(A/N: oops guys I forgot about the chapter yesterday)
Looking at the boy opposite to him taking the stance the old knight sighed, the look on his face was filled with melancholy. Quickly he shook away those feelings and took a stance too. He looked at his apprentice and began the spar.
Shirou looked at the training of the knights and found that the frail-looking boy had the advantage in terms of strength over the middle-aged knight with a strongman physique. Shirou judged that this sparing might look simple but this is likely the time when the age of gods was still there so this spar could likely kill any modern-day magus within minutes.
The pair quickly had lunch and the boy brought the food down his mouth like an evil dragon eating sheep. The knight smiled at this and as he finished eating he said
"Arthur do me a favour, your brother Kay had forgotten to take his lance. Go and give him the lance at the town square. They have a jousting competition going on there."
The boy who is 90 per cent confirmed to be a girl in Shirou's mind moved towards the weapon shed. There were various types of weapons in there as well as shields and armour pieces. most of them were made from wood and a scant few were made up of iron.
In a corner the lone lance was kept, while taking it she muttered about how the art of jousting had declined over the years and this was the only lance kept in the estate. Shirou then heard her talking to herself about how for some reason Merlin didn't allow her to use a fake lance hence she doesn't know much about the art of jousting.
Talking about Merlin shirou only learnt about his existence recently, a while back he was watching Arthur going through his daily life and when the blond girl fell asleep shirou saw a swirl of pink flower petals instead of his regular swirl of colours.
He then found that his vision didn't end but rather an androgynous-looking handsome male with long white hair standing in front of Artoria. The man had vibrant purple eyes and flowers on his ears, his white robe and hat fluttered in the gentle breeze of this place.
Looking around shirou saw that they were in a sea of flowers wherever you looked there were pink flowers, with greenery and flowers on the background the light blue sky above and the just-right temperature made this feel like a paradise.
Here shirou watched Merlin teach Artoria tactics and other necessary education to be an ideal king in his words. The boy was awakened from his reminiscence when Artoria moved out of the shed and towards the town.
She strode on an unpaved path overgrown with weeds on both sides of the path on horseback. Passing through the road she laments how hard it is getting for everyone, the forest that used to be abundant with fruits and small animals for hunters is now nearly empty of them.
Crop production decreases with every harvest for no particular reason. Foreign tribes had invaded their country and had taken over the forest making it extremely dangerous for people to venture into the forest.
She talked about how the cruel King Vortigen invited foreign tribes into the country to fight for him against the other kings. Shirou remembered this with the rest of the history from Merlin`s class. The king vortigem had the ambition to unite the whole of the British Isles when the always-warring kings all across the island united to form a treaty.
In the treaty, they all decided to have a truce and launch joint attacks against the northern Britain occupants, here showing his ambition the king now dubbed white dragon called in the Saxons from the frozen tundras of modern-day Russia who saw the declining lands of Britain as a paradise in comparison to the frozen wastelands.
The resistance to foreign invasion was led by Uther Pendragon the father of artoria. Merlin had said that Uther had entrusted him with raising the ideal king of Britain that is prophesied. He had told multiple times to artoria that it was her calling to become the saviour and king of this falling land.
she reached the town during Shirou's thoughts and looked around. The town was what you would expect from a small medieval town, lively lacking any super important architecture but full of mundane beauty.
The quaint town was full of energy today was the town folk knew that the wizard Merlin had come to host the ceremony of stone of selection, to choose a new king. Some town ladies blushed as they looked at artoria and called her Sir Artorious.
These people believed her to be male due to her androgynous looks and charisma. She watched as knights struggled to pull the blade out of the stone. They pulled with various methods but the blade didn't budge. The knights struggled like this for hours and when nobody was able to pull it out the enthusiasm of the townfolks had waned.
Seeing this the knights boisterously claimed they would choose their new king through the competition of jousting. It was clear that the reason Hector sent her here was just an excuse and it looked like the girl herself knew this.
She took this as a chance to give the lance she had brought to Sir Kay and asked
"Brother, what is this new contest of yours about?"
Hearing this the young knight showed a smile full of melancholy and said in a pessimistic tone
"The knights are not keen on having some prophesied king lead them. They feel they are better off fending for themselves and having fame for their own deeds and the shame of their own failures."
He explained to artoria how the knights' thoughts were a more human way to live, they all had tried from their sense of pride but they are now relieved to be like this because they don't have to live up to Merlin`s expectations. Kay said as he took the lance
"Artorius go home now, you are just a squire here among the knights and they would likely make fun of you if you stay here."
Nodding her head she went back but looking at her going towards the stone instead of home Kay just sighed and shook his head. As the knights build their arena to compete and one-up each other in competitions artoria stands by the sword struck in the stone all alone.
The people are not focused on her as they have lost interest in the sword and stone and also have more interesting events of knights to watch. She contemplated the people's views, she thought about how many people realy believed in Merlin`s prophesy.
She muttered about how all this was a facade, only she could pull this blade out as she was raised to be the king. She learnt swords and policies, suppressed her feelings and left behind her sense of self.
She didn't know what her parents looked like or anything from her childhood, she was always told and raised to be the prophesied king of Britain and so she shall do as she neither complies with Uther`s ambition nor hates Vortegen`s desires she will do just what she was taught.
With her only happy memory of her foster family`s peace and people`s prosperity, she put her hand on the hilt of Caliburn and this made her already feel lighter. Before she could pull the blade out though Merlin appeared before her and prophesied to her
"If you pull out this sword, you will cease to be a human. People will scorn you just to satisfy their vanity and you will die a tragic death."
As the wizard's words fell images rushed into Arturia's mind and shirou was only able to view some burly images of battlefields and corpse piles and the girl standing on top of it injured and brushed. This scene shook the boy just a little as blood gore and death have unconsciously become a part of his life.
"If I go back now me killing my emotions and sense of self for 15 years will become worthless. If there was someone better than me to lead Britain I would have taken a step back but as there is none, hence I shall accept the burden I have been raised for."
Saying so she pulled out the sword of selection in a swift motion and raised it high. The morning sunlight reflected off the blade and in the golden field gave her the presence of a king she shall become.
Looking at this Merlin smiled in a way eerily similar to Kotomine when he killed shirou. Looking at this smile shirou got the chills and found out why he felt something off with this guy as he thought this his vision was swallowed by light and his mind was filled with information about Caliburn.
(A/N: die Merlin!!!
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THANK YOU FOR READING:)