[You continue on your journey.]
[Before leaving, you gather the remaining clothing of the travelers who perished in the belly of the Questing Beast, bury them, and erect a gravestone for them.]
[You can sense that your sister, Artoria, seems different from the day before, but not in a bad way. It is more akin to a positive change.]
[Indeed, your feeling is not wrong. In the days that follow, you can clearly feel your sister Artoria gradually becoming less rash than she was in the past. She also continues to train diligently with her sword alone late into every night.]
[Only occasionally do you feel a certain determination in the gazes your sister directs toward you.]
[And so, after the first month, you arrive at another new town.]
[However, this town is not as vibrant as the ones you have passed through before; instead, it is filled with a dull, lifeless atmosphere.]
[After making inquiries, you learn that the tyrannical and harsh rule of the local noble has caused the people to live in great hardship, yet no one dares to resist the current situation.]
[Unsurprisingly, just as you predicted, your sister Artoria is indignant upon hearing this and immediately decides to teach that noble a proper lesson.]
[But compared to her past self, who would have rushed directly to the other's castle without any consideration, this time Artoria does not act immediately after making her decision. Instead, she first asks for your thoughts and ideas.]
[Merlin seems quite moved by this change in your sister, a sign of her growth. You can even faintly hear his sounds of sobbing, which may or may not be fake.]
[You and your brother Kay do not object to Artoria's idea, and so, after some discussion...]
[That night, you split up and sneak into the noble's castle, giving him a rather unforgettable lesson in his own bedroom.]
[You have disciplined a cruel noble, improved the lives of the local people, and earned a considerable reputation.]
[In the third month, you pass through a village harassed by demonic beasts. To allow the villagers to live normally, you vanquish the nearby demonic beasts and, in the process, open up a proper trade route, gaining a degree of fame.]
[In the fifth month, you have traversed nearly half of Britain, defeating several well-known bandit groups along the way. Your fame gradually begins to spread far and wide.]
[By the seventh month, you are already quite famous. Occasionally, you hear rumors from passing travelers of the "'Pure White Knight-Princess and her companions'," a tale that refers to you.]
[Although Merlin always complains that the rumors only mention your sister Artoria and not the other three of you, saying that the three of you are like free add-ons.]
[But you do not care about this.]
[Your only concern is that with each passing day, the distance you travel grows longer... which also means that your sister, Artoria, is getting closer and closer to the throne of Britain.]
[You realize that the girl's remaining time of freedom is running short.]
[Finally, in the tenth month, you have traveled through almost all of Britain. In that time, you have witnessed the prosperity and poverty, the nobility and commonness, the happiness and suffering of all kinds of people...]
[Your sister, Artoria, seems to have found a vague answer as to what kind of king she should be.]
[But occasionally, when camping in the wild and sleeping in an embrace with her, you can still hear the hidden confusion in her sleep-talk.]
[You understand that your sister still needs someone to give her a final push.]
[But you are not sure if you should be the one to push her to take that step.]
[Because if this has always been your sister's wish, then there is no problem with you, as someone who has always supported her, being the one to do it.]
[But you do not know whether what that push will bring your sister is true happiness or a life of bondage.]
[Unable to find an answer to this question for the moment, you decide to let nature take its course.]
[At the same time, you resolve that no matter what happens next, you will not let your sister bear it alone.]
[And so, another month passes in the blink of an eye. You have now arrived at the last untrodden territory in the land of Britain.]
[The domain ruled by the brother of the former king, Uther: Vortigern...]
—Creaak.
The sound of a wooden axle turning echoed clearly as a suspended half-door swung back and forth.
As a party of four entered the tavern from the vast, snowy expanse, the noise inside quieted for a second before resuming as before.
After all, in these times, groups of wandering knights, completely covered in cloaks with swords at their waists, were an all-too-common sight.
To put it nicely, one could say their fame was just not yet established, and their future was promising.
To put it bluntly, one could almost call them bandit reservists.
However, the group that entered the tavern this time was not the usual wandering knights, but Aozaki Rin, Artoria, and their companions, now at the end of their journey.
The reason they were dressed so thoroughly was partly due to the heavy snow and cold of winter, and partly because this was Vortigern's territory, where they had to act with caution.
Ever since the news that the Sword of Selection had been drawn had spread, it was said that Vortigern had been searching with particular ferocity for King Uther's heir, wanting to strangle them in the cradle.
It was precisely because of this that after entering this territory, even Merlin had stopped his usual joking and often wore a cautious expression.
But no matter how cautious one was, one could not avoid unexpected events from the outside.
Just like right now...
"Hah? Did you just trip me?"
A burly man holding a mug of ale deliberately stopped as he passed by Kay and questioned him with a fierce expression.
Anyone could see that the man was deliberately trying to pick a fight, likely to demand compensation. But in a rustic tavern like this, such things were not uncommon.
The other patrons in the tavern watched the situation with the attitude of people enjoying a show.
"What did you say?"
Kay glared at the burly man, annoyed. Usually, he was the one provoking others, but he never expected to be the one provoked today.
However, he didn't act rashly. Despite being extremely displeased, he had no intention of starting a fight. Doing so would only blow things out of proportion and cause unnecessary trouble.
But it seemed that Kay's attitude of backing down after a single retort was mistaken for cowardice. The burly man stepped forward aggressively, looking as if he was about to make the first move.
Just then, however, a small figure stood up and blocked his path.
"I apologize, that must have been a misunderstanding. We just want to rest for a bit and are not looking for trouble."
The bur-ly man stared at the boy looking up at him with a smile, and he froze for a moment. After snapping out of it, he scratched his large, bald head somewhat awkwardly and stammered.
"I-Is that so? I suppose it was a misunderstanding. In that case, I won't disturb you. If you run into any trouble, you can come find me."
"Mhm, thank you for your kindness."
Hearing the man's departing footsteps, Aozaki Rin sighed in relief and sat back down.
It seemed the man wasn't someone impossible to communicate with after all. As long as one communicated properly, he could be understood.
"Tsk! If this were any other time, I would have just cut that guy down with one swing. There was no need for you to do that, En."
Kay clicked his tongue. Although he understood it was for the bigger picture, he was still annoyed by the way the burly man had looked at his adoptive brother.
"I agree. We're still only on the outskirts of his territory. Even if we made a bit of a scene, the news probably wouldn't reach that person's ears so quickly. We could teach that guy a little lesson before we leave."
Artoria nodded in agreement. She was also uncomfortable with the man's drastic change in attitude and the way he had looked at the boy.
"I say, this is the enemy's headquarters, you know. Is it really a good idea to be so aggressive...? Can't you learn a little from En and be more mature?"
Merlin sighed helplessly at the sibling pair, who seemed to have reached some sort of consensus.
Admittedly, after nearly a year of travel, Artoria had grown a lot and should be able to bear the weight of the throne. The only thing about the girl that hadn't changed much was that whenever something involved the boy, her personality seemed to revert to its original state, becoming a little immature and unstable.
"Merlin's right. It's better for us to keep a low profile, Sister, Sir Kay."
Aozaki Rin gently persuaded them, and the other two finally gave up on their original idea, for now.
However, not long after he said this, the sound of the door opening rang out again.
An old but still powerfully built man in a large black cloak, accompanied by a magus completely covered in a cloak and holding a staff, entered the tavern.
The air in the tavern instantly fell silent.
After a long time, Aozaki Rin heard someone exclaim in a hushed voice.
"V-Vortigern..."