Looking Forward to Another World

*DONG—DONG—DONG—DONG—DONG—!*

As the distant, pleasant sound of the bell echoed high above the sky, ringing out across the entire port city of Norwich, all the fairies in Norwich heard the bell.

While feeling a deep stirring in their hearts, they also wept tears of joy.

”Bell of Pilgrimage!”

”They’ve rung the Bell of Pilgrimage!”

”It really is the Child of Prophecy! The Child of Prophecy has come to Norwich!”

”This is great! We’re saved! Norwich is saved!”

Most of the fairies cheered, and the whole of Norwich overflowed with a festive, jubilant atmosphere.

Now that the Calamity was about to break out, the Child of Prophecy had arrived in Norwich just as the prophecy foretold, and even rang the Bell of Pilgrimage. For the fairies who had been so anxious about the threat of the Calamity, this was almost too much joy to bear.

Only Spriggan, after hearing the chimes of the Bell of Pilgrimage, began cursing angrily in his own room.

”Damn it! How could they actually dare to do this?!”

Now, the smile on this clan head’s face vanished, replaced by a fury and panic that had not been there before.

”Someone! Somebody get over here!”

Spriggan rushed out of his room, shouting to those around him.

”Lord Spriggan! We’re here!”

In that instant, the personal guard who had led Riezel and the others to Vault Fortress quickly appeared before Spriggan, bringing a large group of guards with him.

What was interesting was that all these guards were fairies of the Fang Clan—not a single one belonged to the Earth Clan.

It was clear that the greedy Spriggan, only caring about combat strength, never intended to hire fairies from his own clan as guards and instead hired the strong and robust Fang Clan.

”Head straight to the bell tower! Arrest everyone from the Child of Prophecy’s group who trespassed in the bell tower!”

Spriggan, boiling with rage, gave his orders, which made the personal guard hesitate.

”Lord Spriggan, forgive me for saying this, but our chances of success are very slim.” The personal guard said skeptically. ”Our opponents include that Child of Prophecy, someone even our clan head, Lord Woodwose, failed to capture twice, and who even defeated Sir Gawain, a Fairy Knight. With just us, our chances of taking them down are really, really small.”

Both Woodwose and Gawain were among the top powerhouses in the Fang Clan.

Being a member of the Fang Clan himself, the personal guard understood just how terrifying someone would have to be to make those two suffer a loss.

Even though he was an elite among the Fang Clan and much stronger than most fairies of the Fang Clan, compared to those two, there was still a vast gap.

For this reason, the personal guard never believed he could take down someone who had made Woodwose so helpless and even defeated Gawain.

In response, Spriggan cursed again.

”Are you a fool?!”

Spriggan snapped at his personal guard without mercy.

”Listen up, this isn’t about whether you can do it or not! The point is that we must act no matter what!”

”It doesn’t matter if we can capture the Child of Prophecy. What matters is that we have to make it look like they rang the Bell of Pilgrimage without our permission.”

”If Her Majesty thinks we’ve sided with the Child of Prophecy, do you think that cold-hearted witch would let us off?”

”If we show even the slightest sign of standing on the opposite side of Her Majesty’s faction, that ruthless witch will purge us. Do you understand?”

Upon hearing this, the personal guard finally came to his senses, breaking out in a cold sweat from fear.

”Y-Yes! I’ll lead the team to take down the Child of Prophecy right away!”

With that, the personal guard hurried away, and the fairies behind him quickly followed.

”Tch!”

Spriggan was still furious, standing there, clicking his tongue repeatedly because, thanks to Riezel’s actions, all of his plans had been ruined.

Back before the clouds gathered over Norwich and the Calamity began to build up, Spriggan had already sold off all the land in Norwich.

And naturally, the buyers were the fairies living in Norwich.

They took out all their possessions and bought the lord’s land, thus acquiring territory of their own, but those fairies had no idea that this was actually a scheme orchestrated by Spriggan.

Through the Mirror Clan’s prophecies and reconnaissance from Morgan’s side, he had already known that Norwich would be the place where the Calamity would break out, which was why he sold off the land in Norwich, because before long, that land would become nothing but a wasteland.

Once the Calamity flattened Norwich, Spriggan could, in his capacity as lord, reclaim the land.

In this way, he would receive a huge sum of money from the fairies who bought the land, without actually losing anything himself.

Needless to say, this was exactly why Spriggan had no intention of stopping the Calamity.

If the Calamity were stopped, how would he reclaim the land he had sold?

If the Calamity were stopped, how could those fairies, who had suffered no losses, possibly hand over their land simply because they couldn’t afford to rebuild?

Only if the Calamity truly broke out and Norwich was reduced to ruins would Morgan give the order for him, as the Lord of Norwich, to rebuild the territory.

At that time, with Morgan’s command in hand, he could justifiably reclaim the land under the pretense of rebuilding the city.

Moreover, due to the reconstruction, he could also request the necessary funds from Morgan and make a substantial profit on top of that.

How could Spriggan possibly allow such a profitable venture to fall through?

He had not even issued an evacuation order, precisely because he wished that all the fairies who had bought the land would perish in the Calamity, saving him from endless troubles afterward.

As for the fairies escaping on their own, he was not worried about that at all, because Spriggan knew very well just how foolish and self-absorbed fairies were.

What they valued most was not their lives, but the things that satisfied their spiritual desires.

Naturally, the fairies who bought the land were exactly such beings.

After finally spending everything they owned to buy the land, how could they abandon it?

If the fairies of Tintagel could turn on each other over trivial matters, then, for reasons beyond human comprehension, the fairies of Norwich would surely be willing to stay for something like this.

For this reason, Spriggan had used the Bell of Pilgrimage as a bargaining chip, trying to tie up the only people who could ruin his plan—the Child of Prophecy’s group, who, according to the prophecy, would repel the Calamity in Norwich.

Indeed, Spriggan did not believe that the Child of Prophecy would give up saving Norwich for the Bell of Pilgrimage. He just wanted to stall them, keeping them trapped in the Vault Fortress until the Calamity broke out.

In Spriggan’s plan, whether or not the Child of Prophecy agreed to his request, they would stay in Norwich for the sake of the Bell of Pilgrimage.

And the place closest to the Bell of Pilgrimage in Norwich was the Vault Fortress.

If they wanted to ring the Bell of Pilgrimage, they would have to get his permission, and while they were busy trying to persuade him, they would be stuck in the Vault Fortress.

That way, once the Calamity began, he could seal off the entire Vault Fortress, turning the most fortified location into the strongest prison, preventing the Child of Prophecy from escaping to fight the Calamity.

When Aurora contacted him and revealed that the Child of Prophecy intended to ring Norwich’s Bell of Pilgrimage, Spriggan immediately devised this plan and readily agreed to her request for a meeting with the Child of Prophecy.

Who would have thought the other side would act so unpredictably, making no effort to maintain even a superficial relationship with him, and just sneaking straight into the bell tower to ring the Bell of Pilgrimage?

Did they not want his help?

Were they not afraid that he would side completely with Morgan and oppose them?

If they intended to overthrow Morgan, shouldn’t they at least avoid offending him, or even try to win him over to their side?

”What a bunch of brainless savages!”

Spriggan clicked his tongue in anger.

Unfortunately, there was nothing more he could do now.

”If the gentle approach won’t work, then I’ll just have to use force.”

A cunning light flickered in Spriggan’s eyes.

”If I can’t keep them here, then I’ll drive them away.”

Schemes began swirling in Spriggan’s mind, yet in that same moment, a guard suddenly came running over in a panic.

”Bad news, my lord!”

Seeing this, Spriggan could not help but tense up.

”What’s wrong?!”

Spriggan’s voice rose a little without him meaning to.

”A large number of Moss are approaching from the direction of Norwich’s port! C-Calamity... has begun!”

Gazing nervously at Spriggan, the guard shouted the news that brought a mixture of shock and delight to Spriggan’s face.

===

At the same time, right in front of the gate of Norwich, a mighty group of fairies of the Fang Clan surged forward.

Leading them was a man dressed in the attire of a noble gentleman, his entire body covered in dark fur, resembling a standing werewolf, and exuding a vicious aura.

He was none other than the head of the Fang Clan, the Lord of Oxford, the very same hero of Faerie Britain who had defeated the King of the Moss a thousand years ago and suppressed the Great Calamity—Woodwose.

”Has the information been confirmed?” Woodwose asked the adjutant beside him. ”Riezel Brynhart has already entered Norwich?”

”Yes, the information has been confirmed.” The adjutant reported truthfully. ”Just as Lady Muryan said, the Child of Prophecy and the others have indeed come to Norwich and are currently within the city.”

”Good...” Woodwose grinned, a fierce light flashing in his eyes. ”It was not a waste for me to rush here without rest as soon as I received the news, even accepting that damned Muryan’s help and taking the boat she prepared.”

It was precisely because of this that they managed to catch up to Riezel.

Otherwise, with the methods Riezel had used to hasten his journey along the way, Woodwose would never have made it in time.

’Now, let’s see where you run.’

Powerful magical energy fluctuated in the air as Woodwose, leading his own army, charged into Norwich in full force.

Needless to say, another great battle was about to begin.