Aqua looked at the world around her and exhaled with frustration.
"You know this is why I don't like Elves, they always act high and mighty but when things don't go their way they break and blame everyone else for their problems" the girl said as she picked up a necklace that was laying nearby.
She continued to walk and piked up trinkets that played scattered about, Arturia could see carts that would have had flowers or things that people would have wanted to buy.
"What happened here?" Kazuma asked aqua who piked up a rig from a nearby table
"Nothing, this place lost its magic and everyone left" Aqua answered Kazuma, completely dismissing the uneasy feeling that lingered in the air
Arturia couldn't help but feel as if something someone was looking at her, but she failed to notice if it was just one person or several as the buildings here were strange.
They were beautiful and didn't seem to have any corners, but their beauty was greatly diminished with time, and dust lingered everywhere.
It felt like exploring the ruins of a long-dead kingdom whose people had vanished leaving behind everything in place, there were plates of food left behind the food itself was rotting away, but it gave off no smell.
"So then why did they steal the villager's food?" Arturia asked Aqua
"The same reason anyone steals food, they didn't have anything to eat. As a goddess I was taught this by the higher-ups, there are always people that wait until the last minute to leave and they are the ones that always cause problems for everyone else, but those people are gone now and won't be coming back"
"Look around this place is dying, the magic that gave it life is gone so the buildings will turn to dust, and the things the elves left behind will vanish," Aqua said to Arturia
"Then why are you taking everything you can find?" Arturia asked aqua before the sound of plates breaking caught her attention and she found Kazuma taking the silk table cloth of a table.
She watched as he began to throw anything that looked remotely valuable on to the cloth.
"Arturia, you should help ut too, we didn't get paid for anything we did earlier and if what Aqua said is true, everything here is going to vanish anyway."
"Look if you feel like you're stealing, think of it this way."
"You are giving those villagers something they can trade for seeds and food" Kazuma said to
Arturia had to admit that she didn't like having to steal, but the elves had abandoned this place so it wasn't stealing, at least that was what she told herself as she took the cloth of a table.
For a brief moment, she wondered how this place must have looked when it was at its height. She wondered if both humans and elves mingled about or if it was a place where the elves dwelled.
The sound of building falling around them caught her attention but both Kazuma and Aqua ignored it, instead, they just continued with their work.
For a brief instant, Arturia stopped working and turned her attention towards the white sky, there were no clouds here, in fact, there wasn't even a sun, the sky was simply white.
It was like looking at a white rock, the buildings had no color, and as they fell they left no dust, in fact as hard as she tried Arturia failed to notice the shapes of the buildings around her and even the ground seemed to vanish not too far away from her.
She felt someone grave her hand and as she looked down she noticed that both Aqua and Kazuma were holding on to her and their sacs filled with loot, then the world around them changed.
Arturia found herself standing in front of the tree near the village, the mist was now gone and the tree was nothing more than a tree.
With nothing better to do, the three of them returned to the village and told them of what had happened, the people wept as they heard that their food and game were now gone, but their despair was replaced with joy and greed as they were given a sack filled with rings, necklaces, plated and other trinkets that had been made by elven hands.
The village had no food or water to spare and so the three of them left the village behind, yet as they did Arturia tried to ignore the jealous looks that the people gave them as they noticed the sacs that both Aqua and Kazuma carried with them.
Greed is a powerful thing, it makes children ill their parents, brothers turn on one another and entire kingdoms go to war, so she wouldn't put it past the people here to try and do them harm to get their hands on the trinkets her companions had with them.
After walking for a while she decided to tell the two her heart's desire.
"I want a normal life" Arturia said to her companions, no to her children given to her by the god., that walked just ahead of her
Kazuma and Aqua looked at one another before smiling.
"And what's a normal life, staying at home all day?" Kazuma said to her
"Or do you want an adventure that you can look back to when you're old?" Aqua answered her.
"When I was a king I couldn't do what normal women did, I don't know how to knit, nor do I know how to cook and in regards to men" Arturia began to say her flaws\ regrets before the two took her hands
"Cooking, we can teach you that" Kazuma said to her
"Knitting, just ask any girl or woman to teach you the basics and go from there" Aqua added
"As for men" Kazuma said before looking at Aqua
"You don't have to worry about that" Aqua finished Kazuma's words.
The three of them never stopped walking even as the sun began to set, however, as they walked they soon found themselves at the entrance to a nearby town.
In the castle Saber listened to her elder self's desire and heard her children's words, she both envied and felt disgusted by what she had just heard.
t was true that she herself felt the desire to live her life as an ordinary woman, to wed a capable man and bear children, to live an uneventful life, but she had chosen the path of a king and could no turn away now.
Her older self seemed to have taken this as a second chance at life and completely discarded the role she had taken, not only that she planned on taking her children with her.
That was something she couldn't allow, granted she didn't give birth or fathered either of them but Kazuma and Aqua wer\ are her children and would act as such
Even if she had to tear them away from Arturias side.
"I wonder if you were in her shoes would you say the same" Merlin said to her
"I wouldn't throw away my kingdom and my honer" Saber answered Merlin
"My dear king, this isn't her kingdom, there is no honor to be thrown away"
"As far as she is concerned Arturia Pendragon sits on her throne, the king has yet to father or give birth to the siblings"
"So why should she hand either of them to a woman that has no say in the way that they should be raised, much less the way she chooses to live her life" Merlin lectured her
"Because Camelot would crumble without a worthy king" Saber answered Merlin
"Then wouldn't it be better to test your three children equally," Merlin said to her.
"..."
"Mordred has failed her vision of the future and proven she has no plans on how to rule during the times of peace, but she is a capable knight and has fought at your side plenty of times"
Merlin council her
"Aqua has shown herself capable of moving the peoples hears, curing the sick and satisfying the desires of the people"
"She has proven that in times of peace she would be perfect for the throne, but she has yet to show what she is capable during times of great distress"
"And Kazuma has yet to show anything good about himself" The wizard finished
"..."
"Leave me" Saber ordered Merlin
As Saber watched Merlin walk out of the throne room she rose from her seat and walked towards a nearby window.
She looked at her kingdom, and couldn't help but smile the buildings could crumble away, but her kingdom would continue, the people could leave, but as long as they had a strong leader they would gather around him or her.
"Does a dog wish to be born a dog, does a peasant wish to be born a peasant?" Saber asked herself
"Even if they weren't born from me, they are mine none the less, they don't have a choice"
The sound of thunder echoed in the air, as rain began to fall, the weather resembled her inner turmoil.
On one hand, she knew that what merlin had said to her was true, her elder self had every right to choose whatever life she wanted to live.
Saber had no right to prevent Arturia from doing so.
The same went for Kazuma and Aqua and yet she had to, she envied the people that thought that being king meant that she could just say something and it would happen without any consequences.
Their ignorance was something she wished she had, Arturia lone would be a threat so great that she alone would have to deal with and she doubted that she could beat an older more experienced version of herself.
"Father," Mordred said to her as she walked into the throne room
Saber turned to look at Mordred and she noticed that the guard that had accompanied Arturia was with Mordred.
"..."
"Father, Shiroe says that he wants to give Arturia and her children the payment that was never given to them," Mordred said to Saber
"Do so" Saber ordered Shiroe before she turned to look at Mordred
"Mordred I want you to find Kazuma, the man that walks with Aqua and Arturia"
"He's the boy that wears te green clothing and Aqua is the girl that wears the blue dress that is far to small for her," Saber said to Mordred and she watched as the girl rose to her feet and began to walk out of the room
"I want you to challenge him to a duel, with the conditions that if he loses he is to return here with you, and if you lose you will do anything he wishes"
"Regardless of what it may be," Saber said to Mordred.
She watched as the girl stopped walking and turned to look at her with fear in her eyes and she used both of her hands to cover a delicate part of her body, that despite being covered by silver armor somehow seemed far too exposed.
"But what if he wants to, take my" Mordred began
"Then you are to give it to him," Saber said to her daughter
Mordred left the throne room without any other words, Saber hated herself for giving the girl such an order, but it wasn't uncommon for nobles to force their children to bed one another to produce an heir.
She remembered how she had been tricked into bedding her own sister during a ritual and how disgusted the two of them were, the next day when they realized who the other person was.
If anything she was being far too kind, at the very least she had given both Mordred and Kazuma a way out, something she and others before her never had.