"Well... perhaps she went off to do something."
Not finding Morgan in the mansion the Sajyou family had acquired, Manaka didn't pay it much mind.
After all, both Servants and Masters were entitled to their privacy.
At the end of the day, her relationship with Morgan was one of cooperation and mutual use. It was only natural for Morgan to make some moves behind her back.
However…
In a Fuyuki City café, the desolate, empty streets were visible through the window. Due to the Holy Grail War raging for several days, despite the Mages' Association and the Holy Church's best efforts—and the sacrifice of quite a few related personnel—it was clear that no matter how flowery their explanations were, they couldn't change what the citizens had seen with their own eyes.
Even if the interference of the two major powers prevented them from speaking out, they could at least choose to leave Fuyuki, this land of strife.
This choice had become a consensus among Fuyuki's residents, to the point where, with shops closing one after another, finding a café like this for a meeting or a quiet chat had become a difficult task.
"Well, you're here~"
No longer wearing the formal robes that drew strange looks, a woman with silver hair, possessing a beauty that was both breathtaking and cold, giving off an unapproachable air, walked into the café in casual attire. A young girl's voice reached her ears. Looking up, she saw a silver-haired girl sitting at a table in the nearly empty room, smiling and waving at her.
Morgan's expression remained neutral as she simply took a seat opposite her.
"I knew you would come."
"Would you like to order anything?"
"No need."
"Understood—then please bring this lady a cup of English black tea, owner~"
"You…"
"Don't look at me like that. Business has been a bit slow for this shop because of everything that's been happening. Think of it as supporting a local business. Don't worry~ it's on me."
"..."
Facing the slightly displeased Morgan, the girl spoke with a cheerful smile.
Morgan frowned.
She didn't like this feeling. As a famously wicked woman, she was the type with a strong desire for control. Being led by the nose like this... felt terrible!
But, despite her displeasure, looking at the other's smiling face, Morgan couldn't help but recall their brief encounter last night.
Without a doubt, Mr. Goldie's miserable end had sent a chill down her spine.
Especially after the "Golden Archer Who Charges Ever Forward" had been launched, the great Greek hero had turned to look at her.
Even though she didn't consider herself weak, Morgan was well aware of the weight that name carried.
That man was definitely not someone she could easily contend with.
Of course, even so, she had been prepared to retaliate with all her might if he had tried to attack her.
However...
"Morgan, isn't it?" the girl had said.
"When I was with that child earlier, I didn't get a chance to chat with you."
"If I had, I imagine that child's attitude towards you would have changed drastically."
That was undoubtedly a fact.
Morgan deeply agreed.
If, as the other said, Illya had ignored Manaka and spoken to her directly, then given her Master's pathologically possessive nature, she probably would have used up all her Command Spells to make Morgan perish on the spot.
"Well... how about tomorrow then? Let's meet at a café in the city tomorrow."
"As for whether you come or not, that's up to you."
Receiving this baffling invitation, Morgan had initially been dismissive.
I already know my Master is crazy, so why would I go looking for trouble by meeting you? Besides, what is there for us to talk about?
With that in mind, she had no intention of coming... but, remembering the meeting between this person and her Master, and the few snippets of conversation she'd overheard, she ultimately couldn't escape the shackles of her own curiosity and came to the rendezvous.
"Try the tea here~ I quite like it~"
Morgan didn't speak, merely taking a sip of the steaming black tea.
...It was very ordinary tea. Compared to the special blend from the royal court of Camelot that she often drank as the Fairy Queen, this was barely fit for rinsing her mouth.
However, despite that, it had been a long time since she had drunk something like this.
After all, once Camelot ended, she, the great fairy, had secluded herself in the Inner Sea of the Planet, with no desire to indulge such worldly appetites.
"Why did you ask me here?"
"What if I said I just wanted to treat you to some tea?"
Morgan's gaze sharpened perceptibly.
"Just kidding~ Although that would be nice, I can't leave everyone else out of such things~"
"The reason I sought you out is actually very simple."
"Just as I said, I know what you want to do."
"It's just..."
"Do you really think doing that will grant your wish?" [Illya] said, sipping his coffee with milk and sugar, his words laden with meaning.
"...What do you mean?"
"Nothing much—I just think that if you continue down this path, even if you do succeed, you'll only be repeating your own mistakes."
"It wouldn't matter much, I suppose. As a great fairy, you have plenty of time to wait for the next chance... but I can't bear to watch you walk a path that is destined to be fruitless."
"Failure? Hmph, is that all you have to say? I will not fail."
"Based on that child's promise to you? She can indeed do it, but... do you really believe her? Besides, even with your own methods, it's absolutely impossible to achieve."
"After all... if you do, Vivian will just appear again, won't she~"
The girl uttered a name that was not unfamiliar to Morgan—more accurately, a name she utterly despised.
Her other half. The great guardian fairy who gave Artoria the Sword from the Lake, its scabbard, and her blessings—the Lady of the Lake, Vivian.
The moment that name was spoken, the temperature in the air seemed to drop several degrees.
"If it's you, you should understand, right?"
"As long as your wish is granted, Vivian will inevitably reappear."
"And when that time comes, it will be nothing more than another cycle of Camelot."
[Illya] spoke softly.
Just as he said.
The Morgan from Pan-Human History standing before him could never achieve her long-cherished wish.
Because this great fairy herself was trapped in a paradox.
As the ruler of the island, she wished to become the King of Britain and create the greatest Britain imaginable—however, Morgan, who yearned for Camelot, had already decided that the Camelot led by Artoria was the very ideal she pursued, the strongest and most perfect Britain.
This conviction gave birth to Morgan's other half, the Lady of the Lake, Vivian.
Vivian would protect King Arthur, while Morgan, for the sake of the throne, would constantly plot against King Arthur until the fall of Camelot.
The moment Camelot was overthrown, Vivian would also disappear, her obsession broken—but this was not death. The Lady of the Lake would merge back into Morgan.
If, one day, Camelot were to reappear, then Vivian would be resurrected, once again engaging in open and secret struggles with the Morgan who sought to usurp the throne.
—Without a doubt, the moment she acknowledged King Arthur, Morgan's obsession had developed a fundamental logical flaw.
Becoming king and making Britain great became a paradox, two goals that could never be achieved simultaneously.
The Morgan from the Lostbelt was able to succeed because she existed before this paradox was born, having already explored a new path before falling into error.
But the Morgan before him...
When Camelot was gone, she was the one who missed it the most, the one who would use any means necessary to resurrect it.
And the moment Camelot returned, she would once again become the wicked Fairy Queen Morgan, scheming to overthrow it.
...
Morgan fell silent.
She was clearly not entirely unaware of this problem.
After all, as a crystallization of the Age of Gods, a great fairy bearing the destiny of the ruler of the island, she was the most talented even among the fae.
But...
She couldn't bring herself to think about it, couldn't bring herself to accept it.
After all.
Fae only believe what they can believe, what they can accept—becoming the ruler of the island was her everything. So, all Morgan could do, all she would do, was to use any means, at any cost, to become the ruler of the island and make Britain great again.
If she were to accept that this was impossible, Morgan's fundamental logic as a great fairy would collapse, and she would fall into a state of self-destruction.
"...I will not fail!" she bit out, as if trying to prove something. The words were practically squeezed from between her teeth.
Yet [Illya] merely enjoyed his tea calmly. Without him even moving, Morgan herself began to tremble.
Clearly, such self-deception couldn't convince anyone, not even herself.
After all, Morgan was a smart woman.
Once everything was laid bare and pointed out to her, the infamous villainess of history fell into a state of self-collapse.
With the obsession that formed her very being trapped in a paradox, Morgan was like a buggy program. Her mind was flooded with two completely opposing, contradictory thoughts: Make Britain great again, I must resurrect Arthur's Camelot, and I am the ruler of the island, I must become the King of Britain.
And, of course, there was another, much clearer thought.
—I... think I'm going to die.
Not just her current self as a Servant. This program error would take her main body in the Inner Sea of the Planet down with her.
After all, the very meaning of Morgan's existence had been fundamentally denied.
...So, this person called me here just to get rid of me.
Besides being acutely aware of her own fate, Morgan couldn't help but speculate on [Illya]'s intentions with the most malicious thoughts.
After all, from the perspective of the Holy Grail War, dispatching a Servant like her with just a few words was a stroke of luck so good you couldn't find it even if you searched under the sun.
However, she felt no resentment about it.
After all, with her obsession proven false, for the Morgan of this moment, death was actually a release.
That feeling of being utterly unable to achieve her dearest wish... it was so painful.
"Let it end like this... these long millennia."
Though there was some regret, looking back on her thousands of years of laughable effort, ending it here actually brought Morgan a sense of relief.
However...
Just as she was quietly waiting for her own dissipation...
A gentle finger tapped her cheek.
It wasn't a loud sound, but it was right beside her. She could feel the soft touch against her skin.
Opening her eyes, she saw the silver-haired girl, Illya, looking at her with a helpless expression.
"Honestly..."
"I expected this might happen, but for it to turn out like this... fae really are exceptionally fragile creatures."
"You don't look at all like the Fairy Queen Morgan who once commanded the winds and rain and brought down the Camelot dynasty."
The slightly exasperated words displeased Morgan, but what concerned her most at that moment was her own state.
She discovered... that her self-destruction had stopped.
It was as if the contradiction had been resolved. The unbearable, chaotic, and painful feeling in her mind had subsided, enveloped by a gentle, cooling sensation, allowing her once-unthinkable thoughts to calm down.
To put it another way, it was as if a program that was already a huge bug had been jury-rigged in a very subtle way to barely continue running.
And clearly, the one before her was responsible.
"Why didn't you just let me die?"
"That way, you'd have one less threat, wouldn't you?" Morgan asked, perplexed.
[Illya] sat back down and took a sip of tea.
"That's not why I called you here. It was supposed to be a tea party with a beautiful girl. If it ends with the other person dying on the spot, wouldn't that make it a Hongmen Banquet?"
"Although that child probably wouldn't mind, I'm not as tasteless as Kiritsugu to do something like that."
"Besides... whether it's you or that child, to me, you were never a threat—"
"...You're quite confident. Does that Servant give you such courage?" Morgan raised an eyebrow. "I must admit, that man is difficult to handle, but with enough time, I could still find a way to deal with him."
She admitted that in a frontal assault... no, that no Servant, within the framework of the Holy Grail War, could possibly be a match for that Servant.
After all, that Servant's Spirit Origin was completely off the charts. He wasn't based on the Holy Grail War system at all, but manifested entirely through that Grand Thaumaturgy-level Reality Marble.
But...
As a genius magus herself, she wasn't incapable of pulling off such Grand Thaumaturgy.
With enough time, she could even conjure up a Grand Thaumaturgy on the level of "Heroic Spirit Summoning," the ultimate weapon of the Counter Force.
"Is that so? Well, you can certainly think that. But from my personal perspective, it's something much purer," [Illya] said with a light smile.
"Honestly, whether it's you, that child, or Illya, I'd still like to see you all get your wishes."
"In Illya's words... Hmm, it's 'Happy End,' I believe!"
Honestly, Morgan shouldn't have liked seeing someone so self-assured, so confident they had her completely figured out.
It should have given her a sense of defeat.
But for some reason, looking at the silver-haired girl smiling at her in the sunlight, Morgan subconsciously recalled the image of that detestable Red Dragon she would occasionally see in the royal court back when Camelot still stood.
...She disliked that person, yet... she still found herself captivated.
Staring at that face, for some reason, she felt something beat faster than before. At the same time... she could still feel the soft touch that should have long since faded. Morgan subconsciously licked her lips.
For the first time in a long time...
Morgan felt that, besides her long-held obsession with becoming the ruler of the island and reviving Britain, she now had something else she wanted.