"You are a princess, after all. Why must you stay here and suffer?"
Arthur let out a helpless sigh.
If she were a hulking male knight, he would have kicked her out long ago.
Unfortunately, Gareth was a small girl standing only 1.5 meters tall. According to the reports, she was set to reach adulthood next year, making her barely two years younger than him and Artoria. However, looking at her, it was impossible to tell she was anywhere near coming of age.
"I don't want to! I've always admired you! My dream since I was little has been to become your knight! To follow you and drive away the wicked Saxons!"
"Setting aside your size, a Saxon could swallow you in one bite."
Arthur watched as Gareth, clinging to his leg and crying like a messy kitten, made his eye twitch.
"You're only a year younger than me. Where on earth did you get a 'lifelong dream' of being my knight?"
"The Selection Rite! It was the Selection Rite! After that, I heard of all your glorious deeds, and I started to really admire you!"
"My 'glorious deeds'?"
"You cut through thousands of Saxons and personally slew their chieftain to rescue your sister! You fought a beast tide single-handedly to save Princess Guinevere! And, and—you led twenty knights against tens of thousands of Saxons, slaughtered your way through them to kill the Grand Commander, and even slew the incarnation of the Evil Dragon, the White Dragon!"
I understand every word you're saying, and they sound vaguely familiar, but put together, I can't make heads or tails of it.
Dammit, which bastard is spreading these rumors?!
Arthur finally understood why, as a child, he always felt a strong sense of cognitive dissonance when listening to the heroic tales told by bards at roadsides or taverns. These bards, who did nothing all day but make things up, could probably take the story of someone killing a tied-up domestic boar and spin it into a saga of trekking through a thousand hardships, receiving the blessing of the Lady of the Lake, and successfully slaying a terrifying Great Demon Beast.
"Alright, crying won't help. When your mother arrives in a while, I'm handing you over to her."
To be honest, Arthur was quite interested in the "Sun Knight" Gawain. In legends, Gawain was the quintessential knight.
Upright, noble, selfless, and loyal. As "dog-like" as Lancelot was, Gawain was equally righteous, with strength that was borderline absurd. Arthur had always wanted him as his knight.
If Gareth were a bit older, he wouldn't mind "selling his looks" slightly to use her as a tether to drag Gawain into his service. But Gareth was just a little girl; while his moral baseline had lowered somewhat recently, it hadn't dropped that low.
"Nooooo! Waaaaah! I worked so hard to sneak out of the house! Do you know how hard it was for me to get here from Orkney?! Waaaah! The little horse I grew up with got lost! My armor and sword were tricked away by bad guys! I had to eat fruit and leaves all the way here! Waaaaah! Don't send me home! Waaaaah!"
Arthur: "...?"
I don't think I did anything wrong, so why do I suddenly feel like such a piece of trash?
Looking at the sobbing girl, Arthur remained silent for a long time. But as her crying grew more tragic, until she finally just plopped onto the ground, curled up in despair, and wailed about not wanting to go home, Arthur finally sighed and leaned down to pick her up.
"Alright, stop crying."
"Waaaaah... Please don't send me away! It's not my fault I'm small! I want to be as big as my big sisters, too! Waaaah! But no matter how much I eat every day, I just don't grow! I'm really almost an adult! Waaaah!"
"Big sisters?"
The hand Arthur was using to pat her head paused.
The reports from his subordinates said that Gareth only had one older brother, Gawain, and one older sister, Gaheris. Where did this plural "sisters" come from?
Suddenly, Arthur remembered the woman in black with the greatsword who had appeared twice to help him.
He had always assumed that person was Gawain. After all, the second time she appeared, she was with the person he suspected was Morgan. However, the information he'd gathered later said Gawain was a man, so...
"My Eldest Sister has a great body! She's not even a bit worse than your sister! When she comes, I'll help you trick her into staying, okay?! Just don't kick me out! And my Second Sister! Even though she's not as strong as Eldest Sister—she can't even beat me—she's still really pretty! I'll help you trick her, too!"
You truly are a wonderful little sister to them.
"So, what is your Eldest Sister's name? I heard you had an older brother and an older sister."
"That's because our annoying father wanted Eldest Sister to inherit the throne, so he's been making her use a magic item to appear as a man! Waaaah! Actually, Eldest Sister is a huge beauty with a great figure!"
A great figure?
Arthur's mind flashed back to the person in black he had seen in the sea of fire.
Though she was cloaked, he could tell that her "chest muscles" were even more exaggerated than the current Artoria's. He estimated it would take Artoria quite some time to catch up.
So that really was Gawain?
But what was the deal with Morgan and Gawain?
Why would the two of them come to the Selection Rite and specifically save him twice? And then hide their identities, only to show up months later in the capacity of a Queen?
Arthur felt his head spinning. He couldn't figure out Morgan and Gawain's actual attitude toward him.
Gawain seemed to lean in his favor?
In history, she was one of his Knights of the Round Table. But now she was a woman, and he wasn't the original King Arthur, so it wasn't certain if Gawain would truly pledge her loyalty to him.
After all, he definitely wouldn't reconcile with King Lot and let him keep his original fiefdom. A war between them was inevitable. The best-case scenario would be defeating Lot and bringing him to Camelot to be kept as a high-status prisoner under Arthur's nose.
But Morgan was a different story. In the history he knew, she was unequivocally a villain who constantly opposed King Arthur. Why was she different here?
Suddenly, Arthur felt a tug on his tunic. He looked down to see Gareth, her face streaked with tears like a messy kitten, clutching his chest.
"Please don't send me away, okay?"
That's right—there was a living member of their family right here. Why was he overthinking things instead of just asking?
Arthur shook his head. Seeing her about to cry again, he said quickly, "Don't cry. I didn't say no. You can stay, but I have a few questions to ask you first."
Gareth's eyes lit up instantly, and the tears stopped flowing.
"As long as I know the answer, I'll tell you everything!"
"How are your Eldest Sister and your mother?"
"They're terrible!" Gareth replied without hesitation, her tone indignant. "Two big bullies! Eldest Sister went out to travel and wouldn't take me! She said she was going to Camelot to see you, to see what kind of person you were before deciding whether to serve you. I asked her to take me, but she wouldn't, and told me to stay home and not run around! If it weren't for that big bully, I wouldn't have lost my horse, my sword, and my armor! I wouldn't have had to eat fruit and leaves for months to get to Camelot! Waaaah! Eldest Sister is a big bully!"
As she spoke, Gareth began to wail again.
Arthur didn't have the energy to comfort her this time.
Although Gareth's explanation was chaotic, he had gathered the general information he needed.
Gawain had considered serving the new King and had indeed come secretly during the Selection Rite.
So, the "man" in black with the "chest muscles" who saved him in the fire, and then held off Loren in Camelot to save Muir and Ren, was almost certainly Gawain.
So she had known he was the new King for a long time?
Yes, that made sense. If the veiled woman with the crown—the one who could stand up to the White Dragon Vortigern, break her pressure, stop her from pouring power into Loren, and even give him a "level up"—was Morgan, then it was only natural she knew he was her brother and the new King.
So, what was the result of her "evaluation"?
Did he fail?
If he had passed, putting Morgan's attitude aside, Gawain should have directly stayed to seek him out, shouldn't she?
The fact that she hadn't shown herself for months suggested she had returned to Orkney. Did that mean he had failed her test?
Arthur's heart sank. He racked his brain but couldn't think of anything he had done that would have dissatisfied Gawain. Finally, his head started to hurt, and he shook the thought away.
Fine.
It would be best if Gawain served him, but if not, it didn't matter. Since he had decided to pull the sword, he was prepared to be the enemy of the whole world. Besides, his sister Lily was no weaker than Gawain in terms of either loyalty or strength.
And because she was his sister—and others didn't know they weren't blood-related—everyone treated her as his biological sibling, the daughter of Uther and the Princess of Camelot. Her utility was far greater than Gawain's.
When he was away, she could fully represent him in governing the state or leading the army, given her status.
He already had one "Gawain," and that was enough.
"And what about your mother?"
"Mother is an even bigger bully!" The recently finished crying Gareth flared up again.
"Mother is super fierce, super cold, and she's never home! On the rare occasions she does come home, she just scolds me! I finally plucked up the courage to tell her I wanted to go travel, to see the Selection Rite in Camelot, and to become your knight! But she screamed at me! She locked me in the house! She even used magic to seal my room so I couldn't even leave the house!"
Hearing this, Arthur actually felt a slight sense of relief.
If he operated on the premise that the veiled woman was Morgan, then if she truly didn't want Gareth to leave, it would have been impossible for the girl to escape.
Yet, she had escaped.
Not only had she escaped, but she had traveled all the way from Orkney to Camelot. Although Gareth described it as a tragic journey, given her apparent intelligence, it clearly wasn't tragic enough.
With her luck, she should have died on the road a dozen times over given the villains she must have encountered.
The fact that she arrived safely in Camelot meant that Arthur didn't believe for a second that her mother hadn't been secretly looking after her.
In other words, while Morgan claimed not to like him, forbade her daughter from seeking him out, and was "extremely impatient" with her child...
In reality, she had brought her eldest daughter to see him in secret, left a "door" open for her youngest daughter to escape, and followed this little idiot on her adventure to ensure she reached Camelot safely—allowing her to gain some life lessons without actually getting hurt.
Combining this with what he knew about Morgan having a bunch of children who were supposedly meant to oppose and destroy Arthur's kingdom, only for all of them to end up as Arthur's knights... the more Arthur thought about it, the more suspicious it became.
Wait... could my sister actually be a tsundere?
At this thought, Arthur relaxed, and his mood improved considerably.
After all, Morgan was his sister.
Even though they hadn't met—and even if a war broke out where he wouldn't hesitate to cut down anyone, including a relative like Morgan or even a resurrected Uther—he still hoped for a peaceful, harmonious family relationship if possible.
"I can let you stay by my side for now. When your mother arrives, I can suggest that you stay as my knight, but that requires her consent."
"Ah." Gareth's little mouth puckered as she prepared to cry again.
"What's the rush? If your mother's personality is really as you say, then she'll probably just scold you for a bit and then ignore you."
"Oh, right!" Gareth's eyes lit up.
With her mother's personality, scolding her was almost too much effort. She would likely just give her a cold glare and then act like she didn't have a daughter anymore. Hehehe!
"Then... pinky swear!"
Arthur reached out and hooked his finger with the girl's.
"What kind of knight am I now?"
"Are you good at cooking?"
"Of course! The chefs and maid sisters all say I have a talent for it!"
"Then you shall be the Kitchen Knight."
"Eh?"
"What do you mean, 'Eh'? Do you think this position is simple? You must know that 'food is the heaven of the people.' If I can't eat my fill, I won't have the energy to work. If I don't have the energy to work, the people will go hungry, there will be no one to drive away the Saxons, and the country will fall into chaos without governance. This nation would crumble in no time, and the root of it all would be me having an empty stomach. But now, its fate is in your hands!"
"Is eating really that important?!"
Gareth's eyes widened. She instantly felt a heavy sense of responsibility welling up in her heart and clenched her small fists.
"I will do everything in my power to make sure you are fed, Your Majesty!"
"Very good. Such spirit."
Arthur stood up, satisfied. "Then, my Kitchen Knight, go now and show your King your culinary skills!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Gareth immediately scrambled onto her short legs, full of drive, and prepared to start cooking.
Just then, the kitchen door opened. Gareth turned her head and her eyes widened, filled with instant hostility.
"It's you, the flat-chested wicked woman!"
Kay: "?"
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