Politics was something that Yuto had always avoided, simply removing anyone who sent his gain ahead of Rome's common interest. However, he had had some difficulty in keeping an eye on the Senate in recent years because of the corruption.
But now he had connections. As Yuto, his connection with the Lupis family allowed him to control the knights, from which the Praetorian Guard would be born in the future; as Archer, Yuto had forged a useful collaboration with Octavianus, allowing him to control the senate. He could not hope for better honestly.
"So, Archer, do you have any news about the conspirators?" Octavianus asked.
"Unfortunately, my relationship with you has put them on the defensive, but I think that they want to control Rome," Yuto replied.
The basis on which he said it was because he had discovered traitors in both orders, discovering some important things, of which the most important was the pyramidal hierarchical order.
"It seems that the King is at his head and everyone answers directly to him. Immediately below there is someone issuing king's orders and even more below there are lieutenants whose name recalls the name of an ancient king or hero. Then there are the pawns and they are the expendable members," Yuto replied, putting pieces of a chessboard on the table. "I have no information about the king, but I can assume that his deputy is the man I saw with Gaius Valerius. I couldn't find out his identity."
Octavianus sighed. "It's enough."
"No, it is not," Yuto replied harshly. "I allowed corruption to spread, allowing the conspirators to make Rome their plaything."
"Even if you have undoubted skills, you are a man. You cannot predict everything," Octavianus said more as advice from a friend than a warning.
Given Yuto's potential as an assassin, Octavianus was more than interested in befriending him. However, he doubted that women, money, land, or titles could bring Yuto to his side.
"Soon there will be a banquet. I would like you to attend," Octavianus said.
"I humbly refuse," Yuto replied.
"Why?" Octavianus questioned him.
"It's personal," Yuto replied.
"I understand. I regret that you will not take part. I would have liked to have deepened our collaboration." Octavianus drank a sip of wine and then put the glass on the table. "Well, my friend, I wish you luck."
Yuto grunted under his mask. He hated lap dogs.
If it had not been Tiberius' suggestion, he would have sent Octavianus to hell after their first encounter. Yuto didn't like him because, if he thought of him as an insecure man, he was wrong. Octavianus was a cunning and ruthless man who used him to remove his political enemies.
"If you'll excuse me, I have to go now," Yuto said, getting up.
"Just one thing, Archer." Yuto turned to Octavianus. "Soon Tiberius Vedius' youngest daughter will marry a freedman branch."
"What does that have to do with me?" Yuto asked suspiciously.
"I have nothing against it and the law allows it, but many do not see it well. I think they consider this marriage a waste of resources," Octavianus said, smiling slightly.
"Hmm..." Yuto brooded suspiciously. "I'll keep an eye."
"Jack doesn't like that man. Can Jack kill him?" Jack asked innocently.
"I don't like him either, but I need him alive for now," Yuto replied, as he finished preparing the necessary things for the party.
Yuto began to suspect that Octavianus had discovered who he really was and feared that he would use blackmail to use him to his will. Obviously, Yuto was ready. No one could think of blackmailing him and get away with it, not even the future first emperor of Rome.
"Do you think mum will like it?" Jack asked, looking at the little box in his hands.
"You drew it. She can't like it," Yuto replied.
Yuto went to his room. There was a strange gift wrapped on his bed. Discarding it, it was a finely woven blue and red toga. It was nothing gaudy, but Yuto immediately noticed the fineness of the material. It was something that Yuto could never afford with his salary.
"We have to go, Dad. The party will start soon," Jack said impatiently.
The toga was perfect for him. It was neither too wide nor too tight, allowing him comfortable movements despite always preferring trousers.
The engagement party would be held at the Lupis' house. Honestly, Yuto would have preferred to avoid it as he did not like to be on display, however, it was the tradition that an engagement party was held with friends and relatives.
"I imagined you were behind it," Yuto said, turning to the man behind him. "Is this a dream? Or are you an illusion?"
"Don't you even ask who I am?" the man smiled slightly.
"I don't need to ask you. I already know who you are," Yuto replied, turning completely towards the man.
The man had long white hair that reached down to the ground. He wore a finely woven white tunic, wide dark trousers with gold trim and boots. The man had a light smile on his face, which made his expression calm and relaxed.
"You're Merlin and I don't think this is the first time we've met," Yuto said.
"So you knew, don't you? Huh," Merlin chuckled stupidly.
"My clairvoyance allows me to see through the Fifth and Fourth Holy Grail Wars. King Arthur's life must have been someone's doing," Yuto said.
The only one who could show him such vivid dreams was Merlin, who was still alive in the modern era.
"You haven't answered yet. Is this a dream?" Yuto asked again.
"Oh no, it's all real," Merlin replied. "I'm the one and only Merlin, who has reached this age."
The Garden in which Merlin was imprisoned was outside of the world and the flow of time. Yuto wasn't so surprised to see the real Merlin. He was surprised that Merlin had left his tower after 1500 years.
"I've been watching you for a while. Well, since your birth to tell the truth," Merlin admitted embarrassed. "I know you're getting married."
"It's political. I have to do it if I want to realise my wish," Yuto declared.
"Political or not, you are about to put a woman's happiness on your shoulders," Merlin said. "Even if the child you will have starts the Pendragons, it's not worth it if you make someone else suffer."
He knew he was going to turn Lavinia the younger into another Guinevere. Yuto didn't need to hear it from him.
"What should I do?" Yuto asked.
That was his plan after all. He planned to have a child, one to whom he would entrust the magic crests and the task of starting Pendragon House.
"Maybe living that long made you forget something," Merlin said, staring Yuto in the eye. "Do you remember for what you had fought the Sixth Holy Grail War?"
Mainly he had taken part in it to revenge his family.
Merlin sighed wearily. "Do you remember what happened to your mother when she tried to take care of everything by herself? Or better yet, what happened to that man? Do you really want to end up like him?"
"If I don't, I won't be able to repay Rin," Yuto replied.
"What if your efforts fail?" Merlin asked, fully capturing Yuto's attention. "Wouldn't that mean you wasted your life and that of many others?"
"If I don't try, then the chance is zero," Yuto replied.
"You're just like them. Well, it doesn't matter. I'm sure you'll remember," Merlin said, approaching Yuto and putting his hands on his shoulders. "Don't make a young woman suffer needlessly."
A party was always a party and the rule was to have fun. Of course, it was not easy since most were noble patricians and, as Yuto suspected, they were all arrogant.
"Honestly, what's on his mind for Vedius Lupis to give his daughter to a freedman?" a man said to another.
"He should feel honoured that he got his freedom. He shouldn't think he is like us," another remarked disdainfully.
It was exactly as Octavianus had told him. Many would not look positively on such a marriage. Yuto didn't care what others said about him, but he wasn't sure if he could keep quiet when people made fun of his benefactor.
"Don't do anything stupid," Tiberius Vedius said, noticing Yuto's discomfort. "These idiots only speak because they have the tongue."
"Then let me cut it," Yuto replied in a low tone.
"You'll get the chance, I assure you," Tiberius Vedius said, leading Yuto to another room. "Of course I expected it."
"So why did you do it?" Yuto asked.
"It's tradition." Tiberius Vedius stopped and turned to Yuto, looking firmly into his eyes. "Listen, you'll have to prove you're better than them. Just try to be superior. Do not fall into their provocations. If then the thing degenerates, Claudius and I will come to your rescue."
That was more advice from a friend than a future father-in-law. He simply wanted to silence all the people who spoke ill of his daughter and his judgment. And there were some among them he would enjoy seeing them on their knees.
"May the gods hold me," Yuto muttered.
As soon as Yuto entered, he immediately noticed Merlin's presence.
"Given the corruption, I prefer Lavinia to be married to a man I trust," Tiberius said, stopping to greet some of the guests. "You did not just save my life, you saved my whole family."
"I would do it again because you are a man who has won my respect," Yuto said sincerely.
Tiberius, Yuto and Jack sat down.
These social things didn't work for him. The discomfort he felt was obvious. He was a soldier and first of all, a man who had spent most of his life on a battlefield.
Suddenly, while he was dining, wine was spilled on him.
"I beg your pardon. I thought I saw a cockroach," a man said, mocking Yuto.
The man was a well-known figure in Yuto. He was a man of medium stature, rather robust, with thick curly hair and a frizzy black beard. He wore a robe finely woven with gold and several jewels.
"Hey Tiberius, was it necessary to invite this slave?" the man said disdainfully.
"Of course." Tiberius nodded calmly. "It would not be an engagement party if there were no boyfriend."
"What?" the man exclaimed surprised. "You can't. Do you know why he became a slave?"
Tiberius nodded.
"A traitor should be sentenced to death. He should consider himself lucky only to continue to serve Rome as a slave," the man said.
The man was Marius Iulianus Tucidus and he was the captain who once commanded Yuto's legion. He was also the one who denounced Yuto for treason and made him lose everything he had.
"I know his past. I know what he did when he was in the army," Tiberius said, making Iulianus Tucidus wince. "Everyone deserves a second chance, especially if they're charged with circumstantial evidence."
Investigating why Yuto had been accused of treason, Tiberius had asked questions and some of Yuto's former comrades had explained that the Iulianus were envious of Yuto, who was popular among the troops despite being just a commoner.
"It was not circumstantial evidence! He was caught in the act!" Iulianus declared arrogantly.
"No, you found him handling the weapons of the other soldiers, but not sabotaging them," Tiberius said. "Some soldiers said that their weapons were capable of piercing through enemy armour as if they were made of cheese."
"That was a battle we would surely lose. The enemy was numerically superior to us. So I did it on my own and used magecraft to increase the odds of winning," Yuto said, activating and showing all the magic circuits. "And the proof was that the only dead were those whose weapons and armour were not straightened."
"Why didn't you defend yourself?" Tiberius asked.
"It wouldn't make sense since the trials always benefit the powerful," Yuto replied.
It had been a farce from the beginning. Lying was the easiest way to end it. However, he was surprised that the penalty had only been slavery. He knew of people who had been sentenced to death for desertion.
"It seems that all the soldiers agree on one thing. Yuto is the type who gives his life for others, without expecting anything in return." The veiled reference to the undeserved merits Iulianus had received made him nervous. "Myself and my men owe my life to this person and I, unlike others, reward those who deserve it."
Iulianus had not felt so humiliated since he was removed from the command of his legion. The purpose of his presence was only to wrest an alliance with Tiberius by marriage, but it was almost impossible at this point.
Tiberius sighed wearily. He expected it, but it was more tiring than expected. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I humbly apologize for this inconvenience. Come on, this is a party, and all you have to do is have fun."
Despite the discontent, they all resumed eating and partying. People chatted with each other, except for Yuto, who was simply eating while he was immersed in his thoughts, and Lavinia the younger, who was throwing worried glances at Yuto.
"Is something wrong?" a boy asked him.
Yuto turned to Claudius, the eldest son of Tiberius. He was on good terms as he had learned the art of swordsmanship from Yuto and was grateful to him for saving his father twice.
"Sorry, I caused a mess," Yuto said, sighing wearily.
"I don't know why my father invited him, but that was to be expected of a person like him," Claudius said quietly.
The Gens Lupis were an important family that had gained much glory in recent years. There had been many conquests and few deaths in battle, which had led to military successes and honour. As a result, many proposals for an alliance had reached Tiberius.
"I understand the meaning of this and what he wants from me, yet I don't understand why I of all the magi in the world," Yuto said seriously. "I sincerely have many doubts about what I'm doing."
"For example?"
"Like the fact that I'm chasing a ghost," Yuto replied.
His purpose was clear. He knew what he wanted and how to achieve it. So far he had never really worried, but it was different this time. He didn't believe it was possible, but he became attached to someone other than Rin and Mordred.
"What do you think of her?" Claudius was referring to her sister, styled for the occasion in a lavish way.
"She's cute, though I prefer her without all the accessories and makeup," Yuto replied, stealing a chuckle from Claudius' lips. "Especially she deserves happiness and I don't know if I can give it to her."
Being married to a magus meant standing next to death. It meant basically having a life constantly threatened by enemies.
"She is a simple person. She knows who you are and she knows that her life will be different from other Roman women," Claudio said.
"What can I say? She's either brave or stupid," Yuto commented.
There was a moment of silence between the two until they started laughing.
It was probably both.
"Uhm?"
Claudius opened and closed his eyelids when he saw Yuto snap up.
"It's not good," Yuto said as he traced Kanshou and Bakuya, alarmed by the growing danger.
"What is happening?" Claudio asked.
A bounded field rose, as large as the whole of Rome.
Yuto grinned furiously as he watched the wyverns fly over their heads.
"A Trojan Horse," Yuto replied.
