Ch. 120 The King's Stomach, Fallen!

“Heave-ho—” Artoria and Kay worked together to take a large wooden bucket filled with water from Wilden.

Since Mia had found the carriage, Kay and Artoria took charge of preparing the supplies. Since everyone had become a group, they should help one another.

Enough supplies for six people—including the big-eating Artoria and Wilden—to consume for half a month. There were also tents and tools needed for camping in the wild. Everything was packed tightly, filling Mia’s small cargo wagon.

After everything was ready, Artoria wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. Naturally, she had taken off her armor while working.

“Will it be too heavy?” She looked at Torrent, who was pulling the cart, with some concern.

Mia sat in the driver’s seat, pulled the reins, and gave them a firm flick: “Torrent, take a few steps!”

Torrent swished its long, smooth tail and pulled the heavy carriage with ease. After all, it was once the mount of a demigod, a spirit steed residing within the whistle; it certainly had that much strength.

If one didn’t look at the conspicuous hoof prints left on the dirt road, outsiders might not even be able to imagine how heavy this carriage really was. Kay, who was responsible for the supplies, knew clearly, but it was obvious that this carriage, which with its cargo weighed nearly a ton, posed no difficulty at all to Torrent. Looking at how relaxed it was, it might even be able to trot a few steps.

“Alright, let’s get going.” Mia climbed from the driver’s seat into the cargo bed. Wilden would take over the driving; with his large build sitting in the driver’s seat, there was no room for a passenger.

Mia and Melina squeezed into the cart, looking for a place to sit.

Merlin took the initiative to handle the work for once, leading the horses from the stable; there were three horses for the three of them.

Artoria flipped onto her horse and looked up at the sun, which was half-hidden by clouds.

She was about to say something.

Then she noticed a blind spot.

“Where are we going?” She looked at Merlin, feeling a bit lost.

“Where to?”

Merlin blinked subconsciously, repeating Artoria’s question.

He clearly had no plan for this either.

After a brief silence, he immediately reacted.

“Ahem,” Merlin cleared his throat, feigning composure. “Artoria, if you have to ask others what to do for everything, you won’t be able to become a king who can stand on their own.”

“Ugh.” Artoria frowned.

Most of the time, others told her what she should do.

What day it was, what lessons she should take, what she needed to do, and where she was still lacking.

It was hard to say how many things she had actually done following the impulse of ‘I want to do this.’

Of course, pulling out the sword of selecting kings was one of them.

But after pulling out the sword, she was rushed out by Merlin to gain experience…

So that brief moment of making her own decision had long been overshadowed by Merlin’s subsequent actions.

So, now that she was on horseback, standing on this road, which way should she go?

The young girl pondered.

Should they go south? The south was the occupied territory of the Anglo-Saxons. As a future ruler, driving the Anglo-Saxons out of this land was her greatest mission.

But she had not yet been fully recognized by the sword of selecting kings.

If she fought the Anglo-Saxons, would she gain the recognition of the sword of selecting kings?

No, that wouldn’t work.

Artoria shook her head in her heart.

Even if the spirit was willing, she was currently in a state of insufficient strength.

Heading south rashly would only result in her fighting alone.

Is a king without followers still a king?

“Let’s go north.”

Artoria said.

They were currently within the borders of Wales.

The vast lands to the north had not yet been encroached upon by the Anglo-Saxons. The various Celtic kingdoms on the island were truly good places to travel.

“By the way, what does Miss Mia think?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Artoria inquired.

Mia was also a future ruler, after all; between rulers, there should definitely be a relationship of equality.

“I’m not familiar with this island.” Mia waved her hand.

She wasn’t even familiar with the future Britain.

Let alone the Britain of this era, where the place names didn’t match the future at all.

“Ah, that’s true… let me introduce the current situation to you!”

“Um, how about starting with the year?”

“Is that so…”

Artoria had still underestimated Mia’s lack of familiarity with this land.

“If it’s too much trouble, just keep it simple.”

Mia laughed awkwardly.

Artoria began to explain the story in detail.

Britain was in a state of turmoil.

The beginning, naturally, was the collapse of the vast empire on the continent. Britain, which had been under the protection of Rome for centuries, lost its shelter. After the unifying force receded, Britain fell into a chaotic era ruled by the kings of various Celtic peoples.

Uther from Wales, as the fastest-rising and most powerful lord, concluded a covenant with the kings of Britain and gained the support of the lords, being crowned as the High King of Britain.

Although the lords of Britain still ruled their own small kingdoms, Britain achieved unification, at least in name.

But the existence of one person destroyed the tacit understanding between the lords and High King Uther.

Named Vortigern, and being King Uther’s younger brother, he had the foreigners shout his name for the sake of his own desire—to dominate Britain.

He was the incarnation of the White Dragon that was prophesied to destroy Britain.

Vortigern led an alliance of foreign tribes consisting of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, pulling Britain into the eye of a chaotic typhoon.

Under Vortigern’s leadership, the allied foreign army landed on the island and destroyed the legacy left to Britain by the great empire of the past—the city named Londinium.

The story that followed was something even Mia, who didn’t know Britain well, was aware of.

To counter Vortigern, King Uther used Merlin’s magic to create a Red Dragon capable of opposing the White Dragon, which was Artoria.

However, because King Uther was defeated in the final battle against Vortigern, the Kingdom of Britain also collapsed. Artoria was sent anonymously back to King Uther’s hometown and given to the loyal subject Ector to be raised.

Then came the story of Artoria pulling out the sword in the stone.

During the ten years of Artoria’s transition to adulthood, the lords of Britain had no way to withstand the sharp swords and sturdy armor of the Anglo-Saxon alliance, losing a vast amount of territory.

In the southeastern part of Britain, the fertile plains that once belonged to the Celts had long since changed flags and become the land of ‘England’ in the mouths of the foreigners.

It meant the land of the Angles.

Despite being a country born of plunder and invasion, they shamelessly named it after themselves, as if it were a gift from God.

Relying on the mountainous and rugged terrain, Wales managed to barely resist the Anglo-Saxon invasion. If one traveled north along the coastline through the narrow regions that remained unoccupied because they were beyond the reach of the Anglo-Saxons, several small Celtic kingdoms with weak national power still survived in the north.

That was where Artoria wanted to go.

The destination was decided.

And there was no reason to delay.

The group of six bid farewell to the village elder who came to see them off and smoothly set out on their journey.

The frame of the carriage creaked under the heavy cargo.

They passed through the village lands and gradually entered the mountains rising from the earth.

A few hours later, they emerged from the forest. On the rising mountains beside them, the tall trees gradually disappeared, replaced by grasslands undulating like waves.

This reminded Mia of the grassland north of Lake Agheel in The Lands Between.