"Sir Lancelot, I am very disappointed in you."
"Queen Guinevere~!"
Perhaps Leon truly possessed the power to alter the fates of others.
At this moment, Guinevere's and Lancelot's future had shifted.
Originally, the lonely Guinevere would eventually have accepted Lancelot's advances, but their relationship would have been exposed in the end, becoming the spark that led to Britain's downfall.
However, with that single slap, Guinevere erased that future completely. The train of destiny suddenly veered off its tracks and began running toward the unknown.
But—
Nothing changed regarding Britain's destruction.
If anything, it had only been accelerated.
On the surface, Arthur graciously accepted Queen Guinevere's request and appeared to be on good terms with Britain, seemingly forming an alliance.
Yet the very next day, all the major newspapers revealed to the world the secret that King Arthur was, in fact, a woman.
While people around the world marveled at the existence of such a powerful woman, Britain erupted into an unprecedented large-scale civil war.
"What? King Arthur is a woman? Then she is not fit to rule this land!"
"Step down from the throne, King of Knights! You truly hid your real gender."
"I always knew something was off. Now it's time to raise the banner of rebellion and topple this false king!"
"How can a woman rule this land and never grow old? What a monster!"
The world was shocked once again.
Most thought it shouldn't have been such a big deal.
In this world of swords and sorcery, women could ascend to the throne as long as they had the strength to defend it.
In fact, there were plenty of queens ruling even now.
Foreigners could accept it, but to everyone's surprise, the people of Britain could not. Nearly twenty nobles immediately raised their banners in rebellion.
And so, war broke out as expected.
After her true identity was revealed, the Knight King Artoria lost many of her loyal followers.
Yet because of her accumulated achievements, some knights still accepted her as a woman and remained by her side.
Even so, Britain had plunged back into a time of war.
Artoria could only lead the forces she had left—barely a third of her former army—against the rebels, whose numbers combined were nearly seven times greater.
"Well, but the Knight King always wins in the end. After all, no matter how many worms gather, they cannot defeat a hero."
That was Leon's remark after hearing the news.
He had learned the truth about Artoria through Guinevere.
Though she had the appearance and body of a human, on the inside she was, in truth, a dragon.
It could be said that Artoria was a dragon in human form.
Thus, even if she lost all her subordinates, as long as she wielded the Promised Sword of Victory and its sheath, Avalon, she could defeat every rebel by herself.
But regardless of the outcome—
No matter who won or lost—
Britain, already lacking in resources, suffered heavy internal losses. Leon's original prediction of Britain's destruction within three years had now been cut in half.
"But what surprised me the most was that Guinevere never said a word."
Leon muttered to himself.
The beautiful queen never told anyone what had happened in the rose garden that night.
Upon returning to Britain, she still flawlessly played the role of the Knight King's wife.
Well, there were rumors that she suffered from androphobia and refused to let any man—even the Knights of the Round Table—approach her.
One month after that banquet ended—
Nothing out of the ordinary happened.
Leon took the opportunity to strengthen his foundation and upgrade his equipment… In fact, the research done by his girls during this period produced many new results.
Brilliant minds in scientific research, such as Anis, Sherry, Eta, and Faruzan, had developed brand-new inventions.
"This is simply divine!"
Upon seeing Leon's castle, Faruzan's eyes sparkled. For this sweet girl—no, this lady—who had dedicated over a hundred years to studying ruin mechanisms, Leon's castle was nothing less than a masterpiece.
Even she couldn't have imagined it.
There were over a thousand types of traps in a castle not all that large, most of which were even more intricate than any ruin mechanism she had ever studied.
But there was still room for improvement!
So she began remodeling the castle.
By now, the number of mechanisms had exceeded 5,000!
When Lumine challenged Leon again afterward, had Leon not frozen time, he would surely have died.
Faruzan declared proudly: "This is a masterpiece! No one will ever breach this castle!"
But that wasn't all—she also helped in transforming Shouki…
In Anis's underground research lab, 100 meters below the surface,
A mechanical giant nearly 100 meters tall was nearing perfection. Unlike before, when only the upper body had been complete, now even the lower half was nearly finished.
Its pair of blade-like legs gleamed ominously.
Even without magical energy coursing through it, just the sight of it made people's hearts pound faster.
Shouki's appearance was majestic and domineering.
And, of course, it possessed power to match its imposing form.
Anis and Faruzan had already estimated its might back then.
If Leon himself piloted Shouki, its power would be enough to destroy ten small kingdoms, five mid-sized nations like Belfast, and even a great country as vast as the Kingdom of Midgar—all at once.
Leon laughed: "Now there's no need for strategy. I could just pilot Shouki and conquer the world outright."
At this point, Leon had indeed acquired the power to conquer the world.
But what if someone else, not Leon, were to pilot it?
Faruzan explained: "Based on the average person's magical capacity… it would be a miracle if anyone could move Shouki's upper body for even ten seconds."
Anis added: "As expected, only Leon-chan can pilot it for long. Well, nothing we can do about that."
Strength came with a price.
Shouki's immense consumption of magical energy was that price.
But it wasn't an unsolvable problem.
If they truly wished, Leon and the others could design a magical battery for Shouki, one that could store magical energy.
With his [Spatial Magic], it wouldn't be difficult. If he did so, even ordinary people without magical ability could pilot this mechanical giant for extended periods.
But none of the three mentioned this solution.
Because this drawback was necessary.
The massive consumption of magical energy was a deliberate fail-safe—ensuring that only Leon could ever pilot the Mecha.
After all, if someone coveted its power and tried to steal it, it would be useless to them without the magical reserves to operate it.
Leon smirked: "Now that it's finally complete, I really want to find a target to test its power on. Tsk, tsk, tsk… but creatures that can withstand even 10% of its full power are rare in this world."
---
(End of Chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."