovingian dynasty when I received news of Arthur's injury. I rushed back from Francia to Britain."
"After that?"
"I hunted the creature down and eventually killed it in Ynys Mon."
Da Vinci was oddly silent.
"Woah…was it…dangerous?"
"Cath Palug was akin to our version of a calamity." Da Vinci spoke with a frown. "From what I know, Cath Palug was on its way to become a Beast of Humanity. For a human like Kay to have slain it…it was perhaps one of the most impressive achievements for any warriors of his time."
Artoria stared at Kay in wonder. "Woah…that means you're pretty strong, Kay!"
Kay snorted with a soft smile. "If you think so, master. Anyways, while I was fighting Cath Palug, I received this scar. It wasn't just a normal attack either, Cath Palug even fed some of its mana into it, and it was intended to completely melt through my armor, flesh and bones. I manage to barely scrape by with my shield and received a minor scar as a result. Cath Palug's attack also…changed some things within my body."
"First, it significantly raised my abilities to produce flames. Second, this eye…was converted into a mystic eye of sorts because of Cath Palug's mana."
"A mystic eye?" Da Vinci asked. "Now that's something I don't remember…"
"I rarely used it, since I don't feel comfortable with it and it gives me a splitting headache if I do so for too long." Kay spoke.
"What does it do?" Artoria asked as Kay turned somber.
"...It…tells me who is more likely to die and who is more likely to live." Kay spoke.
"But…I don't want to talk further about my mystic eye. Every time I've used it…it has brought me nothing but grief and sorrow."
Artoria fell silent.
"So…you used your eye back then?" Artoria asked.
"I did not. As far as I know, that eye should not have…" Kay's words died out as he thought of the implication.
It should either have been activated by me…or by… Kay shook his head.
"Let's go." Kay spoke.
"So, Puck, where do we have to go to get an audience with Boggart?" Da Vinci asked.
Puck smirked. "We're in luck, actually. Today's Frïgedæg."
Da Vinci blinked.
"He means Friday." Kay spoke, recognizing the Old English name.
"Well, I don't know what this 'Friday' is, exactly, but yes. On Frïgedæg, Boggart addresses the citizens of Sheffield in the public square in front of his castle. A lot of his advisors take appointments to his court."
"Well, then we surprisingly have our work cut out for us, let's go." Kay spoke.
Artoria gulped.
"Oh, don't be a scaredy cat, master. Now's not the time to do that." Kay spoke slapping Artoria's back as the group headed for the square.
In another part of the city, the woman walked with the silent knight through the streets, the knight's brown hood pulled over the their head, while the woman kept her runestones in her bag, along with a short blade sheathed on her hip, with her hood pulled up as well.
"Alright, I believe they should be reaching public square." The woman told the knight who nodded.
"I'm personally excited. So many interesting things happening at Sheffield at the moment: The Child of Prophecy, Boggart's new wife and the Vision of the All-Father."
The knight looked at her.
"Ah, forgive me, you're not particularly interested in any of these things. Truth be told, you refuse to let me know your reasons."
"..."
"But I won't pry. Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge is a good thing, but knowing when to restrain that curiosity is also a good thing. Let's stop wasting time and keep moving." The woman spoke chuckling.
"I can't wait to see you again, Kay."
The square was crowded, as expected, and packed to the brim with soldiers, both human and fairy.
Since Sheffield was a former fang clan city, Kay could spot the typical wulf infantry and centaurus cavalry, but he also spotted earth clan fairies in diamond-like armor wielding heaving hammers and wearing tool kits around their waists.
Along with that, there were of course some human soldiers standing guard as well.
"Bwah, I can't see!" Artoria grumbled as she tried to jostle through the crowd, getting scared by the fang clan fairies into whom she bumped into, before Kay warded them off with a glare.
"Maybe you should have taken my advice and worked on your height, master." Kay drawled as Artoria glared at him. She didn't whack him with her staff, since last time she did that, she hit a Wulf fairy and almost got throttled.
"It's not fair that you're tall, Kay!" Artoria snapped as Kay shrugged.
"She did have a point. Kay was tall for an average human, towering over most of the crowd and even surpassing the relatively tall Wulf fae in terms of height. In the entire crowd, Kay was the tallest, so he had a much better view of the stage than the rest of his companions.
And boy, was the stage a strange sight.
On the stage, stood Boggart. Boggart resembled the Leo fairies, except he had an albino look unlike the golden fur of the Leo fairies, was about as tall as woodwose and was dressed in a blue coat, giving off an aristocratic look.
Boggart's eyes were sharp, showing clear experience in military matters, while also showing a feral look as expected of a Fang Clan fairy.
Along with Boggart, stood a young girl with pink hair, and purple eyes, dressed in a white gown that looked suspiciously like a bride's dress. From the chatter near him, Kay learnt the girl was Boggart's latest wife, at whom Artoria was staring with a sense of morbid wonder.
No wonder thinking that she looks like a pig having had a bath in the mud compared to Boggart's wife. Kay thought with a grin, as he looked at the little human girl standing behind the massive stature of Boggart.
Kay would have made a disgusted expression if he didn't remember all the women he slept with in his youth.
Goodness me, I was quite the womanizer. Kay thought shaking his head. For some reason, he felt a sense of satisfaction simply being able to smooth-talk the women into sleeping with him.
"Oh, so your oh so 'important work' includes sleeping with other women as a part of the job description, oh gallant, faithful Sir Kay?"
Kay felt a soft smile creep up on his face, remembering an old memory. His womanizing activities ended after he met his wife Andrivete, the sharp-tongued Princess of Bryneich, who'd been one of the first people to actually match his silver tongue. Merlin did joke that both of them were meant for each other, because of how much they loved cutting people down with their tongues. But despite all that, Andrivete was a kind soul who always made him happy whenever work at Camelot stressed him out.
Seeing the girl reminded Kay of Andrivete, having a gentle aura behind her, although Andrivete did hide her more demonic persona behind a gentle smile. But this girl didn't…
Kay noticed Da Vinci had completely frozen up, staring at the girl with wide eyes.
Oh, she recognizes Boggart's wife. Kay thought as he elbowed Da Vinci, who shook her head.
"Da Vinci?" He asked as Da Vinci looked at him.
"That's Mash!" She hissed as Kay blinked and looked back at the girl.
"Wait…Mash Kyrielight? One of your companions who got lost?" Kay asked with a serious frown as Da Vinci nodded vigorously.
"But what is Mash is doing here?" Kay spoke.
Artoria's eyes also widened. "Wait, she must have succumbed to the effects of the Nameless Woods. She might have been found by Boggart without any memories and taken in."
"That means he must be knowing of Mash's capabilities. In that case, he won't be willing to part with Mash." Kay spoke.
"Artoria, is there a way to restore Mash's memories?" Da Vinci asked with slight alarm.
Artoria looked at Mash with concern. "The Nameless Woods were born from the collective desires of the Cornwall Fairies to 'forget their old lives and be better versions of themselves'. In that sense, anyone who goes through the Nameless Woods don't just lose their memories…they lose their sense of self and become empty husks, until they find a new name and are given a sense of self. If this new self is better and stronger than the old…" Artoria looked downcast.
Kay scowled. "I highly doubt there can be things better than being a saviour of Proper Human History, right? Let's assume Mash hasn't accepted a new life yet…how do we restore her old one?"
"That…requires interacting with a very important part of her old self, something that heavily contributes to her reason for living that old life. Doing that will allow her mind and body to accept her old self once again and not transition into a new one."
Da Vinci stood still.
"...That means…" She looked at Mash.
"That means we need her master, Ritsuka Fujimaru." Da Vinci spoke.
"...Alright then. We'll first see Boggart, then we'll plot our plan of action." Kay spoke.
"Yeah, for now, let's just focus on the small fairy dressed in pink clothes beside Boggart." Artoria spoke as Kay looked at the last person beside Boggart and recoiled.
Wait a minute… Kay thought in shock as he looked at the small fairy with pink hair, pink clothes and a spindle.
Could it be… Kay thought, his hand moving to his pouch, opening it and pulling out the tapestry he found at Ector's home.
It was the same tapestry which had Ector, the Artoria dressed in metallic armor and holding a spear, a boy with-blue hair and…
"The fairy on the stage." Kay spoke. There was no mistake. The pink-haired fairy matched the looks of the one in the tapestry.
Father knew this fairy. Kay thought. The others had not realized the significance, but this fairy was perhaps the most important one out of the three, for him.
I need to meet her. I need to ask her about this 'other' Artoria. Kay thought with a scowl.
Boggart continued his speech, giving reports of the military strength of Sheffield and giving charismatic speeches with his loud voice, assuring the citizens of Sheffield's might in the rebellion against Morgan, while Mash and the pink fairy listened off to the side.
Kay continued listening until he noticed Artoria frown before her eyes widened.
At that moment, Kay spotted spotted an Dwarven fairy with a firestone bomb in their hand.
The fairy immediately threw it in the air.
"LOOK OUT!" Artoria screamed as she raised her staff and shot a spell at the bomb, exploding it midair and knocking many fairies to the ground.
Screaming erupted as Kay spotted a wind clan fairy jump onto the stage and rush towards Boggart with a dagger in his hand, using wind magic to propel himself at Boggart.
"...!" Kay immediately rushed up, while Artoria and Da Vinci ran at the Earth Clan fairy, Artoria knocking him on the head with her staff and sending him to the ground while Da Vinci electrocuted him into unconsciousness.
"YOUR EXCELLENCY, LOOK OUT!" Kay yelled as Boggart turned in surprise to the wind clan fairy rushing at him.
Boggart leaned back, as Mash suddenly jumped in front of him, materializing a shield to deflect the assassin's attack.
At that moment, Kay's blade came down and cut off the fairy's armed hand before Kay swung at him, his blade cutting a fatal wound across the fairy's chest and sent him to the ground. The fairy convulsed for a moment before falling dead in a pool of blood.
Kay looked back at Boggart, before looking at Mash's shield.
"Huh…?" Kay spoke as he looked at that shield.
"That's…"
"What is your name?"
"Sir Galahad, your majesty. I am the son of Sir Lancelot."
"Galahad?" Kay muttered in confusion as Mash…Galahad's shield disappeared from Mash's hands as she looked at Boggart.
"Are you alright, milord?" She asked as Boggart nodded.
"I am, but you did not need to step in, foolish girl. I could have handled it." He spoke sternly as Mash deflated.
"But…" Boggart looked at Kay, with a mixture of apprehension and grudging respect. "You are a human…yet you helped save my life, so I am indebted to you. What do you wish for me to reward you?"
Kay looked away from Mash, before bowing down before Boggart.
"...Your excellency, me and my companions wish for an audience with you, if that doesn't inconvenience you."
Boggart stared at Kay as the pink-haired fairy spotted Artoria and stared at her with wide eyes.
Oh, she definitely knows something. Kay thought.
"Done. Come to my castle tomorrow in the morning. I shall inform my guards of your arrival." Boggart spoke before looking at a wulf soldier.
"Take the other assassin away and interrogate them about the origins, even though I'm mostly sure they've been sent by Morgan!" He spoke as the wulf soldier nodded, before a bunch of guards went up to Artoria and Da Vinci and dragged the fairy away.
"Are you outsiders?" Boggart asked calmly as Kay nodded.
"Indeed, it is our first day in Sheffield."
"Have you found accommodation?"
"No, your excellency. But we'll go find an inn after this."
"Very well. What is your name?"
"I am Kay."
Mash jolted for a moment.
"Again, thank you for saving my life, Sir Kay. We shall meet tomorrow." Boggart spoke as he walked away, while Kay stared at Mash as she walked off.
Kay went back to join Artoria, Da Vinci and Puck, with Artoria smiling and laughing nervously as the surrounding fairies showered praises on her for stopping the assassin.
Da Vinci smiled before frowning when she noticed Kay's stony expression.
"When you said Mash was a demi-servant…you didn't mention the servant she was bound to was Galahad of all people."
"Are you…angry?"
Kay snorted. "No. In fact…I'm very concerned. Do you realize what kind of a person Galahad was?"
Even as he asked, Kay could already imagine the dangerous complications. Galahad was more of a machine devoted to his task than a flawed human, and that made him really, really fussy about his mission and duty. Whoever he worked with, he expected them to do their job perfectly. No mistakes were allowed, and even minor ones would result in intense scrutiny and criticism from him.
In all honesty, Kay did not really have an attachment for Galahad. The young boy had been chosen for the purpose of retrieving the Grail-Cauldron of Brân the Blessed, and had no interest in anything else beyond that.
Not to mention Galahad had a sense of ego he was not aware of. If it was pre-ordained, then Galahad would not accept anyone doing what should be his quest to achieve his destiny. There was no way Mash could have lived up to Galahad's inhuman standards, and he would be wanting to ensure the Human Order is protected through personal interference.
It was highly possible that Galahad could simply take over Mash's body and become the new Mash.
Curse my tongue for jinxing us all. Kay thought as Da Vinci looked at him, silent but giving him the answer he expected to hear through thought alone.
Kay looked at Artoria, who had managed to get away from the crowd.
Sheffield was already shaping up to be quite the troublesome place - The impending war with Morgan, the problem of Mash and the mysterious pink fairy.
What more could be…
"Yoo hoo~" A woman's voice spoke as Da Vinci and Artoria looked at the same woman and the Silent Knight.
"Um…hi?" Artoria spoke nervously as the Silent Knight looked at her.
"..."
Artoria gulped. Although the Silent Knight was only slightly taller than her, it felt like they were towering over her.
"..."
"Don't scare her now, Sir Knight!" The woman spoke laughing.
"Who…?" Da Vinci spoke before noticing Kay had gone stock still.
Kay and the woman stared at each other
"...Helga?" Kay spoke in shock.
The woman gave him a warm smile.
"Hello again, old friend. It's been a long time since the two of us parted ways."
A/N: Oof, lot's of packaging of mysteries in this chapter. We got the Chaldean in Oslo, Ritsuka and Tristan meeting the Worker in the nameless woods and 'Helga'. Before you ask, Helga is an OC I made up. She is in no way a character that has actually appeared in the stories of Sir Kay.
Anyways, yes, I'm going with the 'Kay killed Cath Palug' story in Nasuverse. Again, if you're wondering, the Cath Palug Kay killed is different from Fou. Think of that Cath Palug as Fou's predecessor. I'll explain more later.
Other than that, Nothing much to talk about, except my FGO stuff. Considering I do not care about the lewd stuff in FGO and play because I am obssessed with history and mythology, I have no intention of rolling for the summer servants. At this point, I'll probably start saving for when LB7 comes around, unless Tunguska, Traum and events give me a reason to start spending.
Other than that, I'll be getting down to my telling of 'Kay killing Cath Palug' in later chapters so strap on.
Hope you guys enjoyed and Constructive Criticism is appreciated!
Foot Notes:
Frïgedæg: 5th day of a week in Fairy Britain, according to the Imperial convention of measuring time. While Faerie britain has multiple conventions, the High Queen has particularly imposed the Orcadian Convention to be the standardised system of measurement of time in Britain. The main reason is the fact that The High Queen herself comes from Orkney and has close ties with the Rain Clan and its culture.
Changelings: Changelings are considered the lowest of the lowest in Faerie society. The Fairies don't like outsiders, and the fact that changelings were said to come from the Lifeless Sea doesn't help their case of being treated with respect by other fairies. Perhaps the only changeling to have ever risen in power and status in Faerie Britain is Spriggan, and he did it by carving a blood path to the position of the Lord of Norwich.
Response to Reviews:
Kleave Guy: Match Woodwose? No. Kill him? Yes, very easily, in fact.
Tony My Boy: Yeah. I mean, it's not impossible for there to be technological progress in Faerie Britain, looking at the cities, and besides...I like showing technological and societal progress through magic a lot more in a fantasy world then just keeping it static. Never feels interesting to me.
Xian0451: Not too much, I think. Tristan's still a servant that can hold their own, and it's pretty clear the Nameless woods doesn't take everything away. It leaves basic fighting instincts, as seen with everyone who's succumbed to it.
Also, a moment of silence for Hope the Fairy. Thank you for traumatizing us players at the beginning of LB6.
Guest (1): Thanks for pointing that out. I made the correction.
surya25addanki: That doesn't seem plausible, considering Artoria was just about Morgan's level after doing a pilgrimage. Taking her on, as well as Woodwose and the knights might be too much.
King0fP0wers: That was Cú, yes. Yes, Oberon's being the dirty liar he is. I know Sith's got a sort of obsession, but in all honesty, Barghest never felt as much of a rival to Artoria than Sith, so that's what I'm going for. And Woodwose was one of my favourite characters, and I want to do more with him.
Guest (2): True, but LB6 does show Artoria has some traumatic lashing out of some kind to mass burnings, so while Tintagel's fairies were pieces of shit, Artoria still considered it her home, and the story shows that she has some trauma from its destruction.
Seeking the Miraculous Dream: He knows a lot.
TalonScythe: I think I know where the problem is. First, is that I'm writing this with Kay and Awel Souders, who don't have a visual appearance in FGO. So, it's much harder to form a mental image of the fight than of Artoria and Sith, since those two have visuals and in-game animations.
The second problem is my own, and that is that I tend to put too many details in the fight. See, when I write a fight scene, I form a mental image and start imagining taking it forward in a flow and translating the visual images in my mind into text. The positive thing is that you are less likely to run into roadblocks of the action scenes. But the biggest flaw of this method is that you can put in too many details and confuse the readers. That's the problem with Kay's fight scene, and I noticed that there were too many 'Kay did this, Kay did that' lines. In all honesty, this problem was a lot more here than it usually is in my other stories.
So sorry if it got overwhelming. I'll dial back the detailing in the next fight scene and try to keep it simple.
But, yeah. As I usually do, I will neither confirm nor deny your theories until I reveal the truth later on.
But thank you. Reviews like yours are always the best since they let me know whether I'm going the right path with the decisions I take with the story.