Unreal, Almost Like a Dream

Once the dust settled, Mash finally deactivated her Noble Phantasm, releasing Ritsuka and the others.

The villagers and soldiers remained somewhat bewildered because Nidhogg had blocked their view earlier, so they weren't clear on what had happened afterward.

All they remembered was that after the black dragon disappeared, another black dragon vanished along with it.

A few sharp-eyed individuals quickly noticed a little girl they had never seen before suddenly standing beside Arkhan, but they didn't pay much attention to it.

In the eyes of people of this era, the sudden transformation of a dragon nearly twenty meters long into a delicate little girl was indeed a bit too much for their imagination to handle.

For this reason, they preferred to believe Nero's explanation that the black dragon had fled after being defeated. This approach could avoid unnecessary trouble and, at the same time, increase the image of the Holy Roman Empire, boosting people's confidence.

After all, for the people of this era, any glimmer of hope was precious, since the Holy Roman Empire had to prove its ability to resist Camelot to attract more support.

Mash quietly pulled Ritsuka aside and whispered to her about what had just happened.

After listening, Ritsuka, feeling a bit annoyed at the interrupted process of leveling up, was immediately filled with intense surprise.

Who would have thought that even the Chief of the Round Table had joined their side?

This undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Camelot because their strongest knight had actually defected to the enemy's side. If this news got out, even the Lion King would probably be left speechless.

Just imagining that scene, Ritsuka felt a sense of satisfaction.

Compared to this, her own power increase seemed insignificant. Nonetheless, even if she trained for a hundred years, she couldn't reach Melusine's level anyway, so the fact that Melusine had joined their side was something she should be happy about.

Ritsuka couldn't help but feel a bit sentimental.

If it weren't for Arkhan's help this time, they probably wouldn't have stood a chance against Camelot. Having such reliable and powerful companions was like finding a needle in a haystack!

At this moment, a burst of noise followed by the sound of electricity entered Ritsuka's ears, followed by a very familiar voice.

"Hey, can you hear me?! Mash?! Ritsuka?!"

A faint light flickered, and a virtual screen quickly appeared beside Ritsuka.

Seeing the two girls safe and sound, Romani on the screen visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew, you're all okay... Since the connection suddenly cut off, I thought something awful had happened on your end."

"Well, yeah, sort of... If it wasn't for Arkhan here, we might have been in big trouble." Ritsuka said with a grin.

Romani's expression immediately turned serious.

"What happened? Did the Lion King show up?"

Just before the connection was lost, Chaldea detected an extremely powerful magical energy signal, far exceeding that of an ordinary Servant.

To Romani, only the Lion King could unleash such a massive amount of magical energy.

"Not the Lion King, it's Lancelot, Doctor." Ritsuka answered.

Romani was silent for a moment, then exclaimed frantically.

"Lancelot? The strongest Knight of the Round Table? The signal just now was from Lancelot?!"

"Yeah, that's right, and hey, Doctor, I've got an even juicier piece of information over here, wanna hear it?" Ritsuka grinned like a sly fox, full of mischief.

"What is it?" Romani asked eagerly.

"So... Lancelot is... officially on our side now!" Ritsuka emphasized each word.

Hearing that shocking information, Romani gasped, nearly plastering his face to the screen, eyes wider than dinner plates.

"You're saying Lancelot is choosing to side with you?! But wasn't Lancelot trying to kill you? How did this happen... What's the deal with this, tell me quick, hey, Ritsu—"

Ritsuka decisively cut the connection, looked up at the sky, and let out a long breath with a relaxed expression on her face.

"As expected, teasing Doctor is fun..."

Mash stood nearby, a hint of conflict on her face.

"Senpai, isn't this a bit too much? Doctor... he's our most important support. Keeping such crucial information from him... won't that cause problems?" Mash asked with hesitation.

"No, Mash, I didn't keep it from him." Ritsuka shook her head innocently, spreading her hands wide. "I did tell him the most important information, just omitted a few details about the process, that's not really hiding anything, yeah?"

"Senpai, you're clearly just teasing him..." Mash sighed tiredly.

"Fufu, am I?" Ritsuka chuckled and took a few steps toward Arkhan.

Watching her senior's back, Mash shook her head in resignation.

"Senpai, you're still as mischievous as ever..."

Despite the scare caused by Melusine, people in this era generally had good mental resilience. As a result, everyone quickly calmed down and continued their journey toward the Holy Roman Empire.

Seeming to have full confidence in Melusine's strength, Camelot didn't send any more Knights of the Round Table to intercept them. For the rest of the thirty-some-kilometer journey, Arkhan and the others encountered no more trouble and safely entered the Holy Roman Empire before evening.

Watching the bustling city, almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're finally back..." Ritsuka sighed in relief. "Feels like these few days have been like years."

Mash nodded, these past few days had been one of the strangest and most bizarre experiences since they arrived in this Singularity.

First, it was the unexpected appearance of Grand Servant King Arthur, then the sudden appearance of the strongest Knight of the Round Table of Camelot, who was actually a dragon, and to top it off, both of them ended up becoming their allies.

Just thinking about it, Mash couldn't help but feel like it was unreal and almost like a dream.

"Oho, look who's back! No wonder Her Majesty was so pumped, going all the way out of the city and running for thirty kilometers just to catch up with you guys. Even I never got such treatment, you know~"

A mature woman in colorful attire chimed in from afar, her smile beaming.

"It's Da Vinci!"

"Da Vinci!"

Mash and Ritsuka's eyes lit up simultaneously.

"Well done, Ritsuka! Bringing back this many refugees is impressive!"

Da Vinci glanced over the villagers with her gaze before shifting her attention to Arkhan and Melusine, her smile deepening.

"And more importantly, looks like you've brought us two exceptional guests."

Her staff and prosthetic limbs were equipped with magical energy detectors, currently buzzing strongly around these two newcomers.

"Umu, Da Vinci, as much as I'd love to chat, it's not the time. I'll catch up with you later, alright?"

Nero waved her hand dismissively.

"First, let's get the soldiers to stand down, then sort out accommodations, food, and water for these refugees. We'll assign them tasks in a few days."