The ship had navigated rivers and seas to reach the pier in North Wales.
"We've arrived. Haah, from Ireland to the Fairy Kingdom... that was quite the spectacular schedule in just a few days."
Kay stretched as he descended onto the deck. Behind him, the hulking woman Bagest dutifully carried loot and the unknown ingredients they'd acquired from the Fairy Kingdom.
"Master! Should I take this cargo straight to the kitchen?!"
"Yeah, go ahead. And store the spices somewhere cool so they don't get damp."
Just as Kay, accompanied by the servants and Caster, was about to enter the inner fortress...
The massive doors of the reception hall flew open, and someone burst out like a cannonball, charging straight into Kay's arms.
"B-Brotherrrr!!!!"
"Ugh?!"
Thud!
Kay had withstood attacks from Bagest's overwhelming mass before, but he couldn't brace himself for that ferocious physical charge and was sent stumbling backward a couple of steps.
Clinging onto his waist as though it would break, face buried against his chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
It was the princess knight Lily, her once-pure white armor smeared with mud and sweat, her face far more gaunt than five years ago.
"Li-Lily?! What are you doing here… when did…?"
"Waaaaaah! Brother! I missed you so much! I really, really wanted to see you! Sob, sniff… I've missed the meals you used to make every day, and I wanted to be praised by your side… I can't even begin to tell you how much, how much…!"
Lily threw all decorum and knightly pride aside, bawling like a child as she clutched at the hem of Kay's tunic.
Her green eyes were streaked with tears, yet the way she looked up at Kay was tinted with a disturbingly blind, sticky obsession.
"Okay, calm down. Stop crying or you'll suffocate me."
Though taken aback, Kay, as he always did, stroked Lily's head with his large, calloused hand. At that familiar, affectionate warmth, Lily's body went limp, and she collapsed entirely into his arms.
…Tch. For a tearful reunion with a sister I haven't seen in five years, this is pretty damn clingy.
Kay's clothes were soaked in tears and snot, but having raised her since infancy, he was used to it.
Artoria Alter emerged inside the reception room with her arms crossed, snorting in amusement, and Artoria Lancer shook her head with a bitter look.
Following Lily, a girl in jersey attire trudged out, cradling a thick swaddled bundle.
"Welcome back, Brother. Did you manage to get any delicious ingredients from the Fairy Kingdom? My Alter Reactor is warning that if she doesn't get meat immediately, she'll self-destruct."
Kay asked, stunned, "Artoria X Alter? You're here too? No—earlier the Fairy Kings said they were waiting for me… so they meant you two?"
Artoria X Alter slid her glasses up and thrust the swaddled bundle cradled in her arms into his line of sight.
"Yes. And we're not the only ones who have been waiting for you, Brother. Now, say hello. This is your daughter."
"…Huh?"
The bundle unraveled, revealing a blond newborn who looked exactly like Lily and Artoria X Alter. She smiled and wrapped her tiny hand tightly around Kay's finger.
"Wah! Kyah!"
"W-Wait a minute. A daughter? My daughter? When did I make something like this?! And I was in the Demonic Realm for five years in the first place!!"
When Kay blurted out in panic, Artoria X Alter continued her bombshell declaration in an utterly deadpan tone.
"She's a pureblood Pendragon homunculus artificially cultivated by Sister Morgan, using the DNA of Lily, me, and all our sisters. There's not a drop of your blood in her, but, Brother, you must become this child's father."
"What?! That witch has finally done something insane! And why do I have to raise her…! Haah, damn it."
Images of his younger sisters clinging to him for meals in the past flickered through Kay's mind. And the warmth of the baby gripping his finger with a bright smile.
…Haah. Seriously, am I doomed to be a nanny?
Kay finally rubbed his forehead and let out a deep sigh. His warrior's might from the Demonic Realm and overwhelming power were useless against childcare and pleading sisters.
"Fine. I'll raise her. I'll be her father or her cook, whatever. It's not like destiny made me some lifelong bachelor noble anyway."
"Hooray! Brother, you're the best!"
"Of course, Master! This Tamamo will nurse and raise her herself!"
"You have milk...?"
"There's always a way, you know? Heheh."
Kay decided to pretend he hadn't heard that.
"So, what's her name?"
"You can choose, Brother."
"…Mordred. It means 'valiant child.'"
And thus the pureblood Pendragon baby was named Mordred.
After the whole baby uproar subsided…
Kay, seated on the sofa in the reception room, listened intently to the grave news Lily had brought.
Artoria X Alter flashed her glasses and began briefing in a dry voice the despairing situation of Artoria Pendragon she'd heard from Lily over the past few days.
—That Gawain had assassinated the North Wales messenger sent to deliver the news of Kay's return.
—That Merlin was thoroughly hiding Kay's existence to prop Artoria up on the throne of Camelot like a stuffed exhibit.
—And that Artoria was slowly losing her mind, on the verge of mental collapse, forced to eat mashed potatoes mixed with stone dust.
…
After hearing it all, Kay's expression grew cold like the abyss of the Demonic Realm.
The warm, jovial brother everyone knew was nowhere to be seen. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet as Kay exuded such a terrifying aura that even the servants—and Bagest herself—held their breath.
"Merlin… that half-baked fiend… is really testing my patience."
Kay muttered under his breath.
He grudgingly accepted that they had their reasons for needing Artoria to become king.
But the fact that they'd treated his precious sisters like pawns, driven them insane, and even turned Gawain into a murderer was utterly unforgivable.
"Now I understand why Gloriana and Oberon told me to go to Logres. The cogs were completely out of alignment."
Kay shot up from his seat.
Adjusting the sword at his waist and the golden axe strapped to his back, Kay declared in a resolute voice:
"I'm heading to Camelot."
"Brother…"
Lily looked up at Kay with tears brimming in her eyes.
"Medusa, prepare yourself. For now, just you and I will go ahead."
"I always get treated like this, don't I."
"Well, you're Rider, aren't you."
Just as during the time of Taquin, Kay decided that he and Medusa would be the first to press into Camelot.
"But Brother, going with just the two of you is far too reckless. We don't know what tricks Merlin might have up his sleeve."
Lancer tried to dissuade him, but Kay replied with a furrowed brow:
"Have you forgotten what I'm like? You'd have Artoria suffer more, let her languish for several more days? Sorry, but I can't do that."
In his mind's eye, he saw young Artoria toddling toward him as a child.
"Once we arrive, Caster, can you warp me to his location?"
"Hmm, Lady Tamamo, I have a request."
"Collaborating with magecraft is never easy, but I will do my best."
Medusa summoned Pegasus, and Kay immediately climbed onto her back.
"Then, we'll go ahead."
As Medusa tugged the reins, Pegasus leapt into the sky like a silvery shooting star.
"Wait for me, Artoria. Your brother is coming."