Wu Ling looked at Melusine with surprise.
He was still more used to calling her Fairy Lancelot, but judging from her current state, Morgan or anyone else had probably never granted her the name Lancelot. In that case, he could only call her by her True Name, Melusine.
"You know me?"
Melusine lowered the weapon she had been ready to attack with and looked at Wu Ling in confusion.
Wu Ling nodded. Then he explained to Melusine, and also to Fujimaru Ritsuka, Sigurd, and the others behind him.
"Melusine. A fairy born from the left hand the Dragon of Albion severed near the moment of its death."
Siegfried and Sigurd said nothing after hearing him. As dragon slayers in their own legends, they naturally knew what the name Albion represented. They were surprised that the dragon's left hand had become a Heroic Spirit, but parallel worlds held all kinds of possibilities. It was still within what they could accept.
Fujimaru Ritsuka was different. Seeing that the atmosphere ahead had softened, she quietly moved beside Mash and asked, "Mash, what is the Dragon of Albion?"
Before Mash could answer, Doctor Roman's voice suddenly came through the communication line.
"Albion? Could it be that Albion, the last pure-blooded dragon?"
Before Fujimaru Ritsuka could ask another question, Sigurd continued.
"Correct. In the modern sense, dragons, including the dragons Siegfried and I slew in our legends, mostly appeared after the Age of Gods due to dragon factors left on the surface of the world.
"The Dragon of Albion is different. It is a dragon in the truest sense, a life form that existed from the birth of the planet and carries nearly 4.6 billion years of life information. Unlike gods, who are given shape by human recognition or faith, the Dragon of Albion is a primeval super existence."
"Um... so she is a primeval super pure-blooded dragon?" Fujimaru Ritsuka sounded dazed after receiving so much information at once.
Seeing that Melusine no longer seemed eager to fight, Wu Ling continued explaining for her.
"Think of it this way. Servants and Heroic Spirits are already superhuman beings compared with humanity, both in the rank of their souls and in battle power. But even among Servants, there are differences in the scale of the Saint Graph.
"A being considered superhuman even by Heroic Spirit standards, a Heroic Spirit among Heroic Spirits, is what people call a Grand level Heroic Spirit. Mash should have explained that to you earlier. The Dragon of Albion is basically the Grand level among dragons. Put another way, a dragon like Fafnir would not survive even one move against it.
"And the one in front of us, Melusine, is the fairy formed from the left hand that dragon separated before its death."
Of course, that was Type Moon's setting.
Back on Blue Star, Wu Ling had liked Melusine's character so much that he had specifically researched her legend.
The result was that in the original legend, there was no so-called Dragon of Albion. Albion was actually the oldest name of Great Britain.
According to legend, Brutus, a descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, was guided by the moon goddess Diana during exile to a certain land. That land was Albion. Brutus renamed the island Britain and became the first king of the Kingdom of Britain.
Type Moon likely made Albion into a dragon due to the white dragon and red dragon mentioned in the History of the Kings of Britain. In Type Moon's world, the white dragon was Vortigern's incarnation, the red dragon was King Arthur's incarnation, and Albion was established as the last great dragon of the Age of Gods.
Doctor Roman's puzzled voice came through again.
"According to the record, as the Age of Gods ended and Mystery faded, many Phantasmal Species, including dragons, chose to migrate to the Reverse Side of the World. The Dragon of Albion chose to remain on the surface.
"But later, when it accepted the arrival of the Age of Man and tried to leave, the path to the Reverse Side had already closed. So Albion chose to dig underground, attempting to reach the Reverse Side by physically moving through the earth. It eventually died after exhausting its strength.
"After Albion died, its remains stayed underground and became a vast labyrinth. The records say that labyrinth preserves Mystery that had long vanished from the surface in the Age of Man, and that many Phantasmal Species lost from the surface still roam inside it. That place is called Spirit Tomb Albion.
"But if the Servant before us was born from the Dragon of Albion's left hand, why is there no trace of her in the legend?"
Everyone looked toward Wu Ling after hearing Doctor Roman's question. Even Melusine looked over.
Since the moment of her birth, she had remained this way. She knew she was born from a piece of Albion's flesh, but beyond that, she had no memory. Even her earlier hunting of Servants and seizure of Holy Grails had only been a way to relieve boredom and numb herself through battle. She had no clear goal beyond that.
No goal. No direction. No meaning to living. She did not even have much interest in being alive. The current Melusine existed like the thing at her core, a piece of living dead flesh.
In the Lostbelt Wu Ling knew, she had found meaning because she met Aurora, a light that seemed to illuminate her dim life. But here, there was no such light.
"Well, parallel worlds always have differences. In one world I know, after the White Titan swept across the surface, the entire planet's surface became the Sea of Nothingness, and the Age of Gods began to fade. Albion chose to remain on the surface and continued flying above that Sea of Nothingness until it exhausted itself and died.
"When that version of Albion fell into the Sea of Nothingness, its body became one of the few remaining islands on Earth. The Melusine I know was born there.
"But from what I can see, you are neither the Melusine of the normal world nor the Melusine of that parallel world."
As Wu Ling spoke, he quietly observed Melusine's expression. He had dragged the conversation out this long partly to buy time.
After observing her for a while, he really did discover something: this Melusine had no real goal. Even the battle before this had only been battle for the sake of battle.
That gave Wu Ling an idea.
His expression became solemn.
"Melusine, do you feel lost right now?"
If Bibi Dong were here, she would have recognized that look at once. It was almost identical to the expression Wu Ling had worn when he told her about the Age of Gods.
Melusine silently nodded. After hearing Wu Ling's words and everyone's explanation of Albion, she did feel a trace of uncertainty toward the future.
"Then, Melusine, I will tell you what to do. Before that, why do we not make a contract?"