Chapter 1039: The Return of 'Uther'
The gap was simply too vast!
While unleashing his Dream Realm, Eiji tapped into the magical energy within his body for the first time in a true sense.
It was more than just immense!
It was boundless like an endless ocean, seemingly without any limits!
The venue was now saturated with magical energy as dense as quicksilver.
Merely the overwhelming pressure from that bottomless well of magical energy left all the fairies too terrified to make a single reckless move!
Facing that terrifying magical pressure felt like suffocation.
It was impossible to imagine how terrifying he would be when he truly took action!
Only one thing was certain to them.
"This man is far stronger than the Savior, Cernunnos!"
"Cernunnos, how do you want to deal with them?"
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Eiji turned and asked for Cernunnos's opinion.
"...Let's detain them for now."
Cernunnos didn't stand on ceremony either. After a moment's thought, she made a decision.
"Have the knights shackle them with mithril handcuffs. We'll decide how to handle them after the situation has calmed down."
"As you wish."
Eiji nodded casually.
Are these two that close?
The knights couldn't help but inwardly complain.
But their hands moved swiftly nonetheless, quickly fetching mithril handcuffs and detaining all the Wind Clan fairies.
"It's just a shame about Lord Uther..."
The knights looked at Uther lying in a pool of blood, overwhelmed with grief.
Cernunnos remained silent.
"The dead cannot be brought back to life. The most important thing now is to stabilize the kingdom and find someone who can inherit it."
Grimm stepped forward, taking charge of the situation in his capacity as a sage.
His words were blunt, so blunt as to seem almost heartless, drawing angry glares from many. Yet, there was no denying that what he pointed out was indeed the top priority.
"Let's go help in the city! The Earth and Wing Clans have their chieftains keeping them in check, and the Mirror Clan never causes trouble, but there are plenty of Wind and Fang Clan members. We need to suppress any potential riots!"
Ector, along with Habetrot and Mash, headed toward the streets outside.
"Finally, it's all handled."
Eiji let out a soft sigh of relief.
With people handling matters both inside and out,
the overall situation had finally stabilized.
Fortunately, even if the world wanted to stir up trouble, under his suppression, it wouldn't be able to cause any major chaos for the time being.
Once this period passed, Uther could be released.
"Cernunnos, what's wrong?"
Glancing at Cernunnos unintentionally, Eiji asked with concern.
Cernunnos had remained silent all along, her brow still tightly furrowed.
"Did we miss something?"
"No, probably not... This is the best we can do."
Cernunnos shook her head, forcing a faint smile for Eiji.
"I just don't know why, but I feel a bit unsettled..."
"Are you tired? You haven't rested for two days, after all. You should go get some rest. I'll handle things here."
"Yeah, you're right. Then I'll leave it to you—"
"Cernunnos! Eiji!"
Just then, cheerful shouts suddenly rang out.
Habetrot came running in through the door, overjoyed.
"Oh my, I never expected you two to pull off such a stunt! Faking Yuse's death and all, that's really impressive! You even fooled us!"
Habe-Cat wore an expression that said "you two are something else."
"Wait a minute, Trotrot, what are you talking about?"
Suddenly, Cen froze, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Even at this point, you still want to keep it a secret?"
Habe-Cat looked at Cen with confusion.
"What point are you talking about?"
Eiji was also puzzled and stepped forward to press for answers.
"No, the most fundamental question is, how did you know about our plan?"
"Huh?"
Habe-Cat scratched her little head and blinked.
"What do you mean, how did I know...? Because Yuse is back? He's on his way here right now?"
"What!"
"How could that be?"
Cen and Eiji both paled at the same time.
Habe-Cat was startled by their reactions and hesitated, looking at them uncertainly.
"What's so strange about that?"
"Of course it's strange!"
Eiji furrowed his brow, his expression shifting between shock and suspicion.
"The matter isn't over yet! Yuse isn't out of danger! And we warned him long ago that he absolutely must not come out until Cen goes to find him!"
Cen's face turned indescribably grim.
She had a bad premonition.
It felt as though the entire situation was suddenly slipping out of control—
"There's no need for that."
Just then, a familiar figure stepped into the venue.
A young man with golden hair and blue eyes, clad in familiar armor.
A gentle smile graced his face.
"Your Majesty!"
"His Majesty is alive!"
"Thank goodness!"
The knights erupted in cheers, some even weeping uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry for worrying everyone! But this won't happen again, because I now know who the true mastermind behind all this is!"
Yuse sincerely apologized to the knights.
"Mastermind?"
The knights exchanged puzzled glances.
"That's right!"
Yuse turned around and pointed righteously at someone.
"All of this is this woman's fault! Under the guise of being my foster mother, she used us to conquer the six great clans, all so she could reap the rewards after everything succeeded—by killing me and seizing the throne of the kingdom!"
In the direction he pointed—
Cen stared at him in shock.
"This..."
"How is that possible? That's Cen we're talking about..."
The knights were caught completely off guard, thrown into disarray.
"This can't be true! There's no way Yuse would say such things!"
Habe-Cat glared at Yuse with utter disbelief.
"You're not Yuse, are you?"
Eiji stepped forward, his eyes icy cold.
"Who are you really?"
To his naked eye, the person across from him was undoubtedly Yuse.
But Eiji was even more certain—that person was absolutely not Yuse!
Because the one who had said, "I must make Cen happy," would never jump out at this moment to slander her!
"If I'm not Yuse, then who could I be?"
Yuse instead laughed mockingly.
"I just escaped from that sanctuary, you know?"
"!"
In an instant, Cen's expression changed.
Without another word, completely ignoring Yuse's accusations, she turned and rushed out of the venue.
"Oh no, Yuse in the sanctuary...!"
Eiji instantly understood Cen's thoughts and hurriedly followed her out.
Habe-Cat, completely lost, had no choice but to follow the two and leave.
"Knights, relay my command!"
Uther laughed triumphantly, then flashed the knights a radiant smile.
"For humanity—slaughter all the fairies!!"
...
Underground Londinium, the shelter.
Celyn knelt blankly on the ground, as if all strength had drained from her body.
Eiji and Habbycat remained silent.
Before them lay only a corpse.
Uther's corpse.
His face was frozen in disbelief, as if his killer had been someone of his own flesh and blood.
The body had already begun to stiffen.
He had been dead for at least three hours.
Which meant...
That morning, within ten minutes after they had left, Uther had been murdered by someone.