At noon the next day, the sun shone brightly, but the faces of Caerleon's officers and soldiers were anything but bright.
Understandably so. Their days of standing guard, patrolling, and training had been pretty comfortable-until these six old bastards showed up.
Well, damn.
Now they were about to go to war.
Four hours earlier, the outcome of the negotiations had spread throughout Caerleon:
In short, both sides had held frank discussions and exchanged their views in full.
Unfortunately...
The talks had broken down!
So now, atop Caerleon's North Gate, everyone-including Sovell-looked rather grim.
Still, there was some good news-
Three hundred infantrymen and cavalrymen from the six kings' forces had abandoned the wrong side, joined Caerleon, and sworn allegiance to Artoria.
Artoria had also ordered generous rewards for those three hundred, sending a clear message to those outside:
Surrender now, and we can talk. Once the fighting starts, we won't have time to worry about whether you want to surrender.
As a result, morale among the six kings' forces had visibly begun to fray.
After all, during the negotiations, Artoria had plainly displayed the Sword of Selection before everyone.
Even at a glance, the titles "Fated King" and "King of the Red Dragon" were intimidating enough.
But as the saying went, generous rewards would always draw brave men.
Naturally, the six kings would not simply watch their army's morale crumble.
And so, they took action.
Executing commanders before battle to frighten everyone else into obedience was absolutely out of the question.
If they actually dared do that, Artoria probably wouldn't even need to charge their ranks. They would likely start fighting among themselves.
So, if threats wouldn't work, they would use incentives instead.
The six kings promised-
The head of a Knight of the Round Table would earn its taker