-"Have the accused enter."-Artoria sat on a prepared throne, watching as King Rience was dragged inside.
A week has passed since our return, and the preparations proved more extensive than expected, but everything was now in order. She now sat as the Chief Judge, as the judicial authority was still held in the hands of the monarch, while I acted as the Presiding Judge for this trial, taking care of everything up to the sentencing. My chair was next to hers, showing that we were equals in this court.
I looked from our elevated platform at King Rience, who stood still but straight. Even though he had been defeated, even though he had been subjected to a vampire's charm, he still kept his head up, showing the dignity of a king. He knew what awaited him, but he decided to meet his demise as a noble, not some coward.
As the proceedings were about to start, I stood up and walked forward, my voice spreading around.
~"Delectare in Domino et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui - Itaiel."~I recited an incantation that I worked on lately.
When the angel's name was spoken aloud, one of my hidden wings appeared from the space, the shards of light turning into an armored figure with Sankta's wings behind it. It had no face; only empty darkness covered by a hood, a sword in its hand, and a scroll in the other.
When it appeared, a Bounded Field spread around, enforcing a powerful Geas on all those present. Itaiel , an angel representing greatness of the soul, positivity, and selflessness, is comparable in strength to some weaker Servants, but its main power comes from said Geas. It can detect any lie or deception, uncover any conspiracy or slander, and punish those who speak them. It worked on all in its presence but me, who stood as Metatron, the King of Angels, no matter if they agreed to the Geas or even were aware of it.
It was the culmination of my work that I started back in Leithanien with Fremont and Laqeramaline, creating a Remembrance through imbuing it with a meaning. Using my divinity and my Divine Position as Metatron, I could manifest real angels, each possessing power thanks to their names. I only managed to complete Itaiel now, but I started working on the remaining angels.
But this was not so important at the moment. Right now, only the court proceedings mattered. I watched how members of the First Tribunal worked, presented evidence, and deposed witnesses. Artoria and I rarely spoke up, weighing in only when some conflict between the defense and prosecution occurred, but most of the case happened with us as spectators.
The prosecution laid all the facts, showing what happened step by step. There were no made-up facts or even any blame-shifting for subordinates' actions; everything had a solid connection to Rience's decisions and actions. Mostima and Morgan made sure that even Itaiel couldn't find their traces in what was shown.
Rience's defense tried to deflect blame onto me, implying that his actions were due to my oppression and bad orders, claiming that this wasn't a rebellion but only a mutiny. But their attempts fell flat, especially when atrocities that occurred during Rience's retreat came to light.
In the end, there was no suspense; he was sentenced to execution. When Artoria gave him the right to choose a method of death, he demanded a duel with me. She looked at me, and I nodded, agreeing to his last demand; we couldn't allow her word to be taken back, even though I now needed to kill a king, something I tried to avoid. The next day, he stood opposite me on a training field, the spectators surrounding the whole space.
He wore his armor and had a magic sword in his hand, even though neither would help him in this fight. I stood opposite, my armor pristine as always, the crystal sword and standard of light on my left and right, respectively. I didn't wear my hood today, nor was my arm covered by a cape, exposing the deep blue Originium Glintstone to the outside, the amber-white hues glimmering deep within.
I looked at the king opposite me. There was no anger or hatred in his eyes, just resignation hidden by a stubborn pride. I couldn't say that I respected him, a greedy and cruel man, but I also didn't hate him. We were just enemies due to our circumstances.
-"So it's time."-He spoke up.
-"Indeed."-I nodded, pointing my sword forward.
He just rushed forward, magic power in his sword, slashing at me. But I didn't move, as the strike approached me, one of my wings blocked it, appearing briefly in this realm before disappearing back into another dimension. I just watched how he continued his attack.
Every magical strike would be negated by my wings, while every normal sword strike was parried by me, without using power beyond his capabilities. I fought using only my techniques, giving him the honorable duel he demanded.
But even with such a handicap, he couldn't defeat me. When I moved to offense, his stance quickly crumbled, and without much suspense, my spear pierced his heart, blood quickly pooling beneath his feet. He looked at me one last time, mouthing something that looked like 'you win' as the last breath of life left his body. His body was then taken away to be buried in the tomb belonging to his family.
I walked back to Artoria's side, where she spoke to me.
-"It's done."
-"Yes. Now, only Vortigern is left."
-"True."-She started walking into the mansion.-"For the next three years, you'll stay here and work on repairing all the damage."
-"Yes, my deal with Vortigern stands. I'll make sure there won't be a lack of food."
-"Thank you."
-"There is no need for such words between us."-I smiled.-"Not to mention, I'll also be using some resources and workforce to build things for Laterano."
-"Oh? Some interesting project?"
-"Terra never developed flight due to special circumstances. I plan to use knowledge from this world, magic from my dreams and the Lands Between, together with Lateran materials and Arts to develop a flying fleet."
-"Can you…"
-"I can leave blueprints and relevant information, but you should know that carelessly introducing advanced technology can lead to bad outcomes. Britain right now can't protect them."
-"You are right."-Her shoulder slumped after admitting that.-"But I'll make sure that it won't be like that for long."
-"And I'll help you to achieve that."
She nodded, leaning closer to me as we walked.
A few days later, Artoria departed for the front, as some new development needed her attention. I, meanwhile, fully committed to restoring the country. After more than a year of managing most of Wales, I had a good understanding of this region's needs and problems. So I worked with Mostima and Qingyan on plans for the development of not only this region, but also the rest of Britain under Artoria's control.
With two kings gone and Leodegrance firmly on our side, Artoria had close to no opposition, allowing me a free rein as her Justiciar. We quickly divided our work into three directions, each of us in charge of one: The agriculture, the infrastructure, and the industrialization.
Qingyan was in charge of industrialization; her main priorities were to introduce some basic technologies, such as the steam engine, but more importantly, the magical inventions inspired by Terra's technology, replacing the Arts and Originium with magic. Her field was mostly research-based, so it had lower priority at this moment; it was more of a starter project for the future.
Mostima took care of the infrastructure, repairing destroyed cities and villages, but also building roads, water systems, basically everything that would allow Britain to prosper. She would use a mix of already existing methods, Terran technology, and magic, all to build the foundation for future development.
With modern hindsight and inventions such as asphalt, better carriages, and better construction methods, restoring everything destroyed in the war while building a network of roads all over Britain was not only possible but not that hard to achieve. With many people displaced and in need of work, with little investment, everything would progress smoothly.
I was one leading the agriculture reforms. With my druidic experience, modern knowledge, and Mobius biological expertise, let alone doubling, we should be able to increase the harvest ten times in those three years. The addition of better tools for farmers would change the situation where around two farmers were needed to feed one non-farming person, to where one farmer could feed tens of people.
In the background of those three directions, Laterano was also turning the Gloucester into a Lateran exclave, turning in into city size embassy. Some projects that are not appropriate to be made openly on Terra, such as making a flying fleet, will be conducted here, far from the eyes of other countries. After all, arming as a neutral state doesn't look good.
As we started working, I was surprised to find someone looking for me. Guinevere entered into my now-empty office, closing the doors behind her. She looked at me with determination, and after taking a deep breath, she bowed to me.
-"I'm truly sorry."
I didn't respond to her, as I was a little lost as to what she was apologizing for.
-"I'm sorry for blaming you and treating you badly these past years."
-"There is no need to apologize, I did something wrong…"
-"No."-She interrupted me, approaching my desk.-"While your actions were reprehensible, and I still think so, you didn't make a mistake, but a choice. I couldn't understand previously, but now, seeing how much destruction even minor famine causes, I can see why you acted so drastically. Not to mention…"
She looked away from me. I could feel regret and sadness from her, but it was covered by shame.
-"I talked with Her Highness Artoria. She told me what you did in that Singularity, how you… You stopped her from making the same mistake even though you were burdened by a curse…. A curse you got inflicted by because of that, yet you keep silent."
She shook her head, taking one more deep breath before continuing.
-"Rather than trying to understand and support you, I stubbornly blamed you. I'm sorry for that. I understand if you can't forgive me…"
-"Stop."-This time, I interrupted her.-"I never blamed you for anything. I did something that is objectively evil, so you had every right to hate me for it. There is nothing to forgive. I just hope we can communicate better in the future."
She looked at me, and I could feel that while her sadness and shame lessened slightly, the regret only grew stronger. In the end, she sat on my desk and hugged me for the first time. I pat her back, allowing her to stay as long as she wanted to. She held onto me for a good minute before separating, but remained seated on my desk.
-"I want to help you, like Mostima, Lemuen, and Qingyan. Please teach me not only Druidism but also other things."
-"You'll be quite busy."
-"I know."
-"Good."-I nodded and took out a stack of documents from my drawer.-"Here are documents about the agricultural reform I prepared. Read them, ask if you don't understand, and prepare a contingency plan for any issues that, in your opinion, might arise."
-"I'll get to it."-She took it from me before sitting on a chair on the other side of my desk.
I raised my brow at that, but she just smiled and started reading.
I decided to let her be, as her presence didn't bother me. Both of us quickly found our pace, working on the documents while answering or asking questions from time to time. She would point out things that were complicated, asking me for help, while I would show her some interesting things or mistakes when I found some.
There was still some awkwardness between us, but it would disappear as time passed, so we just kept acting normally. Though I could see that, whether due to regret or some other reason, Guinevere was now much more direct, be it in conversations or her approach to our relationship.
Since that day, we would work in my office daily, and I even had a second desk brought inside so that she could have more space. Morning in the office, evenings on the training field, we started spending more time together than even some of my Knights.
With a new routine, time started to flow steadily as the work also started to progress smoothly. Margaret took control of the Rheged region, capturing all 'new kings' and delivering them for trial. She also quashed any noble opposition, ensuring that the region will fully follow my command. She then took the post of the overseer, ensuring the implementation of my directives.
Cellinia and Shining focused on preventing any outside threat from appearing in Britain, using our spy network to form a counterintelligence department and a secret policing force to deal with any traitors before they could cause trouble. Viviana, meanwhile, took upon herself to establish a guard force in every major city, training people to be reserve soldiers, but also police and firefighters.
Thanks to them, functions that previously were controlled by nobles now became open to the public, creating new professions, but more importantly, this further strengthened Artoria's position by reducing nobles' influence. Step by step, nobles started to become only an honorary position, not one of benefit and rights. There were still many things that caused nobles to stand above others, but even they noticed that times were changing, and if they didn't adapt, they would be eliminated.
But the biggest breakthrough didn't occur with my work, but rather with my learning to control my power of Nature Spirit, now Divine Spirit. Thanks to Altrouge's help, I managed to better understand what being a god meant. Not only did she help me solidify my ability to deny Human Order, but more importantly, she helped me to step out of being constrained by a singular dimension.
While True Ancestors and Divine Spirits had many differences, at their core, they were higher-dimensional beings, capable of seeing through time and fate by tracing karma. Altrouge helped me to use all those eyes I gained to observe further into the future and past, but due to that, I encountered a troublesome discovery.
I had no karma, or rather, all the karma that would normally exist was burned off by the Night. It was an unexpected consequence of my Protection of the Ends of the World, as resistance to temporal manipulation and divination was a powerful trump card, but this also meant that I couldn't observe the future I existed in, only the one that I was absent from.
I also started to work on a more efficient method to travel between worlds, as the previous teleportation was too random, but this project quickly ground to a halt due to a myriad of problems. So for now, I concentrated on what I could achieve.