Extra Chapter 51 – When a Mute Cries, a Crow Falls (20)
"Aigo, please be gentle."
Caradoc winced with tears in his eyes as he showed Arietta his broken arm and wounded abdomen.
Arietta smirked as she treated Caradoc. "Sir Urien, the old man, didn't have such a serious injury. Why don't you try harder?"
Caradoc smiled bitterly. "I'm an intelligent person. Even if I were beaten by the enemy, Sir Percival would say to them, 'Hahaha! Don't get conceited! Caradoc is the weakest in the Round Table!' Considering that, your request is too much for me."
"What! What kind of image do you have of me?!" Percival shouted indignantly.
The other knights laughed and made fun of Percival.
"The captain is a stubborn old man."
"Strict old man."
"An old bachelor who has no sense and can't forget his first love."
Percival was upset by their teasing and gave Mordred a drop kick.
"Ah! Why only me!" Mordred protested.
Percival's face flushed with anger. "You're the worst! Who are you calling an old bachelor!"
"It's true! I heard you got dumped when you were twelve!"
"You…! Who did you hear that from?! Hey! Who did you hear that from?!"
"Hehehe! Do you think I'll tell you? Our leader still can't forget about that old lady!!"
Percival chased Mordred up and down the infirmary. Arietta and the knights burst into laughter and cheered them on.
"I put two arev silver coins on Sir Mordred getting away!"
"I put two arev silver coins on Sir Percival catching him!"
As silver coins piled up in the center of the infirmary, the knights cheered more enthusiastically.
"What are you doing!? Run faster! All you have is strength! What, are you tired from dealing with Aheletle?! Crawl if you must, Mordred!"
"Captain! You're good enough to catch a new recruit, right?! Move faster! Don't worry about saving face! Roll on the ground if you have to! There's silver coins on the line!"
Then, the Holy King walked into the midst of the chaos and coughed loudly. "Cough! It's good to play, but you're causing a commotion, so please calm it down."
Mordred and Percival stopped running around, and the knights who were making bets secretly took back their silver coins. Arietta also put her silver coins back in her pocket. The Holy King passed between them and sat on the bed in the medical room.
"Thanks to you all, I survived. Thank you."
As their representative, Percival bowed and responded, "No need to thank us, Your Majesty. We just did what we were supposed to do."
"Of course. Still, I am grateful for that."
Caradoc's face stiffened up at the Holy King's meaningful words. The Holy King smiled at Caradoc and took out a sword hilt from his pocket space. Arietta and the knights looked at the Holy King in surprise. Only Mordred, who did not know the significance of the sword hilt, looked at him blankly.
"Since you have accomplished so much and proven yourself worthy, it is right for you to be rewarded, Sir Mordred."
"Yes, Your Majesty the Holy King."
"You not only made numerous contributions on the battlefield, but also protected me from the assassin's spear. You also killed Aheletle, the fearsome leader of the great warriors. Therefore, in honor of your accomplishments, I will give you this Holy Sword at the award ceremony tomorrow."
"Uh… Um, is that a good thing?" Mordred asked tentatively.
The Holy king laughed cheerfully. "Ahahaha! Of course it's good. Since the celebration for Sir Mordred and other officers will be in full force tomorrow... Sir Percival and Sir Gwalchavad, teach Sir Mordred."
Percival replied with a wicked smile. "Yes! I will force him to master the court etiquette by tomorrow so that he won't bring shame to us in front of the ministers and nobles!"
"I will try." Gwalchavad replied with a bow.
Mordred's survival instinct fired off. "Y-Your Majesty the Holy King, why these two?! Can't I learn from someone else?! Sir Caradoc or something!" Mordred begged.
The Holy King refused with a playful smile. "Sir Caradoc has another job to do. Arietta and Sir Caradoc, I have something I must speak to you about, if you'll follow me for a moment."
"Wait! Then please take out Sir Gwalchavad at least! Ah, no!"
The Holy King escorted Arietta and Caradoc out of the medical room as Mordred's desperate scream rang out.
* * *This chapter was taken from novelping . com without permission.
Arriving at the Holy King's office, Arietta giggled. "Mordred must be suffering. Sir Gwalchavad is quite harsh to himself, and to others."
Caradoc agreed with a smile, "Well, it would not be possible to ingrain Sir Mordred with court etiquette in a day unless Sir Gwalchavad was his teacher."
"That's true. Anyways, is there a reason why Your Majesty called me out separately?" Arietta asked.
The Holy King and Caradoc erased their smiles and put on serious expressions.
"Yes, there's something you should know." said the King.
He hesitated for a moment, unsure what to say next. Then, Caradoc spoke for him with a grim look in his eyes.
"There seems to be a traitor in the Round Table."
"… What?"
Arietta looked at Caradoc with an incredulous look on her face, then turned to the Holy King. "That's not true, is it, Father?"
The Holy King shook his head miserably. "It seems to be true."
"How… why does Your Majesty think so? If it is a reason that I cannot understand, I will get angry."
To Arietta, the knights were like family. No, they were even more reliable than family.
"The first time I suspected there was a traitor was at the battle at Twin Head Fortress." said Caradoc.
"The battle at Twin Head Fortress?"
"Yes, do you remember what Sir Percival said when I said we were supposed to go to Twin Head Fortress?" asked Caradoc.
Arietta answered slowly, as if pulling a faint thread of memory. "Perhaps… Do you mean that the enemies couldn't have gotten that far already because General Mendalian was guarding it?"
"That is correct. General Mendalian is excellent, or so the captain said."
"But he said they had to go to Twin Head Fortress right away. So how does this lead to betrayal?"
The Holy King gave Arietta a grim smile. "At the time, General Mendalian was in the process of leading his troops in a covert purge, under my orders. Sir Caradoc, who had planned the operation, knew that the front would be penetrated immediately."
Arietta felt uncomfortable, as if she had a thorn in her throat. She began to piece together the complicated puzzle in her head.
"Do you mean that he leaked information about the purge to the enemy? Information that was even kept secret from me?"
"Yes."
"That means that the person close to the captain betrayed him. But…!"
Arietta was about to argue that it was strange for only the Knights of the Round Table to be on the suspect list, but she stopped herself when she realized why. "The suspect list has been narrowed down to the Knights of the Round Table because of today's invasion."
"Yes, to secretly pass Merlin's magic that protects the castle, you need to have a card that gives you permission to freely roam within Merlin's Druid magic."
"Then that's just my father, me, and the members of the Round Table."
Among the witches, there was another great madosa like Merlin. Even if a card hadn't been given to them, they only had to have their hands on one temporarily for their madosa to make a copy.
"Only Your Highness should know this for the time being. I'll tell Sir Merlin."
Arietta, pale with anxiety, had no choice but to nod. "…I understand."
* * *
With a trembling hand, the Witch of Envy, Feliva, took Adeline's hand.
"Did you succeed?" Adeline asked.
Feliva answered in a trembling voice. "I succeeded."
"Is that so? That's good. Now all we have to do is wait, and we shall witness the fall of the Holy Kingdom."
"Yes, the future is fixed, and Merlin's body can't withstand the power needed to change the near future. Then why...!"
Feliva shed tears as she looked at Adeline's missing lower body.
"You didn't have to die! How come you didn't run away!"
Now, Adeline was barely surviving on the mana of a powerful great madosa.
"It was my last prideful act."
Feliva began sobbing. "Lies! It's because of me, isn't it...? In order to prevent variables in my plan, and to exhaust Merlin's power!"
"It's not a lie. I had a selfish desire to end things with Merlin myself. This is just how things ended up. I'm sorry, Asanchatar."
Asanchatar, the Witch of Sloth, wiped Adeline's eyes with the sleeve of her missing left arm.Find the original chapter at novelping dot com.
"There's nothing to be sorry about. If sacrificing this arm allowed you to have time to leave your legacy, then it was well worth it."
Asanchatar's sacrifice would become a great legend in the witch's assembly for generations. No matter what anyone said, this was a legacy of a great madosa.
"I'm thankful for those words."
Adeline's breathing shortened.
"For the next Witch of Anger, my second disciple Jasmine would be good. Jasmine can be cold and angry at the same time."
"We will make sure it happens. The next Witch of Anger shall be Jasmine."
"Feliva. I appoint you as the next head. I believe you can lead well."
"… Don't believe in me, I'm weak."
"Weakness makes us cautious. In times of trouble, prudence is important… more... careful..."
The great witch, who was praised as a great madosa in her life, smiled contentedly. All the witches mourned her death and blessed the appointment of a new head. Feliva, the Witch of Envy, could not help but smile in the winter rain.
* * *
Winter passed and spring came again. The severe cold with biting winds were replaced little by little with warm spring air. Arietta and the Knights of the Round Table returned to the ancient castle, and to their daily lives.
Mordred looked at Merlin, who was grumbling as if he was seriously ill.
"How are you feeling, old man-nim?" he asked.
"Ugh... You punk, how does it look like I'm feeling?"
The pale-white Merlin's nose began dripping blood.
"You look fine considering that you dealt with two madosa equivalents and a great madosa at the same time."
Merlin had no retort. "Well, considering that, I suppose you're right."
Even when Merlin thought about it himself, it wouldn't have been strange if he had died that day. If the ancient castle that the witches invaded hadn't been Merlin's workshop, or if it wasn't for the power of the Holy tribe, or if the famous witch hunter twins hadn't come to save him at the end, he would have been buried in the ground, not grumbling like he was now.
"But what's going on with you? You look like a butler with years of experience." said Merlin.
Mordred had come to feed the sick Merlin some stew, but his posture was very upright and angular.
"Oh, this happens without me thinking about it ever since I was taught court etiquette by Sir Gwalchavad overnight. Ugh, that brings back some awful memories." said Merlin, shuddering.
Merlin laughed, vomiting more blood. "Hey! Don't make me laugh when I'm already sick! You punk!"
"What! Don't blame others after making yourself laugh! I wasn't even trying to be funny!"
Mordred and Merlin continued bickering as they finished their meal. Mordred washed the dishes and tried to leave the room, but Merlin called him back over.
"Wait, take this."
Merlin took out a magic book from his pocket space and handed it to Mordred.
"What's this?"
"You don't remember? You said your friend who learned the magic in your hometown asked you to get him a magic book from me."
Merlin felt slightly nervous as he handed the book over to Merlin, as he knew it might influence the future. It would take a lot of determination to see the future again in his weakened state.
"Aha, is this for that? Thanks, but is it okay for you to give me something like this so carelessly?"
Nothing happened. Merlin relaxed and took a breath out. When Mordred and Arietta first met and the future changed, he knew then that it was already likely that he would hand over the magic book too, especially considering how much more stable the Crows were in the new future. He had expected it, but when the future did not change, he felt a little disappointed.
"It's okay. Druid magic is a magic that will gradually become dead."
"What? Why?"
The magic of the Druids was a magic that drew much of its power from the World Tree. However, in the future he saw, the World Tree was smaller, so it was not difficult to guess that the magic connection would eventually be cut off.
"Would you understand if I explained it?" asked Merlin.
"Nope."
Merlin chuckled. "Tell Sir Gwalchavad to come see me for a moment if he has time."