As the former King of Knights of Britain, Artoria possessed feelings for knights that could not be described in words.
So after receiving her fief, she followed the old tradition by dubbing twelve Knights of the Round Table whom she had personally trained and establishing a true Knight Order.
Her requirements for these people were not limited to formidable martial skills; they also had to possess noble character and uphold virtues such as humility, honesty, compassion, courage, justice, sacrifice, and honor.
In the eyes of outsiders, all of this seemed strange and unconventional.
After all, for the humans of the entire Arathor Empire, securing their right to survive was the top priority.
As long as that could be achieved, they should be willing to use any means necessary.
Yet Artoria happened to be on good terms with both Soladin and Allen, and had even defeated one powerful enemy after another during the Horde's expansion.
Most Imperial nobles simply could not figure out what kind of relationship the three of them had.
The only thing they could be certain of was that Emperor Thoradin trusted the two dukes far more than anyone else.
Thus, quite a few schemers wanted to use this expedition as an opportunity to approach Artoria. On one hand, they wanted to see whether they could win the favor of the empire's only Duchess; on the other, they hoped to learn Allen's or the Emperor's personal preferences.
Before they could put their plans into action, however, Saber drove them back with the cold gaze in her eyes that kept people at arm's length.
Under such circumstances, anyone with even a little social awareness would not step forward to make a fool of themselves.
After noticing this, Soladin immediately rode over to Artoria and teased with a smile, "What?