After a few days with Alice and the fairies, Aoko remembered she still had work to do. She hurried back to the University of Tokyo and defended her doctoral thesis, officially earning her doctorate.
For a Magician, this was a trivial matter, but compared to those who only cared about magecraft, Aoko's achievement was impressive—even among ordinary people.
Aoko declined all invitations to celebrate, bought souvenirs for everyone at home, and returned to the Kuonji mansion—only to be greeted by a surprising sight.
Morgan had changed back into her Rain Clan savior outfit—her figure much more mature than in her girlhood, her whole presence glowing.
Standing under the golden tree, she gazed down at Misaki Town, the dappled light making her the very picture of a beautiful fairy.
"What do you think of the human world?" Aoko walked up, handed her a glass of juice, and asked, "Is it different than you imagined?"
"Incredible," Morgan answered with a smile, accepting the juice. "I saw in Morgan's memories the towns of humanity in the Age of Gods—surrounded by suffering and injustice, completely different from now."
"Society's improved a bit, but some things never change," Aoko said, sitting down on clean grass. "This era looks glamorous, but in the shadows, filth still stubbornly exists—that's just human nature."
"This is already wonderful," Morgan said, shaking her head. "I'm not an idealist. I understand—whether fairy or human, there's the darkness that's hard to overcome."
"...But what amazes me is, no matter how long fairies exist, they never change," she continued after a pause. "But humans are completely different—they can undergo earth-shaking changes in the time a fairy takes a nap. From eating raw meat to thriving prosperity—maybe that's why the planet chose humans as primates."
Aoko thought, "You haven't seen the concept of Human Evil yet—that's disaster born from human history, and each one is a real character..."
But so far, there's no sign of a Beast in this timeline, so Aoko could relax a bit.
"Mm... Have you met Gray yet?" Aoko grinned and asked a question she'd been planning, and Morgan immediately pouted.
"Hmph, I have!" Morgan said a bit unhappily, sitting beside Aoko. "Artoria only told me just now!"
"You didn't think Gray was Artoria's real daughter, did you?" Aoko teased.
"Of course not! I have some magecraft skill at least!" Morgan retorted. "It's just... I was startled by how much Gray looked like... them."
"Mm, in a sense, Gray is the descendant of Morgan and Artoria." Aoko explained, "In Proper Human History, Morgan tried to resurrect herself by creating a new vessel from Arthur's descendants—Gray is that vessel."
"I know..." Morgan said, a bit deflated. "Gray is very cute and obedient, I really like her... Artoria told me about her, though Morgan's memories don't mention it, I still feel a little... guilty toward Gray."
"You don't need to," Aoko stood up, patting her butt. "I'll leave Gray's magecraft training to you, okay?"
"Mm..." Morgan replied absentmindedly, still staring at the city. "Seeing Gray sometimes reminds me of my days with the Rain Clan..."
"Well, she does look a lot like you and Artoria, haha," Aoko said. "Her past was full of misfortune, but I guarantee her future will be happy."
…
Aoko almost forgot about Touko.
Not her fault—she'd been busy researching magecraft and managing the Ark World, adjusting the world environment for its new fairy residents.
She'd spent a lot of effort fixing the terrain and ley lines, making sure the fairies' abilities wouldn't degenerate in the unfamiliar environment.
As the Ark World's creator god, Aoko was quite conscientious—the fairies were grateful for her work.
Incidentally, while adjusting the ley lines, Aoko met the moth fairy Blanca, the princess of the Autumn Forest, who seemed to have lost her memories and now wandered near the lake island holding a third of Albion's remains.
To Aoko's surprise, Melusine had become friends with Blanca; Melusine often came here to rest and even built a small house.
While Aoko was busy, Alice found her—Touko's case was stuck and needed support.
"She really couldn't handle Satsuki Kurogiri?" Aoko was a bit surprised, but she didn't mention the Unified Language issue.
"By the way, Alice, you graduated from Reien, right?" Aoko asked. "Want to come to Mifune City with me to check on Touko?"
Alice hesitated—she was wary of leaving the mansion for long, especially now that she'd fully grown as a fairy tale witch...
"I've solved the Yumina problem," Aoko said, pulling a golden wooden pendant from her pocket and handing it to Alice. "If the small golden tree connected to the mansion's ley line can prevent the change, this should work too."
"This is...?" Alice asked, examining the pendant.
"I based it on knowledge from an alternate world Touko and I visited, using a branch from our golden tree as a holy sigil," Aoko explained. "It won't last forever, but it'll be fine for a while."
Alice nodded and agreed to go with Aoko to Mifune City to see what was holding Touko up.