"Tell that guy to send more scouts to the Germans' lands and gather information. If he can kidnap a few Valkyries, then we won't be able to hold out any longer. Hmm, happily decided.
I'm sacrificing myself for the sake of the nation, too. Surely everyone who learns of this will be moved."
"Big Brother, are you thinking of another brilliant strategy to govern the nation and bring peace to the people?"
At the same time, Mordred, riding beside Arthur, could not help thinking this. She cast him an admiring look.
"Constantly thinking about how to benefit the people, exhausting yourself so thoroughly, shining so brightly... truly worthy of Big Brother."
At this moment, Mordred was one of the subordinates moved by Arthur's diligence.
"What famous beauties were there in the Germanic region during this era... Ah, I should have read more history books."
The Dragon Child felt deeply troubled as he rode along. At the same time, seeing her brother so troubled made Mordred sad as well. She only hated herself for being too foolish to help him, and could only silently pray that he would quickly find the right solution to his problem.
Artorius and the Evil Dragon Prince's army continued onward without the slightest hesitation.
Wales lay ahead. Beyond Wales, across the sea, was Ireland. Thinking that he was about to meet the Purple Old Woman he had missed for so long, Arthur felt a little excited.
Of course, while marching, Arthur had not forgotten to find time for a trip to Avalon.
That Ideal Land That Is Far From Everything could not be reached through physical means, only through the "spirit." Where the heart desired to go was where the body went.
To put it more simply, Arthur merely gave it a thought and appeared in Avalon's courtyard. It was incredibly convenient.
"Arthur~"
Thus, in the next second, General Artorius—now sixteen years old, having matured from a little boy to a youth and steadily approaching adulthood—was hit by the Fairy's face wash.
Author's Note:
Still the first update at midnight!
By the way, where is everyone going to have fun this May Day holiday?
Why Don't You Come Looking for Me?
In Avalon's courtyard, beside the azure lake and amidst a dazzling sea of flowers, Arthur met the Lady of the Lake once more.
"Arthur. It really is Arthur. Honestly~"
The woman tightly hugging Arthur against her chest and rubbing against him desperately was Vivian. The Lady of the Lake, Vivian herself was like a Fairy. She was a silver-haired beauty, like an adult version of Emilia.
Although Arthur was already an adult, she still treated him like a child. While giving him face wash, she cheerfully said:
"Honestly, honestly, your big sister has been waiting every day for Arthur to come here. Every day, I bake cakes and prepare tea snacks, imagining Arthur coming to visit me and imagining all the fun things we could do together~ But..."
At this point, the red-eyed beauty loosened her hold on Artorius slightly, making sure he could look into her eyes.
Her eyes were incomparably dark, her gaze terrifying:
"But why didn't you come?"
Staring straight at Arthur, she asked, "Your big sister waited for Arthur every day. Why didn't you come? Why, why, why, why?
Do you dislike your big sister? Have you grown tired of your big sister? Your big sister might cry, you know. Hehehehe... hehehehe..."
Danger.
Arthur.
Danger.
Artorius confirmed that the big sister before him was not in a normal state. If he did not think of something, she would chop off his two heads, then hug him and walk into the lake.
So...
"I missed you so much too, Big Sister Vivian~"
The next second, Arthur threw himself into the beauty's arms with even greater emotion than she had shown.
"..."
This course of action had not been part of the Lady of the Lake's plan. Vivian's mind therefore short-circuited.
A little flustered, she said to Arthur, "E-even if you act spoiled like this, I still won't forgive you..."
Arthur directly ignored that statement.
"Big Sister~ This is wonderful, I finally got to see Big Sister Vivian again~"
Using a tone somewhat too childish for a sixteen-year-old boy, he happily rubbed against her breasts as he said in a delighted voice:
"I never want to be separated from Big Sister Vivian again~"
"Arthur~"
In an instant, nearly half the gloom, resentment, and all sorts of messy negative emotions that had accumulated from being abandoned in Avalon without a word for almost two years vanished. Looking at the adorable boy in her arms, with his beautiful golden hair and sapphire-like blue eyes, the remaining half of those negative feelings was close to disappearing as well.
"B-but..."
But she still had to get to the bottom of it. Why had Arthur not come to see her over the past two years?
—Of course, it was not because Arthur had spent those two years doing this and that with his cute little sister, leaving the troublesome Fairy big sister off to the side.
Rather, it was because...
"It was work. I was simply too busy. I couldn't even return to Britannia."
Arthur put on a troubled expression. Then he began pouring out his grievances to Vivian, exaggerating every problem he had faced over the past two years by ten or twenty times.
Terrible weather, harsh natural conditions, insane barbarians, and Roman bureaucrats in the rear who were jealous of talent and desperately dragging him down. Faced with all this, Arthur had merely been a child—weak, pitiful, and helpless. He could only force himself not to cry and keep moving forward bravely, like the protagonist of a youth idol drama.
"I've had it so hard, Big Sister Vivian." By the end, Arthur once again buried himself in the Fairy's embrace and took a deep breath. After hearing Artorius's account, Vivian chose to forgive him.
"You've suffered so much."
Seeing the adorable youth's pitiful yet resolute appearance, even a nonhuman Fairy could not help feeling tenderness. After all, this feeling did not belong to humans alone. Gods, beasts, Phantasmal Beasts, even monsters—every species capable of "reproduction" would feel love for its offspring. Fairies were naturally no exception.
Though she had never tried it, Fairies as Phantasmal Beasts were clearly a species rich in emotion. Many of those emotions were related to "love."
Though her thought processes differed from those of humans, as long as there was love, the Lady of the Lake could not escape the fate of being deceived and used by Artorius.
"If it's so hard, why keep doing it?" she asked. "From now on, Arthur, stay in Avalon. Stay with me forever and ever~"
To remain forever in the Ideal Land That Is Far From Everything, where time had no meaning, together with this silver-haired, red-eyed Fairy big sister... What a reward...
I mean, what a torture.
No matter how beautiful she was or how good her figure was, and no matter how uninhibited Fairies were when it came to such matters, enough time would still make anyone grow tired of it.
In other words...
"No."
Arthur wore a solemn, tragic expression. His eyes shone as though brimming with tears as he looked at the silver-haired, red-eyed Fairy big sister. "I have to take responsibility for the duties that belong to me. I am now Britannia's Prince, and also the supreme commander of Rome's Germanic War Zone. My people need me. I cannot abandon them. So now..."
As he spoke, Arthur threw himself into the beauty's embrace again. "I only managed to find time to return to Britannia and see you after great difficulty, Big Sister. There was absolutely no other reason. I simply wanted to see Big Sister Vivian again~"
Hearing Arthur say this, Vivian was instantly moved. She understood completely.
Like his Father King, the Knight King, Arthur was a ruler who was deeply responsible toward his subjects.
So, with the outside world in such chaos, he had devoted nearly all his energy to governing the country and waging war. He had no spare thoughts for romance. He lived like an ascetic, just like his Father King—a righteous and upright king.
"He's still just a child."
Thinking this, Big Sister Vivian felt heartbroken. She felt that she had failed this child in many ways.
And beyond that, the Fairy felt happy as well. Even while he was so busy and had so little time, Artorius had still overcome every difficulty to come see her.
What did that mean?
It was love! Of course it was love! It represented Arthur's intense love for her.
The person you loved loved you too. What could possibly make a Fairy happier than that?
Author's Note:
Today's first update.
Vivian's character setting is probably an older-woman version of Emilia.
Later, Things Will Be Sweet
Mom x3.jpg
The moment Arthur met the Fairy Vivian, Vivian had planned to decide based on the situation whether to turn him into a "nice boat" or break all four of his limbs and keep him as a collection.
But unfortunately for her, over the past two years, Artorius had not only greatly improved his strength and skills, but his smooth talk had also surpassed the average king's. The kind of sweet words that could leave Mordred unable to close her legs took mere minutes to win over Avalon's Fairy.
Now, all of the silver-haired, red-eyed Fairy big sister's anger toward Arthur had completely dissipated. In its place was guilt.
She felt that this child had suffered so much over the past two years, yet she had been unable to help him, and so she felt somewhat sorry for Arthur.
With that guilt, Vivian asked Arthur whether there was anything she could do for him.
The good child with beautiful eyes gave an answer that deeply moved the Fairy: "As long as Big Sister Vivian can keep me company properly during this time, that's enough~"
"Sure enough, this child isn't a liar."
That answer further lowered the Fairy's guard:
"He's completely different from that bastard called Merlin."
Thus, Vivian's guilt toward Arthur deepened further.
"He's clearly such a good child, yet I was wary of him and worried that he might deceive me. I really shouldn't have done that."
Carrying all sorts of feelings—apology, gratitude, the desire to make up for the past—the silver-haired, red-eyed Fairy treated Arthur very well. She put her body into action to let him experience a Fairy's passion. After making a determined but unsuccessful attempt to make the dragon bow its head, she finally sent Arthur away reluctantly.
"Goodbye, Big Sister Vivian."
When they parted, Arthur said to Vivian, "I'll come see you again."
After that, he made an agreement with Vivian. While he remained in Britannia, he would come see her every few days.
This made the Fairy happy, but also somewhat disappointed.
If possible, she truly wanted to stay by Arthur's side forever and ever.
But she could not.
At the end of the Age of Gods, she—a Fairy and the Lady of the Lake—could barely leave Avalon anymore. She could not adapt to a world without True Aether.
The Fairy population of Avalon was becoming increasingly saturated for this reason as well.
Even in Britannia, the "navel of the world" and "the final remnant of the Age of Gods," the concentration of True Aether was falling lower and lower. As a result, those Phantasmal Beasts were gradually going extinct.
When Britannia's White Dragon, that fellow named Vortigern, had still been around, he would occasionally lead some magical beasts in causing trouble, seeing whether he could restore the Age of Gods.
But now, Vortigern was dead as hell. Even the concepts of "White Dragon" and "Lord of the Island" had been transferred to Artorius.
Arthur had upgraded the former into the "Dragon of Frost." While the concept of a Phantasmal Beast had been greatly reduced, the concept of a "title" had been greatly enhanced.
Just like how King Arthur was called the "Knight King"—that kind of "title."
As for the latter, Arthur had used it as a bargaining chip to entice a certain aunt. With the Age of Gods about to collapse, keeping that concept would do more harm than good.
Thus, Vivian could only wait in the Ideal Land for the boy she loved to visit whenever he had time. She could not take the initiative herself.
As for forcibly keeping Arthur behind...
Vivian was, after all, the Lady of the Lake—a refined woman who had transcended crude tastes.
An ordinary Fairy who saw Arthur would only want to have fun and satisfy her physical desires. But Vivian was no ordinary Fairy. She was a very formidable Fairy.
What she wanted was not merely Arthur's body, but also control over Arthur's heart.
She thought, "During this time, I'll support Arthur and let him see how wonderful I am. Once he saves Camelot—or once he fails—he'll come here and reunite with me."
Perhaps ordinary Fairies could not make the right choice between brief happiness and eternal bliss, but Vivian was clearly not one of them.
Endure for now, and later everything would be sweet.
Arthur therefore passed the test smoothly and happily returned to Britannia in the real world... And after returning to Britannia, Arthur acted as though nothing had happened, as though his trip to Avalon and the intimate exchange with Big Sister Vivian had never occurred at all.
Of course, when facing Mordred, Arthur was in an entirely different state—
Little Mo might look foolish and easy to fool, but Arthur knew that he had already taught her to be very clever. Especially when it came to matters involving "women," Little Mo had become extremely sensitive.
Before you continue