Vortigern Was No Match for Him Either

Leon's release attack destroyed the largest fortress in Scotland, demonstrating his power and successfully intimidating the local inhabitants.

At Leon's instruction, Merlin informed the royal city and asked Luther to send some noble officials there. They didn't have to bring the region entirely under their rule, but at the very least, they had to collect this year's taxes.

Leon specifically suggested setting up a special tax department, managed directly by the royal court, in pursuit of the principle that "only death and taxes are unavoidable."

After the fortress fell, Leon recruited over six hundred knights from Scotland to form a new thousand-man unit. They were all local nobles' sons and retainers, trained in proper military discipline from childhood. With a little organization, they were ready for battle.

With the food he had seized from the Scottish Highlands, Leon led the two thousand-man units east and south.

Their enemies to the east were the savage Saxons from across the sea. To the southeast lay the White Dragon of Britain, the Vile King Vortigern, who had brought the savages to the island.

"Merlin, who is Vortigern? You seem to take him very seriously."

When Leon brought up the enemy to the east, even the mere mention of the Vile King's name wiped the usual ease from Merlin's face, leaving it grave.

Seeing Merlin so braced for a fight, Leon grew curious about this enemy he had never met.

"Lion King, Vortigern is no ordinary foe. Even you could be caught off guard and lose if you underestimate him."

Merlin's warning only made Leon more interested.

Merlin continued, "My king, you may already know Arthur's true identity... Arthur is the Red Dragon born in Britain, the king destined to rule it. The Vile King Vortigern is the White Dragon who stands against her."

"He summoned foreign tribes, seized the fortress city of Camelot, and sought to bring Britain under his control. He intends to destroy Britain, return the island to its primordial darkness, and turn it into a hell where humans can never live."

"Vortigern is Britain itself. He appeared in this world as the island's will, the island's avatar—a chieftain of a tribe that drank dragon's blood, a dragon who long ago cast off his humanity and turned the entire island into his body."

Merlin's lengthy explanation made the Vile King Vortigern's true nature clear.

Leon nodded. He understood. If Arthur was the saintly king who would bring prosperity to Britain, then Vortigern was the demon king who would lead it to ruin.

Though he had forcibly stolen the throne from Artoria.

Wait—

"Camelot?" Leon seized on the key word and hurriedly asked Merlin, "You said Vortigern seized Camelot. Then what's this Camelot of mine?"

Merlin scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, after Vortigern took Camelot, I discussed it with the others. Since Arthur, the rightful heir, was still around, we founded a new city to serve as our country and stand against Vortigern."

Leon nodded.

Got it. Like Delhi and New Delhi.

"Then why keep calling it Camelot? Why not change the name? You could've added 'New' and called it New Camelot. Who came up with that terrible idea and confused me?"

"Heh-heh. Keeping the name Camelot makes us seem more legitimate."

Merlin and the others had certainly gone all out to deal with the Vile King Vortigern.

Compared to Merlin's caution, Leon's most immediate reaction after learning Vortigern's true nature was—

"That's it?"

"Your Majesty, you mustn't underestimate him."

Seeing that Leon wasn't taking him seriously, Merlin hurried to warn him not to underestimate their foe.

Vortigern was the entire island of Britain. No matter how powerful an individual might be, the difference between him and Vortigern was like that between an ant and a human. Anyone could see there was no chance of winning.

"The Holy Spear is a device that maintains the surface of the world. You could call it a divine weapon that counters Vortigern."

That was why Merlin had told Leon to take the spear with him before the campaign.

"If I have a divine weapon in hand, what do I have to fear?"

Merlin had gone on and on about Vortigern's power, but Leon still didn't consider him a worthy rival.

King Arthur had defeated Vortigern, and Leon had subdued Artoria single-handedly. What did Vortigern amount to, then?

If Merlin didn't want him to underestimate Vortigern, the man should show what he could really do. What was there to take seriously about an opponent Leon could beat in a couple of moves?

Merlin's grand speech was nothing but the usual Type-Moon-style boast.

One moment it was the destruction of humanity, the next it was the remaking of the world. But when you looked closer, it was all just setting and lore.

The so-called destruction of the world was always conceptual. The physical planet in the real world hadn't even lost a layer of its surface.

Back when Leon played games in his previous life, he had always wanted to complain about that. If someone claimed to destroy the world, they could at least make a weapon that blew Earth into debris scattered through space. Then the Moon World's boss would have made an effort—and actually destroyed the world.

What was the point of all these big shots who could supposedly destroy all of humanity and the world with a finger's twitch?

This boss had a planet-class source of magical energy, that item had a star-class reserve of magical energy, parallel worlds, time travel, spatial displacement, perpetual motion devices, omniscience and omnipotence that pitied humanity, alien spaceships that loved humanity...

Heh!

Yet this whole crowd of ridiculously powerful big shots stayed cooped up in Earth's little pond, showing off their existence. Didn't they feel cramped?

Not one of them had sent humanity into space to start the most WAAAGH WAAAGH in the galaxy!

Either their horizons were too narrow—

Or they were all full of hot air!

If Vortigern was Britain itself, then let him make the island stand up and take a few steps. Leon might then admit that Vortigern really was Britain.

Let Britain rise to its feet and face him in battle. That might be enough to make Leon take Vortigern seriously.

But could he do it?

No!

However they put it, wasn't it still just theory and concepts?

Wasn't it all just hot air?

Thinking about it that way, Leon thought even less of Vortigern.

Merlin could tell from Leon's expression that his warnings had gone unheeded. He sighed inwardly and decided he would have to stay alert and pay close attention himself.

I really do have to rely on myself. I just hope we don't lose too badly...

At Leon's command, Merlin used his Clairvoyance to locate the Vile King Vortigern. Leon then led his troops forward to face Vortigern head-on.

As before, Leon first struck a blow to the enemy's morale with his sword, then led the charge himself and went straight for the enemy commander's head.

But this time, Vortigern really did have some ability.

At the very least, he was stronger than Leon had expected.

Leon ran him through with a spear. Just as he was showing off to Merlin, Vortigern wrenched himself off the spear, then fled on all fours, his broad chest gaping open.

"Tsk, tsk, Merlin, so this is Britain itself? I punched a hole right through him, and he abandoned his army and shamelessly ran away. Britain sure is weak."

And this was King Arthur's greatest enemy?

Merlin stared in shock, his expression completely out of control.

In his perception, the Vile King Vortigern's seemingly bottomless magical energy, the near-invincible traits he had gained by merging with the island, and his surging, oppressive presence all testified to the White Dragon of Britain's overwhelming power.

If Merlin had faced him, he would have been utterly defeated in an instant.

Yet this White Dragon, so powerful in Merlin's eyes, Camelot's strongest and most lethal enemy, had been defeated by Leon in a single exchange.

And so easily!

Though Merlin had done his best to overestimate Leon, every display of Leon's power kept shattering his expectations.

The slap in the face had come too quickly. Hearing Leon brag like that, Merlin recalled what he had thought earlier and turned his head away, refusing to look at Leon's smug expression.

Once Vortigern fled and the enemy lost their commander, the outcome of the battle was obvious.

Leaving some men to watch over the surrendered Saxon prisoners, Leon immediately pursued Vortigern. They met wave after wave of resistance, but Leon led from the front through four consecutive battles and won all four, completely crushing the Saxon army.

Leon used his usual methods on the Saxon savages.

He selected the able-bodied to form a security force, took the nobles' children into his service as hostages, seized food and treasure to reward his army, and ordered the nobles and security force to scour the mountains and search the seas for Vortigern, as well as attack the Saxon city-states that refused to surrender.

Leon stepped in several times along the way, with striking results. He once again demonstrated his strength, and everyone, inside and out, submitted to him.

They advanced all the way to the sea.

Leon stood on a reef and gazed out over the endless ocean.

He put on a solemn expression.

"Merlin, do you know what lies beyond the sea?"