IBHJ Chapter 952

He smiled and gently patted her head again. "I've never hated you, Mordred. No matter what you become, my feelings for you won't change."

"Really?" Her eyes welled up as she looked into his blue eyes.

"Yes," he nodded.

She beamed and buried herself back in his hug, squeezing his waist tightly.

"By the way, I have something to ask you too," Shirou looked at Mordred in his arms and asked, "If I changed my appearance, would you still like me this much?"

"Of course! Because Mom is Mom. No matter what Mom looks like, I'll always love Mom just the same!" she answered without a second thought. She knew this young girl's appearance wasn't Mom's true form. Mother's true form was the grown-up beauty trapped in Alaya's space-time prison.

"Then I'm relieved," he smiled at her, "What about Eternal King? Are you still unwilling to approach him?"

"I don't want to," she nodded.

"Why?"

"Be-because he won't like me, and, and we don't get along," she stammered.

"I see..." he silently looked at Mordred.

Just then, "Shirou"'s figure appeared faintly at the doorway. Mordred glanced over, then crossed her arms, shivering a bit, and said to him, "Mom, I'm a bit cold. I'll go down first."

He nodded, "Mm."

Just as Mordred was about to jump down, she paused, turned back, and whispered, "Mom, don't tell anyone about that embarrassing thing that just happened, okay?"

"Oh?" He blinked. "What embarrassing thing?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, shaking her head and humming a little tune as she hopped down from the roof.

Mom had clearly forgotten about her pants falling down. That was for the best; this way, Eternal King wouldn't find out. If that guy, with his incredibly nasty personality, ever learned about it, he'd definitely give her that smug, disgusting smile and say something condescending like 'How cute' - that kind of humiliating insult.

Mom's ability to keep secrets was questionable, but since she'd forgotten, it was the best possible outcome.

As she left, Shirou heard light footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a familiar face. Smiling, he said, "You're here, Artie."

Artoria sat down gracefully, her eyes meeting his. "My King, were you just talking to that child about yourself?"

He nodded. "That child's misgivings about me run really deep.

"Well..." she hesitated, unsure what to say. As both a knight and a mother, she felt she'd failed, leaving her at a loss for words.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad. Now I have all the ammunition I need to tease her. And when she finally realizes that the mom she truly loved was me all along, I wonder how she'll react. I'm looking forward to it," he said, a hint of excitement in his smile.

Seeing that slightly excited smile, she felt a pang of dread.

She remembered the King's bad habit. Thankfully, she wasn't in her own body right now; otherwise, she'd have to seriously consider keeping her distance from the King for her own safety.

"By the way, Artie," he turned to her, "during the time you've been controlling my body, have you felt anything unusual?"

After all, it was his own body, and he was worried the vortex might affect her through it.

"Unusual? Besides feeling weaker, there's nothing unusual," she said, even rolling up her sleeve and tapping her arm muscles.

Shirou: "..."

Realizing she might have said something inappropriate, she quickly added, "But, but I feel great! Since swapping bodies, it's the first time I've experienced the joy of feeling full after a meal."

Shirou: "..."

Is that something a person should say? he wondered.

"By the way, you probably didn't come looking for me just to chat about this, did you?"

"Mm," she nodded. "Waver's back and wants to get in touch with you, but he doesn't have your ID, so he contacted me and asked me to pass on the message."

"I see, I understand."

Before he entered this connection point, Waver had gone to the Atlas Institute to investigate clues about the ancient civilization. After Morrigan compiled and submitted the civilization information provided by Venus to Chaldea, Chaldea finally understood who their enemy was, so Waver's return was expected.

However, Waver's eagerness to contact him probably meant he had made some other discoveries based on the information provided by Venus.

Currently, Shirou and the others' connection with Chaldea was through the [Friend] system. Chaldea had only added Artoria and Morrigan as friends, not Shirou. That was because that blasted Gilgamesh had spilled the beans about Shirou and Artoria's body swap, letting the whole of Chaldea in on the secret.

To avoid curious people like Chloe, naturally foul-mouthed people like Karna, or former enemies like Kayneth and their annoying teasing, Shirou hadn't added any of them as Friends.

Artoria opened the [Friend] system and connected to Waver's alt account.

With a "whoosh," a virtual screen popped up in front of her.

And the person standing in the virtual screen was none other than...

— Kayneth.

"Let me see, let me see. Caster really has become Saber, puhahaha—! So you've had your day too, Fujimaru Shirou!" The middle-aged Kayneth in the virtual screen pointed at him, clutching his stomach and laughing his head off.

Not only that, but while laughing heartily at him, he also pointed at Waver beside him and said with a laugh, "Waver, tell me, is there anything more delightful than seeing your old enemy turn into this state? There isn't, right? Puhahaha—!"

"Teacher," Waver looked at Kayneth with a troubled expression.

"It's okay, Waver," Shirou said, looking calmly at Kayneth. "We should let the old folks have their fun. They don't have many days left, so we might as well entertain them."

Kayneth, who had been laughing, immediately froze, glaring at him. "Are you calling me old, Fujimaru Shirou?"

"I didn't drop any names, you admitted it yourself," he replied with a shrug. "And you're even using Caster and Saber to refer to me and Artoria. Seems like you really miss the Holy Grail War. Is it true that when people get old, they like to go on about the good old days?"

"Hmph. Your tongue is still as sharp as ever," Kayneth crossed his arms and snorted coldly.

"I'm just telling the truth, it's just that you don't want to hear it," he said, then turned his head to look at Waver. "Did you find something, Waver? Is that why you're looking for me?"

"I can't say I discovered anything. The materials you submitted are even more complete than what I found using someone else's high-level access at the Atlas Institute," Waver said.

"Someone else's access?"

"Yes. The status of a Clock Tower Lord doesn't allow access to the bottom-level archives of TRI-HERMES, but an alchemist from the Atlas Institute helped me," Waver paused, then turned to look at him. "Let's put that aside for now. I just looked at the report, are you all in the South American Connection Point now?"

"That's right," he nodded.

"Do you know what historical point in time the Connection Point is set?" Waver asked.

"I don't know. My report should have mentioned that this Connection Point has been altered beyond recognition by the Council, and you can't see any of the cultural features South America should have," Shirou said. To avoid panic, he only disclosed part of the information. He concealed the matters concerning the group of UOs. After all, not everyone has the courage to face UO, and under extreme fear, unpredictable riots could occur.

"However, local residents have all mentioned the existence of gods, and there are Mayan pyramids, so we can probably deduce that it's during the Mayan era."

"Mayan era? That's great!" Waver's face lit up, then he asked eagerly, "Have you encountered any three-eyed people in South America?"

"Three-eyed people?"

Waver nodded and pointed to his brow, saying, "People with a third eye, a fantastical race with bodies the same size as ours."

He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "We haven't encountered any. What's the matter? What about this race?"

"Actually," Waver explained, "according to calculations by the TRI-HERMES and other computational alchemical objects at the Atlas Institute, these three-eyed people are very likely to be survivors from a lost continent, which may have once ruled the planet. They are also intricately related to the ancient civilization you mentioned."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," Waver continued. "And there are legends of three-eyed people all over the world, with one of them being the Mayan legend. According to this legend, before us, the world had undergone several civilizations, each of which was destroyed. This is what the Maya called Great Cycles. And after we perish, the world will fall into its final end. This prophecy fits well with what you mentioned before about the Lord of Salvation."

"The three-eyed people were one of these past civilizations," Waver went on, "and the destruction of their civilization might also be related to the Lord of Salvation. The description of three-eyed people is most detailed in Mayan legends and is linked to their mythology. So I guess that after their home was destroyed, the descendants scattered across the world, but a considerable group came to South America and eventually became extinct."

"So by finding them and starting from there, we might understand the historical truth about the ancient civilization? And possibly learn about the Lord of Salvation, is that right?" Shirou asked.

"Yes," Waver nodded, "So it's best to keep an eye out for three-eyed people."

"I understand," he nodded.