The Plan

"By the way, King of Orkney heard that you intended to marry me. He was furious and has already begun gathering provisions and troops, swearing to defeat you."

Morgan and Leon's exchange had ended on a positive note. As she was leaving, she had also let Leon in on this piece of news.

Leon wasn't worried about a war with the King of Orkney. No matter how many men his enemies had, they were still no more than a passing nuisance to him.

What troubled him was Morgan's condition.

"Merlin, if I accept so easily, will I seem like a coward? Will people think I'm too weak?"

Merlin had never heard the new word Leon used, but he understood what he meant.

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

"But she's really beautiful. I like her so much."

"If you like her, marry her."

"But if I marry her, I'll get two sons too. That'll make me seem like a coward..."

Smack~

Merlin covered his forehead with one hand and fell silent.

Ever since Morgan had left, Leon had gone on and on about the same topic to Merlin four or five times.

Merlin really couldn't take it anymore. He might not have feelings, but that didn't mean he enjoyed being mentally tortured like this.

If he weren't so much weaker than Leon, he'd have brought his staff down on him long ago.

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

Solomon—or Gilgamesh, even—someone come and tell him! He truly had no idea what he'd done to deserve this. How could such a maddeningly contrary creature have appeared in the world just to torment him?

"What would you do if Morgan refused your proposal?"

Merlin's question interrupted Leon's brooding. After thinking for a while, he gave his answer.

"If Morgan refuses, I think I'll threaten her with force and make her agree..."

Morgan might seem cold and heartless, but there were actually quite a few things she cared about. As far as Leon knew, there were three.

First, he'd use Artoria as a hostage to threaten Morgan. If that didn't work, he'd kill her. Then he'd threaten Morgan with everyone on the island of Britain; if she still refused, he'd kill them too. Finally, he'd use the island of Britain itself as leverage. If she still wouldn't agree, he'd wipe it off the face of the earth.

Didn't Morgan want to become the ruler of Britain and claim the whole island as her own? If she refused, then he'd destroy the very thing that mattered most to her and see if she still wouldn't give in.

At worst, a few more people would die. Leon had strength to spare, and he was more than willing to use it.

"...You're being a little extreme."

When Merlin saw how conflicted Leon felt about Morgan, he had to admit that, despite being annoyed, he'd also felt a little relieved.

So you had worries too. You cared about someone. Every now and then, you could even act human.

But after hearing Leon's plan, Merlin's opinion of him plummeted once more.

Humanity? What a joke!

Leon was a beast with no empathy whatsoever.

What were those two Counter Forces thinking? How could they possibly believe this thing posed no threat to Earth or humanity? Damn it, Alaya, had your mind short-circuited? You should've eliminated him ages ago. Why leave him around?

"Think it over on your own. I'm going to discuss your coronation ceremony with Luther."

Merlin didn't want to spend another second around Leon.

"So, we're running low on provisions."

Ever since taking over the palace, Leon had turned its largest hall into a council chamber for discussing military and political matters.

In the council chamber, Leon wholeheartedly embraced democracy. Everyone could speak up and offer their opinions, and if they had something worthwhile to say, Leon would reward them with gold, silver, or land.

At that moment, Leon sat at the head of the round table. A crude map lay spread across it, and two thick piles of parchment sat before him, containing all sorts of information about Camelot's current food supplies, military strength, and personnel.

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

More than a dozen people stood around the round table on either side of Leon. They were all his trusted subordinates and Camelot's senior officials.

At Leon's question, the ministers all looked troubled. In the end, Luther mustered his courage and replied, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid we can't. The harvest has been devastated by this year's disasters. The people don't have enough to eat as it is. If we keep requisitioning grain, there may be widespread deaths from starvation."

Leon wasn't worried about the people rising up because they lacked food. They wouldn't stand a chance against him; he could put down a rebellion with one hand.

What bothered him was that if people starved to death as soon as he took the throne, it would bring him no glory at all. It would be a huge stain on his record.

"What about potatoes?"

Leon had discovered long ago that the island of Britain had potatoes, a high-yield crop. He remembered that they'd begun spreading widely in the sixteenth or seventeenth century in his previous life, one of the fruits of the Age of Exploration.

But here on the island of Britain in the fifth century AD, people already grew and ate potatoes on a large scale. The only problem was that they were tiny. Even the biggest ones were no larger than Leon's thumb.

All he could say was, the Earth and Moon had been separated, but the Moon was still the Moon.

Leon had thought it over later. This world had Magecraft and mysteries. For powerful magi and Phantasmal Species, crossing an ocean was easy, especially since Britain was still steeped in the echoes of the Age of Gods, with mysteries lingering there.

Seen that way, it did make sense.

"Even with potatoes, there still isn't enough food to supply a large army on the march," Luther said.

After thinking for a while, Leon looked at Merlin. "How many men does the enemy have? How many combat troops, and how many support troops?"

"Your Majesty, the King of Orkney has brought five thousand men, including two thousand combat troops and three thousand support troops. With the farmers he's gathered, he has more than twenty thousand men in total."

Merlin wasn't sure why Leon called knights "combat troops" and their retainers and the farmers "support troops," but since Leon liked those terms, Merlin could only go along with them.

"Five thousand. That's manageable." Leon turned to Canning and Kay on the other side. "How many men do we have now?"

Canning was a friend of Luther's and one of the four lords who had supported Leon from the very beginning. Because of his outstanding abilities and bravery in battle, Leon had appointed him to command the army, with Kay assisting and keeping watch over him.

"Your Majesty, our army currently has five battalions, with a total of 3,126 men."

After Leon entered the city, he'd taken the knights and retainers of all the nobles there and added them to the army.

The nobles were afraid Leon would kill them and wipe out their families if they angered him, so they were all very well behaved. They obeyed his every order without question.

At the same time, taking advantage of the expansion, Leon had reformed the military system. Rank no longer mattered; meritorious service earned rewards, so every soldier under him could feel his favor.

Simply put, he'd brought over the old Qin military merit system.

Of course, he'd made some cuts and changes.

When he first introduced it, many people had objected. But under Leon's forceful democracy, it had been unanimously approved and smoothly put into practice.

"If I take one battalion and recruit two thousand laborers, how long will our current supplies last?"

Luther and the others worked it out and gave their answer. "About half a year."

Accounting for all kinds of waste and unexpected problems, it would last four months at most.

"That'll do." Leon's tone was decisive. "Then that's what we'll do. I'll take the sons of the families in the city and the newly incorporated troops with me. We'll head north to reclaim Scotland, wipe out the King of Orkney, then go east to kill that White Dragon and the Saxon barbarians, and finally return to Camelot."

Leon drew a circle on the map with his finger so everyone could follow his plan more easily.

"Father, I'll leave more of our veteran soldiers behind. Guard the royal city and hurry to train the remaining four battalions so they'll be ready for battle as soon as possible."

They'd expanded the army too quickly. Although the new recruits were all professional soldiers with military training, they hadn't yet learned to work together. They'd need time to adapt.

"Understood."

Leon turned to Merlin. "Merlin, you'll accompany the army in this campaign."

"Yes."

Merlin's Clairvoyance was far too useful. It was practically like having a real-time, transparent view of the whole map. How could Leon not love it?

"One battalion has a little over six hundred men. Isn't that too few to face so many enemies?"

Leon looked around the room until he found the speaker.

The man was a noble who had submitted to Leon after he entered the city. Leon had seen how pliable and tactful he'd been when surrendering, so he'd dressed him up in a high-ranking post and generous rewards as an example to the city's subjects.

The man knew his own position and what was expected of him. He'd always obeyed Leon's orders and cooperated without complaint. He'd spoken up now for one reason: Leon was taking his son along on the campaign.

"It's fine. I'm confident we'll win."

Six hundred against twenty thousand. The advantage was ours.