Do You Like This Gift?

"Introduce foreign crop varieties."

Artoria and Sovell answered in unison.

"What about you, Sovell? What's your dream?"

After answering, the girl turned the question back on the boy.

"Me? Hmm... I want to become stronger, strong enough to defeat my father and protect this country.

"My father colluded with foreign peoples, carved up our territory, and sold out our country. He's no longer the wise ruler he was a few years ago.

"I'll prove that he's wrong."

"Don't you want to be king?"

"Honestly, no.

"First, I made a deal with Merlin. He saved me and taught me swordsmanship and magecraft, and in return, I'll swear fealty to you in the future.

"Second..." The boy paused.

"Second what?" the girl pressed.

"Growing up, I always saw my father working through documents until midnight. It looked exhausting.

"I'm fine with fighting on the battlefield to defend the country, but being king is still too difficult for me."

At that, Sovell spread his hands helplessly. The girl gave him a radiant smile.

For some reason, Artoria's smile kindled a mischievous impulse in Sovell. Putting on an innocent smile, he ventured:

"Oh, Lia, I learned something fun from Merlin today. Want to see?"

The innocent girl was still delighted to have made a new friend and eagerly agreed without a second thought:

"Yes, yes! What is it?"

"Let's play hide-and-seek. If you find me, I'll give you a present. How does that sound?"

"Really?"

"Of course. Are you in?"

Faced with what almost sounded like a challenge, Artoria naturally refused to back down. She replied smugly:

"Heh heh heh, I accept your challenge! I've never lost at the manor or in town. I'll count down from sixty."

The girl turned away, covered her eyes with both hands, and began counting:

"Sixty..."

"We're starting already? I'm not ready yet."

While keeping up his protests, Sovell secretly began channeling his magical energy.

Artoria noticed Sovell's little movements and thought:

There's nothing in this dream but fields of flowers. He can't have anywhere to hide.

So she replied:

"Then hurry up. I'm not stopping. Fifty-nine."

"All right, all right."

The seconds ticked by. At some point, gust after gust began blowing through the dream, making the girl's golden hair flutter.

"Five, four, three, two, one. Are you hidden?"

With the countdown over, Artoria called loudly to Sovell.

A voice that seemed to come from the air all around her answered:

"I am."

Hearing her quarry's reply, the girl lowered her hands and opened her eyes:

"All right, here I come."

Artoria turned around confidently, but all she saw were endless fields of flowers. Sovell, who was supposed to be hiding, was nowhere to be seen.

"Sovell?"

The girl tried calling Sovell's name, and the boy's voice came out of thin air:

"I'm here."

Along with the voice, she felt someone pat her shoulder.

The girl spun around, but found nothing. She could neither see nor touch anything.

"Lia."

Sovell's voice came from behind her. Artoria turned and found the boy standing there, holding a rose formed from wind elements.

"Do you like this gift?"

"Lady Artoria, what did you dream about? You've been smiling all morning."

The man holding a wooden sword spoke as he watched the smile on the girl's face.

Hearing that, the girl immediately suppressed her smile and answered in a slight fluster:

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I didn't dream about anything. Ector, let's hurry up and start. I haven't had breakfast yet."

Sir Ector shook his head helplessly.

"All right, let's begin. Come on, attack me!"

The clashing of wooden swords echoed through the courtyard. Ector handled the girl's attacks with ease, yet felt an inexplicable trace of displeasure. Even after turning it over repeatedly during his free time after breakfast, he could not understand why.

Over those eight years, Sovell and Artoria met nearly three thousand times and sparred more than twenty-six hundred times. Their feelings for each other gradually deepened.

Through those twenty-six hundred bouts, Sovell's swordsmanship grew ever sharper, and his use of magecraft became increasingly proficient.

One day two years earlier, Sovell defeated Artoria for the first time.

After that, Sovell grew stronger with every battle. By recently, he could win five or six out of every ten bouts, and once in every twenty victories, he managed to knock Artoria's sword from her hand.

That night, the two completed another combat practice session in the dream. Seizing an opening, Sovell twisted Artoria's sword out of her hand with a single strike, stopping his sword point two inches from her throat.

Sovell crouched down, picked up the wooden sword from the ground, and handed it to Artoria. With a rather boastful air, he said:

"Lia, I won this round too."

"I'll definitely win the next one!"

The lily-like girl took the wooden sword and retorted, then asked the boy another question.

"Will you come in three days?"

"Yes, of course. Even if I can't draw the Sword of Selection, it'll be nice to get a feel for it.

"Besides, Lia, you're the liege I've sworn fealty to. How could a subject fail to witness his liege's glory in person?"

Indeed, in three days, on Christmas, Merlin would place Caliburn and its stone in the training grounds of the town closest to Sir Ector's domain.

Ten years earlier, Merlin had already publicly prophesied:

"King Uther's successor already exists. He is the incarnation of the red dragon. He will rally those outstanding knights to drive out the foreign peoples, defeat the white dragon, and unite Britain."

But the late King Uther had passed away thirteen years earlier. Even during the ten years since Merlin announced his prophecy, the former lords, now kings, had pursued different aims. Some wanted to preserve the status quo, while others wanted to gather armies and unite Britain.

This time, however, they all appointed their most trusted subjects or knights to manage affairs temporarily in their stead.

Without exception, whether kings traveling with guards or independent knights drawn by its fame, they would ultimately challenge the Sword of Selection, attempting to secure a legitimate claim to kingship. Of course, the outcome was already determined.

Apart from Artoria, no one in all of Britain-no, anywhere on the surface of the world-was qualified to draw that Sword of Selection.

"It's a promise!"

"Yes, yes, it's a promise. Lia, see you in three days. Good night."

Sovell opened his arms to the girl and embraced her petite frame.

"See you in three days, Sovell."

A moment later, the dream collapsed, and the two emerged from it.

Seven years earlier, Sovell had asked Merlin why the dream always lasted only the three hours between one and four in the morning.

The Dream Mage had revealed a startling truth: "Because those are the only hours Lia sleeps."

Sovell had angrily condemned Merlin for it. He had thought his own schedule of magecraft lessons by day and swordsmanship by night was exhausting enough.

Yet it turned out that the girl never even got a break all day long!

At Sovell's insistence, Artoria's sleeping hours were extended from three hours between one and four in the morning to seven hours between nine at night and four in the morning.

Although that was still rather short, it was much better than her previous life, in which being a dragon apparently meant she did not deserve to be treated as a person. Her lessons on kingship were also moved to the two hours between eleven and one.

Moreover, every Sunday, Merlin left all their time together to them apart from a single sparring session. If they finished talking before four, the dream would disperse early as well, giving Artoria more time to sleep.