Ch 44

The brilliant blue glow shone so brightly, there was not a single shadow cast in the wide prayer room. Then, as the light gradually faded, Caron felt the warm mana wrap around his body.

"Did it succeed?"

The others couldn't even see if he had received a name like everyone else, as the light was still too intense.

"… What is the name of Sir?" The Holy King asked.

At the same time, Caron and Arietta answered, "Mordred."

Only the person who gave the name and the person who received it could clearly recall the name. Mordred mused on his new name and said goodbye to his old name, which had been like a shackle to his freedom. It was just a name, but it felt like that name had tightened itself around his neck, as though it held magic power. Once all the new recruits, including Mordred, received their names, the Holy King gave them instructions.

"Each of you raise your power."

Three knights raised their power awkwardly, and soon their hair turned blue. Mordred alone did not raise his power.

"What are you doing, Sir Mordred?" Aradrian questioned.

"Uh... Well, I was trying to raise it, but I’m worried it’d cause big trouble if I did it here."

The power within him felt like it was about to burst, but Mordred quickly used his martial aura to suppress it. At the same time, he recalled that when Arietta had first treated Merlin with her power, he had felt that that sort of power was not something he could handle.

"Big trouble? Hmm, there was nothing wrong with the other battle races, Sir Merlin or Sir Caldo Granant."

Mordred shrugged his shoulders. "We are of different tribes. What tribe is Sir Caldo Granant from?"

"Hmm, that makes sense. He is of the Hunter tribe. A noble wolf with a beautiful green mane.” said the Holy King.

Mordred thought for a moment and asked, "Have you ever seen him raise his power in his transformed state?"

"…Come to think of it, I haven’t."

In Caradoc’s memory, as well as the Holy King’s, Caldo Granant had never used the power of the Holy tribe during a fight when he was transformed. The looks on their faces confirmed Mordred’s suspicions.

"Do you have any guesses?" asked the Holy King.

Mordred smiled bitterly. “The essence of this power seems to be amplification, but it seems that because I naturally have great strength at a baseline, it can't be controlled."

The Holy King looked surprised, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. "I have seen cases where the power failed to be received properly, rendering it useless. This is the first time I have seen it be a problem because the power is too great. Still, I need to make sure that the power has been received, so show me a little bit."

Mordred opened his senses to locate the people nearby. "I guess I can’t help it. I warned everyone, though."

Mordred raised his index finger and pointed in a direction where there were no people. Then, he focused on his fingers and released some of the Holy tribe’s power.

Pssh-! Boom-!

Mana formed on his finger, and blue rays began to shoot out crazily. The rays broke a chunk of the ceiling that fell onto the statue of the goddess. As a result, the head of the holy goddess statue split in half.

"Ah! Goddess!" Aradrian screamed.

Mordred broke into a cold sweat as he tried to block the Holy tribe’s power, which was gradually expanding from his finger to his entire hand.

"Go!" Mordred shouted, boosting his martial arts.

With that boost, Mordred eventually regained control over the Holy tribe’s power. Arietta also reached out to assist in reigning in the overflowing mana. Then, the power of the Holy tribe quickly fell asleep.

"Ssp~! Ouch! Thanks, I’ll need some practice to handle this properly." said Mordred as he grabbed his finger. It had been rendered blue, bruised up by the intense power it had released.

The Holy King looked at Mordred seriously. "I cannot allow you to practice freely, lest the capital turns to dust and rubble.”

Mordred replied casually, "Then let’s pretend this power doesn’t exist. I've been fighting well enough without it all this time."

He wasn’t wrong. He had already been strong enough to beat Percival, even before receiving the Holy tribe’s power.

However, the Holy King laughed. "No, Arietta can help you control your power, so she can manage you from now on."

Caradoc nodded at first, but then looked back at the Holy King in surprise. "… Yes? W-wait! That means!"

"During times of peace, a monarch needs to hold the law and civil servants close by. During turbulent times, one must keep the military and advisors near instead. It has been a long time since we have been in turbulent times, and this will also make for a great lesson for the successor."

The Holy King wanted to raise his daughter more strictly, because he loved her.

"Sir Mordred, I appoint you as Arietta’s escort."

At the Holy King’s words, Mordred saluted awkwardly, as he was unfamiliar with these rituals.

"If it’s an order, I'll respectfully do it!"

Mordred didn't even realize what an unconventional personnel measure this was. He only accepted it because he thought it would be fun.

"… But what are you going to do about that goddess statue?" Mordred asked, looking at the statue he had destroyed.

The Holy King laughed awkwardly. "... For now, should I hide it in a pocket space?"

He looked around mischievously, like a clever child who broke an expensive jar while running around in the house.

"As expected! I think that's a good idea!"

The Holy King and his accomplice, Mordred, were in harmony.

* * *

After the others had all disbanded, Caradoc and Aradrian were left alone.

"Your Majesty, are you sure you will be all right?" Caradoc asked worriedly.

The Holy King smiled lightly. "It is fine. This isn’t the first time I have made an unconventional personnel appointment."

Caradoc had nothing to say. Despite his concern, he was also the chief of staff, someone in charge of the operation and strategization of the entire military of the Holy Kingdom. He had been personally appointed by Aradrian at a young age, another one of the Holy King’s unconventional personnel appointments. It wasn't just Caradoc. Although the Round Table considered skills the most important, it was also Holy King who had appointed the young Percival and Lancelot as the captain and vice-captain over other experienced and older knights. Gwalchavad had been given the authority to train all the knights by the Holy King, including the Round Table, and Kay had been given the authority to audit the troops. The Holy King's personnel appointments were always unconventional, but this time it was even more so. He had entrusted the escort of the next queen to a new recruit, and a Crow at that.

"Knowing you, Sir Caradoc, you must have already taken a few guesses as to what my intentions are."

"… There are three things that I can guess."

"I will listen." said the Holy King with a smile.

"All right. First is a diplomatic reason. The Holy Kingdom’s failed relationship with the Crow tribe was a painful mistake from the past. It seems that Your Majesty is trying to express externally to the Crows that we are willing to improve that relationship by entrusting Caron with a heavy responsibility."

The Holy King nodded. "That is right."

Mordred’s new role alone wouldn’t immediately open a forum for dialogue with the Crows. However, it was enough to serve as an opportunity to start a conversation. Mordred’s existence itself was an opportunity.

"Second is an internal issue. Everyone knows that the relationship with the Crows needs to be improved, but not everyone thinks rationally. If Your Majesty had not let Mordred in at all, it would have been different. But since Your Majesty took him in, you took the initiative in changing the direction of people’s thought by giving him a heavy responsibility."

“That is right, too."

"Thirdly..."

Caradoc choked on his words.

The Holy King smiled broadly at the sight. "As expected of Sir Caradoc. You are like my bag of knowledge. If you are around, even if I step down later, Arietta is in good hands."

"Then that means that my last guess is correct as well?"

"Yes, it is a purge."

As the war dragged on, more and more people began to think presumptuously. One of the reasons was that because the Holy tribe valued their bloodlines, the number of pure Holy tribe members had decreased a lot. Even if the country moved as one, it wouldn’t be enough. Now they were in a state where people were considering treason, so the Holy King couldn't leave his position to Arietta. Therefore, the Holy King had given Mordred a heavy responsibility to let the hidden rebels think of this as an opportunity for them. In the past, the Crow tribe had wiped out three great families in a short time. It didn’t end with just those three families, though. There were dozens of families attacked by the Crows, and there were also families that were stronger than the ones that had been wiped out. They survived because the war with the Crows had fortunately ended in less than three days. The rebels would move to recruit those who were uncomfortable with the Crow tribe.

"The purge is to be undertaken by Sir Lancelot." said Aradrian.

Caradoc finally understood why the Holy King had called the three knights separately before the appointment ceremony.

"How mean." Caradoc replied.

When the Holy King had called the three knights, he could have called Caradoc together to tell them. However, the Holy King was feeling mischievous and wanted to cause a bit of a stir before giving his real advice later.

"Huhuhu, it is always fun to see you use your head."

"Your Majesty must be testing me. Or Your Majesty did not call me so that the other knights would not get shaken up."

It was common for the Holy King to call for Percival, Lancelot, and Gwalchavad. However, since he only called Caradoc for the serious matter of mobilizing troops, he could not openly call him ahead of a purge plan.

"It is the latter." the Holy King answered.

Caradoc was surprised. He had thought the former was more likely.

"The plan for the purge will be posted by Sir Lancelot. Oh, come to think of it, you still have one more guess.”

Caradoc thought for a moment. "Is it so Arietta is forced to leave the capital for a while to move with the knights? So you can prevent her from seeing such a dirty sight."

The Holy King nodded grimly. He intended to finish all the cleaning before handing over his position.

* * *

In the morning, a few days after he was appointed as a knight, Mordred stretched, stood up, and opened the window. Even though it was a summer day, a cool wind blew in the early morning and shook his hair pleasantly.

"It's a nice day."

"Aiishi! Shut the curtains! It's not time to wake up yet, so why are you opening the damn curtains!" [1]

Tristan threw a pillow at Mordred and covered himself in his blanket. Mordred grabbed the pillow and threw it back at Tristan without looking, as if he was used to this.

"Uwack!"

Tristan shrieked loudly. In response, everyone else in the room threw a pillow at him too.

We are "pawread dot com", find us on google.

"You’re more disruptive than the sunlight! I can’t sleep!"

“Please! Let’s sleep quietly!”

“Ah! You guys are too much!”

Mordred chuckled at the sight. Adapting to being a Knight of the Round Table was not difficult. As he trained and exercised with the knights, he had assimilated faster than expected. There were still wary and hostile gazes, but there were not many active-duty knights from twenty years ago that were still around, as the Round Table often had difficult missions. Of course, there were efforts by Percival and other executives to ensure Mordred assimilated naturally.

"Sir Mordred! Are you up!? Let's go on an inspection today!"

It was also thanks to Arietta, who all the Knights of the Round Table loved, being friendly and cheerful toward Mordred.

"Do you mean ‘another’ inspection today?” Mordred pointed out.

Arietta laughed as if it was nothing. "Hahahaha! It’s all the same isn’t it? Right, Euss?"

Arietta's attendant, Euss, shook his head, expressionless.

"Look, even Sir attendant says no." chuckled Mordred.

"You guys are too much!"

Arietta had never had an exclusive escort, but now Mordred had been assigned as her own personal escort, allowing her more freedom than ever before. She had taken full advantage, and wanted to explore something every day.

"Sigh~! Sir Merlin will arrive in the afternoon, so please return before the morning ends." Caradoc commanded groggily.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in time."

With that, Arietta led Mordred and Euss out of the castle.

1. Aiishi is a sound that Korean people make when upset or angry. ☜