"I was going to do that anyway. Arthur is my disciple, after all."
Merlin couldn't help but take credit for herself. Spending just an hour or two a day in dreams teaching the little red dragon was enough for him to call Arthur her disciple—something that fit perfectly with Merlin's playful and self-indulgent nature.
In reality, when King Uther heard about the full-scale Anglo-Saxon invasion, he almost had a heart attack. He immediately sought out Merlin, begging him to go to Maple Leaf Ridge.
Even if Merlin couldn't defeat over seventy thousand Anglo-Saxons, her magical prowess and swordsmanship were more than enough to ensure the safe return of Kaelar and Artoria.
The sudden invasion threw all of King Uther's plans into chaos, catching everyone off guard.
Who could have predicted that Kaelar would keep his true capabilities so well hidden?
After receiving the news, instead of sending a plea for aid to the capital, he chose to handle the situation his own way.
It was logical; if Camelot had deployed troops, it would have triggered a full-scale war between the two peoples, leading to rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. That was an outcome Kaelar desperately wished to avoid.
Though Merlin sounded nonchalant, she was hurrying with all her strength towards Maple Leaf Ridge. Given what she knew of Kaelar and Artoria's abilities, he believed they could handle the Anglo-Saxons in the forest for a few hours if necessary.
However, when Merlin arrived, exhausted from her frantic rush, all she saw was the Lord's Guard at Maple Leaf Ridge directing the disarmed Anglo-Saxons in cleaning up the battlefield. And amidst the crowd, there stood Artoria—small in stature but still standing out like a shining star.
The golden-haired young lion was busy organizing supplies, managing the Anglo-Saxons, and overseeing the grand trial of the captives led by the three thousand Anglo-Saxons who had faithfully embraced Kaelar's teachings.
The decision of guilt was not left to Kaelar himself; instead, he had established the Kaelar Code, a general legal framework to be enforced by the Anglo-Saxons themselves. Following these guidelines, they judged whether the captured Anglo-Saxon pirates were guilty or innocent.
Those deemed guilty were sent to work camps at Derlin Prison. For this purpose, Artoria was spearheading an unprecedented labor force of thousands across the island to construct Britain's—and the Celtic world's—first prison.
Merlin's mouth dropped open, her pink, enchanting eyes widening in disbelief. In that moment, she lost all pretense of being the great Druid and foremost sorcerer of Britain. She looked almost... stunned.
"What the hell, Kaelar, how did you manage this?"
That was seventy thousand Anglo-Saxons—an army that would have required at least thirty thousand Celtic knights to defeat. And yet here, in this small domain, they had all been subdued.
And the captives were not restrained in any way. They wore no shackles, no chains. Even the broken, shattered weapons were simply piled up in one corner, free for the taking if anyone wanted to reach for them.
The three thousand Anglo-Saxons who had embraced Kaelar's teachings stood scattered throughout the territory. Some followed the Kaelar Code to pass judgment, declaring crimes and assigning punishment.
Some were sent to Derlin Prison for reformation, some to labor, while others were deemed innocent and allowed to decide their own fate freely.
Though there were few in that last category, they still existed. In Kaelar's presence, no one dared to seek revenge or manipulate the outcomes. Each decision was reviewed and confirmed by several people, ensuring the fairest results.
Another group, dressed in Celtic attire as the Lord's Guard, carried out Artoria's orders. They supervised the convicted and laborers, working alongside hunters and woodsmen to haul timber and stone from the forests and mountains—resources that would be used to build a prison to hold them.
Merlin had no idea how Kaelar had achieved this, but she was profoundly shaken.
This was the true art of subduing an enemy's spirit. In the beginning, the Anglo-Saxons had still occasionally struck at Kaelar, though their attacks had no effect. It showed they still harbored resistance.
But as the battle dragged on, fewer and fewer attacks came. The seventy thousand Anglo-Saxons fractured, turning on one another. Some shouted, "Righteous Kaelar is watching me!" while others roared, "Kill that twisted monster Kaelar!"
Both sides attacked each other with twisted faces of rage. Had Kaelar not intervened, at least half would have died.
And so, he stepped in, shattering every weapon and rendering everyone incapable of fighting.
This is how the self-destruction among the Anglo-Saxons came to a halt!
By the end, Kaelar was simply running around extinguishing fires. With his blunt ceremonial sword, he brought peace to the chaos. Even if he had done nothing, the Anglo-Saxons were already defeated by their own disunity.
Finally, with all weapons shattered and peace enforced through strength, Kaelar declared, "I, Kaelar, have established the law that is 'absolutely right,' and all of you shall abide by it. Let no one say they were not warned!"
"As I have said before, 'Killing is Misfortune.' This is the core of benevolence!"
This time, from the knights to the freedmen, from every Celtic and Anglo-Saxon under his gaze, they all bowed their heads in unison.
"Yes, Lord Kaelar, we will abide by your laws."
---
"That kid is... kind of scary."
Merlin muttered to herself from the shadows, watching Kaelar with an odd expression. Her pink eyes, usually filled with mischief, now reflected something deeper. "No sign of this in fate at all... It seems even I cannot fully grasp the truth of destiny."
"But, perhaps it doesn't matter all that much?"
"Maybe... I should find Arthur and have a chat instead?"
As the greatest master of illusions in all of human history, if Merlin wanted to hide, no one in Britain could find her.
Even now, she mingled among the Anglo-Saxons without Kaelar noticing her presence.
However, if she were to speak now, Kaelar would sense her immediately. For Kaelar had established his Geis of forgiveness—a law that pardoned all who genuinely sought repentance.
In other words, those who lacked true repentance could not escape Kaelar's gaze.
He could see the color of a person's soul when they spoke with him. True repentance shone with golden light; falsehoods were tinted with a spectrum, reflecting the speaker's hidden emotions.
Merlin, being the wily trickster she was, knew well to tread cautiously in such matters. Seeing something off in Kaelar, she kept silent, not daring to draw his attention.
She trusted her illusions, but she also knew there was no such thing as a perfect illusion. The best strategy was to say nothing at all.
And thus, she managed to slip through right under Kaelar's watchful eyes.