Crazy Britain:They’re All Raising Me

"Where can we even go now?"

Guinevere couldn't help but mutter to herself.

The intel they got from Oberon was nothing short of explosive. Who would've thought that, just to kill her, Fairy Knight Lancelot had gone so far as to unite half of Fairy Britain's powers under her banner—she even bowed her head to Woodworth willingly, just to take her down.

Like, seriously, lady? That's some next-level bloodlust.

Guinevere was stunned.

Sensing the team's gloomy mood, Oberon tried to cheer them up:

"But not all forces have joined Lancelot's alliance. Sure, they've pulled together a coalition of five major factions that could make anyone's scalp tingle, but outside of that, there are still three Fairy Lords in Britain who haven't joined—and, from the looks of it, probably won't."

"Three Fairy Lords?" Guinevere asked.

"Yes," Oberon nodded. "We've never directly met the Northern Queen, Nocknaree, but from the rumors alone, it's obvious—she's an ambitious one. Even when Queen Morgan was still around, she already had her sights set on the throne and dared to raise a full rebellion. There's no way she'd let Woodworth take the crown. She's bound to oppose the alliance."

"Bogart was stripped of everything by Spriggan and driven out of Norwich. If Woodworth and Lancelot brought him into the alliance, they likely promised to help him reclaim his position as Lord of Norwich. That means Spriggan, just to protect himself, would be forced into opposition as well."

"And then there's Murien of the Winged Clan in Gloucester…" Oberon continued. "Considering her entire clan was wiped out by the Fanged Clan, I really don't think she'd be willing to ally with Woodworth either."

"Willing? That's putting it lightly," Artoria added. "She holds a grudge of the deepest kind. She's the type who, if she sees you might have the power to kill Woodworth, will fund your campaign herself. She's never shown it openly, but she truly, deeply hates Woodworth and the Fanged Clan."

"Is that so? Then that's good news," Oberon nodded. "That means Lancelot has pretty much gathered every faction she possibly could."

"Hold on a second—what do you mean 'only three Fairy Lords aren't part of the alliance'?" Barghest raised her hand. "Aren't I a Fairy Lord? Don't ignore me!"

"Oh, right, right," Artoria snapped back instinctively, her mood already sour. "As if your New Darlington even counts. If it wasn't for you, Fairy Lancelot wouldn't be hunting us in the first place. Even Guinevere got dragged into this mess because of you. And you've got the nerve to speak?"

"You—" Barghest flared up, instinctively wanting to argue back, but the words caught in her throat. A moment later, she deflated like a punctured balloon.

"You're right. This is my fault. I got Guinevere involved…"

"…Huh?" Artoria was stunned that Barghest didn't lash out as usual. Seeing her hanging her head like a child who'd done something wrong, even Artoria felt a twinge of guilt.

"Okay, fine, look… I'm not actually blaming you, alright? I mean, that was just a simulation, wasn't it? No normal person would show up IRL just to murder someone over that. This is all on Fairy Lancelot being a sore loser. You're not completely to blame… Don't make that face, alright? I was out of line. Sorry."

"No need to comfort me," Barghest said quietly. "You were right."

"Ah… right…"

Artoria awkwardly retracted her hand, then looked helplessly at Guinevere and Oberon.

"Uh, speaking of which…" Guinevere jumped in to change the subject. "Weren't there supposed to be three Fairy Knights? What about the last one, Gawain? Any rumors about her?"

"Funny you should ask," Oberon nodded. "For some reason, even though the alliance is mainly made up of the Fanged Clan, Fairy Knight Gawain isn't among them. Word is… she's missing. Oh, right—Manchester isn't far from here. What do you think about laying low there for a bit?"

"Absolutely not!" Artoria said flatly. "The fairies there are all devils! We are NOT going there! Besides, aren't we supposed to be ringing the bells? Hiding out solves nothing!"

"Hmm, fair point." Oberon scratched his head. "So if that's off the table, then our safest cities left in Britain are Gloucester, Norwich, and Edinburgh. What do you think? Head to Gloucester or Norwich to ring a bell?"

"Ringing the bells is top priority, sure. But if we want to survive with the alliance on our tail, we'll probably need to make allies out of the remaining Fairy Lords…" Guinevere mused.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Oberon agreed. "But who should we approach? Spriggan might be opposed to the alliance, but he's an opportunist—not to be trusted. He might sell us out to Lancelot just to save his own skin."

"As for Murien," he continued, "even though she's got that suppression barrier that forcibly drops everyone to level one, it won't hold up if she's facing down the full force of Woodworth's alliance."

"Then are we headed to Nocknaree's territory?" Artoria asked.

"Not necessarily," Oberon replied. "Aside from them, we still have the Round Table Army—they're a faction we could potentially win over too. And as for Murien, well, if we can see all this, she can too. She's smart."

"Right. Given how precarious her situation is and her history with Woodworth, she's probably actively looking for allies," Guinevere said, stroking her chin. "If we approach her now, it'll be just what she needs."

"Exactly." Oberon smiled. "Ah, it's so nice to have someone who gets what I'm thinking. So, shall we settle on that plan?"

"Fine by me. I'll go along with whatever." Barghest said softly from the side.

"Then… which route do we take?" Artoria asked. "The Vein Corridor again?"

"That might take too long," Guinevere said, scratching her head. "The terrain inside the Vein Corridor is a maze, plus it's crawling with Phantasmal Species. The situation in Fairyland changes fast—if we spend ten or fifteen days stuck in there, things might be totally different again when we get out…"

Plus, with how much stronger they were now, grinding Phantasmal Species in the Vein Corridor wasn't as efficient anymore. In short: it was time to either switch maps or advance the main quest.

"Yeah, I hear you," Guinevere sighed. "If only we had some kind of transport that could move the whole group quickly…"

"Well…" At that, Oberon's expression turned a little odd. "Funny you mention it—there actually is something."

"...Did anyone else hear that?" Barghest suddenly lifted her head.

[Prompted by Barghest, you all look up to see a dust cloud in the direction of Salisbury. A horse-shaped creature is rapidly approaching.]

[Recognizing the creature, you don't attack. Instead, you wait for it to arrive.]

Before long, the large horse-shaped creature reached them. Unlike a normal horse, though, this one had arms—and was holding a massive blade.

"R-Redra?" Artoria blinked in surprise. "Why are you here?"

"Huh? That's odd—you know my name? Don't tell me Oberon already filled you in?"

Redra Beat was momentarily puzzled, but quickly brushed it off.

"Well, that saves us some introductions. I am Redra Beat—though I may look like one of the Fanged Clan, I'm actually part of the Wind Clan. The fastest carriage-puller in all of Fairyland, and a poet at heart! Lady Aurora sent me to support the Child of Prophecy and company. Pleased to meet you!"

After Redra finished, everyone turned to stare at Oberon.

"Explain."

[According to Oberon, while he was back in Salisbury gathering intel, he once again made contact with Aurora. To his surprise, this time she was the one who offered to help.]

"She said Woodworth's power had grown too strong. She feared that refusing him would lead to Salisbury being destroyed. So she had no choice but to submit..."

But then Oberon's tone shifted.

"Though honestly, I think she saw our potential during that battle and decided to hedge her bets. If we win in the end, she avoids retribution."

"You sure it's okay to say all that in front of me?" Redra pointed to himself. "I mean, I was sent here by Lady Aurora, you know?"

"No problem," Guinevere said coolly. "If she's choosing not to fight us now, then we'll go along with it. As long as she sticks to that, we won't go after her afterward."

Of course, knowing Aurora's personality, there was no way she'd stay quiet for long.

And after dealing with Redra so many times, Guinevere knew he wasn't exactly loyal to Aurora. If she ever did betray them and they took her out, Redra probably wouldn't even blink—he definitely wasn't the type to seek revenge for her.

"Well, that solves our transportation issue," Oberon grinned. "Let's head straight for Gloucester then."

[With Redra now part of the team, your travel speed increases dramatically. Within a single day, you arrive at Gloucester.]

"By the way," Oberon said casually at the city gates, "I heard there's an auction happening soon. Want to swing by and relax a bit?"

But Guinevere suddenly tensed up.

Come to think of it, hadn't he first met Fairy Lancelot at an auction in Gloucester?

Don't tell him… it's happening again?

And if it did, that would mean a one-on-one fight. Last time, he died over 100,000 times. He wasn't interested in doing that again. Like, seriously, how was he supposed to beat that shameless Seya-freak in a solo duel?

"Maybe let's skip it," Guinevere said, scratching his head awkwardly. "I doubt there'll be anything worth bidding on anyway. Let's just go straight to see Murien?"

"I heard the highlight of the auction is some kind of 'Palworld Assembly Line Factory Blueprint'—apparently from Proper Human History?" Oberon asked. "You're from there. Any idea what it does?"

"…Well, now we have to go."

Guinevere suddenly turned serious.