It went without saying that the newly appeared skill, Stake of Oath, was definitely Morgan's work.
Unlike magecrafts such as 'Mirror', 'Tower', 'Garden', and 'Coffin', which Riezel was familiar with in the original work, the magecraft called 'Stake' had never appeared.
Needless to say, this magecraft must have been the reason for the appearance of the skill.
"Fairy's divine protection, huh?"
Riezel furrowed his brow and fell into deep thought.
From the skill description, it was indeed as Morgan had said—it was a form of divine protection, but a special kind of divine protection.
As for the exact effect of this divine protection, Riezel had yet to determine, but the question of why he lost his power when he intended to attack Morgan might now have been answered.
Evidently, the reason for this loss of power was one of the effects of 'Stake of Oath', which said—Power becomes ineffective when fighting against that specific individual as an enemy.
In other words, when Riezel became an enemy of the so-called 'specific individual' mentioned in the skill's description and fought them, his power would be rendered ineffective.
And who this 'specific individual' was, it was already clear without needing to think—there could only be one person: Morgan.
'So, if I become Morgan's enemy and try to attack her, I'll lose my power and become an ordinary human?'
'Conversely, if Morgan becomes my enemy and tries to attack me, she'll also lose her power?'
'Because this isn't purely a negative effect, but a condition for the skill itself, and the target is neither my body nor my mind, but the power within me, neither Abnormal Resistance nor Self Redemption could have any effect, huh...'
Indeed, this was likely the reason why he became powerless when he attacked Morgan in Salisbury earlier.
'As for the unique Garden created specifically for me, its target isn't me either, but the space where the battlefield exists—part of the world itself.'
'When the unique Garden unfolds, the world, as part of the battlefield, gets sealed off. No magical energy, magecraft, or magic can appear in that sealed world, which was why I couldn't use magic at that time.'
'It's somewhat similar to the Light of Heaven in Jinas's royal palace, where it prohibits the use of magic that affects a domain or area, not an individual.'
It did not interfere with Riezel himself, but with the world that allowed magical energy, magecraft, and magic to exist. As a result, Morgan's unique Garden could affect him and prevent him from using magic.
As soon as he understood this, Riezel didn't feel relieved but fell deeper into confusion.
'Why does she know so much about me?'
Morgan knowing his capabilities was very abnormal.
Riezel had never interacted with Morgan, and he had only arrived in this world a few days ago, so before that, there was no 'Riezel Brynhart' in this world.
Moreover, his interactions with people in this world were limited, as apart from Artoria, they were with his enemies like Woodwose, Gawain, Lancelot, and a few others.
However, Morgan's 'Stake' and the new kind of 'Garden' were clearly created specifically to target him—they were methods developed with an understanding of his uniqueness, crafted to have definite effects on him.
Such a fact could only mean one thing: Morgan understood him very well, and she knew his capabilities, or else there was no other way she could have designed such targeted methods.
Morgan had even admitted that she spent a thousand years developing 'Stake' and the new kind of 'Garden'.
In other words, Morgan had known of his existence a thousand years ago or even earlier, and had begun developing 'Stake' and the new kind of 'Garden' in preparation to deal with him.
'...Why is this happening?'
Riezel's expression shifted as his thoughts grew more complex.
'Could it be...?'
An overly bold guess surfaced in Riezel's mind, making his furrowed brow loosen slightly, but the relief never came.
He continued to contemplate deeply.
He thought for a long time.
"Hahh..."
After a long silence, Riezel exhaled.
"Forget it, I won't think about it. I'll just take it one step at a time and go with the flow."
Riezel ultimately stood up, left the throne, and walked toward the empty wall behind it.
He reached the front of the empty wall, standing at the edge of the floor that faced outward, looking into the distance.
What he saw was nothing short of astonishing.
Outside, it wasn't a bustling city, nor a beautiful, pleasant landscape, but an enormous, gaping hole.
It was a massive void lying on the ground, as if the world itself had a hole torn in it, exuding a suffocating presence and pressure.
As if backed against a cliff, Camelot sat before this hole known as the 'Great Pit,' and from its edge, one could gaze into the endless, pitch-black abyss.
From where Riezel stood, all it would take was a light jump, and he would fall straight down from Camelot into the Great Pit, swallowed by the bottomless darkness.
"..."
Riezel wasn't shocked by the horrifying scene before him, but it seemed he had already mentally prepared for it, calmly gazing down below.
"Fly."
Before long, Riezel cast flight magic and lifted off the ground.
However, just as he was about to fly out of the throne room and leave Camelot, a sudden heat spread across his back, and a sense of resistance began to well up inside him.
At the same moment, he immediately recalled what Morgan had said.
"Before that, you can move around freely in this place, but you can't leave Camelot."
"You will... because this is the first 'condition' I'm giving you."
As these two sentences echoed in his mind, Riezel also remembered one of the effects of the Stake of Oath.
"Able to exchange powers and conditions with that specific individual, huh...?"
Feeling the resistance deep within, Riezel started to understand what Morgan meant by the 'condition.'
"Well, this is interesting..."
Riezel muttered to himself before decisively abandoning the idea of leaving Camelot.
However, he still flew out of the throne room, heading toward the city of Camelot, known as the castle town.
He flew freely, easily bypassing Camelot's royal palace and entering the castle town.
Unlike Salisbury, which was a vacation spot, Camelot's atmosphere wasn't relaxing but filled with a kind of iron-willed intensity.
The buildings here were taller and colder than those in Salisbury.
The streets were wider and more luxurious, yet carried a sense of strict discipline.
The residents walking around were mostly high-ranking fairies, dressed in luxurious, extravagant clothes, their wealth obvious to anyone who looked at them, while the magical energy radiating from them almost filled all of Camelot's atmosphere—signaling that these fairies' magical energy and strength were far beyond those in Salisbury and weren't even in the same league.
"Camelot, huh?"
Riezel's gaze flickered slightly as he stared at the scene before him, and after a moment, he turned and left, flying back to the throne room.
At this point, Morgan had already returned.
"How is it?"
Sitting on the throne, Morgan looked down from her high seat, giving off a subtle air of showing off as she spoke.
"Is my Camelot alright?"
Hearing Morgan's question, Riezel didn't answer.
He simply felt the magical energy that filled Camelot, then focused on the flow of the magic, eventually shifting his gaze to the throne beneath Morgan.
In Riezel's perception, all the magical energy filling Camelot and even the entire Faerie Britain was flowing toward this throne, pouring into it.
"What a domineering way to rule."
Riezel shrugged and remarked casually.
At his remark, Morgan fell silent for a moment before speaking in a calm and unreadable tone.
"It's not ideal for you to stay in this throne room all the time. I've had a room prepared for you."
Morgan snapped her fingers, summoning a female fairy.
"Your Majesty!"
Respectfully addressing Morgan, the fairy, seemingly from the Wind Clan, knelt before her.
"Go take His Highness to his room."
Morgan ordered calmly without looking at the fairy.
"Yes!"
Not daring to breathe too loudly, the fairy responded quickly and then respectfully arrived in front of Riezel.
"Please follow me, Your Highness."
Riezel glanced at Morgan and, seeing that she wasn't looking at him, turned his head and followed the fairy out of the throne room.
What Riezel didn't notice was that, as soon as he turned and took his eyes away from Morgan, she had already begun to watch his retreating figure.
Only when Riezel's back disappeared from her sight did Morgan quietly murmur, almost as if responding to his earlier remark.
"Domineering, huh... the fairies of this kingdom are only fit for being ruled in this manner, aren't they?"
Muttering these words, which no one could hear, Morgan looked in the direction of the Great Pit.
"It's almost time."
"It's almost here."
"In a while, whether it's Britain or the outside world, they will all belong to me."
"No, I should say, they will belong to both of us..."
Morgan whispered these words as she closed her eyes, seemingly falling into a deep sleep.
With her alone in the throne room, the atmosphere grew heavy with solitude, lingering for a long time without fading away.
===
The room Morgan arranged for Riezel wasn't far from the throne room—in fact, it could even be said to be right nearby.
From Riezel's observation, this room seemed to be the closest one to the throne room in the entire palace, and the only things closer than this room were the corridors and walls leading to it.
It seemed that this room hadn't originally been used for living, but rather for storing treasures like a treasury.
He found a few things that hadn't been tidied up, such as crystals scattered under the bed, jewels dropped under a vase, and coins that had rolled into the carpet—there weren't many, but they were definitely there.
Such a situation made it easy for him to imagine just how busy the fairies in the palace must have been to manage to prepare this room, the one closest to the throne room.
'...Morgan must've given some unreasonable order again, right?'
Otherwise, there wouldn't be things scattered around, showing that the fairies had hastily and flusteredly tidied up this room.
Riezel casually picked up a jewel and sat on a ridiculously luxurious bed, playing with the jewel while starting to think.
'Given the current situation, leaving Camelot seems impossible.'
'At the very least, I'll have to stay here for the next month.'
'But the problem is, after a month, do I really have to marry Morgan?'
Riezel honestly felt a bit troubled.
In principle, he rejected the idea since there was no reason why he would want to marry someone he had just met not long ago, someone who could very well become an enemy in the future.
Even though Morgan was beautiful and strong, possibly even stronger than he was right now, this sudden development still made Riezel feel resistant. He hadn't even figured out why she wanted to marry him, or why she planted the so-called 'Stake' on him, creating such a deep connection between them.
The only thing Riezel was sure of was that something had definitely happened with Morgan, and it had something to do with him.
Of course, that had nothing to do with the current Riezel.
Normally, Riezel would've ignored this, walked away on the spot, and not stayed here to marry a queen out of nowhere. But the presence of 'Stake' made him instinctively not resist and naturally accept the thought of 'Morgan is my wife' from time to time.
The state he was in could be summed up in one sentence—his mind kept shouting 'no', but his body kept shouting 'yes'.
It was what people called 'saying no with your mouth, but acting the opposite with your body.'
Understanding this, Riezel felt a bit awkward.
'...If Yuri and Lizbeth found out about this, there'd probably be a big earthquake.'
Riezel thought for a moment about the consequences and immediately shuddered.
Although he hadn't confirmed his relationship with Yuri, theirs could definitely be considered 'more than friends but not yet lovers'—it was like a thin layer of window paper existed between them, ready to burst at any time.
As for Lizbeth, the little princess nearly saw Riezel as her everything—her biggest support. If he suddenly told her that he was marrying another woman, someone she didn't even know, she would probably cry.
'Luckily, this isn't happening in the same world.'
Riezel, surprisingly, had this slightly scummy thought, and in the end, he could only think of that one sentence.
'Take it one step at a time and go with the flow.'
Needless to say, this was the only strategy he could adopt right now.
'I wonder how Artoria is doing...'
Suddenly remembering that countryside fairy, Riezel's brow furrowed deeply again.
"Message."
Riezel cast communication magic, intending to contact Artoria.
However, the magic Riezel cast failed to send.
'Is there some kind of barrier in the palace blocking magecraft?'
Realizing Message had failed, this was the first possibility that came to Riezel's mind.
As the master of this palace, Morgan herself was an exceptionally skilled magus. Whether for her own protection or to safeguard her throne, she might have set up some defenses within the palace.
Even if Morgan hadn't set up any protection in the palace, given how efficiently the throne absorbed magical energy, the surrounding space might have been completely disturbed by the constant flow of magical energy, preventing delicate magic from working properly.
Message was one such delicate magic, easily affected by such disruptions.
'Can't be helped, I'll have to use the clumsy method.'
Having no choice, Riezel cast magic again—this time, summoning magic.
"Summon Monster 1st."
As a small magic circle appeared above Riezel's palm, a crow flew out from it.
It was a Level 5 weak monster called the Messenger Crow.
As the name suggested, the Messenger Crow was used for delivering messages.
Its function was similar to the Kasugai Crow from the world of Demon Slayer, a messenger bird used for communication. What made them different was that the Kasugai Crow was trained, while the Messenger Crow was born with this ability.
Under the crow's direct gaze, Riezel spoke a brief message.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll come find you in a month."
It wasn't that he didn't want to say more, but if he did, the Messenger Crow might deliver the wrong message.
Because this kind of crow had limited memory, unless used repeatedly or enhanced with a special skill, it could only transfer a small amount of information, so the more concise the message, the more accurately it could be transmitted.
As a result, Riezel kept his words brief to ensure the raven could deliver exactly what he meant.
One of the most commendable features of the Messenger Crow was its ability to precisely find anyone who had physical contact with the summoner recently and fly to them. For this reason, Riezel chose to summon it instead of another monster as a messenger.
As for the requirement of physical contact, that was easily met by Artoria, who had snuck into Riezel's arms and slept soundly one night.
"Go."
Riezel let the Messenger Crow out of the window.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll come find you in a month."
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll come find you in a month."
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll come find you in a month."
As the Messenger Crow flew up, it circled a few times before calling out these words and flying off into the distance.
"..."
Riezel somewhat regretted summoning this thing to deliver a message.
Wasn't this the same as announcing his message to everyone?
Just as Riezel was seriously considering whether to call the Messenger Crow back and rethink his messaging plan, someone suddenly knocked on his door.
"Come in."
Riezel instinctively spoke, then realized and raised an eyebrow.
Someone was actually looking for him?
Was it a servant?
Or someone he knew?
"Hmm, this room's nice—very tasteful."
With this remark, the door to Riezel's room opened before a muscular figure walked in.
"Gawain?"
Riezel was somewhat surprised, as the visitor was none other than Fairy Knight Gawain.