Proclamation

Artemis' assumptions of him actually being a coward were further emboldened when he tried to get close to him. He was twitching, his eyes refusing to move away from his hands. 

He had also began to sweat profusely. A sign of immense fear. 

Artemis sighed. His breathe reaching Wart's left cheek. He was frozen in place. Tears began to stream from his eyes as Artemis got closer to him.

This is it, he thought.

I am going to die, he thought.

This was a mistake, he thought.

But Artemis did the opposite of what he thought he was going to do. Instead of Artemis impaling him with his energy blades, he gave Wart several soft pats on the back.

"Milord, you need not to worry. I am your vassal and will continue to serve you as a faithful vassal," Artemis said.

He then knelt down and bowed down to the ground.

Artemid had another idea.

"I wish to proclaim you, not just my lord or the lord of only this land, no," Artemis said.

Wart was finally calming down but was kow curious as to what Artemis was going to say.

"You shall be, not merely a lord," Artemis said.

Get straight to the point god damn it! Wart thought, he was getting scared again.

"I proclaim you, my king," Artemis said. 

With those words, something struck Wart's heart and an immense feeling of relief poured within him that turned into a relaxing sensation he had never felt before. As if the restraints that held him back for decades were finally severed and he was finally free.

A person cannot proclaim himself king without a rightful claim but there wasn't any spoken rule that another person can't proclaim someone else as their king.

Artemis knew that legitimacy ultimately came from people who were willing to serve under someone and not from royal lineages or such. Instead, one must earn the trust of the people to be proclaimed their leader.

A mere commoner can become as great as a king with enough backing.

Even though Wart knew the risk of being proclaimed a king and only by one person. Wart had seen his vassal's abilities. He was no mere commoner. 

He was no mere human. Although this all started because he doubted his vassal's humanity, he now came to realize that Artemis' race did not matter. He was a dwarf, with him was a female elf and a mysterious being with Demigod strength and no mana.

According to the Republic and the Imperial laws, they were all savages. Inhuman filth. And a being with no mana is an abomination that has no blessings to the world.

If he was to become a king of the land he was given and with backing from his strong vassal. He may actually win his independence.

But he was also thinking that maybe he was jumping for too quickly to decisions but what power did he really have? He was being proclaimed king by someone with enough strength to take on a massive army. 

He feared the consequences of not consequences upon what his vassal desired. Then a troubling thought came to his mind.

If he declined, would his vassal seek another lord instead? Another lord willing to give him what he wanted?

Artemis, on the other hand, were more focused on Wart's mental state and thinking.

If he was indeed exiled, he would've just sailed to another country but no, he feared for his life and so chose the so-called Forest of Death as a natural deterrent. The monsters weren't a problem because they avoided the lake.

How did Artemis notice this?

It was because of the high readings of magic that came from the lake. The lake was actually absorbing the magic around it and so, theoretically, magic beasts would actually die if they got too near.

But that didn't explain why Wart wasn't dying because he too had magic and healing magic at that. 

But Wart's magic was unique. It was some kind of other form of magic that the lake could not suck out of him.

The properties within the mana were similar, but the difference is It was some part of some miracle, and something doesn't have any limits, it is different compare to regular mana and pure mana.

And what sort of advantage Artemis was to gain with proclaiming Wart as a king?

For him, it was simple.

He needed a puppet.

Sure, Wart was his liege but Artemis had no intention of blindly following him around until he found his way back to his Machine Empire.

Artemis remembered what Caitlyn told him about kings from Earth that were merely puppets of their vassals' will.

With Artemis being the most powerful and only vassal Wart had, he'd control him behind the scenes.

And once he revealed his identity as the Machine Monarch, Wart would have no choice but to cooperate with him.

All of this was indeed fast.

Artemis knew that Wart would need some time to take everything in and think things over.

"Milord, if anyone dares to go against declaring you as my king, then worry not, I will defeat their armies and burn their homes," Artemis said. His eyes shining brighter than before.

The shining eyes of Artemis further frightened Wart but he was more relaxed than a few minutes ago.

After he finished casting his healing spell on Pandora's wound. Wart stood up.

"Give me some time to think this through, young man," Wart told Artemis.

"Indeed, please take a rest," Artemis said.

"Y-Yes, rest," Wart said. He then turned tail and slowly walked to his room and gently shut the door behind him.

His heartbeat had returned to normal but he was soaked with his own sweat. Artemis watched through his thermal scanning how Wart jumped onto his mattress and fell asleep immediately.

Artemis then stood and walked outside.

"Maybe, I was too reckless," Artemis said to himself as he walked towards the clearing in the forest. The midnight sky was beautiful and the stars shimmered across celestial blanket of space.

Artemis then noticed some particular constellations. He reminisced of the time back on Earth. When he would just look at the sky for long periods of time during the night.

Literally all of his Androids both in Fordalt and Earth would look up to the skies as well when he did. As though mimicking their master.