After Scáthach completed her magic connection with the Land of Shadows, Ethan returned to the Emiya residence with the two of them.
Shirou, who had been trained and taught by Illya all day, went back into the kitchen to get busy. As expected, Sakura was still helping.
Illya and Artoria sat by the table waiting for dinner, while Cú Chulainn was probably still at work and hadn't returned yet.
However, Rin was also there, which surprised Ethan a little.
"I heard about your situation... Eh? You're unexpectedly cute!"
It seemed Rin had been there for a while and already knew that Ethan had turned into a child, and that Illya would be going to a certain school to study magic with him.
Although she didn't know which school it was, since it had drawn the attention of a being capable of distorting the rules of the world, it definitely wasn't an ordinary one.
"Get to the point."
"I want to learn magic too!"
Ethan wasn't surprised at all. Rin sometimes showed a bit of a spoiled attitude, but her looks and her ability to keep things under control made it hard for anyone to dislike her.
"Oh."
Ethan casually found a seat and sat down, neither agreeing nor refusing, which frustrated Rin. She wanted to know if Ethan agreed or not but found it awkward to press further.
"Don't mind him, he's actually a bit stuffed."
"Stuffed?"
Rin looked at Ethan's stomach. He didn't look stuffed at all.
"He absorbed too much energy from the Land of Shadows all at once. He'll probably be in this indigestion-like state for a while."
Scáthach briefly explained the situation, and only then did Rin understand why Ethan seemed so lazy and uninterested in talking.
Ethan was indeed a bit overloaded. The energy he absorbed in one go wasn't enough to make him uncomfortable, but refining and integrating it into his body was a delicate and troublesome process, especially during the first stage. The best thing to do was find a quiet place and focus on it.
He just didn't want to stay in the Land of Shadows for too long, so he returned here first.
Besides that, another reason was to observe Artoria's condition. After watching for a while, he confirmed that the Artoria in front of him was the main body, not a specially created clone.
As for her supposed severe injuries, that wasn't a problem at all for someone who could freeze time and send people to any point within it.
"In that case, there's no need to worry about messy issues between the main body and clones."
Ethan sat there for a while to recover, confirmed Artoria's state, and then announced his plans after Shirou had finished preparing dinner.
"After we finish dinner, I'll take you to see that powerful Britain."
"Isn't that a bit sudden?"
Shirou nearly dropped his chopsticks when he heard Ethan suddenly mention this topic. Traveling between worlds was a big deal, but the way Ethan said it made it sound like taking a casual stroll to the park next door.
"We're just going to take a look, and you don't need to prepare visas or buy plane tickets. What do you need to prepare for?"
"Oh? Going to another British Empire ruled by King Arthur?" Rin was very interested in this kind of trip. "But if I'm going to be away for a long time, shouldn't I pack more clothes?"
"Preparing too much is useless. Are you planning to wander around in a miniskirt in Britain over a thousand years ago?"
"Uh..."
Unable to watch Rin get cornered, Shirou stepped in to smooth things over. "Even if many clothes aren't suitable to wear there, she still needs to bring some daily necessities, right?"
"Exactly! That's what I meant!"
"You won't need those either, because the Britain I'm taking you to is quite different from the ancient Europe you know."
The last time he went, Arthur had been introducing various 'new things' to Camelot. Even if many modern items weren't available, substitutes had already been created.
He wondered how many new things Arthur had come up with this time.
Artoria remained silent throughout the conversation, not even asking for information about that Arthur. Perhaps she felt uneasy seeing another, more successful version of herself, or maybe she was nervous or embarrassed to face him.
However, she had to face it eventually. This trip was, in essence, meant to resolve her inner conflict.
After dinner, everyone was ready. Rin looked at the group gathered together and finally realized something.
"Is it okay for so many people to go at once?"
"Isn't it a bit late for you to think about that now?"
"Late? We haven't even left yet, have we?" Rin thought of another problem. Unlike Shirou, she was an experienced magus and knew what Servants were. Although the one she summoned was a bit special, she wasn't sure if Shirou could travel to other worlds. "Are Shirou and the others okay?"
If Ethan hadn't gained ownership of this world and become superior to Shirou's superior, he really couldn't have taken these Heroic Spirits to other worlds freely.
Now, with his higher authority, as long as the teleportation magic didn't malfunction, he could bring these Servants along safely.
So when Ethan activated the teleportation spell, everyone smoothly followed him and left that world. Only Cú Chulainn, who returned later from work, stood in the empty residence, looking around in confusion. "Where did everyone go?"
...
Ethan didn't take everyone directly to Arthur's world but instead returned to the island within the Goddess of the Moon.
Since they were going to Mordred's home, he had to ask her if she wanted to go home and see it. This child had been away for so long, she must really want to return, right?
"You can't tell this is inside a spaceship at all."
Looking at the beautiful summer island scenery, the group was surprised that this was actually inside Ethan's spaceship. After arriving, Ethan briefly introduced the place he lived in.
When they heard that such a beautiful island was actually inside a spaceship, everyone found it incredible, though not unbelievable.
When they passed through the connecting door and arrived at the corridor of the Goddess of the Moon, they began to see more high-tech equipment, finally realizing they were truly inside a spaceship.
When they reached the cockpit and saw the magnificent cosmic starry sky outside the front window, they were stunned. Even magi rarely had the chance to board a spaceship and travel through space.
"Luna, send a message to Mordred. Ask if she wants to go home, and if she does, tell her to come back quickly."
"Okay, sir."
Ethan's instruction and Luna's response didn't cause any surprise. After all, being in space, artificial intelligence wasn't unusual.
However, Artoria was startled by Ethan's words.
"Mordred?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Arthur, the Arthur of the world I'm taking you to, asked me to teach his child, to train his successor."
Artoria listened to Ethan's explanation, opened her mouth, and didn't know how to respond.
Her time had frozen at the moment just after she killed Mordred. She had never imagined she would have the chance to see her 'rebellious child' again.
She knew this was a completely different Mordred from another world, and strictly speaking, not the same person she killed, but it still felt strange.
"This... Mordred wouldn't be...?"
"Yes, that one!" Rin nodded, confirming Shirou's guess. "The one who launched a rebellion and ultimately fought a decisive battle with King Arthur and died by King Arthur's hand, the Knight of Treachery."
Everyone wanted to comfort Artoria, but no one knew how. Ethan simply patted her slender shoulder. Unfortunately, with him in his current child form, the gesture looked rather awkward, and to reach her shoulder, he even had to float up.
"You'll meet many familiar yet strange people. You'll have to adapt quickly."
"I understand."
Artoria was lost in deep thought. Aside from that, her ability to accept things was actually quite good, and most of the time, she could remain calm and make the right judgments.
"Speaking of which, the world with another King Arthur that Ethan mentioned... that world's Arthur should be a man, right?" Rin, after finding the endless starry sky monotonous, shifted her attention to another question.
"Probably..."
Sakura, who had been silent as if invisible, couldn't help but respond, since Rin was clearly speaking to her.
"I wonder what it will be like?"
After all, it was the legendary King Arthur. Rin was also curious about what the knight who betrayed King Arthur and ended his age would be like.
It shouldn't be as surprising as Artoria...
Mordred, wearing a jacket and jeans with her hair tied back in a ponytail, ran in with unconcealed joy on her face, grinning happily.
"I can go home? Does Captain think I'm qualified enough to inherit the throne?"
...A girl... right?
"What the heck? Why is it a girl again?"
(To be continued.)