It was when the cheers of the people and knights kneeling in the square were shaking the skies of Britain.
I lightly jerked my chin toward Merlin, who was standing beyond the crowd. Catching my signal, Merlin grinned and tapped her staff against the ground.
Fwaaash!
In an instant, a dense illusionary mist like cherry blossom petals rose from beneath my feet and veiled the sight around us.
By the time the startled knights lifted their heads, Merlin and I had already vanished from the square as if it had all been a lie.
If I wished, I could have taken everyone gathered there under my command right now, but I had no need for troops just yet.
I would raise an army after building undeniable achievements first. For now, spreading the rumor alone was enough.
With the sensation of space warping around me, my feet touched the ground.
When I opened my eyes, the familiar sight of the cabin deep in the forests of Tintagel welcomed us.
"I'm back."
When I stepped through the cabin door with Caliburn in one hand, the Servants and family members who had been packing their things all turned toward me at once.
"Brother!"
Artoria ran to me first and threw herself into my arms. Looking at the radiant [Sword of Selection] in my hand, her eyes shimmered with tears as if she were overwhelmed.
"You really drew it...! Ahh, you're my brother, but truly, you're the coolest man in the world!"
"Of course. Who do you think I am?"
I lightly flicked the tip of her nose, then stepped into the cabin.
Tonight would be the last night we spent in this little cabin.
Starting tomorrow, I would have to travel all across Britain, gather volunteers, and raise the curtain on the real battle.
"All right, everyone, listen up! Tonight is the eve of our departure. It's our last night in this house, so let's eat and drink without holding back!"
At my declaration, a roar of cheers loud enough to lift the cabin off its foundation burst out.
In the middle of it all, Medea plugged both ears with her fingers as if the noise was unbearable, while Stheno simply took it in stride with her usual composure.
A grand feast was prepared at once.
The meat of a gigantic wild boar caught in the forest sizzled over the firewood flames, while top-grade Roman wine and casks of ale that Merlin had stolen from somewhere with Magecraft... no, procured... poured forth without end.
"Guh...! Uther... can you see this! That snot-nosed brat who used to run around in diapers has finally become the true king of Britain...!"
Uncle Ector was sobbing openly, his face bright red as he chugged wine straight from the bottle.
"F-Father! Stop bawling like that already!"
Kay grumbled, but the corners of his mouth were stretched so high they nearly reached his ears, clearly proud deep down that I had become king.
In the original story, Kay had been endlessly worried about Artoria and full of concern, but since I had grown far stronger in every sense, he did not seem very worried at all.
The Servants were in high spirits as well.
"Hahhahaha! A celebration for the birth of the Knight King? Now this is a truly splendid drinking party! Drink, drink! Tonight, this Demon King of the Sixth Heaven will keep you company to the very end!"
Nobunaga laughed heartily and poured down a cup of liquor as large as her own head.
Beside her, Stheno elegantly tilted her wineglass with a smile, while Penthesilea silently and steadily tore into a boar haunch at terrifying speed, replenishing her fighting spirit.
"My lord! I, Ushiwakamaru, will stake my life to stand at the vanguard until the day you ascend the throne! Ah, Artoria! That is my seat!"
"What are you talking about? My brother's lap is my reserved seat from beginning to end! Go away, Ushiwakamaru!"
I let out a chuckle at the adorable squabble between Artoria and Ushiwakamaru as each tried to claim one of my thighs.
Even while cutting up a large slab of meat in the corner, Barghest kept stealing glances my way, unable to hide the heat in her eyes.
Medea shook her head as she watched the state of those Servants.
"Good grief. A beast king and nothing but beastly girls."
Yet even as she clicked her tongue, she carefully filled my empty cup with wine.
Now it was truly beginning.
It was a moment that made me a little tense, and yet set my heart pounding.
The night deepened, and the heat of the feast slowly settled down.
Uncle Ector and Kay had gotten drunk early and were already sprawled out snoring.
Merlin and Medea, whose stamina was poor, had gone into their room, and even Artoria and Ushiwakamaru, who had been keeping each other in check atop my lap, had finally failed to withstand the wine and fallen asleep in my arms, breathing softly.
After carefully laying the two of them on the bed and covering them with blankets, I walked out to the fireplace in the cabin's sitting room, thinking I might finish off the remaining drinks.
"Oh, good timing, little king."
In an old wooden chair before the fireplace, Caenis sat with one knee raised, idly swirling a large mug of ale.
Her bronze skin was already flushed red, as if the alcohol had gotten to her.
Funny thing was, Heroic Spirits had high resistance to poison, but liquor was another matter.
Jing Ke getting drunk and singing at Enma-tei was a prime example.
"Why aren't you asleep? We have to leave early tomorrow."
"Ha! You think this little bit of liquor would put me to sleep? Besides... you haven't already forgotten what you said in the stable last time about having a drink with me, have you?"
Caenis curled the corner of her mouth in a provocative grin and pushed a brimming cup into the empty spot in front of me.
"So what, you think pulling a sword from a rock makes you a real adult now? You're still a brat. Want to bet? On whether you pass out first, or whether I, Caenis, do."
It was a textbook contest of wills, a challenge between men. I gave a faint smirk and dropped down across from Caenis.
"Don't regret this. I'm number one in Britain in stamina, and number one in holding my liquor too."
"Bullshit. All you've got is a long tongue. Drink!"
And so began the one-on-one drinking battle between Caenis and me.
Harsh rum, ale, and wine mixed together and poured down our throats.
For an ordinary human, it was the kind of brutal liquor that would turn the stomach after only three cups, but the dragon heart in my chest instantly broke down the toxic alcohol and burned it away as Mana.
A body that did not get drunk no matter how much it drank, as if it were water. It was downright unfair.
Of course, it was not something I had been born with. It was a power I had come to wield as I learned how to handle Mana.
Not just alcohol, either. It let me neutralize poison to some extent as well.
Hydra venom would probably be too much, of course, but I could likely endure diluted poisons at least. Probably?
Caenis, on the other hand, might have been a divine spirit blessed by the sea god, but even she gradually began to show her limits under the sheer reckless pace.
"Uuugh... drink! You little bastard!"
As time passed, Caenis's tongue grew heavy and tangled, and the focus in her eyes began to drift through empty space.
"One day I'm gonna stab that son of a bitch Poseidon... hic! Turn the whole sea blood-red..."
Her rough, sharp-edged attitude was nowhere to be found now. She was nothing more than an adorable beast, soaked in drunken muttering.
"What, that's your limit already? You came at me so boldly. This is disappointing."
When I leisurely swirled my cup and mocked her, Caenis huffed and slammed the table with a bang.
"W-Who says I'm at my limit! I'm Caenis! Hic! This much booze... huh? Why do you suddenly look like two people...?"
Caenis staggered as she tried to rise from her seat, but in the end her strength gave out and she collapsed straight into my chest.
"Hey, Caenis."
"Mmnn... shut up... sleepy..."
With her face buried against my chest, she mumbled in her sleep and blacked out completely.
I wore a mischievous smile as I lightly patted the cheek of the softly breathing woman in my arms.
"Starting it and then passing out first."
I easily lifted the unconscious Caenis in my arms and headed for the soft bed inside.
The next morning.
Along with the chirping of birds, dazzling morning sunlight filtered through the cabin window.
"Ugh... my head..."
Caenis sharply furrowed her brow and forced her heavy eyelids open. Her mouth was bone-dry, and a terrible headache pounded through her skull as if the back of her head had been struck with a hammer.
"Damn... how much did I drink yesterday? The whole night's just gone..."
Caenis pressed at her temples and tried to sit up.
But something felt strange. Instead of the usual stiff touch of her leather clothes, all she felt was the softness of bedsheets brushing against her bare skin.
And on top of her naked waist, something heavy and hot was resting squarely there.
"...Huh?"
Slowly, very slowly, Caenis turned her gaze and looked down at the space beside her.
Beside her, Arthur was sleeping peacefully, completely naked without a single thread on him.
Broad shoulders and firm back muscles that no one would believe belonged to a fifteen-year-old boy, and even the terrifying presence of that thing barely visible through the gap in the blanket.
And Caenis herself, too, was completely naked beneath that blanket.
"......!!"
Caenis's mind went blank white. Her headache vanished in an instant.
Whether it was because of the horrific trauma of having been violated by the sea god, or because her self-identity as a man, at least in her own mind, was facing a catastrophic crisis, her eyes widened so far they looked ready to pop out.
'C-C-C-Crazy! I slept with this brat?! No, not just that, instead of me taking him, he ended up on top of me?! No, more importantly, what the hell did I do last night?!'
As she sat there frozen, screaming a million times inside her head—
Arthur, who had been sleeping beside her, groggily opened his eyes and tightened the arm around her waist, pulling her firmly against him.
Bare skin pressed openly against bare skin.
"Morning, Caenis. You're awake?"
I rubbed my eyes and gave Caenis, whose face had gone rigid with shock, the brightest smile in the world—and at the same time, the most wicked one.
"How's your head? Last night... you came at me so passionately that I handled you a little rough. Nothing hurts, does it?"
"......W-What? What?!"
"You don't remember clinging to me and begging me to hold you? Well, it doesn't matter if you blacked out. Your body will definitely remember. Right, my cute little mare?"
When I whispered low and sticky into her ear and lightly bit her earlobe, Caenis's face turned red like an apple about to burst.
"U-Uwaaaaaaaah!!!"
Caenis's horrified scream tore through the peaceful morning of the Tintagel forest.
This was what had happened.
Arthur had quietly laid Caenis down on the bed and was about to leave the room.
No matter how vigorous his sex drive might be, he had no taste for rape. And doing something like that to Caenis, who carried severe trauma from sexual assault, would be the sort of thing Poseidon or Zeus would do.
But just as Arthur covered her with the blanket and tried to leave, Caenis grabbed his arm.
"Caenis?"
"Fuck... you little shit... bringing me to bed... what were you trying to do...?"
"For the record, rape isn't my kink. And there's no way I'd do that to someone who's drunk."
"And now you're acting all mature... don't bullshit me. A sex monster like you, saying that...? I know all about it... a guy who's been fucking three women every day these past few days... it's obvious. Men are all the same in the end."
"That might be true in Greece, but Britain isn't quite that bad. Though there are men like that."
Arthur, naturally, thought of Lancelot. Of course, he was not originally from Britain, but since he had been raised there in childhood, he counted as an honorary Briton.
"Ha... you've got nerve. Since you couldn't beat me at drinking... now you're trying to beat me in bed? What a joke!"
Then she yanked Arthur by the arm, shoved him down onto the bed, and pinned him.
"C-Caenis?"
"That's right. I am Caenis, king of the Lapiths... you think I'm afraid of being the one who gets taken first? That weak little girl is gone now! That kind of thing won't happen anymore... and even if it does, I'll be the one doing the taking..."
"No, why is this conversation going in that direction? Wait, you're drunk right now. For one thing, I'm not interested in a relationship without love. And honestly, I'm a little scared of what happens after you wake up. Ngh, why are you so strong?!"
At present, Caenis had the second greatest physical strength in the group after Penthesilea. Just as Penthesilea surpassed Arthur in pure strength, so did Caenis.
Of course, if Arthur fully unleashed his Mana, he could match her for an instant, but that would destroy the house.
So he could not resist easily.
"Hey, pull it out... your filthy cock."
"Why are you saying that like you're telling Killer Queen to come out... wait, don't strip me! You're really doing this?! This is not how I pictured my future plans going!"
"What, are you scared now that you're about to get fucked? In Greece, weak men get fucked by strong men..."
"Your body is female right now, you crazy bitch!"
"Shut up! Who are you calling a woman! If you're going to provoke me like that, I'll fuck you senseless! I'm the one on top now!"
"Is that really something a rape victim should be saying?! Is this that thing, a victim turning into an abuser?!"
Perhaps because she was drunk, the resentment Caenis had piled up toward Poseidon burst out in a very strange direction.
And so she pounced on Arthur first... only for the situation to reverse after that, with Arthur overpowering her in turn and ending up on top.
"So we're dating now, right?"
"Shut up! W-Who said I'd date someone like you?!"
"I don't want this relationship to end as a one-night stand, though~"
"Fuck, why did this happen? Fine. Then later, when I'm sober, let's settle this properly."
"Wow, now you're saying we should have a proper sex match while sober. Greece really is a hitomi setting."
"Shut up! I don't know what that means, but it's obviously an insult! Anyway, I'll apologize for being the one who jumped you first. But if you enjoyed it too, then we're even! I was drunk, that's all. So if I beat you later, then forget everything about dating!"
"So you want to do it again?"
"I hate to admit it, but if we've already done it once, why not twice! Just like drunk me said, I'll fuck you and beat you next time! S-So just you wait!"
Caenis hurriedly threw on her clothes and bolted outside. There, she came face to face with Artoria, who was standing beyond the door.
"...Female."
"Ghk! Shut up!"
Caenis shouted and fled past her.
Watching her go, Artoria judged that she had gained a rather formidable rival.
"Somehow, the battlefield of love turned into a bloodbath even sooner than expected."
Arthur found Caenis adorable, and thought it would not be long before she was completely conquered.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register