Ch 41

Five witches stood in a meeting room, with a marble in the middle. A blue flame arose on the marble and it soon broke.

"It seems to have failed again." Birurar, the Witch of Pride, sighed.

Asanchatar, the Witch of Sloth, yawned limply. "Haaa~! It seems so.”

The Witch of Envy, Feliva, suddenly snapped angrily, "Is now the time to be so laid back?! We have failed to plant people in the Round Table again! We have lost Jerryford, my beloved disciple!

The Witch of Anger, who was also the head of the witches, tried to calm her. "The situation with your disciple is unfortunate, and she deserves to be mourned. But, as long as Merlin is present, this outcome is expected to some extent. We should not lose sight of reason, even if we are angry inside.

The Witch of Envy began to cry. "Jerryford! I'm sorry! I...! I should have stopped you!"

The witches let the Witch of Envy cry. Rather than keeping emotions suppressed for no reason, they believed expressing emotions helped maintain sharp reason. The Witch of Envy cried for a while longer, then wiped away her tears as if she had drained herself of all her emotions.

"As we have discussed, let us give up trying to send spies in. There is no way to escape Merlin's magic unless two or more of us risk our own lives and make a special attack."

Pucharatiton, the Witch of Greed, gestured towards the Witch of Envy. "Then what do you suppose we should do? You're not saying we should stop the war, are you? The Round Table is too threatening to just leave alone."

Not all the witches had agreed to a war with the Holy Kingdom, but they were now too far into the war to try to improve relations. Even if the anti-war faction led the Witches' Sabbath now, the Holy Kingdom would certainly not leave the witches alone.

The Witch of Envy blew her nose on a handkerchief and answered, "There’s a method I’ve thought of. It’ll take a little longer, but it might work better than planting a spy."

The other witches leaned in to listen.

* * *

"Of all the… Why a Crow?!" Kay shouted incredulously.

"What’s wrong with the Crow tribe? Isn't it good to be strong?” asked Bors.

"You think everything is fine as long as you are strong?! The Crows...!"

"Stop!" declared Merlin, cutting off Kay. "You are too excited and acting unlike yourself, Sir Kay. Calm down."

Kay bit his lip. "But you know it too, Sir Merlin!"

Merlin sat down on a fluffy sofa. "Yes, you and I both know what happened in the past. But not the others. If you oppose a candidate without explanation, you will not leave a good impression.”

Kay quenched his agitation and nodded, "You are right."

Although Kay didn’t express it on the outside, he was still in a state of intense emotion. Merlin noticed this, and said, "I'll be able to explain it better, so I'll tell the story. What do you know of the Crow tribe, Captain Sir Percival and Vice-Captain Sir Lancelot?"

"Only what was in some brief reading in the knights' archives." answered Lancelot.

Merlin nodded. "Then it’d be better for me to explain it from the beginning. It happened about twenty years ago, just about when Sir Kay stepped out of the new recruitment."

Both Arietta and the knights listened attentively to Merlin as he explained how there had been diplomatic friction between the Holy Kingdom and the Giant tribe’s country at the time, still far from the war they were in now. However, the national powers were in a tense state, with neither side having the upper hand. The Holy King tried to gain a diplomatic advantage by forming a solid alliance with the Crow and Butterfly tribes who lived in the Forbidden Lands. They had already been trading with the two tribes quite a bit, so they were optimistic about signing an alliance and didn’t think it’d be difficult.

However, there was an unexpected incident. A treasure containing a strong curse was included in the gift sent by the Holy Kingdom to the Crow tribe. It was discovered later on that the culprits were, of course, the witches allied with the Giant tribe. The treasure containing the curse was delivered to the Crow tribe, where the curse was released just before the Crows entered Olympus Forest. As a result, seventeen young Crows who had just become adults died, and five Crow warriors suffered enough damage to have to cut off one of their limbs. If it were the Butterfly tribe who were good with magic, they would not have suffered so much damage, but the Crow tribe at that time did not use magic, so the damage was significant.

"Wait, since the Crows live in Olympus Forest where magic use is not possible, it makes sense they didn’t have any magicians, but what was our magician doing without checking the gift?" asked Percival.

Merlin looked at Percival bitterly.

"The magicians were busy negotiating with the Butterfly tribe, so they were not in a position to pay attention to the gifts that were to go to the Crow tribe. The Butterfly tribe are crazy people who won’t even talk to you unless you’re a magician. I couldn't deal with the situation either because I was near the border to keep the witches in check."

If things had become hostile with the Crows, it might have been fine if an alliance had been formed with the Butterfly tribe. But in the end, the negotiations failed. It wasn’t known what the witches proposed to the Butterfly tribe, but after the negotiations, the Butterflies declared absolute neutrality. Hephaestus Blade, the chief of the Crow tribe, was furious at the deaths of his people and led five elders and forty elite warriors to declare war with the Holy Kingdom. Olympus Forest was a difficult place for people to live in, but in this situation, it acted as a fortress, protecting the Crows from potential attacks. The forty-six Crows, including the chief, began to stir up the Holy Kingdom to their heart's content. In the process, three great noble families in the provinces were destroyed, and five strongholds collapsed. Hundreds of provincial knights were also killed, and thousands of soldiers were injured. Fortunately, the Crows were thoroughly indifferent to those who did not have the will to fight, so there were no direct civilian casualties. Of course, the secondary damage caused by the gaps in security was great, but it was not impossible to deal with. The army of unmatched warriors, led by the Crow chief, quickly advanced to the capital, where the Knights of the Round Table attempted to intercept and stop them. The Knights fought hard against the Crow warriors with the power they received from the Holy King, but it was not enough to stop them. Twenty-six Knights of the Round Table were killed and eight were injured to the point of retirement, by only six people. The war against the Crows was ultimately stopped by Merlin, who flew from the border after hearing the news belatedly.

"If I had been just thirty minutes late, the Knights of the Round Table would have been wiped out by those six." Merlin said grimly.

The knights swallowed dryly. Kay, one of the surviving Knights, trembled silently, reminded of the fear he had felt that day. Shortly after Merlin had arrived, he explained the situation and negotiated the end of the war after a battle of spirit with the Crow chief that lasted over an hour. The Holy Land suffered enormous damage, but they avoided making themselves enemies of the Crows, so it was worth it. This whole process had lasted fifty-three hours, from the time of declaration of war by the Crow chief.

"In the end, you can't accept it because you fought against the Crows." said Bors.

"Sir Bors, it's not that simple. As with Sir Kay, there are other knights in the Round Table who have been active since that day." Gwalchavad cautioned.

In addition to the humiliation of overwhelming defeat, their comrades and brothers in arms had been slaughtered in front of them. The Knights that witnessed the attack definitely couldn’t shake that memory and view the Crows in a good light. In addition, the fact that Caron used the last name Blade meant that he was the son of Kay’s enemy.

"Considering that it has already been twenty years, and that the dispute with the Crows was due to the carelessness of the Holy Kingdom, it’s not that unacceptable, but…”

Percival looked at Kay. A person’s feeling was something that could not be taken lightly and ignored. Any organization was bound to collapse easily if there was a disagreement within it.

"What a headache. First, I'd like to hear the opinions of the people here." said Merlin.

Kay was the first to answer. "Of course, I am against it!"

Lancelot also agreed with Kay's objection. "I want his strength, but I would rather not take it if it’s going to create a rift between the Knights."

Then Bors stood up and shouted, "What! What are you talking about? So we're just going to waste this chance? Just because he is a Crow? We're supposed to accept candidates based on skill, regardless of status or background! All we have to make sure of is that they kill the enemy well, right?!"

Gwalchavad sided with Bors. "I agree. Think of a fighter like Caron receiving power from His Majesty the Holy King. If he is with us, he could save many allies. He will be able to save at least thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands."

It was a stalemate. They debated back and forth for a long while, until finally the four knights looked at Percival, their captain.

"What is the Captain’s opinion?" asked Kay.

Percival was in a difficult position. As the captain responsible for considering the opinions of all the Knights, he found it best to avoid any potential internal conflict. However, from the standpoint of someone who had directly fought with Caron, the benefits of that much strength being on their side were so great that it was hard to describe. After some deep contemplation, Percival decided that he would not accept Caron, in favor of internal solidarity.

But before he could speak, Arietta blurted out, "I'm in favor of putting Caron Blade at the Round Table."

"Holy Queen!" exclaimed Kay, looking at her in surprise.

"Caron is seventeen years old. I don't think it's right to blame him for something that happened before he was even born. Also, it is impossible to be hostile to the Crows forever. Does Sir think it is right to keep antagonizing the Crows?”

"That is…"

Kay had no rebuttal. Arrieta was someone who would later become his lord and queen. He always advised that people who would rule the country should not act on personal feelings, so he could not leverage his own feelings when dealing with affairs of the country. Percival pondered for a moment and said, "If the Holy Queen says so, I will follow her."

Although the Round Table valued the autonomy of the Knights, they had sworn allegiance to the Holy family. If the pros and cons were clear, as they were now, they had to respect Arietta's opinion, who would become the next queen. Merlin, who had been observing everyone silently, realized why the future had changed. Arietta was not one to suggest something that disregarded someone’s emotions. However, Arrieta ignored Kay's feelings and was trying to get Caron in. If Arrieta hadn't met Caron, she would have definitely favored rejecting Caron's entry.

"… I am tired. I apologize, but may I step down first?" Kay asked Arietta respectfully.

She nodded carefully. "You did a great job. Take a rest.”

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

“Thank you.”

Kay got up from his seat and headed to his room. Merlin said, looking at the direction where Kay disappeared, "Don't worry. I will steadily persuade Sir Kay, and the other knights in the capital."

Arietta sighed deeply, her choice weighing on her heavily. "Please, Sir Merlin."