At that thought, she thought of her beloved son again—the eldest son who had won glorious military achievements across Europe. Her mood grew even worse.
Over the past few years, relying on agricultural knowledge fifteen hundred years ahead of the world, iron-fisted rule, and an undefeated record of military accomplishments, Arthur's reputation in Europe had already surpassed hers. Even in Britannia, the Evil Dragon Prince's great name could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Knight King's.
It was simply that his reputation was mixed.
The people ruled by the Dragon Prince loved him, revered him, and feared him. The series of agricultural reforms he had proposed—the Crop Rotation System, water conservancy facilities, the Silage Method, the Intercropping Method, the promotion of cold- and drought-resistant crops, and so on—had ensured that the people under his rule had food and clothing.
The Meritocracy System, Medal System, and strict military laws he implemented drove the army to compete fiercely for glory. He combined, revised, and compiled Germanic Customary Law and Roman Law into the Artorius Code. He also enforced a relatively widespread Official Selection System, established schools, and promoted education. All of this had allowed the Germanic War Zone under his rule to flourish by the day.
Yet at the same time, his suppression of political enemies, along with the bloody slaughter and crackdown on enemy armies and rebellious nobles, inspired immense fear.
Those not ruled by the Dragon Prince viewed him with suspicion, expectation, and fear.
The Germans hoped for the Prince's protection while fearing the edge of his army. On one hand, they envied the good lives of the various Germanic peoples under his rule. On the other, they were terrified by the Prince's army crushing Germanic forces on the battlefield.
From the Romans' perspective, General Artorius was the empire's pillar holding up the heavens, its beam supporting the seas. It was Artorius who had held back the relentless invasions of the Burgundians, Vandals, Goths, Franks, Saracens... those mad Germans, preserving the empire's stability.
But at the same time, only the most foolish and ignorant people would regard Arthur as a loyal servant of the empire rather than someone like Grand Tutor Dong or Chancellor Cao. In every Roman city, one of the classic topics of daily conversation among idle people was:
"When's General Artorius becoming emperor?"
"Today. Today's the day."
Even destitute beggars fantasized about it. When Artorius marched on Rome, the world would be shaken and transformed. Nobility and lowliness would be redrawn. The old order would collapse, and a new one would be reshaped.
This was the greatest and final "opportunity" of this age. No ambitious person could afford to miss it.
That was how outsiders saw Arthur.
But it was not how Artoria saw him.
To his mother, no matter how much Arthur had done or how many achievements he had accomplished, he was still that adorable child who would clutch her cloak and look up at her with admiring eyes. He was the person in this world who needed her love the most.
She had poured into Arthur a love second only to that which she gave her "country."
Yet in the end, her beloved son had become a terrifying, evil dragon that devoured human lives.
Author's Note:
Updated, la la la.
Unable to Meet for Now (Third Update!)
Mom, not Dad.jpg
Artorius's actions were highly controversial in the eyes of the world. Different people had different views of him.
Arthur himself could treat those arguments with indifference. Artoria could not.
As a king who had "protection" etched into her bones, she found Arthur's actions deeply distasteful. She believed that launching attacks against other countries for his own ambitions, crushing tribes and kingdoms, bringing nations under his control, and even rebelling against the Roman Emperor who was his sovereign—every bit of it was evil.
But as Artoria, as the Knight King, she did not place the blame on Arthur.
She blamed herself.
She was that kind of person—lenient toward others and strict with herself. Her integrity and uprightness were no joke, nor were they ironic words.
If only I could have found a better way.
If only I had found the Holy Grail sooner.
If only I had paid more attention to Arthur's education before...
In short, she treated all the slaughter and chaos as her own fault, feeling intense pain and remorse.
What caused her even more pain, and what she would surely regret in the future, was another matter: right now, she could not stop Arthur.
She had neither reason nor standing to intervene in this continental war. And now, Britannia needed the Germanic War Zone.
As temperatures steadily fell during this era recorded in history as the "Little Ice Age," all of Europe—no, the entirety of Eurasia—was shrouded in hunger and bitter cold.
The Divine Era Magic that was about to end could not resist the cold originating from the Will of the Planet. And the human civilization that had developed by relying on Divine Era Magic was naturally helpless before this natural disaster.
Naturally, this became an era where the strong devoured the weak. The more adaptable "New Humans" cleanly swallowed up the "Old Humans," surviving the hardest times on their flesh and blood before ultimately building a dark and ignorant medieval world atop the ruins of Rome.
Political systems, ideas, technology, medicine—everything regressed drastically. It was practically a living garbage heap.
This chaotic and terrible order lasted for centuries in one breath. Only when another remnant of Rome was annexed by the Star-Moon Cult nation rising on the Asia Minor peninsula, drawing nourishment from ancient Greece and Rome and using the plundered wealth of the New World as fuel, did Europe find its path again and enter a new era.
That period of decline had lasted far too long. So long that it was almost unbearable.
But this time, Artorius's appearance and the Evil Dragon Prince's efforts had alleviated the terrible situation.
Food.
Arthur held the greatest hard currency of this hungry age. With farming techniques fifteen hundred years ahead of their time and iron-fisted rule, even during the Little Ice Age, Artorius had ensured one of the most basic living conditions for his people through the power of "technology."
Food and warmth.
He possessed the greatest grain reserves in Europe. This was an even more terrifying strategic weapon than the five legions under his command and the tens of thousands of elite soldiers and generals.
To keep their armies, ministers, families, and even themselves from starving to death, they had to rely on Artorius.
They had to cooperate with him. They had to let him incite and persuade them into integrating the population under their command, even the foundation of their nations' military strength—their outstanding knights—into his own forces.
At first, it had only been those frustrated and unappreciated people. But soon, as Arthur achieved enormous success, more knights gathered beneath his banner.
The Germanic War Zone and the various nations of Britannia had already been bound together.
So even if Artoria hardened her heart, she could not lay a hand on her beloved son. Doing so would be no different from suicide.
"So that child has already landed in Britannia."
Of course King Arthur knew that Arthur had landed in Lundenia.
"But he hasn't come to see me."
That made Artoria feel deeply disappointed.
"He must be very disappointed in me. Such a useless father."
Though she was actually his mother... well, not necessarily.
"But..."
On that lonely night, Artoria focused her gaze beyond the window, toward the distant starry sky of Britannia in the Age of Gods.
At that moment, she was not the Knight King revered beyond measure by the Knights of the Round Table. She was not the common sovereign of Britannia's kingdoms. She was merely a mother longing for her child.
"Artorius..."
The next morning.
"I had a wonderful dream."
Artorius murmured as he opened his eyes. Then he turned to look at Mordred, who was hugging him and sleeping soundly, softly snoring.
"She's really adorable."
His innocent little sister. On any other day, Arthur would surely have watched her for a while before waking her.
But not today.
Not because of last night's two-person exercise with Morgan, but for another reason.
The dream.
A wonderfully beautiful, pure, romantic dream, like a lily flower.
It had been so full of pure love that it had temporarily sealed Arthur's kingly power.
"Is it because this is Britannia? Because of Father King?"
Perhaps it was historical inertia. Although he had long known that Father King was Father King, Arthur still called Father King that whenever no one was around.
"Just for now, I can't go to your side..."
Was it fear of returning home, or some other reason?
In any case, Arthur, who knew Artoria's personality well, did not want to seek her out at this time. They were walking different paths. Before his cause had reached its limit, meeting Artoria would only make things worse.
So...
"Please endure a little longer, Father King."
Arthur thought, Very soon, I'll be able to save you.
Thinking of that brightened his mood. The lingering sense of pure love from when he had first awakened also faded away.
The way he looked at his sister Mordred changed slightly.
Yes, as expected of his little sister. She really was "adorable."
With that thought, Arthur reached out and pulled his sister close. "Mordred!" As he called her name, he began their morning swordsmanship training.
A dragon never bows its head!
Author's Note:
?...
??Arthur, who treated his sister like a multifunctional tool, was trash.
Please keep voting!
A Little Excited
In the morning, with Britannia's cool breeze blowing over them, Arthur and his group set out once more. The party crossed Britannia, heading toward Wales.
Arthur intended to board a ship there and travel to Ireland in search of the woman his dear aunt had mentioned—the woman who could help him Usurp Fate.
The queen of the Shadow Country, Scathach.
The woman who possessed the original Rune Symbols.
"On the way, I'll make another trip to Avalon. It would be even better if I can persuade Vivian." Arthur thought as he observed his surroundings.
It was clearly May, yet the weather still felt like early spring. The occasional pedestrians on the road, dressed in clothes that were not particularly thick, were still shivering. Every one of them looked listless.
This was not simply because of poverty, hunger, and cold. More importantly, the True Aether of the Age of Gods was fading away.
For the people of Britannia, who were people of the Age of Gods, their dependence on these Divine Era factors was like fish being unable to live without water... As the Age of Gods gradually vanished, their physical condition naturally worsened by the day.
In contrast, the Saxons looked noticeably more spirited than these British Celts. Though they were equally cold and hungry, they possessed an inexplicable vitality, as though they had been chosen...
Well, in truth, they had indeed been chosen.
"The work of racial integration needs to be accelerated."
Arthur thought.
In the Germanic War Zone under his control, policies encouraging intermarriage among the Celts, Germans, Romans, Gauls, and other peoples had been going fairly well. A group of Britannian knights under his command had personally taken the lead, marrying noble girls from the Germans, Romans, and Gauls. As those above set the example, the pace of ethnic integration was encouraging.
Artorius had already conducted experiments. Children with Germanic blood, even under conditions lacking True Aether, suffered almost no physiological problems. He believed that after several more generations of integration, the factors of the Age of Gods could be completely removed. Britannia's Celts would also become members of the human age, reigning over the Earth as primates.
But in Britannia, without a powerful government to implement such policies, integration progressed very slowly and relied solely on spontaneous action by the people.
"This won't do." Arthur thought. "The Age of Gods is practically gone. We don't have that much German time for you to muddle along at such a leisurely pace."
"To solve this, we need to implement the same policies in Britannia as in the Germanic War Zone. And to implement policies, we need political power...
"No, even that would still be too slow. So... should I use some better tactics?"
After thinking for a few seconds, Arthur still felt that leadership by example was indispensable. As the Dragon Prince destined to rule Britannia in the future, he ought to lead from the front and serve as a model.
"Still, the Germans of this era... no wonder they became dragon riders in later generations..."
Roman noblewomen were barely palatable. But those Germans were really rather... "No, looking on the bright side, perhaps I simply haven't found the right ones? Look at Brynhildr in Fate/Grand Order. Isn't she pretty good?
She counts as a German too, doesn't she?
Then, for the sake of my grand plan, could I..."
Arthur began seriously considering a plan to abduct ten or eight Valkyries. As for whether Sigurd and that woman's tragic and beautiful love story would go astray because of it, he couldn't give a damn.
At most, such a trivial matter would create a Parallel World. There was no way it would cause human civilization to stagnate before being subjected to Human Order Determination, right?
"Then let's do it. I'll do it when I have time... No, it would be best to send spies to gather intelligence first. Once I get back, I need to discuss it with Agravain."
As the head of Arthur's spies, Agravain was one of the few people Arthur could trust completely.
Although in certain later worldlines, he displayed an abnormal degree of devotion toward King Arthur, at least for now, he was still someone who put "national interests" first. He was the sort of person who would stop at nothing to protect his country.
For an outstanding ruler, such people were just as indispensable as famous ministers and skilled generals.
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