A/N: Thank you readers for all the nice reviews! If I had virtual cookies, I'd send them all to you! *makes mental note to start baking virtual cookies and desserts* Enjoy this new chapter and be cool and leave a review.

Oh and helva2260 pointed out a mistake of locations. Cenred was king of Escetia. Kind of got my information from the wrong place…but I corrected it and thank you so much helva2260 for pointing that out. I felt so silly when I realized my mistake.

Well, yeah, that's the end of my author's note. I leave you people to the reading…

Conversations

The entire walk, Merlin had kept his head down and made sure none of the guards really noticed him. Yes, it was harder since he was walking next to Prince Arthur, but he managed. Okay, so maybe he did whisper a small incantation to make himself unnoticeable to the guards. He just couldn't wait until he reached the tavern. It wasn't that he wanted to get drunk. He actually wasn't planning on having any drinks. No, it was because the tavern might be the only place left in Camelot that had people who still didn't know Merlin was now a king.

"Arthur, I just don't know about going to the tavern. With our luck, something is bound to happen." Merlin said as they were just a few yards away from The Rising Sun.

"Nothing is going to happen. Now would you stop worrying so much? Just think about how good the mead is going to taste."

"I already told you I'm not drinking anything. I don't like getting drunk." A small pout appeared on Merlin's face.

"Fine, we can go somewhere else or not even go anywhere at all. But aren't you hungry?"

Merlin's stomach immediately growled in response. "All right, we can go in. I still don't like the idea though." He said before they went in.

Arthur opened the door and Merlin was able to see everyone that was there. It wasn't a lot of people since it was barely midday, but there were a few customers. Unfortunately, Gwaine and Lancelot were two of the customers. Gwaine had a few empty mugs in front of him while Lancelot had just one and a plate of half-eaten food.

Merlin quickly spun around. He did not want to talk to either of them. They were either going to poke fun at him or convince him to take the throne. "I'm leaving."

"No you're not. You're going in." Arthur spun Merlin back around.

"Is that…Merlin? Merlin! What are you doing here?" Gwaine called out as he stood up on unsteady legs.

Lancelot turned to look at them and grinned knowingly.

"Everyone! The Prince of Camelot is here and so is the new King of Escetia, Merlin!" Gwaine announced, spinning around for everyone to hear.

Several drunken cheers were heard as Arthur shoved Merlin towards the two unorthodox knights.

"So then it is true." Lancelot said as Merlin and Arthur joined them at their table. "Merlin is a king."

"No, I'm not. I don't want to be king and I'm not going to be king." Merlin said.

"What? But you can't do that Merlin! You have to take the throne!" Gwaine exclaimed.

The barmaid came to take Arthur and Merlin's order. She gave a small curtsey but kept her gaze focused on Merlin. Merlin felt it and began shifting uncomfortably on the bench.

"I'll have a mead and Merlin would like a plate of food please." Arthur said.

The barmaid grinned as she looked at Merlin. "Of course, your highness. I'll have the plate specially prepared for you. You know I've always liked you-"

Arthur cleared his throat. The barmaid jumped slightly, gave a small curtsey and left, but not before winking at Merlin.

Merlin groaned. "Another reason why I don't want to be king! Everyone just sucks up to you and acts nice even if they don't like you! That woman used to hate me! But now since I'm a 'royal' I'm suddenly extremely likeable? I mean, not everyone likes Arthur, but they have to act like they do! How can you possibly stand it?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "I always just thought I was a likeable man."

"Uh, well…"

"So Merlin," Lancelot interrupted. "You've been chosen as King of Escetia. You know you can't back down. It's your duty to follow through with the role."

"I've said it a million times: I don't want to be king! I don't know the first thing about being a king! Besides, I like my life here in Camelot." Merlin practically yelled.

"A lot of people receive positions that they don't know the first thing about. Take Gwaine for example. He doesn't know the first thing about being a knight." Arthur pointed out.

"Hey! I may be drunk, but I know when someone's offending my honor!" Gwaine said as he pointed a finger in Arthur's direction.

The barmaid came back and gave them their order. She slowly walked away, giving Merlin her best sultry look.

Merlin felt his ears turning red when he turned to look at Arthur, Lancelot, and Gwaine. They all had smirks on their faces. Merlin immediately looked down at his plate and began picking at the chicken and cheese. "Don't even say anything. Not one word from any of you

Gwaine laughed and clapped Merlin on the back. "So King Merlin, when are you leaving?"

"I don't know. I was kind of hoping to talk with King Alvarr…maybe convince him to change his mind?"

"He already said his mind was made up. Nothing that anyone can say will do anything." Arthur said, sipping his mead carefully. "He'll be leaving the day after tomorrow."

"So soon? That gives you no time to pack!" Gwaine exclaimed.

"I'm sure Merlin doesn't have much to pack." Arthur said with a smirk.

Merlin looked up to glare at Arthur, but said nothing in reply. He was in no mood to argue with him.

"You seem to be taking this well," Lancelot said to Arthur. "You're not covering up how much you're going to miss him, are you?"

It was Merlin's turn to smirk.

Arthur opened his mouth to say something. Nothing came out. He closed it, then opened it again but still said nothing. Merlin quietly mused that he looked much like a fish out of water.

"I'm not going to miss Merlin because he's been the most incompetent servant ever. Maybe he really is supposed to be king because he isn't good at being a servant or anything else for that matter." Arthur finally said after several attempts to say anything.

"You can tell yourself that all you want, but I can tell you right now, Arthur Pendragon, that you are going to miss Merlin." Gwaine said with a hiccup at the end. "Who else is going to tell you when you've messed up? The cook?"

Merlin laughed. "Yeah, I can see that boot licker going up to Arthur and calling him prince of all things prat-ish."

Momentarily forgetting Merlin's new title, Arthur raised his hand to slap Merlin's head. Merlin saw the hand and ducked, but just as Arthur was about to swing, he remembered Merlin being a king. He lowered his hand and took a good long drink of mead.

"Oh, I've just had a great idea! I can be one of you knights! The highest ranking knight there is." Gwaine said. He held his head up proudly. "Imagine it. Sir Gwaine, Knight of Escetia."

Arthur gave a humorless smile. "You can't be a knight for two kingdoms. And once you're a knight of Camelot, you're always a knight of Camelot. The only way for you not to be a knight anymore would be for me to revoke your knighthood."

"Then do it! I want to go with Merlin!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're good with a sword and I don't plan on revoking your knighthood anytime soon."

Gwaine's face fell and he drank more of his mead.

"Maybe we could visit you after you get settled in." Lancelot suggested.

Merlin groaned. "I'm never going to get settled in."

"Don't worry about it, Merlin. I'm sure you will be able to settle in and pretty soon you'll get the hang of it." Lancelot said.

"Yeah, all the laws and traditions he has to remember, court behavior, learning about war craft, memorizing all the places in Escetia. Well, I guess he won't have that much of a hard time since he's originally from Escetia, even if it is just a tiny village on the border of the kingdom." Gwaine said.

"That's it." Merlin said as he stood abruptly. "I'm going to go find that King Alvarr and talk to him."

Lancelot and Gwaine watched Merlin walk out of the tavern. Arthur just continued sipping his mead.

"Aren't you going to follow him?" Lancelot asked.

Arthur set down his mug. "Yes, just let me finish this. You can put it on my tab once I leave."

Merlin walked down the corridor with his head held high. Nothing was going to stop him from talking to King Alvarr.

"I swear, if I don't find that man…"

Merlin froze as he heard that scullery maid coming towards him from a different corridor. He slowly started walking backwards before turning around and bumping into someone.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I saw you, but then you turned around and…"

Merlin smiled as he saw that it was Gwen. He started helping her pick up the fabric she had dropped. "Don't worry about it Gwen."

Gwen looked up and her eyes widened. "Merlin…I mean, King Merlin…I don't…oh dear." she had no idea anymore what to call Merlin.

Merlin sighed. "Gwen, please. You don't have to call me that because I don't want you to. Besides, I'm not even a real king."

"But I heard that you were chosen during the Council of Kings. Something like that can't just be undone." Gwen said as she stood up with all the fabrics in her arms again.

"Yeah, well…I guess this time will be a first." He said with a small grin.

"Do you have any idea what you're going to do to not be king?"

"I was going to talk to King Alvarr."

Gwen grimaced. "From what I've heard about him, he doesn't make decisions lightly and once he's decided something, he doesn't change it for anything."

"But he chose me with his eyes closed! Don't you think that's making a decision lightly!"

Gwen looked around before leaning in to continue speaking. "I've also heard that King Alvarr is able to see into the future. He's a seer. Maybe he already knew you were going to be a king?"

Merlin quirked an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

"I don't know if it's actually true, but everyone from every kingdom agrees that King Alvarr possesses a…'special' talent."

Merlin was going to say something more, but a firm hand on his wrist caused him to turn around.

"You are not going to run away this time. You are going to get a bath so you can look presentable for the feast they're having in your honor tonight."

Merlin was shocked. He didn't know if it was because the scullery maid had finally caught him or if it was because he just found out about a feast that was going to be in his honor. His honor!

Well, since he wasn't going to get away this time, Merlin was probably going to have to wait until the feast to talk with King Alvarr. He'd have to endure 'the bath' as well.

After a quick training session with his knights and avoiding all questions from them about Merlin becoming a king, Arthur went back inside the castle. His mission: find King Alvarr and talk to him. Find out if he really did change his mind. Maybe Merlin was still talking with him even.

As he rounded a corner, he saw his father walking King Odin. They were talking civilly. Arthur couldn't help but be surprised, considering what happened last time King Odin was here. He stayed hidden in a doorway, hoping to catch their conversation.

"Don't tell me that you actually believe that servant is competent of ruling a kingdom?" Odin said.

"As I've said before Odin I don't know. We might end up being surprised. Maybe this…oh what was his name again…Merlin will turn out to be a great king." Uther replied.

Odin snorted. "Servants stay servants, nobles stay nobles, and royals stay royals. That's how it's been for ages and that's how order has still been maintained in all of Albion. Escetia should've just been divided up equally for all the kingdoms."

"And I'm assuming you'd get the biggest share?" Uther quipped.

"If I had to, then yes." Odin said.

Uther shook his head. "Well Odin, I think King Alvarr was right. Maybe it's time to break tradition. Cross over the boundaries of social status."

Odin stopped to look at Uther. He narrowed his eyes and frowned. "What exactly are you trying to do, Uther?"

Uther chuckled. "Do I look like I'm scheming something?"

"Yes. You've always looked like that to me, but I think this time you might actually be scheming something…"

A laugh escaped Uther's lips. He clapped Odin's back and said. "Odin, you worry too much. Why would I be scheming something when this is a time to celebrate? Besides, if I was scheming anything, I would never tell you anything about it."

Arthur couldn't hear anymore of the conversation. He came out from the doorway and slowly started walking aimlessly. It didn't make sense. Why was Uther so quick at accepting Merlin as the King of Escetia? Everyone else was still trying to wrap their mind around it, especially Merlin himself.

"Prince Arthur, you need to start getting ready for the feast."

Arthur turned around and saw a servant in front of him. "Feast? There's going to be another feast?"

"Yes, sire." The servant said with a dip of his head. "It's going to be in honor of King Merlin."

Arthur groaned. "Please don't call him that in front of me."

"But that's-"

"No one else will have to know, it'll just be between you and me, understood?" Arthur said sternly.

The servant quickly nodded his head. "But you still should get ready for the feast. A bath has already been drawn in your room."

"Thank you," Arthur dismissed the servant and began walking towards his room. As he headed to his room, he remembered that he was going to talk with King Alvarr. He could probably talk with him during the feast.

The wind caused his dark hair to blow into his hazel eyes as he stood on the balcony and looked down at the courtyard below. Several guards and servants were disassembling the used pyre. The burnt smell was still fresh in the air.

The sun was already dipping behind the horizon. He didn't realize that it take the entire day to finish all the executions.

"Well, Sheriff Harvey. I'm surprised with you. I only brought in twenty people to be executed and yet there was execution of thirty five."

Harvey turned around. His dark eyes showed his disgust towards the person next to him. "Sir Rylan. What are you doing here?"

Sir Rylan was one of the few knights who wasn't killed or drank from the cup of life. He was also one of the few knights that Sheriff Harvey could stand. "I asked a question first. But knowing you, I'm never going to get an answer to I'll just go ahead and give you my answer. I came up here because I knew you were going to be here. I needed to speak with you."

"Is it important?" Harvey asked with a heavy sigh.

"If you consider our new king important, then yes."

Harvey sharply turned to look at Rylan. "You've heard news? Do you know who is he is then?"

Rylan smirked. "No, I haven't heard any news. No real news at least, just gossip from the taverns." He looked at his fingers and began picking at his nails.

Harvey looked away as his interest flew out the window.

"People are talking saying that a king has already been chosen." Rylan continued, not caring that Harvey was showing no interest.

"I believe so, too. The sun is setting already. We'll meet the new king in no less then two days." Harvey said shortly. He just wished Rylan would leave him alone. That man was the most annoying man in all of Escetia.

"But they're also saying that he's from Escetia."

Harvey frowned. How could that be? A noble had to be chosen and none of the nobles from Escetia had gone. "Impossible."

Rylan chuckled grimly. "I think not…"

"Do you know something I don't know?" Harvey asked as he looked at Rylan.

Rylan shook his head. "No, I've told you all the rumors I've heard already."

"Then that's all that they are. Rumors."

"But the rumors could always turn out to be true." Rylan said in a small sing-song voice.

"Don't you have men to train?" Harvey said. He was fed up with Rylan.

Rylan smirked. "And don't you have people to arrest? Especially with this new law and the guards-"

"Excuse me, Rylan. I believe there's something I need to attend to." Harvey didn't even try to come up with a better excuse as he walked away.

While Harvey thought it would be beneficial if the new king was from Escetia, he knew it was highly unlikely. No, the new king was probably a strong man who would return Escetia back to its former glory. A glory that would finally be greater than Camelot's.