[Although you did not ultimately choose to exhaust your full strength and pull the Sword in the Stone together with the earth itself, the scene you brought forth still shocked everyone present, making them regard you with even greater awe.]
[So much so that afterward, when Artoria stepped forward and easily drew out the sword, many people had yet to react.]
[So much so that it was only when Artoria, carrying the sword, made her way toward Camelot Castle under the protection of the royal knights gathered around the cemetery, that the knights finally came back to their senses.]
[By this time, you had already departed together with the royal knights.]
[You personally witnessed the moment Artoria drew the Sword in the Stone.]
[You also personally witnessed her stepping into the palace, accepting the ritual of kingship.]
[You knew that from this moment on, the figure named Artoria would no longer be just the village girl who strove with endless effort, but would become Camelot's greatest 'King'—the incarnation of the Red Dragon.]
[She would slay the despicable Vortigern of the North.]
[She would campaign against the barbarians on all fronts.]
[She would lead the incomplete Britain of the Age of Gods into its final, fleeting glory before the end.]
[—Her ending, in that instant, was revealed not only to Merlin, who had seen through the present world,]
[but also into your mind, you who had reincarnated from later generations into this era.]
[For all of this was her own choice, and you did not stop her.]
[Her ending was indeed supposed to be so—]
['But supposed to be so does not mean it is right.']
[Such were your thoughts.]
[However, though she had undergone the king's baptism and obtained the blessing of the "King of Camelot," that did not mean the girl had immediately become a true king. The news of the Sword in the Stone's removal had yet to spread widely. After the ceremony, Merlin proposed that Artoria personally travel throughout the kingdom, to broaden her knowledge, gain true experience of adventure and battle. Though the realm was turbulent, it was still largely stable, and Artoria found herself tempted by the proposal.]
[She extended an invitation to you.]
[You, however, only joked: 'I won't be the one hunting down giant beasts for you, "King with the big appetite."']
['Besides, if I go with you, then it won't be a journey of exploration and adventure, but just a trip.']
[This familiar tone of yours—far warmer and closer than the way you had instructed her within dreams—left Artoria dazed for a long while. She seemed to confirm that the memories she had before were not false.]
[She was very happy, and nodded firmly.]
[There seemed to be countless words in her heart, but in the end, as she gazed at you, none of them were spoken.]
[In the end, she chose to trust you.]
That was her most trusted teacher.Also her most reliable knight.Everything was as it should have been.
"The Song of Subutai"
...
[But though you did not accompany her in person on her journeys, every night you still arrived as promised in Artoria's dreams, continuing to instruct her in swordsmanship and the principles of governance.]
[Her years of travels unfolded as before.]
[Unlike Merlin, who always shrouded everything in mystery and trickery, you—apart from encouragement and 'indoctrination'—never ridiculed the girl's various weaknesses.]
[You called her the Gluttonous King, the Ahoge King, the Blanket King—Artoria, accustomed to taking on the guise of a boy, always bundled herself tightly in layers of clothing, afraid of anyone discovering her true gender.]
[At first, Lya would always seriously refute you.]
[Later, when she could no longer refute you, she simply began to quarrel with you instead—]
[And in the end, the quarrels often ended in laughter.]
[Compared to day after day of harsh training, this was more like a kind of leisure within the dream. Before you, she was never the "tool to become king" in Merlin's words, nor the "Knight King" destined for a tragic fate after drawing the sword—she was simply a girl who grew step by step in your eyes.]
[During the time the king was away on travels,]
[all affairs of state fell upon your shoulders.]
[You temporarily settled in Camelot.]
[Under your direct administration, the kingdom's treasury filled, and its armies flourished—the number of knights rose to five thousand. To have so many warriors who could wield magecraft skillfully and embody 'Hundred-Battle Martial Arts' was an astonishing figure.]
[Your chivalric code grew ever stronger, no longer manifesting only inwardly, but gaining the ability to directly take shape as invisible 'chains,' binding enemies in spirit and influencing their will. Though it was only the beginning and not yet powerful, it began to function as a tool for drawing upon your Arsenal.]
[In this process, though your martial Arts had no great breakthrough, you collected more branches of human martial arts from the era.]
[In this process, you also engraved many mysteries of the era.]
[You never stopped moving forward in strength—slowly, but ceaselessly.]
[During this time, you also never lacked daily correspondence with Morgan.]
[Before you, Morgan never hid her emotions—she loathed Merlin, she rejected Artoria, yet it was a rejection tinged with pity, a complicated attitude.]
[Morgan had long since ceased to be immature, yet her outward appearance remained youthful, even more beautiful and alluring. She was no longer a pure human, but a being who combined traits of elf, fairy, and goddess. Her age was a thousandfold that of humans, and now she was still truly 'young.']
[She had already gained the title of "witch," yet she cared nothing for it.]
[With you, she never kept distance.]
[Thus the days passed, one after another.]
[Time flowed on.]
[Two years slipped by.]
[At your age of twenty-three, Artoria finally returned from her journeys.]
[She brought back martial Arts that reached the level of the gods.]
[She also brought back equipment obtained through her travels.]
[Apart from the Sword in the Stone she had never discarded, due to your 'chivalric code,']
[there was also, by your guidance, the holy sword Excalibur—the Sword of Promised Victory—received from the "Lady of the Lake," who was in truth Morgan's 'avatar.' This avatar was Morgan's new creation; she was the witch Morgan le Fay, yet also the kindly Lady of the Lake Viviane in people's tales.]
[Both benevolent and malevolent, yet all one and the same—an extreme witch of love and hate.]
[Besides this, in Lya's hand was also the holy lance Rhongomyniad, obtained from the fairies under your guidance.]
[And further, a divine sword said to have come from the age of myth, once wielded by Heracles to slay the sea god's son, forged personally by Hephaestus—the Sword of Heracles. This sword was Artoria's trophy from a duel.]
[And when you gazed upon Excalibur, you fell silent for a long time. You knew that this was none other than the star-forged sword once created by the planet itself to oppose the outer invaders from the stars. You knew that this sword once severed Attila's true body, forcing her into slumber, thus giving rise to the later Hunnic King Attila.]
[Of course, in Artoria's hands, the holy sword could not unleash its full might. Its purpose was to fight external threats to the planet; against life within the planet, its power did not reach such extremes.]
[What was truly powerful, rather, was the sword's 'scabbard.']
[Legend said it was the key to the deepest part of the fairy realm, Avalon, the ideal land of Celtic legend.]
[Once unfolded, it granted defenses equivalent to standing within Avalon itself—a sixfold spatial dimensional barrier.]
[Even you could not shatter such a defense in a single stroke.]
[In addition, Artoria possessed the Dragon's Heart of the Red Dragon bloodline, which endlessly generated mana—bestowing upon her a body of immense strength and explosive force through mana burst.]
[Yes.]
[Standing before you now was the fully armed Artoria—by her martial Arts and complete armament, in some respects already by no means weaker than you.]
[With her weapons alone, she could contend with the gods of the higher order.]
"Child of the era… truly unreasonable!"
Gazing at the returned 'King Arthur,' Lucan sighed:"All my years of effort are not equal to your one year of luck!"
"Luck is also a kind of strength."
The girl's figure was slender yet lithe, her waist tightly encased in silver-blue armor, her chest faintly curved beneath the breastplate.The battle skirt framed the round, firm curve of her hips, taut and graceful as it flowed beneath her skirt hem.
She leaned toward Lucan naturally, fingertips lightly resting on his shoulder, her breath carrying the warmth unique to a girl.
Artoria smiled, naturally and intimately:"Lord Su."
Two years without meeting Lucan in reality—yet seeing him every day in dreams.Though her appearance remained fixed at fourteen, due to drawing the Sword in the Stone,she now bore the true bearing of a 'King.'