Aozaki Aoko Case File

With Wryneck defeated, the rest was easy. Hinako had no interest in the negotiations, happily indulging in the modern food and drinks Aoko provided, content to ignore the world.

"How is this possible…!" Wryneck slumped in his chief's office, worldview shattered, muttering into his furry hands. "No, it's not impossible…"

Wryneck didn't doubt the prophecy Aoko shared, only surprised at how casually he died in the future. All fairies knew Mirror Clan fairies could see the future, so he assumed Aoko had similar powers and believed her easily.

"You know, you're a bit too trusting for someone without Fairy Eyes," Aoko sighed.

"Huh? You mean you tricked me?" Wryneck stared at Aoko.

"I didn't, but you're pretty easy to trick," Aoko said, exasperated.

"As long as you didn't, that's fine." Wryneck waved dismissively. "I can judge the character of those I've fought. At least, you and Hinako wouldn't hurt me."

Not bad, Aoko thought. If Wryneck wasn't this kind of fairy, she wouldn't have tried to recruit him.

"As I said, not long from now, Fairy Britain will fall into chaos again," Aoko said. "You know better than I what the Fang Clan will do then."

Wryneck looked conflicted but didn't argue. Hinako was curious—she'd spent thousands of years in the East and hadn't seen much of these fairies' weird ways.

"Before disaster strikes Fairy Britain, I'll take you away to the next age," Aoko said. "As for Oxford's residents, there will be some losses, but they'll all be revived in the next age."

"I'm not worried about them," Wryneck said. "I just feel sad. The savior worked so hard…"

Aoko thought, Good, looks like Wryneck also dislikes the Fang Clan's antics—no need to bother turning him.

In the original, Wryneck was barely mentioned—just as Morgan's ally who helped unite the clans and died fighting the Calamity, paving the way for Woodwose.

Aoko had only planned to test him, but after fighting, realized Wryneck was too strong to die in the Calamity, at least not before the final disaster—so his cause of death was suspicious.

"No need to be sad," Aoko said, tapping her chair. "I've told Toneriko everything about the fairies' problems. Soon I'll take you to see her and tell you the details."

Wryneck hesitated, seeming reluctant to go now. Aoko, knowing why, reassured him.

"Don't worry about Uther. He's just a fake made from human leftovers, no deep feelings there—at most, some obsession."

Wryneck twitched, unsure how to reply, but finally sighed and nodded.

"I gave up on saving the fairies and humans of Britain long ago," Aoko murmured. "This coronation—if there's a reason, it's Toneriko's last attempt before giving up her old ideals."

As Wryneck stared in surprise, Aoko stood up, waved, and left with Hinako—after such a shocking revelation, this noble hero needed time to process, while she could go sightseeing in Oxford.

...

The next morning, during her daily meditation, Aoko suddenly realized she'd gained enough experience to level up!

Maybe because she'd spent too much time in the interstitial world learning non-Weave arcane, her advancement had been slow—she'd been stuck at level 14 for a while. In tabletop rules, level 14 and 15 aren't hugely different, but in reality, the gap felt like a watershed.

Generally, a mage above level 10 is already a national-level powerhouse. Anyone over 15 is a Great Mage treated as a VIP by any nation.

But within mage circles, Great Mage is strictly defined: either a legendary class, or someone who can cast 9th-level spells.

In places like Faerûn, legendary figures are everywhere, but in the real world, you rarely see someone over level 15—even kings struggle to hire them.

Through persistent meditation and study, Aoko finally broke through to level 15, both relieved and worried—if this was the hurdle for 15, how long would it take to reach legendary?

She made a mental note to visit the Plane of Concordant Opposition someday.

Back on topic.

Aoko dumped all her accumulated spirituality (XP) into her Archmage class, jumping from Archmage 4 to 5 and gaining a new feature: Metamagic (Su).

It's complicated, but basically, this lets her apply metamagic to magic items (usually wands), consuming their charges to do so.

Her current staff isn't enchanted, so it's just a boosting staff, but with this ability, she should prepare some enchantments for her Scarlet Staff.