Chapter 130. Artoria Lily
Normally, at this time, barring special cases, traveling between settlements took whole days, even on horseback, because of the condition of the roads, and only couriers who changed horses along the way could afford to move at roughly three times the speed of an ordinary rider. But even that couldn't compare to the speed of resurrected Heroic Spirits. We were rushing across the uneven terrain like Formula 1 hypercars on a dedicated track. So it was no surprise that, moving at a speed dozens of times greater than what ordinary people could cover in a day, we soon reached the village where Artoria had grown up under the care of the knight Sir Ector, together with his son, Sir Kay.
"Another full day will pass before the couriers arrive," Artoria said, examining the settlement with a hint of nostalgia.
"Did you miss this time? Before you became king?" I asked her.
"Yes. Those were fairly carefree days," the girl nodded and then, hesitating slightly, added, "And back then I was quite… innocent."
"Now I'm even more interested in seeing you in your youth."
"Please, be serious. At that time I had a lot of trouble because of Merlin's jokes," Artoria sighed helplessly.
"One thing still bothers me. When did you even manage to travel with Sir Kay and Merlin after receiving Caliburn?" I asked as we walked slowly through the village.
"When I pulled the sword from the stone, they didn't want to recognize me as king right away, so the decision was postponed until Easter so that more people would have a chance to draw the sword from the stone; and then it was postponed again until Pentecost. During that time, several Romans even arrived from the now-decaying empire. All that time we traveled and helped the people, who in the end stood up in my support."
"I see," I muttered thoughtfully, finally understanding how the White Saber, Artoria Lily, fit into her legend at all.
"Wait, hold on," I suddenly stopped short.
"What is it?" Artoria looked at me in puzzlement.
"As far as I remember, Saber Lily wore a rather cute white armor that looked like a dress, and people called her the knight-princess… With that kind of setup, how did you even manage to hide your gender?"
"That was all Merlin," the girl shrugged.
"People called Father a knight-princess?" Mordred asked, her expression odd.
"T-that's not important," Artoria grew slightly flustered. "Let's hurry. Who knows what Merlin might get up to."
Not teasing her any further, I followed the hastening knight-girl with a faint smile on my face until we found ourselves in the yard of one of the houses. In the middle of it, two young youths stood facing each other, dressed in rather simple clothing and holding wooden swords.
One of them was noticeably smaller than the other and, if not for the face, none of us would probably have recognized Artoria in him. The youth opposite was almost twice as tall and broad.
"Brother Kay," Artoria whispered. And then we saw the two youths, ignoring the spectators, clash in battle. Despite the obvious difference in build, it soon became clear that the smaller young man was in no way inferior and even quite clearly surpassed his opponent in the strength of his blows, which already exceeded the capabilities of ordinary people, though they were still far from the level of Heroic Spirits. Watching young Artoria overwhelm her foster brother, the outcome of the fight seemed obvious—until suddenly the older boy's surprisingly nimble leg knocked young Artoria off her feet.
"Looks like it's still my victory, little brother," Kay said cheerfully, pointing his wooden blade at the youth, who looked at him with offended eyes.
"How strange. I know she's a girl, but I still see a young guy," I murmured in mild confusion, before deciding to remove the patch from my left eye and look again in a different way. And indeed, what I saw shifted in some subtle way. Even though Artoria was dressed in slightly baggy clothes, her figure had already begun to show attractive feminine lines. It was now impossible to mistake her for a boy, especially when a flicker of wariness crossed her face in response to the sensations my gaze stirred in her.
"Did you want something?" Kay asked, turning his attention to us.
"There's no need to worry, young knight. We're only here with news from Londinium, and also to make sure a certain mage doesn't overdo things," I said, involuntarily glancing toward the house where Merlin was hiding under his spells.
"Oh my, looks like I've been noticed?" Merlin appeared with a faint smirk before Kay could answer.
"Master? What's going on?" Artoria Lily asked immediately.
"Today, a historic event took place. A sword was drawn from the stone, and by right of birth, the one who drew it will take the throne. And since that's the case, some things are no longer necessary." As soon as he finished speaking, he lightly tapped his staff on the ground, and our view was veiled by a whirl of flower petals. When it cleared, everyone could see the same thing in Artoria that I did.
"Arthur?" Kay looked in mild bewilderment at the one he had grown up with almost his entire life.
"Is something wrong, elder brother?" Artoria Lily asked, tilting her head sweetly.
"I… I'll go call Father," the young man hurried to retreat, and he was quite understandable. When your brother suddenly starts looking like a cute girl, you can't help but doubt your perception of the world.
"Brother Kay?" Artoria called after her brother in surprise, but he did not slow for even a moment.
"How long did you keep that magic on her?" I asked, putting the patch back over my eye now that there was no need to keep it off.
"A long time," Merlin answered briefly, while Mordred, standing beside us, stared at Artoria Lily with the greatest interest.
"What magic?" Lily was confused, glancing back and forth between Artoria, who had just far too many similarities with her, and Mordred, whom she also watched warily, as the latter was staring at her a bit too intently, as if one more push and she would pounce.
"Artoria, you're a girl," I said in a tone as if revealing some sacred secret.
"I'm aware…" She gave me a strange look.
"True, but Sir Kay, like everyone else, didn't know that," I smirked.
"Huh?"
"Indeed, I used magic to hide your gender. However, since a new king has already been chosen, there's no need for that anymore," Merlin added.
"Eh?!" With each new phrase, Artoria seemed to finally begin to realize the reasons behind certain oddities in her life.
"Father, you were such a cutie!" Mordred finally couldn't hold back anymore. In an instant she was in front of Artoria Lily, wrapping her in a hug and not giving her the slightest chance to resist, thanks to her strength.