The Royal Palace of Palettia.
"Your Majesty, I believe the time has come."
"Yes, His Highness Leon is no longer that young."
"Indeed, it is almost time for His Highness to ascend the throne."
"Your Majesty, we implore you to abdicate!"
Sitting upon the throne, King Orphans' eyes twitched uncontrollably.
He was completely speechless as he looked at the ministers and advisors who had always been his most loyal subordinates, yet were now united in collectively advising him to resign and retire.
His mood was extremely complicated.
The reason was simple.
After the news that Leon had conquered Britain and subdued the Knight King Artoria Pendragon spread throughout the world, the ministers waiting for his ascension simply could no longer sit still.
Leon had only recently conquered Sumeru.
Before everyone had even finished celebrating that victory, Britain had already been annexed into the territory of the Magic Kingdom.
Although that land was somewhat barren, it hardly mattered.
Who would be foolish enough to complain about gaining more territory?
Please, keep expanding!
But that was only a secondary matter.
The real issue was that those ministers could no longer wait.
Leon was incredible.
So why had he still not ascended the throne?
It was better to do it sooner rather than later, before long nights gave rise to dangerous dreams.
"Ahem."
Orphans cleared his throat.
"Third Prince Leon has not even reached the age of twenty yet. He is still very young. Young people need more practice, more experience. There is no rush."
The moment those words were spoken, the entire hall fell silent.
The ministers nearly rolled their eyes as they stared at the king.
Some were close to completely losing their composure.
[Practice?]
[Practice what?]
[His Highness has conquered multiple kingdoms over the past few years!]
[If he keeps practicing, he'll end up conquering the entire world!]
[Tsk. His Majesty is pretending not to understand.]
Then suddenly, several ministers had a terrifying thought.
[Wait a moment...]
[Does His Majesty intend to let His Highness conquer the entire world before ascending the throne?]
[Does he want to wait until Leon becomes the King of the World before retiring?]
[Shameless!]
[Absolutely shameless!]
However, this was a terrible injustice.
Orphans insisted he was not that unscrupulous.
If he really did something like that, what would be passed down through history would not be a glorious reputation.
It would be the infamy of a shameless king who exploited his own son's achievements.
At that moment, however, he was practically screaming inside his head.
[Do you think I don't want to abdicate?]
[I want to more than anyone else!]
[But that brat told me to keep sitting here and serve as his cover! What am I supposed to do?!]
Leon had already made his position very clear.
The moment he ascended the throne, he would launch a total war against the entire world.
Therefore, he wanted to accumulate more strength before officially taking power.
After all, a prince could travel the world and cause trouble freely.
A king could not.
And the truth was that the current progress was frighteningly smooth.
After years of secret arrangements, nearly one-third of the world had already fallen under his influence without anyone realizing it.
On the surface, it appeared that only Palettia, Sumeru, Britain, and a few smaller kingdoms had been conquered.
But behind the scenes, several major nations had already been infiltrated and brought under control.
Leon was absurdly bold.
But he was also absurdly cautious.
Leon had once said:
"Wait a little longer. I'll take the throne once I've conquered half the world. It won't take very long."
At the time, Orphans had replied:
"Then you'd better hurry. I think I'll be assassinated before then."
Leon merely raised an eyebrow.
"Who would be bold enough to do that?"
Orphans snorted.
"Every citizen of Palettia!"
Leon could already be considered a legendary figure in history.
Throughout all of history, there had never been a crown prince whose ascension was simultaneously supported by both nobles and commoners.
His approval rating was practically one hundred percent.
If foreigners were included, it might have been even higher.
His reputation had already reached an absurd level.
Every day, crowds marched through the cities wishing for him to ascend the throne as soon as possible.
Even the old nobility shared that desire.
After all, who did not want prosperity?
A perfect and charismatic heir.
Someone capable of making people willingly accept his leadership.
He stood right before them.
And everyone could clearly envision the future.
The moment the crown was placed upon Leon's head...
A golden age would begin.
That was why his ascension was practically inevitable.
Everyone eagerly awaited that day.
Except for one person.
King Orphans.
Because the entire kingdom was eagerly awaiting his abdication.
Although he was a wise king, the gap between him and Leon was simply too great.
Orphans nearly burst into tears.
"Damn it..."
---
Two days later.
In Britain.
"It happened this quickly..."
Artoria was completely stunned.
Only three days had passed since Leon conquered Britain.
And every resistance force had already been eliminated.
It had taken her two entire years to stabilize the kingdom.
Leon needed only three days.
His method was also incredibly simple and brutal.
Absolute force.
If someone surrendered, everything was resolved peacefully.
If someone refused...
Artoria or Mordred would be sent directly to the location.
One Noble Phantasm for the city.
Another Noble Phantasm for the army.
End of discussion.
With Leon providing practically infinite magical energy, the two of them could use their Noble Phantasms as casually as ordinary attacks.
After three rebellious lords were crushed in this manner, the deterrent effect spread rapidly.
The remaining resistance forces simply chose to surrender.
It was fast, efficient, and direct.
At the end of the day, bigger fists always spoke louder.
As for the nobles who knew they had committed too many crimes to be forgiven and planned to continue resisting...
Leon simply announced well-paying jobs, free food, and guaranteed housing.
The result?
Those nobles were killed by their own people.
After all, in that era, anyone who could guarantee food and shelter was practically the father of the common people.
Leon commented with a bored expression:
"How boring. That was too easy."
Artoria was left speechless.
She watched Leon sitting at the head of the Round Table, drinking wine, occasionally yawning, and casually solving problems she had considered extremely difficult.
It almost felt unfair.
Leon possessed such absurd resources that the entire situation seemed unreasonable.
After all, he really could feed an entire kingdom.
Meanwhile, Artoria sometimes could not even feed herself properly.
Incidentally, after discovering that she could eat freely following her surrender, Artoria devoured an entire land dragon in a single meal.
Leon: "...I'm starting to think I can't afford to support this woman. How does someone eat an entire dragon by themselves? Is her stomach some kind of dimensional space?"
But the most important matter was something else.
Leon understood the human heart perfectly.
Artoria was shocked to discover that after only three days, the majority of Britain's population had already stopped thinking of her as the Knight King.
Leon merely said:
"Cruel as it may be, there's nothing we can do about it. People always remember the best. Nobody remembers the defeated."
Then he smiled.
"But don't be sad, Artoria. Your story isn't over yet. Keep moving forward and continue serving as my knight."
Artoria sighed.
"I'll take that as an attempt at consolation. But... although I'm somewhat reluctant to admit it, I believe you're right."
Leon had accomplished in a few days what she had never imagined possible.
Under his command, Britain was already changing completely.
As a witness, Artoria personally watched Leon enact countless laws.
Not one was redundant.
Not one was misguided.
Every decision was astonishingly wise.
At this rate, hunger would disappear within less than a month.
By the end of the year, everyone would have enough food.
It was a dream she had never been able to achieve.
Leon merely shrugged.
"The land is barren, but that isn't a problem. There are countless ways to solve that."
In this world, magic existed.
Turning deserts into forests was not impossible.
Water magic.
Earth magic.
Magical artifacts.
Or simply injecting magical energy directly into the soil.
Any of those methods would be sufficient to transform Britain into fertile land.
Several days later.
After completely stabilizing the island kingdom, Leon finally relaxed.
He fulfilled his promise to Morgan and appointed her as his official representative in Britain.
As for Guinevere...
(End of Chapter)