Cornelia stared at him for a moment, then suddenly laughed, like a hunter who had confirmed that the creature before her really was outrageously bold and finally found herself a little interested.
The Britannian royal crest hung on the wall of the military command center, with the numbers of the Knights of the Round and the names of generations of ace machines arrayed along either side. Lin Cuo's gaze swept over Lancelot, Gawain, and Mordred, and his thoughts briefly wandered.
The entire legal succession of Britannia's royal family was, at its heart, a political myth that its institutions had kept running for two hundred years.
Duke Ricardo had claimed direct descent from the ancient Celts and King Arthur, using that pedigree to dress up the exiled nobility's right to rule. When Elizabeth III died without an heir, he ascended the throne as Ricardo I. The imperial capital was simply named Pendragon, the emperor's personal guards became the Knights of the Round, and the core KMFs were named Lancelot, Gawain, and Mordred in turn.
A myth originally intended to confer legitimacy had ultimately reshaped a nation, its military, and the identities of several generations.
Once the passage between worlds stabilized, if they actually invited King Arthur from the Fate world over, she would find an entire superpower ruling half the world under her surname and the names of her knights and weapons. That meeting would probably be more spectacular than any diplomatic crisis.
Cornelia noticed the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Your Excellency the Regent, what rude thought is going through your head now?"
"I was considering your royal family's legal succession. If King Arthur appeared in Pendragon one day, she would probably start questioning herself."
Silence fell over the conference room again. Cornelia asked slowly, "Are you