บท 413: Questions (I)

Shaking his head to clear messy thoughts, Arkhan turned to Melusine with a smile.

"Any plans for today?"

"None, as long as I'm with you, I'm good. Wherever you go, I'll go." Melusine answered without hesitation.

"Alright, then..." Arkhan lowered his head and thought for a moment before deciding. "Let's go find Ritsuka and the others first. Since we're not familiar with this place, they can give us an overview."

Melusine nodded, naturally extending her small hand.

Seeing this familiar gesture, Arkhan's lips twitched slightly before he sighed helplessly, taking her soft, delicate hand. Fortunately, because of their height difference, they looked more like siblings, so even holding hands didn't seem out of place.

If Melusine's appearance were a bit more mature, he would really be under too much pressure.

Since his house was close to Ritsuka and Mash's, it would only take about several minutes to walk there. This meant that if there were any emergencies, he could rush over in time.

As Arkhan and Melusine approached Ritsuka's house, they suddenly saw a woman walking toward them.

Arkhan recalled for a moment and remembered her as the female attendant who interrupted Nero's singing at the banquet last night.

"Oh, it's you, Sir Arkhan." The attendant approached with a smile. "I was just about to look for you."

"Me?" Arkhan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Did something happen with Nero?"

"Well... sort of..." The attendant's expression became somewhat subtle. "After the banquet ended last night, Her Majesty stayed up all night to finish the remaining paperwork and hasn't woken up yet. She said... she wanted me to give you and the two senators today's paperwork."

Upon hearing that, Arkhan was slightly stunned, then shook his head with a wry smile.

He thought Nero was joking with him yesterday, but he didn't expect this emperor to be so straightforward, sending the documents over the next day.

'Truly an emperor, she really means what she says, huh...'

With that thought in mind, Arkhan glanced at the stack of documents in the attendant's hands. Judging by its thickness, it must be at least several pages long.

'How can a country with just over ten thousand people have so much stuff to handle every day? No wonder Nero looked so miserable. Dealing with so many documents every day, even a workaholic can't hold on, can they?'

With a helpless shake of his head, Arkhan took the stack of documents from the attendant's hand.

"Alright, just hand them all over to me. I need to visit Ritsuka and Mash anyway." Arkhan said with a nod.

"Thank you so much! I'll come to pick them up around noon." The attendant said with a slight nod and smile before turning and walking away.

After walking for a while, Arkhan and Melusine finally arrived at the house of Ritsuka and Mash.

Holding the thick stack of documents, Arkhan knocked on the door.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Is it Arkhan? I'm coming!"

In the next second, Ritsuka's voice echoed from inside the house.

With hurried footsteps, she quickly opened the door, her face full of surprise.

"It's really you, Arkhan! And Miss Melusine too! Umm, what brings you here, though?"

"I've come to bring you a gift." Arkhan said, lifting the stack of documents in his hand to indicate the gift.

At first, Ritsuka looked pleasantly surprised upon hearing 'gift', but as soon as she saw the documents, her expression fell.

"Seriously... she really doesn't give us some slack... Couldn't she at least let me rest for a few days?" Ritsuka sighed tiredly.

"Count yourself lucky. This time even I got roped in too." Arkhan shrugged his shoulders.

Ritsuka took the stack of documents from Arkhan's hand and led the two inside.

At this moment, Ritsuka, Mash, and Da Vinci were having breakfast, consisting of simple fare like fried eggs and bread. Because of their status as senators, the three of them also received an extra glass of milk each day.

Even though it appeared to be an ordinary breakfast, it was a rare luxury in this era.

At their invitation, Arkhan and Melusine also sat down to join them.

They all sat together, laughing and chatting harmoniously, even Melusine, who was usually silent and reserved, had a faint smile on her face.

On the other hand, Arkhan looked nostalgically at this scene and couldn't help but sigh. How long had it been since he had experienced days like this?

After breakfast, Da Vinci had to go to the construction site to work on building a forge. Currently, the equipment of the Holy Roman Empire still lagged behind Camelot's in quantity, so they needed to prepare in advance for the upcoming battles.

As for Arkhan, Mash, and Ritsuka, they started dealing with today's government affairs.

Arkhan had served as a king for a while, so he didn't find this work troublesome. And just as Nero had said, most of these things weren't difficult or overwhelming, just tedious.

Meanwhile, Melusine sat quietly by his side like a doll.

No choice.

She had never dealt with something like this before, so she couldn't help with anything. Back in Camelot, they were all handled by the Lion King's aide, Agravain, and her only job was to beat people up. As a dragon, her way of thinking was quite different from humans, so she wasn't suited for this kind of work.

"Melusine, if you're bored, you can go for a walk, you know." Arkhan suggested.

Upon hearing that, Melusine shook her head.

"As long as I'm with you, I'm happy no matter what I do."

While flipping through the documents, Mash and Ritsuka paused, casting a slightly strange glance at Arkhan.

Ignoring their gaze, Arkhan cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Well... let's chat then."

In fact, this was perfect timing.

He had plenty of questions for Melusine to answer, like about Merlin, the Lion King, Camelot, and this world.

"Sure." Melusine nodded eagerly, her big eyes gleaming with excitement.

Although she was normally quiet and reserved, she couldn't help but get excited when it came to chatting with him.

After a moment of contemplation, Arkhan asked his first question.

"Let's start by talking about... Merlin."

"Merlin..." Melusine fell silent for a moment before speaking up. "Although she has never made a move against me in my memories, my instinct tells me that if she were to truly make a move, I might not have an absolute certainty of defeating her."

"That's normal. Merlin is a powerful mage, close to a Grand Servant. Coupled with her mastery in illusion, even if she can't defeat you in a direct fight, it wouldn't be easy to kill her." Arkhan expressed his opinion.

"No, that's not it." Melusine's expression turned serious. "When I say I'm not confident in defeating her, I don't mean I can't kill her. It's more like I might end up perishing alongside her."

Upon hearing that, Mash and Ritsuka exchanged a glance, their eyes betraying a hint of shock.

Merlin actually had the power to stand against a dragon?