Chapter 23: The Beginning of the Royal Road -4-

After lightly wiping out the ragged band of thieves blocking the old stone bridge, our party crossed the river and arrived at a small nearby village.

There was still a fair distance left before North Wales, so we decided to spend the night at the village inn.

It was an exceedingly peaceful country village, but when a large group of armed knights and conspicuous outsiders like us showed up, the village headman and residents shrank back in fear and hurriedly cleared the way.

After unpacking at the inn, we gathered together.

Merlin spread a parchment map over the table and pointed out several cities and fortresses along the road leading to North Wales.

"On the way north, there are several fairly large cities and castles, including the outskirts of King Pellinore's territory. Building up achievements by exterminating bandits or hunting phantasmal species would be good, but it's also very important to establish ties in advance with the princes and lords who govern those places."

At her words, Oda Nobunaga nodded and chimed in.

"Naturally! War isn't fought by force alone. Supplies, information, and political connections that make people recognize this brat as someone who truly can become king decide victory and defeat. Before I ever cried out for universal rule by force, I made under-the-table deals with countless lords and forged connections with them myself."

"Nobu's right."

Medea also took an elegant sip of tea and continued calmly.

"If you want to establish a unified dynasty in Britain, in the end you need the nobles' support and capital. And to be honest, right now our camp is only absurdly overpowered in military strength. We're completely broke otherwise, aren't we? If we're going to raise an army and maintain it from here on, we need to create reasons for them to support us with food, weapons, and funds."

She was right.

It wasn't that we had no money at all, but it was nowhere near enough to raise an army.

The Records of the Grand Historian and the Three Kingdoms stories I knew well were the same. That was why Liu Bei and Liu Bang struggled so much in the early stages too.

The process of first raising troops is always the hardest part. That's why, rather than doing it directly, there are plenty who stay under someone else first and only later break away to become independent.

Or they're just born with a golden spoon in their mouth.

That bastard Lancelot was born with a golden spoon, got raised by his older sister, lived well and comfortably in France, then came to Britain and stirred up all kinds of shit. Then, saying he was sorry, he dragged an army over from France too late and put on a whole pathetic show of despair.

Maybe Lancelot really was the true winner of the King Arthur legend. Goddamn it.

Anyway, if I wanted to become king, I needed not only overwhelming force but also the political showmanship to expand my influence.

"All right. Then before we head straight to North Wales, let's stop by the major cities along the Cornwall-Wales border and raise some hell... no, make sure they remember our faces."

As I boldly nodded in agreement, my gaze naturally drifted toward Caenis, who was standing in the corner with her arms crossed.

Ever since that earlier incident, she had been avoiding me the whole time.

New cities, new lords, and countless women who might be there.

As if she could already see exactly what kind of trouble I'd cause again under the excuse of forging political ties, Caenis caught my sidelong glance and immediately frowned hard, clicking her tongue.

"Tch. You power-hungry little brat. Political connections, my ass. You're just in heat and looking to add more women to your harem again."

Well, it's not like I go after just any woman. Lancelot might, but not me.

That part is true. Even Kay goes out hunting sometimes, but I'm actually the one who keeps people at arm's length.

I'm not interested in casual flings or one-night stands.

At Caenis's quiet grumbling, Artoria, who had been resting her chin on my knee, gave a little shrug and snickered.

"Hehe. It can't be helped. I can already see it so clearly, the lords and noble ladies who'll be swept away by my brother's charm. It looks like it's time for another harem expansion."

"Hahahaha! Is not that overbearing desire for conquest the very vessel of a lord destined to embrace the world itself? If it is my lord's bedchamber, then I, Ushiwakamaru, shall guard it most reliably!"

When even Ushiwakamaru cluelessly joined in, Caenis whipped her head away as if she were sick of it.

No, I'm really not interested, though. At least not until I've conquered my Servants first, I seriously have no interest. Honestly, I don't think I'll even meet many women I'd genuinely like. Did I really look that much like a womanizer?

Well, they weren't entirely wrong, but at least I take responsibility.

I'm different from that Lahm who kept seducing woman after woman and ended up being despised even though Galahad existed.

That evening.

Instead of eating the bland soup and hard bread served by the village inn, I unpacked our things, lit a fire myself in the open lot behind the village, and started cooking.

Venison we had caught a few days ago, and special skewers marinated in seasoning.

We all gathered together, ate, and chatted idly.

Talk about the future, pointless talk with no substance, and all the rest.

After the meal, when the night had grown deep, I lay alone on the old bed on the second floor of the inn, staring up at the ceiling.

The Servants had each been assigned rooms and were resting, and Artoria, perhaps tired today, had gone to bed early with Medea.

Creak.

Just then, the old wooden door to my room, lit only by a single oil lamp, slowly opened.

Caenis stood crookedly in the gap.

An awkward tension ran over her bronze skin.

"I've been waiting for you."

When I raised my upper body halfway from the bed with a grin, Caenis clicked her tongue and strode into the room.

"Tch... smug bastard. I came to settle that debt from before properly."

For her pride as a self-proclaimed man among men, it must have been a humiliation she could never simply let pass.

"Fine by me. So what's the event this time? I doubt it'll be another drinking contest like last time."

"Fighting would make too much noise and be a pain, so let's do something quiet."

As she said that, she took something out of a leather pouch and tossed it onto the bed.

Clatter.

Several small white bones of irregular shape.

"Astragali. It's a wager where you throw sheep or goat ankle bones, knucklebones, and decide the winner by the values of the sides that land face up. I caught one on the way here and took them out myself."

"So it's basically like throwing dice. But isn't this pure luck? I didn't expect Lady Beast Caenis to bring such a quiet little game."

When I provocatively toyed with the knucklebones in apparent interest, Caenis snapped and shouted.

"Shut up! If we're going to settle this quietly at night, what else is there? What, am I supposed to start swinging a spear in here? Or do an eating contest? Then we'd wipe out tomorrow's food supply, wouldn't we?!"

Faced with her perfectly logical rebuttal, I had nothing to say and meekly conceded.

"Uh... now that you say it, you're right. My bad."

In truth, there was a reason Caenis had chosen this event.

Ever since ancient Greece, she had played astragali on ships with sailors until she was sick of it, and she had picked up a few technical tricks of her own.

On top of that, as a Heroic Spirit, her Luck stat was B. It was by no means low.

In a game that combined luck and technique, she must have thought that someone familiar with it like her could win.

"I go first. Watch carefully, brat."

Caenis smiled confidently, gathered four knucklebones in her palm, and gave them a light shake. Then, using a snap of her wrist, she smoothly threw them onto the bed.

Clatter, tap.

The bones rolled and came to a stop.

As though her luck had shone through, all four bones had landed with rare sides facing up, indicating a very high score.

"Ha! Well? That's practically the highest score possible. All right, your turn now. Too bad for you, but this match is my—"

"All right, here I go."

Before Caenis could even finish speaking, I picked up the knucklebones.

Caenis thought I would simply toss them carelessly, but her expectation missed the mark completely.

I know how to move my body efficiently, so I had trained even things like throwing and wrist snap.

On top of that, there was the exceptional intuition unique to a Pendragon. In an instant, I calculated the bones' center of gravity and the friction of their roll, then sent them spinning with a far smoother and more precise snap than Caenis had used.

Rattle, tap.

Caenis's mouth fell open when she saw the shape in which the bones had stopped.

"...What the hell is this?"

All four bones had landed showing the king's side, the highest-scoring face. A perfect top score, exactly one rank above Caenis's.

"Th-That's impossible! You... you didn't pull some kind of trick, did you?!"

"Don't be ridiculous. I threw them right in front of you. This is your loss for underestimating my luck and intuition."

When I crossed my arms and smiled leisurely, Caenis bit down hard on her lip in frustration.

Even in the event she had been most confident in, she had been completely toyed with by this young king. It felt as if the pride of a man among men had crashed all the way to the floor.

"...Ghk."

Trembling with anger and humiliation, Caenis still could not deny her defeat. She dropped heavily onto the bed and let out a deep sigh, as though resigned.

"Fine... a loss is a loss. I won't make excuses. You're the winner, so decide. What are you going to make me do this time?"

She hung her head low and clenched her fists tightly.

By now, Caenis's mind was already full of an obvious expectation.

"He'll probably say he wants to fuck me anyway. There's no way a hot-blooded brat like him would pass up a chance like this, just the two of us. No matter that I was the one who pounced on him first, he seemed to enjoy it too..."

Caenis squeezed her eyes shut.

"Fine. Since I was the one who made the mistake first, I guess letting our bodies mix once wouldn't be so bad. It's not like this body hasn't already been dirtied before anyway. But only this once! Once tonight is over, I'll never, ever show that bastard an opening again!"

Steeling herself with desperate resolve, she was just about to strip with a fierce scowl on her face.

That was when I, who had remained silent, suddenly sat up on the bed and spoke in a grave voice.

"All right. Then... Caenis. Do exactly as I say."

I slowly raised my right hand. Normally invisible, but when I handled mana, three red marks emerged on the back of my hand.

The absolute right of command: a Command Spell.

"...? A Command Spell? You crazy bastard, you're using a Command Spell just because you won some stupid match?!"

Caenis's eyes widened in shock.

The moment she froze stiff, unable to imagine what kind of insane order I was about to give—

"By my Command Spell, I order you."

Facing the red-glowing Command Spell, I gave the order in a voice lower and more oppressive than ever before, yet thick with lust.

"Masturbate, Lancer."

"............What?"

Caenis's thoughts came to a complete stop.

Instead of pinning her down and violating her as she had expected, he had given a mad order that forced on her a completely different level of humiliation and depravity.

"A-Are you insane?! You fucking piece of shit, what the hell are you—! Why the fuck would I do something like that in front of you... ah, ahh?!"

Caenis's face turned red as a tomato as she spat curses and tried to stand, but her body would not move as she wished.

Flash!

One stroke of the Command Spell on the back of my hand vanished, and the enormous magical energy released from it completely bound Caenis's spiritual core. The shackles of an absolute command.

"S-Stop...! Don't move! My damn body, I said stop right now...!"

In defiance of Caenis's desperate cry, her hand slowly moved between her own legs, drawn there by an irresistible force.

"Don't worry, I'll do it with you."

"D-Don't take them off, you crazy bastard! What kind of perverted play is this now?!"

"You'd be embarrassed doing it alone, so I'm making it less embarrassing for you. Besides, just sitting here and watching would feel a little strange too."

As I said that and took off my pants, she shouted back at me, face flushed red.

Well, what happened next was obvious enough.

I would never force myself on her first. Right. In the end, Caenis would be the one who couldn't hold back.

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