Chapter 180: Little Kiara and Tamamo-no-Mae
Morgan came to ask Noah about Altera, and Noah didn't deliberately hide it from her. Since she was curious enough to ask, Noah simply told her.
Morgan was quite surprised by this.
Then she sighed somewhat.
Noah's Knights of the Round Table had just been established, and there were only two extra knights—but look at the identities of these extra knights.
One was Vortigern, and the other was Sefar... ah, now it should be Altera.
You've already recruited a Titan as an extra knight—I don't even dare to imagine what you might recruit as extra knights in the future!
But even so, Morgan actually had no problem with Noah having these extra knights.
After all, the Knights of the Round Table were fine for now, but as more people joined in the future, various issues were bound to arise, and the Enforcement Knights were just regular troops.
The Fairy Knights she was about to create could serve as the future elite force, but she still felt it wasn't enough.
However, with these extra knights who had hidden their original names, it would be sufficient.
If the Knights of the Round Table ever encountered problems, these extra knights could directly suppress them.
But if that were the case, it seemed she would have to be even more serious when creating the Fairy Knights... After all, if the Knights of the Round Table had problems, there were extra knights to handle them. But what if the extra knights themselves encountered problems?
So Morgan's expectations for the Fairy Knights shifted from being an elite force to an elite force capable of opposing the extra knights.
After all, the Knights of the Round Table might betray Noah, and the extra knights might also betray Noah.
But she wouldn't, and neither would the Fairy Knights.
Thinking of this, Morgan felt the weight of her responsibility.
And Noah didn't stop her from doing these things.
He even gave her some of the Umbral Star Technology extracted from Velber's database, broadening her horizons and sparking many new ideas.
After acquiring this knowledge, Morgan immediately retreated to her Magecraft workshop, seemingly planning to start experiments as soon as possible.
After seeing Morgan off, Noah shook his head slightly.
"The creation of Umbral Star Weapons will have to wait a bit longer. At least until Kay brings back information about those Magical Beasts, and I find the time to locate that meteorite cloth... for now."
Hearing the incoming communication from Little Kiara, Noah took a deep breath and, after connecting with her, began today's storytelling time.
Far away in the East, within the Heian Capital protected by the Great Yata Barrier.
Little Kiara sat under a large cherry blossom tree, eating her favorite ohagi while listening to the fairy tales told by the blue spearman on the other end of this sudden communication.
She was quite happy.
Although she had long felt that life in the Heian Capital was very leisurely, peaceful, and had nothing wrong with it, she had recently found even more joy.
This long-distance communication, which prevented her from seeing into the other person's heart, intrigued her.
The fairy tales told by the blue spearman on the other end of the communication also delighted her.
Perhaps this is what adults call happiness.
Little Kiara thought this way, and after listening to today's fairy tale, she sighed over Snow White's plight as usual and began conversing with Mr. Blue Lancer.
From their recent conversations, Little Kiara learned that he seemed to live outside the Heian Capital.
When she first heard this, she was still amazed that the world today was not just six kilometers in diameter.
After that, she also learned that the world outside was completely different from the Heian Capital.
It even seemed that wars broke out.
And Mr. Blue Lancer had repeatedly expressed how wonderful it would be to visit the Heian Capital.
However, Little Kiara didn't know how to enter the Heian Capital.
Nor did she know how to leave it.
But...
After ending today's communication, Little Kiara turned her gaze toward the great shrine located at the center of the Heian Capital.
"If it were Lady Heavenly Fox, she would surely know these things."
Hmm... If I knew too, could I help Mr. Blue Lancer then?
But if I asked directly, Lady Heavenly Fox definitely wouldn't tell me. After all, she seems to really dislike people leaving the Heian Capital and doesn't care for those outside it either.
So.
With her innocent smiling face, Little Kiara looked toward the great shrine. For the first time since arriving in the Heian Capital, she had a thought beyond ordinary daily life.
"Is there any way for Mr. Blue Lancer and Lady Heavenly Fox to meet?"
"If Lady Heavenly Fox also listened to the fairy tales Mr. Blue Lancer tells, wouldn't she start to become interested in the world outside the Heian Capital?"
"In that case, she might even invite Mr. Blue Lancer into the Heian Capital."
Thinking this, Little Kiara smiled even more brightly.
Although she could easily imagine this outcome, after running through the related matters in her mind, she felt it wouldn't be so simple.
But... if there's a plan, it's worth trying a little, right?
Little Kiara thought this made sense.
However, she hadn't yet figured out how to accomplish this, so she temporarily set the idea aside, planning to revisit it when she had more thoughts.
As for now...
"The story is finished. Now it's time to go to school for class, otherwise Teacher Tamamo-no-Mae will get angry."
Saying this, Little Kiara stood up, patted the dust off her clothes, then skipped along humming a nursery rhyme as she headed toward the school.
Life for most people in the Heian Capital is lazy and carefree.
No need to worry about others causing trouble, no fear of malicious deception, no concern about being assaulted—anyone with such intentions would be directly burned by the flames of Amaterasu Ōmikami.
And basically, even without doing anything, one wouldn't starve to death, freeze to death, or even fall ill without treatment, as shrine maidens would come to treat you for free.
Those Evil God Hyakki couldn't even approach the Heian Capital.
For the vast majority of people, living like this is enough.
However, there are some people... or other beings, who think differently for various reasons.
Tamamo-no-Mae is one of them.
She simply cannot comprehend the situation in this Heian Capital, and she doesn't even know how she ended up here in the first place.
All she remembers is that after severing her other eight tails and becoming an independent existence, the surrounding air seemed to suddenly distort, and she was swept into this unexpected Distortion.
Within the Distortion, she saw a black-haired child who also seemed to have been pulled in, and the other party appeared to be asleep.
Before she could even investigate what was happening, she felt the distorting power trying to twist something from her onto that child!
If it weren't for the fact that her Celestial Bone hadn't completely fallen dormant at the time, and she still had some means to resist, she might have truly been affected by that distorting power.
As she fought against the Distortion with all her might, she found herself thrown here.
And the moment she arrived, a terrifying flame nearly burned her to death.
She used the last of her Celestial Bone's power before it fell dormant to resist the flames, then concealed her ears and tail, altering her appearance to hide among the humans in this Heian Capital.
But...
"What on earth is this so-called Heian Capital all about! And that so-called Four-Tails... Just catching a glimpse of them from afar made me feel like my lifespan was being shortened~"
"What Four-Tails? That creature clearly has five tails... It's completely beyond what I, with only one tail now, can compare to."
At this thought, Tamamo-no-Mae sighed.
"And now I'm trapped here instead, with no idea what that so-called Four-Tails even intends to do... Could it be planning to gather the nine tails together again?"
"Honestly..."
Though Tamamo-no-Mae was somewhat worried, she couldn't think of any good solutions for the time being.
She was only able to live within the Heian Capital thanks to the residual power of her Celestial Bone when she first arrived.
Otherwise, she would likely have ended up like the Demon Race living in the crevices at the very edge of this great Barrier.
She had no desire to become like those creatures.
But she also didn't intend to stand by and watch that so-called Four-Tails gather the other tails once more.
"Ah! If only I could contact the outside of the Heian Capital, then perhaps with some coordination from within and without, there might be a way. Otherwise, relying solely on little Tamamo's strength is far from enough..."
Tamamo-no-Mae shook her head slightly, then composed herself, putting on a smile before stepping out of her room.
"Now isn't the time for sighing. Compared to me, Little Kiara knows nothing of this, and there are other children as well—at least when teaching them, I must wear a smile."
With these thoughts, Tamamo-no-Mae headed toward the schoolhouse.
With only one tail now, there were many things she simply couldn't manage, even if she had the will.
Therefore, until a way to contact beyond the Heian Capital is found, the most important task is to teach those children—after all, one must not spread negative emotions to them. This is the most genuine thought of Yasozen at the moment, feeling that he is becoming more principled by the day.