Avalon

Anno opened his eyes.

"An unfamiliar ceiling, huh?"

There was no ceiling?

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

He found himself in the middle of a sea of flowers, where cherry-red petals danced in the air, a sight of breathtaking beauty.

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

Anno was still a bit dazed.

"You are awake, Sir Anno." A voice drifted over.

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

Merlin, dressed in white robes, stood there with a smile on his face.

"What is it? So it's just you, Merlin." Anno let out a sigh of relief; as long as he wasn't dead, that was fine.

His left arm had already been treated, wrapped in thick layers of gauze.

He reached back with his right hand, confirming that the long black hair he had painstakingly grown was still there.

"This is the home of the fae, the utopia far removed from the mundane world,"

"Avalon." Anno seemed to recall something, finishing the sentence instantly.

Merlin was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. He didn't ask how Anno knew of this paradise, simply explaining: "That day, you single-handedly intimidated tens of thousands of Orcs. Camelot was shaken to its core, and the surrounding kingdoms were equally awestruck. Therefore, your mission—no, this operation—was truly outstanding."

"Is that so." Anno merely smiled faintly. He had anticipated this outcome before he even faced down the Orcs; it was precisely because it could resolve so many issues that he had unhesitatingly gone alone to the borders of Camelot to confront the Orcs.

"Before you lost consciousness, I had already begun rushing toward the site of the Orc invasion, but the lord of that city had reached you first, dragging you out from a pile of corpses," Merlin continued.

"He is a loyal and righteous subject." Anno nodded. The fact that the lord of the knight order was willing to lead his men out of the city to engage the enemy, despite knowing there were tens of thousands of Orcs outside, spoke volumes.

"I took you back once I arrived, and you have been here ever since."

"How much time has passed?" Anno suddenly realized the importance of the question.

"You have been unconscious for a week."

"And the King?"

"You need not worry about Camelot; the King has already regained full control."

"That is good, that is good." Anno finally broke into a hearty smile and lay back down in the sea of flowers.

"After the King awoke, he first announced his intention to marry the widow of the former Duke of Cornwall as his Queen, and then, he addressed the matters concerning the two of us and Sir Ector."

"I am currently on leave, though I remain the Court Mage. You are the same, except you have been granted a title—a symbolic position as a Knight Commander, along with the status of a Count without a fief."

"As for Sir Ector, he was assigned to a place far from the political center under the charge of 'delaying the opportunity for battle'."

"I bet the King gave Ector quite a reward." Anno laughed lightheartedly. The exile was merely for show; in reality, the King simply wanted to provide a growth environment far from Camelot for the future King. He figured that Ector, a loyal knight, had accepted this nearly thankless task without complaint, finally getting his wish to be far away from the filthy political center.

"Ah, yes." Merlin's smile remained fixed. "The status of a Count, a fief, and countless treasures—that was the reward."

"Then why did the King grant us both leave?"

Merlin's smile gradually faded: "Because the King is about to handle some matters."

"Some matters concerning the dignity of the royal family."