To become a king and a magician

"Huh? You mean the [Dragon Witch]?" Jeanne Alter shook her head. "Absolutely not. To be honest, these things aren't actually dragons; they just have the appearance of dragons. How am I supposed to control them?"

"That's a real shame. I thought I could be a dragon knight for once."

With a regretful sigh, Natsukawa Tora raised his hand, gathering magic power at his fingertips. But before he could fire his magic cannon and shoot down all the wyverns, a figure suddenly burst out from the front of the mountain road... no, it should be said that he leaped out! He instantly jumped onto the backs of the wyverns!

The blade in his hand simultaneously released a radiance like the shimmering water of a lake under the moonlight.

(That is—)

Artoria and Natsukawa Torato's eyes trembled slightly.

"Sizzle—!"

The shimmering lake light instantly slayed all the bipedal dragons. Using the severed corpses as springboards, the figure swiftly returned to the mountain road and turned to look at Xia Chuanhu and his companions.

"Are you three alright? I'm sorry you were frightened. It's really... no, it seems I was overthinking it."

When her gaze fell upon Artoria, the dashing female knight, who was about to say "I'm very sorry," immediately changed her tone: "Since you are the king of this world, you shouldn't be alarmed by this."

"Lord Lancelot from another world..."

18. That overflowing loyalty

Meeting King Arthur of this world here was also an unexpected event for Lancelot.

Similarly, it was something she didn't know how to express.

After all, the two had fought fiercely just a few days ago, and she had even seriously injured him. Logically speaking, the two should be enemies, and that was also the order given by her emperor.

In reality, however, the two did not have any reason to be enemies. They were both fighting against the dragon calamity to protect ordinary people and doing their best to protect the people in this singularity.

If it weren't for the fact that the current situation allows no room for error and requires the elimination of any disruptive factors, Lancelot believes he could sit down and have a proper conversation with Artoria.

With his hand on the hilt of his sword, Lancelot said coldly, "For you, as king, to appear here... all you can think of is going to war. Have you finally made up your mind to be our enemy forever?"

"If that's your intention."

Artoria also drew her holy sword.

Their differing stances prevented them from communicating much, and the lack of information about their own situations meant they had nothing in common.

However, there is one person who does.

"You're Lancelot from Arthur's side?"

Xia Chuanhu's voice suddenly broke in, and then he directly stepped between the two who were on the verge of fighting. As if he were sizing up Lancelot, his eyes swept over her up and down a few times.

Upon seeing Natsukawa Tora suddenly appear, Lancelot's breath hitched, and his eyes involuntarily widened.

Actually, she had already noticed it at first glance, but she was in a hurry at the time, and with Artoria there, her attention was drawn to it and she didn't pay much attention to Natsukawa Torato.

But now, after seeing his face so directly, Lancelot almost couldn't grip his sword.

"His Majesty......?!"

There's no mistake. Even if Lancelot had lost her memory, she would instantly remember him the moment she saw this face. This was the face of her most respected and beloved king. Even with some very subtle differences, the man in front of her looked 99.9% similar to the king!

The only difference was that the person in front of him had a more youthful appearance.

"No, you are not His Majesty."

Taking two steps back, quickly calming his heart which was pounding at twice the normal rate, Lancelot drew his sword and shouted sharply, "Who are you? Why do you look so much like my king?!"

"Hmm? Didn't Arthur tell you about me?" Natsukawa Tora frowned. "I am Natsukawa Tora, Arthur's Master in the Holy Grail War twenty years ago. I officially took over the Holy Sword from him ten years ago and am currently the third Holy Sword Wielder."

As he spoke, Xia Chuanhu took out his holy sword and stood still.

Upon seeing the revealed holy sword, Lancelot was momentarily stunned and stood frozen in place.

Appearances can be faked with magic, and information can be fabricated, but the holy sword is something that cannot be faked no matter what. As a knight who had witnessed its glory countless times, Lancelot was certain that what Natsukawa Torato held now was undoubtedly the holy sword wielded by her beloved king.

"As for the resemblance in appearance, it's mainly because I died once in the Holy Grail War twenty years ago. At that time, Arthur gave me his Spirit Origin to save me, so we coexisted for ten years. Therefore, my appearance was influenced by him and I look a lot like him."

"Varied--!?"

Living alongside His Majesty for ten years?!

(This means he's been with our king for ten years... I'm so envious!)

Lancelot experienced some rather unusual emotions.

"By the way, Merlin... who is your Merlin, is currently engaged to me, and we were planning to get married after the Human Order Burning Incident."

"Clang—!!"

The pristine lake scenery was directly dropped to the ground.

As if he had suffered a severe mental shock, Lancelot held his head and swayed slightly. After steadying himself by holding onto the mountainside beside him, he looked at Natsukawa Tora with disbelief.

"You...you...you...you married the Magician...and that enchantress?!"

"Ah."

"Impossible... That Lord Merlin is actually... no, more importantly, he's someone who looks so much like our King..."

(I have very mixed feelings, or rather, I don't know how to feel.)

Looking at Lancelot, who was covering his face and whose expression and eyes were filled with disbelief, Natsukawa Tora tilted his head: "Did I say something that's hard to understand? I don't think so, do I?"

"To be honest, Master, I think everything you've said is a bombshell." Artoria gave a wry smile. "I'm sorry, Lord Lancelot, but Master sometimes speaks without thinking, which has caused you trouble."

“No, it’s nothing… I’m actually fine.” Lancelot patted his chest. “But this surprise and disbelief are genuine… Although I should be a little suspicious at this point, the evidence is just too overwhelming, and I can’t find a reason to doubt it even if I wanted to.”

(The Holy Sword Wielder after our King?)

"Cough cough!"

After clearing his throat, Lancelot sheathed his sword and bowed to Natsukawa Torato: "I apologize for showing you my uncharacteristic behavior earlier, Lord Natsukawa. I am Lancelot, a member of the Knights of the Round Table. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Well, nice to meet you for the first time... well, not really." Natsukawa Tora smiled. "Merry has mentioned you to me occasionally. I also heard your voice when I was using this holy sword. What surprised me was that the voice didn't quite sound like you."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"She's much more mature than I expected, and she gives off a feeling of being a trustworthy older sister."

A trustworthy older sister!

This is just a fairly ordinary statement, but... if we round up the current situation, this is how our king refers to himself!

(I can brag about this to Gawain and Tristan when I get back.)

"Ahem... You flatter me. Perhaps it's because when I sealed the Holy Sword, it was not during the same period as now. After all, I was summoned at the peak of my life, so I am indeed older than I was then."

Despite his triumph, Lancelot maintained a calm demeanor on the surface.

And at that very moment—

It seems we've met, Lord Lancelot.

A slightly playful voice suddenly rang in Lancelot's mind.

(Lord Merlin? Is he spying on us through magic again?)

[No, no, it was just using magic to monitor this world in real time to track the appearance of the Dragon Disaster. I came to check on you because I noticed you hadn't moved for a while. I didn't expect you to be talking to the mission target.]

(Mission objective?)

"Yes, the man in front of you named Natsukawa Tora is the one I told you about yesterday who directly invaded the Throne Room."

"Lord Natsukawa, you invaded the Throne Room yesterday?"

"Hmm? Yeah." Natsukawa Torama nodded straightforwardly, "Because I was ambushed in mid-air by someone using magic, I thought I'd go and return the favor, and that's when I saw Arthur sitting on the throne like a puppet—"

"Sizzle—!"

Before Xia Chuanhu could finish speaking, Lancelot suddenly drew his sword and slashed at him!

The indestructible lake light swiftly approached Xia Chuanhu's head, but just as it was about to touch him, it seemed to get stuck in mid-air, and the blade stopped unexpectedly on Xia Chuanhu's face.

With a flick of his finger, Xia Chuanhu frowned and said, "That was quite a sudden attack. Did I say something that offended you, Lord Lancelot?"

“My king is not a puppet.”

Lancelot said in a deep voice

“Even if you are the successor recognized by my king, someone to whom my king can entrust your spirit origin and holy sword, I will not allow you to call my king a ‘puppet’.”

"Even if you say that, in my opinion, his mental state is undoubtedly like that."

Lancelot's eyes widened slightly: "What did you say? No... My king's will still exists, what makes you say my king is a puppet?"

"Based on what I saw with my own eyes. You yourself said I infiltrated the Throne Room yesterday, so it's only natural that I saw Arthur." Natsukawa Torato gripped the blade between his fingers. "What exactly happened to that guy? And what's this singularity all about?"

"This is not something you need to know. We, the Knights of the Round Table, will handle everything. — I apologize, we have just received another report of a dragon calamity. Please excuse me."

After saying that, Lancelot leaped into the air, and a fine horse appeared out of thin air beneath him. He mounted it and galloped swiftly towards the White Dragon Kingdom!

(Puppet...My King, please be alright! That witch...If anything were to happen to my King—)

19. Holding a girl in his arms, they both take flight.

What do you think?

After watching Lancelot ride away on his Pegasus, Natsukawa Torama asked Artoria and Jeanne Alter beside him.

Jeanne d'Arc (Black) frowned: "What do you mean, how do you see it? What, you're asking me if that woman is pretty? If she's to your liking? You still care about that? You scumbag."

"I didn't ask you that."

With a sigh, Natsukawa Tora looked at Artoria and said, "Lia should have noticed something, right? The other party has a lot of problems too."

Artoria nodded: "Indeed. From her words, it seems that the King Arthur that the Master knows is still a normal situation in their perception."

"But actually, when I saw Arthur, his eyes were dull and his face was emotionless. Judging from Lancelot's reaction, this was clearly not what they knew." Natsukawa Tora stroked his chin. "It seems that Merlin, who is with Arthur, did not tell them the truth. And considering that they have been fighting the dragon calamity outside, they probably did not have time to investigate the situation inside the city."

As Natsukawa Tora said.

Since the appearance of the White Dragon Kingdom, Lancelot and his companions have received two orders: one is to "station themselves outside the city and prevent any unauthorized entry," and the other is to "fight against the dragon scourges appearing in various places and protect the general public."

It is because of these two orders that the Knights of the Round Table are in their current situation.

But precisely because of this, Lancelot and his companions never entered the city. Even when guiding ordinary citizens into the city, they would simply open the city gates and wait outside for them to close, without actually entering.

In fact, they were completely cut off from information about the city.