3 Splitting up (Status Window check)
Subaru looked completely carefree in front of Mordred's act and only grinned. 'Cool! It's almost like in the anime! Too bad he doesn't have his armor on. But, how do I know about Britain? What should I say?'
Is it strange to know about Britain?
Subaru pondered in his heart for a while, before sighing inwardly, 'Well, whatever I say I should get away with it just like it happened earlier when I said where I'm from and the guy selling fruits suddenly appeared making others accept my answer. The plot armor is on my side!'
"I heard about it from someone," Subaru answered.
Mordred's face turned expressionless as he faintly looked at Subaru with suspicions in his eyes. "Really? But do you know? There is no such country as Britain in this world."
"Eh. What?" Subaru appeared stunned.
Mordred smirked, saying, "Seeing how you know about Britain and have no idea where you are right now, you must have suddenly appeared in this world just recently, right? Natsuki Subaru?"
Subaru's eyes widened, before he nodded his head vigorously, saying, "Yes! I was summoned here!"
Mordred raised his eyebrows. After a moment, he sighed and said, "Then we're in the same situation. I was also summoned from my world just a short time ago."
Subaru was stunned again. He never thought that Mordred was also summoned! He thought that he was an original inhabitant.
But then he understood. 'I see now! So this world is summoning heroes from across different worlds, probably to save it, and I was the one chosen from Earth!'
Mordred then said, "Say, you know about Britain, but you wear some strange clothes. Your appearance is also different. What nation do you hail from?"
Subaru hummed for a while, before saying honestly, "I'm from a small country far in the east from Britain. It's called Japan."
"Never heard of it," Mordred said, lying through his teeth.
Subaru grinned, thinking, 'Mordred probably thinks that we're from the same Earth.'
Subaru's expression turned excited as he asked, "Mordred-o, so where do you think is the goddess that summoned us?"
Mordred blinked his eyes a few times, dumbfounded.
"Where do you think we should go? Do you sense anything with your skills?" Subaru asked, looking at Mordred with expectations.
Mordred coughed and asked, "Why do you think that a goddess summoned us?"
Subaru smiled, explaining, "That's how it always is, you know. Who else would have the powers to summon us?"
"I guess you make sense," Mordred admitted reluctantly, wrinkling his eyebrows. Subaru actually did make some sense for once. "So. If you ask me if I sensed anything, then no - I have no idea where the one who summoned us is."
"I see… Then I guess we have to search around." Subaru murmured, before he vigorously pointed to the exit of the alley and started strolling. "Then, let's go!"
Subaru took several steps toward the outside, but Mordred remained unmoved.
"Are you coming? Let's hurry up!" Subaru called out, waving with his hand and hurrying Mordred.
"Then let's split up," Mordred said. "This way we'll cover more ground."
"Split up?" Subaru parroted, raising his eyebrows. "Well sure! Then see you later, Mordred-o!"
Subaru started running off on light feet. It was the starting city - how could something happen to him here? It would just be too pathetic.
"Wait!" Mordred called out, causing Subaru to pause in his steps.
"What?" Subaru asked, looking back at Mordred.
"Let's agree to meet up in this alley tomorrow morning to share information, okay?" Mordred said.
"Sure!" Subaru answered after a moment.
Mordred nodded and said, "One more thing. If you won't find a place to sleep then you can find me here in the late evening. I'll wait for you here for a while."
"Okee!" Subaru made an 'okay' sound with his finger, striking a pose, seeming to not take it seriously and worry about a place to sleep.
"Then let's meet later. Just be careful around here. Your strength seems a bit low," said Mordred.
"Sure. See you later!" Subaru was not bothered by what Mordred just said and disappeared from the alley with excitement on his face.
'Let's go there!' Subaru then went in a completely random direction.
Meanwhile Mordred let out a sigh, staying in the empty alley by himself.
It was the first loop, so Mordred didn't want to interfere in the plot and allowed Subaru to walk around by himself. Subaru had to suffer a bit and realize the truth that it's a harsh world and he has no strength. Mordred wanted Subaru to know just how much he needs to rely on him instead of taking him for granted.
At this moment Subaru was still extremely selfish and with overinflated ego right after being isekai'ed, thinking that the world revolves around him and that everyone should help him just because.
Mordred also had to worry about his own benefits and his own life! It didn't matter that he got his powers by luck, the fact is that now he's powerful, while Subaru is not and should ask for his help, not expect it.
Now if there things went according to the anime, Mordred expected that Subaru will eventually get beaten up by the thugs when he's by himself, encounter Emilia, get healed by her and start simping for her, walk around the city with Emilia on a date searching for Felt and then get murdered by Elsa.
At that moment they will loop. Subaru will then be confused as hell and will eventually surely ask Mordred to help him save Emilia.
In the meantime, Mordred wanted to find out more about his new strength, abilities and test them out.
'Anyway, I have no interest in Emilia. I hate foolish, naive and useless girls the most,' Mordred thought silently.
While Emilia might have her excuses and charming points, she seemed like a very annoying girl to Mordred. Besides, it appeared like she was already destined to be with Subaru, so Mordred didn't feel like fighting for her, not when there were many other great waifus in this world.
Putting that thought aside, Morded recalled the complete information about himself again (<Status Window> from Chapter 0 for those who skipped it):
Name: Mordred Pendragon
Nicknames: The Treacherous Knight (former), Knight of Londinium (former)
Apparent Age: 16
Height: 5'9 (175 cm)
Weight: 143 lbs (65 kg)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Traits: royal bloodline, dragon bloodline, blood of a witch, semi-Heroic Spirit, Round Table Knight
Inner ambitions and desires: to become a great king and surpass your father King Arthur, finally receiving his recognition in the afterlife.
* * *
<<<Stats>>>
Strength: B+
Endurance: A
Agility: B
Mana: B
Luck: E (Originally D) (Note: Because of [Return by Death EX] your luck is decreased by 1.)
Noble Phantasm: A
Gate Attributes: Fire, Yin
* * *
<<<Passive Skills>>>
[Magic Resistance B] - magic resistance is greatly increased, completely negating low and medium level magic spells and decreasing the effect of high level magic spells.
[Instinct B] - significantly increased intuition. During battle, you are able to always feel the optimal course of action; visual and auditory obstacles are halved.
[Battle Continuation B] - able to keep fighting even when fatally wounded. This skill represents your will to not give up.
[Riding B] - able to skillfully ride all kinds of creatures and vehicles, even ones that you're not familiar with or that don't like you.
[Charisma C-] - able to skilfully influence people with your words and actions; also slightly increased rhetoric and eloquence. Represents the natural talent of a king to command an army.
* * *
<<<Active Skills>>>
[Mana Burst A] - instantaneously release a significant amount of magical energy to greatly increase explosive power and speed for a short period of time.
* * *
<<<Noble Phantasms (Ultimates)>>>
[Clarent Blood Arthur A+] - channel your burning hatred into Clarent and consume a huge amount of mana to deal heavy damage in a large conal attack. Note: must remove [Secret of Pedigree: Helm of Hidden Infidelity] before activating it. Side-effect: causes crippling pain to the user upon activation.
[Secret of Pedigree: Helm of Hidden Infidelity C] - greatly protects your head while worn. When it's a part of the user's armor it also conceals your identity, lineage and true name. Note: While not worn you can clad your body in more mana, increasing your strength and speed further, increasing the effectivenes of [Mana Burst A] and gaining access to the Crimson Lightning attack.
[Clarent C (Originally B)] - when wielded amplifies the authority of a king, raising the owner's physical parameters by one rank (Strength, Endurance, Agility) and granting or raising the rank of the [Charisma] skill; (not effective). Note: you stole this sword during your rebellion against your king and were never acknowledged as king; rank decreased to C, and your physical parameters are not increased while wielding it.
[Mordred's Full Plate Armor C-] - a magical set of heavy armor that greatly raises your defense, also giving a bulky and fierce appearance to your slim frame.
[Casual Attire F] - a magical set of casual clothes.
[Return by Death EX] - Blessing and Curse of Satella and the Witch of the Envy. Effect unknown. Side-effect: decreases your luck.
* * *
* * *
<<<Other>>>
Crimson Lightning - unleashes all of the mana stored in your sword as a crimson-colored area of effect lightning attack. Note: the helmet [Secret of Pedigree] must be removed and your body fully clad in mana to utilize the attack.
Body and weapon infused with magical energy - you store magical energy not only in your odd (soul) but also in your body and your weapon Clarent; by releasing the magical energy you can greatly raise your strength and speed.
Magical equipment - your magical set of armor and weapon can be dematerialized and stored in a special sub-space; they also regenerate after infusing mana into them.
Dragon bloodline - from your father's side, you inherited a faint bloodline of a Red Dragon; your blood can have wondrous properties and you have above average affinity for Fire magic.
Blood of a witch - from your mother's side, you inherited the supernatural blood of a fairy and a Witch Queen; you have above average talent for magic, especially Yin magic, and high affinity with Witch Factors.
* * *
To test his strength, Mordred shot out his fist in a straight jab with his full speed, punching the air.
Swoosh! PAA!
The air coiled around Mordred's arm and fist and a shockwave formed into air at the point of impact of his fist.
'Nice!'
Letting out a breath, Mordred pulled back his fist. He then squatted down and punched the stone floor using an average amount of force.
Bam!
With a crashing sound, the stone floor broke into bits as a small crater formed in the place where Mordred punched, forming cracks around it, with Mordred's fist buried below the ground level.
Mordred stood up with a faint smirk that slowly turned into a satisfied grin, very Mordred-like one. His light-green eyes lit up with a brilliant light as he firmly squeezed his hands around Clarent's hilt, embracing the reality of his situation with all his might. His heart thought, 'I am now in this world with these powers and abilities! And if some of the glances of the women on the streets that I received are any indicators, then I'm pretty damn good looking too!'
'I can also loop with [Return by Death]. This thing is just overpowered. I can abuse it to train in a near-infinite loop and gain all kinds of benefits. What a joke, how could I want to come back to Earth now? How can I waste this opportunity? Now that I'm here, I must certainly do my best to become a powerful existence! Here I might be able to realize all kinds of ambitions that I could never dream of back on Earth,' Mordred thought in his heart.
Through the thrill and uncertainty, his heart burst forth with ambitious and determined feelings - now that he was in this world, even having all kinds of advantages, he had to make good use of it and not waste this chance. He cannot waste this great opportunity, for here he might become a great king!
'King? Why do I want to become a king so much?' Mordred thought to himself, but he immediately knew the answer - he was now also Mordred and it was Mordred's desire and ambition. Inwardly, having come to this world he himself mostly wished to become incredibly strong and capture the heart of some beauties, and also likely attempted to increase his lifespan at some point, but now he also wants to become a great and perfect ruler.
Thinking about all this, Mordred's heart filled with gratitude for Satella. He felt very glad that he was able to come to this world, even if there are some terrifyingly powerful and cruel beings here, and even if he needs to stick to the annoying Subaru.
For receiving his abilities and crossing over, and also receiving Return by Death, Mordred felt eternally grateful to Satella at this moment, because it's only thanks to her that the various ambitions in his heart could be realized. He thought that Subaru was really quite a jerk to Satella in the original story.
Standing up, Mordred's eyes moistened, he faintly smiled, sighing emotionally, "Thank you, Satella."
Mordred stood still for a while in peace, having a satisfied and grateful expression, his palm resting on the hilt of his sword with his sword's tip touching the floor.
He rationalized his act of receiving Return by Death by thinking that perhaps he had made a Soul Contract with Satella at one point with certain conditions, as he already knew about Return by Death and some of the future when transmigrating, but he had forgotten about it as part of the contract. Mordred only worried at the back of his head that Satella might get angry that he left her beloved Subaru to die on the first loop or that he plans to abuse Subaru's Return by Death a bit. Either way, he had to take a risk.
Letting out a breath, Mordred looked at the sword in his hand, the long broadsword Clarent. He didn't have a sword sheath for it, thus all this time while walking through the streets earlier he had to hold the sword in his hand, flung over his shoulder, attracting strange and wary looks.
With his memories and knowledge, Mordred knows that he has an ability to store his magical weapon and armor into a special dimension, and also summon them at will. According to his knowledge he also knew that he had Mordred's armor.
Mordred didn't exactly know how to use it, but he had a gut feeling.
'Let's try storing my sword first. It's weird that I carry a sword in my hand all the time in public.'
Looking at Clarent in his hand, Mordred concentrated his mind and then attempted to send his consciousness through his hand into the sword, following his instinct and doing it with the intent to make it disappear.
'Store!' Mordred called in his heart.
At that moment Clarent glowed bright red-white and then dematerialized with a swoosh, disappearing completely in the form of dispersing smoke of crimson light.
'Cool, it worked!' Mordred thought.
He then concentrated and attempted to summon his sword, in which he succeeded.
Having stored Clarent back, Mordred then took out his phone from the pocket of his denim shorts, a Nokia 21 Pro.
After glazing at the phone screen with a white haired anime girl for a moment, he held the button at the side and turned it off.
'My phone will last for around three days without charging. I have to preserve the phone's battery for some kind of special situations. Fortunately I had a Nokia. Three days is already really good for modern phones,' Mordred thought to himself as he took off his black leather backpack and stored his phone. He strongly doubted that he would find a way to charge his phone somehow in this world, especially since he was not an engineer or science geek.
Mordred then closed his eyes and next tried to imagine himself wearing Mordred's full plate armor, calling out to somewhere.
'Armor, equip!' he called out to the void.
With a heavy crackle and a low swoosh, Mordred's entire body lit up with a bright flash of white-crimson lightning for a brief moment, just for him to appear this time clad in a bulky suit of heavy plate armor from neck down.
Excitedly, Mordred knocked with his knuckles on the chestplate.
Clang! Clang! It was the real damn thing.
Mordred's heavy armor!
'Easy!'
A while later.
Click, clik, clang, clang, clang.
Pieces of metal moved by itself over Mordred's armor around his neck and in a matter of seconds formed into a steel helmet on his head. Mordred's Secret of Pedigree!
