Chapter 4

Artoria,

"So you're saying all I have to do is go to the castle, draw a sword, and I am considered the proper heir of the Kingdom of England?" I asked as I tried to understand exactly how Merlin's plan was working out here. He'd explained that he had nudged King Vortigern to fail and by drawing the sword from the stone, legitimizing it as a way of inheriting the Kingdom, but he did not explain how this was fully supposed to bring the kingdom into my control.

"Well, I mean, it legitimizes your right as an heir," Merlin said as he sipped at a bowl of soup prepared by the staff that caught up to us at this location.

"Anyone who could draw that sword is a proper candidate. You should be the most likely since, well, you have the right bloodline, and with any luck, you have the proper mindset for being the king that this kingdom needs. But technically, if anyone happens to be related to you and also happens to be of the right mind, they may be able to draw the sword as well. Vortigern technically could have been able to draw the sword based off bloodline alone, but, well, his blood is very off nowadays, not to mention he doesn't have the mindset to be a proper king. He's a sorcerer through and through," Merlin explained.

Merlin leaned back as he looked up at the night sky before saying, "I assume, though, the only one who will be able to meet all the qualifications to draw that sword will be you. Only time will tell, of course, my dear."

"Hmm," I crossed my arms under my chest as I thought about that before saying, "That doesn't exactly indicate that I'll have full control of the kingdom, now does it?"

Merlin blinked before continuing, "Ah, yeah, yeah, that's something you're going to have to worry about, I'm afraid. Even if I can legitimize you as a child of the king and the proper heir to the kingdom, you're probably not going to get everyone immediately siding with you. Not to mention, every single person who does come to this event that will be held in a few days will have the unfortunate opinion of viewing it."

I raised an eyebrow before he continued, "If they're coming, they think they have a chance at being the king. So, if you, an unknown, becomes the king, they've lost the chance of being the king, and now some unknown has taken the kingship. Got it?"

"I got it," I said with a sigh before shaking my head. "This is going to be a pain, I can feel that already."

"Pretty much, and I'll be honest, you're probably going to be doing this for a few years in order to succeed. You're going to need to right the wrongs and failures of your father, which means a lot of politics," Merlin said matter-of-factly. "But you are the chosen one for this; you will succeed, I can feel it," he said with a smile before it faltered for a bit, sighing as he continued, "Though you should be aware of a few things before you make your decision on whether you want to become the next king of England."

I looked at him in confusion, causing him to sigh once more before saying, "We're dealing with a lot of magic, a lot of things here that you need to understand that when you mess with, you will be altered."

"The king of England must be a prime example for England. The sword has been infused with several magics that will make sure that you are that prime example. To make it quite clear, you may cease to be human as everyone understands it. You will be the king of England," he explained.

I raised an eyebrow before saying jokingly, "Cease to be human? What, am I going to grow a pair of horns? Maybe some scales on the skin?"

Merlin shrugged before saying, "Anything is possible. There are many possible futures in front of us. I cannot say that won't happen. There's no way to know what the effect of the magic is on your very being until you've taken up the sword."

He paused before straightening himself, looking directly at me, saying, "All I'm saying is you'll have a few days before you arrive at the castle. There you'll be given the chance to draw the sword. If you are fine with whatever comes of that, then good. If you do not want to be the king of England, do not want to have the responsibility of legacy on you and a legend, this will be your final chance to opt out. You could always just be a minor knight. I don't know what the world will turn into, but perhaps some hero will step up in your place to fight Vortigern and bring peace to the kingdom."

I looked Merlin directly in the eye before asking my candid question, "So what are the chances that's actually going to happen? That someone else will step up in my place to save the kingdom from his monstrosities, from his sorcerous ways?"

"Not great," Merlin said, which caused me to nod as I understood the situation as best as it could be. He continued, "It's not an impossibility. Rome has poked around here again, so maybe they will actually launch an invasion that could upset the balance of power and create a better situation for the people of Britain. But it's also very likely that they'll be too busy on the mainland to care about what happens out here, which is not good in the long run. If Vortigern succeeds in his plans to bring back the age of mysteries full force here on this island, it would drive what humans are left off this land, and whatever would be left here would not really be human by the end time it was done."

An interesting thought, leaning back as I thought about what exactly that would mean.

Oh, sure, the implication was somehow that I would lose my humanity, but I was already quite assuming that I had almost every complex known to man, and if that was true, I would either be immune to this loss of humanity or I'd already lost it long before coming to this life, I mused.

Really, this whole subject of 'you may lose your humanity' is a side tale that I didn't need to worry about. What I needed to worry about was the realities of the situation, that was Vortigern unleashing whatever the age of mysteries was on Britain. If I had to go by my historical understanding of history, that had never happened, so I couldn't exactly look to history to try and figure that out. Assumingly though, things were much different in this history than they were in mine, so that wasn't evidence to use to throw out that he could ever happen to begin with.

To make it clear, my choices were to stay on the run for the rest of my life and watch the island sink into the waves of chaos, or take the fight to Vortigern, build a kingdom, and turn this island into something I could use to protect my life from things that were to crawl out of the deep dark. With those options, my choices were quite simple. I would draw that sword, though I would let Merlin continue to wonder if I was considering the other option for now as I leaned back, looking up at the stars.

I didn't really understand how beautiful the night sky was. I think in my first life I lived in suburbs in the city my entire life, so it always was washed out by lights in the sky. But being out here in the cold dark of the wilderness, seeing nothing but blackness beyond the campfire, you could really get a good view of the stars. Someday, humanity would touch the Moon; that day was a far distance off.

Sad, that's very sad, being thrown back this far. I couldn't even imagine seeing some of the greatest moments in human history. Instead, I had to deal with ancient magic and historical events that were never recorded. If it even happened at all.

Sighing, I leaned forward to grab my metal dish with a bit of meat, well-cooked, blowing on it a few times to cool off before taking a bite, chewing on it as I noted Sir Ector, Sir Kay, and Merlin looking at me, trying to decide if I was in trouble or mentally anguished in some form or another. Well, let them guess my attitude for now. No need to tell them what I'd already decided; let's see it for themselves when we arrived at the castle.

The kingdom of England needed a king, the kingdom of England needed Vortigern gone, and I needed protection. All things led to that sword, so I would draw that sword.

Sir Kay

Riding on horseback, I wondered what Artoria was thinking. She had been remotely silent for the last few days, only speaking when necessary and never talking about, well, the whole situation she was riding into. I mean, here she was, riding to take her throne and being told that she would likely have to endure some strange magical effects to do it. That she hadn't complained or offered one note of worry since being informed, but she had been silent, and that made me worried that she might be afraid and just not wanting to disappoint Merlin or my father.

I mean, she had the right to make her own decisions after all, and she appeared to be making decisions based on her own opinions. But what if... what if she was just being pressured by what father and Merlin expected?

I didn't know, and that worried me, but I didn't know how to speak to her about it, how to convince her to speak up for herself. How does one get her to do that?

I've known her for years, and really, when one looked at it, she didn't tend to talk unless necessary. She never complained; she just did her chores and did her work, and then had a little free time to herself to do training. Really, I don't think I'd ever actually seen her do anything outside training, either for free time or for actual work.

She already lost her humanity in a way. Had the preparations for this already doomed her? Damn, now I felt bad. Had there been a chance for me to save her from whatever fate befell her? I guess I'd never know now, although maybe there is one more chance if she does have the choice on whether she will pick up the blade.

I needed to find a moment to talk to her, a real moment, not the fake moments that we had in the past, try and find out what she really thought. But it may be already too late as the castle was coming into view.

"There's the old damned place," father said, looking up at the castle, bringing his horse to a stop, as me and Artoria did the same.

"My dear Arthur, I present to you your castle, or at least your father's castle, the place you were born."

"It's a very dark place," Artoria commented, and she wasn't wrong. The walls of the castle were dark with age. It obviously had been a Roman fort at one point; brickwork and such indicated it, but it had been modified over the years with more dark stone, higher walls, and towers.

"And to top it off, it's never been cleaned by the looks of it. Green vines are already growing up the sides of the castle; the forest is growing way too close."

"Did the king not fear assassinations?" I asked, which got a laugh from my father.

"That he did not. There's a story from a while back of Uther killing two assassins on the same night. Would have been three, but one of the assassins met the other assassin first, and they didn't know that they were assassins, or at least that's how the story goes. I wasn't there for those events; that was after I left."

He shook his head before saying, "That being said, this castle is hard to navigate. It was designed by the Romans to be simple, but years of various Lords controlling it have altered it to be more chaotic. As a result, well, I guess you'll see as we enter."

He hit the reins of his horse, and it started moving. We did the same as we followed behind him.

Looking back, I raised an eyebrow before saying, "Where'd Merlin go?"

"Wherever he's needed most likely," father said with a shrug. "He was here to give Artoria the information she needed for the future. As a result, I doubt he's going to stick around to come in with us. It would make what's about to happen iffy at best, and I mean it is, but it's better if Merlin is already in the castle meeting and letting people do what's necessary then for him to come in with Artoria, guide her straight to the stone."

"Very underhanded," Artoria commented, seeming to nod with approval, which was an odd stance for her. Usually, when she realized something was underhanded, she'd fall back on her knightly discourse they'd been taught to her by Ector, and give the opinion that it was bad.

That was a very odd slip-up for her, my thoughts as we came up to the front gates, already open. It would seem half open as it appeared the guards that had been here had long since been run off.

Stepping through, we saw... well, that things were not well in this castle. Many of the buildings appeared to be burnt out, roofs were gone from internal structures, and it looked like there had been a bonfire in the center of the courtyard of various trinkets and clothing.

Also at the center of the courtyard was the aforementioned sword in the stoner.

"Oh look, we got another one," I heard a voice from the edge of the courtyard near a natural spring that had been refined with Roman architecture into a small, clean pond.

Sitting around that pond were about half a dozen Haroldtree pof noble houses, making up about 30 to 40 individuals in total. They were all wearing different colors, indicating they were from different houses, of course. Some green, some red, some blue, some brown, all of them looking a bit perplexed by our little group of individuals as we entered.

One of them, a rather tall individual with dark hair, approached, holding out his hand to my father, saying, "Welcome to this waste of time."

Father reached down and took the hand, shaking it before dismounting. "A waste of time, sure, but it's still something different than hanging out at your family home, I imagine," he said, amused, which got a nod from the individual.

"That's the truth, though I wish the king had done more to make sure that we wouldn't have such a ritual as this. Actual sons would have made sure we had a proper heir, instead of having to rely on some wizard's spellcraft to find the individual who will lead us."

"Talk to yourself, already know it's me," came a voice from over in the crowd of individuals. Another man with red hair, speaking with a rather Irish accent, said, "Without the king of England, rule should fall to us, Kings of Wales, to rule this land now."

"The people of Britannia will never follow the men of Wales, let alone the Irish rulers of it," the dark-haired man said, turning back to him, his voice raised.

"Maybe you should just let us invade, then," a third individual said, standing up from the side of the pond. Standing, he was 7 ft tall, it was hard to tell for sure, but he had to be the tallest man I've ever seen, towering over everyone else. "We have long since fought the Romans; we fought to keep them out of our lands, and now we come back and find it now invaded by the Saxons and a weak Kingdom. If the wizard knew what was best, he'd give us the right to the kingdom now and let us end Vortigern before he becomes a real threat."

"Vortigern is no threat," a fourth individual spoke up. He was wearing different armor than everyone else; while everyone else had the various kit that was standard for Italian forces, he was wearing heavy Roman plate, indicating he was from the more civilized areas of the countryside, areas that were controlled by Vortigern and the Anglos.

"He is a proper King," the man commented, getting laughter from the other three groups, the last two groups remaining silent as they waited off in the corners. I tried to identify their leadership, though one group, bearing the lack of colors, didn't appear to have a leader. Of the sixth group, the final group had a slight difference in equipment compared to the others; all of them had knights except this group. This group, though, appeared to have plenty of disposable soldiers walking around with spears and shields, keeping an individual who was on the heavier side and well-dressed protected.

I didn't get a chance to try and get a word in edgewise to find out who these people were before Merlin appeared on top of the sword-embedded stone, looking down at us as he leaned heavily on his staff.

"I asked for the greatest houses and the greatest Lords of Britain to come to this place. I expected two dozen at minimum, but there are only six here."

"Maybe they're on the road," the Pict leader said as he showed no respect for the wizard, walking right up to him.

"Doesn't matter, your rule I believe will be something of a challenge, I would assume one of physical strength," as he said it, he grabbed the sides of his shirt and pulled it open, making an interesting effort to show off all his muscles as well as the many blue tattoos winding their way around his body.

"I am a leader of the renowned strength of the Picts people. I've conquered many tribes and united many clans and have engaged in many raids against the king of this land. By rights of my conquest, I declare that I should be the one to sit on that throne."

Merlin sighed as he stepped aside from the stone, stepping down and looking up to the man who was very tall compared to Merlin. "The rules are simple. Yes, draw the sword from the stone. Do that and you have all the right in the world to rule England, if you can take it, ruler of the Picts."

The man laughed, stepping forward, spitting on his hands before putting both of them on the sword. "In the name of my ancestors, I take this land for Pictland," he declared, giving it a tremendous heave. But the sword didn't budge an inch, resisting all his pulls. Shaking his head, Merlin stepped behind him, looking out into the crowd.

"This sword is Caliburn, the Sword of Choosing. It can choose who is the rightful heir, the rightful wielder, and the rightful King. Your great strength, your royal bloodlines, it doesn't matter to it. All that matters is that you are the proper candidate to forge and build a solid Kingdom, one that will be best for the people of Britain."

"We already have a proper King called the civilized Romano Britain," the Roman stepped forward and headed straight for the stone. "Vortigern is our proper King. He has shown his rulership and leadership over many years."

"If you believe that, why are you here?" Merlin said.

"Simple. You have created a false dichotomy. No real person can draw that sword, and I'm going to prove it."

He stepped forward and pushed the Pict out of the way, as he was distracted by his efforts to pull the sword, and immediately grabbed onto the handguard, pulling on both edges of it with tremendous strength before letting go and spitting on the sword.

"Sham Of a trial! That's what it is! It can't be drawn, and if it can, it will be nothing but a patsy in place by you, Merlin, some fake King you have decided should rule us all."

"Well, that makes things easier," the well-dressed man said, standing up from where he had been sitting, stepping away from his throng of mercenaries and walking right up to Merlin. "If the throne is for sale, that makes things a lot easier," reaching into a side pack, he pulled out a bag of gold coins, saying, "I'll pay for that crown then if it's for sale."

Merlin seemed to grow in anger, smacking his staff down on the ground darkly, saying, "The throne is not for sale to the first man to bring gold to the table. We are here to determine a proper King, not a mercenary, not a bureaucrat, and not a merchant."

"Let's be honest here, you're not going to find anyone who does not match that description," the man said, holding out the gold coin. "Take the gold and curse the sword, and declare me King."

The King of the Welsh immediately started laughing very loudly as he pushed the merchant down onto the ground. "For some King, you sure are easy to push over," he called before continuing, "If you had somehow taken the kingship through money, I would have taken the kingship through blood. There is no price to be paid but the iron one for the rulership of this land."

"And I think you're all getting off track," my father called, folding his arms under his chest. "I have two children here who need to attempt to pull that sword from the stone, and the only thing

preventing them from doing that are five supposed adults squabbling about the throne, three of which have not even given it a chance yet."

"Fine, I'll go give it a chance," the merchant said, pulling himself up, brushing himself off, and walking right up to where the stone sat, taking his hand and putting it on the pommel, trying to wiggle the sword free from the stone. It wasn't really working, but he did give it a few good pulls before finally letting go. "Are you sure you would not just take a couple hundred gold for the throne?" he asked, looking at Merlin.

"Question me again and you'll wake up as something unnatural," Merlin said, pointing his staff directly at the merchant, signaling him to get off the stone, allowing the King of Wales to walk right up to it.

He placed his hand onto the sword and gave it a tug before saying, "What are the conditions we need to meet to even be the proper King of England?"

"You must be true, noble, and knightly and have royal blood."

"So, what, because I'm Irish, I don't count as noble blood?"

"You're a clan chief who came across the sea to take a kingdom. You're not Britannian; you're not even on the scale of noble," being called the merchant, who promptly got himself socked in the face by the King of Wales. He went down like a sack of potatoes and was out cold.

"That looked like it hurt," the last remaining knight, the first one to meet us, responded before walking up to the sword, asking, "May I give it a try?"

"You may," the King of Wales said, stepping to the side.

Carefully, he put his hands on the blade and attempted to pull, but nothing happened, like with everything else.

"All right, so every one of noble blood who managed to show up did not meet your invisible metric. Does that mean we can now just fight over the kingdom like normal adults?" the knight said, folding his arms across his chest.

"You do realize I still have two kids here who need to give it a shot," my father said, which got eyes to go back to him.

"Wait, you're serious? You're going to let your kids give it a try, I thought you were here to do it yourself?" The king of Wales commented.

"That would be incorrect. I am here to guide my children as they are noble blood and knightly values. Go on Arthur, give it a try."

Arturia nodded her head, slipping off the back of her horse. I did the same as quickly as possible, landing next to her saying, "If you're not sure about this, I could give it a try."

She looked at me before shaking her head and saying, "There's only one person here capable of doing this and it's me. Do not worry brother, I have this under control." She gave me a smile and then stepped away from the crowd of our retainers, moving across the ground as if it was a natural dance floor, arriving at the stone and carefully laying a hand on it, she closed her eyes as Merlin watched.

Then as she carefully gripped the hilt, the blade began to glow with golden light, and with a simple tug she pulled it free. Artoria raised the blade high over her head, letting it be seen, the glow suffusing her in radiant glory.

"Absolutely fucking called it!" the civilized Romano Britian declared "I'm going to go back to Vortigern and report this treachery now!" he shoutedas he ran to his retainers who are all right preparing a horse, "You traitorous scum! Know this, your patsy of a child king will fall long before they meet the Vortigern on the battlefield And with that he rode away.

The merchant looked at this situation for a bit before nodding,"Yeah this is some horse shit, but little boy, do you mind selling me that sword for her 300 gold?"

Artoria looked at him with the coldest air I think I've ever seen her give anyone in her existence before saying, "No, but I will have your loyalty as I am the proper king of this Kingdom."

"Ba haha, no thanks!" he said matter of factly, turning away, "I got businesses to run and I don't have time for your fake taxes. You don't even have knights to send to my town to force me to pay for your protection racket."

He quickly mounted up into a wagon that rode off.

The leader of Picts started to reach out for the sword, "I think I'll just take that and declare myself king then, as might makes right after all."

"Magic makes right as well." Merlin said with a smile "I can make some very interesting magical spells if you try and touch that sword. Though I think Arthur there would do fairly well in a fight, I will not let any combat happen this day. Do you understand?"

"This day you say? Fine, this day we won't fight for the sword. I'll even give you a couple months! You'll have 4 months to raise forces before I bring the entire Pict army onto your so-called kingdom and take it for myself, see you then whelp."

Then the tall man and his entourage quickly left.

look at the Artoria for a bit, rubbing his chin, "Nah I guess I'm good withWales but if you ever try and claim that you're the king above my kingdom I will fight you tooth and nail for the independence of Wales."

Turning his cloak, he left quickly as well, his own forces following after him, leaving just two parties.

The knight who'd been the last check on the sword nodded his head, saying, "Well, this is going to be interesting. I do not swear my allegiance to your blade, King of England. You have no forces, no army as far as I see, and your retinue is very minimal. But hey, if you can convince the other knights to join your army, I will reconsider my opinion."

He turned quickly, his own knights leaving with him, leaving just Merlin, me, father, and our entourage standing by the sword, and the last group, the shabbiest of the group, still staying here.

"Well, that could have gone better," Artoria said, sliding the sword into her belt next to her normal sword. "Let me guess, now I need to go across the land and find every noble lord and knight and convince them to join me to prevent the Picts' invasion," she said, looking at Merlin, who nodded his head.

"That would be the quickest and easiest way to prevent the Picts' invasion. You'll gain the loyalty of many more knights and bring Wales to heel, and you'll gain the loyalty of many more soldiers. Sooner or later, you'll have the force to unite the Kingdom of England under your hand."

"Wonderful. And who are these individuals?" she said, pointing her hand at the group of seven shabby individuals who got up from where they'd been sitting. They approached her, staying five ft away, except for one individual who stepped a few steps forward. The other six fell to their knees, drawing their blades and placing them before them on the ground, sword tips into the ground, as they took a praying posture. The seventh individual drew his own blade and, holding it with both hands, offered it to Artoria.

"King of England, I served your father at the Battle of Last Hope. We are some of the survivors from that campaign. We wish to continue our service to your family line," he said.

She turned to Merlin, smiling. "As you said, I guess we've got ourselves the start of a force then." Taking the blade, she looked it over before saying, "Nicely made, Sir Knight." Handing it back, she said, "I will take your service, but you will need this blade, for we are going to be in a fight from the start. Prepare your men. We need to bring peace to these lands, and it will be a hard path to get there."

"Of course, my king," he said.

As I stood there, just looking at this, how she just immediately switched into King of England mode as if there had never been a doubt in her mind, it was surreal. But oddly enough, the smiles she bore, even knowing that she would face many obstacles, was reassuring.