After some hesitation, Barghest confessed her secret, telling the story of herself and the boy she loved. Though shy, she didn't think it shameful for a knight to fall in love.
"So, Miss Aoko, could you take him with you before disaster falls?" Barghest pleaded. "I'll pay any price!"
"Don't say that lightly," Aoko shook her head. "I already know your story; but think: is that boy still in Manchester?"
"What? I…" Barghest was confused, but as she looked into Aoko's glowing blue eyes, her consciousness sank inward—and, with a thud, she collapsed on the table, fast asleep, eyes darting behind her lids as if dreaming.
"What did you all find out about Barghest?" Aoko asked Morgan, Wryneck, and Artoria.
"She…" Wryneck hesitated, then explained, "…She's related to the Black Dog born in recent years—the source of her man-eating title…"
"Barghest is a trustworthy knight," Artoria, as King of Knights, judged. "Even with her problems, her character is unimpeachable."
"Right," Morgan frowned. "I've pretty much confirmed Barghest is the Beast Calamity, but I decided to try saving her, so I used Proper Human History Gawain's Spirit Origin to name her… seems to be working."
"That working is only partial," Aoko pointed. "Her memories were tampered with—so she'd become the disaster at a set time."
Morgan's face grew serious. "By who?"
"Probably the one we've yet to find," Aoko explained. "I mean this generation's Cursed King—the Worm born from the island's self-destructive wish. He tampered with Barghest's memory so she'd forget that, lost to her hunger, she ate that boy."
"Ate him?" Habetrot dropped her cake. "You mean…?"
"She literally ate him," Ector muttered, putting down his beer. "Black Dogs have existed since the Fairy Calendar. That big lass is probably a kind of Black Dog fairy…"
"So what now?" Morgan looked at Barghest. "Erase those memories?"
"No," Aoko shook her head. "Like before, I'll restore her memories and let her release all that pain and anger."
Everyone exchanged looks—only a Magician like Aoko could transfer the cost of such an outburst; otherwise, pent-up emotion would explode with an unbearable price someday.
"…How long will it take?" Artoria asked.
"Hmm, maybe an hour," Aoko estimated. "By the way, where's Melusine? I haven't seen her."
"Suspicious people were spotted near the Dragonbone Swamp," Morgan said. "She went to investigate—after all, that's her home."
Aoko guessed who the intruder was, but it was no big deal; the Beast cub didn't belong to her worldline, so she'd let Ritsuka Fujimaru worry about it.
"Alright, I get it," Aoko nodded. "Once Barghest's curse is handled, we can begin our recovery plan… By the way, have you seen your successor these years?"
"Successor?" Morgan was puzzled, then understood. "You mean the next generation of Paradise Fairies?"
Aoko nodded, and Morgan replied, "No. I've watched all major fairy settlements, including the destroyed Tintagel Village, with water mirrors. I haven't found any fairies like me."
"So, our bug-fixing via bell ringing must have worked," Aoko thought. "Now, you should be able to ring the rest of the Pilgrimage Bells around Britain."
"There's a Pilgrimage Bell in Camelot," Artoria said. "We gathered it earlier, but without you, we didn't dare ring it."
"You did right," Aoko said. "Each bell probably carries a Star's Inner Sea command, meant to make the Paradise Fairy sacrifice herself to forge the sword."
"By the way, where's Grimr?" Habetrot asked, looking around. "Is he alright?"
"He went off looking for someone," Artoria replied. "I asked who, but he said he wasn't sure—so he's searching as he travels."
Due to history's changes, Chaldea lost Artoria Caster as a key figure and thus lost their main quest. Their current actions are based on information from Proper Human History's Oberon, King of Fairies, touring the cities of Fairy Britain.
Without Caster as his student, Oberon's goal has shifted: now he wants Chaldea's Master to become a rebel leader, gathering forces in each city to oppose Camelot—Queen Morgan's army in Londinium.
But as the strongest fairies were long since recruited by Morgan, and even the child of the Fang Clan who should have appeared does not exist, his available strength is much diminished.
Ritsuka Fujimaru and Da Vinci-chan approached Gloucester, planning to meet its lord, Fairy Muryan, said to be very powerful and neutral—perhaps an ally.