"One bowl..."
"And another..."
"Lord Samael..."
At the dining table laden with rich meat dishes and all kinds of delicious food, the Lion King efficiently handed over one empty plate after another. Samael piled each one high with Artoria's beloved chicken curry and rice, then swiftly passed it back like an overworked animal keeper.
The two enormous buckets of rice they had prepared were visibly disappearing at an alarming rate.
Mordred stared at the astonishing spectacle with her mouth hanging open. The braised chicken leg between her teeth fell onto the table with a clatter.
Look at how badly she's been shocked. Don't tell me her idolization is about to collapse already?
While helping serve the food, Samael mischievously glanced back and forth between Mordred, whose expression was slowly falling apart, and the Lion King, who had shut out every distraction and devoted herself entirely to eating.
Before the Ancient Serpent could enjoy himself for long, however, Mordred snapped back to her senses. She immediately pushed her nearly dislocated jaw back into place with a click, slapped her thigh, and exclaimed excitedly,
"Is... is this the capacity of a King?! That's so cool!"
Her eyes practically exploded with light, countless little stars seeming to sparkle within them. Her admiration was impossible to hide.
Seriously? You can praise even this?
Samael's hand trembled while scooping rice, and his body swayed as he nearly collapsed on the spot.
"Yeah, I really do still have a lot to learn!"
Mordred muttered to herself, then immediately tapped on the table and pointed at the food the Lion King was eating. She looked up at Samael eagerly.
"Hey, I want one of those too!"
"Sure. One kids' meal."
At Samael's listless response, Freya brought over a small plate of chicken curry and rice and placed it in front of Mordred.
To hell with your kids' meal! Your whole family can eat kids' meals!
Seeing a portion that fell far short of what she had expected, Mordred furiously rapped her fork against the table in protest.
"I want a large one! Hey, a large portion! Do you understand what that means?!"
"Fine, give her a large."
The Ancient Serpent lazily waved his hand, indulging the brat's childish urge to compete.
Once a freshly refilled large serving was placed before her, the little troublemaker, who had just been glaring like a fighting cock, immediately broke into a delighted smile. She sat back down, swinging her legs as she secretly watched Artoria's posture and clumsily imitated her, enthusiastically trying to eat just like the Lion King.
Even though her throat was too small to maintain anything close to Artoria's swallowing speed, leaving her choking hard enough for her eyes to roll back, Mordred stubbornly refused to fall behind and continued wolfing down her food.
This dimwitted little fool even wore a smugly delighted expression while doing it.
Mordred, are you a bootlicker?
Yeah.
Definitely.
The Ancient Serpent rolled his eyes as he complained inwardly.
But when his gaze fell on the almost tangible intensity of the worship blazing in Mordred's eyes, Samael suddenly understood.
Wasn't this exactly how children behaved? They instinctively imitated whoever they blindly admired.
And there was no point laughing at her for copying the way someone ate. Who hadn't done similarly stupid things as a child, like competing over whose pee was yellower or who could shoot farther?
Come to think of it, Mordred had only been alive for a little over a month.
Even with the protection of Mystery, this kind of mentality and reaction was much closer to that of an ordinary child.
Still, Samael could not understand where Mordred's naturally maxed out affection for the Lion King had come from.
Driven by curiosity, the Ancient Serpent quietly leaned closer to the little girl, who was still working hard on her meal. He nudged her with his elbow and whispered,
"You seem pretty familiar with the Lion King."
"As someone from Britannia, who doesn't know the King?"
Mordred looked up at Samael with disdain, as if he had just asked an extraordinarily stupid question.
Still, a child's overwhelming urge to talk soon got the better of her, and Mordred gave a proud little snort.
"Mother tells me about the King's achievements all the time. And even if Mother didn't say anything, everyone we passed on the road was praising the Lion King's great deeds! She won twelve dynastic wars, defeated the Demonic Dragon Vortigern, drove out the Saxons, and suppressed the Four Great Calamities! The Sacred Round Table Realm, the Millennium Pure White Kingdom... it's so cool!"
The more Mordred spoke, the more excited she became. She crooked a finger, motioning for Samael to lean closer, then brought her mouth mischievously to the Ancient Serpent's ear and boasted proudly,
"According to Mother's prophecy, as long as I follow in the King's footsteps, I'll become someone just like the King!"
Or perhaps... someone who destroys the King.
Samael gazed quietly at the little girl caught in fate's woven net. His expression grew complicated as he sighed inwardly.
"You keep eating. There's still another dish in the kitchen. Morgan and I will go take a look."
Samael smiled and rose, calling Morgan along as he headed into the kitchen to check on the next round of food preparations.
The instant the two of them stepped inside, several patterns of light engraved around the room lit up. A Magecraft barrier quietly unfolded, isolating the inside from the outside.
Standing before the stove, Samael turned toward Morgan and asked seriously,
"Mordred is...?"
"The combination of my bloodline and Artoria's. The strongest next generation of the Pendragon line."
The Witch fell silent for a moment before answering without concealment.
During that rather unpleasant dinner a month earlier, Morgan had taken the opportunity to obtain blood from her younger sister, Artoria. Afterward, she used spatial leap Magecraft to return to Orkney and combined Artoria's blood with her own, intending to create a descendant who would surpass both herself and Artoria.
The protection of Britannia's Mystery and the protection born of human faith had been fused together, creating what should have been the strongest Pendragon bloodline in history.
"Even a Divine Spirit will eventually wear down. Even a kingdom meant to last a thousand years still needs fresh blood to inherit it."
Samael sighed before quietly reminding her,
"Artoria has already become a Divine Spirit. Time may not be enough to wear away her body."
"The body is not the only thing that can be worn down. The soul and emotions can be as well."
Morgan looked toward the Lion King seated at the dining table like a statue, her words carrying deeper meaning.
"As her deification continues, her emotions and empathy are being stripped away little by little. If this continues, sooner or later humanity will become something incomprehensible to her, something she can no longer identify with."
"A god who stands among the clouds for too long will eventually walk a different path from the people beneath her rule, people crawling through the mud just to survive. In the end, they may even become complete enemies."
Morgan's description made Samael pause.
Because in one possible future, that was precisely what happened.
The Lion King, having fully ascended into a Divine Spirit, ultimately made a choice contrary to humanity's own. She became an anomalous existence that had to be erased and discarded in order to preserve the Human Order.
"Mordred is a life created from the Mystery of nature within me and the human faith within Artoria. She possesses both Divinity and humanity."
"In theory, she is superior to either of us. If Artoria's emotions are eventually worn away completely and she gradually strays from the path of humanity, then even something I cannot accomplish can be entrusted to Mordred once she has grown."
Morgan's gaze burned intensely, while a faint, mocking sneer appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Once, the kingship that should have belonged to her had been taken away by Uther and Merlin through a profane bloodline.
Now she had likewise used a forbidden method to create an heir capable of replacing Artoria.
And in a sense, just like Artoria back then, Mordred was also an "illegitimate child" and an inhuman creation.
Fate had turned full circle, only to return to where it began.
Samael listened seriously to the Witch's almost cathartic explanation.
After a long silence, he turned toward Mordred in the courtyard and spoke quietly.
"But this creation was still a failure, wasn't it?"
***
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