Often, a single bite of food is enough to forge a connection, especially when it's personally prepared.
In just one afternoon, about two thousand people had eaten Guinevere's roasted meat, all praising her culinary skills highly. With the praise of these two thousand-plus people, rumors about them began to spread throughout the entire City of Uruk.
It was fortunate that they didn't care about their reputation, good or bad, and the King of Heroes wasn't worried they would try to use this influence for their own ends.
Otherwise, if certain nobles had been allowed to spread rumors that they showed special favor to commoners and slaves while being disrespectful to them, it would have certainly caused trouble in the city.
"This contingent, these supplies... is this what we're supposed to transport?"
By the second day, after yesterday's barbecue, Guinevere and the King of Knights had returned to the State Guest House early to wash up, chat, and rest.
Before dawn the next morning, they were awakened by Merlin knocking on their door. Miss Anna was already up and standing beside him.
After following them outside, the two saw Siduri, along with a contingent of five hundred soldiers and nearly a hundred carts loaded with grain and wine.
"The Northern Wall has no shortage of meat, but humans can't live on meat alone. Besides, your roasted meat is truly delicious. I'm so jealous of my counterpart in your world who gets to eat it all the time."
Merlin's gentle smile shimmered even under the pre-dawn moonlight, making one want to punch him. That was Merlin for you.
"I'll treat you again when I have the chance. After all, you're working, not lazing around in Avalon watching anime and playing games like him. Speaking of which, does Chaldea's Doctor know you're Magi Mari-chan? You catfish!"
"Ahem, he simply chooses not to know. Otherwise, he would have figured it out long ago."
The small talk and banter continued. The King of Knights showed no surprise at the Magi Mari-chan revelation and it merely added another black mark to Merlin's already tarnished reputation in Anna's eyes.
"Alright, let's not talk about that. Take Anna with you on this trip. Ever since I found her, she's been stuck around the State Guest House.
She hasn't had a chance to look around and has only spoken to you two and the old lady at the flower shop."
Merlin continued speaking with a smile. He had come specifically for this purpose. As he clasped his hands together and blinked, he saw Guinevere's rather playful smile, as if telling him they already knew everything.
So, Merlin straightened up, pushed Anna—who was stunned she hadn't dodged—from behind with both hands, and said with utmost seriousness:
"King, Guinevere, I entrust Anna and the expedition team to your care."
Merlin was a very lazy person, one who refused to get involved in matters outside his prophecies or roles that weren't his to play.
Yet, his current visit to Uruk was largely driven by his own will. After frequent exchanges with the Merlin from Guinevere's world, he couldn't help but feel a touch of envy and experience emotions typically reserved for humans.
Just watching the King of Knights from another world find happiness filled him with satisfaction and deepened his self-reproach for his past inaction.
He didn't know how much longer the Artoria Pendragon he knew would take to break free from her misguided wish.
At dawn, as the sun first rose above the horizon, Merlin watched the departing procession from afar, his eyes gazing into the future.
However, he wasn't seeing the future of Guinevere and her companions, nor the future of the King of Knights he knew.
He saw it: the Lion King, who had traded away the memories of the King of Knights before him, continued to sit idly at the world's end. Only after Chaldea's group reached the Demon God King did this King Who Did Not Die, this king who had wandered the world for centuries, respond for the first time as a Servant, reuniting with the King and Queen of this land before the Demon God King.
And their presence, the Lion King's presence, seemed to have been seen by his King of Knights.
"Hehehe, is it because I've been talking too much with Dr. Romani? Why have even I become so sentimental? For me, the future should simply be left to run its course."
Merlin was trying to convince himself. Just as he noticed this, the King of Heroes had already appeared nearby.
"Merlin, since you invited those who shouldn't be here, you can't just talk about letting things run their course. If you truly can't bear to see the King of Knights disgraced, constantly thwarted by a certain 'man of justice,' then you might as well quest her to the Fifth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City.
"Where you are unwilling to intervene, you can quest her to intervene."
From the high vantage of the Royal Palace, Merlin understood the King of Heroes' meaning and shot him an exasperated look.
"I think it's you who can't accept those deaths, each more tragic than the last, right? For you, the so-called Wise King, the Fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail War you speak of must also be an unacceptable dark history, wouldn't you say?"
"Merlin, you know I've sealed my Clairvoyance."
"But no one knows if you saw everything before sealing it. For instance, what Guinevere and the Arthur from another world would do in Uruk."
Exchanging words, Merlin and the King of Heroes surprisingly got along well. Unfortunately, Siduri soon returned, bringing with her a newly accumulated mountain of work.
Meanwhile, outside the city of Uruk, Guinevere did not stand with the King of Knights and Anna.
For Guinevere, the most difficult part of this grain transport mission was actually transporting the people.
In her heart, losing some grain was acceptable, but losing even a single one of the five hundred accompanying soldiers would be a great stain on her and the King of Knights' military careers.
Therefore, for this journey, she took the lead, Anna held the center, and the King of Knights brought up the rear.
"Lady Guinevere, you needn't be so tense. We all have weapons granted by the King. We're not helpless against scattered Magical Beasts."
Guinevere knew there were scattered Magical Beasts outside the city of Uruk from the barbecue ingredients Anna had brought back.
But precisely because she knew this, she couldn't agree with the soldier captain's pride.
According to Anna herself, she would struggle to handle twenty of those Magical Beast Lions—each over two meters tall and weighing more than three tons—at once, let alone ordinary soldiers who only wielded low-rank Noble Phantasms as sharp weapons.
At best, these weapons merely gave the soldiers a chance to break through the Magical Beasts' defenses.
So...
"Shut up. From now on, I will teach you the basic Mana Tempering Method of the Camelot Knights and train you with the fastest knight training regimen."
In this era, humans and gods coexisted. Even without becoming a Singularity, ordinary people could encounter Magical Beasts and gods on the road.
Moreover, if people of this era flew high enough, they could enter the Divine Realm; if they dug deep enough into the earth, they could reach the Underworld.
And...
"As expected of the end of the Age of Gods. The mana in the air of this era is so dense, even stronger than before Camelot's Decline of Mystery."
"Let me think... The Camelot Knights take an average of three months to master the basics. If you work hard enough, you should be able to store mana in your bodies within a month, right?"
Before being summoned, Guinevere had already discussed with the King of Knights what they would do after arriving in this era.
In their view, defeating the final boss was Chaldea's task. For Chaldea's sake, and for the world's, they shouldn't steal Chaldea's trials, as it could leave Chaldea insufficiently prepared to face the Demon God King.
Thus, at the King of Knights' suggestion, they decided to focus on protecting as many people as possible and empowering a portion of them to defend themselves.
Unlike the Holy Round Table Singularity, which had already reached its end, the Absolute Demonic Beast Singularity could persist for a long time.
In the game and anime, after Chaldea's party arrived in Uruk, they still had time to do manual labor in the city to earn the King of Heroes' recognition.