Artoria no longer hesitated for a moment.
"Excuse me, Sir, but I must go to the town at once."
Anxious as a burning fire, she didn't even wait for Sir Ector's permission, merely informing him. Then she leaped onto her horse and galloped towards the town.
"Oh, that's rare. She didn't even say goodbye to us."
Sir Ector muttered under his breath—but he wasn't angry. He just stood outside the door, watching the girl's figure gradually recede into the distance. Then he turned his head and looked at the half-smiling magus.
He knew that after this, the girl named [Artoria] would not be coming back. The one who returned could only be [Arthur Pendragon], the destined King of Britain.
"In such a hurry?" he complained with some dissatisfaction. Although he had been mentally prepared, when this day truly arrived, the old knight still felt it was a bit rushed. He still had many little tricks for surviving on the battlefield that he hadn't had time to teach this girl!
"Actually, it's not that urgent. Logically, there should still be two or three months."
"But how should I put it... I can only say it was too much of a coincidence. So much so that even a lazy person like me feels that 'it would be too much of a pity not to take this opportunity to do something'."
Also watching the girl's departing figure, the Flower Magus's face showed a completely different expression from the old knight's. It was anticipation, it was approval, it was the look of someone waiting for a good show to start.
The girl galloped on the road to the town. At this moment, she couldn't think of anything else; her mind was filled with that lively and agile young dragon.
—Of course, she wasn't actually worried about its safety.
She knew very well the young dragon's power, and she also knew how capable her foster brother was... It was no exaggeration to say that those two could move freely among thousands of soldiers. An army of ordinary humans could not harm them at all. This was the "extraordinary," an existence that would be an honored guest in any country.
But, even such powerful beings had a "predicament" they were destined not to escape.
"A tavern!"
Even if she thought with the ahoge on top of her head, Artoria knew where her unreliable foster brother would take her cute little dragon. A tavern, dancers, a pool of wine and a forest of meat... Heavens, was there anything more terrifying in this world?
"He'll be corrupted, right? He'll definitely be corrupted, right?"
In the girl's view, Kay was definitely the main one to blame for this—but the young dragon was not without responsibility. At the very least, it should not have listened to the bewitching words of a stranger and gone to such a "dangerous" and "evil" place.
"When I get back, I have to teach them a good lesson... I must teach them a lesson!"
The girl gritted her teeth and swore in her heart that she would "correct" the personalities of this one person and one dragon.
But, when the furious Artoria arrived outside the town and wanted to charge directly in, heading for the tavern,
"Wait a minute—"
Unexpectedly, the town, which was usually unguarded, actually had two guards today. Well, two old-fashioned guards who were specially responsible for collecting the "city entrance tax."
"Are you also here to find that young dragon? Good, hand over one gold coin, and then go over there and line up!"
"Charlie, are you senile? That's young Arthur, Sir Kay's younger brother!"
"It's precisely because it's him that we have to charge one gold coin. Everyone else is one copper coin—this was specially instructed by Sir Kay."
"!!!"
Trouble! Without a doubt, this was deliberate trouble! That clever knight seemed to have long anticipated that his little sister would come running over to "demand an explanation." So he had found two old men in advance to block Artoria outside the town.
And under normal circumstances, facing these two old men, Artoria would have been helpless. Adhering to the "code of chivalry," she would never strike an unarmed person, let alone two old men—this was an act that violated the ethics of a knight, and she would absolutely not do it.
So, normally, even knowing she would be at a disadvantage, Artoria would obediently turn her horse around, run back home to borrow a gold coin from her foster father, and then run back to pay the tax.
—This round trip would take up most of the day.
"No, I can't be delayed. The longer I'm delayed, the more likely something will go wrong with it!"
Artoria anxiously looked into the distance, listening to the noise coming from the town. Then she looked at the two old men blocking her way, refusing to let her pass.
"Snap—"
It was as if a string had snapped. This "Arthur," who was usually calm and steady, always polite and humble to everyone, instantly became like a different person. She didn't even speak, just tensed her face and glared.
The two old men in charge of blocking the road were as if hit by a petrification spell. They were instantly stunned in place, completely unable to move.
"My apologies."
The girl's voice had not yet fallen, but her body had already turned into a blur.
"But this time, I am in a real hurry."
...
Having successfully broken through the guards, the girl continued to run towards the town center. But after walking for a short while, she couldn't run anymore.
Artoria was horrified to discover that this town, which was not particularly prosperous, had somehow been flooded with so many people... five times, no, ten times! More than ten times the usual number of people were squeezed into the not-so-spacious streets, leaving no room to even squeeze through.
"Where did all these people come from?!"
Artoria looked at these excited, even crazed people—some of them were waving flags, which she recognized as being from other kingdoms' nobles.
"How did even other kingdoms get involved?"
Artoria didn't understand. It was just a young dragon. Was it necessary to be so crazy?
Alright, it really was necessary. Thinking about it carefully, those so-called heroes might really travel thousands of miles to this obscure little village for a dragon, just to witness its heroic appearance with their own eyes.
—But, this was absolutely not the reason for these people to be so fanatical, even to the point of losing their reason. There must be some other factors hidden here... no, it was the scent of a trap. It seemed someone had specially set up a trap for these people, using this young dragon as bait to attract these heroes from various countries.
And the identity and purpose of this schemer was—
"Hey, young Arthur, are you also here to pull the sword?"
Sword? What sword?
"A legendary magus once said that only the destined King of Britain can pull out the holy sword stuck in the stone. And only the holder of that holy sword can gain the recognition of that young dragon, become its true partner, and save Britain together."
"..."
Damn you, Merlin!
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