"Take Barghest back to Camelot first, Mash," Aoko pulled out a blanket and wrapped Barguest's naked body, "I'll handle things here and return in a bit."
"Sister Aoko, please be careful! If anything happens, we'll rush to support you right away!" Mash lifted the huge Barghest from the ground. It looked a bit comical by contrast, but thanks to her Servant physique, Mash handled the weight easily.
"Don't worry," Aoko blinked, "As a Magician, I don't think I'd trip up in a place like this~"
Mash nodded, then activated the magical Mystic Code Water Mirror. A water-blue mirror appeared in midair; Mash carried Barghest through it and disappeared from the streets of Manchester.
"Mash! Wait for me!" Just as Aoko planned to see if there was anything in Manchester worth collecting, she heard a familiar voice behind her. Turning, she saw her old acquaintance Fujimaru Ritsuka, and the somewhat less familiar Da Vinci-chan running up.
Although Fujimaru Ritsuka was anxious, the water mirror behind Mash had already closed, so she didn't hear her senpai's call.
"It's been a while." Aoko greeted the two Chaldeans with a cheerful wave as if she had just run into old friends in a modern city, "How have you two been lately?"
"S-Sister Aoko?! Why are you here? Where's Mash?" Unable to be stopped by Da Vinci-chan, Ritsuka blurted out all her questions, prompting Aoko to quickly pull out a can of juice to calm the girl's nerves.
"Take your time; ask your questions one at a time, I'll answer them all." Aoko patted Ritsuka's shoulder. "Let's see, I happened to find Mash, who got thrown back 2,400 years, and brought her back here."
Ritsuka blinked in confusion as more questions rose in her mind.
"As for me, this should be our first meeting, Miss Blue," Da Vinci-chan greeted with a calm smile. "After all, my real body can't meet you now."
"How exactly did Da Vinci's real body die? Didn't I warn Chaldea about this before?" Aoko frowned and asked.
"...It's a long story. A spy infiltrated us and my real body was ambushed and had its spirit core destroyed," said Da Vinci-chan, helplessly. "Thanks to Mash's strength, we barely managed to escape from Chaldea."
"What about Dr. Roman?" Aoko asked. "Surely he didn't self-destruct after learning who the mastermind was?"
"Um, Dr. Roman disappeared," Ritsuka answered awkwardly. "After we learned the truth behind the incineration of humanity, we made a lot of preparations and succeeded in the final battle, but Dr. Roman quietly left Chaldea afterward..."
"That person should be fine, still alive," Da Vinci-chan sighed. "He left before my current body was completed—right after learning that Chaldea was being taken over, I think."
"Maybe he discovered something important?" Aoko guessed indifferently. "That guy seems the type to shoulder dangerous things himself."
"By the way," Aoko suddenly remembered something but asked with an offhanded attitude, "Is the Fairy King Oberon still around?"
Ritsuka replied, puzzled, "Oberon seemed to notice something unusual and went to scout for information. Did you need him, Sister Aoko?"
"I see..." Aoko's eyes lowered, and her smile became a bit dangerous, but she quickly returned to normal. "It's nothing. I'll tell you after we return together."
"Return?" Da Vinci-chan picked up on the important point. "Return where?"
"Of course, to Camelot," Aoko said, waving her finger. "Queen Morgan is our friend and important ally. Don't you want to know the whole truth about Fairy Britain?"
…
"Everyone, hurry up!" Oberon put on a righteous face as he spoke to the fleeing Manchester fairies. "If the disaster Barghest eats all the fairies here, it'll be after you next!"
Originally exhausted, the Fang Clan fairies gritted their teeth and sped up at Oberon's words, running toward Gloucester, with Oberon flying above as their guide.
"Right now, our best option is to enter Gloucester and occupy it, using the city walls to block the beast disaster!" Oberon explained persuasively as he flew. "Gloucester is a neutral city, the closest to Manchester, and has the tallest walls aside from Camelot!"
"But what if the Wing Clan of Gloucester refuses to let us in?" a Fang Clan fairy worried. "Our two clans have never gotten along..."
"Leave it to me!" Oberon thumped his chest. "It's a trade-focused neutral city—if we act like nothing happened, they have no reason to refuse us!"
Oberon's reasoning was sound. News in Fairy Britain spreads slowly, so Gloucester's Muryan likely didn't know about Manchester's fall yet, much less had time to act against the Fang Clan refugees.
Muryan secretly wanted revenge on the Fang Clan, but that was her secret plan. Normally, she had to maintain her image as an inclusive, tolerant lord of a neutral city.
Also, there were Fang Clan fairies already in Gloucester, so Oberon's plan had a high chance of success. The only risk was Muryan's fairy domain. But Oberon's combat power and output had been fixed since he was born from the hatred of the Island's Will—the death of fairies only unlocked his true power. Muryan's domain did not affect him.
Now, two major cities and their populations have been destroyed. Gloucester was Oberon's next target. If he could kill the fairies there, the great disaster in the Great Hollow would soon awaken.