Nothing particularly special happened during the night spent in the forest with Aesc.
After landing in the forest, Naoki immediately created a wooden hut complete with facilities using Imaginary Manifestation. For dinner, he gathered some wild vegetables and mushrooms from the area to cook into soup.
The forest certainly had plenty of such things, but that was all. It was impossible to prepare a delicious dinner.
Fortunately, the current Aesc could eat anything Naoki made. Over the past six months, Naoki had spoiled the palate of that thousand-year-old fairy.
The next morning, at sunrise, the two resumed their flight towards the Lake District.
By noon—
"Whoosh~~~~"
Accompanied by a gust of strong wind, Naoki descended from the sky and looked around: "We're here. The location of Albion the Dragon's remains."
"Yes. It's just a short walk away, but before that..."
Aesc looked towards the fairies who had already surrounded them: "I suppose we should greet the Mirror Clan first."
The Mirror Clan.
As mentioned before, they are one of the six great clans living near the remains of Albion the Dragon. Every clan member possesses the ability to see the future. Because they know their final fate from birth, they are very relaxed about their own life and death.
Among the six great clans, they are the only clan that does not hate Aesc.
Among the fairies surrounding them, as this wasn't Aesc's first time coming here, many fairies already recognized her.
"Lady Aesc? Have you come for another pilgrimage?"
"Come to think of it, it is about time."
"With Lady Aesc here, surely dealing with the calamity won't be a problem, right?"
The reason for Aesc's visits to the territory of the six great clans, or the reason she appeared before the fairies, was known to everyone in Britain.
The appearance of Savior Aesc meant a calamity was imminent.
And the disappearance of Savior Aesc meant the calamity had been resolved.
For most fairies, Aesc was the embodiment of calamity. They believed calamities were brought by her, therefore they cursed her as a witch, insulted her as much as possible, and shunned her.
The Mirror Clan, along with the leaders of the Wing Clan and the Fang Clan, were the minority who understood Aesc.
This was the reason why Aesc was still willing to protect Britain and its fairies until now.
Listening to the mirror fairies' words, Aesc smiled and shook her head: "No. This time I haven't come for a pilgrimage. Although the calamity is very near, there should still be about ten years left, so it's not urgent."
"My visit to the Mirror Clan this time is primarily because of the remains of Albion the Dragon."
The remains of Albion the Dragon.
The fairies fell silent for a moment, then showed expressions of understanding, especially after seeing Naoki standing with Aesc. Although there was still a little confusion, most of it was comprehension.
It seemed they knew part of the story through their future-seeing abilities.
"We understand. You can head towards the remains of Albion the Dragon over there. But that area is now a swamp. Please be careful when walking through it."
"You hear that? Naoki, be careful not to fall into the swamp."
Naoki laughed while spreading his hands: "No way I'd fall. By the way, you say that to me... aren't you coming with me?"
Aesc nodded slightly: "Yes. I plan to meet the head of the Mirror Clan, Einsel. She is the fairy with the most accurate prophetic ability in the Mirror Clan. I want to ask her about a few things. You go to Albion's side and do what you want to do."
"Okay, see you later."
"See you later."
The Mirror Clan's base was located in the outskirts of the Lake District.
And as the fairies said, after leaving the base and continuing deeper into the Lake District, the surrounding environment gradually changed from a town to a forest, and then into a dark swamp.
Giant trees towered high, and their dense branches blocked out the sky above the swamp, making the space beneath gloomy and damp.
Among the clustered trees, a few moss-covered white bones could also be seen.
Those were the remains of Albion the Dragon.
In both Pan-Human History and this Lostbelt, Albion the Dragon was a giant dragon over two thousand meters long. Its remains were naturally enormous. Although its body had decayed over tens of thousands of years, and most of the remaining bones had sunk into the swamp, the parts exposed above ground were enough to glimpse its overall form.
Naoki was now walking through this swamp forest shrouded by such a skeleton.
*CRACK!*
Ice formed under Naoki's feet.
Through extreme cold air, a thick layer of ice formed everywhere Naoki passed. This allowed him to walk freely on the swamp's surface.
There were no filthy creatures in the forest and swamp. Perhaps because of the presence of Albion's remains here. As Naoki advanced, aside from naturally growing trees blocking the path, he encountered nothing hindering him.
And as he continued forward—
*THUMP!* *THUMP!* *THUMP!*
The signal coming from the depths of the forest and swamp became extremely clear and strong. It resonated repeatedly with Naoki's approaching presence, making his head feel slightly buzzy.
It was like connecting to a hotspot with a very strong signal, and this hotspot could only be detected by Naoki. On the way here, he had already asked Aesc. She didn't feel any movement from the side of these dragon remains at all.
"Is it calling me?"
Naoki thought so.
Perhaps because he had arrived so close. Besides pure resonance, he could also feel some vague things emanating from this resonance.
Emptiness, void, longing... The things being conveyed, summarized briefly, might be something like that.
This resonance that only Naoki could feel seemed like a call emitted by the entity ahead.
Calling for an object that could hear its call.
"Mmm~~~~~"
Suddenly, in Naoki's vision, a very faint light lit up in the depths of the swamp.
It was an extremely dim and small light.
Walking on the ice towards the light, Naoki bent over and reached his hand into the swamp where the light was. After grasping something, he pulled hard—
*SQUELCH!*
A naked girl with dragon wings on her back was pulled out of the swamp by Naoki.