Unlike the beauty pageant people had imagined, Artoria and Fairy Tristan did not need to strike all sorts of elegant poses. They merely stood there as the lights shone down upon them.
Then, without showing herself, Muryan remained hidden behind the scenes and began introducing the two with nothing more than her somewhat cute and playful female voice.
She started with Fairy Tristan, listing her many titles: Fairy Knight, Lord of Darlington, adopted daughter of Her Majesty Morgan, and so on. As those titles were announced, the fairies eagerly played along, shouting excitedly and cheering Fairy Tristan on.
Their attitude was practically that of shameless flatterers, which pleased Fairy Tristan greatly. She wore a confident expression, certain that victory was already hers.
However, when Artoria's introduction began, Fairy Tristan froze for a moment before turning an appraising gaze upon Artoria.
Because Muryan had actually revealed outright that Artoria was the "Child of Prophecy," emphasizing that she was a person of destiny. At that moment, Oberon added fuel to the fire, prompting the somewhat bewildered Artoria—whose identity as the Child of Prophecy had just been exposed—to summon her staff.
Muryan then introduced the staff, declaring it to be the legendary Staff of Prophecy. Her attitude made it clear that she intended to conclusively confirm Artoria's identity as the Child of Prophecy.
No matter how one looked at it, this seemed like Muryan was setting Artoria up.
But from another perspective, she was also building Artoria up—confirming her identity while ensuring that Artoria received the treatment she should enjoy as the Child of Prophecy.
Her loyalty truly defied description.
LOYALTY fluttered high above Gloucester!
Naturally, this shocking revelation drew cries of surprise from the fairies. Then they all began looking Artoria over as though she were some interesting toy, examining her from