Barghest's personality was quite straightforward; she admired the strong. By defeating her, Jiang You had earned a significant amount of her affection—and a large number of her cards.
Similar to the Knights of the Round Table decks, the Fairy Knights' individual decks were built around themselves. Though their effects were generally average, they were still much smoother to play than the original Gawain. Jiang You immediately added her to his Knights of the Round Table deck—she was perfect for stacking Ahoge. Sometimes, he could even summon the powerful Barghest, Calamity of the Beast with just a single card.
As for the Round Table's Gawain, who could only boost his Attack Power? Who's that? Never heard of him! From now on, Blessing of the Everlasting Day belonged to Fairy Gawain.
"You're so forceful..."
Fairy Gawain blushed. "Well then, I look forward to working with you."
"The feeling is mutual. I look forward to working with you too."
Jiang You's personality was all about mirror matches—he treated others exactly as they treated him. If Fairy Gawain showed him respect, he would naturally return it. This was also the reason he and Gilgamesh clashed so often.
"Now that you know the truth, do you need to find Morgan to remove the Suggestion Spell? You still seem a bit confused."
"Remove it?"
Fairy Gawain knew Jiang You was concerned for her, which lifted her spirits a little more. "Now isn't the right time. I'm not sure if I'll lose control again."
"Don't worry. Even if you transform into that state again, I can bring you back to normal with a Duel."
That was the power of Dueling. Saving the world was a breeze, let alone something like this.
"You're so reliable..."
Fairy Gawain grew even more certain that she needed a strong partner—someone who could restrain her whenever she might lose control. Even if she were dominated by her hunger, she wouldn't have to create more painful memories. "But the weak must submit to the strong. For now, at least, I can't cause you any trouble. Let's wait until our new memories have covered that old wound..."
I have to say, among the Three Fairy Knights, Fairy Gawain was the most normal one. If it weren't for the risk of being dominated by her instinctual hunger, she would have almost no flaws.
"As you wish."
Although it was strange for a hypnotized heroine to actively refuse to have her hypnosis removed, since Barghest had made her choice, Jiang You wouldn't dwell on it. Now, of the Three Fairy Knights, only Melusine remained. But before that, he needed to handle things with Fairy Tristan. He just hoped she could set everything up on her own.
"Since we've settled that... the night is still young. Shall we do something else?"
Fairy Gawain shifted, making enough room on the bed for Jiang You to join her.
Jiang You glanced at the time. It was only 9 PM, still quite early by modern youth standards. They definitely had time to kill.
"Then let me tell you a story. Morgan probably never explained the origin of your given name in detail, did she? Let me tell you the tale of a king."
Achoo!
Merlin, who had been locked away by Morgan, sneezed inexplicably. He rubbed his nose unceremoniously. "Strange. With my constitution, I shouldn't be able to catch a cold. Is someone talking about me? In this situation, no one should be doing that."
Exhausted from a day of fighting and weakened by her duel loss, Barghest fell sound asleep during Jiang You's story. Jiang You had actually wanted to hear Fairy Gawain's thoughts on the tale of the Knights of the Round Table, but since she was already asleep, he wouldn't go so far as to wake her. Instead, he logged off and started scrolling through his phone.
After replying to a private message from an obsessive fan of a certain VTuber, Jiang You lost all interest in his phone. He couldn't even be bothered to read the VTuber's own message and simply went to sleep.
When Jiang You logged back in the next day, he found Barghest had nearly demolished her own castle.
"...Are you part husky?"
Jiang You's eye twitched as he watched Barghest single-handedly lift a heavy solid-wood sofa, seemingly searching for something. The room was a disaster zone. The expensive furniture looked like it had been torn apart by a hurricane, and even the mattress had been ripped to shreds.
Barghest didn't answer. Instead, her face lit up with joy as she tackled Jiang You to the ground, subjecting him to another near-suffocating experience.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness! I thought I had... again..."
"Sorry for making you worry."
Jiang You finally realized he was the cause of all this. In this game, when a player logs off, their character vanishes. Barghest had gone through this many times before, and she thought she had devoured another companion.
"I'm sorry I didn't explain my ability to you in detail," Jiang You said. "You don't have to worry about hurting me. Any attack against me is automatically converted into a Duel invitation."
He then briefly explained how his ability worked to Barghest.
"World-traveling? So you're actually from the outside world?"
This was the first time Fairy Gawain had encountered such a concept. To her, the entire world consisted only of Britain.
"So... those stories are actually the history of your world?"
Jiang You nodded. "Yes. The Knights of the Round Table and Britain itself are Morgan's obsession."
"So it wasn't just a story? The original Knights of the Round Table..."
Barghest had assumed Jiang You was just telling her something from a knight picture book. While she didn't mind being treated like a child, she was far more interested now that she knew it was a true story.
"I really want to hear this story. Can we continue tonight?"
"Of course."
Barghest's Affection skyrocketed as if blown in by a gale. It took so long to get Fairy Tristan's Affection this high, Jiang You thought. If only Melusine were this easy to win over. To get Melusine on his side, he'd have to find a way to kill that Grand Poison Wine Master.
"I can even tell you the history of how your world was born," Jiang You added. "You have a lot to look forward to."
"But before that, we need to prepare for the ceremony. It's the Savior's Birth Ceremony, and Morgan will be there. We can't be late."
"Oh, right! That's today!"
Barghest gasped. She had already replied to Fairy Tristan that she would attend. As a noble with impeccable manners, she couldn't possibly miss it. She glanced down at her dust-covered clothes. "I need to bathe... Do you want to join me?"
"No, thank you. I've already washed up."
Jiang You had never seen his own body get dirty. This damn game only had this one realistic feature.
Barghest looked disappointed but didn't press the matter and headed to the bathroom.
"Sir Butler, is the carriage ready?" Jiang You asked the nearby butler. Without Fairy Tristan's mobile Noble Phantasm, travel was much more troublesome.
"Carriage? What carriage?" the Fairy Butler asked, looking puzzled.
Jiang You then remembered: to preserve the diversity of the fairies, Morgan had forbidden the existence of carriages.