Chapter 30: Mary and Manaka Sajyou
This?
Noah stared blankly at the simulation's content.
He simply couldn't comprehend why things had suddenly turned out this way... Logically speaking, if he weren't currently holding the silly hair in his arms, he might have been even more shaken, hard to say.
Couldn't the version of himself in the simulation just refuse when faced with such a situation?
Too easily tempted!
Thinking this, Noah recalled the appearance of the female version of Merlin and... well, it seemed like if he encountered her himself...
Alright, never mind.
With these thoughts, Noah continued watching.
After all, though he knew well that Vortigern's storyline still lacked many clues and possibly even an entire route he hadn't seen, such a situation suddenly appearing in the simulation made him curious about what exactly was going on here.
[Afterwards, you asked Merlin what exactly was happening. Merlin first explained that this world also had its own Merlin, so she asked you to call her Mary to distinguish her from the other Merlin, before proceeding with the explanation]
[Mary said the worldline you're currently in has clearly developed abnormalities. Normally, worlds exhibiting such anomalies would directly become Singularities. Even if other accidents occurred, they should become Lostbelts or be directly pruned by the main worldline into parallel worldlines, without affecting the main worldline's development]
[Yet undoubtedly, the worldline you're in is the main worldline. Now that anomalies are occurring directly in the main worldline, this has caused distortions in other parallel worlds]
[She came from one of these parallel worlds. Though she doesn't know if other parallel worlds have also distorted, her parallel world wasn't the only one from which someone came through]
[As Mary spoke, she took out Avalon from their world and continued explaining]
[She said this serves as proof because when she was initially caught in the distortion, both the Holy Sword and its scabbard were in her possession. However, during the distortion process, she clearly saw another person getting swept in too, resulting in the scabbard remaining with her while their world's Holy Sword of the Stars ended up in that other woman's hands]
[Mary only understood the issues about main worldlines and parallel worldlines after arriving here, learning that the distortions occurred because the main worldline developed problems. She wants to investigate this matter and return to her original world. Of course, she also needs to retrieve the Holy Sword of the Stars and bring that woman back with her]
[But because this era also has its own Merlin, her movements are restricted. Unfortunately, her initial landing point was Britain, where Merlin resides, forcing her to hide somewhere Merlin would theoretically never go—Vortigern's dreams]
[So after you killed Vortigern, she sneaks in with the flow of your dreams]
[After Mary explained all these reasons, though you felt quite surprised, what intrigued you more wasn't how Mary came here, but why she did what she just did]
[Meri could tell what you were thinking, so she continued speaking to you]
[She said it was unavoidable earlier—she never expected Vortigern to die so easily. So when transferring from Vortigern's dream to yours, Merlin happened to be present and spotted her]
[Though Merlin would never imagine there could be a second version of himself in this world, other dream demons might still exist elsewhere. That's why Merlin inspected your dream after witnessing the incident]
[If he had found her, merely coming face-to-face would have caused her, having arrived from a parallel worldline, to be instantly devoured by the main worldline's Merlin. To deceive him, her only option was to extract pure magical energy from you and assimilate it into her own body]
[As Meri said this, she rubbed her lower abdomen with her hand]
[The situation had been urgent, so she chose the most direct method—a plan she'd already devised upon realizing she needed to relocate]
[Hearing this, you asked why she chose you]
[Meri's expression then turned peculiar. She explained she originally intended to transfer to Arthur, someone she was relatively familiar with, but discovered the main worldline's Arthur was Artoria... Left with no alternative, she ultimately chose you, King Arthur]
[Upon hearing this and seeing her deadpan expression, you hesitated but decided not to press further on the matter]
[So you changed the subject, asking how much she still understood about the distortion]
[Meri shook her head]
[After arriving, she'd remained almost entirely within Vortigern's dream. Though she'd been gradually learning about this world through her own methods, she remained unclear about why the main worldline had undergone such drastic changes without being pruned into a parallel worldline]
[Still, she hadn't come away empty-handed—at the very least, she'd identified several points of distortion in the main worldline]
[First, she believed the issue lay in you becoming King Arthur instead of Arthur]
[Second, she maintained that King Arthur couldn't possibly be female, so she suspected Artoria was also...]
[Third, she noted that in Rome, Attila the Hun hadn't died and was still invading the empire]
[Fourth and finally, she felt that even an alternate version of Merlin shouldn't be as shameless, irritating, and morally chaotic as the current one—so she concluded this Merlin must be abnormal]
[You had no objection to her first point, but suspected the second and fourth might be biased personal opinions—though you didn't completely dismiss them. What concerned you most was the third]
[Main worldline anomalies causing parallel worldline distortions... felt somewhat distant to you, who lived in the main worldline. But the survival of Attila the Scourge of God was an immediate threat]
[With Vortigern's death, Britain's mystery would gradually fade like Pictavia's. Your next focus would be guiding your people to survive without the Age of Gods' protection]
"If we must wage war against the Scourge of God in such times, then we must begin preparations early."
After you had fully grasped these points, you suddenly remembered that Mary had not come alone, so you asked her about the individual wielding the Holy Sword of the Stars.
Mary said she originally did not know the other person, but perhaps due to the distortions, the Holy Sword of the Stars in her possession had entangled with the other party, causing some of their information to transfer to her.
She mentioned that it was a magus from a future somewhat distant to her, who seemed to have been caught in the distortions while preparing for a ritual known as the Holy Grail War.
As for the other's name—
Mary said she was called Manaka Sajyou.