A sense that something was off.
What had begun as a faint unease turned into a powerful feeling of wrongness once she finally sat down and thought about it, leaving Morgan deeply unsettled.
She could not shake the feeling that something was wrong.
She could not shake the feeling that she had forgotten something important.
She tried tracing back through her life, only to realize with surprise that her memories from before becoming Queen of Britannia were terribly vague.
"I think... back then I was traveling across Britannia under the name Aesc, uh..."
Morgan lightly furrowed her delicate brows.
It was not that her memories after becoming Queen were especially clear. Rather, the further back she looked, the less certain they became.
Although Morgan had been stripped of part of her humanity through her long use of the Holy Lance, gaining a perspective beyond that of ordinary humans, there was no way she should already be forgetting things from twenty or thirty years ago.
...Something really is wrong!
Once the seed of suspicion was planted, it quickly took root and began to grow in her heart.
Morgan looked around her. The blue sky and the green earth all seemed perfectly real, and yet at this moment, everything looked strangely suspicious to the Queen.
"Merlin."
"What is it?" the succubus asked, blinking.
Morgan looked at her seriously.
"If you went all out, how far could your Illusion Arts go? Could you create a dream so complete that even I would fall into total hypnosis?"
Merlin thought for a moment, then answered,
"If the target is Morgan?
Hehe, of course I could. I am the flower Magus from paradise, after all. If there is one thing my student will never surpass me in, it is Illusion Arts!
Ugh... I would love to say that, anyway. But if the target is you, I could probably maintain the dream for a while. A week at most, perhaps. Though you would likely break it within three days."
Morgan nodded thoughtfully.
"That is what I think too."
Is the world I live in nothing more than a dream?
If that were true, then it would go beyond even the workings of a Grand illusionist. Impossible!
Suppose...
Suppose this world really is a false dream. Then when exactly did I fall asleep?
When I overheard the secret conversation between Uther and Merlin?
When I ascended the throne as Queen?
Or when I defeated Vortigern?
Morgan resolved to uncover the truth of this world.
...
...
She dyed her hair gold and changed her eyes to emerald green.
For the first time in a long while, Morgan altered her appearance.
Looking down at her flat chest, she smiled knowingly.
"This really does feel nostalgic... hehe."
The first stop in her investigation of the world was Londinium.
This fortress city had once been reduced to ruins during Vortigern's invasion, but now it had become the most prosperous city after Camelot.
The reason was the mythological Mystic Code buried beneath the city. The "Pseudo-Root."
If the countless great achievements of Queen Morgan's life were compared to a crown, then this mythological Mystic Code would be the largest ruby set into it.
This crystallization of the Queen's wisdom had fundamentally reversed Britannia's doomed fate and allowed the Age of Gods to continue on the island for another thousand years.
The raw material used for the "Pseudo-Root" was the foreclaw of the boundary dragon Albion.
Albion was the strongest enemy Morgan had ever faced. Though it had been a hard fought battle, the Queen had still upheld the undefeated legend of her life.
She walked up to the coffin where the dragon claw was displayed and quietly gazed at the giant dragon's arm, now transformed into a Mystic Code, while recalling the battle.
That battle was unquestionably real. There was no way it could have been a dream, Morgan thought.
Albion's might had left a deep impression on the Queen. The title "Crowned Dragon" had truly not been undeserved, and even now, remembering it stirred a long unfamiliar sense of tension in her.
"But in the end, I was the one who won the duel... hehe."
Disguised as a blonde girl, Morgan wore a smug expression.
"I have no intention of giving up the title of Britannia's strongest to anyone else."
Just then, Morgan frowned slightly.
A detail suddenly came back to her.
Right before she cut off Albion's arm, the dragon had seemed to freeze for just an instant.
It was because of that opening that Morgan had managed to swing her Holy Sword and sever the dragon's foreclaw.
At that moment, Albion...
Morgan shook her head. No, she was overthinking it.
At the time, she and Albion had already been fighting continuously for seven days and seven nights. Even if the opponent had been the strongest dragon, showing an opening from exhaustion was only natural.
Finding nothing underground in Londinium, Morgan headed into the city proper.
The center of Londinium was the site where Queen Morgan had once defeated the Tyrant King Vortigern. It had now been turned into a vast memorial plaza.
In the middle of the plaza stood an enormous statue of Morgan, perfectly recreating the most famous scene from that battle.
The white dragon with both claws pinned by the Holy Lances, and the Queen standing above it, radiating sacred majesty.
"Hm, does this not make me look a little too old? I feel like I should be younger and cuter."
Morgan held her chin as she studied the statue of herself, while her thoughts drifted back to that final battle with the Tyrant King.
The fight itself was not much worth mentioning. Morgan had simply used thirteen Holy Lances, Rhongomyniad, to completely overwhelm Vortigern, the incarnation of the island.
Everyone who witnessed it had marveled at the Queen's power, but what they did not know was this.
The divine level great Magecraft capable of firing all thirteen Holy Lances at once was something Morgan had created on the very eve of the final battle.
Originally, Queen Morgan had possessed only a single Holy Lance, the one she had taken from Merlin.
If she had not happened to master the Magecraft to duplicate Holy Lances right before the battle, there was no way she could have defeated Vortigern so easily.
It was only after inventing the Holy Lance Magecraft that Morgan rose from the level of "one of the strongest" to a completely different dimension.
Now that I think about it, what was it that inspired me to create the Holy Lance Magecraft back then... I feel like I got the idea from some book?
Resting her fine chin in her hand, the Queen sank into thought.
After leaving Londinium, Morgan used Water Mirror Magecraft to instantly arrive at a small coastal town. Tintagel.
This once obscure town had now become Britannia's most famous tourist destination.
The Sword in the Stone that the Queen herself had split apart back then was also displayed there.
There were simply too many visitors.
Morgan did not want to ruin the people's fun, so she waited until night before approaching the Sword in the Stone.
"Oh my... how embarrassing."
The blonde girl covered her mouth and giggled.
Back then, in front of all those people, she had actually cut the Sword of Selection in half.
And then, while forcing herself to keep up the expression of an icy beauty, she had said, "What a boring trick... I'm busy, I'm leaving."
...That was really too embarrassing! What would I have done if I had failed to cut it back then!
Rather, with the level my swordsmanship was at then, it is honestly a miracle I managed to split the Sword of Selection in two with a single blow!
Thankfully, the people had reacted well. Otherwise, Morgan would probably have wanted to slam her head into a wall after going back.
Thanks to that ceremony of selection, Morgan gained the support of all the people of Britannia not long after taking the throne, which was why she was able to complete the unification so smoothly afterward.
Morgan crouched down before the Sword in the Stone, reached out to stroke the broken blade steeped in moonlight, and murmured,
"I'm truly sorry... Because of my own selfish desire, I made you suffer an unnecessary humiliation."
As a Magus with an affinity for swords and a talent for Projection Magecraft, Morgan meant those words from the heart.
Mm, I should take this child into my world of swords as well...
Thinking that, the Queen began reading the structure and memories of the Sword of Selection.
"...?"
A look of surprise appeared on Morgan's face.
This sword... it had already accumulated damage before I cut it apart?
In an instant, an indescribable chill washed over the Queen.
If the earlier incidents could still be explained away as coincidence... this one no longer could.
Her shoulders trembled slightly, and shock filled her heart.
The battle with Albion, the final battle against Vortigern, and this ceremony of selection...
It was as if some unseen force of fate had been at work all along...
An invisible hand was helping her, and only her.
".........Urgh!!!"
Morgan clapped a hand over her mouth. The violent nausea rising in her throat made her retch uncontrollably.
Her thoughts were in utter chaos.
The Queen trusted no human.
She had always believed that she had achieved everything she had through her own power alone, without relying on anyone.
And yet, these discoveries were shaking that conviction.
What in the world is going on?
What exactly happened to me?
What exactly... have I forgotten?
When the retching finally subsided, Morgan unconsciously reached up and wiped the corner of her eye with her finger.
"...Ah."
Only then did she realize that tears had slipped out without her even noticing.
...
...
Once Morgan confirmed that some invisible force really did exist, the direction of her investigation became clear.
After defeating the Tyrant King Vortigern, her life had basically entered easy mode.
So if she wanted to find clues, she had to look to the period when she had been at her weakest. The days when she traveled across Britannia as "Aesc the Savior."
Morgan set out on that pilgrimage once again.
And she found quite a lot.
When fighting the Saxons, and when helping villagers hunt Magical Beasts for meat, she really had escaped danger several times through "coincidence."
Then there was the most dangerous battle of that journey.
The giant demonic boar, Twrch Trwyth, that attacked a village.
The enemies Aesc had faced during her pilgrimage had mostly been Magical Beasts, or barbarians empowered by Vortigern.
But that boar had been completely different.
Morgan could now say for certain that it had been a savage monster on the level of Dragonkind.
It had possessed at least two thousand years of Mystery, far beyond ordinary Divine Beasts.
So how had she managed to defeat such a powerful enemy back then?
Apparently the sword that had been knocked flying had just happened to stab the giant boar in the eye... Ah yes, another "coincidence."
"It seems I really am loved by the goddess of luck."
Morgan mocked herself quietly.
Powerful as the giant boar had been, it was still not the strongest enemy Aesc had faced.
There was only one beast in Britannia that could truly be called the strongest. The young beast known as Cath Palug.
Its true identity was the Primate Murder that possessed the Principle of "Comparison".
It should have been a monster on the same level as the "Crowned Dragon," yet Morgan had defeated it at only fifteen years old and even taken it in as a pet.
And she had not done it through cleverness or Magecraft, but with a mirror enshrined in a strange shrine.
Using the mirror's reflection, she had bounced Cath Palug's authority attack back at it, and that was how she defeated it so easily.
After subduing the pure white beast, Morgan had intended to return the mirror, only to discover in shock that the shrine had vanished.
Even when she asked the nearby villagers, they all said there had never been any such shrine in the area.
Back then, Morgan had not thought much of it. Now she finally understood that it had not been some ghostly incident, but a mysterious phenomenon that had surrounded her since childhood.
After spending half a month crossing the island once more, Morgan reached the final stop of her pilgrimage.
It was also the place where everything had begun.
The old royal palace where Morgan had been born and raised. The place where she had spent her entire childhood.
The Queen had a faint feeling that if she went there, she would learn the truth of everything.
And once she did, she would no longer be able to remain who she was now.
...
...
The old royal palace had fallen into ruin.
After taking the throne, Morgan had never used this place as her base, instead moving to another castle.
Dust lay thick everywhere, making it look less like an abandoned residence and more like the remains of a kingdom that had perished centuries ago.
With a sense of nostalgia, Morgan walked down the long corridor and made her way to the bedroom where she had lived as a child.
Taking a deep breath, she dispelled her Magecraft disguise and changed back from a blonde girl into the Fairy Queen of Britannia.
The moment she pushed open the door, the furnishings inside instantly stirred up memories of her childhood.
The desk where she had once read fairy tales. The window where she had stood watching the knights train. The mirror where she had secretly tried on her mother's high heels.
Everything was so nostalgic that Morgan could not calm her heart.
She was moved, and yet it still felt as though something was missing.
The Queen searched the room again and again, her eyes looking for some "something" even she could not name.
Even her Fairy Eyes, which could see through truth itself, found nothing after a long search.
A little discouraged, Morgan let out a sigh and sat down on the edge of the bed.
She had come here full of expectation, only to find nothing at all.
Could it be... that I was overthinking it?
There is no invisible hand, and no unexplainable phenomenon.
Was I simply a little luckier than most?
Feeling both disappointed and relieved, Morgan drew her knees up on the bed and wrapped her arms around them.
Back then, when I was little...
When I uncovered Uther's secret plan, I cried the whole night.
Though I pulled myself together by the next morning.
That is right... I have never relied on anyone.
Even when Father and Teacher betrayed me, I got through it alone. So why am I doubting myself now?
I am Queen Morgan, Britannia's great savior. No one can control my fate.
"Hm? There seems to be something under the pillow..."
Morgan reached under the pillow and pulled at a bundle of thread.
It was a ragged old cloth dog doll, so worn out it was painful to look at.
"...Ah."
Morgan's voice trembled, and her mind went blank.
This little dog doll "used to be" Morgan's favorite toy.
Back when she had still been a sheltered princess, Morgan would always hold it and tell it her worries and joys.
Later, once Morgan began her own adventure under the name Aesc and saw how vast the outside world was, the doll had gradually been neglected.
It came from a fairy tale she had read as a child.
An anthropomorphic little dog who loved to cook, and who would turn into a knight to protect others in moments of crisis. He had once been Morgan's favorite character.
And his name seemed to be...
"Shi... rou... wait, this pronunciation... is...?"
Again and again, the Queen murmured it, rolled it over on her tongue, and confirmed that deeply nostalgic sound.
"Shirou... Shirou... Shirou... ShirouShirouShirouShirouShirou... ah!!!"
Morgan clutched her head.
Then the shattered fragments of memory began to flow back into her mind, little by little, like bubbles rising to the surface.
"Ah... ah..."
Her nails dug into her skin.
Tears began to gather in her eyes.
Morgan gripped her chest tightly.
A twisting pain shot through her heart, but compared with the deeper pain.
Compared with the pain at the level of her soul, the suffering of the body was not worth mentioning.
Shirou.
The one thing she absolutely must never forget. Her beloved younger brother.
The one thing more important than anything else. Her beloved husband.
How could this be...
Why...
The Queen thought in anguish, how could I possibly have forgotten that Shirou even existed!?
Unmatched remorse and crushing guilt flooded Morgan's heart.
Had I really spent decades like this... proud of myself, utterly unconcerned, while having completely forgotten him!?
"Ugh...!"
Morgan clutched the doll that symbolized the red-haired boy. She tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she collapsed heavily to the floor.
"Shirou... what is going on..."
The icy beauty she had maintained for decades for the sake of royal dignity was gone without a trace.
The Queen sprawled miserably on the bed, clawing at the sheets with her fingers and twisting helplessly.
"Shirou... where did you go... ugh..."
Morgan broke down crying like a helpless child.
"...My husband... my younger brother..."
Inside that tiny world where only she remained, her sobs echoed on and on.
"Shirou... without you, I'll die..."