章 75: Chapter 75

The pressure in the air was crippling like the weight of several boulders on one's back, but worse because the weight felt like it was only increasing from boulders to steel slabs. The Nobles could feel their bones grating against each other, groaning in protest as their muscles tensed from a savage bloodlust. Many had already fallen to their knees at the unexpected assault, their expressions mired by fear and panic.

It was only to be expected. One should not lightly provoke an opponent that one has no chance of contending against. It was the same principle of why ants would not needlessly antagonize other animals unless cornered. They'd be reduced to paste on the ground. Dead before they could even understand the world beyond their viewpoints.

The remaining Nobles and other aristocracy of Briton were the ants. However, they had yet to realize this aspect in their sheltered ignorance. In a way, Arturia had been too soft on them in her rule as King. She'd always had to consider political aspects and felt as if she was walking on a tightrope during important meetings, careful not to set any of them off and lose their support. By support, she meant the support of their influence to rally their Knights to her cause. The nobles themselves were far from good company.

Good company for Arturia had been with the friends and family that she'd grown up with in Bristol, back before life had been so complicated. Back before she had thought that Shirou had died.

Those days were dark times, and honestly speaking, Arturia hardly remembered how some of the meetings had proceeded. It was as if a layer of film had taken away all the colour of her life and replaced it all with a mellow grey.

She may have had agreed to things that she probably should have had thought better of, yet at the time, nothing really mattered to her. The other nobles thought her a sucker for it. Easily subdued and unable to hold any real weight outside of a battlefield. They weren't wrong once upon a time simply because she didn't care.

Protecting her homeland and ruling as King had once been a secondary priority compared to seeking out the next battlefield and momentarily forgetting the nightmares that had plagued her mind.

Regardless, if the nobles thought that Arturia was still the same person as she was before, they were vastly mistaken.

The temperature in the room suddenly plummeted not in a literal sense, but out of sheer foreboding.

Crowded by the Nobles around him, Merlin placed a hand over his face in resignation. O dear. He already knew what was coming. Not wasting a single second, Merlin tapped the butt of his staff over the floor and pre-emptively released a pulse of magical energy throughout the room.

Merlin's actions may have had just saved the majority of many lives.

"Fuck you! Say it again! I'll strangle you all!"

Spittle flew as the nobleman nearest to Merlin gawked at the pair of hands that had stopped mere millimetres away from his throat. The owner of said hands was being suspended in the air by a quick levitation spell that Merlin had cast. However, that didn't mean that the unholy fury exuding from Arturia's form had been quelled, rather, she was still smoldering.

In her rage, she was still trying to inch her hands forward towards the noblemen in the room. Her eyes were narrowed and her expression had momentarily contorted into a vicious glower. There was no questioning what Arturia would do if Merlin released his spell.

Regardless, Arturia's outburst had been so uncharacteristic that everyone that had once known Arturia did a double take on her. Her anger was palpable. Merlin was just relieved that Arturia had yet to draw Excalibur. No levitation spell on his part could ever hope to hold back such a Sacred Weapon.

"Arturia," Merlin spoke up. "Good to see you too."

Arturia didn't answer, rather she was breathing deeply in a vain attempt to compose herself. She was already seeing red and everything in her mind and body was screaming at her to take action, Gawain's promise be damned.

Arturia's growing frenzy didn't show on her exterior, yet the rising magical power swelling from inside of her was indicative of her intentions. Yet, the vicious expression on her face was forcibly replaced by a frigid impassiveness.

One wrong word would be all that it would take. There would be no civility. Not to fools who'd already chosen death from the start.

The roar of her magic core began howling from within her, but the nobles before didn't seem to get the message.

"Please just hear us out," a poor, poor man, continued while ignorant of the ticking time bomb whose fuse was quickly igniting into ashes. It may look like Arturia had calmed down, but Merlin knew differently. Arturia was just too experienced in hiding her emotions that only those close to her would be able to determine her tipping point.

"Duke Wellington, perhaps this is not the best time to discuss this matter," Merlin interjected sharply, the echo of his staff tapping against the floor echoing out with finality. A finality that was not heeded.

"No, actually, this is the best time being as the person in question is now present," Duke Wellington looked to Arturia and failed to interpret her neutral features for what they were: his impending funeral.

Do you want to die? Merlin felt his brow twitch at the man's words.

Duke Wellington was an upstanding noble and a figurehead amongst his peers as a traditionalist. Every decision or choice that he made always had to confer to the standards of a bygone era that had obviously already failed due to the inability of the nobles to combat the Saxons. It was a concept that Duke Wellington refused to accept because his lands had not yet fallen under siege by foreign invaders. Therefore, he still adopted the old traditions of his father and predecessors. Namely, that connections and land provide all power and influence in a country. In fact, he looked down upon the other nobility for being so inept as to lose their allotted territories to barbarians.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on perspective, Duke Wellington was Lord of the area near the Northern front of Camelot: A key point for safe transport and strategic supply in the current invasion of the country.

His cooperation and the cooperation of the nearby allies whose lands bordered Duke Wellington's own was a must. Yet, with Duke Wellington as the head representative, the northern nobles had created a traditionalist faction under the protection of Camelot.

None of the northern faction nobles truly knew the sacrifices that many Knights and soldiers had been forced to endure for the northern nobles to have their false sense of security and everyday normalcy.

Even from first glance, the way that Duke Wellington and the other nobles around him dressed was as if the country wasn't in a state of war at all. Duke Wellington wore a brass monocle over one eye and had his mustache waxed up to point upward. A cape was fashioned over his shoulders and gaudy buttoned upper-wear was worn beneath. The other nobles were dressed much the same; a point that Arturia did not fail to notice in her unflinching scrutiny.

"Now that it seems that I have your attention, I will again readdress my point," Duke Wellington cleared his throat and straightened his back. It was ironic how heartfelt the man sounded. At the end of the day, the man really was only speaking out for what he thought was best for the country.

In truth, this was the reason why Merlin had been so hard-pressed about how to handle the situation. Evidently, Morgan had nothing to do with the matter and it was purely out of tradition that Duke Wellington and the northern nobles were speaking out. Besides, Morgan would never scheme something so obvious.

Duke Wellington's mindset was simple, if just very one-sided.

The Eldest born always had priority over secondary children. Not that Arturia wasn't any less capable, but this was how medieval society had always worked. Just that it worked a little differently for women.

"In the case of both children of the Late King Uther being women, it doesn't matter which was born first," Duke Wellington clarified. "All that matters are political influence and capability. Lady Morgan, for all of her faults is undoubtably a woman whose influence and connections dwarf your own."

Duke Wellington went straight to the point. There was no blubbering or convolution. He was blunt. Directly so.

Meanwhile, Merlin resigned himself. There was no helping this anymore. They shouldn't have done it. They really shouldn't have done it. No matter how good their intentions for the country were, they'd pushed the Morgan button. You just don't do that without any consequences.

"…" A snapping sound reverberated from Arturia's jaw from how hard she was clenching her teeth. Duke Wellington remained heedless.

"Think about the good of the country," Duke Wellington pressed meaningfully. "Between you and Morgan, can't you see that Morgan is obviously the better choice for the new King? Can't you see the power in this sort of political marriage? Let's face it already. Marriage is a tool. One that unites two households through the promise of shared relation. While keeping your gender hidden has stunted your ability to mingle and form connections among the other ladies of Duke-level families, Lady Morgan has long since developed a vast network. With both Lady Morgan and the new King working together, the land's unity will reach a new plateau and we'll surely drive back the barbarians that covet our land!"

Duke Wellington paused and did the boldest move that Merlin could have had ever seen. He looked right into Arturia's eyes and spoke two sentences that had Merlin clenching his butt cheeks in fear. "Surely as sisters you could be happy if you can carry on the blood of Uther to the next generation. Moreover, as an apology for undermining your wedding, I will take it upon myself to convince Lady Morgan to allow you to name hers and the King's first-born son or daughter."

Wasn't that just rubbing salt in a wound? Merlin was already backing away. He knew that look and that expression.

Arturia exploded. Regardless of Merlin's magic suspending her in the air, she lashed out with a burst of mana that shattered Merlin's hold. She was let loose. A lion in a den of fat sheep.

She looked utterly enraged.

Duke Wellington who stood directly in front of Arturia had no time to react. She crushed the guy's face into the floor with one hand, his body a twitching wreck.

"One," she counted coldly, her eyes shifting to the rest of the nobles who'd stood by Duke Wellington's back.

She stepped forward and backhanded the nearest individual. Humans had always been fragile and an intense aura of magical energy was wafting around Arturia like a roaring torch.

"Two." A man was cratered into the side of a wall. There goes the support of the northern military.

"Three." Another man doubled over from a kidney blow. There goes Camelot's future trade deals.

"Four." NO stop, stop it now! Merlin could already feel the migraine forming within his head. This was exactly what he didn't want to happen. Arturia was going on a spree and the nobles became keenly aware of just how precarious the situation truly was.

"Now now, Arturia let's not get too carried away here," Merlin couldn't keep silent any longer. However, his interference was a double-edged sword.

"And YOU." Arturia zeroed in on him like freshly made bacon on a sunny morning, causing Merlin to have flashbacks of a truly horrid and haunting night. If push came to shove, he'd unleash his full power to prevent Arturia from even attempting to pull off her ahoge. Well, that and distance.

"Now hold on just a moment!" Merlin, the coward, immediately put himself between a couple of meat shields and tried placating Arturia with raised arms.

Two more nobles soon found themselves writhing in agony over the floor. There goes the delegation from the bordering kingdom near Camelot. Not that Merlin really cared at the moment. "You can't say I wasn't trying," he voiced out.

"Not good enough." Was the prompt response.

This wasn't good. Not good at all. All Arturia could see was red and didn't matter which noble appeared in front of her. It was the same result and Merlin couldn't allow it to keep happening. Grudgingly, he tentatively approached Arturia and hastily whispered into her ear before she could throttle him full force.

"Let's take this to another room for a moment," Merlin whispered. "You're ruining things for Shirou."

That sentence got a reaction from Arturia and she soon pursed her lips in unwillingness. Merlin took the opportunity to grab Arturia by the wrist and whisk her away to another room. He couldn't risk another noble setting Arturia off now that she'd regained some semblance of self-control.

Dropping Arturia off at a small room adjacent to the audience hall, Merlin let out a weary breath. "You weren't supposed to see that," he said tiredly. "If you'd left it be, this situation could have had been handled better or even averted entirely."

Morgan wasn't involved in the opinions of the nobles. This was the influence of her reputation and capability alone. Angered as Arturia had been, there were still consequences to her actions. Conservative as Duke Wellington was, he'd been a staunch ally since the start.

"You know." Arturia was trembling, her hands cuffing the collar of Merlin's robes as she all but seethed at him, "You know what happened with Morgan. What she did. What she caused. Five years Merlin. I hadn't been able to live for five years. There's no way that I can forgive that."

She let go of him, tears forming over her eyes as she quickly turned her face away. "You expect me to just tolerate what I was hearing? Do you know what it felt like for me to picture Shirou and Morgan together after all that she's done?"

"Well, no," Merlin scratched the back of his head. "But you weren't supposed to hear of all of this in the first place so isn't it your fault for eavesdropping?"

Arturia glared, a hand raising to her ahoge in frustration before Merlin quickly intervened much to her confusion.

"Now now. Things don't have to escalate that far yet." Merlin gently grabbed Arturia's hands thirty percent out of sympathy, the other seventy to prevent her from suddenly raising them up to her head.

Arturia was just anxious. She had ever right to be, but Merlin could already see what mattered most.

"You're going to be a wife," he said slowly. "You, Arturia. Not Morgan. Did you really think that I would follow through on the suggestion of other nobles without verifying yours and the new King's consent?"

Arturia just stared, causing Merlin to wilt before conceding. "Okay, fine. I might do something like that as a joke of sorts, but never anything too serious."

Merlin took Arturia's hands before she could vent at him and pressed them to her chest just above where her heart was steadily beating. He left them there for a while as his expression gradually eased away from his laid-back attitude and more towards how he'd been like when he'd actually been teaching her in the town of Roan.

"You have to remember that you aren't alone anymore," Merlin advised sincerely.

Merlin looked her in the eye, largely diminished the fire raging from within Arturia's mind.

"Trust in your husband."

Curse the supernatural. Curse Merlin and his Incubus heritage.

He always knew the right words to say.

In another part of Camelot, Gawain was leading Shirou towards the room where Merlin had stored Caliburn. It would be proof enough of Shirou's Kingship for the Nobles if Shirou was able to return to the throne room with the sword in hand. Only the worthy could wield the sword and none in Camelot could even make contact with the sword's hilt. Merlin was the only exception since he substituted magic as a means to transport the sword. In which case, Merlin could not be around Shirou when the sword was retrieved otherwise doubts could arise regarding Merlin's intervention.

Gawain was instructed to escort Shirou to retrieve the sword while Merlin kept the attention of the Nobles in the throne room.

Gawain just hoped that Shirou and Merlin could settle everything out before Arturia caught wind of the situation. It was why Gawain had dropped Arturia and Mordred off at a resting room to pass the time until the situation could resolve itself. Shirou was going to be the new King. His decision would be final and there wouldn't be anything that the Nobles could argue about.

Thinking about the topic, Gawain increased his pace, Shirou following along right beside him.

"The sword is within this room under seal by Merlin's magic," Gawain said after stopping by the door of a guarded room. The guards on either side bowed to Gawain before being dismissed.

Gawain didn't take any actions to open the door. Instead, he turned and addressed Shirou. "Sorry, but this is as far as I can accompany you until you retrieve Caliburn. You and you alone should be the one to draw the sword so that there can be no further speculation."

It was the most formal Shirou had ever heard Gawain speak. The right of succession for the new King to lead the country was no small matter. "Understood," Shirou said solemnly before pushing his way in passed the door and through the magic seals that Merlin had laid around to ward the unworthy away.

The interior of the room was plain. There was no furniture nor decoration to speak of, but rather the sword at the center of the room itself was the crowning piece. Caliburn lay buried hilt deep upon a large slab of stone that Merlin must have wedged the Sword of Choosing into.

Looking at Caliburn standing tall at the middle of the room, Shirou couldn't help but recall his memories of the past. Everything began with Caliburn and Caliburn's wielder. Moreover, he still remembered how Caliburn had reacted to him even in his current time line.

How would things have had gone if he'd understood that what Arturia valued most was no longer just the Kingdom, but his own wellbeing? Would it have been in her best interests if he hadn't hesitated in his youth and drew Caliburn from the stone before Arturia could even get the chance?

He'd never know because there was no longer any use in contemplating 'what ifs.' He had his goals. He understood his priorities. What mattered now was finding a method to create a better future, not just for himself, but for his family.

Stepping up to Caliburn, the sword emitted a warm light just as it had for him many years ago. This time, he would not shy away from it.

Help me. He focused his intent and resolve within a single plea in his mind while clasping his hands around Caliburn's hilt. You who chooses those capable of saving the country, the only wish I could ever ask of you as a partner is to maintain peace throughout the land for Arturia's behalf.

So, help me. He repeated again. Let's create a land whose kingdom shall stand through the test of time.

He pulled, and with hardly any resistance, Caliburn radiantly shone with all of its majesty from within his hands. It was just as he'd remembered it. Down to the finest detail of when he'd traced it the first time in his fight against the Greek Hero Herakles with Saber.

They were memories of another time.

It was never wrong to save others, for the sentiment itself was pure.

He smiled wryly and refocused himself. The deed was done. No noble would dare question his right to rule now that he was undisputedly wielding Caliburn. By the time that he'd exited the room, Gawain had bowed in a show of formal greeting.

"Hail the King," Gawain said heartily before grinning. "Or should I call you family on my cousin's side?"

"Just family sounds better," Shirou said somewhat stiffly. He was going to have to get used to these sorts of formal greetings, but for now, he was more curious about what Gawain had to ask of him.

Shirou was no longer as ignorant as he used to be. Gawain didn't have to personally escort him to retrieve Caliburn, nor did the man have to wait for him either. In which case, there had to be a reason for Gawain's presence. "Was there something that you needed," he decided to just ask directly.

Gawain's lips curved upward. He always did the direct approach unlike his brother Agravain. "About that," Gawain paused an considered just where he should begin. Besides, he didn't feel too hard-pressed right now anyway.

In the worst-case scenario, Gawain had already gotten Arturia's word that she wouldn't kill anyone, and a Knight's word was as good as their sense of chivalry.

Evidently though, Gawain did not know Arturia as well as he thought that he did. Arturia posing as a King, and Arturia assuming the role of a Queen and woman were entirely different. The values that she cherished and upheld were changed if only slightly.

What mattered to a woman perhaps even more than chivalry, was the pursuit of happiness and the stability of the family. Of course, Arturia held chivalry in high regard, but every woman had their breaking point. It just depended on which button was pressed and trigger pulled. Arturia was no different.

Give her a beast. Give her a war. Give her an entire army to fight off against, she wouldn't even bat an eye. However, attempt to take away the one man that she spent almost her entire life trying to understand just how much he meant to her, and wedding him to the instigator of her life's greatest misery was beyond just crossing the line.

All Dragons were greedy and horded their treasures. It was just that rather than gold, silver, or material goods, Shirou was Arturia's most cherished partner. He was her one taboo, and like all those with the blood and nature of Dragons, one should never touch their reverse scale.

Gawain froze midsentence as an oppressing, yet familiar bloodlust momentarily suffused the halls of Camelot's inner sanctum and terrified the nearby maids and patrolling guards into a panic.

O. Fuck.

Gawain broke into a sprint as Shirou hurriedly followed behind him, flabbergasted. By the time that Gawain reached the throne room, he gawked. The throne room's doors had been blasted open and were barely hanging on by their hinges. Moreover, both Arturia and Merlin were nowhere to be seen.

Most damning of all were all the corpses of several nobles cratered into the ground and walls present throughout the vicinity. Arturia had broken her promise. Of course, it wasn't a formal vow, but Gawain had through that Arturia's word was just as good. Clearly, she'd been pushed over the edge.

O God.

Gawain couldn't even begin to imagine the political repercussions of what Arturia had just done.

"This is going to get complicated," Gawain's complexion became ashen.

"What is?" Shirou could keep quiet no longer, prompting Gawain to grudgingly fill Shirou in on Camelot's current issues. However, rather than rally Shirou to his cause by explaining Merlin's plans and actions, Gawain was stunned to see that Shirou still sided with Arturia.

"I'm sorry. Recommending Morgan as a bride may not mean much for you and the other nobles, but it's personal for Arturia and I," Shirou elaborated without really explaining much. Gawain didn't press for an answer either. He'd seen how apprehensive Merlin was about Arturia discovering the issue and he was smart enough to make his own educated guesses.

Shirou turned to address the remaining nobility in the room. After Arturia's handiwork, only a scant few were left trembling by the corners and wondering if what they'd experienced was a dream or not. Gone was the docile if charismatic 'King' of Britain, replaced instead by an inconceivable she-demon in a blue and white dress.

As Shirou stepped forward to gather the attention of the remaining nobles, all eyes naturally turned to see Caliburn still in his grip.

"T-The Sword in the Stone," A hushed gasp escaped the wrecked audience hall. "He's the new King."

The admission was followed by a reverent silence, offset only be the air of death permeating throughout the room from the bodies scattered around.

"Although I can understand that you all have good intentions," Shirou began slowly while placing Caliburn in front of him. "Who I marry, has nothing to do with any of you."

His voice echoed out, not too strong, not too firm, but determined. It eased its way into the minds of all present and forced them to listen even if they didn't want to. This was to say, that the sound definitely reached within the adjacent rooms of the throne hall where Merlin had whisked a certain woman away for a talk.

"I love Arturia Pendragon."

It was said in finality. There would be no changing it. The expressions of the nobles that had suggested- still hoped for Shirou to marry Morgan- twisted into thinly veiled scowls of disappointment. Meanwhile, further down the hall and at an adjacent room, a woman was trying desperately not to show her true feeling as a pansy of a man continued to smile knowingly at her. She elbowed him in the gut and put him out of his misery.

"Then you wish to continue plans for a wedding with Arturia Pendragon?" A voice asked to clarify.

"That is the case," Shirou did not hesitate to answer.

The Nobles looked hesitant while a woman was happily venting her excitement on a 'training dummy' so that she wouldn't release any unexpected outbursts.

"When will the wedding be, my King?" An astute looking noble asked.

Shirou saw through the rouse in an instant. Even if Duke Wellington had suggested a wedding with Morgan out of genuine concern for the country, others that had rallied by Duke Wellington's back had other things to gain by the union. Namely, promised trades, land, and the ability to negotiate for a protection contingency from Morgan who was known to be able to wield magic.

Were they trying to haggle for time?

Shirou wouldn't let them. He'd crush any plans from the start.

"Tomorrow evening," He said. He would not give them any time to react or prepare.

"I'm afraid that's not possible. There are too many traditions and arrangements necessary for a royal wedding that -"

"Tomorrow," Shirou would not budge an inch. To hell with traditions. He honestly would have had been fine with a small wedding if not for the fact that he could see just how important Arturia viewed the event as.

As the nobles fell into verbal pandemonium, the woman listening in from an adjacent room had just hit cloud nine. The furor of her blows and wrestling holds increased exponentially in ferocity in her euphoria.

"Save me!" A pitiful cry went unheard in the clamour.

Regardless, dummies don't talk.

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Chaldea Alternative Records: Chapter 4: To Each Their Own. (I think I'm getting into a tempo of adding an update for the Alternative Records every second Chapter or so. No promises though, there are always off days.)

Sleep did not come easily for any Arturia in their present situation, and Lily was the worst. Unlike her older counterparts, she did not yet carry the confidence and faith in herself that would allow her to overcome even the hardest of challenges.

Her older counterparts were enraged and restless. If they were failing to fall asleep, it was because of their anger rather than anything else which was a monumental feat because even the alter versions seemed to hold Shirou in high regard.

Already, Lily could picture what her older counterparts were thinking. They were going to slaughter the beast that dared to 'kill' someone that was arguably the first genuine friend that Arturia ever had in her childhood. None of them were as nervous as Lily, but she knew that just foregoing sleep wasn't going to work.

She, just like the other Arturias did not know the mechanics of her current situation. What if because she decided to forgo sleep, the events of her dream played on regardless. In that case, she'd never be able to save her version of Shirou.

She refused that outcome. In fact, she hated it and dearly wished to be able to do something about it.

Her eyes closed in a bid to sleep only to promptly open again in apprehension. She tossed and turned in her section of the open plain that the other Arturias had wordlessly segregated into five regions. She'd made a bed of dried grass and was uselessly trying to get comfortable enough to sleep.

It wasn't working.

Her lips pursed and she could feel sweat building over her palms, making them feel clammy. If she failed, then her version of Shirou was going to die. Worse, if on the off chance that her older counterparts saved their Shirou while hers perished, she didn't know if she'd be able to bear the fact that she alone had not been able to save him. Jealousy and envy would be the following emotions that she would have to cope with in that scenario; jealousy at the fact that she'd be forced to continue watching what sort of man Shirou would become while her version had already died a kid.

No!

She tossed and turned on her makeshift bed, much to the annoyance of her counterparts who were all trying to fall asleep nearby. Eventually, sleep did come.

Before she knew it, Lily found herself within her own alternative record of her past. Different from her older counterparts, Lily's dreamscape had her waking up tiredly on the bed of her own home in Bristol with Sir Ector and Kay presently absent.

Blinking, she noticed Shirou making breakfast in front of her like normal. Ever since she'd brought Shirou back to live with her child self, Sir Ector, and Kay, they'd all fallen into a type of routine of sorts. Sir Ector and Kay would leave for morning activities in Bristol's town hall and Shirou would prepare breakfast and lunch for everyone. Her sole duty was to train diligently and watch and clean after the farm animals.

If there was one thing that all the Arturia shared in common, it was the fact that they were all back to shoveling the shit of treacherous pigs again. She swore the pigs really did hate her. Why else would they only shit when it was her turn to clean the sty?

Grumblings aside, Lily and every Arturia's attention was on Shirou today. In Lily's case, she was already bounding up to him and acting as if everything was normal.

"I've made extra food today," Shirou spoke out just as Lily reached the breakfast table. "It should last long enough until I get back from my trip to the Ashton manor. There are still a few things I need to go grab and ascertain."

Shirou's words jolted Lily into attention. "No don't!" She said involuntarily while in the midst of collecting her thoughts.

"No?" Shirou asked in confusion, and suddenly Lily was on her feet, walking, more like waddling really in her child body towards him. Once she was close enough, she grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and looked up at him in the face.

"Don't go," she pouted using her child-self's baby features, pudgy cheeks and doleful wide eyes staring persistently at Shirou's own. "Stay here for today. No. The week."

"Huh?" Was Shirou's bewildered reply. Evidently, he'd never seen Arturia act in such a way before.

"Although I wouldn't mind staying at home for an entire week, don't you think that's being too lazy? Didn't you say that you wanted to train in order to become a loved and wise King?" Shirou placed a hand over Lily's forehead, much to her embarrassment. She was being treated as a child, granted, she was in a toddler's body.

At the same time that Shirou was checking her temperature, he was waving a piece of freshly fried bacon in front of her face to gauge her reaction.

That was just cheating.

Her mouth quickly began to salivate, but for Shirou's sake, she held herself back and didn't lunge towards it with her mouth. That was the only sign that Shirou really needed to feel that Arturia was fretting over something important.

"If there's something wrong Arturia, you can tell me," Shirou sat right up to her and took her hands in his own. Lovable kid. Endearing even. "You know, I'm actually plenty strong."

"…Not strong enough," she whispered in a small voice.

"Try saying that after you beat me in a spar."

'Try saying that after not dying.'

Lily pursed her lips and huffed indignantly before looking away, missing the contemplative gleam that flickered across Shirou's face. "Listen here Arturia, if anyone in town is giving you trouble, or a hard time, even if you don't tell me I will find out. I guarantee you that they won't like me when I'm mad."

Lily actually blinked at Shirou's words. If she were really just a child, she may have had missed the wider implications of what Shirou had just implied, but she didn't in this case. He was looking out for her and she didn't know how to feel. In anything, her heart was doing funny things. "…" She had no reply.

Just staring into Shirou's earnest eyes was enough to get her to fidget because straight away she knew that Shirou had meant every word that he said.

"Please, Arturia."

She looked up at him then at the ground, then back at him, then back at the ground for an entire minute.

Don't get her wrong; she wasn't entirely swayed yet because no matter what Shirou said, she'd already seen him die. However, the difference this time would be that she wouldn't 'allow' him to die, right?

Rather than fight on her own like her older selves were doing, what if she left with him to Ashton manor and fought together?

"Arturia," Shirou called out patiently to her. "Trust me."

She looked deeply into his bronze-coloured eyes and suddenly took in a breath.

She really hoped that she wouldn't regret this.

---------------------------------------------------

"You know when I agreed to you asking me to come along with me, I didn't think that you were going to be this cautious about it," Shirou said flatly while watching the way Arturia forced him to a stop with the excuse of verifying the safety of the vicinity. "We've been to this forest several times already. What are you so apprehensive of?"

"Nothing wrong with being careful," Lily laughed awkwardly. Her eyes never left her surroundings though. "Never know if a 'beast' or something from the stories would pop up."

"Says the one who said goblins kept stealing and eating the packed lunches I gave you," Shirou deadpanned.

Lily shut her mouth in mortification. Her stride breaking into stiff steps before she nearly tumbled. Lying had never been a skill that she was known for or had ever really trained in. She was just lucky that she was a kid because there was no way that she could imagine a grown adult using the excuse of goblins to explain missing food.

"T-This is different," she moved the subject away as a flush spread over her cheeks. "A lack of care can lead to defeat when it matters most."

Shirou raised a brow at the rather mature phrasing. "Quoting Sir Ector, now?"

"Something like that," Lily hummed lightly before growing serious again and wearily looking at her surroundings.

"Arturia?" Shirou asked skeptically.

Lily felt she was going to take a risk here, but based on what she'd seen from the perspective of her child self, reports of the Beast had already been scene in the vicinity. Therefore, it was likely that it was definitely still around. She couldn't explicitly say this to Shirou because she didn't have an explanation about where she'd gotten the information from in the first place. It wasn't like he was going to believe something as outrageous as watching a separate time line of her child self go through an identical experience.

She'd just have to try another approach. Different from her child-self whose life she'd been watching with her older counterparts, Lily had already proven to Shirou that she could be capable.

"Do you feel that?" She tried instigating Shirou to be on guard by acting as if she'd sensed something nearby. Based on the capabilities that she'd shown Shirou that she possessed, there was no way that Shirou was going to doubt her words.

What Lily didn't expect was for him to react so fast as if his detective range was far larger than her own. Moreover, she'd been lying when she said that she'd sensed something, yet the seriousness that made its way onto Shirou's expression depicted a very different outcome.

A part of Lily felt underserving when Shirou stared at her with a look of wonder for 'seemingly' detecting the danger nearby when in truth, she'd been bullshitting.

Without another word, Shirou leapt to a tree to gain a higher vantage point. In the next second, Lily felt a distinct shift in the air, the energy of her Magic Core reacting to whatever it was Shirou was doing.

"What are you doing?" She voiced her silent question.

"Magic," was Shirou's only reply as a sleek black bow and a twisted sword manifested in his grip.

Suddenly, Shirou was exuding an aura and a presence that could scare away lesser beings with just a single glance. Moreover, the sword in his hand was undoubtably special. Lily could feel the sheer energy stored from within it, and even felt a sense of foreboding as Shirou notched the weapon onto his bow.

"I told you," he said while tendrils of pure magical energy swirled around him. "I'm stronger than you think."

An 'arrow' was let loose, and suddenly, Lily was at a loss for words. Sword skills, maturity, intelligence, ingenuity, magic, Shirou wasn't just a child prodigy.

He was a talent not seen in millennium.