Surprise~! Yeah, I felt guilty for not updating for a while, so here's a bonus chapter! Yay~! *confetti confetti* enjoy~!

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Briar first addressed the crying child clinging to her shirt. 

“Don’t cry little Helen! Look, I’ll give this to you, so please don’t cry.” Briar gave Helen the flavored ice that she had partially eaten. Helen’s tears didn’t stop, but her volume lowered to a few hiccups here and there as she loosened one hand to accept the flavored ice.

While she was distracted, Briar decided to clarify her suspicions.

“Excuse me, Arthur Pendragon? THE Arthur Pendragon?” Briar asked. “The owner of the famous sword Excalibur, and the High king over all of Greater Britain?”

The old man jerked back his head in surprise “What? No, my name is just Pendrag-Wait, who told you about that?! I could have sworn I had shut up all those lousy fogeys about my dark past…” He muttered to himself. 

“Can’t a guy have a thousand year vacation in peace?”

“I have an idea.” Madam Rothema said. “You remember Marlin was always writing in that book of his, and we stole it and hid it? Perhaps this one found it during their travels.” She pointed to Briar.

“Impossible! It was lost in the spacial rift you opened up after being insulted by that lousy Prince Cray, Remember?”

“But Marlin was the only one to call that sword X-caliber, even though you already officially named it Fairn.” Rothema reminded. “That Marlin was always a strange sort, muttering about giant metal golems and flying metal birds. It’s a good thing we lost him in the Enchanting Forest.”

“Ahaha, and how his a’s always inevitably looked like e’s because he thought it was too troublesome to finish them?”

“Oh, I had forgotten that! It seems the only good thing he actually did was make those magic swords that everyone is crazy about.” Rothema remarked offhandedly.

“I don’t know why. You need to have a monster magic capacity in order to even use them correctly.” Arthur said. “For a real weapon, it’s better to have something that can be used multiple times, as opposed to something that can only be used once before you collapse from mana exhaustion. I was lucky that I naturally had a large mana capacity.”

“That’s right. Oh, and remember that magic cup that would never run out of whatever you put in it?”

“Yes, of course, I had to have one made for each kind of drink I liked. I’ve lost all of them since, though. Can’t remember where I’ve placed them. I remember my favorite one, though. It had great ale.”

“You know, everyone called it your ‘grail’ after that one night where you got so drunk that you slurred your words together. After you lost it, half the kingdom was mobilized to search for it.” Rothema pointed out.

“And it has remained lost all this time…” Arthur looked regretful as he remembered how good the ale had tasted.

As she was listening to their remeniscences, Briar’s face slightly paled.

If people back on earth knew that the legend of King Arthur was written by a reincarnator with chunnibyou, then over half of them would vomit blood.

As it was, the battles were mostly true stories, but Merlin-excuse me-Marlin tended to emphasize his personally-created tools, or his part to play in everything.

Briar finally put a hand to her forehead. “I think I’m going to find a place to sit down.” She said weakly. While Briar was physically quite strong, her mind and heart had just suffered a series of blows one after the other. As such, she needed to withdraw and recollect herself.

By this time, Helen had nearly finished crying, but they were attracting quite a lot of stares, so Briar headed into a nearby park to take advantage of the shade from the trees. Although they were this high up, the climate, instead of being cold, was rather warm.

After setting up a barrier to warn her if anyone came near, and to cut off the sounds from the nearby vendors, Briar sighed and plopped down on a park bench. Helen also sat down next to her, still clinging onto a piece of her shirt, as if she would suddenly disappear. They sat in silence for a while.

Then Briar took in a deep breath and slowly let the air escape from her lips. She turned her head and examined Helen.

These past few months, Helen’s demeanor had changed from that of an ignorant, lovable child to that of a well-behaved noble child. Briar grinned a bit as she saw Helen’s bearing resembled Madam Rothema’s a little.

Out of curiosity, her golden eyes took on a greenish tinge as Briar used her mana vision to check on Helen’s development. Hmm…Her mana capacity is roughly one tenth of what it was when I was that age. She observed.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

But, for a small girl like Helen to begin with even a tenth the size of Briar’s capacity was really quite monstrous.

Helen had only just begun training, and her natural mana capacity was already so large. If she had been left back at that old ramshackle inn, who knows when or what sort of unfortunate mana accident would have happened.

Finding a person like this was as lucky as randomly picking a lottery ticket up off the street and finding out it was worth millions of dollars.

But for a person whose existence exceeds the bounds of common sense, Briar didn’t know how lucky she had truly been to pick up such a naturally talented person.

But, after seeing how worried Helen had been, Briar felt guilty.

After being silent for a while, Briar finally spoke. “I’m sorry.”

Helen blinked, confused. “What are you sorry for?”

“For deceiving you. Laura already knows, but I am not the person who you think I am.”

“Let’s see, aren’t you Thera of Rose Manor? Madam Rothema says you’re wearing that disguise to throw off the people who might cause harm afterwards.”

“What-so sensei told you, huh?” Briar said, figuring things out.

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Except…” Helen hesitated.

“What? What is it?” Briar asked.

“After this is over…can I see Briar’s true face?” Helen asked.

Briar smiled, relieved it wasn’t anything serious. “It’s a promise, then.” She agreed.

Her warning barrier alarmed her moments before she blocked a well-aimed foot striking at her head.

“Good to see you too, Laura.” She said calmly, “Is Master Thales around?”  Judging by the speed and the blow, Laura was close to making another breakthrough.

“Aw shucks! And I was hoping to get the drop on you!” Laura clicked her tongue in frustration, plopping on the bench beside her. “Yeah, he’s around. He told me to run along before his peers arrive and have their stupid apprentices challenge me to a ridiculous show of strength.”

“Ara? It sounds like you’re not averse to it, you know.” Briar replied.

“I’m not averse to it, but I’m not stupid.” Laura replied. “If the Ten years Student Contest isn’t enough of a stage, then why should I reveal my trump cards so early in the game? There’s a proper time and place for these things after all.”

“Hmm? That sounds like something Master Thales would say rather than you…” Briar replied.

Laura’s ears turned slightly red. Briar pretended not to notice.

Laura snapped her fingers. “Ah! That reminds me!” Then she punched Briar on top of her head, hard. Briar saw it coming, but she took it head on.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!! DOING SUCH A DANGEROUS THING!! DO YOUKNOW HOW WORRIED WE WERE!?? DON’T EVER THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY LIKE THAT, EVER!!!!” Laura scolded her harshly. “If you do that again, I’ll be the one to kill you!”

Briar, rubbing her head, was silent for a few moments and then said. “So, what you’re saying is …you’ll kill me if I die?”

Laura’s relented a little. “Well, maybe I won’t just kill you. I’ll have Madam Rothema resurrect you and THEN I’ll kill you.”

Briar grinned. “Why trouble yourself and ruin all of Teacher’s hard work?”

Laura snorted. “Shut up! I’m trying to be upset here!” Briar and Laura both laughed.

“It’s good to see you’re okay.” Laura finally admitted.

“Likewise. It’s good to know my efforts weren’t wasted.” Briar replied.

“Okay, spill. Who’s the old fogey next to Madam Rothema?” Laura asked.

“I’d not suggest mentioning that in his hearing.” Briar replied. “He’s not really someone you can offend.”

“Oh, I get it. He’s some high official? Another Magi? An old comrade?” Laura began playing twenty questions.

Briar only replied with “Guess.” as she pulled a flask of lemonade out of her magic bag.

“I’ve got it! He’s her old sweetheart!”

Briar spat a mouthful of lemonade out forcefully enough that not a drop landed on her clothes. The idea of them being sweethearts was rather unbelievable to her.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask him yourself.” Briar replied. “I am not privy to such information.”

And I hope I never am. She honestly wished from the bottom of her heart.