Root Princess
"Seizing a whole world as a gift for your beloved, that's quite a bold and crazy thing to do, isn't it, Sajyou Manaka? I guess only you could pull something like that off."
Arkhan remarked casually as he watched the light-blonde-haired young girl looking at him with cold eyes.
He didn't show much surprise at the reveal of Merlin being Sajyou Manaka. Not long ago, he had already vaguely guessed the truth behind this world's mystery.
In fact, when he thought about it carefully, this world revealed far too many irrational and bizarre aspects. Naturally, the one that intrigued him the most was why there were only two Britons in Camelot—the Lion King and Merlin.
Those so-called Knights of the Round Table were either impersonated by fairies from legends or replaced by Servants who had been captured. On the other hand, the genuine Knights of the Round Table hadn't been summoned at all.
It truly didn't make sense.
Was this because of some summoning restrictions? Or were they deliberately avoiding summoning them?
As that thought crossed Arkhan's mind, he couldn't help but think of Merlin. If he thought carefully, this great mage shouldn't have appeared in this Singularity in the first place.
The people who should have appeared didn't, while those who shouldn't have appeared did.
It was a rather intriguing matter.
Especially after learning from Melusine that she and the other two fairy knights were chosen by Merlin herself, his suspicion of this great mage reached its peak in an instant.
Merlin, as the great mage of Britain, the court mage of Camelot, and the mentor of King Arthur, chose not to summon the original Knights of the Round Table but instead selected Melusine, Baobhan Sith, and Barghest to replace them.
No matter how one looked at it, it didn't seem quite right.
It was from that moment onward that he began to wonder if this 'Merlin' was really 'Merlin'.
Moreover, there was another thing that made him feel something off.
Merlin in this world, turned out to be a woman.
In Arkhan's memory, in the history of the Nasuverse, the appearances of female Merlin were few and far between, and her existence was always intertwined with someone, which was Arthur Pendragon.
Therefore, after discovering that Merlin was a woman, he believed the true identity of the Lion King to be Arthur Pendragon, not Artoria Pendragon.
What was even more interesting was that there was not just one woman connected to Arthur, the famous Root Princess, Sajyou Manaka, was also closely connected to him.
To verify his speculation, Arkhan specifically contacted Romani and confirmed that in 1991 of this world's timeline, there was a Holy Grail War in Japan, Tokyo.
In that war, the head of a prestigious mage family in Japan, the Reiroukan family, had passed away, while the eldest daughter of the Sajyou family, the renowned genius recognized as having the qualifications to be a powerful mage, Sajyou Manaka, had disappeared.
After getting this information, Arkhan was already quite certain that the Merlin standing beside the Lion King was the disguised Manaka.
What really helped him confirm this speculation was Nero's presence.
Sajyou Manaka, as someone who connected to the Root since birth, naturally possessed overwhelming magical energy and talent, and could even use ancient magecraft without restrictions in the modern world where the Age of Gods and true ether had faded.
Manaka could be said to be the most exceptional human mage in history.
In addition to this, she also could materialize the authority of the Earth Mother Goddess, known as 'Potnia Theron: Monster Princess', as well as the power to revive the ten crowns of the 'Beast of Revelation' in modern times through 'Sodom's Fall: Holy City's Fall'.
In the Nasuverse, the 'Beast of Revelation' also known as 'Beast VI' was one of the seven Evils of Humanity. Some believed that its symbolized concept was 'depravity', perhaps because of its other name—Beast of 666.
In the Bible, 7 was considered a complete number, three 7s represented complete perfection, while 666, which was just one step away from perfection, was undoubtedly the evilest representation, and the Hebrew pronunciation representing Nero's name just happened to equated with the 'Number of the Beast'—666.
This was certainly not a mere coincidence.
In the 50s and 60s AD, as Nero enforced strong repression and crackdowns on religion, Christians equated her deeds with the destruction of the city in the Book of Revelation and the Great Whore of Babylon.
In the Nasuverse setting, Heroic Spirits were born from legends and imaginations, so regardless of whether the historical Nero was truly connected to the Beast of 666, the moment she became a Heroic Spirit, her existence inevitably contained the concept of the Beast of 666.
Strangely enough, among the seven Servants that had descended into this Singularity, only Nero appeared to be safe and sound.
In the end, not only was Nero's connection with the Beast of 666 ambiguous in many ways, but when coupled with Manaka's ability to summon the Beast of 666, it almost confirmed the speculation that Merlin was Manaka.
On this matter, Arkhan even came up with a bold speculation.
"Actually, there's something I've been wanting to ask you..."
Arkhan spoke up as he looked at the silent Manaka.
"If I'm not mistaken, Nero wasn't summoned by this world, but by you, right?"
Upon hearing that, Manaka's eyes flickered slightly.
The sudden shift in conversation to Nero seemed a bit odd to her, but she was the only one who understood the immense significance behind it.
However, as she carefully recalled the moment when she reverted to her true form and observed no surprise in the man's expression or demeanor whatsoever, coupled with what he had just asked, she gradually realized something.
"You know me, and you're also quite familiar with me..." Manaka's narrowed eyes exuded a hint of danger. "Who told you?"
"Is that important?" Arkhan shot back with a nonchalant tone.
"I see... looks like you're not planning to tell me..." Manaka glanced at him, not particularly concerned. "But you guessed right, Nero was indeed summoned by me."
"So, you really left a spatial coordinate on her back then?" Arkhan squinted his eyes.
"That's right." Manaka nodded calmly.
"Well, then I'm a bit puzzled... Why summon her only to toss her away and create trouble for yourself?" Arkhan tilted his head to the side. "Are you trying to gather refugees by using her and then take them all down in one fell swoop?"
"Heh..." Manaka chuckled sarcastically, a hint of mockery in her tone. "Trouble? What trouble can she bring me? Just relying on that empire no bigger than a village? Spare me the laughter, please. I didn't keep her by my side simply because I didn't want to bring certain things too early."
"Didn't want to bring certain things too early, huh? Like summoning a Beast, you mean?"
Arkhan guessed casually, a smile adorning his face.
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