Chapter 987: Divine Concealment and Drifting Objects
"This way, with just a bit of training, the Round Table Army can gain hundreds of new soldiers."
The Round Table Army originally only had a few hundred soldiers. One of the reasons Eiji went to the human pasture and returned to Camelot with Bagust to report on his duties was to enhance their strength.
"You damn slave, you actually managed to escape here!"
At the city gate.
A gorgeously dressed female fairy, likely from the Wind Clan, had snow-white wings and an innocent, charming appearance.
She brandished a whip in her hand, viciously lashing it against a human kneeling on the ground.
"How dare you run away! How dare you!"
"You're my slave—you should obey me! I'm a high-ranking fairy; following me is your honor!"
"This is your punishment!"
While whipping, she shouted and scolded.
The human male kneeling on the ground convulsed violently with each strike.
He didn't even have the strength to scream; his eyes were filled with deep despair, as if his heart had turned to ashes.
"What's going on here?"
Eiji clicked his tongue and stepped forward.
"A human? You're not one of those escaped humans, are you?"
The female fairy stopped whipping and cast a suspicious glance at Eiji's cloak.
"You humans have no self-awareness! Being able to follow us high-ranking fairies is a blessing many humans can only dream of, yet you still think of running away! Guards, what are you doing? Hurry up and seize him too!"
The guards at the gate remained motionless.
Their furry bodies trembled slightly as they subtly retreated.
"What are you doing? This is an escaped human! Capturing them is your duty too, right? Can't you Fang Clan fairies even fulfill your responsibilities?"
The female fairy glared angrily at the Fang soldiers.
"Idiot!"
However, upon hearing this, the Fang soldiers cursed her under their breath and avoided her as if she were a snake or scorpion.
The Fang soldiers were not only powerful, but their sense of smell was also far superior to other clans. Once they caught a scent, they never forgot it.
From the cloaked figure, they detected a familiar smell.
A smell that represented fear!
"What's happening here?"
Eiji asked a second time.
"Your Highness, this is the punishment of an escaped human."
The captain of the guard, also from the Fang Clan, stepped forward and quietly explained to Eiji.
"Every year, there are humans like this who try to escape from the fairies' mansions because they don't want to become slaves. But lone humans aren't allowed to leave the city gates, so their owners come to retrieve them..."
Lone humans in the wild were very troublesome.
All humans were considered property by the fairies. If discovered, they would inevitably be thrown into prison.
If they had independent rights, that was one thing. But if they were confirmed to be escaped slaves, they would either be sent to the human pasture or taken to Camelot to be "disposed of"!
Unless they spent their entire lives hiding in the mountains and forests, escape meant there was no future for them.
This was the human ecology of this Lostbelt!
"You...!"
"Oh my? Isn't this Her Highness the Queen?"
Just as the female fairy was about to throw a fit, an unhurried voice came from inside the city gate.
The wheels rolled over the road as a lavishly adorned carriage, dripping with gold and silver, slowly approached from the distance along the avenue.
After the curtain was drawn aside, a narrow, elongated man's face appeared from within, wearing a shrewd smile.
"It's the Earth Clan Chieftain, Lord Spriggan, the ruler of Norwich!"
The fairies gathered around recognized that face and immediately burst into exclamations.
"Your Highness, the Queen?!"
The female fairy was startled by the address, her expression shifting dramatically.
"This must be about a runaway slave, right? It happens frequently all over Britain. Please don't trouble yourself over it, Your Highness."
Spriggan opened the main carriage curtain and looked at the female fairy with an expression of boredom.
"You there, fairy! Take your slave away at once!"
"Ah, yes! Forgive my ignorance for offending Your Highness. I'll take my leave immediately!"
No punishment?
The female fairy felt as if she had been granted a reprieve. She hurriedly hoisted the human slave onto her shoulder and dashed toward her home, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"..."
Eiji watched the retreating figures of the fairy and the human, remaining silent for a long while.
"Your Highness, please join me in the carriage for a conversation!"
Spriggan turned his gaze to Eiji, his face breaking into an amiable smile.
After a moment of contemplation, Eiji stepped up into the carriage.
"Does this kind of thing happen often all over Britain?"
"If not every day, then certainly many times each month."
Spriggan guided Eiji to a seat, propping his elbow on his hand as he chuckled lightly.
"My Norwich is probably the city in all of Britain closest to Pan-Human History. Even so, human escapes are still a common occurrence."
"Haven't you tried to find a solution?"
"How could I? The whole of Britain is like this. All fairy masters are the same. Even if I wanted to do something personally, trying to shake such a massive system would be nothing but a fool's dream, don't you agree?"
"So, you've done nothing at all?"
Eiji's gaze pierced straight through Spriggan.
"Even though you yourself are human?"
That sharp look made Spriggan feel as if an arrow had struck his heart, causing it to skip a beat.
"...Heh, Your Highness is truly fearsome. To see through my identity at a single glance?"
Spriggan let out a dry laugh.
But his expression remained unchanged.
Having his identity uncovered upon first meeting had happened many times before. Whether it was the Queen or the Fang Clan Chieftain Woodwose, both had seen through him long ago.
Yet he held value—value that even the Queen had to acknowledge. That was why he remained secure to this day. Woodwose had tried to kill him several times, but the Queen had always intervened.
"That's right. I am indeed human."
Spriggan admitted it frankly.
"Though I'm publicly known as the second-generation Spriggan of the Fang Clan, my real name is actually Caprice. I was the second-in-command of Spriggan & Caprice Ltd.—though that was a long time ago."
Indeed.
In this fairy nation of Britain, where all clan chieftains should be fairies, the Earth Clan Chieftain was actually a human!
"But that's not all, is it?"
Eiji narrowed his eyes.
His gaze was like an X-ray, seeing right through every part of Spriggan.
"...What does Your Highness mean?"
Spriggan merely smiled without answering.
"How old are you?"
"...148 years old."
"But the humans in this Lostbelt are born with limited physical functions. They typically don't live past thirty."
Eiji closed one eye, his lips curling into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
"I've heard that the queen would bring in some 'drifters' from Pan-Human History under the guise of 'spiriting away.' That's one reason why this Lostbelt is so knowledgeable about and adores Pan-Human History."
"You wouldn't happen to be a 'drifter' too, would you?"