Were All the Ancient Britons Blind?

The Light Screen began playing again!

In an instant, official agencies around the world sprang into action.

After yesterday's experience, every official agency with even a little power had made preparations. They gathered all kinds of detection equipment, high-definition cameras, and every expert they could find.

Although the Light Screen had appeared suddenly this time, the prepared official agencies still reacted at once.

In fact, many powerful corporations, conglomerates, and prominent families had also made preparations. Faced with the sudden appearance of the Light Screen, they all took the exact same measures.

As Su Yun walked along, eating the little biscuits Butterfly Kanae had made, a smile tugged at his lips. He found somewhere to sit and joined everyone else in enjoying his own work.

As for school and all that, plenty of people would probably be late today, so there was no need to rush.

Soon, the Light Screen began, and a line of text appeared.

[Holy Grail War: Day One.]

In the Light Screen, an international flight landed at Fuyuki Airport.

A silver-haired beauty in a white coat and a "handsome young boy" in a black suit stepped off the plane.

They were none other than the woman named Irisviel and the person known as Saber—who seemed to be King Arthur—both of whom had appeared in yesterday's footage.

The information revealed yesterday hadn't been all that extensive. The Light Screen had been too short to include much.

But the world was never short of clever people, and some had already pieced together important clues from those scattered remarks.

Heroic Spirits could be compared to the heroes of Norse mythology who resided in the Hall of Heroes. Dead heroes, kings, and mighty warriors were said to be welcomed into the Hall by the legendary Valkyries, where they became immortal Heroic Spirits.

Of course, the situation shown in the Light Screen was probably different. After becoming Heroic Spirits, they went to a place called the Throne of Heroes. It was somewhat like the Hall of Heroes, but surely not the same. After all, the Hall of Heroes belonged exclusively to Norse mythology, while the Throne of Heroes seemed to encompass the whole world.

Following that line of thought, based on what the footage had revealed, it was entirely possible that the Maiden Knight named Saber was King Arthur.

But that conclusion was so shocking and so completely at odds with history and everything people knew that it was hard to believe. According to the records of the Pendragon Family, King Arthur's direct descendants, Arthur had been a man.

If King Arthur had been a woman, wouldn't that mean the Pendragon Family weren't actually descended from the king?

That would upend the entire accepted order.

So although people had guessed as much, no one had spread the theory carelessly. In a world swept by Mystery, every nation was like the countries of the Cold War era, huddling together under pressure from the Soviet Union. Even if they harbored selfish little schemes, they had to keep them in check.

At least until the Mystery Calamity was dealt with, humanity could still rein in its age-old talent for fighting among itself.

For now, it was better to keep watching the Light Screen. In fact, several major powers shared intelligence about Mystery.

The report that the Songstress had attacked the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Office last night and been slain by Artoria, who had transformed into the Maiden Knight, had already been shared among the leaders of the Five Great Nations.

Of course, it wasn't that the Flame Kingdom was truly so selfless. The main reason was that Artoria's identity was sensitive: she was a member of the British royal family and, as such, a representative of a friendly nation to the Flame Kingdom.

Even if someone like her displayed supernatural powers, Yingzhou couldn't detain her. They had to respect her wishes.

Since that was the case, they might as well share the information openly, as agreed. It would also demonstrate the stature of a great power.

Artoria was now suspected of being King Arthur reborn. After all, last night's security cameras had captured King Arthur's appearance, and they also had audio, so his words had been recorded.

"Tell me, are you my reincarnation?"

Everyone who had seen the video remembered those words.

They had already raised countless questions, but they had also lifted everyone's spirits. Humanity no longer had to simply endure Mystery. It could strike back. It could kill powerful Mysteries.

That was incredibly important!

In the Light Screen, Irisviel and the Maiden Knight Saber left the airport and got into a taxi.

All along the way, Irisviel gazed at everything on the street like a little girl going out for the first time. She was curious and delighted, letting out an astonished "Wow!" every now and then.

She was so adorable that many of the viewers felt a warmth inside, and their fondness for Irisviel kept growing.

Saber, on the other hand, remained calm throughout. The modern world around her didn't seem to surprise her.

After they got out, Irisviel asked curiously, "Saber, you don't seem surprised by all this modern stuff. You must be from ancient times, so why is that?"

Saber answered calmly, "Madam, although I'm from ancient times, when I answered the Holy Grail's summons and descended into this world in the form of a Servant, the Holy Grail implanted knowledge and common sense about modern society into me. That included modern languages and the local language and writing system."

"All the Servants participating in the Holy Grail War receive the same knowledge. So although I've never seen these things before, I still know enough about modern society."

"I see... That sounds incredible." Irisviel looked enlightened, then stared in amazement.

In fact, the viewers were just as amazed. The ability to implant knowledge directly was practically cheating. If people in modern society could master this technology, they could mass-produce scientists and boost the effectiveness of education by countless levels, triggering an unprecedented explosion in the pace of human progress.

Perhaps by then, even Mystery could be dealt with easily.

Unfortunately, this was all magic, and no one had the slightest idea how it worked. Otherwise, they would have done everything they could to get their hands on it.

In the footage, Irisviel and Saber continued strolling through the streets, and the year shown on screen was revealed.

1994!

Fuyuki City, 1994.

But just as people had concluded yesterday, there had been no Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City at the time, nor was there any trace of anything related to one.

Even the buildings looked somewhat different.

After the Light Screen revealed yesterday that the Holy Grail War had taken place in Fuyuki City, government agencies in every country immediately pulled together decades' worth of records about the city and compared them with the scenes in the footage.

Today's revelations merely confirmed the intelligence they had gathered yesterday.

The efficiency of a nation's machinery in motion far exceeded anything ordinary people could imagine.

That was why the Fuyuki City shown in the footage seemed similar, but not quite the same—and it left everyone wondering: why was it different from the real world?

Was the footage fake? Or had these events taken place in a parallel world?

Or...

Just as the Light Screen had said at the start of yesterday's footage, was this history that had been altered and forgotten? Had the relevant records been erased without anyone knowing, causing a butterfly effect that changed the world and made it different from the one shown in the Light Screen?

If the last possibility were true, it would be terrifying. It would mean that some people or organization really did possess the fearsome power to alter the world. That was completely beyond human imagination, and more frightening than the Mystery Calamity.

After all, altering the world meant those who wielded that power could erase countless people without anyone noticing. The threat posed by such a power was even greater than that of Mystery!

At least when the most terrifying Level Seven Mystery attacked, people would know how they had met their end, even if they died or were wiped out. They wouldn't be completely unaware of what had happened, as they would be under the third theory.

As time passed, Irisviel and Saber reached the seaside in the Light Screen, and night fell.

Beneath the bright moonlight, Irisviel happily took off her shoes and socks, revealing her long, fair legs. She stood by the sea, playing with the waves as they gently rolled in. Her delighted laughter rang out, accompanied by the crisp splashing sounds of her feet against the ground.

Her childlike appearance and beautiful legs won countless hearts. Lusters all over the world wore blissful smiles.

Then Irisviel stopped and said softly, "With a 'gentleman' to accompany me as I walk through an unfamiliar city, I've had such a lovely day, Saber."

Saber smiled. "Are you satisfied with me as your 'gentleman'?"

Irisviel immediately turned to Saber, clasped her hands behind her back, and gave her a lovely, radiant smile. "You were flawless. Today, Saber was the finest knight of all!"

At those words, Saber bowed gracefully. "I'm deeply honored, Your Highness."

The sight made countless women's hearts race. Even knowing Saber was a woman, they couldn't deny her good looks. She was genuinely dashing!

Besides, the knight protecting the princess—that was a timeless romantic tale, and one with an irresistible appeal to women!

Men, of course, saw it differently. Quite a few wore peculiar expressions, remembering yesterday's footage of Irisviel's husband, Kiritsugu Emiya, cheating on her with his assistant, Hisau Maiya.

So... was this payback, with them both cheating on each other?

After that, Irisviel and Saber talked about the sea. Saber said she didn't like it, because when she was alive, her enemies were across the sea, along with the savages who were always trying to invade Britain. It was where her enemies lived.

Irisviel nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. After all, you're King Arthur. The world in your time was completely different from the world today."

Those words made it unmistakably clear that Saber was King Arthur. Countless people were astonished and could hardly believe it.

Yesterday's Light Screen had already suggested as much, but it had done so through captions and other hints, leaving people unsure whether it was true. Now it had been stated plainly for all to hear.

This Maiden Knight was the legendary King Arthur!

King Arthur couldn't possibly have been a girl!

Countless people had the same thought at that moment, and the revelation from the Light Screen caused a violent clash with everything they thought they knew.

Everyone desperately wanted to know what was going on. Why did history portray King Arthur as a man? If King Arthur really had been a young woman, had all the ancient Britons been blind? How could they have failed to see that their beautiful king was actually a girl!

As a new book, the editor requires me not to post more than two chapters a day for now. Once it's officially released, I'll be free to update more—ten thousand words a day and beyond.

Honestly, I want to post more too. Being limited to five thousand words a day is rough. All I can do is keep building up a backlog.