Plotting

"By the way, the King of Orkney has heard that you intend to marry me. He is furious and is already requisitioning grain and gathering troops, swearing to defeat you."

The exchange between Morgan and Leon concluded successfully, and as she was leaving, she dropped this piece of information for him.

Leon was not worried about the war against the King of Orkney; to him, no matter how many enemies there were, they were nothing more than obstacles he could crush with a wave of his hand.

What troubled him was Morgan's condition.

"Merlin, if I accept so easily, does it make me look like a total pushover? Will people think I'm too weak?"

Although Merlin had never heard the slang Leon was using, he understood the meaning behind it.

"If that's the case, then don't agree to Morgan's terms."

"But she is truly beautiful, and I like her too much."

"If you like her, then marry her."

"But if I marry her, there are those two sons as well. It just makes me look like such a pushover..."

Smack.

Merlin clapped a hand over his forehead, rendered speechless.

Ever since Morgan left, Leon had been rambling about this topic to Merlin for the fourth or fifth time.

Merlin truly couldn't take it anymore. He might lack emotions, but that didn't mean he enjoyed being subjected to such mental torture.

If he weren't unable to defeat Leon, he would have already raised his wooden staff and struck him down.

Gaia, Alaya, hurry up and send someone to deal with this humanoid creature.

Solomon, or perhaps Gilgamesh, would someone please tell him that he truly has no idea what kind of sin he committed to have such a twisted, annoying thing pop into the world just to plague him.

"If Morgan does not accept your proposal, what will you do?"

Merlin's question finally interrupted Leon's internal struggle, and after a moment of thought, he gave his reply.

"If Morgan doesn't agree, I suppose I would use force to threaten and coerce her..."

Do not be fooled by Morgan's cold exterior; she actually cares about quite a few things, and as far as Leon knew, there were three in particular.

First, he would use Artoria as a hostage to threaten Morgan; if that failed, he would kill her. Then, he would use everyone on the island of Britain as leverage; if that still didn't work, he would kill them too. Finally, he would threaten the island of Britain itself—if she didn't agree, he would wipe the entire island off the face of the Earth.

Doesn't Morgan want to be the Lord of Britain and treat the whole island as her possession? If she doesn't agree, then he would destroy her most important foundation and see if she truly remained unwilling.

At worst, it would just mean a few more deaths; Leon had plenty of strength, and he was more than willing to exert it.

"...You are somewhat extreme."

When Merlin saw Leon's conflicted feelings regarding Morgan, to be honest, although he was annoyed, he also felt a sliver of relief.

So, you do have worries, people you care about, and occasionally, you show a touch of humanity.

But when he heard Leon's subsequent thoughts, his opinion of Leon plummeted to the bottom once again.

Humanity, my foot!

Leon was nothing but a beast without a shred of empathy.

What were those two Counter Force thinking, believing this thing was harmless to the Earth and humanity? Rubbish. Alaya, has your consciousness short-circuited? You should have eradicated it long ago; why keep it around?

"Think it over yourself. I am going to discuss your coronation ceremony with Luther."

Merlin didn't want to stay by Leon's side for even a second longer.

"So, we are running low on grain."

Since taking control of the court, Leon had converted the largest hall into a council chamber to discuss military and political affairs.

Inside the council chamber, Leon fully promoted the spirit of democracy; everyone was encouraged to speak up and express their opinions, and if their words had substance, Leon would reward them with gold, silver, or land.

At this moment, Leon sat at the head of the round table in the hall, with a crude map spread out before him. Stacks of thick parchment lay in front of him, recording detailed information regarding Camelot's current grain supplies, military strength, and personnel.

"Can we still requisition enough grain from the nobles and commoners?"

More than a dozen people stood around the round table on either side of Leon; these were his confidants and the high-ranking officials of Camelot.

However, when these ministers heard Leon's question, they all wore troubled expressions. Luther was the one who gathered his courage to reply: "Your Majesty, I am afraid we cannot. This year's disasters have been severe, and the common people are starving. If we continue to requisition grain, I fear we will see mass starvation."

Leon was not afraid of the commoners rising up in rebellion; they couldn't defeat him anyway, and he could suppress them with a single hand.

What displeased him was that if he caused the commoners to starve to death right after taking power, there would be no glory in it for him, and it would be a massive stain on his record.

"What about potatoes?"

Leon had discovered long ago that there were potatoes, a high-yield crop, on the island of Britain. He remembered that in his past life, they began to be widely cultivated and spread in the 16th and 17th centuries, as one of the fruits of the Age of Discovery.

Now, in the 5th century AD on the island of Britain, people were already cultivating and eating potatoes on a large scale, though these potatoes were very small, with the largest being only the size of Leon's thumb.

One could only say that even with the separation of Earth and Moon, the Moon is still the Moon.

Leon later realized that this world possessed mystery and magecraft, and crossing an ocean was a simple feat for powerful magi and Phantasmal Species, especially since Britain was currently in the echoes of the Age of Gods, with remnants of mystery still lingering.

Thinking about it that way, it was logical.

"Even with potatoes, there is not enough grain to mobilize the army," Luther said.

Leon pondered for a moment before looking at Merlin: "How many men are on the other side? How many combat troops, and how many auxiliaries?"

"Reporting to the King, the King of Orkney has arrived with five thousand troops, including two thousand combat troops and three thousand auxiliaries. When combined with the gathered peasants, there are over twenty thousand in total."

Merlin did not know why Leon insisted on calling knights combat troops and squires and peasants auxiliaries, but since Leon preferred it, he could only comply.

"Five thousand, that's manageable." Leon looked toward Canning and Kay on the other side. "How many men do we have now?"

Canning was a close friend of Luther and one of the four lords who had supported Leon from the beginning. Due to his outstanding ability and bravery in battle, Leon had appointed him to command the army, with Kay assisting and overseeing from the side.

"Reporting to the King, our army currently has five battalions of one thousand, totaling 3,126 men."

Ever since Leon entered the city, he had demanded all the knights and squires from the local nobles to fill the ranks of his army.

Fearing that they might anger Leon and face the annihilation of their families, the nobles were all very obedient, cooperating strictly with every one of Leon's orders.

At the same time, Leon used this expansion to reform the military system, ignoring social status and rewarding merit, allowing every soldier beneath him to feel his favor.

Simply put, he had transplanted the military meritocracy of the ancient Qin people.

Of course, there were some deletions and changes.

When it was first introduced, there were many voices of opposition, but under Leon's forceful democracy, it was successfully implemented with unanimous approval.

"If I take one battalion and conscript two thousand laborers, how long can our current food supplies last?"

Luther and the others calculated for a moment before providing an answer: "About half a year."

Accounting for various losses and accidents, four months at most.

"That will suffice." Leon's tone was decisive. "Then that is the plan. I will take the sons of the noble houses within the city, along with the newly incorporated army, to march north to reclaim Scotland. We shall wipe out the King of Orkney in one stroke, then head east to finish off that White Dragon and the Saxon barbarians, and finally return to Camelot."

Leon's finger traced a circle on the map, allowing everyone to understand the plan more intuitively.

"Father, I will leave behind more of my core veteran soldiers. You must hold the royal city well and focus on training the remaining four battalions, striving to make them combat-ready as soon as possible."

Expanding the force so rapidly meant that even though they were all professional soldiers who had received military training, their commands were not yet unified, and they would inevitably need a period to mesh.

"As you command."

Leon looked at Merlin: "Merlin, you will accompany the army for this campaign."

"Yes."

Merlin's Clairvoyance was too useful; it was practically like having a real-time, full-map hack, so how could Leon not love it?

"A battalion of six hundred men—facing so many enemies, isn't that a bit too few?"

Leon scanned the room and found the person who had spoken.

This man was a noble who had defected after Leon entered the city. Seeing that the man had been quite supple and sensible when surrendering, Leon had showered him with high office and generous pay to serve as an example to the subjects within the city.

The man knew his own status and role, and he had always cooperated well and strictly followed Leon's orders. He spoke up now not for any other reason, but because his son was being taken along by Leon for the campaign.

"It is no matter; I have the advantage."

Six hundred against twenty thousand—the advantage is mine.