[Guinevere informs you that your current symptoms are not illness, but pregnancy.]
[Guinevere shares with you knowledge about pregnancy—this is how human reproduction works in the Pan-Human History.]
[Guinevere confesses to you that she herself comes from Pan-Human History.]
"Wah—"
After Guinevere's confession, Artoria immediately received a detailed explanation of pregnancy from the system. The buff in her status window, previously shown as "???," officially renamed itself "Pregnant."
As a fairy who had never even known the definition of "childbearing," Artoria felt as if a whole new world had opened up before her.
"Th-this th-this… so that kind of thing isn't simply for mutual pleasure?"
"Wahhhhh—what have I been doing all this time?!"
Realizing that she had engaged in those acts out of nothing but curiosity, Artoria's face turned scorched red; she flopped onto the ground, writhing in shame.
It wasn't until she banged her head against a rock that she managed to steady herself. She sat up again, taking a deep breath.
Thank goodness—although her actions in the simulation had been utterly absurd, no one except herself would ever know. Thinking of that, the blaze in her mind finally dimmed a little.
She slapped her cheeks to wake herself, then resumed her concentration, once more studying Pan-Human reproductive knowledge intently.
"…So, if this continues, in about ten months, a child will grow inside my belly?"
Although only her simulated self was pregnant, in reality Artoria reached down to cradle her own abdomen, two blushes rising to her cheeks.
"The way humans in Pan-Human History raise offspring is really amazing… Although it sounds exhausting… this child will be born from the bloodline of both Guinevere and me?"
What a novel feeling. What will my child be like?
Will it be a boy or a girl?
Will they resemble me more, or Guinevere more?
Above all, what is it like to become a parent?
The more she pondered these questions, the more a strange emotion swelled within Artoria. She could not pinpoint this feeling with a single word—she felt lightheaded, her thoughts fluttering. She worried she might not be cut out for motherhood, but at the same time, she could not wipe away the joy and anticipation swelling in her heart.
—I'm so happy.
And this time, Guinevere had even confessed to her that she was a drifter from Pan-Human History. Just thinking about it made Artoria's heart leap.
It wasn't the fact of Guinevere being a drifter that surprised her—she had already learned of it through his profile entry when they first met. She also understood that, as an anomaly from Britannia, he would face all manner of rejection and disdain.
So she could understand why Guinevere had chosen to hide this secret deep in his heart. And now, because of this child, he revealed the truth to her. Did that mean her position in his heart had grown even stronger?
"Wah—"
At that thought, Artoria pressed her hands to her face and rubbed hard. How embarrassingly romantic this felt… It seemed like our love had produced a fruit.
I wonder if having this child will make Guinevere feel even more attached to Fairy Britannia?
…
[After becoming pregnant, Artoria's frequency of deep communication with you drops significantly.]
Reading that line, Guinevere nearly wept with relief.
My precious child! You arrived just in time! You really have rescued your father from utter despair!
Rest assured, father will never fail you—he will work twice as hard to earn money to buy your milk powder!
[You shift from "Overindulgence" status back to "Exhausted" status.]
[Your attribute values begin to rise again.]
[Because you refocus your main energy on the blacksmith's workshop, your income increases.]
[Queen's Calendar August 2019: Noknare and Gawain reach an agreement to jointly send troops to Camelot.]
[You receive more orders for weapons and armor.]
[Beryl's army repeatedly suffers defeats at the hands of Noknare's force and Gawain's troops.]
[Queen's Calendar September 2019: Beryl withdraws to Camelot and does not sally forth.]
[Queen's Calendar October 2019: The Gawain–Noknare allied forces successfully breach Camelot's walls.]
[Beryl reveals himself once more as Woodworth and engages the fairy knight Gawain in battle.]
[Gawain is no match for Beryl; Noknare joins the battlefield.]
[With Noknare and fairy Gawain fighting side by side, Beryl is defeated and flees Camelot in disgrace.]
[The Gawain–Noknare allied forces successfully take control of Camelot.]
[Upon withdrawing, Beryl leaves behind a vast number of troops already infected with the Morse Poison, who suddenly launch an attack when the allied forces take over Camelot.]
[The Gawain–Noknare allied forces struggle to suppress the Morse-infected troops, but they find that many fairies have already been corrupted by the poison.]
[Note! This variant of Morse Poison was specially modified by Beryl; not only does it infect fairies, but humans can contract it as well, and its effects on the Clan of Fangs are even more pronounced.]
[Furthermore, whenever a fairy or human infected by this Morse Poison dies, their killer automatically accumulates a curse.]
[Fairy Gawain orders his subordinates to retreat, opting to single-handedly attempt to annihilate the Morse army.]
[The mutated Morse Poison spreads rapidly among the allied forces; both Gawain and Noknare accumulate severe curses during the suppression.]
[The allied forces attempt to withdraw from Camelot but are intercepted by large numbers of Morse-infected troops controlled by Beryl.]
At that moment, the screen shifted, revealing a tall member of the Clan of Fangs in the display.
Guinevere recognized that face clearly—it was Woodworth, whom he had fought many times before. However, unlike Woodworth's normally snowy-white, glossy pelt, Beryl's fur was now dull, gray, and mired as if in sludge.
And when that filthy figure opened his mouth, the voice that issued forth was completely different:
"Hahahahaha! You really leapt headlong into the pit I dug for you, didn't you?!"
Standing amid a mass of howling, rotting, humanoid forms—Morse zombies—Beryl, now in Woodworth's form, laughed triumphantly:
"How does it feel? To face the Morse Poison I personally perfected? I put so much effort into transferring the curse of Morse onto humans! The effect is truly terrifying, isn't it?!"
"But, since I, who rarely enjoy fighting personally, intentionally feigned defeat by going to the front lines, you losing was only natural."
At this point, a chillingly cruel smile flickered in Beryl's eyes:
"I can't wait to see—how resplendent and dignified the Northern Queen will look, and how valiant the fairy knight will be, when they're utterly tainted and fall to Morse. What a beautiful spectacle that will be!"
"So let me savor it!"
[Amid a two-pronged onslaught by countless Morse zombies, the Northern Queen Noknare, her strength severely diminished, falls in battle. All the northern fairies under her command are wiped out.]
[All of Gawain's troops are annihilated; only Gawain himself breaks through the encirclement.]
[News of Beryl's deliberate modification of the Morse curse spreads to other territories of Britannia, igniting widespread panic.]
[At the same time, Beryl leads the Morse hordes to invade other territories, including several cities once ruled by the Blood Queen Tristan.]
[Due to the highly contagious nature of the modified Morse curse, the fairies of Britannia are helpless before the Morse zombie swarms. The curse spreads with alarming speed.]
[Queen's Calendar November 2019: Britannia loses over half its fairy population and inhabitants. Under Beryl's leadership, the endless Morse tide successively overruns Edinburgh, Sheffield, and Gloucester.]
[The fairies of Britannia, terrified, refer to Beryl as the "King of Calamity."]
"That Beryl really is a damned beast."
Watching the city engulfed in an unending tide of black, inhuman forms, Guinevere felt his stomach churn.
Humans transformed into Morse zombies, and fairies turned into Morse—no creature could escape.
Thanks to his deep research into the Morse curse, Beryl had driven Britannia to the brink of annihilation.
Although in this simulation Guinevere had intended simply to live as a commoner, with the world now teetering on the brink of ruin, he had no hope of escaping with his life either.
When a great nest is destroyed, how can any egg remain intact?
Yet, with the situation already at such a point, no matter what Guinevere tried, there was nothing he could do to reverse these events.
He pressed his temples in anguish.
He didn't care about his own fate, but now… how could he ensure that Artoria, eight months' pregnant, would survive this catastrophe?
Should he go to Chaldea?
No sooner had that thought formed in his mind than a new line of text appeared in front of him on the screen:
[Before the King of Calamity Beryl's Morse tide attacks Manchester, a messenger sent by Gawain—who has not yet returned to his territory—brings good news.]
[She has already finished negotiating with Chaldea; Chaldea can accept the residents of Manchester, allowing them to flee Britannia and escape the great disaster.]
[Upon learning that Chaldea can take in refugees, you hurriedly leave the blacksmith's shop, intending to return home and find Artoria.]
"Gawain! Well done! Well done!"
Guinevere immediately began clapping his hands.
Fantastic! With this, Artoria can leave safely… Huh?
As the scene in front of him suddenly shifted, Guinevere was stunned.
\[On your way home from the blacksmith's shop, you witness a scene you cannot believe.]
There was no need for the simulator to describe what followed; the hellish vision was already before his eyes:
A sea of flames consumed the city.
In that burning city, buildings collapsed one after another, transforming into a howling inferno.
Flames licked the sky, and blood spurted like crimson flowers from bodies being torn open, turning the entire city—a city once teeming with life—into a red, seething abyss.
And the faces responsible for creating this vision of purgatory were ones so familiar to Guinevere:
Those kindly, gentle neighbors who had never been adept at fighting were now slashing mercilessly at the humans of Manchester.
They slaughtered, tore limbs, decapitated, dismembered—and then… ate, chewed, swallowed.
They carried out these atrocities as if they were engaging in some delightful everyday pastime, their expressions as casual as if they were chatting with Guinevere on the street about a delicious lunch they'd just eaten.
Guinevere could even hear their cheers:
"Finish them off! Finish them off! We're moving out soon, so we need to clear out our old toys!"
"Twisting off limbs is so much fun! Pulling out intestines is so much fun!"
"The initial screams are the best part! The later cries get boring!"
"Eat them quickly! Eat them quickly! We need to finish before Bagster gets back—don't let her know!"
"…What… is this…"
As Guinevere stared at the horror, he saw a fairy he recognized hurrying toward him, a gleeful smile spreading across its face.
Guinevere quickly realized it was his neighbor of the Wind Clan.
"Oh! Guinevere! You haven't been eaten by Artoria yet?"
That fairy, waving its arms and shouting excitedly, offered Guinevere a dazzling grin:
"That's wonderful! I was just thinking my spouse wasn't entertaining enough—could you let me hear your screams instead?"