Mordred walked into the throne room and found her father waiting for her, Saber didn't bother to turn to look at her she just began to speak.
"I heard that you challenged Kazuma for the throne and he rejected you," Saber said to Mordred who just looked at her father, there was no point in her denying any of it so she didn't.
"Father I just wanted to prove the" Mordred began but whatever words she had to say died in her throat as Saber turned to look at her.
Mordred felt her father's eyes and a chill ran down her spine.
"I already gave you the chance to pull the sword and you didn't do it, now I hear that you challenged someone that you shouldn't have," Saber said to Mordred as she walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder
Mordred watched as the look in Sabers eyes softened to the point they looked kind, but quickly hardened as the king in her father took over.
"Mordred do men wear dreses?" Saber asked Mordred who just answered no
"The people aren't stupid Mordred, the only reason they refer to me as their king, is because I earned it," Saber said to Mordred
"Kazuma maybe my elder self's son, but you are the child born from my seed," Saber said to Mordred and Mordred began to fear her fathers next words
"You will be wed to Kazuma, either the two of you have different mothers, or the other me gave birth to him, regardless the result will be the same"
"Our kingdom will have a powerful successor," Saber said to Mordred before walking out of the throneroom and leaving her standing there alone.
Mordred wanted to scream or simply throw something she wanted to do anything to make everything make sense and then she saw it her father's sword sunk deep into the stone of the floor of the castle
Mordred quickly walked up to it and drew it without thinking.
She began to laugh even as she cried, she had done it, she didn't doubt that her father would know what she had just done but what was the point now.
She was a man just like her father, but her father had just said that he was a woman in every way and the only reason the humans referred to him asking was because of her title
Nothing made sense, father had always been father, and it should have been her not Kazuma that should have been her father's successor.
"You know you're looking at this the wrong way," Merlin said to her as he walked into the throne room
"Think about it in this way," he said to her as he took Excalibur away from her and placed it back in its sheath
"On one hand Kazuma has already handed to you the throne remember" Merlin reminded her about her earlier encounter with her fathers recognized son
"On the other hand Arturia is only called a man because of her title, why not just call Kazuma or whoever you wed the queen and you refer to yourself as the king' Merlin said to her before quickly dodging a punch Mordred swung at him
Mordred tried over and over again to hit Merlin but in the end, the Mage of Flowers was too much for her.
"Are you done?" merlin said to her
"Here," he said as he placed a finger on Mordred's head
"What did you do?" Mordred said to him as she felt something inside her change
"You age faster than the Humans around you, that's not the case anymore"
Mordred looked at her hands and noticed the faint glow of Merlin's magic still present but it was quickly vanishing
"Leave- fight Kazuma for the right to be king, Marry him and rule together, or wait and become the new king when Kazuma leaves the kingdom. It's up to you" Merlin said to Mordred as he left her alone laying on the floor from exhaustion
][][
"Ladies and gentlemen I the Great Aqua have come to visit your town!" Aqua announced to the people who just looked at her before quickly ignoring her presence
If this bothered Aqua she didn't show it she just continued to present herself extravagantly.
Kazuma watched as Aqua gathered water from the air around them and created a ball of pure water.
This caught the people's attention and while some gathered to look at what Aqua was doing, others shied away because of what magicians were willing to do to regular people.
"This village doesn't have much to afford to pay you," A man said to Aqua
"that's okay, we will be more than happy if you can give us something to eat" Kazuma answered the man and he noticed that Nero gave him an irritated look
"I'm an adventurer, so feel free to ask me to do almost anything but I will expect to be paid for it," Kazuma said to everyone as he bowed to the people
'what do you mean?" a man asked him
"Anything, from cleaning barns to hunting monsters" Kazuma answered the man who just nodded and walked away
"She is so pretty," A pair of girls said as they looked at Nero and Arturia with wide eyes as they looked at the clothes both women were wearing.
"Greetings little ones, I the great Nero have come!" Nero said to the girls as announced herself
"Come enjoy my tales and whiteness the great operas I have been a part of and written!" Nero announced to everyone, but the people of the town just looked at her
"I am Arturia if any of you need help in strengthening your town's defenses," Arturia said to everyone, yet as the words left her lips she could only watch as the crowd left.
"That's disappointing," Nero said as she sat on the cart
"Waite fr it," Kazuma said to her
They had stopped in this town because it was a town in a web of towns, meaning that a lot of different settlements were built in the area they were in.
So that meant that their arrival was going to reach every other town in the area, so all that they had to do was wait, and either the people would come to them or they would go to the people.
The sound of thunder and the brief flashes of rainbow-colored light caught everyone's attention, but Kazuma noticed that the townspeople weren't bothered by it.
'They can't see it" Aqua said to them as she sat next to Kazuma and swung her feet
"All of the worlds are becoming well worlds, so everything that has to be there is now being put in them, we're just able to see it because we aren't from this world" Aqua explained the phenomenon to them
"So what happens now?" Nero asked Aqua
"Noting as far as everyone is concerned this world has always been this way," Aqua said to Nero as she looked at the townspeople, who went about their lives completely unaware of what was happening around them
The four of them sat on the cart as they waited, however, after an hour of waiting they decided to leave, but were quickly stopped by the same man that had spoken to Kazuma earlier
The man led them to a small hill that allowed them to see the other towns.
'Ever since the elves started to attack, we haven't been able to relax so I hope your performances can help everyone's mood" the man said to them before leaving them there
The four of them looked at each other before wondering if the man had just wanted to get them out of the town, but they had nothing to lose so they began to set something with what little they had.
Kazuma used his create fire skill with his Tinder skill to make sparks of light that became different colors fly into the sky above them.
Aqua began to gather water from the air and quickly froze it, before making the ice into snowballs.
Nero for her part graved anything she could before she began to juggle it all the while singing.
Arturia didn't know what to do, unlike everyone else she didn't have any experience beyond being king and warm her life before that wasn't much of anything.
She noticed Kazuma as he walked up to her and he watched as he picked up her spear.
'Come on" he said to her as he drew his short sword and charged at her.
Arturia defended herself before quickly attacking and she felt herself forgetting about the world around her as she danced with Kazuma, it was only when she cornered her adopted son that she heard the sounds of people clapping.
Arturia looked around and she found herself looking at the wide eyes of both adults and children alike.
"Thank you, thank you," Kazuma said to them as he bowed to the crowd and waved at them
Arturia turned and found Aqua putting ice into cups before making a waterfall from nowhere and filling up the cups with water, she smiled as she watched the children's eyes widen as they drank the cold drink.
Nero, on the other hand, danced alone as she told a story about Rome and she noticed how everyone of the people seated in front of the ex-Emperor listened to the woman's every word