Merlin's Idol

"—Sir Hellerchein?!"

"It's actually..."

"No wonder he was wearing the Theocracy's guard armor..."

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, the knights began to murmur amongst themselves.

Hearing the discussions, Iver's heart gradually calmed down.

Without a doubt.

Whether it's these Round Table Knights or Merlin... if they are indeed played by the same historical figure, then they must know Iver.

But their rather immature reactions tell Iver that these people are all simulations of the Lord of Scales and Feathers, and there is no "real thing" that suddenly appeared like Arthur.

... That's strange.

The Path of Authority doesn't rely on individual efforts; Arthur's victory, for example, was achieved through the power of unity. Since Arthur didn't bring the Round Table Knights, it suggests that he didn't consider this matter that important.

So why did Arthur suddenly get involved in the Lord of Scales and Feathers's fishing activities...?

Iver couldn't figure it out for a moment.

But he knew something else—it was far better to deal with these young men than with the apostles.

Arthur alone is troublesome enough, Iver is not quite sure whether he should continue to play the role of Hellerchein or maintain a distance from the Silver Crowned Dragon while respecting and being polite to him.

This situation is like playing a role-playing board game and suddenly finding that your boss happens to be at the same table as you... This left Iver momentarily at a loss.

But the Silver Crowned Dragon alone isn't so bad, since He's quite taciturn. Even if Iver said or did something he shouldn't have, it wouldn't easily get out. But what if there were other Apostles present...

Based on the "law of conservation of embarrassment," when Iver was no longer embarrassed, Merlin, who had previously seemed unfathomable, now became embarrassed.

Merlin scratched the back of his head, then glanced subconsciously at the expressionless Arthur. Finally, he gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

He respectfully and politely removed his mage hat, bowed deeply to Iver, and said in perfect Elven Language, "... My apologies, Sir Hellerchein. I did not know you were me."

Clearly, Sir Hellerchein was absolutely worthy of respect for these young knights from the Herasul Empire who intended to fight against the giants.

"It doesn't matter."

Iver nodded slightly and replied gently, "I don't actually know... why I came here."

"By the way, Master, how should I address you?"

"I am Merlin."

The young Blue Robe mage first gave his name, but then quickly added with a serious expression, "While I am indeed a mage... I would prefer you to call me a knight."

"—You call yourself a knight?"

Just then, another sneer rang out.

He didn't speak Elven Language, but rather a language similar to Stibium Language.

... It seems that Stibium Language was the official language of the former Herasul Empire.

Iver was recalling what he had learned in history class when he turned around. He found himself facing a completely unfamiliar knight.

He had a remarkably handsome face, with long gray hair braided into a plait. He also had silver-gray eyes just like Arthur's.

He gave Iver a careful look, then turned away and continued teasingly, "I've never heard of someone who doesn't even like wearing armor on the battlefield becoming a knight—don't you all agree?"

"—Well, you're something else!"

Merlin was immediately enraged and switched to his elven-accented Herasul dialect.

He drew a slender, exquisitely crafted short sword from his waist. "Mordred, if you're not happy, let's have a go!"

... Mordred? Iver was immediately drawn to the name and looked up.

Theoretically speaking, Mordred is the progenitor of the Moriarty lineage.

Although they are not related by blood, and Mordred's own bloodline has been completely severed... there is no doubt that the first Moriarty, as Mordred's adopted son, is inheriting Mordred's divine will.

But in a sense, he could also be considered Iver's ancestor...

"Sure."

Mordred was unfazed by Merlin's provocation. He glanced quickly at Iver, then puffed out his chest and said in a louder voice, "But don't use magic—you call yourself a knight, right? Knights don't cast spells."

He drew his strange longsword from his waist.

It was a rather large sword.

It has a round, thick, blunt, and heavy tip, and a blade that is actually thinner than the tip. Although it is quite wide overall, it is also very thin in terms of thickness. This strange shape doesn't look like a sword at all... more like a skateboard or an extremely long teardrop.

Compared to Mordred's sword, Merlin's sword seemed far too small. If a normal Two-Handed Sword is like a cigar, then Merlin's sword is like an extremely thin lady's cigarette.

"I bet it will be three rounds."

"Four rounds! This time I can definitely last four rounds!"

"Merlin, keep fighting! Be brave and resilient, never give up even after defeat!"

The other knights also clearly didn't think Merlin had a good chance of winning, so they all started making a fuss.

Iver looked at Arthur with some surprise.

Seeing that Arthur was indifferent to this and even crossed his arms to admire it, Iver realized that this was a normal situation that didn't need to be addressed.

Merlin, his face flushed, adjusted his monocle and, with a stern expression, Mordred to a duel.

But in just four rounds, Merlin was lightly slapped across the face by Mordred's skateboard sword, and then his rapier was easily knocked away by Mordred. Throughout the entire process, Mordred used only one hand and did not resonate with the Dao.

Just as the sword was spinning and flying away, a hand scooped it up from mid-air.

Given its delicate and slender nature, if it had simply flown out and landed on the ground, it would most likely have broken the blade. Fortunately, it was caught in mid-air, which relieved Merlin.

"Don't bully the mage Merlin, Mordred."

A calm voice came. "Are you proud of defeating a mage with the swordsmanship I taught you? Have you finished reading the book I gave you?"

His dazzling, bright blond hair and his calm, serious face immediately reminded Iver of the Grand Guardian.

"I am a knight..."

Merlin muttered his explanation as he took his sword from Gawain.

"...I know, Brother Gawain."

Mordred muttered something under his breath, then nudged Merlin with his elbow. Merlin nudged him back in return.

Mordred!

Gawain immediately shouted sternly.

Although Gawain only scolded Mordred, Merlin also became well-behaved. It was like two children getting into a fight and being called to the teacher's office for a lecture.

Iver then realized that... these knights might be even younger than he had imagined.

"Don't call me brother. Under the king's command, you should call me Gawain."

Gawain solemnly admonished, "Don't embarrass the King and your mother."

"...king?"

Iver was somewhat puzzled.

When he first heard Merlin say "My King," he thought he had misheard or misunderstood.

Now it seems... it really was King Arthur after all?

Did Arthur ultimately pass the throne to Lancelot? No wonder the founder and the royal family were initially on equal footing...

When Iver spoke in somewhat inaccurate Imperial language, the knights who had been jeering earlier suddenly erupted into chaos. They clearly hadn't expected that this elven hero summoned by King Arthur could speak a human language.

"What are you all surprised about?"

Merlin pushed up his glasses with a mixture of pride and admiration, and looked up as he said, "Before Sir Hellerchein embarked on his final journey, he was the legendary 'White Knight'! He traveled among the human kingdoms, eliminating many injustices and mediating many wars! The most famous of these was the Parthian Ancient Kingdom's purge war after the Second Water War!"

"After the Second Water War, the rebellious slaves were suppressed again. The Good Lords planned a premeditated massacre to wipe out the Rebels and slaves. To avoid humanitarian intervention from the Theocracy, the Good Lords intended to feign a war among themselves, then conscript the defeated Rebel Army and the slaves who had helped them after the Second Water War, sending them to the front lines under this pretext, so that these former comrades would kill each other until everyone died in the war."

"Sir Hellerchein, however, discerned the truth from the details. He believed it to be a hypocritical and unjust war, so he led his followers directly into several oases, breaking through the enemy's slave legions head-on and killing several benevolent lords who had orchestrated the massacre. This deterred other benevolent lords and extinguished this meaningless and inevitably bloody war!"

"To this day, the Parthian Ancient Kingdom's attitude towards slaves has softened. This is not due to their defeat in the Second Water War, but rather to the intimidation of Sir Hellerchein and the Theocracy!"

"Many people still have 'Ibn Hellerchein' in their names today, which means 'son of Hellerchein.' This is to express gratitude and commemorate Sir Hellerchein stopped the war!"

Merlin praised Hellerchein without reservation.

Looking at his flushed face with excitement, Iver couldn't help but feel that this was so different from the Merlin he knew...

... Was Sir Hellerchein Merlin's idol when he was young?

Iver suddenly realized.