Chapter 35: The Pendragon Clan -3-

The vicious catfight between the two sisters, which had been throwing off sparks at full force, was finally forced into a ceasefire when a servant cautiously informed us that it was time for dinner.

The lavish banquet hall of the Kingdom of Gore.

I sat slumped back in my chair with exhaustion written all over my face, mechanically shoveling the royal cuisine on my plate into my mouth.

As expected, it was bland.

Spices were precious in this era, so the seasoning was woefully lacking, and the cooking itself was far too crude and greasy.

Still, the one saving grace was that the ingredients had been fried, so at least the crispy texture was fairly edible.

Normally I would have gone straight to the kitchen and cooked for myself, but after having both arms seized and being dragged through the sisters’ battle of wills, I didn’t have the strength to stand in front of a stove today.

"Ugh... this tastes awful..."

Artoria, seated beside me, grumbled in open dissatisfaction as she repeatedly stabbed the fried meat with her fork. After being completely spoiled by my cooking, there was no way her palate would accept this dry excuse for food.

Meanwhile, Morgan, seated across from us, did not touch the food at all and merely sipped tea with elegant composure.

"Do not whine so vulgarly. Eating is nothing more than a beast’s act, a trivial means of filling the petty stomach of a living creature."

Morgan rebuked her coldly.

She was a fairy. Unlike humans, she had no need to consume food, since she could survive on the Mana in the atmosphere alone.

Hearing that, Artoria set down her fork and looked at Morgan with eyes full of sincere pity.

"Ah... poor sister. To live your whole life never knowing the ecstatic delight of the gourmet food my brother makes for me. Fairies really are a pitiful sort. Please, do spend the rest of your life sipping hot water."

"...What did you say? You insolent little bitch!"

Morgan’s forehead bulged with veins again at Artoria’s pitying attitude. Her killing intent flared so fiercely that fine cracks spread across her teacup.

From where she had been standing slightly apart from that suffocating dinner table, Ushiwakamaru quietly approached my side and whispered in my ear.

"My lord, what in the world happened out on the terrace? The atmosphere is downright murderous."

"Ah, it was nothing much. Just an ordinary love-and-power struggle, I guess."

When I answered in a tone of resignation, Ushiwakamaru nodded as if it were no great matter.

"Aha, I see. Siblings drawing blades over love and power is a common thing. That puts me at ease."

...No, that might be common by Genji standards, but it definitely wasn’t ordinary.

Meanwhile, Barghest, who had been standing at a distance and glancing toward Morgan, muttered softly.

"She certainly... has a rather different air from the Majesty I served in Fairy Britain. The appearance is the same, but perhaps the very foundation of their existence is different."

Stheno cut a piece of meat into a small bite, placed it in her mouth, and nodded.

"In the end, divine spirits are fated to decline into fairies as the Age of Gods comes to an end. That woman Morgan, too, was once a goddess who ruled the land in the distant past. After countless reincarnations and the fading of Mystery, she transformed into the fairy she is now."

At that, Caenis, who had been drinking wine, cut in.

"Ah, isn’t that basically the same kind of case as those damn obnoxious twin bastards, the Dioscuri?"

"Castor’s case was especially severe."

Medea clicked her tongue as she recalled an old companion from the days of the Argonauts.

"He was once one half of a pair of twin gods whose divinity rivaled Zeus himself, but once people’s faith vanished, he ended up reincarnating as a human with nothing left but the shell. That’s why he despised humans as if they were insects."

"So gods fall so far that they become fairies. Come to think of it, they say that Aillen, the wicked fairy slain by the great Celtic hero Finn MacCool, was once a divine spirit too."

I joined in while swallowing a bite of fried food.

"In the end, when the Age of Gods draws to a close, it’s only natural law that gods decline like that and become monsters or fairies."

"Hehe. But a perfect goddess like me would never fall into anything so unsightly."

Stheno lifted her chin in smug pride, and Caenis snorted and immediately jabbed back.

"Of course not. You died before the Age of Gods even finished, didn’t you?"

"......"

Stheno’s smile froze, and at the same time Medea, sitting beside her, smacked Caenis across the back with a spoon. Smack.

"Ow! Why’d you hit me, you witch?!"

"Try having a little tact, you beast-brained idiot."

In one corner, Penthesilea, who had been listening to their conversation, stared into empty space with a complicated expression.

‘If even a once-great goddess can fall into becoming a fairy... then after the Age of Gods ended, perhaps my great father also ended up in such a state.’

While talk of family and the decline of divine spirits passed around the table, Kay, who had been silently tearing apart bread at the far end, quietly pushed his chair back.

"Good grief, I don’t care whether it’s gods or fairies. I don’t want to get caught in the blast radius of the Pendragon family’s messy civil war, so I’m going to bed first."

He hurried out of the dining hall, escaping before any sparks could fly his way.

I let out another heavy sigh and turned my head.

And yet, the Morgan and Artoria who had been glaring at each other like they wanted to kill one another just a short while ago were now leaning their heads together, engaged in some secret conversation with grave expressions.

Please, just don’t let it turn into a knife fight...

Deliberately looking away from them, I drained the rest of my wine and hurriedly finished my meal.

Late at night.

Just as I was about to rest my exhausted body on the bed, the guest room door opened and Artoria poked her head in.

"Brother. Would you come to the other room for a moment?"

A wave of unease washed over me. Was this the second round of the catfight? Did I have to break it up again?

Reluctantly, I got up from the bed and let Artoria lead me by the hand toward the largest and most lavish bedroom at the end of the corridor, the room Morgan was using.

When I entered, Morgan was sitting alluringly in the center of the bed. With a gesture, she indicated the edge of it.

"Sit, Arthur."

I awkwardly perched myself at the end of the bed.

"What is it this time? You didn’t call me in here to referee another round between you two, did you?"

At my cautious question, Artoria, standing beside me, declared with a deliberately solemn expression.

"We reached an agreement, Brother. I’ll be the first one to get pregnant."

"...What?"

For a moment, my brain stopped working. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Were they talking about the agreement to get pregnant in the age of peace after I defeated Vortigern?

Morgan crossed her legs and continued gracefully.

"After thinking it over, I realized that if we kept fighting as though we meant to kill one another, all we would do is waste time that could be spent making use of your excellent seed. So we decided to find a compromise on thoroughly rational grounds."

She added with a very sour expression,

"Much as I hate to admit it, that girl is still a legitimate Pendragon heir. Besides, I cannot ignore the advantage she holds as the first woman you laid hands on in Britain. So I conceded and allowed her to be the one who carries the pregnancy. In exchange..."

Morgan’s eyes gleamed with grotesque scholarly fervor.

"We decided to fuse my egg with hers."

"...What? Wait a second. Did I hear that right?"

I gaped at her in utter disbelief.

Like a teacher kindly explaining things to an uncivilized younger sibling, Morgan began laying out a horrifying theory of Magecraft.

"It is simple. Your sperm will be joined with my egg, and your sperm will also be joined with her egg, implanting both. Then I will use Magecraft to remove the fertilized egg from my womb and perfectly merge it with the egg inside hers. What will be born from that will not be an ordinary child. It will be the ultimate life-form, fashioned from what I call a super egg."

"...Super? No, more importantly, what kind of childish name is that?"

"Why not? It sounds grand and powerful. Isn’t it to your liking?"

Morgan shrugged, revealing a strangely childish taste. Faced with that shamelessness, I was too dumbfounded even to laugh.

"Please understand, Brother. This sister of mine insisted, so there was nothing I could do."

Artoria clung to my arm and spoke as if making excuses.

"Since I’ll be the one carrying the child in my own womb, it’s basically my victory. It is a little disappointing that the child won’t contain only my genes, but..."

Artoria glanced at Morgan and gave a strangely mature smile.

"Still, I felt sorry for my sister, spending her whole life obsessed with power until she dies, so I wanted to let her experience a woman’s happiness too. I’m rather generous, you know."

"How dare you slander my merciful concession like that!"

Morgan flared up and sprang to her feet, but soon took a deep breath as if forcing herself to endure it.

"Well, however the process may have gone."

The two Pendragon sisters. Having reached a grotesque compromise under the shared objective that was me, the two women closed in on either side of me like lionesses stalking prey.

"Now then, Brother. Stop wasting time and take your clothes off."

"Tonight, we’ll squeeze every last drop of your great red dragon’s seed into the two of us."

The suffocating pressure of them closing in on me from both sides, and the sweet scent of Mana.

"Haa..."

I dragged both hands down my face and let out a deep sigh.

Well, I guess there was no helping it. At this point, it was going to be an incest threesome.

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