"You forced my hand, Joslin."
Shadows began to shroud Vortigern.
Vortigern answered with a roar that summoned masses of dark clouds.
The darkness had previously only covered his armor and eyes, but now Vortigern had completely lost his mind.
A dragon's head emerged, and a pitch-black demonic dragon that blotted out the sky appeared.
Gawain's mana was nearly depleted, so you took the Sword of Assured Victory from his hand. Sword in one hand, halberd in the other, you charged straight at Vortigern.
"Let's see... To be honest, Grandmaster was a little irresponsible too. He threw me a weapon without even telling me how to use it."
Bai Ming complained first, then seemed to suddenly understand something. His smile gradually turned twisted. "Vortigern! I'm gonna fuck you up!"
He first used the Spirit Devouring Qi Gathering Method to temporarily expand his mana reserves, then poured the massive excess of mana into the holy sword and battle halberd.
In an instant, lightning, starlight, and sunlight burst from the two weapons. Bai Ming directly hurled the halberd, and the demonic dragon slapped it with one claw. Shadows immediately enveloped the weapon.
The dragon's other claw then came down at Bai Ming. Holding the sword in one hand, Bai Ming hurled the Sword of Assured Victory as well and shouted, "Oriole Returning to Solid Form, Swan Piercing the Jade Radiance!"
From afar, Gawain watched his father throw the holy sword around like a brick, and his heart nearly shattered.
The light and heat erupting from the thrown holy sword continuously melted away the shadows descending from Vortigern's claw. In the end, Vortigern swatted the sword away with one slap, and Gawain immediately turned and ran after his holy sword.
Meanwhile, Bai Ming used that time to run out of the demonic dragon Vortigern's field of vision.
The next moment, the halberd within the shadows shone with starlight. It broke through the darkness in a straight line, then turned into a streak of light, piercing through the demonic dragon's foot like a swallow before shooting toward Vortigern's head.
To Vortigern, the Pojun Divine Lightning Halberd was like a mosquito buzzing around while one slept in summer. He could see it and hear it, but it was extremely difficult to hit. Thus began the battle between the demonic dragon Vortigern and the halberd.
Demonic dragon blood splattered everywhere, while Bai Ming began enthusiastically collecting the blood and the dragon scales shattered by the Jade Purity Divine Lightning contained within the halberd.
A spiraling beam of light suddenly shot over from afar and pierced through the demonic dragon Vortigern.
Artoria had taken your head, and Vortigern returned to human form before crashing heavily down in front of you. Vortigern had wanted to say something, but before he could utter his last words, you directly killed him.
Your battle halberd turned into a streak of light and entered your sea of consciousness.
Yuanshi Tianzun watched your entire battle. He began to ponder something and discovered that your fighting style shared some similarities with Guangchengzi's.
Your Jade Purity Grandmaster thought of something that pleased him greatly, then refined an incredibly sturdy and handy "brick" for you from tough materials.
Bai Ming: Grandmaster above, thank you for your generous favor.
Vortigern's rebellion came to an end. At a victory banquet after the war, you finally received the retirement you had been awaiting for over a decade. Morgan's favorability toward Artoria increased.
Eufis and Brastias, your good comrades who had fought alongside you for over a decade, retired as well.
Your son Agravain succeeded Eufis as Minister of Ceremonies. Your son Gawain succeeded him as Palace Guard Captain. Your son Gaheris began assisting Gawain. Mordred joined the Knights of the Round Table, and Gareth joined the Knights of the Round Table.
At the banquet before your retirement, you locked eyes with Lancelot and used the excuse of guiding a junior to beat him up.
Your favorability toward Lancelot increased.
At the banquet, you spoke with Tristan about the time before he came to Wales and became a Knight of the Round Table.
It was the matter you cared about most: the story Tristan and Isolde had to tell.
Before I Snatch Your Mother Away, This Was Merlin's Plan!
Under Morgan and Artoria's watchful gazes, Tristan was led astray after you got him drunk.
"Isolde!!! My beloved!!!"
The drunken Tristan abandoned all elegance and shouted himself hoarse. Lancelot and Gawain, also drunk, joined in from beside him. "Isolde!"
Merlin looked at Bai Ming and said, "Duke Joslyn, this is your doing."
"Yes, it is."
Rather than feeling ashamed, Bai Ming took pride in it. "What is chivalry? Humility, honor, sacrifice, bravery, mercy, honesty, justice, reverence for the gods. I made Sir Tristan express his love honestly and bravely, with all the anguish in his heart. Isn't that a display of the mercy in my chivalry?
"Poor fellow... The woman he fell in love with was claimed by his own uncle. The King of Ireland promised the princess to the dragon-slaying hero. Old Tristan killed the dragon, so what the hell did it have to do with his uncle?"
Artoria finally could not hold it in any longer. She sincerely grasped Bai Ming's hand and said in a low voice, "Enough. Stop talking about your chivalry. Do you know what people will say if this gets out?"
Morgan calmly mocked, "That Duke Joslyn under King Arthur, known as the King of Knights, is tarnishing chivalry? That rumor already existed while that old bastard Uther was alive. Once Bai... Joslin took power, the rumors completely disappeared.
"Speaking of which, Arthur, hasn't King Leodegrance's daughter been watching you the whole time?"
"Seems like it..."
Just as you were discussing it, King Leodegrance's daughter walked over. She introduced herself gracefully and began chatting with Artoria.
You exchanged a glance with Merlin and decided to enjoy Artoria's misfortune, so you dragged Morgan away.
"Darling, let's watch Lily make a fool of herself."
"...?"
"Let's watch Lily charm Guinevere out of her wits, then get forced into marrying Princess Guinevere under everyone's encouragement. On their wedding night, she'll tell her, 'Hey, Guinevere, there's something I have to tell you. I'm actually a woman,' and then somehow end up treating her lover like one of the boys."
Morgan realized that after confirming his retirement, you seemed to have become a completely different person.
"So... why would anyone try to make that happen?"
Morgan was confused, and you gestured for her to look around. She discovered that Merlin had disappeared.
Merlin truly was the greatest troublemaker, so Morgan was not surprised. Bai Ming said, "Camelot needs something joyful right now to lift everyone's spirits."
Morgan seemed thoughtful before finally saying, "Fine, do whatever you want. After tonight, take a good bath and keep me company—actually, I've always been curious about something. Why don't you keep lovers? Normally, most people start keeping lovers as soon as they gain a title."
Morgan asked because Bai Ming clearly did not lack the energy for it, so she was genuinely curious.
"Huh? After joining the knight order, before I met you, the only woman I'd ever met was your mother. The rest of the time, I was either training by myself or leading the entire knight order in training. Don't you know that when I was Regent, if I merely frowned, those nobles had to start wondering whether they'd said something wrong? I'm afraid I'll dissolve in water, so I have to become strong. That way, when I dissolve in water, I can make all of them dissolve with me."
Morgan: OVO?
"Wasn't that because... you were too unethical in the way you did things?"
"How was that unethical...?"
At that point, Bai Ming seemed to recall something.
Talent Stele Shift activated
You considered that although Vortigern had returned to human form, he was still a white dragon in essence, filled with excellent materials. So you immediately left the banquet, dug up Vortigern's grave, and used the External Elixir Chrysopoeia Technique to refine Vortigern's body into useful materials.
Afterward, you used Vortigern's clothes to make him a symbolic grave.
Morgan fell silent as she watched what you did.
"I... haven't done anything to make you resent me, right?"
Morgan's voice was full of uncertainty, and Bai Ming immediately replied, "If there were, I'd have dealt with you on the spot. Why would I need to put up with it for now?"
Morgan fell silent.
That... did seem to make sense?
Morgan then asked, "How much longer until the game you mentioned ends?"
Bai Ming answered, "No idea. Anyway, after things end here, we'll meet again in the future. If you can live that long, come find me at Chaldea in Antarctica in 2015. If you can't, then do something big, register yourself on the Throne of Heroes, and answer my summons when I call for you."
Morgan said nothing more. She simply dragged you back to your territory, bathed with you, then embraced you in bed and spent a passionate night together.
After your glorious retirement, you could finally do things you actually enjoyed. You could freely enter and leave the palace without reporting in—though you could have done so even without Artoria's permission. Still, for Artoria's dignity, you had her formally grant you that privilege.
After you wandered around aimlessly for a week, Artoria finally stopped you. Of course, she was not trying to accuse you of anything. She simply wanted to talk.
In a place where only you and Artoria were present, Artoria said with mixed feelings, "I... am getting married."
"Isn't that a good thing—"
Bai Ming answered, but then he realized something was off.
The last time someone had told him something like this was a few days before the former queen Igraine became pregnant with Artoria—during Bai Ming's time as Regent, Morgan had gone from being a duchess to becoming queen.
And the person who had told him about it had been King Arthur's father, King Uther, who had fallen ill from love. Then Bai Ming had ridden out and snatched Uther's beloved woman back for him.
"You... haven't fallen for some woman too, have you? Are you asking me to go snatch her back for you? Wait here. I'll contact Eufis right away."
"Hey! No!"
Artoria immediately panicked. "Joslin, you know me. I'm a girl! I only appear as a man outside through illusion magic. How am I supposed to marry Guinevere?"
"Ah..."
Bai Ming sighed and said, "You really are quite similar to King Uther. Why do you always ask me about things like this? Do I look like someone who understands romance?"
Artoria asked in surprise, "Aren't you and my royal sister very close?"
"Then do you think Morgan is a man, or am I a woman?"
Artoria suddenly understood. "—Oh! Right! Then I'll go ask my royal sister."
Artoria went to ask Morgan, and Morgan did indeed have a method that could barely be called a solution. However, Artoria believed she needed your consent for it.
"So... what's the solution?"
Bai Ming had a bad feeling about this. Morgan actually had a solution?
Artoria said with a serious expression, "My royal sister knows a transformation spell. Then you can marry Guinevere in my place."
Morgan turned her gaze elsewhere, avoiding eye contact with Bai Ming.
Bai Ming suddenly asked, "Morgan, you asked Merlin what to do, didn't you? Before I snatched your mother away, this was Merlin's plan!"
Artoria: (OwO)?
The Relationship of ●●
Your words made Morgan fall silent for several seconds. Then Morgan pulled Artoria aside and gave her another solution.
Artoria left with a subtle expression, while you looked at Morgan unfavorably.
"What terrible idea did you come up with this time?"
Morgan swore solemnly, "Don't worry. It's definitely not a terrible idea."
"...I hope so."
You did not actually believe Morgan. After all, when Artoria left with the second solution, she kept looking back at you. You absolutely did not believe you had nothing to do with it.
Later, on the day Artoria married Guinevere in her male identity, you learned exactly what terrible idea Morgan had proposed.
Within the palace, Artoria, appearing before Bai Ming as Arthur, said, "Guinevere and I discussed it. She agreed."
Although Artoria had promised to love Guinevere for life as a man, she truly did not have the equipment to do that sort of thing. But according to Morgan, as the incarnation of the Red Dragon, she might have little desire in that regard, while Guinevere would still have normal physical needs.
Artoria could not satisfy her, and Guinevere could only endure it. Over time, it would inevitably lead to Guinevere seeking someone else.
Artoria believed that rather than letting Guinevere eventually seek out some unknown knight under her command, it would be better to keep it within the walls from the beginning. At the very least, she had grown up under Duke Joslyn's watch, and besides the old knights and her royal sister, no one understood Duke Joslyn better than she did.
Bai Ming felt that something was wrong and asked, "Agreed to what?"
With a stern expression, Artoria took a dagger from beneath her thick, quilt-like cloak, held it to her throat, and said slowly:
"You and her will be each other's lovers... Mm... I am included among those lovers too. This is a royal command and must not be disobeyed. So accept the order, Duke Joslyn.
"If you refuse... don't worry, I won't confiscate your estate or wipe out your family. I know I can't beat you either, so I'll just die right in front of you. My royal sister said you're the person who keeps promises best. If I die in front of you, then you'll have broken the promise you made to my father, King Uther."
Bai Ming: "?"
Mor—gan! What the fuck did you tell Lily?! Lily's gone dark!
Bai Ming said, "How about you just stab yourself? After you die, I'll become Regent again and find a way to have Merlin drag King Uther out of the underworld and reincarnate him."
Artoria: "?" Royal sister, your plan doesn't work either?
Artoria asked again, "Really not?"
Bai Ming snapped, "Do you want to completely ruin my reputation?"
"But... you don't have much of a reputation among those old noble families anyway, do you?"
Artoria's single sentence made Bai Ming fall silent, as though she had passed a speech check with flying colors.
"Seems... that's true... But how is this any different from the previous method?"
"Uh... it's open and aboveboard, reasonable, and legal?" Artoria said. "Actually, the other nobles live far more decadently than you think. Before this, they even hinted that I should restore the large Roman bathhouse where men and women bathed together."
Seeing that Bai Ming remained unmoved, Artoria looked around. Once she confirmed that no one else was nearby, she hurried over to Bai Ming in a few quick steps and grabbed his arm. "Please! Joslin! I'm begging you! It's better for you to do this than for Guinevere to eventually cheat with some unknown person, isn't it?"
Before you continue