Chapter 31: Lion King -2-
Inside a spacious carriage heading to North Wales.
…Will Lancer welcome me?
Kay stared out at the blur of Britain’s landscape rushing past, lost in deep thought.
Five years ago, Merlin had forcibly cast him into the Abyssal Realm.
But from his sisters’ point of view, the brother who had promised to take responsibility for them until the very end had simply vanished one day.
He was crushed by guilt, believing that the reason his sisters had fractured and gone their separate ways lay with him.
The cause was clearly Merlin’s doing, but in the end, it was just as Merlin had said.
Kay himself had been their weak point. The absence of a single person had been enough to spark all this chaos.
If only he had been stronger, if he hadn't been separated from them, he might not have fallen for Merlin’s gambit. That lingering "what if" made Kay's heart heavy.
“…You look tense, Master.”
Medusa, sitting across from him, spoke softly. She closed her book and peered at him from behind her blindfold.
“Could it be you’re afraid your younger sister will resent you?”
“…You caught that, huh.”
Kay gave a wry laugh and scratched the back of his head.
“Well, I deserve the resentment. I was too weak and fell to that nightmare's tricks, which effectively left them on their own for five years. I’m ready to take a beating.”
“Oh, come now, Hubby! Don’t say such weak things.”
Tamamo, sitting close beside him, looped her tail gently around his arm in comfort.
“In what world would a family hold a grudge against a brother they thought was dead, only for him to return alive? It is only natural that she would throw herself into your arms with tears of joy! If that so-called queen ever dares to raise a sword against you, Hubby, I, Tamamo, will give your sister-in-law a stern education!”
Tamamo's logic was sound. After sixteen years of care, it would be monstrous to be ungrateful over a five-year gap.
“Hah. Tamamo’s right. It’s not your fault, so why are you hanging your head? That nightmare is the piece of trash here.”
Jeanne d’Arc Alter, arms folded, blurted out as she gazed out the window.
“And if she actually tries to attack you… I’ll scorch her first, so don’t worry.”
Buoyed by his Servants’ fierce yet reassuring support, Kay let out a small laugh.
“Just… don’t burn her.”
Such worries were pointless. What mattered was facing his sister and clearing up the misunderstandings of the past.
After days of travel, the carriage finally arrived at the gates of the grand capital of North Wales—the city where King Rience had been overthrown and a new queen now reigned.
The approach to the city gate thronged with merchants and mercenaries drawn from all corners.
“Inspection! Step down from the carriage and state your identity!”
Armed guards blocked the carriage's path.
When the carriage door opened and the rough-looking Kay stepped out, followed by three dazzlingly beautiful women, every gaze in the crowd snapped toward them.
“State your identity and purpose of visit.”
The captain of the guards held a parchment chart, eyeballing Kay from head to toe as he asked gruffly.
“Ah, thanks for your hard work. My name is Kay. As for my purpose… I’ve come to see the Queen of North Wales. Or rather, my younger sister.”
The guard captain’s hand froze at Kay’s calm reply.
A wave of irritation and contempt flickered across his face.
“…What? Kay? Your sister?”
“Yes. I used to just call her Lancer, but I hear she’s become the Queen now.”
“Sigh… not again.”
The captain pressed his hand to his forehead and spat on the ground in irritation.
“Listen, you crazy bastard. You’re the twentieth ‘Kay’ this year alone.”
“…Huh?”
“Do you have any idea how many hulking guys who can cook a bit have stormed in here, pretending to be the late Sir Kay—Her Majesty’s deceased foster brother—just to rake in a position in North Wales?! I’m sick to death of it!”
The captain poked Kay’s chest with the chart and raised his voice.
“It’s true that our Queen desperately searched for that dead brother and even put up a bounty, but that was years ago! Now, Her Majesty is disgusted by all these impostors! Why does everyone keep pretending to be a dead man?! Now get lost! I don’t have the patience to deal with this!”
The guard shoved Kay by the shoulder, trying to drive him away.
“Honestly, the Queen is the problem. Who cares about one foster brother? I heard the guy couldn't do anything besides cook anyway. Because of him, we've had so many fraud cases it's a nightmare. Anyone can see he's dead—she should just be looking for a corpse instead of a person to make things easier.”
Kay was dumbfounded. He had become such a legendary dead man that impostors were running rampant. Still, he couldn't back down.
“I’m sorry, but I’m the real deal. Just let me see my sister. If I make her a meal, she’ll recognize me instantly.”
“Is this bastard actually insane?! Do you not understand words?!”
The captain, enraged, drew his baton from his belt and swung it toward Kay’s head.
But to Kay’s eyes, the attack looked slower than a child’s clumsy swing.
Thud.
Kay casually reached out and gripped the guard’s wrist.
“Uh…?”
“Would it have killed you to just listen?”
Holding the wrist, Kay lightly swung his arm, hurling the guard’s entire body into the air.
“Aaaah!!”
The captain’s body arced dozens of meters through the air, smashing into the ground near the ramparts.
“Aaah! My back! My back…!”
“Since your head is clearly useless, maybe having a shattered spine and being bedridden will actually help your life. I don't care who you are; I don't tolerate anyone insulting my sister.”
Kay stared coldly at the crumpled guard and turned toward the gate, striding forward.
The sudden, overwhelming display of violence froze the surrounding merchants and other guards, who instinctively parted to clear his path.
“Let’s go. We’re breaking through the front.”
“Ohohoh, as expected of our Hubby! So tough! That is truly the Genji way!”
“I guess those Genji people weren't exactly sane either.”
Kay walked steadily until he reached the main gate of the massive palace where the Queen of North Wales resided.
In front of the gate, dozens of elite knights clad in plate armor stood in formation.
“Halt! Unidentified person! Drop your weapons and kneel at once! State your business!”
The commander leveled his spear and barked his order.
Kay answered calmly.
“I’ve come to see my sister. Open the gate.”
“Your sister? Who is your sister that you’d dare barge into this palace?!”
“The Queen you serve. Lancer.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the knights’ expressions turned vicious. Spear tips and swords all converged on Kay.
“How dare you casually utter the name of our great Lion King! You are surely a spy for the traitors or a delusional fraud!”
“What’s wrong with a brother calling his sister’s name? I’m really Kay. Hurry up and tell Lancer her brother is here.”
“The nerve of this man! All units, arrest this fraud at once! If he resists, you are authorized to cut him down!”
At the commander’s order, dozens of heavily armed knights surged toward Kay.
“…Sigh. Well, it’s a natural reaction since I don’t have any ID. Though in Ulster, they said they didn’t care about that sort of thing.”
Kay shrugged and reached for the Golden Axe strapped to his back, but then paused.
If he used the axe, these knights would be obliterated without a trace.
He clenched his bare fists instead.
“Since I’m forcing my way in anyway, I might as well see what level the soldiers under my sister are at.”
Kay kicked off the ground and leapt into the center of the knights' formation.
CLANG!! THWACK!!
When Kay’s fist slammed into a knight’s shield, the steel buckled like paper, and the impact crushed the plate armor of the knight behind him in a chain reaction.
He didn't use a shred of mana. This was pure physical force, born from compressed muscles honed over five years in the Abyssal Realm and flawless power transmission.
“Aaaargh!”
“What is this monstrous strength?!”
The knights were swept away like wheat in a harvest field.
Following close behind, the Servants began to stretch their limbs.
“I shall clear away the insects bothering Master.”
As Medusa whipped her chained daggers, the knights' legs were swept out from under them, sending them crashing to the ground.
“Hmph! Every single one of you is weak!”
Jeanne d’Arc Alter waved her banner, and black flames incinerated the shafts of the knights' spears, disarming them instantly.
In less than a minute, dozens of North Wales' elite knights lay groaning on the ground.
They had been perfectly neutralized without a single drop of blood being shed.
“…Hah.”
Kay looked down at the fallen knights and sighed deeply.
“Weak. Way too weak. These are supposed to be knights, not common soldiers—how do they expect to protect my sister with this level of skill? Lancer… she still has no eye for talent. Our family really is hopeless at judging people. I wonder if she'll end up appointing some weirdos to a Round Table or something later.”
Just as Kay clicked his tongue in worry for his sister, it happened.
Screeeeeee— THUD!!
The massive, tightly shut gates of the palace groaned and slowly swung open.
From within, a colossal figure exuding overwhelming mystery and mana strode out.
She wore heavy plate armor that gleamed with a silvery light.
Wearing a helmet reminiscent of a lion's mane, she gripped the anchor that binds the stars: the holy lance, Rhongomyniad.
The pressure she emanated chilled the surrounding air to a freeze.
She was the ruler of North Wales, the Lion King.
Even though her face was hidden by the helmet, Kay recognized her instantly by her presence and stature.
“Lancer…!”
Overwhelmed with joy, Kay broke into a wide grin and strode toward her.
CLANG!!
But Kay’s greeting was cut short.
The Lion King’s eyes flashed behind her visor as she coolly aimed the tip of Rhongomyniad at Kay’s throat.
“…Halt. Who are you?”
Her voice was cold and mechanical, as if all emotion had been surgically removed.
Kay blinked, startled by the spear tip nearly touching his skin.
“What’s this, Lancer? Can’t see through that helmet? It’s me, me! Your brother, Kay. I actually made it here—”
“Do not lie.”
Lancer’s voice began to tremble slightly. Behind the helmet, her voice carried a mixture of icy rage and a desperate denial of reality.
“My brother… is dead. Five years ago, on that day, he was attacked by magical beasts at the cliff's edge and fell into the sea. I searched the base of that cliff dozens, hundreds of times, but I could not find a single strand of hair.”
“Lancer, listen to me. That was Merlin’s—”
“If he were alive!”
Lancer suddenly screamed. Her frozen emotions momentarily lost control and exploded.
“If he were alive… why did he only come for me now?! Do you know how many nights I cried tears of blood calling for him?! Not a single word for years, and now you appear before me with my brother's face… You are either an illusion sent by a demon to mock me, or a vile impostor!!”
The mana she unleashed howled like a storm, whipping Kay’s hair around.
She was desperately denying reality—believing he couldn't be alive, and that if he were, he would never have left her alone for so long.
And yet, she had never stopped searching. Even while believing him dead, she had clung to a tiny, fragile hope.
That deep despair and wounded heart were transmitted clearly to Kay through the tip of the spear.
Kay gazed silently at his sister.
He wanted to explain—that he had been trapped in the Abyssal Realm by Merlin, and that he had endured bone-crushing agony every day just to return to her.
But he knew that before a sister who had suffered for five years, such excuses would provide no comfort right now.
“…I’m sorry.”
Kay gave a bittersweet, tender smile.
“I’m sorry for coming so late. I’m sorry for leaving you alone.”
Then, he gently pushed aside the tip of Rhongomyniad with his bare hand and stepped resolutely into the castle.
“…! W-what are you doing!? I will stab you if you come closer!”
Lancer, flustered, tried to re-aim her spear, but Kay marched toward the palace kitchens without looking back, calling out:
“Stab me or cut me, do whatever you want. First… I’m going to make you your favorite dish for the first time in five years. Once you smell it and start drooling, then you can come and beat me up.”
“…!”
The hand gripping Rhongomyniad began to shake violently.
Behind the visor, a storm of uncontrollable emotion began to rage in the Lion King's eyes.
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