Chapter 26: The Beginning of the Royal Capital -7-

Through the house-sized hole blasted open as the city gate shattered to pieces, choking clouds of dust billowed up.

"H-hii...!"

"W-what do you think you're doing?! Drop your weapons at once!"

Soldiers atop the walls trembled like aspen leaves as they aimed their weapons, while beyond the breach the citizens of Nantes, startled by the thunderous crash, murmured among themselves in terror.

In their eyes was naked fear and wariness toward the sudden arrival of overwhelming force.

Barghest stepped up beside me with heavy footfalls and whispered with a stiff expression.

"Master. Intimidating them with force like this will only plant fear of a tyrant in the people's hearts. It won't help if you want to win popular support."

At her worried advice, I let out a small laugh and waved a hand lightly.

"Don't worry, Barghest. The people are simple. For now, they'll fear us like thugs or demon kings. But the moment this same force wipes out the foreign powers and bandits threatening their lives... that fear will turn into blind cheers and worship directed at us."

Standing atop the wreckage of the broken gate, I smiled at ease.

"Because we're not fakes. We're the real thing. Once we show them overwhelming achievements, their attitude will naturally flip to the exact opposite."

At my confident words, Barghest lowered her head and stepped back, as if inwardly impressed.

Ignoring the soldiers who had frozen in place, we strode forward with proud, arrogant steps toward the hill where Totnes's royal castle stood.

We advanced all the way into the castle like a blade through rotten bamboo. No one could stop us, and it seemed those above had withdrawn the soldiers for now, intending to meet us first.

The audience chamber of Nantes's royal castle.

Seated on a lavishly adorned throne, King Idris irritably stroked his thick beard, his expression deeply displeased.

He had just received the report that the capital's gate had been blown apart in a single strike, and had half been forced into granting us an audience.

"So. You're Uther's child?"

King Idris's voice carried dense hostility.

I gave a light nod and answered.

"That's right. My name is Arthur Pendragon. The new king who will unify Britain."

"Silence, you arrogant little whelp! How dare you proudly flaunt Uther's bloodline here in Cornwall!"

King Idris roared, slamming the armrest hard.

"Do you truly not know what your father Uther did in this land of Cornwall?! Totnes may have been rivals with the Duchy of Cornwall, but Uther's atrocities went far beyond the line!"

What he said was historical fact.

In the past, Uther Pendragon had cowardly killed Gorlois, lord of Tintagel and Duke of Cornwall, on the battlefield, then used Magecraft to steal away his beautiful wife, Duchess Igraine.

And the filthy result of that marriage by plunder was Artoria and me.

"Well, I admit my father was a complete bastard too."

When I nodded and calmly insulted my own father without the slightest hesitation, King Idris coughed awkwardly, thrown off.

"Er... ahem! In any case!"

"But at the same time, Artoria and I are also the legitimate heirs of the Duchy of Cornwall through our mother Igraine's blood, aren't we? So there's no need to get so worked up."

At my shameless logic, King Idris snorted in disbelief.

"Heirs to the Duchy of Cornwall? Ha! It seems you don't know that Duke Gorlois already had another daughter."

"Hm? Another daughter?"

I exchanged glances with Artoria as if this were the first I'd heard of it, then glanced at Merlin. Standing in the corner, Merlin looked up at the ceiling and deliberately avoided my eyes, pretending not to notice.

Clicking his tongue, King Idris explained.

"Princess Elaine, Duke Gorlois's legitimate daughter. Before the Duchy of Cornwall fell into Uther's clutches, Princess Elaine escaped disaster by marrying King Nentres of the allied kingdom of Garlot."

Well, damn. So I had another older sister besides Morgan. And she was married, too.

Not a half-sister on my father's side, but one on my mother's side. So in the end, I really did have one.

Well, if I got the chance later, I should at least see Sister Elaine's face once. Since we shared the same mother, maybe I could learn what kind of person Mother had been.

Merlin? She only kidnapped her in a marriage by plunder, so what would she know? A child would naturally know better what their mother had originally been like.

While I was thinking such carefree thoughts to myself, King Idris let out a deep sigh and glared at me.

"Anyway... seeing that shameless attitude and those beast-like eyes of yours, you do remind me of Uther. And the face of that girl over there is the spitting image of Morgan, the witch of Orkney."

He stroked his beard and asked sharply.

"So then, what is the real purpose of Uther's child coming here and even smashing another man's gate to do it?"

"I already told you. I came because I want to build good relations with the lords of Cornwall before I become king."

I stepped forward and folded my arms leisurely.

"Before long, I'll build my strength in North Wales, gather a volunteer army, cut off Vortigern's head, and found a new Britain. And when that day comes, if a wealthy trading state like yours firmly supports me from behind, I promise you'll receive very generous rights and interests in my kingdom afterward."

At my grand declaration, King Idris's eyes flickered sharply.

As the ruler of a trading nation, the current age of chaos, with the powers of each land keeping one another in check, was not bad for his profits.

On top of that, Totnes lay on the frontier, so it was relatively free from Vortigern's threat.

But it was still true that the enormous existence called Vortigern had all of Britain cowed.

If I really did stick a knife into Vortigern, then from Totnes's perspective it would be all gain for no effort.

'Well, there's no way this brat could kill Vortigern when even his father Uther couldn't...'

King Idris's gaze shifted to the Servants lined up behind me. Aside from Kay, the only man among them, the rest were all women.

It was an age burdened by the prejudice that women were recognized only as witches or fairies at best, famous perhaps, but not acknowledged as knights who possessed martial strength.

Maybe because of that, or maybe because there simply were none, there were no famous women knights. I didn't know of any famous female knight in the Arthurian legends. Even Britomart was more of a later-added side story.

He dismissed our group in his mind as no more than a strong little brat eccentric enough to smash a city gate, along with his female attendants, and mocked us inwardly.

"Very well. I'll at least acknowledge that arrogant spirit of yours. As a matter of courtesy, I'll provide you with a generous amount of supplies and provisions."

He waved a hand with pompous dignity.

"You may rest in the castle's guest rooms for today. But leave this castle at first light tomorrow. I cannot keep unwelcome guests here any longer than that."

"That's generous enough hospitality. I'll gratefully accept it."

I nodded without complaint. In our current penniless state, extorting supplies and funds alone made today's diplomatic battle a great success.

Besides, I was going to unify Britain eventually anyway, so there was no real need to maintain especially good relations with this place. Taking only what I needed was enough.

And on top of that, we'd secured proper castle beds to sleep in comfortably for a night, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

After the audience ended, we were led down a corridor toward the guest rooms.

In high spirits, I wrapped my arms tightly around the shoulders of Merlin and Artoria, who were walking on either side of me.

"All right! We got plenty of supplies, so tonight let's really relax and have some fun!"

At my blatant skinship and the implication in my words, Merlin smiled and poked my chest with a finger.

"Sounds good, Arthur. I'll set up illusions and soundproofing Magecraft perfectly so nothing leaks out."

Artoria, too, lightly patted my chest with a faint smile, though her cheeks were red.

"Honestly... you're impossible, Brother. Still, we have to leave early tomorrow morning, so you need to show some restraint, all right?"

At our lewd yet cheerful conversation, Caenis, who was walking behind us, clicked her tongue in disgust as if she had just witnessed something unbearable.

"Ugh... you really are nothing but a bunch of animals. I'm never joining that insane party, so I'd better go find myself a separate room."

She had just started muttering that and edging backward.

Grab.

Ushiwakamaru firmly seized Caenis's wrist.

"Where do you think you're going, Lady Caenis? Our lord's bedchamber is this way. Come along now."

"What? H-hey! Let go! Why the hell are you dragging me into this? I said I'm not going!"

Caenis tried to yank her wrist free in alarm, but Ushiwakamaru only tilted her head as if genuinely puzzled.

"Hm? What are you talking about? Aren't you our lord's woman now too, Lady Caenis? We all heard those hot moans from outside last night, so I really don't understand why you're acting shy about it now."

At Ushiwakamaru's innocent but devastatingly shameless fact bomb, Caenis's face turned so red it looked ready to burst.

"I-it wasn't like that! Why the hell would I be that bastard's woman?! I'm a man...!"

As Caenis tried to deny it, her gaze unconsciously landed on my broad back ahead of her... and on the heavy presence faintly suggested through the fit of my pants.

"...Ngh."

In that instant, the sweet and overwhelming sensation that had torn through her insides the night before flashed across her mind.

As a strange hot throbbing rose from deep in her lower belly, she ducked her head in confusion at her own reaction.

"...F-fine. I'll come quietly, so stop pulling..."

In the end, her words trailed off, and Caenis let herself be obediently led along by Ushiwakamaru.

Watching that from the corner of my eye, I slowly curled my lips into a grin.

"Hoh~ So he's that crazy about women, and yet he doesn't lay a finger on this supremely gorgeous girl right here. That stings my pride in a strangely specific way. Well, I suppose it can't be helped if he's already busy enough dealing with beauties on that level!?"

Leaving Nobu's words behind as I headed to the room with the others, I had no idea.

That Barghest was staring at me from behind with an intense gaze.

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