Avalon

Anno opened his eyes.

"An unfamiliar place, huh?"

No ceiling?

Anno braced his right hand against the ground and sat up.

He found himself in a sea of flowers, with cherry-red petals dancing in the air. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Am I... dead? Where is this place?

Anno was still a little dazed.

"You're awake, Sir Anno," a voice said.

Anno instinctively looked toward the sound and saw a familiar figure.

Merlin stood nearby in a white robe, smiling.

"Oh, it's just you, Merlin." Anno breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't dead.

His left arm had already been treated and was wrapped in thick bandages.

He reached back with his right hand. His long black hair, the hair he'd worked so hard to keep, was still there.

"This is the home of the fairies, an ideal source far removed from the mortal world—"

"Avalon." Anno seemed to remember something and immediately finished the sentence.

Merlin paused, then smiled. He didn't ask how Anno knew about this paradise, but instead explained, "That day, you drove back tens of thousands of Orcs all by yourself. All of Camelot was astonished, and the surrounding countries were shaken as well. So your mission—no, not a mission. Your actions this time were outstanding."

"Is that so?" Anno only smiled faintly. He'd foreseen this outcome before he drove the Orcs back. It was precisely because he could solve so many problems that he'd come alone to face the Orcs at Camelot's border without hesitation.

"Before you lost consciousness, I'd already set out for the place the Orcs had invaded. But the lord of that city got to you first and dragged you out of the pile of bodies," Merlin continued.

"He's a loyal and righteous man." Anno nodded. The lord of the knight order had been willing to lead his knights out to fight despite knowing there were tens of thousands of Orcs outside the city. That alone said a lot about him.

"After I arrived, I brought you back. And you've been here ever since."

"How long has it been?" Anno suddenly realized he needed to ask.

"You've been unconscious for a week."

"And the king?"

"You don't need to worry about Camelot. The king has taken control of it again."

"That's good. That's good." At last, Anno smiled broadly and lay back down in the sea of flowers.

"After waking up, the king first announced that he would marry the widow of the former Duke of Cornwall and make her his queen. Then there's what happened to the two of us and Sir Ector."

"I'm on leave for now, though I'm still the court magician. The same goes for you, except you've been granted a title: an honorary knight commander, as well as the rank of landless Earl."

"As for Sir Ector, he was sent somewhere far from the political center on the charge of 'delaying the battle.'"

"I bet the king gave Ector quite a few rewards," Anno said with an easy smile. The exile was only for appearances. In truth, the king simply wanted to give the future king a chance to grow up somewhere far from Camelot. Ector, a loyal knight, had probably accepted this thankless assignment without complaint, finally getting his wish to leave the filthy political center behind.

"Ah, yes." Merlin kept smiling. "The title of Earl, a fief, and countless treasures. Those are his rewards."

"Then why did the king put the two of us on leave?"

Merlin's smile gradually faded. "Because the king has some matters to attend to."

"Matters concerning the dignity of the royal family."